He
was the first person to be convinced (by astral observation and mathematical formulation)
that the earth was round. He may not have got it quite right as at the time he
misplaced north for south, but on the whole a very good attempt. After you book your visit to historic
To open our main information page click HERE
ON OUR INDEX PAGE YOU WILL FIND INFORMATION LOOSELY
GROUPED IN THE FOLLOWING CATOGORIES
ACCOMMODATION – AMENITIES – BIRD WATCHING – CAVING & CLIMBING – CLIMATE RECORDS - CONTACT US – OUR COPYRIGHT – EARTHQUAKES – FAUNA – FIESTAS - FLORA – FOOD & DRINK – GEOLOGY – HARVESTS – HIRE CARS & PARKING - HISTORY – HOLIDAYS – HORSE RIDING - HOUSE BUYING, CONSTRUCTING, RENTING – HOUSING SURVEY – ORIGIN OF THE NAME – PHOTOS - POPULATION – PUBLIC TRANSPORT – STATISTICS – WALKING – WEATHER FORECASTS – WHAT TO SEE – WHERE WE ARE & HOW TO GET HERE - AND MUCH, MUCH MORE.
FREE ( well almost ! ) GUIDED WALKS
We will give you a personal introduction to the village including its history in exchange for donations to the Fiesta funds.
Tel. Ken or
Cher 34+958-776-319
In hope of raising money to preserve the village traditions we will escort small groups on short nature rambles in exchange for donations. Up to 4 people if you want a chance of seeing wild-life, larger parties for history - flowers- views etc. ranging from 3 to 10 Km. In which we impart much history and nature information we have gathered, identifying birds, watching sites, fauna and wildflower habitats. To date we have identified more than 500 flora & fauna species. There are over 2000 distinct species of wildflowers, of which, 176 are only found in Spain and of these 66 are endemic to this area. So far we have found & catalogued more than 350 of them near the village and familiarized ourselves with their habitats. A preview of one such walk can be seen on the WALKING page. We frequently walk these routes to update and improve these rambles as landmarks, terrain and paths are constantly changing and may disappear completely with new vegetation or earth movements. Our walks are on an entirely voluntary basis and therefore covered by your insurance, not by us, in the unlikely event of some mishap taking place.
Incidentally, check all guides operating in Spain as it is not unknown for them to loose people or even worse!
You may discover too late they had no licence or insurance!
HORSE RIDING & WALKING
CABALLOS PARA PASEAR Y GUIA LOCAL
Professional local Spanish guides will accompany you through some of the most beautiful and varied countryside in the country.
Tel. Palmali 34+958-776-081 or use our e-mail and we will pass it on
THE HISTORY SO FAR
The passages in bold type relate directly to the Albunuelas - Lecrin Valley area.>
We
can't be certain when man first came on the scene, but there is conclusive evidence of
Palaeolithic Pebble Culture in Spain. As the Pebble race started to migrate from
Africa two and a half million years ago, at some time they travelled through
the province of Granada. Of
this we are sure, since
(
ZINJANTROPUS BOISEI )
Of some things we can be certain: about three and a half million years ago, the woolly mammoth and rhinoceros together with sabre toothed tigers roamed freely through the area. Fossils of all three have been recovered from the peat deposits at Padul. These deposits (Turbera) are all that remain of a large freshwater lake.
There are13,000-year-old cave paintings on our coast which are of African expressionist style, now thought to have been created when the shaman obtained a state of spiritual ecstasy through drinking alcohol. If this is so, their diet consisting of more fish than meat, washed down with a fermented substance, was the forerunner of the Mediterranean diet.
The
first positively identified race are the Iberians, people of small build with
disproportionately long heads, widely believed to have arrived from Africa. These Iberians
predominated some 3,200 years ago. These Iberians were mainly coastal dwellers known to
have had had a thriving trade with the
In the cave of Los Ojos in Cozvijar they found needles, knives, gimlets, arrowheads, files and scrapers from the late Paleolithic era.
From here on, we can be more certain of the chain of events thanks to the reports passed down by the Greeks.
Necesitamos ayuda con la traduccion de estas páginas al español.
The cast as they appeared in the area were as follows:
Between 2900 and 2600 years ago, the Celts were taking over in Northern and Central regions of Spain where they interbred with the Iberians, bringing with them mining abilities, smelting techniques, and iron weapons. They drank beer made from wheat and cooked with animal fats.
At around this time, a greater impact on our province came with the arrival of the Phoenicians who set up their first settlement at Erytheia.
Now known as Isla de Leon, and joined to Cadiz coast by a
causeway, this was where the mythical Geryon lived with the cattle which Heracles
(Hercules) drove off. Described by Herodotus as "the island called Eyrtheia, near
Gadeira outside the Pillars of Heracles by the Ocean.
Strabo describes it as having a temple to the Phoenician
Heracles and the earliest settlement before Gadir. This trading port at Gadir
(Cadiz ) was to become Europe’s first city 3,110 years ago.
Pytheas tells us that every three years the navy of
King Solomon departed from this port
(Cadiz) in
ships laden with traded goods of: gold, silver, ivory, peacocks and apes. This Semitic
race from the area of the Lebanon and Palestine is described as being dark, with high
cheekbones and hooked noses, was responsible
for the introduction of the alphabet. They
called the peninsula "i-schephan-im" meaning either "remote" or
"land of rabbits". They were
seeking to exchange goods for Andalucian copper and silver.
Contact with this race meant that the Andaluz became culturally and socially more
advanced than the rest of Spain.
It was trade with the
Phoenicians which introduced the Greeks to the province some 2,700 years ago. developing
the cultivation of the grape and olive. From the Greeks came the name
"Iberia" meaning" river", and also "Hesperia" meaning
"land of sunsets".
The Greeks had a great influence on Iberian sculpture, an example is the Dama de Baza, an elaborate funeral urn a copy of which can be seen at Granada airport.
The next
to arrive, via Cadiz, were the Carthaginians 2,236 years ago, but their influence on
the province would have been minimal as they operated mainly around the cities of
Barcelona & Cartagena, which were founded
by Hamilcar Barca.
His son,
Hannibal, continued imperial expansion as far as Salamanca, at which point the Romans
became concerned and dispatched two legions initially. At the same time Hannibal decided
to take on Rome, crossing the Alps with his 60,000 strong army headed by 37 elephants. The
ensuing contest between the two powers, which became known as the Punic Wars, ended with
the triumph of Rome.
