The Bridge of Pardon
and the Knights of the 'Quiñones' of Segovia
The military leaders Fernán García and Día Sanz, who were responsible for the conquest of Madrid in 1085, formed the 'Association of the Knights of the 'Quiñones' (or lands) of the City of Segovia' in order to occupy and resettle the territory near the town, and in their repopulating zeal they reached as far as the Lozoya valley.
This association was a genuine militia made up of more than one hundred mounted lancers, who meted out justice by the summary methods of the gallows and the knife; when they captured some wrongdoer he was led in manacles to the Casa de la Horca, (the House of the Gallows, which still stands on the left side of El Paular at the foot of the Cabeza Mediana mountain) where they were swiftly punished. If the prisoner was reprieved, he would not be told so, but when they reached the Bridge of Pardon (Puente del Perdón) where the road to the Morcuera mountains crosses the Lozoya River, he was set free; otherwise he went on to a certain and inevitable fate.
The current bridge dates from the 18th century, and is also known as the Bridge of Pardon. It is in the Baroque style and is built of granite blocks with three arches with semicircular belvederes on opposites sides and stone benches against the parapets, and was used for meetings by the local representatives who administered justice, thus eliminating the need to appeal to higher authorities and showing itself to be a worthy successor to that other medieval bridge built in 1302, (even before the Carthusian monastery which was the origin of the current Monastery of El Paular), which was the mute witness to the summary justice dispensed by the 'Knights of the Quiñones de Segovia'.
Alfonso X, in a document dated in Guadalajara in 1273, granted special privileges to the medieval hostels and their custodians who gave shelter to those brave travellers who dared to risk the journey from one plateau to the other, crossing over mountain passes which were at that time extremely dangerous due to the presence of bands of renegade Muslims from Toledo, who continued to inhabit the area right up to the 12th century. They lived by pillage, and took refuge in the wild and remote valleys of Lozoya, attacking villages and ambushing travellers, and even reached as far as the outskirts of Segovia.
In 1442, the band of the Quiñones sold to the town of Segovia all their possessions, including fields, houses, mills and estates in the Lozoya valley for an annual income of 24,000 maravedis, although in 1676 this amount was reduced to 10,000 maravedis, and in 1730 this association of ancient medieval nobility finally died out. However, the bridge continued to be used for what had been its its original purpose since the Middle Ages.
