Alcañices

Archaeological evidence near Alcañices points to Roman settlement, possibly a Roman fortified enclosure on the hill that would later become the Templar castle. A Roman road, now called the Camino Morisco, passed through the comarca of Aliste, with connections to routes heading north. The Legio VII Gemina established a camp nearby at Brandilanes, where a local woman named Lavara reportedly fought against them from the high ground still known as the Alto del Castro.

Although the town's name is Arabic in origin, Moorish presence in Alcañices lasted less than half a century, cut short when Alfonso I of Asturias extended his territory to the Duero. During the Visigoth period, Aliste was administered as a free territory until 586, when King Leovigildo assigned the Pagus Alistii to the Archbishop of Braga. Alcañices subsequently fell under the bishopric of Astorga, a dependency of the archbishopric of Santiago, until 1888, when it passed to the diocese of Zamora.

By 1210, Alcañices was already a fortified settlement headed by a castle belonging to the Templar order, granted by Alfonso IX of León. Alfonso X the Wise confirmed this privilege in 1255. The walled enclosure the Templars built is said to follow the same layout as the Templar fortress at Cornatel. Tradition holds that Saint Francis of Assisi passed through in 1214 on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

A Jewish quarter existed outside the walls, to the southwest, until the expulsion of 1492. The area is still known locally as Las Tenerías, after the leather-tanning work carried out there. A Jewish cemetery stood on the right bank of the river, near the mouth of the Chapardiel, below a rock still called Peña de los Judíos.

The town carries the historic titles of Noble, Illustrious and Historic Villa. Five kings visited it, including Alfonso IX of León in 1204, Fernando IV of Castile and Dionísio I of Portugal in 1297 — the occasion of the Treaty of Alcañices — and Juan Carlos I in 1997. The President of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio, also visited in 1997 and was made an honorary son of the town in 2006.

The most striking remnants of Alcañices's past are the Templar walls and castle. Four towers from the medieval walled enclosure survive: the Torre del Reloj, the Torre del Tío Cañona, the Torre de la Villa, and the Torre del Trincherón. The castle itself has been dated to the medieval period and, along with the walls, is protected under Spain's 1985 Historical Heritage Law and the 1949 heritage decree.

The palace of the Marquesses of Alcañices also stands in the town. Two churches survive: one is a Renaissance-period building attached to a former Franciscan convent, now used as a cultural centre; the other is the parish church, notable for its doorway. An old parish cemetery, opened in 1787 following a royal decree by Carlos III, remained in use until the municipal cemetery opened in 1903.

Beyond the town, the Castro del Tesoro is an Iron Age hillfort site. Several isolated Roman-era stelae have been found in the area. There is also a Chalcolithic habitat site at Teso Las Viñas, two early modern hermitages, and the Fuente del Cañico de Abajo, a spring of early modern date.