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According to tradition, the origin of this convent is to be found in an apparition of the Virgin to two Knights Hospitaller who had taken refuge under a willow tree during a storm. This was followed by the construction of a chapel and the subsequent establishment of the monastic house.

The monastery was built in the 17th century on the location of an ancient hermitage devoted to Nossa Senhora da Conceição. It comprises a church with mannerist and popular features, the cloister, and the convent building.

This Franciscan house was founded in Mondéjar thanks to the will of Íñigo López de Mendoza (1440-1515), first Marquis of Mondéjar and second Count of Tendilla. The ruins of the church are preserved from that convent which still show part of the sculptural work, especially on the church doorway, surely the work of the architect Lorenzo Vázquez.

The Convent of San Diego of Alcalá in Fuentes de León is a former Franciscan monastery that has been transformed into a hotel.

In 1395 the first convent was the victim of a fire that completely affected it, and it was rebuilt thanks to the support of the Mendoza manor house, Dukes of Infantado.

The Convento de San Francisco de Molina is a Franciscan convent founded in 1284. It was extensively renovated in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The convent of San Francisco de Pastrana was founded by the Franciscans of La Salceda. Over time it became an important house of studies.

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The Convent of San Marcos is one of the most important monuments of the Spanish Renaissance. Although founded in the twelfth century, the building was rebuilt in the sixteenth century by Renaissance architects such as Juan de Orozco, Martín de Villarreal and Juan de Badajoz el Mozo. In 1615 the staircase was built and in 1679 the part of the cloister that was still missing was completed. Finally, between 1711 and 1715 a large extension to the building was carried out.

Legend has it that the hermitage of Sant Simeó l'Estilita - or the hermitage of the Column, founded in 1612 - was occupied by one of the founders of the convent, who fell one day, face down, into a hole where there was a fountain. He was able to get out because he miraculously turned around and found himself face up. The convent was suppressed with the exclaustration of 1835 and once abandoned, it was looted. Its waters have been exploited since 1974 and several companies have been successively involved in its commercialisation.