Key Dates
- 190 BC Romans capture Toledo
- 409–711 AD Toledo capital of Visigothic Spain
- 1085 Reconquest of Toledo by Alfonso VI
- 1227 Cathedral begun under Alfonso X
- 1492 Jews expelled
- 1502 Muslims converted or expelled
- 1561 Capital moved to Madrid
- 1936 Siege at the Alcazar
Further Reading
- Discovering Toledo, Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño
- All Toledo, Escudo de Oro
- Curiosidades de Toledo, Cayetano Enriquez de Salamanca
- Toledo, Julio Caro Baroja
Overview
Toledo is the jewel of Castilla La Mancha. Capital of the autonomous region, it is widely considered to be the most beautiful city in Spain, especially by the Toledans. Nowadays, few of the 60,000-odd inhabitants live within the walls of the old city where the narrow winding streets make it virtually impossible to drive, let alone park. The modern Toledo is quite separate from the historical centre and this makes a visit to the old city seem like a journey back in time.
Although most of what is on view dates from the Reconquest and after, up until about the reign of Felipe II, Toledo’s history stretches back much further, even before Roman times (see History). It is not hard to see why when you consider its location, best viewed from the spot where El Greco painted his famous view of the city (see Art). The old city stands on a high bluff in the crook of a large bend in the River Tajo, or Tagus, the longest river in Spain. The drop from the top of the hill to the river is several hundred feet, making it a very difficult city to take in a siege.
Toledo was the capital of Spain from after the reconquest of the city in 1085 by Alfonso VI, until the reign of Felipe II in the sixteenth century. Famed as the ‘City of the Three Religions,’ Catholics, Muslims and Jews all lived and worked in Toledo in harmony; for a time, at least. Buildings of all three religions remain.
Toledo’s cathedral is the highlight of most people’s visit to the city. It is one of the largest in the world, and certainly one of the most beautiful. Strangely enough, it is almost impossible to see whilst you are in the town, and to appreciate its size from the outside it is best seen from over the river.
After Felipe II moved the capital of his kingdom to Madrid in 1561, Toledo remained as the seat of the Archbishop. But stripped of its political significance the city began to decline, gaining in importance only briefly during the civil war. Nowadays there is only a quarter of the number of people living in Toledo that there was in its heyday. Nevertheless, as regional capital and with a flourishing tourist industry the city is once again a lively place.
History Origins
Like many old and illustrious Spanish cities, Toledo is said to have been founded by Hercules. For many centuries this theory was backed up by the ‘evidence’ of the existence of the Cave of Hercules; a rude dwelling dug out of the rock by the great hero. The cave is a wonderful symbol for the city, with its earliest beginnings shrouded in myth and the Celtiberians only adding to the puzzle since they left no readable traces of their stay. Things began to become clearer during Roman times, when the Cave of Hercules was in fact part of a system for siphoning water up from the river
Tagus to the city several hundred feet above. This was typical of the Romans’ genius for public works. It was also perhaps part of an escape route in times of siege. With the Visigoths the cave was used as the crypt of San Gines church built on top of it, itself later used by the Moors as a mosque. The layering of cultures continued when, after the Reconquest, the crypt reverted to a Catholic shrine, only to be stripped later of its religious office and have a private house built on top of it…
If you are not satisfied with the Hercules version, there are plenty more myths to choose from. The Jews of Toledo always claimed that the city was founded by one of Noah’s great grandsons. Others prefer the Celtiberian king Tago, namesake of the river, and so on. In any case, there has been a settlement here since time immemorial, and its strategic position has made it an important prize for each invading tribe.
Roman Toletum
The city first flowered under Roman occupation, later becoming capital of the province of Carpetania. The original Celtiberian settlement was overpowered by the general Fulvius Novilior and his army in 190 BC. They named it Toletum. Even in those early days it was an important centre for the production of knives and swords, which were then exported all over the Roman empire. Some Roman ruins can be seen in the park close to the Suarez sword factory.
Visigothic Capital
The Visigoths finished off the conversion of Hispania to Christianity that had begun under the Romans. Catholicism did not triumph over Arianism, however, until king Reccared converted in 589 AD. Toledo was declared the religious, as well as political capital, and it retains the former honour to this day. Although Toledo was the most important city in Visigothic Spain, there are few remnants of their civilization. They did not build anything on the scale of the Romans, and for most of the time they were content to use Roman buildings. So in Toledo there is little to see of the Visigoths; the main castle, built by the king Wamba, stood where the Alcazar stands today, and there is a Visigothic musuem in the church of San Roman.
