Dictionary:
To·le·do1 (tə-lē'dō)  |
(also tō-lĕ'THō) A city of central Spain near the Tagus River south-southwest of Madrid. It fell to the Romans in 193 B.C. and was later the capital of the Visigoth kingdom (534–712). As a Moorish capital (712–1031) it was a center of Arab and Hebrew learning. Population: 78,600.
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| Columbia Encyclopedia: Toledo |
Landmarks and Institutions
The city's general aspect has changed little since El Greco painted his famous View of Toledo. Its chief landmark, the alcázar (fortified palace), was originally a Moorish structure, restored in the 13th cent. and transformed (1535, 1576) to serve as residence for Charles V and Philip II. It was largely destroyed (1936) in the Spanish civil war, when the Nationalists, with their women and children, shut themselves up inside and withstood a Loyalist siege for two months, until relieved by Franco's forces. After the war the fortress was again restored.
Toledo is surrounded by partly Moorish, partly Gothic walls and gates. Of Moorish origin also is the Alcántara bridge. The Gothic cathedral, begun in 1226, is one of the finest in Spain and houses El Greco's Espolio and other paintings by him in its lovely baroque chapels. Among the other many famous buildings are the Church of Santo Tomé, with El Greco's Burial of the Conde de Orgaz; the Church of Santa María la Blanca (12th–13th cent.; formerly a synagogue); the Convent of San Juan de los Reyes (15th cent.), with five Gothic cloisters; the Hospital of San Juan Bautista (15th–16th cent.), which has some paintings by El Greco; the former Tránsito synagogue, in Mudéjar style; and the Greco Museum.
History
Toledo is of pre-Roman origin; known in ancient times as Toletum, it fell to the Romans in 193 B.C. The city became an early archiepiscopal see; its archbishops are the primates of Spain. In the 6th cent. Toledo prospered as a capital of the Visigothic kingdom, and it was the scene of several important church councils. Its greatest prosperity began under Moorish rule (712–1085), first as the seat of an emir and after 1031 as the capital of an independent kingdom. Under the Moors and later under the kings of Castile, who made it their chief residence, Toledo was a center of the Moorish, Spanish, and Jewish cultures and thus a great center for translation (its School of Translators was revived in 1995). Toledo sword blades were famous for their strength, elasticity, and craftsmanship; the art was introduced by Moorish artisans, and it is still carried on. Other important products were silk and wool textiles.
In the 15th cent. Valladolid superseded Toledo as chief royal residence, but Emperor Charles V resided in Toledo during much of his reign (1516–56). Its decline began in the 16th cent., but at the same time Toledo gained importance as Spain's spiritual capital. The seat of the Grand Inquisitors, it was also the center of the mysticism symbolized by El Greco, whose name has become inseparable from that of Toledo.
| History 1450-1789: Toledo |
Toledo was an important city of Spain for much of the early modern period. Symbolic of this prominence are the large fortress (alcázar) built by the monarchs, the vast and richly decorated cathedral, and the impressive archdiocesan palace built by the prelates of Toledo, primates of the Spanish church.
Toledo's importance owes much to its geographic location. Security from outside attacks was enhanced by the deep, fast-flowing Tagus (Tajo) River, which offered a natural protective border on two-thirds of the city's perimeter and amplified the resistance offered by sturdy city walls and the heights of the interior space. Also, Toledo was at the center of the Iberian Peninsula, so it was a natural stopping-off point for travelers and merchandise, whether from Lisbon to the west or on the north-south routes in the crown of Castile. Within the region of New Castile, Toledo was the largest city and dominated the economy for much of the sixteenth century. This changed after Philip II (1527–1598) settled his court in the nearby city of Madrid in 1561. By the 1580s the two cities were competing for grain in local villages, and in the 1630s they competed over rights to plant vines and sell wine.
The population of Toledo expanded during the first three-quarters of the sixteenth century. According to the first census of 1528, some 30,000 people (5,898 households) lived in Toledo, and this figure doubled to approximately 62,000 people (12,412 households) by 1571. This appears to be the high point of the city's demographic expansion, as in 1597 only 54,665 people (10,953 households) were recorded. Baptismal records indicate a decreasing number of births in the first decade of the seventeenth century, when the city was struck by plague and then a subsistence crisis in 1605–1606. Population was also lost through emigration, especially to Madrid. Finally, among the city's wealthy families, fewer marriages were celebrated, in part because the crown's chaotic monetary policies ruined many and in part because numerous individuals of both sexes preferred celibacy and a church career. By 1632 the population had contracted to only 22,686 inhabitants, fewer that those recorded in the first census of 1528.
