page_title: Valladolid
section_title: Early Modern period
hierarchical_section_title: Valladolid / History / Early Modern period
caption_attribution_description: Valladolid
context_page_description: Valladolid is a city in Spain and the capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It has a population of 309,714 people, making it Spain's 13th most populous municipality and northwestern Spain's biggest city. Its metropolitan area ranks 20th in Spain with a population of 414,244 people in 23 municipalities.
  The city is situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers 15 km before they join the Duero, and located within five winegrowing regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda, Toro, Tierra de León, and Cigales.
  Valladolid was originally settled in pre-Roman times by the Celtic Vaccaei people, and later the Romans themselves. It remained a small settlement until being re-established by King Alfonso VI of Castile as a Lordship for the Count Pedro Ansúrez in 1072. It grew to prominence in the Middle Ages as the seat of the Court of Castile and being endowed with fairs and different institutions as a collegiate church, University, Royal Court and Chancery and the Royal Mint. The city was briefly the capital of Habsburg Spain under Phillip III between 1601 and 1606, before returning indefinitely to Madrid.
context_section_description: In 1469, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon were married in the city; by the 15th century Valladolid was the residence of the kings of Castile. In 1506, Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid "still convinced that he had reached the Indies" in a house that is now a museum dedicated to him.
  From 1554 to 1559, Joanna of Austria, sister of Philip II, served as regent, establishing herself in Valladolid, with the latter becoming the political center of the Hispanic Monarchy by that time. She favoured the Ebolist Party, one of the two leading factions of the Court of Philip II, in competition with the albistas. The Reformation took some hold in the city appearing some Protestant circles presumably around the leading figure of Augustino de Cazalla, an adviser of Joanna. Ensuing autos de fe against the Protestant sects took place in 1559 in Valladolid. A catastrophic fire in 1561 destroyed a portion of the city.
  During a period of 1550-1551 the town hold the first moral debate in European history to discuss the rights and treatment of the indigenous people by conquerors. See Valladolid debate.
  Valladolid was granted the status of city in 1596, also becoming a bishopric seat.
  In the midst of the reign of by Philip III, Valladolid briefly served as the capital of the Hispanic Monarchy between 1601 and 1606 under the auspice of the Duke of Lerma, valido of Philip III. Lerma and his network had bought plots in Valladolid before in order to sell those to the Crown. Promoted by Lerma, the decision on moving the capital from Madrid to Valladolid has been portrayed as case of a (double) real estate speculative scheme, as Lerma had proceeded to buy housing in Madrid once the capital was moved from the city as the prices had plummeted. After a plague epidemics in Valladolid, Lerma suggested the King to go back to Madrid, earning a hefty profit when the Royal Court went back to Madrid and the prizes went up again accordingly.
  The city was again damaged by a flood of the rivers Pisuerga and Esgueva.
caption: Vallisoletum, 1574, by Braun and Hogenberg.
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