Pastrana, Spain

Pastrana is a municipality in the province of Guadalajara, Castilla–La Mancha, Spain. As of 1 January 2022, it had a registered population of 850. The municipality spans across a total area of 95.70 km².

Geography

Belonging to the Alcarria natural region, the town is located at the confluence of two small water streams close to the Template:Ill,Template:Sfn a small Tagus tributary.

History

There is no mention to Pastrana in early medieval records.Template:Sfn The hamlet was presumably founded and settled by the Order of Calatrava, who ruled in the Alcarria region from their stronghold in Zorita after the late 12th century.Template:Sfn Pastrana was granted the privilege of ('township') in 1369, thereby asserting autonomy from Zorita.Template:Sfn Parallel to the decline of Zorita, the council of Pastrana consolidated during the 15th century, thriving as a market place.Template:Sfn

The town was one of the main centers of the mystic alumbrados in the Kingdom of Toledo in the early 16th century.Template:Sfn

A substantial number of Moriscos was deported from the Kingdom of Granada to Pastrana upon the aftermath of the Alpujarras revolt, with the town thereby becoming a hotspot of Morisco population in the Crown of Castile in the late-16th and early-17th centuries.Template:Sfn They contributed to the thriving local silk industry.Template:Sfn

Upon the expulsion of the Moriscos in the early 17th century, their place in the local economy was occupied by the Portuguese, so the beginning of the Castilian crisis of the 17th century was postponed in the town to the last years of the century.Template:Sfn

18th- and 19th-century Pastrana underwent a period of stagnancy and decline, enduring a process of ramping ruralization.Template:Sfn

See also

• List of municipalities in Guadalajara
• Pastrana tapestries
• Ducal Palace of Pastrana