1669 - A Map of Gibraltar - Section 6
Above Camp Bay. See Section 5
hh. “hh. La Caleta de los Remedios”
Camp Bay. See Section 5
Yes, but where exactly? Menni's plan is not at all clear as to where they might have been found. Are they along cliffs of the coast line or higher up the mountain? And if so, where? They do not appear on any of Bravo's maps but can be seen on earlier 17 century plan shown bellow.
As regards the word “Tarfe", Portillo appears to use it as the name of the southern plateau once known as the Puesto de los Bueyes, now called Windmill Hill.
Por la parte alta de estas huertas al Oriente esta un buen pedazo de monte a quien decimos el Tarfe, nombre Morisco . . .
Others tend to use the plural “Tarfes” when referring to both Windmill Hill and Europa Flats. the two southern plateaux of the Rock. Ignacio Lopez de Ayala writing in the late 18th century describes it relatively clearly as:
Por la parte alta de las huertas i acia el medio dia hubo gran espacio de monte, que nombraban los Tarfes - denominación morisca. . . Divídanse en dos: Tarfes baxos: Tarfes altos. Las viñas que corrían hasta la caleta del Laudero , el corral de Fez, i la virgen de Europa, estaban en los primeros; i los segundos o los altos eran las partes más baxas de la sierra.
Even earlier than that Pedro Barrantes Maldonado in his "Dialogos" published in 1566:
Dende esta caleta del Laudero, que es por do entraron los turcos, (in 1540) va el muro derribado y las torres caldas, dando la vuelta hacia el Levante, por partes llanas, hasta ir á afrontar con el pié de la sierra, que llaman el Tarfe,
Finally the mention of “atarfes” in the 1502 archival material shown below is probably the oldest extant example of any of the versions of this word in so far as Gibraltar is concerned.
The above translates roughly as follows:
The Catholic Monarchs (RR.CC – Reyes Católicos) order the councils of the Kingdom of Granada and of the archbishoprics of Seville and the bishoprics of Cordoba, Jaén and Cadiz that whenever anyone is condemned to exile they should be sent to the “atarfes” of Gibraltar so that they may settle there.
The entry also perhaps reveals something else that may have little to do with Menni's map but is in my opinion of historical interest.
When Ferdinand IV of Castile took Gibraltar in 1309, he found it extremely difficult to get people to settle there and was more or less forced to issue a decree that included paragraphs such as the following:
Otrosí: Todo home qualquier malfechor que sea, salvo trahídor, segund dicho es de suso que en Gibraltar morara año y día, quier que sea vetsíno quier no, que le sea perdonada la nuestra justicia, salvo faciendo el maleficio en la dicha Gibraltar . . .
The Castilians soon lost Gibraltar to Islam but by 1462 it was back in Christian hands. The man in charge, Enrique IV of Castile was now faced with a similar problem and was more or less forced to issue letters patent that decreed all sorts of unusually generous privileges to those willing to live there. It included the following:
. . . it is therefore, by my favour, that the present dwellers therein, and those who may hereafter reside there, may pasture their cattle, plough, sow, plant vines, and make gardens in the district of Algeciras and that no persons whatsoever belonging to other towns or places . . . shall dare to cut wood in the district of the said City of Gibraltar . . . except those who now live or hereafter may live in the said City . . . (my translation)
In 1474 by which time the Guzmán family had once again taken control of Gibraltar, the problem of getting people to populate the place had not gone away. In fact it was made worse when Don Enrique de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia and Count of Niebla sold the Rock to the converso Pedro de Herrera. As a result the entire civilian population was displaced and the town was repopulated by Jews from Cordoba.
To make matters even worse, two years later, Guzmán compounded the problem. He changed his mind and cleared the town of its newly settled Jewish population of some 4000 souls.
By my reckoning the document in the archives of the town of Carmona appears to confirm that the Catholic Monarchs inherited a long-standing problem on the 22nd of December 1501, the day in which Isabel I of Castile decreed that Gibraltar had become crown property.
Appears to be a mistake. See Section 4 and 5 - and I still don't know what "aljauli" means.
With many thanks to my digital friend Rafael Fernández. Without his endless help and advice I would not have been able to write these essays on Octavio Menni's map of Gibraltar.