Tordesillas () is a town and municipality in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, central Spain. It is located southwest of the provincial capital, Valladolid at an elevation of . The population was c. 8,760 .

The town is located on the Douro River although the river is not navigable at that point. Highways connect to Madrid ( southeast) and Salamanca ( southwest). The provincial capital Valladolid is also linked by four-lane highway. Because of its important highway connections Tordesillas has become a major transit hub. The economy is based on services—especially connected to tourism—and the agricultural production of the surrounding area. Wheat has long been the traditional agricultural product (see Cuisine of the province of Valladolid).

The town has many hotels with a Parador, four three-star hotels, one two-star hotel, and ten hostels and pensions. A camping site is nearby. Over 25 restaurants includes the three-star Parador restaurant. North of the town there is a fertile valley formed by the Douro, with extensive use of irrigation by central pivots.

Tordesillas is known for its Toro de la Vega festival during which a bull was slaughtered by people on horseback and on foot. Animal rights groups repeatedly tried to stop this traditional killing, and the practice was discontinued in 2016.

History

thumb|left|The [[Cantino planisphere (1502), depicting the meridian of Tordesillas.]]

thumb|left|Juana the Mad imprisoned in Tordesillas with her daughter, the infanta [[Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal|Catalina by Francisco Pradilla Ortiz (Museo del Prado, 1906)]]

The Roman Turris Sillae, built on the hill of Siellas, was the bulwark of the defensive line of the Duero during the Reconquest. In 1262 it received its charter from Alfonso X the Wise. The town began to be favored by the royal family and nobility, above all after Alfonso XI built a palace (1325). In the 15th century the town hosted several meetings of the Cortes. During the skirmishes between Henry IV and the nobility the city supported the monarchy, and again during the clashes between the Catholic Monarchs and Joanna La Beltraneja in 1476.

The Catholic Monarchs signed the Treaty of Tordesillas with the Portuguese crown in 1494, which established the line dividing the globe between Spain and Portugal for colonization purposes. This affected the Portuguese and Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Despite Tordesillas' traditional support for the monarchy, in the Castilian War of the Communities by citizens of Castile against the rule of Charles V, the city took the side of the Comuneros. The leaders chose Charles' own mother, Queen Joanna I, as an alternative ruler in more than title in 1519. They came to the town to ask for the mediation of Joanna I, confined within the Santa Clara convent since 1509 by her father Ferdinand II. However, in 1521, after nearly a year of rebellion, the reorganized supporters of the emperor Charles V struck a crippling blow to the comuneros at the Battle of Villalar, and finally royal troops of the Count of Haro captured Tordesillas. The person who delivered the fatal blow (this could be with a rifle) was entitled to cut off the bull's testicles and tie them to the tip of his spear and parade them through the town. The city then awarded him a gold medal and a commemorative forged iron spear.

This celebration was banned in 2016 by the regional government over rising concerns about violent clashes between those who held views in favor of the tournament and those against it. A perceived majority of the town's population supported the celebration while a growing number of Spaniards had come to know about it and were opposing this celebration over animal rights concerns. There had been attempts to block the celebration by members of animal-rights groups before and altercations between both locals and visitors in the years prior to the ban were escalating. The current format of the tournament involves the chasing of the bull without spears, and the bull is not killed. The name of the tournament is now El Toro de la Peña.

Notable people

  • Gonzalo Queipo de Llano (1875–1951), military leader
  • Moses ha-Kohen de Tordesillas (fl. 1370s), Jewish controversialist

See also

  • Battle of Tordesillas (1520)
  • Battle of Tordesillas (1812)

References

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