Perennial Pyrenees

Archaeology & Traditions from the Pyrenean Peaks

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Extract from Chapter One of ‘Highly Holy’.

January 16, 2026

‘Highly Holy’ is currently undergoing the proofreading process, which is slow but steady – with such an enormous topic it pays to be diligent! All things going well it should be published during the Summer/Autumn, and from now until then I will publish monthly excerpts from each of its seven chapters. We begin with Chapter One ‘From the Romans to the Romanesque’, which along with Chapter Two provides a broad historical overview of Christianity’s major territorial, theological and architectural trends from the Roman period to the twentieth century in the Pyrenees. Presented below is an excerpt which describes the role and importance of the Visigoths within Christianity’s Pyrenean story, tracing their movements, the role (and discarding) of Arianism in Visigothic beliefs, and their decline in the face of Frankish advances.

Extract from Chapter One ‘From the Romans to the Romanesque’.

The Rise and Fall of the Visigoths

At the beginning of the fifth century the Roman Empire’s control of its territories was in the process of fracturing, a process which one Germanic group in particular took full advantage of. This group was the Goths, first referred to as ‘Visigoths’ by Roman statesman Cassiodorus after their loss against Clovis I in 507. Whilst the emphasis of this section will be on their ecclesiastical influence on the Pyrenees, a brief contextualisation of their rise to power, conquest of Roman provinces such as Novempopulania, Narbonensis I and Hispania Citerior Tarraconensis and the creation of their empire will be of use.

The Goths were a people whose origins lay in Scandinavia but through a combination of overpopulation and conflicts with neighbours become a relatively settled and successful military power around the Black Sea. Inevitably, their success began to impinge on the presence of Roman territories in the area, with the Goths crossing the Danube in 238 to raid the province of Moesia,[1] taking several hostages and pillaging towns. Conversely, they acted as swords-for-hire in the Roman army, appearing in the legions assembled by Gordinian III during the war with the Persians in that same year, however when their subsidies were halted the Goths lost no time in turning against their employers and in 250 they joined the large-scale invasion of Roman territories, led by their king Cniva.[2] [3] Throughout much of the third century and well into the fourth century the Goths continued their policy of raiding Roman provinces throughout the Balkans, Greece and Anatolia with varying success until a peace treaty was signed in 332. This peace would last for less than fifty years as, after resettling on the banks of the Danube with the permission of Emperor Valens in an effort to escape pressures exerted by the Huns, the Goths were not provided with the lands promised nor were they helped by the Romans when they endured starvation, who encouraged them to trade their children in exchange for food. The Goths rebelled again against the Romans and started a six-year period of revolt and plundering throughout the Balkans which, whilst providing many victories for the Goths such as the Battle Adrianople in 378 (when Emperor Valens was killed), ultimately ended in their defeat and the necessity of another treaty in 382. In this treaty they became semi-autonomous, free from Roman legal structures and the owners of vast tracts of arable land in exchange for vows of loyalty to the Romans and, more concretely, the provision of troops for the Roman army from their ranks.[4]

Emperor Theodosius I presided over a decade of peace with the Goths,[5] however upon his death in 395 Alaric I made a successful bid for the Gothic throne and for the next fifteen years indulged in sporadic conflicts with the Romans, which came to a head in 408.[6] Following several struggles between Roman generals who wished to hold power in the newly divided Eastern and Western Roman Empires, the families of several thousand Germanic soldiers in the Roman army were slaughtered and Alaric I declared his intention to march on Rome. After a two-year campaign, Alaric’s forces entered Rome via the Salarian Gate on the 24th August, 410, sacking the city and beginning what is classically regarded as the ‘beginning of the end’ for the rule of the Romans across Europe.

In 418 the Visigoths[7] were given land in Aquitania by the Western Emperor Honorius in reward for their help in repelling the invasion of Roman Hispania in 409 by their fellow Germanic tribes the Vandals, Alans and the Suebi.[8] This would form the nucleus of their later kingdom, with the primary capital being established in Toulouse. After a series of battles fought in support of the Romans against their Germanic rivals such as the Vandals and the Suebi, as well as expansion into Hispania and Gaul in defiance of the Romans, in 475 King Euric unified the various Visigothic factions and signed a peace treaty with Emperor Julius Nepos which effectively gave the Visigothic territory the powers of an independent kingdom in all but name.[9] By this point the Visigoths had captured vast swathes of southern Gaul and were swiftly becoming the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula, forcing the Vandals into northern Africa and crushing the Alans. King Euric was also responsible for adopting many elements of Roman bureaucracy and taxation; under his reign the Visigoths emerged as independent from their nominal Roman masters and usurped Roman control of much of Gaul and Iberia. The first incarnation of the Visigothic kingdom was now fully established and in a prime position to expand its influence on both sides of the Pyrenees.[10]

The Visigoths were converted to Christianity around the period of 376 to 390, coinciding with events which preceded the beginning of the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Two factors which had been suggested for this swift transition are the assimilation of Christian captives into Gothic society and the equation of Christianity with participation in Romanised society, a process which the Visigoths were keen to engage with at this time.[11] However, rather than the Trinitarianism practised by most Romans, the Visigoths adhered to Arianism, which would lead to great religio-political conflicts with the Church once the Visigothic Kingdom was established. These conflicts would last until King Reccared I renounced the doctrine in favour of the Nicene Creed in 589 at the Council of Toledo, largely in an effort to pacify the situation and unify his kingdom under one single faith. With Arianism being a hallmark of what is referred to as ‘Gothic Christianity’ in the fifth and sixth centuries it is worth brief explorations as an interesting theological diversion which enjoyed two centuries of prevalence among the Visigoths throughout areas of the Pyrenees.

