Spain
Spain is a nation at the end of Western Europe, encompassing most of the Iberian Peninsula, whose identity was formed from the union of the Crown of Castile and Crown of Aragon in the wake of the Reconquista.
In turn, these two states were offspring of the Kingdom of Asturias, a remnant of the Visigothic Kingdom, which survived the conquest of Iberia by the Umayyad Caliphate in 720. As a result, Spain is a modern descendent of the Visigoths, a Germanic people that migrated into Iberia with the collapse of the Roman Empire, merging with the Romanized, indigenous population.
History[edit | edit source]
Renaissance[edit | edit source]
Granada War[edit | edit source]
As of the late 15th century, an Assassin Guild was located in the Spanish city of Barcelona.[1] With a firm base in the city, the Spanish Assassins had close connections to the Spanish royal house – namely King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I – and kept a close eye on them, making sure that the Borgia and the Templars did not possess too big of an influence over them.[2]
In 1491, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, Grand Master of the Italian Templars, was able to fool Tomás de Torquemada into believing that the Assassins were heretics, and ordered them to be tried and executed. Torquemada, believing Rodrigo was a true follower of the church like him, followed his orders and had several Assassins across the country captured.[3]
The same year, Luis de Santángel, the finance minister of Ferdinand II and an Assassin, traveled with his friend Christoffa Corombo to Venice, where Corombo was to have a meeting with Rodrigo Borgia.[4] After being saved from a Templar trap by the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze,[5] Luis and Christoffa requested that Ezio retrieve Christoffa's stolen atlas.[6] After having done so, Luis informed Ezio of the capture and execution of Spanish Assassins. From there, Corombo and Santángel returned to Spain, to which they were followed shortly afterwards by Ezio, who felt obliged to help the Spanish Assassins.[7]
As Ezio walked through the streets of Barcelona, he encountered someone who directed him to the abandoned Assassin Guild. While he was observing its apparent emptiness, he was suddenly attacked by four guards, whom he quickly dealt with.[1] Ezio then encountered a Brute and decided to flee, resulting in a chase. As the Assassin managed to escape through the sewers, he met Raphael Sánchez, a fellow Brother.[8]
After their encounter, Ezio set out on his quest of saving the imprisoned Assassins, seeking out Gaspar Martínez. On locating the man and engaging in a short conversation, the Assassin took Martínez's life and searched his body to find a list of names.[9] He also discovered that the execution of one of the Assassins was already being prepared, thus he ran through the streets in an attempt to save him in time. Ezio successfully fended off the guards and saved the Assassin, after which the pair made their way to Raphael. Upon seeing the list, Raphael revealed that they were the names of Assassins from Zaragoza, so the pair decided to travel there next.[10]
Arriving in Zaragoza, Ezio was told to look for Pedro Llorente, who would know the locations of the remaining Assassins. Ezio soon found him, though he watched as Llorente spoke with Tomás de Torquemada before they executed an Assassin. Afterwards, Ezio overheard Torquemada speaking about Rodrigo Borgia, who had tasked him to execute the Assassins.[3]
With his fears confirmed, Ezio made his way to the sewers, where he found the five remaining Assassins. Through his efforts, he managed to save all of them, despite the large number of guards stationed around them.[11][12] Following this, Ezio escaped the sewers by performing a Leap of Faith, and met up with Raphael again. The two of them then decided that Pedro Llorente had to be assassinated.[13]
Ezio soon found him in a courtyard, where Llorente denied any knowledge of the Templar Order. In response, Ezio told him that "there would be no one to save him", before he quickly ended Llorente's life and returned to Raphael.[13] From there, Raphael told Ezio of his connections to Queen Isabella, and that the Templars and Assassins each held one of her ears; both Assassins decided it was best to travel to Granada to prevent the Templars from gaining control over Spain.[14]
Once they arrived in Granada, Ezio noticed the fighting that was already going on, and Raphael explained to him that the Moors were the attackers. The two Assassins set out to kill the guard captains and save the citizens, before meeting up again.[15][16] Surprised to find Raphael with Luis de Santángel, Ezio was informed of the latter's Assassin affiliations before being told that the Templars were using a spy to influence Sultan Muhammad XII of Granada and prolong the Granada War.[2] Ezio killed the spy,[17] whereupon the Assassins discussed the Templars' plans and concluded that they were trying to exhaust the Castilian treasury by keeping them embroiled in the war, thus preventing them from financing Christoffa Corombo's voyage to the New World.[18]
Pursuit of the Pieces of Eden[edit | edit source]
- "If the Apple falls into their hands, the Templars will destroy everything that stands in their way. Protest, dissent... our right to think for ourselves."
