Around 1109, the warlike Alfonso I the Battler, King of Aragon, married Queen Urraca of Castile. As was customary, it was a marriage of convenience, and the two never got on: neither yielded power or territory to the other, and both continued to rule over their respective realms.
Urraca, a woman of strong character, had a son from her previous marriage to Raymond of Burgundy, named Alfonso, who was, in principle, to inherit his mother’s kingdom. And, of course, for Alfonso the Battler the boy was an obstacle to taking control of the Castilian kingdom. He therefore harassed his wife, who fled with the child, aided by several nobles loyal to her.
The boy was taken to the city of Ávila, as its leaders, headed by Blasco Jimeno, supported the idea that Castile should remain independent and not be annexed to the Kingdom of Aragon.
The Aragonese stepfather arrived in Ávila with anything but “fatherly” intentions, wishing to seize the child who was causing him so many headaches. He demanded that the boy be handed over to him, claiming that he would act as his guardian. But the reply from within the city walls was clear: absolutely not. The Child King would remain in Ávila.
Perhaps as a delaying tactic, or perhaps because he genuinely began to doubt whether the child was really there and still alive, the king asked to see him. The inhabitants of the city showed him the boy from above the battlements of the wall.
He was too far away to recognise him, so Alfonso I requested hostages to guarantee his safety as he approached the wall. Seventy knights came out through the Puerta de la Malaventura and were taken prisoner, while the king drew near to the Cimorro of the Cathedral to confirm that the child was indeed his stepson and that he was alive.
Since an assault on the city was impossible, he decided to withdraw from Ávila. But, in an act of great cruelty, he had the captured men plunged into large cauldrons of boiling oil. That place came to be known, and is still known today, as Las Hervencias, to the north of the city.
The grief caused by such an act was immense, and the knights of Ávila “ovieron gran dolor i plañían e mesaban sus barbas e cabelleras”. They could not face that army in open battle, so they sent the bravest of their men, Blasco Jimeno, together with his squire, after the monarch and his retinue, who were heading towards Zamora. They caught up with them on a plain between Fontiveros and Cantiveros. There, the nobleman challenged the king to a duel, calling him “wicked, treacherous and perjured”. But the king, outraged, ordered his lancers and archers to riddle them with weapons and dismember their bodies. The Council of Ávila, proud of its fellow citizen, ordered a cross to be erected there, which still survives and is known as La Cruz del Reto, the Cross of the Challenge.
After many vicissitudes and the death of Queen Urraca, her son was crowned King of Castile as Alfonso VII. In gratitude for the city’s conduct, he allowed the legend “ÁVILA DEL REY” to appear on its coat of arms, together with an image of himself as a child, raised above the city walls just as the people had done when showing him to his stepfather.
Legend or reality, the city’s coat of arms displays both granted titles, the area to the north of the city is known as “Las Hervencias”, and La Cruz del Reto, in Cantiveros, still recalls the nobleman who sought to avenge the offence committed. Everyone may believe what they wish.
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