Campillo de Arenas History
Campillo de Arenas was inhabited in prehistoric times, as evidenced by the numerous Paleolithic and Neolithic remains discovered in parts of the town, including schematic cave paintings. An Argaric settlement unearthed in Puerta de Arenas when the new tunnel was being built also attests to Bronze Age presence in the area.
The first Roman settlements in the area were camps, later developed into cities. Important remains discovered in the Casablanca farmhouse, Cañada de las Viñas and Iglesia Parroquial suggest that the Roman road from Cástulo to Carthago Nova passed next to them. Remains found in Campillo de Arenas include various pieces of pottery, Roman tiles, lacquered glass rings and bronze cups. Some scholars place the Roman city of “Viñolis” in Campillo de Arenas, although this town was called “Vergili”, according to research by the provincial magazine “D. Lope de Sosa” in 1914.
The great Visigoth civilization unified all of Spain under the rule of the Gothic Monarchs. East-facing tombs corresponding to Visigoth burial styles were discovered in Campillo de Arenas, containing bronze earrings and rings. In 1925, the National Archaeological Museum acquired a large collection of Visigoth artefacts found in graves locally, including glass beads for necklaces, a copper bracelet, rings, pins and a buckle.
During the Moorish occupation, Arab civilization developed in the south of the Peninsula, making Córdoba the most cultured and important city in the west. The Arab remains that are preserved in Campillo de Arenas are of great interest due to the role played on the Christian-Arab border during the re-conquest. The Cerro del Castillo preserves at its summit one of the many rock fortresses of the Holy Kingdom, whose origins were Arab, although a Roman fortification may have existed here previously. This old fortress was part of the Nazarite Kingdom of Granada for many centuries, until it was conquered by the Catholic Monarchs in 1486.
The first data regarding the Castillo de Arenas can be found in the Chronicle of Alfonso X “el Sabio”, although the fortress was not named when Fernando III “el Santo” conquered the city of Jaén. In these capitulations signed during the conquest of Jaén, the limits of the border with the castles are not clearly defined, so it is thought that the Castillo de Arenas was included within the Granada lands. A year later, King Alfonso X entered with the Christian army, besieging the Nasrid capital, and King Muhammad II, to request peace, had to hand over several castles, amongst which was this castle.
The Infante Don Pedro de Rota seized the Castillo de Arenas and other structures from the Moors, but during the Battle of Elvira (1319), the Granada army obtained a brilliant victory over the Christian troops and recovered the fortresses.
The warfare that occurred on the central border of the Nasrid Kingdom took place at the Castillo de Arenas, whose conquest was always an obsession for Constable Lucas de Iranzo. In 1462, after the truces granted by Enrique IV to the Moors, the Constable, with 600 horsemen and 2,000 soldiers, attacked the castle of Campillo de Arenas. The battle was intense and two of the castle’s five gates were burned by the Christians, however, it was not conquered. The Constable sent 30 Knights from Jaén to prepare an ambush for the Campillo de Arenas garrison but was unsuccessful.
In 1463, the Constable sent 40 soldiers under the command of Juan de Navarrete against the castle and the Christians took two prisoners. In November, Lucas de Iranzo sent 30 soldiers to try to seize Campillo de Arenas, but they were unsuccessful. In 1471, the King of Granada, upon learning of a Christian plan to attack Campillo de Arenas, sent his defenders. In the same year, Iranzo wrote a letter to the then Pope Sixtus IV in which he recounted the plight of Jaén in the face of the Moors, citing the Castillo de Arenas as a great danger for Christians. Today, the Castillo de Arenas is in a state of ruin.
At the end of the fifteenth century, following the re-conquest by the Catholic Monarchs, towns and cities abandoned by the Moors began to be gradually repopulated. A series of decrees established new towns; on March 17, 1508, King Fernando “el Catolico” signed a document which launched the foundation of Campillo de Arenas, where there were several farmhouses, inns, a chapel and a cemetery. Several years passed without compliance with the Royal Decree, for which a group of residents of Jaén filed a lawsuit against the Concejo, Justicia, Regidores y Cofradía de la Mesta in 1526 and on March 19, 1539, Doña Juana la Loca visited Campillo de Arenas.
The activity carried out by His Majesty’s new judge in the founding of Campillo de Arenas and the distribution of its lands was quickly seen on June 4, 1539. This date is historic for the town because it marks the start of a new community.
On December 24, 1559, men from Campillo de Arenas asked King Felipe II to grant the privilege of exemption from the jurisdiction of Jaén, taking the title of town with all the consequent rights and obligations. From this moment, the neighbours promised to serve and help the King in the great wars against the King of France; guard and provide the borders of the Kingdom with those of Africa and help pay the galleys and other expenses with the amount of 350,000mrs. The King warned Jaén and other municipalities that they must respect the new independence of Campillo de Arenas, or risk punishment.
In 1822, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) was found in Campillo de Arenas, which is deposited in the National Archaeological Museum and relates to the Consul, Cayo Calvisio Sabino, from the end of the first century. In July 1823, within the Royalist War, the Battle of Campillo de Arenas took place, which confronted the troops of General Francisco Ballesteros against the Cien Mil Hijos de San Luis under the command of the French marshal, Gabriel Molitor, First Count of Molitor, with defeat for the liberals.
Since 2011, the town has been in the Area of Influence of the Sierra Mágina Natural Park and at the end of the twentieth century, the fall in the profitability of farmland encouraged the emigration of the population to larger cities and industrial centres.