Villafranca de los Caballeros

In 1557 king Philip II granted it the charter of town (in Spanish villa). At the beginning of being populated, it was allowed to be free of taxes (frank) for six years. The wording "de los Caballeros" would be added to the name of "Villafranca" because of some customary events from the time of Middle Ages. "It happened every year, the day of St. Martin, that the representatives of all villages and towns belonging to the Order of the Knights of St. John gathered at the place, to deal with the use of community pastures. In the gathering, representatives would answer when asked: ... may speak now the gentleman from <given town>...". And for holding, even if it was only for a day, attending people who was considered to be gentlemen (caballeros in Spanish), the town received that surname. So the place became known as "Villafranca de los Caballeros". There is a handful of other towns that are also called Villafranca (frank town), but hey, there's only one Villafranca de los Caballeros in all Spain.

This information has been extracted from the old file Descriptions of Cardinal Lorenzana, 1784. I'm not sure of how to write the reference.

According to the few excavations carried out, the first settlers in Villafranca were the Iberians. If you can read Spanish, that's what most of people say about the town. Actually the studies carried out have been very limited and there are certain traces of settlers from Stone Age. So, that the only studied archaeological sites may have been so far of Iberians from the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. doesn't mean they were the very first to settle in the area. Also, the sites are much far from the current town's historical center. Speaking about this zone, the first mention of this place dates back to Muslim invasion, where Muslims and Christians did coexist in the area called today Cruz de Lozano. Then, by 1085, Toledo was conquered by the Christian king Alfonso VI. At the same time, Consuegra was also recovered by the Christians, and Villafranca gets to depend of it. Consuegra is handed over to the Order of the Knights of St. John. Villafranca as well as other towns becomes a property of the order. Since then, the town would depend in one way or another from the Order until the ecclesiastical confiscations of the 19th century in Spain, when the Order properties in Spain were seized and the Grand Priory was ended.