Jorquera

Jorquera occupies a defensible height between the Júcar and the Abengibre valley. Its upper walls preserve an Almohad stronghold, but later rulers continued to reshape the defences. In the fifteenth century a lower enclosure was added, with two gateways protected by towers; the Torre de Doña Blanca survives from this system.

The town became the administrative centre of the seigneurial State of Jorquera under the marquises of Villena. A lord-appointed chief magistrate resided here and exercised authority over its dependent settlements. The practical importance of residence appears in an order preserved in the Spanish nobility archives: the marquis required Jorquera's local magistrates to live in the places where they served. Walls, offices and written commands together sustained the town's role as a centre of jurisdiction in the Júcar country.