The old quarter of the town of Buitrago del Lozoya
A Cultural
Buitrago del Lozoya is the best example of a castle and medieval fortified town in the Community of Madrid. Its walled enclosure presents enormous interest and great constructive and stratigraphic complexity.
old town of the town of Buitrago del Lozoya
General Information
The privileged geographical location of Buitrago del Lozoya (75 kilometers away from the capital) makes its position strategic, entering a small peninsula at a bend in the Lozoya River, which borders it like a natural moat, made it a defensive bastion between the two plateaus.
Its history dates back to pre-Roman times. It is named as a Celtiberian fortress by Tito Livio with the name of Litabrum, being submitted to the Roman Empire two centuries before the Christian Era by Cayo Flaminio. The Visigoths made it great and the Muslims fortified it.
After its conquest by Alfonso VI, cited in the chronicles of Don Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, his successors granted him privileges and franchises, reaching its maximum splendor in the time of the Trastamara, linking it with the institution of Mayorazgo to the House of Mendoza. During the reign of Enrique IV, his daughter the Infanta Juana, nicknamed "La Beltraneja", was confined in his castle.
The splendor of Buitrago del Lozoya is reported by the festivities held in 1601 on the occasion of the stay of Felipe In and his entourage, a splendor that lasted until the War of Independence when it was burned and looted, after the defeat of Bailén, by the Napoleonic troops protecting the retreat of King Joseph.
The Historical Complex encloses the walls of the 3th, 1931th and XNUMXth centuries of Arabic and Castilian-Mudejar style, with its rectangular and polygonal towers of brick and masonry (Historical-Artistic Monument by Decree of June XNUMX, XNUMX), whose body in The SE has with the walls some very interesting typical characteristics of Byzantine military art, very rare in Europe, including both monuments, walls and castle -this with the common denomination of .La Beltraneja.- in the Inventory of Protection of the European Cultural Heritage (IPCE) , of the Council of Europe, as representative monuments of military architecture and the parish church of Santa María del Castillo, of late Gothic style, with a slender rectangular tower with a square plan and five bodies of masonry with Mudejar mullions and a Gothic-Renaissance façade. the feet, under a Renaissance portico from the XNUMXth century.
The original nucleus of the town is located in a meander of the Lozoya river, in a small irregular rocky spur with pronounced slopes. An ideal location in one of the few valley areas in the area, close to several water courses and with direct control over a river ford.
Although there is no archaeological verification of the occupation of the complex before the 1076th century, the constructive evidences documented on its walls establish the existence of a first phase of occupation between the 1096th and XNUMXth centuries. These evidences coincide with what some written testimonies indicate to us, in which it is cited as a point of reference in the territory. Buitrago is mentioned for the first time in XNUMX in the Fuero de Sepúlveda, and a few years later, in XNUMX, he obtained his own jurisdiction.
Several construction phases are distinguished in the enclosure, dated between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries:
• A fortification prior to the Christian conquest (X-XI centuries), made with a wall made of mud, probably without towers, which would join the two river cuts, closing access to the spur from the south.
• Around the year 1000, some towers were added to this wall, with stepped claws, and a straight access door in masonry. Probably, this infrastructure favors the repopulation of the place, with the organization of a small mountain council made up of groups from the valley that surrounds the nucleus.
• In the XNUMXth century, after the conquest and its incorporation into Castile, this fortification was repaired and reformed. The rest of the meander is walled, its walls are covered on the inside and outside, a new walkway is incorporated on the collapsed ridge increasing its height and the towers are fixed.
• In the fourteenth century the main door was transformed, turning it into an elbow access inside a pentagonal tower, a second reinforcement of the wall canvas was made, including a masonry sheet that finished hiding the mud, and the outer wall or barbican.
• Between the end of the XNUMXth century and the XNUMXth century, the Castillo de los Mendoza, a fortification with a square plan, was built in the southeast corner of the enclosure.
Excerpt from the didactic guide Medieval archaeological route of Sieteiglesias and Buitrago del Lozoya
Old town of the town of Buitrago del Lozoya
The barbican was built in the 4th century crossing from east to west, although today only its western section remains. Parallel to the wall, from which it is separated by about 2 meters, it is a low wall, between 3 and XNUMX m.
The barbcans are forward ante-walls that function as a second defensive line. Its height must be less than that of the wall so as not to prevent surveillance and the launching of projectiles from inside the enclosure. The simplest were simple embankments or slopes. Sometimes they can be accompanied by exterior moats and small towers, as in Buitrago.
With the improvement of military tactics and the development of artillery in the XNUMXth century, the barbcans were losing importance, although in the XNUMXth century we can still find some examples.
Excerpt from the didactic guide Medieval archaeological route of Sieteiglesias and Buitrago del Lozoya
The main access to the interior of the enclosure is in the Clock Tower. Initially, it was a straight access framed by towers, equipped with a portcullis in the pass. It was the main element of the defensive system of Buitrago since the defense was organized from it. From its upper chamber you accessed both the walkway and the rake lifting mechanism.
In the XNUMXth century this door was reformed, being embedded in a pentagonal tower, hiding the two towers on its sides and becoming the elbow access.
The high walkway is located next to the Clock Tower, at the southern end of the enclosure, the furthest from the river and the one that needed more defenses because it was more exposed to attacks. For this reason, in this area the wall is more solid and consistent: its canvas is thicker, reaching 9 meters in height and includes 13 towers.
The towers are characterized by being square in plan and solid up to the top, with one or two guard chambers. Its inner core is made of earth and on the outside they are built with masonry taped with brick executioners.
In the surroundings of the Clock Tower there is also the church of Santa María del Castillo, built in the 60th century and renovated in the XNUMXth century. The archaeological excavations carried out between the church and the main gate of the enclosure have made it possible to document an extensive necropolis with more than XNUMX burials. Due to the superposition and typology of the tombs, this cemetery began to be used in the XNUMXth century, associated with a primitive disappeared church, maintaining its use until the early Modern Age.
The oldest tombs are excavated in the rock, a first recess of a rectangular shape and variable depth being carried out, and then another anthropomorphic grave is carved into this first grave, in which the corpse was deposited. This type of burial is called "grave with prefosa ”. The graves were covered with stone slabs, and in seven of the burials, tumbled stones were located that indicated their position within the necropolis.
Excerpt from the didactic guide Medieval archaeological route of Sieteiglesias and Buitrago del Lozoya
The low walkway is the canvas and round walk of the wall that runs parallel to the Lozoya River and is located on the north, east and west sides of the fortress. Being protected by the river, it is not high, about 4 meters, its width is about 2 meters and it does not need additional defenses such as attached towers.
Attached to this eastern section of the wall, and in front of the castle, was the Hospital de San Salvador, founded in 1455 by the first Marquis of Santillana. Its construction ended in 1500 with his grandson Diego López de Mendoza. It was destroyed during the Civil War, its ruins being demolished in 1948, moving the Mudejar coffered ceiling of its main chapel to the presbytery of the church of Santa María, while its Gothic façade is preserved in the current residence for the elderly.
We know what its appearance and plant were like from the documents, photographs taken between the second half of the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, and the remains of its foundations documented in Calle del Hospitalillo. Its building consisted of a church, a cloister, a kitchen, two infirmaries, several lodging rooms, an orchard and a cemetery.
Excerpt from the didactic guide Medieval archaeological route of Sieteiglesias and Buitrago del Lozoya
At first, the Castilian monarchy established control of the conquered territory through castles and fortifications. From the fourteenth century, many walled towns saw a new fortification added to one of the corners of their enclosures, the stately castles. This phenomenon is produced by the transfer to the nobility, by the Crown, of legal rights (administration of justice) and economic (income on land and production) in municipal territories. Little by little the system of manorial power is imposing itself on the power of the town councils.
Since the thirteenth century there have been no new conquests in the Andalusian territory, so there are no new manors that can be distributed. The territories conquered in the XNUMXth century are already repopulated and are very profitable. At the same time, the struggles for the succession in the Castilian Crown make the suitors seek support among the nobles in exchange for granting them rights.
