People of A Limia

This section gathers the lives of people born in A Limia or closely linked to it. Each entry rewrites in full what the sources say and cites where each fact comes from ^[1].

Entries

Antiquity and the Middle Ages

• Marcus Flavius Sabinus, a Limician, duumvir and priest of the imperial cult (2nd century).
• Hidatius of Limia, bishop of Chaves and chronicler (5th century).
• Martín de Ginzo, 13th-century minstrel, with the text of his cantigas.
• Inés de Castro, the queen whom tradition links to A Limia.

16th to 19th centuries

• Álvaro de Oca y Zúñiga, from Celme to interim viceroy of Navarre.
• Juan Álvarez Sotelo, Jesuit from Perrelos and historian.
• José Seguín, Baroque sculptor of Rairiz de Veiga.
• Francisco Piñeiro Solveira, the guerrilla abbot of Gudín.
• Jerónimo de San Félix, Trinitarian from Baltar and bishop of Albarracín.
• Domingo Martínez de Presa, abbot of Feás and builder of automata in the 17th century.
• Remigio Garrido Bouzas, priest of Escornabois, «Roque Grilo Berza».
• Cástor Méndez Brandón and Alfredo Nan de Allariz, poets of Xinzo.

20th century

• Olimpia Valencia López, the first woman in Galicia to graduate in Medicine, born in Baltar in 1898.
• Antón Tovar, poet of A Pereira (Rairiz de Veiga).
• Carlos Casares, the writer who grew up in Xinzo.
• Antonio Nieto Oliva, Francisco Seijo Iglesias, Ramón Villarino de Sáa and Eulogio Gallego Martínez: press, trade, law and music in the Xinzo of the early 20th century.
• Constantino Limia Limia, lieutenant in the Cuban war.
• Genoveva Vázquez Calviño, the midwife of Xinzo.
• Luis Otero Bobillo and Luis Otero Quintas, of Sandiás.
• Francisco Domínguez Romero, poet and teacher.
• Concepción Méndez Gándara, mayor of Sandiás for 36 years, and Dolores Villarino, president of the Galician Parliament.
• Edelmiro Martínez Cerredelo, historian of A Limia.

Archive

• Historical figures of A Limia: timeline: from Roman times to the 20th century, with links to each entry and page.
• Famous people and sportspeople of A Limia: directory by occupation, with Carlos Canal (cyclist), Germán Novoa (footballer), Serxio Pazos and Héctor Carballo (actors), Carmen Penim (singer), Iván Cabrera (model), Luís Carballo (advertising man), Xosé Rodríguez Carballo and Cándido Lorenzo (bishops) and Isaac Alonso Estraviz (lexicographer).
• Politicians and public officials of A Limia: deputies, parliamentarians, councillors and mayors, with entries for Ana Prieto, Daniel Barata, Xabier Casares, José Romero, Ramón de la Fuente, Julio Pérez Carballo, Modesto Álvarez Elices and Celso Romero Peláez.
• Writers, artists and scholars of A Limia: short entries recovered from the website xinzodelimia.eu.

Who is included

People born in one of the eleven municipalities of A Limia (Baltar, Os Blancos, Calvos de Randín, Porqueira, Rairiz de Veiga, Sandiás, Sarreaus, Trasmiras, Vilar de Barrio, Vilar de Santos and Xinzo de Limia) and people from elsewhere whose lives became bound up with the area are included. So are those known only from a trace, such as a Roman pedestal or an entry in a parish book.

Each entry tells the whole life as the sources record it: birth, studies or trade, work, difficult moments and honours. When two sources disagree, the entry gives both versions. For living people only public data of cultural interest is published.

The section grows as the crawled sources are read and rewritten; the most notable lives have their own entry, and the rest will be added with a review date and sources at the foot. Biographies of people repressed in 1936 and the post-war period are handled separately, under the sources’ privacy rule.

How they are organised

Entries are ordered by period and occupation: figures of Antiquity (the Civitas Limicorum and Bishop Hidatius), clergy, soldiers and guerrillas of the Peninsular War, writers, musicians, doctors, artists, and people of the diaspora. Some biographies come from series that are no longer accessible online, which is why they are recorded in full.

FAQ

Who was the first woman doctor in Galicia?

Olimpia Valencia López, born in Baltar on 14 December 1898, graduated in Medicine at Santiago de Compostela in 1925 ^[2].

Can I propose a person for the section?

Yes. Each person needs at least one citable source; without one the entry cannot be published.

Sources

1. Edelmiro Martínez Cerredelo, Historia de Xinzo, blog. https://historiadexinzo.wordpress.com/
2. Alexander de los Ríos Conde, «Olimpia Valencia, la primera médica de Galicia», Vía Lethes, 12/03/2017. https://vialethes.es/olimpia-valencia-medica-galicia