El Toboso

El Toboso is a Spanish municipality located in the province of Toledo, autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. According to the 2009 data, El Toboso has a total population of 2,219 inhabitants. The economy of the town is based on wine production and cattle, and sheep.

Placename

The placename is a derivative of the word toba, used in Spanish both for Scotch thistle and for porous limestone types, with the addition of the suffix -oso. In the 1575 Relations, El Toboso is cited to be named because of the presence of thistle in the surroundings. Clemencín suggests instead a reference to porous stones.

History

The place received a population charter in 1275. It received the privilege of township in 1338. El Toboso was one of the founding members of the Común de La Mancha, an institution related to the Order of Santiago set up in 1353 by Maester Fadrique with the aim of satisfying demands about a more equitable distribution of taxes from several localities. The town received a small number of Granadan Morisco families from Vélez Rubio who had been deported in 1571 in the wake of the Alpujarras Revolt.

Main sights

The Catholic church of San Antonio Abad, built in the 15th century.
The convent of Trinitarias Recoletas, from the 17th century.
The Cervantine Museum.
The Museum of Dulcinea
The lake of La Nava.

In popular culture

El Toboso is famous for appearing in the novel Don Quixote by the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, as the town in which the fictional character Dulcinea lives. The town also appears in Graham Greene's tribute Monsignor Quixote, where the heroes are a priest, and the recently deposed Communist mayor of the town in the post-Franco era.