Aledo (Spain)

Aledo municipality
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Murcia
Comarca :	Bajo Guadalentín
Coordinates	37 ° 48 ′  N , 1 ° 34 ′  W Coordinates: 37 ° 48 ′  N , 1 ° 34 ′  W
Height :	625  msnm
Area :	49.74 km²
Residents :	1,022 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	20.55 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	30859
Municipality number  ( INE ):	30006
administration
Mayor :	Simón Alcaraz Alcaraz ( PP )
Address of the municipal administration:	PZ. AYUNTAMIENTO, 2, 30859 Aledo, Tel .: [phone]
Website :	aledo.es
Location of the municipality

Church of Santa María la Real
on the right edge of the picture: Torre de Homenaje

Aledo is a city in the Autonomous Region of Murcia in Spain . The village has 1022 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019).

history

Siege by the Almoravids

Torre de Homenaje from the west,
on the left edge of the picture: Iglesia Sta María la Real

Torre de Homenaje (from the north)

prehistory

At the end of the 11th century, Castilian - Leonese troops under the leadership of García Jiménez occupied the castle, which was located deep in the Andalusian territory and used it as a base for raids through the neighboring small kingdoms , especially that of the Banū Ṣumādiḥ of Almería and that of the Zīrīds of Granada . Communication between the city ​​of Murcia, ruled by the 'Abbādids of Seville , and Seville was also severely disrupted. The Andalusian literary historian Ibn Bassām († 1147) from Santarém reports on the death of an Arab poet who was slain during a raid on the occupation of Aledo. After the castle had been in the hands of the Castilians for a few years, the affected Andalusian rulers succeeded in getting the Almoravids from Morocco interested in this problem. These had already inflicted a defeat on the Castilians in October 1086 in the battle of Zallāqa near Badajoz .

Dating

When exactly the siege took place is controversial. While the Arab sources all mention the year 1088, the Christian sources place the battle in 1089. The Zīrīde 'Abdallāh ibn Buluggīn, participant in the siege, does not date the siege of Liyyiṭ (the Arabic name) in his Tibyān more precisely . The Historia Roderici and a diploma from Alfonso VI. , which were issued on the way back from the relief of the besieged castle, speak of the year 1089. Unfortunately, the diploma is only a copy in a collection of copies which - on the basis of preserved originals - has proven to be untrustworthy. The fundamental problem with dating Arabic sources is the time lag to the event. The dating of 1088, represented by the Arabic sources, is more likely due to the events up to 1090 and due to the abundance of details that 'Abdallāh ibn Buluggīn places between the siege and his own dethronement.

Events

The Historia Roderici reports that the besieged Castilians in the castle already ran out of water when they sent their King Alfonso a letter asking for relief. Alfonso in turn asked the Cid Rodrigo Díaz, with whom he had recently reconciled, to join him with his troops. For whatever reason, this merger did not succeed. Alfons accused the cid of wanting to let him run into the open knife, the cid claimed that he should have been shown the wrong meeting point where he waited in vain for his king. In general, the union of the armies was not necessary, because the Almoravids had withdrawn at the news of Alfonso's coming. 'Abdallāh ibn Buluggīn again reports from the camp of the besiegers, on the quarrel between the Andalusian petty kings and the quarrel between the Andalusian petty kings and their subjects. They complained about the tax revenue that went beyond the permission of the Muslim law schools, which the petty kings needed, sometimes to pay tribute and protection money to the Castilians, sometimes to raise armies against them. In particular, one of the judges of Granada, Ibn al-Qula'ī, had urged the subjects of 'Abdallāh to rebel and sought contact with the commander-in-chief, the Almoravid emir Yūsuf ibn Tāšufīn . 'Abdallāh also fell out again with his brother Tamīm ibn Buluggīn, the ruler of Malaga ; both turned to the Almoravid generals Sīr and Garūr for help in order to have an intercessor with Yūsuf ibn Tāšufīn. The generals were well paid for this intercession. Military events can hardly be inferred from the sources, only Ibn Ṣumādiḥ brought a siege machine with the designation "elephant" from Almería , which was destroyed by a fire bullet before it was used .

It was not until 1092, when the Almoravids had destituted a large part of the small Andalusian kings, that the castle was starved to death in a new siege.

Castle of the Order of Santiago

In 1257 the castles of Aledo and Totana were transferred to the Santiagoorden by King Alfonso X , which led to an expansion of the castle. The Torre de Homenaje (keep, literally "tower of honor") goes back in its present form to the expansion in the 13th century . The emblem of the Caballeros de Santiago , the St. James Cross, is still preserved in the city's coat of arms.

politics

Historical development in the Aledo Council

Political party	2015		2011
	Be right %	Seats	Be right %	Seats
PP	*	*	52.51%	5
PSOE	*	*	46.30%	4th

Population development of the municipality

Source: INE archive - graphic processing for Wikipedia

Web links

Commons : Aledo  - collection of images

• http://www.aledo.es/
• http://www.regmurcia.com/servlet/s.Sl?sit=a,68
• Juan Torres Fontes: Repartimiento de Lorca . Murcia 1994. (PDF)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).
2. ↑ What exactly this siege machine was about is unknown.
3. ↑ Juan Torres Fontes: Repartimiento de Lorca . Murcia 1994, p. XVIII.
4. ↑ Source: Spanish Ministry of the Interior ; Retrieved September 25, 2018