Hermenegildo Alóitez

Hermenegildo Alóitez
Count of Présaras
Sobrado Abbey, founded by Hermenegildo and his wife Paterna
Born	c. 898
Died	966 Sobrado, Galicia
Buried	Monastery of Sobrado dos Monges, Galicia
Noble family	Ancestor of the House of Traba
Spouse(s)	Paterna Gundesíndiz
Issue See Descendants
Father	Alóito Gutiérrez
Mother	Argilo Alóitez

Hermenegildo Alóitez (c. 898 – before 966), was a magnate and member of the highest nobility of Galicia in the 10th-century. His parents were Count Aloito Gutiérrez and Argilo Alóitez, daughter of Alóito and Paterna, the founders of the Monastery of Cines in the territory of Nendos, A Coruña.

Hermenegildo came from a prominent family with ties to the crown and church. A paternal uncle was Count Hermenegildo Gutiérrez, who defeated the Muslim troops and conquered Oporto and Coimbra and was the father of Queen Elvira Menéndez, wife of King Ordoño II, and grandfather of Saint Rudesind, of Queen Adosinda Gutiérrez, the first wife of King Ramiro II, and of Count Osorio Gutiérrez the founder of the Monastery of Lourenzá. A Count Osorio, the other grandfather of Queen Adosinda and Count Osorio Gutiérrez, has been identified as another uncle. He had three brothers; Gundesindo Alóitez, Bishop of Iria Flavia, Arias, and Count Gutierre Alóitez.

In 920, he was named Count of Présaras by King Ramiro II whom he served as his mayordomo mayor from 937 to 949. With his wife Paterna he founded in 952 the Monastery of Sobrado dos Monges. This monastery was inherited by his descendants, members of the House of Traba, and nearly two centuries later, in January 1142, two of the most relevant members of this lineage, the brothers Fernando and Bermudo Pérez de Traba, handed it over to the Cistercian monks. In 958, Hermenegildo and Paterna transferred the county of Présaras to the monastery which they had founded and, in that same year, he retired there where he lived as a monk the rest of his life. He died before 10 December 966 and was buried at his monastery.