Mark Meek's Ideas: Madrid

Madrid, Spain's capital city near the geographical center of the country, originated in the 9th Century as a Moslem fortress. We saw in the posting on this blog, "When The Moors Ruled Spain", that Toledo was an important city of the time. The fortress that would eventually become Madrid was built to defend Toledo. Some remnants of Moor walls can still be seen.

The Moors, Moslems from north Africa, who founded Madrid were of the same Umayyad Caliphate that built the two mosques that stand today on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Remember that we visited the Temple Mount in the posting on this blog, "Esau And The Temple Mount". When the Umayyads were later displaced by the Abbassid Caliphate, who moved their capital from Damascus to newly-built Baghdad, the Umayyad Caliphate continued on in Spain.

The Catholics completed their reconquest of Spain in 1492, the same year that the country commissioned Christopher Columbus to try to find a way to the east by sailing west. The basis of Spain becoming a united country was the first royal couple, Ferdinand and Isabella. Each was from one of the two largest states that would unite to form Spain. Ferdinand was from Aragon and Isabella from Castile.

Their daughter was Catherine of Aragon, who was married to Henry VIII (The Eighth). Because she did not produce a male heir, he wanted to divorce her in order to marry Anne Boleyn. The pope refused to grant the divorce so Henry just abandoned the Catholic Church and started his own church. That was the beginning of the Reformation in England.`

A later Spanish king, Phillip II, moved the capital from Toledo to Madrid in 1561. Phillip II (Felipe in Spanish) is the king for whom the Philippines, long a Spanish colony, is named. In another royal link between Spain and England, he married the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, who became Mary I of England.

She was the queen who tried to bring England back to Catholicism by force. The effort was ultimately unsuccessful but did get her a mixed drink named for her. the "Bloody Mary". Phillip II sent the Spanish Armada to bring England back to Catholicism but it turned out to be a great boost for the Protestant movement, as it's failure made it look as if God was on the Protestant side.

The Catholics answered the Reformation with their own Counter-Reformation. So much of what the Catholic Church is today stems not from the original church but from the Counter-Reformation. The Counter-Reformation greatly reformed the church. Ironically, Protestant leaders like Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli got the reforms in the church that they had originally wanted, but only by splitting the church. The Catholic Church was based in Rome but the Counter-Reformation had a very Spanish character to it and the best-known figure of the Counter-Reformation is Ignatius Loyola, a Spaniard who founded the Jesuit missionary order, from which the current Pope Francis comes.

Madrid would become the center of the vast Spanish Empire and it today one of the few largest cities in Europe.

The Habsburg Dynasty, of the Holy Roman Empire, built what is now the old center of Madrid. Remember that we saw the Habsburgs in our visit on this blog to "Vienna And The Habsburgs". But there was a Spanish and an Austrian branch of the Habsburgs, with the Spanish branch being the senior. Vienna was the capital of the Austrian Branch.

Habsburg rule was a great time for Spain but the line died out, without a suitable heir, in 1700. This led to what is known as the war of the Spanish Succession, between the two next in line which were the Austrian Habsburgs and the French Bourbons. The Bourbons won and the Spanish royal family today is still of the Spanish Branch of the house of Bourbon.

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https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4156982,-3.7078072,3a,75y,68.28h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sWIbcTK_Wk8T6QqbH7LQTuQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DWIbcTK_Wk8T6QqbH7LQTuQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D62.3851%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

In France, where the House of Bourbon originated, it is long gone. It was overthrown in the French Revolution of 1789, made a limited comeback after the time of Napoleon, but was displaced by it's cadet branch the House of Orleans, before the monarchy in France was finally ended for good by the revolutions which swept Europe in 1848.

But are the Bourbons really gone? We saw in the compound posting on this blog, "America And The Modern World Explained By Way Of Paris" how America's Republicans are really the continuation of the Bourbons. But at any rate, the Bourbons actually do live on today in Spain.

Napoleon invaded Spain, but it proved to be a costly move for him. We often refer to guerilla warfare, but "guerilla" is a Spanish word that originated to describe the techniques used against Napoleon's troops. Napoleon brought the French Revolution to an end, but carried it's ideals throughout his field of conquest. The French Revolution overthrew the House of Bourbon. I wonder if part of Napoleon's decision to invade Spain was because that was where the House of Bourbon lived on.

Here is more of central Madrid.

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These views of central Madrid begin on the famous street known as the Gran Via. The first three images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.422782,-3.70986,3a,75y,170.78h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sZ_rh2CondKdq6V7ufRxqXw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DZ_rh2CondKdq6V7ufRxqXw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D172.95267%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is some more scenes of the Royal Palace in central Madrid. This palace is built on the site of what was once a Moslem fortress. But the Spanish royals today actually live in the Zarzuela Palace.

The first two images, of the Royal Palace, are from Google Earth and Street View.

These four images, from Google Earth and Street View, are of the cathedral. The first one, from Google Earth, shows the cathedral with the palace in the background.