Patones: the mysterious people of Madrid and lost
The stones facilitated the existence of a small kingdom that never mattered to anyone because they believe not to be found, to be the forgotten kingdom that never found its way. Paton was born, reinvented the time when ancient people lived there. Reinvented for unknown. A small town why I like to get lost when I am in Madrid, especially in winter, when snow and the smell of wood smoke envelops everything. In summer, different, the sun shines on its slate floor and at night a gentle breeze hits your face.
The village lost, that is difficult to find their way because their fingerprints are born and lost a stone throat, a secret. Legend has it that King had Paton de Arriba own. Echo Says hid there while families to avoid the yoke of the Saracens. He was born there a realm of shepherds and farmers. A kingdom of shadows. They say that centuries later it was the only place in the Iberian Peninsula which was not conquered by Napoleon's troops. It was not because they did not find.
Legend has it that King had Paton de Arriba own. Echo Says hid there while families to avoid the yoke of the Saracens
Paton is now a mixture of past and future. Businesses (restaurants and an upscale hotel called "The Lost Time", that deserves a separate story for art lovers) have made this corner of a tourist. But its streets are also black slate abandoned houses with walls centenary killed by the passage of the days. Paton was that until thirty years ago, when, disinherited young men first and then the first traders, repaired in that town dying of loneliness among the mountains. He then began a new era for Paton de Arriba and with it a chance to recover his legend.
Upon entering Paton, left, small square past the olive, there is a small plaque in what was the town church says: "A likeness of Italica has been great. Until King accounts in your story. The French domination ignored you. Now fully ruin your residents away, the city come to you so that you continue your existence, perhaps with more vigor. This house is intended to be a relic of a glorious past. So be it. Majarem to the Glory of God. Year MCLXVII ». A perfect summary of what has been the history of Paton, the people of Kings.
I climb the two main streets of the town. His black slate aims high. A sign announces a popular restaurant in the town: "The King of Paton". They chatted with the few neighbors who live daily in the town. A shoemaker, of old; Kika, older women and with almost one hundred years still haunts even the steep streets, o Emili, the owner of one of the restaurants. Everyone knows the legend of the forgotten people. Since there are only fourteen people living between homes.
Everyone knows the legend of the forgotten people. Since there are only fourteen people living between homes
There is evidence that kingdom in various documents. One of them is the Book of Life, Virtues and Miracles of Blessed Saint Mary of the Head (1752), which describes this: "At the foot of the cliffs were kept hidden some families, in the time of our misfortune and hard yoke of Saracens loa, in Christian rites and customs, civil-governing as an old man who simply called King ".
If these words are true, removing this hidden place was caused by the thrust of the Islamic conquest. Then a number of families fled to a hiding place by the mountains themselves where they could keep their Christian rites. There he remained for some centuries. His way of living was agriculture, livestock and hunting. It is the land of a particularly fertile Paton, although a small stream tears apart his side, prompting both livestock and subsistence agriculture outside, especially cereals.
There are more documents confirming this theory. A book published in 1680, "Life of Don Baltasar de Moscoso y Sandoval, Cardinal of Toledo ", talks about the meeting between Cardinal and the king said of Paton, It is requesting him to build a chapel in the village to practice Christian worship.
The monarch of the empire on which the sun never set wanted to know who was this man who called himself king in his own kingdom
He most important meetings of Paton monarchy. Philip II sent a letter to the king of Paton who headed well: "The King of Spain King of Patones». The lord of that empire on which the sun never set wanted to know who was this man who called himself king in his own kingdom. The same legend says that when response received and checked the great monarch did not matter that character lost interest in the topic.
The king of Paton was the oldest man of the people, perhaps only the most respected, but in those days it seems that both were linked. The pastor, without, that would do justice judgment; coming down to the nearby villages (Uceda, Torrelaguna…) wood to sell the goats, and that there, in those people who were part of another kingdom, treated him like the king of Paton. A king of the people who got, that there was little time, have special privileges and tax privileges to its neighbors.
But legends are made ara doubted because otherwise we would call history. Other very careful works speak of a more prosaic Paton birth. There were three brothers, Pastors, Paton named, those who chose that piece of mountain living because from where they lived (Uceda) they cost too much to do every day the way to where grazing their cattle. Thus was born what were intone "The Paton" in allusion to its first inhabitants. The figure of the King, that was called and he could have called mayor or judge, was responsible for maintaining order among neighbors and perhaps negotiate with the surrounding villages. There are documents proving the existence of four kings patónicos.
Napoleon did not find
Also in this town boast of being the only enclave in the Iberian Peninsula that the French Napoleonic conquest found in. A truth too bold considering the size of the Iberian, but of which no record in several local Paton. The French did not find the way and so not conquered, legend has passed from father to son and neighbors proudly repeated Paton. But, in the municipal archives payment consists of a cow and 50 pounds of meat a French detachment was in Torrelaguna. Neither this fact shows that the town was taken by the Napoleonic armies, but that there was contact between at least two.
The legend speaks of a French search and how the inhabitants of the Lost Kingdom Hidden endured his quiet life and got it, as happened with the Saracens, His people will be apart from the invasion.
Anyway, Paton is now a place full of charm in which to observe the footprint before and after that awaits all men. An enclave that disappeared for years of road maps of the past century and, now, reform its streets and houses to face the XXI century. Paton managed to create, at least, this utopia in which men lived always believe they can be governed no other reason than to find every morning and every night light shade.
Two recommendations
To sleep: The hotel "The lost time " is a museum than a hostel. A planting of who owned an eccentric French antiquarian and whose stay is full of great artistic treasures. Not cheap, but is one of those unique places where n is worthwhile spending a night. Beautiful high quality place.
To eat: The King of Paton is the great classic of the several restaurants are there in the town. Castilian cuisine tasty and filling.
http://www.reydepatones.com/
Comments (3)
mayte
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What place so interesting and well explained what his story…!! Thanks Javier
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Javier Brandoli
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Thank you Mayte. It is a little-known site that is 50 km from Madrid and has a unique history enigmatic
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Eva
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I'm intense locate the shoemaker Patones because I want one of his great sandals. Can you help me?
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