The original doctrine of Arianism was conceived by Arius, a presbyter from modern-day Libya who preached and studied in Alexandria during the third and fourth centuries. He held that Christ was begotten by the Father before the beginning of time and thus was not co-eternal with the Father yet did exist with him ‘outside of time’, as time applies only to the creations of God. This distinction was amplified and expanded by his disciple Eunomius during the fourth century, who founded the Anomoean school of Arian thought which taught that God the Father was ‘unbegotten’ and God the Son was the ‘only-begotten’. This heresy was condemned during the Council of Constantinople in 381 and whilst the term ‘Arianism’ became synonymous with a variety of nontrinitarian doctrines at this time, it was the Anomoean interpretation which gained most traction and stood in stark contrast to the orthodox Trinitarian view, which placed the Father and the Son as being one and the same in essence and was supported by the First Council of Nicaea in 325.[12] The key issue for theologians was one of salvation. If Christ was subordinate to the Father, essentially ‘less than God’, how then could the Son guarantee Mankind’s redemption through his death? Arianism gained traction in Constantinople, with several bishops adopting its perspective including the Gothic convert Ulfilas, who belonged to the ‘Homoian’ strand of Arianism, one which was less extreme than the Anomoean school but nevertheless claimed that the Father and Son were ‘similar but not identical in terms of substance.[13] Ulfilas was sent as a missionary to the Gothic tribes around the Danube and was extremely successful in converting them to Arian Christianity; thus when the Goths began settling in the provinces of the Western Roman Empire and eventually establishing a kingdom there, most of them belonged to this ‘heretical’ branch of Christianity.[14] The renunciation of Arianism among the Germanic tribes began in 496 with the Franks’ King Clovis I, then in 587 with the Visigothic King Reccared I and the Lombards’ King Aripert I in 653, after which the orthodox view of the Father and Son being ‘unbegotten’ and one held sway among the overwhelming majority of Christendom, with any divergent views being cast as heretical and subject to punishment.[15] However the ecclesiology of the Kingdom of the Visigoths began within this Arian doctrinal framework and was at odds with the orthodox creed held by many Christians within these territories, whose families had been converted prior to their arrival and formed part of the pre-existing Christian communities.[16]

To return to more earthly matters, by the beginning of the sixth century the Visigothic Kingdom encompassed the formerly Roman diocese of Septem Provinciarum and the majority of Hispania, excepting the regions now known as Galicia, Cantabria and the Basque Country. Since 420 Toulouse had acted the primary Visigothic stronghold in Aquitania and then the capital of their kingdom, although thanks to the efforts of the Franks in northern Gaul this would only be the case for another seven short years. The Frankish king Clovis I instigated a brief war with the Visigoths out of which the latter only just emerged victorious, however in 507 the Franks united with the Burgundians to attack the Visigoths again and this time the Visigoths were overwhelmed at the Battle of Vouillé near Poitiers. Toulouse was sacked and the Visigothic presence in Gaul was decimated, their only territorial holding being part of the original Roman province of Narbonensis I which had been ceded to them by in 462 under King Theodoric II. With their king Alaric II killed in the battle of Poitiers and their capital sacked, the Visigoths retreated over the Pyrenees into Iberia to consolidate their powerbase at Toledo, however this kingdom would be marred by a seemingly endless series of civil conflicts and vies for power by competing aristocratic factions, which may explain King Reccared I’s adoption of Nicene Christianity in the latter part of the sixth century in the vain hope that a unification of faith might soothe these eternally troubled waters.

Before addressing the second phase of the Visigothic Kingdom up to the invasion of the Iberian Peninsula by Islamic forces in the eighth century, it is time to address its built and ecclesiastical legacy in the ‘Kingdom of Toulouse’. Toulouse was a vital site for the Visigoths, so much so that it quickly became their capital before being sacked and thus it is logical to assume that this city and others like it across southern France would bear distinctive traces of a near-century of Visigothic occupation. However, the reality is quite the opposite, as summed up by Herwig Wolfram:

The Gothic ‘guests’ left barely any traces in the language and place-names and virtually none in the archaeological finds of Aquitaine. But modern scholars even quarrel over the meagre remains. The modern significance of the problem is slight. There never was in France a large-scale settlement of Goths comparable to that of the Franks.[17]

In fact, the Visigothic legacy in France seems to consist less of bricks, mortar and faith but rather in given names, some place-names which emerge after the Frankish conquest (referring to former inhabitants) and legal structures.[18] Across the former Kingdom of Toulouse, one could still ‘profess the Gothic law’ until the twelfth-century and in 964 there is a record of a mother in ‘the Gothic South’ naming all eight of her children in the Visigothic fashion. Several villages and landmarks adopted names following the collapse of the Kingdom of Toulouse which have been translated as ‘the village of the Goths’ or ‘the mountain of the Goths’, which may possibly relate to the positive relationship enjoyed between the Visigoths and their Gallo-Roman subjects.[19] Toulouse enjoyed continued prosperity during this period, unlike many other cities in Western Europe given the political instability of Rome’s fracturing and collapse, and the local population found great security in the protection offered by the Visigoths, who preserved Roman law and created ‘The Breviary of Alaric’ in 506. This was a codified collection of Roman legal frameworks issued by Roman jurists which applied both to the Visigoths and their Gallo-Roman subjects, which enhanced the feeling of stability and continuity. In the North, the Franks had broken this tradition and instigated their own laws which existed outside of the Roman system.

It is worth noting that during this time there existed a ‘parallel universe of Arian and Catholic churchmen’ and whilst great friction existed between them no attempt was made by the Visigoths to suppress the pre-existing Church organisation. There was also the latter’s continuing campaign of suppressing paganism and the reorganisation of the archdiocese of Narbonne (in which the bishoprics of Nîmes, Uzès, Lodève and Béziers were revived, and those of Elne and Carcassonne created) has been cited as illustrative of their success in this area within the Pyrenees.[20]

Another ephemeral legacy of the Visigoths in the French Pyrenees is possibly that of the Cagots, although the etymology of the term is vigorously debated. The Cagotsare a mysterious yet socially distinct group which are traditionally found in the Pyrenees from Gascony to the Basque Country, as well as in Aragon, the northern Navarre and Asturias. As far back as the fifteenth century laws were in effect which relegated to them to live outside of town or city walls, restricted the professions they could practise and were excluded from social and political rights, including the right to marry non-Cagots.[21] [22] Among the many interpretations of this historically persecuted minority’s etymological origins are a controversial suggestion that it arises from a blend of canis (dog) and the Old Occitan term for Goth, Gòt, in reference to their being the descendants of those Visigoths defeated by the Frankish king Clovis I.[23] The nineteenth-century French historian and pastor Antoine Court de Gébelin presented a similar interpretation, asserting that Cagotderived from the Latin caco-deus, loosely translating to ‘false god’ and linking this to the possibility that the Cagotsdescended from practitioners of the Arian heresy beyond the Visigothic renunciation. Thus de Gébelin posited that the shunning of the Cagotsderived ancestrally from a continuing belief in the nontrinitarian doctrine under the Franks, who were Catholic in their creed since the days of Clovis I.[24] These interpretations and many others have been the subject of small but fierce debates in the past two centuries, often amid the continuing persecution of the Cagots and with no common accord being reached. [25] However, it is an intriguing thought that the most enduring legacy of the Visigoths and their period of Arianism in the Kingdom of Toulouse may be that of the Cagots who, like their potential Gothic ancestors, traditionally lived apart from the local population, albeit with a much diminished reputation for protection and stability.

The eighty years in Iberia preceding King Reccared I’s official rejection of Arianism could be loosely be termed the ‘Arian Kingdom of Hispania’ for the Visigoths and was a tangled web of regicide, competing Visigothic and Ostrogothic factions and tensions between the Arian Visigoths and the Hispano-Roman population.[26] Further complications were added by the fact that the Visigoths did not control the entirety of the Iberian Peninsula, with the Suebi Kingdom existing in Galicia, the Basques and Cantabrians holding independent territories in the North and the Byzantine Empire[27] taking advantage of Visigothic civil wars to carve out a territory in the South. It was only around the seventh century when the Peninsula would be fully in control of the Visigothic dynasty, with Toledo acting as the capital and the host of the infamous ‘Councils of Toledo’ between the fifth and seventh centuries.[28] These eighteen synods would decide various doctrinal issues with regard to the application of orthodox Christianity (an evolving concept) across the Iberian Peninsula and further afield. With regard to the Pyrenees, the territory of Tarraconensis was carried over from the Roman era as a defined province, and in terms of closer examination it is this region which concerns us in terms of ecclesiastical culture and diocese organisation under the Visigoths during the sixth and seventh centuries; the ‘pre-’ and ‘post-Arianism’ timeframe prior to the Umayyad conquest.

 Much like their ecclesiastical legacy in southern France, the survival of Visigothic churches in Spain is meagre, with a handful of examples present largely across the North and West of the Peninsula. This is largely due to their destruction during the Umayyad conquest and, in those which escaped, extensive renovations in the following centuries which largely obliterated the original Visigothic architecture. However, some churches from these two centuries survive and reveal a very defined style.

[Visigothic architecture is characterised by] the horseshoe arch and the employment of large blocks of superbly crafted ashlar, fitted together without the use of mortar… While familiar with the basilican models, the Visigoths tended to prefer the Greek-cross plan, with the side compartments taking on the appearance of mini-transepts… Historians have for long been intrigued by the way in which Visigothic buildings foreshadow the emergence of Romanesque architecture four centuries later, for the decorative carving, the use of barrel vaults, and the presence of the ‘regular crossing’ all seem to point toward the future. How Visigothic architecture might have developed we shall never know, for in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was overrun by Moslems [sic] from North Africa. Christian building came to an abrupt halt.[29]

Of the few Visigothic churches in Spain which still survive, either in full or in part, examples include the church of San Juan Bautista (Palencia, Castile and Léon), the church of Santa Comba (Ourense, Galicia), the church of Santa María de Melque (Toledo, Castile-La Mancha), Suso Monastary (San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja), the Hermitage of Santa María (Burgos, Castile and Léon) and the crypt of the Monastery of San Salvador de Leyre (northern Navarre). The latter is the only example which falls within the broad area of the Pyrenees however its classification as a ‘Visigothic monument’ is unclear, for while traces of a pre-Romanesque (likely Carolingian) church was discovered beneath its nave, Saint Eulogius of Cordoba was recorded as visiting the monastery in 848 and a flourishing monastic community is attested to have existed here prior to the founding of the complex, it would appear that the Visigothic elements within the crypt may be a matter of style rather than chronology with there being no documented evidence of the structure having been built prior to the eighth or ninth centuries. It is also worth noting that many of the examples given above are present along the route of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, a pilgrimage route which would begin to be promoted in the tenth century but find its full expression as a pilgrim destination in the later Middle Ages as a rival to Jerusalem and Canterbury.

The paucity of surviving Visigothic churches and cathedrals does not necessarily indicate that few were built between the sixth and eighth centuries; the creation of new dioceses and the expansion of existing ones, combined with the appointment of new bishops, would often be accompanied by renovation or new constructions. One such example can be found with the documented existence of the Bishop of Urgell in 527, when a ‘Bishop Just’ is recorded as attending the second Council of Toledo, and it seems that his successors also took part in later synods. [30] According to Isidore of Seville, Justus had three brothers: Nebreidius of Egara, Elpidius of Huesca and Justinian of Valencia, all of whom were also bishops and from an aristocratic family based in Tarraconensis. Since the Late Antique period, La Seu d’Urgell had played a notable role as a crossroads on the roads from the plains of Lleida to Cerdanya and Roussillon, as well as through the valleys of what would later be known as Andorra into Gaul, thus it had already enjoyed a degree of small but dense occupation by the formation of the Diocese of Urgell in the sixth century. This was a time when the Visigoths were involved in the reorganisation of ancient Roman territorial divisions in the Pyrenees, albeit without abandoning them, in an effort to strengthen their defences against their new neighbours across the mountains, the Franks. The appropriation of pre-existing fortifications and construction of new sites for this purpose also took place, as exemplified in the parochial Andorra context of Sant Vincenç d’Enclar. This was originally a hilltop fortification on El Roc d’Enclar which controlled an important pass from North to South. Whilst the church’s origins are dated to the end of the eighth century, the founding of the fortification has been dated to the second half of the fourth century and early fifth century and it remained within use during the Visigothic era ‘as proven by the discovery of metal items, primarily bronze, used for personal ornamentation as part of the military uniforms […] The importance of the pass through the valleys of Andorra most likely determined its control from the city of Urgell, from which the military offensive against the Franks could be coordinated.’[31]

With the sixth-century formation of both the diocese and the bishopric of Urgell, it has been suggested through the use of comparative examples from elsewhere both in the Iberian Peninsula and in France, that the construction of a cathedral at this time was very likely. Construction of the present cathedral of La Seu d’Urgell was begun in 1116, making it very firmly Romanesque, however the scholarly consensus is that an earlier cathedral would have existed in a central location within the settlement, possibly near the location of the later cathedral. No archaeological evidence has surfaced regarding this potential building, however it has been suggested that it was destroyed in 793, along with the old town of La Seu, by the troops of Abd al-Malik during their return from raiding Narbonne. In the first half of the ninth century the town was re-sited to its present, lower location adjacent to the river, with the remains of the old fortified town became the headquarters of local counts; today this area is known as ‘Castellciutat’, the ‘castle town’. This may explain the need for the construction of a new cathedral in the twelfth century and the lack of material evidence for an earlier cathedral, a building which would logically be required in the town since it became the centre of the diocese. The importance of La Seu during the Visigothic period, at this point, is attributable to the Pyrenees being home to a significant population thanks to shifting centres of centralised power, the legacy of long-range trade which crossed the valleys and mountains and the agro-pastoral potential offered by the lower and upper pastures. With the replacement of the Romans it fell to the Visigoths to organise, structure and maintain the political and religious hierarchies which ensured the security and profitability of these mountains. A key aspect of this was in the continuity of old dioceses and the founding of new ones such as with Urgell and La Seu d’Urgell became the centre of a large Pyrenean bishopric, playing a major role in the process of maintaining both doctrinal and political order in the Visigothic borderlands, as illustrated by the control and use of Roc d’Enclar.[32]

[1] Moesia Superior and Moesia Inferior roughly equate to the eastern regions of modern-day Serbia and Albania, as well as northern Bulgaria and small parts of southern Ukraine.

[2] Marcus Antonius Gordianus (born 224, died 244) was the second youngest sole emperor of the Roman Empire. He was killed at twenty years old during the Battle of Misiche near Fallujah, Iraq.

[3] Cniva (birth date unknown, death date likely that of one ‘King Cannabaudes’, defeated in battle by Emperor Aurelian in 271) was a Gothic king who ran various invasions of the Roman Empire, successfully capturing Philippopolis in 250 (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) and killing both Emperor Decius and his son in 251 at the Battle of Arbitus.

[4] Todd, Malcom, The Early Germans (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000), pp. 149 – 155.

[5] Theodosius the Great (born 347, died 395) ruled the Roman Empire from 379 to 395 and was the last Emperor to preside over the entire empire before its split into East and West. He was also responsible for establishing the Nicene Creed as the official orthodox doctrine for Christianity.

[6] Alaric I (born c. 370, died 411) was a Gothic king who helped Emperor Theodosius defeat the Franks during his time in the Roman army prior to gaining the throne. After his de facto assumption of leadership for the Goths he led several operations against the Western Roman Empire, culminating in the sacking of Rome 410. When he died from fever in Italy, he was buried under a streambed (the stream having been temporarily diverted for the purpose) and those who interred him were killed so that his grave would remain a secret.

[7] From this point on we shall refer to them under this moniker.

[8] This is a vast simplification but for the purposes of this book it will suffice. For a more in-depth discussion of these events, see: Heather, Peter, The Restoration of Rome: Barbarian Popes and Imperial Pretenders (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).

[9] King Euric (born c. 420, died 484) was the son of Theodoric I and was the first Visigothic king to declare complete independence from Roman emperors, his predecessors being content to be legates and puppets for the dwindling Western Roman Empire.

[10] Katz, Soloman, The Decline of Rome and the Rise of Medieval Europe (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1955).

[11] Heather, Peter & Matthews, John, The Goths in the Fourth Century (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1991).

[12] This was later applied to the concept of the Holy Spirit, forming the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit which was viewed in the Nicene Creed as being of the same essence.

[13] Ulfilias (born c. 311, died 383) was a Goth of Greek descent, his parents having being captured by the Goths. He was raised as a Goth in Transdanubia (now part of Wallachia in Romania) and became proficient in both Greek and Latin. He is credited with developing the Gothic alphabet and translating the bible into the Gothic language.

[14] However, it has been suggested that they were tolerant of believers in the orthodox Nicene creed and also Jews within their kingdom, see: Singer, Isidore & Adler, Cyrus (Eds.), ‘Arianism’ in The Jewish Encyclopaedia, Vol. I (New York, NY: Funk & Wagnalls, 1912).

[15] It is an interesting side note that these anti-trinitarian views resurfaced during the Protestant Reformation, leading to several persecutions by the Church and the recanting of these positions by several Protestant leaders such as John Assheton and Michael Sevetus, the latter being burned alive under the orders of John Calvin in 1553. See: Bainton, Roland, Hunter Heretic: The Life and Death of Michael Servetus, 1511 – 1553 (Boston, MA: The Beacon Press, 1953).

[16] For an authoritative history and explanation of Arianism, see: Wiles, Maurice, Archetypal Heresy: Arianism Throughout the Centuries (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).

[17] Wolfram, Herwig, History of the Goths (Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 1988), p. 226.

[18] This is not to suggest that there is no archaeological legacy at all relating to the Visigoths in the territories comprising the Kingdom of Toulouse, merely that these remains are not substantial enough in relating to the theme of this chapter, i.e., a summary of the development and spread of Christianity in the Pyrenees.

[19] Ibid, p. 230.

[20] Rush, Simon, The First Romanesque Architecture of Conflent, Pyrénées-Orientales, France (66). Tradition, System and Style. PhD Thesis. Birkbeck College, University of London, 2022. Unpublished, p. 58. Available here: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/49950/

It would also appear that paganism was endemic in the Iberian Visigothic kingdom well into the seventh century, see: McKenna, Stephen, Paganism and Pagan Survivals in Spain up to the Fall of the Visigothic Kingdom. A Doctoral Dissertation (Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America, 1938). Available here: https://libro.uca.edu/mckenna/paganism.htm

[21] Jolly, Geneviève, ‘Les Cagots des Pyrérnées: Une Ségrégation Attestée, une Mobilité Mal Connue’, Le Mond Alpin et Rhodanien. Revue Régionale d’Ethnologie, Nos. 1 – 3, 2000, pp. 197 – 222. Available here: https://www.persee.fr/doc/mar_0758-4431_2000_num_28_1_1716

[22] For a brief synopsis of the Cagots’presence in carpentry, see: Locker, Martin, Bountiful Borderlands (Andorra: Mons Culturae Press, 2021), pp. 137 – 138

[23] Delacampagne, Christian, L’Invention du Racisme: Antiquité et Moyen-Âge (Paris: Fayard, 1983), pp. 125 – 127.

[24] de Gébelin, Antoine Court, Dictionnaire Étymologique, Historique et Anecdotique des Proverbes et des Locutions Proverbiales de la Langue Française (Paris: P. Bertrand, 1842), pp. 1182 – 1183.

[25] For an antiquated but interesting exploration of the Cagots’ origins, see: Tuke, D., ‘The Cagots’, The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 9, 1880, pp. 376 – 385. Available here: https://zenodo.org/records/2119746

[26] The Ostrogoths were a branch of the Goths who held sway in Italy. For a comprehensive history, see: Burns, Thomas, A History of the Ostrogoths (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1984).

