An abundance of prehistoric remains testify that Condado de Treviño has been inhabited since ancient times. In pre-
Roman times, the
Varduls,
Caristios and
Autrigones all lived here at one time or another, attesting to the region's strategic importance. In the hamlet of
Laño one can still see artificial caves that were inhabited by hermits more than 1500 years ago. The
Las Gobas caves preserve inscriptions and drawings of animals. Treviño, the capital of Condado de Treviño was founded some time between 1151 and 1161 by
Navarrese king
Sancho VI ("Sancho El Sabio", "Sancho the Wise"). In 1200 it was conquered by
Alfonso VIII of
Castile. As a crossroads in the Middle Ages, the city of Treviño had an important
Jewish quarter. Another early village was
Sáseta on the
Camino del Vino y el Pescado, the "road of wine and fish" that connected the
Ebro valley to the
Cantabrian coast. On 8 April 1366,
Henry II of Castile ceded to
Pedro Manrique I de Lara, for services rendered, a seigneury consisting of
Treviño de Uda and its outlying villages. In 1453 it became the
Condado de Treviño as
Gómez Manrique, the great-grandson of Pedro Manrique was given the title of
Count. The
Catholic Monarchs would later (in 1483) grant the title of
Duke of Nájera to Gómez Manrique's son Pedro Manrique de Lara, a title that continues in the family down to the present day. In the 16th century these Counts of Treviño, Dukes de Nájera, would build a palace at Treviño, which is now the
ayuntamiento (town hall) of the municipality. Under the 1785 territorial disposition by the
Count of Floridablanca, the Condado de Treviño formed part of the
partido de Miranda de Ebro; it was divided into the town of Treviño and four
cuadrillas: the
Cuadrilla de Abajo, the
Cuadrilla de río Somoayuda, Cuadrilla de
Val de Lauri and the Cuadrilla de
Val de Tobera. ==The enclave==