Qualla: La Mota Castle https://qualla.com/la-mota-castle-medina-del-campo en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:18 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: La Mota Castle https://qualla.com/la-mota-castle-medina-del-campo La Mota Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/la-mota-castle-medina-del-campo/ Cesare Borgia climbed down a rope from a tower nearly forty meters high to escape this castle. That single detail -- the Renaissance's most ruthless political operator dangling from a prison wall in the dark -- tells you something about La Mota Castle in Medina del Campo: it was the kind of place people desperately wanted to get out of, and the kind of place kings desperately wanted to control. Built from local red brick on an elevated hill (a mota in Spanish) overlooking the town and the surrounding Castilian plain, it spent five centuries at the center of power struggles that shaped modern Spain.

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]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/z/k/e/la-mota-castle-medina-del-campo-wp/ezke-la-mota-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full La Mota Castle: Five Centuries of Contested Walls https://qualla.com/la-mota-castle-medina-del-campo/ The first fortifications rose on this hilltop in 1080, after Moorish raids had devastated the area. The village grew alongside its fortress, and by the fourteenth century the castle had become valuable enough to fight over. Henry of Trastamara seized it by force in 1354. In 1390,...

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]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/z/k/e/la-mota-castle-medina-del-campo-wp/ezke-la-mota-castle-five-centuries-of-contested-walls.mp3 0:06 2 full La Mota Castle: The Crown Takes Hold https://qualla.com/la-mota-castle-medina-del-campo/ After the First Battle of Olmedo in 1445, the castle finally settled into Castilian royal hands for good. King Henry IV built the central tower in 1460, then gave the castle to the Archbishop of Toledo, Alonso Carrillo, who promptly betrayed him by backing the rival claimant Afon...

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]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/z/k/e/la-mota-castle-medina-del-campo-wp/ezke-la-mota-castle-the-crown-takes-hold.mp3 0:06 3 full La Mota Castle: Red Brick Against the Sky https://qualla.com/la-mota-castle-medina-del-campo/ What makes La Mota visually distinctive is its construction from local red brick -- a warm, earthy material that glows in the afternoon light against the pale Castilian sky. Stone appears only in select details. The outer barbican is the castle's most imposing feature, enclosing ...

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]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/z/k/e/la-mota-castle-medina-del-campo-wp/ezke-la-mota-castle-red-brick-against-the-sky.mp3 0:06 4 full La Mota Castle: From Prison to Politics https://qualla.com/la-mota-castle-medina-del-campo/ Protected by the state since 1904 as a national monument and later as a Bien de Interes Cultural, La Mota survived the centuries largely through neglect -- nobody tore it down because nobody found a use for it. That changed in 1939, when Franco lent the castle to the Seccion Feme...

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]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/z/k/e/la-mota-castle-medina-del-campo-wp/ezke-la-mota-castle-from-prison-to-politics.mp3 0:06 5 full