populate it, the
Count brought illustrious knights, soldiers, architects, officials and
gentlemen from Leon, the Asturias, Vizcaya and France, and from other
places. They began to construct the walls in 1090, 800 men working from
the very beginning, and among them were many masters who came from Leon
and Vizcaya. All obeyed Casandro Romano and Florin de Pituenga, Masters
of Geometry, as they are called in the history of this population, which
is attributed to the Bishop of Oviedo, D. Pilayo, who lived at that time
and who treats of these things."

During these perilous years, Count Raymond wisely lodged his masons in
different quarters of the city, grouping them according to the locality
they came from, whether from Cantabria, the Asturias, or the territory
of Burgos.

A nobility, as quarrelsome as it was powerful, must have answered Count
Raymond's call for new citizens, for during centuries to come, the
streets, like those of mediaeval Siena and Florence, constantly ran with
the blood of opposing factions. Warring families dared walk only certain
streets after nightfall, and battles were carried on between the
different castles and in the streets as between cities and on
battlefields. In the quarrels between royal brothers and cousins, Avila
played a very prominent part. The nurse and protectress of their tender
years, and the guardian of their childhood through successive reigns of
Castilian kings, she became a very vital factor in the fortunes of
kings, prelates, and nobles. In feuds like those of Don Pedro and his
brother Enrique II, she was a turbulent centre. Great figures in Spanish
history ruled from her episcopal throne, especially during the
thirteenth century. There was Pedro, a militant bishop and one of the
most valiant on the glorious battlefield of Las Navas; Benilo, lover of
and beloved by Saint Ferdinand; and Aymar, the loyal champion of Alfonso
the Wise through dark as well as sunny hours.

The Jews and the Moriscoes here, as wherever else their industrious
fingers and ingenious minds were at work, did much more than their share
towards the prosperity and development of the city. The Jews especially
became firmly established in their useful vocations, filling the king's
coffers so abundantly that the third of their tribute, which he granted
to the Bishop, was not appreciably felt, except in times of armament
and war. With the fanatical expulsion of first one, and then the other,
race, the city's pr