Jódar

Jódar's castle and lordship were drawn into the rivalries of Jaén's noble families. In 1485 Isabella authorized Día Sánchez de Carvajal to establish an entailed estate over Jódar and Tobaruela. During the upheavals of 1520–1521, Alonso de la Cueva attacked Jódar in revenge for his father's killing by its lord, Diego de Carvajal. The attack damaged the settlement and became a lasting episode in its history.

The sixteenth century nevertheless brought growth beyond the town walls. Philip III raised the lordship to a marquisate in 1618, while the following decades brought shortages and epidemics. From the second half of the eighteenth century, esparto production expanded. The spread of olive cultivation across the province increased demand for capachos, the woven fibre mats used in pressing olives. This craft gave Jódar a distinctive place in the economy of Andalusian oil production.