Star Castle

He La Estrella de Montiel Castle, It crowns a butte at an altitude of about 960 meters, at the northeastern end of the Jabalón Valley, right where the Segurilla River flows into it. From here, one can see the plains of La Mancha at the foothills of the Sierra Morena; its role as a control point for major medieval routes (Mérida–Levante and Cuenca–Granada) is understandable, in a foothills landscape that combines cereal crops, orchards, and olive groves.

The history of the enclave is built in layers. After a prehistoric occupation, Montiel was organized in Andalusian times as hisn governing the territory, expanded from the emirate and the caliphate and reinforced during the Almohad period; on the southern slope developed the Andalusian Quarter, with houses and at its base a system of irrigation channels. With the conquest of 1227, the complex He passed to the Order of Santiago And, in 1243, the charter and the title of town spurred the construction of the urban wall and the church of Our Lady of La Estrella, built on an old maqbara. In 1369, in this place changed the history of Spain; At the foot of the fortress, Enrique de Trastámara killed Pedro I of Castile.

Currently, thanks to restoration work, the site has become a space that combines the monumental and the archaeological. The medieval village is preserved on the southern slope, with buildings as interesting as the primitive church of Our Lady of the Star, the urban wall with a small associated hermitage and, in addition, a residential area known as the Andalusian Quarter.

At the top stands the fortress, a true symbol of the power of the Order of Santiago. It consists of an outer wall with several towers, associated with the old Islamic fortress, and a barbican overlooking the orchards. Above this is the castle-house of the commandery; the entrance is through the Iron Gate, a angled passage designed to force passage and control the flow of people before leading into the inner courtyard. Once inside, the Parade Ground leads to two main landmarks: the Church of Santiago, linked to the worship of the friars, and the Keep complex, with its large vaulted cistern and the medieval graffiti preserved on the walls.