THE SOVEROSA. A NOBILIARY KINSHIP AMONG THREE KINGDOMS. POWER AND RELATIONSHIP IN THE HISPANIC MIDDLE AGES (SS. XI-XIII)

Fernando Pérez Captivo was appointed second lieutenant by Alfonso Enríquez in 1129. He would be one of the main magnates at the court of the first king of Portugal. But despite his political importance in the birth of the new kingdom, he is an almost unknown man, since his ancestry is unknown. In this work a new identification of the Captivo is proposed. He is the origin of the Soverosa, a family that served the Lusitanian kings until the deposition of Sancho II in 1248. Afterwards, they lived in exile in Castile, without abandoning their Portuguese interests. Only knowledge of his origin and his kinship policy can explain his mobility between the courts for more than two centuries. Knights faithful to their king and others who change their fidelity, sons of kings, crusaders, troubadours, rebellious women and royal concubines, are the protagonists of this work, in which the lives and political careers of nine generations of this cross-border family are reconstructed. Thanks to the extension of their kinship networks in Portugal, León and Castilla, they managed to create a network of family solidarity that allowed their mobility between the courts. His service to several monarchs guaranteed the increase of his power and heritage in three kingdoms, at a time when Iberian monarchies were being built. The Soverosa are a powerful noble family in the western Hispanic kingdoms that, however, have gone almost unnoticed by historians of the kingdoms of León and Castile.