Fregenal de la Sierra

Fregenal de la Sierra (originally Frexnal or Frexenal) is a municipality and town in Spain, in the province of Badajoz, autonomous community of Extremadura. It is located in the northwestern quadrant of Sierra Morena, about 572 meters above sea level.

Due to its geographical position, the town is located at a historical crossroads. Its foundation is limited to a conflict between the Council of Seville, which received the territory by Royal Privilege of Alfonso in 1283 by the same monarch. Starting in 1312, the town of Frexenal once again joined the territories of the kingdom of Seville, while it was part of the diocese of Badajoz. In 1833, after 585 years of existence, the Royal Decree of November 30 suppressed the kingdom of Seville, creating the current provinces of Seville, Huelva and Cádiz; and incorporating Fregenal into the province of Badajoz.

On February 5, 1873, Amadeo I of Spain granted an honorary title of city to Fregenal, at the proposal of the Minister of the Interior Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, in agreement with the Council of Ministers. Given its heritage wealth, as verified its historical and artistic complex declared a Site of Cultural Interest in 1991, the ruins of the ancient city of Nertobriga Concordia Iulia declared in the same way in 2013, the declaration in 2020 also of the group of menhirs in the basin of the Ardila River, and the Chilean Nitrate sign located next to its train station in 2023, or the inclusion in 2023 of the medieval hermitage of San Miguel de los Fresnos in the Inventory of Historical and Cultural Heritage of Extremadura, It is considered one of the most important emerging cultural and tourist destinations in the province of Badajoz.

As a reflection of its popular tradition, a mixture of Betic, Andalusian and Extremaduran folklore; It is one of the main cultural centers of the southwest of the peninsula. Among the heritage inherited by the people of Frex, the Dance and Festival of the Virgin of Health stands out, declared in 2017 as an Asset of Cultural Interest, in the category of Intangible Asset, by the Government of Extremadura. A folklore that, in addition to the works created in honor of the Patroness of Fregenal, Our Lady Santa María de los Remedios, it is collected by cultural institutions of the city such as the Frexnense Choir or the Los Jateros Folkloric Group, to be displayed annually along with traditions coming from all over the world in the International Festival of the Sierra, declared a Festival of National Tourist Interest in 2018.

Among his most illustrious children are Benito Arias Montano, humanist, Hebraist, biologist and polyglot writer who participated in the Council of Trent, in the writing of the Antwerp Polyglot Bible and was in charge of cataloging and organizing the works. which were in the Library of the Royal Monastery of El Escorial, one of the largest in Christendom; Juan Bravo Murillo, president of the Council of Ministers during the reign of Isabel II, participating in various moderate governments, ordered the construction of the Isabel II Canal, introduced the decimal metric system in Spain and approved the Law of Free Ports of the Canary Islands, reforming and creating the bases of the Spanish hacienda; Rodrigo Sánchez-Arjona y Sánchez-Arjona, who made the first rural communication by private telephone line in Spain, between his house in Fregenal and a farm on his property called Las Mimbres; and Eugenio Hermoso, painter belonging to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and winner of the Medal of Honor at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1948 with his paintings Altar and Las Siembras i>, being one of the most important painters of Extremadura.

Symbols

Shield

Main article: Coat of arms of Fregenal de la Sierra

See also: Municipal armorial of Badajoz

The shield of Fregenal de la Sierra is composed, in its basic form, of a single circular quarter. A red field is usually added to this around it. It is crowned with a royal crown, although over time there have been modifications (during the Second Republic a mural crown was used).

Inside the barracks we find the representation of two ash trees, the city tree. As can be easily deduced, the name of the town itself refers to this tree, which was considered sacred by the Order of the Temple (repopulating the city).

Flanked by the two ash trees, a book appears crossed by a sword. Inside the book, and written in Latin, the city's motto appears: Litteris Armata et Armis Decorata ('Armed by letters and decorated by weapons'). The motto is attributed to the humanist and polyglot writer of Frexense origin Benito Arias Montano. In it the greatness of the illustrious men who illuminate and magnify the name of Fregenal is praised. At the same time, it refers to the numerous noble families that have their residence in the city, who throughout its history have contributed to enhancing it in beauty and culture.

Flag

Officially, the Fregenal de la Sierra City Council has never issued a regulation through which the bases for the design of a flag for the city are postulated. However, the insignia of the Patroness of Fregenal, the Virgin of Remedies, has been taken by the people of Frexn as a symbol, and as a flag that represents them.

The banner of the Patroness remains continuously raised in the Tower of Homage of the Templar Castle of Fregenal de la Sierra. Every certain period, the flag is replaced, normally coinciding with the Patron Saint Festivals in honor of Santa María de los Remedios.

The flag is made up of two horizontal stripes. The upper stripe is blue and the lower stripe is white.

Physical geography

Location

It is located in the Sierra Suroeste region and is the head and headquarters of the judicial district of Fregenal de la Sierra.

To get to Fregenal you can use different means of transport. The roads accessed are: the EX-101 if you arrive from Zafra, the N-435 that connects Badajoz with Huelva or the EX-201 if you arrive from Seville (via Bodonal de la Sierra).

Other transport, such as the train (with a daily Zafra-Huelva line) or bus (which links the city with the main regional and national capitals) are also a wise choice.

In addition, Fregenal is located between small mountain ranges and ravines of Sierra Morena and the large pastures that flood the entire municipal area.

Limits of the municipality of Fregenal de la Sierra

Northwest: Jerez de los Caballeros	North: Valverde de Burguillos, Burguillos del Cerro y Jerez de los Caballeros	Northeast: Valencia del Ventoso
West: Higuera la Real, Jerez de los Caballeros		This: Valencia del Ventoso
Southwest Hose the Real	South: Bodonal de la Sierra, Segura de León, Fuentes de León y Cumbres Mayores	Sureste: Bodonal de la Sierra

History

Ancient Age

The sites located in the current municipality of Fregenal de la Sierra date back to the Chalcolithic. Within the set of menhirs in the Ardila River basin, which acts as a natural border with the municipality of Valencia del Ventoro, those of La Pepina, La Palanca del Moro and Tres Terminos stand out. All of them were declared Assets of Cultural Interest in March 2020.

The origins of the population of Fregenal de la Sierra take us to the vicinity of the current urban center, where the ruins of the Celtic fort of Nertobriga are located, in a process of constant excavation and research. or Nerkobrika. Founded in the Second Iron Age, it was part of the Celtic Baeturia, and is considered the capital of the Beturic Celts. The main historical reference to Nerkobrika is established by Polybius, who describes his conquest by assault in the year 152 BC. C. by the praetor Marco. After the Roman conquest, the Celtic oppidum was replaced by a Roman city, called Nertobriga Concordia Iulia. Its foundation, most likely as foederata, dates back to the II century BC. C. Later, at the end of the I century a. C., it was granted the statutory concession of municipium, a deductio shared with the majority of the Celtic cities of Baeturia and the southwest of the peninsula. The city was part of the Province of Hispania Ulterior during the first two centuries before the Christian era, and later it was administratively included in Baetica, of which it was part for more than seven centuries, until the beginning of the Andalusian period.

Its strategic relevance was also linked to the establishment of the episcopal see in the city, with the expansion of Christianity. According to tradition, San Teopompo and San Eutropio were bishops of Nertóbriga. Theopompus was one of the first bishops to occupy the episcopal see of Nertóbriga during the 3rd century. He was martyred under the empire of Diocletian, being Dacian governor, when he was beheaded after baptizing the magician Theonás as Synesius. The Roman Martyrology tells that the martyrdom of the saint occurred in the Nertóbriga of Tarraconense: "in this way God wanted to honor the two Roman Nertóbrigas, Fregenal having a distinguished Prelate and Almuña or Ricla of Aragón as the place of his martyrdom" #34;. Eutropio held the chair of Nertóbriga in the century V, his mandate being characterized by his loud opposition of the heresy of the Avitus. As a way to discard his doubts against the Avitus, he maintained contacts with Augustine of Hippo and Jerome, who supported his thesis of heresy which led to the condemnation of the monks who practiced it. His death is dated February 17, 420. The chair of Nertóbriga was suppressed before the reign of Wamba, so there were no more bishops of Nertóbriga after the VII century..

The new excavations shed light on the possible Visigothic past of the place. The appearance of the remains of what could have once been a Visigoth watchtower, as well as an important Muslim necropolis, leads researchers to affirm that the place was taken by force upon the arrival of the new religion. The only references that Christians make about this city is the name Castillo de Valera, which was donated by Alfonso

It is also worth highlighting the Visigoth remains of the monastery of San Miguel de los Fresnos, located east of Fregenal. The construction of its apse, of clear Visigoth tradition, denotes the antiquity of the place. Tradition says that the monastery was founded by the saints Honorius and Exuperantius, who cured the sick who passed through the place with the waters of a nearby spring. Specifically, Saint Exuperantius was a Benedictine monk of Italian origin, born around the year 490. At the request of Sanctina, wife of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric, he was sent to found monasteries with his companions Euiemio, Venancio and Adelfio in Spain; He was first in Pamplona and then went down to Baetica, specifically to Nertóbriga around the year 572, as Marcus Maximus states in the year 612. His veneration is based on his evangelizing work in Spain during the century VI, highlighting the founding of this monastery with his disciple Honorius. His death is dated May 26, 578.

As for the disappeared monastery, the preserved remains include the apse from the VII century, framed by a horseshoe arch that gives way to the quarter-sphere vault that housed the altar dedicated to Saint Michael, whose image is preserved in the National Museum of Art of Catalonia. The nave with pointed arches is dated to around the centuries XIV and XV, and are still preserved the walls and the pointed arch that serves as the entrance to the place. Due to its high historical and architectural value, the hermitage has been included in the Inventory of Historical and Cultural Heritage of Extremadura.

Middle Ages

The conquest of Fregenal from the Spanish-Muslims by Fernando III, with the help of the Knights Templar, is between the limits of legend and history. The first appearance of Fregenal in historical records was in the year 1253, when the population joined the domains of the kingdom of Seville, by Royal Privilege of Alfonso On this point there is a conflict in the historical sources, between those who choose to establish Fregenal as one of the main castles of the defensive line of the Sierra Norte of Seville, or the non-existence of this castle until its construction by the Templars.

Therefore, the date of construction of Fregenal Castle is uncertain, according to these sources, but is understood to be sometime between 1253 and 1283. The second date is derived from the Royal Privilege of Alfonso territories where they had previously built the Fregenal castle. The construction of the fortress is attributed, therefore, to the knights who previously dominated the Valera castle, thus taking this land from the Sevillian Council, which had not been able to maintain control due to the pressure of the war front opened with the Muslims. Along with To Fregenal, the Order would receive the neighboring cities of Jerez de los Caballeros and Ribera del Fresno in the same way, making it the largest commission of the Templars in Castilian territory.

The Order of the Temple, which can therefore be considered the founder of the city, remained in the place until 1308. The following year, the castle and the possessions of Fregenal became the property of Gonzalo Sánchez de Troncones, for services lent to King Ferdinand IV in the siege of Algeciras. The dominion of the Lordship of Fregenal by Troncones extended from 1309 to 1312, when Fregenal will once again form part of the kingdom of Seville, a fact accomplished after the capture of the Frexnense fortress by the troops sent by the Council of Seville. Except for short periods of the XVI century, the population will continue to depend mainly on the capital of the Guadalquivir.. Different wars will take place throughout the XV century, directly affecting Fregenal and its population, highlighting the noble revolts against the accession to the throne of Isabel la Católica. Its strategic position, close to the border with the neighboring kingdom of Portugal, will place it in the sights of Portuguese and Castilian people. The Catholic Monarchs did not ignore its privileged situation, converting the fortress into one of the main places of war organization against Portugal. This situation once led King Ferdinand of Aragon to go to Fregenal to direct the fight from there together with the master of the Order of Santiago, Alonso de Cárdenas. Likewise, it is worth highlighting the stay in the Frexnense castle of the first-born daughter of the Catholic Monarchs, the Infanta Isabel of Aragon, during Easter from 1480 to 1481, when she was traveling on her way to Portugal to marry Alfonso of Portugal, and become the heir to the Portuguese crown.

