Seville - more than just three words

 The thing about Spain was it was close enough to be real and far enough away to be unfamiliar.  Being across the Pyrenees it was ripe, once they had done with all that implacable Catholic Empire bit, into being a land of exotic gipsies and brigands who would fight Napoleon at the drop of a hat, while being chivalric to capture English m’ladies - who were having quiet enough trouble with bed bugs in inns and surly muleteers.  Welcome to Seville.

Seville dates back to the 8th century when the Phoenicians turned up to do their thing. The Romans, under the command of Scipio Africanus, did for the Carthaginians in 206BC and sent veteran soldiers to the area. Hispalis, as it was known, grew and was the birth place of Emperors Trajan and Hadrian.  I’m not sure if we will go near it but five arches of aqueduct do remain in the city.

After various Vandals and Visigoths the Moors besieged Seville in 712 and Prince Abd al-Aziz made the place capital of al-Andalus until his cousins assassinated him in 716. We’ve not had any Vikings since we were up north. In 844 80 ships full of these raiders went up the Guadalquivir and, following a brief siege, stormed the place.  While waiting for the ransoms they were charging for their hostages to turn up the emir of Cordoba arrived and inflicted a defeat on the invaders. The Vikings negotiated the return of the hostages and plunder in return for food and ability to leave unmolested. The Norse returned a few more times but after the disastrous attack of 971 some of them stayed, converted to Islam and stayed as farmers.  

The Castilians took Seville in 1248.   Ferdinand III, apparently, felt it was his favourite city, right up to the moment he died in it - in 1252, His epitaph is written in Latin, Castilian, Arabic and Hebrew.  The Battle of Salado [1340] opened up the Strait of Gibraltar to Christian shipping and Italians and Flemish merchants arrived in the town to help things along. Things were not helped along by the Black Death, the Great Earthquake of 1356 and an Anti-Jewish revolt in 1391.

Seville became the launch pad for the Spanish involvement in the New World. The Puerto de Indias held the monopoly of trade and so the silver of the West flowed into the city, which grew to over 100,000 people.  The Triana district had factories established in it, sending soap and silk out into the rest of Europe and a lot of cash was splashed on buildings, some of which we will see.

All good things, well, all things, must come to an end and the 17th century economic crisis, the 1649 plague and the shift of economic activity all hit Seville.  The Bourbon kings of the 18th century reduced the city’s powers and the privileges of trade were abolished all together in 1790.  One thing that the 18th century did have going for it was the Royal Tobacco Factory - a producer of nicotine based pleasure and allow workers to star in Bizet operas as a side hustle.  

I think that’s probably it for today. Tomorrow, we plunge into the metropole.