Pastrana De Pinto: the final route of the Princess of Eboli

For: Ricardo Coarasa (text and photos)
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What municipalities have in common and Santorcaz Pinto Madrid with Castilian-Manchego Pastrana? Above all, the look of a woman, the most famous one-eyed history of Spain, most abused patch that empire where the sun never set.

The shelves of the three towns account for a heinous prison, a captivity that shocked sixteenth-century Spain, countless gossip. Is, ultimately, memory point of the decline of a woman with a doctorate in ambitions, so rich in intrigue and battered by history, who dared to take a pulse of the most powerful monarch of his time, Felipe II: Dona Ana de Mendoza y de la Cerda, the princess of Eboli. "Journeys to the Past" runs this time, moved the traveler from an undisguised sympathy for the reckless life of Eboli, places of his long confinement, stays that tempered his arrogance, the walls that were withering dreams of power.

The cold Pinto

Twenty kilometers south of Madrid, Pinto is the first stop This Travel. In this city began the captivity of Dona Ana night 28 July 1579. Tired of intrigue, Philip II had ordered his detention and his secretary, Antonio Perez, to discover that he had been duped into consenting to the murder of the right hand of Don Juan de Austria, Juan de Escobedo, so it will not unveil his double game with the insurgents in Flanders. So much for the princess in a carriage escorted by hundreds of soldiers from the Royal Guard, encouraging rumors passing between the surprised citizens. The legend says, even, Philip II himself went out anonymously to see with their own eyes that your order is fulfilled.

The place was imprisoned for six months Dona Ana (and later the same Antonio Perez, his wife and children), Pinto tower or Eboli, still remains standing, but you can not visit because it is privately owned, although efforts have succeeded pinteño City Council to open its doors a few times a year. Of the old wall, however, No trace.
In this three-story tower, which was accompanied by several servants, the princess of Eboli felt in his bones the cold of the Castilian plateau and his health deteriorated quickly, which softened the king's determination. But the change did not come out winning. Your destination, from February 1580, Castle was Santorcaz, a former prison converted into a prison clerics illustrious.

Santorcaz: the castle tower only

To go to Santorcaz, near Alcala de Henares, must look to the east. On the road to Barcelona (A-2), take a detour, before coming to Guadalajara from Madrid, en el km. 38, Saints towards the Humosa. Five minutes drive from the latter town is the small village of Santorcaz, perched on a hill overlooking the remains of the old castle, located in the plaza of San Torcuato. The traveler asks a villager by the castle. "Here there is no castle rightly said-, only a tower older than what…”. At that ancient tower while the traveler goes the village children gather rose petals for the procession of Corpus. In Santorcaz, so is, Thursday is more than the sun shining.

The traveler asks a villager by the castle. "Here there is no castle rightly said-, only a tower older than what…”

The tower, next to the parish church, is topped by an iron cross, a bush rebel scanning the sky of Castile and a lone tree hung with faded remains of a flag. Castle, in fact, bit is retained, except for a section of wall and one of the arches of access. No, neither, plaque that remembers the captivity of the Princess of Eboli. In the entrance hall of the church, however, yes if he looks at memory de otro del castillo took ilustre: Cardinal Cisneros (when it was still not). Although according to Gregorio Marañón review, in his biography of Antonio Perez, the Santorcaz "was building larger and better furnished than the tower of Pinto", The bitter cold was taking its toll on his health impaired. Finally, mediation before the court of his son, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, Philip II was used to transfer authorization, on February 1581, the Mendoza family palace in Pastrana.

Pastrana, "Jail death '

No need to get back out on the A-2, the traveler is traveling on country roads to the village of Pastrana, which comes after barely half an hour at the wheel. The Ducal Palace is located in Time Square, RAISED surrounded now for Saturday's closure of the feasts of Corpus, which advertised "two cows two" of the accredited livestock Zaragoza of "The Hands".

In the first months of stay here, the princess of Eboli is the promised happy. Even came to spread rumors about parties and furtive visits her lover Antonio Perez. Philip II sent to a convent assessed in Andalusia, but ultimately, especially after the escape of Antonio Perez Aragon, decided to tighten the conditions of their confinement. Confined to the eastern tower of the palace (where, have, only allowed to look out the barred window an hour a day, hence the name of the square), Dona Ana languished for ten years cursing his luck in some quarters "facts jail death, dark and sad ". The palace and the rooms where he developed his captivity can visit. The Tourist Office organizes two day tours, but if not met more than five people the tour is canceled.

The final resting place of Princess

Do not leave without direct Pastrana steps to Collegiate Church of the Assumption old. There, to the right of the altar, Graves are the parents of Dona Ana, Melito princes and dukes of Francavila. "Articles of obligation, not forgetting the, contains the grave ", reads the epitaph placed by his grandson, Fray Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza (who was Archbishop of Granada and Zaragoza), son of the Princess of Eboli and patron of Pastrana, whose remains lie beside those of his grandparents.

But the grave you are looking for the traveler is the princess of Eboli, buried in the crypt of the temple with her husband, Portuguese Ruy Gomez de Silva, the widowed to 34 years. Don Emilio, the párraco, insists that the parish museum worth. The visit, truth, is inescapable (2,5 euro entry), if only to admire the impressive funeral catafalque of black cloth, candlesticks of ebony escort, that belonged to the Dukes of Pastrana and in which, eg, was shrouded in Ruy Gomez de Silva 1573. The museum also exhibits some objects belonging to the princess eyed, as a cordovan (embossed trunk), a rosewood chest, a cross of rock crystal, a cauldron of silver and pearl and a manuscript signed by her.

Unwilling to let visitors take pictures, even without flash, the parish priest, however, allow the traveler a snapshot of the marble tomb of the Princess of Eboli, where only engraved the following legend: "Here lies Dona Ana de Mendoza and Cerda. Pastrana died in year 1592 ". Below the urn is the Gomez de Silva. And is that even in death, the princess of Eboli could not have anyone above.

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It is best to cover the route by car, but in Pinto, eg, reached in the Suburban from Madrid. In fact, Tower of Eboli is very close to the train station. To reach Santorcaz and Pastrana, artery that serves as a reference is A-2, the highway from Barcelona, where you have to turn back roads with little traffic.

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The traveler made the journey in a day from Madrid, so has no proposal to do, although he spoke well of the hotel Palaterna (www.palaterna.com), where the double exits 60 EUR.

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This time the recommendation is tops. The traveler keeps an excellent memory of "Dry House", Pastrana, at the junction of High Street and Casino Pastrana, one step away from the square of the Hour. From the road, you get in a hurry down the steep alley of the bulls. With a century of history behind it, the display of homemade gazpacho and tapas herring and potato omelette is well worth a stop. A portrait of the Princess of Eboli (that illustrated the events commemorating the fourth centenary of his death), confused walls full of bullfighting posters, Pastrana reminds the traveler who has not forgotten, four centuries later, its more illustrious neighbor. One more reason to ask for another mahou.

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A book so voluminous as interesting, "Antonio Perez", Gregorio Marañón and an equally historic but more informative, Manuel Fernandez Alvarez: "The Princess of Eboli".

The site of the Municipality of Pastrana (www.pastrana.org) provides extensive information on the history of the town. VaP. thanks to its tourist office for their collaboration for the realization of this report.

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Comments (1)

  • Juancho

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    Great, Richi, as always. I was recently in Pastrana, and worth the visit.

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