History of Villardompardo
by Saskia Mier
Before its conquest by Fernando III ‘El Santo’ in 1245, the town was a humble Arab farmhouse, sparsely populated and poorly defended, the inhabitants of which were more concerned with agriculture than battle. The King decided to cede it to one of his captains, Don Aznar Pardo, from whose name ‘Villardompardo’ is derived, with the task of repopulating it and organising an adequate defensive system that would turn it into a protective enclave against the fortresses of strong Arab populations such as Arjona.
However, the instability of the War between Arabs and Christians resulted in a succession of destruction and repopulation for the town until finally, in 1371, Enrique IIturned it into a manor entrusted to Don Pedro Ruíz de Torres. A few years later, Escañuela and Villargordo would be under his protection. In 1461, the wedding between the Countess of Castile, Lady of Villardompardo and the Constable Iranzo, Warden of Jaén, increased the prestige of his castle which was further boosted by the preponderant role it had to fulfill in the Spanish Civil War in which Don Lucas de Iranzo was so committed.
The town saw its privileges progressively increase under Enrique IV, the Catholic Monarchs and Felipe II who, in 1558, turned the manor into a county and DonFernando de Torres y Portugal into the first Count of Villardompardo. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the town was the patrimony of the Marquis of Bégica-Counts of Villardompardo until the disappearance of the señoríos (manors).