Both the Castilian Spanish "Villarreal" and Valencian Catalan "Vila-real" are cognates meaning 'Royal Village', due to the city's foundation by King James I of Aragon. Throughout the Middle Ages, as were most European settlements, it was officially known by its Latinised name "Villae Regalis". A 1592 tapestry of the Valencian Parliament shows the city's representative with the old Valencian name "Vilareal". It was in the late 18th century, as Spain became more centralised, that the Castilian name took over. The city was renamed in 1939, after the Spanish Civil War, as "Villarreal de los Infantes" (Royal Town of the Infantes), to avoid confusion with other Spanish localities with the same name. It is sometimes still referred to under this extended version.