Madrid is an interesting city.
How it became the capital of Spain (remember that word, ‘capital’) is an interesting story as well.
There wasn’t much going on in Madrid back in the XVI Century. It counted with a small population and of course it wasn’t on the sea or even on a decent river (the Río Manzanares is almost always nothing more than a trickle, although in the last week it’s certainly true to say that it has reached its highest level in donkey’s years). Madrid’s main industries were of court, religious or political interest rather than making anything useful.
Other nations had their capital cities where they could enjoy good communications and better trade.
One of the city’s attractions for the Royal Family was the gigantic private hunting park, 16,000 hectares in size – which took up a full quarter of Madrid and which was and is to this day closed to the commoners: the Monte de El Pardo. There’s a huge palace there, General Franco was one of its tenants.
King Juan Carlos even built a house in the park for his lover Corinna Larsen, without anyone – including his Queen – being any the wiser.
The fence around the Monte de El Pardo is 66 kilometres long.
In 1561, when Madrid with its modest population of 20,000 became Spain’s capital city, there was no port, no industry, no commerce, no cathedral, no university, and no navigable river. But, on the bright side, there were plenty of fallow deer and stags for the king's enjoyment.
The previous Spanish capital, from 1519 to 1561, had been Toledo (it was also the country’s largest city), although it’s true to say that the seat of power has tended to jump about a bit along the Spanish timeline (including Seville - twice - in 1729 to 1733 and then again between 1808 and 1810), plus Cádiz, Córdoba and don’t forget Cangis de Onis in Asturias, where la Reconquista began, along with Valencia, Barcelona, Gerona, Figueras and Burgos – these last five during the Spanish Civil War), but from the point of view of the Monarchs, Madrid was far better suited (and they didn’t have to share the limelight with the Toledo bishops).
One of the cleverest of the grandees, back in the first half of the XVII Century, was Francisco de Sandoval y Rojas, the first Duque de Lerma. He is described as ‘the most powerful man during the reign of Philip III. He became immensely wealthy through his skill in corruption, influence peddling, and the sale of public offices’. Furthermore, he persuaded the king to move his court to Zaragoza in 1601 (having previously bought up most of the better real estate there) and then talked the king into returning his court back to Madrid in 1606, having been busy in the property market in that city too.
Some traditions in Spain are just too good to die.
The Duque ended up under a cloud, as sometimes happens when speculators are found out (viz, current events), but he built a large palace for himself in Lerma, a building which is now a Parador Hotel, to keep himself busy.
His elegant solution to his financial chicanery was to ask the Pope to make him a cardinal (senior churchmen had full immunity in those times, similar to that enjoyed by today’s politicians) giving rise to a popular saying:
‘To avoid the rope,
Spain’s greatest thief,
Pays off the Pope’.
“Para no morir ahorcado / el mayor ladrón de España / se viste de colorado”.
Again, it’s maybe safe to say, some things never change.