Maswedish

Masueco is a Spanish municipality and town in the province of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León. It is integrated into the Vitigudino region and the sub-region of La Ribera (Las Arribes). It belongs to the judicial district of Vitigudino.

Its municipal area is made up of a single population center, occupies a total area of 19.76 km² and according to the demographic data of the municipal register prepared by the INE in 2021, it has a population of 274 inhabitants. Its density is 13.87 inhabitants/km².

In its border with the municipality of Pereña de la Ribera is located the Pozo de los Humos, an impressive waterfall that constitutes one of the places of greatest tourist attraction within those existing in the natural park of Arribes del Duero.

Geography

It is located in Las Arribes del Duero, a natural park on the border with Portugal. In its term you can enjoy beautiful landscapes such as the Pozo de los Humos in the Uces river, the cachoneras in the same river and numerous trails on the slopes of the Duero and the Uces river. Its municipal term extends over the left bank of the Uces river, whose tortuous course was marked out in other times by numerous flour mills, today in ruins.

Masueco shares with Pereña de la Ribera the surprising Pozo de los Humos waterfall, where the Uces river overcomes a drop of more than 40 m, forming an impressive waterfall in an environment of gorges and superb vegetation. It will be between these two terms when the Uces river pours its waters into the Duero basin. The Pozo de los Humos is perhaps one of the greatest exponents and the most spectacular well of all those that exist in the Arribes del Duero Natural Park.

Situation

Masueco is located in the northwest of Salamanca. It borders with Portugal. It is 97 km from Salamanca capital.

It is part of the La Ribera region. It belongs to the Centro Duero Commonwealth and the judicial district of Vitigudino.

Its municipal area is located within the Arribes del Duero Natural Park, a protected natural area of great tourist attraction.

Northwest: Aldeadávila de la Ribera	North: Ventozelo (Portugal)	Northeast: Pereña de la Ribera
West: Aldeadávila de la Ribera		This: La Peña
Southwest: La Zarza de Pumareda	South: Head of the Horse	Sureste: Sources of Masueco

Geology

The municipality of Masueco has a smooth and ridged relief, except in the area of "las arribes", which are characterized by the strong enclosing of the Duero river and the Uces river, in which there are abrupt slopes and very pronounced. The average altitude of the urban area is 684 m above sea level, although at the mouth of the Uces river in the Duero river the altitude is reduced to 340 m. There are small elevations of the land, called tesos, that separate the different streams of the term. Among these treasuries, the highest are those of Corral Redondo (750 m), Treasure of Madera (731 m), Treasure of the Castle (688 m) and Alto de los Vasos (681 m).

The surface of its term is formed by igneous materials belonging to the northwestern part of the Sayago batholith. The southern zone contains a zone of white quartz that crosses the granite and metamorphic rocks, which has caused frequent mineralization with pyrite, chalcopyrite, tungsten, sheelite, arsenopyrite, brecciated and limonotized as a consequence of later tectonic contributions. From the Cambrian, or from the Silurian, the micacitic and gnesic intercalations formed by quartz, plagioclase and muscovite are frequent. The predominant rock in this municipality is granite, characterized by a homogeneous mineralogical composition and great differences in terms of its texture. There is evidence of old gold exploitation in one of the granites in the south of the municipality.

One of the most interesting geological elements is the Pozo de los Humos, a waterfall with a drop of about 50 m that exists in the final stretch of the Uces river, very close to its mouth in the Duero. This waterfall is the most important of all those in Arribes del Duero and is formed by contact, thanks to a small geological fault, of two rocks with different resistance to erosion: granite and metasediments (slates).

History

Map of the year 1666 in which Masueco appears.

Detail of the Salmantine West on a map of the centuryXVIIIin which you can observe Masueco (written as Mazueco).

The Reconquest of the area, until then under Muslim rule, was carried out by the Kingdom of León, which arose from the Kingdom of Asturias of Don Pelayo and from which the County of Castilla, the Kingdom of Castilla, would later be subdivided and/or broken off. of Galicia and the Kingdom of Portugal. The repopulation of the conquered lands carried out by the kings of León proposed a layout very different from the current one, basing its development on the Galician repopulation model, which consisted of having many small villages very close to each other, a scheme that at the long made many of them untenable. In documents from 1265, "Simirera", "Aveto" or "Robredo de las Casas" (later "Robredo de Santo Domingo") are registered. In the XIV and small-caps">XV centuries, there were those of «Quadrilleros» with their own parish » (in Corporario de la Ribera), that of «Alcornocal» (next to the Alcornoque Treasure of Aldeadávila) and that of «La Revilla de Aldeadávila», which were abandoned over the centuries XVII and XVIII. Finally, those of «La Verde» (or «Santa Marina») and that of «Robredo de Santo Domingo» lasted until the XIX century. Thanks to the efforts of residents of towns such as Aldeadávila de la Ribera and La Zarza de Pumareda, they are beginning to rescue medieval remains of tombs and hermitages. The current Masueco de la Ribera has its origins in this period, when it was repopulated by the kings Leonese, becoming one of the border towns with respect to what was then known as the Portucalense County of the Kingdom of León, today known as Portugal, a fact that gained special importance in the area after its independence in 1143.

