Castellote Castle: A Reconquista Fortress and Carlist Stronghold in Spain
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Crown of Aragon, Crusader
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page8 sections
History
Castellote Castle is a defensive fortress in Castellote, Spain, probably Arab in origin and associated with the Christian Reconquista, the long Christian expansion into territories ruled by Muslim polities in the Iberian Peninsula. It controlled passage through the Guadalop River gorge north of the town and later became an important stronghold during the First Carlist War, the Spanish civil war fought from 1833 to 1840 between supporters of Don Carlos and Liberal forces backing Isabella II.
Reconquest and military orders
The earliest references to Castellote appear in ecclesiastical documents from 1148 and 1158, although the castle’s existence at those dates is inferred rather than directly established. Alfonso II of Aragon definitively reconquered Castellote from Muslim rule in 1168. Some historians regard the fortress as an early castle built by a military order, probably at the beginning of the thirteenth century.
In October 1188, Gascón de Castellot, the castle’s lord, entered the Order of the Holy Redeemer and donated the fortress to it. This was a medieval military-religious order whose members combined religious obligations with military and administrative duties. When the order was dissolved in 1196, Castellote passed to the Templars. After the suppression of the Templars, the Hospitallers, also known as the Order of Saint John, received the castle in 1317 and retained it until 1769. The Hospitallers inherited many former Templar possessions and continued their religious, military, and administrative functions.
The First Carlist War
Castellote became renowned as one of the last Templar fortresses to resist. Centuries later, it again assumed a military role during the First Carlist War. After visiting the fortress in 1837, Don Carlos, the Carlist claimant to the Spanish throne, ordered Ramón Cabrera to modernize and enlarge it as a Carlist stronghold in the Maestrazgo. The works were directed by the Portuguese lieutenant colonel Manuel Brusco.
On 23 March 1840, Liberal forces under General Baldomero Espartero attacked the hermitages of San Macario and San Cristóbal. The defenders withdrew into the castle, while artillery fire that night destroyed numerous loopholes, narrow openings used for observation or firing, together with the Atalaya tower, the principal bastions, the keep, and many sections of wall.
Espartero sent a negotiator who offered the defenders their lives if they surrendered. Acting under orders not to negotiate, the besieged rejected the offer by destroying the access bridge. The fighting continued for two days. Liberal troops captured the eastern building but were driven back when they attempted to enter the keep, which served as the Carlists’ final stronghold. An effort to undermine the only surviving tower was considered but never carried out.
The defenders surrendered on 27 March 1840. Espartero spared their lives and praised their heroic defense before his troops. After several days of artillery attacks, the castle lay largely in ruins, and Espartero later ordered its complete dismantling.
Restoration and protection
Castellote Town Council restored the castle in 2011 with the collaboration of Spain’s Ministries of Public Works and Culture through programs concerned with architectural and historical heritage. The fortress is protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural in Aragón under a declaration issued on 17 April 2006 and published on 22 May 2006.
Remains
Crag-top layout
The castle occupies a grayish limestone crag above Castellote. Its irregular complex follows the uneven ground, with enclosures arranged in successive tiers. The site is relatively narrow and extends for up to about 130 metres along its longest axis, while its width reaches approximately 50 metres. The original approach crossed a drawbridge, and the surviving access route rises from the Church of San Miguel.
Towers and keep
Four towers survive in the ruins, including three rectangular towers and one triangular tower. The keep occupied the summit of the hill above the gorge. A keep was the principal and most defensible tower of a medieval castle, often intended to serve as the final stronghold. Castellote’s keep had a substantial square form, walls nearly three metres thick, and visible lighting openings, although its exact dimensions are uncertain.
Possible chapel
A rectangular room measuring approximately 25 metres by 7 metres may have served as a chapel. It retains splayed openings with semicircular arches. The surviving towers, wall sections, keep, and other remains form part of a ruined complex whose physical fabric was affected by the 2011 restoration.
