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Birth:          ABT 1065 
Death:          1126 

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermudo_P%C3%A9rez_de_Traba
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Fr%C3%B3ilaz_de_Traba
Pedro Fróilaz de Traba (fl. 1086–1126) was the most powerful secular magnate in the 
Kingdom of Galicia during the first quarter of the twelfth century. According to the 
Historia compostelana, he was "spirited ... warlike ... of great power ... a man who 
feared God and hated iniquity," for Diego Gelmírez himself had "fed him, like a 
spiritual son, with the nutriment of holy teaching."[1] Brought up at the court of the 
Emperor Alfonso VI, Pedro raised the future Emperor Alfonso VII in his household. 
Around the latter he and Diego formed a "Galician party" that dominated that region 
during the turbulent reign of Urraca (1109–26). In September 1111 they even had the 
child Alfonso crowned king at Santiago de Compostela, but it was Pedro who was 
imperator in orbe Galletiae ("emperor in the ambit of Galicia").[2]

Widely travelled and well-connected, especially through the prestigious marriages of 
his many daughters—he had at least sixteen legitimate children by his two wives—Pedro 
was, besides a political and military figure, a religious one. Sometime before 1109 he 
founded the first religious house for women in Galicia. As a result of his generosity to 
the Cathedral of Saint James in Compostela, Pedro is the best known Spanish 
nobleman of his era. One modern historian has written that he "needs a modern 
biography, and the materials are adequate for one."[3] Most existing coverage is 
outdated or too heavily reliant on the Historia compostelana.[1]
Family[edit]

Pedro was the son of Froila Vermúdez de Traba and his wife, Elvira de Faro.[4][5] The 
first reference to Pedro is from 9 November 1086, when he subscribed to his father's 
donation to the monastery of San Martín de Jubia, now Couto.[6] According to the 
Historia compostelana, Pedro was raised from childhood at the court of Alfonso VI of 
León.[7] His first wife was Urraca Fróilaz, daughter of Froila Arias and Ardio Díaz.[8] 
They were married sometime before 12 August 1088, although a document surviving 
only in an eighteenth-century copy records their marriage on 11 August 1102.[9] By 6 
May 1105 Pedro had remarried to Mayor (Guntroda) Rodríguez (de Bárcena), daughter 
of Rodrigo Muñoz.[4][10] Mayor was a major benefactress of Lugo Cathedral (14 June 
1112) and the monasteries of Jubia (26 December 1114) and Sahagún (26 March 
1125). She is last recorded alive on 6 January 1129 and probably died not long 
afterwards.[4]

By his first wife Pedro had three sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Bermudo, 
would eventually be overshadowed, politically, by the second, Fernando.[4] His other 
son was Froila and his daughters Jimena and Lupa (married Muño Peláez). By his 
second wife Pedro had six daughters—Elvira (married Gómez Núñez), Estefanía, Ilduara 
(married Arias Pérez and, as her second husband, the Portuguese nobleman Afonso 
Egas), Sancha, Toda (married Gutierre Vermúdez), and Urraca—and five sons—Rodrigo, 
García, Martín, Sancho, and Velasco.[4] The assignment of any one of Pedro's 
children to one of his two wives is in many cases uncertain. The record of the 
cartulary of the monastery of Sobrado lists only five sons and a daughter without 
naming a mother, for instance.[11]

There may have been a second daughter named Toda who married Gutierre Osorio, 
from the province of León, as well as a daughter named Eva, wife of García Garcés 
de Aza.[12][13] The historian Enrique Flórez named Gómez Núñez as another son-in-
law by at the latest 1117.[14] Pedro's son García may have married Elvira, illegitimate 
daughter of Queen Urraca and her lover Pedro González de Lara.[15] This marriage 
would have taken place, if at all, between 1120 and 1126, and would have been 
designed to reconcile the Galician faction and the court faction.

