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The Bull of Meco

Meco, Cuenca del Medio Jarama, Madrid

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

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The Bull of Meco

Curiosity · Meco, Cuenca del Medio Jarama, Madrid

Image of Meco, not of the place itself.

A papal privilege that exempted the residents of Meco and of several neighbouring villages from keeping the Friday fast and other fasting days of the year. According to one version, it was granted in the late 15th century by Pope Innocent VIII, pontiff from 1484 to 1492, as a reward for services rendered to Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones, second Count of Tendilla and lord of Meco; according to another, more often cited by tradition, it was because the village, situated in the centre of the peninsula, could not receive fresh fish quickly enough to observe the Lenten abstinence from meat, and the bull was supposedly issued by Pope Clement XIV on 12 September 1772. From this arose the saying that something cannot be fixed even with the bull of Meco.

Photo: EventusBonus (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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