Toro is a town and
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in the
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
of
Zamora, part of the
autonomous community
eu, autonomia erkidegoa
ca, comunitat autònoma
gl, comunidade autónoma
oc, comunautat autonòma
an, comunidat autonoma
ast, comunidá autónoma
, alt_name =
, map =
, category = Autonomous administra ...
of
Castile and León
Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain.
It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...
, Spain. It is located on a fertile high plain, northwest of
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
at an elevation of .
Toro is known as a center of
Mudéjar
Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for ...
art and as a
wine-producing region
This list of wine-producing regions catalogues significant growing regions where vineyards are planted. Wine grapes mostly grow between the 30th and the 50th degree of latitude, in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Grapes will sometimes ...
. It is located on the
Duero River
The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...
roughly halfway between
Zamora, the provincial capital and
Tordesillas
Tordesillas () is a town and municipality in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, central Spain. It is located southwest of the provincial capital, Valladolid at an elevation of . The population was c. 9,000 .
The town is located ...
in the province of
Valladolid
Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...
. The four-lane freeway (autovía)
A-11
A11, A 11 or A-11 may refer to:
Military
* Aero A.11, a Czechoslovakian bomber produced before World War II
* Consolidated A-11, an attack version of the Consolidated P-30 fighter plane of the 1930s
* HMS ''A11'', an A-class submarine of the Roy ...
now connects these two cities and passes just north of Toro.
Highway N122 passes through the town. The distance to Madrid by highway is . Distances to other cities are: to Zamora, to Valladolid and to
Salamanca
Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...
.
History
Antiquity
Toro is an ancient town, possibly the
Arbukala of the
Vaccai
Nicola Vaccai (15 March 1790 – 5 or 6 August 1848) was an Italian composer, particularly of operas, and a singing teacher.
Life and career as a composer
Born at Tolentino, he grew up in Pesaro, and studied music there until his parents sent him ...
tribe which was conquered by
Hannibal
Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...
in 220 BC but survived to trouble the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
s. The Roman town was called
Albucella. The modern name may derive from the bull totem of that
Celtiberian people. In the 8th century it was
conquered by the Moors. After the Muslims had been partially rolled back,
Alfonso III repopulated the town in about 910.
Medieval
Ferdinand III was crowned King of
León in Toro in 1230 and his wife
Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen
Elisabeth of Swabia (renamed Beatrice; March/May 1205 – 5 November 1235), was a member of the House of Hohenstaufen who became Queen of Castile and Leon by marriage to Ferdinand III.
Born in Nürnberg, Elisabeth was the fourth daughter of Phi ...
(Beatriz) died here.
Enrique II, first of the
Trastámara line, summoned his first
Cortes
Cortes, Cortés, Cortês, Corts, or Cortès may refer to:
People
* Cortes (surname), including a list of people with the name
** Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), a Spanish conquistador
Places
* Cortes, Navarre, a village in the South border of ...
here in 1369.
Juan II of Castile
John II of Castile ( es, link=no, Juan; 6 March 1405 – 20 July 1454) was King of Castile, King of Kingdom of Castile, Castile and Kingdom of León, León from 1406 to 1454. He succeeded his older sister, Maria of Castile, Queen of Aragon, as ...
was born here in 1404, but the town was to have greater significance for his daughter
Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I ( es, Isabel I; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''la Católica''), was Queen of Castile from 1474 until her death in 1504, as well as List of Aragonese royal consorts, Queen consort ...
.
Isabella (married with Ferdinand) had a rival for the succession in
Juana la Beltraneja
Joanna ''la Beltraneja'' (21 February 1462 – 12 April 1530) was a claimant to the throne of Castile, and Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Afonso V, her uncle.
Birth and parentage
King Henry IV of Castile married Joan of Portugal, d ...
, supposedly the daughter of her half-brother
Enrique IV
Henry IV of Castile ( Castilian: ''Enrique IV''; 5 January 1425 – 11 December 1474), King of Castile and León, nicknamed the Impotent, was the last of the weak late-medieval kings of Castile and León. During Henry's reign, the nobles became ...
, but allegedly the daughter of the queen's lover, the courtier
Beltrán de la Cueva Beltrán is a Spanish male given name and surname. In non-Spanish speaking countries, the accent is usually omitted as Beltran. It derives from the Germanic words berht ("bright") and hramn ("raven"). It shares this same Germanic origin with Bertran ...
. La Beltraneja's supporters arranged her betrothal to
Alfonso V of Portugal
Afonso V () (15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), known by the sobriquet the African (), was King of Portugal from 1438 until his death in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. His sobriquet refers to his military conquests in Northern Africa. ...
who was feeling upset over his earlier rejection by Isabella.
