Bastiones - History Lab

Project to fortify Pamplona in 1756

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:25 +0000

Pamplona was a key place on the Spanish-French border from the beginning of the 16th century, being fortified on several occasions as artillery was introduced as a military warfare technique. The bastions were key to this task, simulating the great works of the citadel of Antwerp in 1567 and making Pamplona the first pentagonal citadel on the Peninsula.
During the 17th century, the difficulties in financing undertakings such as these meant that little work was done on the cities in the north of the peninsula. With the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War, the pressing need to fortify large fortifications in this area led Juan Martín Zermeño to be commissioned to draw up a series of projects in strategic locations such as Pamplona. The importance of this enclave led to a revision and modernisation of the previous works of Rez and especially Verboom in 1726, maintaining part of their objectives and working on the basis that the works were already well advanced. Zermeño’s modernisation came from proposals such as raising the bastions and varying the structure of the fort proposed by Verboom to give the defence a staggered form.

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The fortifications of Fuenterrabia around 1535

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:18 +0000

Once the conquest of Granada was over, the Catholic Monarchs took measures to protect the north of Spain in the face of a possible confrontation with the French troops, and this work was discontinued until the reign of Philip V in the 18th century. From Philip II onwards, major changes were introduced in the corps of engineers who would work for the crown, with technical training being promoted at the Academy of Mathematics in Madrid and not depending almost exclusively on importing these figures from abroad.
In July 1725, the engineer Jorge Próspero de Verboom arrived in Pamplona to work on the fortification of enclaves such as San Sebastián, Fuenterrabía and Pamplona. One of his most striking actions were his corrections to the engineer Luis de Langot in Fuenterrabía, introducing a whole system of outer forts and redoubts in strategic places, transforming Langot’s proposals to such an extent that it could practically be considered an independent project that would transform the square forever.
In this case, the importance of the enclave can already be seen graphically during the reign of Charles V, a time when some fortresses in the north of the peninsula such as San Sebastián and other coastal cities such as Mallorca or Cádiz continued to be reinforced. The post-medieval wall of Fuenterrabía would be attached to an interior defensive tower, it sat on a hill 250 metres in diameter and with the Bidasoa River covering its western part, it was in a strategically fundamental place.

The post The fortifications of Fuenterrabia around 1535 first appeared on History Lab.

View of the town square of Fuenterrabía, its surroundings, and the state of the French camp, in the siege of 1638

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:18 +0000

During the second half of the 16th century, the fortification of Fuenterrabía was redesigned by the military engineer Jacobo Palear Fratín, designing a pentagonal citadel in the same style as the one built in Pamplona, enveloping the existing medieval defensive belt with a modern one to allow for a larger scale and artillery capacity. The medieval wall was preserved mainly due to the conditioning factors of the terrain, as it could not be directly adapted to the new needs.
The original elevation of the fortress made it impossible to establish surfaces suitable for the armament needs of the time. Successive bastions were built around the medieval wall, until the middle of the 17th century when Fuenterrabía was besieged by French troops and work was rushed, leaving the enclosure with the characteristics that can be seen in the representative image from 1638.

The post View of the town square of Fuenterrabía, its surroundings, and the state of the French camp, in the siege of 1638 first appeared on History Lab.

Royal engineer Fratín’s project for Fuenterrabía in 1572

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:18 +0000

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.

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