Agoncillo, La Rioja

Agoncillo (Spanish pronunciation: [aɣonˈθiʎo]) is a town and municipality in La Rioja province in northern Spain.

Club Deportivo Agoncillo is a football team based in Agoncillo.

It is believed that the name comes from an ancient Celtic settlement named Egon whose ruins lie near the town. The area was also populated in Ancient Roman times.^[2] Agoncillo is strategically located near the Ebro River, which historically marked the boundary between Castile and Navarre. It sits close to where the Jubera and Leza rivers converge, with the Leza River flowing into the Ebro nearby. This positioning allowed the town of Agoncillo to control the passage of these rivers and oversee the important road running through the area. The current town is believed to occupy the site of the ancient and now ruined settlement of Egón, from which it derives its modern diminutive name.^[3]

The theory of its Roman origins is further supported by the presence of a documented road that passed nearby, an important route during the Middle Ages. Historically, Agoncillo has appeared under various names, including Agonciello, Egonciello, Agusiello, and Sagonciello.^[3]

On January 26, 1056, King of Navarre sold Agoncillo (then called Sagonciello) and Villanueva to Sancho Fortunionis and Blasquita. They later transferred the town to the Monastery of San Juan de la Peña in exchange for a horse and ten oxen. In 1066, Queen Estefanía bequeathed Agoncillo to her son Ramón, along with other nearby properties.^[3]

Following the murder of the Navarrese king in 1076, the region came under Castilian control, and King Alfonso VI placed it under García Ordóñez’s governance.^[3] By 1168, García Bermúdez held Agoncillo for the Navarrese king, but Alfonso VIII later recaptured it. In the sentence given by Henry I of England, the right bank of the Ebro was assigned to Castile, making Agoncillo a crucial frontier defense.^[3]

The lordship of Agoncillo was given to Bermudo de Azagra, the lord of Agoncillo, by the grace of Emperor Alfonso VII. His line ends with his third granddaughter, Doña Teresa Fernández de Villalobos, married to Fernando Alvarez de Lara, lord of Valdenebro.^[4] In 1182, Alfonso VIII expelled the Navarrese from Agoncillo and Arrúbal, indicating a repopulation effort to strengthen the frontier.

In approximately 1211, a captain of the Medrano family held the lordship of the castle and town of Agoncillo. Medrano's son was suffering from a mysterious and untreatable ailment. In 1211, Francis of Assisi roamed those very paths of Agoncillo.^[5] In a saintly manner, he visited Medrano's castle of Aguas Mansas in Agoncillo, placed his mystical hands upon the ailing Medrano boy, and miraculously healed him, securing the Medrano lineage in the lordship of Agoncillo. This act ensured the continued prominence of the Medrano family in Agoncillo, which remains renowned for its reverence toward the humble saint of Assisi.^[6] The Medrano family generously donated some land, including a tower, situated close to the Ebro River within the city of Logroño as a gift to Saint Francis, establishing the first Spanish convent of his Order there.^[7] Unfortunately, despite its centuries-long legacy of glory and sanctity, the convent met its demise in the 19th century due to the advent of liberalism and its accompanying laws. Today, the remnants of its walls still remain.^[6][7]

The noble Don Pedro Gómez de Medrano, Lord of Agoncillo (b. 1285), married Doña Teresa de Salazar (b. 1288), the daughter of Garci III López de Salazar, lord of Estremiana and Cidamón in La Rioja, and Navarra de Zamudio. Together, Pedro and Teresa had a daughter, Doña Aldonza de Medrano y Salazar (b. 1315), who became the Lady of Agoncillo.^[8]

Alfonso XI of Castile granted the Lordship of Agoncillo to Sancho Sánchez de Rojas and Ursula Díaz his wife on September 1, 1336 in Lerma.^[9]

