OSUNA

town, Seville provincia, in the comunidad autnoma (autonomous community) of Andalusia, southern Spain. Osuna lies at the foot of a hill at the edge of an extensive plain, east-southeast of Seville city. Of Iberian origin, the town became the Roman Urso and supported Pompey against Julius Caesar, who later made it a colony. In the European Middle Ages it was known as Ursona, or Orsona, and the Muslims called it Oxuna. Conquered by Ferdinand III (the Saint) in 1240, it came eventually to the Girn family. In 1562, Pedro Tllez Girn, 5th Count of Urea, was created 1st Duke of Osuna. The town was prosperous in the 17th and 18th centuries. Osuna's many fine 16th- to 18th-century buildings include the Chapel of Santo Sepulcro, where the dukes of Osuna are buried, and the Collegiate Church (153439), with a Baroque portal of the Crucifixion by Jos de Ribera. The former university (15491820) now houses a secondary school. Agriculture is the main occupation; but flour, olive oil, unslaked lime, and gypsum are produced, and esparto is processed. Pop. (1991 prelim.) 16,638.