Two Catalan magnates in the courts of the kings of León-Castile: The careers of Ponce de Cabrera and Ponce de Minerva re-examined

Abstract

In November 1127, Alfonso VII of León-Castile (1126–1157) was married to Berenguela, the daughter of Count Ramón Berenguer III of Barcelona. Among the entourage that accompanied the princess to León were two members of the Catalan lay nobility: Ponce de Cabrera and Ponce de Minerva. Aided by the protective cloak of royal patronage, in the years that followed both magnates become prominent figures at the Leonese-Castilian court; they received lavish gifts of land from the crown; and they were granted authority over large areas of the kingdom. Their long and eventful careers provide a remarkable example of twelfth-century royal preferment, while the periods of exile they spent in Castile are a powerful reminder of the grim consequences that loss of favour at court could bring.