Cañadillas Cross

Next to the road, embedded in the wall of a fence we find a Tumularia Cross.

Visit
ARCHEOLOGY

It warns us of a violent death… generally it was about duels, in which the life of one and in cases of the two contenders was ended. In the 16th century they became a great problem, because of the number of men who died in duels for any reason, sometimes very pilgrim.

The Council of Trent, in 1545 and 1563, dictated that from that moment on, those who fought a duel would be excommunicated and as such, could not be buried in a cemetery, but in a common grave outside the cemeteries. They would also confiscate his property and dictated other penalties on his soul.

In the mentality of the time it was a great shock, not even masses could be celebrated, so the family of the deceased engraved a cross in the place where that person had died. The cross consisted of an engraving of a cross on a tumulus, generally round, to distinguish them from the triangular ones, so typical of the Inquisition.