[27] This was otherwise known as the Eastern Roman Empire.

[28] Collins, Roger, Visigothic Spain: 409 – 711 (London: Blackwell Publishing, 2004).

[29] Stalley, Roger, Early Medieval Architecture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 32 – 34.

[30] Justus of Urgell, or ‘Sant Just’ in Catalan (birth date unknown, died c. 527) was the first recorded Bishop of Urgell and is recorded in the Roman martyrology as having his feast day on the 28th May. The details surrounding his life are largely unknown, however the archbishop of Seville and Hispano-Roman scholar Isidore of Seville (born c. 560, died 4th April 636) described Justus as one of the ‘illustrious men’ of whose lives he wrote about. See: Torres i Amat, Fèlix, Memorias para Ayudar a Formar un Diccionario Crítico de los Escritores Catalanes y dar Alguna Idea de la Antigua y Moderna Literatura de Cataluña (Barcelona: Imprenta de J. Verdaguer, 1836), pp. 340 – 342.

[31] Godoy Fernández, Cristina, ‘Archaeology in the Eastern Part of the Tarraconensis Province in the Times of the Visigothic Kings’, Catalan Historical Review, Vol. 13, Nos. 9 – 25, 2020, p. 18.  Available here: https://www.raco.cat/index.php/CatalanHistoricalReview/article/download/376409/469674

[32] Smith, Damian, ‘The Resignations of the Bishop Bernat de Castelló (1195 – 8) and the Problems of La Seu d’Urgell’ in Pope, Church and City: Essays in Honour of Brenda M. Bolton, Brenda Bolton (Ed.) (London: Brill, 2004),pp. 115 – 128.

Christmas update and Extract (from ‘Highly Holy’)

December 20, 2025

With Christmas fast approaching it is time to offer another update and another extract from ‘Highly Holy’, which is very nearly complete; just the conclusion and index remain, then proofing etc. I have brought together a large number of images to illustrate various themes and sites discussed in the text and, hopefully, the whole thing should be ready to purchase by Summer. The novel ‘The Heights of Perfection’ is now in layout and cover design phase, and should be ready to buy in the Spring. And then of course the layout needs to begin on ‘Last Feet in the Lane’! I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and a relaxing break over this Midwinter, and see you all in the new year.

Extract from Chapter Six – The Festive Cycle

Christmas Eve holds a variety of customs throughout the Pyrenees,[1] all of which lead up to the liturgical event commonly held by all parishes in every valley, that of Midnight Mass, known in French as ‘La Messe de Minuit’, in Spanish as ‘La Misa de Gallo’ and Catalan as ‘Missa del Gall’, the latter two meaning ‘Mass of the Rooster’ due to its lateness.[2] Up to the early twentieth century, three Masses were celebrated in Catalonia on Christmas Eve. The first was known as the ‘Missa del Gall’ (also known as the ‘Missa de l’Aurora’ or ‘Missa del Sol’), the second was called the ‘Missa dels Pastors’ and the third the ‘Missa de la Gent’. They were given these names due to the sequence of the ‘Adoration of Jesus’; the first being the that of the birds, the second of the shepherds and the third of the people of Bethlehem.[3] In many places it is traditional to drink thick, hot chocolate before leaving for the Midnight Mass, followed by a few sips of wine or spirits. Prior to Midnight Mass, a number of regional events take place across the Pyrenees. In Catalonia and, thanks to the predominant Catalan influence, the Pyrénées-Orientales, the presence of Pastorets and Pessebres are extremely common. Pastorets are theatrical productions which follow the story of the Nativity, often mixing humour and musical performances into the narrative.[4] The comedic tone of these performances is often in contrast with the religious celebration and are now performed in theatres, however previously it was common for them to take place in episodes throughout the service itself. These Pastorets have evolved from simple retellings of the birth of Jesus into lavish farces, frequently concentrating more on the antics of the shepherds (the protagonists of the story) and with a variable core of parallel stories such as the sale of a soul to the Devil, impossible love between a shepherd and shepherdess etc. The sources for many of these tales are found in the Golden Legend, apocryphal Gospels and also the Medieval mystery plays of the Christmas cycle (Officium Pastorum, Ordo Prophetarum, Ordo Stellae and Ordo Raphaelis). Many of these representations were enriched and embroidered over time, having maintained a fairly traditional structure up to the sixteenth century but becoming more elaborate between that point and the present day. The current Pastorets have all but relegated the mystery of Jesus’ birth to the background in favour of the antics and adventures of the two protagonist shepherds, each representing the universal duality of intelligence and reason on the one hand, and simplicity and narrow-mindedness on the other. Some of the grotesque and comical elements which accompany the shepherds as they make their way to the stable to venerate Jesus have disappeared over time, subject to various bans by the Church, such as the ‘doubting of Saint Joseph’, yet other aspects such as the ridicule of the Devil and some very tame blasphemies have survived.[5]

A Pessebre is a nativity scene made from small clay figures set against landscapes made from cork, moss, bark and other natural materials, similar to other nativity scenes created across the Christian world since the third century. The Catalan word ‘pessebre’ originally refers to the stable manger and there are records of nativity scenes in Catalonia from the thirteenth century. These were first present in convents and parish churches, however they gradually made their way into first aristocratic homes and then the homes of the middle and working classes. It is a testament to the popularity of these scenes in a domestic setting that, by the eighteenth century, the Fira de Santa Llúcia (Market of Saint Lucia) was founded in Barcelona, where one could purchase all the necessary figurines and backdrops needed to create a Pessebre in one’s home. A key feature of the Catalan nativity scene is the ‘caganer’, a character who is depicted defecating in the open air while wearing typical Catalan peasant costume with a white shirt, dark trousers, a red sash, a hat and smoking a pipe. He is crouched down, his buttocks exposed and often hidden under a bridge, behind a haystack or a rock, sometimes accompanied by a piglet which sniffs him out of curiosity, but always out of sight of the nativity stable itself and those figurines who have come to venerate the infant Jesus. It is customary to ask children to locate the caganer, giving a small reward to the one who finds him in the scene. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the caganer was not restricted to nativity scenes but also popular as a motif on tiles made by guilds, as well as in nineteenth-century romances. It has been suggested that his introduction into nativity scenes took place in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as part of the Baroque period’s focus on realism in art, particularly relating to village life, when working conditions, domestic and outdoor scenes were used as artistic themes. Catalan folklorist Joan Amades has suggested that his meaning lies in fertilising the earth and ensuring the nativity scene for the following year, as a symbol of luck and joy. Others have proposed other interpretations, such as a relation to the excesses of old pre-Christian feasts, an organic representation of the awe experienced by the shepherds when confronted by the angel, the cosmic indifference that contrasts with the spiritual motivation awakened by the greatest mystery of humanity, the birth of the Redeemer, the link between transcendence and contingency and, perhaps most reductively, the ‘other’ in an idyllic landscape, the Catalan character, since, despite the momentous events that occur at that moment, the character does not waste time and must save on fertilizer.[6]

