Agoncillo, La Rioja

Agoncillo is a town and municipality in La Rioja province in northern Spain.

Club Deportivo Agoncillo is a football team based in Agoncillo.

History
It is believed that the name comes from an ancient Celtic settlement named Egon whose ruins lie near the town. The area was also populated in Ancient Roman times.

Several lineages would follow in the possession of this lordship: the House of Medrano, the House of Porras (or Porres) by way of marriage to the House of Medrano, the Counts of Siruela [ es], descendants of the House of Medrano, and finally the House of Frías-Salazar, 1st Marquesses of Agoncillo [ es].

13th century
In approximately 1211, a captain of the Medrano family held the lordship of the castle and town of Agoncillo. Medrano's son was suffering from a mysterious and untreatable ailment. In 1211, Francis of Assisi roamed those very paths of Agoncillo. In a saintly manner, he visited Medrano's castle of Aguas Mansas in Agoncillo, placed his mystical hands upon the ailing Medrano boy, and miraculously healed him, securing the Medrano lineage in the lordship of Agoncillo. This act ensured the continued prominence of the Medrano family in Agoncillo, which remains renowned for its reverence toward the humble saint of Assisi. The Medrano family generously donated some land, including a tower, situated close to the Ebro River within the city of Logroño as a gift to Saint Francis, establishing the first Spanish convent of his Order there. Unfortunately, despite its centuries-long legacy of glory and sanctity, the convent met its demise in the 19th century due to the advent of liberalism and its accompanying laws. Today, the remnants of its walls still remain.

14th century
Alfonso XI of Castile granted the Lordship of Agoncillo to Sancho Sánchez de Rojas and Ursula Díaz his wife on September 1, 1336 in Lerma.

In 1337, Don Rodrigo Alfonso de Medrano, Chief  crossbowman of King Alfonso XI of Castile, bought the village of Agoncillo, La Rioja and the castle of Aguas Mansas in Agoncillo from Sancho Sánchez de Rojas. Rodrigo Alfonso de Medrano started carrying out several remodelling works, adapting it to the style of the 14th century. In Rodrigo Alfonso de Medrano's testament in 1345, he noted having spent big amounts of money in "...building the castle and the village" (in Old Spanish "...fazer el castillo e la villa").

During the battles between Peter the Cruel and Henry of Trastámara, the castle passed onto the hands of Charles II of Navarre, although for a short period. In 1392, it was once again owned by Rodrigo Alfonso de Medrano, lord of Agoncillo, who bequeathed it to his nephew, the lord of Almarza and Fuenmayor, Don Diego López de Medrano y Zuñiga.

15th century
Diego López de Medrano y Zuñiga, lord of Agoncillo, Almarza and Fuenmayor, was part of the political clientele of Diego de Zuñiga, Bishop of Calahorra in the first half of the 15th century. The house of Medrano later alternately aligned themselves with the houses of Arellano and Manrique.

Diego López de Medrano y Zúñiga married Doña Aldonza Ramírez de Ulloque (also known as Doña Aldonza Ramírez de Arellano), and they had a very illustrious offspring, including Juan Lopez de Medrano, and Aldonza Diaz de Medrano, Lady of Agoncillo.

Doña Aldonza Diaz de Medrano married Lope Garcia de Porres and had one son, also lord of Agoncillo, Pedro Gomez de Porres y Medrano, Knight of the Order of Calatrava, a member of His Majesty's Council, and the Alcalde of Hijosdalgo of the Royal Chancery of Valladolid.

In 1447, Don Pedro Gómez de Medrano, bequeaths to his son Don Lope de Medrano the town of Agoncillo and San Martín de Velilla (northwest of Agoncillo).

18th century
A certification was issued by the Council of Castile of the transfer requested by Joaquín María de Frías Salazar y Medrano, Lord of Agoncillo and Berberana, of two privileges that his grandfather Lope de Frías Salazar y Porras had presented in the lawsuit for the lordships of Agoncillo and Berberana with the Convent of Santa Clara Medina de Pomar, which obtained a favorable judgment in 1705. He also requested that the original privileges be returned.

Aerodrome
A military aerodrome was built in Recajo, a town within Agoncillo municipal term, in 1923. It was first known as Aeródromo de Recajo, but in 1932 at the time of the Second Spanish Republic its official name was changed to Aeródromo de Agoncillo. Located about 10 km from Logroño, since 1939 it housed the Maestranza Aérea de Logroño of the Spanish Air Force with the Regimiento de Bombardeo Nº 15, Escuadrón 110 that operated Heinkel He 111 bombers until the late 1950s.

After the bomber squadrons were phased out, the aerodrome reverted to civilian use as the Logroño-Agoncillo Airport. It now has a smaller airstrip and houses a museum.

Places of interest

 * Leza River Bridge
 * Castle of Aguas Mansas