Alfarb Castle: A Twelfth-Century Islamic Military Monument in Spain
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.9
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Unclassified
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page8 sections
History
Alfarb Castle is a twelfth-century Islamic military monument in Alfarb, Spain, overlooking the Magro River from the settlement’s highest point. It formed part of a small fortification that probably protected an Islamic rural community, although the original size and appearance of the wider castle remain uncertain.
Islamic settlement and fortification
Alfarb appears to have begun as an Islamic agricultural settlement, probably an alqueria, a small rural community rather than a major town. The place-name may derive from al-khárb, meaning “deserted” or “ruins,” which could point to an earlier settlement. The castle’s building technique and surviving wall fabric indicate an Islamic construction, though the possibility remains that a later feudal building used Muslim materials and labor.
Medieval lordship
On 7 July 1238, James I of Aragon, the thirteenth-century ruler who conquered substantial territories in Valencia, granted the former place of Alfarb to Pere de Montagut. The Montagut family held the lordship under a privilege granted by King Alfonso II in 1330, while the king retained supreme jurisdiction.
During the mid-fourteenth century, Pere II of Valencia sold Pere de Centelles and his heirs the high and low jurisdiction, together with other rights over Alfarb and its territory, for 5,000 Barcelona sous under a right of redemption. Alfarb later became part of the Marquessate of Llombai, a noble territorial lordship in the Valencian region, until the feudal regimes were abolished.
Expulsion and repopulation
The settlement’s population was predominantly Morisco. Moriscos were Muslims who had been forcibly converted to Christianity, along with their descendants, in early modern Spain. After their expulsion in the early seventeenth century, Alfarb was left deserted. Christian settler families repopulated it in 1611.
Modern recognition
Alfarb Castle was listed as a Valencian and Spanish Asset of Cultural Interest on 20 September 2001, under reference RI-51-0010659. This designation provides formal legal recognition and protection for important cultural monuments.
Remains
The surviving castle occupies the highest point of Alfarb at Plaça de Dalt 7, facing the Magro River. Private houses surround the monument and partly conceal its remains. The complex has a quadrangular plan, with a solid rectangular tower at the center and additional structures arranged around it.
Central tower and associated structures
The central tower survives in relatively good condition. Its walls were built with mortar and masonry, and their construction technique places them within the Islamic period. The tower and the associated dependencies are the remaining elements of a larger defensive complex whose full extent and original arrangement cannot be securely reconstructed.
Reused Roman stones
Several Roman-period inscribed stone slabs lie at the base of the castle. One inscription can be read as “To Hercules the Unconquered.” These stones have raised the possibility of a Roman origin for the site, but they are more probably ancient materials brought from elsewhere and reused in the castle’s construction.