- ―Benedicto, regarding the Apple of Eden, 1492.[src]
In addition to the exploits of Ezio, Raphael, and Luis, another Assassin Guild operated in southern Spain, where they fought against the Spanish Inquisition led by Tomás de Torquemada, who was secretly a Master Templar.[19] After learning that Torquemada and the Templars desired two Pieces of Eden – an Apple and a Staff – that would allow them to subjugate Spain, the Assassin opposed them. Establishing a headquarters in the Sierra de Cazorla mountains, they tracked the Templars' movements,[20] in particular those of the Inquisitor Gustavo Ramírez, who had been tasked with searching for the three sections of the Staff.[21]
However, Ramírez appeared to be constantly one step ahead of the Assassins, evading capture and luring them into a trap at his fortress in Murcia, from which they barely escaped.[22] Later, Ramírez found the first piece of the Staff at St. Rafael Abbey,[23] and had the Dominican monks of the Monastery of St. Lucia hold the second piece for him. However, the Assassins uncovered the artifact's location and retrieved it before the Templars,[24] later sending it to their allies at the University of Salamanca for safekeeping.[25]
While Ramírez continued to search for the third and final Staff section, the Templars discovered that the Apple of Eden was in the possession of Muhammad XII of Granada. They subsequently laid siege to Granada for months, hoping to breach the city's defenses and steal the Apple, but the Assassins foiled their plans.[26][27] Torquemada then decided to force the Sultan to surrender the Apple by kidnapping his son, Prince Ahmed, who was hiding out in a rural village in Andalusia.[19]
The Spanish Assassins attempted to stop the kidnapping but failed in their mission, resulting in Mentor Benedicto, María, and Aguilar de Nerha being captured. The captured Assassins were brought to Seville to be burned at the stake. King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I were among the audience to witness the executions. Although Benedicto was killed, Aguilar and María managed to free themselves and escape Seville.[19] With their Mentor's death, Aguilar assumed de facto leadership of the Spanish Brotherhood.[28]
End of the Granada War[edit | edit source]
With the Granada War still raging on, Raphael and Luis found it suspicious that Muhammad XII refused to surrender even in the face of inevitable defeat, and tasked Ezio to infiltrate the Alhambra and find the sultan.[18] Discovering that Muhammad was being held hostage by the Templars, confirming the Assassins' suspicions of the Templars trying to prolong the war, Ezio promptly saved Muhammad by killing his assailants. He then persuaded the sultan to surrender to the armies of Castile and Aragon to avoid further bloodshed,[29] and personally opened Granada's gates, allowing the Spanish forces to march into the city.[30]
However, spurred on by the Templars, the victorious Spanish soldiers began ransacking the city. Ezio killed a number of rampaging soldiers to restore order, whereupon he met with his allies, who all arrived to witness the Fall of Granada and the peace negotiations between Muhammad XII and Isabella I.[31] The news of Granada's surrender greatly upset the Templars and, with their plans to launch an expedition to the New World foiled, they retaliated by ordering the persecution of all heretics in the city.[32] They assigned this task to the Inquisitor Juan de Marillo, who was later assassinated by Ezio.[33]
On 2 January 1492, the date of Granada's official capitulation, Torquemada marched into the Alhambra with his men and a captive Prince Ahmed to acquire the Apple of Eden from Muhammad XII. Aguilar and María ambushed the exchange to prevent the sultan from surrendering the Apple and, although María was killed, Aguilar successfully retrieved the artifact and escaped.[19] Later that night, during Muhammad's abdication ceremony, the Templars struck again, targeting not him this time, but Queen Isabella I. However, the Templar assassins were intercepted and killed outside the ceremony by Ezio and his ally, the former French Assassin Helene Dufranc.[34]
