Maria Aires de Fornelos (abt. 1157)

Born about 1157 in Guimarães, Portugal

Ancestors

Descendants

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Maria Aires de Fornelos was a member of the aristocracy in Europe.

Biography

Maria was born about 1165.

Sancho I and his mistress, Maria Aires de Fornelos, daughter of Aires Nunes de Fornelos and Maior Pais, who was buried at the Monastery of Santo Tirso in accordance with her last will, Sancho had two children, both born before his marriage to Dulce of Aragon. These two are: Martin (Martinho) Sanches (born before 1175 (Count of Trastámara. Martin married Elo Pérez de Castro, daughter of Pedro Fernández de Castro, with no issue from this marriage; and Urraca Sanches (born before 1175),was married to Lourenço Soares, son of Soeiro Venegas and Sancha Bermúdez de Traba.

Livro Velho: Ayres (or Aires) Nunes de Fornelos and his wife D. Mor Peres "a Prove" were parents of D. Sueyro Ayres de Fornelos, D. Pedro Ayres and Da. Maria Ayres. It adds that Maria was Sancho's mistress. The Nobiliario of Pedro de Barcelos adds that she had children by Sancho (D. Martim Sanches and Da. Urraca Sanches) who were born after the queen's death (so those children must have been born after 1 Sep 1198, recorded death date for queen Dulcia.

The Livro Velho adds that she later married (as his first wife) D. Gil Vasques de Soverosa, by whom she had D. Martim Gil "o Bom", D. Fernao Gil e Da. Tereja [sic] Gil, who was later mistress "d'el rey de Leao" (this is Alfonso IX, king of León, and Teresa Gil de Soverosa was one of his many mistresses). Pedro de Barcelos states that they had four children: 1) Da Sancha Alfonso, married to Simón Ruíz, Lord of Los Cameros; 2) Da. María Alfonso, who first married "D. Alvar Fernandes filho do conde D. Fernando de Lara o que jaz em Fiteiros" but didn't have children, then became mistress (one of the many he had) of her nephew D. Alfonso X, king of Castile and León (by whom she had a daughter "D. Berenguera", maybe the wife of D. Pedro Núñez de Guzmán, according to Szabolcs de Vajay, although Pedro de Barcelos states that she was married but childless without saying who her husband was), and then married "D. Suer Ayres de Valladares" by whom she was mother of "D. Pedro Soares de Sarraça e D. Affonso Soares" (offspring well known) 3) D. Martín Alfonso de León, about whom Pedro de Barcelos says married "D. Maria Mendez" (daughter "D. Mendo Gonçalez de Sousa") but they were childless. 4) Da. Urraca Alfonso, who, according to Pedro de Barcelos, married first "D. Garcia Romero en Aragon" (García Romeu II, Lord of Tormos, Pradilla and El Frago) and second (as his second wife) D. Pedro Núñez de Guzmán (the same one that Szabolcs de Vajay indicates had married previously D. Berenguela Alfonso, Urraca's niece). Pedro de Barcelos adds that she didn't have any child.

Pedro de Barcelos was a near contemporary of all these people and their close relative as a natural son King Diniz (Dionis) of Portugal, however it contains mistakes.

Pedro de Barcelos and a Grande Enciclopedia Portuguesa e Brasileira, T. 26, p. 914; the Linhagens Medievais Portugueses (José Augusto de Sotto Mayor Pizarro), T. 1, p. 168: the Nobiliário das Famílias de Portugal (Felgueiras Gaio), T. 4, p. 408; and the Nobreza de Portugal e Brasil (Direcção de Afonso Eduardo Martins Zuquete), T. 1, p. 141, all state she married Lourenço Soares [de Ribadouro]. According to sources quoted above indicate she had one child (D. Egas Lourenço "o bom", an ancestor of the Venegas family in Andalusia).

Sources

Catalogo historial genealogico de los Senores y Condes de la casa y villa de Fernanunez... By Luis de Salazar y Castro.

a) Os Livro de Linhagens, I, Livro Velho, Portugaliæ Monumenta Historica, Scriptores, Vol. I, Fasc. II, p. 167. b) Pedro Barcelos, Tit. VII, Reyes de Portugal, 3 p. 30. c) Szabolcs de Vajay 'From Alfonso VII to Alfonso X, the first two centuries of the Burgundian dynasty in Castile and Leon - a prosopographical catalogue in social genealogy, 1100-1300', Studies in Genealogy and Family History in tribute to Charles Evans, edited Lindsay L Brook (Association for the Promotion of Scholarship in Genealogy Ltd, Occasional Publication no 2, 1989, Salt Lake City, Utah), p. 386.