Cerralbo

Cerralbo is a Spanish municipality and town in the province of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León. It is integrated within the Vitigudino region and the sub-region of El Abadengo. It belongs to the judicial district of Vitigudino.

Its municipal area is made up of a single population center, it occupies a total area of 51.59 km² and according to the demographic data collected in the municipal register prepared by the INE in 2017, it has a population of 160 inhabitants.

Well known due to Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, the 17th Marquis of Cerralbo, thanks to whom the Cerralbo Museum in Madrid was founded.

Etymology

Its place name would come from the words «cerro» and «blanco».

Geography

Cerralbo is located in the northwest of Salamanca. It is 82 km from Salamanca capital.

It is located in the region of El Abadengo. It belongs to the El Abadengo Mancomunidad and to the judicial district of Vitigudino.

Northwest: Saldeana	North: Barreras	Northeast: Encinasola
West: Bermellar		This: Guadramiro and Yecla de Yeltes
Southwest: Olmedo de Camaces	South: Bogajo	Sureste: Bogajo

Demographics

Graph of population evolution of Cerralbo between 1900 and 2021

Source: Spanish National Statistical Institute - Graphical development by Wikipedia.

According to the National Institute of Statistics, Cerralbo had, as of December 31, 2018, a total population of 154 inhabitants, of whom 86 were men and 68 women. Regarding the year 2000, the census reflects 256 inhabitants, of which 132 were men and 124 women. Therefore, the loss of population in the municipality for the period 2000-2018 has been 102 inhabitants, a 40% decrease.

History

Detail of the Salmantine West on a French map of the centuryXVIIIin which Cerralbo can be observed (written as Zerralva).

In the XII century it became dependent, along with the rest of the Abadengo, on the Order of the Temple by order of the king Fernando II de León, a situation that lasted until the disappearance in 1311 of said Order by papal mandate, Cerralbo then becoming dependent on the Bishop of Ciudad Rodrigo, on whom it depended until 1372 when it became a Pacheco lordship, a lordship which was elevated to marquisate in 1533 by order of Carlos I of Spain. With the territorial division of Spain in 1833 in which the current provinces are created, Cerrablo is framed within the Leonese Region, formed by the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca, of a merely classificatory nature, without administrative operation, which would broadly come to collect the old demarcation of the Kingdom of León (without Galicia or Asturias or Extremadura), becoming part of the judicial district of Vitigudino in 1844. Already in the century XX, it is worth noting the purchase of the municipal term, in the year 1920, by the residents of Cerralbo for 1,250,000 pesetas, since the lands of the term were still owned by the Marquises of Cerralbo to whom the neighbors had been paying rent.

Administration and politics

The current mayor of Cerralbo is Feliciano Sánchez (PP). After the municipal elections of 2015, the plenary session of the city council was made up of four councilors from the PP and one from the PSOE. In the 2015 regional elections, the Popular Party was also the party with the most votes in the municipality, followed by the Socialist Party and the Regionalist Party of the Leonese Country.

Municipal elections

Autonomous elections

Monuments and places of interest

View of one of the towers of the castle of Cerralbo.

Monastery of Our Lady of the Angels

It was built with ashlars and partly with ashlars in the 16th century. The coat of arms of the Marquises of Cerralbo is carved in stone on its façade. It belonged to the Discalced Franciscans, who had to abandon it due to the confiscation of Mendizábal in the XIX century.

Castle

It was erected by the Pachecos during the XIV century-XV, which held since the XIV century the lordship of Cerralbo, elevated to the marquis category in the XVI.

Church of Our Lady of the Rosary

It was built with granite ashlars, it has a belfry with two bells and a semicircular arch with two archivolts at the main entrance door. The remains of Romanesque elements in its factory (such as pâté crosses) would confirm that materials from the original Romanesque church would have been used in it.

Way of the Cross

It preserves almost all the transepts, highlighting the three crosses that, located together on the same pedestal, are located on the road to the convent.