Located on a hill, almost on the border of the province of Zamora, and within viewing distance of Villalonso Castle, the primitive Tiedra Castle is already mentioned in the 11th century.
The present castle seems to date from the end of the 13th century and is in a bad state of conservation. It consists of a polygonal enclosure, with a perimeter of 115 meters, equipped with two circular towers. Near one of these there are remains of a ruined wall. This could be a vestige of a second defensive enclosure. There is a dry moat on its western side.
In the 13th century a Don Alonso Téllez de Meneses was the Lord of Tiedra. In the 14th century the Lord of Tiedra was Don Sancho, Count of Alburquerque and brother of King Enrique II de Trastamara. His daughter Leonor, Countess of Alburquerque and married with Fernando de Antequera, inherited from him, amongst other possessions, Tiedra Castle. His sons Enrique and Juan, the Infants of Aragon, inherited from their father the castles of Medina del Campo and Peñafiel Castle. Both the brothers fought against King Juan II of Castile. Therefore this king confiscated Tiedra Castle and handed it over to his favorite Don Alvaro de Luna. During these wars the king incarcerated several of his enemies in Tiedra Castle; under these prisoners were the Count of Haro, the Lords of Batres and Valdecorneja and the bishop of Palencia. After his defeat, in 1445, in the battle of Olmedo, the enemies of the king, handed the castle to Don Pedro Girón, Master of Calatrava as a reward for his help. This Don Pedro Girón is the same one who would, in later years, received Peñafiel Castle from King Enrique IV.
Until the 19th century the castle belonged to ducal house of Osuna.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.