to their lord, Alfonso. They handed their castles and commissions over to the King of Portugal [who fortified them and returned to his country]. These acts of treason resulted in their own ruin, for indeed they were what most prejudiced these Counts for the rest of their lives." On only seven or eight occasions did Rodrigo pay a visit to the royal court between September 1141 and March 1152. During this period he continued to visit the Portuguese royal court also. Later, according to the Chronica, in a not unusual display of mercy, Alfonso invited the disgraced count to court and regaled him with gifts of gold and silver as he customarily did his regular courtiers, thus reconciling him to himself. In 1147 Rodrigo joined the royal army that marched to re-conquer Almería from the Muslims, but like many of the Galicians initially present he left in midsummer after taking part in the Siege of Oreja (at least until 25 July). Ecclesiastical relations Sometime before 12 December 1155, at which time he was briefly governing Bubal, Castella, and Deza, Rodrigo had married Fronilde Fernández, daughter of Fernando Núñez and Mayor, daughter of Rodrigo Muñoz. She was thus a niece of Gómez Núñez. She gave Rodrigo a daughter, Guiomar, and a son, variously given as Álvar or Rodrigo. Guiomar married first Fernando Ponce de Cabrera el Mayor and secondly Diego Ximénez, by whom she was mother of Rodrigo Díaz de los Cameros. Fronilde was a generous benefactress of the Cistercians in Spain, making donations to their foundations at Armenteira, Ferreira de Pallares, Meira, and Melón. In 1175 she made a donation to San Martiño de Fóra and helped found a convent at Ferreira de Pantón, which she placed in dependency on Meira. While his wife's religious devotion favoured the Cistercians, Rodrigo's patronage lay solidly behind the Benedictines and the Praemonstratensians. On 20 December 1127 Alfonso VII donated some churches to the Benedictine monastery of Cines in Galicia "for the love of our most faithful count Don Rodrigo Pérez." The surviving charter recording this grant of largesse has been challenged as a forgery by at least one historian, but its authenticity has been defended by another. It contains the date 1133, but the list of witnesses suggests it more probably belongs to 1127. It names Rodrigo Martínez as a count, but he cannot be shown to have attained that rank before late