Santa Cruz de la Zarza
Encyclopedia
Santa Cruz de la Zarza, village and municipality
in the province of Toledo
, part of the autonomous community
of Castile-La Mancha
, Spain
, placed to the North-East of Mesa de Ocaña
called and to the south of the river Tagus
.
The most ancient remains of this villa go back to the second Age of the Iron, concretely to the necropolis of The Esperillas. It belonged to the commission of the Order of Santiago
. In it urban hull there is a great number of houses - palaces with profusion of lordly shields.
In any case, it seems that the toponym alludes, on the one hand, to the Order of Santiago (" the Holy Cross"); the bramble corresponds to a toponymic form own of the epoch of the repopulation later to the Reconquest, which is in the habit of using names of plants: Ajofrín
(garlic), Cebolla
(onion), Almendros
(Almond-trees), Perales (Peartrees) (Perales de Tajuña
, Perales del Río..), etc.
A last hypothesis aims that the toponym "Zarza" can be related to the group of toponyms derived from the Latin quercus "oak
", as Cerceda, Cercedilla, Cercedo, etc. Since quercus is a feminine name of 4 ª decline in Latin, bramble might derive from the form of the Latin quercea, "oak". Another possibility is that from the adjective querceus, " relative to the oak ", there comes the form of neutral plural *quercea, " abundant site(place) in oaks, grove of evergreen oaks ". The evolution would be Quercea> *Kercea> *Kercia> *Cerza> Zarza. Another information in favour of this hypothesis they would be the thick groves of evergreen oaks preserved in the surroundings of the municipality.
and it low part of gules
. To the stamp, closed Sunflower.
, in the border between Toledo
, Madrid
and Cuenca
far 85, 83 and 101 km of its provincial capitals respectively. Its length is 264.54 km2, and its altitude is 790 m
. Bordered by the municipalities of Villamanrique de Tajo
and Fuentidueña de Tajo
in the north, on the province of Madrid; Villarrubia de Santiago
and Villatobas
, the east; Corral de Almaguer
and Cabezamesada
, in the south; all of them in the province of Toledo; and Tarancón
, Zarza de Tajo
, Fuente de Pedro Naharro
and Horcajo de Santiago
, west, in the province of Cuenca
. The township is crossed by the River Tagus
. Its location in the northeastern part of the high plateau known as the Mesa de Ocaña offers from the top, with levels higher than 800 m
, one of the best perspectives on the valley Tagus
.
It can be seen Santa Cruz de la Zarza in Google Maps.
s and water for livestock.
/Continental
. The winters are cool, with average temperatures lower than 5°C, night frosts very frequent and occasional snowfall (three or four a year). The summers are hot, with average temperatures higher than 24°C in July and August, with peak can reach 35°C. The thermal oscillation daily is about 10°C.
Santa Cruz was yielded to the Military Order of Saint Jacques before 1175, when an "encomienda" was settled down, after the confirmation by Pope Alexander III.
Due to its increasing importance, in 1242, under the "maestrazgo" of Rodrigo Iñiguez, it became the Head of the "encomienda".
In 1253, the master Don Pelay Perez Correa granted to the village its Foundational Chart.
Their main celebrations take place at the end of August, in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in the province of Toledo
Toledo (province)
Toledo is a province of central Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Badajoz, Cáceres, and Ávila....
, part of the autonomous community
Autonomous communities of Spain
An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...
of Castile-La Mancha
Castile-La Mancha
Castile-La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain. Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, and Extremadura. It is one of the most sparsely populated of Spain's autonomous communities...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, placed to the North-East of Mesa de Ocaña
Mesa de Ocaña
Mesa de Ocaña is a comarca in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, in the province of Toledo. Its capital and administrative center is Ocaña. The comarca is located in the northeast part of the province, and encompasses an area that includes several hundred meters of the Tajo River Valley.The comarca is...
called and to the south of the river Tagus
Tagus
The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...
.
The most ancient remains of this villa go back to the second Age of the Iron, concretely to the necropolis of The Esperillas. It belonged to the commission of the Order of Santiago
Order of Santiago
The Order of Santiago was founded in the 12th century, and owes its name to the national patron of Galicia and Spain, Santiago , under whose banner the Christians of Galicia and Asturias began in the 9th century to combat and drive back the Muslims of the Iberian Peninsula.-History:Santiago de...
. In it urban hull there is a great number of houses - palaces with profusion of lordly shields.
Toponymy
According to account the legend, having to happen one day the Gothic king Recaredo, for the street of the Cava that to the season was in those days a covered rill of undergrowth, the neighbors gave fire to the brambles and between the flames, some cross of wood appeared without damage, after this fact, the village started be call Santa Cruz entre Zarzas, evolving later to the name that today has. Other sources affirm that the origin of the name of Santa Cruz de la Zarza can come from it geographical situation placed between two valleys and between these two valleys there was a mountain of bramble patches.In any case, it seems that the toponym alludes, on the one hand, to the Order of Santiago (" the Holy Cross"); the bramble corresponds to a toponymic form own of the epoch of the repopulation later to the Reconquest, which is in the habit of using names of plants: Ajofrín
Ajofrín
Ajofrín is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. As of 2008, it was home to 2328 inhabitants . Its name derives from the arabic Al-Ya'rar, or "the place of the Yafar or Jafar".-History:...
(garlic), Cebolla
Cebolla
Cebolla is a Spanish municipality of Toledo province, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Its population is 2,978 and it is 37 km², in area with a density of 80.5 people/km²....
(onion), Almendros
Almendros
Almendros is a municipality in Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It has a population of 311....
(Almond-trees), Perales (Peartrees) (Perales de Tajuña
Perales de Tajuña
Perales de Tajuña is a small town in Spain, in the province and autonomous community of Madrid, located about 40 km to the southeast of Madrid in the area known as the Comarca de Las Vegas. The municipality covers 48.92 km², has a population of 2,738 inhabitants and a population density of...
, Perales del Río..), etc.
A last hypothesis aims that the toponym "Zarza" can be related to the group of toponyms derived from the Latin quercus "oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
", as Cerceda, Cercedilla, Cercedo, etc. Since quercus is a feminine name of 4 ª decline in Latin, bramble might derive from the form of the Latin quercea, "oak". Another possibility is that from the adjective querceus, " relative to the oak ", there comes the form of neutral plural *quercea, " abundant site(place) in oaks, grove of evergreen oaks ". The evolution would be Quercea> *Kercea> *Kercia> *Cerza> Zarza. Another information in favour of this hypothesis they would be the thick groves of evergreen oaks preserved in the surroundings of the municipality.
Heraldry
The shield of Santa Cruz de la Zarza is formed by a field of silver, Latin Cross of saber supported in divided and cut brambles, being it top part of sinopleSinople
Sinople was a term for a kind of red earth used as a pigment in antiquity.It can refer to:*sinople, also sinoper, a term for "red", and later "green" in heraldry, see Sinople...
and it low part of gules
Gules
In heraldry, gules is the tincture with the colour red, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of vertical lines or else marked with gu. as an abbreviation....
. To the stamp, closed Sunflower.
Location
It is located in the northeast region of the province of ToledoToledo (province)
Toledo is a province of central Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Badajoz, Cáceres, and Ávila....
, in the border between Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and Cuenca
Cuenca (province)
Cuenca is a province of central Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha.-Guide to the area:Located in a natural setting of beauty, the Old Town of Cuenca occupies a superb site between two river gorges. Famous are its 15th Century "hanging houses" , that appear...
far 85, 83 and 101 km of its provincial capitals respectively. Its length is 264.54 km2, and its altitude is 790 m
M
M is the thirteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter M is derived from the Phoenician Mem, via the Greek Mu . Semitic Mem probably originally pictured water...
