The counts of Gimonde in A Limia: rents, leases and a chapel in Santa Mariña

The counts of Gimonde were a family of Compostela hidalgos who inherited the house of Xinzo de Limia and the jurisdiction of Mosteiro, Novás and Queiroganes. Edelmiro Martínez Cerredelo reconstructs their presence in A Limia from a rent book and notarial records ^[1].

Origin of the house

Antonio Ramón Cisneros de Castro, lord of Maindo, was perpetual councillor of the partido of Santiago between 1720 and 1749. His heir Juan Antonio Bernaldino Cisneros de Castro Figueroa (1747–1798), also a Compostela councillor, was recognised as first Count of Gimonde by the Bourbon monarchy. He married Manuela de Ulloa, descended from a family of Vila de Cruces and of several Ourense comarcas, daughter of Lorenzo Ulloa Pardo and Rosa Luisa Cadórniga, neighbours of Congostro, where they had their ancestral house. Through this line the house of Xinzo and the jurisdictions of Mosteiro, Novás and Queiroganes entered the county’s estate ^[1].

The rent book

The "Libro Cobrador de las Rentas" of the counts of Gimonde in the partido of A Limia, by the notary Vicente Díaz Teixeiro, indicates where they collected tributes: Santa Mariña de Xinzo, San Miguel de Cima de Ribeira, San Salvador de Damil, San Bartolomeu de Ganade, San Miguel de Gudín, San Xoán de Guntimil, Santa María das Lamas, San Pedro de Laroá, San Pedro Fiz de Solbeira, San Salvador de Parada de Ribeira and Santa María de Ribeira, besides the lordships of Queiroganes, Mosteiro and Novás. They also held rights in Baltar, Os Blancos, Porqueira and Leiro. The house in Xinzo was the centre where the tribute produce was gathered ^[1].

Countess Jacoba Cisneros

Jacoba Cisneros, third Countess of Gimonde and Viscountess of Soar, was one of the largest landowners in A Limia. She granted leases and rented out her properties, which kept the notaries busy for days when her representative came to Xinzo. The conditions were harsh: the rye had to be delivered clean, dry and measured in the granary of the countess’s main house in Xinzo, in August and September, and payment could not be avoided because of hail, frost or any unforeseen event ^[1].

In August 1843 she put her rents up for auction: 1,901 ferrados and seven copelos of rye, five of them of wheat, plus 800 reals and 13 maravedís. The best bid was that of Francisco Losada, of Ganade, with 15,000 reales de vellón to be paid in two instalments. In 1849 she collected 19,975 reals and four maravedís from the administrator of the judicial district’s property, corresponding to 1844. When the third counts died without descendants, the estate was divided among relatives: Ramón María Bermúdez de Acevedo and the Pugas ^[1].

The Rosary chapel in Santa Mariña

The counts had in the church of Santa Mariña de Xinzo a collative chapel, on the Gospel side, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary; half, with six graves, was theirs. They paid the church fabric seven and a half ferrados of rye for the endowment and had the burden of a weekly Mass on Saturdays and some more each year, although in June 1831 they did not know since when it had not been fully met and ten Masses were left unsaid each year ^[1].

As an anecdote, in 1973 the lawyer Nicandro García Sánchez, of Lugo, redeemed on behalf of his brothers that pious charge that encumbered estates that had belonged to the countess: capitalising 90 years of arrears (1883–1973), he handed over 5,000 pesetas and another 30,000 for the definitive redemption, with which a foundation (no. 620 of the bishopric) was set up that celebrated said Masses in the church of Xinzo and ceased to be active in January 1989 ^[1].

Links

• History of A Limia
• Xinzo de Limia
• Churches and religiosity of Xinzo
• Xinzo: street layout, buildings and the 1856 plan

Sources

1. «Os condes de Gimonde na Limia», Historia de Xinzo, 4 de maio de 2020 (de Xinzo de Limia na memoria; con datos de Héitor Picallo Fuentes). https://historiadexinzo.wordpress.com/2020/05/04/os-condes-de-gimonde-na-limia/