History - Siles
The exact date of origin for the town is unknown, however records state it was won from the Moors by Don Pelay Pérez Correa and that another Master of Santiago, Don Lorenzo Alvarez de Figueroa, gave it to the privilege of villazgo at the beginning of the fourteenth century, later confirmed by Felipe II. It is thought that the name, Siles, comes from the many silos found on the nearby hill of San Cristóbal, however some say the name is from the Latin word, Sileo, meaning to be silent, since, in effect, the town is as if silent in a valley between hills.
During the Middle Ages it was a small town surrounded by Muslim fortification in which a cylindrical tower known as Torre El Cubo, which still exists in a reasonable state of conservation, defended the roads of Segura and Santiago de la Espada.
Don Alfonso Méndez Guzmán, Master of Santiago and brother of Doña Leonor defeated the King of Granada who had surrounded the town of Siles in retaliation for the incursions that the Christians had carried out in the land of the Moors, leaving behind the towns of Alcaudete, Castillo de Locubín, Priego and Alcalá la Real. Don Alfonso Méndez Guzmán left after this distinguished feat to prepare to continue fighting the Moors in the following summer. He died soon after in Algeciras, in the year 1342, from which we can deduce that the Battle of Siles must have been fought during the summer of 1341.
In the years 1315-1317, due to extensive rain, the land produced no crops. The population of these mountains almost reached physical extermination due to pure hunger. When the surviving Sileño population had not yet recovered from the famine of the first half of the fourteenth century, they fell prey to the deadliest epidemic of the Black Death, which reached Siles in 1349 and was so devastating that it reduced the number of inhabitants to less than half.
In 1355 a war broke out for the Throne of Castile between its holder Pedro I and all his brothers. This war was Europeanised within the context of the Thirty Years’ War as the brothers were supported by France and the Pope, but Pedro I was supported by the heir to the throne of England, the Duke of Lancaster (Black Prince) and above all the King of Granada (Muhammad V). Pedro I also had against him the Master of the Order of Santiago who was taking refuge in Córdoba and was giving instructions of hostility to his Commanders. Siles had to rebuild the walls of their Castro and the tower at the end of the year 1367, semi-ruined by the battle in 1339.
Siles belonged to the Kingdom of Murcia and district of Segura, Order of Santiago and depended on the Chancery of Granada and the Bishopric of Cartagena. In 1397 the privilege of Villa was granted to the town because at its own expense, the town surrounded itself with walls and built three towers. The presence of Don Rodrigo in Siles led to his fortress and the population being involved in the noble struggles of the fifteenth century. In the middle of the nineteenth century the fortress was still standing: the urban area of Siles was divided into two - the oldest part called Villa was surrounded by the walls, which even preserved its battlements and three doors, whilst the rest of the urban area that was outside the enclosure was called Nueva Población.