Political career[edit]

Follower of Raymond of Galicia (1090–1107)[edit]

In January 1090 Pedro was governing Ferreira in Galicia and is described in a royal 
charter as dominator Ferrarie (lord of Ferreira, today part of Coristanco).[6] The only 
contemporary reference to Pedro which names him in the way by which he is now 
generally known is an undated fragment of a charter of Alfonso VI, which calls him 
Petro Froillaz de Traua.[16] It was the thirteenth-century historian Rodrigo Jiménez de 
Rada some hundred years later who initiated the historiographic tradition, still followed 
today, which names Pedro and his descendants "de Traba". His wording—Comes 
Petrus de Trava in Gallecia—may be derived from the corresponding passage in the 
Historio compostelana, where Pedro is named Petrus Froylaz Comes de Trava.[16]

By 11 January 1096 Pedro had received the title of "count" (comes in Latin), the 
highest title bestowed in the kingdoms of León and Castile.[4] In that year he 
appealed to the king to intervene to settle a dispute he had with the Abbey of Samos, 
which the king did.[17] By March 1098 he was governing Traba, from which his family 
was to derive its recurring toponym. In royal charters he is sometimes called comes de 
Ferraria (count of Ferreira)[18] and sometimes comes de Traba (count of Traba).[19] 
Pedro was a supporter and vassal of Raymond of Galicia and his wife, Urraca, whom 
he probably knew from his time in the household of her father, Alfonso VI. Shortly after 
his birth in 1105, Raymond and Urraca's son, Alfonso Raimúndez, was placed in the 
care of Count Pedro.[1] It was not uncommon for the scions of noble houses to be 
raised in others, commonly in those of higher standing.

Formation of a "Raimundist party" (1107–1109)[edit]

After the death of Raymond, his widow Urraca donated a Galician monastery to the 
Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela, signing the charter, dated 13 December 
1107, as imperatoris filia et totius gallecie domina. The important Galician bishops of 
Lugo, Mondoñedo, Tui, and Ourense, along with Pedro Fróilaz and the Asturian 
magnate Suero Vermúdez were present to confirm the donation, which was probably 
designed to secure the support of Diego Gelmírez for Urraca's rule in Galicia.[20] In 
1107 Pedro also confirmed a royal donation to the monastery of Caabeiro, signing as 
"Count Pedro of Galicia", with his two eldest sons beside him, although the comital 
title (count) and the territorial designation (Galicia) were not directly connected.[21] It 
is not clear whether he was named as Raymond's successor in Galicia by Alfonso VI. 
The authors of the Historia compostelana certainly did not recognise it, but perhaps 
for partisan reasons.[22] Beginning in 1109, however, Pedro's power and influence in 
Galicia was such that he was calling himself "Count of Galicia" (Gallecie comes), 
although he did not control the entire province.[4] This had occurred by 22 July, 
shortly after the death of Alfonso VI and the succession of Urraca, who was his 
heiress after the death of Sancho Alfónsez at the Battle of Uclés (1108). He continued 
using this title until 1122.[23] A judicial document, and thus one not having royal 
approval in its particulars, dated 1 November 1109 refers to "duke Don Pedro Fróilaz 
who [is] ruling the nearby territory of Sobrado".[24] A royal charter dated 23 May 1121 
and calling Pedro a count in maritimis ("in the maritime province") is probably an 
accurate description of the realm of his public authority: the Atlantic coastlands of 
Galicia, specifically those north of the river Tambre and encompassing A Coruña.[25] 
It is a sign of his fame that he was referred to as Petro Galliciensi comite ("Pedro, 
Galician count") in a letter from William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, to Diego Gelmírez on 
the occasion of his pilgrimage to Santiago.[22]

War with Alfonso the Battler (1110–1112)[edit]

