Arrival In Spain Research Articles

Modeling the Regional Distribution of International Travelers in Spain to Estimate Imported Cases of Dengue and Malaria: Statistical Inference and Validation Study.

Understanding the patterns of disease importation through international travel is paramount for effective public health interventions and global disease surveillance. While global airline network data have been used to assist in outbreak prevention and effective preparedness, accurately estimating how these imported cases disseminate locally in receiving countries remains a challenge. This study aimed to describe and understand the regional distribution of imported cases of dengue and malaria upon arrival in Spain via air travel. We have proposed a method to describe the regional distribution of imported cases of dengue and malaria based on the computation of the "travelers' index" from readily available socioeconomic data. We combined indicators representing the main drivers for international travel, including tourism, economy, and visits to friends and relatives, to measure the relative appeal of each region in the importing country for travelers. We validated the resulting estimates by comparing them with the reported cases of malaria and dengue in Spain from 2015 to 2019. We also assessed which motivation provided more accurate estimates for imported cases of both diseases. The estimates provided by the best fitted model showed high correlation with notified cases of malaria (0.94) and dengue (0.87), with economic motivation being the most relevant for imported cases of malaria and visits to friends and relatives being the most relevant for imported cases of dengue. Factual descriptions of the local movement of international travelers may substantially enhance the design of cost-effective prevention policies and control strategies, and essentially contribute to decision-support systems. Our approach contributes in this direction by providing a reliable estimate of the number of imported cases of nonendemic diseases, which could be generalized to other applications. Realistic risk assessments will be obtained by combining this regional predictor with the observed local distribution of vectors.

Founder lineages in the Iberian Roma mitogenomes recapitulate the Roma diaspora and show the effects of demographic bottlenecks

The Roma are the largest ethnic minority in Europe. With a Northwestern Indian origin around ~ 1.5 kya, they travelled throughout West Asia until their arrival in Europe around the eleventh century CE. Their diaspora through Europe is characterized by population bottlenecks and founder events which have contributed to their present day genetic and cultural diversity. In our study, we focus on the effects of founder effects in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) pool of Iberian Roma by producing and analyzing 144 novel whole mtDNA sequences of Iberian Roma. Over 60% of their mtDNA pool is composed by founder lineages of South Asian origin or acquired by gene flow during their diaspora in the Middle East or locally in Europe in Europe. The TMRCA of these lineages predates the historical record of the Roma arrival in Spain. The abundance of founder lineages is in contrast with ~ 0.7% of autochthonous founder lineages present in the non-Roma Iberian population. Within those founder lineages, we found a substantial amount of South Asian M5a1b1a1 haplotypes and high frequencies of West Eurasian founder lineages (U3b1c, J2b1c, J1c1b, J1b3a, H88, among others), which we characterized phylogenetically and put in phylogeographical context. Besides, we found no evidence of genetic substructure of Roma within the Iberian Peninsula. These results show the magnitude of founder effects in the Iberian Roma and further explain the Roma history and genetic diversity from a matrilineal point of view.

The Pictorial Representation of Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain: Between Luxury and Devotion

The fame of Margaret of Austria-Styria (1584–1611) transcends her time not only as queen consort of Philip III of Spain, but also as a woman valued for all kinds of virtues. Her early death at the age of twenty-seven generated the development of an extensive laudatory literature, which elevated her as a model example for other queens of the House of Austria. Since her arrival in Spain in 1599, Margaret had a special interest in portraiture, using it as a means of maintaining contact with the various members of her family. This article presents a survey of her portrait repertoire, based on extant portraits, but also official chronicles, the descriptions of her portraits in royal inventories and the accounts of the chamber painters, which are fundamental to our knowledge of her portraits and the circumstances of her commissions. From her first images as Philip’s bride, through all her portraits as queen, to the portraits made after her death, these images highlight the originality of her representation. Margaret’s originality lies in her focus on the extreme ostentation of luxury in her clothing and jewellery, connected to the sophisticated fashion of the time. She also developed, in addition to the official portraits of the royal couple, a more private iconography, which is highly unusual in that it shows her pregnant, or in the guise of a sacred personage, with a clearly devotional character.

