Villafranca del Bierzo
Encyclopedia
Vilafranca del Bierzo is a village and municipality located in the comarca of El Bierzo
El Bierzo
El Bierzo is a shire in the province of León, Spain. The valley has the administrative status of comarca and its capital is the town of Ponferrada. Other major towns are Bembibre and Villafranca del Bierzo, the historical capital.- History :...

, in the province of León, Castile and León
Castile and León
Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

.

It is one of Galician speaking
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...

 councils of Castilla y León.

Villafranca del Bierzo lies 187 kilometers from Santiago de Compostela and is located between Ponferrada
Ponferrada
Ponferrada is a city in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain. It lies on the Sil River, a tributary of the river Miño, in the El Bierzo valley, completely surrounded by mountains. It is the last major town along the French route of the Way of St. James before it reaches its destination...

 and O Cebreiro on the Way of St. James
Way of St. James
The Way of St. James or St. James' Way is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried....

 pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...

.

History

The first human settlements in the area date to the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

 age, while the first historically known people living here were the Celtiberians
Celtiberians
The Celtiberians were Celtic-speaking people of the Iberian Peninsula in the final centuries BC. The group used the Celtic Celtiberian language.Archaeologically, the Celtiberians participated in the Hallstatt culture in what is now north-central Spain...

, who lived in Bergidum, later known as Bergidum Flavium after the Roman conquest.

In the Middle Ages, the town is first mentioned in 791. The origin of the modern town are connected to the Way of St. James
Way of St. James
The Way of St. James or St. James' Way is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried....

, as a rest place for the pilgrims which started to reach Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...

 from the 9th century. In the Codix Calixtinus Villafranca is mentioned as an intermediate stage between Rabornal and Triacastela
Triacastela
Triacastela is a municipality in the province of Lugo, Galicia, Spain. It gets its name from the three castles that once stood here, none of which exist today....

. In 1070, during the reign of Alfonso VI of León, a Cluniac monastery was founded here to cultivate vine, and a borough of French pilgrim rose around it, from which the town's name (meaning "French Town") stems. The town later received numerous hotels and hospitals for the pilgrims.

In the late 12th century Alfonso VII of León gave the lordship of Villafranca to his sister Sancha. Later it went to Urraca, wife of King Ferdinand II and then to Teresa, wife of Alfonso IX, and then to numerous other noble people. In 1486 the lordship became a marquisate assigned to Luis Pimentel y Pacego: his daughter married Pedro Álvarez de Toledo
Pedro Álvarez de Toledo
Don Pedro Álvarez de Toledo y Zúñiga, jure uxoris Marquis of Villafranca del Bierzo was the first effective Spanish viceroy of Naples, 1532 - 1552, responsible for considerable social, economic and urban change in the city and southern Italian kingdom, in general.-Early life:He was born in 1484...

, whose family thenceforth held the marquisate for centuries.

During the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...

 Villafranca was the headquarters of the Galician army and was sacked three times by the English troops, and was later occupied by the French troops
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

. The Spanish general Antonio Filangieri died here. The town was freed in 1810.

Main sights

  • Collegiate church of Santa María (16th-17th centuries)
  • Church of St. John (12th century)
  • Church of St. Nicholas (17th century)
  • Church of Santiago the Apostle (12th-13th centuries)
  • Monastery of St. Francis de Asís (13th century), of which only the late Romanesque church remains, with the upper façade and the two bell tower added in Baroque style during the 18th century.
  • Castle of the Counts of Peña Ramiro (16th century), with four towers
  • Palace of the Marquisses of Villafrance (18th century)
  • Palace of Torquemada (18th century)

Municipalities

The municipality comprehends several villages:
  • Villafranca del Bierzo
  • Vilela
  • Valtuille de Arriba
  • Valtuille de Abajo
  • Paradaseca
  • Puente del Rey
  • Cela
  • Ribón
    Ribon
    is a monthly Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Shueisha. First issued in August 1955, its rivals are Nakayoshi and Ciao. Its target audience is young girls roughly 9–13 years old. In 2009, the magazine's circulation was 274,167, down from the previous year's circulation numbers of 330,000...

  • Veguellina
  • Tejeira
  • Villar de Acero
  • Campo del Agua
  • Aira da Pedra
  • Pobladura de Somoza
  • Paradiña
  • Prado de Somoza

Local festivities

  • January 28, Santo Tirso
  • February 3, San Blas
  • May 1, Fiesta do Maio
  • June, Poetry festivity
  • July 25, Santiago
  • August, Tourist festivities
  • September 14, El Cristo

Marquisses of Villafranca del Bierzo

  • 1st Luis Pimentel y Pacego
  • 2nd Pedro Álvarez de Toledo
  • 3rd Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio; no issue
  • 4th García Álvarez de Toledo
    García Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Marquis of Villafranca
    García Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio, 4th Marquis of Villafranca del Bierzo , was a Spanish military officer and politician.- Biography :...

  • 5th Pedro Álvarez de Toledo
  • 6th García Álvarez de Toledo; no Issue; brother of Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Mendoza
    Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Mendoza
    ′Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Mendoza , was a Spanish noble and admiral.He was a Knight of the Order of Santiago, a Spanish Admiral, and Captain General of the Spanish Navy at the age of 37....

  • 7th Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Ponce de León; son of Mendoza
  • 9th Fadrique Vicente Álvarez de Toledo; married sister of 13th Duke of Medina Sidonia
  • 10th Antonio Álvarez de Toledo y Pérez de Guzmán
  • 11th José María Álvarez de Toledo (15th Duke of Medina Sidonia)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK