WELCOME to the latest edition of This Week in Spanish History, written by Michael Coy.
8 SEPTEMBER 1862 – Elisa Sanchez Loriga born
Even today, when it is totally legal, same-sex marriage is controversial in some quarters.
Imagine the challenges two young Spanish women faced in 1901, in a country as socially conservative as Spain.
For her wedding to Marcela in A Coruña, Elisa had to ‘pretend’ she was a man, with short hair and masculine attire.
Elisa’s ‘trick’ of feigned manhood was discovered soon afterwards, and the couple was both prosecuted and bullied.
11 SEPTEMBER 1871 – Hermenegildo Anglada Camarasa born
An outstanding Catalan artist, Anglada lived in different phases of his life in Paris and Mallorca.
His portrait style has been likened to the work of Gustav Klimt.
Though Anglada was ‘Victorian’ in his ideas and even his looks, surprisingly he died as recently as 1959, in Pollença, near Alcudia.
READ MORE: British actress Naomi Watts to receive prestigious Donostia Award at San Sebastian Film Festival
12 SEPTEMBER 1590 – Maria de Zayas born
The life of Maria de Zayas spans almost exactly the so-called ‘Golden Age’ of Spanish culture, roughly 1580-1680.
In her day, most activities were forbidden to women, but Maria was able to dominate Madrid society through her sparkling wit.
She wrote short stories and amusing stage plays, always about love and courtship, and always ridiculing the behaviour of men.
12 SEPTEMBER 1647 – Miguel Pellicer dies
Miguel Pellicer grew up on a farm near Teruel in the early years of the 1600s.
One day in July 1637, he fell from a mule-pulled haycart, and the vehicle ran over his right leg, shattering it in several places.
In the days before penicillin, this meant amputation, to stave off death from infection.
The claim is that while sleeping one night in March 1640, he grew a new leg!
At the time and ever since, many people have declared a miracle.
Modern observers think that he faked the amputation to increase his takings as a beggar, but eventually tired of the deception, and ‘re-grew’ his leg!
13 SEPTEMBER 1584 – The Escorial is completed
The Monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial, just to the west of Madrid, is a superb complex open to the public.
It’s rather hard to define – palace, monastery, art gallery – and took more than 20 years to build.
The brainchild of Felipe II, it still bears something of that monarch’s personality – it’s grandiose, melancholy and remote from bustling Madrid.
13 SEPTEMBER 1782 – Franco-Spanish siege of Gibraltar fails
The American War of Independence finished in October 1781, when the British army surrendered at Yorktown.
As early as 1779, Spain saw this conflict as the perfect opportunity to grab Gibraltar.
British confidence was low, resources were depleted, and the bulk of Britain’s forces were in the United States.
France was already at war with Britain (Canada was up for grabs), so Spain joined in, specifically to wrest The Rock from the faltering English.
However, the three-year siege was a model of Spanish ineptitude.
Britain reinforced Gibraltar at will, and even sent out raiding parties to destroy Spanish cannon.
By 1782 Spain had to accept that the “Peñon” was still British.
13 SEPTEMBER 1982 – Spantax disaster
The plane was bound for New York, leaving from Barcelona and stopping for fuel at Malaga.
When it tried to leave, things went very wrong.
A tyre started shedding bits of rubber as the aircraft picked up speed on the runway. This caused serious vibrations.
Pilots have a ‘crisis point’ on the runway: when the plane reaches that spot, they must choose either to take off or abort. On this occasion the wrong choice was made.
The pilot opted to stay on the ground, but the plane had gathered too much velocity.
It veered off the runway and onto the main Malaga-Torremolinos road. Fifty people were killed.
15 SEPTEMBER 1972 – Queen Letizia is born
Letizia Ortiz is the face of royalty in the 21st century.
In some interesting ways, she is not like any of her predecessors. She’s normal.
Before marrying Felipe in May 2004, Letizia held down a job (she was a CNN presenter) and she was also a divorcee.
Briefly married in the late 1990s, she’s just like the rest of us – she’s been through more than one relationship.
Her two daughters, Leonor and Sofia, are now adults, and Letizia can regard her second marriage as a job well done.
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