The Walls of Cuéllar are Romanesque defensive walls that surrounds the old town of the Segovian village of Cuéllar. They represent one of the most important and best preserved walled complexes in the autonomous community of Castile and León (Spain).
The walled complex consists of three distinct enclosures: the city, the citadel and the counter wall. In addition, archaeological remains of a fourth enclosure, now disappeared, have been found. The walls were built in the 11th century and reinforced in the 15th century by Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 2nd Duke of Alburquerque and lord of the town. Initially they had an overall length of more than , of which approximately are preserved. They are thick and have an average height of more than . Seven of the eleven gates that allowed access to different parts of the town are preserved, among them the arch of San Basilio, in the Mudéjar style.
From the 17th century onwards they ceased to be used for defensive purposes, and interest in their conservation began to wane until, in the 19th century, the most deteriorated sections began to be demolished. This, together with the sinking caused by wear and tear and neglect, led to the loss of a quarter of the walls. In the 1970s, this deterioration began to be halted by rehabilitating different parts.
The last restoration was completed in 2011 thanks to a project of the Ministry of Housing, which, with a budget of 3.4 million euros from European funds, enhanced the complex as a tourist attraction, making some sections of the wall accessible.
The walled enclosure, which bears a strong resemblance to Toledo's 14th-century military architecture, was declared a national artistic monument in 1931, along with Cuéllar Castle, a distinction known as a Bien de Interés Cultural.
History
Construction: 10th to 15th centuries
The wall was the main element of all the elements of the medieval urban phenomenon.Olmos Herguedas, (1998). p. 49 (Referenced in Jaques Le Goff "Construcción y destrucción de la ciudad amurallada. Una aproximación a la reflexión y la investigación".V.V.A.A. La ciudad y sus murallas (In Spanish). (1991) Cátedra, Madrid: 11–20) Its presence made possible the existence of a protected hamlet with a certain density, and the fence is the first thing that reveals the rural-urban dichotomy. This initial need for defense was more pronounced in the border regions, as is the case of Cuéllar, on the banks of the Douro River. Like most of the towns created during the repopulation, the town was built in the wilderness, seeking small hills to defend itself. The wall runs through them, fortifying its highest part, so that its layout obeys a topographical conditioning, adapting to the terrain.
The Walls of Cuéllar have their origin in the Early Middle Ages, when the definitive repopulation of the town took place, entrusted by Alfonso VI of Castile to Count Pedro Ansúrez. The beginning of its construction can be dated from the year 1085, during this repopulation, as attested by the oldest remains of the wall that have been found, located in the castle and dating from the 11th century. This construction was extended throughout the 12th and especially the 13th centuries.
The first documented record dates from 29 April 1264. It is a document of Alfonso X the Wise in which he granted, at the request of the council of Cuéllar, that the collection of certain fines be used to repair the Walls of Cuéllar:
Once again, the town council asked a monarch, this time Henry II of Castile in 1374, to grant the inheritances located in the town that had belonged to Juana de Castro for the repair of the walls, a request that was not accepted by the king. The proof of the town's interest in its walls can be deduced from another new petition, this time to the Infante Don Ferdinand, who granted a license to the council on 13 February 1403 to repair the walls, and for this purpose all the residents of Walls of Cuéllar and its Land, without distinction of status, had to pay 30,000 maravedís:
In 1427, following the council's concern to strengthen and restore its defensive walls, John II of Aragon, who was then lord of the town, signed a document in Valladolid addressed to the council to authorize the archdeacon Gómez González to build the Hospital de la Magdalena, one of his foundations, attached to the wall, while leaving the city walls and their defense intact, but breaking part of the wall. Apparently there was prior authorization, but the council, concerned about the defense of the city, later opposed the works. The archdeacon had to request permission again from the king, who replied that he should be allowed to complete the building. Finally, the archdeacon did not comply with what the lord of the town imposed on him, and did not respect the chemin de ronde, as he literally leaned the building on it, leaving no option for the promenade.
Reforms of the 16th century
The walls were rebuilt and enlarged during the 14th and 15th centuries for defensive purposes. When Beltrán de la Cueva arrived at the manor of Cuéllar in 1464, the Romanesque walls were in good condition, but at the same time that he carried out the enlargement of the castle, he also reinforced the rest of the fortifications. Thus, in 1471 he enlarged the north wall to raise the wall and the barbican. At the same time, he strengthened the first wall of the first enclosure that runs from the Arch of San Basilio to the nearest wall of the castle.
At this time the Catholic Monarchs initiated a general program of inspection and repair of walls in Castilian cities in which they urged lords, priors, masters and corregidores of the towns to report on the situation of the same through master architects, and how many maravedis were to be spent for their restoration, so it is possible that the works carried out by the first duke were due to the campaign of walls that the monarchs carried out.
