Carrión de los Condes () is a municipality in the

province of Palencia Palencia is a province of northern Spain, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It is bordered by the provinces of León, Cantabria, Burgos, and Valladolid. Overview Of ...

, part of the

Autonomous Community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...

, Spain. It is 40 kilometers from

Palencia Palencia () is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia. Located in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half o ...

, on the

French Way The French Way ( gl, Camiño francés, es, Camino francés, , literally the "way of the Franks") is the GR 65 and the most popular of the routes of the Way of St. James ( es, Camino de Santiago), the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Co ...

of the

Way of Saint James The Camino de Santiago ( la, Peregrinatio Compostellana, "Pilgrimage of Compostela"; gl, O Camiño de Santiago), known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint ...

History

Carrión de los Condes was taken from the

Moors 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 ...

by Alonso Carreño around 791–842. Don Carreño took the name Carrión at this time. Carrión de los Condes was the home of Diego and Fernán González, fictitious sons-in-law of

El Cid Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and warlord in medieval Spain. Fighting with both Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific ''al-sīd'', which would evolve into El ...

in the

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

'' El Cantar de Mio Cid'' (English: The Song of My Cid). In 1072, after losing the nearby

Battle of Golpejera The Battle of Golpejera also known as Golpejar, was an internecine battle among Christian kingdoms fought in early January 1072. King Sancho II of Castile (the Strong) defeated the forces of his brother Alfonso VI of Castile, Alfonso VI of Leó ...

Alfonso VI of León Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...

took refuge in Carrion's Church of Santa María de las Victorias, (or Santa Maria del Camino.) Alfonso ultimately chose exile, where he sought refuge in Toledo, which was then in Moorish hands.Gitlitz & Davidson, The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook, 2000, St Martin's Press, In 1209,

Hospital de la Herrada The Hospital de la Herrada, also Hospital de Santa María de la Herrada was a hospital and college in the town of Carrión de los Condes, Palencia, Spain, established in 1209 by Gonzalo Rodríguez Girón, a Palencia tycoon who became steward of th ...

was established by

Gonzalo Rodríguez Girón Gonzalo Rodríguez Girón ( 1160–1231), also known as Gonzalo Ruiz Girón, firstborn son of Rodrigo Gutiérrez Girón and María de Guzmán, was one of Kingdom of Castile, Castile's wealthiest and most powerful nobles. He was based in Tierra de C ...

, a Palencia tycoon who became steward of the king, to provide assistance to the Jacobean pilgrims and other travelers. It had considerable influence and power in the area in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Jewish presence in Carrión

The town was inhabited by Jews at an early date. Although they outnumbered the Christians both in numbers and in property, they submitted in 1126 to the victorious King

Alfonso VII Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...

, who showed himself favourably disposed towards them. In 1160 many of them settled in the neighbouring city of

. The Jewish community of Carrion was so large in 1290 that it paid 92,000 maravedis in taxes, not much less than the amount paid by the community of Burgos. In Carrion, as elsewhere, the Jews were persecuted. Delegates from the city appeared before King Alphonso of Castile (probably

Alfonso the Wise Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...

), informing him that the Christians of the city, because of a groundless suspicion, had risen against the Jews and killed two of them; that thereupon the Jews had sought refuge in the palace of the prince, who was absent at the time, and, when the Christians followed in pursuit, had escaped through a secret door leading into the court, and locked their pursuers in.

Main sights

*Church of Santa María de las Victorias, (or Santa Maria del Camino) 12th century, in

Romanesque style Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this later ...

*Romanesque church of Santiago, 12th century. It houses the Pantocrator, considered a masterpiece of

Romanesque sculpture Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 12th century, or later depending on region. The preceding period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period. The term was invented by 19th-century ...

. *Monastery of Santa Clara, 13th century *Monastery of San Zoilo (11th-16th centuries) with a

Plateresque Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" (''plata'' being silver in Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially architectural, developed in Spain and its territories, which appeared between the late Gothic and early Renaissance in ...

Cloister. *Romanesque tombs of the Counts that lived there. *Churches of Belén, San Andrés and San Julián Image:Page of Lay of the Cid.jpg, A page of the

The Lay of the Cid, in which second and third books the fictitious ''Infantes de Carrión'' (Princes of Carrión) play an anthagonistic role. Image:Claustro de San Zoilo.jpg, Monastery of San Zoilo's Cloister Image:SantiagoMatamoros.jpg, Statue of Saint James as a moor-slayer Image:Carrion de los Condes - Nuestra Señora de Belen 01.jpg, Church of Belén, built in the 16th and 17th centuries

Twin towns

* Carrión de los Céspedes, Spain *

Carrión de Calatrava Carrión de Calatrava is a municipality in the province of Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. The castle of Calatrava la Vieja Calatrava la Vieja (formerly just ''Calatrava'') is a medieval site and original nucleus of the Order of Calatra ...

, Spain

Sources

References

External links

Pueblos Palencia

Carrión de los Condes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrion de los Condes People from Carrión de los Condes Municipalities in the Province of Palencia