Palencia de Bold

Palencia de Negrilla is a Spanish municipality and town in the province of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León. It is integrated within the region of La Armuña. It belongs to the judicial district of Salamanca.

Its municipal area is made up of a single population center, it occupies a total area of 16.36 km² and according to the demographic data collected in the municipal register prepared by the INE in 2017, it has a population of 155 inhabitants.

History

Founded by the kings of León in the Middle Ages, Palencia de Negrilla was framed in the quarter of Armuña of the jurisdiction of Salamanca, within the Kingdom of León, then called simply Palençia, which which denotes that its repopulation was carried out with repopulators from the Castilian city of Palencia. Thus, the "de Negrilla" for being placed next to Negrilla and being frequently classified together as "Palencia and Negrilla". Subsequently, Palencia de Negrilla was ceded to the bishopric of Salamanca, becoming a cathedral lordship dependent on the bishop of Salamanca. With the creation of the current provinces in 1833, Palencia de Negrilla was included in the province of Salamanca, within the Leonese Region.

Its name comes from the fact that it was an area with many trees of the black type, the common elm, but that in the 70s and 80s their number decreased due to a disease that hit the entire peninsula, it reached have repercussions in the national media this tree plague. Here in this town only a few dozen of these trees survived, leaving only the omnipresent holm oak on the mountain.

Demographics

Graphic of demographic evolution of Palencia de Negrilla between 1900 and 2022

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

Economy

Consistorial house.

• The main source of income is agriculture in particular the cultivation of lentil (see Legumbre) belonging to the cultivated to the name Lenteja de la Armuña.
• It has other companies of the type SMEs related to agriculture, such as mills and workshops for the repair of tractors and farms.

Tower of the parish church.

Main gate of the church.

Transportation

The SA-601 highway crosses the municipality, which allows access to the Ruta de la Plata highway that connects Gijón with Seville to the northwest, and to the N-630, a national highway of the same route, and to the southeast with the Castilla highway that allows the union between Burgos and Fuentes de Oñoro, on the border with Portugal. However, despite being less than 15km from the center of Salamanca, communications both from the municipality and from neighboring Negrilla de Palencia are quite bad, making it necessary to take a detour to access the provincial capital via the SA-605 highway. or the aforementioned Castilla highway and there is no paved road that connects these municipalities with the neighbors of Valdunciel and Calzada de Valdunciel, less than 6km away, which causes travel times to skyrocket.

Culture

• The race. On the morning of Good Friday, there is a somewhat peculiar procession, popularly called "The Race" which consisted of its origins in carrying a size of the Most Holy Christ by four people of the town at full speed to the neighboring town Negrilla de Palencia, less than a kilometre away, standing in the square of this town and returning at full speed again. The origin of this peculiar procession seems to be situated in the Middle Ages, when the Peste devastated Europe. It tells the local legend that then the healthy people were destined to live in Palencia de Negrilla, while the sick were left in quarantine to Negrilla de Palencia. The motive the race It would be that in the holidays, they carried the local figure of the church to their relatives in the other town to seek a "miraculous" healing, and for fear of becoming infected they returned quickly.
• Later this "carrier" consisted of a pious procession in which on Good Friday, the parishioners of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross visited the Monument of the Most High of the parish of San Bartolomé de Negrilla de Palencia and vice versa, crossing respectfully in the middle of the road. The men led the procession, divided into two groups in which each group chanted one verse, answering the other. They were intonating from memory verses of the Passion of Christ of Lope de Vega, learned from memory, initiating with the poem Christ is dismissed from his mother.
• In addition to this peculiar tradition, another procession is carried out in which the image of the Holy Christ of Pititude is passed through the people. The parents of young children feel them a moment in the walks when the procession passes along the way, as a way of offering to the Most Holy Christ of Pity, to protect him during his life and make him a good Christian.

Monuments and places of interest

Parish Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (BIC 1969)

The Parish Church of Palencia de Negrilla, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest on December 19, 1969, is popularly known as one of the three "cathedrals" from La Armuña, next to the churches of Villares de la Reina and Villaverde de Guareña.

Administration and politics

Municipal elections