The entire area of arrivals was dominated at the end of the XIII century by very important lords, such as the Infante Don Pedro, until the regency of the future King Alfonso XI, when they rejoined the council of Ledesma -see Courts of Burgos of 1315 and of Valladolid of 1322- dates that coincide with the territorial loss of Riba-Coa, in the Treaty of Alcañices of 1297. The area was already fortified before said treaty with castles and fortresses, there were castles in Vilvestre, Barruecopardo (before 1212), Mieza, Aldeadávila, Masueco and Pereña, the last three converted into parish towers.

During the reigns of Alfonso XI, Pedro I and Enrique II, the territory of the Arribes del Duero once again became manorial and had a military meaning. It is donated to a succession of bastard infants and future queens and kings, among them the infant Fernando Alfonso and Queen Leonor de Alburquerque who marries Fernando I of Aragon in 1393, uniting his lordship to that of the "five towns".

Church of St. Nicholas of Bari.

The second half of the XV century saw great prosperity in the area, and a very important redistribution of the population within of the council of Ledesma, being the most important nuclei by demography: Ledesma, Aldeadávila, Villarino, Pereña and Masueco and Mieza. Perhaps due to this enrichment, the central part of the Arribes suffered abuses and attempts to seigniorize the knights of Salamanca, such as that of its Alderman in 1494: For García de Ledesma, a resident of Salamanca, to appear before the Royal Council and Do not bother the residents of Aldea de Ávila and Masueco, with threats of excommunication of Francisco Flores, Archdeacon of Castela and Provisor of the Bishopric of Salamanca. Medina del Campo: 1494-05-10. The Tower of Masueco lives the episodes of García de Ledesma and Pedro de Miranda, between 1490 and 1494.

Six Rhodes were created around 1500, in the region of La Ribera those of Villarino and Mieza, although shortly before 1534 that of Villarino was subdivided, creating that of Mazuecos -Masueco-. Each roda had the right to a notary public to celebrate public deeds, which already speaks to us of a population that is not only a front.

The oldest written document that we found in relation to Masueco de la Ribera, is the copy of the deed in old Castilian granted by Don Alonso Ortiz, on behalf of King Felipe II, to formalize the "perpetual sale of the lands vacant, public, council and royalties to those who possessed them ».

Consistorial house of Masueco.

Around 1600, a lordship was established in the area, held by Alfonso Fernández de Villarino de los Aires by royal donation, who transmitted it to his son Gonzalo and later to the explorer of Peru Martín de Ledesma Valderrama. Among its places and its terms were Mazuelos -Masueco-, Aldea Dávila -Aldeadávila-, Corpario -Corporario-, La Vídola, Fuentes, Villasbonas -Villasbuenas-, La Badina, Villamuerto -Villarmuerto-, Grandes, Grandenos and Herbalejos, among others. The urban intervention of Martín de Ledesma in Villarino was very important around 1624 «and what I bought from Gonzalo Fernández, fixed by Alfonso Fernández de Villarino, in the said place of Villarino, half of the place that I made new inside in the corral of the same houses of the said place of Villarino».

Until the abolition of noble lordships in the XIX century, Masueco was part of the lordship or County of Ledesma. In 1833, when the current provinces were created, Masueco was framed within the province of Salamanca, within the Leonese Region.

The northern part of the historic region of La Ribera was always communicated with Ledesma and Salamanca through the Masueco bridge, on the L-5 route that linked Ledesma with Aldeadávila and the La Verde convent, a route that It attracted the Jacobean population and pilgrims, something that has been reflected in the Elizabethan architectural style, mainly in Pereña and Masueco de la Ribera.

Miguel de Unamuno

The writer from Bilbao traveled several times to the west of Salamanca. De Masueco highlighted the presence of a "negrillo" (olmo) that grew next to the parish church.

