Valladolid

Valladolid, a famous city of Spain, sometime capital of the whole country, and still capital of a province of Old Castile (q.v., and see SPAIN), stands on a plain on the left bank of the Pisuerga, 150 miles N.W. of Madrid by rail. It is 2200 feet above sea-level, and has a healthy climate, the air being pure and the sky generally cloudless. The Museo contains such of the statues, carvings, and sculptures as could be collected at the suppression of convents in the province. The Classical cathedral (1585) was never finished; there are some fifteen other churches. Of the once numerous monasteries the Dominican house, of which Torquemada was prior, is now a house of correction, and that of the Benedictines is a barrack. The university dates from 1346. The Scots College here was long the only seminary for the education of Scots Catholics; see SCOTLAND (ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY). Some of the squares are very large. The city, which contains a royal palace and many other public buildings, is fortified. Manufactures are springing up; silk, cotton, and woollen stuffs, jewellery, hats, paper, perfumery, chemicals, gloves, &c. are manufactured; there are iron-foundries; and though the place has a dull appearance, trade and industry have lately grown. The province is a great corn-held. Pop. (1887) 62,018; (1897) 68,746. Valladolid, the Pincia of Ptolemy, is first men- tioned as Vallisoletum in 1072. Charles V. erected many splendid edifices here. About this time Valladolid was the most prosperous city in Spain, containing 100,000 inhabitants. Formerly capital of Castile and Leon, it was still the usual residence of the kings. In 1560, under Philip II. (who was born here), Madrid was declared the only court; and from this time the prosperity of Valladolid declined. In 1808 it was sacked by the French, and much damage done to buildings and pictures.