The oligarchy that governed Toledo consisted of a council of regidores and another council of jurados, both of which were supervised by a crown-appointed corregidor. The jurados did not vote on issues, but they could protest to the crown about injustices. They formed part of the small committees that did much of the actual work for the city, and they were entitled to supply one of the two deputies who attended the Castilian Cortes, the representative assembly. The regidores were divided into two benches, citizens and the more prestigious nobles, and into two factions according to the side on which they sat, the Silva on the right and the Ayala on the left. Frictions between the two benches and the two factions were constant, although after the Comuneros Revolt, which took a heavy toll on the Ayala faction, the battles were largely verbal and legal rather than physical. The crown added yet another division among the regidores in 1566, when a pure-blood statute was imposed on the citizens' bench. This ruling was directed against conversos, Jews who had converted to Christianity, whose bloodlines were seen as impure. Many citizen regidores were conversos, and a few openly protested to the crown about the new ruling, but to no avail. By 1639, however, the citizens bench was abolished, thus eliminating two of the three divisions that had previously divided the regidores.
Toledo had an active converso population that was especially visible in certain occupations. They accounted for two-thirds of the public notaries, probably a majority of the city's jurados, and certainly a majority of the local merchants and tax farmers. They built up the textile industries, most prominently silk and wool, of their native city. Many merchants kept a flock of sheep, and wool was sold to Toledo weavers, including cap makers, whose products were sold locally and were exported. Some merchants traveled to local fairs to buy wool cloth woven by villagers, which they took to Toledo to be finished. But Toledo is best known for the manufacture of silk products. Toledo families farmed the royal tax levied on Granada silk, and this post afforded Toledo merchants the opportunity to obtain the best silk of the Iberian Peninsula, although silk was also bought in Murcia and Valencia. In 1562 the master silk weavers of Toledo numbered 423. Unfortunately Toledo's textile industries followed the same downward path as the population.
Bibliography
Brown, Jonathan. El Greco of Toledo. Boston, 1982.
Martz, Linda. A Network of Converso Families in Early Modern Toledo: Assimilating a Minority. Ann Arbor, Mich., 2003.
——. Poverty and Welfare in Habsburg Spain: The Example of Toledo. New York, 1983.
Montemayor, Julian. Tolède entre fortune et déclin (1530– 1640). Limoges, France, 1996.
Ringrose, David R. Madrid and the Spanish Economy, 1560– 1850. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1983.
—LINDA MARTZ
| Wikipedia: Toledo, Spain |
| Toledo | |||
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| Settled | ca. 7th Century B.C. | ||
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| Government | |||
| - Mayor-President | Emiliano García-Page Sánchez (PSOE) | ||
| Population (2007) | |||
| - Total | 78,618 | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Website | Municipality of Toledo (Spanish) | ||
| Historic City of Toledo* | |
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| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
 Old city of Toledo |
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| State Party |  Spain |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, ii, iii, iv |
| Reference | 379 |
| Region** | Europe |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1986 (10th Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO. |
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Toledo (Latin: Toletum) is a municipality located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid. It is the capital of the province of Toledo and of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage as one of the former capitals of the Spanish Empire and place of coexistence of Christian, Jewish and Moorish cultures. Many famous people and artists were born or lived in Toledo, including Al-Zarqali, Garcilaso de la Vega, Eleanor of Toledo , Alfonso X and El Greco. It was also the place of important historic events such as the Visigothic Councils of Toledo. As of 2007[update], the city has a population of 78,618 and an area of 232.1 km2 (89.59 square miles).
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Having been populated since the Bronze Age, Toledo (Toletum in Latin) gained relevance during Roman times, being a main commercial and administrative center in the roman province of Tarraconensis. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Toledo served as the capital city of Visigothic Spain, beginning with Liuvigild (Leovigild), and was the capital of Spain until the Moors conquered Iberia in the 8th century.
Under the Caliphate of Cordoba, Toledo enjoyed a golden age. This extensive period is known as La Convivencia, i.e. the co-existence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Under Arab rule, Toledo was called Tulaytulah (Arabic طليطلة, academically transliterated Ṭulayṭulah). After the fall of the Caliphate, Toledo was the capital city of one of the richest Taifa Muslim kingdoms of Al-Andalus, and, because of its central location in the Iberian Peninsula, Toledo took a central position in the struggles between the Muslim and Christian rulers of northern Spain.
