Xàtiva Castle is situated in the city of Xàtiva, close to Valencia, Spain

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04-Jul-2026 03 pm

Xàtiva Castle is situated in the city of Xàtiva, close to Valencia, Spain. It comprises a dual fortification, which includes the older Castillo Menor, or Minor Castle, constructed upon the remnants of Iberian and Roman structures, and the more contemporary Castillo Mayor, or Main Castle, erected during the medieval era. This fortress is strategically positioned along the ancient Via Augusta, a roadway that connected Rome to the Mediterranean coast, extending to Cartagena and Cádiz. Initially, the minor castle served as a Celtiberian stronghold before being seized by the Carthaginians in the third century BC. It is reputed to be the site where Hannibal devised his strategy for the conquest of the Roman city of Saguntum and where his son was born in 218 BC. Subsequently, it was captured by the Roman general Scipio. During the medieval period, in 1092, the castle was taken by the Almoravid dynasty, who were later expelled during an uprising in 1145. This uprising saw the castle besieged by Marwan Abd-al-Aziz, the ruler of Valencia. In 1171, the castle, along with the rest of the Levante coast, came under Almohad control. King James I of Aragon initiated his religious conquest there in the summer of 1239, successfully capturing Xátiva on 22 May 1244 after a five-month siege. Following the surrender to the Christian monarch, which aimed to prevent further bloodshed and resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Xàtiva, the Governor surrendered the smaller nearby castle to James I, while the Moors were permitted to continue occupying the larger castle for an additional two years, as stipulated in the treaty. Once the two years had passed, King James I of Aragon forcibly repopulated a significant portion of the town with settlers from Catalonia and Aragon, while also slaughtering and expelling a segment of the Muslim and Jewish populations from the city. In the following decades, many Mudéjar, or Muslims living under Christian dominion post-Reconquista, migrated to Granada or North Africa. The castle experienced conflict once more during the War of the Spanish Succession, when Castilian and French forces defeated the Aragonese and English troops who had sought refuge within the fortress during the siege of Xàtiva in 1707. Subsequently, the site suffered significant damage from the earthquake that struck the region in 1748, resulting in a loss of its strategic significance. The castle is located 310 meters above the contemporary city. It was showcased in the Star Wars series Andor. #Castles #History #Architecture

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