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The Arch of Barbudo

While you enjoy in wandering through the marvelous Old Town of Baeza, stop by the Arch of Barbudo.

This stone arch is what remains of one of the main access gates to the city. Its real name is Arco de San León, in honor of the Franciscan convent and former hermitage and later changed its name for the Arch of Barbudo(“Puerta del Barbudo”). The reason is given by the Portuguese Martín Yánez de la Barbuda, Master of the Order of Alcántara, who in 1394 passed through it with a large army to fight against the Muslims from Granada, being defeated and killed.

It is also the gate through which Jorge Manrique and his allies are supposed to have entered in the fight against Diego Fernández de Córdoba.

Through this gate, built in masonry, opening an opening with a semicircular arch of radial voussoirs and narrow ashlar jambs, one entered the Barbacana , a defensive space that remained between the walls.

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Jabalquinto palace

This Palace (which today is the headquarters of the International University of Andalusia) was ordered to be built at the end of the 15th century by Juan Alfonso de Benavides Manrique, Lord of Jabalquinto, whose son Manuel married Luisa Manrique, daughter of our beloved warrior poet.

This family bond is the fact that links Jorge Manrique with this space in Baeza. When the author visited the city, he was a guest at the Palace on more than one occasion. A family relationship that compelled him to take part in the fight against Diego Fernández de Córdoba, being defeated and imprisoned for a time Baeza.

The most striking thing about this Palace is the majestic Elizabethan Gothic decoration of its main façade, where its beautiful windows and prominent diamond points stand out. The patio with two floors of semicircular arches on slender columns is also sumptuous.