Toledo

I have now been in Seville for a full month. Much of this time was first spent looking for a place to live, establishing myself financially, and dealing with residency hurdles. When this process neared completion, I then had to deal with the sad and sudden death of my former laptop. Thanks to a bit of family teamwork I now have regular access to the internet once again and should be able to post somewhat regularly from here on out (fingers crossed). Before skipping ahead to Seville, I thought my trip to Toledo deserved at least one post.

During my last week in Madrid, I went to Toledo for a day by train in order to visit La Sección Nobleza (Nobility Section) del Archivo Histórico Nacional, or SNAHN. One of the Iberian Peninsula’s oldest cities, Toledo fell to the Moors in 711 and stood as a major frontier stronghold between the Christian kingdoms in the north and Moorish kingdoms to the south during the height of the centuries-long Reconquista (Reconquest). After nearly four centuries under Moorish rule, Alfonso VI captured the city in 1085. For some time thereafter, the city remained an important cultural center, serving as the home of a large Jewish population until the expulsion of the Jews in 1492.

The trip from Madrid takes only thirty minutes from the Puerta de Atocha train station. Although the train station in Toledo is outside of the old city center, the walk into town is only about ten minutes by foot and offers some great views of the city’s medieval walls. I was fortunate to arrive early enough in the morning to catch the glow of the old city on the Tagus River as I crossed the main bridge leading into the heart of town. The SNAHN was housed inside the former palace-residence of the Dukes of Lerma (picture at left), opposite the city’s main gate. Armed with a long list of call numbers, I spent much of the morning buried in documents. However, the archive closes daily at 2:30pm, which left the better part of the afternoon open to exploration. After leaving the archive, I made my way into the heart of the historic city center in order to visit the Cathedral and other points of interest within the city walls. The steep road leading from the main gate to the town square runs along the former Moorish battlements. Along the way numerous souvenir sword shops attest to Toledo’s reputation in the medieval and early modern period as the home of the best steel smiths in Europe. The Cathedral of Toledo (picture at right) figures among the more impressive architectural sights in Spain. By tradition dating to the Visigothic period, the Archbishop of Toledo is also the Primate of Spain, the nation’s highest-ranking Catholic religious figure. Needless to say, the splendor of the cathedral reflects the importance of this office.

Having worked up an appetite between the archive and my trip to the Cathedral, I ducked into a restaurant to eat lunch in full sight of the Alcazar (the Spanish word, derived from Arabic, for fortress). A key component in the layout and organization of every major city dating to the medieval period, the alzacar would often occupy the highest position in the city center. In the case of Toledo, the original alcazar – a structure that dated to the Roman period – was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Unable to force the surrender of local Francoists entrenched within the building during the early weeks of conflict, Republicans demolished the structure by dynamite destroying several surrounding blocks. The event became an Alamo-like moment for the Nationalist cause. In the aftermath, Franco diverted his army from its sweep toward Madrid, the move often credited with extending the war for another three years, to “reconquer” Toledo. Following the end of the war, Franco had the structure rebuilt using former Republicans as slave labor. In many ways the history of the building serves as a unique chronicle of the history of Spain, including one of its darkest moments.