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45-473: Uceda is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara , Castile-La Mancha , Spain. According to the 2004 census ( INE ), the municipality has a population of 1,575 inhabitants. The church of Santa María de la Varga stands in the town. This article about a location in the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, Spain is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Guadalajara (province) The province has been inhabited since

90-603: A letter from Alfonso VIII of Castile to Pope Innocent III, Baeza was evacuated and its people moved to Úbeda ; Alfonso laid siege, killing 60,000 Muslims and enslaving many more. According to the Latin Chronicle of Kings of Castile the number given is almost 100,000 Saracens, including children and women, who were captured. Thereafter, Alfonso VIII's grandson Ferdinand III of Castile took Córdoba in 1236, Jaén in 1246 , and Seville in 1248; then he took Arcos , Medina-Sidonia , Jerez , and Cádiz . In 1252, Ferdinand

135-490: A range of different weather conditions, although generally it may be classified as a typical Mediterranean Continental climate of the Central Plateau. Long, dry and hot summers, with equally long and harsh winters give way to milder weather conditions in spring and later in autumn. The climatic diversity produces a range of vegetation and ecosystems, and trees such as oaks, juniper, pine, beech, etc. can all be found in

180-588: Is still in a state of ruin. Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa Vanguard: Right wing: Left wing: The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa , known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab ( Arabic : معركة العقاب ), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and the medieval history of Spain . The Christian forces of King Alfonso VIII of Castile , were joined by

225-620: Is the Tajuña River with an area of 2,015 square kilometres, and the Ebro River , forming a basin area of 996 square kilometres. Other features of note are the Parque Natural del Alto Tajo , Hayedo de Tejera Negra , Lagunas de Puebla de Beleña , Cerros Margosos de Pastrana y Yebra , Cerros Volcánicos de La Miñosa and Prados Húmedos de Torremocha del Pinar . The province, given its wide and varied geographical features, has

270-453: The Henares corridor. While new industries and improved communications brought prosperity to Guadalajara, Torrejón , Alcalá , Azuqueca and Yunquera de Henares , it also caused drastic decreases in population in rural areas. From 16 to 20 July 2005 the province was devastated by a forest fire , known as the incendio de Guadalajara . Eleven firefighters died after a blowup . The fire

315-665: The Knights Templar . Constructed of Alcarria limestone, the rectangular structure has three round towers and a cylindrical keep. In 1445, it was taken by the Navarran captain Juan de Puelles and was subsequently owned by Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza (1428–1495). In the 19th century, it was occupied by the French under General Hugo, the father of Victor Hugo , until it was taken and destroyed by El Empecinado . Its restoration

360-632: The Nasrid dynasty . Granada was a vassal state of Castile , until finally taken by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492. Harry Harrison 's 1972 alternate history / science fiction novel Tunnel Through the Deeps depicts a history where the Moors won at Las Navas de Tolosa and retained part of Spain into the 20th century. S.J.A Turney describes the battle in his historic novel The Crescent and

405-649: The Order of Calatrava ), Alvaro Fernández de Valladares ( comendator of the Order of Santiago ), Pedro Arias (master of the Order of Santiago, died of wounds on 3 August), and Gomes Ramires (Portuguese master of the Knights Templar and simultaneously master of Leon, Castile, and Portugal); Ruy Díaz (master of the Order of Calatrava) was so grievously wounded that he had to resign his command. Muhammad al-Nasir died in Marrakech shortly afterwards. The crushing defeat of

450-560: The Paleolithic as evidenced by stone tools found on the banks of the Henares and Linares rivers. There are also numerous prehistoric cave paintings in the Cueva de los Casares in Riba de Saelices while Megalithic tombs from the 4th millennium B.C. have been found at various sites in the province including Alcolea del Pinar . There are remains of several Bronze Age settlements along

495-691: The Strait of Gibraltar with a powerful army, invaded Christian territory, and captured Salvatierra Castle , the stronghold of the knights of the Order of Calatrava . The threat to the Hispanic Christian kingdoms was so great that Pope Innocent III called Christian knights to a crusade . There were some disagreements among the members of the Christian coalition; notably, French and other European knights did not agree with Alfonso's merciful treatment of Jews and Muslims who had been defeated in

