Carrión de los Condes () is a municipality in the

province of Palencia Palencia is a Provinces of Spain, province of northern Spain, in the northern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Castile and León in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It is bordered by the provi ...

, part of the

Autonomous Community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

, Spain. Situated on the River Carrión, it is 40 kilometers upstream from the provincial capital of

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 of ...

, on the

French Way The French Way (, , ) follows the GR 65 and is the most popular of the routes of the Way of St. James (), the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. It runs from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the French side of th ...

of the Way of Saint James.

History

Carrión de los Condes was taken from the

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

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 ( – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and ruler in medieval Spain. Fighting both with Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific ("the Lord" or "the Master"), which would evolve i ...

in the

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

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

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 was established by Gonzalo Rodríguez Girón, 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, 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), 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 that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Ro ...

*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-centur ...

. *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 language, Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially Architecture, architectural, developed in Spanish Empire, Spain and its territories, which appeared ...

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, Spain

Sources

References

External links

Pueblos Palencia

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