The loss of Spain to the Moors has its legendary origins in Toledo when there was a struggle between two factions for the crown. The kingdom finally went to Roderick, and his rival Achila allegedly left Spain for North Africa. It is said that Roderick was entertaining the Byzantine Governor of Ceuta and his daughter Florinda, also known as “La Cava,” when he happened upon the maiden bathing in the River Tagus, near where the bridge of San Martin stands today. Unable to contain his lust, he raped her, and in revenge her father proposed the invasion of Spain to the great Muslim ruler Musa when he arrived back in North Africa. Whether it was the spur for the invasion or not, a great army of Musa’s forces, helped by Achila, defeated Roderick. He managed to escape with
Queen Berenguela and the Moors
Toledo might have fallen again to the Moors if the attack of the Almoravides in 1139 had not been foiled by a woman’s wit. Queen Berenguela spotted the Moorish army approaching. Before they could attack she cried out to them that it would be a very unmanly thing to do, to attack a city where there was no king or army present. She said that they should go to Oreja, where they could find her husband. Strangely enough it worked!
his life. Rescued by a hermit, the dying king is supposed to have confessed. In order to obtain absolution, he had to lie entombed with a serpent until he was dead. Roderick’s dying words were, “Now he is gnawing me, gnawing me in the part where I most sinned.”
Muslim Tolaitola
The conquering general of the Moorish army, Tariq, spent his first winter in Al-Andalus in Toledo, which was called Tolaitola by the Muslims. It was one of the most important cities in the northern sector of Al-Andalus, and was protected by a series of watchtowers. One of these was at a place called Mayrit, later Madrid. In 808 Toledo was the scene of a famous plot to massacre upstart noblemen. Engineered by the Emir Hakim I himself, and carried out by the governor of Toledo, noblemen were invited to a party in honour of the Emir’s son, and as they arrived their heads were severed and their bodies thrown into a trench. As for the Emir’s son, he was so horrified by what he saw that he developed a nervous tic, which meant he couldn’t stop blinking for the rest of his life. Hence the phrase “pasar una noche toledana” to be uneasy and unable to sleep.
Under the Moors there was a three-caste system in Toledo, as in the rest of Spain. The superior caste was the Arabs, with the Berbers as a kind of subdivision, and then there were the Christians, called Mozarabs, and the Jews. Each caste had its own sphere of work, the Moors excelling as architects and artisans, the Jews making significant contributions as physicians, pharmacists, interpreters and money-lenders. The Christians were allowed to continue worshipping at their Catholic shrines, although sometimes these were turned into mosques, as more people converted to Islam. The liturgy that they used was originally Visigoth, and became known as the mozarabic liturgy, meaning “almost arabic,” due to the great influence of that culture on the Christians. Toledo is the only place in the world where this liturgy is still used today.
In the eleventh century, when the centralised caliphate based in Cordoba could no longer control the nobles and Al-Andalus splintered into taifas, Toledo became once such mini-kingdom. But it was not to remain so for long.
The Reconquest
In 1085, in the first big victory of the Reconquest, Alfonso VI took Toledo back for Christianity. El Cid may well have been there, but the king of Castille was rather jealous of El Cid’s cult status and relations between the two had deteriorated. In any case, there was some controversy relating to Alfonso’s conquering of Toledo: the town surrendered on the condition that the faiths practised there would be tolerated. Catholic Spain had adopted the Latin or Gregorian liturgy that was used in the rest of Europe, and under pressure from the Pope, Alfonso was keen to replace the mozarabic one. The Mozarabs protested and eventually the prayer books of both liturgies were put to the test in a bizarre trial by fire. The
Toledo and the Civil War – Moscardo and the siege
Toledo waned after it lost its status as capital, and like many cities in Spain it went into a decline during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, losing much of its population to Madrid. However, during the Civil War it momentarily recovered some of its former standing.
A Nationalist faction had pronounced in Toledo, led by Colonel Moscardo. However, the populace and Republican troops fought back and eventually had the Nationalists holed up in the Alcazar, literally under siege. All in all there were about 2,000 people in the building, including some families of the conspirators.
