Hermenegildo Gutiérrez

Count Hermenegildo, the son of count Gutierre and his wife Elvira,{{Sfn|López Sangil|2002|p=14}} appears in medieval documentation starting in 869 — when with his father-in-law, Gatón, count in Astorga and El Bierzo, settled a dispute between the king of Asturias and bishop Mauro{{Sfn|Sáez|1947|p=15}} — until his last appearance in May 912,{{Sfn|Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León|1999|p=304}}{{Sfn|López Sangil|2002|p=14}} when he confirmed a donation made by his son-in-law, king Ordoño II, to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. He was one of the most loyal vassals of King Alfonso III, who named him his mayordomo mayor{{Sfn|Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León|1999|p=304}} and compensated his efforts and services to the crown with many properties and tenencias.

Hermenegildo played an active role in military operations during the Reconquista. In 878, he defeated the Muslim troops who had attacked Porto and then Coimbra,{{Sfn|Mattoso|1981|p=115}} repopulating these cities, as well as neighboring Braga, Viseu, and Lamego, with people from Galicia after expelling the Moors.{{Sfn|Sáez|1947|p=15}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=161 , Vol. I}} His holdings there would pass to his descendants and come to be called the County of Coimbra,{{Cite book |last=Marques |first=A. H. de Oliveira |title=História de Portugal |date=2024 |publisher=Editorial Presença |edition=Revised by João Alves Dias |volume=1 |pages=79, 81}} which was retaken again in 987 by Almanzor and it was not until 1064 that the city was permanently reconquered by the Christian armies of Ferdinand I of León.

In 895, Hermenegildo defeated and captured the Galician noble Witiza who had taken up arms against the king of Asturias, taking him in chains before the monarch who compensated the count with many of the rebel's estates and tenencias.{{Sfn|Sáez |1947|p=19}}

Hermenegildo Gutiérrez was succeeded by his son Gutier Menéndez.{{sfn|Sáez|1947|p=21}} In the 11th-century, his great-grandson Count Alvito Nunes, initiated a second period in which the family governed the County of Portugal after succeeding Count Menendo González, son of Count Gonzalo Menéndez.{{sfn|Mattoso|1981|p=145}}

It was claimed that Hermenegildo was descended from Count Ardabastus, an individual supposedly descended from the Constantinian, Valentinian, and Theodosian dynasties of the Roman Empire. The line is documented in a controversial and dubious deed, and while some have suggested that the genealogy it contains could still be authentic, the lack of surviving documentation from the period spanned makes independent evaluation impossible.T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic (1952). If true, it would be a rare example of Descent from antiquity.

He married Ermesenda Gatónez,{{Sfn|Mattoso|1981|p=115}} daughter of count Gatón.{{Sfn|Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León|1999|p=305}}{{Sfn|López Sangil|2002|p=14}} She was probably a first cousin of King Alfonso since Gatón is believed to have been the brother of Ordoño I, or perhaps of his wife. This marriage gave rise to one of the most prominent noble families in medieval Galicia and in the County of Portugal. The offspring of this marriage were:

