Belmonte, Spain

Belmonte, Spain

Belmonte Spain

Belmonte is a Spanish municipality in the province of Cuenca, in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. It is located at kilometer 342 of the N-420 road, which runs from Cuenca to Alcázar de San Juan, as part of the route from Córdoba to Tarragona. Excavations carried out in the Collegiate Church in 1976, due to the sinking of part of the apse, uncovered the remains of an earlier Visigothic church, possibly from the 5th century, proving that the settlement is older than previously thought. In some documents it is mistakenly referred to as “Las Casitas” (“The Huts”), even though it has always been called Bellomonte. In a bull issued by Pope Innocent III, a bishop of Cuenca named García refers to it as Bellomonte, because of the mountain that surrounds the town. In 1294 it appears in the account book of King Sancho IV among the towns where currency was collected to pay the knights who were to accompany Don Juan Manuel, the future Prince of Villena, to the region of Murcia. In 1323 it begins to gain historical importance. The Chronicon domini Joannis Enmanuelis states that in 1323 Don Juan Manuel (nephew of Alfonso X) began building the town walls of “Belmont” and at the same time built the Old Alcázar. The first member of the Pacheco family to hold lordship over the town was Juan Fernández Pacheco, to whom King Enrique III granted it by royal privilege signed in Tordesillas on May 16, 1398, citing as the reason that he was “a person of great importance in war.” The lordship was inherited by his daughter María, who married Alfonso Téllez Girón y Vázquez de Acuña. The couple had two sons, Juan Pacheco and Pedro Girón, both born in Belmonte. Pedro Girón inherited the lordship. The firstborn, Juan Pacheco, became the first Marquis of Villena and ordered the construction of Belmonte Castle in 1456, as well as the Collegiate Church of San Bartolomé around the same time as the castle. Between the 15th and 18th centuries, Belmonte went through its golden age, from which numerous buildings are still preserved.
Recommended airport
Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas (MAD)
Nearby destinations
  • Alcázar de San Juan a 48.41 km
  • Campo de Criptana a 41.05 km
  • Socuéllamos a 32.02 km