Deportation of English Moors

If QEI didn’t like Catholics, then in harsher economic times she wasn’t too keen either on black people, many of whom also came from Spain, with, for example, Catherine of Aragon. Here‘s her deportation order. It’s not clear where they ended up. The site is interesting and includes the usual conjectures about the origins of…

Royal English College, Valladolid

Here‘s what QEI had proclaimed: The King of Spaine, for furthering of other intentions against Englande, has dealt with Cardinal Allen and Father Persons to gather together with great labour uppon his charges a multitude of dissolute youthes to begin this seminary of Valladolid and others in Spaine. The Royal Scots College in Salamanca is…

A village called Sin

Shame Guy Bellamy (A village called Sin) wrote about Compton Sinton instead of Sín, Huesca.

Clonycavan man and the miserable fate of Dublin hair stylists in general

Lisa Spangenberg posted a while back on the recently publicised find of two 2,300-year-old bog bodies at Clonycavan and Croghan near Dublin. The BBC says of Clonycavan man that he had been using a type of Iron Age hair gel; a vegetable plant oil mixed with a resin that had probably come from south-western France…

Statue

Silmarillion is not impressed by an Andalusian Quixote in Buenos Aires.

Hsieh Ch’ing kao on Spain and Portugal

From the The Hai-Lu (1783-1797), as quoted on this page on this excellent site, again via TdiT: Portugal (called Ta-hsi-yang, or Pu-luchi-shih ". . . has a climate colder than that of Fukien and Kwangtung. Her chief seaport [Lisbon] faces the south and is protected by two forts manned by 2000 soldiers and equipped with…

In praise of troglodytes

The NYT editorial Army Troglodytes in Spain is misguided and reactionary (as well as being factually inaccurate re Spain’s history and constitutional order). Troglodytes are good, forward-looking people whose choice of housing reflects a concern for energy conservation; unlike nomads, troglodytes rarely form armies and are generally nice, romantic things like shepherds, brigands and Ruby…

Reasonably priced pit

These Andalusian caves have been for sale for ages. I’d be tempted by the one that needs work, but it’s a bit far away.

Killing the pig

Jayne’s got a photo here, and here’s an old joke which is told in Spain and probably in other places too: A farmer brings home a new horse, which immediately gets sick. The farmer calls out the vet, who takes one look and says, “That horse of yours is in a bad way. Make it…