Xativa Castle ( es, Castillo de Játiva; ca-valencia, Castell de Xàtiva) is a castle located in the city of

Xàtiva Xàtiva (, es, Játiva ) is a town in eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia, on the right (western) bank of the river Albaida and at the junction of the Valencia–Murcia and Valencia Albacete railways. It is located 25 km west ...

near

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, Spain. It consists of a twin fortification divided between the older "Castillo Menor" (minor castle), built on the Iberian and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

remains of the site, and the more recent "Castillo Mayor" (main castle), built during the medieval period. It sits at a height of 310 meters above the modern-day city.

History

The fortress is strategically located on the ancient roadway

Via Augusta The ''Via Augusta'' (also known as the ''Via Herculea'' or ''Via Exterior'') was the longest and busiest of the major roads built by the Romans in ancient Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula). According to historian Pierre Sillières, who has super ...

leading from Rome across the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

and down the Mediterranean coast to Cartagena and

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

. The minor castle was originally a Celtiberian stronghold and was then taken by the

Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

in the third century BC. It is said to be the place where

Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...

planned the conquest of the Roman city of

Saguntum Sagunto ( ca-valencia, Sagunt) is a municipality of Spain, located in the province of Valencia, Valencian Community. It belongs to the modern fertile ''comarca'' of Camp de Morvedre. It is located c. 30 km north of the city of Valencia, cl ...

, as well as where his son was born in 218 BC. It was later conquered by the Roman Scipio. In the medieval period, in 1092, the castle fell to the

Almoravid dynasty The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that s ...

who were later pushed out in an uprising that took place in 1145. During this uprising, the castle was besieged by the ruler of Valencia, Marwan Abd-al-Aziz. In 1171, the castle finally joined, along with the rest of the Levante coast, the hands of the

Almohads The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire fo ...

. King

James I of Aragon James I the Conqueror ( es, Jaime el Conquistador, ca, Jaume el Conqueridor; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and Valencia from 1238 to 1276 ...

began his religious conquest there in the summer of 1239, capturing Xátiva on 22 May 1244, following a five-month siege. After surrendering to the Christian monarch, avoiding more bloodshed and signing the

Treaty of Xàtiva The Treaty of Xàtiva was signed in 1244 between the Christians, Christian King James I of Aragon and the Muslim commander Abu Bakr in Xàtiva in the Iberian Peninsula. The treaty laid out generous terms of surrender of the Moors to the Christians, ...

, the Governor handed over the smaller nearby castle to James I, while the moors were allowed to continue occupying the larger castle for another two years, based on the terms of the treaty. After the two years had elapsed, King James I of Aragon forcibly repopulated a large part of the town with

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

and

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

ese settlers, meanwhile slaughtering and expelling a portion of the Muslim and Jewish populations from the city. In the subsequent decades, many

Mudéjar Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for ...

(Muslims living under Christian rule after the

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

) left the region for

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

or North Africa. The castle once again saw fighting during the

war of the Spanish succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

, as Castilan and French troops beat Aragonese and English troops that had taken refuge in the fortress during the siege of Xàtiva, in 1707. The site was later seriously damaged in the 1748 earthquake that rocked the region, and it lost its strategic importance.

References

External links

A visual trip to the Castle of Xàtiva
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castle of Xativa Xativa

History

Further reading

References

External links