Modern Age

In the 15th century its jurisdiction extended to three places Higuera, Bodonal and Marotera. The jurisdictional situation was curious. tripartite of Fregenal, since spiritually it always belonged to the Bishopric of Badajoz, being at the same time a charge of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, which after the disappearance of the Temple had kept part of its assets. In this way it belonged spiritually to Badajoz, decimally to the Order of San Juan and earthly to the Council of Seville.

Fregenal's contribution to the conquest and colonization of America was numerically important, since according to Navarro del Castillo, 105 people left for Indian lands. Among the most important are: Alonso Rodríguez Santos and Benito Arias Montano. Rodríguez Santos came to occupy the position of mayor of Fregenal for the noble state and was married to María Martínez, sister of the great Frexnense humanist, Benito Arias Montano. From this marriage his sons Juan and Benito were born, with whom he would travel to Venezuela in 1592, after the death of their mother. He consolidated his position within the city of Caracas with the help of his second marriage in 1607 to Melchora de Vera y Ibargoyen, daughter of an important family in the city. From the offspring born from this second marriage, the lineage to which Simón Bolívar belongs, considered the national liberator, would be born. In Caracas, Rodríguez Santos would alternate his position as a renowned merchant with various positions in the city council, as chief bailiff in 1594, attorney general in 1603 and ordinary mayor in the years 1609, 1612, 1616, 1620 and 1623. Likewise, he would assume the roles of the governor in Venezuelan territory after the death of Tribiño Billames, until the arrival of the new governor. Benito Arias Montano, son of the previous one and nephew of the great humanist of the same name, was also born in Fregenal in 1588. The position of His father in Caracas allowed him to forge a military career in the navy, promoted to captain and holding various positions on the Venezuelan coast defending the fortress of Araya, and on the Caribbean islands fighting piracy and evicting the Dutch from Turtle Island. and that of San Martín, who stole the salt from the Unare salt flats. In 1631 Arias Montano was appointed governor of the eastern region of present-day Venezuela, called Nueva Andalucía. From his position he promotes the founding of the city of San Baltasar de los Arias, which is currently called Cumanacoa, with the aim of serving as a link between Cumaná and the mission towns that are beginning to emerge in the region. southeast where the Spanish missionaries were beginning to arrive.

In the middle of the XVI century, the expansion of Humanism throughout Europe was supported by a good part of the religious community of the moment. The training that priests and prelates received provided them with developed knowledge of Latin, which brought them closer not only to the reading of the Holy Scriptures, but also to the study of classical sources. A good account of this is given by the legacy of the Priestly Brotherhood of San Pedro, which brought together around sixty clerics who settled in the town. At this time, Fregenal had three parishes in operation, as well as the headquarters of the ecclesiastical Vicariate. which extended its jurisdiction to the towns of Bodonal, Higuera and Valencia del Ventoso. This cultured elite was a substantial component of the Frexnense society of the time for the expansion of Humanism in the town, in which the clergy of Judeo-converted origin acquired undoubted prominence. As was the case in nearby Zafra, Llerena or Segura, important ancient Jewish communities in Lower Extremadura, a good part of the cultured clergy in the area came from first or second generation Jewish-converted families. In this climate of expansion of classical knowledge, different prominent figures emerge in the History of Fregenal, all of them headed by the humanist Benito Arias Montano. The first generation of Frexnense humanists was especially marked by their status as Jewish converts, as in the cases of Vasco Díaz Tanco and Francisco Arceo. Vasco Díaz Tanco was a soldier, priest, poet, theologian, playwright, theater actor and writer. The Barrera Catalog indicates that he was the author of three tragedies, three comedies, three satires, twenty-four autos and three colloquiums; besides some epistles; of which the Garden of the Christian Soul stands out, as one of his most renowned works at the time. During his life he traveled through a good part of the European continent and North Africa, until in 1524 he fled to Portugal, pursued by justice and was captured by French privateers. Released, he went to Valencia and Catalonia. In 1526 he already maintained a certain connection with the Court and attended the wedding of Charles V in Seville. Likewise, he witnessed the sack of Rome and was present at the coronation of the emperor in Bologna. Upon his return, he settled in Valencia, where he began a career as a printer. In the last years of his life he moved to Galicia, where he established his printing press in Ourense, combining the work of editor and writer. For his part, Francisco Arceo was a doctor and writer, born in Fregenal in 1493. He studied medicine at the University of Alcalá and worked for several years in the hospitals of the Monastery of Guadalupe, he achieved extraordinary fame as a surgeon. Six years before his death, he published De recta curandorum vulnerum ratione (1574), which was printed in Antwerp by Cristóbal Plantino thanks to the intervention of Benito Arias Montano. He The book was widely distributed throughout Europe; It was reprinted in Latin and translated into English, French, German and Dutch.

In the old Ruda street of the old town of Frexenal, Benito Arias Montano was born in 1527. A plaque in the house where he was born today honors the Most Wise son of Fregenal, the most illustrious among the Frexnenses. Although his stay in the city was temporary, since the passage of time would lead him to live in his beloved Seville, capital of the kingdom in which Fregenal was located; It is important to know his roots, in a family, the Arias, of converted Jews. Likewise, the fact of being born in this land gave him the nickname Montano, by which he is known worldwide. He began his studies in Seville, where he became interested in the physical and medical sciences and, above all, in poetry, philosophy, linguistics and theology. Years later he moved to what was his University, Alcalá, where he expanded his knowledge in medicine, theology, philosophy, classical languages (Latin and Greek) and Semitic languages (Arabic, Hebrew and Syrian). Once ordained a priest he retired to the neighboring mountain town of Alájar.

His closeness to the figure of Martín Pérez de Ayala, his teacher in Alcalá and bishop of Segovia, allowed him to travel in 1562 to the Spanish territories in Flanders, to participate in the Council of Trent, in which he gave two speeches on the Divorce and communion under both species. Returning to Spain, his monarch Philip II appointed him chaplain in 1566, also commissioning him to create what would become his magnum opera, the Antwerp Polyglot Bible, whose printing was done by Cristóbal Plantino. The edition of this enormous work represented a decisive change in his thinking, in general, and his personal vision of Spanish politics in Flanders, more specifically; given that this was a work that a large group of Flemish and French intellectuals, mostly attached to the so-called Caritatis Family, founded around 1540 by the German mystic Hendrik Nicholis or Niclaes, had been preparing for some time. The innovations introduced with respect to the Complutense Polyglot Bible and, even more so, in relation to the Vulgate, raised the suspicions of the Inquisition, and it was denounced by León de Castro, although it was finally published in Antwerp in 1572. The compilation was composed of the sacred text in Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic and Latin.

Reinstalled in Spain, he was entrusted with the task of cataloging the works of the new Library of the Royal Monastery of El Escorial; one of the largest in Christendom and the most important in the world in collecting texts of Arabic origin. He never forgot his relationship with Cristóbal Plantino, with whom he later did more work. After several years he retired to Seville, where he died in 1598. He was the author, among other works, of Rethoricorum libri IV (1569), Commentaria in duodecim Prophetas (1571), Humanae Salutis Monumenta (1571), Virorum doctorum de disciplinis benemeritis effigies XLIV (1572), Davidis Regis ac Prophetae aliorumque sacrorum vatum Psalmi ex hebraica veritate in latinum carmen (1573), Elucidationes in IV Evangelia quibus accessunt erlucidationes in Acta Apostolorum (1575), De Varia Republica sive commentarium in librum Judicum (1592) or Davidis Psalmos priores commentary(1605), most of which came from the workshop of the printer and prominent member of the aforementioned “Family of Love” Christopher Plantino (c. 1520-1589).

In what today makes up the municipality of Fregenal, the old town of Valera was located, the place where the religious, philologist and humanist Cipriano de Valera was born. He was a professor in London, Oxford and Cambridge, reviewer of the translation of the first complete Spanish Bible, which was made by his countryman, the Montemolin native Casiodoro de Reina, and was published for the first time in Basel in 1569. Both monks, who professed in the Monastery of San Isidoro del Campo in Santiponce, Seville; They found refuge in Europe, since the Inquisition tried to arrest them for their ideas related to the Reformation. He stands out for being one of the disciples of John Calvin, translating the first Spanish edition of Institution of the Christian Religion in 1597.

The reformists thought that any faithful should have access to the sacred text, and not only clergy versed in classical languages; hence they undertook the patient task of translation-revision. Today, the version of the Bible known as Reina-Valera or Biblia del Oso, with subsequent revisions, is still valid in all Protestant communities in the Hispanic world.

Finally, the youngest of the Frexnense humanists was Cristóbal de Mesa, born in the town on October 15, 1556. He was a prominent Spanish poet of the Golden Age, belonging to Mannerism. Although he has traditionally been considered a native of Zafra, recent research has clarified his birth in Fregenal de la Sierra in 1556. Also of Judeo-convert origins, he studied in Salamanca, where he had the famous humanist Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas as a teacher, el Brocense, commentator on the works of Juan de Mena and Garcilaso de la Vega. He later resided in Seville, where he became involved with the famous poet Fernando de Herrera. He then went to Italy in 1586 and established a close friendship for five years with Torquato Tasso. Also known is his friendship with Miguel de Cervantes, whose classicist aesthetic ideas about theater he shared. Among his works it is worth highlighting Las Navas de Tolosa, (1594), The Restoration of Spain (1607), The Patron Saint of Spain (1612)., Valley of tears and various rhymes (1607), as well as the tragedies El Pelayo or El Pompeyo.

It will be during the XVI century when the elevation of Fregenal occurs thanks to numerous "industries" dedicated to pottery, iron and especially leather, acquiring renown in the latter for many years. It will also have a flourishing trade. The importance of the nobles in the town will increase its position with respect to others, giving it renown within the kingdom of Seville, as the last of the great places of Seville in the northern mountains. From this period is the founding of the convent of San Francisco in 1563, by the Franciscan friars of the province of San Miguel, after a brief dispute with the Franciscan friars of the province of San Gabriel, there being two different communities in the hermitages of Saint Anton and the Holy Martyrs. Finally, it would be the community settled in this second hermitage that would remain in the town until the confiscation of 1835.

The population grows under the protection of this economic boom, acquiring nearly 8,000 inhabitants. The Frexnense heritage continued to increase, thanks to the important families that were settling in the city. The most important case is that of Alonso de Paz, a noble merchant who invested his fortune in the foundation of the Convent and College of the Company of Jesus, for studies of grammar, philosophy and theology; as well as the Convent of Our Lady of Peace, which since its foundation in 1606 has been occupied by the Augustinian Mothers. However, the crisis that runs through the entire Peninsula will not be foreign to Fregenal, and throughout the XVI century numerous conflicts cause About 500 Frexnenses were forced to leave the place, seeking a better life throughout the Empire.

