Alonso Pérez de Guzmán El Bueno

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Don Alonso Pérez de Guzmán (1256-1309), surnamed El Bueno, the good, in the sense of good at need, or stout-hearted, was the founder of the line which the dukes of Medina Sidonia belonged to. In 1296 he defended the town of Tarifa on behalf of Sancho IV de León y Castilla. Guzmán had been given charge of Tarifa, recently captured from the Moors, despite having fought for Alfonso X against the rebellion of his son Sancho IV. Guzmán held Tarifa's castle against the siege of the Moors and the Infante Don Juan, Sancho's rebellious brother.

[edit] An act of defiant heroism

Guzmán's son had been placed under the care of Don Juan who attempted to kill the captive unless Guzmán surrendered the city. According to legend, Guzmán rebuffed the demand with dramatic words: according to one rendition, "I did not beget a son to be made use of against my country, but that he should serve her against her foes. Should Don Juan put him to death, he will but confer honour on me, true life on my son, and on himself eternal shame in this world and everlasting wrath after death." Guzman puncuated his words by throwing his own knife down for the besiegers to use in killing his son. [1] He was rewarded by large grants of crown land. The ducal title was conferred by John II in 1445 on one of his descendants, Juan Alonzo de Guzmán, count of Niebla. The addition "El Bueno" to the family name of Guzmán was used by several of the house, which included many statesmen, generals and colonial viceroys.

[edit] Origins of the Guzmán Family

The family of Guzmán was originally lords of Abiados, on the southern slopes of the Picos de Europa, in the hill country of León. The name is believed to be a contraction or corruption of Gundamaris, i.e. son of Gundemar. An early family tradition represents them as having come from Britain, and they may have descended from one of the Scandanavian invaders who attacked the north coast of Spain in the 10th century. It is in the tenth century that they first appear, and they were already prominent by the time of the Reconquista, the reconquest of the lands of Iberia held by the Muslims.

Recent evidence unearthed in the family archives by the current Duchess of Medina Sidonia disputes this view. Instead, it suggests that Guzmán el Bueno was actually a Muslim, and he may have been born in the Moorish territories across the Straits of Gibraltar.