| It was once said that if you have ever | | | | deal was brokered whereby Gaunt's daughter |
| visited Galicia to go to Santiago de | | | | would marry the heir to the throne of |
| Compostela and thought of leaving without | | | | Castile. The Castilian king came up with |
| seeing Corunna you were making a massive | | | | enough compensation for Gaunt (obviously the |
| mistake. | | | | hand of his daughter in marriage to his son |
| | | | was an uneven deal) and thankfully Gaunt |
| Because of the fine natural harbour, Corunna | | | | returned to England (via Corunna) with honour |
| has always been a fairly major regional | | | | satisfied. |
| "place of importance" and this has continued | | | | |
| down through the ages. | | | | Again in later years, Corunna was witness |
| | | | again to another arrival of interfering |
| In ancient times it was used by the Celts and | | | | European royalty when after Gaunt's |
| Phoenicians before becoming an important | | | | great-granddaughter, the Catholic monarch |
| Roman port, Ardobicum Coronium. It's trading | | | | Isobel died, Phillip the Fair from Flanders |
| relations on a see spread far and wide and | | | | decided to try his luck in 1506 and claim the |
| Corunna remains a major port. It is the | | | | Castilian throne from Fernando. |
| westernmost member of the Hermandad de las | | | | |
| Marismas, a trading league formed in 1926 | | | | Again in later generations the transport of |
| along hanseatic lines. | | | | royalty came to the fore with this time, |
| | | | Philip II deciding to use Corunna as |
| Corunna was always the port in north western | | | | embarkation point before travelling to |
| Spain that had the leading contact with | | | | England to marry Mary at Winchester. As |
| British sailors who referred to it often as | | | | history has shown this was obviously a major |
| "the Groyne". It was the obvious choice for | | | | success in terms of International Relations |
| disembarkation for British pilgrims wishing | | | | because 34 years later he tried to repeat the |
| to visit Santiago de Compostela and the tomb | | | | same exercise this time with 130 ships and |
| of St James, This route fast became known as | | | | 30,000 men. The Spanish Armada thus sailed |
| the Camino Ingles and was actually the | | | | from Corunna but sadly as again history will |
| easiest of all of the routes to Santiago | | | | tell with not much in the way of success. |
| (especially when the weather was benign in | | | | |
| the Bay of Biscay). | | | | Of all of the tales of Corunna and the sea |
| | | | perhaps the most appealing is that of Maria |
| As a point of entry to Northern Spain, | | | | Pita. In 1507 a force of English ships led by |
| Corunna as has been said has always been of | | | | the then Frances Drake (in his former and |
| significance. In 1386 the English prince John | | | | perhaps true guise of Buccaneer) landed at |
| of Gaunt, son of Edward III decided to invade | | | | Corunna and attempted to raise the town to |
| and avenge the murder of his brother in law | | | | the ground by way of fire. A girl from the |
| Pedro I. He landed in Corunna and after what | | | | town, Maria Pita, seized an English flag and |
| eventually turned out to be a farcical march | | | | rallied the townsfolk to not only repel the |
| through Galicia, thankfully for all parties | | | | buccaneering English invaders but also |
| concerned common sense prevailed and peace | | | | managed to save the town as well. |