Tormes Beacon

Almenara de Tormes is a Spanish municipality and town in the province of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León. It is integrated within the Tierra de Ledesma region. It belongs to the judicial district of Salamanca and to the Comarca de Ledesma Commonwealth.

Its municipal area is made up of a single population center, it occupies a total area of 19.29 km² and according to the demographic data collected in the municipal register prepared by the INE in 2017, it has a population of 254 inhabitants.

Its church, from the XII century, is Romanesque in style, with a beautiful portico, and is listed as an Asset of Interest Cultural.

Etymology

The term Almenara comes from the Arabic المنارة (al-manāra), "the lighthouse" or "the watchtower".

History

The origins of Almenara de Tormes date back to about 300,000 years ago, when a series of carved stones found in the cave called "La mora" are dated. Likewise, there is historical and documentary evidence that speaks of the existence of a pre-Roman castro and a dolmen on top of the hill that dominates the town. Dating back to Roman times, several sarcophagi currently destroyed were found in a local corral.

Already in the Middle Ages, the repopulation of Almenara de Tormes was carried out by the kings of León, once Ledesma, Juzbado, Guadramiro and Salamanca were reconquered by Ramiro II of León in the X. These monarchs erected a fortress in the town, and the town was donated in 1167 by King Ferdinand II of León to the Bishop of Salamanca as a private lordship. In these first years of reconquest, the church of San Salvador was built, of which no no remains are preserved, although part of its stones were used for the construction of the church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción.

Already in the Late Middle Ages, according to Manuel Gómez-Moreno, at the end of the XIII century or beginning of the XIV, Sancho el de la Paz (who was the son of the infant Don Pedro and grandson of Alfonso X the Wise), ordered the building of a castle in Almenara, which partly coincides with what has been stated by other authors, who point out that it dates from the primitive castle of the XII century There must have been few remains in the time of Sancho el de la Paz, since he is mentioned in a document from 1315 as the builder of the fortress, although others claim that it was built by the infant Don Pedro. In any case, it is confirmed that at the beginning of the XIV century Almenara belonged to the Crown, since King Ferdinand IV confirmed on June 17 or from 1312 to the town of Ledesma all the privileges, grants and franchises that it already enjoyed when the infante Don Pedro, who died in 1283, was lord of the town, and also confirmed the jurisdiction of Ledesma over all the villages of its term with the exception of that of Almenara de Tormes, which was separated from that and elevated to the category of town by Fernando IV.

Likewise, the historian César González Mínguez highlighted that after the Cortes de Valladolid in 1312, the authority of Fernando IV, who died in September of that same year, was strengthening after several years of instability, and numerous territories, such as that of Ledesma, which until then had belonged to Sancho el de la Paz, was once again belonging to the royal order., the tutors of King Alfonso XI returned the village of Almenara de Tormes to the council of Ledesma. And on August 26 of that same year Alfonso XI also ordered, at the request of the councils of Salamanca, Zamora and Ledesma, that the castle of Almenara de Tormes was demolished because of the evils it caused to the inhabitants of the region. Later, in the 15th century, Almenara de Tormes became the head of one of the rodas in which and the district of Ledesma was divided.

Already in the Contemporary Age, at the beginning of the XIX century, the outbreak of the War of Independence took place, of which Almenara de Tormes was not left out, since its parish church was looted by Napoleonic troops during the conflict. Likewise, on the exterior wall of one of the chapels of the temple, several bullet holes can be seen, which seem to date from this war. Finally, with the creation of the current provinces in 1833, Almenara de Tormes was included in the province of Salamanca and within the Leonese Region.

Geography

The town is located at an elevation of 782 m s. no. m.. It belongs to the Tierra de Ledesma region. Its landscape is bathed by the Tormes river. In the northern part of the municipal area, the predominant landscape is the cereal plain, typical of the region of La Armuña.

Heritage

• Church of Na Sa of the Assumption of the CenturyXII, was declared a Cultural Interest Good in 1993. It is one of the best samples of the Romanesque province.
• Chapel of the Holy Christ of the Battles also in the urban center, preserves a polychrome wood size of the centuryXIII or XIV.

Demographics

Graphic of demographic evolution of Almenara de Tormes between 1900 and 2021

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

Administration and politics

Municipal elections