La Bureba
From 1165 to 1170 he was active throughout the kingdom as lord of La Bureba. According to Gerónimo Zurita, a Gonzalo Ruiz was in southern France in 1170, which is corroborated by two contemporary documents. This Gonzalo was part of a troupe of Castilian magnates and clerics charged with meeting Eleanor's entourage at Bordeaux and escorting her to Castile, through Aragon in the central Pyrenees because Navarre in the west was at war with Castile. This Gonzalo Ruiz was probably the lord of La Bureba, a "merindad" on the frontier with Navarre and consisting of the towns of Briviesca, Pancorbo, Valpuesta, and Oña.