History
The origins of Daya Vieja are very remote, proof of this are the funerary remains of Greco-Roman origin that were recently found very close to the town. However, the documentation that we know about our town until now goes back to the time of the Arab domination where Daya Vieja was a Moorish farmhouse of some importance.
After the conquest of the Kingdom of Murcia and with it that of the Vega Baja del Segura carried out by D. Alfonso X of Castile with the help of his son-in-law Jaime I of Aragón, the Daya, considered the best farm was donated to the noble Castilian Fernán Pérez de Guzmán.
After the litigations caused by the non-validity that the Castilians gave to a treaty of February 1296, Jaime II, returning to make these lands his donated the precious farmhouse to his counselor Guillem de Dufort as accredited by a document written by the same King and dated in Guardamar on April 26, 1296, in which he commanded obedience for all the inhabitants of the Daya to his new lord:
‘enim by presens instrumentum, quod vice Epistolae have volumus, in part mandamus univuersis hominibus habitantibus et habitaturis in predicto loco La Daya, et hereditamento predicto, quod use pro domino suo habeant et teneant at vobis pareant et obedientiant in omnibus tanquam domino eorundem … ‘
It should be noted that the term of the then called ‘La Daya’ encompassed a much larger area of land, even bordering the coast.
Some architectural vestiges such as the large-scale cistern dating from the late Middle Ages that existed in the center of the municipality were evidence of this past. Unfortunately in our days they are all destroyed.
In 1353 it was Jaume Masquefa, the owner of La Dacha, who had bought it from Pedro Maza, who owned it as an inheritance from his father Gonzalo García. Five years later La Daya was sacked due to the endless battles between Castile and Aragon.
In the 15th century La Daya was formed by a fortified house, residence of the Lord, a Christian village of 12 families, apart from some widows, old people and young people with their own houses, and a Moorish aljama. There was also a small Parochial Church, patronage of the Lord.
About the middle of this century, Pedro Vélez de Guevara entered the region from Murcia, at the head of a large group. In the course of the ride, it depleted the domain of La Daya. He took a large booty and the Moors of the Aljama, whom the Spanish wanted to use as growers in their possessions.
In 1546 La Daya was owned by Mossen Luys Masquefa. The Mossen appointees did not belong to the nobility, since they came from the class of generous, but being a lord of vassals was a sure way of nobility.
In 1590 the chronicler Escolano affirms that La Daya was a town of old Christians (something very important for the time) and then it had Mr. Salvador Boyl as its lord.
In the seventeenth century with the expulsion of the Moors La Daya is almost depopulated and the epidemic of the plague that occurred in 1648 devastated the population.
In the year 1791 the owners of Daya Nueva and Daya Vieja, positions of common agreement, decided to segregate from the City of Orihuela and form a single municipality with the sole name of the Dayas. Eighty years later, the then owner of Daya Vieja, D. Juan Nepomuceno Mariano Roca de Togores and Escorcia, Count of Pinohermoso, meeting all the requirements that the Fuero Alfonsino demanded, decided to form his own municipality, which he subsequently took away. finished.
In the year 1855, reigning in Spain his Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, granted him the title of Count of Pinohermoso, to the Hon. Mr. Juan Nepomuceno Rock of Togores and Escorcia, for being the largest contributor of the province of Albacete and Alicante, third of Murcia and thirteenth of the Nation.
For this reason, Mr. Conde gave the appropriate orders for one of the best architects in the city of Orihuela, to make the plan and begin to build the new town of Daya Vieja that due to the earthquake of 1829 had been almost completely destroyed. The works began on April 4, 1855 and ended on October 2, 1857, a total of 2 and a half years of construction.
On October 12, 1857, the feast day of Hispanidad, the new town of Daya Vieja was blessed and inaugurated by the Bishop of Orihuela with the assistance of the authorities of the neighboring towns.
The 23 of January of 1871, reigning in Spain his MD Amadeo I of Saboya, being civil Governor D. Manuel González Llana, declares to him like municipality with the nº 134 of the province of Alicante, being his first Mayor D. Francisco Ortuño Murcia , Municipal Judge D. Damián Gómez Martínez, Secretary Mr. Antonio Sánchez González and Municipal Guard Mr. Tomás Martínez Blanco.
Until a few years ago, the old palace of the count and the chapel adjacent to it were still preserved, but unfortunately they are now demolished.
Only the column crowned by a lion that holds the effigy of the heraldic shield of this illustrious surname is a witness of this glorious past. On December 18, 1928, Don Alejandro Azcurun y Moreno appeared in Madrid before the Notary, on the one hand as buyers brothers José García Palmer and D. Monserrate García Castillo, both industrialists and residents of Murcia and, on the other hand, salesman Mr. Manuel Pérez Seohane and Roca de Togores, lawyer and neighbor of this capital, in order to grant the corresponding deed of purchase-sale of the inheritance estate of Daya Vieja.
Already put in advance in agreement in all conditions, the aforementioned farm was fixed at the price of 1,500,000 pesetas.
The buyers disbursed at the time of signing the deed the amount of 3,500 Pts., In the payment of the plot of San Fulgencio and other 269,500 Pts. On account of Daya Vieja, the remaining amount of 1,200,000 pesetas were divided into eight payments , one of 200,000 Pts. expires on April 15, 1929 on the same date, the years, until the year 1935, the amount pending amortization was 6% per annum.
It was also stipulated that the failure to pay on the agreed date or interest in due time, gave the seller the right to have all other deadlines expired and claim all that was owed to him.
Encouraged by the knowledge of these historical facts, it has awakened in all the inhabitants of Daya Vieja a great interest to know more about this surprisingly glorious past, for what is being attempted, by several local scholars, to access the historical sources to be documented as objectively as possible about our past.
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