CACERES

ARABIC AND CHRISTIAN

City Patrimony of hte Humanity

With the fall of the Empire, the visigodos do with the whole peninsula, restoring a monarchy which existence was a fruit of struggles for the power. Witiza's death and the conspiracies of his children against the new king D. Rodrigo, they ended after Guadalete's battle, with the delivery of the kingdom in hands of Moslem commanders who came from the north of Africa.

Of the Caceres visigodo you upset we still had remains. Of the Moslem period of the city, there came to us singular buildings, which they have spoken about that moment, many mas that the chronicles of the epoch.

AL-ANDALUS'S HEAD-BOARD

After Guadalete's defeat, the remains of the army visigodo that does not surrender to the new owners, they flee towards Asturias and Galicia. Meanwhile, the Muslims consolidate the key points of the conquered territory, strengthening cities and re-taking advantage of the old fortresses. Since in other cities, in Caceres the old Roman basements recover and on them there gets up a powerful fence defended by numerous torreones, alternating the old stones of granite, with classic tapial so used in the fortresses of the north of Africa. Caceres is the first great reef(obstacle) for the Christians in his(its) way towards the basin of the Guadiana and his political head and military Badajoz, the new city that in his margins Ibn Marwan raised. First In 1169 the Fernando II from Leon manages to enter Caceres, though the emir Yusuf Almansur got carried away her(it) little later.

The Fratres of Caceres managed to support a time, but the old Arabic commander managed to snatch her(it) again, being a scene(stage) the Tower of the Bujaco of the ajusticiamiento of the Christian gentlemen. From then, the population changed owners in several occasions in only 30 years. Finally in 1229 Alfonso IX of León conquers definitively Caceres, way of Merida and Badajoz in a conquering unstoppable big wave that extendería the Christian kingdoms I travel of the valley of the Guadalquivir, with the sight put in Seville and Cordoba

CACERES CHRISTENS

 Consolidated the reconquest and established clearly the limits with Portugal, a relative peace reigned in the city, which was divided in seasoned factions that were facing between them, placing each one aside of the internal struggles of the nascent wreath of Castile. The nobility that had acceded to big large estates, it began to install in the city, where he constructed his palaces and ancestral houses, in a constant struggle, he was not alone of defensive type, but also of family prestige and supremacy.

Important he fights internal they happened for centuries up to Isabel the Catholic one in 1476 arranged the end of the clashes forcing the nobles to destroy the defenses of his palaces and to prevent that they were used as means of assault or defense. One year later again in the city, he remained in her long time, arranging the juridical and political life of the same one, and swearing finally his Jurisdictions initially granted by the conqueror of the square(seat) in 1230.

The beautiful city medieval, virtually confined to the fortress, it seems doze in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries, while in the shadows of dusk, seemed quietly slip through its streets and plazoletas, knights of cloak and sword, legions of nuns and monks, and as merchants and soldiers, reliving the magnificent past of Caceres. Today, the old town is a monumental of the best in Europe, classified by UNESCO in 1986 as a World Heritage city.While waiting to get the next Capitalidad Cultural Europe, the city always surprised both those who first time enjoy it, as all those who attracted by its beauty, go repeatedly go their streets and squares.

www.ayto-caceres.es/                    http://caceres2016.net/                   http://www.ayto-caceres.es/caceres2016/index.asp                  fotografias propiedad del autor

  Antonio García Candelas        Suggestions and impressions