Uclés is a

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

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

located in the

province of Cuenca Cuenca () is one of the five provinces of the Autonomous communities of Spain, 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 ...

Castilla–La Mancha Castilla–La Mancha (, ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Comprising the provinces of Province of Albacete, Albacete, Province of Ciudad Real, Ciudad Real, Province of Cuenca, Cuenca, Province of Guadalajar ...

. 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 Battle of Sagrajas (23 October 1086), also called Zalaca or Zallaqah (), was a conflict fought in 1086 between the Almoravid dynasty, Almoravid army, led by their king, Yusuf ibn Tashfin, and the forces of King Alfonso VI of León and Cas ...

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

barter In trade, barter (derived from ''bareter'') is a system of exchange (economics), exchange in which participants in a financial transaction, transaction directly exchange good (economics), goods or service (economics), services for other goods ...

by Alfonso VII 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, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there u ...

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

Order of Santiago The Order of 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 pilgrims on the Way of S ...

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 ...

'' 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 (; : ) was a polity in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. It traces its origins to the 9th-century County of Castile (, ), as an eastern frontier lordship of the Kingdom of León. During the 10th century, the Ca ...

References

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

History

See also

References