This is why many of Fregenal's illustrious people were born on these dates. This is the case of Juan Serrano, a navigator of the XVI century who, in the service of Charles I of Spain, was part of the expedition. of Ferdinand Magellan to the "Spice Islands" as one of their captains; Francisco Gómez Cid, governor and captain of Puerto Rico; Fray Juan Franco, Dominican and bishop of Manila; Fray Benito Hermoso, bishop of the Indies; Fray Pablo Jerónimo Casquete, founder of the Capuchin Convent of Seville and whose notable evangelizing work was carried out mainly in the former colonial territories of Guinea and Sierra Leone; Fray Francisco de Fregenal, reformer of the Order in Rome and Naples and vicar, commissioner and provincial in Spain; or Father Manuel Solórzano Escobar, Jesuit missionary priest and martyr in the Mariana Islands, more specifically on the island of Guam, where he is currently venerated. Likewise, other Frexnenses occupied important positions within the peninsular territory, such as García Bazán, a lawyer, general commissioner and superintendent of royal revenues of the province, belonging to the Council of Castile, oidor and prosecutor of Valladolid; Alonso Tinoco de Castilla, mayor of crime of the Court of Seville and oidor of the Canary Islands; Joaquín Cid Carrascal, abbot of the Collegiate Church of El Salvador in Seville; or Antonio María Sánchez Cid Carrascal, bishop of Coria.

The migratory and subsistence process will be aggravated by the war of 1640, which for nearly thirty years will highlight the development acquired by the city. Numerous human and economic losses plunge Fregenal into deep prostration. The XVII century is the slow march of a population that was almost everything and that barely manages to reach, in the middle of this century, a sum close to 2500 inhabitants. Added to this in the XVIII century is the expulsion of the Jesuits from the kingdom by the Pragmatic Sanction of 1767. This fact is of great importance. importance for the population, since all the religious communities of the Society of Jesus that were in the diocese of Badajoz were taken to Fregenal, and from there they were taken in painful conditions towards exile at sea.

Contemporary Age

19th century

In the 19th century, as a reaffirmation of the misfortunes, the French occupation of the Castle occurred during the War of Independence. Once again, the town is involved in another terrible conflict against the Napoleonic invaders, also with tragic clashes.

Once the war confrontation was over, as well as the years of the reign of Ferdinand VII had passed, the liberal State would be established on the national scene, hand in hand with the supporters of Queen Isabel II. The renewal that this event represented in the way of understanding the State led to a profound reform in all areas. The one that affected Fregenal the most was at the territorial level. In 1833, a new model was proposed for the division of the national territory, this time making use of the province over the old kingdom. These reforms were carried out by the Secretary of State for Development, Javier de Burgos. The town of Frexenal had been part of the kingdom of Seville, along with the towns of Bodonal and Higuera, for more than five centuries. With the new division, the traditional position of Fregenal within the diocese of Badajoz took precedence, passing the town to form part of the province of Badajoz and, therefore, to be within the limits of the region of Extremadura, to which it has belonged indefinitely since then. Its proximity to neighboring Andalusia, in addition to the received tradition, makes it still preserve many of the cultural characteristics of its southern neighbors, knowing how to adapt that ancestral Sevillian character with its Extremaduran idea, which would be reaffirmed two centuries later with the approval of the Statute of Autonomy of Extremadura.

Juan Bravo Murillo was of great importance in the construction of this new nineteenth-century Spain, who would see the light for the first time in the old Jara street (today Bravo Murillo street) on June 9, 1803. His life as an academic and jurist would lead him to study in Seville and Salamanca, exercising his career in important law firms in Seville, in the Provincial Court of Cáceres and later, settling in Madrid, where he would manage to enter the ranks of the Moderate Party, gaining over the years an important position among moderate deputies. He held, within different conservative cabinets, the portfolios of Justice, Finance and Development; being one of the main renovators of the ministerial structures, which would be preserved throughout the 19th century and the XX. Likewise, he reached the highest position in the Council of Ministers, being president between 1850 and 1852. Among the main measures he carried out, we can highlight the consolidation of the Public Treasury, the improvement of the road and railway network. of the State, the adoption of the Decimal Metric System, the creation of the General Deposit Fund, the promotion of the Official State Gazette, the preparation of the law on Free Ports of the Canary Islands, the signing of the Concordat with the Holy See, and the construction of the Canal de Isabel II, which transfers the waters of the Lozoya River to Madrid, and provides water to the capital of the kingdom since 1858, this being the main work carried out by Bravo Murillo within the government of the nation.

The fall of Bravo Murillo from the highest levels of national politics was caused by the attempted constitutional reform in 1852, considered conservative and authoritarian, since it sought to reduce the powers of the Congress of Deputies regarding the figure. real. However, this project was rejected and the new progressive governments brought to power by Espartero and O'Donnell reduced the presence of the moderates in the legislative chamber. Bravo Murillo would be practically out of national politics, except for the brief period of time that he occupied the seat of President of the Congress of Deputies between 1857 and 1858. Once he retired from political life, he dedicated himself to compiling his memoirs in six volumes. of Opuscules, which summarize his presence in the government of the Nation, which dealt with the Attack on the Queen's life; The Confiscation; On taxes in their relationship with public wealth; El No de Negrete; Notes for the history of the Liberal Union; The past, present and future of the Spanish Treasury; The reform project of 1852 and The settlement of the Debt.

He received numerous decorations, belonging to the Royal Academy of History and being invited to join the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, although he rejected almost all of those honors during his lifetime, with the exception of the cross of the Order of Charles III, highest distinction of the Spanish State. Likewise, he has been recognized by the inhabitants of the Canary Islands, who dedicated streets and monuments in his honor on the occasion of the signing of the Free Ports Law, or by the citizens of Madrid, who dedicated a street and monument in his honor.. Likewise, the people of Fregenal pay homage to his figure, who is still present in Frexnense public life as one of the main exponents of him at the national level. After his death in Madrid in 1873, he was transferred to Fregenal. His remains rest today in a mausoleum dedicated to his figure in the church of Santa Ana.

Contemporary to the figure of Juan Bravo Murillo, the figure of Ventura Camacho Carbajo, born in 1819, stands out. He was director of the University Library of Seville since 1848, professor of the Faculty of Law of said University since 1855. Founder and academic of merit from the Sevillian Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation; in 1853 he founded La Ley: magazine of legislation, jurisprudence, administration and notaries and directed the Carlist newspaper El Oriente, published in Seville between 1869 and 1873. He is credited with the authorship of the novena dedicated to Our Lady Santa María de los Remedios, patron saint of Fregenal.

At the fall of the Old Regime, the town became a constitutional municipality in the region of Extremadura. Following the territorial reforms that occurred after the establishment of the reign of Isabel II, the new distribution of jurisdiction was configured, shaping the new map of judicial districts. In this way, in 1834, the judicial district of Fregenal de la Sierra was established, with headquarters in the city of Fregenal, and with instructions on the towns of Bodonal de la Sierra, Higuera la Real, Segura de León, Fuentes de León, Cabeza La Vaca and Valverde de Burguillos. In the Fregenal census in 1842 it had 1,260 homes and 4,620 neighbors.

With the new Constitution of 1845, new legislation was promoted around the Spanish electoral system, dividing the constituencies into single-member election districts. This reform is carried out through the Electoral Law for the appointment of deputies to the Cortes of March 18, 1846. Through it, it is established that one of the ten districts into which the Badajoz constituency is divided will have its headquarters in Fregenal. The first deputy to Congress elected for the Fregenal district, in the elections to the Cortes Generales of 1847, was Juan Bravo Murillo. The Fregenal district will continue to have a presence in the Congress of Deputies until the electoral reform of 1931, in which Second Republic, which abolishes single-member districts in favor of the provincial constituency.

On February 5, 1873, Amadeo I of Spain granted an honorary city title to Fregenal, at the proposal of the Minister of the Interior, Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, in agreement with the Council of Ministers. This granting of an honorary city title was awarded to the town of Fregenal due to the many services provided to the crown by the Frexnenses throughout history. The process of elevating the rank of Fregenal to the category of city began in June 1815, when the request for the title was processed, which would be granted a few decades later.

In 1880, Fregenal marked a milestone for technological advancement in Spain. The event came from the hand of another illustrious son of the city, Rodrigo Sánchez-Arjona y Sánchez-Arjona. With a very comfortable position, in one of the most important families in the city, which to this day retains branches in the population, Sánchez-Arjona was a doctor of law, as well as Master of the Royal Cavalry Maestranza of Seville. His comfortable situation allowed him to travel around the world. And of great importance for Fregenal was his visit to the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878. There he discovered the existence of a new device that allowed communication between geographically separated people. He made use of his contacts to be able to obtain one of those instruments for his personal use. This is how two Gowel-Bell model phones arrived in Fregenal. Both terminals would be installed in Sánchez-Arjona's house, on Santa Clara Street; and on the Mimbres estate, on family property. After obtaining the appropriate permits, Sánchez-Arjona set up a telephone line with which he linked both locations. The line that linked Santa Clara with Las Mimbres was 32 kilometers long. This process would begin after the approval, by the Fregenal City Council, of the installation of the telegraph line that joined Zafra, in February 1880. On March 19, 1880, the first call was made between the two sites. This communication is widely considered the first made within the rural world in Spain; although some sources consider it the first long-distance call in Spain and possibly in Europe. Contact was later established with Seville, on December 27 of the same year. year, and Cádiz, on December 28, breaking the world record, until now in the hands of the Americans. In later years, Rodrigo Sánchez-Arjona proposed creating a telephone line that would link all the towns in the Fregenal region. This line was promoted by the mayors of the judicial party and intended to unite the head of the party with the rest of the towns. The lack of support from the central administration of the Government of Spain, apart from the financial insufficiency of a Frexnense town hall at whose head Sánchez-Arjona had already sat in 1881, as first councilor; He put an end to this initiative, which would not materialize until 1912 with the help of the National Interurban Telephone Company.

In the spring of 1880 the Eco de Fregenal was born, the first means of communication that appeared in Fregenal, and which shows the influence of the ideas expanded thanks to democracy during the century XIX. This weekly became a means of sharing information at the head of the Judicial Party and carried out a great reflection on the political and rural life that occurred in the Fregenal at the end of the century XIX and early XX. Its first edition was carried out on March 1, 1880 with a circulation of 2,000 copies and five monthly issues. The foundation was promoted by Manuel de Velasco y Jaraquemada, Marquis of Riocabado and by Luis Romero y Espinosa, a folklorist of Frexense origin.

The importance of Fregenal in the development and study of folklore had special relevance, especially thanks to the figure of the Frexnense folklorist Luis Romero y Espinosa. His figure was widely known by those most enlightened in doctrine. His work collecting popular culture was reflected in his most important works: El Folklore Frexnense and El Folklore Bético-Extremeño . Both publications took place in 1883, and the presence of the Eco de Fregenal publishing house, supported by the Marquis of Riocabado and located on Corredera Street (current Marqués de Riocabado Street), was very important in them.

That same year, 1883, the painter Eugenio Hermoso Martínez was born on the old Agua Street. The figure of the eminent Frexnense was guided in his painting beginnings by Gonzalo Bilbao and José Jiménez Aranda in Seville, moving to Madrid in 1901. In 1905 he traveled to Paris where he met the avant-garde. In 1912 he exhibited in London. In 1934 he in Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Professor at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts, his final opposition to abstraction is motivated by the capital importance that he always gave to the human figure. Using a classical and iconographic language above all, he went with a personal and unmistakable style from the early modernist and colorful impressionism to the more exacerbated expressionism at the end with the series of paintings that he titled Nertóbrigas. He taught generations of Spanish artists his experience of modernity.

Eugenio Hermoso is considered by specialized critics as one "of the great masters" of Extremaduran painting, to which he contributed his particular predilection for the representation of a notable gallery of portraits of popular types (small and medium format), as well as for the continued production of a series of great compositions inspired by his hometown, supported in many cases by a good number of awards and recognitions, both national and international, among which his promisingGirl Making media (Third Medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of 1904), Daughters of the Territory (First Prize at the Exhibition of the Círculo de Bellas Artes the following year), La Juma, the Raffle and their friends (Second Medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of 1906 and the Barcelona International of 1907), Rosa (Second Medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of 1908), A la fiesta del pueblo (First Medal in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of 1917), several nudes among which The bathroom of the zagalas stands out especially (1923), sent to the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of 1924 or, finally, the coveted Medal of Honor at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of 1948 for his works Altar and < i>The sowings.