The Romans were next on our scene, in 218 B.C., and stayed until 409 A.D. On arrival they found small, scattered pueblos built of adobe and whitewashed: the forerunners of the white villages of Andalucia. They were to give our province the name Betis where they had vines and grains cultivated, which together with minerals, were exported back to Rome.
Within two centuries Spain was declared a full member
of the Roman Empire and a taxation system was introduced. Roman culture was to give
Spain its language, law, democracy, public institutions, piped water, the bathhouse with
pool and sauna system (an example of which can
be seen in Mondújar), 17,500 miles of
paved roads and, eventually, about 40 A.D. Christianity.
The type of Christianity introduced was based on the version of the Greek Hellenised Jews which itself was a copy of the much older Mediterranean and Middle Eastern religions. All of which had the earthly son / daughter miraculously conceived, returning to the parental god in the afterlife. This new religion did not have such an immediate impact as we are led to believe. Amongst the other earthly representations sons / daughters of god, who at the time, were in with a fighting chance were Osiris, Adonis, Dionysis, Tamuzz and Attis.
The three most serious religious contenders for supremacy in Spain were:
Bacchus,
the worship of whom involved drunkenness and orgies, (From
whom we got the Fiestas)
Mithras, the Persian sun god who’s main rite was
celebrated on what is now December 25th was always depicted killing a bull with a
knife. (From whom we got the
bull fights)
And
the only mother-goddess Cybele, whose rites included male self-castration whilst
bathing in the blood of slaughtered bulls. (The origin of the Easter penitents).
In
135 AD the emperor Hadrian smashed the area of (now) Palestine, dispersing the
Jews & Arabs throughout the Roman world. Many Jews settled in Spain and were to
have a great impact in advances made both at the time and with the later Moorish
occupiers.
At the start of the Roman conquest, Iberia was densely covered with trees and the long process of deforestation began with the constant need to fuel the Roman smelting process.
Spain provided Rome with emperors including Aurelius, Hadrian, Marcus, Theodosius and Trajan;
the philosopher Seneca; "The primary sign of a well-ordered mind is a man's ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company".
the poet Martial - "Live for today, for tomorrow will be too late"
the
governor, Pontius Pilate.
In addition, from the city of Cádiz, there are references to courtesans dancing lasciviously with much hip-swinging, clapping of hands, and castanets ( an instrument used since at least 1600 B.C.), accompanied by a peculiar form of singing....( flamenco? ) arriving in Rome.
In 409A.D. Vandal, Alan and Suevi tribes invaded, ending Roman rule and laws, dividing the country among themselves and causing chaos.
Theodosius, the last emperor of a united Roman Empire
allowed the Visigoths to cross into Spain to drive out the Vandals and other tribes : not
the wisest of decisions as for the next 300 years Spain was under Germanic
domination. However, they brought with them certain advances in crafting jewellery
and metalworking, particularly in the Toledo area, and they revived the bullfight which
had been banned by Emperor Constantine.
This Gothic presence amounted to less than 10 per cent of
the population and very wisely they allowed the indigenous people to keep their own
systems of government in exchange for tax payments.
On the other hand, the Gothic King Leovigild converted to
(the Arian branch of) Catholicism, burned all existing works of knowledge and tried to
unit the kingdom under his new religion. At
this time, the Catholic (Arian & Roman) churches became the largest slave-holder in
Spain. The newer Arian sect became engaged in a futile attempt to stop public singing,
dancing and celebration of saints days by the Hispanic (Roman) Catholics who were
still keeping Thursday (JUPITER) as the holy day.
Punishments were harsh: fraud-amputation, homosexuality-castration, rape-public circumcision, or worse ! And confessions were obtained whilst being boiled alive.
Under this mis-rule, the clergy (Arian and Roman) became members of the privileged class with all its advantages and abuses. The wealth and power of the church grew, and schools disappeared as the clergy took total control of education, reversing the progress made under the Romans and taking Spain back to feudalism and serfdom.
During the
sixth century, when the Goths had taken their eyes off the ball, Romans (Byzantines)
from Constantinople, allying themselves with disaffected Gothic factions and Roman
Catholics, mounted a successful reconquest of south and east Spain together with the
Balearics which they called Spania. This occupation lasted for about three quarters
of this century and introduced the first contact with eastern culture. Minor
civil wars and friction with Vandals, Byzantines, Roman Catholic Church, and the
Jews weakened the Gothic state sufficiently to allow the next invasion.
The arrival of the Moors, a Berber tribe from Mauretania - (a combination of present-day Algeria and Morocco), in 711 A.D. heralded almost 800 years of Moslem influence.
By
732 Spain was part of the caliphate of Damascus and the conquest was greatly assisted by
the Jewish population. The Berbers called the land "wandalus" meaning
"land of Vandals" a possible origin of Al-Andaluz. Other Arab tribes
joined the invasion and the occupation was always accompanied by much internecine strife.
Arabic for Granada was "Gharnata"
Under their more egalitarian Islamic system, the Moors broke up the vast Roman and Gothic estates and the land was divided into smaller parcels, which each man could keep adequately manured and ploughed, on which to grew crops, From their contact with every part of the Old World they were to introduce the almond, asparagus, banana, buckwheat, caper, coffee, cotton, date, fig, lemon, mace, mulberry, nutmeg, pistachio, pepper, quince, rice, saffron, sesame, spinach, strawberry, sugar-cane, the Arabian horse and gun powder ( the first gun-powder used for warfare in Europe was at Huéscar in the province of Granada). Under the Khalifate, the book written by Ibn-Al-Awam (died 1185 in Sevilla) gives very detailed instructions for the production of fine wines, the drinking of which, strictly forbidden in the Moslem homelands,” were consumed in great quantities by all in Granada”.
Whilst the rest of Europe was in the Dark Ages, Spain once again began to flourish. According to S. P. Scott in the History of the Moorish Empire in Spain, 1904, “The 30 million people of Arabic Spain exceeded by 10 millions that of the combined populations of England, France, Germany and Italy. Two things sustained this population and made development possible : education and agricultural methods”.
Much to the annoyance of other Islamic countries, every village had free education available to Moslems, Christians and Jews alike, for both sexes, and at all social levels. This was to create a new army of astronomers, biologists, botanists, chemists, linguists, philosophers, physicians, and surgeons, - they translated all the Greek, Roman, Persian, Chaldaic, Hebrew, Chinese, Hindu and Sanskrit works. In fact, what we now call the sciences arose in Islamic Spain with new methods of inquiry, investigation, experiment, observation, and most important, developments in measurement and mathematics. As stated by Robert Briffault, in The Making of Humanity, “European science owes its very existence to these Arab discoveries and revolutionary theories.”
During this time, Albuñuelas became of strategic importance, controlling the whole of the Lecrin Valley together with the sierras of The Guajares and Albuñuelas and there are remains from this period in and around the village.
Probably the most visible is the Torre del Tio Bayo.
It is not known how it got this name, Tio not only means uncle but also: chap,
fellow, bloke, cove, amigo, type etc. Bayo, is a derivation of the Latin badíus
which in turn came from the old Celtic duide: which was used to describe a horse of
a yellowish grey colour, (dunn, in Old English) which later became applied to the
silkworm , presumably because of its colour.
Bayo
is also a surname in the village and which was named after which we will never know. Another possible explanation is some greyish looking cove once kept his pig in it.
This
8m.high tower which is currently in a ruinous state, was built by people with a
complete understanding of geometry, as its corner stones form a perfect rectangle,
and its walls converge at equal angles. This points to a construction of
the latter Nazarí period : about mid-14 century. It is divided into three floors with
evidence of the original vaulting on the second floor, and the door was hacked in at some
later date. Its last use was as an animal shed before being taken over by the Town
Hall who, we hope, will restore it.
We know from coastal records it was not just a
defensive tower because the Moors used simple round towers to defend the
Kingdom of Granada.
As with the Tio Bayo they
were constructed without a door : you climbed
in, took your rope up and stayed there until you were relieved. They were manned by
3 men who were paid 25 maravedis (about
27centimos) per week.
More important to the survival of the village is the
vast network of open water channels (acequias) which cover the valley. At this time
Islamic Spain
was the world leader in knowledge of water
control by means of the aqueduct, well, sluice and siphon .
The Greeks probably introduced an irrigation system around 630 B.C.
when they developed grape and olive production in Andalucia. The Romans,
as can be seen at the baths complex at Mondujar, certainly used both channeled and
piped water.
However,
it was left to the Moors to develop the village irrigation system so efficiently that it
is still in use today. As now, the
distribution of the water was governed by a Tribunal de Acequias, the members of which
were elected by the campesinos themselves. A certain quantity of water was allowed to each
area during a given period of the day or night, every ten to fifteen days. This
Tribunal saw that theft was heavily punished,
a sentence, from which there was no appeal, applied to nobleman and slave alike. Today’s
increasing trend to pipe irrigation water underground saves a tremendous amount of this
commodity, but is naturally having a detrimental effect on flora and fauna.
An important introduction to the village at this time was the silkworm. The method of silk production had been known to the Arabs since 500 B.C. by way of trade with the Chinese. This was a time when cotton fabric (sails) pottery, wine, jewellery and silk rivaling the best in the world were exported from Granada. Remnants of the silk industry can still be seen by the odd mulberry tree about the village e.g. outside the church and the hermitage. Also in Barrio Bajo, we find the Calle and Placeta Morales (Mulberry trees).
This trade with the Chinese was to manifest itself in another most important way in the Granada province. During a skirmish in the frontier wars which were raging around Huescar in1350 it is recorded the Moors made use of gun powder for the first time on European soil.
Idris al- Sharif
This epoch also put Albuñuelas on the map, literally, with the charting of two roads: the first by the 12th century cartographer Abu Abd Allah Mohammed ben Mohammed ben Mohammed Abd Allah ben Idris al- Sharif.
It is not
thought Idrisi actually traveled to Albuñuelas in
person. His mapping
method was to send out many investigators and
then collate the information prior to drawing maps and charts, in this case a route from
Algeciras to Granada about 1150.
He
was the first person to be convinced (by astral observation and mathematical formulation)
that the earth was round. He may not have got it quite right as at the time he
misplaced north for south, but on the whole a very good attempt.
Al-Idrisi,
when living in Sicily was commissioned by the
Norman King, Roger II, to compile a world atlas which contained seventy maps including
an engraving of the first disc shaped map of the known world. This work called Kitabal-Rujari (Roger's Book), was considered
the best geographical guide for the next 300 years.
His
translated works were later used by Columbus, DeGama, Henry and Co when they set forth
with their Arab navigators.
Leo de Africa
Al-Hassan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi etc.
The
second route bears the name of Leo de Africa, and runs from Almería to Granada. A 15th
century geographer who
described himself as "
Al-Hassan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi,
Hassan
Johannes Leo de Medici, Eliberitanus al- Fasi, al – Zayyati Amin
Maalouf Leo Africanus
As
a man with the wanderlust he not only visited Aluuñuelas : his recorded travels were to
include more insignificant destinations such as: Egypt, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco and
Turkey.
In 1520 at the age of twenty-five he was captured by Italian pirates and sold as a slave. After forcible conversion by Pope Leo X he became his protégé. Under instruction from the Pope he was "persuaded " to write an account with maps of his travels on the unknown African continent. His book was translated into several European languages and for two hundred years it was the most authoritative source of information on Africa.
In 1492, Isabel, queen of Castile, and Ferdinand, king
of Aragon, defeated the last Moorish rulers at Granada and reclaimed the last piece of
Spain for Christianity. The Catholic
sovereigns were determined to have a united country, and they did not believe this
ambition could be achieved unless all their subjects accepted one religion. This they were
determined to bring about through persuasion, if possible, and if not, by force. Spain
under Isabella and Ferdinand was ripe for the Inquisition; that was why the cruel
institution was embraced so heartily and continued to survive until the nineteenth century
(J. Plaidy, The Spanish Inquisition, 1967).
Their victory was by no means decisive and they found it
nessecary to destroy all fortifications and castles to prevent their
conquering knights re-using them
to launch a challenge to their new order. Also, there
were many revolts and uprisings by the inhabitants of the province over the next 100 years
or so, resulting in many waves of expulsion or death for both Muslims and Jews.
