Vela Gutiérrez was a Leonese nobleman. He first founded the convent of Santa María de Nogales in 1150, but it failed and was re-founded as a monastery at later date.
Ruins of Santa María de Nogales: the original foundation was a Benedictine convent established by Vela in 1150, but it went defunct by 1164, when it was refounded as a Cistercian monastery.
Gutierre Vermúdez was a nobleman of the Kingdom of León, with interests primarily in Galicia, mainly in the northeast, around Lugo. He was a strong and loyal supporter of both Queen Urraca (1109–26) and the Emperor Alfonso VII (1126–57).
The region (comarca) of Laciana today, which was under the lordship of Gutierre c.1100