After a two year siege, in 1248 the Christians, with King Fernando III in charge finally conquered the city of Seville, with had turned into one of the most important cities of the peninsula; an importance which didn’t stop growing as time passed.

Seville, Capital of the Kingdom

This is demonstrated by the fact that various kings chose Seville to be the city to establish their court and home, the most famous of these is Pedro I the Cruel or the Avenger, who built in the Alcazar his great Mudejar Palace.

The birth of Mudejar

This new art, Mudejar, was one of the contributions from the Christians to Spanish Art, as it’s a mix of between the Islamic culture and the Christian. It succeeded in being an art that captivated the Christian kingdom in a way that meant that they didn’t hesitate to use it in their constructions, of which Seville has great examples. The most striking are its Gothic-Mudejar Churches in which Islamic art is mixed with Christian art, in what was the prevalent fashion of the time Gothic art. Onmium Sanctorum, Santa Marina, San Marcos, Santa Catalina… previously they were all mosques converted into Christian churches in which the cultural mix didn’t only remain in their history but also in the architecture.

Legends and Symbols

In these centuries of medieval Christianity hide traditions such as the Virgen de los Reyes, Virgin of the Kings, and legends like that of Virgin de la Antigua, Virgin of the Ancient. In addition to the these, we have been given those of our prolific king, Pedro I related, above all, to his lovers like Maria de Padilla or Maria Coronel. And speaking of female characters, great medieval women lived inside the walls of Seville as well, for example Leanor de Guzman or Catalina de Rivera, although this last one is appears in later years, arriving almost at the renaissance.

But the capital in these times was shifting, and not to be left behind the monarchs who chose Seville as their home during this period, they too left us their mark on the emblem of the city -Fernando III- and on its motto or sign -Alfonso X-. On the first, the king is represented together with two religious holy Sevillians, Saint Leander and Saint Isidore; while the second, included on the emblem as well, has a legend behind it this time starring Alfonso X, son of the conqueror. It was this king that gave Seville its shipyards and the Santa Ana Church, also called the Cathedral of Triana, as well as the Gothic Palace of the Alcazar.

The Jewish People

The Jewish population also come into play, although they had already been settled here with the Arabs, the Christians gave them the Muslim neighbourhood close to the Alcazar so that they could convert it into the Jewish Quarter -the current Santa Cruz neighbourhood– using the mosques as synagogues. Therefore next to the Alcazar they were protected by the kings, who gave them this favour as the Jews had been their first money lenders. However, its walls were not enough to prevent them from being harassed by the population, whose famous assault of the Jewish quarter in 1391 remains as one of the main and saddest landmarks of the history of the city.

Governed by 24 men

The governing of the city was divided between twenty-four noblemen, the councillors, called the Twenty-four Gentlemen, Caballeros Veinticuatro, between them there was not a lack of power struggles, like the famous rival families of Guzman and Ponce de Leon. However, the new rulers, the Catholic Monarchs, quickly arrived and they put an end to these fights and took control of the city of Seville, establishing their court in the Alcazar and starting a new period in the history of the city.

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Image source: Flickr. Neil