1.
Kingdom of Galicia
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The Kingdom of Galicia was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Founded by Suebic king Hermeric in 409, the Galician capital was established in Braga, being the first kingdom which adopted Catholicism officially and it was part of the Kingdom of the Spanish Visigothic monarchs from 585 to 711. Compostela became capital of Galicia in the 11th century, while the independence of Portugal determined its southern boundary, the representative assembly of the Kingdom was then the Junta or Cortes of the Kingdom of Galicia, which briefly declared itself sovereign when Galicia alone remained free of Napoleonic occupation. The kingdom and its Junta were dissolved by Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the origin of the kingdom lies in the 5th century, when the Suebi settled permanently in the former Roman province of Gallaecia. Their king, Hermeric, probably signed a foedus, or pact, with the Roman Emperor Honorius, the Suebi set their capital in the former Bracara Augusta, setting the foundations of a kingdom which was first acknowledged as Regnum Suevorum, but later as Regnum Galliciense. The independent Suebic kingdom of Galicia lasted from 410 to 585, in 410 Gallaecia was divided, ad habitandum, among two Germanic people, the Hasdingi Vandals, who settled the eastern lands, and the Suebi, who established themselves in the coastal areas. As with most Germanic invasions, the number of the original Suebi is estimated to be low, generally fewer than 100,000. They settled mainly in the regions around modern northern Portugal and Western Galicia, in the towns of Braga and Porto, in 419 a war broke out between the Vandal king Gunderic and the Suebis Hermeric. After a blockade alongside the Nervasian Mountains, the Suebi obtained Roman help, in the absence of competitors, the Suebi began a period of expansion, first inside Gallaecia, and later into other Roman provinces. In 438 Hermeric ratified a treaty with the Gallaeci, the native. In 448 Rechila died, leaving the state to his son Rechiar. Rechiar married a Visigothic princess, and was also the first Germanic king to mint coins in ancient Roman territories, Rechiar led further expansions to the east, marauding through the Provincia Tarraconensis, which was still held by Rome. The Roman emperor Avitus sent an army of foederates, under the direction of the Visigoth Theoderic II. Rechiar fled, but he was pursued and captured, then executed in 457, in the aftermath of Rechiars death, multiple candidates for the throne appeared, finally grouping into two allegiances. By 465 Remismund, who established a policy of friendship with the Goths, five of the attendant bishops used Germanic names, showing the integration of the different communities of the country. After clashing in frontier lands, Miro and Leovigild agreed upon a temporary peace, the Suebi maintained their independence until 585, when Leovigild, on the pretext of conflict over the succession, invaded the Suebic kingdom and finally defeated it. Audeca, the last king of the Suebi, who had deposed his brother-in-law Eboric and this same year a nobleman named Malaric rebelled against the Goths, but he was defeated. As with the Visigothic language, there are traces of the Suebi tongue remaining
2.
