La Mancha () is a natural region and comarca located in the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha (Spain), covering parts of the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca and Toledo. Its area varies according to authors: from to Biblioteca Premium Microsoft Encarta. The Espasa Encyclopedia gives a very similar figure: from east to west and from north to south. making it one of the most extensive natural plains on the Iberian Peninsula. It represents the center of the Southern Plateau, bordering the regions of Mesa de Ocaña, Montes de Toledo, Campo de Calatrava, Sierra Morena, Campo de Montiel, Campos de Hellín, Monte Ibérico-Corredor de Almansa, Manchuela, Serranía de Cuenca and La Alcarria.
Political geography Modern definition of La Mancha
La Mancha is a natural region in the center of Castilla–La Mancha, located south of the Inner Plateau, constituting one of the most extensive plateaus on the Iberian Peninsula. Its boundaries are imprecise, encompassing parts of the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca and Toledo.
One of the definitions of La Mancha is provided by Pascual Madoz in his work Diccionario geográfico-estadístico-histórico de España y sus posesiones de Ultramar (1848):
Similar descriptions of La Mancha were made years later by José de Hosta (1865), or the Enciclopedia Espasa.
Madoz (1848) also delineates La Mancha according to the territorial division of the time:
However, Madoz's description is ambiguous, as in practice it attempted to reflect the boundaries of the former Province of La Mancha, not the region of La Mancha, two distinct elements that share a toponym. The former was an administrative entity of the Kingdom of Toledo or New Castile, while the latter is a natural region from the perspective of physical geography.
According to the study En torno al concepto y límites de un topónimo olvidado: La Mancha de Montaragón by historian Aurelio Pretel Marín (1984), some localities in the current provinces of Cuenca, Albacete, Valencia, Alicante and Murcia were part of the historical Mancha de Montearagón.Pretel Marín, Aurelio (1984): "En torno al concepto y límites de un topónimo olvidado: La Mancha de Montaragón", Congreso de Historia de Albacete, Volume II. Instituto de Estudios Albacetenses. Albacete. Pp. 263–271. This term was used to designate a broad frontier space in the east of the Crown of Castile during the Middle Ages, associated with the kingdoms of Toledo or New Castile and Murcia. Although called La Mancha, it should not be confused with the former province of La Mancha, nor with the region of La Mancha, as there is no connection beyond sharing the toponym. In the same study by Pretel Marín (1984), localities historically new Castilian such as Requena (in the Province of Valencia), and Murcian such as Villena and Sax (in the Province of Alicante), along with Yecla, are also included on the eastern edge of Mancha de Montearagón.Pretel Marín, Aurelio (1984): "En torno al concepto y límites de un topónimo olvidado: La Mancha de Montaragón", Congreso de Historia de Albacete, Volume II. Instituto de Estudios Albacetenses. Albacete.
Sometimes, Mancha Alta is expanded to include localities in the Toledan region of La Sagra, such as Esquivias, and even Madrid, which has frequently been described as a poblachón (one-horse town) or lugarón manchego. However, this designation is linked to the misuse of the term manchego, as both in the past and present it is erroneously common for civil society and the media to refer to the entirety of Castilla–La Mancha and, in its day, New Castile, as La Mancha or manchego, when neither the entire region is La Mancha from the perspective of physical geography, nor from the historical perspective (Province of La Mancha).
There are also other descriptions of La Mancha, such as those by Félix Pillet and Miguel Panadero in their studies for a geographical regionalization of Castilla–La Mancha from the perspective of physical geography (dividing it into mountain, transition and plain regions), limiting La Mancha to "a great region or subregion of Castilla–La Mancha", turning it into a plain region covering and more than 90 municipalities. They present as transition regions Campo de Calatrava, Campo de Montiel, the land of Alarcón, La Manchuela and the Altiplanicie de Almansa, and as mountain regions, the Alcudia Valley, that of Alcaraz and that of Segura.Pillet Capdepón, Félix (2006): Los territorios de Castilla-La Mancha. Provincias y comarcas., magazine "CLM. Castilla-La Mancha - La Tierra del Quijote" no. 44 (September–October 2006). This type of description is the most used by researchers and institutions in Castilla–La Mancha and Spain, as the term La Mancha prevails as a natural region delimited by a series of geographical aspects where the common denominator is the plain, as opposed to the administrative use of the former Province of La Mancha, now obsolete and with no correlation to the region of La Mancha, despite sharing the toponym.
It is also worth noting the importance of altitude in determining exactly what La Mancha is, ranging between above sea level. One of the most widely accepted meanings is that La Mancha means 'elevated place', taking into account the altitude of Campo de Criptana in the heart of La Mancha, which is above sea level. For example, the altitude of Puertollano, one of the last large towns in southern La Mancha, remains more or less constant at . The altitudes of Cuenca, Toledo and Talavera, as well as other regions not linked to La Mancha, do not correspond to these altitudes. This demonstrates the importance of altitude in determining the geographical, rather than historical, boundaries of La Mancha.