The tradition of bringing in Christmas logs on Christmas Eve is an ancient one which like bears some crossover from pre-Christian festivities during this period. In the Basque Country both Christmas Eve and the log which burns in the hearth over this period is called ‘Olentzero’, which is also the name of a traditional Basque Christmas figure, said to descend from a race of giants[7] In some Basque villages, several logs are put on the fire on Christmas eve; one for God, one for the Virgin, one for All Saint’s Day, another for the owner of the house and one for each member of the family. All are lit at supper time and burnt until consumed, except for the one dedicated to God. This is removed before it is reduced to ashes and then kept until New Year’s Day, when it will be placed in the street, front of the main door, and then all who live in the house (including animals) will walk over it saying ‘Sarna fuera!’ (‘Mange out!’). This ritual is also practised in some of the more rural mountain villages of Navarre but on Christmas Eve itself, calling the log ‘Gabonzuzi’. It is also customary for the father of the house to bless the bread eaten on Christmas eve. In Burguete (Navarre) the two largest logs from the firewood store (often held in the courtyard of the house) are thrown on the fire. In Espinal (Navarre) they light four or five logs at dusk on Christmas Eve, calling them ‘Baztarrekos’, whereas in Isaba (Navarre) a log which was cut at the start of the year it burnt. In Ansó (Huesca) a log is loaded on to the hearth and kept burning all through the night, so as to keep the infant Jesus warm, and in Baraguás (Huesca) the largest log in the store is used, little by little, throwing ashes on top to make it last, to light each new hearth from Christmas Eve until Candlemas. When lighting this long-suffering log, the owner of the house would make the sign of the cross over it and then pour a stream of wine over it in the form of the cross with a ladle. In Gistaín (Huesca), the Christmas log was so enormous that two pairs of oxen would be employed to drag it from the forest, due to it having to last an entire year until the following Christmas Day. Before lighting this log (presumably the first section or chunk, as no hearth could accommodate an entire trunk), the owner of the house would have to say a short sermon, ending with the formula ‘Tizón de Navidad, tú eres el tronco de la casa!’ (‘Christmas log, you are the log of the house!’).[8] In El Pimendón (Huesca) there was a solemn ritual associated with lighting the log or ‘cabirón’; the head of the family would first bless the log and sprinkle it with turrón (almond) leaves which would produce a flash as soon as they caught fire, accompanied by the words ‘cabirón, cabirón, caga turrón!’. These customs are not dissimilar to those found in Provence, as described in Mistral’s famous poem ‘Mireia’, in which the owner of a farmhouse sprinkles his Christmas log with wine three times, then carry it around the house three times accompanied by his entire family carrying three candles, after which he gives a solemn sermon and requests the log grant good weather and bless both man and beast in the house. In Catalonia (and the French Cerdagne) this ritualised behaviour relating to Christmas logs has taken on an elaborate performance which relates particularly to children. The aforementioned Tío de Nadalis ‘fed’ and kept warm, typically with a blanket, which has the added benefit of hiding the small holes made by parents into which sweets are placed out of sight. Either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (the timing varies from household to household), the log is then beaten with sticks and commanded to defecate, the sweets then falling out of the holes to be collected by the children, who are sent to pray between beatings so that the log can be refilled without them seeing. In the Val d’Aran, the largest log from the woodshed is thrown on to the fire until midnight when, half-charred, it is recovered by the children of the house and covered with a cloth. The children then adjourn to a nearby room to pray, after which they would beat the log with sticks and hearth tongs. The sweets which had been secreted on the log by the parents during the children’s prayers then fall out. In La Seu d’Urgell, the Tío de Nadal would also yield bottles of liquor for the adults. In some villages in Conca del Tremp it was customary to keep the last remains of the burned Christmas log as an amulet against fire and disease.[9]

In Andorra, it was customary when leaving for Midnight Mass to make sure the fire was burning and that a chair was placed nearby in case the Virgin Mary might visit and wish to warm herself.[10] Much like the practises surrounding All Hallows Eve and All Saints’ Day,[11] there is a belief in some Pyrenean villages that the spirits of the dead make an appearance during Christmas Eve. In Larrabezua (Basque Country), ancestors are said to leave footprints in the ashes of the hearth, and in the Ariège one must provide for the spirits of the dead on Christmas Eve, traditionally leaving out a loaf with a knife driven into it while at Midnight Mass, in order that they might eat and not bother the household upon everyone’s return.[12] For example, in La Bastide-de-Sérou, the knife is stuck in the bread and then wrapped in a napkin, whereas in Gabre, the lady of the house sets aside a little of everything (bread, wine, beans etc.) so that the Infant Jesus will find something to eat when he comes into the world. In Montesquieu-Avantès the same is done but in order to placate angels, who if they find nothing become enraged and no longer protect the house. This is very similar to the Gascon customs of fairy meals left out over New Year’s Eve.[13] The Mass itself is often very crowded with the laity bringing instruments and singing carols. In many mountain villages from Aragon to Catalonia it was customary for shepherds to bring their sheep to the service, with the Huescan shepherds often covering their lambs in children’s clothing to keep them warm.[14]  The church of Alquézar the service was accompanied by an organ, tambourines, ‘pulgaretas’ (tiny castanets moved with the thumb) and other instruments. In Pont de Suert (Catalonia), two children dressed as angels would keep the infant Jesus company at the altar and in western Pallars village of Bellanos (Catalonia) people would bring roosters which crowed along with the choir. In the neighbouring town of Benés (Catalonia) it was customary for shepherds to bring their lambs but only if they were black, and the richest households would bring cakes to be blessed and distributed among the congregation. At the stroke of midnight in Sarroca de Bellera (Catalonia), young men would be sent up to the bell tower to ring the bells until dawn, fuelled by brandy, wine and pastries, while neighbouring villages would arrive at the church holding lanterns to attend the Mass. During this village’s service children would play reed instruments to imitate the song of a nightingale, some members of the choir would rock a stone as if it were a new-born child and others would sing the carol ‘Noi de la Mare’. Similarly, in Montrós in the Flamisol valley (Catalonia) it was customary for young men to carry small birds to the Mass which they would release at the moment of worship, while shepherds brought sparrows which they offered on trays, who then flew away within the church during the service. In other areas of the Catalan Pyrenees the shepherds would bring a ram or lamb dressed up with ribbons and flowers, sometimes wearing a long cow bell and a candle on each horn, whilst ladies of wealthy households brought ring-shaped cakes called ‘redorts’ to be left on a pew in the presbytery, where it was blessed. In Arudy (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) shepherds would place their flock around the various churches, before entering and offering a lamb tied with ribbons to the priest, much like their earlier autumnal ‘Procession of the Sheep’.[15]

