These two, in mutual accord and taking advantage of the absence of the king, undertook an unfortunate action which, as told by the priest Mariana in his General History of Spain, almost provoked a Muslim uprising and consequent ruin of the recently conquered city.

Legend tells that the local Muslim populace itself helped restore peace, with its chief negotiator, faqih Abu Walid, requesting the king to show mercy, and imploring his fellow townsmen to accept the Christian usurpation as legitimate.

The first royal privilege that is preserved is a prayer in Latin, beginning: Ego Disponente Deo Adefonsus, Esperie imperator, condeco sedi metropolitane, scilicet, Sancte Marie urbis Toletane honorem integrum ut decent abere pontificalem sedem secundum quod preteritis fuit constitutum a sanctis patribus...In English: I, Alfonsus, Emperor of Hesperia by the disposition of God, grant to the metropolitan See, that is, the church of Saint Mary in the city of Toledo, the complete honour that she should have the pontifical see according to what before was constituted by the holy fathers… Pope Urban II recognised this church in 1088 as the primatial cathedral over the rest of the kingdom.

Near the end of the 14th century the existence of a master Rodrigo Alfonso is apparently documented; he laid the first stone of the cloister in 1389, under the patronage of Archbishop Pedro Tenorio, who died ten years later.

He was also the designer of the only tower of the cathedral, which was built during the office of Archbishop Juan Martínez de Contreras, whose coat of arms appears in the frieze that crowns the first section.

The portal and its surrounding stonework form an appealing space with the entranceway enclosed by a Gothic screen; this is the work of Juan Francés, with very plain crosspieces, a small, carved frieze with a separation in the center, and a simple and harmonious design.

Interior Inside are diverse medallions; the best are those of the Virgin of the Annunciation by Nicolás de Vergara el Mozo and of the Archangel Saint Gabriel by Juan Bautista Vázquez.

The retable of the Cathedral of Toledo is an extremely florid Gothic altarpiece; it is one of the last examples of this artistic style, which was disappearing as the Renaissance began to take hold in Spain.

[16] The retable rises to a great height above the altar; it includes an important statuary and a magnificent, delicate filigree of balusters, spires, small dossals, and chambranles, all done by Joan Peti.

The themes of the central panel from bottom to top are: the figure of a seated Virgin and Child plated in silver on the predella, above this the tabernacle and a Gothic monstrance carved in wood, then a depiction of the Nativity, and above that, the Ascension.

The sepulchre of Cardinal Mendoza was located in the cathedral as he himself had decreed in 1493; the Chapel Chapter had been opposed from the beginning to its being situated in the Presbytery, this space was reserved as the privileged prerogative of the monarchs.

In the subsequent remodeling and construction, the architects almost always followed the criterion of advancing from the sanctuary of the cathedral towards the wall, which explains the sometimes chaotic current layout, with respect to the early designs.

The square portal leading from here to the Chapterhouse proper was executed in the so-called Cisneros style by Master Pablo and Bernardino Bonifacio de Tovar, combining Mudéjar features with Plateresque decoration, in 1510.

On the keystone of the central arch of the entranceway is a portrait painting of Esteban Illán, who proclaimed Alfonso VIII as king of Castile, doing so from the height of the tower of Saint Roman.

This 18th-century altar was made of marble, jasper and bronze, and was designed by Ventura Rodríguez; the large relief in its centre, with its theme of the gift of the chasuble to Saint Ildephonsus, is the work of Manuel Francisco Álvarez (1783), completed during the time of Cardinal Lorenzana.

In the retable may be found the namesake image of Saint Leocadia, a painting of the 18th century by Ramón Seyro (student of Mariano Salvador Maella), framed in white and black marblework.

In addition to the paintings, there is a collection of valuable objects, most especially the Rich Bible of Saint Louis, which belonged to the king of France and dates from 1250; it has 750 miniatures on the cover and 5,000 more distributed in the manuscript pages of its three volumes.

In this space are found several paintings: Titian's portrait Pope Paul III, Velázquez's Cardinal Gaspar de Borja, Caravaggio's John the Baptist and Giovanni Bellini's Burial of Christ.

El Transparente is several storeys high and is extraordinarily well-executed with fantastic figures done in stucco, painting, bronze castings, and multiple colors of marble; it is a masterpiece of Baroque mixed media by Narciso Tomé and his four sons (two architects, one painter and one sculptor).

The illumination is enhanced when the Mass is being said in the mornings and the sun shines from the east, shafts of sunlight from the appropriately oriented skylight striking the tabernacle through the hole in the back of the retable, giving the impression that the whole altar is rising to heaven.

In its interior are multiple glass display cabinets that hold the treasure of the cathedral, which consists of liturgical objects, relics, crosiers, clothing, etc., including the mantle of the Virgen del Sagrario embroidered by Felipe Corral, and perhaps the most remarkable specimen of embroidery that exists in Spain.

In the Middle Ages, Cardinal Cisneros wanted to compete for a grander monstrance than that of Isabella the Catholic, and to show it off in the procession of the Corpus Christi of Toledo, which at the time was the most important feast in the Kingdom of Castile.

Year of the Lord 1524.On World Youth Day in 2011, the Monstrance of Arfe was brought out of the Cathedral of Toledo into the Cuatro Vientos airport, where it was used for the Eucharistic Adoration presided over by Pope Benedict XVI.

It is worth noting that there being no monastic order in the cathedral, the cloister and other sections built along its perimeter had very different functions at various times: from storeroom to classroom, and as a centre of mercantile transactions (regaining the sense of the old alcana), or of prayer (one of its rooms was a Mozarabic chapel).

The archbishop prepared a written consecration to Saint Blaise, leaving the manuscript behind at his death; his will stipulated the rents to be collected for the maintenance of the chapel, and required the cathedral Chapter to take over its management.

The chapel is situated about twenty-three feet below street level, the archbishop having ordered the ground outside the building raised with fill, a circumstance that in the long run caused many problems with humidity, which had a devastating effect on the artworks of the lower interior walls.

At the beginning of the 21st century, a profound conservation-restoration of the paintings of the Chapel of Saint Blaise was inaugurated to stabilise the frescoes and restore the splendour of their original colors, with the exception of those unsalvageable fragments on the lowest portions of the walls.

To further enhance the spectacular grandeur of the cathedral a visually impressive ritual was provided in which music has the mission of embracing the architectural work and amplifying the glorification of God.

The "Six-Piece", or children's choir, of the cathedral was created as a vocal group by Cardinal Silíceo who, on 22 July 1557, founded for its members the College of Our Lady of the Infantes, even though the existence of moços (boys) who sang in the liturgical services was already mentioned in the 12th century.

""The Cathedral of Toledo is the example most clearly Spanish of all Gothic architecture, and exemplifies here the transition to the Classical style; it is first in Spain and one of the most singular in the world in terms of beauty and perfection.