Burgos

:For other meanings, see Burgos (disambiguation)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A city of northernwestern Spain, at the edge of the central plateau, Burgos has 166,000 inhabitants in the city proper and another 10,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Founded in the 9th century, but retaining its Visigothic name signifying consolidated walled villages (burgos), the city was the seat of a Catholic bishop from the 10th century and became in the 11th century the capital of the kingdom of Castile. Burgos was a major stop for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Burgos had been a Celtiberian city, part of the Roman province of Hispania Citerior and then of Hispania Tarraconensis. The Visigoths drove back the Suevi, then after a brief Moorish occupation, Alfonso III the Great, king of Le?n reconquered it in the mid 9th century. Diego Rodr?guez "Porcelos", count of Castile, gathered the inhabitants of the surrounding country into one fortified village, which took the name of Burgos. The city thus defined began to be called Caput Castellae ("chief of the castles"). The territory (condado) of Burgos, subject to the Kings of Leon, continued to be governed by counts and was gradually extended; Fern?n Gonz?lez, the greatest of these, established his independence.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1574 Pope Gregory XIII made its bishop an archbishop, at the request of Philip II. Burgos still possesses more ecclesiastical monuments than any other Spanish city, not even excepting Toledo. The three most outstanding are the cathedral, with its chapel of the Condestable, the monastery of Las Huelgas, and the Carthusian monastery of Miraflores (see below).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Burgos has been the scene of many wars: with the Moors, the struggles between Le?n and Navarre, and between Castile and Aragon. In the Peninsular War against Napoleonic France, Burgos was the scene of a battle, and again in the 19th century Carlist civil wars of the Spanish succession. During the Spanish Civil War Burgos was the base of Gen. Franco's rebel Nationalist government.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Spain: The Kingdom of Spain or Spain (Spanish and Galician: Reino de Espa?a or Espa?a; Catalan: Regne d'Espanya; Basque: Espainiako Erresuma; Asturian: Reinu d'Espa?a or Espa?a) is a country located in the southwest of Europe. It shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. To the nor...

Province of Burgos: Burgos is a province of northern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Palencia, Cantabria, Vizcaya, Álava, La Rioja, Soria, Segovia, and Valladolid. Its capital is the city of Burgos....

11th century: As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages....