Medinaceli - Experiencia Andalusí

Medinaceli

MADINAT SALIM, THE CAPITAL OF THE MIDDLE FRONTIER

Walking through the quiet, elevated streets of this village, it is not easy to imagine the enormous importance and decisive role it once had: since 946, it was the main defensive stronghold of the so-called Andalusi Middle Frontier. This was the place chosen by Caliph Abd al-Rahman III as the center of a network of fortified towns, watchtowers, small castles, and great fortresses built to protect Al-Andalus from the advance of the Christian kingdoms.

Yet, when you look out from the Arbujuelo viewpoint, next to the castle and former alcazaba (Islamic fortress), or from the castle itself, the view brings clarity: it would have been difficult for the caliph to find a better location for this purpose. Perched 1,090 meters high on a hill that commands the lands leading to the central plateau and the Ebro valley, Medinaceli was the ideal stronghold from which to reinforce Muslim positions along the natural frontier of the Duero River.

And here lies one of the great attractions of Medinaceli in Soria, the Andalusi Madinat Salim: its beauty is visible and does not need to be imagined—but almost everything else does. You will need to know a bit of history and let your imagination wander to picture how Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together here, where the mosques and synagogues once stood, or where Abu Amir Muhammad ben Abi Amir, the legendary Andalusi leader Almanzor, may have been buried. Come to Medinaceli and discover it for yourself.

Architecture

Medinas

Water

Craftwork

Architecture

Medinas

Water

Craftwork

Architecture

At the southwestern end of the wall rises the castle which, together with the famous Roman triple arch, is the most striking construction in Medinaceli’s skyline. This is one of those places where you can truly enjoy letting your imagination come to life: the sturdy castle before your eyes was built in the 14th century, two centuries after Madinat Salim was conquered by Alfonso I in 1122. Yet it was erected on the very site once occupied by the alcazaba (the Islamic fortress). What remains of it lies beneath your feet: underground stables, a cistern, and a passageway whose purpose is still unknown.

The so-called Arab Gate also invites a guessing game. Though it has reached us in a much-altered state, this was most likely the main entrance to the medina (Islamic city) during the Andalusi period—and perhaps even in Roman times—originally with a horseshoe arch today replaced by a pointed one. In front of it, in the open space outside, you will find an epitaph in Arabic and Spanish recalling the tomb of the Andalusi leader Abu Amir Muhammad ben Abi Amir, Almanzor.
If you continue walking eastward along the outer side of the wall, you will come across a section that is unmistakably Andalusi: a semicircular tower built with caliphal masonry. It is the clearest and most indisputable remnant of Madinat Salim.

MEDINAS

Madinat, medinat, madina or medina is the name given to the Islamic city. Medinaceli in Andalusi times was Madinat Salim, named after the Banu Salim, who dominated these lands from the 8th century until the early 10th. From Madinat Salim comes the name Medinaceli, which the locals often simply call Medina.

Although originally founded in the 2nd century by the Romans, the city was reborn during the period of Al-Andalus, as it had been abandoned in Visigothic times. The geographer Yaqut noted that Tariq found it in ruins in 711, but the also geographer al-Idrisi, born in Ceuta in the 12th-century, described it as a great city with many buildings, gardens, and orchards.

In addition to its defensive importance, its equally strategic position on the road connecting Zaragoza and Córdoba also made it a commercial hub. But the relevance of Madinat Salim is also reflected in some surprising elements, such as a 10th-century Andalusi astrolabe displayed at the British Museum. As Azucena Hernández, an expert on astrolabes, explains, one of its plates, designed for latitude 42, includes the cities of Zaragoza, Medinaceli, and the Portuguese city of Santarém. Another Andalusi astrolabe from the 11th century, recently discovered in Verona, dedicates the central piece known as the “mother” to latitude 41º30’, with the engraved name Madinat Salim. No other city appears on that piece.

And what happened to the Muslims and Jews who lived here after the Christian conquest in 1122? The historian Ángeles Serrano Anguita has traced their presence through archival documents: the inheritance partition of a Mudejar master, the debt ledger of a Morisco merchant, the will of another Morisco neighbor known as Abraham the Red… In other words, they remained here. Some continued to remain, though in hiding, after the decrees of expulsion in 1492 (Jews) and 1609 (Moriscos).

WATER

Cisterns, together with silos and ceramics, are the most abundant remains found during archaeological excavations in the town. Their presence is essential for a settlement like Medinaceli, where the water table lies on the slope of its eastern hillside, the same place where the Fuente de la Canal has been in use since Roman times. Around twenty cisterns have been discovered, some Roman and larger in size, others from the Islamic period and more fragmented. Experts, however, have concluded that it was during the Andalusi period that the foundations of the water supply system were established, thanks to the increase in both public and private cisterns. A total of 12 such structures have been documented.

Yet perhaps the most popular element in Medinaceli that also recalls Andalusi knowledge of water management and the ability to take advantage of natural conditions without harming the environment is what locals call the “Arab snow pit”(though it was probably Morisco and dates from the 16th century). This snow pit, or nevero, was built to preserve food by storing snow in winter so it could be used in summer. The snow lasted through the hot season by insulating it with layers of straw. Remarkably, this icehouse continued to be used until the early 20th century.

CRAFTS

Most of the references to the Andalusi Medinaceli are military in nature—those that speak of its key defensive role as the capital of the Middle Frontier of Al-Andalus, or those that link it to great Andalusi warriors such as General Galib, the leader Abu Amir Almanzor, or even Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar. Yet the medina was, of course, also a place where people lived beyond war. A place where they worked and traded. Where they simply lived and coexisted.

Ceramics are the most common Andalusi remains found in Medinaceli, and they offer the clearest window into daily life: fragments of basins, ataifores (large bowls), redomas or bottles, jugs, oil lamps, jars, cooking pots, storage vessels…. Most were for domestic use or storage, dating from the pre-Caliphal, Caliphal, and Taifa periods.

Among the pieces preserved in the Numantine Museum of Soria (with others kept at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid), one stands out for its tenderness: a small, closed vessel, slightly globular in shape, with very thin undecorated walls, a tubular spout, and a handle opposite it. This piece was likely used to directly administer liquid contents to the sick or to children—something very much like a baby bottle.