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diff --git a/old/41040-0.txt b/old/41040-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a0625c6..0000000 --- a/old/41040-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,24498 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Some Account of Gothic Architecture in Spain, by -George Edmund Street - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Some Account of Gothic Architecture in Spain - -Author: George Edmund Street - -Release Date: October 13, 2012 [EBook #41040] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - -Transcriber's note: The etext attempts to replicate the printed book as -closely as possible. Obvious errors in spelling and punctuation have -been corrected. The spellings of names, places and Spanish words used by -the author have not been corrected or modernized by the etext -transcriber. Footnotes have been moved to the end of the text body. -Letters within square brackets preceded by = indicate a letter with a -line over it in the original text. - -[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE - -SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL. - -PORTICO DE DA GLORIA.] - - - - -SOME ACCOUNT - -OF - -GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE - -IN - -SPAIN. - -BY GEORGE EDMUND STREET, A.R.A., - -HONORARY MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS, VIENNA. - -[Illustration: SEGOVIA, FROM THE ALCAZAR.] - -“The old paths, where is the good way.” - -JEREMIAH vi. 16. - -_SECOND EDITION._ - -LONDON: - -JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. - -1869. - -_The right of Translation is reserved._ - -TO - -THE RIGHT HONOURABLE - -WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE, - -_&c. &c. &c._, - -THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED - -AS A TESTIMONY OF THE AUTHOR’S RESPECT - -AND ADMIRATION. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -The book which I here commit to the reader requires, I fear, some -apology on my part. I feel that I have undertaken almost more than an -artist like myself, always at work, has any right to suppose he can -properly accomplish in the little spare time he can command. -Nevertheless, I have always felt that part of the duty which every -artist owes to his mother art is to study her developments wherever they -are to be seen, and whenever he can find the opportunity. Moreover, I -believe that in this age it is only by the largest kind of study and -range of observation that any artist can hope to perfect himself in so -complex and difficult an art as architecture, and that it is only by -studying the development of Gothic architecture in all countries that we -can form a true and just estimate of the marvellous force of the -artistic impulse which wrought such wonders all over Europe in the -twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. - -In a day of revival, such as this, I believe it to be necessary that we -should form this just estimate of bygone art; because I am sure that, -unless our artists learn their art by studying patiently, lovingly, and -constantly the works of their great predecessors, they will never -themselves be great. I know full well how much hostility there is on the -part of some to any study of foreign examples; but as from my boyhood up -I have never lost any opportunity of visiting and studying our old -English buildings, and as my love for our own national artistic -peculiarities rather increases than diminishes the more I study the -contemporary buildings of the Continent, I have no hesitation in giving -to the world what I have been able to learn about Spanish art. - -What I have here written will no doubt be supplemented and corrected by -others hereafter; and much additional light will, I hope, be thrown upon -the history of Spanish buildings and their architects. It will be found -that I have referred to many Spanish authorities for the historical -facts on which the dates of the buildings I have visited can alone be -decided. Of these authorities none is more useful to the architect, none -is more creditable to its authors, than the ‘Notices of the Architects -and Architecture of Spain, by D. Eugenio Llaguno y Amirola, edited with -additions by D. Juan Agustin Cean-Bermudez,’ in four volumes, compiled -about the beginning of this century, but not published until A.D. -1829.[1] - -This work, full of documentary evidence as to the Spanish architects and -their works, appears to me to be far better in its scheme and mode of -execution than any work which we in England have upon the buildings of -our own country; and, though it is true that neither of its authors had -a very accurate knowledge of the art, they seem to have exercised great -diligence in their search after information bearing on their subject, -and to have been remarkably successful. - -Mr. Ford’s ‘Handbook of Spain’ has been of great service to me, not only -because it was the only guide to be had, and on account of the charm of -his style, but because it had the rare excellence (in a Guide-book) of -constantly referring to local guides and authorities, and so enabling me -to turn at once to the books most likely to aid me in my work. - -The other works to which I have at some pains referred are mainly local -guides and histories, collections of documents, and the like. Of these a -vast number have been published, and I cannot pretend to have exhausted -the stores which they contain. - -Unfortunately, so far as I have been able to learn, no one of late -years has taken up the subject of the Mediæval antiquities of Spain in -the way in which we are accustomed to see them treated by writers on the -subject elsewhere in Europe. The ‘Ensayo Historico’ of D. José Caveda is -very slight and unsatisfactory, and not to be depended on. Passavant, -who has published some notes on Spanish architecture,[2] is so -ludicrously wrong in most of his statements that it seems probable that -he trusted to his internal consciousness instead of to personal -inspection for his facts. The work of Don G. P. de Villa Amil[3] is very -showy and very untrustworthy; and that of Don F. J. Parcerisa,[4] and -the great work which the Spanish Government is publishing,[5] are both -so large and elaborate as to be useless for the purpose of giving such a -general and comprehensive idea of the features of Gothic architecture in -Spain as it has been my effort to give in this work. - -Seeing, then, how complete is the ignorance which up to the present time -we have laboured under, as to the true history and nature of Gothic -architecture in Spain, I commit this volume to the reader with a fair -trust that what has been the occupation of all my leisure moments for -the last two or three years,--a work not only of much labour at home, -but of considerable labour also in long journeys taken year after year -for this object alone,--will not be found an unwelcome addition to the -literature of Christian art. I have attempted to throw what I had to say -into the form which has always appeared to me to be the right form for -any such architectural treatise. The interest of the subject is -threefold--first, Artistic and Archæological; secondly, Historical; and -lastly, Personal. I have first of all, therefore, arranged the notes of -my several journeys in the form of one continuous tour; and then, in the -concluding chapters, I have attempted a general _résumé_ of the history -of architecture in Spain, and, finally, a short history of the men who -as architects and builders have given me the materials for my work. - -To this I have added, in an Appendix, two catalogues--one of dated -examples of buildings, and the other of their architects, with short -notices of their works; and, beside these, a few translations of -documents which seem to me to bring before us in a very real way the -mode in which these mediæval buildings were undertaken, carried on, and -completed. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -CHAP. PAGE - -I. IRUN, SAN SEBASTIAN, BURGOS 1 - -II. BURGOS 12 - -III. PALENCIA, VALLADOLID 56 - -IV. SALAMANCA, ZAMORA, BENAVENTE 78 - -V. LEON 105 - -VI. ASTORGA, LUGO, LA CORUÑA 129 - -VII. SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA 140 - -VIII. MEDINA DEL CAMPO, AVILA 160 - -IX. SEGOVIA 180 - -X. MADRID, ALCALÁ, GUADALAJARA, SIGÜENZA 195 - -XI. TOLEDO 209 - -XII. VALENCIA 259 - -XIII. TARRAGONA 273 - -XIV. BARCELONA 291 - -XV. GERONA, PERPIÑAN, S. ELNE 318 - -XVI. MANRESA, LÉRIDA 339 - -XVII. HUESACA, ZARAGOZA 362 - -XVIII. TARAZONA, VERUELA 376 - -XIX. TUDELA, OLITE, PAMPLONA 391 - -XX. SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN -SPAIN 409 - -XXI. GOTHIC ARCHITECTS IN SPAIN 448 - - - - -APPENDIX. - - - PAGE - -A.--Catalogue of dated examples of Spanish Buildings, from the -tenth to the sixteenth century inclusive 467 - -B.--Catalogue of Architects, Sculptors, and Builders of the -Churches, &c., mentioned in this volume 471 - -C.--Documents relating to the construction of the new Cathedral -at Salamanca 482 - -D.--Royal Warrant for the payment of the Master of the Works -at Santiago 489 - -E.--Memoir of the construction of the Cathedral at Segovia, by -the Canon Juan Rodriguez 490 - -F.--Catalogue of the subjects carved on the screens round the -Coro of Toledo Cathedral 495 - -G.--Agreement between Jayme Fabre and the Sub-prior and -Brethren of the Convent of San Domingo at Palma in -Mallorca 500 - -H.--The Reports of the Junta of Architects assembled at Gerona -to decide on the mode of building the nave of the Cathedral 501 - -I.--Contract between Guillermo Sagrera and the Council of the -Fabric, for the erection of the Exchange at Palma in Mallorca 514 - -INDEX 517 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - -(THE FULL-PAGE ENGRAVINGS ARE NUMBERED IN ORDER.) - - -Frontispiece. Santiago Cathedral, Portico de la Gloria. - - Vignette on Title-page, Segovia from the Alcazar. Page - - Compartment of Nave, Burgos Cathedral 14 - -1. Burgos Cathedral, North-west View (from Fergusson) 25 - Varieties of Crockets, Burgos Cathedral 28 - -2. Burgos Cathedral, Clerestory of Choir 29 - -3. Burgos Cathedral, View of Cloisters from the roof 30 - Carved Capital, Burgos Cathedral 33 - Transept Chapel, Las Huelgas 35 - -4. Las Huelgas, Burgos, north-west view 38 - -5. San Esteban, Burgos, Interior looking west 49 - San Esteban, Burgos, Iron Lectern 50 - -6. San Gil, Burgos, Iron Pulpit 51 - Prie-Dieu, Palencia Cathedral 59 - Steeple of San Miguel, Palencia 62 - Cloister, Sta. Maria l’Antigua, Valladolid 67 - -7. Salamanca Old Cathedral, Interior of Lantern looking east 80 - -8. Salamanca Old Cathedral, Exterior of Lantern 82 - Archivolt, San Martin, Salamanca 91 - -9. Zamora, Bridge over the Douro 91 - -10. Zamora Cathedral, Interior of Nave looking east 92 - -11. Zamora Cathedral, Exterior from the south-west 94 - Choir Lectern, Zamora Cathedral 96 - Monument, la Magdalena, Zamora 98 - San Vicente, Zamora 99 - -12. Benavente, East End of Sta. Maria 102 - -13. Leon Cathedral, Interior of Aisle round the Apse 108 - Bay of Choir, Leon Cathedral 113 - Interior of San Isidoro, Leon, looking north-east 123 - -14. Leon, South Transept of San Isidoro 126 - -15. Lugo Cathedral, Interior, looking north-west 132 - Sta. Maria, la Coruña 137 - -16. La Coruña, Church of Santiago 138 - -17. Santiago Cathedral, Interior of Lower Church 147 - Exterior of Chevet, Santiago de Compostella 149 - -18. Santiago Cathedral, Shafts in South Doorway 150 -Inscription on South Door, Santiago Cathedral 151 - -19. Santiago Cathedral, Interior of South Transept - looking north-east 152 -Central Shaft of Western Doorway, Santiago Cathedral 154 - -20. Medina del Campo, the Castle 160 -Puerta de San Vicente, Avila 163 - -21. Avila Cathedral, Interior of Aisle round the Apse 164 -East End, Avila Cathedral 165 -Stone Roofing, Avila Cathedral 168 - -22. San Vicente, Avila, north-east view 170 - -23. San Vicente, Avila, Interior of Western Porch 172 - -24. Segovia, Interior of the Templars’ Church 184 - -25. San Esteban, Segovia, south-west view of Church and Steeple 187 - -26. San Millan, Segovia, north-west view 188 -Capital in Cloister, San Martin, Segovia 190 -Organ, Alcalá de Henares 200 -Domestic Window, Alcalá de Henares 201 - -27. Guadalajara, Palace of the Duke del Infantado 203 - -28. Sigüenza Cathedral, Interior of Nave and Aisles - looking north-east 204 -San Cristo de la Luz, Toledo (from Fergusson) 215 - -29. Toledo, Interior of Sta. Maria la Blanca (from Fergusson) 218 -Knocker and Nails on Door, Toledo 222 -San Roman, Toledo 225 -Sta. Magdalena, Toledo 226 -Puerta del Sol, Toledo 230 -Stone Roof of Outer Aisle and Chapels, Toledo Cathedral 239 - -30. Toledo Cathedral, Interior of Transept, &c., looking north-west 241 -Diagrams of Vaulting, Toledo Cathedral 243 -Chapels of the Chevet, Toledo Cathedral 245 - -31. Toledo Cathedral, Interior of North Aisle of Choir, looking east 246 - -32. Valencia Cathedral, North Transept and Cimborio (from Fergusson) 263 -The Micalete, Valencia Cathedral 264 -Puerta de Serranos, Valencia 268 - -33. Valencia, Exterior of the Casa Lonja 270 -Ajimez Window, Valencia 270 -Apse of Choir, Tarragona Cathedral 277 -Newel Staircase, ditto 278 - -34. Tarragona Cathedral, View across Transepts 280 - -35. Tarragona Cathedral, Interior of Cloister 282 -Sculptured Abacus in Cloister, Tarragona Cathedral 284 -West Front of San Pablo, Barcelona 293 - -36. Barcelona Cathedral, Exterior of Chevet 298 - -37. Barcelona Cathedral, Interior of West End of Nave 301 - -38. Barcelona Cathedral, View of the Steeples, &c., - from the Cloisters 304 -Lock on Screen in Cloister, Barcelona Cathedral 305 - -39. Sta. Maria del Mar, Barcelona, south-west view 308 -Interior of Sta. Agata, Barcelona 312 - -40. Barcelona, the Casa Consistorial 314 -Ajimez Window, Barcelona 315 - -41. Gerona Cathedral, Interior looking east 322 -Altar, Gerona Cathedral 327 -Wheel of Bells, ditto 328 - -42. San Pedro, Gerona, Exterior from north-west 330 -Spire of San Feliu, Gerona 334 - -43. Manresa, Interior of the Collegiate Church 342 -Wheel of Bells, Manresa Collegiate Church 345 - -44. Lérida Old Cathedral, View from Steeple 353 -Cornice of South Transept Doorway, Lérida Old Cathedral 355 - -45. Lérida Old Cathedral, South Porch 356 -Pendentive, &c., under Lantern, Lérida Old Cathedral 357 -Interior of San Pedro, Huesca 366 - -46. Church at Salas, near Huesca, West Front 368 -Cloister, Tarazona 381 - -47. Tarazona, Campanile of La Magdalena 382 - -48. Abbey of Veruela, Entrance Gateway 384 - -49. Veruela Abbey Church, Interior 386 -Chapel Altar, Veruela 387 -Entrance to Chapter-house, Veruela 388 - -50. Tudela Cathedral, Interior of Choir 392 -Angle of Cloister, Tudela 397 -Castle, and Church of San Pedro, Olite 400 - -51. Pamplona Cathedral, Exterior from the north-east 402 - - -GROUND PLANS. - -Plate - -1. Burgos, Plan of Cathedral 34 - -2. Burgos, Plans of Las Huelgas, San Gil, and San Esteban 46 - -3. Palencia and Valladolid, Plans of three Churches 61 - -4. Salamanca, Plans of old and new Cathedrals and San Marcos 104 - -5. Leon, Plan of Cathedral 128 - -6. Leon, Plan of San Isidoro 128 - -7. Lugo, Plan of Cathedral 132 - -8. Plans of Churches at Benavente, La Coruña, Segovia, and Lérida 137 - -9. Santiago, Plan of Cathedral 158 - -10. Avila, Plan of Cathedral 168 - -11. Avila, Plan of San Vicente 170 - -12. Segovia, Plan of Cathedral 194 - -13. Sigüenza, Plan of Cathedral 208 - -14. Toledo, Plan of Cathedral 258 - -15. Tarragona, Plan of Cathedral 290 - -16. Barcelona, Plan of Cathedral 306 - -17. Barcelona, Plans of three Churches 310 - -18. Gerona, Plans of Cathedral, &c. 338 - -19. Manresa, Plan of the Collegiata 341 - -20. Lérida, Plan of the old Cathedral 358 - -21. Huesca, Plans of the Cathedral and San Pedro 366 - -22. Tarazona, Plan of the Cathedral 378 - -23. Veruela, Plan of the Abbey Church, &c. 390 - -24. Tudela, Plan of the Cathedral 398 - -25. Pamplona, Plans of Cathedral and of San Saturnino 408 - - - - -GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -IRUN--SAN SEBASTIAN--BURGOS. - - -So little has it been the fashion hitherto to explore the North of Spain -in search of artistic treasures, that it was with somewhat more than -usual of the feeling that I was engaged in an adventure that I left -Bayonne on my first journey West of the Pyrenees. Yet, in truth, so far -as I have seen there is little in the way of adventure to anticipate -even there in these matter-of-fact days; and, some slight personal -inconvenience excepted, there is nothing to prevent any traveller of -ordinary energy doing all that I did with complete success, and an -uncommon amount of pleasure. For if there are no serious perils to be -encountered, there is great novelty in almost everything that one sees; -and whether we wish to study the people and their customs, or to visit -the country and explore it in search of striking and picturesque -scenery, or to examine, as I did, its treasures of ancient art, we shall -find in every one of these respects so much that is unlike what we are -used to, so much that is beautiful, and so much that is ancient and -venerable by historic association, that we must be dull indeed if we do -not enjoy our journey with the fullest measure of enjoyment. Indeed the -drawbacks about which so much is usually said and written--the -difficulty of finding inns fit to sleep in, or food fit to eat--seem to -me to be most enormously exaggerated. It is true that I have purposely -avoided travelling over the well-beaten Andalusian corner of Spain; and -it is there, I suppose, that most English ideas of Spain and the -Spaniards are formed. But in those parts to which my travels have taken -me, but in which English travellers are not known so well as they are in -Andalusia, I have certainly seldom found any difficulty in obtaining -such creature-comforts as are essential. Somewhat, it is true, depends -upon the time of year in which a journey is undertaken; for in the -spring, when the climate is most enjoyable, and the country gloriously -green and bright with wavy crops of corn, the traveller has to depend -entirely upon the cook for his food; and has no other resource even -where the cookery is intolerable to his English sense of smell, taste, -and sight! But in the autumn, if he chances to travel, as I have twice -done, just when the grapes are ripening, he may, if he choose, live -almost entirely, and with no little advantage to his health, on grapes -and bread, the latter being always pure, light, and good to a degree of -which our English bakers have no conception; and the former tasting as -none but Spanish grapes do, and often costing nothing, or at any rate -never more than a merely nominal sum. - -On the whole, from my own experience, I should be inclined to recommend -the autumn as the most favourable season for a Spanish journey, the -weather being then generally more settled than in the spring. But, on -the other hand, there is no doubt that any one who wishes to judge -fairly of the scenery of Old and New Castile, of great part of Aragon, -and of Leon, ought on no account to visit these provinces save in the -spring. Then I know no sight more glorious in its way than the sea of -corn which is seen covering with its luxuriance and lovely colour the -endless sweeps of the great landscape on all sides; whereas in the -autumn the same landscape looks parched and barren, burnt up as it is by -the furious sun until it assumes everywhere a dusty hue, painful to the -eye, and most monotonous and depressing to the mind; whilst the roads -suffer sometimes from an accumulation of dust such as can scarcely be -imagined by those who have never travelled along them. Even at this -season, however, there are some recompenses, and one of them is the -power of realizing somewhat of the beauty of an Eastern atmosphere, and -the singular contrasts of colours which Eastern landscapes and skies -generally present; for nowhere else have I ever seen sunsets more -beautiful or more extraordinary than in the dreariest part of dreary -Castile. - -So far as the inns and food are to be considered, I do not think there -is much need ordinarily for violent grumbling. All ideas of English -manners and customs must be carefully left behind; and if the -travelling-clothes are donned with a full intention to do in Spain as -Spain does, there is small fear of their owner suffering very much. But -in Spain more than in most parts of Europe the foreign traveller is a -rare bird, and if he attempt to import his own customs, he will -unquestionably suffer for his pains, and give a good deal of -unnecessary--because fruitless--trouble into the bargain. - -Spanish inns are of various degrees, from the _Posada_, which is usually -a muleteer’s public-house, and the _Parador_, which is higher in rank, -and where the diligence is generally to be found, up to the _Fonda_, -which answers in idea to our hotel. In small country towns and villages -a posada is the only kind of inn to be found; and sometimes indeed large -towns and cities have nothing better for the traveller’s accommodation; -but in the larger towns, and where there is much traffic, the Parador or -Fonda will often be found to be as good as second-rate inns elsewhere -usually are. - -In a Posada it is generally easy to secure a bed-room which boasts at -any rate of clean, wholesome linen, though of but little furniture; and -in the remoter parts of the country--as in Leon and Galicia--there is no -difficulty in securing in the poorest Posada plenty of bird or fish of -quality good enough for a gourmand. The great objection to these small -inns is, that nothing but the linen for the beds and the face of the -waiting-maid ever seems to be washed. The water is carried to and fro in -jars of the most curious and pleasant form and texture, and a few drops -are now and then thrown on the floor of the comedor or eating-room by -way of laying the ancient dust; but washing in any higher sense than -this is unknown. It must be said also, that the entrance is common to -the mules and the guests; and that after passing through an archway -where the atmosphere is only too lively with fleas, and where the stench -is something too dreadful to be borne with ease, you turn into the -staircase door, and up the stairs, only to find when you have mounted -that you have to live, sleep, and eat above the mules; and (unless you -are very lucky), when you open your window, to smell as badly as ever -all the sweets of their uncleaned and, I suppose, uncleanable stables! - -The kitchen is almost always on the first floor; and here one may stand -by the wood fire and see the dinner cooked in a mysterious fashion in a -number of little earthen jars planted here and there among the embers; -whilst one admires the small but precious array of quaint crockery on -the shelves, and tries to induce the cooking-maid to add somewhat less -of the usual flavouring to one at any rate of her stews! I confess, in -spite of all this, to a grateful recollection of many a Posada, to a -hearty appreciation of an _olla podrida_--a dish abused most by those -who know least about its virtues--and to some suspicion that many of -the humblest have treasures in their unsophisticated cooks for which one -longs in vain in our own English country-town inns, which of all I have -seen seem to me to be the worst, in their affectation of superiority, -and in their utter inability to support their claim with anything more -worthy than bad mutton-chops, doubtful beer, and wine about which there -is no kind of doubt whatever! So much for the Posada. In the Parador or -the Fonda the entertainment is generally very fair, whilst in many the -sleeping-rooms are all that need be desired. But even here the smell of -the stables is often so intolerable as to make it very desirable to find -other quarters; and about this there is seldom if ever any difficulty; -for in almost all towns of moderate size there are plenty of houses -where lodgers are taken in for a night; and in these one may generally -depend upon cleanliness, the absence of mules, and fairly-good cookery. - -In all--whether inns or lodgings--it is well to eat when the Spaniard -eats, and not to attempt to do so at any other time, else much precious -time and temper will assuredly be lost, and with results entirely -incommensurate with the sacrifice. At whatever hour you rise the maid -will bring a small cup of chocolate and a vast glass of water, with some -sweet biscuits or toast. And you must learn to love this precious cup, -if you intend to love Spain: nowhere else will you get chocolate so -invariably well made; and if after you have taken it you drink heartily -of the water, you have nothing to fear, and may work hard without -fainting till you get your morning meal, at about eleven o’clock. This -is a dinner, and can be followed by another at sunset, after which you -can generally find in a café either coffee, chocolate, or iced lemonade, -whilst you watch the relaxation of the domino-playing natives. - -Finally, there is seldom anything to quarrel with in the bill, which is -usually made out for the entertainment at so much a day; and when this -has been paid, the people of the house are sure to bid you God speed--_a -dios_--with pleasant faces and kind hearts. - -The journeys which I have undertaken in Spain have all been made with -the one object of inspecting the remains of Gothic building which I -either hoped to, or knew I should, find there. My knowledge of Spanish -scenery has therefore been very much limited, and it is only -incidentally that I am able to speak at all of it. Yet I have seen -enough to be able to recommend a great extent of country as thoroughly -worthy of exploration by those who care for nought but picturesque -scenery. The greater part of Catalonia, much of Aragon, Navarre, the -north of Leon, Galicia, and the Asturias, are all full of lovely -scenery, and even in other districts, where the country is not -interesting, there seem always to be ranges of mountains in sight, -which, with the singular purity of the atmosphere through which they are -seen, never fail of leaving pleasant recollections in one’s mind. Such, -for example, is the view of the Guadarrama Mountains from Madrid--a view -which redeems that otherwise forlorn situation for a great city, and -gives it the only charm it has. Such again are the mountain backgrounds -of Leon, Avila, and Segovia. - -In my first Spanish tour I entered the country from Bayonne, travelled -thence by Vitoria to Burgos, Palencia, Valladolid, Madrid, Alcalá, -Toledo, Valencia, Barcelona, Lérida, and by Gerona to Perpiñan. In the -second I went again to Gerona, thence to Barcelona, Tarragona, Manresa, -Lérida, Huesca, Zaragoza, Tudela, Pamplona, and so to Bayonne; and in -the third and last I went by Bayonne to Pamplona, Tudela, Tarazona, -Sigüenza, Guadalajara, Madrid, Toledo, Segovia, Avila, Salamanca, -Zamora, Benavente, Leon, Astorga, Lugo, Santiago, la Coruña, and thence -back by Valladolid and Burgos to San Sebastian and Bayonne. - -Tours such as these have, I think, given me a fair chance of forming a -right judgment as to most of the features of Spanish architecture; but -it were worse than foolish to suppose that they have been in the -slightest degree exhaustive, for there are large tracts of country which -I have not visited at all, others in which I have seen one or two only -out of many towns which are undoubtedly full of interesting subjects to -the architect, and others again in which I have been too much pressed -for time. Yet I hardly know that I need apologize for my neglect to see -more when I consider that, up to the present time, so far as I know, no -architect has ever described the buildings which I have visited, and -indeed no accurate or reliable information is to be obtained as to their -exact character, or age, or history. The real subject for apology is one -over which I have had, in truth, no control. The speed with which I have -been compelled to travel, and the rapidity with which I have been -obliged to sketch and take dimensions of everything I have seen, have -often, no doubt, led to my making errors, for which, wherever they -exist, I am sincerely sorry. In truth, the work I undertook was hardly -the mere relaxation from my ordinary artistic labour for which it was -first of all intended, and has been increased not a little by the -labour which I have undertaken in the attempt to fix by documentary -evidence, where possible, the ages of the various parts of the buildings -I have described. - -It will be observed that I have not visited the extreme south of Spain; -and this was from the first a settled purpose with me. We have already -been treated almost to surfeit with accounts of the Moorish remains at -Granada, Seville, Cordoba, and other places in the south; but beside -this my anxiety was to see how the Christians and not how the Moors -built in Spain in the middle ages, and I purposely, therefore, avoided -those parts of the country which during the best period of mediæval art -were not free from Moorish influence. The pages of this book are the -best evidence I can give of the wisdom of such a decision, and I need -only say here that I was more than satisfied with the purity and beauty -of the Christian architecture of Spain, and that I have no hesitation in -the advice which I give to others to follow in my track and to make good -the deficiencies in my investigations, of which I am so thoroughly -conscious. - -By this time travelling on the great high road through Spain _viâ_ -Madrid is much easier than it was when I first made the journey. The -railway to Madrid is now either completed or all but completed, and it -is possible to travel from Calais to Alicante on an almost unbroken -line. It is a matter to be grateful for in most respects, yet I rejoice -that I made my first journey when it was still necessary to make use of -the road, and to see something on the way both of the country and of the -people. - -It was after a hurried journey by night to Paris, and thence the next -night on to Bordeaux, that I arrived, after a few hours spent in that -interesting old city, at the end of the second day in Bayonne. Here my -first work was to furnish myself with money and places in the Spanish -diligence; and in both these matters I received my first lesson in one -peculiarity of Spaniards--that of using foreign words in another and -different sense from that to which we are accustomed. Napoleons are said -to be the best coin for use in Spain, and I furnished myself with them -only to discover, when it was too late, that in Spain a Napoleon means a -silver five-franc piece, and that my gold Napoleons were all but useless -out of Madrid. And again, when I asked for places in the coupé of the -diligence, I found that I was really trying to secure seats in the -banquette--the coupé being called the berlina, and the banquette the -coupé. - -At Bayonne there is not very much to be seen beyond the cathedral, the -river crossed by the Duke for his attack on Soult, and a charming view -from the top of the cathedral tower of the lower ranges of the Pyrenees. -The Trois Couronnes is the most conspicuous peak, and its outline is -fine; but here, as generally in the distant views of the chain which I -obtained, there is a lack of those snow peaks which lend so much beauty -to all Alpine views. The exterior of the cathedral has been almost -entirely renewed of late, and a small army of masons was busy in the -cloister on the south side of the choir. It is to be hoped that the -stoppage of the funds so lavishly spent upon the French cathedrals may -happen before the Bayonne architects and masons have come round to the -west end. At present there is a savage picturesqueness about this which -is beyond measure delightful, whilst the original arrangement of the -doorways and porches on the west and south, with enormous penthouse -roofs over them, is just so far open to conjecture and doubt as to be -best left without very much alteration. The general character of the -interior of the cathedral is only moderately good, the traceries of the -lofty traceried triforium and the great six-light windows of the -clerestory in the nave being unusually complicated for French work. The -choir is of late thirteenth century work, very short, with five chapels -in the chevet. - -In the afternoon we followed the stream and drove to Biarritz. A -succession of vehicles of every kind, crowded with passengers, gave -strong evidence of the attractions either of the place or else of the -Emperor and Empress, who had been there for a week or two; and the mob -of extravagantly dressed ladies, French and English, who thronged the -bathing-places and the sandy plain in front of the Villa Eugénie, -accounted for the enormous black boxes under which all the vehicles -seemed to groan. The view from the cliffs on the western side of -Biarritz is strikingly beautiful, embracing as it does the long range of -the Pyrenees descending to the sea in a grand mass above Fuenterrabia, -and prolonged as far as the eye could reach along the coast of Biscay. -The next morning we left Bayonne at four o’clock for Burgos. We had -seats in the coupé, the occupants of the berlina on this journey being a -son of Queen Christina, with his bride. In Spain every one seems to -travel by the diligence; you seldom meet a private carriage; there are -no posting arrangements; and owing to the way in which the diligences on -the great roads are crowded, it is very difficult indeed to stop on the -road without running great risk of indefinite delays in getting places -again. - -The drive was very charming. The sun rose before we reached St. Jean de -Luz,[6] and we enjoyed to the full the lovely scenery. Crossing the -Bidassoa at Irun, the famous Ile de Faisans was seen--a mere stony bank -in the middle of the stream, recently walled round and adorned with a -sort of monument--and then ensued a delay of an hour whilst our luggage -was examined and _plombé_ in order that it might pass out of Guipuzcoa -into Castile without a second examination. - -There is a rather characteristic church of late date here. It stands on -ground sloping steeply down towards the river, and has a bald look -outside, owing to the almost complete absence of window openings, what -there are being small, and very high above the floor. The plan is -peculiar: it has a nave and chancel, and aisles of two bays to the -eastern half of the nave, so that the western part of the nave -corresponds in outline very nearly with the chancel. There is a tower at -the west end of the south aisle. The groining is many-ribbed, and -illustrates the love of the later Spanish architects for ogee -surface-ribs, which look better on a plan of vaulting than they do in -execution. The east end is square, but the vaulting is apsidal, the -angles of the square end being cut across by domical pendentives below -the vaulting. The most remarkable feature is the great width of the -nave, which is about fifty-four feet from centre to centre of the -columns, the total length not being more, I think, than a hundred and -fifty feet. The church floor was strewed with rushes, and in the evening -when I visited it the people stole in and out like ghosts upon this -quiet carpeting. This church was rebuilt in A.D. 1508, and is of course -not a very good example of Spanish Gothic. - -Fuenterrabia is just seen from Irun in the distance, very prettily -situated, with the long line of the blue bay of Biscay to its right. -From Irun the road to San Sebastian passes the landlocked harbour of -Pasage: this is most picturesque, the old houses clustering round the -base of the great hills which shut it in from the sea, between which -there is only a narrow winding passage to the latter, guarded by a -mediæval castle. Leaving this charming picture behind, we were soon in -front of San Sebastian. Here again the castle-crowned cliff seems -entirely to shut the town out from the sea, whilst only a narrow neck of -land between the _embouchure_ of the river on the one side, and a -landlocked bay on the other, connects it with the mainland. We had been -seven or eight hours _en route_, and were glad to hear of a halt for -breakfast. Whilst it was being prepared I ran off to the church of San -Vicente on the opposite side of the town to the Fonda. I found it to be -a building of the sixteenth century--built in 1507--with a large western -porch, open-arched on each face, a nave and aisles, and eastern apsidal -choir. The end of this is filled with an enormous Retablo of Pagan -character, reaching to the roof. The church is groined throughout, and -all the light is admitted by very small windows in the clerestory. The -aisles have altars in each bay, with Retablos facing north and south. -There is little or no work of much architectural interest here; but it -was almost my first Spanish church, and I had my first very vivid -impression of the darkened interiors, lighted up here and there by some -brilliant speck of sunshine, which are so characteristic of the country, -and as lovely in their effects as they are aggravating to one who wants -to be able to make sketches and notes within them. - -Leaving San Sebastian at mid-day, we skirted the bay, busy with folk -enjoying themselves in the water after the fashion of Biarritz. The -country was wild, beautiful, and mountainous all the way to Mondragon. -At Vergara there was a fair going on, and the narrow streets were -crowded with picturesquely dressed peasants; everywhere in these parts -fine, lusty, handsome, and clean, and to my mind the best looking -peasantry I have ever seen. In the evening the villages were all alive, -the young men and women dancing a wild, indescribable dance, rather -gracefully, and with a good deal of waving about of their arms. The -music generally consisted of a tambourine, but once of two drums and a -flute; and the ball-room was the centre of the road, or the little -_plaza_ in the middle of the village. At midnight there was another halt -at Vitoria, where an hour was whiled away over chocolate and -_azucarillos_--delicate compositions of sugar which melt away rapidly in -water, and make a superior kind of _eau sucré_; and again at sunrise we -stopped at Miranda del Ebro for the examination of luggage before -entering Castile. - -Close to the bridge, on the opposite side of the Ebro to Miranda, is a -church of which I could just see by the dim light of the morning that it -was of some value as an example of Romanesque and Early Pointed work. -The apse, of five sides, has buttresses with two half-columns in front -of each, and an arch thrown across from buttress to buttress carries -the cornice and gives a great appearance of massiveness to the window -arches with which it is concentric. The south doorway is of very fine -Early Pointed style, with three shafts on each jamb, and five orders in -the arch. - -On the road from Miranda to Pancorbo there is a striking defile between -massive limestone cliffs and rocks, through which the Madrid Railway is -being constructed with no little difficulty, and where the road is -carried up, until, at its summit, we found ourselves at the commencement -of the arid, treeless, dusty, and eminently miserable plain of Castile, -whilst we groaned not a little at the slow pace at which the ten or -twelve horses and mules that drew us got over the ground. These Spanish -diligences are certainly most amusing for a time, and thenceforward most -wearying. They generally have a team of ten or twelve animals, mostly -mules. The driver has a short whip and reins for the wheelers only; a -boy, the _adalantero_, rides the leaders as postilion, and with a power -of endurance which deserves record, the same boy having ridden with us -all the way from San Sebastian to Burgos--twenty-five hours, with a halt -of one hour only at Vitoria. The conductor, or _mayoral_, sits with the -driver, and the two spend half their time in getting down from the box, -rushing to the head of one of the mules, belabouring him heartily for -two or three minutes till the whole train is in a mad gallop, and then -climbing to the box to indulge in a succession of wild shrieks until the -poor beasts have fallen again into their usual walk, when the -performance is repeated. I believe that for a day and a half our -_mayoral_ never slept a wink, and spent something like a fourth of his -time running with the mules: though I am bound to say that subsequent -experience has convinced me that he was exceptionally lively and -wakeful, for elsewhere, in travelling by night, I have generally found -that the mules become their own masters after dark, walking or standing -still as seemeth them best, and seldom getting over much more than half -the ground they travel in the same number of hours of daylight. - -A few miles before our arrival at Burgos, we caught the first sight of -the three spires of the cathedral; and presently the whole mass stood -out grandly, surmounted by the Castle hill on the right. One or two -villages with large churches of little interest were passed, the great -Carthusian Convent of Miraflores was seen on the left, and then, passing -a short suburb, we stopped at the Fonda de la Rafaela; and after an hour -spent in recovery from dust, dirt, and horrid hunger, betook ourselves -to the famous Cathedral, with no little anxiety as to the result of -this first day of ecclesiologizing in Spain. - -The railroad, which is now open to Burgos, follows very much the same -line as the old road. As far as Miranda the scenery is generally very -beautiful, and here there is a junction with the wonderfully-engineered -railway to Bilbao, which is continued again on the other side until it -joins the Pamplona and Tudela Railway near the latter city. It is -therefore a very good plan to enter Spain by the steamboat from Bayonne -to Bilbao, to come thence by railway, join the main line at Miranda, and -so on to Burgos, or else by the valley of the Ebro to Tudela and -Zaragoza. The passage of the Pancorbo defile by the railway is even -finer than by the road; and for the remainder of the distance to Burgos -the traveller’s feeling must be in the main one of joy at finding -himself skimming along with fair rapidity over the tame country, in -place of loitering over it in a tiresome diligence. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -BURGOS. - - -There are some views of Burgos Cathedral which are constantly met with, -and upon which I confess all my ideas of its style and merits had been -founded, to their no little detriment. The western steeples, the central -lantern, and the lantern-like roof and pinnacles of the chapel of the -Constable at the east end, are all very late in date--the first of the -latest fifteenth century, and the others of early Renaissance work; and -their mass is so important, their character so picturesque, and their -detail so exuberantly ornate, that they have often been drawn and -described to the entire exclusion of all notice of the noble early -church, out of which they rise. The general scheme of the ground-plan of -the cathedral is drawn with considerable accuracy in the illustration -which I give of it.[7] The fabric consists of a thirteenth-century -church, added to somewhat in the fourteenth century, altered again in -the fifteenth, and even more in the sixteenth century. The substratum, -so to speak, is throughout of the thirteenth century, but the two -western steeples, with their crocketed and perforated spires, the -gorgeous and fantastic lantern over the crossing, and the lofty and -sumptuous monumental chapel at the east end, are all later additions, -and so important in their effect, as at first sight to give an entirely -wrong impression both of the age and character of the whole church. The -various dates are, as well as the scale will admit, explained by the -shading of the plan. The early church seems to have consisted of a nave -and aisles of six bays, deep transepts, and a choir and aisles, with -apses and chapels round it. The transepts probably had chapels on the -east, of which one still remains in the north transept; but this is the -only original chapel, none of those round the chevet having been spared. -Externally, the two transept fronts are the only conspicuous portions of -the old church, but, on mounting to the roof, the flying buttresses, -clerestory windows, and some other parts, are found still little damaged -or altered. Never was a church more altered for the worse after its -first erection than was this. It is now a vast congeries of chapels and -excrescences of every shape and every style, which have grown round it -at various dates, and, to a great extent, concealed the whole of the -original plan and structure; and of these, the only valuable Mediæval -portions are the cloisters and sacristies, which are, indeed, but little -later in date than the church, and two of the chapels on the north side -of the chevet, one of which is original, and the other at any rate not -much altered. The rest of the additions are all either of the latest -Gothic, or of Renaissance. - -The principal entrances to this church of “Santa Maria la Mayor” are at -the west end and in the north and south transepts--the two last -original, the former a modern alteration of the old fabric, made only a -few years ago, and of the meanest kind. The Archbishop’s palace occupies -the space on the south side of the nave; and the ground on which the -whole group of buildings stands, slopes so rapidly from the south up to -the north, that on the south side a steep and picturesque flight of -steps leads up to the door, whilst on the north, on the contrary, the -door is some fifteen feet above the floor, and has to be reached by an -elaborate flight of winding steps from the transept. Owing to the rapid -rise of the ground, and to the way in which the church is surrounded by -houses, or by its own dependent buildings, it is very difficult to -obtain any good near views of it, with the exception of that of the west -end from the Plaza in front of it; but the views from the Prado, from -the opposite side of the river, and from the distant hills and country, -are all very fine; and it must be allowed that in them the picturesque -richness of the later additions to the fabric produces a very great -effect. - -Having thus given some general idea of the plan of the church, I will -now describe its parts more in detail. - -[Illustration: Compartment of Nave.] - -On entering the nave at the west end, the effect of the arcades, -triforia, and clerestory is very fine, though much damaged by the -arrangement of the choir, which, as in most Spanish churches, is brought -down into the nave, enclosed with close walls or screens, and entered -only from the transept at its eastern end. An altar is placed against -the western entrance of the choir, and the nave being only six bays in -length, and equally divided, the view is--it may easily be -imagined--very confined and cramped. Otherwise, the architectural -features of the nave are thoroughly good. The original scheme evidently -included two western steeples, the piers which support them--large -clusters of engaged shafts--being larger than any of the others, yet of -the same date. The nave columns are circular, with eight engaged shafts -around them. The bases are circular, finished on squares, with knops of -foliage filling in the spandrels. The abaci are all square in plan, and -both bases and caps are set at right angles to the direction of the -arches they support. One of the smaller columns carries the pier arch, -the other three carry the transverse and diagonal groining ribs, whilst -the wall ribs are carried on shafts on each side of the clerestory -window. The pier arches are of ordinary early-pointed character, and -well moulded. There is not much variety in the general design of the -nave and transepts, though some changes of detail occur. The triforium -in both is very peculiar, as will be seen by the illustration which I -give of one bay of the nave. The openings vary considerably in number, -and the piercings of the tympanum and in the enclosing arch are also -singularly arranged. I know nothing like this singular triforium -elsewhere. It is certainly more curious than really beautiful, but at -the same time it is valuable, as seeming to prove this part of the work -to be from the hand of a native artist. The enclosing label is in all -cases a segment of a circle, and filled with sculptured heads at short -intervals apart. At first sight this triforium hardly seems to be of -early date, having suffered by the addition of pinnacles covered with -crockets in front of, and open traceried parapet walls between, the -detached shafts on which the early traceries were carried; the result -is, that one of the most striking features in the church is completely -spoiled, and a general effect of very poor and tawdry design is felt -more or less throughout the whole building.[8] - -The original clerestory still, in great part, remains; it is simple, but -good and vigorous in style, and with but one special peculiarity in its -detail. The windows are for the most part of two lights, with a -quatrefoiled circle in the head; and the peculiarity referred to here is -the omission to carry the chamfer round the extrados of the arched heads -to the lights or the circle; the effect produced is peculiar, the -tracery not looking as if it were properly constructed, but as if the -wheel had been loosely placed within the arch without having any proper -connection with it. I have noticed the same arrangement in a church at -Valladolid, and it must, I think, be regarded either as a freak of the -workmen, or more probably as the exhibition of some degree of ignorance -of the ordinary mode of executing the mouldings in window traceries. - -But here, with this one exception, as in almost all the details -throughout the original work of this cathedral, there is little, if -anything, to show that we are not in France, and looking at some of its -best and purest thirteenth-century Gothic. There is no trace of Moorish -or other foreign influence, the whole work being pure, simple, and good. -In the aisles two only of the original windows still remain, and these -show that they were lighted originally by a series of well-shaped -lancets, with engaged jamb-shafts inside. The vaults are all slightly -domical in section; the diagonal ribs generally semi-circular, as also -are the wall-ribs. The masonry of the cells is arranged in lines -parallel to the ridge, but considerably distorted near the springing. - -The transepts, which, as has been said, are similar in their design to -the nave, are of considerable size, and the view across them is in fact -the best internal view in the church. One early chapel alone -remains,--on the east side of the north transept,--and its groined roof -is remarkable. It is a square in plan, with its vault divided into eight -groining cells, forming two bays on each side, and with two lancet -windows at the east end, each under a division of the vault. No one who -has studied the groining of the churches in Poitou and Anjou--so decided -in their local peculiarities--can doubt, on comparison of them with this -chapel, that it was the work of men who had studied in the same school, -and it is remarkable that we find it reproduced in the lantern of the -great church of the Convent of Las Huelgas, near Burgos, of which I -shall presently have to speak. In both cases the vaulting is very -domical, and the joints of the stone filling-in of the cells are -_vertical_. This chapel suggests, too, the question whether the first -idea was not here, as well as at Las Huelgas, to have a series of -chapels on the east side of the transepts, though I should decide this -in the negative, inasmuch as there is no mark of a chapel in the next -bay to the north, and there was probably from the first a complete -chevet to the choir. - -It will be as well, perhaps, to leave the description in detail of the -early features of the exterior for the present, and to complete the -notice of the interior first of all. - -And here it is necessary to say a few words as to the cathedral -arrangements commonly seen in Spain, which exist in full force at -Burgos, and must be constantly referred to in all my notices of Spanish -churches. - -I have already said that the choir proper (_Coro_) is transferred to the -nave, of which it occupies commonly the eastern half; the portion of the -nave outside, or to the west of the Coro, being called the “_Trascoro_,” -and that to the east of it the “_Entre los dos Coros_;” and in most -great churches the “_Crucero_,” or crossing, and the transept really do -the work of the nave, in the way of accommodating the people. The floor -of the nave proper is, indeed, too often a useless appendage to the -building, desolate, dreary, unused, and cold; whereas in the transepts, -the services at the altar and in the choir are both seen and heard, and -this accordingly is the people’s place. A passage is sometimes, or -perhaps I ought to say is usually, made with low iron or brass screens -or rails leading from the eastern gate of the Coro to the screen in -front of the altar. This is especially necessary here, as the choir -proper is deep, and the people are thus kept from pressing on the clergy -as they pass to and fro in the long passage from the altar to the Coro. -Gates in these screens admit of the passage of the people from one -transept to the other whenever the services in the Coro are not going -on. The Coro is usually fitted with two rows of stalls on its north, -south, and west sides, the front row having no desks before them. The -only entrance is usually through the screen on the eastern side, and -there are generally two organs placed on either side of the western bay -of the Coro, above the stalls. In the centre of the Coro there is always -one, and sometimes two or three lecterns, for the great illuminated -office-books, which most of the Spanish churches seem still to preserve -and use. High metal screens are placed across the nave to the east of -the Coro, and across the entrance to the choir, or “_capilla mayor_,” as -its eastern part is called. These screens are called _rejas_. Above the -crossing of the choir and transepts there is usually an open raised -lantern, called by the Spaniards the _cimborio_; and behind the altar, -at the end of the Capilla mayor, is usually a great sculptured and -painted _retablo_ or reredos. All these arrangements are generally -described as if they were invariably found in all Spanish churches, as -they certainly are at Burgos and many others now; and an acute and -well-informed writer in the ‘Ecclesiologist’ suggests that their origin -may perhaps be looked for in the early churches of the Asturias and -Galicia, since he had looked in vain, in both Spanish and Mozarabic -liturgies, for any peculiar dogma or ritual practice which would have -involved arrangements so different from those common in other countries. -The grounds for my opinion will appear as I describe other churches in -other places; but I may here at once say that what occurred to me at -Burgos was to some extent confirmed elsewhere, namely, that most of -these arrangements have no very old authority or origin, but are -comparatively modern innovations, and that they are never seen in their -completeness save where, as here, they are alterations or additions of -the sixteenth or subsequent centuries, and they are usually Renaissance -in their architectural character. This is particularly the case in -regard to the arrangement of the Coro, as well as to its position in the -church. At present the bishop is generally placed in a central stall at -its western end; yet of this I have seen only one or two really genuine -old examples; for, wherever the arrangement occurs in a choir where the -old stalls remain, it will be found, I believe, that the bishop’s stall -is an interpolation and addition of the sixteenth, seventeenth, or -eighteenth century, and that where the old western screen remains, the -throne blocks up the old door from the nave into the Coro. The word -Cimborio is only the Spanish term for our lantern. The early Spanish -churches were like our own in the adoption of this fine feature, and, -with such modifications as might be expected, the central lantern is -still an invariable feature in most of them. The term Cimborio, however, -seems to have no special significance, and, as I prefer the use of an -English terminology wherever it is appropriate, I shall generally use -the word lantern, rather than Cimborio. There are some of these terms, -however, which it will frequently be convenient to use; such, for -instance, are the words Reja, Coro, Capilla mayor, and Trascoro, all of -which describe Spanish features or arrangements unknown in our own -churches. - -At Burgos the Coro occupies the three eastern bays of the nave, and the -only entrance to it is through a doorway in its eastern screen. The -stalls, screens, and fittings are all of early Renaissance work, and -were the gift of Bishop Pascual de Fuensanta, between A.D. 1497 and A.D. -1512. There are about eighty stalls, in two rows, returned at the ends, -and very richly carved, over the lower stalls with subjects from the -New, and over the upper stalls with subjects from the Old Testament. In -the centre of the choir, concealed by the great desk for the books -(which, by the way, are old, though not very fine[9]), lies a -magnificent effigy of Bishop Maurice, the founder of the church. It is -of wood, covered with metal plates, and very sumptuously adorned with -jewels, enamels, and gilding. He was bishop from A.D. 1213 to A.D. 1238, -and his effigy appeared to me to be very little later than the date of -his death. - -A special architectural interest attaches to the life of this prelate, -for the tradition in Burgos has always been that he was an Englishman, -who came over in the train of the English Princess Alienor, Queen of -Alfonso VIII., and, having been Archdeacon of Toledo, became in A.D. -1213 Bishop of Burgos. Florez,[10] however, doubts the tradition, and -observes that his parents’ names, Rodrigo and Oro Sabia, were those of -Spaniards. Two years before the cathedral was commenced he went on an -embassy through France to Germany, to bring Beatrice, daughter of the -Duke of Suabia, to marry King Ferdinand; so that, even if he were not of -English birth, he was at any rate well travelled, and had seen some of -the noble works in progress and completed in France and Germany at this -date. In A.D. 1221 he laid the first stone of his new -cathedral:--“Primus lapis ponitur in fundamento novi operis ecclesiæ -Burgens: xx. die mensis Julii _era_ millesima quinquagesima nona die -Sancte Margarite.”[11] Florez gives two other similar statements, one -from the Martyrology of Burgos, and the other from the Chronicle of -Cardeña. The King and the Bishop are said to have laid the first stone -in the grand column on the epistle side of the choir; and the work went -on so rapidly that in November, A.D. 1230, when he drew up directions as -to the precedence of the various members of the chapter, their order of -serving at the altars, and of walking in processions, the Bishop was -able to write, “_Tempore nostræ translationis ad novam fabricam_.”[12] - -Bishop Maurice was buried in the church, and his monument was afterwards -moved to the front of the Trascoro (or screen at the west end of the -choir) by Bishop Ampudia, before his death, in A.D. 1512. It has never -been moved from the spot in which it was then placed, and yet, owing to -the rearrangement of the stalls, it is now in the very midst of the -Coro,[13] and affords an invaluable piece of evidence of the fact -already stated, that of old the stalls did not occupy their present -place in the nave.[14] - -There is nothing else worthy of note in the Coro. Its floor is boarded, -and a long passage about six feet wide, between rails, leads from its -door through the choir to a screen in front of the high altar. The -people occupy the choir, hemmed in between these rails and the parclose -screens under the side arches. The altar has a late and uninteresting -Retablo, in Pagan style, carved with large subjects and covered with -gold.[15] The steps to the altar are of white, black, and red marble, -counterchanged; and at the entrance to the choir under the lantern are -two brass pulpits or ambons, for the Epistoler and Gospeller, an -admirable and primitive arrangement almost always preserved in Spanish -churches. - -The columns of the choir arches have been modernized, and there is -consequently but little of the old structure visible on the inside, the -Retablo rising to the groining, and concealing the arches of the apse. -Between these arches sculptures in stone are introduced, which are said -to have been executed by Juan de Borgoña, in 1540. They are bold and -spirited compositions in high relief, and give great richness of effect -to the aisle towards which they face. The subjects are--(1) the Agony in -the Garden; (2) our Lord bearing His Cross; (3) the Crucifixion; (4) the -Descent from the Cross and the Resurrection; (5) the Ascension. Numbers -1 and 5 are not original, or at any rate are inferior to and different -in style from the others. - -When we leave the choir for its aisles, we shall find that everything -here, too, has been more or less altered. Chapels of all sizes and -shapes have been contrived, either by addition to or alteration of the -original ground-plan; and, picturesque as the _tout ensemble_ is, with -dark shadows crossed here and there by bright rays of light from the -side windows, with here a domed Renaissance chapel, there one of the -fourteenth century, and here, again, one of the fifteenth, it has lost -all that simplicity, unity, and harmony which in a perfect building -ought to mark this, the most important part of a church. In truth hardly -any part of the aisles or chapels of the chevet of Bishop Maurice now -remains; for of the two early chapels on the north side (marked _a_ and -_b_ on the plan), the former is evidently of later date, being possibly -the work of Bishop Juan de Villahoz, who founded a chapel here, -dedicated to S. Martin, in A.D. 1268-69.[16] The style of this chapel is -very good middle-pointed; the abaci of the capitals are square, the -tracery is geometrical, the vaulting very domical, and its north-western -angle is arched across, and groined with a small tripartite vault, in -order to bring the main vault into the required polygonal form. This -arrangement occurs at an earlier date, as I shall have presently to -show, at Las Huelgas (close to Burgos), but ought to be noticed here, as -the same feature is seen reproduced, more or less, in many Spanish works -of the fifteenth century, and here we have an intermediate example to -illustrate its gradual growth. It is, in fact, the Gothic substitute for -a pendentive. - -The other chapel (_b_) I believe to be the one remaining evidence of the -original plan of the chevet; and, looking at it in connexion with the -other portions of the work, and especially with the blank wall between -which and the cloister the new sacristy is built, it seems pretty clear -that originally there were only three chapels in the chevet, and all of -them pentagonal in plan. Between these chapels and the transepts there -would then have been two bays of aisle without side chapels, and on the -eastern side of each of the transepts a small square chapel, one of -which still remains. This plan tallies to some extent with that of the -cathedral at Leon (with which the detail of Burgos may well be -compared), and is in some respects similar to that of the French -cathedrals of Amiens, Clermont, and some other places. In fact, the -planning of this chevet is one of the proofs that the work was of -French, and not of Spanish origin. - -At the east end of the cathedral is a grand chapel, erected about A.D. -1487, by the Constable D. Pedro Fernandez de Velasco and his wife. This -remarkable building was designed by an architect whose work we shall see -again, and of whom it may be as well at once to say a few words. Juan de -Colonia--a German by birth or origin, as his name shows--is said to have -been brought to Burgos by Bishop Alfonso de Cartagena (A.D. 1435 to A.D. -1456) when he returned from the Council of Basle. There is evidence that -he built the chapel of the great Carthusian monastery of Miraflores, on -the hill just outside the town; and there is, I believe, but little -doubt that he wrought here too. His work is very peculiar. It is -essentially German in its endless intricacy and delicacy of detail, but -has features which I do not remember to have seen in Germany, and which -may fairly be attributed either to the Spaniards who worked under him, -or to an attempt on his own part to accommodate his work to Spanish -tastes. - -The chapel is octagonal at the east, but square at the west end; and -pendentives of exactly the same kind of design as those of the early -German and French churches are introduced across the western angles of -the chapel, to bring the plan of the central vault to a complete -octagon. They are true pendentives, and quite unlike those three-sided -vaulting bays across the angles of the apse chapels, to which I just now -referred, and which answer precisely the same purpose. They are hardly -at all Gothic, having semi-circular arches, and the masonry below them -being filled in with stones radiating as in a fan, from the centre of -the base of the pendentive. The groining ribs (the mouldings of which -interpenetrate at the springing) form by their intersection a large star -of eight points in the centre, and the cells between the ribs of this -star are pierced with very elaborate traceries. This is a feature often -reproduced in late Spanish works, and it is one which aids largely in -giving the intricate and elaborately lacelike effect aimed at by the -Spanish architects at this date, to a greater extent even than by any of -their contemporaries in other lands; for though this, which is wellnigh -the richest example of the Spanish art of the fifteenth century, was -designed by a German, we must remember that he was following, to a great -extent, Spanish traditions, and was largely aided in all the better -portion of the detail by national artists, among whom the greatest was, -perhaps, Gil de Siloe, whose work in the monuments at Miraflores I shall -presently have to describe. And it is not a little curious, and perhaps -not very gratifying to the _amour propre_ of Spanish artists, that in -this great church the two periods in which the most artistic vigour was -shown, and the grandest architectural works undertaken, were marked, the -first by the rule of a well-travelled bishop--commonly said to be an -Englishman--under an English princess, and who seems to have employed an -Angevine architect; and the second by the rule of another travelled -bishop, who, coming home from Germany, brought with him a German -architect, into whose hands all the great works in the city seem at once -to have been put. I must return, however, to the description of the -detail of the Constable’s chapel. Each bay of the octagonal part of the -chapel below the vaulting is divided in this way: below is a recessed -arch, under which is an enormous coat-of-arms set aslant on the wall, -with coarse foliage round it. These arches have a very ugly fringe of -shields and supporters, and finish with ogee canopies. Above are the -windows, which are of flamboyant tracery of three lights; the windows -being placed one over the other, the outer mouldings of the upper window -going down to the sill of the lower. There are altars in recesses on the -east, north, and south sides of the octagon; and the two latter stand -upon their old foot-paces, formed by flights of three steps, the ends of -which towards the chapel are filled with rich tracery. The monument of -the Constable Velasco is in the centre of the chapel; and a velvet pall -belonging to it is still preserved, adorned with one of those grand -stamped patterns so constantly seen in mediæval German paintings. The -stalls for the clergy are arranged strangely in an angle of the chapel, -fenced round with a low screen, and looking like one of those enclosures -in some of our own churches sacred to archdeacons and their officials. - -A quaint little vestry is contrived outside the south-east angle of the -octagon, and in it are preserved some pieces of plate of the same age as -the chapel. Among these are-- - -A chalice of silver gilt, enamelled in white and red, with its bowl -richly set with pearls strung on a wire: the knop is richly enamelled, -and its edge set with alternate emeralds and sapphires; whilst the -sexfoiled foot is in the alternate compartments engraved with -coats-of-arms, and set with sapphires. It is a very gorgeous work, and, -though all but Renaissance in style, still very finely executed. - -A pax; the Blessed Virgin Mary holding our Lord, and seated on a throne -covered with pearls and other jewels. The figure of the Blessed Virgin -Mary is enamelled with blue, and our Lord is in ivory. The old case for -this is preserved, and has a drawer below it which contains papers -referring to the gift of it. - -Another small pax; a flat plate enamelled, with crocketed pinnacles at -the side, but no figure. - -A fine thurible for incense, in the form of a ship, with Adam and Eve on -the lid. - -A very good flagon, richly chased all over, sexfoil in section, and with -a particularly good spout and handle. - -There are many other chapels, as will be seen by reference to the plan, -added to various parts of this cathedral, though none of them are of -anything like the same importance as that of the Constable, which gives, -indeed, much of its character to the exterior of the whole church, so -large, lofty, and elaborate is it. On the south side of the south aisle -of the nave is one which in the treatment of its groining cells, which -are filled with tracery, seems to show the hand of Juan de Colonia; -whilst another chapel on the north side of the nave, partly covered with -a late Gothic vault, and partly with a dome, may be either a later work -of his, or, more probably, of his son Simon de Colonia; another to the -east of this is remarkable for the cusps, which come from the moulded -ribs and lie on the surface of the vaulting cells in a way I do not -remember to have seen before. In these chapels[17] we see the dying out -of the old art in every stage of its progress; and I think that both -here and elsewhere in Spain the change was much more gradual than it was -in most other parts of Europe, many of the early Renaissance masters -having availed themselves largely of the picturesque detail of their -predecessors’ work. - -The central lantern was the last great work executed in this cathedral, -and its history must be given somewhat at length, as it is of much -interest. In the Royal Library at Madrid[18] there is preserved a MS., -from which we learn that the “crossing” of the cathedral fell on the 4th -of March, 1539; and that Felipe de Borgoña, “one of the three ‘maestros’ -who in the time of our Emperor came to our Spain, from whom we have -learned perfect architecture and sculpture, though in both they say he -had the advantage over the others,” was intrusted with the execution of -the new work erected in its place. This Cimborio or lantern was -completed, according to this MS., in December, A.D. 1567, Maestro -Vallejo being mentioned as having wrought at the work under Felipe de -Borgoña; Cean Bermudez,[19] without giving his authorities, says, that -the Bishop (celebrated for the many buildings he had erected, among -others San Esteban at Salamanca), on the fall of the “crucero,” summoned -Felipe de Borgoña from Toledo, where he was at work with Berruguete on -the stalls, to superintend the cathedral architects Juan de Vallejo and -Juan de Castañeda. Maestro Felipe seems to have died in A.D. 1543, so -that it is probable that after all most of the work was done after his -death by Juan de Vallejo, who was sufficiently distinguished to be -consulted with the architects of Toledo, Seville, and Leon about the -building of the new cathedral at Salamanca in A.D. 1512, and had also, -between the years A.D. 1514-1524, built the very Renaissance-looking -gateway which opens from the east side of the north transept into the -Calle de la Pellegria. The whole composition of this lantern is Gothic -and picturesque; yet there is scarce a portion of it which does not show -a most strange mixture of Pagan and Gothic detail. The piers which -support it are huge, ungainly cylinders, covered with carving in low -relief, and everywhere there is that combination of heaviness of parts -and intricacy of detail, which in all ages marks the inferior artist. I -cannot help lamenting much, therefore, the fall of the old work in A.D. -1539. There is no evidence, so far as I know, as to what it was that -fell,[20] but the nearly coeval church of Las Huelgas has a fine simple -lantern, and it is probable that some such erection existed in the -cathedral, and that Bishop Luis de Acuña y Osorio raised it, and, by -increasing its weight, caused its fall. The central lantern is so -completely a feature of English buildings, or of those built in lands -over which our kings also ruled, that any evidence of their early -existence here would have been most valuable, seeing how close the -connexion was at the time of its erection between the families of the -kings of Castile and of England. - -[Illustration: No. 1. - -BURGOS CATHEDRAL - -P. 25 - -NORTH-WEST VIEW.] - -The groined roofs next to the lantern, on all sides, were of necessity -rebuilt at the same time, and with detail quite unlike that of the -original vault. - -The exterior of the cathedral may be described at less length than the -interior, presenting, as it does, fewer alterations of the original -fabric, and much of what has been said of the one necessarily -illustrating the other also. - -The west front is well known by the many illustrations which have been -published of it. The ground on which the church stands slopes up, as I -have said, rapidly from south to north, but a level Plaza has been -formed in front of the doors, and part of which is enclosed with -balustrades and pinnacles of a sort of bastard Gothic, which I see drawn -in a view published circa 1770, and which may possibly be of the same -age as the latest Gothic works in the cathedral. On the rising ground to -the north-west stands the little church of San Nicolas, high above the -cathedral parvise, and hence it is that the view which I give from Mr. -Fergusson’s book is taken. Nothing can be more determinately -picturesque, though nothing can be less really interesting, than this -florid work, which everywhere substituted elaboration for thought, and -labour for art. But I need say no more on this point; for if we now look -more closely, we shall see that, underlying all these unsatisfying later -excrescences, the old thirteenth century cathedral is still here, -intact to an extent which I had not at first ventured to hope for. - -The western doors are three in number, but have been completely -modernized. Of old the central door, “del Pardon,” had effigies of the -Assumption, with angels and saints; the northern door “the mystery of -the Conception of the Blessed Virgin;” and the southern door her -coronation.