Ancestors of the Counts of Siruela

Who is Ancestors of the Counts of Siruela?

Pedro Fernandez de Velasco was a Camarero mayor, a senior chamberlain of the king. This position was an important one that demanded management of the many stewards and chamberlains in his charge to fulfil the daily needs of the king's residence. The position of a senior chamberlain could be passed down to their children.

Serving one's king and queen faithfully gained the servant many coveted rewards of land, palaces and titles which enabled the servant to petition the king to create mayorazgo and senorios for their eldest son. The latter formed a strong foundation for marriage contracts between noble families.

The mayorazgo has three important definitions. The first involves a right of succession in family estates. It also infers that the first-born son possesses the right of primogeniture. More loosely interpreted it concerns the family estate which devolves to the first-born son by right of inheritance. When there was no first-born son the mayorazgo passed to the first-born daughter. When she married the mayorazgo then passed to her husband. As the court system evolved in medieval Spain the courts began hearing pleitos, litigations brought forward by sons and daughters who had been formally legitimized by the father via the church or by royal decree. Some pleitos continued on for years until a final judgement was made by the court.