Lc23 Felipe II

FELIPE II

1527 - 1598

Felipe II was on the Spanish throne in the second half of the 16th century. He was born in Valladolid in 1527 and died in San Lorenzo de El Escorial in 1598. There’s a window in the Palacio Pimentel in Valladolid, where Felipe II was born, where you can see chained bars. But, why are they chained?

Well, it was because of Felipe’s baptism. Right next to the Palacio Pimentel, there is the church of San Pablo. San Pablo is the biggest and most beautiful church of Valladolid. That’s why Felipe’s parents, Isabel of Portugal and the Emperor Carlos V, wanted to baptize their son there. However, they couldn’t as the Palacio’s Pimentel front door belonged to the Saint Martin’s parish. Carlos V and Isabel of Portugal didn’t want to baptize their son in the Saint Martin’s church. That’s why, instead of taking Felipe out the front door, they took him out the window, which was in front of the church of San Pablo, to baptize him. Once the baptism was over, they put chains in that window to make sure nobody would come out of it again.

Elisa Ortega

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