The Fernandinas Churches in Cordoba, by Fernando III the Saint in the thirteenth century

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• Introduction
• Itinerary I
• Itinerary II
• Itinerary III

        After about five miles from Santa Elena (Saint Helen), one of the northernmost towns in the province of Jaén, alongside the passage of Despeñaperros, there is a wide spot where the remains of ancient weapons are so plentiful that the farmers of the region have the necessary iron to manufacture their tools for centuries. This place is known as the place where the Battle of Navas de Tolosa took place.
        In this place, occupation in the christians defeated the almohades, run by Mohamed al-Nasir in July of 1212. This was the beginning of the end of the muslim occupation in Spain. Then Jaén, Córdoba, or Seville were conquered by Ferdinand III the Saint in a brief period. The city that endured more was Granada, which was occupied by the Catholic kings, who directed the campaigns from the most emblematic building of our city and which was named: Christian Kings Alcazar.
        In 1236 Córdoba was conquest. Due to its richness of the fields, it became a crowded city, even there were more habitants than houses.
        The urbanism of the city changed a lot: an Alcazar was built by Alphonse XI, to keep the palace as a residence; Henry II built defence towers like the one of the Calahorra and that of Malmuerta, trying to avoid the danger that it still represented the incursions of the muslims of the south.
        The caliphal city was delimitated by great sections, the city and the axerquia, which was kept till the modern Age. There were two big sections: the city and the Ajerquia. The first occupied the ancient roman city and the second occupied the east zone. Then the city was divided in seven parts by Ferdinand III the Saint. Each one had a church that gave the name to the section, exercising administrative and religious center for them. Moreover, these churches were erected in strategic locations, in many cases where the population density was low, in an attempt to distribute proportionately as possible. The churches gave name to the district, the collación and urbanism frequently revolved around them. Nowadays there are 12 churches.
        We are going to draw three itineraries of the Fernandinas Churches. Each itinerary includes the churches that are close or related to a zone. So it is easier to be visited by the tourists.
        There are three cases to which we would refer. The first one, in the "Itinerary I" we find the Saint Augustine Church: this one is going to be restored so we cannot describe it properly, so we were unable to access inside the temple. The second case, also belonging to the 'Itinerary I', it is Saint Mary Magdalene Church that it is closed temple for worship since the early twentieth century; it is run by Cajasur and any mass is not celebrated here: only concerts and expositions, so it is closed to tourism. The last case is Saint Dominic of Silos Church, belonging to the "Itinerary III". This one only conserves the tower and the structures. Nowadays this is closed to the tourism and it is used as Historical Filer of the province of Córdoba, so it is closed to tourism.

Text: J.A.S.C.

Traslated by Sara Moretti