{"id":14422,"date":"2015-11-03T10:00:18","date_gmt":"2015-11-03T10:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jacothenorth.net\/blog\/?p=14422"},"modified":"2015-11-03T20:49:10","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T20:49:10","slug":"frigiliana-a-spanish-history-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jacothenorth.net\/blog\/frigiliana-a-spanish-history-lesson\/","title":{"rendered":"Frigiliana, A Spanish History Lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"

A guest post by the erudite, urbane, debonair, well-travelled, and ever well-refreshed, Gareth ap Si\u00f4n<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The seemingly eternal history of struggle and conflict in the face of suppression of our Welsh national identity is not unique to the Cymric nation. It has been and is mirrored by the crushing of many an isolated society in this still unjust world.<\/p>\n

This was sharply brought to mind after a recent visit to Frigiliana, a town situated in the most oriental region of the province of M\u00e1laga, which embraces the warm and \"Ap<\/a>beautiful Mediterranean coast of southern Spain.<\/p>\n

Frigiliana is an intriguing place, with a wonderfully interesting history. It was the last bastion of Arab predominance in the Iberian peninsula, after a full 800 years of occupation; but, by 1485, the Reconquista<\/em>, carried out by the Reyes Cat\u00f3licos<\/em> had arrived. All other Moorish towns had, by then, been conquered and had forcibly been evacuated and re-populated with a Christian Spanish population. Since the town was so strongly fortified, a deal was brokered and, after the payment of tributes, the Moors were allowed to remain and practice their religion and way of life. They then became known as Mudejares<\/em>. Peace and a productive tranquillity reigned between the two Spanish communities but, over the passing of time, the perverse side of human nature reared its ugly head, promises were forgotten and the population subjected to an ever- increasing oppression. The Moors were forced to convert to Christianity. The alternative was expulsion to Africa. Those that converted (often in appearance only!), became known as Moriscos<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The repression intensified during the reign of Phillip II. It became especially violent in 1567 when the Inquisition, through the sadistic insistence of the prime i\"Ap<\/a>nquisitor Pedro de Deza, turned the screw tightly. The Moriscos<\/em> were prohibited from carrying weapons, to talk or write in their own language, to marry ethnic Spanish, to wear traditional clothing or to practice their historic customs. Predictably, all this inspired rebellion, which was then ruthlessly and bloodily crushed. The Moriscos<\/em> that did not flee were wiped out.<\/p>\n

Despite all this, however, the genetic link was not entirely extinguished; to this day hearts in Frigiliana beat proud at the thought of their cultural heritage. The town is now officially designated \u2018The town of the three cultures\u2019 – Christian, Moorish and Jewish, and its logo intertwines the symbols of these cultures. After so much conflict, the three religions now co-exist in peace and harmony.<\/p>\n

This first photograph is of a statue of the town logo, which combines the Christian, Moslem and Jewish symbols.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, for historians, and for visitors such as myself, the council has erected, in obscure positions around the old part of the town, twelve ceramic wall plaques which tell the full tale of the rebellion and its repression. It is a very rewa\"Ap<\/a><\/em>rding challenge for determined souls to track them all down (and attempt translation!) during the course of a day\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n

Here is the first plaque, which shows the fruitful state of the region before it was subject to siege and devastation.<\/p>\n

Here is the translation:-<\/p>\n

“The range of mountains that is Bentomiz is part of the constituency of the city of the Velez in the M\u00e1laga region. All this land is fertile, with many trees, and abundant, health-giving waters that bisect peaks that reach up to a sky so clear. The lightweight, sturdy and courageous population, the successors of Moorish royalty were the brav<\/em>est in the kingdom of Granada. There were twenty-two villages of happy and content people, including Frigiliana.”<\/em> wrote M\u00e1rmol Carvajal in his \u201cRebeli\u00f3n y Castigo<\/em>\u201d (Libro Sexto Cap.XV M\u00e1laga, 1600).<\/p>\n

