SANTA MARTA DE MAGASCA. HISTORY
With the archaeological and cultural remains of the area, we can take a chronological journey to discover the History of the lands of Santa Marta of Magasca.
· Protohistory
The first remains take us back to the Bronze Age. On the estate Valdehonduras, next to an old path, is the so-called "Stone of the Eagle", a petroglyph or engraving on a flat slate which is estimated to be from the middle or the end of the Bronze Age (1600-800 BC). Next, there is a space that would allow two seated persons to observe it with ease. Its function is not obvious; it may be a stellar interpretation. It is composed of 159 sketches and 40 crevices, standing out a foot form and an axe.
The oral tradition and the toponymy indicate to us that other three similar engravings might have existed in the surrounding areas of the current Santa Marta.
· Ancient History
In the Estate Pascualete, there was a thriving Roman village during the first centuries of our era. Its possible origin would be in the nearby mines of the Serafina, located in the Estate El Carrascalejo, that were taken advantage of by the Romans, up until the end of the 19th century.
In the palace of Pascualete, a civil building with a great beauty and an architectural and historical interest, numerous remains of the ancient Roman village (columns, windmills, reliefs, ashlars, etc.) have been reused as building material; we have to stand out several epigraphic inscriptions on altars and granite stelas (funerary, votive, etc.), whose chronology goes between the 1st century and the beginning of the 3rd.
· Middle Ages
Other Roman epigraphic inscriptions have been found in the surroundings, such as the area of the "Upper trigger" (from the 1st century), in the Estate Las Matallanas, halfway between Santa Marta and Sierra de Fuentes, today a flat area without vegetation; in the past there were dense meadows, wild olives and olive groves. Here you will find a post-Roman Visigoth archaeological site from the centuries 5th to 8th and beginning of the 9th. It was an agrarian village that had its own church and whose end came with the Arab conquest. The church was excavated in the 1980s, and half a hundred graves were found in its floor (eleven of them are granite sarcophagi, and in the central part there is a mausoleum that would correspond to the founder family of the church or to an important person); some of these graves had funerary objects (made of metal, ceramic and bones) such as earrings, rings, brooches or buckles. There were also an ossuary, a baptismal font, a cross with laurel, memorial stones, an altar in situ and numerous remains (jugs, liturgical pateras, architectural sculpture, columns, ceramics, epigraphic inscriptions, etc.). The remains of more than half a hundred bodies of different ages were exhumed.
The materials found are in the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Caceres and in the National Museum of Madrid.
All the area has the remains of the ancient buildings, as well as other lithic utensils such as manual mills, a large counterweight cylinder of a Roman olive press or an anthropomorphic tomb. It stands out the ruins of a roman dam 60 meters length, as well as a defensive tower from the Middle Ages, since in this period, once reconquered the territory to the Arabs, a feudal small town was rebuilt on the Visigoth’s ruins.
From the Visigoth period is very likely to have five anthropomorphic tombs excavated in the slate, located in the Estates Castrejón and Castrejoncillo, whose toponyms indicate some ancient occupation of forts. The tombs have 50-60 cm depth, about 180 cm length and 50 cm wide. There is not a trace of the gravestone that covered the tombs. The stone has been lowered with the shape of the head and the shoulders. One of them has the peculiarity of having a headboard at both ends.
From the period of Arab occupation, there are the remains of the Villeta del Azuquén, a town located at the confluence of the rivers Tozo and Almonte, whose origin is in the second Iron Age (400-150 BC), with a probable continuity during Roman times. It is occupied again in the 10th century, until the 13th century when it is abandoned. It stands out the well-preserved city wall, which has remains of opus spicatum (a sprig), with an 11 hectares-open area. It has 1520 meters of perimeter and is flanked by fifteen towers of unequal conservation. Outside there is the necropolis and a moat. It stands out an alquerque (a board game), engraved on a slate.
Also in the Estate El Herruz de Abajo, on the road to Monroy, there are remains of a possible Arab farmhouse, built on the remains of a small Roman villa.
· Modern Age
Throughout the 13th century, all the area is reconquered, with the occupation of the main squares. In the 14th century, the current town of Santa Marta is built by Christian settlers from the north of the country. At that time it was a small village dependent of Trujillo.
After the definitive conquest of Trujillo (1232), the hero of that conquest, Fernán Ruiz Altamirano, a Mozarab man who came out and entered the city disguised with a goatskin among the goats, was rewarded with the lands of Santa Marta. His grandson, Pascual Ruiz, inherited the land. Today an estate has his name. In addition, he built the farmhouse of Pascualete. From that time there are some Roman vestiges, such as the entrance arch to the estate, door and window frames.
These lands would be inherited by his granddaughter, María Sánchez de Torres. She married Alonso de Loaisa in 1438, a French officer who had come to Spain to serve the king. This couple builds the old church of Santa Marta, which may be considered as the foundation of the town. This woman, Mrs Maria, also began the celebration of the Candlemas.
The first explicit and written reference that we find of Marta, is dated 16th May 1485.
In 1559, Alvaro de Loaisa, the grandson of Alonso and Maria, pays a property tax to the king, acquiring the jurisdiction and civil rights of the population. From then on, the village becomes an Estate exempt from more taxes, and as an evidence of this, stands the jurisdictional statue that we can see in the Plaza Mayor (main square), with the emblem of the Loaisa.
This Estate was elevated to Marquisate in times of Philip V, in the middle of the 18th century. At this time, the village began to be called "Santa Marta" and later the geographic reference of "Magasca" (1916) was added, to differentiate it from other homonyms localities, although the oral tradition implies that today we say "Marta" when we talk about our locality.
· Contemporary Age
The references of Santa Marta from the late 18th and early 19th century described it as a small municipality (with 50-100 inhabitants) under precarious conditions. On the second half of the 19th century, numerous neighbours from other municipalities came to the village (mainly from the District Sierra de Montánchez and Tamuja) to work on the lands.
During the first half of the 20th century, the population will increase, reaching its peak in the fifties (1200 inhabitants). People will continue mostly working on the agriculture, so it will be inhabited by a multitude of families. In this period the breeding of the pig will proliferate in the commune that is why numerous farmyards and pigsties are made.
In the mid-20th century, the arrival of the development (light, water, sewerage, roads, paving, leisure infrastructures, telephone, etc.) will change the lifestyle; and the process of emigration toward the industrial regions is going to produce a gradual abandonment of the countryside and a strong loss of population.
In the second half of this century, new economic activities are created, such as the partridge’s farms or the famous Carpet Factory or the looms of Santa Marta.
In the early 1990s, the current emblem and the flag are approved. In recent years, the improvements in the communication systems and the roads, along with the creation and improvement of infrastructure (swimming pool, hostel, nursing home, water supply, leisure centre, gym, paddle tennis court, sports tracks, parks, etc.), have given to the municipality of better life quality and better services offer. Currently, the village has 300 inhabitants.
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