For many Madrid is not the first pick of any city in Spain, but for author Linda Jaivin, it was the only choice for her latest commission, The Shortest History of Madrid.
During her research, Jaivin also uncovered that much of modern Madrid had its foundations in theatre and literature.
“It’s a more shadowy and mysterious city, and it has an incredible depth,” Jaivin said. “There was just something about Madrid that captures me.”
In the book, Jaivin traces the foundation of Madrid from an early neolithic settlement to a short-lived Roman settlement in 218 AD.
Later came the arrival of the Visigoths, and a couple of hundred years later, the Muslims arrived, marking the foundations of the city settlement around 800AD.
“The first proper settlement in that area was a Muslim one with a number of defensive walls, that were later used as building material for new streets and buildings,” Jaivin said.
After a couple of hundred years, Christians settled the area and the miracles began to happen, particularly to Isidro, the future patron saint of Madrid.
It is said that angels helped Isidro to plough his fields when he needed to pray, but for Jaivin, the legend of the Muslim walls and a statue has particular allure.
“Legend has it that a statue of the Virgin was put inside a wall, and after the reconquest (Christian) happened, it was rediscovered hundreds of years later and the candles were still burning,” Jaivin said.
By the late 1400s the Christians began expelling first the Jews, and then Muslims who refused to convert. It was in the mid 1500s that the Hapsburg Felipe II makes Madrid the capital of Spain.
Fifty years later Cervantes publishes the first part of Don Quixote, paving the way for the enormous contribution the Spanish language would make to the world.
“Don Quixote was really the first novel in western literature, and it was an instant success among the literate, but there weren’t many of them,” Jaivin said.
Taverns were painted red so that the population knew what they sold. Around the same time Lope de Vega, one of the world’s most popular playwrights, began to formalise Spanish theatre.
“He was the Shakespeare of Spain, and Shakespeare was jealous of him, as de Lope was the founder of the Spanish theatrical tradition, and insanely prolific writing more than 1,000 plays and creating something like 20,000 characters,” Jaivin said.
In Madrid, at the time, the first theatres were in courtyards of apartment blocks, and people would stand to watch the plays. Later, benches were introduced, and because the plays were in the afternoon and the sun was hot, awnings were added.
“He contributed to the Spanish language in the way that Shakespeare did,” Jaivin said. “There’s something magical about a place that loves theatre.”
A contemporary of de Lopes was Maria de Zayas, who wrote of woman and their places and challenges within 17th century Spanish society.
Politically Spain would create its place at home and the world with its empire that required numerous wars to expand and defend. Its favouring of conservative or authoritarian leaders would pave the way for the rise of the ultra-conservative dictator Franco in the twentieth century.
Franco represented the incredibly strict and puritanical side of Catholic authoritarianism, but by the 1970s the people were sick of him. In the 70s Pedro Almodovar arrived in Madrid from a small town in the provinces.
Obviously queer, he soon found a home in the queer community that was beginning to coalesce around a working class neighbourhood called Chueca.
“In the 70s there had been a lot of drug use, and Chueca had been hit hard,” Jaivin said. “After Franco died in 1975 there was an explosion of youth culture, and Almodovar was right in the middle of it. He really brought gay and trans cultures into the mainstream, and became the pride of Madrid.”
Another outsider is the writer, feminist, poet and activist, Alana S Porteno, whose first novel “Bad Habits” tells of her experience growing up trans in a working class suburb of Madrid.
Writing The Shortest History of Madrid was a learning experience for Jaivin, not only researching the history of the city, but also in mastering the language.
“I began learning Spanish nine years ago because I have a Spanish partner, but I accelerated the reading part when I got this commission,” Jaivin said.
The Shortest History of Madrid is thoroughly researched, crisply written and an easy read that covers the enormous arc of development for one of the most dynamic cities in Europe.
Black Inc now have around 35 titles in their ‘Shortest History’ series, with world wide sales totalling over half a million copies.
The Shortest History of Madrid is published by Black Inc. and available from all great booksellers including QBD Books.
Images: The Shortest History of Madrid – courtesy of Black Inc. | Linda Jaivin – photo by Anna Hay
Review: John Moyle