Santa María la Real de Nieva village was founded in 1395 by King Henry III, by the mediation of his wife Catherine of Lancaster.

[3] The town's founding was due to the finding of a buried wooden sculpture of Mary three years before, probably hidden since muslem invasion, in a piece of open ground where the village is now.

[4] This fact was considered a miracle, and the Queen ordered the building of a sanctuary and a village around it, to the worship of this Virgin's image,[4] called Soterraña, an old Spanish word that means 'subterranean'.

[8] During the revolt of the Comuneros in 1520, Rodrigo Ronquillo, chief of royal troops in the area, set his headquarters in Santa Maria la Real de Nieva, and lost a battle near the town.

[9] Santa María la Real de Nieva's municipality grew by the adding of the surrounding villages; Ochando and Pascuales (1965); Aragoneses, Balisa, Hoyuelos, Laguna Rodrigo, Miguel Ibañez, Pinilla-Ambroz, Tabladillo, and Villoslada (1969); Jemenuño, Santovenia, and Paradinas (1970).