Baza is a town in the province of Granada in

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

(southern Spain), twice a former Catholic bishopric and now a Latin Catholic titular see as Basti.

Modern town

It has 21,000 inhabitants (2003). It is situated at 844 m above sea level, in the

Hoya de Baza The Hoya of Baza is a valley in the northern part of the province of Granada, Andalusia, southern Spain, named after the town and former bishopric Baza, Granada. It is one of the series of valleys forming the Surco Intrabético. It formed during ...

, a valley of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

, not far from the Gallego River. This town gives its name to the

Sierra de Baza Sierra de Baza is a mountain range near the city of Baza in the Granada province in Spain. It is named after the town of Baza and its highest point is the 2,269 m high Calar de Santa Bárbara. It is located between the Sierra Nevada The S ...

. The dome-shaped mountain of

Jabalcón Jabalcón or Cerro Jabalcón is a mountain near the city of Baza in the Granada province in Spain. It reaches a height of 1,494 metres above sea level. At the foot of Javalon are the ''Baños de Zújar'' (baths of Zújar). They maintain a temp ...

overlooks the town from the north-west. The Municipality lies at the southern edge of the

Altiplano de Granada The Altiplano de Granada (Granada High Plains) is a spectrum of landscapes located in the northern part of the Granada province in southern Spain. Administratively it is made up of two municipal territories: Baza and Huéscar. Topography The ...

History

The sculpture of the

Lady of Baza The ''Lady of Baza'' (''la Dama de Baza'') is a famous example of Iberian sculpture by the Bastetani. It is a limestone female figure with traces of painted detail in a stuccoed surface that was found on July 22, 1971, by Francisco José Pre ...

is a prehistoric artifact discovered in this area on 22 July 1971. The city was founded by the Iberians in the 4th century BC and named Basti, the name by which it was known in Roman times. As part of the Roman province of

Tarraco Tarraco is the ancient name of the current city of Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain). It was the oldest Roman settlement on the Iberian Peninsula. It became the capital of the Roman province of Hispania Citerior during the period of the Roman Republi ...

, it was an important commercial center and an early bishopric (see below). Under the Moors, Baza was an important frontier post along the border with the kingdom of

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

. It was also a major commercial center, with a population upward of 50,000, making it one of the three most important cities in the

Kingdom of Granada ) , common_languages = Official language:Classical ArabicOther languages: Andalusi Arabic, Mozarabic, Berber, Ladino , capital = Granada , religion = Majority religion:Sunni IslamMinority religions:Roman ...

. Under Islamic rule (713 – 1489), the cathedral, founded by the

Visigoth The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

king Reccared in about 600, and whose traditional site is occupied by the ancient church of San Máximo, was converted into a mosque and the bishopric was doomed. In 1489, during the

Granada War The Granada War ( es, Guerra de Granada) was a series of military campaigns between 1482 and 1491 during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, against the Nasrid dynasty's Emirate of Granada. It e ...

, the city fell to Queen Isabella I of Castile, after a stubborn defense lasting seven months. The cannons still adorn the Alameda. On 10 August 1810,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

forces under Marshal

Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia, (; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman, named Marshal of the Empire in 1804 and often called Marshal Soult. Soult was one of only six officers in Fren ...

defeated a large Spanish force near the town.

Ecclesiastical history

The bishopric of Basti was in existence by 306, the date of the

Council of Elvira The Synod of Elvira ( la, Concilium Eliberritanum, es, Concilio de Elvira) was an ecclesiastical synod held at Elvira in the Roman province of Hispania Baetica, now Granada in southern Spain.. Its date has not been exactly determined but is belie ...

, which was attended by its bishop Eutychianus. The names of other bishops of Basti also are known through their participation in various

Councils of Toledo From the 5th century to the 7th century AD, about thirty synods, variously counted, were held at Toledo (''Concilia toletana'') in what would come to be part of Spain. The earliest, directed against Priscillianism, assembled in 400. The "thir ...

