Teruel by night.
In 1171 the troops of Alfonso II from Aragón arrived at Teruel lands and occupied them founding the city. A very important milestone is escorted to the legend which tells us that the town was built over a paddock where a bull was found with a shineing star over it. True or myth, that bull is the symbol of Teruel and its shield.In the times of the foundation, it was not an easy task to populate the arid region of Aragón. The place was border against the muslim taifa of Valencia and advance guard for its conquest. It was not easy to attract people willing to settle and defend a territory so insecure as the Teruel of the XII century. The monarchy had to provide the villa of a few Jurisdictions (Fueros) that granted wide privileges to the people who were settled in there and turned it into the head of a huge Community of villages. In 1347, the king Pedro IV of Aragón known as the “Ceremonioso”, awarded the title of City.The medieval period was of a big development for Teruel, going so far as to reach the important number of 6.000 inhabitants but the great plagues of the Low Middle Age, which affected to the peninsular kingdoms and to the rest of Europe in a so serious way, supposed for Teruel a period of economic decline and an important regression of its population.