Castle of Zafra a.k.a the GOT! Tower of Joy
@asongofstarkandtargaryen
The castle of Zafra is located in the mountain range of Caldereros, in the province of Guadalajara (from Arabic, Wãd al-ḥaŷarah, river of stones, as a reference to the Henares river and its low flow, the city took the river's original name, but the city proper name was madīnat al-Faray, founded in the 8th century) in Castile-La Mancha. The castle belongs to the town of Campillo de Dueñas, of the judicial district of Molina de Aragón (it's 24 km away from the castle). The castle is 6 km away from Campillo de Dueñas, it's in the middle of nowhere, the closest town, Hombrados, is 5,3 km away from this castle. It's located at the eastern part of the province, very close to the border with Aragon.
Partially restored, parts of its walls battlemented can be appreciated, reinforced with towers at its corners. The aljibe (water cistern) is preserved under the parade ground, and the homage tower has a Gothic door with a pointed arch. Its interior has a spiral staircase that allows access to the upper terrace.
Since it appears mentioned in the first Fuero de Molina, granted by Manrique de Lara, it is supposed to have an Arab fortress origin. During the times of King Ferdinand III the Saint, the third lord of Molina, Gonzalo Pérez de Lara, rebelled against the monarch, took refuge in the castle. Given the impregnability of the castle, they had to agree to the Concordia de Zafra, by which the current Molina de Aragón would become part of the crown of Castile on the death of Don Gonzalo, losing its independent status.
An enigma for historians is the space delimited by the walls of the fortress, which hardly leaves room to deposit weapons or food stores. The hypothesis that there were large caves excavated in the rock on which the castle is built is considered.
It remained one of the strongest castles in the kingdom, which amazed everyone because of its difficult access (most likely climbing the rocks, although there's a theory that maybe there was a secret access to the castle through the aljibe), the ingeniousness of its entrance and the ability to house in a certain place -unknown today (perhaps inside the rock)- to more than 500 men.
The oldest known fortress on the site is believed to have been established by the Visigoths before 720. The Muslims also have a fortification here, which was used by the Taifa of Toledo.
There were three periods of taifas (in Arabic, طائفة ṭā'ifa, plural طوائف ṭawā'if, meaning "side" or "faction"). The first period started with thre decomposition of the Caliphate of Córdoba, after that several families took control of a piece of the broken caliphate, and it ended with the conquest of several of this taifas by the Almoravid Empire (an empire with capital in Marrakech that extended to present-day Western Sahara, Mauritania, Algeria, Morocco and the southern half of Portugal and Spain): the taifas were the ones from Almería, Silves, Lleida, Saltés, Arcos,Morón,Murcia,Alpuente, Albarracín, Badajoz, Carmona, Denia, Toledo, Tortosa,Valencia,Granada, Algarve, Huelva and Zaragoza. Although some of them were conquered between themselves.
When the Almoravid Empire ended around 1147, the second period of taifas started. Taifa during this period: Almería, Arcos, Badajoz, Beja & Évora, Carmona, Córdoba, Granada, Guadix & Baza, Jaén, Jerez & Ronda, Málaga, Mallorca, Mértola, Tavira, Murcia, Niebla, Santarém, Segura, Tejada and Valencia. Several of this taifas were conquered by the Almohad Empire (with capital in Tinmel and Marrakech, defeated the Almoravid Empire, extended to present-day Morocco, Southern Portugal and Spain, Northern parts of Algeria, Western Sahara and Tunis). The third period of taifas started between 1212 and 1229/1249 when the Almohad influence on the iberian peninsula weakened because of the defeat of the emir Muhámmad an-Násir, head of the empire (?,1179 or 1181- Rabat, Morocco, 1213) at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 by Alfonso VIII of Castile (Soria, November 11, 1155 - Gutierre-Muñoz, from Sunday 5 to Monday 6 October 1214), Sancho Fernández of León (?, 1185- Cañamero, August 25, 1220), Alfonso/Afonso II of Portugal (Coimbra, April 23, 1185 - Coimbra, March 25, 1223), Peter II of Aragon (Huesca, July, 1178 – Muret, September 13, 1213) and Sancho VII of Navarra (Tudela, April 17, 1154-Tudela, April 7, 1234). The taifas that were left: Sevilla, Jaén, Córdoba, Badajoz, Arjona, Baeza, Denia, Lorca, Málaga, Menorca, Murcia, Ceuta, Niebla, Orihuela, Valencia and Granada, the last one turned into the Emirate or Nasrid Kingdom of Granada and resisted till 1492. These taifas were eventually conquered by Castile, Portugal and Aragon.
