Nuno Mendes (count)

Nuno Mendes or Nuno II (d. February 1071) was the last Count of Portugal from the family of Vímara Peres. The son of Count Mendo Nunes, his desires for greater autonomy for Portugal led him to face King Garcia II of Galicia^[1] and claim the title of King of Portugal in 1070. On 18 February 1071 he fought in the Battle of Pedroso,^[1][2] near the Monastery of Tibães, and his defeat and death led the winning Garcia II to call himself King of Galicia and Portugal. The County of Portugal was then subsumed into the crowns of Galicia and León until regranted by King Alfonso VI of León and Castile a quarter-century later.

A patron of the Monastery of Guimarães,^[1], he first appears in the curia regis of King Ferdinand I of León in 1059, and with the title of count for the first time in 1070 when he appears confirming a donation made by King Garcia II. He married Goncina with whom he appears on 17 February 1071 making a donation to the Monastery of Santo Antonino de Barbudo of some properties in Luivão, confirming as Ego comes Nunus Menendiz et uxor mea comitissa domna Goncina. Although the battle of Pedroso has been mistakenly dated in January of that year, as mentioned in the Chronica Gothorum, this donation proves that the battle took place in February rather than in January.^[3]

With his wife Goncina, he had at least one daughter, Loba "Aurevelido" Nunes, who married Sisnando Davides, the parents of Elvira Sisnandes whose husband, Count Martim Moniz, son of Munio Fromarigues, succeeded Sisnando as the governor of the county.^{[4] [5]}

References

Bibliography

• Carvalho Correia, Francisco (2008). O Mosteiro de Santo Tirso de 978 a 1588: a silhueta de uma entidade projectada no chao de uma história milenária (in Portuguese). Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela: Servizo de Publicacións e Intercambio Científico. ISBN 978-84-9887-038-1. 
• Costa, Avelino de Jesus da (1956). "A restauração da diocese de Braga". Revista Lusitania Sacra (in Portuguese) (1). pp. 17–28. ISSN 0076-1508. 
• Mattoso, José (1970). "A nobreza portucalense dos séculos IX a XI". Do tempo e da história (in Portuguese) (III) (Lisbon: Instituto de alta cultura. Centro de estudos históricos). pp. 35–50. 
• Saravia, Anísio Miguel de Sousa (coordinator) (2013). Espaço, poder e memória: a Catedral de Lamego, sécs. XII a XX (in Portuguese). Lisbon: Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Centro de Estudos de História Religiosa. ISBN 978-972-8361-57-0.