Saldaña

Saldaña's history runs deep enough to predate Rome. The ancient settlement, first known as Gili-Zalan and later Saldania, put up fierce resistance to Roman conquest, and the surrounding countryside remains a rich and largely untouched archaeological landscape.

After the Muslim conquest, the castle of Saldaña was reconquered between 740 and 754 by Alfonso I of Asturias following a long siege. The town then became the seat of the County of Saldaña-Carrión, whose counts belonged to the Beni Gómez family, with Diego Muñoz recorded as the first. As a vassal of the Kingdom of León, the county shared its eastern border with the County of Monzón, and its counts were involved in revolts that contributed to Castile's eventual independence from León.

Local history and legend are shaped above all by the counts of Saldaña. The most famous story involves Bernardo del Carpio, son of Count Sancho Díaz of Saldaña and Princess Ximena, sister of King Alfonso II of Asturias. The king opposed the marriage, imprisoned the count in a dungeon and sent his sister to a monastery.

Royal events also marked the town. Queen Urraca I of León, daughter of Alfonso VI, died in Saldaña on 8 March 1126; her body was taken to León and buried in the Pantheon of Kings at San Isidoro. Two years later, in 1128, her son Alfonso VII married Berenguela of Barcelona in Saldaña — an occasion celebrated with what chroniclers record as the first documented bullfight in Spain.

In later centuries Saldaña served as the head of more than a hundred settlements, was a lordship of the Marquis of Santillana, and was considered one of the most important centres of learning in the country.

The ruined castle that still dominates Saldaña is the Castillo de los Duques del Infantado. Its visible remains date to around 1000–1050 AD, confirmed by carbon-14 analysis of surviving timbers. The original structure was destroyed by Almanzor, and what replaced it was built from lime and rubble concrete, originally faced in stone blocks that have since disappeared. It consisted of two square crenellated towers joined by a wall more than 2.7 metres thick, enclosing a parade ground and cisterns. Its first lord was Ruy de Manzanedo; it later passed to the Vega family and eventually to the Duke of the Infantado. A pre-Islamic castle is also thought to have existed on the nearby site of La Morterona. The castle was declared a listed monument on 22 April 1949.

The Palacio del Marqués de La Valdavia is the result of two separate noble houses, two and three storeys respectively, merged into a single residence. Originating in the 15th or 16th century and heavily remodelled in the 17th and 18th, it is considered a fine example of Castilian Renaissance architecture. Its doorway carries noble coats of arms, and a bear's claw hangs from a roof beam — said by legend to have been killed by one of the marquis's ancestors.

The Plaza Vieja, also known as the Plaza de los Francos or Plaza de los Marranos, points through its names to its commercial past and its proximity to the town's old Jewish quarter. It was declared a heritage site on 30 May 1996. Though most of what stands today dates from the 17th to 19th centuries, its origins go back to the 13th. The arcaded buildings are built in the traditional post-and-beam style, with wooden galleries and some stone columns. This is the square where the 1128 royal wedding celebrations were held and the first recorded bullfight took place.

The church of San Pedro began to take shape in the mid-15th century, with the apse and a funerary chapel added first, and a Mudéjar coffered ceiling covering part of the nave. The 16th century brought further chapels and new roofing. Inside, there are Solomonic altarpieces, the image of the Virgen de Valfrío, tombs, floor slabs and paintings. The nave is three-aisled with a dome on pendentives decorated with Baroque plasterwork. The church was restored in the 1980s and converted into an archaeological museum, displaying finds from the Roman villa of La Olmeda excavated by Javier Cortés Álvarez de Miranda, along with material from La Morterona, an Arab stele found at the castle by Fray Justo Pérez de Urbel, and a Mozarabic paten from the Monastery of Valcavado, made in silver with a gold wash.