Prehistory

The municipal area houses numerous prehistoric remains, platforms and watchtowers located in the hills, compatible with settlers of the Bronze Age called Culture of the Motillas, dated between the 10th and 13th centuries BC. Vasco Merlo in his History of Valdepeñas ^[3] described these structures erroneously as Celtiberian settlements, despite their being much older than that and possibly belonging to the Culture of Argar.

Ancient history

Eight kilometres to the south of the city is located the Iberian city of "Cerro de las Cabezas" (Hill of the Heads), a great oppidum or town fortified with a true castle in the summit of the hill that it occupies, inhabited between the 7th and 2nd centuries BC. It is an important archaeological deposit of the Oretana Culture and shows signs of the first vestige of the grapevine in this region.

In the 16th century and later artefacts such as graves, coins and other ancient Roman items, from a Roman villa of the 1st century BC, that still existed in the Visigothic period.

Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, the area was part of the Moorish taifa of Toledo. The Arab inscriptions and a sundial on the walls of the Church of the Assumption date from this period. According to oral tradition, the Caliphate gave permission to the inhabitants to cultivate vineyards and make wine, which is prohibited by the Quran. The Moors were expelled from Valdepenas at the end of the 15th century.

By order of Queen Berenguela of Castile and after the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, settlers of several villages (Aberturas, Corral Rubio de Jabalón, Santa María de las Flores and Castilnuevo) moved to the area around the present Church of the Assumption, which had been an old castle. From that moment Valdepeñas belonged to the military Order of Calatrava and the first text it is mentioned in is the record of The Order of Calatrava in 1243. The new settlers came from the Kingdoms of Castile, León (Galicia mainly) and Aragón. The Order demanded conditions of establishment and right of citizenship, the continued care of the grapevine.

In medieval times the Jewish community became important and this is reflected in the existence of at least two synagogues, one of which was eventually converted into the hermitage of Veracruz and the old building where the Parish of The Christ was located, behind its present location.

Early modern age

The Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella of Castille, lodged in Valdepeñas on 18 February 1488 at the mother of Alfonso de Merlo's house, and left to the care of the widow the infants during part of the conquest of Granada. The same Alfonso de Merlo was named Captain and went with more than two hundred men to the Conquest of Granada, funding the campaign with his own money. The Catholic Monarchs recognized and granted him the title of Knight. Some of his descendants moved to the New World and took important positions in Peru and Chile.^[4]

Diverse religious and civil buildings from the 16th century such as the Trinitarians Covent can be found in the town.

King Ferdinand the Catholic wanted to control the power of Military Orders, and Pope Adrian VI granted orders to the Kingdom of Castile, passing to Royal Jurisdiction an important patrimony: two cities, two hundred villas (Valdepeñas among them) and a hundred of villages, distributed in an ample territory.

King Philip II sold the villa on 22 April 1575 to D. Alvaro de Bazán first Marquess of Santa Cruz, who became Lord of Valdepeñas. Valdepeñas would happen to be a "Señorío", secreting itself of the Order of Calatrava.

The successive marquesses promoted the wines of Valdepeñas in the Spanish Court of the Austrian and its fame consequently extended all over the country. Valdepeñas' "clarete" became known as "aloque" at this time.

Contemporary history

Valdepeñas led a quiet existence until 6 June 1808, when Napoleon's occupation of Spain became an issue after the events of 2 May in Madrid of that year. Napoleon's troops went to Andalusia as reinforcements and attempted to cross the villa; the entire population (men, women and also some of the neighbouring villas) took up arms to prevent the passage of the troops. The result was a high number of lives lost and a major fire. Highlighted in the fight was a woman, Juana Galán "La Galana". The outcome was that the troops had to retreat from the province of La Mancha, a delay which led, at least in part, to the Spanish victory at the Battle of Bailen. King Fernando VII would give the villa the Title of "Very Heroic". After these events, some inhabitants from Valdepeñas took part of the guerrilla fighting against the Napoleonic troops in the "Guerra de la Independencia", Francisco Abad, "Chaleco", became a famous guerrillero.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the appearance of Phylloxera led to the introduction of the resistant American vine but did not change the economy much. The Spanish Civil War broke this development, and the city's population decreased. From the 1940s to the 1970s the only economical activities were agriculture and the traditional family industry of wine, a common phenomenon in central Spain in those times. In the 1980s, Valdepeñas saw a modernization of the wine sector, including new kinds of grapes, and the introduction of techniques in wine production.