Al-Andalus and Castile
Research in progress1456: the year Istibuna stopped being al-Andalus
In 1456, Enrique IV of Castile finally took the town. There was no battle: according to the chronicles, two nobles sent to quell a border incident set fire to the area, and Estepona's Muslim residents abandoned it on their own. The king settled into an empty town and, a year later, granted it to one of the most powerful men in his kingdom, Juan Pacheco, Marquis of Villena.
Año de la ocupación
1456
Rey
Enrique IV de Castilla
Cómo se tomó la villa
Sin batalla: un incendio provocado hizo que los musulmanes la abandonaran (crónicas de la época)
Nobles enviados a reprimir el incidente
Gonzalo de Saavedra y Fernando de Fonseca (Diego de Valera) / Juan Fernández Galindo y Gonzalo de Sayavedra (Galíndez de Carvajal) — las crónicas no coinciden
Villa entregada a
Don Juan Pacheco, Marqués de Villena, a petición propia (1457)
Impago de impuestos como detonante
Desmentido por las crónicas: no hay ninguna mención a tributos como causa
Tras la conquista
Villa destruida; repoblada en mayo de 1502 con 30 vecinos (FORTMED 2020)
Antes de 1456
Una de los 5 lugares de la tierra de Marbella que quedaron en pie tras las despoblaciones de la guerra de conquista, junto a Ojén, Istán, Daidín y Benahavís (Mármol Carvajal, 1600)
Estudios académicos
A. Romero Martínez (UGR, 1993-94) / FORTMED 2020 (Navarro Luengo, Suárez Bedmar, Martín Parrado)
In 1456, as part of the final frontier of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, King Enrique IV of Castile carried out the definitive occupation of Istibuna — the Andalusi city beneath today's old town of Estepona — after "various vicissitudes" through the late medieval period. According to the chronicles of the time, studied by historian Adelina Romero Martínez (University of Granada), it was not a military assault: a border incident between Muslims and Christians led the king to send two nobles to quell it; they set fire to the area and, seeing the smoke, the town's Muslim residents abandoned it with their belongings. The king settled into the empty town days later. A year on, in 1457, he formalised the grant of the town to don Juan Pacheco, Marquis of Villena — who had requested it — through a royal charter (privilegio rodado) preserved in the municipal records of Jerez de la Frontera. The popular tourist story that blames unpaid taxes for the conquest has no support in any academic source: the chronicles themselves contradict it. Part of the wider story does have independent academic support: the town was destroyed after the conquest so it could not be retaken by the Muslims, and it was not resettled until May 1502, with 30 households — documented by Navarro Luengo, Suárez Bedmar and Martín Parrado's study of the Castillo de San Luis (FORTMED 2020).
Full article
The complete article with all sources and detail is available in Spanish.
Full translation into English is planned for a future phase.