Pedro Manrique de Lara

Pedro Manrique de Lara (died January 1202), commonly called Pedro de Molina or Peter of Lara, was a Castilian nobleman and military leader of the House of Lara. Although he spent most of his career in the service of Alfonso VIII of Castile, he also served briefly Ferdinand II of León (1185–86) and was Viscount of Narbonne by hereditary right after 1192. He was one of the most powerful Castilian magnates of his time, and defended the Kingdom of Toledo and the Extremadura against the Almohads. He also fought the Reconquista in Cuenca, and was a "second founder" of the monasteries of Huerta and Arandilla.

Pedro was married three times. By his first marriage, to a Navarrese princess, he forged a connexion with the lineage of the folk hero El Cid, and scholars have suggested that Lara patronage lies behind the epic Poema de mio Cid. Pedro's second wife was a relative of Henry II of England. Pedro's trans-Pyrenean connexions explain his adoption of seals for authenticating documents; he is the first Spanish aristocrat from whom an examples survives. He also adopted the style "by the grace of God" to indicate his independence in ruling the lordship of Molina, which he inherited from his father.

Pedro was the eldest son and heir of Manrique Pérez de Lara and Ermessinde, daughter of Aimery II of Narbonne. He regularly called himself "de Lara", a toponymic surname first employed by his grandfather and namesake Pedro González. Pedro's descendants adopted his own patronymic, Manrique, as part of their surname. Pedro's patrimony was extensive, but he is well known among historians for how much of it he mortgaged or sold for a small profit. This had led to the accusation that he was a poor administrator. He owned land at Cogolludo.

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