ABSTRACT
Ancient Iberian Segobriga was taken by the Romans in 80 BCE and developed into a prosperous city. It was a Visigothic bishopric in the 6th century and a centre of the cloth industry under the Moors in the 9th century. It fell to the Christian reconquerors in 1085, became a royal seat and was endowed with a new cathedral in the 12th century and another in the 16th century. The latter is typical in its dominance over the secular world. Equally characteristically, the castle is the next most prominent element and it is symptomatic of urban revival in the Gothic period that it is incorporated into the town defences.
