The medieval castle of Giribaile sits at the north-east end of a long, flat-topped hill, atop a broad rocky crag protected by natural defences in the form of cliffs and a streambed to the south separating it from the rest of the plateau.

At present, much of the plateau is covered by the remains of an Iberian oppidum, whose structures may have been reused by the inhabitants of this site over the course of the Middle Ages. 

The fortress was built during the time of the emirate and caliphate, using irregular masonry with a mortar of lime and sand. Its asymmetrical layout is roughly triangular in shape, adapted in line with the topography of the terrain and making use of some of the remnants of the old Iberian fortification. Towers and walls were erected on a foundation of rock, forming an enclosure with a zig-zag layout that echoed the jagged profile of the rocky spur.
The main gateway to the fortress’ interior was located in the south-west wall, and protected by two towers. The north-west wall housed the postern gate, which was reached via a gentle path that made its way up the side of the hill. The complicated bent entrance was formed by three towers, the first of which stood on a small rocky spur at the side of the hill. From this spur, a wall stretched to the most easterly of the other two towers, which flanked the gate.

Between the 12th and 13th centuries, the Almohads made significant alterations to the fortress, chiefly affecting the south section, where they built a new tower (containing three rooms) of rammed earth and mortar on a solid base of large limestone ashlars. The tower was surrounded on three sides by a low outer wall of rammed earth, thus creating a passageway or outer bailey some 2 m wide between the two structures. This outer wall ran parallel to the south wall, thereby reinforcing the south flank of the fortress. On the south-west wall, one of the towers protecting the castle’s main entrance was covered on three sides by a thick cladding of rammed earth and mortar, atop a base of dressed masonry. The tower was then filled in, converting it into a solid cube. 

Today, although the layout of the fortress can still be discerned, only two of the square-shaped towers of rammed earth are still standing, along with a few sections of wall. Inside the castle are the remains of a small rectangular cistern with a barrel-vaulted ceiling and two adjoining rooms, which may have been used for storage.

The site on which Giribaile Castle stands has been occupied throughout history, for varying periods of time and with the earliest known occupation dating back to the Bronze Age.

During the Iberian period, the hill was home to a fortified oppidum that was 14.56 hectares in size and formed part of the Pago de Cástulo, a political division that during the 4th century BC extended to the natural borders formed by the headwaters of the rivers Guarrizas and Montizón, where the shrines of Collado de los Jardines and Castellar de Santisteban can be found. The disappearance of this oppidum is linked to an episode of violent destruction where the settlement was burnt down, possibly as an act of punishment during the Second Punic War. 

The strategic position of the plateau of Giribaile, allied to the abundance of natural springs nearby, meant that it remained occupied almost without interruption from late antiquity through to the Late Middle Ages. 

The earliest date for this occupation may go back to the 6th or 7th century, when the inhabitants of the valley abandoned it and moved onto the hill. They occupied a series of natural caves on the eastern rockface, extending and transforming them into a series of elevated cave dwellings. Meanwhile, a scattered settlement was established on the plateau, which was still protected by the fortifications built during the Iberian period.

These settlements survived the Muslim invasion; however, during the 9th and 10th centuries, instability caused by the uprisings that characterised the final years of the emirate prompted the local populace to concentrate at the north end of the site. This area became a hisn (fortified refuge), which housed most of the area’s inhabitants. The repairs to the old Iberian defences and the construction of a new fortress at the north-east end of the hill may have been ordered by Ibn al-Saliya, a Muladí rebel who rose up against the Umayyad emirs.

Following the consolidation of the Muslim conquest of al-Andalus under Abd al-Rahman III, many of the defensive settlements standing on higher ground were abandoned. Those that remained played a strategic role in keeping watch over the surrounding territory. Communities in the area around Giribaile would have been forced to move to emerging population centres such as Vilches, Baeza and Santisteban.

Lastly, the political and military developments that took place in al-Andalus during the 12th and 13th centuries (as a result of which the Upper Guadalquivir region became practically independent for certain periods), combined with the southwards expansion of Christian armies, led to a process of fortification – intensified by the Almohads – in order to control the area around the headwaters of the Guadalquivir. The latest alterations to Giribaile were made at this time, chiefly consisting of reinforcement of the castle’s more accessible southern flank. 

After it was conquered by Castilian forces in 1227, Giribaile became part of the administrative district of Baeza (which belonged to the Crown), and lost its military importance.

LEGENDS

“The Death of Gil Baile”. Don Gil Baile, a nobleman from Baeza and lord of the lands ruled by the castle bearing his name, once ordered his family’s coat of arms to be carved on the entrance to his home, along with the following inscription: “From river to river, all that you see belongs to me. This is the land of Gil Baile, who shall perish of neither thirst nor hunger”.

One morning, he went out to hunt with some other senior noblemen. He spied a handsome stag and raced up the hillside after it; however, his steed ran headlong into a dark chasm, from which there was no way out. As the place he had fallen was very remote, no-one heard his cries for help and eventually, Gil Baile died, freezing cold and racked with thirst and hunger.