Gómez González

Who is Gómez González?

Gómez González, called de Lara or de Candespina, was a Castilian nobleman and military leader who had some claim to being Count of Castile. He was the eldest son and successor of Gonzalo Salvadórez and his wife Sancha, and thus kinsman of the Lara family. Like his father, he perished in battle.

Gómez first appears in 1084, a year after his father's death. There exists a forged charter purporting to show Gómez, with the title Count, making a donation to the monastery of San Salvador de Oña in 1087. Donations to the same monastery by the same man, recorded in 1084, 1094, and 1099, are potentially authentic. It is unknown when he took a wife, but by 1107 he was married to a woman named Urraca Muñoz. She gave him two daughters and two sons: Diego, Stephanie, Rodrigo, and Sancha.

In 1090 he was given the government of the fiefdoms of Cerezo de Riotirón and Pancorbo, both of which he held until his death, and Petralata, which he held until 1106. By November 1092 Gómez had succeeded as royal alférez or armiger of Alfonso VI, a post he held until April 1099. By the beginning of 1099 he carried the high title of count, which was typically attained by a young nobleman after a stint as alférez. In 1097 he briefly appears with the fief of Poza and towards the end of his life he held Avià. His most significant fief was the Bureba, an important frontier zone bordering Navarre, and which his father had held before him. He was granted it in 1102 and held it until 1107. In 1107 Gómez made an endowment to the parish church of Busto.