The site at Giera provides vestiges of the Copper Age and Bronze Age, with the most representative piece being the idol of Ciudad Rodrigo. Regarding the Iron Age, we have a magnificent granite boar, which now stands in the square, the Plaza del Castillo.

As from the Second Iron Age, it fell to the Vetones to settle on the land that is now the site of our city.
 
The 2nd century BC witnessed the first contact between the Vetones and the Romans, which eventually led to Roman domination. This territory became integrated within the province of Lusitania. The Three Columns that form the emblem of Ciudad Rodrigo date from this time, as do several inscriptions that still survive to this day.

Few data are available on the High Medieval period.
As of 1161, the city underwent major political and ecclesiastical expansion, thanks to King Ferdinand II of Leon, whose intention was to create a stronghold for defence against possible skirmishes with the Portuguese and Almohads. With this in mind, he introduced a repopulation policy: he gave the city its charter, defended it with ramparts and elevated it to the status of bishopric.
 
Conflict was rife during the Middle Ages, given the city’s location as a border town. Thus, Ciudad Rodrigo featured in the civil war waged by Peter I and Henry II of Trastamara.

The city was again the scene of conflict at the time of the War of Secession from the Crown of Castile between Isabel, the Catholic Queen, and Juana la Beltraneja. Given that the city ended up siding with Isabella’s 

cause the Catholic Monarchs granted it the privilege of holding a tax-free market every Tuesday. Following the first expulsion of the Jews in 1492, Ciudad Rodrigo became one of the more affluent places between Castile and Portugal. It subsequently became home to a large population of converted Jews, or conversos, as some returned to be baptised. Our city underwent its golden age in the 16th century, when there was a great deal of activity thanks to political stability and economic resurgence. A plethora of conflicts in the 17th century led to a sharp decline. These involved the Portuguese War of Independence (1640-1668) and the War of Succession to the Spanish Throne (1700-1714), during which sacking, pillaging and sieges undermined the economic wealth and population of the city and its surrounding district.

Yet the hardest times for Ciudad Rodrigo occurred during the Peninsular War (1808-1812). Its frontier setting meant that it was twice placed under siege: by the French in 1810 and by the British in 1812, with extensive damage being caused. In 1812, the future Duke of Wellington retook the city, and in recognition of this feat the Spanish Crown honoured him with the title of Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo. Between 1851 and 1951, there was no Bishopric in our city, which fell under the jurisdiction of the Dioceses of Salamanca. The outbreak of hostilities in 1936, with the start of the Spanish Civil War, again led to dramatic circumstances, which concluded with the end of the conflict, three years later. In the 1960s, Ciudad Rodrigo and its district experienced a sharp decline in population, due to the rise in emigration abroad and to other more industrialised parts of Spain.