151- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
On the defensive: Spanish castles
The Romanesque and Gothic periods witnessed a flurry
of castle building in Spain, most notably in Castile.
Nowhere in Europe built more. Some were constructed
as genuine strongholds, important players in the
process of reconquest, while others looked the part but
would have proved embarrassingly flimsy if ever tested.
Indeed, wealthy Spanish folk of the late Middle Ages
tended not to build grand residences, preferring to
construct castles, real or faux, instead. Often they built
over – or into – old Moorish structures.In general, the castles weren’t of radical design – most
kept up the old tradition of a large central keep when
the rest of Europe had moved on to newer models.
Predictably, the ones that were built for fighting tend to
be in bits these days. On Majorca, at Bellver, lies one
of the finest of Spain’s Gothic castles, its stout circular
design briefly softened inside by a cloister with typically
pointed arches. As with ecclesiastical architecture,
castles picked up elements of Moorish style: the best-
preserved Mudéjar castle is the late 15thcentury brick
affair at Coca near Segovia. While castles protected
their wealthy owners, towns of strategic importance
also found themselves fortified. At Avila, on the meseta
west of Madrid, the 11thcentury city walls, complete
with 88 towers, survive with unparalleled might. In the
Gothic period, towns and cities like Toledo, Santa Fe
and Morella, with its imposing extant castle, were also
given walls, watchtowers and gates, portions of which
survive.Slowly but surely
Because it took so long
to build the monumental
Spanish cathedrals of
the late Middle Ages,
many feature a cocktail
of different Gothic styles,
incorporated in line with
changing tastes. Burgos,
for example, was begun
in the 13thcentury and
then added to over the
next 200 years. By the
time they got the spires
on in the late 1400s,
German Gothic was
inspiring intricate
tracery. In Toledo, where
building work lasted over
250 years, the cathedral
passes from pure
French Gothic into bits
of Mudéjar and,
internally, Renaissance
architecture. Barcelona
was an exception: raised
in only 59 years (quicker
than Gaudí’s still
incomplete 20thcentury
cathedral), it feels
unusually homogenous
as a result.Fernando and Isabel
banned the building of
any new castles at the
end of the 15thcentury in
an effort to end the
scramble for power
going on beneath them.v4 SPAIN BOOK 27/3/08 09:49 Page 151