On May 25, 1085 Alfonso VI of Castile took Toledo and established direct personal control over the Moorish city from which he had been exacting tribute, and ending the mediaeval Taifa's Kingdom of Toledo. . This was the first concrete step taken by the combined kingdom of Leon-Castile in the Reconquista by Christian forces. After castilian conquest Toledo remained as a main cultural center; its Arab libraries weren't savaged, and a tag-team translation center was established, in which books in Arabic would be translated from Arabic or Hebrew to Spanish by Arab and Jewish scholars, and from Spanish to Latin by castilian scholars, thus letting the old-lost knowledge spread through Christian Europe again. For some time during the 16th century, Toledo served as the capital city of Castile, and the city flourished. However, soon enough the Spanish court was moved first to Valladolid and then to Madrid, thus letting the city's relevance dwindle till the late 20th century, when it was established as the capital city of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Nevertheless, the economic decline of the city helped to preseve its cultural and architectural patrimony. Nowadays, because of its rich heritage, Toledo is one of Spain's foremost cities, receiving thousands of visitors yearly.
Toledo's Alcázar (castilian word for palace-castle) became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.
Toledo reached its zenith in the era of Islamic Caliphate. Historian P. de Gayangos writes:
The Muslim scientists of this age were unrivaled in the world. Perhaps among their greatest feats were the famous waterlocks of Toledo.[1]
The old city is located on a mountaintop with a 150 degrees view, surrounded on three sides by a bend in the Tagus River, and contains many historical sites, including the Alcázar, the cathedral (the primate church of Spain), and the Zocodover, a central market place.
From the 4th century to the 16th century about thirty synods were held at Toledo. The earliest, directed against Priscillian, assembled in 400. At the synod of 589 the Visigothic King Reccared declared his conversion from Arianism; the synod of 633 decreed uniformity of liturgy throughout the Visigothic kingdom and took stringent measures against baptized Jews who had relapsed into their former faith. The council of 681 assured to the archbishop of Toledo the primacy of Spain. At Guadamur, very close to Toledo, was dug in 1858 the Treasure of Guarrazar, the best example of Visigothic art in Spain.
As nearly one hundred early canons of Toledo found a place in the Decretum Gratiani, they exerted an important influence on the development of ecclesiastical law. The synod of 1565–1566 concerned itself with the execution of the decrees of the Council of Trent; and the last council held at Toledo, 1582–1583, was guided in detail by Philip II.
Toledo was famed for religious tolerance and had large communities of Muslims and Jews until they were expelled from Spain in 1492 (Jews) and 1502 (Muslims). Today's city contains the religious monuments the Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca, the Synagogue of El Transito, Mosque of Cristo de la Luz and the church of San Sebastián dating from before the expulsion, still maintained in good condition. Among Ladino-speaking Sephardi Jews, in their various diasporas, the family name Toledano is still prevalent - indicating an ancestry traced back to this city (the name is also attested among non-Jews in various Spanish-speaking countries).
In the 13th century, Toledo was a major cultural center under the guidance of Alfonso X, called "El Sabio" ("the Wise") for his love of learning. The program of translations, begun under Archbishop Raymond of Toledo, continued to bring vast stores of knowledge to Europe by rendering great academic and philosophical works in Arabic into Latin. The Palacio de Galiana, built in the Mudéjar style, is one of the monuments that remain from that period.
The Cathedral of Toledo (Catedral de Toledo) was built between 1226-1493 and modeled after the Bourges Cathedral, though it also combines some characteristics of the Mudejar style. It is remarkable for its incorporation of light and features the Baroque altar called El Transparente, several stories high, with fantastic figures of stucco, paintings, bronze castings, and multiple colors of marble, a masterpiece of medieval mixed media by Narciso Tomé topped by the daily effect for just a few minutes of a shaft of light from which this feature of the cathedral derives its name. Two notable bridges secured access to Toledo across the Tajo, the Puente de Alcántara and the later built Puente de San Martín.
The Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes is a Franciscan monastery, built 1477-1504, in a remarkable combination of Gothic-Spanish-Flemish style with Mudéjar ornamentation.
Toledo was home to El Greco for the latter part of his life, and is the subject of some of his most famous paintings, including The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, exhibited in the Church of Santo Tomé.
Toledo was famed for its production of iron and especially of swords and the city is still a center for the manufacture of knives and other steel implements. When Philip II moved the royal court from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, the old city went into a slow decline from which it never recovered.
The marzipan of Toledo is also consider one of it finest food products.
 The Tagus River flows through Toledo |
 The bridge of San Martín over the Tagus River |
 A view across the river of the old wall of Toledo — August 2006 |
Old Toledo from across the Tagus River, April 2007 |
| 1991 | 1996 | 2001 | 2004 | 2006 |
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| 59,000 | 66,006 | 68,382 | 73,485 | 77,601 |
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more |
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| History 1450-1789. Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Toledo, Spain". Read more |
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