Nuño Sánchez

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Seal of Nuño with the arms of Aragón and those of Lara displayed.

Nuño Sánchez (Catalan: Nunó or Nunyo Sanç, French: Nuno Sanche) (c.1185–1242) was the son of Sancho, Count of Provence, Count of Roussillon, and Count of Cerdagne, and Sancha Núñez of the House of Lara. He inherited only two of his fathers counties: Roussillon and Cerdagne on his father's death in 1223. His father was a son of Queen Petronila of Aragon of the royal House of Jiménez and Raymond Berengar IV, Count of Barcelona, of that ruling house.

His father gave him the counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne in 1212 and he was formally invested by the king of Aragon, Peter the Catholic. In 1215, his father married him to Peronella, daughter of Bernard IV of Bigorre. The marriage was annulled by Pope Honorius III the next year.

At the battlefield of Muret in 1213, Nuño arrived too late to save the king's life. He and his father subsequently served as regents for Peter's young heir, Nuño's first cousin once removed, James I. James reaced his majority in 1223, the same year Sancho died. Nuño then served as a chief advisor to the king in matters relating to the viscounty of Béarn. In 1225, Nuño abandoned the king and turned against him.

In 1226, he purchased the viscounties of Fenouillèdes and Peyrepertuse from the king of France, Louis the Lion, to whom he did homage.

He was invited to participate in an expedition against Majorca in 1229 and this probably represents his return to favour in the Aragonese court, where the conquest of Majorca from the Almoravids was long desired. In 1234, Majorca finally fell and Nuño was the recipient of much land. He used the title of "count" thereafter.

Nuño accompanied James on his military expeditions into Navarre and Valencia (conquered 1238).

In 1220, Nuño married Teresa López, daughter of Lupus III, lord of Biscay. They had no children, so his lands and titles fell to the king at his death, in late 1241 or early 1242. He was buried in the hospital of Bajoles, near Perpignan, now disappeared. He left an illegitimate son, the "Bastard of Roussillon," who defended the city of Elne from the French Aragonese Crusaders in 1284.