Jaca - Cathedral of Jaca, Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle. Romanesque

Jaca was founded by the Romans, 2d Century AD.  In the 8th Century, Moors took over. Then later, in 795, Jaca beat back the Moors thanks to brave Women of Jaca -- see http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/europe/spain/aragon/the-aragonese-pyrenees/jaca/  Other sides dilute that to "brave men and women" -- others keep it at women.

The women fought like men.  See Google book O'Shea's Guide to Spain and Portugal.  On May 1 of each year, the event is a festival with women reenacting the fight .In Barcelona, the women who battled with such valor were knighted, yes, knighted, and the Order of the Hatchet was established for such warrior women, see http://www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/wom-kn.htm/  Later, it became unacceptable for women to be seen as warriors, and the authorization was withdrawn.  Order of the Hatchet.  Women Knights.  In Italy, this Order of militant women was known as the Order of the Glorious Saint Mary, see site.   This Order was approved by Pope Alexander IV in 1261.

• Traveling independently in various countries leads to tentative associations, all to be vetted and corrected by experts.  Nonetheless, this representation of a militant woman, at the Templar village of La Couvertoirade, France, even as obviously a later work andnot a medieval contemporary, looks like it might fit a militant order of women.  Did the Order fo the Glorious Saint Mary merely morph into a hospitaller sidekick, Order of St. Mary in Jerusalem?  Experts, to your research:

A Militant Mary, or something else? La Couvertoirade, Church, France.

Jaca is near the Somport Pass, was the first main town that Pilgrims found after crossing the Pyrenees on the Way of Saint James, aiming eventually for Santiago de Compostela, Spain.  The route through Aragon is breathtaking, see tourist video, Camino Santiago, There are many routes in Europe that converge at Santiago de Compostela.  Jaca is the most easterly town in Spain on the route.

World Heritage site:  The Jaca Cathedral.

Jaca Cathedral, Jaca, Spain. Night view.

Arrive late in the town where you plan to spend the night.  Instead of 2-3 hours in a cafe watching the people in the earlier 5PM town, see go to the next town, and arrive for the night at 7:30 at the one after that. 

Pub food is usually excellent anywhere.  Here, near the Cathedral, the worker's combination platter was 4 slices of pork and chicken (both), tomato and lettuce, fries, fried eggs, and a croquette -- a fried mashed potato croquette.  Tasty. 

Pub near Jaca Cathedral, Jaca Spain

This is an 11th Century building, when Jaca was the capital of Aragon. With the establishment of an episcopal (meaning bishop) see (meaning seat), a cathedral was required.  Renovations and add-ons in the 15th-18th Centuries clearly look added on.  

Cathedral at Jaca, side entrance loggia or open room

The older sections show original alabaster windows, sheer thin sheets of stone.  Note the ongoing need for fortifications, the high windows.

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Am trying to find this circular coat of arms/ There is dome-shaped head wear, helmet or clerical? crossed keys (?) two animals in the unusual position of feet flat to sides of the coat of arms .

Catedral de San Pedro Apostal, Jaca, Spain. Coat of arms, doorway

Jaca Cathedral, interior columns showing differing styles

I understand that the simpler forms are earlier, the fancier ones reflecting Renaissance influence in renovations.

Small capital, Romanesque, St. Peter the Apostle, Cathedral, Jaca

Come back the next morning for better light.  Here, the interior puts the capitals in context

Interior, Cathedral at Jaca, Jaca, Spain

And the, the Renaissance fancies take over.

Renaissance renovations, Cathedral at Jaca, Jaca, Spain

Belfry, Jaca, Spain.  Not the Cathedral. What?

What is this very old wall , belfy, building (new stucco).  I recall it being of an age with the Cathedral, need to find notes.

Building contemporary with Cathedral? Wall-spotting, Jaca, Spain.