We know about Palacio or Casas de Cutre thanks to the great research work carried out by Eduardo Martínez Hombre who, having found, among other documents, some notes by Captain Santirso entitled: "Noticias de un peregrino de Oviedo a Covadonga en 1759" (News of a Pilgrim from Oviedo to Covadonga in 1759). Such pilgrimage was made by the aforementioned Cipriano González Santirso or Cipriano Santirso.
Eduardo made up his mind and managed to publish these documents enclosing some notes at the end of each chapter, with pictures, maps and drawings, besides the mentioned research notes on every character appearing in the referred document.
With all these collected data, he details with great rigor the history of the Piloña Council, its Palaces, Big Houses and inhabitants, customs, as well as its orography.
From this research, everything concerning the Palacio or Casas de Cutre may be extracted, this Palacio being worthy of mention and also because its history and inhabitants especially attracted the researcher's attention.
The name Cutre, Rubianes, Sorribas, and other Big Houses and Palaces of the same period, come from its location. Cutre is a specific area or district belonging to the San Pablo de Sorribas Parish. It is an enclave within the crossroads from Villamayor (Piloña) to Villaviciosa, Colunga and Ribadesella, bordering the Sueve.
The word Cutre already figures in the royal chronicle of Alfonso III, when mentioning Pelayo's flight to Covadonga. It reads as follows: "Munnuza's emissaries, perhaps determined on account of Pelayo's sister, went ahead toward the lands called Cutre, to the North of Brece, to the knight who, full of good intentions, quietly rode towards the Cúa River's mouth, where it was necessary to cross the Piloña to take the mountains from the other side bank".
As regards the houses, the year they were built is not specified. They are estimated to have been built between the years 850 and 1000, at least the two first.
After many unknown
difficulties, they came to belong to the Villamayor nuns. Around 1377,
Bishop Gutierre de Toledo launched an accusatory and devastating document
of alleged degradation against the San Martín de Soto and Santa
María de Villamayor nuns (both Benedictine orders), after which
they decided or were obliged to give up the houses.
In 1385, these nuns donated their possessions to the Benedictine monks
in the Valdediós Monastery.
In 1441, they are returned to the Benedictine nuns.
In 1530, the general order, in total reform, incorporates them into the San Pelayo Abbess in Oviedo.
In Chapter 5, Captain Santirso says in his story: "When we said goodbye and came out to the mentioned courtyard, two knights, who due to the appearance they had when they attended the Holy Service, were ready to mount their impatient horses. My cousins, Isabel and Bentura, wave farewell, being at the same time a cordial greeting as if they wished to know the reason for such impatience. I have written down that those knights were Antonio de Obiedo (sic) Portal Valdés, (41) and the youngest..."
(41) ... (Eduardo's note). In the great San Pablo de Sorribas Parish, towards the northwest, there are three houses from north to south, located in a rib of the mountains bounding the Sueve Massif on the southern side, such that on the eastern side it empties water into the Sardeda Stream and on the western side into the Borines River.
The Cutre toponym mentioned in the Register of 1637, being at the minimum slope line, bears the passing of winds and resists a mutual vigilance between these houses and the Rubianes house.
The two northernmost houses, with a raised granary in front of the facades, seem to be the simplest and most primitive. Situated to the south, one of the three floors is attached to these two houses, with a lot of masonry work and a stone eave, showing the eastern province influence, which having less art for wood, found their architectural likes in stone. Almost in a corner, on the third floor, there is a shield belonging to the Oviedo Portal, with four quarters distributed as follows: a sun in the right top; a fleur-de-lis in the left top; a fleur-de-lis in the bottom right; a castle in the left bottom.
In front of the shield, I saw a big chapel with a baptismal font and a tomb or stone box with a completely smooth lid. The inside is full of farming tools and products of the land: nothing remains from the Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación altar or any other cult signs, apart from those mentioned. The belfry is graceful and still had its cross on top when I visited it in 1953.
Cutre lords, with such powerful rivals as Rubiales and Sorbías, seemed to have lost energy and as the time passed, they abandoned those lands covered with chestnuts and oak trees.
Between the Cutre and Brees houses, close to the end of the rib that goes up to the Piloña River from north to south, a comfortable path is perceived, which goes to Millares and which the Muslims who went ahead of Pelayo the king's sword bearer must have stolen down, hoping to take him by surprise before he crossed the Piloña River.
In 1692, Captain Rodrigo de Oviedo Portal y Valdés appears as a neighbor and owner of these Cutre houses, alderman of the Piloña and Colunga Councils, and married to Antonia María Argüelles Meres, according to the Register of that year. However, according to the one of 1698, he was married to Antonia María Argüelles de Vega de Foxá, and in the ones of 1704 and 1710, married to María Antonia Argüelles Posada, though it must be referring to the same person. They had the following children: Joseph Lorenzo Francisco, who had already died by 1751, María Josefa Blassa and Juan, who went to Oviedo where he had descendants, having left one in Cutre, born when he was single. Also, Pedro Cosme Damián, married to Gregoria de la Buelga, with five children as far as we know: Rodrigo, Eugenio, María, Gregoria and Antonio, the firstborn, who follows the line and was married to Antonia de la Buelga Argüelles, from which marriage two daughters were born: Agueda and Antonia.
We do not know which of these two was in charge of the entailed estate, but in any case, she married a Llano Ponte, and they had the entailed estate, Nicolás de Llano Ponte Oviedo del Portal, Knight of the Santiago Order, Colonel of the royal army, Major in the provincial regiment, and Lieutenant General by 1816. With these marriages of the women in charge of the entailed estate, it usually happens that the husbands do not generally feel a love of the land. Thus, looking for other more expansive lands or the charm of the city, they break away from these ancestral houses, to the distress of their neighboring peasants who, though having to withstand orders or decisions from the Lord, they had the help and protection of the House in case they needed it. At the beginning of 1800, they probably did not go to Cutre anymore and they had appointed a butler called Felipe Molleda.
All these lands from the Cereceda and Sorribas Parishes, located in the southern park of Sueve Massif, are situated as if they were leaning out to look south, trying to see the muffled murmur of the Piloña River, while they enjoy the fruitful midday sun, in huge prairies and abundant groves of chestnuts and oaks. Thus protected from the freezing northern winds, they are a blessing from God. It is enough just to be able to see them during a quick visit.
After so many
years of neglect of this beautiful Palacio de Cutre, it is rescued
and restored by Javier and Sandra who, respecting its environment
and architecture, have converted it into a luxurious hotel worth visiting.
That is how it is nowadays, proud of its greatness and participation
in the history of the Principality.
