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THE SPANISH HORSE AND THE CATHOLIC KINGS
"...You are well aware that this Town of Medina del Campo is one of
our most noble and main towns: they had the will, of glorious memory, to stay
at certain times of the year, and they always strove to ennoble and to enlarge
it, and because of that, as well as of the fact that, as a result of the trade
fairs taking place in it twice a year, many important merchants convene to it
as do other people from our kingdoms and domains as well as from the bordering
kingdoms... "
Simancas General Archive, R.G.S. May 1st 1494. Sheet 249
These words of the Catholic Kings, written in a document issued in 1489, highlight
the outstanding place held by Medina del Campo in the roll of cities and towns
belonging to the Castilian crown in the latest period of the Middle Ages.
The partiality that the Catholic Kings seemed to have for Medina del Campo led
them to reside in this town. During their stays in the royal palaces of the
town’s square, important decisions for the Kingdom were made.
With the conquest of Granada by the Catholic Kings the long process is brought
to an end which resulted in the reunion under one single sceptre of the whole
of the Iberian Peninsula. Boabdil cries on his way to exile, and in the same
year Christopher Columbus discovers America. Spain lacks the room for her children’s
thirst for war. Isabella and Ferdinand put the house in order while they establish
the foundations of an empire where, under the Habsburg kings, the sun would
never set. Such an empire was made on horseback. So clear was this idea that
Bernal Díaz del Castillo, chronicler of Hernán Cortés,
and born in the very noble and illustrious town of Medina del Campo, had no
hesitation to write: "Next to God, we are indebted to the horses for these
lands. "
It was a traditional Spanish custom to resupply our armies with pure-breed
Spanish horses. Our horses, scattered over the five continents, got old conquering
the world, thus impregnating with Spanish blood many horse populations. Also
by way of gift, the Spanish Horse, very much in demand, did help our kings to
soften wills, to realize alliances and to quench bellicose ardours. The predilection
of European crowns for the Spanish Horse was universal for centuries and it
is hard to find in any European museum the equestrian portrait of a king other
than on a Spanish horse. Spanish Horse, the horse of kings!
“In this Town the knights use to rejoice on Saint James’ day
by playing at the canes and organizing other festivities and exercises. Besides
which there are usually feasts, ring games and there is a huge number of horses
in this locality, more than there are anywhere else in these kingdoms of Castile,
and the knights and persons many times in these events... through which they
will be better trained for His Majesty’s service "
Medina del Campo Municipal Archive.
Council’s Decision Book, 1572-1579
Consistorial Rule dated September 16th 1572
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