His father, Pedro Theon [pt] (d. after 867), sometimes called Pedro Theón of Pravia, and possibly the son of Bermudo I of Asturias, was a member of the Curia Regis of King Alfonso III and appears in January 867 confirming a royal charter jointly with other nobles, including Count Rodrigo of Castile.[2] Pedro was actively involved in the Reconquista and was also responsible for ousting and defeating the Vikings when they invaded Galicia in 858.[3] Besides Vímara, Pedro was also the father of Hermenegildo Peres [pt].[4] The old Christian version of ‘Vímara’ is believed to be derived from ‘Weimar’ [5] a name from any of several places like one Weimar in Hesse and another in Thuringia, from Old High German wīh "holy" and mari "standing water". Although old-fashioned, it is still used in Portugal today as Guímaro.
The Kingdom of Asturias was divided internally into several counties or royal provinces. Portus Cale was one of these Asturian counties. In 868, Vímara Peres was named Count of Portugal by King Alfonso III after the reconquest of the region north of the Douro river.[1][6] Later Portuguese historians viewed this event as the earliest milestone in the history of the state of Portugal, although Portugal did not achieve independence until the 12th century.
He was able to expel the Moors and founded a fortified town under his own name Vimaranis (of Vimar) which later became Guimaranis, present-day Guimarães (the Portuguese call it "The Cradle City"). Vímara Peres died in 873 in Vama, possibly identified as Guimarães or Bama in the territory of Touro, A Coruña.[1]
Issue
Most historians agree that he was the father of:
Lucídio Vimaranes (Lucídio, son of Vímara), who succeeded Vímara as the governor of the county.[7][8]
Although the identity of his wife was not recorded in any contemporary charters, her name could have been Trudildi. If that was the case, Vímara would have been the father of:
^Vímara is an originally Visigothic name of Germanic origin (cognate with Weimar or Guimar) and Peres is a patronymic, meaning son of Pedro or Peter. The name can therefore be equated with Weimar/Guimar Peterson.
^Count Gutierre Aloítez (died after 963) is recorded with a wife named Audivia, whose parents were named Vimara and Trudildi. Trudildi is a name quite frequent among the nobility of Portugal and Galicia in the middle of the 10th-century, but Vimara is not. For chronological reasons and because of this uncommon name, historian Margarita Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León believes that Audivia was the daughter of Count Vímara Peres, and thus Vímara's wife was this Trudildi, Audivia's mother.[9]
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vímara Peres.
Martínez Díez, Gonzalo (2005). El Condado de Castilla (711-1038): la historia frente a la leyenda (in Spanish). Valladolid. ISBN84-9718-275-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Mattoso, José (1981). "As famílias condais portucalenses dos séculos X e XI". A nobreza medieval portuguesa, a família e o poder (in Portuguese). Lisbon: Editorial Estampa. OCLC8242615.
Torres Sevilla-Quiñones de León, Margarita Cecilia (1999). Linajes nobiliarios de León y Castilla: Siglos IX-XIII (in Spanish). Salamanca: Junta de Castilla y León, Consejería de educación y cultura. ISBN84-7846-781-5.
