Alfonso VII of León and Castile
The monastery was initially founded on a different site called Montesacro in about 1146 by Domingo Gómez, illegitimate son of Queen Urraca of León and Castile and her lover Count Gómez González de Candespina. Domingo had become interested in the Praemonstratensian order on a visit to France, and this was the first Praemonstratensian house in Spain. The monastery was then moved to its present site in 1152, having been given the estate of La Vid by Alfonso VII of León and Castile, who was the half-brother of Domingo Gómez.