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540-565: The battle of Las Navas de Tolosa seems to have been a true turning point in the history of the region, including the western Mediterranean sea. In 1292 Sancho IV took Tarifa , key to the control of the Strait of Gibraltar. Granada , Almería , and Málaga were the only major Muslim cities remaining in the Iberian peninsula. These three cities were the core of the Emirate of Granada , ruled by

585-543: The 16th century, his namesake Íñigo López de Mendoza, 4th Duke of the Infantado , (1493–1566) went on to found an academy in the city, attracting additional writers. Pastrana also prospered during the Renaissance under the leadership of Ruy Gómez de Silva (1516–1573) with the establishment of Latin and choir schools. By the end of the 16th century, the town was famous for its tapestries and its Carmelite convents. With

630-472: The 1830s, it was devastated by fire and had to be abandoned. After being fully restored, the castle was opened as a Parador luxury hotel in 1976. Decorated with banners and suits of armour, the huge lounge is the castle's original dining room. The Castle of Molina de Aragón is located on a hill commanding the surrounding valley, and is formed by an external line of walls with four gates and six towers of which four are currently in good condition. Originally,

675-565: The 6th and 7th centuries A.D., bringing Christianity and Germanic law into the region. In 578, King Leovigild founded Recópolis on the River Tagus with a basilica and a palace. The Moors arrived in the area in c. 711, establishing Islamic rule for some four centuries until the early 13th century. Their most important contribution was founding of the current-day provincial capital, Madinat-al-Faray ( Guadalajara , from Arabic وادي الحجارة wādi al-ħajāra , "streambed/valley of stones"), which

720-740: The Almohad empire was almost finished, at the mercy of another emerging Berber power. In 1269 a new association of Berber tribes, the Marinids , took control of Morocco. Later, the Marinids tried to recover the former Almohad territories in Iberia, but they were definitively defeated by Alfonso XI of Castile and Afonso IV of Portugal in the Battle of Río Salado , the last major military encounter between large Christian and Muslim armies in Hispania. So,

765-717: The Almohads significantly hastened their decline both in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Maghreb a decade later. That gave further impulse to the Christian Reconquest and sharply reduced the already declining power of the Moors in Iberia. Shortly after the battle, the Castilians took Baeza and then Úbeda , major fortified cities near the battlefield and gateways to invade Andalusia . According to

810-588: The Dukes of Medinaceli (Cogolludo) , Sigüenza Cathedral , Cueva de los Casares in La Riba de Saelices and Castillo de Pioz . The Co-cathedral of Santa María de la Fuente la Mayor in the city of Guadalajara was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural site in 1941. Standing high on a rock, Atienza Castle can be seen from miles around. It frequently changed hands between the Moors and the Christians until it

855-585: The Mendozas, the city of Guadalajara prospered in the 15th and 16th centuries, attracting writers, historians and philosophers, bringing it the name la Atenas alcarreña (the Alcarrian Athens). Encouraged by the Renaissance , Íñigo López de Mendoza, 1st Marquis of Santillana , (1398–1458) not only built palaces, churches and monasteries but developed a large library of Greek and Latin volumes. In

900-468: The Molina moorlands, bordering the provinces of Zaragoza and Teruel, rainfall may be below 400 mm. The province contains the comarcas of La Alcarria , La Campiña , La Serranía and Señorío de Molina-Alto Tajo . The historical population is given in the following chart: Landmarks of note include the castle and walls of Palazuelos , Palace of El Infantado , Ducal Palace of Pastrana , Palace of

945-464: The Moors were routed, leaving heavy casualties on the battlefield. The victorious Christians seized several prizes of war; Muhammad al-Nasir's tent and standard were delivered to Pope Innocent III . Christian losses were far fewer, only about 2,000 men (though not so few as legend had it). The losses were particularly notable among the Orders: those killed included Pedro Gómez de Acevedo (bannerman of

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990-453: The Romans initiated their battles to conquer Spain which continued until 94 B.C. They brought agriculture, mining, and commerce to the region, facilitating communications with roads and bridges. The important Roman city was Segontia (Sigüenza), although they built a town wall around Luzaga and public buildings. The Visigoths , with their capital at Toledo , were dominant in the area around

1035-545: The War of Independence, French troops caused extensive damage to towns in the province, especially Molina where over 600 buildings were destroyed by fire. When the city of Guadalajara was liberated in 1813, it was left in a devastated and poverty-stricken state. Conditions improved in 1840 with the establishment of the Academy of Military Engineering in the former textile factory. Further military installations followed, culminating at

1080-845: The armies of his rivals, Sancho VII of Navarre and Peter II of Aragon , in battle against the Almohad Muslim rulers of the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula . The caliph al-Nasir ( Miramamolín in the Spanish chronicles) led the Almohad army, made up of people from all over the Almohad Caliphate . In 1195, the Almohads defeated Alfonso VIII of Castile in the Battle of Alarcos . After this victory, they attacked several important cities : Trujillo , Plasencia , Talavera , Cuenca , Guadalajara , Madrid , and Uclés . Then, in 1211, Muhammad al-Nasir crossed

1125-557: The beginning of Christian conquest of the region in 1085. By the early 12th century, Molina, La Serrania, Sigüenza and the Tagus Valley were retrieved leading to the establishment of the Bishopric of Sigüenza. Under Alfonso VII and Alfonso VIII, the region was repopulated with people from other parts of Castile. With the conquest of Cuenca and Alarcón at the end of the 12th century and the victory at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212,

1170-569: The city of Guadalajara and the province's main towns all suffered considerable damage. In 1719, a royal textile factory was established in Guadalajara, bringing workers not only from across Spain but from the rest of Europe, especially the Netherlands. The factory prospered throughout the 18th century but was closed in the early 19th century as a result of the War of Spanish Independence . During

1215-665: The conquest of Malagón and Calatrava la Vieja . Previously, they had caused problems in Toledo (where the different armies of the Crusade gathered), with assaults and murders in the Jewish Quarter . Alfonso crossed the mountain range that defended the Almohad camp, sneaking through the Despeñaperros Pass, led by Martín Alhaja , a local shepherd who knew the area. On 16 July 1212, the Christian coalition caught

1260-605: The death of Ruy's widow, Ana de Mendoza in 1592, the nobility moved to Madrid, causing the province to lose the high status it had achieved. While the Spanish Golden Age developed in central Spain during the 17th century, Guadalajara experienced an extended period of decline as the Habsburgs brought about increased centralization. In the early 18th century, under the War of the Spanish Succession ,

1305-546: The encamped Moorish army by surprise, and Alhaja was granted the hereditary title Cabeza de Vaca for his assistance to Alfonso VIII. The battle was fought at relatively close range, so that neither the Almohads nor the Spaniards could use archers in the melee-dominated fight. Spanish knights became locked in close-quarter combat, in which they were superior to the Almohads. "They attacked, fighting against one another, hand-to-hand, with lances, swords, and battle-axes; there

1350-506: The end of the century in the establishment of the Airship Regiment which led to a range of early exploits and experiments. The finding of silver in the mining district of Hiendelaencina in 1844 lead to a silver rush in the area. The military facilities continued to provide Guadalajara with financial relief during the first 30 years of the 20th century. The population increased slightly, while further improvements resulted from

1395-541: The entire territory of Guadalajara was again in the hands of the Castilian Christians. The modern age began with the Catholic Monarchs , Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon whose marriage in Valladolid in 1469 united the crowns of Castile and Aragón . They centralized the authority which had developed in the church, the military and the nobility ostensibly to earn income for fighting

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1440-507: The gaps, exploiting them, and charged at the Caliph's tent. The Caliph had surrounded his tent with a bodyguard of black slave-warriors. Though it was once claimed that these men were chained together to prevent flight, it is considered more likely that this results from a mistranslation of the word "serried", meaning a densely packed formation. The Navarrese force led by their king Sancho VII broke through this bodyguard. The Caliph escaped, but

1485-510: The infidels by reselling the territories they had gained. In the 16th century, this practice was reinforced by Charles I and Philip II . In Guadalajara, this was particularly the case with areas that had belonged to the military orders of Calatrava and Pastrana . The Mendozas who succeeded in acquiring substantial territories built a fortified palace in Pastrana and extended their influence over Sayatón , Escopete and Albalate . Under

1530-536: The influence of the wealthy landowner and politician Count of Romanones who was the representative for Guadalajara from 1886 to 1936. After fighting on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War , the province was given little attention by the successive governments of Francisco Franco until the late 1950s when plans for moving industrial development out of Madrid began to favour Guadalajara and

1575-417: The line of towers included a village. The castle originated as a Moorish fortress (10th-11th century), built over a pre-existing Celtiberian castle. The fortress was used as residence of the lords of the taifa of Molina . El Cid resided here when he was exiled from Castile . In 1129 it was conquered from the Moors by Alfonso I of Aragon . The impressive Torija Castle was built in the 11th century by

1620-670: The province's population lives. There are 288 municipalities in Guadalajara, of which more than three-quarters are villages with populations less than 200. Guadalajara is a mountainous region, the eastern side of the province is in the Sistema Ibérico area, while the Sistema Central rises in the western part. The Sistema Ibérico occupies the northeastern part, with the Sierras de Somosierra, Ayllón , Sierra del Ocejón , Alto Rey, Bodera Barahona, and Radona mountains in

1665-687: The province. The seasonal distribution of rainfall is influenced by the relief, the most rainfall occurring in the mountainous areas of the Sistema Ibérico with between 700 and 900 mm per year, and in the headwaters of the Jarama and Sorbe rivers in the Sierra de Ayllon , with more than 800 mm. The Henares and Tajuña valleys, and the northern area of moorland in Sigüenza have less than 600 mm annually on average, and in some areas such as

1710-634: The river banks in the area, notably that in Loma del Lomo in Cogolludo as well as a late Bronze Age settlement in Mojares . The Celtiberians occupied the territory during the late Iron Age between the 6th and 3rd centuries B.C. in Sigüenza , Atienza , and Termancia in the north and further south around Molina . In addition to raising livestock and breeding horses, they created many fortified towns and villages as well as castles. Between 143 and 133 B.C.,

1755-482: The vicinity. The mountains are mainly limestone, eroded by the gorges of the rivers, such as the Henares (with a basin area of 3,735 square kilometres), and Jarama (with a basin area of 782 square kilometres) rivers. The Tagus (Tajo), one of Spain's main rivers, is a major river of the eastern part of the province, forming a basin with an area of 4,686 square kilometres, part of the wider Madrid basin. Also of note

1800-406: Was caused by hikers barbecuing. The Province of Guadalajara is located in eastern-central Spain, the northeast of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha , covering an area of 12.190 km (4.707 sq mi), 3.42% of the area of Spain. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca , Madrid , Segovia , Soria , Zaragoza , and Teruel . Its capital is Guadalajara , where nearly 35% of

1845-515: Was completed in 1962. Jadraque Castle overlooking the River Henares , sometimes known as the Castle of El Cid, has four round towers and one rectangular tower. Today's perfectly proportioned palatial structure was built by Juan Guas in the 15th century but it stands on the site of a fortress used for centuries by the Moors. The outer fabric has been substantially restored but the interior

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1890-807: Was established by the Berber captain al-Faray , remembered for overcoming the Christians in the 9th century. The territory now covered by the Province of Guadalajara was part of the Middle March of Al-Andalus . Generally sparsely populated, the most important towns were Atienza, Guadalajara, Jadraque , Hita and Sigüenza. Following the dismemberment of the Caliphate of Córdoba , Toledo gained independence in 1018, reaching its zenith under Yahya-al-Mamun who reigned from 1043 to 1075. Following his death, pressure from King Alfonso VI of León and Castile led to

1935-427: Was finally retaken by Alfonso VI in 1085. With foundations dating back to the 5th century, Sigüenza Castle was extended by the Moors and retaken for the Christians by Bernard of Agen in 1123. In the late 18th century, Bishop Juan Díaz de la Guerra changed the appearance of the fortress into that of an episcopal palace but during the War of Spanish Independence it was taken by the French who seriously damaged it. In

1980-487: Was no room for archers. The Christians pressed on." – (The Latin Chronicle of The Kings of Castile) Some of the Spanish knights, namely the Order of Santiago , eventually broke the Almohad line of defense decisively as they inflicted heavy casualties on the Almohads and established a breakthrough with gaps appearing in the enemy lines. This led to a possible spearhead. King Sancho VII then led his mounted knights through

2025-672: Was preparing his fleet and army for invasion of the Almohad lands in Africa, but he died in Seville on 30 May 1252, during an outbreak of plague in southern Hispania; only his death prevented the Castilians from taking the war to the Almohad on the Mediterranean coast. James I of Aragon conquered the Balearic Islands (from 1228 over the following four years) and Valencia (the city capitulated on 28 September 1238). By 1252

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