Castillo de Alba is a Spanish fortress in

Quirós Quirós is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. To the southeast is the municipality of Lena, to the south lies the Autonomous Community of León, to the northeast Riosa and Morcín, to the north ...

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

, Spain, near the village of Faedo.

History

It was founded by first Asturian kings to defend the mountain valley from Muslim attacks. In the 12th century it fell into the hands of the rebel Count Gonzalo Peláez, in the reign of

Urraca of León and Castile Urraca ( León, 24 June 1081 – Saldaña, 8 March 1126), called the Reckless ''(La Temeraria)'', was Queen of León, Castile and Galicia from 1109 until her death. She claimed the imperial title as suo jure ''Empress of All Spain'' and '' ...

. It subsequently became part of the Church of

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

following a donation by

Ferdinand II of León Ferdinand II ( 1137 – 22 January 1188), was a member of the Castilian House of Burgundy, Castilian cadet branch of the House of Ivrea and List of Leonese monarchs, King of León and kingdom of Galicia, Galicia from 1157 until his death. Life ...

. In 1372 the bishop of Oviedo entrusted the castle to Gonzalo Bernaldo de Quirós, but soon Enrique II of Castile returned it to the bishopric. Today, the castle is in ruins and only several walls, a cistern and the gateway are preserved.

References

Castles in Asturias {{Spain-castle-stub