Imperator totius Hispaniae
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Imperator totius Hispaniae is a Latin title meaning Emperor of all Spain. In Spain in the Middle Ages, the emperor was used under a variety of circumstances from the ninth century onwards. It was primarily used by the Kings of León and Castile, the use of the imperial title received scant recognition outside of Spain and it had become largely forgotten by the thirteenth century. The analogous feminine title, empress, was frequently used for the consorts of the emperors. Only one reigning queen, Urraca, had occasion to use it, a surviving charter of 863 refers to Ordoño I as our lord, residing in the Asturias, qualifying him as a commanding prince. This residential form of title was preferred because the Asturian kingdom at this stage was not ethnically unified or well-defined. The first document, dated to 866 or 867, confirmed by Alfonso, who signs as I, Alfonso, of all Spain emperor, the other refers to him simply as Alfonso, Emperor of Spain. The forger may have borrowed these exalted titles from the chancery of Alfonso VI, the subscription lists of both these charters are compatible with the dates, and it has been suggested that the clauses referring to Alfonso as emperor are derived from authentic charters. A similarly grandiose title is given to Alfonso in the contemporary Chronica Prophetica, the authenticity of the letter is still debated. Besides the apocryphal charters, there are genuine, posthumous documents referring to Alfonso as emperor, in one that dates from 917, in the reign of his son Ordoño II of León, the king confirms as Ordoño, son of the Emperor Alfonso the Great. A document from 950 can also be cited that refers to Alfonso with the imperial title, the pertinent passage reads, They put in place a border with Gonzalo, son of our lord emperor Prince Alfonso. A royal diploma of 922, where Ordoño II refers to himself as emperor, is the first recorded instance of a Leonese king doing so, the charter reads, I, the most serene emperor Ordoño. Although he apparently avoided the imperial style himself, his subjects, private documents of his reign commonly refer to him as the great king, as in a document of 930. Contemporary documents of the reign of Ramiro III of León use the magnified titles basileus and magnus rex, the former is a Latinisation of the Greek for king and was the title employed by the Byzantine Emperors. To western European ears it had an imperial inflection, during the regency of Ramiros aunt, the nun Elvira Ramírez, the king confirmed a document of 1 May 974 as Flavius Ramiro, prince, anointed great basileus in the kingdom. I confirm with my own hand, Elvira, basilea, paternal aunt of the king. Its use in a document of the tenth century harkens back to Visigothic rule, a judicial document that emanated from the royal court in 976 refers to a certain royal servant as in the palace of the most lordly king–emperor. in obedient service to his most lordly emperor. In the first decades of the century, the Catalan Abbot Oliba referred to the kings of León, Alfonso V and Bermudo III
3.
Coronation
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The ceremony can also be conducted for the monarchs consort, either simultaneously with the monarch or as a separate event. A ceremony without the placement of a crown on the head is known as an enthronement. Coronations are still observed in the United Kingdom, Tonga, in addition to investing the monarch with symbols of state, Western-style coronations have often traditionally involve anointing with holy oil, or chrism as it is often called. Wherever a ruler is anointed in this way, as in Great Britain and Tonga, some other lands use bathing or cleansing rites, the drinking of a sacred beverage, or other religious practices to achieve a comparable effect. Such acts symbolise the granting of divine favour to the monarch within the relevant spiritual-religious paradigm of the country, in the past, concepts of royalty, coronation and deity were often inexorably linked. Rome promulgated the practice of worship, in Medieval Europe. Coronations were once a direct expression of these alleged connections. Thus, coronations have often been discarded altogether or altered to reflect the nature of the states in which they are held. However, some monarchies still choose to retain an overtly religious dimension to their accession rituals, others have adopted simpler enthronement or inauguration ceremonies, or even no ceremony at all. In non-Christian states, coronation rites evolved from a variety of sources, buddhism, for instance, influenced the coronation rituals of Thailand, Cambodia and Bhutan, while Hindu elements played a significant role in Nepalese rites. The ceremonies used in modern Egypt, Malaysia, Brunei and Iran were shaped by Islam, Coronations, in one form or another, have existed since ancient times. Egyptian records show coronation scenes, such as that of Seti I in 1290 BC, judeo-Christian scriptures testify to particular rites associated with the conferring of kingship, the most detailed accounts of which are found in II Kings 11,12 and II Chronicles 23,11. Following the assumption of the diadem by Constantine, Roman and Byzantine emperors continued to wear it as the symbol of their authority. Although no specific coronation ceremony was observed at first, one gradually evolved over the following century, the emperor Julian was hoisted upon a shield and crowned with a gold necklace provided by one of his standard-bearers, he later wore a jewel-studded diadem. Later emperors were crowned and acclaimed in a manner, until the momentous decision was taken to permit the Patriarch of Constantinople to physically place the crown on the emperors head. Historians debate when exactly this first took place, but the precedent was established by the reign of Leo II. This ritual included recitation of prayers by the Byzantine prelate over the crown, after this event, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the ecclesiastical element in the coronation ceremonial rapidly develop. This was usually performed three times, following this, the king was given a spear, and a diadem wrought of silk or linen was bound around his forehead as a token of regal authority
4.
Sierra Morena
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The Sierra Morena is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. Its highest summit is 1,332 m high Bañuela, other notable peaks are Corral de Borros 1,312 m and Cerro de la Estrella 1,298 m. The name Sierra Morena has a legendary reputation in Spanish culture and tradition, with myths about bandits, a giant snake. This range is mentioned in the famous Mexican song Cielito Lindo and in one of the most well known traditional Spanish songs, Soy Minero. The Sierra Morena stretches for 450 km in an E-W direction from the course of the Guadalmena River in the Sierra del Relumbrar until northwestern Huelva Province. The system is the result of the produced by the pressure of the northward-moving African Plate. It is made up of hard Paleozoic rocks such as granite and quartzite, as well as materials such as slate. Its name, roughly meaning dark range, is derived from the dark color of some of the rocks. It is also mentioned as Sierra Mariánica in some documents, formerly it was a border area, a vast wilderness with little population, and its mountain passes were important for the communication between Andalusia and Central Spain. The peaks of the ranges are not very high on average and they are, however, very consistent in altitude, averaging between 600 and 1,300 m all along the system. Since they form the edge of the Meseta Central, the Iberian Central Plateau. Nevertheless, the Sierra Morena looks like a mountain range seen from the Baetic Depression in the south with impressive southward-facing slopes and gorges. The ancient Iberians used the passes as a passage between the high plateau in the north and the Guadalquivir basin. The bleak Sierra Morena mountains were also notorious in former times for being a haunt of bandits, the Nuevas Poblaciones de Andalucía y Sierra Morena administrative division was started in 1767 during the reign of Charles III of Spain in order to populate the mountainous zone. As a consequence the area around La Carolina was settled with farmers that included German, Swiss, one of the goals of the project was to have safe stopover points for carriages in the desolate region that would be within reasonable distance from each other. Marcos Rodríguez Pantoja was a born in Añora who lived by himself in the middle of the Sierra Morena in the area that is now the Sierra de Cardeña y Montoro Natural Park. The film “Entre lobos” by the Cordovan director Gerardo Olivares was based on his experience, the Sierra Morena was the scenario of many battles and skirmishes throughout the Spanish Civil War. The Sierra Morena appears in the novel Don Quixote, after Sancho Panza suggests the mountains as a refuge from the Holy Brotherhood after Don Quixote frees a group of galley slaves, the two escape into the Sierra Morena
5.
Toledo Cathedral
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The Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Toledo, Spain. It is the seat of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Toledo, the cathedral of Toledo is one of the three 13th-century High Gothic cathedrals in Spain and is considered, in the opinion of some authorities, to be the magnum opus of the Gothic style in Spain. It also combines some characteristics of the Mudéjar style, mainly in the cloister, the spectacular incorporation of light and the structural achievements of the ambulatory vaults are some of its more remarkable aspects. It is built with limestone from the quarries of Olihuelas. It is popularly known as Dives Toletana, for many years, an unwritten popular tradition has held that there was originally a church from the era of the first Archbishop Eugene located in the same place as the present cathedral. The city had been the seat of Visigothic Spain. The numerous Councils of Toledo attest to its important ecclesiastical past, also, the abjuration of Arianism on the part of Reccared occurred there. The Muslim invasion did not immediately eliminate the Christian presence and the bishopric remained established in the church of Saint Mary of Alfizén, the Visigothic church was torn down and the main mosque of the city of Toledo was erected in its place. The city of Toledo was reconquered by Alfonso VI, King of León and Castile, naturally, the preservation of the main mosque was integral to this compromise. On 25 October 1087, the archbishop in cooperation with Queen Constance sent a contingent to seize the mosque by force. They proceeded to install an altar and hung a bell in the minaret. In gratitude for this gesture, the Cathedral Chapter dedicated a homage to Walid and ordered his effigy to be placed on one of the pillars in the main chapel, thus the conversion of the Toledan mosque was upheld and it remained consecrated as a Christian cathedral. It is possible that it appeared much like the Church of the Savior of Toledo. King Alfonso VI made important donations to the new church, on 18 December 1086, the cathedral was placed under the advocacy of María and it was granted villas, hamlets, mills and one third of the revenues of all the rest of the churches of the city. Pope Urban II recognised this church in 1088 as the cathedral over the rest of the kingdom. The mosque-cathedral remained intact until the 13th century, when in the year 1222 a Papal bull issued by the Pope authorised the construction of a new cathedral which was begun in 1224. The official ceremony of the laying of the foundation took place in 1226. Throughout the 13th century the cathedrals income tax was raised through the incorporation of Alcalá de Henares into its archiepiscopal territories in 1129
6.