These expulsions had the effect of divesting Spain of its entire intellectual and
scientific establishment, returning it once again, under the control of the clergy, to a
rigorous class system and serfdom. At the same time the cult of the
Virgin Mary , which was to sweep across Europe was enhanced as a
powerful propaganda tool in the formation of the catholic monarchies.
Exactly when descendants of the Arabs & Jews returned to Granada is a matter of conjecture ( most think less than 150 years ) but it is extremely unlikely you will find many genetic Arab links in the general population of Spain. Therefore, the myth that people can see Moorish features in the mental or physical characteristics of the southern Spaniard, is just that, a myth.
Ferdinand and Isabella’s heir, Joanna (the mad) and her husband Philip (the handsome) had a son, Charles of Ghent * who became Holy Roman Emperor and Carlos I of Spain, (1516-1556) as his mother was considered unfit to rule. The Pope backed the situation by awarding the New World to Spain (Treaty of Tordesillas), a situation the English were not too happy about and which lead to much warfare over colonial trade and possession.. The end of hostilities came when England had wrested North America and The Caribbean from Spain. During the 16th century Spain was a world power once again thanks to the massive amount of plunder taken from the Americas. In fact so much wealth flowed into Spain it caused hyper-inflation throughout Europe which eventually ruined the Spanish economy.
* This was the Flemish ruler who is credited wiht the introduction of the flamenco, the courtly refined ballet versions of native dances like Sevillans etc.
THE FINAL REBELLION IN ALBUÑUELAS
Extract
from : “Historia del (sic) rebelión y
castigo de los moriscos del Reino de Granada” by Luis de Mármol Carvajal, late 16th
century.
How Don
Diego de Quesada went to occupy Tablate, a place in the Valley of Lecrín and the Moors
foiled him, and the description of that valley
Three
leagues to the west of Granada, where the Sierra Nevada begins to rise, is the depression
called the Lecrín Valley. To the west of it
is the Manjara sierra, which terminates at the Alhama river; to the north, the vega of
Granada and plains of Quempe; to the south, the Guájaras, from where the land drops down
to the Salobreña plain and the land of Motril; and to the east, the Sierra Nevada and the
district of Órgiba. There are in the valley
20 places, called Padul, Dúrcal, Nigüelas, Acequia, Mondújar, Harat, Alarabat, el
Chite, Béznar, Tablate, Lanjarón, Ixbor, Concha, Guzbíjar, Melejix, Mulchas, Restábal, las Albuñuelas, Salares, Lújar, Pinos del Rich o
del Valle.
Throughout
this land, there’s plentiful water from rivers and springs, and it has great groves
of olives and mulberries and other fruit trees which the local people harvest, and a
variety of very good seasonal fruits, and many oranges, lemons, “cidras”(a type
of lemon grown for root stock and medicinal purposes), and all sorts of produce, which
they take to sell in the city of Granada and other places.
The grasses for the livestock are very good, and they gather a quantity of cereal
from both the dry and the irrigated land in the lower parts, and the silkworm is plentiful
and very good.
Six rivers
run through this valley, coming from the main sierra.
The first is called the river of Albuñuelas, because it comes from two springs
next to the place of Albuñuelas; it passes close to the places of Salares and Pinos del
Valle, and then goes to join the Motril river. The
second rises from the place of Melegix and joins the Albuñuelas river. The third rises in the Sierra Nevada and goes into
a big lake between Padul and Dúrcal, and from there to join the Albuñuelas one. The fourth also rises in the Sierra Nevada and it
splits into two, and one goes to Chite and the other to Tablate, and from there to the
river of Albuñuelas, and to that of Motril. The
fifth also rises in the Sierra Nevada and goes to Lanjarón. And the sixth, which rises to the east of the same
sierra, is that which divides the boundary of the valley from the district of Orgiba, and
goes into the river of Motril through Sortes, Benizalte and Pago, which flows into that of
Órgiba.
(December 1568)
The low
villages of the Lecrín Valley rebelled on the second day of Christmas, when Abenfarax and
the other monfís (Moorish bandits who patrolled the roads after the Reconquest) who came
from Granada arrived at Beznar, because they made the Moors believe that the city and the
Alhambra were theirs, and that the Albaicin remained rebellious, and told how they had
robbed the churches, and killed many of the Christians who lived in them. They caused the other places of the Alpujarras to
rise up, but those who lived in Padul, Dúrcal, Nigüelas, Albuñuelas and Salares, which
are the nearest to Granada, didn’t rebel then, although many of them went to the
sierra………
One of the
rebellious places was Tablate, which is a point near to an important pass, through which
it was necessary to go to get to the Alpujarras. The
marquis of Mondéjar, wanting to have it occupied for future purposes, ordered Don Diego
de Quesada, with the people that he had in Dúrcal, and those that would be sent to him,
to station himself in Tablate; and Captain Lorenzo de Ávila was to return to Granada, and
from there was to gather together the people of the seven towns, because he was intending
to set out shortly to punish the rebels.
As soon as
the order arrived at Dúrcal, Don Diego de Quesada, with all the infantry and cavalry that
were there, went to Béznar, and finding the houses deserted and the church destroyed and
burnt, continued to Tablate, where he also found the houses empty and the people gone up
to the sierra. The force was very weary when
it arrived, people and horses alike, and roamed about the streets undisciplined, without
setting sentinels and with much less caution than is suitable for men at war.
The Moors,
who had been watching from high up on the hills, saw their chance to attack, and grouping
up, they went down as stealthily as they could and attacked the Christians violently in
the houses and streets, and killed and injured many.
There were
some squires who, not having time to saddle the horses, left them and fled from the place
on foot; and the Moors would have done much more damage if it hadn’t been for some
soldiers who, unauthorized, had been roaming about among those hills looking for something
to steal: these men, seeing (the Moors) going down from the sierra, and suspecting what
they were going to do, shouted to our men and signalled to them with a cloak, so that they
could arm themselves, and they did it to such an extent that Don Diego de Quesada, who was walking through the square and taking more
care than the others, heard the voices, and understanding what was about to happen,
speedily armed himself, and, with what people he could gather together quickly, went into
the countryside and formed a squadron where those fleeing from the place would be
protected; and when it seemed to him that it would be safe, he withdrew and left the pass
that he had been ordered to guard, having little confidence in that frightened people,
badly drilled and inexperienced, that he had brought with him, and through the places of
Béznar and Dúrcal he went to Padul, always harried by the Moors, who followed him to the
ravine at Dúrcal, and at that point they returned, not daring to go onto land where the
cavalry would be superior.
