Halfway from Madrid to Avila, on a low hill, in a picturesque area … there are bulls. Very ancient - they are in no way less than 2 thousand years old - and well known to every Spaniard.
On the territory of the high-mountain plain in the center of the Iberian Peninsula, as well as in the north of Portugal and Galicia, you can find more than 400 such monuments, which scientists date back to the 4th-1st centuries. BC e. They are made of granite and represent rather rough, but realistic sculptures of animals - most often, wild boars, which is why the Spaniards call them "verraco" (from Spanish verraco - wild boar), as well as bears and bulls.
Verraco or barrao (Spanish verraco; port. Barrão) appeared in the pre-Roman period, when the mysterious Celtiberians were the masters of central and northern Spain and Portugal, but the creators of the sculptures could have been the Vettons, their "relatives on the Celtic line." In general, it was a very long time ago and it is hardly possible today to find out which of the ancient Spanish peoples scattered Verraco across the territory of the peninsula, and why. Perhaps they were of cult significance. In total, over 400 verracos have been found. Dated to the 4th - 1st centuries. BC e.
The Gisando bulls are perhaps the most famous of the verraco. This is a sculptural complex of 4 statues, dating from around the 2nd century BC. e. and depicting some four-legged animals - moreover, there is not even a clear certainty that it is bulls, so the image is primitive. However, for many centuries they have been called bulls, as such they are repeatedly mentioned in "Don Quixote" by Cervantes, as well as in "Lamentations for Ignacio Sánchez Mejias" by Federico García Lorca:
Wild bulls of Gisando
half-death and half-stone -
Promotional video:
will rush out of longing what you need
trample the earth for centuries.
The bulls of Gisando entered Spanish history textbooks due to the fact that on September 18, 1468, an agreement was signed near them between the Infanta Isabella, the future zealot of the Christian faith, nicknamed the Catholic, and her brother Enrique IV the Powerless, according to which Isabella received the title of Princess of Asturias and great gifts, and later became the heir to the Castilian crown. The treaty deprived the king's daughter of the throne,
Juana, whom Enrique declared illegitimate. However, a few years later, the eccentric ruler changed his mind again and annulled the Treaty of the Bulls of Gisando - the reason for this was Isabella's wedding with Ferdinand of Aragon, which was not agreed with Enrique. All this political mess ended a few years later with the War of the Castilian Succession.
Isabella, as you know, won this war, becoming the most famous and illustrious queen in the history of Spain - it was during her reign that the Reconquista was completed, the state became unified, and Christopher Columbus set off on his voyage to the West - and the treaty concluded with the ancient Bulls of Gisando, played an important role in her fate.