Iberian Peninsula
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The Iberian Peninsula /aɪˈbɪəriən pəˈnɪnsjᵿlə/, also known as Iberia /aɪˈbɪəriə/, is located in the southwest corner of Europe. The peninsula is divided between Portugal and Spain, comprising most of their territory. With an area of approximately 582,000 km2, it is the second largest European peninsula, at that time, the name did not describe a single political entity or a distinct population of people. Strabos Iberia was delineated from Keltikē by the Pyrenees and included the land mass southwest of there. The ancient Greeks reached the Iberian Peninsula, of which they had heard from the Phoenicians, hecataeus of Miletus was the first known to use the term Iberia, which he wrote about circa 500 BC. Herodotus of Halicarnassus says of the Phocaeans that it was they who made the Greeks acquainted with. According to Strabo, prior historians used Iberia to mean the country side of the Ἶβηρος as far north as the river Rhône in France. Polybius respects that limit, but identifies Iberia as the Mediterranean side as far south as Gibraltar, elsewhere he says that Saguntum is on the seaward foot of the range of hills connecting Iberia and Celtiberia. Strabo refers to the Carretanians as people of the Iberian stock living in the Pyrenees, according to Charles Ebel, the ancient sources in both Latin and Greek use Hispania and Hiberia as synonyms. The confusion of the words was because of an overlapping in political, the Latin word Hiberia, similar to the Greek Iberia, literally translates to land of the Hiberians. This word was derived from the river Ebro, which the Romans called Hiberus, hiber was thus used as a term for peoples living near the river Ebro. The first mention in Roman literature was by the annalist poet Ennius in 200 BC. Virgil refers to the Ipacatos Hiberos in his Georgics, the Roman geographers and other prose writers from the time of the late Roman Republic called the entire peninsula Hispania. As they became interested in the former Carthaginian territories, the Romans began to use the names Hispania Citerior. At the time Hispania was made up of three Roman provinces, Hispania Baetica, Hispania Tarraconensis, and Lusitania, Strabo says that the Romans use Hispania and Iberia synonymously, distinguishing between the near northern and the far southern provinces. Whatever language may generally have been spoken on the peninsula soon gave way to Latin, except for that of the Vascones, the Iberian Peninsula has always been associated with the Ebro, Ibēros in ancient Greek and Ibērus or Hibērus in Latin. The association was so known it was hardly necessary to state, for example. Pliny goes so far as to assert that the Greeks had called the whole of Spain Hiberia because of the Hiberus River, the river appears in the Ebro Treaty of 226 BC between Rome and Carthage, setting the limit of Carthaginian interest at the Ebro. The fullest description of the treaty, stated in Appian, uses Ibērus, with reference to this border, Polybius states that the native name is Ibēr, apparently the original word, stripped of its Greek or Latin -os or -us termination
7.