Participation of Latvian Volunteers in Medical Aid to the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)

Of more than 100 Latvian volunteers that participated in the Spanish Civil War, 15 were involved in providing medical aid to the Spanish Republic. Among these volunteers were both men and women, who worked not only as nurses but also as doctors. The aim of the article is to analyse the participation of Latvian volunteers in the Republican medical service (1936–1939) focusing on their motivation, arrival in Spain, activities during the conflict and departure from Spain. This article also includes information about Spanish Civil War participants of Latvian origin that had lost Latvian citizenship at the time of the conflict in order to provide a broader perspective to Latvian participation and its surrounding circumstances.

Distinción, elegancia y luto en la moda virreinal: el uso de la indumentaria negra

Since ancient times, the wear of black garments as a sign of mourning for the loss of a loved one has been related to night and darkness, and also to the fear of the unknown and death. Although there is no continuous line about the use of black to demonstrate mourning, in the case of Spain and its overseas kingdoms, its use is directly related to the promulgation of the “Pragmatic of mourning and wax” (1502), following the death of the prince Juan de Castilla in 1497, son of the Catholic Monarchs, which prescribed austerity in the celebration of funerals. This pragmatic was in force until it was modified by the Council of Toledo during the reign of Felipe V, in the first third of the 18th century. In addition, since the reign of Philip II, in the mid-sixteenth century, dressing “Spanish style”, that is, in black, became synonymous with prestige and elegance, since the king adopted black for his closet and turned it into the color of the court and a symbol of power and glory, thanks to the arrival in Spain of the Campeche wood, originally from the Yucatan peninsula, and its commercial monopoly. The palo de Campeche was highly valued because it produces an intense and stable black dye, characteristics that had not been achieved with the European dyeing techniques of the time. The use of black clothing spread from Spain and significantly affected fashion in both Europe and America. As can be seen, the implications of wearing black garments have been economic, political, and social. The paper seeks to demonstrate the importance attributed to black clothing in two different contexts in the viceroyalty of Peru.

Illuminating the shadows of skilled migration: Highly qualified immigrants from Latin America in Spain

AbstractThis paper analyses the labour incorporation of skilled Latin American immigrant workers into Spain. It is based on in‐depth interviews with 24 Latin American immigrants and it explores reasons for migration into Spain, showing that the interviewees migrated for a great variety of reasons, not necessarily for work. Subsequently, the paper analyses the interviewees’ labour incorporation in Spain and defines three paths into skilled work in Spain. In two of the three paths, on first arrival in Spain, a mismatch was observed between education and labour market outcomes. For some, migration even represented a break in their career, implying occasionally a temporary de‐skilling process. For this reason, an extended university–work transition was sometimes observed, in order to secure skilled jobs in Spain. Theoretically, human capital hardly explains this migration since it is not associated with upward career movement, although wages might be higher than in the countries of origin.

Differences in health status, health behaviour and healthcare utilisation between Immigrant and native homeless people in Spain: An exploratory study

Few studies have examined the differences between immigrant and native-born homeless populations. Our aim was to conduct an exploratory study to examine the differences in health status, health behaviour and healthcare utilisation in a sample of Spanish immigrant and native homeless people. Study was conducted in eight different temporary accommodations in the Valencia region in August 2018. Overall, 86 participants were included in the analysis who answered questionnaires concerning socio-demographic characteristics, immigration status, health status and behaviour, healthcare utilisation and experienced discrimination in healthcare and health literacy. In total, 76.7% were men with a mean age of 41.91 (14.17) years, with 60.4% having immigration background with an average of 4.8 (4.2) years since arrival in Spain. No differences were found in the subjective health status, however, native homeless participants reported significantly higher prevalence of heart disease (87.5% vs. 12.5%), hypertension (84.6% vs. 15.4%), psychological illness (63.6% vs. 36.4%) and were also more often smokers (73.5% vs. 28.8%), reported smoking more cigarettes per day (12.0 vs. 7.4) and were more often illegal drug users (17.6% vs. 2.0%). Immigrant participants were significantly more often not insured, reported more problems in healthcare access and had lower rates of visits to general practitioners and less hospital admissions. Differences were also observed in social status with the native homeless more often reporting receiving income, and living in less crowded accommodations. Our results show a variety of issues that the immigrant homeless population in Spain is confronted with that also prevents adequate social inclusion and achieving good health. However, the immigrant population engaged less often in risky health behaviour. More, and continuous, monitoring of social, mental and physical health of the homeless population is necessary. Public health interventions aiming at health promotion in the immigrant homeless populations need to focus on increasing overall social integration.

