Historical notes

The first data that have been collected concerning primitive human settlements have been given by deposits found around the place where the fortress of the Mota currently stands. They date from the Age of Iron (7 th -5 th centuries b.C.). In the second part of the 11 th century La Mota was already an enclave of permanent population. It was situated on crossroads - which will be a permanent feature during all Medina 's history. The crossing of the river Zapardiel and its tributary the Adajuela was made possible thanks to different sources created under the protection of hermitages, churches, convents and monasteries, like in all the towns of Castile-Leon. A stable urban centre was going to appear through the successive building of three great walls and natural paths between these enclaves. The centre corresponds to the present-day town.

The golden age of Medina del Campo was in the 15 th and 16 th centuries. Not only did the town experience its most important territorial expansion ever but it also had a great role in the royal government during these centuries. Medina became a very urbanized town at that time thanks to the fairs and the support of Sir Fernando de Antequera and the Catholic Kings who liked the town. At that time, the population was divided into five main sectors. The first one, the central, was the trade forum, where the fairs used to take place; then there was the “aristocratic” one, the most occidental, that gathered several monuments such as convents, monasteries, parishes and big palaces. The third sector was situated outside the third great wall of the town. Then, the biggest one was the sector situated at the North of the town, on the right bank of the Zapardiel River . And the last one was enclosed by the hill of the Mota; it was in decline and had already started to experience definitive depopulation. Medina had a population of 20,000 inhabitants, which was very high at that time. Its economy and productivity were higher than any other Castilian city's.

The decline of wool trade, of the fairs in general and of the Royal support made the population leave the town: the trade activities were about to disappear and the reduction of the monumental heritage of the town was obvious. This led to a critical situation which worst moment was when the town lost the function of head of the judiciary, in 1843. That is in this context that we must place ourselves in order to really appreciate the current heritage wealth of Medina del Campo.

Three factors were essential in the new expansion of Medina that were the coming of the railway, the reconstruction and opening of the military district and the opening of the hydrotherapic establishment of Las Salinas. The development of the industry meant a period of partial transformation between 1871 and 1912, of strengthening between 1913 and 1922 and of crisis from 1932 to the sixties.

At that time, the centre of the town underwent some transformations in order to urbanize the public services. This led to a new destruction of some historical monuments. But also, of course, some facilities were improved, especially thanks to the building of a new first category railway (today a bit deteriorated). The coming of the railway then led to the emergence of the telegraph (1866), the electricity (1895), new alignments of squares and streets, the improvement of the buildings, periodicals…

However, from a monumental point of view, it has lost all of its archways in the historical centre (except for the Plaza Mayor or Main Square), all of the fortifications of the third great wall and its gates (the Valladolid, Avila, Salamanca ones…) and a lot of its important buildings such as the Royal Testamentary Palace and the Church of San Pedro. The impetus of development of the sixties and the building frenzy of this decade led to the destruction of churches such as the one of the Vera Cruz and of several civil buildings of historical and artistic interest. The consequence of that was the pillage of historical centres of bigger cities such as Valladolid , Vigo or Gijon .

Today, Medina del Campo is the biggest nucleus of population of the province of Valladolid from a hierarchical and functional point of view -after the city of Valladolid .