Gonzalo Téllez

Gonzalo Téllez (died c. 915) was a nobleman who was Count of Lantarón and Cerezo (c. 897–c. 915) and is also mentioned in a document dated 903 as Count of Castile. He and his wife were the founders of the Monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza.

Because of the relentless incursions of the armies of the Emirate of Córdoba from the end of the 8th-century against the counties of Castile and Álava, which intensified in the first decades of the 9th-century, it became necessary to build several defensive fortifications, including those at Cerezo in Castile and at Lantarón and Astúlez in Álava. The first mention of a count governing Álava exclusively dates to 882 when Vela Jiménez appears as tenente of the region, which was possibly governed previously by Count Rodrigo of Castile.

Near the end of his reign, King Alfonso III of Asturias (866–910) reorganized these easternmost lands and divided them into counties, appointing as governors of each of these his most trusted counts. Gonzalo Téllez was one of these counts and was entrusted with the government of Cerezo and Lantarón, the latter being particularly important because of its strategic location from where the count was able to control access to the valley of the Omecillo and the land along the banks of the River Ebro adjacent to Miranda.

Following the death of the Emir of Córdoba Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi in 912, his successor Abd-ar-Rahman III first had to dedicate his efforts to quashing the rebels of Al-Andalus. King García I of León seized the opportunity and in 913 went to the eastern march of the Kingdom of León, to the dominions of Count Gonzalo. From there, his armies advanced towards La Rioja and conquered Nájera and Calahorra, and laid siege to Arnedo, which resisted. Nevertheless, the Christian troops soon withdrew, possibly because the king had become seriously ill.

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