A day to experience what life was like on the Iberian Peninsula in the mid-14th century, witnessing not only its jousts but also its everyday life. This is what Los Cuatro Reinos: El Gran Torneo Medieval (The Four Kingdoms: The Great Medieval Tournament) has to offer, a one-day event (Saturday, March 28) that is well worth a trip to Valladolid (less than an hour and a half from the center of Madrid by Avant train). Tickets for the show go on sale next Thursday, March 5, at 12 noon (peninsular time). Tickets for the show are already on sale; don’t miss out, as places are limited.
War is waged in the arena
The Valladolid Bullring will be the setting for Los Cuatro Reinos: El Gran Torneo Medieval (The Four Kingdoms: The Great Medieval Tournament), which is set in the Iberian Peninsula in 1362 (Spain as such was founded almost a century later). At that time, King Pedro I of Castile felt besieged on all fronts, both by his enemies and by his bastard brother, Enrique de Trastámara, who was eager to seize the throne with the help of the French. In these conditions, conflicts were not always resolved by war; sometimes a grand tournament was enough to show who was in charge.
The Four Kingdoms: The Great Medieval Tournament recreates one of these exciting tournaments, specifically the one organized by the King of Castile to demonstrate his military strength, to which he invited the three most important kingdoms alongside his own: Aragon, Navarre, and Granada.
Through various trials that pit these four kingdoms against each other, the Valladolid bullring will be transformed into an arena that will host both horseback challenges and hand-to-hand combat. Everything will culminate in the ultimate challenge, the jousts, a final battle where the finalists of the trials face each other in a fierce fight on horseback and with lances.
But there is life beyond the bullring: part of Valladolid’s Plaza de Toros will be transformed into a medieval market showing what trades were like at that time (blacksmiths, craftsmen, etc.), as well as an area for medieval jousting challenges, family experiences, and a food court.
The entire event will have a realistic setting, with period costumes and decorations, so that for a few hours we can forget the hustle and bustle of the 21st century and have a 100% immersive experience in the Middle Ages.
How to get to Valladolid from Madrid
Image generated with Artificial Intelligence
Valladolid is very well connected to Madrid. If you come by public transport , the Avant train from Chamartín-Clara Campoamor will take you to the city in just one hour and five minutes. And from the Renfe station in Valladolid to the square, it’s about a fifteen-minute brisk walk. If you decide to come to the event by private transport, it’s about a two-hour drive.
The proximity of the bullring to the center of Valladolid (a quarter of an hour by bus, half an hour on foot) makes attending the Los Cuatro Reinos: El Gran Torneo Medieval event a good opportunity to take a day trip to the city and enjoy its monuments (such as the Cathedral or the old town).