Calle de Suero de Quiñones

Behind the name stands a 15th-century knight from León who turned a vow of love into a feat that was long remembered. Suero de Quiñones served the Constable Álvaro de Luna and, to free himself from an iron collar he wore every Thursday as a sign of amorous bondage, he asked King John II for leave and staged his challenge at one of the busiest crossings in the kingdom. In the summer of 1434, a jubilee year, he set up his lists beside the Órbigo bridge, right on the road to Santiago, and pledged to break three hundred lances against any knight who wished to cross. The tournament, known as the Paso Honroso, drew challengers from across Europe. Once the feat was done, Suero made his pilgrimage to Compostela, where the memory of his offering is still kept. No precise record survives of when Madrid’s street map gave his name to this corner of Ciudad Jardín, but the dedication points unmistakably to the knight of the bridge and his three hundred lances.