Belmonte

Belmonte stands in La Mancha beneath a castle whose towers and walls proclaim the power of the Pacheco family. Juan Pacheco, first Marquis of Villena, was born here and ordered the construction of the Gothic and Mudéjar fortress in 1456. He also promoted the collegiate church of San Bartolomé, giving his birthplace buildings worthy of a great noble lordship. A later native of Belmonte was the Augustinian scholar and poet Fray Luis de León, born in the 1520s.