Castle of Villanueva de Jamuz (León)

North view of the castle

The castle of the Quiñones was built throughout the first half of the 15th century at the initiative of Don Diego Fernández de Quiñones, the future Count of Luna from the year 1462. It has a quadrilateral plan, with towers in three of its corners. In its north-east wall there is a central cube where the entrance to the castle is located and an ashlar on which the weapons of D. Suero de Quiñones, the protagonist of “El Paso Honroso” in Hospital de Órbigo, are sculpted, which reads the phrase “Honor or end.” Inside is the parade ground and the homage tower, with the heraldic shields of Don Diego and his wife María de Toledo. It had four floors and was crowned with a projecting cornice supported by modillions. The first floors served as the lords rooms and rest chambers.

Villanueva de Jamuz

Town Hall of the Santa Elena de Jamuz

Villanueva de Jamuz is a town belonging to the municipality of Santa Elena de Jamuz, in the province of León in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León, it belongs to the Tierra de La Bañeza region. The town would have been founded around the 11th century, where it is already documented. At first it was known as Villanueva de Don Vermúdez, a figure of the Leonese nobility, and during the 13th and 14th centuries it was renamed Villanueva de Simón Sánchez, a relative of the previous Vermúdez. From this century onwards, Villanueva, together with nearby towns, became the Council or Jurisdiction of Valdejamuz in the hands of the powerful family of the Quiñones-Counts of Luna, in turn relatives of the previous ones.