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 The 2nd Campaign of Excavations (of 6 months duration) was initiated on 10 July 2006. The archaeological works are carried out by a group of ungraduate and graduate students. The Laboratory of Urban Archaeology (LAC, Laboratorio de Arqueología de la Ciudad ) of the School of Arabic Studies (EEA, Escuela de Estudios Árabes) is executing the ambitious project which includes the excavation, restoration and musealization of the Alcázar Real, which ruins are situated in Guadalajara city centre, near to the Palacio del Infantado. The excavations are being carried out already for two years, under the charge of Dr Julio Navarro Palazón (CSIC) and according to the agreement signed between the Spanish High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) and the City Council of Guadalajara. During the 1st campaign works it was possible to identify a 13th-14th century mudéjar style palace, strictly connected with the Nasrid architectural models. It is distributed around a cross-platform courtyard with a central pond, dominated in the northern wall by a qubba or a throne room, next to the great oblong hall where the famous Cortes del Reino (Royal Assembly) should have taken place in 1390 and 1408.

In 1998 a number of pits and soundings (11 in total) of reduced dimensions, carried out by a team of archaeologists hired by the City Council of Guadalajara (the owner of the Alcázar), made possible to assess the stratigraphy of sediments and reveal the existence of a buried high quality monument.

In 2000 the same team carried out a second investigation by enlarging some of the existing pits and excavating the whole ground plant of the qubba.

On 9 February 2004, the City Council of Guadalajara signed an agreement with the School of Arabic Studies (part of the CSIC) on which basis the actual archaeological research is carried out.

During that preliminary campaign a general clearing works were executed and the monument was prepared for the surveying and elevations design by means of digital photogrammetry.

During the 1st Campaign of Excavations (August to December 2005) punctual interventions in strategic places were done, so the overall layout of the most important phase of the Alcázar (a late medieval palace) was revealed.

The current 2nd Campaign is based on the works carried out during the previous one, but its main aim is to reach the opening of the site to the public and its musealization in parallel with the progress made in the archaeological research.
 
Brief history of the Alcázar Real of Guadalajara
 
The ruins of the Alcázar Real of Guadalajara are situated in the city centre, near to the Palacio del Infantado and in front of the Church of Our Lady of the Remedies which belonged to the nowadays disappeared Hieronymite convent. It borders on Travesía de Madrid Street to the North, the military quarters of St. Charles to the South, the ravine of Alamín to the East and Madrid Street to the West.

The Alcázar is an outstanding building which dates back at least to the 13th century and, except some periods of neglect and pillage, was in use until the 20th century. During all these years it served as a fortress, royal palace, textile factory, military quarters and school for orphaned by the war, although the present remains dates from the late Middle Ages. Nowadays, it is considered a Heritage of Cultural Interest, according to the Additional Second Disposition of the Act 16/1985, of 25 June, on the Spanish Historical Heritage which confirms the dispositions of the Decree of 22 April 1949, which assured the maximum level of protection to the Spanish castles and defensive walls.

The only remains of the medieval fortress are the perimeter walls with their numerous modifications which evidence the long construction history. Their layout is of clearly rectangular tendency and measures 72 by 62 metres. Both the rubble masonry and mudwall structures were added by the Christians and, so far, taking in account the present soil level, it was impossible to identify any remains of the fortress dating from Al-Andalus times.

The remains preserved allow us to identify two different zones. The first one is more antique and its layout has a strong rectangular tendency. It has at least two construction phases where an original square centre can be distinguished (the antique fortress) together with its subsequent enlargement in the northern part. It measures 67 by 62 metres and covers an area of 4,154 m2. In the second zone only a few structures were preserved and all of them are made out of the concrete mudwall. Nonetheless, in spite of this skimpy information we cannot refrain from assuring that this area was wider and included the first one enlarged on the southern and western sides.

Despite the complete destruction of the antique fortress’ northern wall during the enlargement works carried out in the 14th century, there are many remains which make possible to reconstruct its original perimeter. It was a trapezium (almost square) laid out building with round corner towers (two of them, both situated in the southern part of the building, have survived until the present). Only one of its sides (the entrance of the building) has remained undestroyed, so it still offers the complete measures (62 m).

All the perimeter of the building was erected with ashlar masonry. The western wall is thicker and, as the only one, is covered by the original revetment. Its exceptional nature also lies in the existence of five windows which prove that this side of the building (although it was not opened to the city) was the real façade of the palace.

The southern gate bastion situated in the central part of the southern wall dates from the same period. It has a rectangular layout with measures of 13.50 by 8.40 metres. The walls of the bastion are 3.10m thick and are made out of rubble masonry with the corners reinforced with quoin stones.