Early on during the siege the Republicans telephoned Moscardo and informed him that they had his son. He had ten minutes to surrender or they would shoot him. The son talked to his father (the conversation is transcribed in every language in Moscardo’s office in the Alcazar). The colonel’s closing words were, “My son, commend your soul to God, shout ‘¡Viva España!’ and die like a hero, because the Alcazar will not surrender.” This heroic episode, so reminiscent of sieges throughout Iberian history, was used as a glorious piece of propaganda by the Nationalists, who ‘liberated’ the Alcazar and its occupants two months later.
Latin prayer book was blown out of the fire by a gust of wind, confirming its supremacy, although the mozarab prayer book was claimed (by the Mozarabs) not to have burnt in the flames. A compromise was reached where Latin would be the official language in church, except in six parishes which were allowed to preserve mozarabic rites. Later, these parishes would slowly disappear.
Capital of Castilla
In 1212 Toledo, now the capital of Christian Spain, was the rallying point for crusaders of all nations who gathered to rout the infidel, marching South to defeat the Moors at the battle of Navas de Tolosa. In 1227 King Fernando El Santo ordered the construction of the cathedral, and Toledo entered its heyday as the “City of the Three Religions” under Fernando’s son Alfonso X El Sabio. The existing School of Translators was expanded to disseminate Persian literature, Greek philosophy and Arabic medecine throughout the Christian world. For the first time, works were translated not only into Latin, but also Castilian. The Mudejares, those Moors who had stayed on in reconquered areas, produced characteristic works of architecture in Toledo, such as the Puerta del Sol and the church of Cristo de la Vega.
Cracks in the era of religious tolerance began to appear after 1300. Antisemitism came to a head under Pedro I El Cruel, who preferred to surround himself with Jewish advisers, rather than Castilian nobles, whose increasing power he wished to curb. Pedro was embroiled in a struggle for the crown with his half-brother Enrique de Trastamara (the royal house of Isabel and Fernando) and the latter punished the Jews of Toledo for their loyalty to Pedro by sacking the Juderia. As recompense Pedro allowed his wealthy adviser, the Toledan Samuel Levy, to build the Transito synagogue, another Mudejar gem. Jealous of Levy’s fortune, Pedro later lived up to his name, torturing him to death in an attempt to discover the whereabouts of his gold.
Pedro also shocked the populace of Toledo by keeping his wife Doña Blanca de Borbon locked up in the cellars of the Alcazar while he lived publicly with his mistress. The Queen’s cell can still be seen.
When Isabel the Catholic defeated her rival La Beltraneja she had the Franciscan monastery church of San Juan de los Reyes built. The walls are hung with chains representing the final freeing of Catholics from Muslim bondage and the architecture is in the late gothic or isabelino style. The accession of the Catholic Kings marked the end of the “City of the Three Religions” with the expulsion first of the Jews and later the forced conversion or expulsion of the Moors. The Inquisition, begun in 1478, had an important base in the city. The Mozarabic rite was, however, championed by the monarchs’ adviser, Cardinal Cisneros, who became Archbishop of a firmly Catholic Toledo, and thus the Primate of all Spain. The ancient liturgy has been kept alive ever since in the specially dedicated chapel of Corpus Christi in the cathedral.
The last monarch to treat Toledo as the capital of Spain was the Hapsburg Carlos I. He had the Alcazar turned into a proper royal mansion under the direction of Covarrubias, who also built the new Bisagra Gate with the Austrian emblem of the eagle. Carlos had to deal with the uprising of the Comuneros, led by Juan de Pandilla in Toledo, but he was able to quash the revolt. Carlos’ son Felipe, however, found the clergy and the local nobility in Toledo had too much power for his taste. He moved the royal capital from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, ending the city’s political supremacy, though it still remains the base of Spain’s Primate.
Arts El Greco
Undoubtedly the most important artist to be associated with Toledo was the Cretan-born painter El Greco. Like most artists of his day, he went wherever the work was. Having heard about the building of El Escorial, he came to Spain to try his luck. However, his style was not to Felipe II’s taste and he was not hired. Instead he found patronage in Toledo under Don Diego and Don Luis of Castilla and was hired to paint altarpieces at the Monastery of Santo Domingo. He stayed from 1576 until his death in 1614, becoming fairly prosperous and owning a large house, which is now a Museum.
