Don Sancho de Londoño
Lord of the Manor of Hormilla, Field Master.
(Hormilla La Rioja, 1515 – Spanish Maastricht, Belgium, 1569)
Lord of the Manor of Hormilla
A renowned 16th-century Spanish soldier, he embodied the qualities sought by the monarchs of his time: a man of fortune and valour. Don Sancho de Londoño was the firstborn of Don Antonio de Londoño, lord of Hormilla (La Rioja), and Doña Ana Martínez de Ariz from Nájera. His paternal grandfather was Don Juan de Londoño y Rojas, married to Doña Inés de Porras, daughter of the lord of Agoncillo. Born around 1515 in Hormilla, he would forever cherish the memories of his hometown, as evidenced by the verses he penned during his later years in distant Flanders, where he yearned for the sight of Hormilla’s tower. He proudly called himself “Lord of Hormilla” in Spain and abroad.
His great work was the Book of Military Art, published posthumously in Valencia in 1596 by Sergeant Francisco Lenguin.
Essayist and strategist
Well-versed in ancient history, his unpublished poems, “Labyrinth of the Things of Spain” and “Soliloquies on the State of the Monarchy”, are preserved in the National Library of Madrid. His literary pursuits were cut short by his untimely death. Don Sancho served both Charles V and Philip II, seeing action on both Mediterranean and Atlantic fronts. A seasoned veteran, he boasted of an undefeated record, claiming to have never lost a battle or a single inch of territory and always under his command many fortresses had been won “with very little bloodshed of friends and much of enemies.”.
Frases de Don Sancho de Londoño
I dedicated myself to the sword, as you know, but I never shunned the pen that kept me up at night
The perfect master of the field who takes pride in his profession and uses it as he should, makes good captains and these such good officers and soldiers
I served the greatest kings of Spain from the springtime of my youth
The day one becomes a soldier, they essentially abandon their Christian values and adopt a more pagan mindset
The love of a family for their land.
In 2004, the construction of this family project began with the aim of producing wine from our own vineyards. Step by step, it has grown thanks to the hard work of a family of farmers who focus their efforts on the care of their vineyards to obtain quality wines.
