Coria ( ext, Coria) is a Spanish municipality in the
province of Cáceres
The province of Cáceres ( ; es, provincia de Cáceres, ) is a province of western Spain, and makes up the northern half of the autonomous community of Extremadura. Its capital is the city of Cáceres. Other cities in the province include Pla ...
,
Extremadura
Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...
, formed by the city of the same name and the towns of
Puebla de Argeme and
Rincón del Obispo. The whole municipality has 12,531 inhabitants and a population density of 120 inhabitants/km, which makes this city the capital of
Vegas de Alagón and the fourth largest city in the province of Cáceres.
The largest municipality in the northwest of the province, Coria preserves several monuments and holds an annual national tourist interest festival in honor of San Juan.
History
Founded before the Romans occupied the Iberian Peninsula, and called Caura, the Romans gave it its present name in Latin, Caurium, and later the city was granted Roman citizenship. Later under the Visigoths, the Diocese of Coria was created and, except for the years of
Muslim rule, held at the Episcopal Coria until the twentieth century, when it was forced to share the capital of the diocese in Cáceres.
The centuries in which Coria was the only capital of the diocese were of great prosperity for the city.
Coria was taken twice during the ''Reconquista'', firstly after 1085. It was conquered by the
Almoravids just after 1109 and unsuccessfully
besieged in 1138. A successful Christian conquest followed after a
two-month siege in 1142, after which the diocese was restored. In 1174, the place was taken over by the troops of
Almohad
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 fou ...
general Abu Hafs, returning to Christian rule after 1184. While it is understood the place should have already enjoyed its own ''
fuero
(), (), () or () is a Spanish legal term and concept. The word comes from Latin , an open space used as a market, tribunal and meeting place. The same Latin root is the origin of the French terms and , and the Portuguese terms and ; all ...
'' by the early 13th-century, the first evidence about the existence of a local fuero (presumably modelled after the second ''fuero'' of
Ciudad Rodrigo
Ciudad Rodrigo () is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population in 2016 of 12,896. It is also the seat of a judicial district.
The site of Ciudad Rodrigo, perched atop a rocky rise on the right ban ...
) traces back to 1227.
Coria became the capital of a lordship to which some towns are still named after, such as
Guijo de Coria
Guijo de Coria is a municipality in the province of Cáceres and autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto ...
or
Casillas de Coria
Casillas de Coria is a municipality located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2005 census (INE
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center
* In ...
. After the dissolution, Coria became the judicial capital of Coria.
Sights
*Roman walls (3rd-4th centuries AD)
*
Cathedral of ''Santa María de la Asunción'', in transitional
Gothic style
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
** Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken ...
*Bishop's palace (1628)
*Castle of Coria (1472-1478)
*Baroque Hermitage of ''Nuestra Señora de Argeme'' (17th century)
*Royal Prisons (1686)
*Old Bridge (''Puente Viejo''), dating to the 15th-16th centuries
*Convent of the ''Madre de Dios'', founded in the 13th century. The current structure dates to the 14th-16th centuries
*Church of Santiago, in Baroque style (16th-18th centuries)
*Palaces of the Dukes of Alba (15th-16th centuries)
See also
*
Roman Catholic Diocese of Coria-Cáceres
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Coria-Cáceres ( la, Caurien(sis) – Castrorum Caeciliorum) is a diocese located in the cities of Coria and Cáceres in the Ecclesiastical province of Mérida–Badajoz in Spain.[< ...]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coria, Caceres
Municipalities in the Province of Cáceres