Badajoz - History

History

Owing to its position, the city enjoys a considerable transit trade with Portugal; its other industries include the manufacture of linen, woollen and leather goods, and of pottery.

It is not mentioned by any Roman historian, although Roman villas have been discovered in the area, as well as of constructions from the Visigothic age. It was founded (or founded again, if the theories that it was already existing and was even the seat of a Christian bishopric are true) by the Muslim nobleman Ibn Marwan around 875, after he had been expelled from Mérida. Under Ibn Marwan, the city was the seat of an effectively autonomous rebel state which was quenched only in the 10th century. After 1022, it became the capital of a small Muslim kingdom, the Taifa of Badajoz; at the time Badajoz had some 25,000 inhabitants. It was captured by Alfonso IX of León in 1230. It was known as Batlabus and Batalyos during Muslim rule.

As a frontier fortress, it underwent many sieges. It was beleaguered by the Portuguese in 1660, and in 1705 by the Allies in the War of the Spanish Succession. During the Peninsular War, Badajoz was unsuccessfully attacked by the French in 1808 and 1809; but on March 10, 1811, the Spanish commander, José Imaz, was bribed into surrendering to a French force under Marshal Soult. A British and Portuguese army, commanded by Marshal Beresford, endeavoured to retake it and on May 16, 1811 defeated a relieving force at Albuera. The siege was abandoned in June, however.