WELCOME to the latest edition of This Week in Spanish History, written by Michael Coy.
7 OCTOBER 1571 – The Battle of Lepanto
By the autumn of 1571, it looked as if Islam was going to overrun Europe completely.
The Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey) had conquered all of North Africa, Greece and Bulgaria, and Muslim forces were threatening Vienna and Sicily.
When it became clear that a Turkish super-fleet was assembling in Cyprus, Europe formed the Holy League – a naval alliance, led by Spain and Venice.
When the two forces clashed off the coast of Greece, the Holy League won.
8 OCTOBER 1963 – Remedios Varo dies
Maria de los Remedios Varo was a Spanish painter.
She was born in Catalunya in 1908, and she died in Mexico in 1963.
Like many artists of her generation, she was especially interested in nightmares.
Her painting, Exploring the Sources of the Orinoco, completed in 1959, is a good example of her work.
An innocent-looking girl floats through a dark forest in a curious wheelchair-like boat.
Varo moved to France in 1937. When the Nazis invaded, three years later, she headed for Mexico.
Though she never returned to Spain, she proudly clung to her Spanish nationality.
9 OCTOBER 1264 – Shirish becomes Jerez
For eight centuries, between 711AD and the year 1492, Andalucia was Arabic.
The Reconquista, the gradual recapture of the country, town by town, reached Shirish in 1264.
The city was now Spanish again and called itself Jerez.
British people took a strong liking to the local wine, the unique flavour of which is created by a layer of yeast which forms on the surface during fermentation.
The keen commercial interest of the British was not matched by their pronunciation – they gave the city, and its wine, a third name – sherry.
9 OCTOBER 1999 – Rocio Wanninkhof is murdered
19-year-old Rocio Wanninkhof disappeared from just outside her home in Mijas on 9 October 1999.
The Spanish girl (her father was Dutch) was killed the same evening. Her body wasn’t found for three weeks.
A woman was wrongly convicted of the murder.
Three years later, a girl was killed in Coin in circumstances closely matching those of Rocio’s death.
Finally, a British serial killer, Tony King, was found guilty of both crimes.
10 OCTOBER 1839 – Giner de los Rios is born
When Francisco Giner de los Rios was born in Ronda in 1839, Spanish education was in a feeble condition.
Girls especially, but also boys from poor families, had no access to learning.
The Catholic Church had a stranglehold on the school system, which meant that monks and nuns were put in charge of classes without any need for qualifications.
As an adult, Giner de los Rios set about changing this sad state of affairs – but it cost him. He was sacked as Professor at Madrid University for demanding a more open education system.
In response, he founded the Free Education Institute, to train teachers scientifically.
Today he is respected as the man who single-handedly broke the Church’s hold over Spanish children’s minds.
11 OCTOBER 1872 – Spanish Titanic survivor is born
In April 1912, ten Spanish citizens were among the passengers who boarded the Titanic for its maiden voyage.
Among them was 40-year-old Fermina Oliva y Orcaña, from Cuenca. She was employed as a servant by a wealthy Spanish couple.
When the ship struck the iceberg in the early hours of April 15, Fermina was wide awake, sewing a corset. Luckily for her, she hadn’t been able to sleep.
When she went up on deck to see what the commotion was about, she was forced into a lifeboat, which is why she survived.
Fermina lived to the grand old age of 96, dying in Madrid in 1969.
12 OCTOBER 2023 – British student pilot killed
A British man and his Spanish flight instructor were killed when their light aircraft crashed in an Andalucian national park.
The pair took off from an aerodrome in Velez-Malaga, east of Malaga, and were flying to Valencia when the tragedy occurred.
No mayday calls were made before the plane crashed, just minutes after stopping to refuel at Almeria Airport.
The light aircraft crashed just after midnight.
The pilot has been named as Rafael Ricote, 24, who worked as an instructor at the nearby One Air Diamond Flight Centre. His student, 26, has been identified locally only by his first name Marcus, and is described as a Costa del Sol-based man from a ‘family of British origin’.
13 OCTOBER 2018 – Black credit card scandal
We will probably never know the extent of the ‘black card’ scandal.
Rodrigo Rato went to prison in October 2018 for four and a half years for stealing a small fortune from ‘Bankia’ and distributing black credit cards to politicians.
Using these cards, people could draw money from local and regional government bank accounts, without permission. Eventually, 65 politicians were charged with crimes.
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