Kingdom of Navarre
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The medieval Kingdom of Pamplona was formed when the native chieftain Íñigo Arista was elected or declared King in Pamplona, and led a revolt against the regional Frankish authority. The southern part of the kingdom was conquered by the Crown of Castile in 1512, the monarchs of this unified state took the title King of France and Navarre until its fall in 1792, and again during the Bourbon Restoration from 1814 until 1830. There are similar earlier toponyms but the first documentation of Latin navarros appears in Eginhards chronicle of the feats of Charles the Great, other Royal Frankish Annals give nabarros. Basque naba/Castilian nava + Basque herri, the linguist Joan Coromines consider naba as not clearly Basque in origin but as part of a wider pre-Roman substrate. The area was conquered by the Romans by 74 BC. It was first part of the Roman province of Citerior, then of the Tarraconensis province, after that it was part of the conventus Caesaraugustanus. The Roman empire influenced the area in urbanization, language, infrastructure, commerce, after the decline of the Western Roman Empire, neither the Visigoths nor the Arabs succeeded in permanently occupying the western Pyrenees. The western Pyrenees passages were the only ones allowing good transit through the mountains and that made the region strategically important from early in its history. The Franks under Charlemagne extended their influence and control towards the south, occupying several regions of the north and it is not clear how solid the Frankish control over Pamplona was. In response, the Cordoban Emirate launched a campaign to place the region under their firm control and it placed a muwallad governor, Mutarrif ibn Musa, in Pamplona. The same year the Basque leader, Jimeno the Strong, submitted to the Emir, in 799, Mutarrif ibn Musa was killed by a pro-Frankish faction whose leader Velasco gained control of the region. In 806 and 812 Pamplona fell into the Franks hands, due to difficulties at home, the Frankish rulers could not give full attention to the outlying borderlands, and the country gradually withdrew entirely from their allegiance. In 816, Louis the Pious removed Seguin as Duke of Vasconia, the rebel Garcia Jiménez arose in his place, and was killed in turn in 818. Louis son Pepin, then King of Aquitaine, stamped out the Vasconic revolt in Gascony and he next hunted the chieftains who had taken refuge in southern Vasconia, i. e. Pamplona and Navarre, no longer controlled by the Franks. He sent an army led by the counts Aeblus and Aznar-Sanchez, on the way back, however, they were ambushed and defeated in Roncesvaux by a probable joint Vasconic-Banu Qasi force. Out of this pattern of resistance against both Frankish and Cordoban interests, the Basque chieftain Íñigo Arista took power, tradition tells he was elected as king of Pamplona in 824, giving rise to a dynasty of kings in Pamplona that would last for eighty years. Pamplona and Navarre are cited as separate entities in a Frankish Carolingian chronicle, Pamplona is cited in 778 by another Frankish account as a Navarrese stronghold, while this may be put down to their vague knowledge of the Basque territory. They distinguished Navarre and its main town in 806 though, while the Chronicle of Fontenelle quotes Induonis et Mitionis, however, Arab chroniclers make no such distinctions, and just talk of the Baskunisi, a transliteration of Vascones, since a big majority of the population was Basque
8.
Alfonso the Battler
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Alfonso I, called the Battler or the Warrior, was the king of Aragon and Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134. He was the son of King Sancho Ramírez and successor of his brother Peter I. Alfonso the Battler earned his sobriquet in the Reconquista and he won his greatest military successes in the middle Ebro, where he conquered Zaragoza in 1118 and took Ejea, Tudela, Calatayud, Borja, Tarazona, Daroca, and Monreal del Campo. He died in September 1134 after a battle with the Muslims at the Battle of Fraga. During his brothers reign, he participated in the taking of Huesca, which became the largest city in the kingdom and he also joined El Cids expeditions in Valencia. His father gave him the lordships of Biel, Luna, Ardenes, a series of deaths put Alfonso directly in line for the throne. His brothers children, Isabella and Peter, died in 1103 and 1104 respectively, a passionate fighting-man, he was married in 1109 to the ambitious Queen Urraca of León, widow of Raymond of Burgundy, a passionate woman unsuited for a subordinate role. The marriage had been arranged by her father Alfonso VI of León in 1106 to unite the two chief Christian states against the Almoravids, and to them with a capable military leader. But Urraca was tenacious of her right as queen regnant and had not learnt chastity in the household of her father. Husband and wife quarrelled with the brutality of the age and came to open war, Alfonso had the support of one section of the nobles who found their account in the confusion. The marriage of Alfonso and Urraca was declared null by the Pope, as they were cousins, in 1110. He inserted the title of imperator on the basis that he had three kingdoms under his rule, the king quarrelled with the church, and particularly the Cistercians, almost as violently as with his wife. As he defeated her, so he drove Archbishop Bernard into exile and he was finally compelled to give way in Castile and León to his stepson, Alfonso VII of Castile, son of Urraca and her first husband. The intervention of Pope Calixtus II brought about an arrangement between the old man and his young namesake, in 1122 in Belchite, he founded a confraternity of knights to fight against the Almoravids. It was the start of the orders in Aragon. Years later, he organised a branch of the Militia Christi of the Holy Land at Monreal del Campo, Alfonso spent his first four years in near-constant war with the Muslims. In 1105, he conquered Ejea and Tauste and refortified Castellar, in 1106, he defeated Ahmad II al-Mustain of Zaragoza at Valtierra. In 1107, he took Tamarite de Litera and Esteban de la Litera, then followed a period dominated by his relations with Castile and León through his wife, Urraca
9.