In 1337, Don Rodrigo Alfonso de Medrano, Chief crossbowman of King Alfonso XI of Castile, bought the village of Agoncillo, La Rioja and the castle of Aguas Mansas in Agoncillo from Sancho Sánchez de Rojas. Rodrigo Alfonso de Medrano started carrying out several remodelling works, adapting it to the style of the 14th century. In Rodrigo Alfonso de Medrano's testament in 1345, he noted having spent big amounts of money in "...building the castle and the village" (in Old Spanish "...fazer el castillo e la villa").^[10]

During the battles between Peter the Cruel and Henry of Trastámara, the castle passed onto the hands of Charles II of Navarre, although for a short period. In 1392, it was once again owned by Rodrigo Alfonso de Medrano, lord of Agoncillo, who bequeathed it to his nephew, Don Diego López de Medrano.^[11][12] In 1447, Diego's son Don Pedro Gómez de Medrano, gave his son Don Lope de Medrano the town of Agoncillo and San Martín de Velilla (northwest of Agoncillo).^[13][14]

Diego López de Medrano, Lord of Agoncillo, had a son named Don Juan de Medrano, who died without succession. His sister Dona Aldonza Diaz de Medrano inherited the mayorazgo and lordship of Agoncillo.^[15]

There is an existing ascending genealogical tree of D. Lope de Frías Salazar y Medrano, for the succession of the Lordship of Agoncillo, which has Ana de Velasco, 10th Countess of Siruela.^[16]

Juan Jerónimo de Frías Salazar Porras y Medrano recorded a book of income, censuses, accounts and rights that he possessed, as lord of Agoncillo.^[17]

The Council of Castile issued a certification confirming the transfer requested by Joaquín María de Frías Salazar y Medrano, Lord of Agoncillo and Berberana, in 1694, of two privileges originally presented by his grandfather Lope de Frías Salazar y Porras. These privileges, part of a lawsuit resolved favorably in 1705, involve: 1) Alfonso XI of Castile granting the Lordship of Agoncillo to Sancho Sánchez de Rojas and his wife Ursula Díaz in 1336, and 2) Sancho IV granting the place of San Martín de Berberana to Juan González de Bazán in 1285.^[18][9][19]

The Mayorazgo of Agoncillo and Velilla includes several key foundations and additions. Notable among these are: the foundation established by Rodrigo Alfonso de Medrano on July 27, 1345; the foundation by Pedro Gómez de Medrano and Catalina Sánchez de Alvarado on August 8, 1477; and the foundation by Alonso Gómez de Tamayo on November 4, 1500.^[20]

The Marquessate of Agoncillo is a Spanish noble title created by King Alfonso XII on June 7, 1875, in favor of Enrique Frías-Salazar y Torres Vildósola, who was the son of Hipólito Frías-Salazar y Sáenz Téllez and, therefore, the heir to the Lordship of Agoncillo.^[21] It was granted upon a special tax payment of 10,640 pesetas. While the early owners typically resided in Logroño, from the 16th century onwards, their descendants chose to live in Alfaro, where they also held substantial properties.^[3]

A military aerodrome was built in Recajo, a town within Agoncillo municipal term, in 1923. It was first known as Aeródromo de Recajo, but in 1932 at the time of the Second Spanish Republic its official name was changed to Aeródromo de Agoncillo. Located about 10 km from Logroño, since 1939 it housed the Maestranza Aérea de Logroño of the Spanish Air Force with the Regimiento de Bombardeo Nº 15, Escuadrón 110 that operated Heinkel He 111 bombers^[22] until the late 1950s.^[23]

After the bomber squadrons were phased out, the aerodrome reverted to civilian use as the Logroño-Agoncillo Airport. It now has a smaller airstrip and houses a museum.^[24]

• Leza River Bridge
• Castle of Aguas Mansas

• Ayuntamiento de Agoncillo
• Aeródromo de Agoncillo (Logroño). Proyecto de la torre de mando. 1943. AHEA - sig. A 13489

42°26′47″N 2°17′26″W / 42.44639°N 2.29056°W / 42.44639; -2.29056