Origin of Acuña

Ancient chronicles say that the progenitor of the Acuña lineage was a natural gentleman from Gascony, named Don Gutierre, who came to Galicia and founded his solar house there.

There are other versions authorized by notable treatise writers and that, based on the historical data on which they are based, affirm that the lineage comes from the Royal House of León by that Don Gutierre mentioned above, but that he did not come from Gascony, but from that Royal House, as follows: King Fruela II of León, who lived at the beginning of the 11th century, who had a son named Mr. Aznar Fruela, his son, Mr. Pelayo Fruela, "the Deacon", who married Mrs. Aldonza , daughter of the infant Don Ordoño "el Ciego", from whose marriage Count Don Pelayo Peláez was born, rich-man and Lord from Cisneros, who had a son named Don Gutierre Peláez, progenitor of the great houses of Silva and Acuña

According to Gándara and other authors, referring to this lineage, the primitive site of the lineage, was in the city of Tuy, and enjoyed some land. His knights went to Portugal and then to Castile, spreading in both parts. Don Gutierre Peláez, already mentioned, and that the two versions of the origin of the Acuña recognize as the progenitor of the lineage, was, as explained by Count Don Pedro in the "Libro de Sucesiones", a wise and courageous gentleman and very proven in weapons. He accompanied Count Don Enrique to the conquests of Portugal, who gave him many possessions in Braga and Guimaraes, also making him his adviser. With Gutierre, a son of his, named Pay or Payo Gutierre, whose name shows that he was Galician, was also part of these conquests, since in Galicia they only say Payo to someone called Pelayo.

Some writers relate the origin of this lineage as follows: It took its name from the place of Acuña Alta, located a few kilometers from the Sierra de la Estrella, in Portugal, which was its first site and which was linked to the Casa Royal Portuguese by the marriage of Mr. Martín Vázquez de Acuña, first Count of Valencia, with Mrs. María of Portugal, legitimate daughter of the Infante Mr. Juan and granddaughter of King Mr. Pedro I of Portugal.

The aforementioned Infante Don Pelayo, who lived in the first half of the 11th century, married the Infanta Doña Aldonza Ordóñez, daughter of Don Ordoño, Infante de León. Their eldest son was Don Pelayo Peláez (or Payo Peláez), a rich man from Castile, lord of many states in Galicia and Asturias, known in history as his brothers, with the nickname "Infante de Carrión", married to Doña Mayor González, being the parents of Gutierre Peláez, who from his marriage to Doña María Pérez, had Pelayo Gutiérrez, called "de Silva", by one of his Señoríos, married three times, 1st, with Doña Sancha Anez de Montor; 2nd, with Mrs. Usanda Hermígez Alboazar, and 3rd, with Mrs. Urraca Rabáldez. The eldest son of his second marriage was Fernando Peláez (or Páez), first Lord of Acuña Alta, by the mercy of Don Alfonso Henríquez, first King of Portugal. His son, Lorenzo Fernández de Acuña, was the first to use this last name. The titled houses of Escalona and Ureña descend from him, and consequently, a large part of the nobility and titled of Spain.

Lastly, others relate it like this: The root of the Acuña family is in the Visigothic Royal House. Later, from the year 1100, the Señorío de Cunha Alta appeared in Portugal with Fernando Peláez. His son, Fernando Fernández Da Cunha, is the first to use the surname. The power of the Da Cunhas, who establish Dominions one after the other, grows until they become the first knights of the Kingdom of Portugal, but power and ambition cause tensions between Martín Vázquez Da Cunha and the King. Martín got angry and left Portugal, denaturing himself along with several of his brothers. He arrived in Castilla with them, where the king received them with open arms and changed the surname Da Cunha to De Acuña. Thus, in 1396, Martín, Gil and Lope Vázquez de Acuña came to Spain. Six years later, Gil returned to Portugal to the great satisfaction of his King and after long years with the descendants of Vasco Martínez Da Cunha and Esteban Martínez Da Cunha (who had stayed in Portugal with all the lordships and assets of their older brothers had left) recovered his dominions of Taboa and others, giving rise to the branches of the Portuguese Acuña.

It is likely that many Acuñas throughout the world, especially in America and the Philippines, come from these Portuguese Cunhas.

Valencia de Don Juan was previously called Valencia de Campos, the 1st Duke was the Infante Juan of Portugal, continued as County by her daughter Doña Maria and her husband Martín Vázquez de Acuña, simultaneously and inhonor of the Infante D. Juan, Valencia de Campos was changed to Valencia de Don Juan. In Valencia de Don Juan (León) there is still the castle of the Acuña family, which was from the 12th century and was rebuilt by the Acuña family in the 15th century. It is an imposing half-ruined fortress.

