User:Imalbornoz/Exodus to San Roque

Notability of San Roque
Number of books with the word "Gibraltar" in the title and "San Roque" in the text (in Google Books):
 * San Roque: 99 books (I've quickly counted more than 20 of them describing the historical episode of most inhabitants going from Gibraltar to San Roque)
 * San Roque: 15 books (with the word "History" in the title, as well as the word "Gibraltar")

Some sources dealing with the exodus to San Roque
Some quotes used during the discussion:

Although any other civilians who elected to remain must swear allegiance to Charles III, they would retain their rights and privileges as they had existed under Charles II.

All bar about 70 of the 4000 inhabitants elected to leave, crossing the isthmus with whatever possession they could carry and seeking shelter over a wide area of Andalucia. They had been promised by their priests that the French would quickly retake the city and most doubtless believed this. Many settled in San Roque and the museum there has many mementoes of this troubled period; the town was granted formal recognition by Philip V in 1706 as 'My city of Gibraltar in the fields'. Other travelled as far afield as Ronda and Malaga.

Hesse's and Rooke's senior officers did their utmost to impose discipline, but the inhabitants worst fears were confirmed: women were insulted and outraged; Roman Catholic churches and institutions were taken over as stores and for other military purposes (except for the Cathedral of Saint Mary the Crowned that was protected successfully by its staunch vicar, Juan Romero, his curate, and his bell-ringer); and the whole town suffered at the hands of the ship's crew and marines who came ashore. Many body reprisals were taken by inhabitants before they left, bodies of murdered Englishmen and Dutchmen being thrown down wells and cesspits. By the time discipline was fully restored, few of the inhabitants wished or dared to remain.(...) Some people travelled as far as Medina Sidonia, Ronda, and Malaga to find refuge. Most of the fishermen and their families moved into the ruins of Algeciras and restarted not only their own lives there but the life of Algeciras. Other families settled nearby at Los Barrios that had grown into a small town by 1716. Members of the religious orders found havens in the monasteries and nunneries throughout southern Andalucia. But the most important settlement to be established was around the Hermitage of San Roque, which, in 1706 Philip V addressed as "My City of Gibraltar resident in its Campo." The city council, banner, and records were moved there, and San Roque become Spanish Gibraltar as the Rock was gradually transformed into British Gibraltar.

Such was the behaviour not only of the men but their officers that the worst fears of the population were confirmed (...) If such were the allies of the King of Spain alternative to Philip V, they would have none of him (...) Accordingly, when the garrison and City Council marched out on 7 August under the terms of surrender, all but 70 of the inhabitants of the 1,200 houses in the city took what they could carry of what had not yet been plundered, and then filed through the gate towards the ruins of ancient Carteia. The number of refugees was probably about 4,000. Some found shelter in the mountain villages and towns as far as Medina Sidonia, Ronda and Malaga. The wealthier refugees owned property within the extensive city boundaries beyond the isthmus. One of them, the regidor (town councillor), Bartolomé Luis Varela, gave houseroom in his country mansion to the city's standard and records; the City Council continued to meet there, and in 1706 obtained royal authority for the Gibraltarian refugees to establish themselves round the hermitage of San Roque. Philip V, in granting the authority and in subsequent communications, addressed them always as My City of Gibraltar resident in its Campo.

(..) a consequence of the allied occupation of the peninsula in 1704 was to break the established connections with the people and resources of the mainland. Compounding this diffi culty, the allied occupation in 1704 prompted the exodus from Gibraltar of virtually all the resident civilian population. True, such departures had happened on previous occasions in Gibraltar’s history when new regimes took over after successful sieges, as in 1309 and 1333. But this time the civilian population’s concerns for their safety under British control were compounded by not unreasonable fears of mistreatment by Protestant troops. Most Catholics, perhaps 1,500 families, maybe 5,000–6,000 people transported themselves and their movables across the new frontier to the Campo de Gibraltar, and especially to San Roque. A British officer listed the names of those few Spanish who remained and were still resident in 1712. There were twenty-five family groups and sixteen individuals, including a couple of friars and two Catholic priests, possibly as few as 70 people, or 120 at most (...)

Tras la salida de la ciudad, unos cuatro mil gibraltareños se asentaron en los alrededores. Aunque algunos viajaron a las grandes ciudades de Sevilla y Málaga, los más quedaron cerca de donde pensaban pronto volver: algunos pescadores gibraltareños se instalaron en las ruinas de Algeciras, un grupo más numeroso creó el núcleo de Los Barrios, aunque el grueso de la población y el concejo se constituyó de nuevo en la cercana ermita de San Roque, que había sido fundada en 1640 a media legua de las ruinas de Carteia; el nuevo pueblo, a quién nadie tuvo la tentación de llamar Nuevo Gibraltar ante lo que se esperaba pronto retorno, ya fue reconocido en 1706 por Felipe V como "Mi ciudad de Gibraltar en ese Campo", y pasó a ser el heredero directo y continuador institucional de Gibraltar con su ayuntamiento, el archivo y el pendón que la reina Isabel la Católica había concedido a la ciudad "llave de estos reinos"

A small number came back to inhabit a hillside quarter where the dust of the rubble eddied in the down-draught of the wind over the Rock. But most of them settled in Spain round the hill of San Roque, within sight of the lost city. Their Sovereign, the Bourbon Philip V, whom the British soon recognised as lawful King of Spain, never ceased to regard them as the future burgesses of the fortress he daily mourned, and recognised the new municipality by Royal Patent as the Council, Tribunal, Officers and Gentlemen of the City of Gibraltar. To this day San Roque bears the arms and constitution of the Spanish City of Gibraltar in Exile.

Most of the civilians who left Gibraltar never returned. Of those who left, most settled in the town of San Roque, overlooking the Bay of Gibraltar. These individuals not only remained within sight of “the Rock” but preserved the traditions of Spanish Gibraltar, retaining the flag and the standard that was bestowed by Queen Isabella. Because most of the Spaniards left and British, Genoese, and others settled on Gibraltar, there was soon a discernable difference between the community on Gibraltar and the Spanish community that was displaced when the British conquered it.

As the Great Britain took over Gibraltar in 1704, the Spanish civilian population of the peninsula was given a choice of staying or leaving. About 4,000 elected to leave which they did carrying as much of their personal belongings as physically possible. Most of them reestablished themselves near the Hermitage of San Rogue, a few miles north of Gibraltar, where they founded the “Town of San Rogue Where the Most Noble and Loyal City of Gibraltar Dwells”. Only about 70 persons (mostly Genoese fishermen), elected to remain, which was only permitted on the conditions that they swear allegiance to the Archduke Charles as Charles III. So, virtually all (more than 98 percent) of the Spanish population left the town, and it was re-populated from the scratch.

After three days of battle, on 4 August, Gibraltar was successfully seized. Of the 4,000 inhabitants, all but 70 ﬂed across the isthmus into the hinterland of the Campo de Gibraltar, many settling temporarily (or so they thought) in San Roque, which two years later King Philip V of Spain dubbed ‘My city of Gibraltar resident in its Campo’.

When the Anglo Dutch fleet under Admiral Sir George Rooke occupied the Rock for England in 1704, the Spanish population, with a few exceptions, left Gibraltar and moved to San Roque, some miles inside Spain.

Numbers fell by the way victims to hunger and fatigue some reached Tarifa, Medina Sidonia, Ronda and other towns in the neighbourhood while many especially the authorities remained at St Roque keeping with them the archives of their ancient city.