"The most noble, loyal and illustrious city of Alcalá de los Gazules"

The old town hall on the Plaza Alta

Visitors to Alcalá will not immediately recognise this little white village as a city, but in fact it has had city status since 1876. This year celebrates the 150th anniversary of its change in status from Villa to Ciudad, and the alcalaínos have been celebrating.

Some historical background

During the decade leading up to 1876 Spain had experienced considerable political turmoil. In 1868 there was a revolution against Queen Isabel II, who was deeply unpopular. Known as "La Gloriosa", the revolt was led by two former army generals, Juan Prim and Francisco Serrano. It started with a naval mutiny in Cádiz, and following her defeat at the Battle of Alcolea, near Cordoba, Isabel fled to France. Serrano became president of a new Provisional Government but this was doomed to failure as it was comprised of a mishmash of Liberals, Moderates and Republicans with nothing in common except a desire to get rid of Isabel. They did however manage to draft a new constitution (the sixth since 1812), guaranteeing religious freedom and democratic rights within a constitutional monarchy.

In the 1860s Alcalá found itself in crisis due to the loss of its common lands which had sustained the rural poor. They had also lost one of the few benefits of the feudal system – the paternalistic distribution of grain during times of poor harvest and famine - as much of the land belonging to the Church and the aristocracy had been sold off. The new landowners imposed restrictive conditions on agricultural labourers, fixing wages at the lowest possible level and leaving them unemployed for much of the year. Alcalá was therefore fertile ground for the new ideas of socialism and anarcho-syndicalism to take root among the agricultural labourers and small tenant farmers. The failure of central government to address working-class poverty came to a head with the Cantonal Rebellion of 1873, during which the Mayor of Cádiz Fermín Salvochea declared self-rule for the city and urged other towns in the province to do the same. He gave a speech in Alcalá and attracted many followers.

In 1870 Amadeus of Savoy was chosen as the new king, considered a neutral alternative to Isabel’s son Alfonso. On the day the young Italian prince arrived in Spain, the prime minister Prim was assassinated. During his short reign war broke out in Cuba, one of Spain’s last remaining colonies fighting for independence. At home the Carlists (supporters of Isabel's uncle Carlos, whom they believed should have been crowned instead of her) started another war. Republicans were inciting further rebellions, and even his own supporters were divided. Amadeus decided that ruling Spain at such a turbulent time was too much for him and he abdicated on 11 February 1873. This resulted in the First Republic - Spain was without a monarch for nearly two years before Isabel's son was crowned Alfonso XII in December 1874.

Alfonso XII - "The Peacemaker"

Yet another constitution came into force in 1876, which stipulated an elected parliament with universal male suffrage. To avoid further turmoil it determined that governments would alternate between the Conservatives and the Liberals, a solution which appeared to have worked well in Britain. This was known as the turno pacífico – peaceful rotation. Both parties supported the monarchy and would maintain the interests of the middle classes.

The key to its success was a strong chain of command from the king, who decided whose turn it was to govern, down through provincial governors to local enforcers known as caciques, who would ensure that electors voted for the right party. It also gave the State more control over local government, enabling the monarch to hire and fire city mayors and therefore suppress any potential dissent. (Could this be one of the reasons why towns like Alcalá were granted city status? At least one local historian thinks so ...)

The award of city status to Alcalá

Meanwhile in Alcalá the middle classes were flourishing. It had factories producing corks for wine bottles, pottery, lime and plaster, bricks and starch. There were sixteen flour mills and three producing olive oil, vineyards, plentiful pastures for livestock, woodland for the production of charcoal and quarries for slate and jet. The population was growing rapidly as its increasing prosperity attracted people from less favoured localities, from around 6,400 in 1851 to 9,000 in 1876.

The town saw many changes during the 1870s, including piped water for those who could afford it, a post office, and a telegraph station located on the ground floor of the Misericordia Hospital in the Plaza Alta, which had itself been renovated. Repairs were carried out to the public water supplies and the abattoir. A planned rail link with Jerez and Gibraltar unfortunately never materialised, but the construction of a road to Cádiz via Medina allowed passengers to travel by stagecoach to the new railway station in San Fernando.

The Calle Real and the Alameda were by now the focal point of the town, and the fine three-storey houses along the main street are testament to its prosperity. Francisco Arroyo opened a “café cantante” (a bar with live music, mainly flamenco) on the Alameda, and Pedro Montes de Oca, a local businessman who was responsible for the water project, built himself a grand house on the Calle Real with a café for the public on the ground floor and a “casino” (social club) for the well-to-do on the mezzanine.

House on the Calle Real

On 1 January 1875 the mayor of Alcalá, Manuel María Espinosa, received news that Spain had a new king, and immediately convened a council meeting to swear allegiance to Alfonso XII. This basically meant that the town’s Republicans had to stop agitating and accept the new regime. It was decided to celebrate by decorating and illuminating the town’s balconies, ringing the church bells and staging a concert by the local brass band, all at public expense. The council also authorised the purchase of a portrait of the King to preside over the council chamber.

Espinosa, who had initiated many of the improvements described above, petitioned the new king to grant city status to the Villa of Alcalá de los Gazules. His petition was based on the fact that Alcalá was seen as a front-runner for modernisation in the province and an inspiration to other municipalities, as described in a local newspaper:

We congratulate ourselves on the completion of improvements so necessary for Alcalá and we congratulate at the same time such an educated population, the individuals of the municipal corporation and its worthy representative [Espinosa] on whose initiative these improvements were undertaken. This patriotic conduct serves as an example to the other municipal corporations. If all or most of them displayed the zeal and activity of Alcalá de los Gazules, the face of Spain would change completely and in the not too distant future; the people would profess great respect and affection for their authorities, and order would go hand in hand with prosperity and well-being.

His petition was successful, and on 24 June 1876 the Royal Decree was issued:

"In consideration of the importance that the town of Alcalá de los Gazules has achieved due to the increase in population and the development of its industry and commerce, I hereby grant it the title of City to which it is entitled."

Alcalá was not the only town to become a city at that time. It was one of seven, of which three were in Cádiz province, the others being Chiclana de la Frontera and Vejer de la Frontera. Given that the province was notorious as a hotbed of rebellion, this adds weight to the theory that there was a political motive behind the move.

For more information on Spain and Alcalá during this period take a look at my book Alcalá de los Gazules in the 19th Century, available in paperback and Kindle format worldwide.

The 150th Anniversary

Although there is no record in the municipal archive of any celebrations to mark the change in status, the people of Alcalá certainly made up for it in 2026, dressing up in period costume and recreating traditional crafts and customs. A picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll leave you with some of the best, taken by local photographers Adrián Jiménez, Chemary Gómez Reyes and Pedro Martín Sánchez. Thanks also to Antonio Trujillo for organizing the celebrations, and Ismael Almagro for a seemingly limitless source of historical information on his blog Historia de Alcalá de los Gazules.