Friol is a municipality in the
Lugo
Lugo (, ) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 100,060 in 2024, ...
province in
Galicia. It is located in northwest
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
. It is bordered on the north by Begonte and Guitiriz, to the south by Palas de Rei and Guntín, to the east by Lugo and Outeiro de Rei and to the west by the province of La Coruña. It has an area of 292.29 km
2.
It has a population of 3,616 inhabitants according to the
INE in 2024.
The population density is 12 inhabitants/km
2.
History
In Friol, there are still vestigial megaliths, the oldest preserved in this municipality. This area was occupied by Romans and
Visigoths
The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian military group unite ...
.
In the Middle Ages the families Ulloa, Parga and Seixas shared power in this term.
Proof of this are the buildings, towers and castles inhabiting the territory. The most famous building is the fortress of Friol San Paio of Narla, of unknown origin and rebuilt in the sixteenth century by Don Vasco Seixas, lord of the Solar House and Castro Seixas and Pazo de San Paio of Narla. He was the son of Don Basque Seixas "''el viejo''" and Maria Alvarez de Sotomayor and grandson of Don Vasco Seixas, who in the fourteenth century was lord of San Paio, Osera, Chantada, Ferreira, Samos, Sobrado and Eire. He participated in the dynastic struggle of
Trastámara in favor of
Don Henry. In Friol there are many popular legends related to the fortress of San Paio of Narla and its owners Vazquez de Seixas. This same lineage also belonged to the Pazo do Monte, located in the same area.
References
Municipalities in the Province of Lugo
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