VALENCIA

History:

The city of Valencia, originally named Valentia, is in the region known in ancient days as Edetania. The Roman historian Florus says that Junius Brutus, the conqueror of Viriathus, transferred there (140 BC) the soldiers who had fought under him. Later it was a Roman military colony. In punishment for its adherence to Sertorius it was destroyed by Pompey, but was later rebuilt, and Pomponius Mela says that it was one of the principal cities of Hispania Tarraconensis province. The city was founded by the Romans in 137 BC on the site of a former Iberian town, by the river Turia.

The city has been occupied by the Visigoths, Moors and the Aragonese.

During the War of the Spanish Succession, Valencia sided with Charles of Austria. On 24 January 1706, Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough, 1st Earl of Monmouth, led a handful of English cavalrymen into the city after riding south from Barcelona, capturing the nearby fortress at Sagunto, and bluffing the Spanish Bourbon army into withdrawal.

The last victim of the Spanish inquisition, a local schoolteacher called Cayetano Ripoll, was executed in Valencia in July 1826 accused being a deist and freemason.

During the Spanish Civil War, the capital of the Republic was moved to Valencia, and the city suffered from the blockade and siege by Franco's forces. However, the postwar period was hard for Valencians. During the Franco years, speaking or teaching Valencian was prohibited (in a significant reversal it is now compulsory for every child studying in Valencia).

On 9 July 2006, during Mass at Valencia's Cathedral, Our Lady of the Forsaken Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI used, at the World Day of Families, the Santo Caliz, a 1st-century Middle-Eastern artifact believed by many to be the Holy Grail. It was supposedly brought to that church by Emperor Valerian in the 3rd century, after having been brought from Jerusalem by St. Peter to Rome. The Santo Caliz ("Holy Chalice") is a simple, small stone cup. Its base was added in medieval times and consists of fine gold, alabaster, and gem stones.

On 3 July 2007, Alinghi defeated Team New Zealand, and successfully defends the America's Cup. Twenty two days later on 25 July 2007, the leaders of the Alinghi syndicate, holder of the America's Cup, officially announced Valencia would be the host city for the 33rd America's Cup, to be carried out on June 2009.

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