Against the Assassins' expectations, the end of the Granada War did not change Queen Isabella's mind about sponsoring Christoffa Corombo's voyage, and so the navigator decided to travel to France to accept an offer from King Charles VIII. During his journey, the Templars attempted to kill Christoffa, but Ezio protected him and persuaded the navigator to return to Spain, as Luis had convinced Queen Isabella to finance the voyage by promising to personally cover half of the expenses.[35]
Consequently, on 3 August 1492, Christoffa embarked on his expedition from Palos de la Frontera, one which would lead to the discovery of the New World. Before his departure, he met with Aguilar, who gave him the Apple of Eden recovered from the Templars. Christoffa swore to take it to his grave, and would ultimately be buried with the artifact in the Seville Cathedral.[19]
After being informed by Luis of Christoffa's successful departure, Ezio decided it was time to return to Italy and his duties there. Before he could leave, however, he was forced to protect both Luis and Raphael from Inquisition soldiers sent to arrest them.[36][37] Deducing Torquemada to be responsible, Ezio infiltrated his palace to assassinate the Grand Inquisitor, but the latter managed to escape. During their brief confrontation, Torquemada denied any knowledge of the Assassins and Templars, leading Ezio to incorrectly conclude that the Grand Inquisitor was merely a Templar puppet and abandon all plans to eliminate him.[38]
Defeat of the Spanish Templars[edit | edit source]
Over the next few years, the Assassins and Templars continued their search for the final piece of the Staff of Eden, which Gustavo Ramírez managed to track to northern Spain. As the Brotherhood lacked a strong presence there, they enlisted the help of Diego de Alvarado, the bureau leader of Burgos,[39] unaware that he had secretly become a double agent for the Templars.[40] After rescuing a sect of monks from the Asturias mountains captured by the Templars, the Assassins learned that the monks had entrusted the Staff section to their ally Pedro Madruga.[41]
The Assassins subsequently infiltrated Madruga's former residence, Sobroso Castle, where they witnessed Diego working with the Templars to retrieve the piece of the Staff.[40] Tracking Diego to the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, the Assassins confronted the turncoat as he met with Gustavo Ramírez to hand over the artifact. However, Diego surprised everyone by backstabbing Ramírez before fleeing with the Staff section, intending to personally deliver it to Torquemada and reap all the rewards.[42]
Later, Diego stole the piece of the Staff held at the University of Salamanca,[25] and delivered both sections to Torquemada before the Assassins tracked him down and killed him for his betrayal.[43] Without any leads on Torquemada's whereabouts, the Assassins spent the next few years trying to find the Master Templar. During this time, they undertook several other missions, such as helping Horacio de Heredia exact retribution on the Inquisition for his family's execution,[44] helping their Ottoman brethren search for Niccolò Polo's journal,[45] and traveling to Florence to prevent a resurgence of Templar influence.[46]
Eventually, on 16 September 1498, the Assassins stormed the Real Monasterio de Santo Tomás, which was situated above an Isu vault known as the Forge. There, Torquemada had reforged the Staff of Eden and used it to create an army of holographic soldiers, with which he intended to conquer Spain. The Assassins killed Torquemada and destroyed the Staff, causing the Forge to collapse on itself.[47] However, Torquemada's death did not end the Inquisition, which would continue for another three centuries.[48][49]
Poisoning of Queen Isabella[edit | edit source]
- "Queen Isabella has chosen to secretly serve the Borgia rather than rebel, and even now, her power over Manuel I of Portugal threatens to further spread her vile Inquisition. Her reign must come to an end."