. The cathedral was founded by the

king Reccared in about 600; its traditional site is occupied by the ancient church of San Máximo. The diocese survived for some time the

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or se ...

conquest but was suppressed in the 8th century, perhaps with errant bishops, while under Islamic rule (713 – 1489), the cathedral was converted into a mosque and the bishopric disappeared in the 13th century, but was restored in 1306. After the Reconquista, the territories of the two historical sees of Basti and Ancient Acci were united on 21 May 1492 as the modern Diocese of Guadix, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Granada. A

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by ...

, the Colegiata de Nuestra Señora Santa María de la Encarnación, Baza, was established at Basti/Baza. This was reluctant to accept rule from Guadix. As a compromise, the collegiate church was given authority, under the bishop, over twelve parishes, and the bishopric adopted a second name, diocese of Guadix-Baza, indicating a union of two dioceses under a single bishop. This continued until 1851, when the collegiate church became a simple parish church and the diocese resumed the name of Diocese of Guadix. Bazaiglesias

The former cathedral of Our Lady of the Incarnation, however, rebuilt on the rubble of the mosque which the original had been converted into, retains the status of co-cathedral of the Diocese of Guadix-Baza (suffragan of Granada).

Episcopal ordinaries

(all Roman Rite) ;''Pre-Moorish Bishops of Baza'' * Saint Bishop Tesifón (? – ?) * Eutiquiano (? – ?) * Teodoro (589? – ?) * Eterio I? (? – ?) * Eusebio (633? – 638?) * Siervo de Dios (653? – 655?) * Eterio II? (675? – ?) * Antoniano (681? – 684?) * Basilio (688? – 693?) ;''Bishops of refounded Baza'' :(incomplete) * Beltrán de Boyria (1484? – ?)

Titular see

No longer a residential bishopric, Basti (alias Baza) is listed by the Catholic Church as a Latin

titular bishopric A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

, suffragan of the

Archdiocese of Toledo This is a list of Bishops and Archbishops of Toledo ( la, Archidioecesis Metropolitae Toletana).

, nominally restored in 1969 as

Titular bishopric A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

of Basti (Curiate Italian) / Basticen(sis) (Latin adjective). It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank : * Martien Antoon Jansen (1970.01.02 – resigned 1970.11.29) * Sándor Klempa, O. Praem. (1972.02.08 – death 1985.12.19) *

Mario Lezana Vaca is a character (arts), character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in ...

(1986.05.17 – resigned 1998.03.07) * Jesús García Burillo (1998.06.19 – 2003.01.09) *

Antonio Marino Antonio Marino (born 9 August 1988) is an Italian footballer who plays as a defender for club Latina. Career Marino started his career with amateur Eccellenza club Folgore Selinunte from Castelvetrano, until he was noticed by Udinese scout an ...

(2003.04.11 – 2011.04.06) * David William Antonio (2011.06.15 – 2018.11.14) * Joseba Segura Etxezarraga (2019-02.12 – 2021.05.11) * Benedek Szabolcs Fekete (since 2022.03.11)

Transport

Until 1985, Baza was served by a railway station on the ''Ferrocarril del Almanzora'', which linked Murcia del Carmen to Granada via Lorca, Baza and

Guadix Guadix (; Local pronunciation: aˈðih is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in southern Spain, in the Granada (province), province of Granada. The city lies at an altitude of 913 metres, on the centre of the Hoya of Guadix, a h ...

. Reopening this line has been proposed. The northern branch of the A-92 highway also passes next to the town.

Cultural references

The 1489 siege of Baza is described in

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories " Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legen ...

's book ''The Conquest of Granada''.

References

Sources and external links

*
Baza Information
- General Information about house sales in Baza

; Bibliography - ecclesiastical history * Pius Bonifacius Gams, ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', Leipzig 1931, p. 3 * ''España Sagrada'', vol. VII, Madrid 1750, pp. 80–96 * A. Lambert, lemma 'Basti' in ''Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques'', vol. VI, Paris 1932, coll. 1288-1291 {{authority control Populated places established in the 4th century BC Municipalities in the Province of Granada