Village of Witches' Which Has Been Cursed by the Catholic Church
A village which has been cursed by the Catholic Church and which is really obscure in the present day has been brought to limelight.
Nestled in the foothills of the Macayo Mountains, in Aragon, Spain,
lies a quaint village plagued by a curse so strong that only the Pope
can lift it.
Trasmoz was once a bustling settlement with a population of around
10,000 people, but today it numbers only 62 inhabitants, of which only
30 live there permanently.
For many, the downfall of Trasmoz has a lot to do with the curse
placed on the village by the Catholic Church centuries ago and the
stigma associated with witchcraft.
Its history is riddled with legends of witches and pagan rituals,
and even the ruined castle at its center is said to have been built in a
single night by a magician called MutamÃn. How many of these stories
are true, and how many are simple rumors spread by the Church to justify
its actions is left to interpretation.
Lola Ruiz Diaz, the custodian of Trasmoz Castle says that the
rumors of witchcraft practiced in the once prosperous village were
started by the occupants of the castle as a ruse. Back in the 13th
century, they had started forging fake coins, and to keep the locals
from investigating the constant scraping and hammering, they started
telling storied about witches and mages rattling chains and forging
cauldrons to brew potions in. Their plot worked, and since then, the
village of Trasmoz has been seen as a haven for witchcraft.
But while this rumor may have benefited the coin makers, it also
gave the Church a reason to exact revenge. In the 13th century, Trasmoz
was a thriving community full of iron and silver mines, as well as
plentiful wood and water reserves. Unlike its neighbors, it was also a
secular settlement, which meant it didn’t have to pay dues or taxes to
the nearby Monastery of Veruela. This angered the Church, so when rumors
of witches practicing pagan rituals started to spread, the bishop of
Veruela seized the opportunity to punish the entire village by
requesting that the that the archbishop of Tarazona excommunicate it.
That meant that residents of Trasmoz were no longer allowed to go to
confession or take the holy sacraments at the Catholic church.
Instead of repenting – the only way to remove the excommunication –
the people of Trasmoz continued their dispute with the Monastery of
Veruela, which almost ended in open war when the monastery started
diverting water from the village instead of paying for it. Pedro Manuel
Ximenez de Urrea, the Lord of Trasmoz, took up arms against Veruela, but
before actually going to battle, the matter was settled by King
Ferdinand II, who decided that Trasmoz had been wronged by the
monastery.
The Church never forgot this humiliating defeat, and continued to
propagate the rumors of witchcraft being practiced in Trasmoz. In 1511,
the abbot of Veruela – with explicit permission from Pope Julius II –
cast a powerful curse on the whole village and its descendants, by
chanting psalm 108 of the Book of Psalms, the most powerful tool the
Church possesses to pronounce a curse. Since the curse had been
sanctioned by a Pope, it could only be lifted by one, but to this day,
no Pope has done so. Trasmoz also remains the only Spanish community to
be excommunicated by the Catholic Church.
In the following years, Trasmoz fell into decline. The castle
burned in 1520 and remained in ruins for centuries, and after the Jews
were expelled from Spain in the 15th Century, the local population
dwindled. Today, only 62 sould still live in the village, half of which
are permanent residents. Most of the houses are in dire need of repairs
and the streets are always empty. There are no schools or shops in the
village.
The only upside to the legends of witchcraft associated with
Trasmoz is the impact they have had on tourism. Every year, hundreds of
tourists visit the tiny Spanish settlement to see this once bustling
witch haven, attend the local festival dedicated to witchcraft, and stop
by the small witch-themed museum set up in Trasmoz Castle.
- Sources: BBC, ABC.es, The Identity of Aragon
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