How the places of Albuñuelas and Salares rebelled. (January 1569
Albuñuelas
and Salares are two places very close together in the Lecrín Valley which hadn’t
rebelled at the time of the election of Aben Humeya (to be King of the Moors) in Béznar,
through the advice of a Morisco (a Moor who had been, or said he had been, converted to
Christianity) of good standing, Bartolomé de Santa María, for whom they had a great deal
of respect.
He being
mayor of Albuñuelas had dissuaded them with good reasons, saying that they should bear in
mind the fate of others and consider how other rebellions had ended, what little chance
they had against such a powerful prince and how much they stood to lose, what little
confidence they could have in help from the Berbers, and the great risks to which they
were putting people and property : but when he saw that they remained restive, that the
streets were filling with Moorish strangers from the hills behind Salobreña and Motril,
that the discontent was growing every day, and that, because everything was going badly,
there was no way to counteract their stubborn determination, he called the batchelor
Ojeda, his priest, who as yet had not left the place, and told him that he should gather
together all the Christians that he could, that he should take precautions if he
didn’t want the monfís to kill him, and that they hadn’t done so already only
out of respect for him (Bartolomé), knowing that Ojeda was his friend; and so that he
would be able to go safely and not be attacked by the monfís on the road, he gave him 50
men who accompanied him on the 2 leagues to the place of Padul where they left him in
safety on the day of the new year.
It was
fortunate that the priest had such a friend; for within 2 days, beyond all wickedness,
those places rebelled, and as a sign of liberty, however pointless, the inhabitants of
Albuñuelas produced an old flag which they had kept as a relic from the time of the Moors
and hoisting it, together with another six of taffeta and linen, which they had secretly
made for that purpose, they gathered to them all the riotous young men, and the first
thing that they did was to destroy and rob the church and all the holy things. Later they robbed the houses of the priest and of
the other Christians, leaving them waste and deserted, for they didn’t dare settle in
them : they went up to the sierras with their wives and children and flocks.
The mayor,
Santa María, didn’t fail them at this time with his good advice, and seeing that
most of the monfís had gone, he persuaded the people to return to their houses and to ask
pardon from his majesty’s ministers, saying that they had been forced to do bad
things and that they had rebelled against their will, so that in this way they could wait
to see how the matter ended and take whichever side would be better for them…….
How the Moors of Albuñuelas were
brought under control.
The
Moriscos of Albuñuelas, seeing that our force was increasing and fearing that the first
fury would be vented on them, agreed to placate the Marquis of Mondéjar with humility. This deputation took with them Bartolomé de Santa
María, the mayor, who, as we have said, advised them not to rebel. He being accepted and a good servant to the
Marquis, came with a mandate to discuss the matter with him and asked him to take the
people of Albuñuelas under his protection and royal support and to pardon them, declaring
that if they had rebelled it had been against their will, being forced into it by the
monfís and Moors from other places, and they regretted the deed.
The
Marquis, who wanted to protect his back before pressing forward, consented to accept them
and ordered that they for their part would settle down and, returning to their houses,
would endeavour to remain loyal, not receiving the bad people amongst them; and that they
would advise him of everything that happened, because by doing that they would be good
subjects of his majesty, he would look on them with favour and not allow them to be
harassed.
Later
the people returned to the place and the mayor sent for the priest who was in Padul so
that he would be present in the church and say mass; but he (the priest) didn’t stay
long among such fickle people who had already started to be ashamed and were much more so
seeing that he rebuked them for having laid hands on the holy things. Finally, not feeling safe, he wanted to return to
Padul, and the mayor gave him an escort of friends who accompanied him.
This
Morisco always got on well with the Christians and when later soldiers were stationed in
Padul, he arranged with the Moriscos of his village that every week they would take 20
loads of bread collected by contribution, so that the soldiers could eat, and he gave
important and accurate news about what the Moors were doing; he did all he could to
preserve loyalty in the village and he didn’t deserve the death that he received
afterwards nor the captivity of his family that in some way our violent soldiers caused
him, having little respect for these services; as will be told in the destruction that Don
Antonio de Luna caused in this place.
How
Don Antonio de Luna went to the place of Albuñuelas, which was reconciled, because the
people were harbouring fighting Moors.
At this
time the Moors were so dangerous in the areas of Granada, Loja and Alhama, taking captive,
killing and robbing the Christians, that nothing was safe in any of those districts; and
it was usual for those from the villages of the valley to place themselves in the ravine
of Acequia to wait for the escorts who were going with supplies to the garrisons at
Tablate and Órgiba; and sometimes they killed the soldiers and the baggage-handlers and
they carried them off despite the fact that they said they were conscripted. And because it was understood that many of them
(the Moors) were residents of Albuñuelas, and that the others were taking refuge there,
Don John of Austria, taking the opinion of the president, Don Pedro of Deza, determined to
make an example of them, saying that if ever there was a case for war to be conducted with
severity, this was it, and he intended to enforce military discipline according to his old
custom, so that the other villages would be afraid.
Having
consulted with his majesty, he ordered Don Antonio de Luna, with the infantry and cavalry
who were lodged in the cortijos of the vega, and with 100 lancers from Écija under Tello
Gonzaléz of Aguilar to go to carry out the punishment that he intended; and because the
mayor, Bartolomé de Santa Maria, had served with reliable and important despatches, and
it wasn’t right that he should suffer the same punishment as the bad people, he sent
the priest, who was his (Bartolomé’s) greatest friend, with people who would look
after him.
Don Antonio
de Luna arrived at Padul on the 1st day of June, and there he learned that one day before
it had been announced in Albuñuelas that no resident was to give shelter to any Moor from
another place, and that those who had been in the place had gone away, and it appeared to
him that they must have been forewarned. He
didn’t want to set out that day, until he had sent the news to Don John of Austria :
he (Don John), however, ordered him to continue with what had been agreed.
With this
second order, he left the lodging during the night, taking with him Don Luis of Cardona,
eldest son of the Duke of Soma; and meeting 4 Moriscos on the road, who were going from
Albuñuelas to Padul with the provisions of bread that they gave each week as their quota
for the soldiers in that garrison, he ordered them to continue, and pressed on without
delay, and arrived above the barrio of the main place, it being already day.
Lope, a
famous monfí, who was in the village with rebels, had time to flee to the sierra, and
most of the inhabitants remained cunningly in their houses, as men who didn’t appear
to have committed any crime and thinking that having sent away the rebellious Moors would
be enough for their pardon. Hearing the
uproar from the soldiers, who were storming through the streets, some went out to give
their excuse; but they, like the rest, were killed, without the priest, Ojeda, having time
to speak for his friend.
The
helpless people fled to the sierras, thinking to be able to save themselves there, but
Tello Gonzaléz of Aguilar, who was in front with the horses, cut them off via a high
slope and forced more than 1,500 women with a great quantity of baggage back down, where
they fell into the hands of the infantry. And
he would have been lost in this action because, with the sierra above, he rode the horse
between 2 crags so close together that he could neither go forward nor return, and he had
to dismount and leave the horse; but later 2 squires from his company came up and not
being able to release it, they pushed it into a ravine below, and landing on a pile of
sand swept there by the current of the water, it hurt its foreleg, and they went down to
it and took it away, hurt as it was, not wanting it to be said at any time that the Moors
had taken their captain’s horse.
This day a
brave Moor shut himself in his house with a crossbow in his hands, and through the window
of a room, he killed the standard bearer of the company of Don Pedro of Pineda, who, with
the flag, was coming to look for something to steal, and he did the same to two soldiers
who wanted to turn back to recover the flag. Later
Don Pedro of Pineda arrived and a soldier of his company, called Zayas, who came from
Seville, threw himself bravely at the Moor, protected by a shield and a helmet, which was
very fortunate, and as the Moor missed his shot, Zayas threw a dagger and the Moor,
crossing from one side to the other, closed with him and struggling, took out a knife
which he had in his belt, and hit him so violently on the helmet that he wounded him and
would have killed him but for the helmet. But
at last, unable to resist the death throes, he gave in and fell to the floor. The soldier cut off his head and the captain
recovered his flag.
This done,
the captains and soldiers wanted to sack the houses because they were full of many
treasures which had been brought from other places, as the village was reconciled and it
hadn’t seemed good to leave them to the enemy : but Don Antonio de Luna wouldn’t
allow it, saying that he had information that more than 6,000 Moors were coming from the
Guájaras in response to smoke signals, and that it wasn’t wise to delay; and
although they were sickened by the command, they had to leave the houses full.
Our people
returned that day to Padul, which is 2 leagues from there, with more than 1,500 captives
and a great quantity of baggage and livestock of all sorts.
Don Juan of Austria ordered this booty to be shared out among the soldiers, with
the Moorish women becoming slaves; and he set free the wife and daughters and nieces of
Bartolomé de Santa María paying them, because of what fate had dealt them, 600 ducats
from the coffers of his majesty; and as well as this, he gave them leave to live in
Granada, or wherever they wished in that kingdom. End of
extracts.
How it all ended.
In October
1570 with the worst of the revolt crushed, the king ordered Don Juan of Austria to move
all Moors to places inland to distance them from possible support from the Turks and Berbers arriving by sea. Those from Granada, the vega of Granada and the
Lecrín Valley were taken under armed escort to places in Extremadura and Galicia. Fighting went on sporadically in the Alpujarras
led by Aben Aboo who, with his followers reduced to about 400 was moving from cave to cave
outside the villages in the Trevélez - Bubion area.
He was betrayed and killed by his own men near Mecina-Bombaron in March 1571, his
body being taken to Granada. A series of
Edicts of Expulsion 1609 – 1615 required all Moors to leave Spain.
It is said
that after the Albunuelas uprising of 1569, the area was so depopulated that people from
Castile (La Mancha area) were relocated here to administrate and continue working the
land. If this was the case, it could explain why Cervantes 1547-1616 (“Don
Quixote”) became tax collector for the
area between Granada and Motril, before his imprisonment in Sevilla, for taking bribes as
a public official. It is possible that he visited the village in his official
capacity.
The
effect of the final expulsion in 1609 - 15 of the Moriscos, is described by Buckle in his History
of Civilization in England, 1861
“'The effects upon the material prosperity of Spain may be stated in a few words. From nearly every part of the country, large bodies of industrious agriculturists and expert artificers were suddenly withdrawn. The Moriscos, who tilled with indefatigable labour, practiced the best systems of husbandry then known. The cultivation of rice, cotton and sugar, and the manufacture of silk and paper were almost confined to them. By their expulsion, all this was destroyed at a blow, and most of it was destroyed forever, since the Spanish Christians considered such pursuits beneath their dignity. In their judgment, war and religion were the only two vocations worthy of being followed. When, therefore, the Moriscos were thrust out of Spain, there was no one to fill their place; arts and manufactures either degenerated, or were entirely lost, and immense areas of arable land were left uncultivated. Some of the richest parts of Valencia and Granada were so neglected, that means were wanting to feed even the scanty population which remained there. Whole districts were suddenly deserted, and down to the present day have never been re-peopled”.
Written
records of Albuñuelas, in the possession of the Town Hall, date from 1664. These
books occasionally
record the area, shape and location of land, whether it is allowed
irrigation, number of donkeys, vines, mulberry and olive trees; and the name
of the wife and children belonging to each man.
From
the middle ages to recent times, fish has been important for religious reasons. For inland
areas, to get around holy strictures on fasting days, white meat was declared
"fish" by the church. The poor of the village used lard and pork fat
(still refered to as white meat), while for the rich, veal, suckling pig, baby lamb, baby
goat, and poultry enjoyed the blessings of the church . As in most of the peninsula, away
from the immediate coastal areas, dry cured and salt preserved fish was the norm for those
who could afford it, resulting in the many recipes using pork fat (pringue) and dried or
salt fish in the area.
Until
recent times, there were two fish stalls in the village : one situated on the paved
area of Placeta Morales and one in the old market hall by the town hall, which had San
Antonio as its patron saint. There are many stories of fresh fish arriving in the
villages by packhorse daily, but before modern roads were built, the fastest route was by
the mountainous Itrabo trail. I will leave it to you to decide the condition of such
uncured fish on arrival by pack-mule in the summer sun.
