Vela Ladrón

Vela Ladrón or Latrónez (died 1174) was a Spanish nobleman who ruled the Basque counties of Álava, Biscay (Vizcaya) and Guipúzcoa. He succeeded his father as count of Álava in 1155 or 1156. He acquired Biscay around 1160 and Guipúzcoa around 1162. He was effectively an independent prince able to divide his allegiance between the kings of Castile and Navarre.

The Vela family was descended from Vela Ladrón's namesake, Vela Aznárez, a Navarrese nobleman of Guipúzcoa from the reign of Sancho IV (1054–76). A local dynasty, members of the family ruled Álava continuously from 1131 until 1179. Vela Ladrón was the eldest son of Count Ladrón Íñiguez, who ruled the same Basque counties with the same divided allegiance. (Vela's surname, Ladrón or Latrónez, merely indicates his father's name.) Vela had two sons: Juan Vélaz, who succeeded him in Álava, and Pedro Vélaz. Pedro held the tenancies of Malvecín in 1174, Arlucea in 1189–94 and Aizorroz in 1194. His son, Ladrón Pérez, held the castle of Javier in 1217.

Like his father, Vela was a lay brother of the Order of the Temple. According to a list of lay brothers compiled in the twelfth century, he pledged to donate to the order one morabetino annually on Michaelmas and to supply it with one horse with a knight's equipment upon his death. His son Pedro also associated himself with the order as a lay brother.

When war broke out between Emperor Alfonso VII of León and Castile and King García Ramírez of Navarre in 1136, Count Ladrón's land were plundered and the count was captured by Alfonso's forces. On 14 September, Ladrón did homage to Alfonso for the county of Álava, transferring his allegiance from Navarre to Castile. Guipúzcoa and Biscay, however, probably remained outside of Castilian control. It is likely that the lands were administered by Vela during Ladrón's captivity, since the count's son was already an adult by then. In 1137, Vela succeeded his father in the tenancy of Aibar in central Navarre. He was still holding it as late as 1147, but by 1150 "count Ladrón was ruling [again] in Aibar and lord Vela in Leguín." There is a false document dated to 1149, which records how Vela came to possess a mayorazgo in Oñate: "I, Count Ladrón, by the grace of God, prince of the Navarrese, give to you my son, Vela Ladrón, all my inheritance that is in Oñate."

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