Fernando Ponce de Cabrera el Mayor

Who is Fernando Ponce de Cabrera el Mayor?

Fernando Ponce de Cabrera, called el Mayor, was an important nobleman of the Kingdom of León, the second son of three of Ponce de Cabrera, a Catalan baron who had emigrated to León, and his first wife, Sancha, who was deceased by 1142. He married Guiomar Rodríguez, daughter of Rodrigo Pérez de Traba. Between 13 February 1161 and August 1163 Fernando Ponce was the alférez or signifer of Ferdinand II, although it is possible that his younger brother of the same name, Fernando Ponce el Menor, is the one to whom the documents refer.

Early in 1161, Ferdinand, prompted by fear that Afonso I of Portugal was planning an invasion, bestowed the tenencias of Ciudad Rodrigo and Ledesma on Ponce, who in turn gave the latter to his son Fernando. In 1162, on the death of his father, Fernando succeeded to the tenencia of Sanabria. On 25 May 1163 Fernando, along with his siblings, made a donation of land at Villarrín de Campos to the cathedral of Zamora for their father's soul. From 1169 he held Zamora, which his father had also held and which his brother Fernando would hold as early as 1176. On 4 August 1171 the two Fernando Ponces sold their land in Valdesalce to a certain Fernán Baldrín.