Ponce Giraldo de Cabrera

Ponce Giraldo de Cabrera (floruit 1105–1162), called Ponç Guerau (or Grau) in Catalan or Pons in Occitan, was a Catalan nobleman, courtier and military leader in the kingdoms of León and Castile.

Ponce came to León in the entourage of Berenguela, daughter of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, when she married King Alfonso VII of León at Saldaña in November 1127. Immediately after his arrival, Ponce assumed a position of some importance in the kingdom. By 1143 he held the title of count (Latin comes), the highest rank of the Leonese nobility. By 1145 he had been appointed the king's majordomo, the highest official in the realm.

Ponce was a son of Guerau II de Cabrera, the first viscount of Àger and Girona, and thus a great-grandson of Arnau Mir de Tost. His mother was Guerau's second wife, Elvira, probably a daughter of the Leonese magnate Pedro Ansúrez and his wife Elo Alfonso. Ponce was born between 1098 and 1105; he had two brothers, Ferrer Guerau and Bernat (Bernard) Guerau, both born before 1100. In his father's will of 1131, he was nominated as heir to the greater part of his father's lands and titles. Ponce succeeded his father in 1132 as Viscount Ponç II. By 1145 he had ceded control over Àger and Girona to his son, Guerau III de Cabrera.

In the nineteenth year of King Louis VI of France (1126/7), Ponce witnessed Count Raymond Berengar III of Barcelona grant the guardianship (baiulia) of the young heir to the viscounty of Bas to his seneschal, Guillem Ramon II de Montcada. In the charter, Ponce's surname is given as de Capraria. There is a charter dated to 25 October 1122 in which Ponce, using the vicecomital title, pledges fealty to the bishop of Girona, Berenguer Dalmau. If authentic, this charter, found in the Cartoral de Carles Many cartulary, shows that Ponce was already sharing in the government of the Cabrera lands with his father as early as 1122.

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