Gonzalo de Marañón

Who is Gonzalo de Marañón?

Gonzalo de Marañón was a Castilian magnate during the reigns of Alfonso VII, Sancho III, and Alfonso VIII. By January 1174 he had attained the rank of count, the highest in the kingdom. He was one of the earliest members of the Spanish nobility to adopt a toponymic as a family name. His interests lay in the far east of the kingdom, in areas once a part Navarre, and his toponymic indicates Navarrese origins.

Although, according to Luis de Salazar y Castro, his father was Rodrigo Pérez de Marañón, this filiation has not been documented. He married Mayor García de Aza, daughter of García Garcés de Aza and his wife, Sancha Pérez. Their marriage is first recorded in 1169, when Alfonso VIII made a donation of the village of Villasequilla to the couple. Gonzalo was a frequent recipient of royal largesse. On 19 September 1144 Alfonso VII granted him the village of Sartaguda, and in 1176 Alfonso VIII confirmed all the grants previously made—though we cannot be sure what all they were—save that of Mamblas. In 1148 Manrique Pérez de Lara and his relatives gave some houses in Toledo to Gonzalo, allowing him to expand his interests into the largest and most prosperous city in the kingdom.