In his role as a sculptor, he made, among others, the bronze bust of Benito Arias Montano (1927), "given to Fregenal" on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the birth of the humanist, along with which some self-portraits are documented, one of which crowns the artist's tomb in the town's municipal cemetery. He was also the author of a voluminous autobiography titled Life of Eugenio Hermoso (Francisco Teodoro de Nertóbriga (1955). Madrid: Ediciones Castilla), from which numerous information can be extracted about the painter himself and, in general,, the national artistic world of the first half of the 20th century. He belonged to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and that of Saint Isabel of Hungary in Seville, and was also an honorary member of the Círculo de Bellas Artes of Madrid. Today the bulk of his work is preserved in a House-Museum located in Fregenal, as well as in private collections and in Spanish and foreign museums. Upon his death in Madrid in 1963, his remains were transferred to Fregenal, in whose cemetery they currently rest in a tomb crowned by a bust of him made by himself. He is considered one of the most important Spanish painters of the XX century, as well as one of the most important figures in the plastic arts. in Extremadura, having an important presence in the Museums of Fine Arts of Cáceres and Badajoz.

Special mention also deserves the painter Rafael Gómez Catón, who was born in Fregenal on November 14, 1890. Although his work is mainly based on landscaping, in his early years he made a series of portraits inspired by the style of Eugenio Hermoso, from whom he took drawing classes in the summer of 1902. Some still lifes are also preserved, full of light, captured by their author with a more perfectionist and detailed technique. Among the artist's numerous pieces, the following stand out: The Aqueduct (1910), Cuenca (c. 1918), La del Pico de la Noria or < i>Conce (1924), Fregenal Landscape (1939), Chocolatero (1953), etc.

The railway would reach Fregenal with the inauguration of the Zafra-Huelva line in 1889, whose construction was closely linked to the great importance of mining operations in the Huelva mountains. The town's train station, which has remained practically unchanged since its inauguration, was opened to the public on January 1, 1889, after the completion of the section that linked Zafra with Valdelamusa. The railway became a reference for Fregenal's communications with the entire national geography, providing it with sufficient infrastructure that allowed it to establish the distribution point for mining products from nearby towns, such as Cala or Jerez. of the Knights.

Similarly, the train provided an important transportation route to the population, who made use of it for much of the century XX, massively. The presence of this transport in the current life of Fregenal is very little widespread. Although a medium-distance line that connects the cities of Huelva and Madrid crosses through the town, allowing connection with more cities in Extremadura, the lack of trains is more than confirmed, the line having become quite obsolete by now. despite the renovation carried out in 2010. This means, which was the most important in the town, has been practically relegated to oblivion due to the lack of trains, passengers and will to allow the improvement of the road.

20th century

In the year 1906, one of the most notable events in Frexnense life occurred. Coinciding with the fourth centenary of the proclamation as Patroness of Fregenal, the canonical coronation of Our Lady Santa María de los Remedios was promoted. Devotion to the Patron Saint, with more than four centuries of history, and with great importance throughout the diocese of Badajoz; It fostered the support of the highest levels of the bishopric. From there the petition was raised to the Holy See in Rome. The entire Badajoz clergy, headed by Félix Soto Mancera, bishop of Badajoz, lent their help so that Rome could deliver the long-awaited request. Finally, grace was granted to the Holy Image, which was crowned on the Paseo de la Constitución on April 27, 1906. This event attracted the attention of the entire region and high levels of the Nation. The Virgin of Remedies was the first image crowned in Extremadura. Furthermore, the presidency of the events was assumed by the King of Spain, Alfonso XIII, who was represented in the Extremaduran city by the Marquis of Riocabado. The coronation ceremony was performed by the bishop of the diocese of Badajoz, Félix Soto Mancera. Some sources highlight that the ceremony was witnessed by tens of thousands of people, who packed the town's main square. This event had a special relevance in a traditionally Christian city that professed a deep devotion to its Patroness. Likewise, actions to help the city's poor were promoted, who received alms, in accordance with the Catholic principle of charity. The honors that the Patroness received were very high, wearing the weapons of Fregenal that were represented in the mantle that she wore and in the jewel that crowned the image, which inside it keeps the symbols of Fregenal.

At the beginning of the century, two internationally renowned artists were born in Fregenal. In 1911, the flamenco singer Manuel Infante, el Niño de Fregenal, was born on Jabugo Street. His fragile appearance had nothing to do with his singing: 'solid, complete and with a wide repertoire'. In this the sculptor José Barragán Rodríguez saw the light for the first time. After studying Sculpture and teaching Drawing at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, in 1952, he moved to Colombia, more specifically to Medellín, first, where he carried out most of his production. In 2012, the artist's family donated a series of works by the Frexnense to the City Council, along with the bronze bust of Juan Bravo Murillo, installed in the Pilar Redondo in 1973 on the occasion of the first centenary of the death of the politician and jurist..

Throughout the first half of the XX century, Fregenal reached maximum population levels, standing above 10 000 inhabitants. This fact made it one of the main cities in the south of the province of Badajoz, at a level similar to that of the most relevant towns in this area. Most of the population was mainly dedicated to agricultural tasks, which still remains the most important activity in the town. This is mainly due to the establishment of new socialist ideologies in the town, supported by the working conditions of the majority of the people who worked in the countryside. Land ownership, as in the rest of the southern peninsula, was predominantly latifundia; and the workers were characterized as day laborers, that is, people who worked during sunny hours in exchange for a day's pay or salary for the work done that day.

The founding of the first Frexnense socialist group dates back to April 23, 1919. The group "Luz y Vida", of socialist and Masonic inspiration, would become part of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party in October of that same year. The newspaper El Socialista reports on this date that a total of 182 members joined the group, who would begin to be part of Frexnense politics. In this way, four socialist councilors of the nine candidates will be elected in the 1920 elections. Among them, José María Luna Chamorro stands out, elected first deputy mayor, and who would accidentally occupy the mayor's office of Fregenal, being the first socialist mayor of the town.

The proclamation of the Spanish Republic in Fregenal took place on April 16, 1931, with the full City Council meeting after the democratic elections on April 14. The mayor elected in this session would be Pedro López Navarrete, who led the defenders of the monarchy. However, in the constitutive session of the City Council, a Managing Commission was created on the occasion of the proclamation of the Spanish Republic at the request of the civil governor of the province of Badajoz, chaired by Manuel Sánchez Romasanta, of the Radical Republican Party. The commission was in charge of managing the municipality until the elections of May 31, 1931, in which the result was decided in favor of the Republicans. In this way, the first democratic City Council was established on June 5 in an extraordinary session, in which the radical republican Manuel Sánchez Romasanta was elected.

With the arrival of the Second Republic in Spain, Fregenal became an important political and population center in the south of Extremadura. This is why the city was visited by up to three ministers in 1931. The empowerment of leftist ideas established a strong foundation in favor of the new Republic in the population, supported mainly by the presence of agricultural workers. Agrarian reform becomes the center of the political debate in Fregenal. Developed by the first governments of Manuel Azaña, the agrarian reform promoted the disappearance of latifundia property in favor of agrarian workers among whom the large properties that until then were in the hands of a few owners would be distributed. Fregenal, which at the beginning of the 1930s had 10,277 inhabitants, became the center from which this restructuring of property was orchestrated in the south of the province in towns such as Zafra, Fuente de Cantos or Jerez de los Gentlemen. Likewise, the Republic provided important infrastructure and institutions dedicated to teaching the population. The management committee of 1936 includes the creation of the new primary school on April 22 of that same year, known historically as Los Escolares, which currently contains the school of Arias Montano early childhood and primary education. Likewise, the republican government created the new secondary and professional education institute, based on Santa Clara Street; germ of the current Eugenio Hermoso secondary and high school education institute.

Previously, in February 1936, a management commission had been appointed, chaired by the president of the House of the People, Victoriano Cordero González, appointed by the civil governor of Badajoz to prepare the municipal elections that should be held in April of that year. same year. On April 15, 1936, Victoriano Cordero González, the last democratic mayor of Fregenal, would be elected mayor, who would continue to lead the council until September 18, 1936, with the occupation of the city by the rebel troops.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Fregenal was an important population center favorable to the government of the Republic. Numerous incidents took place in the town carried out by forces from both sides. It is worth highlighting the episode carried out by the members of the municipal corporation and the Defense Committee of the Republic, who decided to confine the city's aristocrats in the Cinema Bravo. A possible attempt to set fire to the building by Republican supporters was stopped. The attack was put down, among others, by the mayor of Fregenal in the last days of the Republic, Victoriano Cordero González. This character, along with his socialist companions, would die after the arrival of the rebellious troops, for defending the democratic and republican regime.

Due to the late date on which Fregenal was taken by the troops rebelling against the Spanish Republic, people fleeing from the Sierra de Huelva and different areas of the province of Badajoz already captured by the rebel army began to accumulate in the city. The first wave of refugees from the province of Huelva were fleeing the troops sent after the capture of Badajoz on August 14, and they arrived from Huelva towns such as Zalamea la Real, Nerva or Riotinto. The columns of miners had the objective of reaching Republican territory to move to Madrid and help in the defense of the capital. Among them, the Spartacus column, of well-equipped miners, stands out. These columns stop at the end of August and beginning of September in towns such as Fregenal de la Sierra and Valencia del Ventoso where they mainly stock up on food. As the columns pass, many Extremadurans join them trying to escape. With the capture of towns south of Badajoz capital, such as Santa Marta, Feria, Almendral, Barcarrota and Villanueva del Fresno; The mass of people fleeing from the rebels is accumulating in the towns of Jerez de los Caballeros and Fregenal de la Sierra. Giving shelter to so many people becomes a problem. The taking of Segura de León and Burguillos del Cerro, on September 14, aggravates this situation. 500 people had fled from Segura de León alone. In total, around eight thousand refugees fleeing from the rebels gathered in Fregenal.

Given the imminent takeover of Fregenal, the people taking refuge in the vicinity of the town, mostly in the town's train station; They decided to leave on September 15 in search of republican positions. The chosen route was crossing the Vía de la Plata at the height of Fuente de Cantos, towards Azuaga. In order not to be detected by the rebel troops, they decided to use livestock routes that connected the towns of Fregenal and Segura, through what is known as the old Fregenal road; From there it enters the Cañada Real Leonesa Occidental, in the direction of Fuente de Cantos. The crossing of the Vía de la Plata was a moment of high danger. At this point, the column leaves the Cañada Real and heads cross-country towards the road. They crossed at night to avoid possible scuffles. After crossing the Vía de la Plata, the column enters the Senda, a well-known path that crosses the districts of Montemolín, Puebla del Maestre and Llerena from west to east. The advance of the column of eight thousand was known to the national commanders of Seville headed by Queipo de Llano, who with the help of his informants in the area and a reconnaissance plane, studied the movements of the column. On the afternoon of September 17, the column left the Senda and entered the royal valley of Pencón. The Mérida-Seville railway line marked the border between republican territory and territory conquered by the rebels. The rebellious troops decided to attack the column on September 18 on the Alcornocosa hill, next to the Cañada Real del Pencón, a place close to the towns of Reina and Fuente del Arco; which was located next to the train track. The attack, totally unexpected, resulted, according to official figures, in eighty dead and thirty wounded; although other sources assure that the number of deaths was higher. In the confusion of the attack and the night, there were militiamen advancing with the column who were killed by their own companions to prevent their escape. Despite the attack, a constant trickle of people managed to pass through and reach Valverde de Llerena and Azuaga that night and the following days. Those furthest behind also managed to flee the fray. The attack had an impact on the media, both on the radio signal in Seville, on ABC in Seville or on the front page of Diario HOY on September 19. The rebellious army took 1,200 prisoners who were taken to Llerena where they would be executed according to the criteria of this side.

Once Fregenal was taken by the rebel troops on September 18, 1936, they would impose Manuel Guridi Jáuregui as mayor, who held the position until Manuel González Bermudo was appointed on March 6, 1937. González Bermudo held the position. mayor of Fregenal and the general secretary of the Movement in the town until the total disappearance of the regime and the constitution of the first democratic Town Councils in 1979, occupying the mayor's office uninterruptedly for 42 years, which included the end of the Civil War, the entirety of the Francisco Franco's dictatorship and the period of Transition to democracy. During the post-war period, Fregenal grew in population until the 1960s, while its main economic activities were agriculture and livestock. During these years the Fiftieth Anniversary Festivities of Our Lady of Remedies were celebrated, where the regime gave the honors of Captain General to the patron saint of Fregenal.

In the years after the Civil War, three artists of national stature were born and grew. The oldest of them was Julio García Casas, who was born in the city in 1933. He was a pianist, magistrate and professor of Spanish Law. Academic of the most prestigious institutions of the State, he received the Mozart Medal from UNESCO in December 1997 in recognition of his work in the world of music. He also received the highest distinctions as an artist from the French Government (Order of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres) and the Spanish Government (Commendation with Plaque of the Order of Alfonso X the Wise). For his part, the potter Rafael Ortega Porras was born in 1938. In his time of greatest projection, he was one of the most renowned Spanish ceramists, awarded Second Prize at the Madrid Nativity Scene Contest (1968), Gold Medal from the Ministry of Housing (1972), National Prize for Crafts (1982), Second National Prize for Ceramics (1988), Medal of Extremadura awarded according to the text of Decree 99/1998 of July 28 by virtue of "love for their land and the pride with which he carries his condition as an Extremaduran around the world along with his extensive artistic career", the titles of Master Craftsman (1999), Favorite Son of Fregenal de la Sierra (2000), among others. Finally, it is worth highlighting the figure of Manuel Parralo Dorado, a painter born in 1945. Professor emeritus, he was Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Complutense University of Madrid, Medal of Honor of the same University, Corresponding Academic of the Real de Bellas Arts Saint Elizabeth of Hungary of Seville and Cross of Alfonso X The Wise. Among his main contributions to Frexnense society, it is worth highlighting his extensive contribution to the Eugenio Hermoso International Painting Prize, serving as president of the jury of the painting contest.

Already in the democratic era, Fregenal fought for its rights during the first years when the Government of Spain wanted to revive the city's economy with the help of the railway network that passes through the city. In this line of action, the Fregenal region was declared an Urgent Industrialization Zone within the industrial reconversion process that Spain was experiencing. The main project for the reconversion of Fregenal's economy was that of Prereducdos Integrados del Suroeste, better known by its acronym Presur. The Presur plant was a promise from the government of the Union of the Democratic Center, which thus allowed the Cala mines to be kept open and the mining sector in the area to be promoted through a strong commitment to the transformation of raw materials into derivatives. industrial. In addition to the production of pellets, the plant's main original task, a powerful research project was added. In the plant, space is dedicated to the study of natural resources and ornamental rocks, granites and marble, as well as the treatment of ferroalloys from which chromium-nickel ingots were obtained, a demonstration plant for the treatment of ferroalloys and the most notable project, research with plasma for the study of new materials, being the only one at the time in all of Spain.

The opening of Presur was a major political event throughout Extremadura. It had the participation of the main leaders of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, who promoted the opening of the plant. Among those events, Felipe González's visit to the Cala mines stands out, while he was still leader of the opposition to the government of Adolfo Suárez. Regarding the events that occurred in Fregenal, the massive demonstration of April 25, 1982, which brought together between 40,000 and 50,000 people, stood out in the surroundings of Paseo de la Constitución, where the Junta of Extremadura was meeting in a permanent assembly. to demand from the Government the immediate start-up of a pellet plant.

Although Presur would end up opening its doors in 1983, news about a possible radiation leak from the plant in June 1998 led to its closure. The release of cesium-137 did not affect the workers at the site according to the Nuclear Safety Council report. The socialist majority of the Fregenal de la Sierra City Council expressed in a plenary session on June 19, 1998 its rejection of the closure of the plant, but the strong opposition coming from the ranks of the Popular Party and Izquierda Unida, added to a certain fear in the population, led to the closure of the plant that had been the main commitment to the industrialization of Fregenal in the 80s and 90s of the 20th century.

In 1991 the Hotel Cristina was created, at the initiative of the businessman Ángel del Cid Pol. Its inauguration was a true social event for the city of Fregenal, with the participation of the main regional authorities. This same businessman was in charge of shape Matadero Frexnense S.A. (MAFRESA), which is currently Fregenal's main industry. Del Cid, of Leonese origin, but with deep Frexnense roots, had the support of the Junta de Extremadura, chaired by Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, and the Minister of Economy, Manuel Amigo, to build what was the main meat industry in Spain. A factory of 6,000 square meters in 1993, which evolved to another of 24,000 in 1999; which slaughtered a total of 8,000 pigs annually at the beginning, reaching the figure of 60,000 heads at the beginning of the century. A central agroindustry for the Extremaduran economy, which in its greatest stages had 202 permanent workers, without counting all the jobs derived from the factory's activity. The company exports Frexnense products to distant countries such as Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Angola, Russia or Brazil.

On October 22, 1995, Television Fregenal was founded, the first audiovisual media outlet in the history of Fregenal. The initiative arose from a group of people attached to Frexnense civil society, headed by Juan Ignacio Márquez Martínez, correspondent of the Diario de Extremadura HOY since September 1990. The first televised program was a debate between the representatives of the Frexnense City Council, Luis Moreno Gamito, mayor of the Socialist Party; José María Velasco Díaz, councilor spokesperson for the Popular Party; and Fernando González Durán, councilor spokesperson for Izquierda Unida. This media has remained in operation for more than a quarter of a century, after its transformation into ZF Television. Currently, it is the reference medium for information on the social, political, cultural, religious and sports life of Frexnense.

21st century

The new century brought with it a growing feeling for the recovery of lost historical spaces of Frexnense heritage. The declaration in 1991 as an Asset of Cultural Interest to the Historic-Artistic Complex of Fregenal de la Sierra represents a push to build and consolidate the foundations of ruined monuments, which were restored by public initiative. This is the example of the convent of San Francisco, which underwent a thorough restoration process, extended from 1995 to 2011. In its first phases, the work carried out by the Nertóbriga Workshop Schools, which recovered the missing cloister of the convent, was essential. The church was definitively restored due to the push of the Ministry of Housing, which allowed the most expensive part of the project started by the local administration to be completed ten years earlier. Currently, the recovered building houses the Space for Young Creation, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Fregenal and spaces dedicated to temporary exhibitions and social events. The other recovered space is the convent and school of San Ildefonso de la Compañía de Jesús, whose restoration began in 2019 with financing from the Ministry of Public Works.

Among the great events experienced in these years are the Centenary of the Canonical Coronation of Our Lady Santa María de los Remedios in 2006, coinciding with the V Centenary of her proclamation as Patroness of Fregenal. The arrival of the Patron Saint to the city became an event of national importance, with the participation of the main authorities of the State, chaired by King Juan Carlos I, who gave his representation to the President of the Government of Extremadura, Juan Carlos Rodríguez. Ibarra.

In April 2010, HOY Fregenal was born, the first Frexnense digital media outlet, thus initiating the hyperlocal network of Diario de Extremadura HOY. The medium was directed for nine years by the medium's Fregenal correspondent and director of Fregenal Television, Juan Ignacio Márquez Martínez. In total it has 135 paper issues, which were distributed monthly by Frexnenses homes. In his coverage of Frexnense social life, Juan Ignacio Márquez signed more than 4,000 articles in this digital medium, added to the more than 3,000 articles written during more than 28 years at the head of the HOY correspondent for Fregenal de la Sierra. This legacy, together with his participation in many other civil society initiatives, such as the presidency of the Frexnense Choir, the Commission of Friends of the Rosary of Miracle Sunday and his work as Coordinator of the celebrations of the Centenary of the Coronation, meant the appointment of Juan Ignacio Márquez as Favorite Son of Fregenal posthumously in 2022 by the municipal Corporation.

With regard to the Frexnense economy, in 2010 the shareholders of MAFRESA were transformed after the departure of Ángel del Cid, selling 51% of the shares to the Jorge Group. The new board of directors of the meat company implemented some improvements in the factory, thus preserving its workforce and increasing it to 250 workers. Production was also considerably expanded, reaching a total of 142,000 pigs in 2018, increasing the factory's capacity to 200,000. MAFRESA continues to be, therefore, the main meat industry in Extremadura, with sales worth 50 million euros in 2019.

Heritage

Fregenal de la Sierra has an important Historical-Artistic Complex, which was declared a Site of Cultural Interest in 1991, and which is one of the most important complexes in the south of the province of Badajoz, which has a large number of monuments between churches, ancestral houses, the Templar castle, etc.

The most notable of its monuments is the Templar Castle, which was possibly built in the 13th century by the knights of the Order of the Temple; But after the latest discoveries of Roman, Visigoth and Muslim remains, it is thought that the current castle is a reconstruction of a previous one that was located in the same place. Inside are the Bullring, from the XVIII century and financed by the Patronage of the Virgen de los Remedios, and rebuilt in the XX century by a series of neighbors to whom the City Council granted ownership of 50 boxes according to the minutes municipal, and the Mercado de Abastos, from the XX century and which belongs to the jurisdiction of the Fregenal City Council. Attached to it are the Church of Santa María, from the 13th century century. This was expanded in the XVII century, from which the main altarpiece of the XVIII, and the Parish House, made in the first half of the century XX.

The Catholic parish churches are the church of Santa María de la Plaza, the church of Santa Catalina Mártir and the church of Santa Ana, which belong to the Archdiocese of Mérida-Badajoz.

In the Santa Ana neighborhood, and surrounded by numerous ancestral houses, such as the Palace of the Counts of Torrepilares, the Casa de los Peche, with its neo-Nasrid patio; the Palace of the Marquises of Riocabado, the Palace of the Marquises of Ferrera and many more houses and palaces; The church of Santa Ana appears, the largest and most beautiful in the city, built in the XVI century and with subsequent remodeling in the century XVIII. It has a magnificent altarpiece from the XVI century, attributed by recent studies to the carver Antonio de Auñón, who carved it in the 1570s.. The same studies point to the artistic patronage of a group of Jewish-converted origins in Fregenal de la Sierra, whose most dynamic sector, enriched by artisanal and commercial activity based on prominent sectors such as leather, begins a process of social advancement to join to local power groups. The main altarpiece of the Church of Santa Ana is considered by numerous authors to be one of the most brilliant works in lower Extremadura at this time.

Also notable in the temple is the altarpiece of the Birth, made up of polychrome images dated to the XVII century; or the tabernacle chapel, in Renaissance style, with a tabernacle of about one hundred and fifty kilos of silver that was paid for by the population and is made of embossed sterling silver and gilded in fine gold and enriched with enamels, pearls and precious stones. Juan Bravo Murillo, an illustrious son of the city, is buried in another of the temple's chapels, along with the remains of his parents.

