Title

Royal Grant to Pedro Fernández de Velasco, 1st Count of Haro, and his heirs in Perpetuity the Merindad Mayor of Castilla la Vieja

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Object history

Grant by John II (1405-1454), King of Castile and León, to Pedro Fernández de Velasco (1401-1470), first Count of Haro, and his heirs in perpetuity, of the Merindad Mayor de Castilla la Vieja. Document signed in Avila, September 6, 1445. The Count was a great benefactor of the monastery of Santa Clara in Medina de Pomar (Burgos), in whose church the family pantheon was laid out.

Son of Juan Fernández de Velasco, lord of Medina de Pomar and Briviesca, and María Solier, lady of Villalpando, the count was one of the most powerful nobles of Castile in the 15th century; he exercised royal power during the Trastámara dynasty, with the reigns of Juan II and Enrique IV. His lordship extended and strengthened the domains inherited from his lineage, between the greater merindad of Old Castile and the lesser merindad of La Bureba. He married a lady of high Castilian lineage, Beatriz Manrique de Lara, and was a key figure during the reign of John II, who made him a trusted nobleman and appointed him chief steward, later he received the position of merino mayor of Castile. His dedication to the protection of the borders with the kingdom of Navarre gave him a new grant from the monarch John II: the towns of Haro and Belorado, which he added to his already extensive lordship. In 1430 he received the title of Count of Haro, and continued to support the king against the princes of Aragon; the victory of John II against them, played in favor of Fernandez de Velasco, who after the death of the monarch continued to serve his heir, the monarch Henry IV, who in 1462 granted the Count of Haro the title of Constable of Castile (Arsuaga Laborde, 2016).

Description

Parchment illuminated with silk threads and lead seal.

Locations

• Unknown date

  museum

  The Hispanic Society of America, New York (United States)

• present

  province

  Ávila, Ávila (Spain)