The Taifa of Toledo was one of the Taifas of Al-Andalus that arose from the decomposition of the Caliphate of Córdoba on July 22, 1035 and ended with the conquest in 1085 by Alfonso VI of León "the Brave" (?, 1040/1041-Toledo, 1 July 1109), of the Jimena Dynasty, was a grandson of Sancho Garcés III of Pamplona. The Jimena dinasty ended as a ruling dinasty in Leon/Castile with his daughters Urraca I of Leon "the Reckless*" (León, June 24, 1081-Saldaña, March 8, 1126) and Teresa Alfónsez, because both sisters married members of the House of Burgundy, who were akin of the French royal family, Raymond and Henry, respectively. Urraca and Raymond's son was Alfonso VII** of Leon "the Emperor" (Caldas de Reyes, March 1, 1105–Santa Elena, August 21, 1157) and Teresa and Henry were Counts of Portugal, and their son, Alfonso I Enríquez/Afonso I Henriques of Portugal (Guimarães or Viseu, July 25, 1109- Coimbra, December 6, 1185), achieved the independence of the county from León and became the first king of Portugal. In both kingdoms the House of Burgundy was replaced eventually by a bastard line, the House of Trastamara in Castile and the House of Avis in Portugal.
*"La Temeraria", can also be translated as the daredevil, so I'm imagining Urraca with a Daredevil cosplay from Marvel
**Yes, there were many kings in the peninsula during the Middle Ages named Alfonso/Afonso, concretely 21. 11 kings named Alfonso in Asturias/León/Castile, 5 kings named Alfonso in the Crown of Aragon and 5 (6*) kings named Afonso in Portugal. And then between the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century there were 2 more, Alfonso XII and Alfonso XIII of Spain.
The Taifa of Toledo roughly coincided with the current autonomous communities of Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid, it was ruled by the Banu Di-l-Nun dynasty, its three emirs were Ismaíl al-Záfir " The triumphant" (?-Toledo, 1043), Yahya Al-Mamún (before 1043-Córdoba, June 1075), who annexed the taifa of Valencia to Toledo and tried to annex the one of Córdoba, and Al-Qádir (?-?, October 28, 1092), who temporarily lost Toledo in favor of the emir of the taifa of Badajoz (from Arabic, Batalyaws, balad al yawz, land of walnut trees, the taifa would roughly coincide with Extremadura and parts of Portugal) Úmar al-Mutawákkil (1045-1094), later Al-Qádir recovered his taifa, but years later in 1085 Toledo was conquered by Alfonso VI, although Al-Qádir began to rule over the taifa of Valencia (which at its maximum expansion would roughly coincide with the Valencian Community)
In 1062 Al-Mamun swore allegiance to Ferdinand I*** of León (c. 1016-León, December 27, 1065), father of Sancho II of Castile (Zamora, 1038 or 1039-Zamora, October 7, 1072), Alfonso VI, García II of Galicia (1042-1090), Urraca de Zamora (León, 1033-León, 1101/1103) and Elvira of Toro (1038–November 15, 1099).
In 1072 Al-Mamún welcomed Alfonso VI into his court, after Alfonso lost the Leonese throne at the hands of his brother Sancho II in the battle of Golpejera in 1071, Sancho imprisoned Alfonso and crowned himself King of León. Urraca interceded for Sancho to allow Alfonso to go into exile in the Taifa of Toledo.
A great friendship then began between Al-Mamún and Alfonso, and Al-Mamún would be, from then until his death, an ally of Alfonso in all the military operations carried out by the Leonese king.