The main entrance to the exterior area was the structure called Peso de la Harina (Flour Weight) with a standard layout of a direct access gate flanked by two identical turrets on the outer side.

The central tower of the northern façade houses a qubba (8.70 x 8.80m) rooted in the Al-Andalus architectural tradition, as it was determined during the first excavations. This particular element is the key to understanding the history of the monument as we consider that the enlargement of the primitive palace was not carried out to gain usable space, but to provide the building with an official space required by the protocol, essential in royal palaces of Castile during the 14th century. The qubba is preceded by an oblong laid out hall with alhanías on its both ends.

During the excavations carried out in 2000, a series of mudwall structures were discovered in the great central courtyard. They were identified by the previous archaeological team as a part of an Al-Andalus style entrance tower to the primitive fortified place from 11th century. Nonetheless, they are actually structures belonging to the cross-platform courtyard, while the supposed tower is the courtyard’s central pond.

The eastern wall facing the ravine of Alamín is the only one with a treatment proper to a façade. It has six openings and at least two of them received an important ornamental treatment. The area between the eastern load-bearing walls has rather a vaulted cryptoportic layout erected with the main purpose of compensating the natural drop of the ravine slope.

As it is known from written sources, in times of Islamic dominium there was a fortress in Guadalajara. Nevertheless, we are not able to assure that the present ruins of the Alcázar (which was raised by Christians) are situated exactly over the remains of the 11th century Al-Andalus fortress. If the both constructions were located at the same point, the history of this site would be related to the emiral period, when Guadalajara, known in Arabic sources as Madinat al-Faray or Wadi-l-Hiyara, was a part of the Marca Media.

A false etymology transmitted by Ibn Hazm led to the spreading of a belief that the official name, Madinat al-Faray, derived from the name of a Berber founder of the city called al-Faray. Nonetheless, according to Vallvé, al-Faray is actually a geographic term, very common in the Al-Andalus toponymy, translated as Beautiful View. It can be found, for example, in hisn al-Faray which derived into San Juan de Aznalfarache (town in the province of Seville) or the name of the castle Larache in the region of Murcia. Vallvé considers that Madinat al-Faray is an official name given to the city by ‘Abd al-Rahman III, while the Wadi-l-Hiyara is a popular name originated by the name of a nearby river.

In its origins, Guadalajara was a Berber settlement. During the 9th and 10th centuries, the territory situated between Medinaceli and Madrid, including Alcalá, Guadalajara and the area located between the valleys of Jarama and Henares rivers, was settled by the Banu Salim clan, belonging to the Masmuda tribe, governing in the name of the Omeya dynasty, which protected the region from the uprisings of the converted Muslims from Toledo and Berbers from Santaver. During the emiral period, the territory of Marca Media, due to its border function, was constantly exposed to the raids of Christian cavalries. This explains the refortification works carried out by Muhammad I who ordered, in 855, the foundation of the sites of Calatrava, Salamanca, Madrid, Peñafora, Olmos and Zorita. In spite of such efforts, few years later Al-Hakam I had to lead an expedition to fight against the military harassment of Guadalajara, which concluded with supplying the city with funds and workers for its reconstruction.

In addition to the continuous threat of Christian invasion, during the 9th century the region suffered the consequences of rivalries between different Muslim groups or clans. The History of Izrac of Guadalajara, apart from describing the conflict between the clans of the Banu Salim and the Banu Qasi, contains several extremely interesting descriptions of the Alcázar and the urban topography of Guadalajara during the emiral period.

Due to its strategic geographic situation, Guadalajara became a privileged base for the military campaigns in the caliphal period, according to the chronicles, such as the one which describes the Muez expedition carried out by ‘Abd al-Rahman III in 920.

During the campaign of Saragossa, ‘Abd al-Rahman III stayed in Guadalajara, ordered to reinforce its fortresses, towers and watchtowers, and assured the provision of supplies and stores. After suffering a defeat at Alhándega, he also took a rest in Guadalajara before the way back to Cordova.

According to the Description of Al-Andalus of al-Razi (10th century), the territory of Guadalajara bordered on the lands of Recópolis, Zorita and Toledo, and included the castles of Madrid and Sopetrán. Nonetheless, according to the writings of Yaqut, which dates from 13th century and are based on prior sources like the one of al-Razi, the castles of Madrid, Uctrox, la Peña, Sopetrán, Cautixa and Alcalá were under the dominium of Guadalajara. The traveller Ibn Hawqal, well known for his great interest in economic and strategic aspects, wrote after visiting the Iberian Peninsula in 948: Among the famous old cities there are Jaén, Toledo and Guadalajara. All of them date back to the most distant antiquity.

