Calatrava la Nueva
Location: Aldea de Rey, Ciudad Real province
Constructed: 1217
Tel. 926 69 31 19
Open: Tue- Sun
Description of Calatrava la Nueva
The Sacred Castle-Convent of Calatrava la Nueva is located on the Alacranejo hill, within the municipality of Aldea del Rey, in the province of Ciudad Real (Spain) in front of the Castillo de Salvatierra.
History of Calatrava la Nueva
In what is now the parking lot (end of the access road), remains of the Bronze Age and a Visigoth village have been found. The fortress is located on the summit of a cone-shaped hill at an altitude of 936 m, with dense native vegetation on its slopes and at its base surrounded by large pebbles or terraces that make access difficult. The existing cobblestone road was made for the visit of Philip II to the fort in 1560 and takes us to the base of the castle. Its situation controls one of the natural steps towards Sierra Morena. The initial year of construction of Calatrava la Nueva is not known exactly, although there are references to its use by Nuño de Lara in 1187 as the old Castillo de Dueñas.
In 1191 Rodrigo Gutiérrez Girón and his second
wife, Jimena, donated large sums to the Order of Calatrava half of
the income and inheritance they had in this old Castle of Dueñas,
leaving half of the income expressly in favor of the children of the
first marriage of the donor. Three years later, they sold their
rights to Calatrava la Nueva for the sum of 1000 maravedis.
In 1201, Alfonso VIII confirmed to the calatravos the full ownership
of Calatrava la Nueva. In 1211 the Muslims recovered the nearby
Castle of Salvatierra, which would not return to Christian rule
until 1226; This reinforced the strategic importance of the hill
where the castle of Dueñas was located.
The present fortress is of great dimensions (46,000 square meters),
and was built by the calatravian knights in the years 1213 to 1217,
after the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, using as labor of the
prisoners taken in this battle. Once erected, it became the
headquarters of the Order of Calatrava, and one of the most
important fortresses of Castile. Its history runs parallel to that
of the Order itself.
It was built to replace the city of
Calatrava la Vieja, located
further north, on the left bank of the Guadiana River, where the
military order had been founded in the middle of the century.
Calatrava la Nueva survived until the nineteenth century, when it
was abandoned after the religious confiscations undertaken by
Minister Mendizábal to clean up the state accounts in 1835.