History of Christian Kings Alcazar, Cordoba (Spain): Reconquest Period

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        The year 1236 is a crucial time for our city, marks a turning point in our history. In 1236 King Ferdinand III, the Saint, conquests the city and since then the Alcazar would be the monarch’s residence.
        Alphonse X, the Wise, made the first works, that gave rise to what is now known as the Christian Kings Alcazar, replacing the existing legacy of arabic. This was the origin of the nowadays Alcazar. But the idea that this building serve as the residence of the kings came from the great-grandchildren of the sovereign, the future Alphonse XI, that ordered to build the high and strong walls with the towers in 1328. Here lived Alphonse XI with his lover, Eleanor of Aragon, Henry II’s mother, who had great influence on him: "E otrosi el rrey fiava mucho della, ca todas las cosas que se avien de facer en el rreyno todas pasaban sabiéndolo ella, e no de otra manera por la fianca que el rrey ponía en ella". This sentence meant that the trusted so much on her that every decision was taken under her permit.
        Gradually sovereigns were established in the Alcazar, because the Alcazar was a strategical zone against the enemy, to study the tactics appropriate against muslims nearby. Its garden were the witness of: nobles, princes and sovereigns.
        In 1367 Peter I of Castile and his stepbrother, Don Henry had a struggle. Gonzalo Mexía proclamed king the last one, Henry, from the Tribute Tower of the Alcazar.
        In March 1368 , Peter I ,with Al Gani Billah, Sultan of Granada, tried to invade Córdoba, but he only could invade the Alcazar. After, the cordovan people refused him.
        Then the Alcazar became Henry II of Castile‘s Residence, since the summer of 1371. First he moved his father’s rests, Alphonse XI, from Seville to the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral in Córdoba, expressed desire of the sovereign in his will. Also Henry III lived in the Alcazar, who was greeted by crowds here in 1395.
        On the 20th of May of 1455 Henry IV, the Impotent, married Doña Joanna of Portugal. For this event the building was illuminated and a lot of parties and competitions were given. Seven years later their daughter was born. Her name was Joanna, but Henry IV‘s enemies nicknamed her: la Beltraneja.

Text: J.A.S.C.

Traslated by Sara Moretti