After Mass, many worshippers would stand around the church and drink hot chocolate or hot wine supplied by the parish, and in the Navarrese valley of Roncal young villagers used to go out into the street to play music, dance, stage mock battles and ring bells:

After the ‘Cock’s Mass’ at midnight, the men of Roncal make Rough Music in the streets – we remember that Carnival is thus ushered in in the once-Basque Val d’Aran – lighting great fires on the snow to the clashing of bells and saucepans. At home they burn the log, cut early in the year to be kept for this dawn, and go a-wassailing, half in Spanish, half in Basque […] Old Christmas night is given over to fights between villages, parties announcing their attack by ringing bells and threatening with sticks.[16]

In early twentieth-century Huesca it was common to see street revels after Midnight Mass, with groups of young people playing guitars and bandurrias.[17] In Somanés the entire town gathers to drink wine and sing carols around the streets and in both Pozán de Vero and Abiego a live nativity scene is staged, after which the donkey is ridden to each house in which someone is sick in order to with them well. In the aforementioned Bellanos, young men lit large bonfires in the square and jumped over them, similar to the tradition of Saint John’s Eve, and in Rialp (Catalonia) the villagers would grill meat or sausages over the fire. In La Junquera, San Lorenzo de la Muga and Agullano (Catalonia) it was customary for one to throw trees, carts, ploughs and anything else made from wood into the fire without being chastised for it. Other traditions included the singing of folk songs before saying the rosary, the observance of a day-long fast before Midnight Mass and blessing the Christmas log before eating empainazos following Mass. In the mountainous village Badaguás these were served spinach, pumpkin pastries, sweet acorns, roasted pears, dried figs, raisins, walnuts and dried apricots. This feasting was common throughout the region following the day and evening’s fast, with women kneading dough three of four days before Christmas Eve so that there might be bread, pastries, cakes and empanadas in the post-Mass meal.[18]

[1] Noche Buena (Spanish), Nit de Nadal (Catalan), Réveillon de Noël (French).

[2] It is worth noting that, for the Basques, Christmas celebrations begin on the 21st of December with the Feast of Saint Thomas (Santo Tomas), during which people take to the streets to dance, eat a corn flour flatbread known as Talo with Txistorra (a form of cured sausage similar to chorizo) and perform dances in traditional costumes. These clothes are known as caseras and are worn in honour of the mountain villagers who used to come to town on Saint Thomas’ day to sell their goods and pay their rents to local landlords.

[3] Dunkley, Peter, ‘What Andorrans do at Christmas’, in Andorra: Festivals, Traditions and Folklore. (Escaldes: Andorra Writers Circle, 1998), p. 126.

[4] In Provence, these are known as Pastorale and accompany the Mass itself.

[5] Martorell Coca, Josep, ‘Approche du Comique Carnavalesque dans le Théâtre Populaire Catalan de Source Médiéval’, in Carnival and the Carnivalesque,Konrad Eisenbichler & Wim Hüsken (Eds.) (Leiden: Brill Publishing, 2024), pp. 253 – 254.

[6] Arruga, Jordi & Mañà, Josep, El Caganer (Barcelona: Editorial Alta Fulla, 1992).

[7] The figure of Olentzero is posited as having pre-Christian origins within the Basque Country. He is commonly said to descend from a race of Basque giants, the jentillak, with some legends claiming that the giants, after throwing an old man from a cliff who did not wish to live through the Christian conversion, tripped and fell off the cliff themselves except for Olentzero, and other purporting that the other giants simply left and Olentzero was the only one who stayed and embraced Christianity. On Christmas Eve, Basque boys would typically fashion a guy-like figure to represent Olentzero, placing him in the chimney corner, a scythe in one hand and his head a created from a cauldron. His current role is to declare Christmas throughout the Basque country (despite being ‘banned’ by the Franco regime as a symbol of regional separatism), and leave presents next to each family’s shoes, the latter being neatly arranged in the centre of the room on Christmas eve. He is also said to descend from the mountains on a divine horse, presumably to make it around to each house in time during this single night. His post-Franco incarnation is a rather more sanitised and family-friendly version. Prior to his repression, Olentzero was in various Basque regions said to have either three eyes or blazing red eyes, and to cut the throats of children who did not go to bed or those who broke the tradition pre-Christmas fast with his sickle. See: Locker, Martin, The Tears of Pyrene (Andorra: Mons Culturae Press, 2019), p. 236.

[8] In Huesca, the Christmas log is also known as La Choca and its ash is traditionally kept to be spread on fields as fertiliser or on cloths as a lice preventative.

[9] Violant i Simorra, El Pirineo Español (Barcelona: Editorial Alta Fulla, 2003), pp. 558 – 560.

[10] Dunkley 1998, p. 126.

[11] These are explored later in this chapter.

[12] Gallop, Rodney, A Book of the Basques (London: Macmillan & Company, 1930), p. 254; Alford, 1937, p. 74.

[13] Vézian, Joseph, Carnets Ariégeois (Bordeaux: Éditions Sud Ouest, 2000), p. 76.

[14] This also happened in the Pallars, where lambing would take place between the Conception (8th December) and Christmas Eve, then again in the Spring. See: Violant i Simorra, Ramon, La Vida Pastoral al Pallars (Tremp: Garsineu Edicions, 2001), pp. 278 – 279.

[15] Violant i Simorra, El Pirineo Español (Barcelona: Editorial Alta Fulla, 2003), pp. 561 – 562.

