It was a grand, traditional manor farmhouse, standing within a walled courtyard, with accomodation for all the farm labourers as well as the family.
Two years before Lorca wrote Blood Wedding,
Carmen de Burgos, the writer born in Rodalquilar, wrote a novel, Puñal de Claveles, (Dagger of Carnations), about
the tragedy in Cortijo El Fraile. The tragedy that happened in 1928, shocked and gripped the population of Andalusia - probably the whole
of Spain.
Francisca Cañadas Morales, a disabled woman known as "Paquita La Coja" (Paquita the Lame), grew up in the manor farmhouse of El Fraile. It was rumoured her disability had been caused by her abusive, controlling father hitting her when she was a baby to stop her crying, although some attributed it to polio. As a young woman she fell in love with her cousin Francisco but her father arranged her marriage to another man.
Cortijo El Fraile had its own chapel (it still stands, dominating the ruins of the grand farmhouse) and this is where the wedding ceremony would have taken place, but the night of the traditional party held on the eve of the wedding, everyone realised the bride had disappeared and so had Francisco, the man she loved.
The guests began searching and found Paquita a mile away with her clothes torn and her neck bruised and bloodied, she told them she had been attacked and strangled by hooded assassins.
The dead body of her beloved cousin Francisco was found 8km away at Cañada Honda Serrata, on the track to Los Pipaces (it was later marked by a cairn of small stones and a wooden cross). He had been shot three times.
The following day, José Pérez, the brother of the abandoned groom, went to the police and confessed. He claimed at the trial that he hadn't pulled the trigger but would not say who did. Perez was found guilty and given a 7 year prison term but only served 3. He died shortly after of typhus.
It turned out that one of Paquita's attempted murderers was her own sister Carmen, the wife of José Perez. The attackers were hooded and although Paquita claimed to recognize the voices, she refused to reveal the identities of the others. Carmen was found guilty of attempted murder and served a 15-month jail sentence.
Poor Paquita never married but lived out her life as a recluse at El Hualix, near the Cortijo El Fraile. Curiously she was cared for later in life by a niece. I wonder if this was the daughter of her treacherous sister? She refused to tell her story, despite journalists petitioning her from all over the world. She only met her sister Carmen once again - when Paquita was very ill, Carmen came to the bedside and begged for her forgiveness. Paquita did forgive her but then refused to talk any further (who can blame her!). Paquita died in 1987 and was buried in Nijar cemetery, not far from her murdered cousin and love, Francisco.
Both Carmen de Burgos and Lorca clearly found these events so powerful and haunting that they were driven to write their own versions of the story. Carmen de Burgos in 1930 and Lorca in 1932.
Francisca Cañadas Morales, a disabled woman known as "Paquita La Coja" (Paquita the Lame), grew up in the manor farmhouse of El Fraile. It was rumoured her disability had been caused by her abusive, controlling father hitting her when she was a baby to stop her crying, although some attributed it to polio. As a young woman she fell in love with her cousin Francisco but her father arranged her marriage to another man.
Cortijo El Fraile had its own chapel (it still stands, dominating the ruins of the grand farmhouse) and this is where the wedding ceremony would have taken place, but the night of the traditional party held on the eve of the wedding, everyone realised the bride had disappeared and so had Francisco, the man she loved.
The guests began searching and found Paquita a mile away with her clothes torn and her neck bruised and bloodied, she told them she had been attacked and strangled by hooded assassins.
The dead body of her beloved cousin Francisco was found 8km away at Cañada Honda Serrata, on the track to Los Pipaces (it was later marked by a cairn of small stones and a wooden cross). He had been shot three times.
The following day, José Pérez, the brother of the abandoned groom, went to the police and confessed. He claimed at the trial that he hadn't pulled the trigger but would not say who did. Perez was found guilty and given a 7 year prison term but only served 3. He died shortly after of typhus.
It turned out that one of Paquita's attempted murderers was her own sister Carmen, the wife of José Perez. The attackers were hooded and although Paquita claimed to recognize the voices, she refused to reveal the identities of the others. Carmen was found guilty of attempted murder and served a 15-month jail sentence.
Poor Paquita never married but lived out her life as a recluse at El Hualix, near the Cortijo El Fraile. Curiously she was cared for later in life by a niece. I wonder if this was the daughter of her treacherous sister? She refused to tell her story, despite journalists petitioning her from all over the world. She only met her sister Carmen once again - when Paquita was very ill, Carmen came to the bedside and begged for her forgiveness. Paquita did forgive her but then refused to talk any further (who can blame her!). Paquita died in 1987 and was buried in Nijar cemetery, not far from her murdered cousin and love, Francisco.
Both Carmen de Burgos and Lorca clearly found these events so powerful and haunting that they were driven to write their own versions of the story. Carmen de Burgos in 1930 and Lorca in 1932.
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