Castle of La Mota
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The Castle of La Mota or Castillo de La Mota is a medieval fortress, located in the town of
Medina del Campo Medina del Campo is a town and municipality of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Part of the Province of Valladolid, it is the centre of a farming area. History Medina del Campo grew in importance thanks to its fairs ...
,
province of Valladolid Valladolid () is a Provinces of Spain, province of northwest Spain, in the central part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Castile and León. It has a population of 520,716 people in a total of 225 munici ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
. It is so named because of its location on an elevated hill, a ''mota'' (in Spanish), from where it dominates the town and surrounding land. The adjacent town came to be surrounded by an expanding series of walls in subsequent years, of which little remains. It has been protected by the state since 1904, first as a national monument and more recently as a site of cultural interest, or ''
Bien de Interés Cultural A Bien de Interés Cultural is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" ("goods" in the economic sense) and inclu ...
''.Ministerio de Cultura. ''Bienes Culturales Protegidos''
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Overview

The castle's main feature is the large outer
barbican A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer fortifications, defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe ...
. The interior castle has a trapezoidal plan, with 4 towers and a square
yard The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.914 ...
. It has a large square
keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...
tower, and an inner curtain wall that was used for archers. The castle was originally accessed through a
drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...
. It is made from local red brick, utilizing stone only for some details.


History

Initial fortification of the village, repopulated after
Moor Moor or Moors may refer to: Nature and ecology * Moorland, a habitat characterized by low-growing vegetation and acidic soils. Ethnic and religious groups * Moors, Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during ...
ish depredations, led to the creation of a fortress on the site, starting in 1080. The village soon grew alongside. In 1354,
Henry of Trastamara Henry II (13 January 1334 – 29 May 1379), called Henry of Trastámara or the Fratricidal (''el Fratricida''), was the first King of Castile and León from the House of Trastámara. He became king in 1369 by defeating his half-brother Peter the ...
is known to have taken the fortress by force. In 1390 King
John I of Castile John I ( es, Juan I; 24 August 1358 – 9 October 1390) was King of Castile and León from 1379 until 1390. He was the son of Henry II and of his wife Juana Manuel of Castile. Biography His first marriage, to Eleanor of Aragon on 18 June 1375, ...
granted the town to his son, the ''
infante ''Infante'' (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as Infant or translated as Prince, is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to t ...
''
Ferdinand of Antequera Ferdinand I (Spanish: ''Fernando I''; 27 November 1380 – 2 April 1416 in Igualada, Òdena) named Ferdinand of Antequera and also the Just (or the Honest) was king of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and (nominal) Corsica and king of Sicily ...
, future king of Aragon. After the latter's death in 1416, his son,
John II of Aragon John II (Spanish: ''Juan II'', Catalan: ''Joan II'', Aragonese: ''Chuan II'' and eu, Joanes II; 29 June 1398 – 20 January 1479), called the Great (''el Gran'') or the Faithless (''el Sense Fe''), was King of Aragon from 1458 until his death i ...
, in 1433 taxed local residents to help the construction at the Mota. During the following century, the castle and town changed hands between the rival kings of Castile and Aragon, with the castle and town being sometimes held by opposing sides. In 1439, for example, the prince of Aragon locked the town gates, thereby imprisoning the Castilian king within the castle walls. In 1441, the Castilian king was able to obtain the surrender of some 250 soldiers of Aragon within the castle. After the
First Battle of Olmedo The First Battle of Olmedo, between Castilian forces and those of Navarre and Aragon, took place on 19 May 1445 outside Olmedo in Castile (now in the province of Valladolid, Spain). The war was in part prompted by the decrees of John II of C ...
in 1445, the castle came once and for all into hands of the Castilian monarchy. In 1460, King
Henry IV of Castile Henry IV of Castile ( Castilian: ''Enrique IV''; 5 January 1425 – 11 December 1474), King of Castile and León, nicknamed the Impotent, was the last of the weak late-medieval kings of Castile and León. During Henry's reign, the nobles became ...
built the central tower. In 1464, Henry gave the castle to the Archbishop of Toledo, Alonso Carrillo, who soon betrayed the king, and backed the rival claimant
Afonso V of Portugal Afonso V () (15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), known by the sobriquet the African (), was King of Portugal from 1438 until his death in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. His sobriquet refers to his military conquests in Northern Africa. ...
. After taking the castle by force, it fell by 1467 into the hands of supporters of King Afonso, while the village supported Henry. Subsequently, the castle was disputed between the princess claimant,
Isabella of Castile Isabella I ( es, Isabel I; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''la Católica''), was Queen of Castile from 1474 until her death in 1504, as well as Queen consort of Aragon from 1479 until 1504 by ...
and her cousin of dubious paternity, the princess
Juana la Beltraneja Joanna ''la Beltraneja'' (21 February 1462 – 12 April 1530) was a claimant to the throne of Castile, and Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Afonso V, her uncle. Birth and parentage King Henry IV of Castile married Joan of Portugal, dau ...
. After a succession of owners, in 1475, the crown of Castile reclaimed the castle, and built an artillery bastion, upon whose entrance are the heraldic symbols of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella. The castle became a prominent prison, and variously housed
Hernando Pizarro Hernando Pizarro y de Vargas (; born between 1501 and 1508, died 1578) was a Spanish conquistador and one of the Pizarro brothers who ruled over Peru. Hernando was born in Trujillo, (Extremadura), Spain, son of Captain Gonzalo Pizarro y Rodr ...
,Leon, P., 1998, The Discovery and Conquest of Peru, Chronicles of the New World Encounter, edited and translated by Cook and Cook, Durham: Duke University Press,
Rodrigo Calderón Rodrigo is a Spanish, Portuguese and Italian name derived from the Germanic name ''Roderick'' (Gothic ''*Hroþareiks'', via Latinized ''Rodericus'' or ''Rudericus''), given specifically in reference to either King Roderic (d. 712), the last Vis ...
, Duke Fernando de Calabria, and
Cesare Borgia Cesare Borgia (; ca-valencia, Cèsar Borja ; es, link=no, César Borja ; 13 September 1475 – 12 March 1507) was an Italian ex- cardinal and '' condottiero'' (mercenary leader) of Aragonese (Spanish) origin, whose fight for power was a major ...
, among others. Of these men, the last is known for having escaped from the nearly 40 meter high tower by climbing down a rope.


References


Sources

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External links


News of Castillo de La Mota
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castle Of La Mota Castles in Castile and León Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Valladolid Medina del Campo