Villanueva de Jalón Castle

The Castle of Villanueva de Jalón sits in the depopulated village within the municipality of Chodes, Spain, and its origins are traced to the caliphal period. Constructed as a fortress on the highest crag of the settlement, the site is linked to the caliphal civilization that once controlled this part of the Jalón valley. Its elevated position gave it a commanding view of the river corridor, and the castle functioned in that strategic network.

Control of the fort shifted during the Christian reconquest. In 1119 Alfonso I, known as the Battler, took the stronghold, capturing it at the same time as the nearby castles of Chodes and Morata de Jalón. After this military action the place passed into the hands of successive local holders. Among those recorded as administrators were the Counts of Luna, who exercised authority over the castle in later medieval decades.

In 1430 the county that included the castle was transferred to royal control, when the territory passed to the Crown. After that date the castle and its lands came under the jurisdiction of different lords at different times. In the modern era the whole village has been protected as a Place of Ethnographic Interest, and the castle was formally listed among the region’s Assets of Cultural Interest under additional provision two of Law 3/1999 (10 March) of the Aragonese Cultural Heritage; that listing was published in the Official Gazette of Aragon on 22 May 2006.