TOLEDO, the capital of the Spanish province of Toledo and formerly of the whole kingdom, 47 m. by rail S.S.W. of Madrid, on the river Tagus, 2,400 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1930) Toledo is of immemorial antiquity; it was a stronghold of the Carpetani and may have been a Carthaginian trading-station. Livy (xxv. 7) mentions Toletum as urbs parva, sed loco munita, which was captured by the Romans in 193 B.C. Under Roman rule it became a colonic and the capital of Carpetania. Its ecclesiastical importance is coeval with the introduction of Christianity into Spain; there were numerous church councils held here, notably in 396, 400 and 589, and here also was the chief battle ground in the long political and religious struggle which ended (589) in the triumph of Spanish Catholicism over Arianism. From the reign of Athanagild (534-547) until the Moorish conquest in 712, Toletum was generally regarded as the capital of Visigothic Spain. The Moorish chroniclers grow eloquent over the treasures captured by Musa and his army in 712. Tolaitola, as the city was then called, prospered under the Moors, first as a provincial capital in the caliphate of Cordova, governed by an emir (712 1035), afterwards as an independent state (5035-85). Its rulers protected the large Jewish colony, founded extensive silk and woollen industries, and made their city an important centre of Arab and Hebrew culture, one of the great names associated with it being that of Rabbi ben Ezra (1119-74). The Spanish and Jewish inhabitants adopted the language and many customs of their conquerors, becoming "Mozarabs," but retaining their own creeds. In 1085 Alphonso VI. of Leon and Castile captured Toledo, aided by the Cid, and in 1087 made it his capital; its com mercial and political decline dates from 1560, when Philip II. chose Madrid as his capital.
Toledo occupies a rugged promontory of granite, washed on all sides except the north by the Tagus, which here flows swiftly through a deep and precipitous gorge. From a distance it has the aspect of a vast fortress, built of granite, defended by the river and by a double wall on the north, and dominated by the towers of its cathedral and alcazar. The absence of traffic in its maze of dark and winding alleys creates a silence uncommon in so large a city. The principal plaza is the arcaded Zocodover, de scribed by Cervantes in the Novelas ejemplares. The houses, tall.
massive and sombre, are entered by huge iron-studded doors, and most of their windows open on a sheltered inner court (patio), the walls facing the street being often blank, though their monotony is sometimes relieved by carved stone-work.
The Tagus is spanned by two fortified Moorish bridges, the Puente da Alcantara, on the north-east, which was rebuilt in the 13th and 17th centuries, and the Puente de San Martin, on the north-west, founded in 1212 and rebuilt in 1390. The Mudejar Puerta del Sol is the finest of several ancient gateways, among which the Puerta Visagra (1550, restored 1575), and the Puerta del Cambron (1102, restored 1576) are also interesting. The Puerta Visagra Antigua, a Moorish gateway of the 9th century, has been walled up, but its original form is preserved. The Alcazar, a huge square building with a tower at each corner and a fine arcaded patio, stands on the highest ground in Toledo, originally the site of a Roman fort, and now a military academy. Its fine
facade designed by Juan de Herrera, a gateway by Alonso de Covarrubias and a staircase by Herrera and Francisco de Villal pando have been preserved. The Ayuntamiento, or City hall, is a 15th century building with 17th century alterations by Domenico Theotocopuli (el Greco).
The cathedral occupies the site of a Visigothic church. St. Ferdinand founded the present cathedral in August 1227. The completion of the main fabric was delayed until while many of the chapels and other subordinate buildings were added even later; thus Renaissance and baroque features have been introduced into a design which was originally Gothic of the 13th century. The interior is 395 ft. long by 178 ft. broad, and is divided by pillars into five naves, with central lantern and choir, and a com plete series of side chapels. Most of the chapels date from the 15th and 16th centuries, and are very magnificent in detail. The superb stained-glass windows, chiefly of Flemish work, belong to the same period and number 75o. The choir-stalls, placed in alabaster recesses divided by columns of red jasper and white marble, are among the finest extant examples of late mediaeval and Renaissance wood-carving, though rivalled by the retablo, which rises behind the high altar to the roof. The treasury, reliquaries and library still contain many priceless mss. and works of art, including the silver monstrance executed by Enrique de Arfe in 1524, and paintings by Goya, El Greco, Titian and Ru bens. In the Mozarabic chapel mass is still performed daily according to the Mozarabic liturgy, which was also used in six of the parish churches until about 1850. (See MOZARAB.) Apart from the cathedral, many of the other churches are of great interest and beauty. Several of them, notably Santo Tome and San Vicente, contain masterpieces of El Greco (d. 1614), many of whose pictures are collected in the Casa del Greco, founded by the Marques de Vega-Inclan. The Franciscan convent and church of San Juan de los Reyes (florid Gothic) were founded in 1476 by Ferdinand and Isabella. El Cristo de la Luz was originally a mosque, built in 922 and incorporating some pillars from an older Visigothic church. Santo Tome, also a mosque, was recon structed in the Gothic style during the 14th century. El Cristo de la Vega, formerly known as the Basilica de Santa Leocadia, occupies the site of a Visigothic church built in the 4th century to mark the burial-place of the saint. The Mudejar Santa Maria la Blanca became successively a synagogue, in the 13th and 14th centuries, a church (1405), an asylum for women (1550), bar racks (1791-98) and again a church.
Toledo's characteristic industry is the manufacture of swords, carried on by private firms and especially in the royal factory (1788), which, like the railway station, is about 1 m. from the city. Toledan blades have been famous for 2,000 years, the culter toletanus being mentioned in the Cynegetica of Grattius (Faliscus), during the 1st century B.C. The industry throve under the Moors and especially during the 16th century ; it is now prac tised on a smaller scale, but the blades produced are still remark able for flexibility and strength.