In 1804 Napoleon declared himself emperor and Spain allied itself with France. The battle of Trafalgar occurred in 1805 when Nelson defeated the combined French and Spanish fleet, ending Spain’s seapower and its ability to protect its empire.
PENINSULAR WAR
This took place
by stealth when in the autumn of 1807 Napoleon moved
French troops through Spain to invade Portugal. After feeding more than 100,000 troops
into Spain under the pretext of supporting the invasion, Napoleon deposed the existing
Spanish monarch in April 1808 in order to place his own brother Joseph on the throne
Spanish
resistance to the French occupation took the form of highly effective guerrilla tactics
and Britain, realizing their potential, landed an expeditionary force into Portugal in
August 1808 under the command of Lt.-Gen. Sir
Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington). With the aid of this guerrilla force he fought his
way through Spain finally driving the French out.
In
retreat from Granada, the French tried in vain to destroy the Alhambra, but only succeeded
in blowing up some towers. In gratitude for
his services Granada awarded Wellington a large tract of land near Fuente Vaqueros, which
is still administered by his descendants to this day.
After
the war Spain once again went into freefall decline, becoming thought of as the poor and barbarous fringe of Europe. It
totally failed to adopt any of wider European advances and new methods of production
whilst at the same time engaging in frequent civil wars.
In the 1820s Spain lost control of the
American colonies Including Florida to the revolutionaries. Only Cuba, Puerto Rico and the
Philippines remained,
Really another civil war when soldier-priests of the "Exterminating Angels" committed appalling atrocities and the liberal state sacked convents and clubbed monks to death giving rise to the popular saying - "Every Spaniard follows the church , half with a candle, half with a club". 1835 saw DESMORTIZACIÓN a government decree that closed all religious orders, confiscated their lands and together with common land sold them. The lands were quickly bought by the only people who could afford them – the wealthy landed class- who had little intention of farming them. In consequence, the common people were no longer required as day labourers and their right to farm “common land” was removed for ever. The church quickly recruited such people and organized them to rob the new land owners. Inciting them with religious propaganda and the promise of heaven to anyone who attacked such thieves. To counteract this the landed gentry raised a private army "The CIvil Guard ." Eventually, taken over and paid for by the state, it remained at the command of the wealthy class to be used in brutally suppressing the working class for the next 145 years.
The
peasants of Granada were staunch anarchists by this time and in full support of a republic
which was to last only 11 months under 4 presidents. By July of 1873 Granada among other
regions had declared independence from Madrid. This lasted until 1874 when the generals
put Alfonso XII onto the throne. This was the time of massive vote rigging and bribery (¡
as opposed to today !) particulary in the illiterate areas of Andalucia and Extremadura.
On at least one occasion all 700 inhabitants of a cemetery cast their vote for the king.
The
war with America (1898) which took away the Spanish territories of Cuba, the
Philippines and Puerto Rico had a great effect on the flat land surrounding Granada
creating sugar and tobacco barons. However in our terrain it was only possible to grow
oats, wheat and barley as the staples backed up with traditional vegetables, so the local
economy saw none of the new wealth.
The earthquake in 1884, the phylloxera virus in
1893, the cholera outbreak in 1895, and finally the Granada tramway
(linea tramvia) terminating at Dúrcal which
opperated from 1920 to 1974 were all
major factors in the failure of Albuñuelas as an important ecclesiastic and
administrative centre.
In 1923 a General Prima de Rivera seized
power in the name of king Alfonso XIII and dissolved the parliament. His regime lasted
until 1931. By this time the Church had re-established some of its former power and
influence particularly over women. Married women found themselves in an impossible
position; laws made access to work difficult and payment must never exceed half that of a
male counterpart. They also had to have their
husbands' permission to work, and their pay was his alone, indeed paid directly to him.
This was the case even if they were legally separated!
Not
all things under his dictatorship were bad, as he believed in developing industry and public works. It was he who
introduced most of the things Franco was later given credit for. His programme gave
us some of the best harbours, dams, roads and power plants in Europe and opened up Spain
to tourism, introduced the Paradores and established an efficient train service.
z
1931 brought enormous hopes for the working class of Granada and some advances were made, especially for women. In the 1931 Constitution, women won the right to vote, and also the right to be elected to public office. In 1932 laws on civil marriage and divorce were introduced. For the period they were the most advanced in Europe for they recognized divorce by mutual consent, and the right of women to custody of children. In 1935 prostitution, which had previously been recognized by law, was declared illegal. In 1936 abortion was legalized. This was a severe blow to the Church, which saw its role and influence reduced once again. The republic's governments were weak and short lived, oscillating between right and left.
Between
1931 and 1934, bread was subject to numerous increases, for as with all revolutions,
ultimately, the landed class remain in control of food production. The situation became so
desperate in 1933 that trains, lorries and trams carrying food were raided and the
contents shared out among the starving families in Granada.
Officers of the Spanish army have never had much love for any kind of democracy, and at this point were beginning to loose power and privilege along with the church, a situation neither was prepared to tolerate.
(Francisco Franco Bahamonde 1892 - 1975)
Foreign liberal, socialist and communist volunteers assisted the republican forces; Germans and Italians were sent to assist Franco .
Many estimates have been made of the death toll but no one can be certain how many were successful in escaping to a new life never to return. Best estimates are 300,000 fled abroad, 200,000 killed in action and 150,000 executed between both sides in war time. After the war Franco is held responsible for the deaths of more than 100,000 by execution or forced labour, whom he said should be exterminated or punished without mercy. Between the summer of 1939 to 19 40 in Ventas jail alone over 1000 women were shot. The regime reserved various forms of punishment not only for those who had taken an active part in the struggle, but also for their wives, children and parents.
Franco allied himself informally with Hitler during the Second World War, sending Spanish troops to fight in Russia, but not allowing Germans into Spain itself (Hitler refused to offer him the whole of Morocco which he demanded as a price for full support). Hitler didn't like Franco as a person and on one occasion was heard to say he would prefer to spend an hour having teeth extracted than another hour in his company.
"The
Hunger Years " are still fresh in the minds of many locals, some of whom remember
them vividly. For the majority, it was a time of starvation and misery, when political
reprisals included denunciation by influential neighbours. As the only telephones
installed in rural villages were in the house of the priest, many people began to question
how information was passed to the authorities and what the priests role in the
community was. Under strict orders from Franco only 1 in 5 people so reported could
be allowed eventual release to forestall any reprisals.