His famous view of Toledo hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, but his great masterpiece is considered to be the ‘Burial of Count Orgaz,’ a huge canvas housed in Santo Tome church. The travel writer Jan Morris saw it as the ultimate representation of the collusion of the nobility with the clergy. Laurie Lee found looking at El Grecos utterly exhausting and after a couple of hours was forced to repair to the nearest bar!
El Greco is buried in the crypt of Santo Domingo, with which he had always maintained close links.
More paintings by el Greco are on display in the sacristy of the cathedral, and at the Hospital de Tavera museum. This collection includes works by Caravaggio and the Spanish painter Ribera, especially the grotesque portrait of Magdalena Ventura who unexpectedly grew a beard. There are also several royal portraits.
Damascino
This type of gold inlay work is all over Toledo in the shops. It came to Toledo via Damascus in Syria, although its origins are older still. It consists in hammering gold thread into an etched design on steel. The steel is then blackened using chemicals so that the gold stands out against the background. Geometric Muslim designs are still used today. Later designs include animal and human forms, which Muslims were not allowed to represent.
Marzipan
This is the typical sweet made in Toledo, again with foreign origins and almost certainly introduced by the Moors. It is traditionally made by nuns and is on sale all year round, although most Spaniards eat it only at Christmas.
Swords, Knives, etc.
Toledo blades are famous all over the world and have been since Roman times. The metal is not native to Toledo, but brought here for tempering because the waters of the Tajo were supposed to be especially good for the process.
Festivals Corpus Christi
Toledo is the best place in Spain to witness the June festival of Corpus Christi. The festival lasts several days and the town is decorated with flags, banners and the typical ‘toldos’ or canopies which cover the streets of the route of the procession. They are also left up for several weeks, providing welcome shade from the hot sun. The main procession, led by the Cardinal, carries the huge monstrance normally housed in the cathedral’s treasury through the streets with the holy host, represented by a wafer, as the focal point. The whole thing culminates with a bullfight.
Other Festivals
Apart from all the national ‘fiestas,’ Toledo also celebrates its patron San Ildefonso on 23 January; the Romeria de Nuestra Señora de la Valle on 1st May; and its patroness Virgen de Sagrario on 15 August.
Science Engineering in Toledo – bringing water to the city
The excellent strategic location of Toledo has posed a problem for its inhabitants since it was first founded; how to supply the settlement with water when the river is so many feet below (300 feet from the Alcazar to the Tajo).
The Romans solved this by bringing water by means of a canal from a lake twenty-five miles from the town. The water then crossed the river valley in an aqueduct and with the aid of a syphon system it was channelled into water towers or castellum aguae in the urban centre from which water could be obtained when necessary. The “Cave of Hercules” was actually part of this system and was probably a storage area for water used in the nearby baths, the ruins of which were discovered recently.
When the Roman system fell into disuse, the inhabitants of Toledo had no choice but to descend the precipitous banks to the river. Most of the town’s water, particularly that used in the Alcazar, was brought up on the backs of mules. However in the sixteenth century a revolutionary
hydraulic system was designed to bring water up to the Alcazar by Juanelo Turriano. Turriano was an Italian by birth, and had been invited to Spain by Carlos V to tend to his collection of clocks with which the retired monarch amused himself in his final years at the monastery of Yuste. Felipe II took Turriano on after his father’s death and agreed to allow him to design a hydraulic system for Toledo, on one condition: that the engineer would pay for the construction himself. If the system was found to work, then Turriano would receive eight thousand ducats and a pension of 1,500 ducats a year for the rest of his life.
In 1569 Juanelo completed his invention: an ingenious system of turbines and troughs which worked in counter-balanced pairs. When the water fell into one trough, it raised its opposite number, the water running out into the next one, and so on. The system was organised into 192 troughs with six holding tanks at intervals on the climb up the bank to the Alcazar. It was able to haul 17,000 litres a day from the river to the town. The same system was used in London in 1582 and in Paris in 1608.
Unfortunately for Juanelo, the promised financial reward was not forthcoming. The townspeople complained that the system only provided the Alcazar with water, leaving the rest as before. A second system was constructed, but by then the original deal had been forgotten and Juanelo died penniless, at the age of 85. While the system was working it was the marvel of Spain, although it quickly fell into disuse. Pillaged continually for its parts and with no expert to maintain it Juanelo’s miracle disappeared.