Plasencia is a walled market city in the province of Cáceres, in Western Spain. Population 36,690 (2001 census). Cáceres province Cáceres is a province of western Spain, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Extremadura. ...

The coat of arms consists of a castle flanked on either side by a chestnut tree and a pine tree, a duchal crown on the crest and sorrounded with the motto: Ut Placeat Deo Et Hominibus (To Please God and Mankind). The flag has two horizontal bands, violet at the top and green at the bottom. The main gatehouse of Harlech Castle, Wales. ... Species - Bush Chinkapin* - Japanese Chestnut - American Chestnut - Henrys Chestnut - Chinese Chestnut - Ozark Chinkapin - Alleghany Chinkapin - Sweet Chestnut - Seguins Chestnut * treated as a synonym of by many authors Chestnuts (Castanea), including the chinkapins, are a genus of eight or nine species of trees and shrubs in the beech family... Species About 115. ...

Founded as a city in 1186 by King Alfonso VIII of Castille on the banks of the River Jerte as a city-fortress, with the double purpose of colonizing and guarding the then south-western border of the Kingdom, it fell briefly to the Moors of Almanzor in 1196, being reconquered for good the year after. The city walls, which have stood since 1198, boasted seventy towers, eight gates and a huge Alcázar (Keep) in its highest, northernmost point. Most of it remains except the Alcázar, which was demolished in 1941 to make way to a collection of particularly ugly blocks of flats. The focal point of the old city, however, was and, after more than eight hundred years, still is the market square (Plaza Mayor), where a weekly tax-free market has been in operation every Tuesday since the foundation of the city. The right to hold this market among other special rights and privileges were granted by the King in its Fueros Fundacionales (Foundational Royal Charter). Alfonso VIII (November 11, 1155 _ October 5, 1214), king of Castile only, and grandson of Alfonso VII, is a great name in Spanish history, for he led the coalition of Christian princes and foreign crusaders who broke the power of the Almohades at the battle of the Navas de... A former kingdom of Spain, Castile comprises the two regions of Old Castile in north-western Spain, and New Castile in the centre of the country. ... The Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of al-Andalus (the Iberian Peninsula including the present day Spain and Portugal) and the Maghreb, whose culture is often called Moorish. // Origins of the name The name derives from the old tribe of the Mauri and their kingdom, Mauretania. ...

In 1189, by request of Alfonso VIII, Plasencia was declared head of dioceses by Pope Clemente III and work on a Romanesque Cathedral started shortly after, concluding sometime in the 18th century, by which time fashions had changed and Gothic elements had been added in the forms of pointed archs to the Nave and a rose window to the main South Entrance, while the cloister, on the East side bordering the city walls, was enterely Gothic. Clement III, born Paulino Scolari (or Paolo) (b. ... Romanesque St. ... See also Gothic art. ... Full descriptions of the elements of a Gothic floorplan are found at the entry Cathedral diagram. ... The rose window in Bristol Cathedral, Bristol, England, at the western end of the nave. ...

Not quite happy with the result, in the 15th century the Dioceses decided to build a grand Gothic Cathedral in the same site, demolishing the old cathedral as the new one was being built. Work started in 1498 and by the 16th century, standard Renaissance elements had been added such as the East Entrance and the elaborate Choir Seating, while the local style of the period, Plateresco, is present in the West (main) and the Presbytery Entrances. Work continued until the 18th century, when, with only the Sanctuary and the Transept of the New Cathedral finished, the project was abandoned leaving behind a somewhat odd result, as most of the Nave of the Old Cathedral, its cloister and its unique Octagonal Tower housing the Sala Capitular Chapel is still attached to the New Cathedral, while the new choir, that was supposed to stand along the New Nave, was positioned across the transept. By region Italian Renaissance Spanish Renaissance Northern Renaissance English Renaissance French Renaissance German Renaissance Polish Renaissance The Renaissance, also known as Il Rinascimento (in Italian), was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution, religious reform and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ... Sanctuary has multiple meanings. ... Full descriptions of the elements of a Gothic floorplan are found at the entry Cathedral diagram. ...

The city remained under direct Royal rule until John II of Castile gave it to the House of Zúñiga in 1442 abolishing its Fuero. This encountered the opposition of the local nobles and the general population at large and resulted in periodicals revolts throughout the second half of the 15th century. In this hostile climate against the crown, in 1475 Plasencia played host to the wedding of 13-year-old Princess Joan La Betraneja, pretender to the throne of Castile and her ambitious uncle King Afonso V of Portugal. After La Beltraneja's cause was defeated in the Battle of Toro, Plasencia paid the penalty and the Castilian Crown capped the towers of the noble's palaces. The Fuero was eventually restored in 1488. The shortened Tower of the venue of the wedding, La Casa de Las Argollas, is still standing in Calle del Rey, just off Plaza Mayor. John II (March 6, 1405 – July 20, 1454) was King of Castile from 1406 to 1454. ... Princess Joan of Castile, known also as the Beltraneja, was born in 1462 and died in Lisbon in 1530. ... Afonso V of Portugal (English Alphonzo), or Affonso (Archaic Portuguese), the African (Port. ...

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