"Spanish Towns/Cities" Topic

Chaps,

In the Peninsular War I note a large number of seiges. Is anyone able to give me a description of the defences of Spanish towns/cities – were these typically walled?

If so, were these recent constructions e.g. during/after Vauban or older – medieval or even Roman?

Most of the frontier cities, such as Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, had Vauban type. Others like Burgos had a mixture. One of the nastiest sieges, Saragosa, started with medieval and then turned into Stalingrad.

I seem to recall that a combination of lack of funds and the nature of the ground made building Vauban style walls difficult for many towns. Certainly there are quite a few cities in Spain which still have their Medieval walls even now.
As Shagnasty says, a mixture was common, with bastions or outlying forts being built in a more modern style to protect key points.

lugo still has his roman walls, but I think is the only one

It depends, but usually it was a mix of modern bastions and older walls. Ciudad Rodrigo, for example, was very well protected. I believe there is a book, perhaps even in digital format at google books, titled Sieges of the French in the Peninsula If I recall correctly it includes a lot of actual plans.

"lugo still has his roman walls, but I think is the only one"

Lugo has impressive Roman walls that does circumvallate it but I think you'll find there are a number of cities with big stretches ot Roman Walls. León and Astorga definitely have impressive Roman walls

ASTORGA:

picture

LEÓN:

picture

link

Sorry here's the other photo

picture

If you look here you can see some remaining defences of one or two cities/towns. link

Look on Google Earth.
I've found Cuidad Rodrigo, Almeida, Elvas and Badajoz.
They all have very impressive Vauban-style fortifications.

Cliff

Thanks very much chaps