Caleruega came into being between the years 912 and 940 A.D. The name, according to philologists, derives from the Latin "cabis", or lime, an abundant product in the area. A group of families from Castilla Vieja (north) or Mozarabia (south) form the village and establish a council.

 The first news of Caleruega dates from the year 1062. On 10th May 1062 a notarial act appears in the monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza. In the year 1094, the name of Caleruega appears in the archive of the monastery of San Salvador de Oña. 

In 1170, Calaruega's fortunes take a radical turn towards fame and prominence. In that year Santo Domingo de Guzmán was born here. One of Burgo's most famous sons. The theological and social movement initiated by Santo Domingo soon took root in the town. Before a century had passed, King Alfonso X the Wise had created a political and spiritual lordship in the village to glorify the saint. He ordered the transfer of the Dominican nuns from San Esteban de Gormaz to the convent that, on his behalf, the bishop of Osma had built in Calaruega on the manor houses of the Guzmanes. The king went to Caleruega and granted special privileges, convent, villa and surrounds to the prioress of the Dominicans. The lordship of the nuns over Caleruega lasted until the changes of the nineteenth century. Two heraldic testimonies remain from this period: the tower of the Guzmans and the pillory of justice. Caleruega does not depend on other administrations and thus appears alone in the census of 1591 - year in which it is reported as having 90 immediate locals and more than 400 wider inhabitants. In the middle of the century, around 1950, the Order of the Dominicans favoured Caleruega as a holy place, valuing the atmosphere of silence and Christianity they found there; they thus inaugurated a Centre of Studies and Spirituality for the men of the Order and the tower, church, well and cloisters were restored. Today Caleruega is an important location both theologically and in terms of tourist appeal thanks to Santo Domingo: the Royal Monastery of Santo Domingo de Guzmán is preserved intact, housing the Sepulchre of the Infanta Leonor of Castile, daughter of Alfonso X; also visitable are the well of Santo Domingo, the Torreón de los Guzmanes, the Bodega de Santa Juana and the simple Romanesque style Church of San Sebastián.