Salazar Ancestors - Rancel-Seral Family Tree

The surname SALAZAR can be found in all Spanish regions, as well as in Portugal and in all Latin America.

Quintana de Martín Galíndez, capital of the Tobalina Valley
(from Internet site on the Valle de Tobalina , designed by Miguel Ángel Herrán)

Members of the Nobility since the very begining of the County, later the Kingdom of Castille, the family maintained and transmited the genealogical information, at least for the main lines, along the centuries. This is the oldest line we know in our family tree. It begins in the 9th century, when Martín GALÍNDEZ de SALAZAR founded in year 844 the fortified Manor of Quintana de Martín Galíndez, in the Tobalina Valley (Province of Burgos, in Castille-León, very close to the border with the Basque Country). The family owned other estates, titles and lordships along the centuries, but the Lordship of Quintana de Martín Galíndez was preserved as the reference for the main or first-born line.

According to the tradition, Martín GALÍNDEZ de SALAZAR was a descendant, in 5 or 6 generations, of Eudes "the Great", Duke of Aquitaine who died in the year 725.

Salazar is a town in Northern Burgos, where evidently the family came from. The Lordship of Salazar was transmited within the family during several centuries.

Martín GALÍNDEZ fought in the Battle of Clavijo, in the year 844. Following the legendary tradition, it was during this battle when the Apostle Saint James (Santiago, in Spanish), riding a white horse, came down from heaven to help the Christian army in its struggle against the Muslims.

Santiago en Clavijo The Apostle James, Santiago, Saint Patron of Spain, riding his white horse in the Battle of Clavijo.

Martín GONZÁLEZ de SALAZAR, Martín GALÍNDEZ' grandson, was the Guard of Fernán González, the first Count of Castille after its independence from the Kingdom of Leon. Martín was at the time a very old man. It seems that all noblemen of the County agreed on appointing him as responsible for the education and custody of the young Count... precisely because of his age ("because due to his old age, he is unable to fight with arms..."). Hard times, when mistrust was the first rule for survival.

Martín's son, another Martín, was advisor of the same Count Fernán González, and his son García MARTÍNEZ de SALAZAR was advisor to the Count of Castille García Fernández, Fernán González's son.

Many members of this family took part in historic events. Our ancestor Gonzalo GARCÍA de SALAZAR, who lived at the same time than the famous hero the Cid Campeador -and it can be taken for sure that they were acquaintances, because both were members of the Castilian nobility- took part in the capture of Toledo from the Muslims, under King Alfonso VI of Castille. After him the family divided into two branches, which will reunite several generations after. One branch adopted the surname FRÍAS -the name of one of the towns in Tobalina Valley- and the other maintained the surname SALAZAR. Lope GARCÍA de SALAZAR fought in the Battle of las Navas de Tolosa (1212), which marked the begining ot the -long- end for the Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula. This battle opened Andalusia to the Castilian re-conquest.

Salazar Lope GARCÍA de SALAZAR, "the Man with the Stars".- another of our ancestors, who was born about 1241, was awarded by King Alfonso X the Wise with the family coat of arms. The story, told by chroniclers and historians with legendary tones, tells that Lope won in a fight and killed, in the presence of the King, a Moorish warrior who came from Northern Africa. This warrior was extraordinary tall, and he had won over and killed several Castilian knights. A legend of fear surrounded him. He wore a black cape orned with a red oval where thirteen golden stars shined. Lope, after killing his foe, took the cape from him and brought it to the King. Alfonso X awarded him this coat of arms as his personal and family's standard. The stars became the sign of the SALAZAR, and Lope was known as "the Man with the Stars".

Garci LÓPEZ de SALAZAR, one of Lope of the Stars' sons, was our ancestor. But much more famous than him was his elder brother, Lope "Brazo de Fierro" (Iron-arm) GARCÍA de SALAZAR. He lived between the 13th and 14th centuries. He has been considered as a very extreme example of the feudal times warrior. He inherited an old and deep rivalry with other nobiliary houses, like the Angulo and the Velasco, which had begun at his grandfather's time. Most of his life he fought in a continuos civil war among the clans. Attacks from the ones and the others to the neighbours' fortified manors and castles were terrible. One of the fortified manors which was destroyed and never rebuilt was the one of Salazar, where the family came from. Lope had over 100 ilegitimate sons and daughters. He legitimated all of them, and trained all his sons as members of his own, private family army. He died as a very old man -already at his time the legend told he was over 100 years old, although this is not sure. He died during a siege of Gibraltar, which at the time was a Muslim fortress.

