Castle of Pedraza: A Medieval Fortress in Spain
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Crown of Castile
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page10 sections
History
Castle of Pedraza is a polygonal fortress in the medieval village of Pedraza, Spain. A Roman and Arab fort occupied the hill before the existing castle was built after the Reconquista, the long medieval expansion of Christian kingdoms across the Iberian Peninsula at the expense of Muslim-ruled territories.
Herrera and Velasco ownership
In 1369, King Henry II of Castile granted the castle to Fernando Gómez de Albornoz. His successor, King John I of Castile, later granted it as a feudal holding to García González de Herrera. The castle remained with the Herrera family until it passed to the Velascos at the end of the fifteenth century.
The Velasco family supplied the Constables of Castile, a senior military office in the medieval Castilian monarchy. The first Velasco to hold the office was Bernardino Fernández de Velasco y Mendoza, Duke of Frías.
Royal hostages and abandonment
In 1529, during the tenure of Bernardino’s cousin Pedro Fernández de Velasco y Tovar, the French royal children Francis and Henry were imprisoned in the castle. They were held as hostages in connection with the unfulfilled Peace of Madrid, a 1526 agreement intended to settle the conflict between Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, whose terms included the delivery of French royal hostages.
Juan de Jalón, who took part in a plot to free the children, was discovered and executed. After feudalism was abolished in 1811, the castle was abandoned.
Restoration and heritage status
The Spanish painter Ignacio Zuloaga acquired the dilapidated castle in 1925. He made the keep habitable and consolidated the rest of the structure. His heirs later established the Museo Ignacio Zuloaga in the castle, with works by Zuloaga and other painters. The castle is designated a Bien de Interés Cultural, Spain’s formal category for protected cultural heritage.
Remains
The castle occupies a hill in Pedraza, approximately 40 kilometres from Segovia. Its defenses combine a moat across the front with a precipice at the rear. A polygonal outer bailey encloses the approach, while the inner castle lies behind it, creating distinct defensive areas within the fortress.
Defensive enclosures and towers
Outer bailey
The outer bailey is protected by round towers. Its position behind the moat formed part of the castle’s forward defenses, while the natural precipice strengthened the rear of the hilltop position.
Inner castle
Behind the outer bailey, the inner castle has square towers. This arrangement gives the surviving fortress a layered plan, with the outer and inner defenses distinguished by the shapes of their towers.
Torre del Homenaje
The largest tower is the fifteenth-century Torre del Homenaje, or keep, the principal fortified tower of a castle and often its strongest refuge and residence. It rises through three storeys and was made habitable during Zuloaga’s restoration.
Present condition
The castle is partly ruined. The Torre del Homenaje remains habitable, while the remainder of the structure was consolidated during the restoration carried out after Zuloaga acquired the site.
