Villalba

Villalba stands in the Terra Chá, the broad inland plain of northern Galicia. Its castle marked the authority of the Andrade family, who acquired the lordship in the fourteenth century. The harsh rule of Nuño Freire de Andrade helped provoke an Irmandiño rising in 1431, during which the original castle was destroyed. A later revolt again struck the family's fortifications. In 1486 Diego de Andrade became count of Villalba; through marriage the town subsequently passed into the possessions of the house of Lemos.