Between 13 February 1161 and August 1163 Fernando Ponce was the alférez or signifer (standard-bearer) of Ferdinand II, although it is possible that his younger brother of the same name, Fernando Ponce el Menor, is the one to whom the documents refer.
Nuño González II de Lara, lord consort of Alegrete, Vide, and Sintra and Alférez del rey for King Ferdinand IV of Castile
He starts to appear in royal charters in 1176, and served as the alférez of King Alfonso IX in 1185 and in the following year, in which he was also appointed tenant-in-chief of Mansilla and other villages and regions that had been governed by his relatives count Suero Vermúdez and Pedro Afonso, including Tineo and Babia, Gozón, and Cabezón.