The church of San Pedro in Caracena, Spain, hides a historiographical mystery

The twisted column of Caracena that baffles medievalists

In the church of San Pedro in Caracena (Soria), north of the Camino de la Lana (Wool Route), there is a column that is not straight. It is not a Solomonic column; it is simply twisted. Those who see it describe it as "utterly bizarre", but what is truly interesting is what some amateur historians have wanted to see in the local tombstones: a possible eternal condemnation.

The Templar hypothesis, a recurring one in cases like this, runs into a basic chronological problem. Those who claim the buried belonged to the order forget that in 1257 the Templars enjoyed full ecclesiastical recognition; their persecution did not begin until 1307. It is highly unlikely that anyone would have engraved a tombstone with a condemnatory intent while the doctrine was still orthodox.

The alternative points to a "damnatio memoriae": a warning carved in stone so that future generations would know the deceased belonged to a doctrine considered dangerous. The custom of the time was to praise the deceased or ask for prayers; here the opposite happens. The twisted column, perhaps not merely a construction whim, could be the symbol of a forgotten heresy.

Soria, land of poets, mystics and centenarians, adds one more enigma. Anyone walking the Camino de la Lana who takes a detour to Caracena will find a Romanesque church that does not quite fit the official narrative.