Talavera de la Reina

Talavera de la Reina was founded at the confluence of the rivers Alberche and Tagus. This area of great ecological wealth was the settlement of Celtic people who built the most ancient ruins of the area.

During the time of the Roman Empire, the name of the city was Caesarobriga. In 182 BCE Quintus Fulvius Flaccus conquered the city, establishing it as part of the Roman province of Lusitania as a city that would pay a stipend, and as the capital of an extended area included in the legal convent of the city of Emerita Augusta. The leader Viriato, in his war against the Romans, lived in this territory between 145 and 139 BCE. In this period Talavera de la Reina was a rich city with cattle markets and commercial exchange. Christianity came early to the city, and with the fall of the Western Roman Empire the Visigoths established in the city. Talavera was known then as (Aküis) or (Aibura). In the year 602, King Liuva II made a present to the city: the sculpture of the Virgin Mary, who was from then to the present day the symbol of the Christians in Talavera de la Reina, and the substitute for the goddess Ceres. In honour of the goddess Ceres, Talaverian Romans celebrated the spring festival called Mondas, which is still celebrated for the Virgin Mary.

An albarrana tower of the ancient city walls

The Muslims conquered Talavera in 712. They built new walls and a castle in Talavera. They also brought the use of fountains, water mills and new products brought from Africa and Asia. The fertile soil produced quality vegetables, fruits and grass for animal feed. The markets gained new strength, and the population, a mixture of Christians, Muslims and Jews, lived in harmony for some centuries. Medina Al Talavayra took part in different wars between the kingdoms of Spain, becoming allied with Córdoba and Badajoz. Alfonso VI of León-Castile seized the city in 1083.[5] The city was retaken temporarily by Muslims in 1109.[6]

12th-century geographer Al-Idrisi reflects on Talavera describing it as a "large town by the riverside of the Tagus", "with a great number of watermills" and "surrounded of fertile fields".[7]

The countryside of Talavera endured Almohad algaras in the early 1170s.[8] Violence resumed after a truce in 1177, as answer to the simultaneous Castilian siege on Cuenca.[9] In 1182, an Almohad army set up a camp near Talavera.[9] Following the Almohad victory at Alarcos by Abu Yusuf Yaqub in 1195, Almohad forces ravaged the countryside of Talavera by 1197, yet apparently the well-fortified city (at least the citadel) stood still.[10] Following the battle of Las Navas in 1212, the territory north of the Montes de Toledo became secure from Muslim incursions for good.[11] Talaveran militias reportedly launched unsuccessful raids in Southern Iberia for the remaining of the 13th century.[12]

The repopulation of the territory after the Christian conquest was led by Castilians, Franks and Mozarabs.[13] Also a number of Moors from the south would increase the preexisting Muslim population of Talavera.[13] Until 1290, Castilians and Mozarabs lived under the aegis of different law regimes.[14] By the mid 13th century, Talavera and Plasencia sealed the creation of a brotherhood seeking to counter the territorial push southwards of the powerful concejo of Ávila.[15]

Formerly a realengo town, sometimes property of queens, such as Maria of Portugal, Talavera was transferred by Henry II of Castile on 25 June 1369 to Gómez Manrique (the transfer was confirmed in the 1371 Cortes of Toro), the Archbishop of Toledo, as payment for the latter's support in the Castilian Civil War, and, since then, the town became attached to the Archbishops of Toledo.[16][17]

The change from the concejo abierto towards a regimiento system of municipal government in Talavera should have happened by the second half of the 14th century.[18] Unlike other locations the chief municipal public offices (regidurías) in Talavera were not subject to transfer from father to son, so the nobiliary elite relied in an alternative strategy to ensure its supremacy, based on a system that allowed them to control the candidates to the regidoría.[19]

King Sancho IV gave the royal privilege to hold two royal markets each year.

View of Talavera by Anton van den Wyngaerde (c. 1567).

By the late third of the 16th century the city reached a population of 10,000.[20]

Upon the death of King Charles II in November 1700, two powerful nations fought for the Spanish Crown. Talavera supported Philip V's French faction, which was the winner.

In the mid-18th century, by 1748, as part of the economic policies enforced by the Spanish Bourbons, the Royal Factory of Silk, Silver and Gold Fabric, was opened in the city, during the reign of Ferdinand VI.[21]

The number of hidalgos reduced during the 18th century.[22] The clergy retained an important socioeconomic importance.[23] Towards the end of the century, a number of religious French emigrees would arrive to Talavera after the triumph of the Revolution.[24] During the second half of the century, the bulk of the working population comprised the non-specialised workers and textile workers, ceramics workers (with a diminishing importance compared to previous centuries)[25] and those dedicated to services, followed by the food industry, leather and the shoemaking sector.[26]

The Peninsular War had great consequences for Talavera. On 27 and 28 July 1809 the Battle of Talavera took place between the Anglo-Spanish army and the French. The Duke of Wellington's army expelled the French from the city.

Opening of the Iron Bridge in October 1908

The manufacturing complex of the Royal Silk Factory closed towards 1851.[27]

Talavera was granted the title of city (ciudad) in 1876.[28]

Following the September 1923 coup d'etat and the ensuing installment of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, the local branch of the Patriotic Union (UP) formed in the city in March 1924 and the paramilitary Somatén in December 1924, during an event scheduled by Duchess of Talavera.[29] A number of public events and demonstrations took place as part of the legitimization of the regime.[29] The good connections of Mayor Justiniano López Brea with provincial and national officeholders fostered several projects of public works in the later part of the dictatorial period.[29]

The railroad brought new opportunities for improvement. Talavera changed its name to Talavera del Tajo. The city had a population of 16,654 in 1936.[30] The city had a population of 18,631 in 1940.[30]

During the Francoist dictatorship the Instituto Nacional de Colonización promoted a large irrigated zone in the surroundings of Talavera, following which two new settlements were created, called Talavera la Nueva and Alberche del Caudillo, the latter located in the neighboring Calera y Chozas municipality. During the 1960s a baby boom caused an increase in the population, added to by the immigrants coming from the nearby villages and poor areas of Extremadura.

View of the city centre

In 1975 Franco died, and democracy came to Spain. Talavera's first democratic mayor tried to create the province of Talavera, but the idea was not successful. The next mayor, Pablo Tello from the Socialist Party, made large projects such as the Alameda Park.

In 1989 a feeling of marginalization enveloped the city, and a group of people called "Nosotros Talavera" (we Talavera) started fighting for the creation of a University Campus and other projects for the city.

A Center for University Studies was opened in the city in 1994; it fully integrated as campus of the University of Castile-La Mancha (UCLM) four years later, in 1998.[31]

The city is internationally known for its ceramics, which Philip II of Spain used as tiled revetments in many of his works, such as the monastery of El Escorial. The nickname of Talavera de la Reina is 'The City of Pottery' (La Ciudad de la Cerámica, in Spanish). Mexico's famous Talavera pottery was named after the city.

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  An example of the Talavera pottery
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  Ornamental menhirs
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  Talaveran girls dressed with folk costumes