Agés (Burgos) (0)

Did you know that... Agés

It is a local entity belonging to the Municipality of Arlanzón and is located in the geographical centre of a natural region crossed by the river Vena. The name of the village, has been used to name to the set of the localities that constituted a local council like holder of communal goods, eminently forest and that have arrived until today, known by Board of the Valley of Agés or Board of Valdeagés. The first written apparition on this rural nucleus dates from the year 944, when all this region is repopulated and colonized by the Christians, although its roots may well be previous and with pre-Romanesque, Basque or Arab settlers. In the year 972 it is mentioned as Fagere, which in Latin means beech or beech, although it can also derive from the Arabic fageg, which means the pilgrim.

A little more history

In the 11th century Agés was donated by King García of Navarre to Santa María la Real and this link with the monastery was extended until the 17th century. This fact and the struggle that took place in the Battle of Atapuerca, year 1054, between the kings García of Navarra and Fernando I of Castilla for the possession of diverse territories, like the Bureba and Oca, that turned Agés in the barracks of meeting of before the battle of the Navarrese king, motivated that the inhabitants of this zone were known like the Navarrese. Alfonso VII supported the construction of infrastructures in the area for the assistance and protection of pilgrims as they passed through here, which opened, in 1135, the road from Valdefuentes through San Juan de Ortega, Agés and Atapuerca to Burgos. With time, the town acquired the jurisdiction of realengo, with ordinary mayor.

What to see in Agés?

From an artistic point of view, the hamlet of this small village attracts attention for its tidy houses built in masonry and wood that give it a great attraction. And presiding over the village, the church of Santa Eulalia de Mérida, from the 16th century, but possibly built on top of another pre-Romanesque church which, under the same title, is already mentioned in the year 944, as it is known that in the Middle Ages, in the 10th century, Agés had a monastery church linked to Santa Eulalia de Mérida. On the beautiful façade that it has, the image of the Virgin in stone probably from the 13th century stands out and there is also a baroque belfry that was built with materials brought from the disappeared hermitage of San Román.

To discover

Agés, with a Romanesque bridge, which is said to have been built by San Juan de Ortega and a strategically located fountain, shows us its Jacobean tradition, in addition from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, it is documented, it had itself a hospital for pilgrims. An old washing place, a forge and a colt come to complete the visit to this beautiful village. Outside, on a small hill to the east of Agés, a hermitage built in the 18th century in honour of Our Lady of Rebollo, shows us its simplicity..

Festivities

The patron saint fiestas are held on 10 and 12 December in honour of Santa Eulalia. On Saturday, 23 August, in the municipality of Agés, they commemorate the historic battle between the kingdoms of Navarre and Castile, with a Medieval Market and Dinner.​.

Traditions

On a plain, outside the Way, between Agés and Atapuerca, a large two-metre high menhir marks the place where the battle between the two brothers, the Castilian King Fernando and the Navarrese Garcia el de Nájera took place, resulting in the death of the Navarrese. Above the boundary stone Fin de Rey, as this rock is known, there is an inscription that reads "Fin de Rey. García de Nájera. 1054". Well, the tradition of the place tells us that under a slab of the entrance of the church of Agés are buried the entrails of the king who died in battle.

Curiosities

The smithy, built in 1860, although recently restored, is part of the history and culture of this type of villages mostly agricultural and livestock and the people of Agés so values it because it remembers how in it the blacksmith helped the farmers to repair their tools and the neighbors paid in bushels of wheat. It was a totally artisan work, the welds were made by hammer blow and so that sparks jumped from the fire to eliminate the impurities of the iron, silica flour was thrown to it, right next to it, the colt reminds us how oxen and cows, tremendously heavy, more than 750 kilos, were immobilized to be able to shoe them and cure them with blue stone.