. Bordered by the municipalities of Villamanrique de Tajo
Villamanrique de Tajo
Villamanrique de Tajo is a municipality of the Community of Madrid, Spain....
and Fuentidueña de Tajo
Fuentidueña de Tajo
Fuentidueña de Tajo is a municipality of the Community of Madrid, central Spain.-Main sights:*Torre del Reloj*Torre de los Piquillos, one of the remains of the ancient Castle of Santiago...
in the north, on the province of Madrid; Villarrubia de Santiago
Villarrubia de Santiago
Villarrubia de Santiago is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 2,893 inhabitants....
and Villatobas
Villatobas
Villatobas is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 2,481 inhabitants....
, the east; Corral de Almaguer
Corral de Almaguer
Corral de Almaguer is a Spanish municipality of Toledo province, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Its population is 5.549 and its surface is 329 km², with a density of 16.9 people/km²....
and Cabezamesada
Cabezamesada
Cabezamesada is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 469 inhabitants....
, in the south; all of them in the province of Toledo; and Tarancón
Tarancón
Tarancón is a municipality located in the province of Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 12,696 inhabitants....
, Zarza de Tajo
Zarza de Tajo
Zarza de Tajo is a municipality in Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It has a population of 254....
, Fuente de Pedro Naharro
Fuente de Pedro Naharro
Fuente de Pedro Naharro is a municipality in Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It has a population of 1,211....
and Horcajo de Santiago
Horcajo de Santiago
Horcajo de Santiago is a municipality in Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It has a population of 3,517....
, west, in the province of Cuenca
Cuenca (province)
Cuenca is a province of central Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha.-Guide to the area:Located in a natural setting of beauty, the Old Town of Cuenca occupies a superb site between two river gorges. Famous are its 15th Century "hanging houses" , that appear...
. The township is crossed by the River Tagus
Tagus
The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...
. Its location in the northeastern part of the high plateau known as the Mesa de Ocaña offers from the top, with levels higher than 800 m
M
M is the thirteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter M is derived from the Phoenician Mem, via the Greek Mu . Semitic Mem probably originally pictured water...
, one of the best perspectives on the valley Tagus
Tagus
The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...
.
It can be seen Santa Cruz de la Zarza in Google Maps.
Natural Resources
In Santa Cruz de la Zarza there is a very important natural asset, presenting unique habitats that have been identified as priorities by the European directives. These are the areas declared as Sites of Community Importance (SCI's), as the steppes of Toledo saline or reservoir plaster in the Tagus valley. There are Areas of Special Protection for Birds (SPB's) in the steppe area north of the stain. For all its lengthy term there are numerous caves, mostly uninhabited, and a large number of oak groves, as well as a host of water wellWater well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
s and water for livestock.
Climate
The climate of Santa Cruz de la Zarza is MediterraneanMediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...
/Continental
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...
. The winters are cool, with average temperatures lower than 5°C, night frosts very frequent and occasional snowfall (three or four a year). The summers are hot, with average temperatures higher than 24°C in July and August, with peak can reach 35°C. The thermal oscillation daily is about 10°C.
History
The village was an important communications center from the Roman, Visigoth and Arab times, as well as a fortified site, given its dominant position over the Tajo valley.Santa Cruz was yielded to the Military Order of Saint Jacques before 1175, when an "encomienda" was settled down, after the confirmation by Pope Alexander III.
Due to its increasing importance, in 1242, under the "maestrazgo" of Rodrigo Iñiguez, it became the Head of the "encomienda".
In 1253, the master Don Pelay Perez Correa granted to the village its Foundational Chart.
Demography
According to the 2003 census its population is of 4,594 inhabitants. Its economy was formerly based on agriculture, mainly dedicated to the grapevine, olive trees and cereals, although it actually grows and moves more and more to the field of industry.Their main celebrations take place at the end of August, in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary.