Spanish town on a hill overlooking the Arlanza River, c. 45 km south of Burgos. The central core of the town was founded in antiquity and, after it had been recaptured from the Moors, was walled in towards the end of the 9th century. In 1599 the 5th Marqués de Denia and 4th Conde de Lerma was created Duque de Lerma (see Sandoval y Rojas, Francisco Gómez de, Duque de Lerma). In 1600 the new Duque made Lerma the capital of his estates and between 1601 and 1617 built there the most important urban–rural conglomerate of the 17th century in Spain, comparable to Valladolid (capital of the Spanish empire from 1601 to 1605), with its palace and gardens, and to the Aranjuez Palace. With the aid of the royal architect, Francisco de Mora (see Mora, Francisco de), the Duque designed the estate’s buildings, landscaping and environs, placing the town within woods and cultivated land and creating gardens and a park, making use of existing watercourses and building canals....