The fortress where Queen Juana de Portugal was held captive

The ruins of the Alaejos castle stand as a defensive fortress in the town of Alaejos, in the province of Valladolid. Ordered by Alonso de Fonseca y Ulloa in 1453, the castle served as a stronghold for the Fonseca lineage. It is best known for serving as a prison for Queen Juana de Portugal, the wife of Enrique IV and mother of Juana la Beltraneja, during a period of succession crisis.

Between 1467 and 1469, Juana de Portugal was held in the castle under the custody of Archbishop Fonseca. During her confinement, she had a relationship with the knight Pedro de Castilla y Fonseca, who was the archbishop's nephew. They had two twin sons, Pedro and Andrés de Castilla y Portugal. To hide her pregnancy, the queen fled the castle at night by hanging from the wall, an event recorded by chroniclers Alfonso de Palencia and Diego Enríquez del Castillo.

The castle was later attacked and partially destroyed by the comuneros during the Guerra de las Comunidades de Castilla between 1520 and 1522. It was rebuilt years later, and by the end of the 16th century, a second enclosure was added to accommodate artillery. Felipe III visited the fortress in 1600. From the 17th century, the structure began a progressive decline, with much of its surface disappearing by the 18th century.

Today, the castle is an archaeological site where visitors can explore underground galleries. The site was documented through archaeological work starting in 2009, confirming the double enclosure, the moat, and the various construction phases of the fortress.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons