HISTORY OF VALENCIA
After the Greek and Carthaginian settlements by River Tyris (currently River Turia) and the Second Punic War between the Romans and the Carthaginians, the city of Valencia was founded in 138 BC. It was founded by the Roman consul Decimo Junio Bruto in order to settle Roman demobilized soldiers there, whom he granted real properties at the city. Thanks to the archeological research, evidence on the first settlement on the city's territory has been revealed. This first Roman settlement would be a military settlement with tents for the Roman troops, turning into solid buildings years later. Valentia, the original name of the city, grew very quickly and started to coin its own currency in not too many years. However, the city was destroyed in 75 BC as a result of the war between Pompey and Sertorius.
In the middle of the 1st century, Valentia started to recover and experiences a period of urban development with new settlers expanding with new public constructions suchn as the forum and the circus. Infrastracture works were crucial during this period, standing out the river harbour by the current Torres dels Serrans.
Similarly to the resto of the Roman Empire, Valentia went through a crisis period during the second half of the 3rd century, which marked the beginning of a long period of decline: the city's perimetre was reduced, many neighbourhoods were depopulated and many insfrastracture networks were abandoned. From the second half of the 4th century, there could have been a Christian community honouring San Vicente, a martyr in 304.
A century afterwards, coinciding with the Germanic invasions and the lack of strong local power after the Roman Empire, the Church took the power of the city and the old Roman temples were replaces by Christian ones. In times of the bishop Justinian, in the 6th century, Valentia slightly recovered from its urban decline, taking place an important regional religious council. With the Byzantine invasion of the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula in 554, the city acquired an crucial strategic location, there settling Visigothic troops and fortifying the city. In 625, after the expulsion of the Byzantines, a dark period began with the lacking of much documentation and a poor urban life.
Around one century later, in 711, the Arabic people arrived to Valencia, who conquered the city. During this new period, Abd-al-Raman I ordered the construction of the gardens "Russafa", currently the neighbourhood "Barrio de Ruzafa". The city was named Balansiya in Arabic.
After a period of prosperity for the city, Abd-al-Aziz ordered the construction of new city walls because inestability emerged again. The so-called Cid Campeador and his backups took a chance and fought the Arabic out of the city, but only for a little while, since Valencia was ruled by the Arabic again in 1102.
With the Christian kingdoms' Conquest of the Arabic territory in the Peninsula, King Jaume I conquered Valencia in 1238 and it was repopulated with families coming from Aragon and Catalonia. During this king's reign, the Valencian codes of law, the so-called "Els Furs," were enacted as well as "Llibre del Consolat de Mar," the oldest codex of maritime law.
As a result of the wars between the Crown of Aragon and the Crown of Castile, Pedro el Cruel attacked Valencia twice. Yet, the city resisted the war and that is why Valencia was named a loyal city to the Crown of Aragon twice, a fact reflected with a double "L" in its coat of arms.
In 1412 Compromise of Caspe was signed and Fernando de Antequera became the new king of the Crown of Aragon. From this new period Vicente Ferrer is a remarkable figure, since he was turned into a saint (San Vicente Ferrer) in 1455, being one of the main patron saints of Valencia.
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