Pedro González de Lara

Pedro González de Lara (died 16 October 1130) was a Castilian magnate. He served Alfonso VI as a young man, and later became the lover of Alfonso's heiress, Queen Urraca. He may have joined the First Crusade in the following of Raymond IV of Toulouse, earning the nickname el Romero ("the wanderer, pilgrim"). At the height of his influence he was the most powerful person in the kingdom after the monarch. The proponderance of his power in Castile is attested in numerous documents between 1120 and 1127. He opposed the succession of Urraca's legitimate heir, Alfonso VII. This dispute ended with his premature death.

It was in Pedro's generation that the use of toponymics, as opposed to just patronymics, began in Spain. Pedro was the first member of his family to use the surname "de Lara", a practice continued by his descendants. A good example of Pedro's style is found in a royal charter of 1 February 1124: uenerabilis comes dominus Petrus de Lara, "the venerable count Don Pedro de Lara".

Pedro González was son of count Gonzalo Núñez de Lara, the first clearly identifiable member of the Lara family and his wife, Goto Núñez. He had a brother, count Rodrigo González, and was a kinsman of count Gonzalo Salvadórez, who also held land in Lara. The Lara family lands were located in Old Castile. Between 27 December 1088 and 10 November 1091 Pedro served as alférez, standard-bearer of the king's retinue. At the end of his service he was signing royal documents immediately beneath the names of the counts of the realm. He was replaced as alférez by Gómez González by early 1092. A charter dated May 1098 referring to "Count Pedro, alférez" is almost certainly a forgery or a corruption, since Gómez is known to have still held that post in March, April and May of that year, and Pedro is never referred to as count before 1107.

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