History of Jódar
Jódar and its surroundings have been populated in some form since at least the third millennium BC; the site of Las Quebradas, dating from the Chalcolithic period, evidences prehistoric settlement, whilst Mycenaean remains attest to human presence during the Iberian era.
From the fourth century BC, the valley of the Jandulilla River began to be colonised from the oppidum of Úbeda la Vieja. There are abundant remains from the Ibero-Roman period along the course of the Jandulilla River (Cortijo los Fierrales), such as the embedded tombstone in Parroquia de la Asunción. It comes from the old Villa de Xandulilla or Villa de Félix located in Cerro Castillejo in Loma de San Torcuato or Los Castillejos. Other sites are those of the Iberian oppidum of Loma del Perro, Cortijo del Álamo, where the Sphinx of Jandulilla sculpture (today found in the Iberian Museum of Jaén) was found.
During the Morrish occupation of the Middle Ages, Jódar, known as Sawdar, was the capital of Jaén. At its centre was the great Aljama mosque, supported by marble columns and surrounded by fertile orchards and gardens. Jódar was one of the most important oil producers in the region at this time.
Between 1227 and 1229, the Christian conquest of the city took place, led by the Castilian troops of Fernando III. The city only grew in status following this, until Alfonso X granted Jódar the title of Villa Leal and the Fuero de Lorca in 1272. Throughout the fifteenth century, the Villa had several owners: Constables Dávalos and Iranzo, Zúñiga and Girón.
In 1485, the Catholic Monarchs created the Mayorazgo de Jódar, handing it over to Día Sánchez de Carvajal. Churches and public buildings were erected, and the esparto grass industry provided many residents with economic prosperity. During the War of the Communities of Castilla, in 1520 or 1521, Jódar was assaulted by Alonso de la Cueva, who sought to avenge the death of his father, Luis de la Cueva, Lord of Solera at the hands of the Lord of Jódar, Diego de Carvajal. The castle and much of the town were destroyed by fire during this siege, and the reconstruction was effected using materials plundered from the Iberian town of Xandulilla.
In 1619, King Felipe III created the Marquesado de Jódar. In 1681, a cholera epidemic led to the decline in the population of the entire region. Until the middle of the eighteenth century, the production of esparto grass was the main activity in Jódar, dominated by the Count of Fuente del Sauco, who owned more than 47,000 fanegas, one of the largest estates in Jaén.
In 1837, with the risk of the manors disappearing, the Council signed a Concordat in 1848 with the IX Count of Salvatierra, Cayetano de Silva y Fernández de Córdova. This agreement secured their ownership of land in Jódar in exchange for granting residents certain rights, like access to esparto grass areas. However, repeated breaches led to conflicts in the following decades. During the 19th century, Jódar experienced an economic boom from the cultivation and trade of esparto grass, attracting commercial agents from Valencia and Málaga. The period also saw the unregulated plowing of the mountains, the division and sale of the Marquis of Salvatierra’s estates, and population growth from newcomers from Jaén, Granada, and Almería.
In 1905, the Jódar-Úbeda station came into service, built mainly for export from the Linares mining area to the port of Almería. Combined with the adjacent flour mill, the station caused a population boom in Jódar, which obtained the title of city from Alfonso XIII in 1919, with about 9,000 inhabitants. From the late-nineteenth century, there was an active labour movement and campaigning to improve the health and hygiene of the cave houses, largely resolved between the 1940s and 1950s by the National Housing Institute.
From the late-twentieth century, the population of Jódar began to fall, fuelled by the decline of the esparto grass industry and the rural exodus to industrial areas which affected much of Spain at this time. A considerable part of the population began to be employed as seasonal workers in agriculture, a trend which continues today; when the annual olive harvest in Jódar has concluded, many workers transfer their labour to the asparagus crops in Navarra and subsequently to harvests in Castilla-La Mancha and France.
The Sindicato de Obreros del Campo (SOC) union organization has carried out various acts of vandalism such as the repeated occupation of a private estate owned by the Marquis of Vezmeliana in 2003, as well as the attack on the Deputy Mayor of Jódar in 2012, which resulted in a prison sentence for union leader Andaluz de Trabajadores and former Councilor of Jaén en Común, Andrés Bódalo. In 2015, the works of the Construction and Demolition Waste Treatment Plant (RCD) of Jódar were completed to serve the municipalities in the area, which is currently pending opening.