Gonçalo Mendes da Maia

Gonçalo Mendes da Maia (Maia?, 1079? — Alentejo, 1170), also known as O Lidador (the hardworking), so named for his fearlessness in the struggle against the Saracens, was a Portuguese knight of the time of Afonso Henriques, about whom tradition relates important achievements in the events preceding the independence of Portugal. He had a military post as a fronteiro in the border town of Beja, where he died in 1170, while fighting against a Muslim army. According to some documents, he was at the time ninety years old. Traditionally, Gonçalo Mendes da Maia is considered a hero of both the city of Maia, the homeland of the Mendes da Maia family, and Beja.