A Historical Look at Corunna

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