Diego Rodríguez Porcelos

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Diego Rodríguez Porcelos was the second Count of Castile, ruling roughly from 873 to around 885. He succeeded his father, Rodrigo of Castile. Unlike his father, he did not govern Álava, a duty that went to Count Vela Jiménez.

Between 882 and 884, under King Alfonso III of Asturias, he oversaw the settlement and repopulation of Burgos and Ubierna. Before 882 he built a castle at Pancorbo and led campaigns against a large Muslim army trying to take the Ebro valley in 882 and 883. He created a defensive line along the Arlanzón river and, in 884, founded the outpost that would grow into the city of Burgos. He also helped restore the episcopal see of Oca.

His exact death date and place are not certain, but 885 is the most probable, according to the Chronica Naierensis, which says he was killed in Cornudilla on January 31, likely in battle against Banu Qasi forces. Some historians place his death in 890. He was buried at the hermitage of San Felices de Oca (in today’s Villafranca Montes de Oca). After his death, Castile was divided into many counties until 932.

The names of his children’s mother and the children themselves are not known. There are statues honoring him: an equestrian statue near the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos (1983) by Juan de Ávalos, and a sixteenth‑century statue in the Arco de Santa María in Burgos.