La inmigración marroquí en la literatura española actual

The aim of this article is to reflect on the theme of immigration in current Spanish literature, produced by the intense arrival in Spain of both legal and illegal emigrants since the 1990s, coming from many corners of the world. The phenomenon of Moroccan emigration to Spain has not left unmoved to some Spanish writers whose reaction consists in trying to crystallize the dramas and tragic deaths occurred in the Strait of Gibraltar in their texts. For this precise reason, our work intends to be a certain -and not exhaustive- approach to this problematic whose reality is manifested in all fields of Spanish society, above all, in its literature, since this is always a reflection of the society in which it develops.

Imported Mansonella perstans infection in Spain

BackgroundMansonella perstans infection can be considered one of the most neglected tropical infectious diseases. Very few studies have reported on the clinical picture caused by infection with this nematode. Therefore, our study was aimed to describe the clinical patterns and treatment of imported M. perstans infection by migrants from Africa.MethodsThe present study evaluated a large cohort of migrants who have been diagnosed, examined and treated for imported M. perstans infection at a Spanish reference center (Hospital Carlos III Tropical Medicine Unit, Madrid, Spain) over a 19-year period. Most patients voluntarily attend the emergency unit or are referred from primary care or general hospitals in Madrid. Chi-square test was used to compare the association between categorical variables. The continuous variables were compared by Student’s t-test or the Mann–Whitney test. The corresponding regression models were used for multivariate analysis.ResultsFive hundred three cases of migrants from tropical and subtropical areas with M. perstans infection were identified. Two hundred sixty-four patients were female (52.5%). The mean age (± SD) was 44.6 ± 18.2 years (range: 16–93 years). The mean time (± SD) between the arrival in Spain and the first consultation was 8.6 ± 18.0 months. The major origin of the patients was Equatorial Guinea (97.6%). Regarding the clinical picture, 257 patients were asymptomatic (54.7%) and 228 were symptomatic (45.3%); 190 patients had pruritus (37.8%), 50 (9.9%) had arthralgia, 18 patients had Calabar-like swelling (3.6%), and 15 (3%) had abdominal pain. Four hundred forty-two (87.9%) migrants had hyper-IgE, and 340 (67.6%) had eosinophilia. One hundred ninety-five patients had coinfections with other filarial nematodes (38.8%), and 308 migrants had only M. perstans infection (61.2%). Four hundred thirty-seven cases (86.9%) had been treated with anti-filarial drugs; 292 cases were treated with one anti-filarial drug, and 145 cases were treated with combined anti-filarial therapy. Additionally, 20 (4%) cases received steroids and 38 (7.6%) cases received antihistamines.ConclusionsA long series of M. perstans infections is presented in sub-Saharan immigrants whose data indicate that it should be included in the differential diagnosis in patients with pruritus or analytical alterations such as eosinophilia or hyper-IgE presentation, and they also have a high number of coinfections with other microorganisms whose treatment needs to be protocolized.

Alumnado de origen latinoamericano en Cataluña: un análisis de su volumen y resultados escolares

La mayor parte del alumnado de origen latinoamericano en las escuelas catalanas queda invisibilizado estadísticamente debido al peso creciente de las nacionalizaciones y de las segundas generaciones. Gracias a disponer de los microdatos del curso 2015-2016 cedidos por el Departament d’Ensenyament y al cruce de estos registros con el Padrón Continuo de población se ha podido analizar la trayectoria migratoria de los alumnos en relación a sus resultados escolares, creando una tipología generacional. Este análisis se realiza para los estudiantes de origen latinoamericano, con el objetivo de conocer sus principales características sociodemográficas y su desempeño escolar, medido a partir de las tasas de idoneidad y de la obtención del graduado de ESO. Además del conjunto de estudiantes de origen latinoamericano se estudian cinco orígenes en concreto (Honduras, Bolivia, República Dominicana, Argentina y Ecuador), que se caracterizan por una importante presencia en Cataluña pero con calendarios muy distintos en su llegada a España, así como en sus perfiles sociodemográficos y en su incorporación a la escuela. Los resultados obtenidos indican el creciente peso de los descendientes de inmigrados en las escuelas, y unos rendimientos escolares que se ven fuertemente perturbados por el proceso migratorio.

Las colecciones de restos humanos de la expedición del Pacífico y los museos españoles

La conocida como Expedición del Pacífico (1862-1866) fue la última de las grandes expediciones transoceánicas organizadas por España en el siglo XIX y está bien documentada gracias a los estudios de varios historiadores. Menos se ha trabajado sobre las vicisitudes posteriores a su llegada a España de los restos humanos y las colecciones etnográficas recopiladas durante el viaje. Además de otros restos óseos, fundamentalmente cráneos, se trajeron a España una serie de momias que fueron extraídas, junto con sus ajuares mortuorios, del sitio arqueológico de Chiu-Chiu (Bolivia, hoy Chile) por Manuel Almagro en 1864. El artículo se dedica a reconstruir en lo posible la historia de estas colecciones por distintos museos y los estudios que se llevaron a cabo a partir de ellas.

Emergency Care for Women Irregular Migrants Who Arrive in Spain by Small Boat: A Qualitative Study.

Background: this study aimed to describe and understand the experiences and health needs of women irregular migrants during emergency care provision upon arrival in Spain by small boat. Methods: a qualitative study based on Gadamer’s phenomenology was used. The data collection included 13 in-depth interviews with women irregular migrants and 10 in-depth interviews with key informants. The study took place in the Spanish Red Cross’ facilities between February 2017 and April 2018. Results: two main themes emerged from the data analysis: the need for emergency care focused on women irregular migrants with the sub-themes ‘Women irregular migrants as objects of sexual exploitation’ and ‘The mother-child dyad as the axis in human trafficking’; and developing an emergency care gender policy for women irregular migrants, with the subthemes ‘Healthcare in a police-controlled setting: detecting weaknesses’ and ‘Promoting screening and safety protocols focused on women irregular migrants’. Conclusions: women irregular migrants who arrive in Spain by small boat have specific needs and healthcare problems. Due to strict safety conditions during emergency care provision, rape and human trafficking can go unnoticed. Implications: interdisciplinary care protocols and new health policies that have a gender perspective are needed to improve the emergency care provided to women irregular migrants.

Latent and active tuberculosis infections in migrants and travellers: A retrospective analysis from the Spanish +REDIVI collaborative network

BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of infectious disease mortality worldwide. We analysed active and latent TB infections (LTBI) from the Spanish Network for the Study of Imported Infectious Diseases by Travellers and Immigrants (+REDIVI). MethodsObservational, retrospective, multicentre study of TB and LTBI registered in the +REDIVI network from October 2009 to December 2016. ResultsOf 1008 cases of LTBI, 884 (87.7%) were immigrants; 93 (4.5%), immigrants visiting friends and relatives (VFR); 2 (0.9%), VFR-travellers; and 29 (1.1%), travellers. Absolute (N = 157 vs. N = 75) and relative (12.5% vs. 5.9%) frequency decreased over the study period (p = 0.003). Median time to diagnosis was 24.6 months (females 50.3 vs males 11.9; p < 0.001).Of 448 TB cases, 405 (90.4%) were in immigrants; 30 (6.7%), VFR-immigrants; 6 (1.3%), VFR-travellers; and 7 (1.6%), travellers. Median time to diagnosis was 62.5 months (females 86.6 vs males 70.1; p = 0.0075).There were 8 multidrug resistant TB cases and 1 extensively drug resistant case of TB, all in immigrants. ConclusionTB was frequently diagnosed more than 5 years after arrival in Spain. Screening programmes for TB and LTBI in immigrants should be considered beyond this time point. Women showed a higher diagnostic delay for both latent and active TB.

A long way to Russia: Agustín de Betancourt

A lot has been written about Agustín de Betancourt, his life in Russia, his contribution to the architecture, construction and organization of the transport system in the Russian Empire, as well as his life, his training and his professional career in Spain. However, little is known about when, how and why he makes the decision to leave his country permanently and settle in Russia. According to the documentation found in both Russian and Spanish archives, it has been shown that it is the Russian ambassador to Spain, Ivan Muravyov-Apostol, who, shortly after his arrival in Spain, at the end of 1803, after personally meeting Betancourt, proposes its contract to Saint Petersburg. Once the approval is obtained, the proposal is transferred. Also, the discrepancies between Manuel Godoy and Betancourt are studied in detail for the work of channeling the Genil river and the intervention in Soto de Roma, Royal Site owned by the minister, which marked the deterioration of the relations between both and took the engineer to consider, negotiate and accept the offer to settle in Russia. Both facts are studied within the framework of his professional career in Spain.

The impact of multilingualism on host language acquisition

The paper uses micro-data from the Spanish National Immigrant Survey to examine an uncharted question: are multilingual immigrants superior at learning the destination language? The article adopts an instrumental variable (IV) approach where the number of foreign languages known by the immigrant is instrumented using the following variables: (1) the number of nationalities of the immigrant’s father and (2) the number of foreign countries where the individual has settled prior to his arrival in Spain. Above all, these instruments pass well several validity tests. The IV estimates show that for every additional foreign language learned by the immigrant the probability of being proficient in the destination language—Spanish—increases by 10.7%. This effect is equivalent to multiple years of formal education, to living in Spain for more than 4 years, and as important as having a mother tongue linguistically close to Spanish. We find mild evidence that women reap larger benefits from multilingualism than men (13.0 against 10.0%).

Vineyard ownership in medieval Europe: lessons from the laws of ʿorlah

Biblical law forbids the consumption of fruit from trees in the three years after planting, a prohibition known as ʿorlah . In medieval France this created a problem with the practice of layering. R. Isaac of Dampieres (Ri) argued that if the twig is not detached from the old vine, layering is not deemed planting and there is no obligation to count the years of ʿorlah anew. R. Samson of Sens, his student, distinguished altogether layering from actual planting. In Germany, where there were no Jewish-owned vineyards, R. Asher (Rosh) followed the ruling of Ri; a Jew could turn a blind eye on the practice of layering. R. Asher’s arrival in Spain, where Jewish vintners performed layering on branches and detached them later as required, compelled him to adopt the solution of R. Samson.

The contribution of prosody to foreign accent: A study of Spanish as a foreign language

The aim of this study is to analyze the contribution of prosody on the perception of foreign accent by Brazilian learners of Spanish. The data were collected from 15 participants and a control group of 5 native Spanish speakers. A perceptual test was performed with two different speech styles (reading and storytelling) and with delexicalized and natural speech. The speech production was judged by 24 native Spanish subjects. First, they had to determine the nationality of the speaker by listening to the delexicalized excerpts in Spanish (storytelling). After that, the listeners used a continuous scale to rate the excerpts (reading and storytelling) for the degree of foreign accent in Spanish. The results suggest that it is possible to identify foreign accent only with the prosodic information provided in the delexicalized stimuli, i.e., f0, duration, and overall intensity. In addition, the perceptual test allowed us to assess the degree of foreign accent of each subject while revealing the great variability of their production. Finally, concerning the external data, the following factors predicted foreign accent among the learners: gender, length of residence in Spain, formal language instruction in Brazil, age of arrival in Spain, and reported use of Brazilian Portuguese in Spain. These results confirm the crucial role of naturalistic learning of a foreign language, as shown by previous studies.

Anarchist Immigrants in Spain and Argentina

Anarchism has been one of the issues most studied by Spanish historians who deal with the labor movement. Not surprisingly, anarchism's development took longer in Spain than in other European and American countries, and its influence on the social and political level was greater. In general, most analyses have been framed within the Spanish national context; much less common are studies that highlight the journey of the Spanish anarchists who left Spain for various reasons and devoted themselves to proselytizing and bringing their doctrine to the workers of the Americas.One of the places where these anarchist immigrants settled was Argentina, a country that has also been the subject of many studies on the development of anarchism and on the influence of Spanish anarchists in organizing workers. However, in spite of this extensive literature, there are still unresolved issues that need to be dealt with. To this end, we can use the analytical resources provided by new methodological approaches to look at anarchism from a different angle. For example, few authors have analyzed the contribution made by those immigrants to the development of Spanish anarchism once they returned to the peninsula. James A. Baer's book has come to fill this gap.In Anarchist Immigrants in Spain and Argentina, Baer studies the links and mutual influences between Spanish and Argentine anarchism fostered by the ties that anarchist militants from the two countries established during their prolonged stays. Using primary and secondary sources as well as interviews collected with some of the protagonists, he also emphasizes the role played by these cross border agents and how their journey and stay on the other side of the Atlantic worked as a school of learning that changed their thought and practices, a change that they later transferred to the situations in their next destinations. Baer achieves this by using a critical approach that shifts from the binational to the transnational perspective, which allows him to transcend the traditional framework of the nation-state.The transnational approach helps to give another meaning to anarchists' actions in the countries to which they immigrated, as it allows reflection on cross border activities including transfers, interactions, networks, and exchanges, as well as the movement of people, ideas, and discourses among territories. Baer's book highlights the interactions yielded by anarchists' mobility and activities, the resources and ideas that spread beyond Spanish and Argentine borders, and the mutual commitments that Spanish and Argentine militants acquired in the national struggles of the countries where they settled (what Davide Turcato calls cross-nationalism). However, this does not mean discarding the national approach; rather, it means considering how anarchists used the experiences accumulated in other countries to reorient their actions in their own. As we see in Baer's review of the relationships between Spanish and Argentine anarchists, these immigrants never lost their sense of belonging to their home country, which at times resulted in disagreements with other national anarchists.Baer chooses an extended period in which to analyze these links between Spanish and Argentine anarchism. The years from 1868 to 1939 include numerous milestones: the origins of anarchism in Argentina; the Argentine Residency Law of 1902, which resulted in the deportation of many Spaniards to Spain; the creation of the Spanish Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) in 1910; the tensions in the 1920s between the Federación Obrera Regional Argentina and the CNT; and the 1930 coup in Argentina, the arrival in Spain of Argentines and Spaniards, and their subsequent participation in the Spanish Civil War. Through these developments we can see this cross border interchange pass through different generations of militants.Undoubtedly, this original book can be recommended both to the general public looking to expand their knowledge of anarchism and to scholars and students, especially Spaniards, who have an extensive knowledge of Spanish anarchism but not the history of these ties established with Argentine anarchism and anarchists. Traditionally we have studied those actors who went to the Americas, specifically Argentina, and their contributions to anarchism there, whereas Baer demonstrates that the contribution of Latin American actors to the development of Spanish anarchism was also fundamental.We can only reproach the author, as far as the history of Spanish anarchism is concerned, for using few works published by Spanish historians. His narrative draws heavily on two authors, Murray Bookchin and Gerald Brenan, whose work (especially the latter's) has been surpassed by the extensive studies carried out in Spain since the late twentieth century. It would be very productive and indeed necessary to build bridges of communication between American and Spanish historians so as to open dialogue and exchange of ideas that will allow feedback and productive influences in a way similar to the anarchists discussed in Baer's book.

Vaccination against meningococcal B disease. Public statement of the Advisory Committee on Vaccines of the Spanish Association of Paediatrics (CAV-AEP)

Abstract Meningococcal invasive disease, including the main clinical presentation forms (sepsis and meningitis), is a severe and potentially lethal infection caused by different serogroups of Neisseria meningitidis. Meningococcal serogroup B is the most prevalent in Europe. Most cases occur in children, with a mortality rate of 10% and a risk of permanent sequelae of 20–30% among survivors. The highest incidence and case fatality rates are observed in healthy children under 2–3 years old, followed by adolescents, although it can occur at any age. With the arrival in Spain of the only available vaccine against meningococcus B, the Advisory Committee on Vaccines of the Spanish Association of Paediatrics has analysed its preventive potential in detail, as well as its peculiar administrative situation in Spain. The purpose of this document is to publish the statement of the Committee as regards this vaccination and the access to it by the Spanish population, taking into account that it has been only authorised for people at risk. The vaccine is available free in the rest of Europe for those who want to acquire it, and in some countries and regions it has been introduced into the systematic immunisation schedules. The Committee considers that Bexsero® has a profile of a vaccine to be included in the official schedules of all the Spanish autonomous communities and insists on the need for it to be available in pharmacies for its administration in all children older than 2 months.

En torno al cardenal Don Gil Álvarez de Albornoz y el platero sienés Andrea Petrucci: el relicario de la mano de Santa Lucía y el cáliz de San Segundo

This article deals with the complex and hitherto unpublished history of the arrival in Spain of two masterpieces of Sienese craftsmanship in silver and translucent enamel from the fourteenth century: the reliquary of the hand of St. Lucy in Toledo Cathedral and the San Segundo chalice in Avila Cathedral. The import of these important liturgical and devotional pieces, both signed by the Sienese goldsmith Andrea Petrucci, is inextricably linked with the Italian sojourn of cardinal don Gil de Albornoz, archbishop of Toledo and later cardinal of San Clemente and Sabina, and papal legate. The patronage exercised by the Castilian cardinal and his circle in Italy accounts for the commission and acquisition of these pieces, whose complex itineraries would eventually conclude in Toledo and Avila.