Monastery of Santa Cruz de Castañeda
Collegiate of Castañeda / Chastanieta / Castanneta
(Castañeda, Cantabria)
This monastery, and later collegiate church, is one of the least documented in the region, considering the importance it should have and the architectural remains that are still preserved. The reason for this historical obscurity lies in the loss of all its documentation due to successive fires it suffered (between 1560 and 1807) and the scarcity of documents that could have been preserved in other archives of institutions that might have been related to it.
Like other monasteries, this house would have been founded during the period of repopulation of this territory by the Asturian monarchy, around the 8th-9th-10th centuries. It is not until 1092 that an abbot of Castañeda, Iohannes, is mentioned in a property exchange with the monastery of Santa María de Puerto (Santoña). Some other references are found in the following years, but very few. In any case, it is believed that its history would be parallel to that of other nearby collegiate churches, such as Elines or Cervatos: an ancient monastery or canonical institution that later became a collegiate church.
The name of Abbot Munio Gonzáles († 1331) is also known thanks to the preservation of his tomb. The monastery was suppressed in 1541 by Pope Paul III and was converted into a collegiate church, a title by which it is still known. Its revenues were added to those of San Miguel of Aguilar de Campoo, also a collegiate church. Today, a church with a complex layout is preserved due to its modifications: starting from an original single nave from the 11th-12th centuries, additional naves and other annexed constructions were added. It has lost one of the three apses it once had.
Capital with harpies
Capital with hunting centaur
Sepulchre of Abbot Munio Gonzáles
Calvary (15th century)
Illustration from Semanario Pintoresco españolm (1857)
- ASSAS, M. de (1857). La Colegiata de Castañeda. Semanario Pintoresco español
- BAUDRILLART, Alfred (1949). Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques. Vol. 11. París: Letouzey et Ané
- BRUEL, Alexandre... (1894). Recueil des chartes de l'abbaye de Cluny. Tome 5. París: Imprimerie nationale
- EÁLO DE SÁ, María (1978). El románico de Cantabria en sus cinco colegiatas. Santander: Diputación de Santander
- GARCÍA GUINEA, Miguel Ángel; dir. (2007). Enciclopedia del Románico en Cantabria. Aguilar de Campoo: Fundación Santa María la Real
- SERRANO, Luciano (1935). El Obispado de Burgos y Castilla primitiva. Desde el siglo V al XIII. Vol. 2. Madrid: Inst. Valencia de Don Juan
In Socobio, southeast of Torrelavega