After the fall of the Caliphate of Cordova, Guadalajara was included in the taifa kingdom of Toledo ruled by the Banu di-l-Nun clan. It was an administrative centre of the district until the 1085 when the Castilian king Alfonso IV conquered the city and the rest of the Muslim territory of Toledo.

First descriptions of the 12th century Guadalajara were made by the Arabic geographer al-Idrîsî. He locates the city in the province of Sierras (located in the Central System), together with Talavera, Toledo, Madrid, Alfamín, Uclés and Huete, which bordered on the province of Cuevas which included the sites of Zorita, Hita and Calatrava.

The Alcázar passed into the hands of the Kingdom of Castile and maintained its main functions as a military centre and the residence of the delegated governor or the royal family. It suffered also some modifications in order to adapt it to the new circumstances, like the construction of the chapel of St. Ildefonso during the reign of Alfonso VIII. The Alcázar became a temporary residence for queen Berenguela or kings Fernando III, Sancho IV and Alfonso XI. It was also a permanent residence of infantas Berenguela, daughter of king Alfonso X, and Isabel, first-born daughter of king Sancho IV, both of them Ladies of Guadalajara.

During the reign of the Trastámara dynasty, the fortress was still in use as it was precisely there, where the Cortes del Reino (Royal Assembly) was held in 1390, with Enrique III in power, and 1408, during the regency of the future Juan II, who returned to Guadalajara in 1436 to celebrate the marriage of Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and confirm the good relationship he had with his father, Don Iñigo López de Mendoza.

Around the middle of the 15th century, important disagreements arose between Enrique IV and Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, the Alcázar's governor. As a result, on the orders of the king, the fortress was moated and surrounded by a barbican. In 1460 Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza was recalled from his post and in 1461 he ordered the erection of his family’s new main residence, the Palacio del Infantado, financed allegedly with the Alcázar’s funds. According to Francisco de Torres, the Mendozas’ wealth was attained due to the charge of the Alcazár's governor held by the family for years. The appearance of the new palace (strongly influenced by the Italian architecture) was probably the beginning of the Alcázar’s decadency with regard to the functions typical of a royal palace. It was surely at the new residence where the Marquis of Santillana received the daughter of Enrique IV before celebrating her marriage.

Since then, several rooms of the Alcázar have been used as a headquarters of municipal militia or have felt into the public domain. One of them was the tower called Peso de la Harina (Flour Weight) converted in 1498 by the Catholic Monarchs into a cereal granary.

The property of the Alcázar was successively conveyed by the monarchs to the Mendoza family.

Since then, we have very little historic information regarding the Alcázar of Guadalajara. It is known that in 1579 it was already in poor conditions, according to the description included in the Report sent by the city authorities to Felipe II.

Despite the bad state of the Alcázar, in 1670 it was converted into a prison (at least for noblemen), according to the Marquis of Castrofuerte’s letter to the Duke of Infantado written during his stay there.

During the 18th century, the medieval remains of the Alcázar almost disappeared due to the foundation of the Real Fábrica de Paños (Royal Textile Factory) in the nearby Palacio de los Montesclaros (current military archive). The antique fortress was then used as a stock, according to a document from 1719. The materials pillaged from the Alcázar were took at least from the stone revetment of the rubble masonry walls in southern and western side of the building, as it was proved by the archaeological excavations carried out in 2005.

In 1778, due to the need for enlarging the existing installations, a new Fábrica de Sarguetas de San Carlos (St. Charles Cloth Factory) was erected in the already devastated Alcázar (mainly because of the pillaging that took place during the construction of the first factory). The new building led to a great destruction of the Alcázar’s interior space. Inside the original exterior walls, a completely new building was erected, with a different layout based on a central courtyard surrounded by load-bearing walls supporting the vaults.

In 1797, due to the crisis of the absolute monarchy, the Real Fábrica de Paños (Royal Textile Factory) begun to fall into decline. The process speeded up during the Spanish War of Independence and finished with the closure of the factory in 1822.

In 1833 the abandoned building recovered its military function by housing the quarters of St. Charles and St. Isabel. I was remodelled in 1860 in accordance with the project prepared by the military engineers from the Academia Superior de Ingenieros (Higher Academy of Engineering). Afterwards, the Alcázar housed the headquarters of the 3rd Engineer Regiment and the Balloon Battalion. Due to the growth of the Colegio de Huérfanos de la Guerra (School for Orphaned by the War) located in the Palacio del Infantado, its masculine section was moved to the Quarters of St. Charles in 1897. In 1936 the Alcázar suffered from bombs and fire which have revealed the original medieval walls of the fortress, conditions in which it have remained until today.

Translation by Monika A. Jakacka