Los puertos del rey: Síntesis interpretativa del fenómeno urbano en el norte de Espa？a durante los siglos XII Y XIII

this article studies the genesis and development during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries of port towns along the castilian kingdom's northern border facing the sea. it analyses the role played by the kings in the region, and offers a clue to understand the reason for the strengthening of this urban development. to begin, the castilian kings granted foundational fueros to small pre-urban villages, not only for the purpose of marking their legal rights and obligations, but also as a legal instrument to strengthen the king's control over the northern shoreline, thus modifying the power balance in the region. secondly, the foundation of coastal towns became the material basis which furthered commercial and human relationships, on one side with the port towns of the spanish atlantic coast, and on the other, between them, the castilian lands beyond the mountains and the foreign markets, thus strengthening the internal urban structure of northern castile.