Fuenterrabía demonstrated its great defensive power during the battles of the early 16th century, culminating in 1524 when the Castilian troops managed to recover it from the Franco-Navarrese army. In 1539 Charles V visited the damaged fortifications of Fuenterrabía, and shortly afterwards sent Captain Luis Pizaño to supervise the works in this square and in those of San Sebastián and Pamplona. One of the first actions was to raise the bastion of La Reina and the bastion of San Nicolás in 1545, partially modernising the fortified enclosure of the square.
During the reign of Philip II, work continued in the north of the peninsula, especially in Pamplona. These amazing works temporarily withdrew the focus of attention from Fuenterrabía, and its improvement work ceased until 1572, when a section of the old wall collapsed due to lack of maintenance. This caused Philip II to order his engineer Jacobo Palear Fratín to carefully analyse the square and give his verdict, which turned out to be rather unfavourable.
Under the king’s command, Fratín undertook a major reform project and numerous repairs. The aim was to extend the bastion in order to gain artillery capacity against the French in the east and to cover possible access from the sea. Although Fratín’s official layout is not available, the correspondence between the engineer and the Court has been analysed and a virtual reconstruction of the shape of the proposed plan has been made.

Collection: Images

Project: 3. Rural world and urban world in the formation of the European identity., 6. Under a cloak of terror: violence and armed conflict in Europe.

Chronology: XVI

Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University

Link: http://www.tiemposmodernos.org/tm3/index.php/tm/article/view/1282

Resource type: Image

Format: Map

Source: Echarri, V. y Yáñez, R. T. (2016). "Bastión y ciudad: Los proyectos para las fortificaciones de Fuenterrabía a finales del siglo XVI", en Tiempos modernos, nº 32, p. 99.

Language: Spanish

Date: 2016

Owner: Roberto José Alcalde López (Modernalia)

Copyright: ©Tiempos Modernos ©Víctor Echarri Iribarren ©Roberto T. Yáñez Pacios

Abstract: Plan proposed by Fratín to reinforce Fuenterrabía according to correspondence with the Cortes in the 16th century

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