![Torre del reloj de la ciudad de Toro](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Torre_del_reloj_de_la_ciudad_de_Toro._%28Zamora%29.JPG)
Alfonso invaded
Castile in May 1475, backed by a number of dissident Castilian nobles. Isabella made
Tordesillas
Tordesillas () is a town and municipality in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, central Spain. It is located southwest of the provincial capital, Valladolid at an elevation of . The population was c. 9,000 .
The town is located ...
her headquarters, while Ferdinand moved to secure the loyalty of
Salamanca
Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...
, Toro, and
Zamora. Alfonso reached
Arévalo
Arévalo is a municipality in Spain, it is situated in the province of Ávila and is part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. The name came from the Celtic word ''arevalon'', meaning "place near the wall."
Regional importance
The ...
in July and both Zamora and Toro went over to him, a serious blow for the young monarchs.
Intrigue seethed as troops marched. Zamora swung back to Isabella's cause. The Portuguese crown prince arrived with reinforcements and on March 1, 1476 the rival armies met at
Peleagonzalo, a few kilometres southwest of Toro. Ferdinand was victorious in this battle decided by light cavalry. The Portuguese under Alfonso broke and the king took refuge in
Castronuño
Castronuño is a municipality located in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a give ...
. However, the result was uncertain
''La “imcomparable” Isabel la Catolica''
(The “imcomparable” Isabella, the Catholic), Encuentro Editiones, printed by Rogar-Fuenlabrada, Madrid, 1993 (Spanish edition), page 49, by Jean Dumont since the forces under the Portuguese crown prince defeated the Castilian right wing and remained in possession of the battle field - and thus both sides claimed victory. But the fortress of Zamora surrendered to Ferdinand soon thereafter (March 19, 1476) while Toro remained in Portuguese hands during more than half a year (until September 19, 1476). After that Alfonso gave up the fight and la Beltraneja retired to a Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
convent where she died in 1530, aged sixty-eight.
In January 1506, after Isabella's death, Ferdinand summoned a Cortes at Toro. Isabella's legal successors in Castile were her daughter Joanna the Mad
Joanna (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as Joanna the Mad ( es, link=no, Juana la Loca), was the nominal Queen of Castile from 1504 and Queen of Aragon from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was married by arrangement to Phi ...
and her husband Philip the Handsome
Philip the Handsome, es, Felipe, french: Philippe, nl, Filips (22 July 1478 – 25 September 1506), also called the Fair, was ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands and titular ruler, titular Duke of Burgundy from 1482 to 1506, as well as the fir ...
, who at the time stayed in the Netherlands. The Cortes took the oath to Ferdinand as temporary ruler and agreed that if Juana be deemed incurably ill, which she showed every sign of being, he should become regent.
When the pair reached Spain in the spring of 1506, the two men agreed that Juana was incapable of ruling. Ferdinand turned over the sole rule to her husband Philip the Handsome and left for Kingdom of Aragon
The Kingdom of Aragon ( an, Reino d'Aragón, ca, Regne d'Aragó, la, Regnum Aragoniae, es, Reino de Aragón) was a medieval and early modern kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, ...
. Less than three months later, Philip was dead. Juana became totally insane and in August 1508 ceded her rights to her father and was retired to Tordesillas
Tordesillas () is a town and municipality in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, central Spain. It is located southwest of the provincial capital, Valladolid at an elevation of . The population was c. 9,000 .
The town is located ...
.
1500 to present
When in 1520 the towns of Castile, the Comuneros
Comunero may refer to:
* Revolt of the Comuneros, a rebellion in Castile in 1520–1521
* Revolt of the Comuneros (Paraguay)
The Revolt of the Comuneros ( es, Revolución Comunera) was a series of uprisings by settlers in Paraguay in the Vi ...
, rose against her son Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
, who had succeeded his Spanish grandfather in 1516, Toro sided with them. Charles defeated the Comuneros at Villalar de los Comuneros, east of Toro, the next year.
During the Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
, in the bitter cold of December 1808, Sir John Moore began his retreat from Toro in the face of superior French forces. The ghastly ordeal ended in Moore's death before A Coruña
A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...
( Galicia) in January. In May 1813, 100,000 British troops gathered in Toro under Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
's command and from here Wellington launched the final campaign which expelled Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's armies from Spanish soil after five terrible years.
English traveller Richard Ford (English writer)
Richard Ford (1796–1858) was an English travel writer known for his books on Spain. Born in Chelsea into a high-class family and educated in Oxford, he first moved to Spain in 1830, where he travelled extensively and collected notes and dr ...
visited Toro in 1831 and reported a population of 9,000; it has just under 10,000 now. In 1838 it lost its status as a provincial capital, its province being merged with Zamora.
Main sights
The town of Toro is built in the shape of a fan, in whose center stands the Collegiate church of Santa María la Mayor, dating to the 12th century. Outstanding on the outside is the polychrome western door, called ; and on the inside, the famous Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
painting ''La Virgen de la Mosca'' ("Virgin of the Fly") and an unusual pregnant Virgin.
Next to the collegiate church is the Espolón viewing point, which offers views of a fertile plain known as the "oasis of Castile."
The town also has the remains of a wall from 910 AD; and the gates of Corredera and Santa Catalina, from the 17th and 18th centuries. Noteworthy civic buildings include the façade of the Law Palace, the City Hall, and the palaces of the Counts of Requena, the Marquis of Alcañices
Alcañices ( pt, Alcanizes) is a small town in the province of Zamora, Spain. It is very close to the Portugal-Spain border, not far from the Portuguese town of Bragança. In fact, the Village is especially remembered for being the seat of the ...
or the Marquis of Castrillo. Among the ecclesiastical buildings are the churches of ''San Lorenzo el Real'', in Mudéjar
Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for ...
style; ''San Salvador de los Caballeros'', which contains a Museum of Religious Art; ''San Sebastián'', and the monasteries of Sancti Spiritus, Santa Clara and Santa Sofía.
Notable inhabitants
*Jesús López-Cobos
Jesus ( AD 30 or 33) was a Jewish preacher and religious leader who most Christians believe to be the incarnation of God and Muslims believe was a prophet.
Jesus may also refer to:
People
Religious figures
* Elymas Bar-Jesus, a Jew in the ''Ac ...
, conductor (b. 1940)
* Bernardo Bonavía y Zapata (died December 2, 1812), political figure who was in a variety of political positions in New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
. The positions included Corregidor of a Mexican province (1789), Governor-Intendant of Durango
Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...
(1796-1809), governor of Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. The term "interior provinces" first appeared in 1712, as an expression meaning "far away" provinces. It was only in 1776 that a lega ...
(1786) and Military Commander of Texas (1809-1812).
Toro wine
Toro has been long famous for its wine ( Toro (DO)). The Toro wines were so prestigious that King Alfonso IX of León conceded privileges for its production in the 12th Century. Columbus took Toro wine with him on the expedition to discover America in 1492, because it could survive large journeys, due to its structure and body. Friar Diego de Deza, from Zamora, one of Isabel the Catholic's confessors, collaborated economically in the expedition, for which he was allowed to name one of the caravels, the Pinta that was half full of Toro wine. The Designation of the Toro Region is recent, beginning in the mid 70s, under the Specific Designation (Denominación Específica), which preceded the attainment of Designated Region (Denominación de Origen) on 29 May 1987.
Twin towns – sister cities
* Condom, Gers, Condom, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
* Dormagen
Dormagen (; Ripuarian: ''Dormaje'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany in the Rhein-Kreis Neuss.
Geography
Dormagen is situated between Düsseldorf – Cologne – Mönchengladbach on the western bank of the river Rhine.
Division of ...
, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
See also
*Spanish wine
Spanish wine () includes red, white, and sparkling wines produced throughout the country. Located on the Iberian Peninsula, Spain has over 1.2 million hectares (2.9 million acres) planted in wine grapes, making it the most widely pla ...
Notes
Sources
*''Guia Total, Castilla y León'', (Madrid 1995).
*''A River in Spain'', Rober White (London 1998).
* Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, by William Smith
''Historia del Cristianismo''
Editorial Unilit, 1994, Miami, Tome 2, Parte II (''La era de los conquistadores''), by Justo L. González.
''La “imcomparable” Isabel la Catolica''
(The “imcomparable” Isabella, the Catholic), Encuentro Editiones, printed by Rogar-Fuenlabrada, Madrid, 1993 (Spanish edition), by Jean Dumont.
External links
''Ayuntamiento de Toro''
Toro municipal government official website
Portal with different types of information on Toro]
Cities and towns in Zamora, Spain; Toro]
Pueblos de España
*As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning: As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning
''As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning'' (1969) is a memoir by Laurie Lee, a British poet. It is a sequel to ''Cider with Rosie'' which detailed his early life in Gloucestershire after the First World War. In this sequel Lee leaves the securit ...
{{authority control
Municipalities of the Province of Zamora