Throughout the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance period the local nobility liked to build its mansions backing onto the walls, in the upper part of the city, to associate their families with this symbolic and prestigious structure. In fact, one of the functions of the wall was to establish the class system: the powerful lived inside and in the upper reaches of the enclosure, and those less fortunate had to settle outside the walls and in the damp areas which saw little sunshine. This explains why the most important palaces in the city are built backing onto the wall: the Dávila Palace, the Palace of Villafranca and las Navas, the Palace of Navamorcuende and Villatoro, the Núñez Vela Palace (in the southern section) and the Sofraga Palace, the Águila Palace and the Bracamonte Palace (in the northern section).