It was such a huge fortress – its walls stretched 1.2 kilometers flanked by 28 large towers – that its occupants in the 14th century decided to build a smaller castle inside because they could not cover its entire defensive perimeter. The surprising fortification of Gormaz, the largest of those built in the 10th century in Europe, has fallen under the scrutiny of experts Manuel Ángel Hervás (Baraka Archaeologists) and Manuel Retuerce (Complutense University of Madrid), which in the study The 2022 archaeological intervention in the parade ground of the Gormaz fortress, published by the Mantua magazine, have uncovered totally unknown aspects of this stone mass built by Caliph Abd al-Rahman III to defend the northern border of Al-Andalus. They have revealed, for example, that given its gigantic proportions, its defense was extremely complicated, despite being built on a steep hill 130 meters high. As abundant troops were needed inside to cover its entire perimeter, it was successively taken by Christians and Andalusians. The excavations have also led to the discovery of numerous military objects and objects from the daily life of its successive inhabitants, including medieval Christian coins, a brigantine (cuirass) from the 14th or 15th century, and Islamic ceramics.
The impressive military building of Gormaz stands on a long and narrow plateau hill. From its height, the Duero River can be distinguished to the south, west and north. Its exceptional location allows you to see the entire region in the distance, including Moncayo, the Picos de Urbión and the Central System on clear days. It was built on a first emiral earthen fortification and became a “bridgehead” and epicenter of the defense of the border against the thriving kingdoms of Navarre and Castile. It is fundamentally characterized by its particular configuration, which adapts precisely to the abrupt irregular topography of the hill. It can be visited – it preserves the citadel, towers, caliphate gates and walls more than 10 meters high – and at its feet stands a small Romanesque interpretation center, since this entire part of the province of Soria boasts numerous churches from this period. historical.
With the Caliph Al-Hakam II (915-976) it experienced one of the periods of greatest splendor. But between 940 and 965 it was occupied by the Christians, who then lost it to the Muslim troops of General Galib. In 1047, it was conquered again by Ferdinand I of Castile. Its first warden was Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid Campeador (1081). In the 14th century, due to the civil wars between Pedro I and his brothers, different areas were reinforced and prismatic battlements were added. Under the Catholic Monarchs it became a prison.
Last year, archaeologists analyzed 114 square meters of its surface and went down to 1.91 meters in the central sector of the fortress, the area located between the parade ground and the fortress. The results have confirmed both the emiral earthen construction phase and the caliphal phase, made of masonry and ashlar, as well as a third that extends inside the fortress and corresponds to another smaller, quadrangular castle built by the Christians.
“The new archaeological intervention has documented major modifications in the defensive structure of the enclosure, undertaken in the context of the Castilian civil wars of the 14th century,” the study states. “These reforms are legible not only inside the excavated area, but also in the remains of the surrounding wall, since several reforms were identified, both in the access system to the interior of the fortress from the south and in the internal distribution. of the central sector, with new defensive buildings within the walls and with a large interior tower,” details Manuel Retuerce.
All these buildings form a quadrilateral of around 60 meters long by about 30 meters wide, with two towers, one in the southeast and another in the northeast, “which highlights its defensive vocation.” A wall transversely closed the entire space. “As a working hypothesis to be tested in future interventions, we propose the possibility that these structures correspond to interior defensive enclosures, as shortcuts, built in the 14th century to facilitate the defense of the square during one of the civil wars fought then. . It is possible that the troops stationed inside were not numerous enough to guarantee the defense of the entire walled perimeter by themselves and that, consequently, the decision was made to sectorize the space within the walls by means of smaller internal defensive enclosures. ” indicates Retuerce.
Furthermore, when excavating the archaeologists found, among other objects, the edge of a Celtiberian urn – which testifies to a two-thousand-year-old occupation of the hill -, an ataifor (plate) from the Caliphal period, casseroles, a coin from the period of Ferdinand IV (1295- 1312) minted in Cuenca, another from Alfonso , lids, pouring jugs, jugs, jugs, jugs and bowls of Christian cultural affiliation (13th and 14th centuries), as well as crossbow darts, nails, pins and iron plates. In addition to all these materials, experts highlight, two plaques from a brigantine from between the 14th and 15th centuries were recovered.
Of the 393 ceramic testimonies inventoried, the vast majority (305, 77.6% of the total) have a late medieval chronology, from the 14th or 15th century. Prior to this period, five fragments from the Bronze Age (1.27%), one from the Iron Age (0.25%), 24 Celtiberian (6.10%), one fragment from terra sigillata Hispanic (0.25%), another possibly from the Visigothic period (0.25%), 13 Andalusian and 43 from the 13th and 14th centuries.
In short, the study concludes, it has been possible to document inside the fortress “the eastern façade of a large building, of a defensive nature, built in the 14th century, within the walls of the preceding Islamic enclosure, as a shortcut or sectorization of the latter, and of which until now there was no reference.” Because the castle was of such proportions, its inhabitants thought, that a smaller one would make it more defensible. And they hit the target. Nobody took it again.
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