Carlist Wars
The Carlist Wars had special significance in the town. Although initially in Cantavieja they had resisted the demands of the Carlists, as they became aware of their loneliness before them—since the government could do very little to defend them—they adopted a more pragmatic position that minimized the risks of war for the neighbors. Thus, in April 1836, during the First Carlist War, General Ramón Cabrera, nicknamed the Tiger of the Maestrazgo, converted it into the capital of the General Command of the Maestrazgo.
Buenaventura de Córdoba, a historian of the 19th century, described Cantavieja at that time as “a town in Aragon, located in mountainous terrain... surrounded by ancient walls, and whose population does not fall below 2,000 inhabitants. If the enemy fortified this town, it would be easy for him to hold the surrounding towns and narrow the Carlist line. Cabrera's battalions received new reinforcements every day, and the same youth, who looked with such disgust at the service of arms when the Queen's government called for the replacement of the army, voluntarily enlisted in the royalist ranks animated by the same spirit and feeling.
For this reason, improvements were made to the town's fortifications and an academy was created for the training of officers, two hospitals and a foundry from which the first two cannons for the Carlist army came from.[7].
Taking advantage of the absence of Cabrera and other rebel leaders, General Cristino Evaristo San Miguel attempted to carry out a coup against the Carlism headquarters in the Maestrazgo and began preparations for the siege of Cantavieja (October 1836); Once the siege began, the defenders abandoned the square with little resistance.
In order to rebuild lost trust, the reconquest of Cantavieja was a primary element for the Carlists. The operation was carried out by Juan Cabañero, who managed to take over the square in April 1837. From then on, the importance of the town was reinforced, installing a printing press, clothing workshops and gunpowder factories. A newspaper was even printed again in the town, called Bulletin of the Royal Army of Aragón, Valencia and Murcia.[8] On July 24 of that same year, Carlos María Isidro de Borbón visited Cantavieja, being received with all honors. Already in 1838, on March 7, the Carlist troops entered the town, who, under the command of Cabañero, had been defeated in their attempt to occupy Zaragoza, an event later known as the "cincomarzada".[9].
The pact on the northern front between Espartero and Rafael Maroto—Vergara's embrace—allowed the government to allocate all its resources to the war in the Maestrazgo. In this way, once Castellote and Aliaga "Aliaga (Teruel)") were taken, the liberal armies presented themselves before Cantavieja, with the end of the war already imminent.
The commander received orders from Cabrera to abandon the square, first burning warehouses and facilities and blowing up the castle's gunpowder warehouse. Cantavieja was finally occupied by government troops on May 11, 1840.[7].
Pascual Madoz, in his Geographical-statistical-historical dictionary of Spain of 1845, reports that Cantavieja - "located on a plain, on a strong rock that forms an almost perfect triangle" - had at that time 254 houses inside, distributed in two main squares and several well-paved streets; Only 154 of the houses were inhabited, since the other 104 were abandoned having been burned in the Carlist war.[10].
Years later, during the Third Carlist War, Cantavieja once again served as headquarters for General Marco de Bello.[11] At the beginning of the 1872 uprising, this soldier, general commander of the Aragonese Carlists, went on campaign on April 24, but was wounded and defeated in Cantavieja. The following year, he took up arms again and turned Cantavieja into the "Carlist metropolis of the center", establishing a cadet school, a weapons repair workshop and a cartridge factory in the town. The liberal army, under the command of General Despujols, tried unsuccessfully to take the town in April 1874. From this moment on, the tactics of the government consisted of surrounding the Carlist army from the fertile plains of Castellón towards the rugged areas of the Maestrazgo, in order to make the supply of food difficult. The final siege of Cantavieja—the last obstacle to ending the war—began in 1875, with the military superiority of the liberal army being evident. After tenacious resistance by the defenders, on July 6 the entire garrison was taken prisoner, ending with this episode the last of the Carlist wars.[12].