Gonçalo I Mendes

Gonzalo Menéndez (or Gonçalo Mendes) (fl. 950–997) was a Count of Portugal in the Kingdom of León. He regularly carries the title count (comes), the highest in the kingdom, in surviving documents. He may have used the title magnus dux portucalensium ("great duke of the Portuguese"). His name in contemporary records is usually spelled Gundisaluus Menendiz.

Gonzalo was a son of count Hermenegildo González and Mumadona Dias, and named for his grandfather, count Gonzalo Betótez. His father was dead by 950, when his widow distributed some of his lands. In the pertinent document Gonzalo is mentioned for the first time (24 July 950).

In 966, Gonzalo assassinated Sancho I of León. He invited him to a banquet and fed him poisoned food, an apple according to some sources. In the late 960s Gonzalo's lands came under the ravages of the Vikings. In 968, he fell out with king Ramiro III after the latter refused to fight them. In the factional and successional politics of the time, Gonzalo may be said to have favoured the line of Ordoño III and his son Vermudo II over Sancho I and his son Ramiro III.

A dispute between Gonzalo's mother, abbess of Guimarães in her widowhood, and a relative of the Galician magnate Rodrigo Velásquez, spurred a rivalry between the two families that would span several years. Rodrigo's brother's sister-in-law, Guntroda, abbess of Pazóo, had appropriated the monastery of Santa Comba, which belonged to a monk name Odoino, who appealed to Mummadomna for support. She sent her sons Gonzalo and Ramiro to force Guntroda to return it volens nolens (willing or not). The conflict left to open warfare between the factions led by Gonzalo and Rodrigo. In 968 or perhaps 974, Gonzalo defeated his rival in the Battle of Aguioncha.

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