Molina de Aragón

Molina de Aragón occupies the valley of the Gallo beneath a vast castle, on ground contested between Castile and Aragon. The town and its surrounding lordship possessed their own fueros. In 1369 its inhabitants rejected a new lord and placed themselves under the Crown of Aragon; they returned to Castilian allegiance a few years later, but retained the name Molina de Aragón. During the Peninsular War French troops sacked and burned the town in 1810 before local fighters, aided by the guerrilla leader El Empecinado, drove them away.