- Map of Spain with the numerous castles
At the beginning of the 16th century, Spain had some 10,000 castles and fortresses, usually surrounded by a walled town that gave it protection. So at age 13 or 14, Ignatius headed off to the walled town of Arévalo ...... , in central Castile, where Juan Velasquez de Cuéllar resided. Arévalo ...
... was one of the important towns of Castile. The very house of Juan Velasquez was the house where King John II had resided, where Isabella had grown up before her marriage to Fernando of Aragón ...
... , where nobles and important figures had come to make their concerns known for business contracts, for the military, for concessions, for contacts with the Church and for taxation and distribution of monies.
- Old City Gate at Arévalo (looking at old palace place)
It was here at the old city gate of Arévalo that Ignatius would have entered to begin his ten decisive years as a young nobleman, page and courtier in attendance to his master Juan Velasquez, who moved with the work of the royal court to the important towns of Castile and Leon, such as Valladolid, Medina del Campo, Toledo ...... , Burgos ...
... , Segovia ...
... , Avila ...
... , Madrid and as far south as Valencia and Seville ...
.
- Rebuilt royal house at Arévalo (now city hall), after crossing Old City Gate
Ignatius was a real member of the official household. (Place is this rebuilt 20th century building.) The wife of the treasurer, María Velasco and her attendant mother, were related to Ignatius' own mother and their influence brought the youthful Ignatius into contact with that noble spirit of the late Queen Isabella, and her advisor and confessor, Cardinal Cisneros. Facts seem to indicate that Ignatius was present at the wedding of King Ferdinand and Germain de Foix ...... , the second wife of Ferdinand which took place in Valladolid and had the chance to be there when Christopher Columbus spent his final days ...
... in that town. He frequently accompanied the treasurer, on his many trips to Valladolid where Juan Velasquez owned a town residence, stopping by the royal house ...
...
... at Tordesillas, where Juana ...
... , (daughter of Isabella and mother of Charles V), and her youngest daughter Catherine lived, for whom Ignatius seemed to have cultivated a romantic affection - the young girl more popularly known as the Infanta "the secret of his heart."