When, in the autumn of 1109, Urraca married Alfonso the Battler, the King of Aragon 
and Navarre, Pedro opposed the marriage, which might have interfered with the 
succession of Urraca's son by Raymond. Within months of the wedding Pedro had 
rebelled in Galicia against Urraca's authority. Early in May 1110 Alfonso the Battler 
entered Galicia with an army. At some point before early July he ravaged the lands of 
Pedro Fróilaz, but without much effect.[27] Late that summer, a faction of Galicians, 
led by Pedro with the young Alfonso in tow, visited Urraca at Castrojeriz and there 
became convinced that she was making peace with her estranged husband. This 
prompted Pedro to seek the advice of Henry, Count of Portugal, a relative of Raymond 
of Galicia and the most powerful man in the west of the kingdom.[28] On Henry's 
advice Pedro arrested the partisans of the queen who had journeyed with him and 
returned to Galicia, where he opened negotiations with the queen. In exchange for the 
freedom of her supporters she surrendered the castle of Santa María de Castrelo on 
the Galician border with Portugal. This acquisition secured communication with Henry 
for the future.

In the fall of 1110 Pedro placed his wife, Mayor Rodríguez, and his ward, Alfonso, in 
his newly acquired castle. One of the queen's supporters, a minor nobleman named 
Arias Pérez, attacked suddenly and forced Pedro to retreat, leaving his wife and 
charge besieged in the castle. Pedro pleaded with Diego Gelmírez to negotiate terms, 
but no sooner had he done so and the siege had been lifted than Urraca imprisoned 
Pedro, Diego, Alfonso, and Mayor.[28][29] The bishop was soon released so that 
negotiations could begin with Count Pedro directly. He was released probably in 
January 1111.

On 19 September 1111, Diego and Pedro had the young Alfonso crowned king in 
Santiago de Compostela.[30] According to the Historia compostelana, Pedro acted as 
steward (dapifer) at the coronation festivities.[31] After the coronation, Pedro and 
Diego gathered an army to subject Galicia to his rule, first attacking Lugo, which was 
still loyal to Alfonso the Battler.[32] They captured it and probably left a detachment 
there before crossing the mountains in the direction of the capital, León. They were 
ambushed about twenty miles from the city by Alfonso and defeated in the Battle of 
Viadangos, whereat Pedro was captured.[32][33] Diego escaped with the young 
Alfonso Raimúndez and brought the boy to Urraca in Galicia, marking the first time the 
queen had physical custody of her son since she began ruling in 1109.[32]

By May 1112 Pedro had been released, possibly in order to cause division among the 
Galicians, who had gone over to Urraca after Viadangos.[34] Urraca was soon forced 
to recognise Alfonso as her heir and co-ruler, although he was then too young to 
possess any real power, making the effect of such a concession the increase in power 
of Pedro and Diego. At about this time, the young Alfonso was put once again in the 
physical custody of Diego and Pedro in return for their support against Alfonso the 
Battler.[26] In May 1112, a royal castle at Leyro (perhaps Oleiros) in the north of 
Nendos was granted to Pedro.[35] For the duration of the year 1112, however, no 
divisions appear among the followers of Urraca, united in their opposition to Alfonso 
the Battler.

Guardian of Alfonso Raimúndez (1112–1122)[edit]

Between 1112 and 1122 Pedro served Alfonso Raimúndez in various capacities as a 
tutor. In the earliest instance, May 1112, he is described by Alfonso's mother, Queen 
Urraca, as he "who raised and nourished my son the lord king Alfonso", a fact justified 
by his being raised at the court of her father, the previous lord king Alfonso.[36] On 5 
July 1118, in a document from Celanova, Alfonso is called a clientulus ("little 
dependent") of Pedro.[37] As late as 22 March 1122 Alfonso was still referring to 
Pedro as regis altor (royal protector). It was around this time, in 1121 or 1122, that 
Pedro made a final peace with his old enemy, Arias Pérez, by marrying to him his own 
daughter Ildaria.[38] By 1121 Pedro's second son, Fernando, was already a count, 
because of his influence at the court of Theresa, Countess of Portugal. On 25 July 
1122, Pedro's eldest son, Vermudo, made over the bridewealth to his wife Urraca 
Enríquez, daughter of Theresa of Portugal.[39] This marriage was contracted through 
Fernando and the bridewealth was given to Vermudo by his father for that express 
purpose.[40] At some point early in the century Pedro gave a Moorish cook named 
Martín to Fernando.[41] This has been taken to indicate Pedro's "taste for Moorish 
cooking".[1]

