Barony of Polop - History

History

Its origins date back to the conquest of Hispania by the Moors who occupied the Iberian Peninsula in the 10th century, when a fortress was built and named Polop. In the 11th century, as it is related in the Historia Roderici ("History of Rodrigo"), El Cid Campeador occupied Polop Castle in 1089–1090 before conquering the city of Valencia in 1094. Following his conquest of the Kingdom of Valencia, King James I of Aragon offered Polop Castle to the Muslim leader Mohammad Abu Abdallah Ben Hudzail al Sahuir until 1258 when the latter was defeated during a failed attempt against the life of the monarch.

In the 13th century, Polop became a feudal barony under the Charter of Sobrarbe. In 1268 the barony was granted by King James I to his distant cousin, Berenguela Alfonso, who had become his concubine after his wife, Teresa Gil de Vidaure, allegedly developed leprosy, but returned to the Crown upon her death without issue. In 1271 the King revived it for the knight Don Beltran de Bellpuig and, upon his death without issue, for Admiral Don Bernat de Sarrià.

During most of the 14th century the infantes of Aragon administered the lordship and were styled as Barons of Polop. In those years, Polop Castle continued being a strategic place to prevent the invasion of the large Muslim population.

Since the 15th century until the present days, the lordship has passed by personal descent through several generations of the Fajardo de Mendoza family and its heirs. It was on 17 December 1430 when the Infante John II of Aragon, King of Navarre through his marriage to Queen Blanche I of Navarre, granted it to his Lord-in-Waiting and Chamberlain Don Rodrigo Díaz de Mendoza and his heirs. Such grant was confirmed by his brother King Alfonso V of Aragon by Royal Charter of 1437. In 1727 King Philip V of Spain issued a Royal Charter allowing baronies in the Crown of Aragon to become titles of nobility in their own right. For instance, the Barony of la Pobadilla and the Barony of Bellpuig made use of such privilege in 1728 and 1923 respectively.

Following the abolition of the feudal system in the 19th century, Polop, like other Spanish feudal baronies and lordships, became obsolete but never extinct. In particular, the Abolition of Feudal Tenure (Spain) Act 1820 (Ley de Desvinculaciones de 1820) simply took away the legal and juridical rights pertaining to these lordships but preserved the property rights attached to them and the dignity of their honours including the right to use the feudal title and the coat of arms. In the present days, despite having no political power as such, lordships, like titles of nobility, simply remain rights held as prerogative of honour and exercised to the exclusion and detriment of others.