The first village of the Ribera to where I arrived was Masueco, and the truth is that I was eager to see the black one, who was, according to Uncle Mateo, a guide, the first in Spain, and perhaps in the world, in corpulence. He didn't go too far on the other, colossal, too, to whom Uncle Matthew met in the twilight, shaking his head like when the boys played the crumbs. What the trees are! Thus they grow, without duels, sorrows, or care, deepening their roots in the same land they were born in, while opening their lush cup to the same sky always, forming in the autumn with their distaught foliage the handle that nourishes them with juices to reverberate in spring. As the leaves of the trees are the generations of men, the old Homer said. The black man who, together with the robust factory of the church of Masueco, strips himself every year to get back every year to dress with greenness, rooting more in his own cradle the stronger he becomes, offers with his show the poor labriegos who parade through the dark life symbol of the unity of the people. How many as they march to the emigration will direct their last gazes to the very wide cup under which they played their children's games, to that cup where the bell resonates when it gathers the people to Mass, when it plays a party and how much he bends to death! There's not in the world for Uncle Matthew a black guy like that of Masueco. This way he has grown, without moving from his place, while the poor men, if they want to grow something, are forced to emigrate!

Part of the story published in the bilbaine magazine 'Ecos Literarios' (19 March 1898), Miguel de Unamuno.

Demographics

Graphic of demographic evolution of Masueco between 1900 and 2022

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

According to the National Institute of Statistics, Masueco had, as of January 1, 2021, a total population of 274 inhabitants, of whom 143 were men and 131 were women. Regarding the year 2000, the census reflects 473 inhabitants, of which 237 were men and 236 women. Therefore, the loss of population in the municipality for the period 2000-2021 has been 199 inhabitants, a 42% decrease.

Symbols

Shield

The heraldic shield that represents the municipality was approved on November 6, 1992 with the following coat of arms:

«I hear a match. Right quarter: Left as seen by oblique undulating lines, placed in a band position. Left quarter: Right as you look. In the field of siple, occupying the Sinister of the Center, the heraldic of the Order of Santo Domingo consisting of a field formed by Jirones alternated of silver and sable; on the same flordelisada, departure of plant and sable alternating. Tied with the Spanish Royal Crown»

Official Gazette of Castilla y León No. 19 of 29 January 1993

Flag

The city council has not yet adopted a flag for the municipality.

Administration and politics

Municipal elections

The mayor of Masueco does not report information about his salary (2017).

Heritage

The Pinero Cascade, also known as Pozo de los Lirios, in a month of April not very rainy

• Church of San Nicolás de Bari: It is believed that its tower, one of the most beautiful in the region, is that of an old castle, perhaps of the centuryXVI. It's Gothic islean style. It was built by the Lanestosa family in the centuryXVII. It presents a great crack in the union with the ship that has an uncertain origin, although for years it has been mistakenly related to the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. It's the oldest in the region. The characteristic balls of the isabelline Gothic are appreciated, symbol of which belonged to the road of Santiago. Pedro Sanz de Lanestosa and his sons Pedro and Juan, and later one of his grandchildren, made the churches of Vitigudino, Vilvestre, Pereña, Saucelle, Aldeadávila and Masueco: "The Route of Lanestosa".
• Pozo de los Humos, an important leap of water in the river of the Uces.
• Hermitage of the Holy Christ of the Humilladero: it has a spacious open court from where the cemetery is accessed, two covers with dinteles carved on both ends of the facade. In the interior the Holy Christ is venerated. Next to her, a beautiful and clean stone cruise.
• Modernist facade of a house built in early S.XX.
• Facade of the old Seminary of 1692. Founded by the Humanities professor at the University of Salamanca, D. Martín Cubilano, this study center was the most important in the region.
• Four hermits: San Roque (on the outskirts, towards Aldeadávila), Santa Catalina (on the way out of the village towards Pereña), San Amado (the first one there), Las Animas (Santo Cristo del Humilladero).
• Colegio de Masueco says Madoz in 1847, which highlighted the call of the College, in the square, whose building is ruined since the War of Independence.
• Masueco River Bridge. Madoz: "he crosses the river by a bridge of a single arch quite well built, although very careless."
• Pozo de los Lirios, also known as Cola de Caballo or Cascada del Pinero.
• The Verraco de Masueco, a stone sculpture that appeared on the road that goes to Corpoario, remnant of the Veton villages that inhabited this area

Viewpoints

• Mirador de la Peña del Agua.
• Pinero's viewer.
• Pozo de los Humos viewer.

Culture

Parties

• Easter Sunday, baking day.
• August 19-21, Toro Party.
• May 3, Santa Cruz.
• Party of the chestnuts, in November.

Gastronomy

Hams and sausages, Sheep cheeses, Meats: veal, lamb and kid. Fish: sardines, tench, barbel and river crayfish. Desserts: almond sweets, wafers, perronillas and florets. Hornazos stuffed with sausages, sweet or salty. Liquors.