rey was first mentioned at Burgos in 1281. By the reign of Alfonso X, the exemption of the non-noble knights and religious corporations, combined with exorbitant gifts and grants to monasteries and private individuals, placed great stress on the economic well-being of the realm. In the century following the conquest of Seville (1248) on the Moors, Burgos became a testing ground for royal policies of increasing power against the consejo, in part by encouraging the right to appeal from the consejo to the king. In 1285, Sancho IV added a new body to the consejo which came to dominate it: the jurado in charge of collecting taxes and overseeing public works; the king reserved the right to select its members. The city perceived that danger to its autonomy came rather from an uncontrolled aristocracy during royal minorities: Burgos joined the hermandades of cities that leagued together for mutual protection in 1295 and 1315. In the 14th century, official royal intrusion in city affairs was perceived as a palliative against outbreaks of violence by the large excluded class of smaller merchants and artisans, on whom the tax burden fell. The alguacil was the royal official instituted to judge disagreements. On 9 June 1345, sweeping aside the city government, Alfonso XI established direct royal rule of Burgos through the Regimiento of sixteen appointed men. In 1574, Pope Gregory XIII made the bishopric a Metropolitan archbishopric, at the request of king Felipe II. Burgos has been the scene of many wars: with the Moors, the struggles between León and Navarre, and between Castile and Aragon. In the Peninsular War against Napoleonic France, the siege of Burgos (between 19 September to 21 October) was a scene of a withdrawal for Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Again in the 19th-century Carlist civil wars of the Spanish succession Burgos was the scene of a battle. During the Spanish Civil War, Burgos was the base of General Franco's rebel fascist government. Geography and climate At an elevation of , the city of Burgos lies in the transition zone between a Warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) and an Oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb), with some continental influence resulting from its distance from the sea and higher altitude. Burgos' climate features chilly and windy winters, due to altitude and an inland location, which always include snow and temperatures below freezing. Temperature ranges can be extreme and Burgos is drier