The town stands at a high elevation about from the right bank of the
Guadalquivir in the
Loma de Úbeda. Under
the Romans, the town was known as 'Beatia'. Following its conquest by the
Visigoths, Beatia was the seat of a
bishopric of Baeza (viz.). From the beginning of the seventh century it was conquered by several Arab and berber states during the
Al-Andalus period, being named Bayyasa. The Christian diocese was reestablished in 1127 or 1147 following the town's conquest by
Alfonso VII of
Castile, but it was then again reconquered by the Almohads. After the
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa,
Ferdinand III of
Castile in 1227 retook the city and gave it the
Fuero de Cuenca, a legislative body, to facilitate the new Castilian order and institutions. The takeover of the city as Ibn Himyari recounts in
Rawdul Mu'taar was not a simple conquest but a case of treachery and ignominy for the Muslims. Al Bayyasi, the local ruler had gifted the citadel of Baeza as a pawn for his promise to later hand Ferdinand III the forts of Capilla,
Banos de La Encina and Salvatierra. When he himself was assassinated by the Cordobans for his alliance with the Christians, the governor of Jaén arrived in Baeza on the request of its inhabitants and killed any Christian troops in the city but those in the citadel, due to the fortifications, refused to surrender. Fearing retaliation from Castile's troops, the governor then left, leaving a choice for the Baezans to either stay or leave. Hence the Muslim population was forced to leave Baeza once and for all, after a garrison to protect them against Ferdinand III's expansionist ambitions was now non-existent. For the rest of the middle ages, Baeza remained together with
Jaén,
Úbeda and
Andújar among the dominant cities in the
Kingdom of Jaén, although the 1248 conquest of Jaén tended to favour the fortunes of that city, that enjoyed a strategic location vis-à-vis the
Kingdom of Granada. The most important crops were those of cereal, complemented by the likes of
grapevines,
olive, and
almond. Olive crops, far from the current-day olive
monoculture, suffered from the mid-fifteenth century onward due to the cultivation of
sumac. The diocese of Baeza was merged with
Jaén in 1248 or 1249, but was later nominally restored as a
titular see of the
Roman Catholic Church. With it, a University was founded as well, which shaped the cultural personality of the city over the following centuries. Also, two powerful families, Benavides and Carvajales, competed for power and determined the historical evolution of the city, which required the intervention of
Isabel I of Castile at the end of the fifteenth century. By the early 16th century, the jurisdiction of Baeza extended beyond the city proper to the hamlets of
Begíjar,
Lupión,
Ibros,
Rus, Vílchez,
Bailén,
Baños,
Linares and Castro. The sixteenth century was the golden era of Baeza (and nearby
Úbeda). It grew rich from several industries, notably
textiles, and the noble families, which were well connected with the Spanish Imperial state. They hired major architects of the era (including
Andrés de Vandelvira) to design the
present cathedral, churches, public buildings, and private palaces in the then-fashionable Italian style. The town's university building dates to 1533. The city declined in importance in the seventeenth century, with the only remaining industry consisting of local production of
grain and
olive oil. As few newer structures were built during this period, this had the effect of preserving the town's Renaissance legacy. The university closed for a time before being reopened by the nineteenth century as a seminary. In the 1870s, the population was around 11,000; over the next few decades, the
Linares–
Almeria railway was constructed nearby and town's population grew to 14,000 by 1900. == Landmarks ==