The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-09-15

Married For Centuries the Residence
of Kings, 1T Was Ruined by the
French 1nyasion-.Noyv the Center OF
spain's Corn Trade, with IL Popu!a-
ton of $4,000.
Especial Correspondence of the Journal
and Courier.)
Valladolid, Spain, Aug. 2.-This once
famous city, the Moorish Belad walled
is the saddest example we have yet
seen of the ruin wrought by the French
invasion. It's modern name, by the
| way. is pronounced as if spelled Val
yah-dough-lead accenting the third
syllable. Long, long ago it was the
Pintia of Ptolemy, and is described in
/ the Itinerary as "a town of the Vac
caei, on the road from Astarica to
| Caesaragusta. Ordono II captured it
| from the Moors in the year 920. The
Cortes of CASTLE frequently met here
| in the following centuries, and after
wards it became the residence of the
| Spanish kings, beginning with Juan IL,
| tarly in the fifteenth century Ferdi-
nand and Isabella We're married here in
the autumn of 1869 Valladolid reached
it's greatest glory in the time of Charles
V. He adorned it with many splendid
edifices its population exceeded one
hundred thousand and its trade was
past computing. 1t remained for that
noble monarch's only son, the melan-
choly Philip II. to begin the undoing OF
Valladolid. Coming to the throne at
ha Of l,a i'm m al In tplV
removed the capital to Madrid--for no
reason except that he found its gloomy
Escorial better suited to his hypochron-
driacal temperament. But he admins
tered d sop to the deserted city Of his
birth by raising it to q bishopric in 1896.
From the day Of its desartlon by the
Spanish court Valladoid began rapidly
to decline. When the French came
over the Pyrenees. early in the present
century, they stripped and wrecked its
finest buildings and left it for dead
on its dreary plain, But occupying the
very heart of the limited area that pro-
duces most of Spains staff of life-corn
its partial resurrection was assured.
During the last quarter-century Valla-
dolid has picked up amazingly. Admir-
ably situated for trade and manufac-
lures, with abundant water supply and
in the midst of a remarkably fertile re-
gion. with a natural highway to the
Atlantic via the Duero river, it was
added to these advantages canals and
railways, which communicate with all
parts of the peninsula. The city is
famed throughout the world for its sill
yer plate, especially that designed for
church purposes. Among its other
manufactures are silk, cotton, linen |
and woolen stuffs; paper, perfumery. |
earthenware and leather goods; besides |
an extensive trade invite wines. OIL |
ives, madden and other agricultural |
products of the neighborhood. A great |
many houses have been lately rebuilt,
streets widened and repaired, and sew
eral of its modern Gothic churches are
celebra ted, even in this land of splendid
for the richness of their |
style and profuse characterization. In
short if one would see anything of an
cient Valladolid, the honeymoon town
of Ferdinand and Isabella he would
better come quickly before moderniZa-
ton has destroyed the last vestige of
the old time. The original walls, with
their half-dozen quaint gateways, are
fast disappearing; and though many
historical edihces yet remain, all are
and falling to decay.
Among them is the convent in which
Columbus died, also the ancestral home
Of the great sculptor, painter and arch
tect Juan de Juni and afterwards of
the equally celebrated ar
list; and the house in which Napoleon
lived during his stay in Valladolld
r. L 4
his thirty-five thousand troops. Ger
7antes resided several years In poor
house in the Gale de Rastro, where he {
wrote the fret part of Don Quixote af- I
er his return from slavery. Fabio |
Neli, the Maecenas of Valadoid, lived {
near the square which still bears his |
lame, in fine old mansion with Corin- /
hian courts and remarkable doorway. s
Another equally quaint edlfice in the I
tame neighborhood Is adorned with me- T
lallions of Juan III and his queen. |
Wore interesting than either is the now ,
uined building called "El Ochavo" in y
which that spoiled child of fortune, AL r
'aro de Luna, was shorn of his head, q
N a June morning of 1452. For thirty 9
ears, as the favorite of Juan H. he 9
lad really held the sceptre, keeping
own the turbulent aristocracy with !.
cd of iron. His royal master was as
hallow false and feeble a monarch as
yer wore a crown, but wthal a merry
nd magnificent one. Swayed alike by ?
oets and courtiers and alternately '
heir dupe and tyrant, for some within
r other he deserted the bosom friend 8
nd adviser Of a life-ti and con- q
emned him to an ignominious death.
Alvaro met his doom courageously as :,
ecame knight, and humbly as be- I
anne christian-so say the chroni-
lers. u
AS to situation. one would think the "
of Valladolid were gloomy u
nough to have satisfied even the royal n
ne hundred and fifty miles from Ma II
rid and eighty from Burgos, it stands n
t the confluence of the Pisuerga and
.sguera rivers in the middle Of a wind u
Wept plain, covered with loose gray 81
oulders. The view is founded on all p
des by steep. but not high granite W
dyes, behind which are the famous p
)rn fields, Hardly two thousand feet N
bove the sea and partially protected "
Y the rocky hills, the climate is excep- +
onally genial for northern Spain and W
lie skies are generally cloudless One a
ghts of Valladolld You begin with SC
IL central plaza, around which are n
inged the best shops, it's shaded south h;