Kings, Cavalry and Quiet a nice town

 We are heading to Sahagun. I have been there one bleached fawn February day, all sharp bright sun and cold. There were piles of slowly thawing snow around town. As I now realise my memory of the town was to make the north-south road an east-west one my memory may not be entirely accurate.






Today History, tomorrow cafes. Obviously there were Romans nearby. The monastery built here was built up in the 11th century during the reign of Alfonso VI - not known but should be called ‘Alfonso the land grabber.’ He had been made to wear monks togs and hang around the monastery after losing a battle with his brother, Sancho. Alfonso’s sister, Urraca, helped him escape and he later went on to grab three kingdoms and marry a Burgundian.



The place may have peaked when, in 1347, People Clement VI granted it right to have its own University College. What could possibly go wrong. It carried on with between 8-12000 inhabitants in the 16th century. Fans of Napoleon may wish to recall the fact that a cavalry class in 1808 between the 15th Light Dragoons and two French regiments saw Johny-Frenchie beaten with about double the loss through death and prisoners.




Today about 2435 people live here, which is down from 1981, where 3536 souls dwelt here. It is twinned with Tineo, which is a splendid Asturian town which is more or less nailed to a hillside. Who knows, we may go there one day.



Well, here we are in the suburbs. Tomorrow we will go into the heady fleshpots.

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