as a knight in Ramiro's household. García was also a loyal servant of the king, who granted him largesse on three occasions. Teresa later (1177) founded the Cistercian monastery of Gradefes, and it is in the records of this establishment that Ramiro's gift can be read. Early public career The earliest reference to Ramiro is in a now lost charter recording the foundation of the monastery of Santa María de Arbas del Puerto. A résumé of the charter was kept in the Archivo Histórico Nacional during the directorship of Juan Menéndez Pidal, whose brother, the historian Ramón Menéndez Pidal, concluded from it that "the same count and countess Fruela Díaz and Estefanía, with their children Ramiro, Diego, Constanza and María, founded the monastery of Arbas, in the gate of Pajares [now Payares], on 15 March 1116." In November 1123 Ramiro was the alcalde (justiciar) of Toledo, a post he probably held into 1124. He is described in two charters as urbis alcaldus (justiciar of the city) and toletanus alcaidus (Toledan justiciar). The Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris, a contemporary account of the reign of Alfonso VII, records that Ramiro Fróilaz (Radimirus Froile) was one of those who came to the city of León only after it had been captured by the king's allies, Alfonso Jordan and Suero Vermúdez, in 1126 to do him homage on his succession. He was one of those qui postea facti sunt comites ("who was later made count"). Between 29 May 1132 and 18 September 1133 Ramiro served as alférez of the royal armies, a post commonly reserved for the scions of noble houses. Except during the period when he was alférez, when he was constantly at court, Ramiro was a semi-regular courtier. In the year 1146, for example, he accompanied Alfonso VII for only about half the court's itinerary. Tenancies Ramiro held twenty-seven recorded fiefs from the crown (tenencias) in his long career. A scribe writing in 1145 referred to Ramiro as Comes Ramirus hic et ubique: "Count Ramiro, here and everywhere." Not long after the death of his father (1119), who had guarded the mountainous passes between the regions of León and Galicia, Queen Urraca appointed Ramiro castellan of Ulver in the Bierzo. At the same time Ramiro received from the crown the tenencia of La Cabrera, sometime before 6 March 1122/6, when he is first recorded as tenente there, although he had appointed one Menendeo