At first glance, Bailén is an Andalusian village like so many others with its small white houses, its hermitages and its cobblestone streets. However, the Church of La Encarnación stands out, it has been here more than five hundred years, and inside the remains of General Francisco Javier Castaños Aragorri are kept. With that, we can have an idea where we are.
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At first glance, Bailén is an Andalusian village like so many others with its small white houses, its hermitages and its cobblestone streets. However, the Church of La Encarnación stands out, it has been here more than five hundred years, and inside the remains of General Francisco Javier Castaños Aragorri are kept. With that, we can have an idea where we are.
It turns out that Bailén’s place in history books is due to a battle. Not just any battle, of course, but one that changed the course of Europe because in it the invincible Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated.
At that time, the Emperor’s troops were frightening: they had defeated the best of the Russian and Austrian armies, the Prussian iron men and anyone who crossed their path. So, with that record behind them, that July of 1808, the French regiments were advancing through the hot Andalusian lands knowing their strength.
But General Castaños had gathered twenty-seven thousand men and had racked his brains to find a way to get an advantageous confrontation. His initial idea was to face the invader in Andújar, but the Napoleonic soldiers moved unexpectedly towards Bailén.
The Spaniards stood, in the early hours of the morning, in front of the proud dragons and arrogant horsemen of the imperial army. Almost fifty-thousand soldiers fought at the gates of the village of Jaén, and Napoleon’s men were crushed. It is said that the intense heat on that July day had something to do with it. General Dupont surrendered at noon, and the news spread the following weeks through a Europe that could not believe it.
However, the conditions agreed between losers and winners were the source of another terrible story: while Dupont and his officers were allowed to return to France, the soldiers captured were abandoned in the inhospitable island of Cabrera, where they suffered the torment of hunger and thirst, and many of them left behind the life they had not lost on the battlefield. We could surely find a moral for this, but we are going to leave that to you. We only recommend listening to the audio guide of the island of Cabrera so that you can know the details.
Think in all these horrific things while you visit the historic village of Bailén. As we told you, despite what it may seem, it was in this Andalusian town where destiny began to turn its back on the ambitious Bonaparte.
We finish with a piece of advice: if the dates suit you, we want you to know that on the nineteen of July every year, the town’s festivities are celebrated, dedicated to that battle and declared of National Tourist Interest.