An
arrest could result in land and property being confiscated, beatings, imprisonment and the
execution of all but one male child of a family, Why spare one? So that he could, by
tremendous effort, keep the family alive, just, therefore not imposing a financial burden
on the state.
With the active assistance of the church all rights and privileges previously granted were removed: the right to abortion, divorce, civil marriage, and women were banned from working through the "Fuero del Trabajo" (Franco's labour laws). All regional languages: Catalan, Basque, Galician were forbidden.
Under Franco everyone was classified:
First class citizens, had a monthly income exceeding 3875
Ptas
Second class
between 3875 to 2635 Ptas.
Third
class 2635 to1395 Ptas.
A bill for a second-class lunch for two in Madrid at this
time ( soup, roast chicken, ices and melon) was 64 Ptas., wine 18 Ptas.,water 6 Ptas.,
coffee 4 Ptas. cover charge 2 Ptas. Then come the taxes : service charge
12% luxury tax 20% war tax 20%. Total 137·15 Ptas.
In a Workers Canteen (no luxury tax added) tripe and potatoes cost 3·50 Ptas. + taxes Total 4·97 Ptas.
Food and goods coupons were issued according to class and
55 cemtimos with a first class coupon bought bread of 150g., a second
class coupon bought bread of 200g. and third class coupon bought bread
of 250g. (The standard bread price is still government controlled).
To put it into perspective, a
man in this village, as indeed in the rest of Andalucia and Extremadura, had little or no
access to paid employment of any kind, therefore, he couldn't raise the 55 centimos even
though issued with a coupon.
Families depended on a
relative having been being lucky enough to have fled, sending money back home, or men
finding seasonal work in other European countries. Olive oil was produced but cost far in
excess of local earnings, and meat of any kind was eaten only on very special
occasions.
Existence depended entirely on the grain, pulses, fruit and vegetables villagers could produce cheaply on their small plots, and on what they could trap or snare from the countryside. This diet has led to a continuing preference for offal, blood and fat in the diet. e.g. callos con garbanzos (tripes with chickpeas), fried chicken blood (it’s good, you should try it), pan con chicherones (bread containing crisp pork rind, coated with sugar) and migas (fried stale bread crumbs with garlic) resulting in some of today’s health problems of the ageing population.
The country escaped invasion by the Allies in 1945 but was not welcomed as an ally until the height of the Cold War in 1959, when Eisenhower visited Franco and gained American bases in exchange for money and a degree of recognition. Like most American and British allies, the lack of democracy was overlooked.
Hundreds of thousands of Franco's opponents were killed, sent to concentration camps or forced into exile during his rule. But in 1977, after his death, an amnesty was granted to his collaborators. Forgetting the past was considered crucial for a divided nation to heal and for a transition to democracy to succeed.
The
present government has not embraced the new era of openness. Perhaps that is not
surprising considering that Prime Minister José María Aznar's conservative Popular Party
grew partly from Francoist roots and veteran politicians with connections to the Franco
era remain close to the government. Asked about the failure of the Aznar government
to speak out on this issue, one government official said, "This issue has played more
abroad than at home, and here it has resonated more in the media than among normal
people."
This has not
stopped politicians from criticizing the government for giving more than $120,000 in
subsidies over three years to a foundation managed by the Franco family, which is accused
of restricting the access of historians to some 27,000 public and private documents.
(B.B.C. news report).
Franco groomed the young Juan Carlos to be his successor in the hope of his continuing the Franco formula for Spain. However, on the death of Franco in 1975 the king, his designated successor, brought about a return to democracy and a parliamentary regime with a constitutional monarchy, Free elections in 1977 produced a Centre Right government .
Following the
restoration of democracy Spain joined NATO and the European Community.
2001 Parliament
granted political recognition to Republican guerrillas - known as the maquis - who
continued resisting the nationalist dictator, General Francisco Franco, after the Spanish
Civil War ended in 1939. BBC.news
The Aznar government has published (2003) an apology for the actions of the past regime. The recently built statue "The Wedding Dress"at Restabal/Melegis is to commemorate all the victims of the area; the place is poignant as it was normal for executions to take place at a bridge or ravine. The story attached is of a young bride in her wedding dress waiting in vain at Restabal church to marry her fiancé from Melegis who on that very morning was taken as far as the bridge, never to travel further.
Following the miss-handling of the Madrid train bombing by the Aznar
government the polls returned a socialist government with an overall majority lead
by Zapatero in March 2004
Historia del Rebelión
y Castigo de los Moriscos del Reino de Granada by Luis de Mármol Carvajal
Firedance by J.
Woodhall
The Story of Spain by M. Williams
History of Civilization in England by
J. Buckle
History of the Moorish Empire in Spain by
S.P.Scott The Making of
Humanity by R. Briffault Iberia by J.A.
Michener
Spanish Journey by H. Sutherland
Arte
Prehistorico La Cueva Tito Bustillo by Magín Berenguer
History of Islamic Spain by W. M. Watt
Fabled Shore by R. Macaulay IDEAL
news BBC news
The New York Times The BBC library The Albuñuelas Archives
With additional help given by various individuals & organizations on the internet.
A historical tour around the village (or further afield) in exchange for donations to the Fiesta funds can be arranged by contacting the authors.
If you can help
us to develop this page, please contact us at: lecringranada@yahoo.com always
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Phone (Spain) 958776319 Ken or Cher
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The Lecrin Valley now comprises the following towns & villages: Acequias, Albunuelas, Beznar, Chite, Conchar, Cozvijar, Durcal, Melegis, Mondujar, Murchas, Niguelas, Padul, Pinos of the Valley, Restabal, Saleres, Tablate & Talara ( which is also confusingly known as Lecrin) and sometimes the villages of: Guajar Alto, Guajar Faraguit, Guajar Fondon, Velez Benaudalla & Lanjaron La comarca incluye : Acequias, Albuñuelas, Béznar, Chite, Cónchar, Cozvíjar, Dúrcal, Melegís, Mondújar, Murchas, Nigüelas, Padul, Pinos del Valle, Restábal, Saleres Tablate & Talará y de vez en cuando Gúajar Alto , Gúajar Faragüit , Gúajar Fondón , Velez Benaudalla y Lanjarón
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