Medieval legend - Luarca, Asturias, España - Weird Story Locations on Waymarking.com

From the coasts of Algiers and Tingitania a small fleet of Berber pirates had risen from the coasts of Algiers and Tingitania to our Cantabrian seas, who, with their continuous incursions, had frightened all the towns of the coast from Avilés to Navia. The Barbary ships, smaller, more agile, and lighter than the great ships of the king's fleet, continually escaped all pursuits, and it seemed impossible to ever stop them. The pirate fleet was commanded by a Moor named Cambaral, famous for the extreme cruelty that he showed in his assaults and for the ingenuity of his attacks. Between his skill as captain and the characteristics of his vessels, it was certainly difficult to capture even any of the ships that made up the flotilla.

Tired of the outrages committed by the Berbers, the lord of the fortress of Luarca, also known as La Atalaya, decided that it was time to end them and that, given the failure of the royal fleet, a new strategy was necessary to facilitate its capture. Embarking their strongest and most seasoned warriors in simple fishing boats, well disguised among their gear and gear, they went out to sea to wait for the Berber fleet to appear. A few miles from Luarca, they went fishing with the intention that the Moors would see them as easy booty and that they would confidently assault them.

Indeed, as soon as the Barbary ships appeared and saw the fishing boats, they launched their attack. But what would not be their surprise, as soon as they approached them, they saw that dozens of perfectly armed warriors came out of them and prepared for the boarding, and that it was the innocent boats that attacked them and not the other way around, as they had. provided. The combat was long and bloody, but the surprise and maneuverability of the nacelles gave the Luarqueses all the advantage.

Cambaral was taken prisoner, loaded with chains, and taken to the fortress of La Atalaya, in whose dungeons they locked him up without even treating his wounds. While the lord of Luarca and his allies celebrated the triumph and prepared the dispatches to announce the good news to the king, the lord's daughter, a beautiful maiden with a generous spirit and a great heart, asked permission to heal her wounds and went to the dungeons. .

There was little light there, but, it seems, she did not need them at all, because it was to see each other, even in the shadows, to suggest between them the purest love.
Despite the injuries, or perhaps for themselves, Cambaral began to feel what all his forays had hidden from him: that he was an orphan at heart, that his misdeeds had never and would never prevent him, that he could find rest and peace, at last, in this love that was offered to him. The lord's daughter, who had never felt the pangs of noble love, healed her wounds almost with veneration, but also with a grief that gripped her, because knowing her father well, she knew what the fate of Cambaral was going to be and, for hence, more than likely, yours.

In that semi-darkness they declared their love for each other and made grandiose promises with which new lovers adorn adversity. But when Cambaral recovered from his wounds, his audacity and ingenuity, which had served him so well in his journeys along all the coasts, from Algiers to the Cantabrian Sea, re-emerged in him, and he planned the escape of both. . It was a wild flight, practically without any chance of success, but the eyes of the lovers did not come but the moment in which his love could finally unfold, hurt itself with his kisses, consummate itself in his passion. They saw nothing but that determination when they descended towards the port from the fortress, hiding in the corners, running hastily and searching, already on the docks, for Cambaral's ship, which, fast and agile as it was, would direct them towards herself.

However, the lord of the fortress had already been warned of the escape and, with a detachment of troops, was waiting for the lovers in the port. There their dreams ended and they put all those promises that had been made to the test; Seeing flight impossible, Cambaral embraced the daughter of the Lord of Luarca; they both looked at each other as if they were saying something that cannot be said (love that is born in the dark, in the dark dies); They both kissed as if they could never kiss again (the lips will never dream again) ... And so it was that Mr. de Luarca, mad with anger, unable to bear that kiss that for him was blasphemy, in one cut, cut off both heads, which went to slip away, in their final kiss, to the cold waters of the port, just where years later the so-called Bridge of the Kiss would rise.

The legend of Cambaral has left a great mark on the town of Luarca. The fishing district bears his name and the Cambaral Alto is usually distinguished within it, which is where the fortress would have been (today, in its place, there is a monument, called, precisely, the Mesa de Cambaral),

Type: Ghost Stories and Local Haunts Referenced in (list books, websites and other media): Not listed Additional Coordinates: Not Listed Website Reference: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/29/2021 Ariberna visited it