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SALAMANCA
Salamanca, throughout its long
history, has been a protagonist
of Spain's most significant
historical events. Pre-Roman
remains can be found in Teso de
San Vicente, beside the river
Tormes, in the Verraco (Iberican
statue representing a bull)
situated in the centre of the
Roman bridge, in the city walls,
in numerous inscriptions and
along the Calzada de la Plata
which, passing through
Salamanca, united Mérida and
Astorga. Salmántica belonged to
the Roman province of Lusitania,
was besieged by Hannibal but we
have little information of the
Visigothic era. From the third
Council of Toledo onwards the
Bishops of this city can be
found to have participated in
its decisions.
Conquered by the Arabs, lost and
recuperated severals times by
the Christians, it was
definitively reconquered by the
great pro-European king Alfonso
VI who placed the
colonialisation of this part of
his kingdom in the hands of his
son-in-law, Count Raimundo de
Borgoña, married in 1096 to his
first-born, Doña Urraca,
granting the city its first
municipal charter.
In 1200 Alfonso IX founded what
was to become eighteen years
later the University of
Salamanca. Salamanca thus owes
its renown and prosperity to
this king. The new University
soon received great favours from
Fernando el Santo and Alfonso X
el Sabio who established the
number and type of chairs the
University was to be composed
of. In 1254, Pope Alexander IV
called the University of
Salamanca "one of the four
leading lights of the world".
The 15th century was a period of
agitation in Salamanca as it was
in the rest of Spain. There was
bitter fighting between the
supporters of D. Alvaro de Luna
and the Infantes of Aragón.
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Roman Bridge and
Cathedral
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But the violent fighting which
divided the city in two was made
worse by a tragic event which
occured in 1465. Two brothers of
the Manzano family killed two
others of the Enrique family
from Seville due to an incident
during a ball game. When their
mother, María Rodríguez de
Monroy -afterwards to be called
María the Brave- saw the bodies
of her sons, she silently set
off after the assassins. She
found them at an inn in Viseu
(Portugal), killed them and
returning with the heads of the
two Manzanos, threw them on the
tomb stones of the church of
Santo Tomé where her sons rested.
The city was divided into two
enemy groups, each side taking
on the name of the parishes of
Santo Tomé or San Benito,
bloodying the city, inspite of
the fervereous preaching of San
Juan de sahagún.
Salamanca was visited on several
ocassions by the Catholic King
and Queen, one of these due to
the death of their son, Prince
don Juan, in 1497. The Catholic
King lived here from October
1505 to March 1506.
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University
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Carlos I visited Salamanca in
1534, and Felipe II in 1543,
marrying his first wife, María
of Portugal, here.
Felipe III revisited the city in
1600 with his second wife,
Margaret of Austria. The city
took part in the War of
Succession, on the side of
Felipe V. Conquered by the
Archduke's troop, it was soon
recovered by the founder of the
Bourbon dynasty, who stayed here
for several days in 1710, when
the construction of the Plaza
Mayor (Main Square) was agreed.
Salamanca was badly affected by
the Peninsula War. From 1808 to
1811 it was open to the armies
who disputed the hegemony of
Europe on Spanish soil. At last,
the battle of Arapiles, at the
very gates of the city and in
which Wellington defeated
Napoleon's army, led to the
withdrawl of the latter from
Spanish territory. But this
withdrawl left behind the
destruction of marvellous
architectural treasures, many
colleges, palaces and buildings
such as the Colegio Mayor de
Cuenca which was considered to
be "one of the marvels of
architecture".
If the political history of
Salamanca was not very eventful,
it was the diverse incidents in
the life of the University, the
distribution of the
professorships, the relationship
between the lecturers and the
students, and between the latter
and the people of the city,
which make up its history up to
the 19 century.
In the field of Art, all the
styles have left their most
worthy and exquisite mark on
this city. The Spanish
plateresque style, of decorative
quality and fine execution,
offers its most beautiful
examples here in Salamanca. This
decorative tendency of the
Plateresque style finds of a
beautiful golden colour.
Innumerable historical
celebrities, from Fray Luis de
León, Antonio de Nebrija,
Francisco de Vitoria, Cervantes,
Menéndez Valdés, San Juan de la
Cruz de Miguel de Unamuno or
Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, have
passed through the city, both in
the university field as well as
in that of the Arts, leaving the
mark of their knowledge on this
beautiful city.
Today, the city offers the same
aspect as do similiar ones in
the rest of the Spanish
provinces, although perhaps with
a more intense spiritual life
due to studies which were
reanimated by the founding of
the Pontificia University (catholic
university).
It is the university life, in
all its aspects, which adds
emotion and colour to its daily
rhythm. Its tradition, its
present atmosphere, make it apt
to be considered, like Oxford
and Cambridge, the Spanish
university city.
Everyday life could be said to
centre around the magnificent
Plaza Mayor. Its archways echo
with what is going on in the
city.
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