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Birth:          ABT 1130 
Death:          ABT 1200 

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_T%C3%A9llez_de_Meneses_el_Viejo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tello_P%C3%A9rez_de_Meneses
Tello Pérez de Meneses (died c. 1200) was a Castilian magnate and military leader 
under the reign of King Alfonso VIII of Castile, and the ancestor of the Téllez de 
Meneses, a prominent noble lineage, whose descendants include several royal 
members such as Queen María de Molina, Tello's great-granddaughter, and Leonor 
Telles de Meneses, queen consort of Portugal. Tello participated in several military 
campaigns during the Reconquista and subsequent Repoblación, and was also a 
generous founder and patron of monasteries and hospitals for captives and lepers. 
Together with the Girón, the Téllez de Meneses were among the most influential and 
powerful aristocratic groups in Tierra de Campos.[1]
Family background[edit]

Tello's name in contemporary Latin charters is Tellus Petri or Petriz. His mother's name 
is not known. His father was Pedro Martínez,[2] son of Martín Pérez, lord of 
Tordesillas and merino mayor of Queen Urraca.[3] Although the filiation of Martín 
Pérez remains unknown, he must have been a member of the highest ranks of the 
nobility having married, as her second husband, Mayor Pérez,[3] the widow of Álvar 
Fáñez, and daughter of count Pedro Ansúrez and his wife countess Eylo Alfonso.[2][4]

At the court, tenencias and estates, military campaigns and repopulation[edit]

Tello Pérez de Meneses was a distinguished member of the curia regis of King Alfonso 
VIII of Castile whom he served as a loyal vassal and from whom he received many 
royal favors.[5]

He owned vast estates in the eastern part of Tierra de Campos, some of which were 
adjacent to Torozos including Meneses and Montealegre. He also owned land in the 
valley of the Sequillo River and other properties along the Way of St. James, where he 
founded hospitals for pilgrims and lepers.[6]

He was tenente of Cea in 1181, a region where he also owned several estates,[5] as 
well as of Meneses.[2] On 3 February 1184 Tello received a gift of some mills at 
Villanueva on the Cea from Alfonso VIII.[7]

In 1177, he fought and led the Christian armies in the nine-month siege of Cuenca 
until the city surrendered on 21 September of that year.[8]

Tello was in charge of repopulating the valley of the Guadiana, in the region 
extending from the Tablas de Daimiel wetlands to the estuary of the Jabalón River as 
part of an agreement with the Order of Calatrava pursuant to which Tello was 
entrusted with the task of bringing cattle and Moorish slaves to the region of 
Calatrava la Vieja. As compensation for his efforts, Tello was granted the rights of 
usufruct during his lifetime and at his death, all the property and half of the cattle 
would revert to the order. Also as compensation, he was granted the villa of Ocaña 
during his lifetime. He and his wife had previously donated Ocaña, which they had 
received from Alfonso VIII, to the Order of Calatrava in January 1177, during the siege 
of Cuenca.[5][9] In the same month, King Alfonso also gave Tello several houses in 
Cuenca in exchange for the castle of Malagón[10] which Tello donated subsequently 
for the construction and upkeep of a hospital for captives in this city.[11]

Religious patronage and foundations[edit]


 


 13th-century Gothic sarcophagus from the Monastery of Santa María de Trianos, now 
at the Church of San Tirso in Sahagún.
In November 1173, King Alfonso VIII gave Tello and his wife Gontrodo his properties 
in Matallana and, in 1175, the same king confirmed the foundation of the Monastery of 
Santa María de Matallana by Tello and his wife. The document was confirmed by the 
five children of this marriage; Alfonso, García, Tello, Suero, and Teresa. This 
monastery is situated in Villalba de los Alcores in the province of Valladolid.[12][13]
[14][15]

On 13 March 1182, Tello and his relative Pedro Gutiérrez and his wife María Boso, 
founded a hospital for captives and pilgrims in Cuenca which they handed over to the 
Order of Santiago for its administration.[16][15] The "captives" of the hospitalis 
captiuorum were former prisoners-of-war of the Muslims.[17]

