Castillo de Jódar

Originally it was a small farmhouse with easy defense, which was equipped with a small walled fortification for the protection of the villagers and the control of the entrance to the valleys of the Bedmar and Jandulilla rivers, as well as for the surveillance of the Loma de Úbeda and the valley of the upper Guadalquivir. Also on the Cerro de la Atalaya another fortified refuge was built to face times of danger in the farmhouse.

At the end of the 9th century, during the emirate of Abd Allah, the Muladi Jayr ben Sakir, revolted against Granada and Jaén, achieving significant victories. To resist the counterattack of the emir, he ended up joining Ibn Haff who unexpectedly allied himself with the emir, betraying him, sending his head to Córdoba in 890. This rebellion was followed by another Muladi revolt, this time led by Ibn Saliya, who maintained instability in the area until it too was crushed.

Once Jódar was pacified in the 10th century, it specialized in the production and export of oil, underwent a significant population growth and became one of the Iqlims of the Cora de Yayyan, which led to the erection of strong walls of mud brick. and the construction of a citadel for the governor's residence with solid defenses and palatial luxuries.

In 1231, Fernando III took Sawdar as a previous step to the conquest of Úbeda and gave it to Sancho Martínez de la Torre, who from then on would be called Sancho Martínez de Xódar, with the task of ensuring control of the Jandulilla pass, the so-called Old or South Tower dates from this time.

Alfonso XI, in 1272, granted him the Jurisdiction of Lorca. On the death of Don Sancho, and as a result of matrimonial ties, his domain became the property of the Mendez de Sotomayor, lords of El Carpio and Bedmar.

At the hands of the Cordovan family of the Méndez de Sotomayor family, the castle was rebuilt in 1328 with the construction of the New or North Tower, and the walls of the then town of Jódar.

The Sotomayor family in 1371, sold the castle of Jódar to Don Ruy López Dávalos, Constable of Castile. When Don Ruy López Dávalos confronted Don Álvaro de Luna, he was accused of treason, so King Juan II withdrew his titles and dignities and besieged and took Jódar to confiscate his assets that were delivered to the Stúñiga. These were soon sold to Don Pedro de Girón, master of the Maestrazgo de Calatrava de Martos, one of the leaders in the uprising of the nobility against King Enrique IV, for which Jódar was punished by being the victorious king in the civil war.

In 1520, on the occasion of the uprising of the Comuneros, the confrontations between the Carvajales and their enemies, the Benavides and the de la Cueva, both in Úbeda and Baeza and in the strongholds of Loma de Úbeda and Sierra Mágina, became more radical. Thus, the murder in Jódar of Don Luis de la Cueva by Don Diego Carvajal resulted in the other side assaulting and taking the castle in retaliation.

The castle of the Carvajales, as it is popularly known, was for two centuries an authentic border bastion in containing the Nasrid power.

Towards the middle of the 17th century it was restored as a palace for the Marquis of Jódar. In 1885, after years of neglect, it became a hospital to heal cholera patients.

Recently the castle of Jódar has been declared a Site of Cultural Interest.

Description

At present, only the two towers of the castle remain, which have lost the typical merlones of the finish and part of the perimeter wall.

Jódar Castle sits on a rectangular rocky podium. On the escarpment of this rocky area rise the walls of the enclosure and in the interior free space two towers of the tribute, near the ends of the rectangle, that dominate the weakest points and the parade ground.

It is a Muslim fortress, built in a mixed masonry and ashlar factory located in the chains of the vertices, reused by the Castilian lords with important reforms and transformations from the Gothic era, especially in the two towers of the tribute that it preserves inside.

The north tower, also called the Old Tower, is almost square with dimensions of 15.30 x 12.60 meters. Presumably, the entrance would be located on the south side, at the height of the first floor, the ground floor having no connection with the rest. On the north façade there are two series of loopholes, longer on the second floor than on the first and partially blocked.

The south tower or New Tower, is also approximately square with dimensions of 13.50 x 12.40 meters, is 41 meters from the north tower and dominated the double entrance gate to the castle. The entrance would be on the north facade and consists of a cistern and a central wall. Its loopholes are similar to those of the north tower and the interior roofs are vaulted vaults from the 16th century, preserving remains of Mudejar stucco.

The two homage towers constitute an internal enclosure from whose walkways the foot of the exterior enclosure constituted by the wall is dominated. In this way the castle articulates the classic double defensive line of enclosure and alcazarejo with the peculiarity that the alcazarejo, made up of two independent constructions, each equipped with its own water reserve, allowed to prolong the resistance in two separate bastions that they can also help each other in the event of an attack.

The outer enclosure of the old fortress is built in mud with the ta "biya technique, which still conserves parts of the eastern enclosure and some of the north.