Abunazar (my final word on it)

[Francisco Antonio Doria]

First, as a result of the problems we've had around here with our system,
I've been disconnected and haven't received anything since last Monday.
So, I'll start with the last I've got from Todd:

1) Egica > Egas?

Linguistically impossible. `Egas' usually appears as `Enneca' in those
documents. First `n' in `nn' indicates a palatalization; the name sounds
(and should sound) like `I~nega,' (Spanish notation for the palatal).
Egica, an old Visigothic name, is (as far as I can recall) only attested
in the de Sousa family.

Moreover one sees that `Egas' appears in the family of Ero Fernandes
count of Lugo in a female line that begins at a Munio (Nu~no). From that
fellow it goes down to the family of Marnel (Egas Eris Iala). That's
besides the Ribadouro clan.

2) Lovesendes/Lovasendes.

Several closely related clans have members with names in -endo, like St.
Rosendo, Trutesendo, Gondesendo. Those families are the family of Baya~o,
the descendants of dominus Evenandus - who had the monastery of Moreira
da Maya - and the da Maya family. Common kinship goes through the family
of Ero Fernandes, count of Lugo, who seems to be the true ancestor of the
Bay~oes. (There is an Arualdo among their possible descendants, as
Mattoso points out.) I wonder whether Lovesendo Whatever, the father of
Abunazar Lovesendes, wasn't a member of that clan.

3) Abunazar.

Mattoso presents that form of the name when he discusses Trutesendo
Fromariques `Cid,' the son (as he sees the question) of a Fromarico
Abunazar `Cid,' which is the Cid Abunazar (sorry, Cid Abuuazar) that
appears in the Santo Tirso document. Source is an actual document in a
collection of chartae in the Coimbra library. Even if a copy, I would
trust it more that the (published) version of dom Antonio Caetano's.
Especially because the name makes some sense.

-----

A note on Miragaia.

Miragaia is the legend that surrounds the birth of dom Alboazar Ramires
(the historical Abunazar Lovasendes). We can summarize it in a few lines:
dom Ramiro, king of Leon, loses his beautiful wife Aldara to a moor,
Alboazar Albocad~ao, lord of Gaya, who kidnaps and then seduces the lady.
Queen dona
Aldara falls in love with the moor. Dom Ramiro goes to the castle of
Gaya, near Oporto, and with a subterfuge conquers it, kills the moor.
However his wife refuses to return to him (she was truly in love with the
moor) and kills herself. Then dom Ramiro marries the moor's sister
Ortega, and their son inherits the whole place.

That legend is in my opinion a rationalization of Ramiro II's conquest of
northern Portugal. Alboazar Albocada~o (which I `translate' as Abu-Nazar
ibn Zaydan) was said to be the greatest overlord in that region, `da Gaya
the Santarem,' from Gaya to Santarem near Lisbon. The succesion line
through dom Alboazar Ramires also mythically explains and legitimates the
family's ownership of their fief.

After pondering it a bit during the weekend, I cautiously suggest that
Lovesendo ... was a member of the Lugo/Baya~o clan (I still think that
his name has Frankish overtones) who married into the - so far mythical -
family of that Abu-Nazar ibn Zaydan.

Was he a descendant of the Ummayad amirs? In my opinion it's plausible
and chronologically reliable. Internally consistent. I'd be happy if
there where some more documentary evidence about him or his family, but I
don't read arabic, am just an amateur and don't know how to go that far.

Best,

Chico Doria