House of Zúñiga

The House of Zúñiga is a Spanish noble lineage who took their name from their domain. Their members were distinguished in the service of the Spanish crown in Europe and the Americas as viceroys, governors, military, diplomats, writers and members of religious orders. Charles I of Spain in 1530 named two members of the family, the duke of Béjar and Plasencia and the count of Miranda del Castañar, among his Immemorial Grandees, while eight members of the family were invested into the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Sancho Iñiguez (1040-1110) was alférez mayor (a hereditary court office, held by high nobility, of king's banner bearer and high military commander) of Alfonso I Sanchez the Warrior, king of Aragón and Navarre, and he was the lord of the estate and valley of Stunica (today Zúñiga / Estuniga), located in the district of Estella (Navarre, Spain). He was the first of the lineage, who called himself Sancho Iñiguez de Stunica at the beginning of the 12th century. Their members would later be called indifferently Estunega, Estuniga, Astunica, Stunica, Estúñiga, Stúñiga. Alvaro de Zúñiga y Guzmán, I duke of Bejar and Plasencia, head of The House of Stunica/Estúñiga, castilianiced the surname in Zúñiga, after the pact of reconciliation with the queen of Castile and León Isabella I the Catholic signed on April 10, 1476.

The originally coats of arms of the Zúñiga lineage were: shield ground in gules (red) with a band in gold (yellow). The king Sancho VII of Navarre the Strong changed his coat of arms, commemorating the victory of the battle of Navas de Tolosa, waged on July 16, 1212, where he and his knights of Navarre defeated the stockade composed of the Black Guard, that chained together formed the human defense of the almohade caliph Mohammed al-Nasir, well known as Miramamolin. He changed his coats of arms from an eagle in sable (black) to a shield ground in gules (red) and put a chain of gold (yellow) of eight links and added one emerald (green) in its center. The chain represents the stockade composed of the Black Guard and the emerald symbolizes the caliph, known by his nickname the Green. His cousin Iñigo Ortiz de Stunica, II count of Marañón, lord of Stunica, Mendavía and others towns, who participated with his son Diego in the defeat of the stockade, made by the Black Guard, changed his coats of arms as well, adding a chain of gold (yellow) of eight links as border. As well other knights of Navarre, who participated in the defeat of the stockade, added the chain on their coats of arms, they were named Ramón de Peralta, Rodrigo Navarro, Ortun Diaz Urbina, Pedro Maza and Iñigo de Mendoza. Iñigo Ortiz de Stunica’s son Diego López de Stunica changed in 1270 the coats of arms of his lineage again as a sign of grief due to the death of king Saint Louis IX of France and king Theobald II of Navarre, who took part in the crusade called by pope Clement IV. The coat of arms of the Zúñiga lineage since this time is: shield ground in silver (white), a band of sable (black) and a gold (yellow) chain of eight links as a border.

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