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Birth:          ABT  912 
Death:          Jun  970 
Burial:         St. Peter of Orlanza

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern%C3%A1n_Gonz%C3%A1lez_of_Castile
Fernán González (died 970) was the first autonomous count of Castile, son of Gonzalo 
Fernández de Burgos, who had been named count of Arlanza and the Duero around 
the year 900, and by tradition a descendant of semi-legendary judge Nuño Rasura. His 
mother Muniadona was so well remembered that the later Counts of Castile would 
sometimes be recorded by Iberian Muslim scholars as Ibn Mama Duna (descendant of 
Muniadona).

Fernán González was a colourful character of legendary status in Iberia, and founder 
of the dynasty that would rule a semi-autonomous Castile, laying the foundations for its 
status as an independent kingdom. In the year 930, Fernán's name appears with the 
title of count inside the administrative organization of eastern the Kingdom of León.

Fernán González grew up in the castle of Lara, where his father had begun the 
process of reuniting the fractured counties of Old Castile. What had been a single 
county under count Rodrigo of Castile had been split after the death of the latter's son 
Diego Rodríguez Porcelos in 885. About 899, Gonzalo was named count of Burgos, 
and around 909 succeeded his kinsman Munio Núñez as count of Castile, representing 
a fraction of the previous county of that name. Following Gonzalo's 915 death, the 
counties would be held by Fernando Ansúrez, Gonzalo's brother Nuño Fernández, 
Fernando Ansúrez again, and Gutier Núñez. Fernán González was made count of 
Castile and Burgos before 931. The same year, Álvaro Herraméliz, count of Álava, 
Cerezo and Lantarón died, and Fernán succeeded him as well, thereby reuniting 
Rodrigo's county. He also married Álvaro's widow, Sancha Sánchez, the sister of the 
García Sánchez I of Pamplona. One of the daughters of Sancho I of Pamplona and 
Toda of Navarre, she had been twice widowed, having first married king Ordoño II of 
León late in his life as his third wife — two of her sisters, Onneca and Urraca, would 
marry Sancha's step-sons, Ordoño's sons Alfonso IV of León and Ramiro II of León. 
Following Ordoño's death in 924, she had married count Álvaro Herraméliz. Her 
marriage to Fernán not only allowed him to unite Castile, but reinforced political 
alliances across the Christian north.

Fernán gathered under his control a strong military force composed of troops from the 
counties of Burgos, Asturias, Santillana, Lantaron, Álava, Castile, and Lara. His 
military prowess came to prominence in the Battle of Simancas in 939 and then at 
Sepulveda, where he wrested the region from the Moors and repopulated it. As his 
power increased, so did his independence from León.

After having fought with Ramiro II of León against the Arabs, and after the Battle of 
Simancas and the retreat of the Muslims, Fernán was dissatisfied because the king of 
León distributed his troops in the frontier towns and he rose in rebellion against him. In 
944, the county of Castile was stripped from him and awarded by the king to his son 
Sancho, with count Ansur Fernández serving as regent. Fernán was defeated and 
made prisoner for 3 years until he became reconciled with his sovereign, giving his 
daughter Urraca in marriage to the king's heir, Ordoño, who afterwards became King 
Ordoño III.

Upon the death of Ramiro II of León in 951, the kingdom of León experienced a 
dynastic crisis that Fernán played out to his advantage. Initially Fernán supported the 
demands of Sancho against his elder half-brother Ordoño III, Fernán's own son-in-law. 
When Sancho failed, Fernán was forced to recognize Ordoño as king, even though 
the latter cast off Fernán's daughter. Ordoño's early death allowed Fernán to recover 
his maneuvering capacity, although he abandoned his old ally, now king Sancho I, 
instead supporting his rival Ordoño IV, son of Alfonso IV and the new husband of 
Fernán's daughter Urraca. Shortly after 4 September 959, his wife Sancha of Navarre 
died, and in 960 Fernán was defeated through Navarrese intervention on Sancho's 
behalf. He was captured by King García of Navarre, but he recovered his freedom 
after making various territorial concessions and by forswearing his support for Ordoño 
IV. Prior to 5 May 964 he cemented the new alliance by remarrying García's own 
daughter Urraca, the niece of his first wife, while Fernán's daughter of the same name, 
this time divorced by Ordoño IV, was married to García's heir, the future Sancho II of 
Pamplona. With the kingdom of León weakened and in disorder, Fernán slowly 
solidified a position of autonomy as count of Castile, with only nominal fielty due León.

After his death the county was left to his son García Fernández, while his widow 
Urraca returned to the Pamplona court before remarrying to William Sancho of 
Gascony. His remains were buried in the monastery of San Pedro of Arlanza. His life 
and feats are recorded in an anonymous poem, The Poem of Fernán González, written 
between 1250 and 1271 and preserved as an incomplete copy from the fifteenth 
century.

Issue[edit]

By his first wife, Sancha Sánchez of Pamplona, he had the following children:
Gonzalo, who married Fronilde Gómez, suggested to have been granddaughter of 
count Diego Rodríguez Porcelos
Sancho, named in a charter of his paternal grandmother
Munio
García, his eventual successor
Urraca, twice queen of León as wife of Ordoño III and Ordoño IV, and then of 
Pamplona, having married Sancho II
Muniadona, wife of Gómez Díaz, count of Saldaña, of the powerful Beni Gómez clan

Parents
FERNANDEZ DE LARA Gonzalo (ABT  875 -  932)
OF CASTILE Munia (ABT  875 - )

Siblings
GONZALEZ Fernan (ABT  912 - Jun  970)

Marriage To SANCHEZ OF NAVARRE Sancha (ABT  915 - Dec  959)
    m.  932 

Notes

Parents
GARCES Sancho I "Optimo Imperator" (ABT  880 - 10 Dec  925)
AZNAREZ OF LARRON Toda (ABT  876 - AFT  970)

Children by SANCHEZ OF NAVARRE Sancha ABT  915 - Dec  959
FERNANDEZ DE LARA Garcia I (ABT  940 -  995)

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