From a social point of view, the layout of the city was redistributed in the following way: the Moslems occupied the Plaza de Mangana (Mangana Square), the Jews were found on Calle Zapaterías (Zapaterías Street), and the rest of the city was under Christian control, divided into parishes. The hamlets, which continued to spring up in the form of property awards given by the king, were organized by administrative entities called sexmos.



From an economic standpoint, the main industry was the production of cloth. As such, in the first third of the 15th century, the city gained a reputation as an important textile center, producer of wool and livestock.
During the 16th century, Cuenca lost jurisdiction over many of it villages, but the city was strengthened when it became the head of the judicial system, and more importantly, when it gained a vote in the Parliament.

The city would experience a great wave of growth thanks to agricultural expansion, the development of wool guilds, and the splendor of livestock transhumance. The most immediate consequence of this bonanza would be an unstoppable demographic growth spurt and the urban progress that the city underwent; this was the century that saw the construction of the Episcopal Palace; the monastery of the Jesuits; the convents of the Petras, Angélicas and Bernardas; the schools of San José and Santa Catalina; and the Oratory of San Felipe Neri. What’s more, many artists and architects from other regions, especially from the Basque Country, settled in this city, and in other villages of the province.



If the 16th century was one of expansion, the 17th was one of crisis. The plague that broke out in 1588 and affected Cuenca and other cities and towns in the province was the prelude to what would come to pass in the following century: prolonged drought, plagues of locusts, a drastic drop in population. The wool textile industry that had flourished up to this point would collapse, along with the decadence of the livestock transhumance.

Although symptoms of demographic recuperation appeared in the 18th century, and Bishop Palafox attempted to re-launch the textile industry, Cuencan economy would remain weak due to a decree by Carlos the 4th abolishing workshops in Cuenca, in an effort to avoid competition with the Real Fábrica de Tapices (Royal Tapestry Works).
As for the 19th century, Javier de Burgos carried out reforms in 1833, in which Spain was divided into provinces, each with its own capital. Cuenca became the capital of its province, although the upheavals of the period (the War of Independence, the Carlist Wars, and political rivalries) would keep the city in a worn-out state that would last until the second half of the 20th century.