After Beltrán's death in 1492, his son and successor Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 2nd Duke of Alburquerque and 2nd Lord of the town, carried out the most important reforms of the complex, following the guidelines set by his father. The works began around 1500 and their main purpose was to reinforce the existing walls to defend his rights over the town against a possible attack by his stepmother, María de Velasco, who considered that she had rights over it.María de Velasco was the third wife of Beltrán de la Cueva, 1st Duke of Alburquerque, after being widowed by Juan Pacheco. After the death of Beltrán de la Cueva in 1492, his widow tried to take possession of the town, alleging a series of rights conferred in her marriage, although in reality Cuéllar was linked in the first marriage of Beltrán de la Cueva to the entailed estate of Alburquerque, while for the third marriage and his descendants it was linked to Roa. Finally the 2nd Duke got her to renounce her possible rights to the town, and to take Roa as her father agreed. Half the cost of the works was paid for by the duke, something unusual, since the payment for this type of renovation was paid for by the population, not the lord.
The works carried out by the 2nd Duke began by strengthening the first enclosure, from the Church of San Esteban to the Arch of San Martín, and from there to the Arch of Santiago, raising its walls and endowing it with battlements and merlons with arrowslits. He also intervened in the Arch of San Pedro, giving the apse of his church a military appearance, and placed his coat of arms, as he did in all the gates of the citadel enclosure that he reinforced.
Abandonment: 17th to 19th centuries From the 17th and especially the 18th century, the walls ceased to be a main building, becoming a second plane for the population. This disuse caused it to gradually weaken, and a period of abandonment began for the complex that led to the loss of part of the walled route. The initiative taken in the 15th century by the Lord of Cuéllar to allow building on the Walls of Cuéllar led to the massive construction of buildings attached to it, and in 1587 Juan de Ortelano was authorized to build a house next to the Walls of San Pedro; another authorization came in the mid-17th century to do the same next to the Arch of San Martín. The process of building by loading beams on the walls caused great deterioration to them, because to obtain greater amplitude they were lowered on the inside, and many windows and other spaces were opened, thus breaking the neatness and firmness they had possessed.
In the middle of this century the population dismantled some sections of the wall to reuse the stone in their houses, to which the council responded with lawsuits and fines, as happened in 1649. In the 18th century, the outer arch of the Puerta de Carchena had to be demolished, leaving only the strongest one, the inner one. Also in danger of collapse was the Arch of La Trinidad in 1777, whose wall had already lost its battlements in a previous collapse.
The walls belonged to the Duke of Alburquerque as lord of the town. After the abolition of the lordships in 1811, they remained in the possession of the Ducal House. That same year, the Ducal House underwent one of the most important changes in its history when the 14th Duke died in London without a successor to inherit his House, definitively extinguishing the lineage of La Cueva in the duchy. After a long litigation of nineteen years, the House of Alburquerque fell to the Osorio family, Marquises of Alcañices and Los Balbases, in the person of Nicolás Osorio y Zayas, defender of the Liberal Revolution.
The new Duke of Alburquerque totally disassociated himself from Cuéllar, a land he had inherited from his ancestors but with which he had no sentimental or historical relationship, since he inherited the House through the female line,Nicolás Osorio y Zayas was recognized as successor to the House of Alburquerque because he was the grandson of María Dominga Spínola de la Cueva, wife of the 14th Marquis of Alcañices, and daughter of Ana Catalina de la Cueva y de la Cerda, 6th Countess of La Torre, daughter in turn of Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque, and Juana de la Cerda y Aragón, his wife (Portal Grandes de España: Genealogy of the Duchy of Alburquerque). thus beginning the greatest deterioration of the walls, and causing the most significant blow to the enclosure. In 1842 the wall next to the Estudio de Gramática (Grammar School) threatened to fall into ruin and the town council communicated the situation to the new Duke, who did not want to undertake its restoration. The same year it was agreed to remove the doors of the Arches of San Andrés and Carchena to prevent their weight from contributing to the collapse of the arches. Years later, those of the Arch of La Trinidad were also removed, which were appraised at 320 reales and placed in the corral of the inn.
In 1858 the collapse of another wall next to the Arch of Santiago was reported and, in the same area, there was a collapse in November 1859. These collapses alarmed the town authorities and the legal question of the ownership of the walls came to the forefront of municipal affairs, since if the Duke of Alburquerque, who considered himself the owner of the walls, did not intervene in them,The Duke of Alburquerque was the one who authorized and prevented the construction of houses attached to the wall, among other functions. ( the town council had to take a measure to prevent the population from continuing to be in danger. Various jurists were consulted on the legality of the ducal possession of the walls, and their answer was categorical: since the jurisdictional lordships were abolished, the duke could not be considered the owner of the walls and, after various formalities, the duke was obliged to renounce his rights, and from then on the ownership of the walled enclosure passed to the town council.