Medina del Campo: Where Castile Did Its Banking

Medina del Campo held the great fairs of Castile, and they were not markets so much as clearing houses — bills of exchange settled here set the rhythm of European finance in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the phrase ferias de Medina meant a payment date across the continent. Isabella the Catholic died in the town in 1504. The Castillo de la Mota is built of the reddish local brick with stone only for gun ports and coats of arms. Isabella was granted Medina, its alcázar and the Mota tower under the 1468 accord of the Toros de Guisando, and lost it again in 1470 when her brother gave it to his daughter Juana. It later became a state prison holding Hernando Pizarro, Rodrigo Calderón, the duke of Calabria, the count of Aranda — and Cesare Borgia, who escaped from it. The town declined with the fairs and never regained the position.