EbreOci. Terres de l'Ebre, Ebro Delta

The privileged location of this place, he thought it might have been an Iberian settlement. The abundance of this type of settlement along the river, and the strategic location of Miravet, from a defensive point of view and economical support this assumption, although not currently carried out in strong performances archaeological remains, it is also possible Roman, according to evidence that can be observed in certain parts of its foundations and remains of walls in opus espicatum. But the fact is that we know that during the Arab domination, the integrated defense structure that settled along the Ebro, which was formed with Si one of the last bastions of power in Islamic lands Principality. Surely it is in this period when a group of urban structure focused on the strength of the name "Murabit", which is native to the current name Miravet.

In 1153 it was conquered by Ramon Berenguer IV, five years after Tortosa, and that same year, according to a document dated August 24, Count donated the Castle Miravet with all terms and belongings in the Knights Templar, specifically the master Pedro Rovira Provence and Hispania. This donation, along with other minor fortresses, the Templars became almost the sole masters of the whole area between the Ebro and the Algars.

The resettlement site proceeded a few years later, without excluding the Moors, living in village communities Moorish, Jewish and Christian until the expulsion, the seventeenth century. Hearth in 1497, after the expulsion of the Jews, there was a 97% population Moorish Miravet.

The Templars converted part of the fortified castle-monastery, following the Cistercian Romanesque style, which decades later became the headquarters of the Order of the Crown of Aragon, with the file and treasure province. From Miravet planned conquest of Mallorca and Valencia were the best hosts out of the kingdom, as recorded documents of the time. On 13 December 1307, James II ordered the arrest of the Templars in his kingdom, according to the wishes of Pope Clement V and Philip IV, King of France. For twelve months, Templar Castle Miravet refugees suffered the longest siege knew that the Order, becoming the last bastion of the Crown, led by Fray Fray Ramon Berenguer Sagu脿rdia and St. Just. On 12 December 1308 there is the peaceful surrender, thus ending a year of resistance. In 1312, the Order of the Militia of the Temple of Solomon, "the Poor Knights of Christ" is extinguished, thus closing a chapter in the history of the West.

In 1317, with the fall of the Temple, the castle and many possessions, passed into the hands of the Order of the Hospital following the Castellani Amposta. The Hospitallers ordered the compilation of the Book of Customs Miravet (1319), in Latin and Catalan version, which granted some autonomy to the peoples of the Fortress. Miravet name the mayor continued, almost to the extinction of the Order in 1835, but tax increases and pests and plagues that occurred in subsequent decades led to a remarkable low demographic and economic decline that was lose the prominence that lived during the rule Templar, until there is the expulsion of the Moors in 1610.

However, the castle Miravet remains relevant, especially during the successive wars that took place in the Principality, and in particular the 1640, which led to a considerable increase in population, largely the same population fled years back to Valencia and Aragon. The recovery of the craft industry, especially potters trades and selling their products across the upstream Aragon, following the tradition of previous centuries, gave a new aspect to the population that is not affected until the war succession of Philip V in 1714, and desmantellaci贸 and order demolition of Charles III in 1750, but served during the Carlist wars in the nineteenth century. After the confiscation of Mendizabal, the Carlists partly rebuilt and occupied it until 1875, when the General Martinez Campos bombarded and conquered.

The town and the castle returned to suffer the consequences of war in the Spanish Civil War of 1936, especially during the 38 year period that decided the Battle of the Ebro.

Text taken from the website http://www.miravet.cat