El ḥiṣn de Almansa (Albacete): fortificaciones y poblamiento

Abstract

[EN] Because of its spectacular location and its good state of conservation, the image of the castle of Almansa has been widely reproduced in publications of informative and even tourist purpose. The building is the result of construction, remodeling, plundering, demolition, blasting and restoration processes, carried out over more than eight centuries, although the current aspect is essentially that of the castle remodeled by Don Juan Pacheco, Marquis of Villena, in the fifteenth century, that camouflage or suppress those made previously, whether taifa, almohad or feudal. In this paper we are interested in the castle (ḥiṣn) of Almansa in Islamic times, but not strictly from the architectural point of view but its history as a central element that organized an administrative district or iqlīm. In this sense, Almansa offers very relevant research possibilities, because we know exactly the delimitation of its district in almohad times thanks to the Castilian documentation after the conquest, we have some data from the Arabic texts and, above all, we have of a very detailed archaeological information from intensive field surveys. Therefore, we will study the different types of castral buildings, fortresses and towers, as well as settlements –farmhouses, hamlets and shelters– in order to get information about the evolution of the modes of occupation and exploitation of the territory between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, which will be modified throughout the feudal period, becoming a rare case in the scientific literature to date.