Potted history of Biescas

Biescas lies at 875m above sea level at the southern end of the Valle de Tena. It currently has a population of around 1600 people.

There has been human presence in the Biescas area since around 3000 BC with the neolithic dolmens at Santa Elena and the tumulus at Ibon de Piedrafita being evidence of sedentary human life in the area.

The name Biescas is thought to signify ‘two villages’ and is derived from the Latin ´bi´meaning two and the pre-roman ‘eska’ meaning town or village. Until recent times the village was two separate villages each side of the river each with it’s own church. There was just one bridge between the two and travellers, pilgrims and villagers all had to pay a toll to cross. The village may have appeared in documents in the 9th and 10th centuries as ‘Biascas’ but the first definite mention is in the deeds of the monastery of San Juan de la Peña in 1020.

Early census shows Biescas having around 200 inhabitants in the 14th to 17th century then growing quite rapidly in the 19th century to 1750 inhabitants in 1931. An official report of the village  around this time showed Biescas received post from Jaca on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 9am with post leaving on Mondays and Fridays at the same time. Production was described as little
with some wheat, rye, potatoes and vegetables being grown. There was more livestock – mainly cows, sheep and mules and lots of big game hunting with chamois, wolves, bears and foxes being the main prey topped up with fishing for trout that the report described as ‘delicious’. There were also several woollen mills utilising the power of the Rio Gallego that flows through the village.

The Civil War

The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) devastated both the population of Biescas and the village itself. The loss of men going to fight the war combined with the post-war retributions carried out reduced the population by around half – Biescas still had less than 1000 inhabitants in 1970 (down from 1750 in 1931). 1937 saw fierce fighting in the valley of the Serrablo south of Biescas. Sabiñanigo was held by Nationalist forces with Biescas, the Valle de Tena and the pass to Ordesa still in Republican hands.

The factories of Sabiñanigo were strategically important but rendered useless as they were powered by hydroelectricity from Biescas. During the autumn there was heavy artillary bombardment of Republican positions but no breakthrough was made and the frontlines were unmoved.

Both sides dug in during the winter of 37/38 reinforcing defences and digging trenches with the Republicans planting dynamite in the Cotefablo tunnel (towards Ordesa) ready to blow it if an attack came from this direction. The Republicans were being supplied by lines of mules and even skiers crossing the high passes into the Valle de Tena.  In the spring of ‘38 Franco amassed a huge
number of troops in Aragon to break the stalemates that had stagnated the Nationalist advances in several areas of Aragon.

After victories in Teruel and the Ebro attention turned to northern Aragon and the Serrablo. On the 2nd April the attack came. The previous day the Republicans abandoned large parts of land but held a line in front of Biescas in order to allow the retreat of the villagers. In the previous few days many had left carrying what possessions they could on carts and on their backs and long lines formed over the Cotafablo pass as they headed to Broto. As they left they killed all the livestock in the village rather than leave them for the Nationalists. The following day the Nationalists took Biescas and burnt it to the ground. On the same day they took Espierre, Gavin and Yesero following the Republicans. On the 4th there was fierce fighting at the Cotefablo tunnel as the Republicans tried a last ditch attempt to halt the Nationalist advances. The fighting here was described as ‘crazy’ but the Nationalists took the pass and continued to advance taking Linas de Broto, Viu, Fragen
and in the last hours of the day Torla. Lines of Republicans were forced to pass through the Ordesa Valley and up and over into the Pineta and Añisclo valleys. This is a high crossing and conditions in April without proper equipment would have been horrendous. The Republicans that fought for nearly two years in the Serrablo spent the last year of the war fenced in at Bielsa in the Pineta valley.

Biescas had to be constructed virtually from scratch following the war. Some houses were re-built on the same spots as before but the town layout changed and the plaza was put in and a new town hall constructed. Around the plaza only one original building survived but this fell into disrepair and Bar Samsara now stands in it’s position.