Editing Segovia (section)

==History==
The first recorded mention of a settlement in what is today Segovia was a Celtic possession. Control later passed into the hands of the Romans. The city is a possible site of the battle in 75 BC where [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius]] was victorious over [[Quintus Sertorius]] and [[Hirtuleius]].  Hirtuleius died in the fighting.<ref>''From the Gracchi to Nero'', H. H. Scullard, p 91 however Philip Spann disagreed - ''Quintus Sertorius and the Legacy of Sulla'', p110</ref>

During the Roman period the settlement belonged to one of numerous contemporary Latin convents. It was traditionally defended that the place was uninhabited at the height of the 11th century.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://oa.upm.es/9932/4/Urbanismo_Segovia1_opt.pdf|page=21|title=Historia del Urbanismo en la ciudad de Segovia del siglo XII al XIX|isbn=84-500-5402-8|year=1982|first=J. Antonio|last=Ruiz Hernando}}</ref> The circumstances behind the Christian settlement of the [[Meseta Central|northern Meseta]] beyond the [[Douro]] (vis-à-vis the pre-existing population) in the middle ages is however a moot point in historiography.{{Sfn|Ruiz Hernando|1982|p=21}} Short of the existence of any real urban layout in the place, possible pre-existing Berber or [[Mozarab]] settlements in the area are suggested.{{Sfn|Ruiz Hernando|1982|pp=21–22}}

After the [[Siege of Toledo (1085)|conquest of Toledo]] by [[Alfonso VI of León and Castile]], Segovia was resettled with Christians from the north of the Iberian peninsula and beyond the Pyrenees, providing it with a significant sphere of influence whose boundaries crossed the [[Sierra de Guadarrama]] and the [[Tagus]].

Segovia's position on trading routes made it an important centre of trade in wool and textiles. The end of the Middle Ages saw something of a golden age for Segovia, with a growing Jewish population and the creation of a foundation for a powerful cloth industry. Several splendid works of Gothic architecture were also completed during this period. Notably, [[Isabella I of Castile|Isabella I]] was proclaimed queen of Castile in the church of San Miguel de Segovia on December 13, 1474.
[[Segovienne]] was a local [[flannel]] cloth used for [[upholstery]] in the 14th to 17th centuries. It was a twilled weave structure with a hairy surface produced by using Spanish wool.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Montgomery|first=Florence M.|url=https://archive.org/details/textilesinameric00mont|title=Textiles in America 1650-1870 : a dictionary based on original documents, prints and paintings, commercial records, American merchants' papers, shopkeepers' advertisements, and pattern books with original swatches of cloth|date=1984|publisher=New York; London : Norton|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-393-01703-8|pages=344}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Tortora|first1=Phyllis G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LTYfAQAAQBAJ&q=Segovienne&pg=PA544|title=The Fairchild Books Dictionary of Textiles|last2=Johnson|first2=Ingrid|date=2013-09-17|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-60901-535-0|pages=544|language=en}}</ref>
[[File:VistaSegovia1562.jpg|thumb|center|upright=3.5|Drawing of Segovia ('Segobia') by [[Anton van den Wyngaerde]] {{circa|1562}}.]]

Like most Castilian textile centres, Segovia joined the [[Revolt of the Comuneros]] under the command of [[Juan Bravo]]. Despite the defeat of the Communities, the city's resultant economic boom continued into the sixteenth century, its population rising to 27,000 in 1594. Then, as well as almost all the cities of Castile, Segovia entered a period of decline. Only a century later in 1694, the population had been reduced to only 8,000 inhabitants. In the early eighteenth century, Segovia attempted to revitalize its textile industry, with little success. In the second half of the century, [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]] made another attempt to revive the region's commerce; it took the form of the Royal Segovian Wool Manufacturing Company (1763). However, the lack of competitiveness of production caused the crown withdraw its sponsorship in 1779. In 1764, the Royal School of Artillery, the first military academy in Spain, was opened. This academy remains present in the city today. In 1808, Segovia was sacked by French troops during the War of Independence. During the [[First Carlist War]], troops under the command of [[Infante Carlos María Isidro of Spain|Don Carlos, Count of Molina]] unsuccessfully attacked the city. During the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century, Segovia experienced a demographic recovery that was the result of relative economic stability.