Location: Castile-La Mancha
Constructed: began in 785
Calatrava la Vieja is a ruined medieval stronghold situated in a
Castile-La Mancha province of Spain. Its construction began
began in 785. The ancient city of Calatrava, known since the
13th century as Calatrava la Vieja, is located in the
municipality of Carrión de Calatrava (Ciudad Real, Spain).
During the High Middle Ages, Calatrava la Vieja was the only
important city of al-Ándalus in the middle valley of the
Guadiana River. His outstanding position, on the left margin of
this one, made it obligatory on the road from Córdoba to
Toledo and in the
communications between the Levante and the Peninsular West.
Castle was constructed by the Muslim builders of the Umayyad
kingdom (late 8th century), for four centuries it was part of
al-Andalus. In the middle of the 12th century, after moving to
Castile, it was one of the first possessions of the Order of the
Temple in this kingdom. After the templar abandonment of the
place, the city was the origin and first seat (1158) of the
Order of Calatrava, the oldest peninsular military order.
The name Calatrava derives from the Arabic Qal'at Rabah قلعة رباح
('rabida fortress'), which does not refer to any name of the person to
whom the place would be given in the 8th century, as a commission. The
city was built anew by the Córdoba emir Muhammad I to control the
rebellious Toledo and the Toledo-Córdoba route. The Calatrava area was
dominated by Arabs proper (that is, originating from Arabia), belonging
to the Bakr ibn Wail clan, settled in the region since the time of the
conquest (711).
The word Qal'a ('fortress') is one of the most
recurrent in the Arabic toponymy of the Iberian Peninsula, and is often
linked to names (in which case it takes a final t: qal'at), sometimes of
people. (anthroponym): Calatayud, Calatalifa, etc.; and others not:
Calatañazor, Calatorao, Calaceite, Calamocha, etc. It also appears
alone, preceded by the article al- (Alcalá, Alcolea).
It was
adapted into Spanish with the place name of Calatrava, when the place
came under the control of the Kingdom of Castile during the Reconquista.
Calatrava la Vieja is located in an enclave of extraordinary
strategic importance, on the river peninsula configured at the
confluence of the Guadiana River and the Valdecañas stream, and at the
top of a level hill from where the river crossing is controlled. The
road from Córdoba to Toledo passed through this pass, to whose control
the city owed much of its importance.
It was an easily defendable
position next to the Guadiana River and in a lagoon area (west of the
Tablas de Daimiel National Park).
Calatrava, founded in the 8th century under the rule of the Spanish
Umayyads, is mentioned in documents as early as 785. The name is derived
from the Arabic name Qalʿat Rabāh (قلعة رباح; German “Fortress of
Rabah”). It still bears the name of the Arabian knight to whom this
place was given as a fief in the eighth century.
During the High
Middle Ages, Calatrava was the most important city of the Arab Emirate
of Córdoba in the valley of the Río Guadiana, the largest city between
Córdoba and Toledo and an important Islamic outpost against Christian
Spain. Calatrava experienced its heyday after the destruction by Toledan
rebels after the reconstruction carried out by the Umayyad prince
al-Hakam (brother of the Emir of Córdoba Muhammad I) in 853. Calatrava
developed into the capital of a large region over the next three hundred
years until 1147. However, with the fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba,
the area became a bone of contention between the Taifa kingdoms of
Seville, Córdoba and Toledo.
After the conquest of Toledo by King
Alfonso VI. of Léon and Castile in 1085, Calatrava was defeated by the
victory of the Almoravids under their Sultan Yusuf ibn Tashfin over the
army of Alfonso VI. In the Battle of Zallaqa near Badajoz on October 23,
1086, it became the most exposed Muslim outpost compared to the
Christian areas in the center and north of the Iberian Peninsula and
therefore played a not insignificant role in the ongoing hostilities
with the Christian Kingdom of Castile.
King Alfonso VII of León and Castile (r. 1126–1157) conquered the
city of Calatrava in 1147 and used it as an important strategic outpost
on the border with Islamic rule. To secure this position, he transferred
the town and fortress of Calatrava to the Templar Order in 1150. This
was one of the first possessions of the Templars in Spain, but because
of their intensive involvement in Palestine and because of the massive
military pressure from their Islamic neighbors, they found themselves
unable to take responsibility for this strategic fortress.
King
Sancho III of Castile and León therefore called an assembly of his
nobles and offered the city and fortress to whoever was willing to take
over their defense. The only person willing to defend this strategic
Christian outpost was a monk: Raimundo Serrat, abbot of the Cistercian
monastery of Fitero. King Sancho was disappointed, but forced to honor
his offer, and transferred the town and fortress of Calatrava to him by
deed of donation dated January 1, 1158. King Sancho unintentionally laid
the foundation for the creation of the first major Spanish knightly
order, the Order of Calatrava. This was founded by Raimundo Serrat as
the military arm of the Cistercian Order by arming the lay brothers.
Raimundo managed to recruit a significant number of fighters in a short
time and thereby hold the fortress against the Saracens. He became the
first Grand Master of the order, but in old age he retired to an estate
near Ciruelos near Toledo, where he died. He was venerated as holy by
the monks of the Cistercian order.
