Palace of Pedro I the Cruel (Cuéllar)

The Palace of Peter I the Cruel, Palace of the Velázquez or Casa de la Torre is a building of Romanesque origin from the 13th century, which is located in the town of Cuéllar, municipality of the province of Segovia, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León (Spain).

It is the ancestral home of the Velázquez de Cuéllar family, who called it Casa de la Torre from the 17th century onwards, and it is currently known by the name of Pedro I because this Castilian monarch celebrated his wedding banquet with Juana de Castro in 1354 in the building.

It was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest on July 20, 1974.

History

The first news of its existence dates back to the year 1348, when Don Juan Manuel, son of the infante Don Manuel, donated this complex to Elvira Blázquez, wife of Pedro González Dávila, repopulator of Ávila and head of the Velázquez de Cuéllar lineage, who He arrived in the town at the beginning of the 14th century and in a few years he became one of the most important figures of the Cuéllar era, as witnessed by having been one of the founders of the House of the Lineages of Cuéllar. The donation was granted by letter dated October 12 of that year, stating:

Know quantos this letter bieren como yo Don Juan, fix del Infante Don Manuel, advance maior de la Frontera, for doing well and mercy to you doña Elvira, muger de Pero Gonzalez, defunto, mio vasallo e mio alcayde que fue en Cuellar... el barrio de señor Sant Esteuan de la nuestra villa de Cuellar along with the houses that ahiillo

Gonzalo de la Torre

Without a doubt when he talks about those houses he is referring to this palace complex, located as the document says, in said neighborhood, behind the church of San Esteban.

The building, along with the estate and the palace that existed in Viloria del Henar, were added to the family estate, passing from generation to generation, falling first to the Counts of Cobatillas, and later passing to the Marquises of Vellosillo. In the 17th century it was owned by Luis Jerónimo de Contreras y Velázquez de Cuéllar, I Count of Cobatillas and I Viscount of Laguna de Contreras, who is titled Lord of the Mayorazgos and Casa de la Torre, and of the Palace of Viloria.

Since then, and until the Confiscation of Mendizábal, the building remained in the Velázquez family. Later it passed into the hands of the family of the poet Alfonsa de la Torre, and at the beginning of the 20th century and for several decades it was a chicory factory, suffering the same fate as other historic buildings in the town.

Finally, the palace falls by inheritance into the hands of Alfonsa de la Torre, who contemplated the idea of turning it into a cultural foundation that would bear her name, just as the poet herself left written in her will. But his dream was broken, because after a confusing will, his brother Alfonso, an illiterate man with little esteem, and Ángeles Fernández, an Asturian victim of José García Nieto in the 1950 Adonais Prize, were considered as heirs, when José García Nieto He rewarded himself by using this woman, who had lived in seclusion for half a century on the farm that Alfonsa owned on the outskirts of Cuéllar.

Through turbulent negotiations that began in 1993, in 1998 the Cuéllar City Council managed to acquire the property, carrying out a first intervention in 1999. In 2002, and through the Junta de Castilla y León, through an agreement between the Cuéllar City Council (40%) and the INCYDE Foundation (60%), together with the Chamber of Commerce of Segovia, and with a final budget of 650 910 euros, the definitive restoration of the palace is carried out, to inaugurate it in 2005 as a Cuéllar Business Incubator, intended for young entrepreneurs. It also offers a Multiple Activities Room, for cultural purposes.

Peter I of Castile

This building appears linked in history to the love affairs and disdains of Pedro I of Castile, a fact that has motivated the current name of the palace.

After the disagreements that arose between the marriage of Pedro I with Doña Blanca de Borbón, the king forced the bishops of Ávila and Salamanca through violence to annul his marriage with Doña Blanca, to contract a new marriage with Doña Juana de Castro and Ponce de León, a noble woman and widow.

The wedding was celebrated in the month of April 1354 in the church of San Martín de Cuéllar, and the ceremony was officiated by the bishop of Salamanca, Juan Lucero, celebrating the subsequent wedding banquet in the building in question, perhaps because it is the most appropriate in terms of its characteristics, because although there was already a fortress in Cuéllar then, it had nothing to do with the castle that we know today, the work of the Dukes of Alburquerque from the 15th century onwards.

This new marriage of the King did not last long, as later chroniclers claim that the day after the wedding the king abandoned her to go upset to Castrojeriz after an envoy arrived in Cuéllar with alarming news regarding a brother of María de Padilla., another of his loves. Even so, the new wife took the title of queen, which she used throughout her life, against the will of the king, from her castle in Dueñas, part of the dowry she obtained, along with that of Castrojeriz and the Alcázar. from Jaen.

Description

The palace is located in the vicinity of Calle del Colegio, which connects the Plaza Mayor with the Mercado del Bread, and therefore in the heart of the Historic Center of the town. It belongs to Romanesque art and is considered by many historians as "the remains of the best civil palace preserved in Spain", with very few examples from this era that have survived over time.