In July 1114 Urraca ventured into Galicia with the intention of depriving Diego of his 
secular powers. In this she was joined by Pedro Fróilaz, Muño Peláez, Suero 
Vermúdez, Guter Vermúdez, and Rodrigo Vélaz, but not by her son.[42] A 
contemporary charter records that "the queen Doña Urraca reigning with her son Don 
Alfonso in the kingdom of Spain [and] discord also remaining between them."[43] The 
conspiracy against Diego is mentioned in a royal charter of 23 July, in the Historia 
compostelana, and in a private document of the Cathedral of León (26 July). Diego 
and Pedro were not always on good terms, with the Historia compostelana accusing of 
Pedro of depredating the Galician church and at times even robbing the poor.[44] In 
July 1114, however, Pedro changed his mind and supported Diego. After Diego 
successfully defended himself from Urraca's charges, the queen left Compostela for 
Salnes, planning to kidnap Diego at Iria Flavia. The archbishop was warned in a 
secret message from Pedro and evaded the queen's men. Negotiations were then 
opened and the queen, Pedro, Muño, and Rodrigo all swore oaths to respect the 
rights of the archdiocese to its tenancies.[42]

Pedro and Alfonso against Diego and Urraca (1116–1118)[edit]

In March or April 1116 Pedro was fighting along with Alfonso Raimúndez in the region 
around Toledo on behalf of Urraca.[45] Through this he learned of a plot by the queen 
to have the archbishop seized and for a second time duly forewarned him.[46] Pedro 
and Alfonso promptly returned to Galicia and raised the standard of revolt. Urraca 
marched via Triacastela and Mellid, the route usually taken by pilgrims to Compostela, 
into Galicia, gaining many supporters on the way. Surprisingly, the citizens of 
Compostela were prepared to fight for her against their lord, Diego, and his allies.[46] 
The rebels were forced to abandon the capital of Galicia to Urraca, who hastily 
arranged a new alliance with Diego.
 
On 18 May 1116 Urraca granted Diego a charter that was subscribed by Pedro, 
indicating that at least initially he too was drawn into the alliance with the queen. But 
when Urraca campaigned against Gómez Núñez, whose lands guarded the roads into 
Portugal from Galicia, she was surprised and besieged in Sobroso by Pedro in alliance 
with the Countess Theresa.[46] The queen was forced to retreat to Compostela and 
thence to León. Pedro's breach with Urraca mirrored a temporary change in his 
relations with Diego. Not perfectly respecting his oath to the archbishop, in 1116 
Pedro was chased by Diego from the territories of his archiepiscopal lordship into the 
mountains around Deza.[47] The Historia also records that he led raids to scoff serfs 
and cattle.[48]

In the autumn of 1116 Urraca held court at Sahagún and there opened negotiations 
with the party of her son Alfonso, led by Diego and Pedro. The only secure date for 
these negotiations comes from a charter of 15 October, which the queen issued from 
Sahagún.[49] Urraca was able to draw her son Alfonso at least temporarily out of the 
orbit of Pedro Fróilaz and Diego Gelmírez by granting him the Kingdom of Toledo as an 
appanage. By November, when Alfonso was twelve years old, he had entered Toledo 
to rule it.[3] The Historia compostelana also claims that Urraca conceded to her son, 
and by implication to his guardians, the rule of Galicia, although there is no 
documentary evidence of this. It seems especially unlikely in light of the apparent 
weakness of Diego and Pedro's alliance at the time, and the lack of support for them 
in Santiago de Compostela itself.[49]

