Brihuega

Brihuega began as a Celtiberian settlement called Brioca. By the eleventh century it had become significant enough that the Moorish king Al-Mamún of Toledo used it to shelter his exiled friend Alfonso, King of León, after Alfonso's defeat in battle in 1072. The town's position made it strategically important during the Christian campaigns to take Toledo, which succeeded in 1085. That same year Alfonso VI seized the Kingdom of Castile and took control of the Tajuña valley. In 1086 he granted Brihuega to the Archbishop of Toledo, who built the first fortress above the valley. The town's walls were completed by another Archbishop of Toledo, Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, who granted Brihuega its municipal charter in 1242.

The town's greatest period of prosperity came in the mid-eighteenth century. In December 1710, during the War of the Spanish Succession, forces loyal to Philip V stormed Brihuega and forced the British troops of General James Stanhope to surrender. Later, a Royal Cloth Factory was established — one of the most prestigious industrial sites in Spain — though it closed in 1835. In March 1937, the streets and surrounding land saw the Battle of Guadalajara, a significant Republican victory over rebel forces and their Italian allies. The medieval charter document that had defined the town's legal identity disappeared during the Civil War and only resurfaced in 2022, when it was returned to the mayor.

Brihuega's historic centre was designated a protected historic-artistic site in 1973. The town has three medieval churches: San Felipe, San Miguel, and Santa María de la Peña, along with surviving remains of a fourth, San Simón. Sections of the old town wall still stand, including two original gateways — the Arco de Cozagón and the Puerta de la Cadena.

To the south stands the castle of Brihuega, whose interior was used for centuries as a cemetery. Nearby are the bullring, designed by architect Ambrosio Arroyo, and the Convento de San José, now used as an exhibition space. The Royal Cloth Factory, dating from the eighteenth century, is another notable building in the town. On the outskirts, some remains of the Palacio de Ibarra survive.

At the town entrance stands a granite pillory column — tall, cylindrical, with a granite base — that signalled Brihuega's status as a villa with its own jurisdiction. It is a physical marker of the 1242 charter, which notably granted equal legal treatment to Christian, Jewish, and Muslim residents alike.