Last modified: 2020-02-22 by ivan sache
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The municipality of Torralba (114 inhabitants in 2018; 5,549 ha) is located 40 km north of Cuenca.
Torralba is located on the old Albalate road, traditionally considered
as the continuation of the Roman road that bordered the Cuenca mountains
and connected the local towns of Valeria and Ercávica with Levante and
with the big towns of Complutum (Alcalá de Henares) and Segontia (Sigüenza). According to Santiago Palomero, the region was also crossed
by a dense network of secondary roads that connected the local urban
nuclei, such as Opta (Huete), to the flourishing mines of lapis
specularis (transparent, crystallized gypsum once used to make windows).
In the Middle Ages, the road was renamed to Wool Road, a transhumance
road that connected southern Spain to Burgos and Medina del Campo, then the place of a famous fair. Located half-way on the road, the region of Torralba became a main center of sheep breeding and cloth making.
The castle of Torralba was erected on a hill overlooking the village and
watching the fertile plain of river Albalate. The toponym Torralba
refers to a white (Latin, alba) tower erected during the re-settlement
of the area by Alfonso VII. Torralba is listed on the Huete Charter,
issued in 1172; whether Torralba was reconquered that year, together
with Huete, or at an earlier date and incorporated to the possessions of
the Order of Saint James or the Council of Guadalajara, is not known.
On 29 June 1311, Fernando IV ordered the transfer of Torralba to the
Council of Cuenca, as the capital of a sexmo (administrative
division), subsequently transformed into a feudal domain. In 1370, Henry
II confirmed the privilege granted by Alfonso XI to García de Albornoz,
brother of the famous Cardinal Gil de Albornoz; Torralba was granted the
status of villa.
After the death of María de Albornoz, 7th lord of Torralba, in 1470,
the domain was inherited by the Carrillo de Albornoz lineage. Pedro
Carrillo de Albornoz plead allegiance to the Catholic Monarchs in 1475
and supported them in the Granada and Málaga Wars; he was named Captain
of the troops of the 2nd Duke of the Infantado in 1482 and General in 1490.
Bernardino de Cárdenas was killed during the battle of Lepanto in 1571,
leaving a debt of 50,000 ducats. He was succeeded by Luisa de Cárdenas
Carrillo de Albornoz; when she died in 1621, the Albornoz lineage was
ruined. So was Torralba, whose Council sued her heirs to get the 200,000
ducats required to revamp the town, 20,000 ducats included for the
restoration of the castle. The castle was reported "very old" but
"demolished, leaving only two thick walls and a machicolated gate house"
in 1828.
The "two walls" belonged to the keep of the castle, which is still
standing on the north-western end of the hilltop. More than 200 caves
were dug near the castle, connected by a networks of underground
galleries. The caves were dug after the ruination of the castle in the
17th century and used as cellars by the local winegrowers. In the
aftermath of the phylloxera crisis at the end of the 19th century, most
caves were abandoned and ruined
[R. Martínez-Porral, M. Molina Garel. 2011.Las bodegas subterráneas en el Castillo-Fortaleza de Torralba (Cuenca). Documentación arqueológica previo al proceso de consolidación. Oleana 26,89-106]
Torralba was the birth place of Henry of Aragón, Marquess of Villena (1384-1434). Aware of his limited political and military skills, Henry
turned into a prolific scholar. He translated Virgil's Aeneid and Dante
Alighieri's Divine Comedy in Spanish, and wrote several treaties,
including El Arte Cisoria, a gastronomy treaty completed on 5
September 1423 in Torralba.
Nicknamed The Astrologist or The Necromancer, although the authenticity
of his famous Treaty of Astrology has been questioned by modern
scholars, Henry was considered as threatening the dogma of the church;
after his death, his library was "weeded" by Bishop Lope de Barrientos,
probably upon request of King John II. The precursor of humanism became
a matter of legends propagated by subsequent writers; the tradition says
that he had been initiated to necromancy by the devil in the Cave of
Salamanca.
[Biografías y Vidas]
Ivan Sache, 4 July 2019
The flag of Torralba is prescribed by an Order issued on 13 December
1995 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on 29
December 1995 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 64, p.
6,965 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 2:3, composed of three vertical stripes in proportions 1/2, 1/4, and 1/4, at hoist, red with a white castle, the central, white, and at hoist, green.
The coat of arms of Torralba is prescribed by an Order issued on 13
December 1995 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on
29 December 1995 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 64,
p. 6,965 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Gules a tower argent, 2. Or an elm proper. The shield surmounted by a Spanish Royal crown.
The arms recall the aforementioned fortress of Torralba and the old elm that was for long a matter of pride for the village.
Elms were planted in several villages of Castile, especially after the
proclamation of the Constitution in 1808. They often replaced pillories,
whose suppression was ordered in 1818 by the Cortes de Cádiz, as symbols
of the abolished feudal system. In several places, the pillory's column
was demolished but the stone steps were kept as a support for the newly
planted elm.
The centenary elm of Torralba was indeed planted on the steps that
formerly supported the pillory, but much earlier than in other villages.
A written document kept by a late villager states that the tree was
planted on 5 February 1787 by Jerónimo Roldán. It has been used since
them as a meeting place for the Municipal Council, therefore its
nickname of Council's elm.
Like most European elms, the Torralba elm was attacked in the late 20th
century by graphiosis, a lethal disease caused by a parasitic fungus.
The emblematic tree eventually died in 2009. The dead tree, at risk to
fall down, was removed in 2016.
On 26 February 2017, the municipality planted a new elm, using a
recently bred resistant clone, on the restored steps. The dead elm will
be installed, as a wooden sculpture, close to the St. Anthony's chapel.
[Municipal website;
Voces de Cuenca, 16 December 2016;
ABC, 16 December 2016;
SER Catsilla-La Mancha, 30 January 2017;
Castilla-La Mancha Media, 21 December 2016]
Ivan Sache, 4 July 2019