In the spring of 1117, probably in June, Urraca, after campaigning against Theresa in 
southern Galicia, came to Santiago to mediate between Diego and the council 
(concejo), which had been ruling the town de facto for the past year.[50] During a 
private meeting between Urraca and Diego in the episcopal palace, the townspeople 
revolted and forced the two to take refuge in a cathedral tower then under 
construction, which they promptly lit on fire. When the queen came out she was 
seized by the mob, stripped, and pelted with stones before certain moderates rescued 
her. Extracting from her promises of amnesty, they freed her to leave the city. She and 
Diego—who had managed to escape unscathed—then joined the army that had 
assembled under Pedro Fróilaz and Alfonso. On seeing the approach of Pedro's forces 
the town surrendered. Its leaders were exiled and their properties confiscated. The 
town was assessed an indemnity and the rule of the archbishop was restored.[50]

Final war with Urraca (1120–1123)[edit]

In the years 1118–19, Pedro Fróilaz is revealed in the surviving documents of the 
period to have been the most important lay supporter of the royal prerogative and the 
imperial pretensions of Alfonso Raimúndez.[51] In the spring of 1120 Urraca returned 
to Galicia and formed a tenuous military alliance with Diego against certain supporters 
of Pedro Fróilaz. The local campaigning was a success.[52] During the subsequent 
campaign against Theresa of Portugal, however, Urraca had imprisoned Diego and 
attempted to assert her authority in his lordship directly. At that juncture her son left 
her camp and joined that of Pedro in the vicinity of Santiago. This incited some 
citizens to riot in support of Diego, and Urraca was forced to release him on 28 July 
1120, although she would not restore his secular authority.[53] The archbishop then 
enlisted the aid of Pedro, Alfonso, and Theresa. In the fall the queen was forced to 
concede the fiscal lands around Sahagún to her son's direct rule.[54]

In 1121 Urraca confiscated the secular lordship of the archbishop of Santiago, 
including his fortresses and castles. This led to a dispute with the papacy, and Pope 
Calixtus II sent letters to the queen threatening excommunication.[55] Negotiations 
between the monarch and the bishop were reopened, but they were soon broken off 
and Urraca gathered an army and invaded Galicia. She marched to the castle of Cira, 
thence to Tabeiros and Salnes, and finally camped at the mount of Picosacro, close 
by Santiago de Compostela. Archbishop Diego and Count Pedro raised an army and 
fought a few skirmishes, but the prelate soon arranged a peace. A royal document of 
23 May records Urraca in obsidione super Acromonte ("in siege above Acromonte"), 
probably a reference to Picosacro. It indicates that, contrary to the testimony of the 
Historia compostelana, Alfonso Raimúndez was then with his mother's forces, not 
those of Pedro Fróilaz.[55] Diego was able ultimately to force the return of his 
church's lands, and probably Pedro received an equally favourable settlement from the 
queen.[56] He was with the queen on 22 March 1122, when she confirmed Alfonso's 
donation of the monastery of San Martín de Pinario to the church of Compostela,[57] 
and was with her again on 8 March 1123 at Lugo, with most of the Galician high 
nobility.[58] Sometime after this, and perhaps before she came to an understanding 
with Diego on 27 March, Queen Urraca had Pedro arrested and imprisoned along with 
his sons. Her exact motive is unclear, although his fiefs were confiscated.[58][59] 
Pedro remained a royal prisoner at least until Urraca's death, and his sons continued 
to support her enemy, Theresa of Portugal.[60] The Chronicon iriense, a history of the 
diocese of Santiago de Compostela, may have been written between the years 1121, 
when Pedro and the Galician magnates were forced to swear oaths to Bishop Diego, 
and 1123, when Pedro and his sons were imprisoned by the queen. On this account, 
the Chronicon was designed to bolster Diego's claims by a recourse to the history.[61]

Religious patronage[edit]

