LORDS OF ALBIRES (1090 - 1434)
Don Martín Díaz de Prado, I Lord of Albires, Valdetuéjar, Tarna, Caso and Belerda, was a powerful nobleman who lived during the reign of King Alfonso VII of Castile (1105 - 1157), Emperor of Hispania.
The old Kingdom of Spain was under Muslim occupation since the year 711. As Don Ruy Díaz de Vivar (El Cid) conquered the Kingdom of Valencia from the Moors (1099), Don Martín recaptured the Kingdom of Almería for the Christian Armies (1148). Since this knight played a role in the succession of crusades intended to re-conquer the Peninsula (Reconquista), King Alfonso VII of Castile rewarded his efforts granting him multiple lands and villages.
Don Martín Díaz de Prado, leading the conquest of Almería (1148)
In the year 1148, he received the village of Albires from King Alfonso VII, near Mayorga (current province of Valladolid), who also issued several privileges, "in order to reward the important services delivered by this Knight”. The chronicle from this King, referring to that donation, says that “it was one of the oldest and most signaled donations received by a Knight in Spain". "From this family have come many renowned Knights of the Kingdom of Leon, Galicia and Asturias, and holds many Manors and lands". In the year 1150, King Alfonso VII donated to him Belerda, Tarna and Caso, near river Nalón, in Asturias.
By marriage with the House of Gayoso-Taboada (Martul), this family also relates to Don Pedro Arias, Grand Master of the Order of Knights of Santiago, who died on August 3rd from the wounds received at the Battle of Navas de Tolosa, on July 16th, 1212.
Emblem of the Military Order of Knights of Santiago, of which Don Pedro Arias was Grand Master until his death at the Battle of Navas de Tolosa (1212)
Don Rodrigo Díaz de Prado, XI Lord of Albires, Valverde and Valdetuéjar, became the Lord of the Castle of Santa Olalla during the reign of King Henry II of Castile. Other ancestors, such as the Counts of Monterrey, the Lords of Ferreira and the Counts of Lemos, with whom the family is related through the House of Gayoso Taboada (Lords of Martul), fought in favor of King Don Pedro I of Castile at the Battle of Nájera (April 3rd, 1367).
Don Pedro Núñez de Prado, XIV Lord of Albires, was the grandson of Don Martín Díaz de Prado[1] and Doña Inés Álvarez de Osorio, daughter of Don Alvar Pérez de Osorio, who was created I Count of Villalobos on March 5th 1369 by King Henry II of Castile. In 1377, Don Alvar also obtained from this King the Land of Castroverde de Campos (Zamora, Spain). Don Alvar's mother was Doña María Rodriguez de Villlalobos, Baroness of Villalobos, who was the daughter of Doña Inés de la Cerda[2], granddaughter of Infante Don Ferdinand de la Cerda (1253 - 1275), eldest son of King Alfonso X "the Wise" (1221 - 1284). Through this ancestor, the House of Lemavia carries the blood of the Royal Dynasties of Spain, England, France, Germany and the Byzantine Empire.
Our ancestors fought on both sides at the Battle of Nájera (1367): Those related to the Lords of Martul took side in favor of King Don Pedro I of Castile,
but those related to the Lords of Albires supported the claim of King Don Henry II of Trastamara.
Don Alvar Pérez de Osorio married Doña Mayor de Velasco, daughter of Don Pedro Fernández de Velasco and Doña María de Sarmiento, ancestors of the Dukes of Frías[3].
From left to right, some Royal ancestors of the House of López de Prado: King Alfonso X of Castile and Leon "the Wise",
King Louis IX of France ("Saint Louis"), King Philip von Hohenstaufen of Germany and King Henry II of England
[1] Piferrer, Francisco (1858): Nobiliario de los Reinos y Señorios de España, Vol. II, pág. 80-82
[2] García Carraffa, Alberto (1968): Enciclopedia Hispanoamericana de Heráldica Genealogía y Onomástica, Voz: Osorio, Señores y Condes de Villalobos, Duques de Aguilar y Marqueses de Astorga.
[3] Don Pedro Fernández de Velasco, Duke of Frías, circa XVI, Manuscript of the National Library of Spain, Mss 3238, pages 21-22.