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