Gutierre Bernaldo González de Quirós
Señor de Quirós
(–1385x)

Biographical

Señor de la casa de Quirós 1375–85†
Señor de Villoria 1375–85†
Ricohombre
Perpetual Regidor of Oviedo
Chief Alférez of Castile 1385

Gutierre's father died almost at the same time as the Bishop of Oviedo. In 1376, the new Bishop refused to confirm the stewardships that had always been granted to the Quirós family. Gutierre and his brother Lope then petitioned King Enrique II by letter that the stewardships of the lands, including Quirós, Teverga, and Proaza, be returned to the family. The king responded in 1377 with a royal writ issued to the Bishop of Oviedo, asking that he grant the stewardships to the brothers as had been done with their father. As the Bishop ignored this request, the king sent a further notice in 1379 ordering him to follow his instructions, which he did the following year. In 1383, King Juan I confirmed the grant of the territory of San Antolín de Sotillo that his father had received. Gutierre was slain at the Battle of Aljubarrota, where he bore the flag of Castile as standard-bearer. It was said that his hands were cut off while enemies tried to take the standard from him and that, seeing himself without hands, he held it tightly against his chest with his arms and gripped the ends of the silk cloth so firmly with his teeth that they could not take it from him except by tearing it apart, leaving the pieces from his chest and mouth when he was found dead. Because of the family's sacrifice, it received the privilege that his descendants could carry the Royal Standard as Chief Standard-Bearers of Castile. The House of Quirós held the right of presentation to the Archdeaconry of Gordón, a dignity of the Holy Church of Oviedo, as Gutierre did.

His wife's epitaph reads: