MONDOÑEDO, a city of northern Spain, in the province of Lugo, 27 m. N.N.E. of the city of Lugo, on the river Masma. Pop. (1900), 10,590. Mondoñedo occupies a sheltered valley among the northern outliers of the Cantabrian Mountains. The principal buildings are the cathedral, a Corinthian structure of the 17th century, an ex-convent of Franciscan friars of Alcantara, which is used for a theatre and a public school, and the civil hospital. The industries include lace-making, linen-weaving, and leather manufacture.
According to local tradition, the bishopric of Dumium, near Braga, was transferred to San Martin de Mondoñedo (10 m. from Mondoñedo) in the 8th century; it was brought to Mondoñedo itself in the beginning of the 12th century. After having been for nearly a century and a half in the hands of the Moors, Mondoñedo was recaptured by Ordoño I. in 858; and the Christian possession was made permanent by Alphonso III. in 870. It was taken by surprise by the French in 1809.