There are many medieval legends involving Muslims, the Moors who dominated the southern peninsula. A curious circumstance arises, as they were enemies, but they were also recognized as wise and just. Their greatest flaw was that they did not believe in the true God.
As a result of the unstable treaties between Christians and Muslims, a beautiful Moorish maiden, Aixa Galiana, daughter of Al-Menón of Toledo and niece of King Al-Mamun, is brought to Ávila. Almost a child at fourteen years old, she arrived sad and dejected because she was lovesick: she had left her beloved behind in Toledo. Neither the festivals held in her honor nor the guardianship of Doña Urraca, daughter of King Alfonso VI, could bring back her smile.
Such was her beauty that many knights took an interest in her, but the one most captivated was the valorous Nalvillos Blázquez, who even managed to arrange his marriage to her through her guardian, Doña Urraca. But it turned out that the youth's parents had already arranged his marriage to another daughter of the Avilan nobility, Arias Galindo. And the king, in gratitude for his collaboration, had done the same with the Moorish woman; in this case, her fiancé would be an Arab chief named Jezmín Yahia.
Nalvillos, stubborn as they come, insisted so much that he succeeded in marrying Aixa (who converted to Christianity), but he earned the hatred of Jezmín and the disappointment of Arias, who was madly in love with him and had to settle for marrying his brother, Blasco.
Ignoring who he really is, Nalvillos strikes up a friendship with Jezmín during a trip to Talavera. And the former entertains him so much that the Christian cannot help but invite him to his brother Blasco's wedding, even giving him lodging in his palatial home.
Once both are in Ávila, and within the celebrations for the wedding between Arias and Blasco, tournaments and jousts were held, and the man from Ávila challenges his new friend to a sword fight. He defeats him with relative ease, and the Muslim feels humiliated—not so much by the public mockery, but because he sees his beloved Aixa among the attendees and notices how she observes him, desperate and harassed. And yes, the love the Moorish woman had left behind upon being brought to Ávila was none other than Jezmín.
The sadness that accompanies Aixa, the reason for which is unknown to him, hurts Nalvillos more and more. Thinking that she suffers within the walled city, he builds for her an estate with all kinds of luxuries in the area of Palazuelos, a few leagues to the north, following the course of the Adaja River.
But she continued to suffer from her sentimental ailments, consoled only by the secret visits of Jezmín, who took advantage of the husband's frequent absences commanding military raids to see his beloved under the cover of night. This culminated in the only possible way: the lovers fled to return to Talavera.
The warrior returns from his battles and finds the estate empty; aware of the insult, he decides to go in search of the adulterers. He is accompanied by his most loyal knights. However, he does not attack the Toledan city, but makes them camp nearby, entering the town alone, disguised in Arab garments. He does, however, give orders to attack if he does not return in two days.
The outraged knight made his way to Jezmín's palace and managed to reach the garden of this residence, where his beloved Aixa remained alone. Covering his face with his cloak (embozo), he spoke flattering words to her; she, entranced, ended up letting him enter her bedchamber. There, Nalvillos revealed his identity, and she hastily called the guard, who captured him. The offended man no longer harbored any feelings for his wife upon witnessing her adulterous behavior, which was clearly not just the result of a kidnapping.
Jezmín decides to execute Nalvillos in a public square by burning him on a pyre. As a last wish, the Christian asks to sound a war horn. The Arab agrees, unaware that this was the signal that the loyal knights of the prisoner were awaiting to attack the city.
The slaughter was bloody, and the Avilan noble avenged his private affront by burning the lovers in the place prepared for his own execution. The rest of his life was spent relentlessly waging war, as there was no other purpose in his life than to fight. Upon his death, he was buried in the Church of Santiago, amid the weeping of the people of Ávila, who valued his heroic character, though everyone knew why he never achieved happiness in life.
Nalvillos existed as a historical figure; the capture of Talavera de la Reina was a decisive historical event in the Christian advance toward the south (1083, Alfonso VI), and the Palazuelos estate is a beautiful dehesa located among the holm oak groves north of the city. As always in legends, there are remnants of reality and other embellishments that each person must believe or not, depending on their desire to do so. But when you pass by the Plaza de Nalvillos in Ávila, remember the tormented knight and think that he never achieved the heartfelt happiness he sought in life, rather than being known for wielding weapons.
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