Cid's Spain © Mark Wade

Major city 47 km from Leon, an important stopover on the medieval Camino de Santiago. The city itself has walls and building dating back to Roman times, and numerous medieval churches and houses.

Known to the Romans as Asturica y Augusta, Astorga was in the middle ages the capital of the Country of the Maragatos and an episcopal seat. The Maragatos had a distinct appearance, language, and culture, and were believed to be Moorish Goths. However recent genetic analysis indicates they are instead a remnant of an extremely ancient pre-Celtic population that migrated from Africa to Spain in prehistoric times. Latitude: 42.4. Longitude: -5.98.

• Book I Chapter XXVI:

  To Don Alfonso he gave the kingdom of Leon, and in Asturias as far as the river Deva, which runs by Oviedo, and part of Campos as far as Carrion and the river Pisuerga, with the border, which contained the dioceses of Zamora, Salamanca, and Ciudad Rodrigo, and the city of Astorga, and other lands in Galicia, with the town of Zebreros.