Troubadour
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A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages. Since the word troubadour is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz, the troubadour school or tradition began in the late 11th century in Occitania, but it subsequently spread into Italy and Spain. Under the influence of the troubadours, related movements sprang up throughout Europe, the Minnesang in Germany, trovadorismo in Galicia and Portugal, dante Alighieri in his De vulgari eloquentia defined the troubadour lyric as fictio rethorica musicaque poita, rhetorical, musical, and poetical fiction. The texts of troubadour songs deal mainly with themes of chivalry, most were metaphysical, intellectual, and formulaic. Many were humorous or vulgar satires, works can be grouped into three styles, the trobar leu, trobar ric, and trobar clus. The oldest mention of the word troubadour as trobadors is found in a 12th-century Occitan text by Cercamon. The English word troubadour is a rendition from a French word first recorded in 1575 in an historical context to mean langue doc poet at the court in the 12th and 13th century. The French word is borrowed itself from the Occitan word trobador and this recreated form is deduced from the Latin root tropus, meaning a trope and the various meanings of the Old Occitan related words. In turn, the Latin word derives ultimately from Greek τρόπος, meaning turn, B Intervocal Latin shifted regularly to in Occitan. The Latin suffix -ātor, -atōris explains the Occitan suffix, according to its declension and accentuation, Gallo-Romance *TROPĀTOR > Occitan trobaire, there is an alternative theory to explain the meaning of trobar as “to compose, to discuss, to invent. It has the support of some historians, specialists of literature, According to them, the Arabic word ṭaraba “song could partly be the etymon of the verb trobar. Another Arabic root had already been proposed before, Ḍ-R-B “strike and they entertain the possibility that the nearly homophonous Ḍ-R-B root may have contributed to the sense of the newly coined Romance verb trobar. In archaic and classical poetry, the word is only used in a mocking sense. Cercamon writes, Ist trobador, entre ver e mentir, Afollon drutz e molhers et espos, Peire dAlvernha also begins his famous mockery of contemporary authors cantarai daquest trobadors, after which he proceeds to explain why none of them is worth anything. When referring to themselves seriously, troubadours almost invariably use the word chantaire, the early study of the troubadours focused intensely on their origins. No academic consensus was achieved in the area. In his study, Lévi-Provençal is said to have found four Arabo-Hispanic verses nearly or completely recopied in Williams manuscript, trend admitted that the troubadours derived their sense of form and even the subject matter of their poetry from the Andalusian Muslims. Meg Bogin, American translator of the trobairitz, held this hypothesis, to such a strong and multi-faceted tradition of love literature and song nearby must be added the presence of the Toledo School of Translators starting in 1126
10.
