[Gocamino] Santiago's, El Cid's and Alexander's horses

[blaroli@aol.com]

When I read the posting mentioning el Cid's horse I knew that I would get oodles of messages in response, but it was too late to "unsend" it.
This is what I know:  Alexander's horse was named Bucephalus (head of an ox) and it was a black, scarily wild stallion. Alexander impressed his father, Philip, by using psychology in taming the horse where Philip had thought the horse incurably unstable. Alexander was twelve years old and was never parted from the horse from that moment on. He rode the horse to Asia and through countless battles until the horse died of battle wounds at the age of 21.  Alexander was inconsolable and founded the city of Bucephala (the modern town of Jhelum in Pakistan) in memory of his horse whom he declared "the greatest and bravest general in history".
After the death of the horse Alexander never fought another battle.  Plutarch and others wrote that Alexander became despondent, disengaged, dissolute, took to drink and died not long after.
The History Channel (or National Geographic?) has shown a wonderful documentary concluding that because of his historical position, his extraordinariness and his own brooding nature, the only emotional attachment that Alexander allowed himself was that to his horse.  The documentary mentions that this would be difficult to understand by most people, and that such is the reason why so much silliness and ridiculous theories (and movies) have been woven around Alexander emotional proclivities.  The documentary is very beautiful, and, throughout, you see Alexander and his horse through images dissolving into shadows.
Unlike mighty Bucephalus , El Cid's horse, Babieca, was a puny, shy, and sickly looking white Andalucian foal. The word Babieca (Bobao in Portuguese,  Bobo in modern Spanish), does not have a fair equivalent in English that I know. It  means less than stupid and more than silly, and it can be used in an affectionate or derogatory manner.  The word was actually used by El Cid's godfather, who was a monk and made him a gift of the horse, , as a reproach to El Cid himself for choosing such an unpromising specimen. Babieca grew into a sterling example of that magnificent race of Andalucian horses (greatly distinguished and honored in our own times). Babieca became a formidable warrior and carried El Cid into battle for more than thirty years. Several towns named after him disclose the respect and affection that El Cid and his army had for the horse.
Unlike Bucephalus, Babieca survived his master by two years and died at the unusually long age, for a horse, of forty years. No one ever rode him again and he was lovingly taken care of by El Cid's wife, Donha Ximena.  In his will El Cid had requested that Donha Ximena and Babieca, upon their demise, be buried with him at the Monastery of San Pedro of Cardenha; because of the many wars in the Iberian peninsula the bodies of the three were moved around quite a bit until they were finally interred at the very center of the lovely Cathedral of Burgos where all three rest today. 
While there are no known authentic statues of Bucephalus (or Alexander, for that matter), there are several great statues of El Cid and Babieca. In Burgos there is a grand one outside the entrance of the Cathedral and another one, particularly impressive, at the entrance of the bridge, which is lined with bronze statues of medieval people, leading to the post office on the other side of the bridge.
Not to be left behind, New York City,  which is, in its way, all things to all people, has an impressive bronze statue of El Cid and Babieca. It was created by the formidable sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington and it is located in front of the Hispanic Society of the United States at the Audubon terrace in Washington Heights, near Columbia university.
Santiago's white horse was thought to be a female horse for a long time.... Perhaps to remove the image of Santiago from the unflattering connotations of "machismo". A "macho", in biological terms in Spanish, is the hybrid male offspring of a horse and a donkey, unable to reproduce and perennially aggressive and restless (to make up for inferiority?); at any rate, it is not a complimentqry rubric; for centuries Santiago's horse was a female specimen referred to either as "Blanca" (white) or "Santa" (holy).  After the reconquest, and through the euphoria of the occupation of America, etc., somehow the name and gender of the horse disappeared from history and lore.  Today, if we focus our binoculars on the very white horse of the Matamoros image located above the main altar in Santiago, we will see that the horse is most show-offishly male and, curiously, has no name.
Lastly....., no, I'm not a "horse" person in  the least. Just a compulsive reader of history and things Santiago.
 
I should like to add, for those of you that will commence the Via de la Plata, that a few kilometers from Seville, in Jerez de la Frontera, there is the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre (Royal Andalucian School of Equestrian Arts), where they have shows of the magnificint "dancing" horses twice a week.  The famous "Spanish Riding School in Vienna" with its Lipizzaners (of Andalucian descent) has nothing on the Riding School in Jerez.  They are both undoubtedly magnificent, more than anyone can say. But getting tickets to the one in Vienna is extremely difficult and expensive, whereas to see the show in Jerez all you need do is show up at the ticket office half an hour before the performance.  It is very much worth it spending an extra day in Seville to see such a great exhibition of the beauty and nobility of horse and rider when they click.  You can ask the people at your hotel/albergue/hostal about it, or look up the exhibition times in the Net.  You'll be awfully g!
 lad you did.
 
Regards,
 
Rosina
 
    
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