Fuentes3

By Fuentes3

Roman Bridge, Cangas de Onís

This is universally known in Cangas de Onís as "the Roman Bridge", over the Río Sella. The Roman Bridge is not Roman, it´s probably 13th century, but it is on the site of an earlier bridge, which was Roman. The bridge is on an old "camino real" - royal way - from Oviedo to Santander; but in fact Cangas de Onís is itself a former royal seat. The Vizigoth Pelayo (or, depending which history book you read,  Pelagius) became king of Asturias in the early 8th century, about the same time as the Moors took control of Spain. Depending on which history book you read, he either did or did not defeat the Moors in a battle at Covadonga in - again according to which book - either 718 or 722; and Asturias either did or did not form part of Moorish Spain. What he certainly did do was rule Asturias from Cangas de Onís, till 737 when he died and was buried there, in the church of Sta Eulalia de Abamia, alongside his widow Gaudiosa. They were both later dug up and moved to the new capital, which was Oviedo. Or perhaps, depending on your history book, to Covadonga. Either way, he never crossed this bridge but he will have crossed its antecedent.

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