The barony, including the castles of Polop and Benidorm and extensive land, is located in the province of Alicante, Valencia, Spain, only a few miles from the Mediterranean Sea.

Its origins date back to the conquest of Hispania by the Moors who occupied the Iberian Peninsula in the 10th century, when a fortress was built and named Polop.

[2] In the 11th century, as it is related in the Historia Roderici ("History of Rodrigo"), El Cid Campeador occupied Polop Castle in 1089–1090 before conquering the city of Valencia in 1094.

[3] Following his conquest of the Kingdom of Valencia, King James I of Aragon offered Polop Castle to the Muslim leader Mohammad Abu Abdallah Ben Hudzail al Sahuir until 1258 when the latter was defeated during a failed attempt against the life of the monarch.

[6] In 1268 the barony was granted by King James I to his distant cousin, Berenguela Alfonso, who had become his concubine after his wife, Teresa Gil de Vidaure, allegedly developed leprosy, but returned to the Crown upon her death without issue.

In 1727 King Philip V of Spain issued a Royal Charter allowing baronies in the Crown of Aragon to become titles of nobility in their own right.

The baron was the nobleman who held the land or fief, including Benidorm, Chirles and La Nuncia, originally given by the king, and granted possession to the vassal in exchange for benefits, protection and other services.

Since then and until the present days, the barony has continued to be held by members of the Fajardo de Mendoza family and his blood relatives in the direct line of descent.

Unlike titles of nobility in the Spanish peerage, each new baron is not required to be confirmed in the lordship by Royal Charter issued and signed by the monarch.

In 1430 the Infante John II of Aragon, King of Navarre and Duke of Peñafiel and Montblanch, revived the lordship for his Lord-in-Waiting don Rodrigo Díaz de Mendoza, who died without male issue, and bequeathed it to his niece's husband Don Juan Alonso Fajardo and his heirs, the Fajardo de Mendoza family.