The last plaque (above) shows the total post-conquest devastation. (Here is my approximate translation)<\/p>\n

“An agonizing silence took over the hamlet of Frigiliana. There was the abandone<\/em>d<\/em> mountain, the dead bodies, the living voice of Mart\u00edn Alguacil:- “If defending our freedom we die fighting, <\/em>mother earth will receive us and though the graves be hid<\/em>den, the sky will ever warm them. God does not want to say that the men of Bentomiz dared not die for their country.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Between plaques one and twelve, which represent Frigiliana at its productive peak and then of the sorry state after all light was extinguished, are ten others which re-stage its swift downfall. These are shown below, listed A – K; to pause, just hold cursor over image:<\/p>\n

[flagallery gid=9]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These plaques tell their own story without real need of further translations. (Very difficult, anyway, considering the medieval Spanish used!)<\/p>\n

Sadly, and to anyone with but a minimal knowledge of Welsh history, there are glaringly obvious parallels to Wales as it was before and after the essential, proud, but ultimately unsuccessful Llywelyn and Glynd\u0175r rebellions. This is well-illustrated in the Welsh bardic poetry of the time.<\/p>\n

The immortal Gruffudd ab yr Ynad Coch wrote an elegy to Llywelyn after his death and the conquest of Wales in 1282, which mirrors the sentiments of the Frigiliana plaques, especially the last one.<\/p>\n

Here is a portion of it :-<\/p>\n

Poni welwch chwi hynt y gwynt a’r glaw?<\/em>
\nPoni welwch chwi’r deri’n ymdaraw?<\/em>
\nPoni welwch chwi’r m\u00f4r yn merwinaw’r tir?<\/em>
\nPoni welwch chwi’r gwir yn ymgweiriaw?<\/em>
\nPoni welwch chwi’r haul yn hwyliaw’r awyr?<\/em>
\nPoni welwch chwi’r syr wedi\u2019r syrthiaw?<\/em>
\nPoni chredwch chwi i Dduw, ddyniadon ynfyd?<\/em>
\nPoni welwch chwi’r byd wedi’r bydiaw?<\/em>
\nOch hyd atat ti Dduw na ddaw – m\u00f4r dros dir!<\/em>
\nNa beth y’n geidr i ohiriaw?<\/em><\/p>\n

Do you not see the path of the wind and the rain?
\nDo you not see the oak trees in turmoil?
\nCold my heart in a fearful breast
\nThou great Creator of the world,
\nWhy are not thy red lightnings hurled?
\nWill not the sea at thy command swallow up this guilty land?
\nWhy are we left to mourn in vain,
\nThe guardian of our country slain?<\/p>\n

Following that, there is nothing else that could be said, is there?<\/p>\n

*<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

Jac writes: I have taken issue with Gareth over what he describes as the “glaringly obvious parallels to Wales”. The Moors that attract his sympathy were themselves conquerors and invaders; the Reconquista<\/em> was the native Spanish reclaiming their land. (The clue is in Re<\/span>conquista<\/em>.) But then, this is the kind of error – ‘The white man is always in the wrong’ – into which socialism, alas, beguiles otherwise sound and sensible Welsh partiots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A guest post by the erudite, urbane, debonair, well-travelled, and ever well-refreshed, Gareth ap Si\u00f4n The seemingly eternal history of struggle and conflict in the face of suppression of our Welsh national identity is not unique to the Cymric nation. It has been and is mirrored by the crushing of many an isolated society in … <\/p>\n

Continue reading Frigiliana, A Spanish History Lesson<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[207,196],"tags":[1873,1872,1875,1874],"class_list":["post-14422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-colonisation","category-history","tag-bentomiz","tag-frigiliana","tag-gruffudd-ab-yr-ynad-coch","tag-martin-alguacil"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3gS9T-3KC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacothenorth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacothenorth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacothenorth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacothenorth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacothenorth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jacothenorth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacothenorth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacothenorth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacothenorth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}