“It is the Tagus,” added Sheridan. “I know that Toledo is on this river.”
“Who could suspect that El Tah-hoe was the Tagus?” queried Murray.
“You would if you knew Spanish.”
“There is a Spanish caballero, mounted on a mule,” said Murray, calling the attention of the party to a peasant who was sitting sideways on his steed.
“All of them ride that way,” added Sheridan.
“Not all of them do, for there is a fellow straddling his donkey behind two big panniers,” interposed the surgeon.
The train continued to follow the river till it reached Toledo. The students got out of the cars, and were directed to assemble near the station in full view of the ancient city. The day was clear and mild, so that it was no hardship to stand in the open air, and listen to the description of the city given by Professor Mapps.
“Toledo, as you can see for yourselves, is situated on a hill, or a series of hills, which rise to a considerable height above the rest of the country. Some of the old Spanish historians say that the city was founded soon after the creation of the world; but better authorities say it was begun by the Romans in the year B.C. 126, which makes it old enough to satisfy the reasonable vanity of the citizens of the place. Of course it was captured by the Moors, and recaptured by the Spaniards; and many of the buildings, and the bridge you see are the work of the Romans and the Moors. Under the Goths, in the seventh century, Toledo became very wealthy and prosperous, and in its best days is said to have had a population of a quarter of a million. It was made the capital of Spain in 567. Early in the eighth century the Moors obtained possession of the city, and made many improvements. In 1085, after a terrible siege, Alfonso VI. of Castile took it from the Moors, and it was again made the capital. The historians who carry the founding of Toledo almost back to the flood say that the Jews fled from Jerusalem, when it was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, to this city. Be this as it may, there were a great many Hebrews in Toledo in ancient days. They were an industrious people, and they became very wealthy. This people have been the butt of the Christians in many lands, and they were so here. They were persecuted, and their property confiscated; and it is said that the Jews avenged their wrongs by opening the gates of the city to the Moors; and then when the Moors served them in the same way, and despoiled them of their wealth, they admitted the army of Alfonso VI. by the same means. It has since been retained by the Christians. It was the capital and the ecclesiastic head of the nation. The archbishops of Toledo were immensely wealthy and influential.
“One of them was Ximenes, afterward cardinal, the Richelieu of Spain, and one of the most famous characters of history. He was the powerful minister of Ferdinand the Catholic, and the regent of the kingdom in the absence of Charles V. He was a priest who continually mortified his body, and at the same time a statesman of the highest order. He was the confessor of Isabella I. When he was made archbishop of Toledo and head of the Church in Spain, he refused to accept the high honor till he was compelled to do so by the direct command of the pope. When he appeared at court in his monkish robes, looking more like a half-starved hermit than the primate of Spain, the courtiers laughed at him; but he meekly bore the sneers and the scoffs of the light-hearted. He was required by the pope to change his style of living, and make it conform to his high position. He obeyed the order; but he wore the haircloth shirt and frock of the order to which he belonged under his robes of purple. In the elegant apartments of his palace, he slept on the floor with a log of wood for a pillow. He led an expedition against the Moors into Africa, and captured Oran. As regent he maintained the authority of the king against the grandees, and told them they were to obey the king and not to deliberate over his command. By his personal will he subdued the great nobles.
“The Moors brought to Toledo, from Damascus, the art of tempering steel for sword-blades; and weapons from either of these cities have a reputation all over the world. There is a manufactory of swords and other similar wares; and, while some contend that the blades made here are superior to any others, more insist that those made in England are just as good. When the capital was removed to Valladolid, Toledo began to decline; and now it has only fifteen thousand inhabitants. In the days that are past, the Jews and the Moors have been driven out of Spain to a degree that has retarded the prosperity of the country; for both the Hebrews and the Moslems were industrious and thriving races, and added greatly to the wealth of the nation. In religion Ferdinand and Isabella would be considered bigots and fanatics in our time; and their statesmanship would confound the modern student of political economy. But they did not live in our time; and we are grateful to them for the good they did, regardless of their religious or political views.