History of Valdepeñas de Jaén
The oldest documented remains in Valdepeñas date back to the Bronze Age and were located in the area known as “El Castellón”. The largest archaeological find dates from the Roman era, a treasure formed of 130 silver aces from the time of Caracalla. During this period, there was a proliferation of peasant homes in the territory, as evidenced by the remains found in La Ventilla, Navalengua, El Torcal, La Solana and Pitillos, amongst others.
What today constitutes Valdepeñas was founded by Emperor Carlos V in 1539, responding to the purposes of his mother, Doña Juana, in 1508. The founding act of Valdepeñas was motivated by the vast repopulation process that these lands underwent after the conquest of Granada in 1492. The founding of the city was carried out between Susana and Ranera, on the site of the Osarios, taking into account the abundance of water, crops and land types. A grid-plan urbanity was developed on the site, clearly inspired by the formations of Roman forts. This urban model has remained practically unchanged to this day, and was also implemented in the rest of the towns founded in the sixteenth century in the Sierra de Jaén. The model was also the immediate precedent of the Spanish colonial establishment in Latin America.
Towards 1550, the population was fully constituted, but the community was subject to the jurisdiction of Jaén. The strength and incipient economic and social activity of Valdepeñas led to a request made to King Felipe II, by the Municipal Council, for the granting of its own jurisdiction as a town within the Kingdom of Castile in 1558. In 1629, the jurisdictional Lordship of Valdepeñas was sold to the Marquesado de los Trujillos, whose owner was Antonio Álvarez de Bohorques, Major Ensign of the City of Granada. He in turn sold it to Dalmau de Queralt, Count of Santa Coloma, to whom it passed in 1643. Throughout the seventeenth century, the Municipal Council sued over these sales, since it did not recognize the stately jurisdiction and the appointment of certain municipal positions by the “Lords of Valdepeñas”, a matter that was resolved in favour of the municipal council in 1785. In 1917, Valdepeñas was granted the title of city by King Alfonso XIII.