Blogging the Reformers - Juan Diaz

Juan Diaz was a Spaniard who went to Paris to study at the Sorbonne in 1532. He was saved by reading the scriptures in the original languages, and discussing them with James Enzinas. In 1545 he left Paris and went to Geneva. After speaking with Calvin there, he went to the Reformed churches in Germany and elsewhere. When his brother Alonzo heard that he had become a Protestant he was very angry. Though he loved his family, Alonzo would rather that they die than be a heretic. Therefore he went to Germany to attempt to convert Juan back to Catholicism, but Juan said, “I am ready to suffer anything for the sake of publicly confessing the doctrine which I have embraced.”1 Alonzo was convinced that he could not convert him back to the Roman faith, so the next morning, March 27th 1546, he went to his house with his servant early in the morning. He sent his servant into the house with a letter while he waited outside. While Juan was reading the letter, the servant crept up behind him with a hatchet and plunged it into his head. Alonzo and his servant fled as fast as they could, and Juan died an hour later. For this murder, Alonzo was raised to high honor by the Emperor Charles V.

1 As quoted in J. H. Merle D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 2000) volume 8, book XIV, p. 109

Day 11 - Vigo

On the eleventh day of our cruise, we docked at Vigo. There was a fort at the top of the hill (like most ports) and since there was really nothing else to do we went up there. There was a fort half-way up the hill too, which was pretty nice, but we kept on going to the top. At the top there was a monument to three Spanish warships which were destroyed when Drake raided along the Spanish shore. Most of their valuable cargo was got on shore, but the ships sank. One neat thing about it was that it had the three anchors, one from each ship, and five cannons which were also recovered. At the top was an abandoned hotel built to look like a castle, which looked like part of it had been burnt. There were a few walls, but it was mostly gardens and fountains inside of it. After that we went back to the cruise ship to eat lunch. Then, Mommy, Daddy, and Joshua went shopping. Joshua bought a couple replica pistols, but Mommy and Daddy did not buy anything. Here are some pictures:

The outside of the fort

Me looking into one of the watchtowers

The courtyard of the castle (Mommy and Rachel liked the snapdragons)

The opposite side of the bay

Some flowers in the garden

Day 9 - Cadiz

During the night we passed through the Strait of Gibralter. The Strait of Gibralter is a very narrow point between Africa and Spain. We got up at midnight to see if we could see Gibralter. We couldn't, although we saw lights near it and also Africa.



In the morning we got up and went ashore in Cadiz. We wanted to drive to Gibralter, but no car rental places were open because it was Sunday. Daddy did a talk on the Battle of Trafalgar, which was a very important sea battle between the Spanish and French and the English which happened near Gibralter. The Spanish and French fleet came out of Cadiz. We videoed it, and we may put up a clip of it soon.

After that we did a walking tour around the walls and forts of the city. Many of the fortifications were built because Sir Francis Drake of England attacked Spain and burned several cities. After walking around and seeing interesting things we went back to the ship.

Day 8 - Malaga

Our next port was Malaga, Spain. When we got off the ship, we saw that there was about a mile walk along the dock to shore. There were no car rentals at the cruise ship, so Daddy and Grandpa took a taxi to the train station while the rest of us waited at the dock. After awhile they came back with a car, and we left. We wanted to go to Alhambra, which was a castle and palace of the Moors. As we began driving we took the wrong road, because our GPS was in walking mode and would not let us get on a freeway. The road we were on was through the mountains and was very windy. Here are some pictures of the mountains:



Finally we arrived at Alhambra, which is in the town of Granada. Alhambra was a castle that was built by the Muslims (Moors) when they were ruling Spain. It was captured by the Spanish in 1492 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. It is where Columbus went to ask permission and funding to come to the New World. When he came up to the castle, he said that he saw the Moorish king leaving and the Spanish flag go up the pole. We could not go in the palace because they only let a certain number of people in a day (mostly tour groups), but we walked around the gardens and castle. They would not let you walk on most of the walls and towers, but you could on some. There were good views of the town from the walls.

Part of the gardens

The castle. The little walls were houses added later.

Stephen and I with a cannon

Here are two panoramas that I took here. You can click to enlarge.




After the castle, we drove back to Malaga, but this time we took the highway, which was much quicker and straighter, though a little less scenic.