 First it was a Mudéjar fortress commissioned in 1209 by Archbishop Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada (1209-1247), as a temporary residence of the archbishops of Toledo (Alcalá belonged to the archdiocese) and hence its name.It has suffered several fires and destructions, and has been remodeled several times to the present.In the Archbishop's Palace were held the Courts in 1348 and was enacted the Ordinance of Alcalá, in that was unified the administration of justice to all the lands that formed the Crown of Castile.