These palaces or palace-fortresses belonged to families of the Spanish aristocracy, such as Altamira, Camarasa, Mendoza, etc. These buildings were conceived to stand out the figure of the feudal lords in a favourable context due to the progress in the Reconquest, which was very advanced, or almost completed at that moment. 
Had it not been for this circumstance, which gave certain safety to settle permanently in these lands, these palaces would have ended up by disappearing as it happened to castles. But that did not happened to these palaces or palace-fortresses, which have been or will be remodelled in the near future, so that their original physiognomy is maintained or restored. 
Niebla must have been, together with other examples of the bay of Cadiz, the great model for the rest of palace-fortresses. The hispanic-muslim town of Lebla had already played a key role in the times of the almohades and of the taifa of Ibn Mahfoh. The town was sieged and captured by Alfonso X in 1262, and being pressured by the dispute with Portugal because of the possession of the Algarve, the king gave Niebla to his daughter Doña Beatriz. Later, all the territory was incorporated into the possessions of Pedro I and, once he died in Montiel, the first Trastamara gave the County of Niebla to the Guzmanes. So then, a period of royal predominance was followed from 1368 by a period of deep and stable predominance of lords. But the town that was head of the county declined irretrievably and lords would soon stop using it as a residence.
The Medinasidonia family had also acquired great experience in construction during the building of their possessions of Cadiz. Guzmán el Bueno had Sanlucar's enclosure and walls built between the late 12th century and the early 14th century. On Don Enrique's own initiative, Santiago castle was chosen to be the capital of the duchy, between 1477 and 1478. This same process would happen in Rota with la Luna castle. Niebla's enclousure, repaired after the conquest, had five gates and a total of 46 square, rectangular and octogonal towers, and housed the four parishes of Santa María, San Miguel, Santiago and San Lorenzo. The Alcazar of the Guzmanes is in the north side. Although it was erected in the 15th century, as it is said in several documents, a Roman citadel and a visigothic fortress might have formerly existed on this same location. Marín Fidalgo describes it in this way:
The fortress has suffered important dammage and sacking. The earthquake of 1755 dammaged seriously the Homage Tower, and the French troops blew up the building after leaving it in 1812. Since then, a number of houses were built on its walls, which would be subsequently abandoned during successive restorations. |
he restoration of ancient fortresses by the Medinasidonia in their dominions was parallel to the Reconquest of the Western Andalousia. According to Cristóbal Jurado, who follows Barrantes Maldonado, "Don Enrique, the fourth Earl of Niebla, restored the Alcázar, made the tower popularly known as de la Reina, endowing it with a store of grain in cellars and aljibes (tanks),and dungeons of Roman style with three storeys according to the crimes of culprits; these dungeons were also used to lodge the mesnadas, specially during the night to prevent revolts".