On our way back from Guadalupe, we took a detour by los Toros de Guisando. We arrived at 1:55--just in time, because the gatekeeper closed the site at 2!
These statues date from pre-Roman times, and though they are referred to as bulls (they have indentations about where one would anticipate a set of horns to be placed), they may also have been carved in the likeness of pigs.
Both bulls and pigs are pretty popular animals in Spain, so they could really be either. But they're called the Bulls of Guisando, so that's what I'll refer to them as here.
In addition to the cool-ness of being around some REALLY old statues, these bulls are also famous for having witnessed the signing of one of the most important treaties in the history of Castile: el Tratado de los Toros de Guisando.
You see, before Isabel la Católica became queen, she was just a lowly princess, fourth in line from the throne. In the 1460s, her older half-brother, King Enrique IV, was dealing with a civil war among his noblemen. They wanted him to abdicate in favor of his half-brother, Alfonso (Isabel's brother). When Alfonso died in 1468 (probably of plague), Isabel became the rebels' preferred royal figure, and they wanted her to continue the civil war.
These statues date from pre-Roman times, and though they are referred to as bulls (they have indentations about where one would anticipate a set of horns to be placed), they may also have been carved in the likeness of pigs.
In addition to the cool-ness of being around some REALLY old statues, these bulls are also famous for having witnessed the signing of one of the most important treaties in the history of Castile: el Tratado de los Toros de Guisando.
You see, before Isabel la Católica became queen, she was just a lowly princess, fourth in line from the throne. In the 1460s, her older half-brother, King Enrique IV, was dealing with a civil war among his noblemen. They wanted him to abdicate in favor of his half-brother, Alfonso (Isabel's brother). When Alfonso died in 1468 (probably of plague), Isabel became the rebels' preferred royal figure, and they wanted her to continue the civil war.
Isabel declined, preferring to negotiate with Enrique IV and end the carnage. She and her brother met at the Inn that was right next to the Toros of Guisando (called La Venta de los Toros de Guisando) and signed the treaty there.
A monument marks the spot where the inn was, though now only the foundations remain.
Apparently, by the mid-17th century, the building was no longer habitable and the prior of the nearby monastery chose to destroy the inn and raze it to the ground, "rather than allow offenses against God to be committed there."
No comments:
Post a Comment