History - Segura de la Sierra
The history of Segura de la Sierra goes back in time to the dawn of civilisation. The rock paintings found in the caves of Collado del Guijarral and Cueva de la Diosa Madre attest to the human presence in these lands since the fourth millennium BC. Closer to the urban centre of Segura is the settlement called Segura la Vieja, located at the top of a mountain a few kilometres from the village of Moralejos which had traditionally always been attributed by the locals to peoples such as the Iberians, Phoenicians and even to the Bronze Age. The truth is that its remains, poorly preserved and little studied, still hide their true origin, although the most plausible hypothesis is that they must have come from a Roman town, given the numerous remains of this nature present nearby.
During the Islamic era, Segura or Saqura as it was called at that time, experienced something of a golden era as it was the stronghold of the area, although these years also saw the most convulsion of the region. In the year 781 it was taken by Muslims led by Abd al-Azid, Tariq’s lieutenant. Arabic texts refer to Saqura (“safe”), as medina or as hins.
In the ninth to tenth centuries, after the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba and the formation of the Taifas, Saqura had several periods of independence that made it acquire a certain importance.
Segura de la Sierra was part of the possessions of the Lord of Denia and when the Emir of Zaragoza took over his states, it remained independent for some time under the government of Siray al-Dawla. Upon his death, the fortress was in the hands of the Banu Sahayl family, who decided to hand it over to Al Mutamin of Zaragoza.
In 1091 Segura de la Sierra was occupied by the Almoravids. In the middle of the twelfth century, Ibn Hamusk, lieutenant and father-in-law of Ibn Mardanis, Lord of Valencia and Murcia, rose up against the Almoravids and took possession of the fortress of Segura. But after the deterioration of relations between the two, Ibn Hamusk allied himself with the Almohads who entered the last corner of the kingdom of the Murcian Lord.
After a period of tensions between the Almohads, the town was conquered by the Christians on Saint Vincent’s Day in 1214 and this Saint became the patron of the town, flying the flag of the Order of Santiago. King Alfonso VIII ceded the town to the Order of Santiago, which made it the centre of its Encomienda, or in other words, the centre of government of all the assets that this order owned in the area. Kings Ferdinand III, Alfonso X and Ferdinand IV granted the town and the Order that administered it numerous privileges.
In the sixteenth century the city experienced a period of great splendour, provided by the enormous amount of wood produced in its territory which was transported along the Guadalquivir River, supplying all of Andalusia.
During the eighteenth century, the State intervened in the administration of the region’s mountains, the Ministry of the Navy and Forests converted Segura into a Maritime Province (no doubt because it needed its wood for the construction of ships). The management of the forests by the Ministry caused the intensive exploitation of timber resources. The progressive decrease in wood consumption caused the disinterest of the administration and productive agents, plunging the region into an economic lethargy that continues to this day.
The most notable events of the nineteenth century were the French occupation of 1810, which resulted in the death of numerous inhabitants and the town being razed and burned.
The town of Segura de la Sierra has been declared a Historic-Artistic Site since November 1972 and a Picturesque Landscape.