Logroño

Logroño stands on the Ebro in Rioja, at a crossing used by travellers on the route to Santiago de Compostela. The town's charter of 1095 became a model for other places in northern Iberia. In 1431 John II of Castile granted Logroño the title of city, and later praised its loyalty during conflict with Aragon. In 1521 its inhabitants resisted a French siege, an episode remembered in the feast of Saint Barnabas. Logroño was also a seat of the Spanish Inquisition: in 1609 and 1610 it became a centre of trials arising from accusations of witchcraft in the Basque country. River travel, pilgrimage, royal privilege and judicial authority thus shaped the city's place in northern Spain.