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Visigoths in the Vega Baja
When the Visigoths arrived, there were a number of Roman buildings in the Vega Baja: some villas, the circus and a church on the site on St Leocadia’s tomb.
Liuvigild wanted to copy the Byzantine emperors (imitatio imperii) and hoped to turn Toledo into a second Constantinople (Byzantium). He chose the Vega Baja as his seat of power because it offered several advantages when it came to the construction of the buildings he needed to achieve his objective:
- the circus could be used for certain public events, as was done in Byzantium.
- he built a palace, as did the Byzantine emperors.
- connected to the palace, he built a basilica dedicated to Sts Peter and Paul the Apostles. This must have been for Arian worship originally, since Liuvigild was Arian.
- after the conversion of the Goths to Catholicism, the church of St Leocadia became a basilica, and was the venue for some of the councils.
After the conversion of the kingdom to Catholicism, Catholic bishops became gradually more powerful, later becoming metropolitans (archbishops) and even Primates of Hispania. The bishop remained in the high part of Toledo, and lived close by his church – the cathedral – which was dedicated to St Mary. This acquired a baptistry in time.
Toledo therefore took on the same ecclesiastical organization as Byzantium, having:
- an episcopal church, dedicated to St Mary
- a church of the martyr, dedicated to St Leocadia
- a pretorian church, dedicated to the Apostles Peter and Paul (the area is known to this day as San Pedro el Verde)
The physical geography of the Vega Baja, with its very flat terrain, would have made it an ideal setting for the grand public displays organized by the monarchy and the Church, such as military parades and processions for those attending the councils.
An urban network soon grew up around the palace. Everyone connected to the palace lived there, including the craftsmen and tradesmen who supplied it and all its inhabitants (the king and the royal family, the court, administrators and servants). Another city thus took shape; another Toletum on the outskirts of the city on the hill.
This is where Tarik made for, hoping to seize Visigothic treasure stored in the Royal Palace, when the Moors came ashore in the Iberian Peninsula in 711 AD. For a while the palace complex became the residence of the Muslim leaders of ‘Tolaytula’, but later - probably towards the end of the 9th century - they left the Vega Baja and established themselves permanently in the raised part of the city.
Excavations in the Vega Baja are revealing what were 6th century buildings put up around the palace complex and later occupied for a time by the Moors. The finds, especially coins which date from no later than the 9th century, support this.
The excavations also suggest that once the place was abandoned, it was used as a quarry, providing building material for reuse in new buildings in Toledo.