*** It's curious that despite Ferdinand being a name whose etymology comes from Germanic It became popular in German-speaking Europe only from the 16th century, with Habsburg rule over Spain from the reign of Ferdinand I of the Holy Roman Empire, son of Joanna I of Castile and Philip the Handsome.
Its etymology is composed of the elements frith "protection", frið "peace" or alternatively farð "journey, travel", and nanth "courage" or nand "ready, prepared". The name was adopted in Romance languages from its use in the Visigothic Kingdom. It is reconstructed as either Gothic Ferdinanths or Frithunanths, which derived in Castilian language as Fernando.
In 1074, his vassal and friend Al-Mamún was succeeded by his grandson Al-Qádir, who, in 1084, requested Alfonso's help for the second time in the face of an uprising that sought to overthrow him plotted by the emir of Badajoz. Alfonso took advantage of the call for help from Al-Qádir to besiege Toledo, a city that would fall on May 25, 1085 and al-Qádir was sent to be the emir of Valencia. Although he had to face the ambitions of the king of the Zaragoza Taifa al-Mutamán, for which Alfonso VI sent troops under the command of Álvar Fáñez/Minaya to protect him.
After this important conquest, the monarch was titled emperor of the two religions. Alfonso was king of León, Castile and Galicia, and a large part of the contemporary taifas were his vassals, Alfonso had already proclaimed himself Imperator totius Hispaniae 'emperor of all Hispania' in 1077. In addition one of his wives or concubines was the Muslim Princess Zaida, who was akin of the rulers of some of the Taifas.
She is described, depending of the source, as the daughter or daughter-in-law of Muhammad ibn 'Abbad al-Mu'támid (1040-1095) emir of Seville, her first husband was Abu Nasr al-Fath al-Ma'mun, emir of Córdoba (al-Mu'támid's son) and she was niece of Alháyib, emir of Lleida and Denia.
It is not clear if Alfonso and Zaida really married, although it is considered that they did and that Zaida converted to Christianity and took the name of Isabella, her son was Sancho Alfónsez (c. 1093/1904-1108), Alfonso's only son and was for a time heir to the throne, but he died in the battle of Uclés against the Almoravid Empire.
One of the points of the capitulations that made possible the surrender of the city without bloodshed was the promise of this king to preserve and respect the buildings of worship, the customs and the religion of both Muslims and the Christian-Mozarabic qnd Jewish population. As a gesture to the Muslim population of the city, that was a huge portion of the people who lived in the city, he promised to reserve the main mosque for their worship. This decision will be revoked by the newly appointed Archbishop of Toledo, Bernardo de Sedirac, taking advantage of an absence of the king of Toledo and using the support of Constance of Burgundy (Alfonso's second wife and Urraca I's mother). The archbishop transformed the mosque into a cathedral. He nearly provoked an unwanted rebellion and uprising and the ruin of the newly conquered city. The matter was that on October 25, 1087, the archbishop (in agreement with Queen Constance) sent armed people to forcefully take over the mosque compound. After this incident, they installed a provisional altar and placed a bell in the minaret.
Father Mariana recounts that King Alfonso VI was so angry when he found out what had happened that neither the archbishop nor the queen were able to placate him and that he issued a death sentence for almost all those involved. It is said that the Muslims were the true intermediaries to achieve peace, with the figure of the negotiator and alfaqui Abu Walid who brought the king a message of tolerance in which it was said that they accepted the usurpation as legitimate. The mosque-cathedral remained almost intact until the 13th century, it was in 1222 when the cathedral began to take on its current appearance.
There were 14 mosques during the Middle Ages, but they were eventually replaced and used as churches or other Christian temples: the Al-Mamun private oratory, Al-Yami or Mayor Mosque, El Salvador Mosque, Bal al-Mardum or Cristo de la Luz Mosque, Tornerías Mosque, Al-Dabbagin or Curtidores Mosque, San Gines Mosque, San Lorenzo Mosque, Mosque of the adarve of Don Nicolás, Mosque of Saints Justa and Rufina, Mosque of Caballel, Mosque of Jabal al-Barid or Montefrío, Mosque of Ibn Dunay el Qadi del al-Hizam, Mosque of the old church of the convent of the Holy Trinity.
The other day I wrote that there were 10 synagogues, but it's likely that there were 13, although the location of some of them are not known yet: The Greater or Ibn Shushan Synagogue, Old Synagogue or Old Temple, Samuel Ha-Levi or El Tránsito Synagogue, Sofer Synagogue, Ben Abidaran or al-Maliqin Synagogue, Caleros Synagogue, the Swallows Synagogue, Suloquia Synagogue, Synagogue of Ben Aryeh, Portiel Synagogue, Algiada Synagogue and the New Temple Synagogue.
During the emirate and Caliphate of Córdoba, Molina belonged to the Cora de Santaver, Santavería or Santabariya (in Arabic, شنتبرية, Šantabarīa) was one of the territorial divisions in which the was organized, extending through the current provinces of Cuenca (from Qūnka, Arabic form of the Latin word conca, meaning basin, the city of Qūnka was founded in 999 by al-Manṣūr), part of the province of Guadalajara and Teruel. Its northeast limit reached the source of the Tagus river, the Turia river valley, up to Tirwal (Teruel, meaning "tower") and, continuing through the depression of the Jiloca river, it reached up to Qalamusa (Calamocha, Teruel). To the west, it reached Mulin (Molina de Aragón), bordering the Tagus River up to a certain point between the castle of Welid and the Toledo mount of Awkaniya (Ocaña, Toledo), in the south. From there it extended to Uclés/Uqlīsh and, along the Cabriel river, to the Turia, closing its demarcation. Its name comes from an Arabization of Celtiberia, the name by which the Roman city of Ercávica (and also refering to the group of pre-roman tribes of the peninsula), currently Cañaveruelas, was known, in which the first capital was established. It seems heir to an old Visigothic division, the so-called Hitación de Wamba with the three bishoprics located in Cuenca, Valeria, Segóbriga and Ercávica plus other areas already incorporated in Muslim times. It was a sparsely populated and economically weak cora, attached to the Middle March (aṯ-Ṯaġr al-Awsaṭ, with capital in Tulaytulah,""joyful" or "joy", Arabic name of Toledo, the current one comes from Toletum, in Roman times, "land on high", because the old part of the city is located on a hill above the Tagus River)
Wheat and barley were grown in the cora, as well as olive trees, vines, walnut trees, hazelnut trees and saffron. Sheep grazing and horse breeding were also important. In addition, the transfer of wood was already taking place along the Cabriel and Júcar rivers: the felled pines were transported to Cullera and, from there, to Denia or Valencia to use them in the construction of ships.
Although for a time Molina was part of the Upper March (al-Ṯaġr al-Aʿlà, which main city was Saraqusta, Zaragoza, its name derives from the Roman Caesaraugusta, although the first was Salduie, from the Celtiberian tribe of the sedetani) belonging to to the Cora de Barusa, the smallest of the Coras of the Caliphate, organized on the axis of the Piedra River, with its capital in Molina de Aragón (Mulin), and bordering on that of Santaveria.
Molina returned to belong to Santaveria, and eventually formed part of the Taifa of Toledo, and at some point it was formed a taifa in Molina independent from Toledo.
The Taifa of Molina could have been a small Taifa established around the municipality of Molina de Aragón by a highly Arabized Berber dynasty, coming from the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century. However, its chronology is diffuse and its relative independence, as it was subordinated throughout its existence to other larger entities, such as the the Kingdom of Castile, the Taifas of Toledo, Valencia ( the taifa was called Balansīa/Balansiya, from the Roman city Valentia Edetanorum "Valor of the Edetans", the Edetans were one of the Iberian tribes and lived in the current provinces of Castelló and Valencia, the Arabic name of Valencia city was Madīna at-Turab, 'City of sand') and Zaragoza (that would roughly coincide with parts of the provinces of Zaragoza and Teruel in Aragon and part of the provinces of Tarragona and Leida in Catalonia)
It is possible that at the beginning of the 11th century, during the fitna or Andalusian civil war, Molina was under the influence of the Taifa of Zaragoza, passing in 1046 to belong to the Taifa of Toledo, ruled by Al Mamún.
It is said that it became independent in 1080 from the Taifa of Toledo. The emirs who are often listed as rulers of this taifa are Hucalao (1036-?), Aben Hammar and Azzun ibn Galbun (? - 1110/1129).
In 1085, Alfonso VI would take over the power of the Taifa of Toledo, but it's considered that Molina was left out of his influence. In reality, depending on the circumstances, belonging to one or another kingdom was quite weak: these types of border towns enjoyed great autonomy.
Hya Ibn Galbun allowed Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar "El Cid" (derived from dialectal Arabic سيد sīdi, 'lord') or "El Campeador"(latin form, Campidoctor and Arabic, alkanbīṭūr or al-Kanbiyatur, 'expert in pitched battles') (¿Vivar del Cid, Burgos?,1048-Valencia, 1099) to pass through his territory during Rodrigo's exile. After the conquest of the taifa of Tudela in 1085 by the troops of Alfonso VI, Ibn Galbun began to pay tribute to the kingdom of Castile.
According to the Cantar de mio Cid, Rodrigo imposed the payment of a tribute to the Muslim lord of Molina. This one, named Avengalvón (Ibn Galbun), becomes a faithful ally and friend of El Cid.
Being a noble and hospitable man, Ibn Galbun kept as his guest Jimena, her daughters -Elvira and Sol-, Álvar Fáñez/Minaya and other knights of El Cid. Here they spend the night on several occasions and are escorted by Molinese Muslim warriors on their trips between Castile and Valencia. Apparently, the literary figure of Avengalvón has its origin in the historical figure of Ibn Galbun.
The Taifa of Molina was conquered in 1129 by Alfonso I of Aragon and Pamplona "the Battler" (?,1073-Poleñino, September 7, 1134), Urraca I's second husband, but the repopulation was carried out by the Kingdom of Castile, which caused disputes between both crowns over the Molina territory. Manrique Pérez de Lara, count and lord of Lara, with influence over both kings, acted as mediator in the Carrión concord of 1137, where Castile returned the Calatayud and Daroca squares to Aragon, and where all the lands of Molina were they were declared manors and that both sovereigns accepted him as lord of Molina and Mesa, thus giving birth to the lordship of Molina in 1138, independent of both Crowns for more than a century and a half, and receiving its own jurisdiction.
This is the sigil of the House of Manrique de Lara. The poet Jorge Manrique (1440-1479) from 15th century, writer of Coplas por la muerte de su padre, Rodrigo Manrique de Lara (1406-Ocaña, November 11, 1476), was member of this family, but from another branch. His grandmother Milia was daughter of Pedro González de Lara (btw, Pedro was the lover of Urraca I) and sister of Manrique Pérez de Lara.
Recuerde el alma dormida,
avive el seso y despierte
contemplando
cómo se pasa la vida,
cómo se viene la muerte
tan callando,
cuán presto se va el placer,
cómo, después de acordado,
da dolor;
cómo, a nuestro parecer,
cualquiera tiempo pasado
fue mejor.
The current castle was built sometime between the second half of the 12th century and the first years of the 13th, when the Lara family tried to consolidate their domain in the territory of the Royal Lordship of Molina. Its defenses were put to the test in 1222 when Gonzalo Pérez de Lara, the third ruler of Molina, aroused the hostility of Ferdinand III of Castile (Peleas de Arriba, 1199 or June 24, 1201- Seville, May 30, 1252).
(This is the alcazaba of Molina de Aragón with the tower of Aragón at the back at the top of the hill)
In 1222 Fernando III, who was at odds with Gonzalo Pérez de Lara, Lord of Molina, due to the excesses committed by him and for his support of Alfonso IX de León (Zamora, August 15, 1171- Sarria, September 24, 1230). The purpose of Gonzalo Pérez de Lara in committing such excesses, even devastating some villages near Medinaceli, was to achieve the uprising of the Castilian nobles against Fernando III and support Fernando's father, Alfonso IX. Faced with such actions, King Fernando, who did not see with good eyes the excessive autonomy enjoyed by the lords of Molina de Aragón, belonging to the Lara family, one of the two most powerful in the kingdom along with the Haro family, decided to attack the alcazaba of Molina, but Count Gonzalo and his entourage and relatives fled and hide at the Zafra castle and Ferdinand put a fence to the fortress.
The impregnability of the castle meant that the royal army was unable to storm it, and after several weeks of siege, the two sides negotiated a resolution. According to the Zafra Agreement, in which negotiation Ferdinand's mother, Berenguela I of Castile (Segovia, 1179 or 1180-Burgos, November 8, 1246), took an active part, the lordship of Molina would be inherited on Gonzalo's death by his daughter Mafalda, who would marry Ferdinand's brother, and in this way would have the territory under the control of the Crown, Alfonso of Molina, uncle of the future king Alfonso X the Wise (Toledo, November 23, 1221-Seville, April 4, 1284). Alfonso X married Violante of Aragon (Zaragoza, 1236-Roncesvalles, 1300/1301), daughter of Jaime I "the Conqueror" of Aragon (Montpellier, February 2, 1208-Alzira, July 27, 1276)
When he married Mafalda González de Lara in 1223, and once his wife's father died in 1239, Alfonso was renamed Lord of Molina and became known as Alfonso de Molina, de facto ruling the lordship for the rest of his days; at first in collaboration with his wife, but once she died he did it alone, as stipulated in the marriage agreements signed with his wife, in which it was stated that the Royal Lordship of Molina would pass to Alfonso de Molina and his successors.
Their daughter Blanca Alfonso of Molina inherited the lordship upon the death of her father in 1272. Blanca married Alfonso Fernández, bastard son of Alfonso X El Sabio with Elvira Rodríguez de Villada. Another of Alfonso de Molina's daughters, Maria de Molina, married Sancho IV of Castile El Bravo (Valladolid, May 12, 1258-Toledo, April 25, 1295), son of Alfonso X (Toledo, November 23, 1221-Seville, April 4, 1284) and Violante de Aragón (Zaragoza, 1236-Roncesvalles, 1300/1301), daughter of Jaime I “el Conquistador” of Aragon (Montpellier, February 2, 1208-Alzira, July 27, 1276) . Since then, the title of Lord of Molina has been linked to the kingdom of Castile, as it was inherited by the sons of Sancho and María, Ferdinand IV (Seville, December 6, 1285 – Jaén, September 7, 1312) and Alfonso XI (Salamanca, August 13, 1311 - Gibraltar, March 26, 1350).
During the Castilian civil war of the 14th century, Henry II of Castile (Sevilla, January 13, 1334-Santo Domingo de la Calzada, May 29, 1379) granted the castle and lordship of Molina to his French mercenary ally Bertrand du Guesclin. However, the people of Molina rebelled and invited Peter IV of Aragon (Balaguer, September 5, 1319 - Barcelona, January 5, 1387) to rule over them. The castle was defeated and was finally granted to the vassal of Pedro Ximeno Pérez de Vera.
The previous name of the town was Molina de los Caballeros, but it's said that when Peter IV ruled over the town, it's name was changed to Molina de Aragón, and the Tower of Aragon, located in the highest part of the town, got its name in honor of the king of Aragon.
The castle eventually returned to Castile in 1375 by the marriage between Leonor of Aragon, daughter of Peter IV, and John I, son of Henry II, when the lordship of Molina was delivered in the matrimonial dowry of Leonor. John and Leonor were parents of Henry III of Castile and Ferdinand I of Aragon
In the 15th century Henry IV of Castile (Valladolid, January 5, 1425-Madrid, December 11, 1474) sparked another rebellion when the he awarded the castle and the town to his favorite, Beltrán de la Cueva. His castellan, Juan de Hombrados Malo, managed to get rid of all opponents and kept control of the castle until it finally passed into the hands of Isabella I of Castile (Madrigal de las Altas Torres, April 22, 1451-Medina del Campo, November 1504) and Ferdinand II of Aragon (Sos del Rey Católico, March 10, 1452-Madrigalejo, January 23, 1516). Juan de Hombrados was rewarded with hereditary custody of the castle, which his family kept for many years afterwards. The merger of the two kingdoms deprived the castle of its former strategic importance, and from the 16th century onwards it began to fall into ruins.
The castle remained the property of the Spanish state until 1971, when it was sold at auction for 30,000 pesetas, which would be 180,30€ nowadays. Its buyer was Antonio Sanz Polo (1913-2008), a descendant of Juan de Hombrados Malo and a distinguished educator. His family had kept the documents of the guardianship of Juan de Hombrados for more than four hundred years, transmitting them from generation to generation. However, by this time the castle was completely in ruins. Sanz Polo spent the next thirty years and most of his fortune rebuilding the castle, hiring cranes, architects and historians to help him. He was recognized for his efforts by the Medal of Merit from the National Association of Friends of the Castles (it's an organism that consist in divulgate and catalog castles, walled towns or cities and fortresses of Spain, which are more than 10.000, based on their list, although a huge part of them are half ruined or in ruins)
The castle represents the Tower of Joy in three episodes of GOT season 6, 6×03 "Oathbraker", and 6x10 "Winds of Winter". According to its current owner, Daniel Antonio Sanz, the producers were "looking for a remote site and far from any building".
I think the castle was a good option for a filming location, although we know that in the books the TOJ it's described as a round tower, rather than a irregular rectangular castle.
George R. R. Martin may have been inspired by the Joyous Gard to create the Tower of Joy. According to Arthurian legend, Lancelot names the castle himself after he became lord of the castle where he learns his real name and heritage. He later rescues Queen Guinevere from Maleagant and brings her to the Joyous Gard, whose adultery with the queen is dealt with for the first time. The Joyous Gard has been identified with Bamburgh Castle and Alnwick Castle in England, and the Château de Joyeuse Garde in Brittany.
I mean, probably Martin took elements from the Arthurian legend to create certain characters. For example Arthur Dayne and Dawn, making a reference to King Arthur and his magical sword.
Also in Rhaegar and Jon could be some aspects from Lancelot. Rhaegar "saves" Lyanna from her arranged marriage with Robert and they run away together and they go to the Tower of Joy, that it's named that way by Rhaegar.
And Lancelot raised by the Lady of the Lake, didn't knew about his parents, Ban and Elaine, king and queen of Benwick, and his true name, Galahad.
And Jon doesn't know yet that he's son of Rhaegar and Lyanna, but I bet that Howland Reed can tell him and maybe there's something about R+L=J in the crypts of Winterfell. Probably Jon name is just Jon, but for the secret Targ name theory, it could be Aemon or Daeron.
Jon in AGOT:
He had no destination in mind. He wanted only to ride. He followed the creek for a time, listening to the icy trickle of water over rock, then cut across the fields to the kingsroad. It stretched out before him, narrow and stony and pocked with weeds, a road of no particular promise, yet the sight of it filled Jon Snow with a vast longing. Winterfell was down that road, and beyond it Riverrun and King's Landing and the Eyrie and so many other places; Casterly Rock, the Isles of Faces, the red mountains of Dorne, the hundred islands of Braavos in the sea, the smoking ruins of old Valyria. All the places that Jon would never see. The world was down that road … and he was here.
Me: Insert the meme [He doesn't know he was born in the red mountains of Dorne]
I was thinking about the theory/headcanon in which Elia knew what was going on with Rhaegar and Lyanna, and I like the idea that Elia was the one that suggested the Tower of Joy.
Maybe Rhaegar told Elia about Lyanna and him, and that they wanted to get away and Elia gave him some ideas of some places they could travel and stay safe.
And it's a great coincidence that the TOJ is located at the Prince's Pass, in the northern part of Dorne.
As a princess of Dorne, Elia probably knew the history, characteristics and location of the tower and other Dornish castles. It's in the middle of nowhere and in show!TOJ the real castle has been described as impregnable. Plus, probably no one would expect Rhaegar to hide with Lyanna in his wife's region birth.
Other headcanon I have been thinking is that if Dany and Jon ending i the books is ruling Westeros together, due to the Tower of Joy is on ruins, maybe Jon and Dany could order rebuilding it soneday because it's Jon's birthplace and in memory of Rhaegar and Lyanna.
