Editing Cáceres, Spain (section)

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Cáceres - Monasterio de San Francisco el Real 30.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Monastery of San Francisco el Real, today integrated into the urban area but originally built outside the town in the 15th century.]]
Around the 5th century, the Visigoths devastated the Roman settlement, and until the 8th-9th century the city was not heard of again.
During the first centuries of the "[[Reconquista]]" (Reconquest), it was the Muslims, from [[North Africa]], who took advantage of the strategic place on which the primitive Roman colony was based as a military base to confront the Christian kingdoms of the north. Thus, in the year 1147 [[Abd al-Mu'min|Abd al-Mumin]] refounded the city on the Hispano-Roman and Visigoth remains. The current name of ''Vía de la Plata'' comes from Arabic, the name of the Roman road that linked [[Astorga, Spain|Astorga]] with [[Mérida, Spain|Mérida]] (from the Arabic "''balata''" (road), from which the word "silver" was derived).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120104074410/http://celtiberia.net/articulo.asp?id=877 Vía de la Plata: etimología] ''celtiberia.net''</ref>

The Christian Reconquest of Cáceres occurred in 1229, the result of a long process that from the second half of the 12th century to the beginning of the 13th century. During this period, which began in 1142 with the conquest of Coria, the [[Tagus|Tagus River]] marked an unstable border between Christians to the north and Muslims to the south. The [[kingdom of Castile]] partly ignored the possibilities of conquering this area; attempts to incorporate Cáceres came from the [[kingdom of Portugal]] and the [[kingdom of León]], which both wanted to expand their width in their southern expansions. The Portuguese [[Gerald the Fearless|Geraldo Sempavor]] conquered Cáceres in the mid-12th century in a campaign that began in 1165 and reached the entire center of present-day Extremadura, but an alliance between [[Ferdinand II of León]] and the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohads]] gave the Leonese control of the town in 1170.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de la Montaña Conchiña |first1=Juan Luis |last2=Clemente Ramos |first2=Julián |title="La Extremadura cristiana (1142-1230): ocupación del espacio y transformaciones socioeconómicas" |journal=Historia, Instituciones, Documentos (21) |date=1994 |volume=21 |issn=0210-7716 |pages=83–124}}</ref>

The [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohads]] carried out an expedition in 1174 in which they managed to regain control of Cáceres. Except for an attempted siege in 1183, the Leonese did not approach the Muslim town again until the 13th century. After the [[battle of Las Navas de Tolosa]] in 1212, the conquest of Alcántara took place in 1213, after which the Christians besieged Cáceres in 1218, 1222, 1223 and 1225, producing the definitive Reconquest on 23 April 1229. Although the conquest was led by Alfonso IX of León, becoming part of the Kingdom of León, the death of Alfonso IX in 1230 led to Cáceres becoming part of the [[Kingdom of Castile|Crown of Castile and León]].{{sfn|de la Montaña Conchiña|Clemente Ramos|1994|pp=83-124}}

[[File:Hospital de los Caballeros, Cáceres edited.JPG|thumb|upright=1.25| Hospital of the Knights, in the old town of Cáceres]]

The privileges of the reconquered town were granted by Alfonso IX and configured Cáceres as a royal town directly dependent on the Leonese Crown with no local government other than its own council. Through this jurisdiction, the Crown reserved a notable portion of land between those of the Order of Santiago and those of the [[Order of Alcántara]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Monterde García |first1=Juan Carlos |title="El sentido de la honra en los Fueros de Cáceres y Plasencia" |journal=Revista de Estudios Extremeños |date=2002 |volume=58 |issue=2 |issn=0210-2854 |pages=692–694}}</ref>

Cáceres flourished during the [[Reconquista]] and the [[Discovery of the Americas]], as influential Spanish families and nobles built homes and small palaces there, and many members of families from Extremadura participated in [[History of the Americas|voyages to the Americas]] where they made their fortunes.

In the 15th century, the city suffered from internal disputes among the nobility. The [[Catholic Monarchs of Spain|Catholic Monarchs]] issued several ordinances and provisions to try to pacify the local nobles; The most notable was issued by Isabel I (Isabella I) in 1477, during her stay in the town on the occasion of the [[War of the Castilian Succession]], whereby it was established that the twelve aldermen of the council would become perpetual. The prohibition of stately properties in this jurisdiction prevented the formation of a strong nobility, leaving the town governed by a mesocracy of agricultural knights.{{sfn| Monterde García |2002|pp=692-694}}

{{wide image|CaceresPanoramicaPlazaMayor.jpg|700px|border=yes|The Plaza Mayor with the Bujaco tower, the Púlpitos tower, the Herb tower and the town hall.}}The Old Town (''Parte Antigua'') still has its ancient walls; this part of town is also well known for its multitude of [[stork]]s' nests. The walls contain a [[Middle Ages|medieval]] town setting with no outward signs of modernity, which is why many television shows and films have been shot there.<ref>Europa Press (2 December 2016).{{cite web|title=El rodaje de Juego de Tronos llega al centro de Cáceres (English: Game of Thrones Production Comes to Caceres)|date=2 December 2016|url=http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/2903701/0/rodaje-juego-tronos-llega-caceres/|publisher=[[20 minutos]]|access-date=11 January 2017}}</ref><ref>Ortiz, C. (19 October 2011){{cite web|title=Vuelve a Cáceres el rodaje de la serie de TVE sobre Isabel la Católica (English:The production of TVE Series about Queen Isabella Returns to Caceres)|date=19 October 2011|url=http://www.elperiodicoextremadura.com/noticias/caceres/vuelve-caceres-rodaje-serie-tve-isabel-catolica_613295.html|publisher=El Periodico|access-date=11 January 2017}}</ref>
[[File:Spain-Cáceres-P1170512 (25893544255).jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Stork nests on rooftops are a common sight in Old Town Cáceres.]]

Cáceres was declared a [[World Heritage Site|World Heritage City]] by [[UNESCO]] in 1986<ref name="guard"/> because of the city's blend of [[Roman architecture|Roman]], [[Islamic architecture|Moorish]], Northern [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] and Italian [[Renaissance architecture]]. Thirty towers from the [[Al-Andalus|Islamic period]] still stand in Cáceres, of which the Torre del Bujaco is the most famous.