Castle Name:
Castle of Vilanova Dos Infantes
Population:
Celanova
Province:
Ourense
State:
Deteriorated
Data of interest:
Vilanova Dos Infantes is a town located very close to Celanova that constituted an important medieval village (fortress built by feudal nobles to guard the territories under their jurisdiction, where groups of merchants and artisans settled). The fortress was built on the ruins of a possible military settlement and belonged to the Celanova monastery, which is believed to have been founded by the father of San Rosendo in the 10th century, since the San Rosendo family were the great promoters of that time ( monasteries, churches, convents, castles ...).
The name would not be "infantes", but "infantas". In Vilanova dos Infantes, the women of the San Rosendo family founded a female convent. According to Fernández Alonso and other historians, in the legend of the 7 twins who settled in Vilanova, although they deduce that it is probably Saint Ilduara and Adosinda, mother and sister of Saint Rosendo, who were joined by other maidens of royal blood, (including 2 daughters of Alfonso X el Sabio), hence its previous name was Vilanova de las Infantas.
With a common origin to the other fortresses that arose around the 12th century in Galicia, for a long time, the fortress belonged to the Celanova monastery, although in 1369 Enrique II confiscated it from Fernando de Castro to grant it to Juan Rodríguez de Biedma.
Although it would be partially demolished by the Irmandiña revolt of 1467, being later rebuilt.
In the middle of the 16th century this fortress would be an outstanding reference in the border struggles with Portugal.
The legend tells us about an event that happened back in 1630, when the good relationship of a loving couple named Rosa and Martiño, who work for the lord of the Vilanova castle, was truncated by the insidies of Xan de Ventrances. Mad with jealousy at having been rejected by the young woman, he raises slanders about Rosa's virtue that the naive Martiño believes, breaking the bond that united them.
Rosa's discouragement was such that one night the Virgin Mary appeared to her in her dreams to comfort her. The next day a lightning bolt falls from the sky, a small oval crystal with the image of the Virgin inside. Rosa finds the crystal and the Virgin tells her that she is sending it to demonstrate its purity, asking her to erect a chapel on the site. The people, aware of the miracle, decide to carry out the request, of the Virgin and Rosa, defeated by heartbreak, decides to enter a convent. Full of anger for the mistake made, the young lover takes revenge on Xan by tearing out his tongue, ending this story, with the death of Martiño frozen one snowy night at the gates of the Allariz convent where Rosa was.
Of the old castle of Vilanova dos Infantes, built with ashlar masonry, with a simple structure and a rectangular plan, only the rectangular keep is preserved, with an amatacanado parapet and in which the traces of the church can still be seen on one of its sides. Wall. Access to the tower is via the first floor, through a door with a semicircular arch (at the height of the door some large corbels are preserved in 2 of its corners.), Which gave access from the wall to the interior through of a wooden corridor supported by corbels.
They are also preserved from the old fortress with the remains of the monastery, which can be seen attached to the current parish church, in Romanesque style, where a wooden Christ is preserved, also Romanesque from the end of the 12th century, in addition to some wall paintings .
Today, the tower houses the Terra de Celanova Foundation.
Visitable:
Yes
Font: (
visit link)