After the defeat of King
Alfonso VIII of Castile on July 19, 1195 in the Battle of Alarcos,
Calatrava was lost to the Almohads and was only recaptured in 1212.
Because of the threat to Spain from the powerful Almohad Empire, Pope
Innocent III organized with King Alfonso VIII of Castile a crusade that
ended on July 16, 1212 with a decisive victory for the Christians
against the army of Muhammad an-Nasir (1199–1213), the fourth caliph of
the Almohads, in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa ended. After taking
part in the Albigensian Crusade, troops from Germany and Austria also
set off from southern France to Spain to take part in this crusade.
Among them was Leopold VI. the glorious Duke of Austria and Styria,
whose troop of Austrian and Styrian knights arrived in Las Navas de
Tolosa too late to be able to intervene in the battle. This decisive
victory enabled Castile's border to be pushed far to the south.
However, the shift in borders also necessitated a change in the seat
of the Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava, which was therefore moved
to the old Castillo de Dueñas, about 60 kilometers further south. This
also resulted in a transfer of the name, as the new center of the order
was now given the name “Calatrava la Nueva”, whereby Calatrava itself
became Calatrava la Vieja (Old Calatrava).
After the Grand Master
moved, the order continued to be represented in Calatrava la Vieja by a
Commissary, but this was moved to the neighboring Carrion de Calatrava
at the beginning of the 15th century. At the beginning of the 16th
century the city was practically deserted. What remained was an
impressive landscape of ruins that extends over five hectares and
contains remains of the medina and the fortress (Alcázar) - which covers
over one hectare; It has a total of 44 towers and is surrounded by an
Arab-era moat that connected to the Guadiana River.
Today
Calatrava la Vieja is an important archaeological site for Islamic
culture in Spain, where remains from the time of the Templars and the
Order of Calatrava have also been preserved. The complex is part of the
archaeological parks of the Spanish region of Castilla-La Mancha.
It is located on previous remains; In recent archaeological
campaigns, Iberian levels have been found. Currently Calatrava la Vieja
is one of the most important archaeological sites of Islamic origin in
Spanish territory. The importance of the existing remains is due to the
considerable development that Calatrava achieved during a period between
785, the date of the first known documentary mention of its existence,
and 1212, the year in which the unstoppable process of decline
originates, which motivates At the beginning of the 16th century, the
city was practically abandoned.
Although remains from the Iberian
period have been found in the same location that speak of a settlement
of great importance, there are no remains that allow us to assume the
existence of occupation in Roman or Visigothic times, surely as a result
of the unhealthy environment.
The complex includes a total of 44
towers with a moat that surrounds it, from the Arab period, fed by the
waters of the Guadiana River. There are remains of hydraulic devices of
great technological complexity for the time, such as the four corachas,
which raised water from the moat to the city to supply it. Part of it
was diverted towards the pentagonal tower, from which it came out at
high pressure through a system of pipes, back to the pit. This was a
hydraulic defensive system unparalleled to date. From the Templar period
there are remains of an unfinished church, as well as outbuildings and
the later Calatrava church.
Today it is undergoing archaeological
excavation and restoration.
Calatrava occupies a plateaued hill with an ovoid plan, measuring 5
hectares, on the left bank of the Guadiana River. From it you have a
wide visual domain of the environment, but it does not provide notable
defensive capabilities. The only solid natural defense is provided by
the river itself, whose bed, once very wide and swampy, protected the
northern front of the city; In the rest of the plaza, the accessibility
of the hill was alleviated by solid walls (1500 m long) that adapt to
its contour.
A large part of the wall – almost all of it from the
Umayyad period – is still covered in rubble. It is marked by at least 44
flanking towers, of which two are albarranas. With the exception of the
two towers located at the eastern end of the quarterdeck, with a
pentagonal plan at the bow, all the others are quadrangular, hollow and
solid. On the southern front of the city, where the entrance gate opens
in a bend, the towers are larger, more abundant, some of them hollow,
and appear more widely spaced, while those on the western spur - better
defended by the escarpment of the terrain—are always solid, smaller, and
closer to each other. Those that face the river are almost all hollow.
Except for its northern front, protected by the river and where the
water supply shells are located, the rest of the enclosure is surrounded
by a dry moat that turned the city into a true island. This moat is
mostly excavated in the rock of the hill itself, and has a length of
more than 750 m and an average depth of 10 m. In front of the main door
on the south side, you can see the remains of a bridge that spanned the
moat.
The hill is divided into two areas, separated from each
other by a large wall: the fortress, to the east, and the medina, which
occupies the rest of the surface. Outside the wall the suburbs extended.
In Calatrava la Vieja there are two emiral examples (9th century) of a curved door. The most notable one gave access to the city from the south, after crossing a bridge that spanned the moat. Housed in a massif that underwent various extensions, it gave entrance to the medina through a ramp paved with large stones. Next to it there is a gate that, to allow greater control, must have been the most used passage. In the castle is located the other curved door that facilitated entry from the river through a ramp outside the enclosure; In addition, there was a gate next to the great door that connected the medina with the fortress and which was closed when the great audience hall of the fortress was built.
In the area of the fortress, and very close to each other, are located the two examples of this type of advanced tower in Calatrava. The tallest and largest, hollow and with the lower part of ashlars and the upper part of masonry, is dated, like the rest of the facing of the neighboring wall, to around the year 854. Next to it and closer to the river, there is They locate the remains of a second albarrana, of Almohad chronology, which shows reused ashlars along with rammed earth work. On the southern front of the walls, between the fortress and the gate of the medina, there was a third albarrana tower that was later solidified, adopting a pentagonal plan in the bow.
There are three towers of this type in Calatrava la Vieja. Two holes are located at the easternmost end of the fortress, forming an essential part of the hydraulic defensive system. The one furthest from the river, without possible access from the fortress and with its walls pierced by ceramic pipes, could have been a castellum here. The one closest to the river has direct access from the quarterdeck and could serve as a checkpoint. Both have been dated to around the year 854. A third tower in the enclosure, previously a barranco, was solidified and lined with reused materials, to be transformed into a pentagonal tower; perhaps to house large war machines, such as manganels, on its terrace.
As an absolutely exceptional case, four corachas have been identified
in Calatrava la Vieja. The oldest, before 853, was broken when building
the castellum here, although part of its remains served as support for
structures from the Almohad period, next to the river. In addition to a
second coracha located in the suburbs, still to be cleared, the corachas
of the medina and the fortress stand out. The one in the medina extends
almost 80 m into the river, and is marked by five buttress towers
located against the current. Through a system of relay waterwheels, it
captured water from the river from the terminal tower, raising it to the
interior of the medina to supply it.
The coracha of the fortress
– still to be discovered in its entirety – and the castellum here
constitute the core of a hydraulic defensive system unique in its kind.
This system was configured during the reconstruction of the city in the
year 854. The coracha captured water from the river and raised it to the
upper part of the eastern canvas of the fortress, from where, through
canals, it was distributed both inside it - to be used by its
occupants—as towards the castellum here located in the south pentagonal
tower; From the latter, the water poured into the moat, at high
pressure, through the numerous ceramic downspouts that cross its walls.
Such a mechanism, authentic unicum in medieval military
architecture, meant not only an alternative entrance of water to the
moat to ensure its supply in times of low river flow, but also, and
mainly, a new and spectacular manifestation of the language of Umayyad
power: an impressive vehicle of political propaganda. During the Almohad
period, the system was reformed by means of an antewall that, profusely
perforated by several levels of ceramic downspouts, rested on the
neighboring albarrana tower erected at that time.
The medina was the center of urban life in Calatrava. Written sources say that it had all the structures typical of an Islamic city: mosques, baths, shops, ovens, "strong earthen houses"... In its central sector, remains of rooms and a paved street from the Almohad period have been found. It was completely surrounded by a solid wall with more than forty towers. Its interior was accessed through one of the oldest curved doors in Al-Andalus, preceded by a bridge that allowed the moat to be crossed. In the extensive suburbs that surround the city, various artisanal and industrial areas have been located, an Almohad cemetery, remains of scattered farmhouses and a mosque in the complex of the current Encarnación hermitage.
It is located at the eastern end of the city, at the beginning of the
moat. Triangular in plan, it has an area of 1 hectare. The most
prominent defensive elements of the square are concentrated around it,
not only because it was intended to house the centers of power, but also
because the natural defenses of this sector of the hill were of little
importance. Several stages are differentiated in its defenses and
internal structures:
Before the year 853: the remains of the old
western enclosing wall, formed by the gate itself, still hidden, and by
various towers included in it, of very diverse construction: adobe,
brick, earth walls and masonry, etc.
Those belonging to the
reconstruction of Muhammad I (post. 854) respond to a unitary plan
promoted, as in other parts of the city, by the central power of Córdoba
with a clear purpose of manifesting its supremacy in the region. The
large entrance towers stand out - which cover the primitive ones -, the
great triumphal arch that precedes the old door, and the west and
southeast walls. The construction of the primitive albarrana tower and
the pentagonal towers in the bow are also attributed to this stage,
which, together with the neighboring coracha, were part of a hydraulic
defensive system.
The Islamic ones with imprecise chronology: the
free-standing cistern, in front of the door, and the large room with
several large horseshoe arches, which corresponds to a large audience
hall linked to a pool and a garden: all with a high symbolic value,
which relates the exercise of power of the ruler who built it with the
control of water, and which links it with primitive Umayyad ceremonials
from the East.
The unfinished Templar apse (1147–1158), with a
dodecagon shape, which is one of the few constructive testimonies of the
Templar Order in Castile.
Based on older remains, the church and the
attached rooms of the Encomienda de Calatrava (13th and 14th centuries)
occupy most of the area of the fortress. In those two centuries,
continuous works, renovations and reuse of spaces were carried out. The
remains of a blacksmith shop and the vaulted rooms next to the church
stand out.