The Caball Vert – (Valenciano for Green Horse
- Caballo Verde in Castillian).
The Sierra del Penyo Roig (or Serra del Penyal de Laguart) is sometimes also
called the Cavall (Caball) Vert ridge (although on the official maps this
name refers only to the easternmost portion of the ridge)
The following account has been translated from the Spanish and adapted by Joan Franklin: Source: http://www.hotelalahuar.com/historia.html
"The Caballo Verde
ridge is the long high rocky ridge which divides the Jalón and Laguart
valleys running due west to east. The crest of the ridge has a curious formation
in the shape of a saddle that unites the two steep peaks.
So how did it get its strange name?
Well, the unromantic version is that the name originated in the Iberian words
for ‘humedales bart’. ‘Humedales’ means an area of
lush greenness, and ‘bart’ means ‘valley’. ‘Bart’
gradually changed to the catalan/valenciano word for green – ‘vert’,
so now we have ‘lush green valley’.
But what of the word ‘cavall’? The head of a valley in Latin would
be called ‘caput vallis’ (cap-vall = cabeza de valle) from which
originated ‘cavall’. Therefore, ‘Cavall Vert’ could
be translated as the ‘head of the lush green valley’ i.e. the
area around Fontilles.
And now for the more romantic version, which is probably part
history and part legend. . . . . Everyone knows the sad history of the expulsion
of the Moors from the Iberian peninsula.
Historically, on 29th September 1609, King Felipe III sent out a Royal Decree
which called for the expulsion of the Moors. The military forces of the Duke
of Gandía were sent to the area of the Gallinera Valley in order to contain
the Moors who were rebelling against the brutal actions of the government troops.
Many of the Moors (whose lineage in this country extended back 900 years), refused
to abandon the land of their ancestors, and they rallied round a call to fight
the deportation – their leader was a former baker of Beni-Campell –
called Amed al Mellini.
The commander of the Duke of Gandia’s forces tried to form a pact with
the Moors but these overtures were refused and on 15th November 1609, the order
to attack was given.
After a bloody and fierce battle, the Moors were obliged to retreat to the head
of the valley to take refuge in their last outpost - the Castle of Pop - a fortress
located on one of the two peaks which form the Cavall Verd ridge. On 21st November,
the Moors were forced to abandon the safety of the castle. What happened next
is where the legend starts – the following version of events is obviously
that of the Christian victors. (The truth is probably that the Moors were all
massacred in the battle.)
The crest of the Caball Verd has a curious formation in the shape of a saddle
that unites the two steep peaks. The legend has it that Mellini and his followers,
hopeless and surrounded, climbed up to the saddle of the ridge (the escarpment
that separates the two peaks). From there one can see the Mediterranean even
as far as Ibiza. They were hoping to catch sight of the Green Horse coming in
from the Orient bearing a green standard with the half-moon (crescent-moon of
Islam), to rescue them from certain death. The green vision did not materialise
and the Moors, rather than surrender, hurled themselves from the precipice.
That is the legendary version of the rocky saddle of the Green Horse."