Uclés is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

located in the

province of Cuenca Cuenca is one of the five provinces of the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. It is located in the eastern part of this autonomous community and covers 17,141 square km. It has a population of 203,841 inhabitants -- the least populated o ...

Castilla–La Mancha Castilla–La Mancha (, , ), or Castile La Mancha, is an autonomous community of Spain. Comprising the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo, it was created in 1982. The government headquarters are in Toledo, and ...

. The municipality spans across a total area of 64.61 km² and, as of 1 January 2020, it has a registered population of 212.

History

The fortress and town was probably built by al-Fath ibn Musa ben Zennun circa the late 9th to early 10th century, becoming the al-Fath's main stronghold after his father's death in 908. Having submitted to the Cordobese central authority by the 920s, the rebellious Banu Zennun (later arabised to 'Dhi-l Nun') clan was removed from the place by 936, although Uclés returned to their control in 1018. AlfonsoVIII

The place passed to Christian control in the wake of the conquest of the

Taifa of Toledo The Taifa of Toledo () was an islamic polity ('' taifa'') located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula in the high middle ages. It was ruled by the Dhulnunids, a Hawwara Berber clan. It emerged after 1018 upon the fracturing of the Caliphate of ...

in 1085 and then was lost a year after following the Battle of Sagrajas. The

Almoravid 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 tha ...

rule consolidated after the 1108 Battle of Uclés. Towards 1157, the fortress of Uclés was acquired in a

barter In trade, barter (derived from ''baretor'') is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists disti ...

Alfonso VII Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...

from Ibn Mardanix in exchange for the fortress of Alicún. The fortress was ceded to the

Order of Saint John of Jerusalem The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...

in 1163, and, following the unsuccessful repopulating efforts by the Knights Hospitallers, to the

Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; es, Orden de Santiago ), is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the Patron Saint of Spain, "Santiago" (St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgri ...

on 9 January 1174. The Order's grip in the area consolidated following the 1177 takeover of Cuenca and Uclés was granted a ''

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 order's Grand Master in 1179, henceforth becoming the seat of an ''encomienda'' and the headquarters of the order in the

Kingdom of Castile The Kingdom of Castile (; es, Reino de Castilla, la, Regnum Castellae) was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region. It began in the 9th ce ...

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * * * * Municipalities in the Province of Cuenca {{Cuenca-geo-stub

History

See also

References