Santiago de Compostela
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Santiago de Compostela, commonly known as Santiago, is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the cathedral, as destination of the Way of St. James. In 1985 the citys Old Town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Santiago is the local Galician evolution of Vulgar Latin Sanctus Iacobus Saint James. Other etymologies derive the name from Latin compositum, local Vulgar Latin Composita Tella, meaning ground, or simply from Latin compositella. Other sites in Galicia share this toponym, akin to Compostilla in the province of León, the cathedral borders the main plaza of the old and well-preserved city. Legend has it that the remains of the apostle James were brought to Galicia for burial, in 813, according to medieval legend, the light of a bright star guided a shepherd who was watching his flock at night to the burial site in Santiago de Compostela. The shepherd quickly reported his discovery to the bishop of Iria, the bishop declared that the remains were those of the apostle James and immediately notified King Alfonso II in Oviedo. To honour St. James, the cathedral was built on the spot where his remains were said to have been found, along the western side of the Praza do Obradoiro is the elegant 18th century Pazo de Raxoi, now the city hall. The Obradoiro façade of the cathedral, the best known, is depicted on the Spanish euro coins of 1 cent,2 cents, Santiago is the site of the University of Santiago de Compostela, established in the early 16th century. The main campus can be seen best from an alcove in the municipal park in the centre of the city. Within the old town there are many narrow winding streets full of historic buildings, the new town all around it has less character though some of the older parts of the new town have some big flats in them. Santiago de Compostela has a substantial nightlife, both in the new town and the old town, a mix of middle-aged residents and younger students maintain a lively presence until the early hours of the morning. Santiago gives its name to one of the four orders of Spain, Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara. One of the most important economic centres in Galicia, Santiago is the seat for organisations like Association for Equal, under the Köppen climate classification, Santiago de Compostela has a temperate oceanic climate, with mild to warm and somewhat dry summers and mild, wet winters. The prevailing winds from the Atlantic and the surrounding mountains combine to give Santiago some of Spain’s highest rainfall, about 1,545 millimetres annually. The climate is mild, frosts are common only in December, January and February, with an average of just 8 days per year, while snow is rare, temperatures over 30 °C are exceptional. The population of the city in 2012 was 95,671 inhabitants, in 2010 there were 4,111 foreigners living in the city, representing 4. 3% of the total population. The main nationalities are Brazilians, Portuguese and Colombians, by language, according to 2008 data, 21% of the population always speak in Galician, 15% always speak in Spanish and the rest use both interchangeably
11.
Toledo, Spain
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Toledo is a city and municipality located in central Spain, it is the capital of the province of Toledo and the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its cultural and monumental heritage and historical co-existence of Christian, Muslim. Toledo has a history in the production of bladed weapons, which are now popular souvenirs of the city, people who were born or have lived in Toledo include Brunhilda of Austrasia, 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 2015, the city has a population of 83,226 and an area of 232.1 km2. The town was granted arms in the 16th century, which by special royal privilege was based on the royal of arms of Spain, Toledo is mentioned by the Roman historian Livy as urbs parva, sed loco munita. At that time, Toletum was a city of the Carpetani tribe and it was incorporated into the Roman Empire as a civitas stipendiaria, that is, a tributary city of non-citizens. It later achieved the status of municipium by Flavian times, with this status, city officials, even of Carpetani origin, obtained Roman citizenship for public service, and the forms of Roman law and politics were increasingly adopted. At approximately this time were constructed in Toletum a Roman circus, city walls, public baths, and a municipal water supply and storage system. The Roman circus in Toledo was one of the largest in Hispania, at 423 metres long and 100 metres wide, chariot races were held on special holidays and were also commissioned by private citizens to celebrate career achievements. A fragmentary stone inscription records circus games paid for by a citizen of unknown name to celebrate his achieving the sevirate, archaeologists have also identified portions of a special seat of the sort used by the city elites to attend circus games, called a sella curulis. The circus could hold up to 15000 spectators, during Roman times, Toledo was never a provincial capital nor a conventus iuridicus. It started to gain importance in late antiquity, there are indications that large private houses within the city walls were enlarged, while several large villas were built north of the city through the third and fourth centuries. Games were held in the circus into the fourth and early fifth centuries C. E. also an indication of active city life. A church council was held in Toledo in the year 400 to discuss the conflict with Priscillianism, a second council of Toledo was held in 527. The Visigothic king Theudis was in Toledo in 546, where he promulgated a law and this is strong though not certain evidence that Toledo was the chief residence for Theudis. King Athanagild died in Toledo, probably in 568 and this changed with Liuvigild, who brought the peninsula under his control. The Visigoths ruled from Toledo until the Moors conquered the Iberian peninsula in the years of 8th century. Today the historic center is pierced of basements, passages, wells, baths, a series of church councils was held in Toledo under the Visigoths
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