- ―An Italian Assassin apprentice after having researched Isabella.[src]-[m]
In 1498, Luis de Santángel died. With his death, the Assassins lost their eyes on the Spanish royal house. In the early 1500s, Ezio Auditore sent a group of Assassin apprentices to retrieve Luis' journal. After having successfully done so, the apprentices learned that Luis had been slowly poisoning Queen Isabella. Suspecting Luis' motives were partly retaliation for the Inquisition and slaughter of his Jewish family, the apprentices studied the queen's behavior to find out more.[50][51]
Following Isabella via the rooftops, they concluded that she easily allowed herself to be influenced by priests and other religious figures. Additionally, the queen received various letters from the Borgia; threats from Cesare Borgia – the leader of the Papal armies – backed by the power of his father's status as Pope, which resulted in Isabella secretly deciding to serve the Borgia.[52][53] The apprentices contacted one of Luis' close associates, a servant of Isabella's, who agreed to poison the queen after having earned her trust.[54][55]
Cesare Borgia's escape[edit | edit source]
In 1504, after Cesare Borgia escaped imprisonment in the Castel Sant'Angelo and was re-captured by the Assassins, Pope Julius II contacted King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I, who both agreed to have Cesare imprisoned in the Castillo de la Mota in Medina del Campo.[56] However, Isabella was still under the effects of her poisoning and died later that year.[54][55]
In 1506, Cesare's right-hand man Micheletto Corella bribed one of the prison guards, who gave Cesare a rope to escape. Meeting with Micheletto outside the castle, Cesare rode off into Valencia. There, he began to rebuild his forces, eventually setting up a large military encampment, which he oversaw from his hideout at the Lone Wolf Inn. However, the encampment and twelve of Cesare's ships were destroyed by Ezio Auditore and Niccolò Machiavelli, using some of the hand-held bombs given to them by Leonardo da Vinci.[56]
Cesare blamed Micheletto for the attack, causing the latter to betray and attack his master. During the subsequent struggle, Cesare was able to shoot Micheletto in the head, killing him. Soon after, while spying from the rooftops, Ezio and Machiavelli stirred one of the tiles, smashing it and accidentally making their presence known to Cesare. Startled, the Templar shot towards the roof, hitting and severely wounding Machiavelli, before he made his escape to Navarre; the land owned by his brother-in-law, King John III of Navarre.[56]
Uniting with John III, Cesare was given control of the Navarrese army and led them to besiege the city of Viana, hoping to regain his lost status. However, Ezio, who had tracked down Cesare following his escape, joined the fight and attempted to assassinate the Templar on the battlefield. Cesare thwarted the attempt and fled further towards Viana, but Ezio followed him while fighting his way through Navarrese and Vianan soldiers.[57][56]
Whilst Cesare was fighting on the battlements of Viana Castle, Ezio again confronted him, and the two men engaged in a duel. Gradually removing pieces of Cesare's armor in the conflict, Ezio was able to defeat Cesare and throw him from the castle walls, killing him and ending his ambitions to conquer Italy and Spain.[57][56]
Age of Discovery[edit | edit source]
Christoffa Corombo's expedition to the Americas and discovery of the New World started what became known as the Age of Discovery. Spain and other European powers—primarily Portugal, France, and England—sought to build up their colonial empires by conquering new territories overseas. During the 16th century, the Spanish sent numerous expeditions around the world, including the one led by Hernán Cortés, which famously defeated the Aztec Empire, and the one led by Francisco Pizarro, which overthrew the Inca Empire. These victories allowed the Spanish to establish a number of key colonies that made up modern-day Latin America, including Florida, Cuba,[58] Trinidad,[59] Puerto Rico,[60] Peru,[48] and Mexico.[61]
The Assassins and Templars secretly used the Spanish Empire's expansion to spread their reach to new territories, bringing their shadow war to the New World. The Assassin Giovanni Borgia infiltrated Cortés' expedition and recovered a Crystal Skull from the Aztecs.[61] Meanwhile, the Templars influenced the explorer Juan Ponce de León to search for the Fountain of Youth, a rumored Piece of Eden, in Florida, but he was killed by the Assassin Miguel Ramón Carlo de Lugo.[60] In 1541, after discovering that Pizarro was also affiliated with the Templars, the Assassins killed him to end his tyrannical rule over Peru.[48]
In 1521, Spain sponsored the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan's voyage, which had the goal of circumnavigating the world. Magellan's journey led him to Cebu in the Philippines, where he discovered a crescent-shaped Piece of Eden. However, while searching for another artifact on the neighboring Mactan Island, he was killed by the chieftain Lapu-Lapu.[62] Magellan's surviving crew completed the voyage, and Spain eventually colonized the Philippines in 1565, establishing the Spanish East Indies.[63]
Age of Enlightenment[edit | edit source]
