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Ciudad Real is a small city, in Castilla-La Mancha, capital of the eponymous province. Funded by King Alfonso X The Wise in the 13th century (1255) to balance the power of the Military Order of Calatrava as Villa Real. The carta puebla records of a "grand villa é bona que corriesen todos por fuero é que fuese cabesza de toda aquella tierra ... é púsele nombre Real". The Villa denomination that one still encounters in the south became Ciudad in 1420, with King Juan II, father of Isabel I.