BRINGING HERITAGE CLOSER. CORELLA

24 August 2010

Milestones in the History of Corella
D. Esteban Orta Rubio. Society of programs of study Historical Society of Navarra

From the broad and evocative history of Corella, a series of historical milestones have been highlighted that could serve as a support to better understand the various contents of the summer course. The lecturer has started from a decisive date, that of 1119, in which the small village that was then Corella, after centuries of Islamic domination, passes to the Christian sphere, being attached to the kingdom of Navarre, in a border area with Castile and Aragon. This character of frontier land and bastion is demonstrated by the continuous confrontations with its neighbors, especially with the neighboring Alfaro, a town belonging to Castile, because of limits, use of pastures and, above all, for the control of water from the Alhama River.

The 15th century can be considered decisive in the history of Corella, as it was on the verge of disappearing after the fire, destruction and sacking carried out by the Castilians in 1429. However, after decades of prostration, it was reborn under royal protection. Another date core topic is the moment in which the Princess Leonor, in 1471, granted it the degree scroll of "good town" that supposed, among other privileges, to have a seat in the Courts of Navarre by the arm of the Universities.

The conquest and subsequent incorporation of Navarre to the Crown of Castile at the beginning of the 16th century is another milestone in the history of Corellana. It abandoned the role, almost always ungrateful, of defensive bastion of the kingdom to become a gateway to entrance and a point of meeting between Navarre and the powerful market Spanish that also extended to the lands of America. Here we find one of the keys to understanding the unusual increase in population and the consolidation of a mercantile bourgeoisie that would set the tone for the Baroque city.

King Philip IV, by granting it in 1630 the degree scroll of city, does nothing but show everyone the power that hid that population of southern Navarre that is on its way to becoming a rival of Tudela and whose elites boast of being very well placed in the vicinity of power. The stay of Philip V during several months in the summer of 1711, in the midst of the War of Succession, turned it into a royal court and also served to strengthen decisive alliances, both economic and marital, between the local nobility and members of the court environment.

The stay of the royal family reactivated the economic role of Corella, which established itself as an important commercial center and where the business of importing luxury products flourished, as well as the redistribution of Castilian wool. Here we find the origin of great fortunes that built the palaces that today give that stately air to the old town of Corella. The arrival of the Liberal Regime in the 19th century did not catch the city unawares as many of its sons reached high political positions, as is the case with the Alonso, Escudero or Arteta sagas. In Navarre, only Pamplona surpasses it in issue of ministers.

The lecturer did not limit himself to the list of politicians, but also drew the cultural panorama in which relevant personalities of the arts and letters appear. He even touched on that of the men of business, topic less known until now; focusing on the figure of Miguel Poyales Catalán, a multifaceted businessman who filled the central years of the 19th century coinciding with the reign of Isabel II.

The study of the population during the 19th and 20th centuries allows us to appreciate three successive stages. The first, of boom, coincides with the second half of the XIX century, propitiated by the wine business so consubstantial to Corella. The second is one of decline and begins with the first years of the 20th century after the vineyard crisis caused by phylloxera, which destroyed the vines, generated unemployment and forced many Corellans to opt for emigration. After decades of stagnation, Corella resurged in the sixties to become today a dynamic town where the splendorous past of its palaces and churches coexists with a promising future.