Outdoor

To discover its original structure we must help ourselves with a description made in 1662, which helps us imagine what this colossal building was like in its best years:

This house has two towers, big sillery taps and masonry and the main quartz has its cover of sillery stone with three columns on each side, and rows in arc, and on top of the first cornice ay three small target, as of half vara: the middle and those of the sides as of the earth and in the middle are thirteen roeles which are The tower that is the dha is uncovered and ruined and the one that is on the left side of the door is a strong tower is with its curve and space of arms and has its diverse windows with its stone columns.

Jesús Larios Martín, Nobiliario de Segovia, Tomo II, p. 504.

Currently it is preserved with another structure different from the original, because as the description points out it had two towers, one on each side, and a small walled enclosure, perhaps because it was, for a time, a manor different from the rest of the town.

One of the towers, possibly the left one although the description maintains that it was the right one that was in ruins in the 17th century, has disappeared without a trace. The wall that would surround the complex is not preserved either, although recent excavations have brought to light remains of a hitherto unknown wall in the vicinity of the palace.

The building consists of two main floors, plus the floor into which the tower is divided. The upper windows of the three facades are double and mullioned, with a semicircular arch and mullion composed of a small column that carries a capital, with plant motifs.

Heraldry

With a wide stone façade, the façade centers on a semicircular arch with archivolts and columns, adorned with capitals with serpents. Above the arch are three heraldic shields, which seen from our left represent the arms of: Velázquez, Gijón and Velasco. The first of them corresponds to the owning family, and the remaining two to marital relations of the same; The last of them belongs to María de Velasco y Guevara, niece of Pedro Fernández de Velasco, VI Constable of Castile, II Count of Haro.

The description from 1662 indicates at least five more heraldic pieces, which have not survived to the present day. Inside the palace we find two more sculpted in stone, as well as around a hundred shields that are part of the polychromes, repeating over and over again the weapons of Velázquez and Velasco. Therefore, the armorial of the palace would be the following:

• Velázquez: in silver field, thirteen beads. Gule edge with eight golden spikes.
• Velasco: 15 pieces of gold and green, without the traditional embroidery composed of Castile and Leon, crossed by a cane.
• Gijón: in azur field, five lis gold flowers placed in sotuer.
• Salinas: silver field with an oak of its color and two walking wolves, of sable, at the foot of the trunk. Gule edge with eight sable blades.

Interior

At the bottom there are two large rooms, separated from each other by a wall that preserves a well-made stone door. In front of the main door we see another façade embedded in the palace, which has another semicircular arch with archivolts and columns, and above it two small shields, similar to those of the main façade, but in this case completely pierced, without being visible. can decipher the weapons they contained, which were presumably Velázquez and Velasco. This secondary door leads to a large garden. Before exiting to the garden, on the left hand side the well that supplied water to the palace is preserved, as well as at the top, remains of the fireplace that heated the room on the coldest days of winter.

On the second floor there is a living room and the main hall, the noblest part of the palace, which also preserves remains of the fireplace, as well as stone benches next to the main windows, and a niche with geometric decoration. Next to the entrance door we find the staircase to the tower, with straight lines bordering the wall.

The top floor, illuminated by four windows, offers a 360° view of the villa, with the sea of pine forests in the background.

Polychromes

In the main room on the first floor, small polychromes are preserved in the wooden coffered ceiling, while in the main room, on the second floor, the remains of a splendid polychrome and carved coffered ceiling that was restored in 2006 are preserved. through an agreement between the Junta de Castilla y León and the Cuéllar City Council, with a budget of 81,996 euros at 50%.

The restoration has revealed remains of geometric decoration, interspersed with the shields of Velázquez and Velasco, as well as carved wooden heads finishing off the corners of the ceiling.

By the weapons of the shields that appear drawn and the style of painting, we can attribute as promoters of the decoration of the coffered ceiling to Juan Velázquez de Cuéllar, chief accountant of Castile and faithful servant of the Catholic Monarchs, and his wife. mentioned María de Velasco y Guevara. Juan Velázquez, an important figure in the reign of said monarchs, was first lord of Villavaquerín and La Sinova, commander of Membrilla in the Order of Santiago; page, continuous knight and of the Council of Isabel the Catholic, and together with his wife, the breeders of San Ignacio de Loyola in Arévalo, a town that he defended with great zeal after the death of Ferdinand the Catholic, since both that one and those of Trujillo, Olmedo and Madrigal de las Altas Torres was warden and governor. His name appears on the tomb of Prince D. Juan, since he was Velázquez of his Council, his Chief Accountant, his Master, Waiter and one of his testamentaries.

Heraldic polychromes are also located on the staircase that goes up to the tower, and details of mural frescoes in one of the rooms on the second floor, which allow us to imagine the decoration that the walls once supported.