|
THE
LOVERS OF TERUEL
The most bautyful love story
We are in the tumultuous early
years of the thirteenth century. In Teruel wedding bells resound: the ringing falls on the
ears of a knight that, exhausted, arrives to the city having crossed the slopes of
"Andaquilla". He is the popularly known as Diego de Marcilla (Juan Martinez de
Marcilla according to historical documents). He is returning rich and famous after
fighting in many battles against Muslim enemies. Diego (or Juan) has been in love with
Isabel de Segura and she with him ever since they were children. However, she is member of
a family of nobility and he is not. However, he is given a test. Isabel´s father agrees
to give him five years to grow rich. After that, if he meets this requirement he can marry
Isabel.
 |
But
the very day of Diego’s return in the year 1217, the time expires. Soon after
arriving, his friends tell him that the bells he hears are announcing the end of his
lover’s wedding celebration. Family pressure and that of his rival suitor are such
that they did not delay even for one day the previously agreed marriage. Diego’s
feelings are contradictory: passion, worry, rage… Immediately he goes to see his
lover, already married to Pedro de Azagra, Lord of Albarracin. |
He asks for a kiss from Isabel, but she refuses, because she now
belongs to another man. Diego cannot accept her refusal, it is as if something breaks
inside him. In a stupor, he falls like a rock to the floor; and his friends see that he is
dead. |
The next day, the wedding bells become funeral bells. The funeral procession, sad and
silent, accompanies the body of the unhappy lover. During the procession a woman with her
face hidden comes out from among the crowd and approaches the body.
She pulls back
her veil: it is Isabel de Segura.
|
 |
|
She
goes up to Diego and places a kiss on his cold mouth, the kiss that she denied him in
life. And in this very moment she also falls dead. Tradition claims that they died of
love. That is why to this day their remains are buried side-by-side. |
|
