Fernán Pérez Ponce de León (died 1291) was a senior Spanish noble.
He was lord of Puebla de Asturias, Cangas and Tineo, Adelantado (governor) of the Andalucian frontier, and Mayordomo mayor (high steward) to Alfonso X of Castile.
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Biography
He was son of Pedro Ponce de Cabrera and Aldonza Alfonso de León, illegitimate daughter of King Alfonso IX of León.
His father died around 1248, and Fernán Pérez succeeded him as head of the House of Ponce de León. He and his siblings were the first to use "Ponce"—previously merely a patronymic—as a surname; this, combined with the heraldic adoption of a purple lion on a silver field (replacing the goats of the Cabrera family), signaled the new era of the line that would later be known as the Ponce de Leóns.
Fernán Pérez Ponce held the lordships of Cangas and La Puebla de Asturias, but he did not achieve true prominence until 1273, during the assembly (ayuntamiento) at Almagro. At this gathering, which brought together the kingdom's leading magnates and knights, Alfonso X was forced to reverse key aspects of his policies in the face of widespread discontent.
Although nothing is known of the stance Fernán Pérez Ponce took during those conflicts, the Chronicle still records his presence alongside the King at critical moments in the following years. However, he soon distanced himself from the monarch, apparently due to his disagreement with the decision to sideline the sons of Fernando de la Cerda in favor of the future Sancho IV. Fernán Pérez renounced his allegiance to the Kingdom and pledged vassalage to Peter III of Aragon, who granted him the town of Frescano. By 1277, he was in exile in France, where he became a vassal of King Philip III, promising his aid against any man—except the Infantes de la Cerda. Around that same time, several hundred Castilian knights, led by Juan Núñez I de Lara had crossed into France to form an army with which to invade Castile and install Alfonso de la Cerda, son of Fernando and the French king's nephew, as heir.
