His exact date of birth is unknown. On 29 October 1288, he was confirmed together with his father and brother to the privileges granted by Sancho IV of Castile to the monastery of San Salvador de Pinilla de Molina. In August 1290, he accompanied his father to Valencia where he was working. His father signed an agreement during this period with King Alfonso III of Aragon wherein the two proposed to wage war against the Kingdom of Castile and to aid the Aragonese monarch in his war against Castile. Nevertheless, later in the same year, he returned with his father to Castile where King Sancho IV gave Nuño González a set of inheritances throughout the kingdom in exchange for an oath of loyalty from the young Lara.[1]
During the Summer of 1293, whilst Nuño González and his brother, Juan Núñez II de Lara accompanied King Sancho IV to a meeting held in the city of Logroño with James II of Aragon, their father was captured by the infante John of Castile, brother of King Sancho IV. The capture was the result of Nuño González I de Lara having been defeated by infante John in a battle that took place in the area around Zamorano de Peleas. After receiving the notification, the brothers left the king and gathered a group of soldiers to try and liberate their father. Nuño González I was liberated by the infante John however upon promising him help in his fight against Diego López V de Haro to recover the Lordship of Biscay for his wife, María II Díaz de Haro, who had previously been the rightful title holder. Further, Nuño González I proposed that Denis of Portugal should join them in their fight.[2]
In 1294, Sancho IV sent Juan Núñez I to Andalucía to defend the frontier against the attacks of Muhammad II of Granada, who had at the time allied himself with the Sultan of Morocco, Yusuf II. Nuño González accompanied his father during the expedition. His father died in the city of Córdoba. Afterwards, Nuño González returned to Castile together with the entourage that accompanied his fathers cadaver and assisted in sepulchering him in the Convento de San Pablo de Burgos of the Dominican Order.
In April 1295, King Sancho IV of Castileel Bravo, died in the city of Toledo. He was accompanied during this time by various contemporary magnates including his wife the queen, María de Molina, the Infante Henry of Castile, and by Nuño González himself who had after the death of his father, become a very powerful landed noble.
After the death of Sancho IV, the tutorship of Ferdinand IV of Castile who was a young child at the time, passed to the hands of the infante Henry who was the only living child of the Ferdinand III of Castilethe Saint. Nevertheless, custody and care of the child was usurped by his mother, Maria de Molina who sought the backing of Juan Núñez II de Lara and Nuño González to aid John of Castile in his efforts against both the influence of the infante Henry, and the ongoing fight for control over Biscay against Diego López V de Haro. The latter two would form an alliance against the Laras, John of Castile, Maria de Molina, and later Ferdinand IV himself.[3]
In 1296, Nuño González's brother, Juan Núñez II, the infante John, Alfonso de la Cerda and the kings of Aragon and Portugal together attacked the Kingdom of Castile. Alfonso de la Cerda, the grandson of Alfonso X of Castile was named King of Castile in the area of Sahagún and the infante John was crowned King of Leon, Galicia and Seville at León. Nevertheless, Nuño González remained loyal to King Ferdinand II throughout along with the infante Henry and Diego López V de Haro.
Death
Nuño González II de Lara died in 1296 in the city of Valladolid when he attempted a combat, by order of the Queen María de Molina, against certain enemies of Fernando IV.[4]
Loaysa, Jofré de; García Martínez, Antonio (1982). Crónicas de los Reyes de Castilla Fernando III, Alfonso X, Sancho IV y Fernando IV (1248-1305) (2nd ed.). Murcia: Academia Alfonso X el Sabio, Colección Biblioteca Murciana de bolsillo Nº 27. ISBN84-00-05017-7.
Salazar y Acha, Jaime de (2000). La casa del Rey de Castilla y León en la Edad. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales. ISBN84-259-1128-1.