Bonifaz tower, in Lomana (Tobalina Valley)
( from the Internet site on Valle de Tobalina , designed by Miguel Ángel Herrán)

The marriages of the SALAZAR, and of its FRÍAS branches, with other families, made them owners of several lordships and estates in the bordering country between Castille and Alava (Basque Country), like Estremiana, Cidamón, Tobalina, Tamayo, etc... These marriages added to our ancestors figures like the BONIFAZ family; like Alonso GONZÁLEZ del CASTILLO, Captain of the Guard of the Catholic Monarchs (Isabella and Ferdinand) and Governor of the Royal Fortress of the Alcázar de Segovia; or his wife Constanza de VASCONCELLOS, lady-in-waiting of Queen Isabella of Castille, the Catholic Queen.

The impressive Royal Fortress of the Alcázar de Segovia, whose Governor was our ancestor Alonso GONZÁLEZ del CASTILLO, father-in-law of Tomás de FRÍAS SALAZAR.

The SALAZAR branch from which we come from is the one of Rodrigo ALONSO de SALAZAR, who settled down in Burgos in the 15th century. His son Rodrigo united the surnames FRÍAS and SALAZAR from both family branches. He founded the Salazar Chapel with the family vault in San Estéban church of the old Castilian capital. The son of this second Rodrigo, Tomás de FRÍAS SALAZAR, took part in the Comuneros War, a sublevation of the cities against the Crown, defending the party of Emperor Charles I of Spain and V of Germany. Tomás' son, Ventura de FRÍAS SALAZAR, settled down in Lisbone, when Portugal was united to the Spanish Crown.

His son Cristóbal was the first SALAZAR of our ancestry who came to the Canary Islands -although not the first one of this surname, because members of other family branches came to the islands at the time of their conquest, one century before. Cristóbal was Governor of the Army of Tenerife. He married María de los RÍOS y VERGARA, daughter of Pedro de VERGARA y ALZOLA y LUGO, Lieutenant of the General Captain of the Canary Islands, member of the Island Council and Standard-bearer of Tenerife, and Governor of the Main Castle (San Cristóbal) of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Famous painting by Velázquez, in El Prado Museum at Madrid, "The Surrender of Breda" (also called "the Painting with the Spears"). One of the figures at the right... could be our ancestor Ventura SALAZAR de FRÍAS, who was captain of the victorious Spanish Army of Flanders.

And so we come to his son Ventura SALAZAR de FRÍAS, an army officer like his father, who fought -like he also did- in Flanders. Ventura took part in the capture of the city of Breda (Brabant, now South Netherlands), as a captain of the famous Tercios of Flanders in the year 1625. Ventura was born in Tenerife and he later came back to the islands. There he maintained a relationship -without marriage- with Juana LLANES, who lived in the town of El Sauzal in Northern Tenerife, where the SALAZAR family had an estate. They had a daughter, María. Ventura always recognized her and treated her as her daughter -although not through an official legitimation. In the meantime, Juana LLANES married Lázaro HERNÁNDEZ, who appeared on documents as María's "official" father. Juana and Lázaro didn't have children. Ventura SALAZAR de FRÍAS went to La Palma island as Governor of the Army and Fieldmarshall, and he took his daughter María along with him. But in la Palma, Ventura married Leonor de Sotomayor Topete, a lady from a La Palma old family. Legitimate children were born from this marriage.

María LLANES received a generous dowry from her father and he married Juan de GUISLA GONZÁLEZ ACUÑA, another ilegitimate child who had been legitimated, descendant of the Flemish families who had settled in la Palma one century earlier. Juan, who had been legitimated by his father through a court procedure -called "information on legitimation"-, asked from his father-in-law the same right for María, his wife. It seems that Ventura was willing to do it, but his lawful wife's family refused. Therefore, Juan de GUISLA and María LLANES asked for the opening of the court "information", a full procedure at which witnesses from different places -like El Sauzal in Tenerife- gave evidence on Ventura's fatherhood. The result, which probably was a major event at this time (17th century), was the declaration of Ventura SALAZAR de FRÍAS' fatherhood, and the right of María to bear the surnames LLANES SALAZAR DE FRÍAS.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- NAME in BLUE: Male of SALAZAR ancestry
- NAME in PINK: Woman of SALAZAR ancestry
- NAME in BLACK: Spouse or partner of a lineage member
- YELLOW background: *CLICK*, Link for further information on this individual
- X = marriage
- ^^^^^^ = union outside marriage
/
- / illegitimate child
/
- (date of birth-date of death)
- (priv.): this individual is alive, therefore further information concerning him/her is not published