Simancas (se-män käs)

A small town in the province of Valladolid, Spain, situated on the Pisuerga 7 miles southwest of Valladolid. The castle is a moated and battlemented fortre , formerly a seat of the admirals of Castile. From the time of Charles V. it has been the place of deposit of the national archives of Spain. Simancas, Archives of. A collection of documents relating to Spain and its colonies, formed at Simancas by order of Charles V. (1543). It was reorganized by Philip II. in 1567. In 1788 many important papers relating to the colonies were sent to Seville; many others disappeared during the Napoleonic wars; and the collection, once very large, is now comparatively unimportant. It is kept in the old castle (see above).