Another of the main churches of the city, Santa Catalina, from the XV century, has a Mudejar style roof from the XVI century and surprises the visitor with a simple façade from the XVII, composed of a lintel door with a rectangular opening under an oculus and topped by a bell tower. The basilica-shaped temple preserves the most important jewels of Frexnense imagery, the Virgin with Child and the Pietà, both from the 15th century and whose authorship is attributed to Mercadante de Brittany. The rest of the images and paintings of the city also stand out as they are the oldest within the heritage of the city of Bajo Extremadura. Of the rest of the historical complex, the Conventual of San Francisco also stands out, from the XVI century and a recent restoration process, after being abandoned at the end of the 19th century. The Convent of the Augustinian Mothers and the old College and Convent of the Jesuits, both financed by Alonso de Paz and built around the 16th century< /span>. Also the Fontanilla fountains from the XVI century, crowned by the Virgin of the Guide, and the María Miguel fountain, in around which an ancient legend of impossible loves between the lovers María and Miguel is hidden.

Six kilometers from Fregenal is the sanctuary of Nuestra Señora Señora Santa María de los Remedios, from the end of the XV century and with extensions to the 18th century. Architecturally it responds to the canons of the Baroque, highlighting on the outside the atrium composed of a semicircular brick arch and smooth-shafted granite columns with bases that support the wooden roof. Inside, the richness of the chamber that houses the carving of Our Lady Santa María de los Remedios, patron saint of the city since 1506, is surprising, which has a rich baroque decoration topped by a hemispherical dome. The main altarpiece of the building, which enjoyed a recent restoration in 2006, also shows the influence of the Baroque. The enclosure is completed with the Hospedería, a room in which portraits of the most illustrious Frexenses hang.

Similarly, the archaeological site of Nertóbriga Concordia Iulia stands out, located within the municipality of Fregenal and declared a Site of Cultural Interest in 2013 by the Government of Extremadura. Framed in a strategic position, between the Sillo and Álamo rivers, next to the largest concentration of iron mines in the region and on the Real Cañada Soriana, it was a crossroads in the location of an important protohistoric communication route between the south and the northern peninsula, as revealed in the spatial study of prehistoric settlements. The excavation work at the site, which began in the 19th century, has continued over time until the present day, unearthing the remains of the main buildings of the acropolis, the forum, baths, market, necropolis and cisterns; as well as some canvases of the old city wall. Today, access to the site has been improved and archaeological work continues, promoted by the declaration as an Asset of Cultural Interest.

Finally, it is worth highlighting the medieval hermitage of San Miguel de los Fresnos, located about six kilometers in a straight line northeast of the town center, whose oldest construction elements date back to the 19th century VII, framed in the Visigothic period. Currently the perimeter walls of its only nave covered by two pointed transverse arches supported by columns attached to the interior and buttresses to the exterior, a side entrance of the same style facing south and a closed apse with a barrel vault under which is located a small altar with a niche and central scallop dating back to centuries XVI and XVII, flanked by two others of smaller proportions, in the which according to all indications would house the polychrome and gilded terracotta image of the archangel Saint Michael, a work from the second half of the 15th century attributed to the Breton sculptor Lorenzo Mercadante, deposited in the National Museum of Art of Catalonia. Given its high historical value and with the aim of preserving the architectural remains that have survived to this day, this hermitage has been included in the Heritage Inventory Historical and Cultural of Extremadura by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports.

Economy

The economy of Fregenal de la Sierra, as well as that of its surroundings, has traditionally depended on agriculture and livestock. To a lesser extent, mining activity had its weight, with a radius of influence over towns such as Jerez de los Caballeros or Fuente de Cantos, in Extremadura, and Cala, in the province of Huelva. Fregenal was proposed as a central distribution point for the mining resources of the entire area, since the town has a railway line that passes through it.

Currently, the most important activity is that related to the services sector, where almost 50% of the Frexnense active population is located, a reference sector in the entire region and with strong historical roots, due to the trade routes that passed through Fregenal.

Emerging is the tourist activity that takes advantage of the artistic and cultural legacy that the city has, with a monumental heritage declared Asset of Cultural Interest in 1991. Likewise, the different cultural associations of the population carry out important work in favor of conservation of the folklore and traditions of the city. Also the rich natural environment of this town, with a large number of hectares of pastures, as well as a network of approved trails, brings the visitor closer to the reality of the rural world through an environmentally friendly activity.

In Fregenal we can also find craft activities such as pottery. Closely linked to tradition and heir to the old workshops located near El Puerto and Mazaderos streets, Frexnense potters preserve the legacy of their families around the manufacture of clay and clay. A clear example is the Gallardo family, which still preserves this tradition in its workshop. Undoubted work in the conservation of this artistic manifestation was carried out by Rafael Ortega Porras, Medalist of Extremadura in 1998, who had recognized success at a national and international level, carrying his original work of pottery, and the name of Fregenal and Extremadura, to many corners of the world.

Commerce, although scarce, is also highlighted in the center of the city with a large number of businesses around the streets of La Cárcel, Reyes Huertas, Italia and Calles Nuevas, as well as Avenida España, the main artery. from the city. All of them make up a large trade network, united through the Association of Frexnenses Merchants (Acofrex), which carries out a large number of advertising campaigns, especially during the Christmas season.

Currently, cork extraction is of great importance with a large number of local companies that annually dedicate themselves to extracting the bark from the numerous cork oaks that surround the town, such as RANECOR, and that during the harvesting season They give a lot of work to both people who live in the town and others belonging to the rest of the region.

But above all the economic activities, the one related to the Iberian pig stands out, with industries of local importance, such as Hermanos García-Hermoso or the Montanera Fregenal cooperative, and of national and international scope, such as the Argal company, with one of the most important slaughterhouses in Fregenal, and which is known at national and international levels, with the Fregenal headquarters being the only slaughterhouse belonging to this company whose purpose is to produce Iberian products; o MAFRESA (Matadero Frexnense S.A.) considered the most important company in the city and the largest Iberian agri-food company in Extremadura. It has the largest facilities of all Frexnense companies and the largest workforce in the entire city.

Demography

Fregenal de la Sierra is characterized by being, both currently and throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the most populated town of the Judicial Party, which it heads, and the region it makes up. During the 19th century, we can observe that the population made an incipient increase since the middle of the century, supported by the improvements introduced in fields such as health or medicine, as well as the establishment of new companies that will be established hand in hand with the industrial revolution. The century ends with a very high population figure, exceeding 9,500 inhabitants. This increase is accentuated by the implementation of important services in the city, such as the opening of the railway line in 1889.

In reference to its evolution throughout the last century, we can assert that the population has been significantly reduced during the second half of the century. The city will be highly populated throughout the first half of the century, reaching 10,000 inhabitants, which will remain until the 1950s, when it will reach its maximum population.

Starting in the sixties, the population will be directly influenced by the rural exodus, a population phenomenon that will also affect the rest of the towns in the region, and in general the entire southern area of Spain, including the autonomous communities of Extremadura and Andalusia. This peasant exodus will cause the disappearance of an important population stratum, mostly made up of the youngest segments of the population; who will emigrate to the main national capitals in search of employment in the face of the reality of a stagnant agricultural sector, based on large landownership, and incapable of absorbing so much labor. The lack of industrial sectors, which are still scarce in the region today, also influenced this phenomenon. From the sixties to the present, decade after decade, the local population has been decreasing, affected by this phenomenon very strongly in the 1960s and 1970s, in which Fregenal will see its population reduced by half. Due to this, today it is possible to find a large mass of emigrating Frexnenses in communities such as Madrid, Catalonia or the Basque Country.

Lack of employment continues to be one of the main problems that Fregenal suffers from. Despite the establishment in the eighties and nineties of new companies that renewed the economic climate of the town; The new industries, at first heavy industries and later agroindustries, did not solve the situation. However, these companies did manage to stop the real depopulation that Fregenal was beginning to face just before the arrival of democracy. The introduction of different public services and the improvement of education and health have also enhanced this stability.

In recent years, and after the arrival of the economic crisis on the national scene, the population has once again harshly faced the incipient decline in the number of inhabitants, which in just seven years (from 2010 to 2019) has been reduced by more of 300 people, reaching the minimum population point since the middle of the 19th century. Currently, one of the most important tasks promoted by the municipal corporation is to return to 5,000 inhabitants, a figure that is difficult to recover given the disappearance of numerous jobs and the aging faced by the population, added to the flight of young people in search of a future towards different points of the national and European geography. Although the data provided by the municipal registry reflected some stability between 2017 and 2018, the registry data as of January 1, 2020 once again reflect falls in the number of registered residents. Although the COVID-19 crisis slightly increased the number of registered residents during the application of the state of alarm, which meant the home confinement of the population of all of Spain, the figures for February 2021 underpin the regressive trend of the population below the 2020 data. It has a population of 4,773 inhabitants (INE 2022).

Graphic of demographic evolution of Fregenal de la Sierra between 1842(1) and 2021

(1) In these Censuses it was called FregenalPopulation of law according to population censuses of the INE.Population in fact according to population censuses of the INE.

Administration and politics

Town Hall

The town of Fregenal de la Sierra is governed by the Fregenal City Council, whose representatives are elected every four years by universal suffrage of all citizens over 18 years of age. The municipal corporation of Fregenal is made up of eleven councilors, among whom the mayor-president of the entity is appointed. The Fregenal City Council is chaired by the mayor of Fregenal, since she took office on June 13, 2015, María Agustina Rodríguez.

Fregenal elections have been held periodically and uninterruptedly since 1979. The town of Fregenal is divided into three electoral districts. The electoral results for the different political forces that have participated in the elections since 1979 are as follows:

Municipal elections in Fregenal from 1979 to 1995

Political party	1979		1983		1987		1991		1995
	votes	councillors	votes	councillors	votes	councillors	votes	councillors	votes	councillors
UCD	1699	7
PSOE	1373	6	1831	8	1893	7	1871	8	1694	6
PTE	91	0
PCE	85	0	184	0
AP			1281	5	1222	5
P							1141	4	1359	5
IU					292	1	292	1	518	2
IND							106	0
TOTAL	3248	13	3296	13	3407	13	3410	13	3620	13

Municipal elections in Fregenal from 1999 to 2019

Political party	1999		2003		2007		2011		2015		2019
	votes	councillors	votes	councillors	votes	councillors	votes	councillors	votes	councillors	votes	councillors
PSOE	1238	5	1890	7	1621	6	1620	6	1229	5	1242	5
P	1968	7	1299	5	1548	6	1604	6	1707	7	1658	6
IU	424	1	326	1	327	1	277	1	298	1	196	0
TOTAL	3688	13	3588	13	3590	13	3625	13	3368	13	3184	11

2023 municipal elections in Fregenal

Political party	Votes	Councillors
Popular Party	1699	6
Socialist Workers Party	1222	5
TOTAL	3124	11

The elected councilors later go on to form the Frexnense Municipal Corporation, currently divided into two political groups. The political groups are made up of the councilors of the different political forces, among which the spokesperson and the deputy spokesperson stand out (in the cases of political groups with more than one component). Both positions serve the groups to be able to express the group's opinion in the municipal plenary session. The political groups, as well as the spokespersons and deputy spokespersons, that make up the Frexnense corporation are the following:

Municipal corporation

The municipal corporation of Fregenal de la Sierra is made up of the following councilors:

Popular Group

• María Agustina Rodríguez Martínez, Mayora-President
• Mercedes Linares Rastrojo, councillor delegada de Turismo, Vivienda, Empleo, Desarrollo industrial y comercial y Urbanismo
• María Isabel Reviriego Romero, councillor delegada de Deporte, Asuntos Sociales, Juventud y Educación
• Gonzalo Álvarez Gómez, managing director of celebrations, works, roads and road cleaning
• Eloy Díaz Giraldo, managing director of Parks and Gardens and Cemetery
• Esperanza Vega Pereira, delegate of Culture, Majorities and Equality

Socialist Group

• María José Serrano Rastrojo
• Rafael Calzado Romero
• Manuela Caballero Zapata
• Angel Romero
• Antonio Romero García

Mayor's Office

The Fregenal de la Sierra City Council is chaired by its mayor. The current mayor in office, since she took office on June 13, 2015, is María Agustina Rodríguez Martínez.

