Simancas is a town and municipality of central Spain, located in the province of Valladolid, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is situated approximately 10 km southwest of the provincial capital Valladolid, on the road to Zamora and the right bank of the river Pisuerga. Simancas originated as the Roman Septimanca. Main sights Sights include a citadel dating from the Al-Andalus period in the 9th century, a bridge of seventeen arches, and many remains of old walls. In 939 it was the scene of a battle between the Christian troops under Ramiro II of León and the Moors of Abd-al-Rahman III. The citadel is now the Archivo General de Simancas, sometimes called the Archivo General del Reino, to which the national archives of Spain were removed by order of Philip II in 1563. Their transference thither was first suggested to Charles V by Cardinal Ximenes de Cisneros. The extensive alterations were made by three 16th century architects, Juan de Herrera, Alonso Berruguete and Juan Gómez de Mora; the arrangement of the papers was entrusted to Diego de Ayala. They occupy forty-six rooms, and are arranged in upwards of 80,000 bundles (33,000,000 documents), including important private as well as state papers. The archives of the Indies were transferred in 1784 to the Lonja of Seville. Permission to consult the documents at Simancas can be readily obtained. History On the outskirts of Simancas lies the megalithic tomb of Los Zumacales, a cromlech-type funerary monument of the Neolithic period. In the Roman era the city was known as Septimanca in the territory of the Vaccaei. A medieval bridge sits over the Pisuerga river, constructed after the previous Roman one. Until the 12th century Simancas was, together with Cabezón, the most important town of Valladolid province. It was occupied by the army of Alfonso I in 753 and definitively conquered by Alfonso III in 883. The legend of the Tribute of the Seven Maidens holds that in the time of Abd al-Rahman II there existed a tribute named for the seven Simancan maidens who were handed over each year to Arab chieftains. However, on one occasion when the women were to be turned in, each one cut off one hand in an act of rebellion. The king Ramiro then uttered the phrase that would later give its name to the town: “Si mancas me las dais, mancas no las quiero”