What were the walls of Avila protecting?
At the time the walls were built the second phase of the reconquering process in Spain was taking place (1031-1151) Despite the times of Almanzor (Almanzor and his morrish troops reached as north as Santiago de Compostela) were long ago at the time the walls of Avila were built, the reconquering process was at full steam against the Taifas Kingdoms (the Taifas were created after the Caliphate of Cordoba Fell in 1030) . The reconquering process sped up at tis time (Toledo was conquered in 1085)
The gates Puerta del Mariscal and Puerta del Carmen are in the North section of the
wall, while on the West side stands the Puerta del Puente or Puerta de San Segundo, which is flanked by two towers. Count Raymond of Burgundy (husband of Doña Urraca) had the town walls built at the suggestion of his father-in-law, King Alfonso VI.
How long did it take to build the walls of Avila?
The walls of Avila took nine years to construct, from 1090-99. Direction of the work was given to Casandro, a master of geometry, and Florian de Ponthieu, a Frenchman. Did it really take 9 years to build the walls of Avila? Well, there is much debate about this and most probably the walls were not built from scratch, and they did not reach their current size at the time they were built (that would have implied the walls would have been much bigger than the walls of León, which was the capital of Spain at that time)
Materials from earlier buildings, including Roman freestones, and the remains of tombs and former fortifications were used in the construction.
Mudéjar features, especially in places in the North part of the wall suggest that captive Moors may have been involved in the work.