Historical evolution of the toponym Mancha and its meaning
There are several theories about the origin of the toponym Mancha. Some relate it to the same Latin origin of the Spanish word "mancha" (macŭla), but more people believe that it has an Arabic origin. Some link it to the Arabic word "manxa", translated as "dry land", but there is a greater probability that it originates from the Arabic word "mányà", translated as "high plateau" and "elevated place".
Another much older theory also suggests that La Mancha comes from Arabic. The theory arises from the historian Jerónimo Zurita who states that another historian, Pero López de Ayala, knew that the land of Esparto was called Mancha by the Goths and that the Arabs kept the name Espartaria, which would be Manxa in Arabic. This Espartaria land is linked to the ancient Campo Espartario or Espartaria, of Carthagena Espartera, heir in turn to the Roman and Visigothic province of Hispania Carthaginensis, which encompassed much of present-day Castilla–La Mancha.Pretel Marín, Aurelio (1984): "En torno al concepto y límites de un topónimo olvidado: La Mancha de Montaragón", Congreso de Historia de Albacete, Volume II. Instituto de Estudios Albacetenses. Albacete. Pp. 263–271.
The earliest mentions of the toponym Mancha date from 1237, in agreements between the orders of Saint John and Santiago. In one case, it concerns the delineation of the boundaries of both orders: 'The Ruidera is held by the Friars of Uclés, who divided it in two with La Moraleja, running a rope from this landmark to the Mancha de Haver Garat. This reaches the other landmark between Criptana and Santa María de los Llanos. From this landmark, the valley goes up to the road from La Ruidera to Alhambra, turning towards Pozo del Allozo.' The other case involves a payment of cattle from the Commander of the Order of Santiago to the Commander of the Order of Saint John, as compensation for 'the help he received with the Guadiana water, which he drew through the Mancha de Montearagón'.
Apparently, the Mancha de Haver Garat refers to the later Mancha de Vejezate, a region comprising the towns of Tomelloso and Socuéllamos today, centered on the now depopulated Torre de Vejezate. The Mancha de Montearagón, originally "de Montaragón", would point to the territory extending from the Lakes of Ruidera eastward, through which one could travel to Aragon and the Kingdom of Valencia, which was under the full control of James I of Aragon at the time.
In 1282, Manuel of Castile, lord of Villena, received from the future king Sancho IV of Castile the extensive territories of Chinchilla, Jorquera and Ves, in the Mancha de Montearagón. Over time, with the expansion of these domains to Hellín and the land of Alarcón, according to Pretel Marín's conclusions (1984), the geographical concept of the Montearagón region and the political concept of the Lordship (and, later, Marquisate) of Villena were often confused and used interchangeably.
On the other hand, in 1353, the Master of the Order of Santiago, Fadrique Alfonso, attending to the request of various towns in the area under his Order's jurisdiction, created the Común de La Mancha, including territories of Mancha de Vejezate, with possessions between the rivers Guadiana and Gigüela and its capital in Quintanar de la Orden. Between 1478 and 1603 the following towns are described as belonging to the Común de La Mancha: In the current Province of Ciudad Real: Alcázar de San Juan, Campo de Criptana, Herencia, Arenales de San Gregorio, Pedro Muñoz, Socuéllamos and Tomelloso. In the current Province of Cuenca: Los Hinojosos, Horcajo de Santiago, Mota del Cuervo, Pozorrubio, Santa María de los Llanos, Villaescusa de Haro and Villamayor de Santiago. In the current Province of Toledo: Cabezamesada, Corral de Almaguer, Miguel Esteban, La Puebla de Almoradiel, Quintanar de la Orden, El Toboso, Villa de Don Fadrique and Villanueva de Alcardete.
However, the concept of La Mancha at that time and in subsequent centuries was not limited to the Común de La Mancha and the Marquisate of Villena, but was more extensive, though not as much as it would later become. In the 1570s, in the Topographic Relations of Philip II, in addition to the localities of the ancient Común Santiaguista, then already a partido, the localities of Campo de San Juan are also mentioned as being in La Mancha. However, this is not the case in the Campo de Montiel towns, where only Membrilla is said to be in La Mancha, nor in the Campo de Calatrava towns, where only four are said to be in La Mancha. López-Salazar (2005) suggests that, in the case of Campo de Calatrava, the connection to the Maestrazgo de Calatrava or the district of Almagro was more significant than the geographical reference alone. Nevertheless, he also argues that La Mancha was not yet a well-known place name. Indeed, some towns claimed to be in La Mancha (Ballesteros and Tirteafuera) despite having less geographical justification than others that did not (such as Daimiel or Manzanares). Similar circumstances occurred in the Mancha de Montearagón (known at that time as the Mancha de Aragón), where, according to reports by Philip II, few places claimed to be located, preferring instead the name of the Marquisate of Villena, even after its disappearance. According to Petrel Marín (1984), this was due to the Marquisate's greater political importance and the refusal of some towns that were never Aragonese but Castilian to be called 'de Aragón'''.