High-ranking official in medieval Iberian royal household
This article is about the medieval court officer. For the modern military rank, see
Alférez (rank).
In
medieval Iberia, an alférez (Spanish:[alˈfeɾeθ], Galician:[alˈfeɾɪθ]) or alferes (Portuguese:[alˈfɛɾɨʃ], Catalan:[əlˈfeɾəs]) was a high-ranking official in the
household of a king or magnate. The term is derived from the
Arabicالفارس (al-fāris), meaning "knight" or "cavalier", and it was commonly
Latinised as alferiz or alferis, although it was also translated into Latin as armiger or armentarius, meaning "
armour-bearer". The connection with arms-bearing is visible in several Latin synonyms: fertorarius, inferartis, and offertor. The office was sometimes the same as that of the
standard-bearer or signifer.[1] The alférez was generally the next highest-ranking official after the
majordomo.[2] He was generally in charge of the king or magnate's mesnada (
private army), his personal retinue of
knights, and perhaps also of his
armoury and his guard. He generally followed his lord on campaign and into battle.
The office of alférez originated in the tenth century.[1] In the
Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the office of alférez changed hands with higher frequency than others, and there is also evidence of rotation. It is the only courtly office for which two officers are cited at the same time: Fortún Jiménez and Ortí Ortiz were both inferartes in a charter of 1043. In the kingdoms of
Castile and
León in the eleventh and twelfth centuries the office was generally bestowed on young noble members of the court, often as a prelude to promotion to the rank of
count.[1] It is known that
Alfonso VIII of Castile rewarded his alférezÁlvaro Núñez de Lara with the grant of a village for carrying his standard in the
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa.[3]
^
abcSimon Barton, The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile (Cambridge, 1997), 142–44.
^
abcdSimon Barton, The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile (Cambridge, 1997), 59.
^The date of the grant was 31 October 1212; the village was
Castroverde; and the surviving charter reads: "for the many services which you have done me in the field of battle, carrying my standard as a brave man" (pro seruitio plurimum comendando quod michi in campestri prelio fecistis, cum uexillum meum sicut uir strenuus tenuistis, cum Almiralmomeninum regem Cartaginis deuici). Cited in Simon Barton, The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile (Cambridge, 1997), 142 n217.
^Simon Barton, The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile (Cambridge, 1997), 227.
High-ranking official in medieval Iberian royal household
This article is about the medieval court officer. For the modern military rank, see
Alférez (rank).
In
medieval Iberia, an alférez (Spanish:[alˈfeɾeθ], Galician:[alˈfeɾɪθ]) or alferes (Portuguese:[alˈfɛɾɨʃ], Catalan:[əlˈfeɾəs]) was a high-ranking official in the
household of a king or magnate. The term is derived from the
Arabicالفارس (al-fāris), meaning "knight" or "cavalier", and it was commonly
Latinised as alferiz or alferis, although it was also translated into Latin as armiger or armentarius, meaning "
armour-bearer". The connection with arms-bearing is visible in several Latin synonyms: fertorarius, inferartis, and offertor. The office was sometimes the same as that of the
standard-bearer or signifer.[1] The alférez was generally the next highest-ranking official after the
majordomo.[2] He was generally in charge of the king or magnate's mesnada (
private army), his personal retinue of
knights, and perhaps also of his
armoury and his guard. He generally followed his lord on campaign and into battle.
The office of alférez originated in the tenth century.[1] In the
Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the office of alférez changed hands with higher frequency than others, and there is also evidence of rotation. It is the only courtly office for which two officers are cited at the same time: Fortún Jiménez and Ortí Ortiz were both inferartes in a charter of 1043. In the kingdoms of
Castile and
León in the eleventh and twelfth centuries the office was generally bestowed on young noble members of the court, often as a prelude to promotion to the rank of
count.[1] It is known that
Alfonso VIII of Castile rewarded his alférezÁlvaro Núñez de Lara with the grant of a village for carrying his standard in the
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa.[3]
^
abcSimon Barton, The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile (Cambridge, 1997), 142–44.
^
abcdSimon Barton, The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile (Cambridge, 1997), 59.
^The date of the grant was 31 October 1212; the village was
Castroverde; and the surviving charter reads: "for the many services which you have done me in the field of battle, carrying my standard as a brave man" (pro seruitio plurimum comendando quod michi in campestri prelio fecistis, cum uexillum meum sicut uir strenuus tenuistis, cum Almiralmomeninum regem Cartaginis deuici). Cited in Simon Barton, The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile (Cambridge, 1997), 142 n217.
^Simon Barton, The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile (Cambridge, 1997), 227.