The Abbot of Valadares

Born in Bande in 1757, Juan Rosendo Arias Enríquez passed into history as the guerrilla leader who fought the French during the Reconquest of Vigo. He was the Abbot of Valadares for over thirty years and organised the Vigo uprising together with the Mayor of Fragoso, Cayetano Parada and Pérez de Limia. It was at his headquarters, which were later moved to Lavadores, where the siege and the posterior assault on the town, which was under the command Chalot, was planned.
After the victory at Vigo, Juan Rosendo Arias received the Cross of Charles III and the honorific badge awarded to the most important protagonists of the Reconquest of Vigo.