• Arias Menéndez (died after 924){{Sfn|Mattoso|1981|p=116}}{{Sfn|Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León|1999|p=305}}{{Sfn|López Sangil|2001|p=146}} count, married to Ermesenda Gundesíndez, his niece.{{Sfn|López Sangil|2001|p=146}} He had at least one daughter, Elvira Arias, married to her cousin Munio Gutiérrez.{{Sfn|Mattoso|1981|p=116}}
• Elvira Menéndez,{{Sfn|Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León|1999|p=305}}{{Sfn|López Sangil|2001|p=146}} who married around the year 900 the future king of Galicia and León, Ordoño II of León,{{Sfn|Mattoso|1981|p=116}} and was mother of his children, including Kings Ramiro II and Alfonso IV of León.
• Gutierre Menéndez,{{Sfn|Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León|1999|p=305}} a powerful count, who married Ilduara Ériz, daughter of count Ero Fernández{{Sfn|Mattoso|1981|p=117}} and countess Adosinda.{{Sfn|López Sangil|2001|p=146}} This couple had several children, including Saint Rudesind.
• Enderquina "Palla" Menéndez, who married Gundesindo Eriz,{{Sfn|Mattoso|1981|p=116}} son of count Ero Fernández.{{Sfn|Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León|1999|p=305}}{{Sfn|López Sangil|2001|p=146}}
• Ildonza or Aldonza Menéndez who married Gutierre Osorio,{{Sfn|Mattoso|1981|p=116}}{{Sfn|Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León|1999|p=305}}{{Sfn|López Sangil|2001|p=146}} count in Lourenzá, with whom she had several children, including Queen Adosinda Gutiérrez, the first wife of King Ramiro II of León, and Count Osorio Gutiérrez, called el conde santo (the saintly count),{{Sfn|Mattoso|1981|p=116}} founder of the Monastery of Lourenzá{{Sfn|Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León|1999|p=305}}
• Patruina Menéndez{{Sfn|López Sangil|2001|p=146}}
• Gudilona Menéndez, the wife of count Lucidio Vimáraz of Portucale, son of count Vimara Pérez and Trudildi.{{Sfn|Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León|1999|p=306}} Her filiation, a hypothesis by Almeida Fernández, is not documented.{{Sfn|Mattoso|1981|p=117}}

• Portugal in the Reconquista

{{reflist|2}}

• {{Cite news|last=López Sangil|first =José Luis|title =La fundación del Monasterio de San Salvador de Cines|year = 2001|work = Anuario Brigantino|number = 24|pages= 139–156|location=Betanzos|language=es|oclc =402770925 |issn=1133-1240|url=http://anuariobrigantino.betanzos.net/Ab2001PDF/2001%20139_156.pdf}}
• {{cite book| last =López Sangil| first = José Luis|title = La nobleza altomedieval gallega, la familia Froílaz-Traba| year = 2002| publisher = Toxosoutos, S.L.|location = La Coruña| language=es|isbn = 84-95622-68-8}}
• {{cite book|last=Martínez Díez|first=Gonzalo|title=El Condado de Castilla (711-1038): la historia frente a la leyenda|volume= I|year=2005|location=Valladolid|language=es|isbn = 84-9718-276-6}}
• {{cite book| last=Mattoso|first= José| title = A nobreza medieval portuguesa, a família e o poder|year = 1981| publisher = Editorial Estampa| location = Lisbon| language =pt|url =http://ww3.fl.ul.pt/unidades/centros/c_historia/Biblioteca/III/3-%20A%20Nobreza%20Portucalense%20dos%20Seculos%20IX%20a%20XI.pdf |oclc= 8242615}} (Originally published in 1968 in Studium Generale, vol. 12, pp 59–115)
• {{Cite journal|last=Sáez|first =Emilio|title=Notas al Episcopologio Minduniense del Siglo X|year = 1946|journal= Hispania: Revista española de Historia|number = XXII|pages= 3–79|publisher=CSIC, Instituto Jerónimo Zurita|location=Madrid|language=es}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Sáez|first =Emilio|title=Los ascendientes de San Rosendo: notas para el estudio de la monarquía astur-leonesa durante los siglos IX y X|year = 1947|journal= Hispania: Revista española de Historia|number = XXX|pages= 139–156|publisher=CSIC, Instituto Jerónimo Zurita|location=Madrid|language=es|oclc =682814356|url=http://bibliotecadigital.jcyl.es/i18n/consulta/registro.cmd?id=6257}}
• {{cite book|last = Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León| first = Margarita Cecilia|title = Linajes nobiliarios de León y Castilla: Siglos IX-XIII|year = 1999|publisher = Junta de Castilla y León, Consejería de educación y cultura| location = Salamanca|language=es|isbn =84-7846-781-5}}

{{County of Coimbra}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hermenegildo Gutierrez}}

Category:850s births

Category:912 deaths

Category:Year of birth uncertain

Category:9th-century Asturian nobility

Category:County of Coimbra