Nuño Pérez de Lara

Nuño Pérez de Lara (died 3 August 1177) was a Castilian nobleman, politician and military leader. He began his career at the court of the Emperor Alfonso VII, during whose reign he took part in the repoblación of the Extremadura and the defence of the Almohad frontier. Between 1164 and 1169 he governed Castile as regent for the underage Alfonso VIII, and he continued to exercise semi-regal power in the kingdom until 1176. He founded two monasteries and fostered the cult of Thomas Becket in Spain. He died taking part in the Reconquista of Cuenca.

Nuño was the third of four sons of Pedro González de Lara and his wife Ava, probably from northern France. His elder brothers were Álvaro and Manrique and he had a younger brother named Rodrigo. Sometime before March 1154 Nuño married Teresa Fernández, an illegitimate daughter of Fernando Pérez de Traba and Theresa of Portugal. Together they were the parents of Álvaro, Fernando, Gonzalo, Sancha (wife of Sancho, Count of Provence) and countess Elvira, perhaps wife of Ermengol VIII, Count of Urgell.

In February 1141 Nuño entered public life, subscribing a charter of the monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza. In March 1145 he was appointed imperial alférez, a post he held until February 1155, an unusually long term for an office that was typically held by younger noblemen early in their careers. In 1146 he held the tenencia of Aguilar de Campoo, his first recorded fief. He held an interest in some houses in the important city of Toledo, which he granted to Gonzalo de Marañón in November 1148. There exists a charter dated 1 July 1152 which claims to be a fuero conceded by Nuño with the consent of the king to the city of Castro Benavente, now Castronuño, but it is probably a forgery. The attached list of witnesses indicates that it cannot pre-date 1156, although the re-settlement of the town had occurred as early as 1154. It had been directed by Nuño with the assistance of bishop Navarro of Salamanca and his archdeacon Cipriano. The ecclesiastics took the lead in the construction of new churches and the provision of liturgical books and vestments, while Nuño oversaw the repopulation of the village. Between February and December 1154 Nuño received the frontier tenencia of Montoro.

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