Galinduste

Galinduste is a Spanish municipality and town in the province of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León. It is integrated into the region of Tierra de Alba. It belongs to the Salamanca judicial district and to the Aguas de Sta. Teresa y Tierras del Tormes community.

Its municipal area is made up of the towns of Galinduste, Gutiérrez Velasco Álvarez, Andarromero and Martín Pérez, the last two being uninhabited. It occupies a total area of 31.63 km² and according to demographic data prepared by the INE in 2017, it has 440 inhabitants.

Symbols

Shield

The heraldic shield that represents the municipality was approved with the following coat of arms:

«Division: Shield cut by a horizontal line from the left flank to the right flank, leaving the field in two barracks, one upper or main, another lower or secondary. Upper or main table: Enamel of siple, having for Arms a silver fortress, resembling a castle. Torre del Homenaje flanked by two other minors and between both walls almenado. Lower or secondary quartz: Sterling silver and sugar, Weapons of the House or State Ducal of Alba de Tormes. To the bell, Royal Crown closed»

Flag

The municipal flag was approved with the following textual description:

«Cuadrada, tronchada, dyed with gules in its part roasted, silver, the volanderate part, loaded with the own and significant concejil blason»

Etymology

It is a name of a medieval settler. According to Llorente Maldonado de Guevara, Galindo became a widely used anthroponym in the High Middle Ages, especially by the eastern Basques and their descendants from Navarra, Aragón, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza; It is an anthroponym that was later used by people from La Rioja and eastern Castilians, and perhaps by the Basques themselves; it is practically non-existent in the western Christian kingdoms (it appears with great profusion in the Aragonese, Navarrese, La Rioja and eastern Castilian cartularies).

Galinduste is the name and surname in a fused form, probably of a more Romanized Basque settler, whose surname is Romance. It is the genitive form of the lat. IUSTUS 'fair'. The name of the place appears as Galind Iuste in 1265. Compare with the name of the unpopulated Aldeayuste in El Campo de Peñaranda, as well as the place names that refer to a name of a saint, of the type of the minor place name in Calzada de Valdunciel Santuste (<[ECCLESIA] SANCTI IUSTI).

History

The Clock Tower, part of the old castle.

Its foundation dates back to the repopulation carried out by the kings of León in the Middle Ages, then being called Galind Iuste, being integrated at that time in the quarter of Cantalberque of the jurisdiction of Alba de Tormes, within the Kingdom of León, already having the current name in the XV century. As for the districts, Gutiérrez Velasco Álvarez and Martín Pérez already existed in the XIII century, then being called "Gutierre Blasco" and "Martín Pérez". With the creation of the current provinces in 1833, it was framed in the province of Salamanca, within the Leonese Region, forming part of the judicial district of Alba de Tormes until its integration into that of Salamanca.

Demographics

In medieval times, before the final repopulation carried out in the 12th century, these lands together with those of Santibáñez de Béjar, Cespedosa and Alba de Tormes formed the defensive line of the Kingdom of León and the Castilian Kingdom, leaving Galinduste within the Leonese kingdom. In 1850 there were 605 people living there, in 1900 there were 1,358 inhabitants, which reached 1,574 in 1950, the moment in which the demographic regression of the municipality began, as it happens in the whole area, producing a decrease in the number of residents and the population has been reduced to one third.

Graph of demographic evolution in Galinduste between 1900 and 2022

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

Population centers

The municipality is divided into five population centers, which in 2015 had the following population according to the INE:

Monuments and places of interest

The municipality rises on a small elevation, in the passage of a stream, giving rise to a type of grouped settlement, of a defensive type, which is organized around a tower, the remains of an old castle which is currently known as the Clock Tower, which was part of the defensive framework of the Kingdom of León against Castilla. Next to this tower there is an access that leads to two rooms separated by walls almost two meters high. thickness that communicated by means of a semicircular arch. One of them is next to the clock. From there you go to a second room that should have been divided into two rooms, which can be deduced from the paved floor. From the wall starts a worn wall that could be the front wall that divided the floor into two rectangular rooms. Nothing is known of the roofs (they were probably barrel vaults). The foundation of the large blocks suggests that it was expert people who built the fortress. It is known that in the XVIII century, thanks to the Ensenada Cadastre, these rooms were used as a corn exchange, bread basket and place for council meetings. In 1920 it was greatly reformed, being declared the remains of Cultural Interest in 1949.

The parish church of Nuestra Señora de la Zarza preserves a Mudejar roof from the end of the XVI century that covers the central nave of pair and knuckle with simple incised decoration. Nothing survives today of the armor that covered the presbytery. In addition, on the outside it has a plaque in which he sees a shield decorated with flowers under which seven swords stuck in a heart are located on the reading 'orapronobis.vir' and 'godolorosisima.1779'.

Culture

Parties

• Santa Agueda
• Monday of Waters
• Santiago el Mayor and Santa Ana (25 and 26 July).
• San Miguel Archangel (29 September).

Administration and politics

Municipal elections

Transportation

The municipality is well connected by road since the DSA-135 starts in it, which communicates in an easterly direction with Pelayos and through the dam of the Santa Teresa reservoir with the national N-630, which connects Gijón with Seville and with the Ruta de la Plata highway of the same route. The DSA-130 highway also crosses the municipality, connecting it with Armenteros to the south and Galisancho and Alba de Tormes to the north.

As far as public transport is concerned, after the closure of the Vía de la Plata railway route, which passed through the municipality of La Maya and had a station there, there are no train services in the municipality nor in the neighbors, nor regular line with bus service. On the other hand, Salamanca Airport is the closest, being about 38km away.