Castle of Zafra

The Castle of Zafra is a 12th-century castle located in the municipality of Campillo de Dueñas, in Guadalajara, Spain. Built in the late 12th or early 13th centuries on a sandstone outcrop in the Sierra de Caldereros, it stands on the site of a former Visigothic and Moorish fortification that fell into Christian hands in 1129. It had considerable strategic importance as a virtually impregnable defensive work on the border between Christian and Muslim-ruled territory.The castle was never conquered and was successfully defended against the King of Castile in the 13th century. The successful completion of the Reconquista at the end of the 15th century ended its military significance. Although it fell into ruin in the following centuries, since 1971 it has progressively been restored by its private owners. It can be visited with permission from the owners.EtymologyThe namesake of the castle, zafra, is a somewhat contested term linguistically. It is accepted that the word entered Spanish from Arabic, but there is some disagreement about the precise origins of the word and its significance in Spanish. In Spanish speaking countries the word zafra refers to the late summer or early autumn harvest of crops such as sugarcane, a staple brought from Arab lands. Some believe the term is derived from the Arabic zāfar or zafariya meaning "harvest time", while others believe the term derives from saʼifah meaning "gathering time".