The castle of Medinaceli and the legend of Almanzor

Read this post on TravelFeed.io for the best experience

---

We take a provisional pause in our effort to make many of the most charismatic and picturesque places in Cantabria known, to return to the Castilian Plateau and visit one of those emblematic Castilian cities, whose legendary presence is closely linked to the figure and death of one of the greatest Muslim leaders of the Caliphate of Córdoba: Almanzor.

Even more than other Muslim leaders, such as Abdelrramán -who, out of love, built an idyllic city, Medina Azahara, now barely a ruin, but always wrapped in a halo of exotic legend- or Al-Hakán II, whose artistic contributions, the figure of Almanzor, who ruled with an iron hand and was, for the small Christian kingdoms of the north, the scourge and precursor of the feared Apocalypse of the Year Thousand, can still be seen in some of the construction phases of the great Cordoba Mosque, still continues to be involved, after centuries, in a fascinating unresolved enigma.

An enigma, on the other hand, referring to his death and the place of his burial, unknown and therefore not yet located, which places him, within the complex world of great historical enigmas, at the level of other famous cases of Antiquity, such as the tomb of Alexander the Great or even, despite modern speculation, that of the mythical queen Cleopatra.

Indeed: it tells one of the many traditions and legends associated with a land plagued with mysteries, such as Soria, that Almanzor, on the eve of the dreaded Year Thousand and returning very ill from one of his last raids or actions of war and looting of lands from the north, he was ambushed, near the beautiful town of Calatañazor and while he was heading towards Medinaceli, the rearguard of his army possibly being more harmed, an action that the Christians took advantage of to turn a simple skirmish into a great victory.

The point is that Almanzor, without being touched by any arrow, sword or dagger, died a natural death before reaching his destination and here, we could say that the myth begins, since there are several places that dispute the enigmatic site in the one that was sumptuously but anonymously buried.

On the one hand, a legend places it in the small town of Bordecorex, located on the lands of the Villa de Berlanga, not far from very charismatic places, such as the incredible Mozarabic hermitage of San Baudelio and, of course, in the heart of the Rute of the Cid. And on the other, even more insistent, they say, legend and tradition, that he was buried in Medinaceli, observing two variants.

One of them, terribly and hopelessly imprecise, claims to be buried 'on the fourth hill', all an inconsequential gibberish, if one takes into account that, in addition to not specifying something as basic as the address, Medinaceli is surrounded by hills for its four sides. So, objectively speaking, it would have more weight, the one that locates the place of his burial, precisely in this castle, which, a few hundred meters away from the historic center of the city, still preserves a good part of its old constitution and beauty.

And possibly, without even suspecting it, it was the best place to proceed to his burial, since, disregarding other uses, the municipal cemetery of the city is located inside, with which the spirit of the great Muslim leader can boast of resting in peace, away, by such circumstance, from the excavation work that archaeologists may have had planned at some point in history.

NOTICE: Both the text and the photographs that accompany it, are my exclusive intellectual property and, therefore, are subject to my Copyright.

---

View this post on TravelFeed for the best experience.