[16] Alford, 1937, p. 137.

[17] The bandurria is a twelve-stringed member of the lute family, typically used in Spanish folk pieces known as ‘rondallas’.

[18] Violant i Simorra, 2003, p. 563.

A Trip to Aínsa

October 30, 2025

Recently I undertook a brief trip to the village of Aínsa in Huesca (Aragon); this lovely village with its Medieval arcades, square and fortified walls is well-known in Spain and France for its picturesque situation however its history is also extremely interesting. Legend places its founding in 724 by King Garci Ximénez (about whom many legends exist, including his spontaneous election as king by a gathering of monks who had not conferred about their choice beforehand), following his alleged reconquest of the Cinca Valley from Islamic occupation. It is from this (debated) event that the County of Sobrarbe comes, the name deriving from a red cross appearing to the king above the branches of a holm oak before battle; ‘sobre arbre’, ‘above the tree’. The oak with a fiery cross above it became Aínsa’s coat of arms, and in the seventeenth century a covered cross was built just outside the town’s walls on the alleged site of the oaken vision.

Aínsa (stock photo, as the village was so busy on our visit I could not get a decent picture of the overall square!)

Aínsa is situated on a promontory above the confluence of the Cinca and Ara rivers, making it an ideal location for keeping watch of who is traversing the Cinca valley. Whilst no specific finds have been located on the site of the town, the valley and its surroundings possess a rich archaeological heritage stretching back to the Palaeolithic, particularly in the Vero Cultural Park, where rock art has been dated to 30,000 years BC. There are also a number of megalithic monuments in the broader area and Aínsa’s position is ideal for defence, making it extremely likely that it was settled in some capacity prior to King Garci Ximénez’s military endeavours. The Medieval village (which sits above several modern streets about the rivers’ banks) consists primarily of two parallel streets leading to the main square and the church, all of which are surrounded by eleventh-century walls. The square is arcaded on its northern and southern sides and, following a steep decline into poverty in the twentieth century from emigration, the loss of agricultural lands thanks to reservoirs and dams, the village has enjoyed a renaissance since the 1960s, when cultural and natural tourism begun to flourish in the region. This is also thanks to the creation of several national parks in the broader area, such as that of Ordesa and Monte Perdido, less than an hour’s drive away from Aínsa. Speaking of driving, the journey to and from Andorra was very beautiful, leading over the mountain port from La Seu d’Urgell to Sort, then via Tremp over a winding pass into Huesca, where Puente de Montañana, Benabarre and Abizanda led us through some stunning Autumnal scenery in the mountains, with churches and castles perched on almost every crag.

In Aínsa our first stop was a surprising one, at the Eco Museum. This museum is deeply tied into preservation efforts for the Quebrantohuesos (‘bone-breaker’ or the bearded vulture), and has dedicated many years to reintroducing these birds into various spots in the Iberian Peninsula via a novel system of hand-rearing chicks and using a vulture marionette, then releasing them into the wild at different points to reduce the risk of co-sanguinatity between birds. There were several lovely dioramas of Pyrenean fauna and one could even (quietly) visit an enclosure in which pairs of eagles, owls and vultures were kept whom had been injured, paralysed or in some way would not survive anymore in the wild.

An example of the diorama.

The collegiate church of Santa Maria possesses a very fine bell tower (with the most cramped stairs I have ever encountered, almost a crawl space in some parts), crypt and minute cloister. The church was completed in the mid twelfth century and consecrated in 1181, built in the Romanesque style, whereas the cloister was built in the fourteenth century, with enlargements made to the church in the sixteenth century with various chapels. It is an austere space with a thirteenth-century polychrome Virgin mounted in the apse and the crypt has many carvings on the capitals of its squat, smooth pillars. These are mainly reproductions of the originals, as the crypt was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, a sad and regrettably not unusual phenomenon. The cloister was damaged at the same time but thankfully much of its original fabric survives and there are several small chapels within its space with central basins collecting water from the roofs, with which the various plants there are watered.

The church crypt with its numerous carved capitals.

The Museum of Traditional Arts and Crafts has an extensive collection of ceramics, ironwork, wooden furniture and rush-woven baskets relating to local crafts and production; perhaps most impressive was the enormous collection of decorated locks and door-knockers, many of which bore decorative styles which have comparisons in Catalonia and Andorra. There were also a great many examples of furniture decorations in the form of symbols which can be found across the Pyrenees, such as the six-pointed Hexafoil, which featured on everything from cheese-presses to door panels and banisters. Finally, we visited the castle walls, the outer part of which can be walked along in the south and north-facing enclosure entrance to the village. The fortifications were first built in the eleventh century and then renovated and expanded in the seventeenth century, prior to the Treaty of the Pyrenees, at a time when the border between Aragon and France was a highly contested and flexible affair.

An array of traditional ‘jacket strippers’, used to prevent people gaining entry to a house through the smaller windows.

On the return to Andorra we stopped at the Sanctuary of Torreciudad, a massive complex of monumental brickwork constructed in the 1970s next to the original Medieval hermitage. The name ‘Torreciudad’ derives from an old watchtower built during the Islamic occupation of the region, located a few metres away from the old hermitage, which was constructed in Romanesque period. The Virgin of Torreciudad dates from the period and is now housed in the modern sanctuary; it is one of the ‘Black Virgins’ of the Pyrenees and depicts the Madonna seated with Child, having been venerated by locals for the better part of a millennia. The founder of the Opus Dei, Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, was taken as an infant to the original hermitage by his mother to cure him from a serious illness; this seems to have worked and he was taken back to his home in Barbastro, where he made a full recovery. In the 1960s Josemaria decided to build a new sanctuary to the Virgin of Torreciudad in gratitude, with construction taking three months, from January to April in 1970. Exposed brick is omnipresent and, to my mind, has a peculiar yet beautiful mix of almost Soviet monumentalism, neo-Byzantine curves and a sort of ‘Church Militant’ effect, like an updated version of those churches and cathedrals built following the Albigensian Crusade, designed to impress strength and order over heresy. The original hermitage is a small, quiet affair on a nearby promontory overlooking the azure waters of a reservoir, with scarred pews and the Moorish watchtower overlooking its vault and bell tower. In the distance, Mont Perdido and other peaks can be seen (with dustings of snow). It is an exceptionally beautiful situation and much recommended for a visit.

The new sanctuary of Torreciudad.

The original sanctuary of Torreciudad and the tower.