History
The land around Simat de la Valldigna has been inhabited since the beginning of history, as the coves de Bolomor in Tavernes de la Valldigna, and Medalletes and Parpalló in Barx show. Nonetheless the first concrete historical references appear during the Muslim period. The Christian conquest of the 13th century began a new period in this village history. James I conquered these lands, but his grandson James II gave them to the Cistercian order. When James II came back from an expedition against the kingdoms of Murcia and Almeria at the end of the 13th century, they came through the vall d'Alfàndec (ancient name of the Valldigna valley). Then the king was impressed by the valley's beauty, and he exclaimed (speaking to the Cistercian Santes Creus monastery abbot): Vall digna per a un monestir de la vostra religió! (A suitable valley for a monastery of your order). The Santes Creus abbot replied: Vall digna! (Suitable valley). On 15 March 1297 James II of Aragon donated the vall d'Alfàndec (Alfàndec valley) to the Cistercian order in order to found a monastery devoted to the Virgin Mary. Since this moment, the Alfàndec valley will change its name and it will be called Valldigna.
Initially Christians and Muslims lived together in the Valldigna area. They worked in the lands that the monastery abbot lent them in usufruct, even though the conditions were harder for the Muslims. Nonetheless they were allowed to remain as Muslims. The Valldigna Moorish people gathered around the la Xara mosque in order to pray. In this place they received teaching as well, contracts were made, and the Muslims judges made trials. This convivence ended in 1609, with the expulsion from Spain of all Moorish people. Life in the Valldigna valley went on, according to the evolution of the feudal society, under the rule of the monastery and its abbot. It lasted until 1835, when all monasteries in Spain were seized by the State (in what was called the desamortización de Mendizábal). Then the rule of the monastery and its abbot over the valley and its people ended, and a time of neglect, ruins and destruction of the monastery began. It was a private property until 1991, when the Generalitat Valenciana (Valencian regional government) bought it.
Read more about this topic: Simat De La Valldigna
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Anything in history or nature that can be described as changing steadily can be seen as heading toward catastrophe.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“A poet’s object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably.... For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.”
—Aristotle (384–323 B.C.)
“Let it suffice that in the light of these two facts, namely, that the mind is One, and that nature is its correlative, history is to be read and written.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)