Saldaña is a town and municipality in the province 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 ...

in the autonomous community of Castile and León,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, and may be the town of "Eldana" mentioned by the historian

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

as being conquered by the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. Geographically, the town is situated on the banks of the River Carrión. The town's connection to the

Roman Era In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

is reflected in the beautiful remains of a villa attributed to the emperor

Theodosius I Theodosius I ( ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. He won two civil wars and was instrumental in establishing the Nicene Creed as the orthodox doctrine for Nicene C ...

. From the 10th to the 11th century, Saldaña was the seat of a family of powerful counts, the Banu Gómez. The medieval counts of Saldaña figure in local history and literature. Anachronistically, they appear in tales related to the exploits of the semi-legendary figure Bernardo del Carpio, while their legendary scions, the ''Infantes de Carrión'', prove rivals of the hero in the ''

Cantar de Mio Cid ''El Cantar de mio Cid'', or ''El Poema de mio Cid'' ("The Song of My Cid"; "The Poem of My Cid"), is an anonymous '' cantar de gesta'' and the oldest preserved Castilian epic poem. Based on a true story, it tells of the deeds of the Castilian h ...

''. It was here in 1149 that Berenguela of Barcelona died. Saldaña is also known for its popular open-air market day held each Tuesday in the town's central plaza. Its old stone-surfaced town square, known as the "Plaza Vieja," is believed to date to the 10th century. Work started in September, 2019 to reconstruct the plaza's pavement to make it safer for pedestrians and more easily accessible to persons with disabilities.

Gallery

File:Castillo de Saldaña.jpg, Ruins of the castle at Saldaña File:Witerico Tremis Saldania.jpg, Visigothic coin of the king

Witteric Witteric (; Portuguese language, Portuguese and Galician language, Galician: ''Viterico''; 565 – April 610) was the Visigoths, Visigoth Visigoth Kingdom, King of Hispania, Septimania and kingdom of Galicia, Galicia. He ruled from 603 to 610. R ...

minted in Saldaña File:Saldaña Plaza Vieja.JPG, Cars parked in Saldaña's old town square, the Plaza Vieja. Cars will be forbidden in the square after a renovation that began in September, 2019 is completed.

References

Municipalities in the Province of Palencia {{Palencia-geo-stub