Ayllón

Ayllón was probably founded by the Arévacan people and later destroyed by the Roman commander Marcus Fulvius Nobilior. It sits geographically between the ancient sites of Tiermes and Confluenta (modern Duratón), and a Visigothic necropolis survives nearby at Estebanvela. The town's current name appears in written records for the first time in 1076, and it went on to head a community of villages and lands spanning parts of what are now the provinces of Segovia, Soria, and Guadalajara.

Its medieval history is eventful. In 1202, King Alfonso VIII issued the Fuero of Logroño to the town of Frías from here. In 1337, Queen Leonor of Aragón took refuge in the town with her two sons after fleeing conflict with King Pedro IV. The Treaty of Ayllón was signed here on 31 October 1411, settling a long dynastic crisis in Portugal and recognising João I of Avís as king. Just months later, the discriminatory Laws of Ayllón were passed against Jewish and Moorish communities. The town later served as a residence for the powerful royal favourite Álvaro de Luna, and was one of two annual meeting places for the Mesta, the influential shepherds' council that governed transhumance across Castile. Most of the monuments standing today date from the 15th and 16th centuries. In 2013, Ayllón joined the association of Spain's Most Beautiful Villages.