page_title: Suero Vermúdez
section_title: Supporter of Urraca
hierarchical_section_title: Suero Vermúdez / Supporter of Urraca
caption_attribution_description: Sena de Luna (León)
context_page_description: Suero Vermúdez was an Asturian nobleman, extensive landowner, patron of churches, territorial governor, and military leader. He was an important man in León and Castile during the reigns of three monarchs—Alfonso VI, Urraca, and Alfonso VII—all of whom he served with notable loyalty, never taking part in any revolt, but aiding his sovereigns in wars against rebels, against rivals, and against the Moors. The primary sources for the life of Suero are the contemporary narratives the Historia compostellana and the Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris and some 150 surviving charters which make mention of, were drawn up by, or confirmed by Suero. Suero held extensive interests in ecclesiastical properties. Out of his enormous wealth he was a generous patron of monasteries, and appears to have favoured the Benedictines and the Cluniac reform. The Chronica describes Suero, one of the few noblemen it praises, as "a man strong in counsel and a seeker of truth" and "a lover of peace and truth and a faithful friend of the king".
context_section_description: Suero married Enderquina Gutiérrez, daughter of Gutierre Rodríguez and an important member of the Castilian aristocracy. On 30 December 1110 she received a grant from Queen Urraca and was styled comitissa (countess). Since women were not granted that title independently but used it only in the case that their husbands were counts, by this time Enderquina must have been married to Suero. On 27 June 1114 the couple made a gift of land at Torre de Babia to a certain vassal of theirs, Pelayo Fróilaz, for his loyal service. It is the first of series of donations between 1114 and 1129 that the couple made displaying their magnificent landed wealth. On 9 February 1116 Suero is cited in one charter as ruling the city and towers of León, the old imperiale culmen (imperial summit). It is probable that he also ruled the surrounding country. He certainly owned property in León, and he may have previously been its count in 1114. He is described as legionensium comes (count of the Leonese), possibly a mere title with no attendant jurisdiction. Over the next fifteen years he appears governing briefly at Gordón, Astorga, Cordove, and, in 1131, in Laciana and Paredes.
  After the marriage of Alfonso VI's heiress, Urraca, to the King of Aragon and Navarre, Alfonso the Battler, in 1110, Suero consistently supported the queen against her husband. He was one of those who had confirmed Urraca's first act as successor of her husband Raymond in Galicia in December 1107. Only a day after the burial of Alfonso VI, on 22 July 1109, Suero was again one of those who confirmed Urraca's first act as successor. After the coronation of the queen's son by Raymond of Galicia, Alfonso VII, in September 1111, Suero, owing in part to his proximity to the Galician power base of Alfonso VII's backers, was the queen's most important supporter. By the fall of 1116 negotiations had begun between Urraca and Alfonso at Sahagún. According to the Historia compostellana, Suero and fellow Asturian Munio Peláez were the main defenders of the former, while the latter was supported by Diego Gelmírez, Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, and Pedro Fróilaz de Traba. At Sahagún it was agreed to divide the realm into two spheres of authority, but these are not defined, although Galicia went undoubtedly to Alfonso VII. The accord was to last three years.
  In February 1117, however, Suero confirmed a diploma of Alfonso the Battler's as "Count Suero of Luna", perhaps having received Luna, in the mountains of León, from Alfonso. Suero can be further cited ruling Luna between 14 April 1117 and 27 March 1131. Suero and Enderquina received a gift of royal largesse as a reward for their loyal service ("in return for service", propter servicium) on 27 April 1120 from Urraca. On 26 March 1128 they received a second gift from Alfonso VII.
  On 29 May 1117 Suero and Enderquina exchanged the monasteries of San Salvador de Perlora and San Andrés de Pravia with Bishop Pelayo of Oviedo for the monastery of San Juan de Teverga. This transaction was made in León, where it was confirmed by Urraca. On 4 March 1120 or 1121 Suero and Enderquina granted some properties they owned in Burgos to the Cathedral of Burgos. This charter survives in its original in the archives of the cathedral.
caption: The region around Sena de Luna, the centre of the comarca of Luna and Suero's most enduring lordship.
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