In order to explain the circumstances under which the King Sancho IV made the Donation of Calasparra Castle to the Orden of San Juan of Jerusalem, we need to go back in history to the period between 1264, when there was a Mudejar uprising in the kingdom of Murcia, and 1284 when King Alfonso el Sabio (the Wise) died.
At the time of the Mudejar uprising the Castilian Spanish troops attempted to maintain their supremacy in front of the uprising Muslims but new threats in the Granada frontline forced Alfonso X to ask his father-in-law, Jaime I, for help, and with his assistance successfully suffocated the uprising of 1266.
From 1266 Alfonso X el Sabio regained control of the Kingdom of Murcia and began to restructure a system of repopulation of the territory in order to compensate for the limited Castilian Spanish population living in the Kingdom of Murcia and the lack of sufficient garrisons in the fortifications of the area.
King Alfonso X el Sabio tirelessly organized, repopulated and attempted to maintain the prosperous economic life that Murcia enjoyed under Muslim domination. In order to achieve this he introduced a systematic system of distributing lands which accommodated the population settling and thus secured control of the territory.
Precisely to guarantee the domination of the territory he had regained in the Kingdom of Murcia and to reach his objective to secure the most strategic areas, Alfonso X el Sabio made donations of land to the Military Orders.
He made a large donation, and practically the control over the river valley of the Segura, to the Military Order of Santiago.
He donated another large part of his territory, including Caravaca, Cehegin and Bullas, to the Military Order of the Temple, thus forming the Vicarage of the Temple close to the Muslim frontier with the Kingdom of Granada.
When Alfonso X el Sabio died in 1284 there was a series of dynastic fights for the Crown. The rightful heir to the throne was the eldest son of Alfonso X, Fernando de la Cerdá, but he died in 1275.
Second in line was his brother, the second son, Sancho, who, according to Castilian Spanish custom, should have succeeded to the throne.
However, the sons of the late Fernando claimed their right to the throne by citing a Roman right introduced in the Código de Las Siete Partidas. (Code of Seven Parties).
Finally, later in 1284 , Sancho IV, was crowned King of Castilla and it was he who donated Calasparra Castle to the Order of San Juan of Jerusalem on June 9, 1289.
This is an important date in the history of Calasparra as from this moment the Christian population settled here producing the demographic development of the town.
Calasparra Town Hall marked the VII Centenary of the Donation of the Castle to the Order of San Juan of Jersualem with a series of events between December 1988 and August of 1989.
However, as on June 9, the region celebrated anniversary of the signing of the Statute giving autonomy to the Murcia region, the celebrations for the Donation of the Castle were moved to this date.
Photo: of publicity poster for the fiestas from Calasparra Town Hall archives
Nexonr translation of original article at https://calasparra.org/…/breve-historia-de-la-donacion…/
#AyuntamientodeCalasparra
#archivomunicipalnal