The first local elections held in Fregenal were in 1979. The first mayor elected in the democratic stage was Francisco Rodríguez Romero, from the Union of the Democratic Center, and he governed for one term.

After the 1983 elections, Luis Moreno Gamito, of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, would be appointed mayor of Fregenal, renewing his election three times; and therefore governing in four legislatures.

In the 1999 elections, after four socialist terms, Matías Reviriego Marqués, for the Popular Party, would win the elections, being elected mayor of Fregenal for one term.

Next, in the 2003 elections, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party would return to the local government, with Juan Francisco Ceballos Fabián being mayor, who would renew his mandate twice and govern for three terms.

After the 2015 elections, the position of mayor passed to María Agustina Rodríguez, from the Popular Party. It was the first time that a woman presided over the Frexnense municipal corporation. This circumstance continued after the municipal elections of 2019 and 2023, occupying the mayor's office for the third consecutive legislative period with an absolute majority.

List of mayors and mayors since the 1979 municipal elections

Period	Name of the mayor	Political party
1979 - 1983	Francisco Rodríguez Romero	UCD
1983 - 1999	Luis Moreno Gamito	PSOE
1999 - 2003	Matías Reviriego Marqués	P
2003 - 2015	Juan Francisco Ceballos Fabián	PSOE
2015 -...	María Agustina Rodríguez Martínez	P

Education

Education in Fregenal de la Sierra depends on the Department of Education of the Government of Extremadura, which assumes education powers at the regional level. Fregenal has four educational centers:

Centro infantil Los Juncos

The center has a line of care for children between zero and three years of age. It is located next to the I.E.S. Eugenio Hermoso on Avenida de España. It is the most modern creation center of all that offers its services during most of the year.

San Francisco Public College of Assisi

The educational center is located in the Santa Ana neighborhood. It is a nursery and primary school that has a line of education that ranges from early childhood education for three, four and five years, up to six years of age. primary education. This school is involved in different European projects through exchanges with schools throughout Europe.

Arias Montano Public College

This is the oldest of all educational centers, which is also known as "the schoolchildren" by the elders. It is named after the illustrious humanist and scholar Benito Arias Montano, one of the main illustrious figures originally from Fregenal de la Sierra. It has an educational line from early childhood education to primary education.

Eugenio Hermoso High School

It is the main educational center in the city that teaches compulsory secondary education and high school classes to young people and adolescents from Fregenal de la Sierra and Higuera la Real, as well as others from the region and the judicial district and even from some towns in the north of the province of Huelva, such as Hinojales, Cumbres Mayores, Cumbres de San Bartolomé, Encinasola, etc. The center also has vocational training courses in electricity and administration and management, as well as a distance university that teaches classes to adults. The center is named after the important Frexnense painter Eugenio Hermoso Martínez, one of the main Extremaduran painters of the XX century. The center also has an important library with a large number of research or literary books at the service of students and any other user. On the other hand, the center preserves in the two buildings that make it up different paintings awarded in the Eugenio Hermoso International Painting Prize.

Transportation

Currently, Fregenal has numerous transport services that connect the city of Extremadura with numerous cities in Extremadura, Andalusia or the rest of Spain.

Bus

Fregenal has a bus station that connects the city with different cities throughout the country such as Seville, Badajoz, Huelva, Ayamonte, Zafra, Mérida, Madrid, Zaragoza or Barcelona with daily and weekly schedules for each of the destinations..

Train

On the other hand, a railway line passes through Fregenal that connects Fregenal with Huelva and Zafra and with cities in the rest of Extremadura such as Mérida, Cáceres or Plasencia and with the Atocha station in Madrid thanks to the trains that connect the capital of Spain with Huelva. Currently it has numerous passenger and freight trains that pass at different times of the day. It is the only railway line that passes through the Commonwealth of Tentudía.

Roads

Given the geographical location of the town due to its proximity to other provinces, such as Huelva and Seville, Fregenal de la Sierra has several roads that connect the city with the rest of Spain.

Media

Fregenal de la Sierra is a town where the media transcends all relevant events carried out in the city.

The first means of communication that occurred in Fregenal was the historic Eco de Fregenal, founded in 1880 by Manuel de Velasco y Jaraquemada, Marquis of Riocabado, and by Luis Romero y Espinosa, folklorist of frexnense origin. Its first edition was carried out on March 1, 1880 with a circulation of 2,000 copies and five monthly issues. From 1880 to 1906 there was the greatest concentration of publications such as “El Eco de Fregenal” (1880), “Boletín Literario del Eco de Fregenal” (1882), “El Folklore Bético-Extremeño” (1883), “El Folklore Frexnense” (1883), “El Serrano” (1883), “La Jeringa” (1883), “Literary Extremadura” (1884), “The Friend of Truth” (1885), “The Extremeña Illustration” (1886), “The Frexnense” (1887), “La Ganga” (1887), “El Anunciador Extremeño” (1890), “El Eco de Fregenal” (second period) (1894), “La Voz de Fregenal” (1894), “El Nene ” (1896), “The Whip” (1898), “El Serrano” (second period) (1901), "La Semana” (1904), “El Frexnense” (1905), “El Heraldo Extremeño” (1906), “Gente Nueva” (1906)) and “The Centennial” (1906). Subsequently, during the rest of the XX century, the large number of publications were lost, with only a small number of publications being made such as “ The Defender” (1911), “The Homage” (1923), “Marmita Escolar” (1971), “The Holm Oak and the Olive Tree” (1979).

Fregenal de la Sierra has always had a correspondent in the Diario de Extremadura Hoy, since the creation of the medium in 1933. In October 1995, Televisión Fregenal was born, first means of audiovisual communication given in Fregenal. The first program carried out on said television was a televised debate between the political representatives of the Fregenal City Council. Later, Televisión Fregenal offered a live program again from the church of Santa María de la Plaza, coinciding with the concelebrated Mass of the Sunday of Miracles, within the Festivities of the Virgin of Remedies. This broadcast was later repeated year after year, broadcasting live to all Frexnenses the most important mass of the year. Fregenal Television, during the years it lasted, became a medium committed to Frexnense society, bringing political and social life closer to the town and carrying out different annual live programs, such as those related to Christmas or other Fregenal festivities.

Currently, Fregenal has different media outlets such as ZF Television, a local channel for Zafra and Fregenal with programming completely focused on the different events held, such as Christmas, Easter, the patron saint festivities; as well as all other acts developed. This television network is the heir to the Fregenal Television project since November 2012. In the local press there is Hoy Fregenal, a virtual newspaper with a monthly paper edition created in 2010, as the first hyperlocal in the project presented by the Diario de Extremadura Hoy for the towns and cities of the region. Hoy Fregenal monitors Fregenal events, parties and political, social, cultural and sporting events on a daily basis.

Culture

Music and folklore

Among the musical groups, the Frexnense Choir stands out, founded in 1968 with forty mixed voices that sing classical, popular, religious and carol polyphonies, it has a great national career, having traveled practically throughout the national and Extremaduran geography, as well as of international travel. Its repertoire has the largest sample of Frexnense folklore, works that are performed coinciding with the Patron Saint Festivals in honor of Our Lady Santa María de los Remedios and the San Mateo Fairs and Festivals. The Mozart Amadeus Chamber Choir is a group of female voices that has been singing in religious celebrations and concerts since 1996.

The Los Jateros Folkloric Group, founded in 1965, is a folklore group with musicians and dancers who represent the roots and traditions of Extremadura and Frexnenses with an important representation in the Patron Saint Festivals, being organizer of the International Festival of the Sierra since its creation in 1981 as the Festival of Popular Dances and Songs of Extremadura.

The Fregenal de la Sierra Cultural Musician Association is a group of brass and percussion musicians who perform popular songs. Their presence is usually common at the Patron Saint Festivals and at the town's bullfighting events. The Frexnense Cornet and Drum Band, a group of percussion and wind musicians who perform popular songs at the city's main festivals, also organize an annual band meeting.

The Dancers of the Virgin of Health, are part of the Brotherhood of the Virgin of Health. The group has a very interesting centenary dance composed of dancers and musicians with drums and bagpipes that is part of the festival of the Virgin of Health. The Dance and Festivals of the Virgin of Health were declared in 2017 as an Asset of Cultural Interest, in the category of Intangible Asset.

Academy

In Frexnense life there are several academic events that aim to promote research and the transfer of knowledge in the rural world. The Ritual Dance Research Conferences were created in 1986, as part of the programming of the Festival of Popular Dances and Songs of Extremadura. Since then, the Brotherhood of the Virgin of Health has continued with this biannual event in which hundreds of folklorists and anthropologists have contributed to the cataloging and preservation of ritual dances throughout the national geography. The Ateneo Popular Frexnense is an organization cultural and academic created in 2017 that brings together experts throughout the year to give talks on culture, sports, literature, politics, ecology, health or education.

The Arias Montano International Summer Course is developed annually as a multidisciplinary research space for Humanities and Social Sciences. Created in July 2021, in honor of the humanist Benito Arias Montano, it combines presentations and round tables on History, Political Science, Sociology, Art, Philosophy, Physics, Hispanic and Classical Philology, along with cultural activities and music concerts. This Summer Course is part of the training offer of the International Summer Courses of the University of Extremadura, and brings together experts from national and international institutions from the University of Évora, University of Bordeaux, Autonomous University of Madrid, the University of Seville, the University of Murcia or the Rey Juan Carlos University.

Art

The Eugenio Hermoso International Painting Prize is the oldest painting prize in Spain, and of unquestionable relevance at the Extremaduran level since its creation in 1981. The contest is convened annually by the Fregenal City Council, the Provincial Council of Badajoz and the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Government of Extremadura, the jury's decision being made public in the months of April and May, coinciding with the Patron Saint Festivals. The jury of the competition is chaired by Manuel Parralo Dorado, emeritus professor and dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Complutense University of Madrid, and has been made up of personalities of Spanish art such as Antonio López, Juan Manuel Bonet and Tomás Paredes Rosemary. The objective of the painting competition is to contribute to the promotion and dissemination of art in general, both national and international, but always keeping alive its initial proposals to support young artists who find their main means of expression in painting.

The Outdoor Painting Prize, created in 1973, locally disseminated and with more than fifty years of history, has been the basis for many children and young people from Frexnenses to begin their journey in the world of art. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the creation of the contest, the Fregenal City Council decided to rename it the José Vargas Lasso Children's and Youth Painting Contest, in recognition of one of the founding professors of this award. We also find the Eugenio Hermoso Foundation Rosario Hermoso Legacy, which ensures the maintenance and conservation of the painter's heritage, the dissemination and dissemination of his life and works and his enhancement as one of the most representative painters of the costumbrista movement of the last century XX.

Museums

Eugenio Hermoso House Museum

The Eugenio Hermoso House Museum is a recovery project for the old house of local painter Eugenio Hermoso. To its credit, the Eugenio Hermoso House Museum has 240 works from the painter's own private catalogue, as well as his utensils. of paintings, which are kept in the artist's own workshop. The catalog also has a large set of sketches and drawings that are part of the archive of the future museum. After several years of judicial conflict, and thanks to the agreement signed between the Badajoz Provincial Council, the Fregenal de la Sierra City Council and the Eugenio Hermoso Legado Rosario Hermoso Foundation, the renovation work on the house museum is expected to be completed in 2025, which will allow open the new museum space to the public.