In the early 18th century, Spain was caught in the War of the Spanish Succession over the dispute of who would succeed Charles II as King of Spain. Many nations in Europe were drawn into the conflict and openly exercised the use of privateers to raid merchant convoys. The war eventually concluded with the Peace of Utrecht in 1714, which recognized Philip V, from the French House of Bourbon, as king. The peace rendered thousands of privateers unemployed, and many of them turned to piracy to survive, marking the start of the third and final Golden Age of Piracy.[64]
In 1747, the British Templar Haytham Kenway traveled to Altea to eliminate Juan Vedomir, a Templar turncoat, and recover a journal he had been given by Grand Master Reginald Birch to decipher.[65]
By the mid-18th century, the Spanish Assassins had allied themselves with the Spanish Crown anew. In 1748, the shipbuilder Gaspar Velasquez was hired to construct the Aquila, the flagship of the Colonial Brotherhood's navy, but he was eventually forced to end his work due to the threat the British Templars posed. Gaspar then decided to send the plans to the French Assassin Council so that they may finish the ship.[66]
Spanish Civil War[edit | edit source]
In 1936, the Spanish Civil War broke out between the Nationalist forces led by Francisco Franco and the Republicans. On 26 April 1937, the town of Guernica was bombed, resulting in the deaths of numerous civilians. An Assassin cell led by Ignacio Cardona fought alongside the anarchists and requested reinforcements from other Asassin branches in Europe.[67]
In May 1937, Cardona's cell was infiltrated by Rufus Grosvenor, a rogue Templar and member of the Instruments of the First Will, who posed as the British Assassin Norbert Clarke. Grosvenor sought to manipulate Cardona into activating the full power of the Koh-i-Noor, which he had stolen from the Black Cross Albert Bolden after murdering his family. However, a vengeful Bolden pursued Grosvenor and, during a fight between the anarchists and communists in Barcelona, managed to escape with Cardona.[68]
After explaining Grosvenor's true identity and goals, Cardona agreed to help Bolden, and the pair tracked Grosvenor to a war-torn village.[69] During a fight against Cardona's former cellmates, who had been turned to the Instruments' cause, Grosvenor offered Cardona one last chance to activate the Koh-i-Noor. The Assassin did so, but turned the Piece of Eden's powers against Grosvenor, destroying the church they were in. While Grosvenor escaped and later left Spain, Cardona and Bolden decided to safeguard the Koh-i-Noor, which remained buried among the church's debris.[70]
Modern times[edit | edit source]
By 2016, Abstergo Industries, the front company of the Templar Order, had established the Abstergo Foundation Rehabilitation Center in Madrid, where they researched the genetic memories of abducted test subjects. In October 2016, Abstergo kidnapped Callum Lynch and brought him to the facility, where Callum was forced to relive the memories of his ancestor Aguilar de Nerha in search of the Apple of Eden encountered by the Assassin. Although Aguilar's memories eventually revealed the Apple's whereabouts and the Templars recovered it from the Seville Cathedral, the facility was destroyed during a riot started by Callum and the other inmates.[19]
In November 2017, in Madrid, Abstergo technicians Thomas and Alice Adler used their Animus on a restrained Maxime Gorm to explore Eddie Gorm's memories[71][72] and find the location of an Apple of Eden. However, their experiment was unsuccessful, and they were soon interrupted by a visit from their daughter, Elisa, and her specialist, Dr. Florent Carpentier.[73] During their conversation, a freed Maxime entered the room, which made Carpentier reveal himself to be the Assassin Tomo Sakagawa.[74]
In the resulting fight, Thomas and Alice were killed, and Tomo was injured when his attempt to assassinate Maxime failed, resulting in Gorm stabbing him in the eye with a knife.[74] While Maxime and Elisa escaped together, a group of Assassins led by Hajime Shimada arrived on the scene and found the unconscious Tomo, taking him away to be treated.[73]
In August 2018, after reliving Albert Bolden's memories in the Animus, Juhani Otso Berg and the Assassins Charlotte de la Cruz, Galina Voronina, Kiyoshi Takakura, and Arend Schut-Cunningham traveled to Spain to recover the Koh-i-Noor from its burial site before the Instruments of the First Will. After a fight against two elderly protectors of the site trained by Bolden and Ignacio Cardona, Kiyoshi and Arend were captured by the Instruments while Charlotte found and activated the Koh-i-Noor.[75] However, she soon lost the Piece of Eden to the Instruments, who managed to escape with it.[76]
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Assassin's Creed II (Gylphs only)
- Assassin's Creed II: Discovery (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood novel
- Assassin's Creed III (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed film
- Assassin's Creed: The Official Movie Novelization
- Assassin's Creed: Uprising
- Assassin's Creed: Conspiracies
- Assassin's Creed: Rebellion
- Assassin's Creed: Bloodstone
- Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun (appears in flashbacks)
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice
- Echoes of History (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Shadows (mentioned in Database entry only)
References[edit | edit source]
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