This phenomenon also occurs in Buitrago, which ceases to be a royal territory to become a feudal lordship. At the end of the XNUMXth century, Juan II granted the heirs of Pedro González de Mendoza the lordship of Buitrago, in addition to the territory of the Real de Manzanares.
Between the end of the XNUMXth century and the XNUMXth century, the Mendoza castle-palace was built, a square-plan fortification that is attached to the southeast corner of the fortified enclosure, controlling the bridge and the passage through the cattle route, and equally defending itself from dangers exteriors and possible revolts of the new vassals.
Until then the pressure exerted by the royal administration had been distant and undemanding. On the other hand, that exercised by the feudal lords is much more direct and persistent. These gentlemen obtained income from all the economic activities that were carried out in their manors: circulation of people and goods, sale of merchandise, exploitation of the land and forests, use of mills and industry.
For its defense, the castle had six rectangular towers, a pentagonal tower in its northwestern corner and a moat ante-wall discovered in recent years. Its main access was through an elbow door, housed in the tower located at its northern end.
During the XNUMXth century, reforms were carried out to transform this fortress into a castle-palace, occupying the large parade ground. The first Marquis of Santillana, Íñigo López de Mendoza, had to build the first palatial bays, since it is known that he welcomed Juana la Beltraneja there. Later, the third Marquis and second Duke of the Infantado would build the definitive Renaissance palace inside, of which some shafts and capitals of the columns are preserved. It is possible that in those final years of the XNUMXth century the royal architect Juan Guas intervened in the construction, who drew up the Infantado Palace in Guadalajara and the nearby castle-palace of Manzanares el Real for the same man.
The decline of the enclosure began in 1536 with a fire that affected the castle and continued throughout the seventeenth century with the looting of materials. The War of Independence and the Civil War wreaked havoc on him. The French used the castle as a barracks and hospital. And after the Civil War the palace was dismantled to build in the space of the old parade ground the bleachers of a bullring.
Excerpt from the didactic guide Medieval archaeological route of Sieteiglesias and Buitrago del Lozoya
In the eastern sector of the fortified enclosure, the wall extends to the riverbed, by means of a shell topped by a tower that defended the access to the town through a bridge. Since 1939, this bridge has remained submerged by the construction of the Puentes Viejas reservoir, and its cutwaters and abutments are only visible in years of drought. This shell is one of the most important and best preserved elements of the wall.
On the other side of the river, the Mendoza family owned a large farm where they built a hunting lodge or hunting lodge called the Casa del Bosque in the 1514th century. Currently, it is in a dilapidated state. The building was originally built by the IV Duke of Infantado, between 1520 and 1596. This building was later renovated by the V Duke between 1601 and 1808. Shortly after the work was finished, Felipe III visited the Casa del Bosque for several days to hunt on the farm. In the XNUMXth century, the farm was only used for shearing and washing wool for the flocks of the Casa del Infantado. In XNUMX the building was occupied and looted by Napoleonic troops. During the Civil War it was used as kitchens and bombed.
The House of the Forest is modeled after the Italian Mannerist villas. It has the shape of a square tower crowned by a dome, of which only its start remains. It had a front garden delimited by a wall with two small towers at the corners, forming a terrace or viewpoint on the slope that descends towards the Lozoya River and that from the outside gave it the appearance of a fortress.
Excerpt from the didactic guide Medieval archaeological route of Sieteiglesias and Buitrago del Lozoya
Inside the castle, in its southeast corner, next to the shell and one of the portholes, the latest archaeological excavations have brought to light a snow pit opened in the mid-XNUMXth century, when the castle-palace began to cease to exist. used as a residence and its rooms and dependencies began to be used for agricultural and storage uses. The snow that came down from the snowfields of the nearby mountains was deposited in this well to store it and then sell it. From the preserved documents we know that the Catalan merchant Pablo Xarquies had a monopoly and was in charge of the exploitation of this snow pit. Over time, the well was gradually clogged until at the end of the XNUMXth or early XNUMXth century it was abandoned.
Excerpt from the didactic guide Medieval archaeological route of Sieteiglesias and Buitrago del Lozoya
Image gallery
-
Photographs: Buitrago del Lozoya Tourism