Fregenal Museum of Contemporary Art

The Fregenal Museum of Contemporary Art, located in the San Francisco Convent, opened to the public in February 2021, with the aim of exhibiting the works acquired annually through the Eugenio Hermoso International Painting Prize, created in 1981. It has a large collection that currently exceeds 130 works that have been acquired in each call, with notable authors such as Guillermo Silveira, José Carretero, Antonio Murado López, Hilario Bravo Maldonado, Leonor Solans García, Pilar Molinos or Francisco Javier Fernández. The museum has a permanent exhibition room, a temporary exhibition room and a workshop classroom, in addition to a set of exhibition panels, computer material with information about the works in digital format and posters in Braille.

Mansion of Miniatures

The Permanent Exhibition “El Caserón de las Miniaturas” is located on Santa Clara Street in Fregenal de la Sierra. This is a private collection of miniature houses and dioramas created by local author Encarna Caso. The exhibition includes up to twenty houses and dioramas in 1:12 and 1:24 scale that have been built over the last two decades. All the pieces are displayed in two rooms of a manor house whose origins date back to the 16th and 17th centuries, a building with a beautiful emblazoned doorway and typical stonework door that after years of abandonment gradually returns to life through this exhibition and the different activities that will be projected from the Cultural Association that has been created in 2020.

Parties

Fregenal has the following festivals:

Holy Week

The Silhouette of the Nazarenes, the penetrating smell of incense, the darkness of the candles and an absolute meditation flood the streets of the city during the days of celebration of Holy Week in Fregenal de la Sierra. A rich sample of Frexnenese imagery, mostly characterized by its importance and artistic recognition. Among the pieces, the Virgin of Angustias stands out, the oldest among all. Dated in the 15th century, it is attributed to Mercadante of Brittany. With strong roots in the sacred tradition of Seville, Fregenal commemorates the passion and death of Jesus Christ in a modest way and with deep respect for the Virgin Mary.

It culminates with the celebration of the Resurrection, in a very peculiar way, starring the characters of Saint John and Mary Magdalene. They both rush to announce to the Mother that Jesus has risen. The joy of the children, who accompany the couple of disciples, manages to get Mary out of her shelter with the Augustinian Mothers, taking her back to her son to walk happily through the streets of the Santa Ana neighborhood.

Holy Week in Frex begins with the Holy Week Proclamation, which is celebrated on Passion Saturday in the church of the Convent of Our Lady of Peace, organized by the Board of Penitential Brotherhoods. The Board of Brotherhoods is in charge of coordinate the services, processions and events of the five brotherhoods and brotherhoods that make it up. In its structure are the Brotherhood of Nuestro Padre Jesús Atado a la Columna and María Santísima del Refugio, Brotherhood of Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno and María Santísima del Mayor Dolor, Brotherhood of the Holy Christ of Forgiveness and Our Lady of Angustias, Brotherhood of the Holy Virgin of Solitude and Brotherhood of the Lord of the Afflicted and the Risen Jesus. These are the protagonists of the processional parades from Holy Wednesday to Easter Sunday.

Patronal festivities of the Virgin Santa María de los Remedios

The Patron Saint Festivities of Our Lady Santa María de los Remedios, the patron saint of Fregenal, are celebrated every year in the Extremaduran city. For almost a week, a series of religious events take place, full of solemnity, highlighting the novena to Our Lady. The most important days in the Frexnense calendar are commemorated with religious functions, both the Sunday of Miracles, the eve of the Festival of the Virgin of Remedies, as well as the day of its festival itself, or the Octavario, celebrated eight days after the major party.

One of the main stages of the festivity is the Paseo de la Constitución, the city's main square, where Frexnenses gather when they arrive on Miracle Sunday. The day before this day, the ringing of bells announcing the festival is traditional. On the night of vespers, the Frexnense Choir annually presents the inaugural concert of the Patron Saint Festivities, where prayers are traditionally performed in honor of Santa María de los Remedios, which the group has been singing to the Mother of Fregenal for more than half a century.

The ringing from the keep of the castle does not stop throughout the day on Sunday, from very early, with the announcement of the solemn function of the Sunday of Miracles, where the people of Frexnenses renew the Vow of 1506, a promise of love and gratitude to the Patroness. The festival commemorates the miracle of the Virgin of Remedies, who, as remembered in the Book of Miracles, made it rain in the midst of a terrible drought. Since then, the Frexnenses elevated her to the status of her Principal Patron, promising to renew her Vow forever and ever, praying Vespers on the holy day of Sunday; and going in procession to her holy house, on the day of her Feast, the day on which her miracle is commemorated.

As night falls, the rosary procession takes to the streets of Fregenal, which to the rhythm of Lightning preaches with light and fire a devotion purified with water from heaven. The bustling rosary visits the main churches of Fregenal, with thousands of people from the city and the towns of the region, who follow the lanterns of the three parishes that illuminate the way. The sound of the Lightning only stops before the light of the candles, in front of which people pray to the Patron Saint, to end up resuming the lantern dance with the traditional Waltz of the Rosary, in which all attendees participate. The apotheosis of this unusual procession takes place in front of the church of Santa María de la Plaza, the main church in the city, where for the last time the people's prayers are raised to heaven and the festival closes with the hymn that commemorates the Coronation of the Virgin of Remedies in 1906.

Both the Feast of the Virgin and the Octave of the same, have their celebration center in the Real de la Virgen, located six kilometers from the city. On the morning of the Festival, the Frexnenses walk along that path that separates the town from the Sanctuary, a procession in which, according to the Vow, at least one member of each house must participate. The festival takes place in the middle of the Extremaduran pasture, in a typical image of a pilgrimage that has taken place in the same enclave for more than five centuries. In it, the Jateros of the Virgin play an important role, who, after performing the Fandango before the Patron Saint, tour the pilgrimage groups; performing typical dances of the population.

The festivities in honor of the Patroness of Fregenal are celebrated the week following Holy Week, coinciding with Dominica in Albis. Also every 25 years the Virgin travels the 6 kilometers that separate her sanctuary from Fregenal to celebrate the anniversary of her Canonical Coronation, an event of great importance in the population and throughout the region, with the participation of high authorities of a religious, civil and military; since the Virgin of Remedies is Captain General of the Armed Forces.

International Sierra Festival

The International Festival of the Sierra (FIS) was created in 1980 with the nickname of Festival of Popular Dances and Songs of Extremadura, held in the city of Fregenal, today it is celebrated from August 7 to 14 and is a of the Festivals of Tourist Interest in Extremadura.

Its first headquarters was the Fregenal de la Sierra bullring. Today the stages are spread across different places in the town such as the cloister of the Convent of San Francisco, the Paseo del Piralito, the food plaza, inside the Templar Castle and the Paseo de la Constitución next to the parish church of Santa María. from the Plaza and the Templar Castle, in the heart of the city. Groups from the five continents come to it as well as groups from Extremadura.

Festival of the Virgin of Health

From August 30th to September 8th, one of the oldest and most genuine festivals in the city of Fregenal de la Sierra is celebrated, the Festivals in Honor of the Virgin of Health. Among them stands out a group of dancers popularly known as the Danzaores de la Virgen de la Salud who, dressed in attractive clothing, perform an ancient and striking ritual dance.

On September 26, 2017, the Dance and Festival of the Virgin of Health was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest, in the category of Intangible Assets, by the Government of Extremadura, becoming part of the Registry of Assets of Cultural Interest of the State managed by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, becoming the first declaration of this type in the region.

This declaration makes the Festival and Dance of the Virgin of Health a reference for the entire autonomous community of Extremadura, as one of the main cultural samples of the southwest of the peninsula. The declaration itself highlights "the festival, its dance, the brotherhood, the preparations, the drummer, the Church of Santa Catalina, the image of the Virgin, the auction, the procession, the rosary, the solidarity between the brothers, that constitute a rich heritage that legitimizes the request not so much because of the originality/uniqueness of this festive ritual but because it is inextricably linked to Fregenal de la Sierra, its history and its culture and whose continuity is explained with the efforts sustained individually and collectively by social actors who, ultimately, are and have been protagonists and responsible for the fact that the Health Festival and Dance have reached our days to become a fundamental part of the Frexnense heritage.

San Mateo Fair and Festivals

The San Mateo Fairs and Festivals are one of the celebrations that take place in the city of Fregenal de la Sierra and are normally between September 21 and 25, although the closest weekend is always sought. to the festival of San Mateo. Of these festivities, the highlights are the proclamation that opens the festivities, carried out by the most illustrious and important Frexnenses, or the rodeo held at the Fairgrounds, as well as the activities carried out at the municipal booth.

Gypsy Pilgrimage of the Virgin of Remedies

At the end of the month of October, and for more than thirty years now, gypsies from not only Spain, but also from countries such as Portugal, France and Germany, gather in what is probably the oldest gypsy pilgrimage of our country.

The gypsy pilgrimage of the Virgen de los Remedios was born with the aim of becoming a meeting point between gypsies and gypsies, and although it has a clear religious motivation, coexistence and the promotion of the values of this race are also other objectives.

Gastronomy

Inheritors of a rich gastronomic heritage, local menus feature a varied range of native products that delight those who try them for the first time.

Although the local gastronomy largely revolves around the Iberian pig and the products derived from its slaughter, the local cupboards also store numerous foods and drinks from agricultural cultivation and livestock care.

A cuisine from Frexnense that has managed to preserve the most traditional dishes over time.

The Iberian pig

The main source of sustenance for a large part of the population since ancient times, the breeding and slaughter of pigs has produced a wide range of products derived from it. An exquisite sausage whose culmination is marked by Iberian ham.

Undisputed king of the area's gastronomy, the production of ham and other sausage products, still preserves traditional knowledge despite its avant-garde industrialization. Its prestige is such that it has achieved the recognition of the “Dehesa de Extremadura” designation of origin. In response to market needs, hams of different categories are produced depending on the way the animals are fed. The so-called “acorn or montanera” are those that have been fed in a traditional way, that is, in montanera. Those of “recebo” refer to those that after a time in montanera, finish their fattening with feed and finally those fed in stables, which are known as “feed”.

Typical dishes

The town is dotted with numerous bars, restaurants and shops where you can taste a wide sample of local food and drink.

For breakfasts and lunches, they still continue to make migas, a dry bread soup to which salt, pepper and garlic are usually added. The typical fried guarrito and cod, both fried and “engazpachao” are excellent appetizers, which are often accompanied by cured meats and local cheeses. As for stews, the stew and mannanga stand out, the latter made with “revoltillos” and lamb legs. To cool off in the hottest months, gazpacho is an excellent option.

As for pastries, pestiños, flowers, muffins and perrunillas are some of the most popular examples. Also recommendable are the artisanal conventual sweets made by the Augustinian Mothers of the Convent of Our Lady of Peace since the XVI century. Among them, it is worth highlighting the almond hearts, nevaditos, Santa Rita pastas, perrunillas and sponge cakes; which have been recognized as the best Extremadura product of the year 2020. At Christmas they also make marzipan with candied fruits, almond mantecados or marzipan log. On the other hand, for the most refined palates it is advisable to try the famous piononos, meringues and English pastries from the city's prestigious sweet shops such as Risco, which was named the official sweets house of Alfonso XIII.

Renowned wines, both red and white, age in the city's wineries. Any meal or appetizer that is provided is accompanied by these excellent wines, the best known being the “pitarra wines.” Furthermore, the acorns from the pasture not only serve as sustenance for the Iberian pig, but are also used to make acorn-fed liquor.

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