Alcañices () is a small town in the

province of Zamora Zamora () is a Provinces of Spain, province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Province of Ourense, Ourense, Province of Le� ...

, Spain. It is very close to the Portugal-Spain border, not far from the Portuguese town of Bragança. In fact, the Village is especially remembered for being the seat of the

Treaty of Alcañices The Treaty of Alcañices or Treaty of Alcanizes (; ) was made in Alcañices between King Denis of Portugal and King Fernando IV of Castile in 1297. Denis was the grandson of King Alfonso X of Castile and essentially an administrator and not a ...

that on 12 September 1297 defined the border between

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and the

Crown of Castile The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Castile, Castile and Kingd ...

, the oldest in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Its name is of Arabic origin and means "the churches", although the origin of the town may have been a

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

of the

Zoelae The Zoelae were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the north of modern Portugal, in the province of Trás-os-Montes, between the mountains of Serra da Nogueira and the mountains of Mogadouro. See also * Pre-Roman peoples of the Ibe ...

. During the Visigoths Enlisted as a free territory until in 586 King

Liuvigild Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or ''Leovigildo'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese), ( 519 – 586) was a Visigoths, Visigothic Visigothic Kingdom, king of Hispania and Septimania from 569 to 586. Known for his Codex ...

assigned it the Pagus Alistii to the Archbishop of

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

, which in 675 the Archbishop of

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

claimed as his own for not agreeing with the award. In the Reconquest,

Alfonso IX of León Alfonso IX (15 August 117123 or 24 September 1230) was King of León from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188 until his own death. He took steps towards modernizing and democratizing his dominion and founded the University of Salaman ...

gave it to the

Order of the Temple The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

in 1175 for its repopulation, which in 1210 built a castle and 1255 erected a

Commandery In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

.''Castillos de España'', (volumen II). VV.AA.. Editorial Everest, S.A.. León, 1997. (P. 1.287) Tradition says that

Saint Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italian mystic, poet and Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Christian life of poverty, he ...

passed through Alcañices in 1214 when he was on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. From 1371 to 1820 Alcañices was a manor town of the

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

of Alcañices, which in 1741 became part of the Ducal House of Alburquerque. During this time, the Marquises built a hospital for pilgrims, an alhóndiga for communal grain, a bridge, a series of fountains and several mills and promoted the creation of a Franciscan convent, which maintained that condition until its confiscation in 1848, as well as a palace within the fortress that is currently a residence for the elderly. In the local toponymy there are still references to the Prado del Marqués or the Huerta del Marqués. In addition, during this period part of the old wall was rebuilt, which had an active military use until 1817. During the Modern Age, Alcañices was burned by

John IV of Portugal ''Dom (honorific), Dom'' John IV (; 19 March 1604 – 6 November 1656), also known by the Portuguese as John the Restorer (), was the List of Portuguese monarchs, King of Portugal from 1640 until his death in 1656. He Portuguese Restoration War, ...

in 1643 and was the scene of battles during the Spanish War of Independence, when in 1813 General La Croix surprised Mayor Echevarría and when Marshal Massená sent two divisions to subdue Alcañices and Puebla de Sanabria after the taking of Ciudad Rodrigo. Alcañices was the headquarters of the guerrilla party of Tomás García Vicente. In Alcañices, until the expulsion of 1492, there was a Jewish quarter that was located outside the city walls, in the southwest of the Dentro la Villa neighborhood, on the sunny slope that looks towards the Fuente del Cañico. The popular name of the Tanneries still subsists in this area due to the leather tanning work carried out by the Jews, who had their own cemetery on the right bank of the river. In the Royal Chancery of Valladolid, various lawsuits of nobility over Alcañices are preserved, such as Rodríguez (1553), Losada (1553), Pereira de Castro (1611), Gago (1714) and Puelles (1794). In the National Historical Archive there is that of Carrión (1757). Five kings have visited Alcañices:

(1204),

Ferdinand IV of Castile Ferdinand IV of Castile (6 December 1285 – 7 September 1312) called the Summoned (''el Emplazado''), was King of Castile and King of León, León from 1295 until his death. Ferdinand's upbringing and personal custody was entered to his mother ...

and

Denis of Portugal Denis (, ; 9 October 1261 – 7 January 1325), called the Farmer King (''Rei Lavrador'') and the Poet King (''Rei Poeta''), was King of Portugal from 1279 until his death in 1325. Dinis was the eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second ...

(1297) and

Juan Carlos I of Spain Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until Abdication of Juan Carlos I, his abdic ...

(1997), as well as - being Infante - Fernando III of Castile (1204). It has also been visited by the President of Portugal,

Jorge Sampaio Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio (; 18 September 1939 – 10 September 2021) was a Portuguese lawyer and politician who was the 18th President of Portugal from 1996 to 2006. Sampaio was a member of the Socialist Party, a party which he ...

(1997), named Adoptive Son in 2006. Alcañices has historically been granted the titles of Noble, Illustrious and Historic Village.Titles of the Village
/ref> Noteworthy is the Route of the Mills and the Route of the Fountains, two modernist buildings (one of them by Francesc Ferriol), as well as various examples of traditional county architecture. The Quinta de los Templarios, an old Templar recreation estate, also remains from the Templar past. Tenant Pablo Muñoz de la Morena, hero of the

Spanish War of Independence The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

, is buried in its old parish cemetery. As for intangible heritage, the religious piece "Auto de los Reyes Magos" sung since time immemorial, of medieval origin. Since 1515, the village also has a Vera Cruz brotherhood, as well as three other brotherhoods and twelve civil associations, including the Manteos y Monteras de Alcañices Folklore School. It is a central plateau, with undulating geography, alternating dry landscapes with slight mounds, the product of the passage from the Castilian countryside to the Leonese mountains. The soil corresponds to the siliceous zone in which clay abounds. The municipality belongs to the Meseta Ibérica transboundary biosphere reserve, a transboundary natural space between Spain and Portugal protected in 2015 by Unesco for the high level of conservation of its natural habitats and the species that inhabit it. Alcañices is located next to the Sierra de la Culebra, the largest wolf reserve in Europe.

Town hall

Alcañices is home to the

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

of 4

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

s: *Alcañices (893 inhabitants, INE 2020). * Alcorcillo (98 inhabitants, INE 2020). * Vivinera (53 inhabitants, INE 2020). * Santa Ana (21 inhabitants, INE 2020).

References

Municipalities of the Province of Zamora {{Zamora-geo-stub