Zorita

Zorita de los Canes lies on the left bank of the Tagus beneath an Andalusi fortress. Its position guarded a river crossing in central Iberia. After changes of rule between Christian and Almoravid forces, Alfonso VIII granted the fortress to the Order of Calatrava in 1174 to defend the passage against Almohad incursions. In 1180 the king granted Zorita a charter through the order's master, encouraging settlement in the district. The nearby ruins of Recópolis preserve an older Visigothic foundation. The Tagus remained both a route and a hazard: a great flood carried away Zorita's stone bridge in 1545. The castle and crossing link the town's medieval frontier history to the communities that lived beside the river in later centuries.