With his wife and children, Tello made a generous donation in 1185 to the Monastery 
of Santa María de Trianos which included his estates and properties in Trianos, 
Villacreces, Tordellos, San Nicolás del Real Camino and Fresno, properties which he 
and his mother-in-law, Teresa Pérez, abbess at the monastery in Gradefes, had 
previously acquired.[18] The following June, King Alfonso VIII confirmed this donation 
and donated additional properties. Although the foundation of this monastery has been 
attributed to Tello and his wife, the monastery already existed in 1125 when on 7 of 
December of that year, Pope Honorius II issued a Papal bull appointing the abbot and 
the prior of this religious establishment.[19][20] Tello and his descendants continued 
to be the patrons and benefactors of this monastery.

In 1195, Tello and his wife founded a hospital for lepers in San Nicolás del Real 
Camino which they subsequently donated to the Monastery of Santa María de Trianos, 
also founding, on 6 December 1196, another hospital for lepers in Villamartín, near 
Carrión de los Condes, the administration of which they later entrusted to the Order of 
Santiago.[18][21][22][23]

With the consent of his five children, all of whom are mentioned in the charter, Tello 
made a generous donation in July 1195 to a monastery in Villanueva de San Mancio 
which had been founded a century earlier but whose assets had diminished 
considerably. Tello and his children later donated this monastery to the Monastery of 
Sahagún in 1198.[24]

Tello Pérez de Meneses probably died in the first half of 1200 since his children made 
a donation in June of that year to the abbot of the Monastery of Sahagún and 
certainly before April 1201 when again, they made a donation of several properties for 
the souls of their parents.[25] According to the 16th century historian Ambrosio de 
Morales, the sarcophagi of the founders were in the main chapel of the disappeared 
Monastery of Matallana.[26]

Marriage and issue[edit]


 


 Ruins of the Monasterio de Santa María de Matallana
On 22 June 1161, Tello granted arras to his wife Gontrodo García.[27] The properties 
included Meneses, Villa Avia, Barrio Falcón, Villa Nova, and Castriello.[28][29] 
Gontrodo probably contributed properties and estates that she had inherited from the 
Flaínez family in Tierra de Campos.[18] As a great-granddaughter of Martín Flaínez, 
one of the counts who died in the Battle of Uclés Gontrodo was the daughter of 
García Pérez (died in September 1165),[30] tenente in Cea, and of Teresa Pérez (died 
on 10 May 1187),[31] the founders of the Cistercian Monastery of Santa María la Real 
de Gradefes where Teresa, as a widow, became and nun and later its abbess.[32][33] 
They had five children, all born between 1161 and 1175. All the male offspring took 
part in the Battle of Navas de Tolosa in June 1212.[34]
Alfonso Téllez de Meneses,[35][36] who inherited the majorat and played an important 
role in the political crisis that ensued after the early and accidental death of Henry I of 
Castile.[37]
García Téllez,[38][36] who died young and is the ancestor of the Tello lineage in 
Seville.
Tello Téllez de Meneses, Bishop of Palencia.[38][36]
Suero Téllez de Meneses (died c. 1227),[36] was the tenant-in-chief of Montealegre, 
Tordehumos, Grajal, and Cea and a staunch supporter of Queen Berenguela of 
Castile. He married Sancha Gutiérrez, daughter of Gutierre Rodríguez de Castro and 
Elvira Osorio with whom he had two children: Gutierre and Fernando Suárez de 
Meneses, the former being the ancestor of the Tellez de Meneses of Toledo, and the 
latter a member of the clergy in Palencia.[39][40] In 1227, Suero and his wife made a 
donation to the Monastery of Benevívere of his estate in Cisneros, Palencia.[41]
Teresa Téllez,[36] who married Martín Pérez.

Parents
MARTINEZ Pedro ()
----- ----- ()

Siblings
DE MENESES Tello Perez (ABT 1130 - ABT 1200)

Marriage To ____ Gontrodo ()
    m.  

Notes


Children by ____ Gontrodo 
TELLEZ DE MENESES Alonso (ABT 1161 - 1230)

Produced by Fzip 1.7 6/20/2017