Pedro was a major patron of Benedictine monasticism and of the Cluniac reform.[4] He 
made donations to Jubia,[62] Nemeño,[63] and Pedroso.[64] On 14 December 1113 
Pedro and his siblings granted Jubia to the Abbey of Cluny. There are also three 
suspicious donations recorded to the regular clergy of Caabeiro.[65] Sometime in the 
early 1120s, persuaded by Diego Gelmírez, Pedro granted the church a Cospindo near 
Traba to the archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela.[66] His other benefactions to 
the see were so numerous that the author of the Historia compostelana refused to list 
them all. The motive behind this generosity was Pedro and his second wife's desire to 
be buried in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.[67] Pedro is also known to 
have made donations to the diocese of Mondoñedo, to the immediate east of his 
domains.[48]

The Historia compostelana records that there were no nunneries in Galicia around the 
year 1100.[68] This was rectified by Pedro Fróilaz sometime before 1108. The 
monastery of Cines (Cinis), long abandoned, he had recently resurrected as a 
community of nuns. Early in 1108, with papal and episcopal support, a certain Abbot 
Nuño (Munio), with a community of monks, expelled the ladies and re-established a 
monastery there. Pedro in turn removed the men and in their place re-installed the 
women. These may have included two of his three known sisters. Visclavara, who 
never married and was a prolific religious donor—to Jubia, Cines, Carboeiro, and the 
cathedral of Santiago—was still in secular life in 1097, but was described as a 
"handmaid of the handmaids of God" (ancillarum Dei ancilla) in 1114. The other sister, 
Munia, is consistently called "vowed to God" (Deo vota) in the sources. She lived 
until 1145 and was also a donor to Jubia.

The removal of the monks of Cines provoked a controversy which was eventually 
brought before Pope Paschal II. Initially he was persuaded by the expelled monks and 
sent a letter dated 1 May 1109 to the bishops of Compostela, Mondoñedo, and Lugo 
ordering them to protest Count Pedro's actions.[69] A second letter was sent to 
Bernard de Sedirac, the apostolic legate, at the same time. Pedro responded by 
making a pilgrimate to Rome with the archives of the monastery of Cines to plead his 
case before the curia Romana.[70] There he persuaded Paschal that the monastery 
was a family possession. Paschal sent a new letter to Bernard and Diego, dated 11 
April 1110, ordering them to re-establish the women at Cines.[71]

Death[edit]

Pedro is not recorded in any royal document after his imprisonment in 1123. His wife 
does name him as co-donor of the Tresancos and Némitos to Jubia on 27 February 
1125.[72] A document of Caabeiro, dated 1125, refers to Pedro as count in 
Trastámara, a title his descendants would frequently bear.[73] Pedro is last recorded 
in a document dated 25 March 1126.[4] On 3 May his widow made a donation to the 
monastery of Sahagún for the sake of his soul, possibly indicating that he had died in 
the interim.[4] The Historia compostelana records that Pedro made a division of his 
properties amongst his heirs on his deathbed, with the consent of his wife and 
children, although no written record of this division has survived.[74] Several modern 
sources date Pedro's death to 1128, but few give reasons.[75] The deathbed 
munificence of Pedro in favour of the see of Compostela, which is recorded in the 
Historia compostelana, has been dated to 1128.[48]

The historian Richard A. Fletcher has note how well-travelled and well-connected 
Pedro was for a nobleman of his time: "His upbringing at the peripatetic court of 
Alfonso VI must have familiarized him with most corners of the kingdom of León-
Castile; he had spent some time in captivity in Aragon; [and] he numbered among his 
acquaintances the princes of southern France."[1] He was buried in the cathedral of 
Compostela, where his tomb, surmounted by an effigy carved in stone, still lies in the 
"Chapel of Relics". In the central plaza of Compostela, he had once had an iron 
statue of himself put up, which does not survive.[1]

Parents
DE TRABA Froila Vermudez (ABT 1030 - 1091)
DE FARO Elvira ()

Siblings
DE TRABA Pedro Froilaz (ABT 1065 - 1126)

Marriage To FROILAZ Urraca (ABT 1072 - )
    m.  

Notes

Parents
ARIAS Froila (ABT 1056 - )
DIAZ Ardio ()

Children by FROILAZ Urraca ABT 1072 - 
DE TRABA Bermudo Perez (ABT 1090 - 1168)

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