Martín, thanks to the favors granted to him by the King of Castile, became an important rich man-founder of the branches of Escalona, ​​Villena, Villanueva del Freno, Montijo, Puebla de Maestre, Alcalá de la Alameda, of the Tower of Sirgadas, of Puebla de Montalbán (today called Frías), of Ureña, Osuna, of Valencia de D. Juan, of Bedmar and of Requena. All imposing titled houses; that of Villena, for example, is the oldest Marquesate in Spain, and had great relevance during the dynastic problems that arose after the death of Don Juan II and Enrique IV. The Acuñas should have been on the front line. Lope, from whom the Andalusian Acuña descend, is sometimes replaced by Pacheco, Portocarrero, Cárdenas, Velasco and Téllez-Girón, continuing with Acuña blood these very old families that ended in females.

A sister of the father of the III Count of Valencia de Don Juan, named Maria Acuña de Zúñiga married Juan Robles y Guevara, 1st Lord of Villarmenteros y Paranes, carver of the Catholic Monarchs, Alcaide and Corregidor of Jerez de la Frontera. From this marriage there were two children Juan Robles y Acuña who was II Lord of Villarmenteros until his sale, and Doña Maria de Robles y Acuña who married in 1514 in Toledo with Jaime Francisco Ferrer y Soler, of the House of the Lords of Sot, godson of the Catholic King, Maestresala of Prince Juan, Governor General of the Kingdom of Valencia, 1507 to 1514 Corregidor of Toledo, 1525 Gentleman of the Chamber of Carlos V, 1525 Armed Knight, and from whose marriage there is extensive succession in the Kingdom of Valencia.

As a curious fact, the husband of Doña Maria Acuña y Zuñiga was from the party of Queen Isabel, while the III Count of Valencia de Don Juan, her brother-in-law, was from the Beltraneja party, it seems that at the end of a dinner at the Castle of Valencia de Don Juan, the lord of Villarmenteros shot his brother-in-law the III Count from a battlement due to a dispute raised by this issue.

Finally, comment that when Carlos V came to Spain, he recognized in 1520 the first Greatness of Spain in 20 houses corresponding to 25 surnames. Two grandeurs correspond to the Casa de Acuña; the Marquesado de Villena, with the surname Pacheco and the Count of Ureña with the surname Girón. He called these 25 "cousins" and the rest "relatives".

The Acuñas who arrived in America settled in Peru, in the city of Lima, from where its founder Pedro Toribio Vázquez de Acuña arrived. Over time, their descendants settled in the town of Petorca and its neighborhoods, encompassing, among the sixth and ninth generation, linked mainly to mining.

Between the 17th and 18th centuries, they owned the Cóndor Hacienda, in that beautiful valley of Pisco, in northern Chile.

Juan Vázquez de Acuña, born in Madrid in 1552, arrived in Chile in 1576 as Captain of an infantry company of 60 soldiers, which he recruited out of pocket on the coast of Seville, subordinate to the Spanish General Juan de Losada, due to to the need for military reinforcements that Chile needed. He was received by the Cabildo de Santiago on December 7, 1584, with great joy due to the need to have brave Spanish soldiers for the defense of the Kingdom; in 1587, he achieves his greatest promotion when he is appointed Mayor of Santiago de Chile. Already in 1636, finding himself ill and thinking that his end might come, he testified in Lima, Peru.

In the Genealogy of the Cruilles, by the Baron of San Petrillo we can find on page 148: Fernando de Acuña, Viceroy of Sicily, died in 1488 in Catania, in whose Cathedral he is buried, and has at least one son, who was: Don Luis Acuña, who died on December 14, 1494, in Catania and who was married to Doña Isabel de Cruilles y Moncada, V Baroness of Francofonte, IV Baroness of Cadra and Calataviano, died in Catania, and was daughter of Baron Juan Cruilles Abatelli (died 1491) and Doña Constanza Moncada Santa Pau (died 1497), they were parents of Diana Acuña Cruilles, VI Baroness of Francofonte, V Baroness of Cadra y Calataviano, born on January 25, 1492, in Francofonte, died at the age of 24 in 1517, married Fernando Moncada, son of Guillen Ramón Moncada, Count of Adorno of the line of the Counts of Augusta and Caltanisetta, of the marriage there was succession.

On page 123 of the same book appears, María Josefa Acuña Prado, who was the daughter of the III Marquises of Escalona and Casa Fuerte, I Marqués de Casa Fuerte, Barón de Patrix, Planes,Almudaina, Benialfaqui, Margalida, Catalamuch, Llombo and Benicapsel, born 1708, with succession.

Knights Acuña entered the Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara, San Juan de Jerusalén and Carlos III, they proved their nobility in the Hijosdalgo Room of the Royal Chancellery of Valladolid, in the Royal Chancellery of Granada, to hold positions in the Holy Office of the Inquisition, others entered the Royal Seminary of Nobles in Madrid.