Tello Pérez de Meneses was a Castilian magnate and military leader under the reign of King Alfonso VIII of Castile, and the ancestor of the Téllez de Meneses, a prominent noble lineage, whose descendants include several royal members such as Queen María de Molina, Tello's great-granddaughter, and Leonor Telles de Meneses, queen consort of Portugal. Tello participated in several military campaigns during the Reconquista and subsequent Repoblación, and was also a generous founder and patron of monasteries and hospitals for captives and lepers. Together with the Girón, the Téllez de Meneses were among the most influential and powerful aristocratic groups in Tierra de Campos.
View of Meneses from Montealegre
13th-century Gothic sarcophagus from the Monastery of Santa María de Trianos, now at the Church of San Tirso in Sahagún.
Ruins of the Monasterio de Santa María de Matallana
Alfonso Téllez de Meneses el Viejo
Alfonso Téllez de Meneses, known as el Viejo, was a nobleman of Castile and a participant in the key Reconquista battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. He was the second Lord of Meneses, Lord of Cea, Grajal, Montalbán, and, through his second wife, first Lord of Alburquerque.
Monastery of Santa María de Palazuelos (Corcos del Valle, Province of Valladolid), founded by Alfonso Téllez de Meneses, who, according to tradition, was laid to rest here. Some of his descendants are buried here, including Mayor Alfonso de Meneses, mother of Queen María de Molina.