[21] Above the side doorways the two steeples rise, whilst in -the centre is a finely-traceried rose-window, which lights the nave; and -above this two lofty traceried openings, each of four lights, with -effigies of saints standing one under each light, the whole forming a -screen connecting the steeples, and entirely masking the roof. The -steeples, up to this level, are of the original foundation, much altered -in parts, and now put to strange uses, their intermediate stages being -converted into dwelling-houses, and lively groups of cocks and hens -being domesticated on a sort of terrace a hundred feet from the floor. -The upper part of the towers and the spires was added in the fifteenth -century, by Bishop Alfonso de Cartagena (1435-56), who employed Juan de -Colonia (the German of whom I have already spoken) to design them. -German peculiarities do not gain in attractiveness by being exported to -Spain, and this part of Juan de Colonia’s work is certainly not a -success. Nothing can be less elegant than the termination of the spires, -which, instead of finishing simply and in the usual way, are surrounded -near the top by an open gallery, and then terminated with the clumsiest -of finials. This work was commenced in A.D. 1442, and when the bishop -died in A.D. 1456, one spire was finished, and the other, being well -advanced, was soon completed under Bishop Luis Acuña y Osorio, the -founder also of the central lantern.[22] Between the two towers is a -figure of the Blessed Virgin, with the words “Pulcra es et decora.” On -the upper part of the towers, “Ecce Agnus Dei,” and “Pax vobis;” and on -the spires, “Sancta Maria,” and “Jesus.” These words are in large stone -letters, with the spaces round them pierced. - -The detail of the spires is coarse, and the open stonework traceries -with which they are covered are held together everywhere by ironwork, -most of which appeared to me to have been added since the erection. The -crockets are enormous, projecting two feet from the angles of the -spires, curiously scooped out at the top to diminish their weight, and -with holes drilled through them to prevent the lodgement of water. The -bells are, I think, the most misshapen I ever saw; and, as if to prove -that beauty of all kinds is sympathetic, they are as bad in sound as -they are in form! - -The façades of the two transepts are quite unaltered, and as fine as -those of the best of our French or English churches. I particularly -delighted in the entrance to and _entourage_ of the southern transept, -presenting as it does all those happy groupings which to the -nineteenth-century Rue-de-Rivoli-loving public are of course odious, but -to the real lover of art simply most exquisite and quaint.[23] The -cloister and bishop’s palace, built out from the church on the south, -leave a narrow lane between them, not absolutely in face of the great -door, but twisting its way up to it; the entrance to this is through a -low archway, called the Puerta del Sarmental, above which, on the right, -towers one of the enormous and really noble crocketed pinnacles which -mark the angles of the cloister, and then, passing by several old -monuments built into the walls of the passage, the great doorway is -reached by a flight of steps at its end. Above this doorway is a fine -rose window of twenty rays of geometrical tracery, and above this is a -screen in front of the roof, consisting of four traceried openings, each -of four lights, and each monial protected, as are the lights at the west -front, by figures of angels rather above life-size. The angles of the -transepts are flanked by crocketed pinnacles, the crockets here, as -elsewhere throughout the early work, being simple in form and design, -but as perfect in effect as it is possible for crockets to be. The -sculptures of the south door are, in the tympanum, our Lord seated with -the evangelistic beasts around Him, and the four evangelists, one on -either side and two above, seated and writing at desks, whilst below His -feet are the twelve apostles, seated and holding open books. Below, -there is a bishop in front of the central pier, and statues on either -side, of which I made out two on the right to be St. Peter and St. Paul, -and two answering to them on the left Moses and Aaron. The three orders -of the archivolt have--(1) angels with censers, and angels with candles; -(2 and 3) kings seated, and playing musical instruments. Here, as -throughout the early sculpture, the character of the work is very -French, and the detail of the arcading below the statues in the jambs is -very nearly the same as that of the earliest portion of the work in the -west front of the Cathedral at Bourges. - -[Illustration: Varieties of Crockets. - - A. In Tower Window Jamb. - B. Do. do. Arch. - C. On Pinnacles of South Transept. -] - -The north transept differs but little from the other. The doorway--De -Los Apostoles--is reached from the transept floor by an internal -staircase of no less than thirty-eight steps (the sixteenth-century work -of Diego de Siloe), and the whole front is of course much less lofty -than that of the south transept, owing to the great slope of the ground -up from south to north. Above the doorway is an early triplet, and above -this the roof-screen and pinnacles, the same as in the other transept. -The doorway has in the tympanum our Lord, seated, with St. Mary and St. -John on either side, and angels with the instruments of the Passion -above and on either side. Below is St. Michael weighing souls, with the -good on his left, and the wicked on his right. The orders of the -archivolt have--(1) seraphim, (2) angels, and (3) figures rising from -their graves: and the jambs have figures of the twelve apostles. - -[Illustration: No. 2. - -BURGOS CATHEDRAL. - -p. 29 - -CLERESTORY OF CHOIR.] - -The ascent to the roofs discloses the remaining early features. These -are the clerestory windows, and the double flying buttresses, of which I -give an illustration. The water from the main roofs is carried down in a -channel on the flying buttresses and discharged by gurgoyles. There are -some sitting figures of beasts added in front of the buttresses which -are not original. The parapet throughout is an open trefoiled arcade, -with an angel standing guard over each buttress. The detail of the -clerestory windows is very good; they are of two lights, with a cusped -circle above, and a well-moulded enclosing arch. The windows in the apse -are built on the curve. The capitals of the shafts in and under the -flying buttresses are well carved, and there is a good deal of dog-tooth -enrichment. At the back of the screen-walls, in front of the roofs of -the nave and transepts, is seen the old weather-moulding marking the -line of the very steep-pitched roof (which was evidently intended to be -erected), and the stones forming which are so contrived as to form steps -leading up to the ridge, and down again to the opposite gutter. In the -transept, pinnacles take the place of the angels over the buttresses, -and their design is very piquant and original. The moulded stringcourse -at the base of these pinnacles is of a section often seen in French -work, and never, I believe, used by any but French workmen. - -All the steep roofs have long since vanished, and in their place are -flat roofs, covered with pantiles laid loosely and roughly, and looking -most ruinous. It may well be a question, I think, whether the steep -roofs were ever erected. The very fact that they were contemplated in -the design and construction of the stonework, appears to me to afford -evidence of the design not having been the work of a Spaniard: and it is -of course possible that, at the first, the native workmen may have put -up a roof of the flat pitch, with which they were familiar, instead of -the steep roofs for which the gables were planned. But, assuming that -the steep roofs were erected, they must, no doubt, have been damaged by -the fall of the lantern in 1539, and as it was reconstructed with -reference to roofs of the pitch we now see, the roofs must have been -altered at the latest by that time. - -It is quite worth while to ascend to the roofs, if only to see what is, -perhaps, the most charming view in the whole church; that, namely, which -is obtained from the south-east angle of the lantern, looking down into -the cloister, above the traceries of which rise the quaint pinnacles and -parapets of the old sacristy, and the great angle pinnacles of the -cloister itself, whilst beyond are seen the crowded roofs of the city, -the all but dry bed of the Arlanzon dividing it in two parts, and -beyond, on the one side, the steeple of the Convent of Las Huelgas -rising among its trees, and on the other the great chapel of Miraflores, -crowning a dreary, dusty, and desolate-looking hill in the distance. - -I have left to the last all notice of the cloisters, which are said to -have been built in the time of Enrique II. (1379-90), but I can find no -authority for the statement, and believe that they would be more rightly -dated between A.D. 1280 and A.D. 1350.[24] They are entered from the -south transept by the fine doorway, of which a drawing is given by Mr. -Waring in his work on Burgos. This would be thought an unusually good -example of middle-pointed work even in England, and is as fair an -instance as I know of the extreme skill with which the Spanish artists -of the same period wrought. The planning of the jambs, with the -arrangement of the straight-sided overhanging canopies over the figures -which adorn them, are to be noticed as being nearly identical in -character with those of the north transept doorway at Leon, and the -strange feature of an elliptical three-centred arch to the door opening -under the tympanum is common to both. The tympanum is well sculptured -with the Baptism of our Lord, and the well-accentuated orders of the -arch have sitting figures under canopies, and delicately-carved foliage. -The flat surfaces here are, wherever possible, carved with a diaper of -castles and lions, which was very popular throughout the kingdom of -Castile and Leon in the fourteenth century. The figures on the left jamb -of the door are those of the Annunciation, whilst, on the right, are -others of David and Isaiah. The wooden doors, though much later in date, -are carved with extreme spirit and power, with St. Peter and St. Paul -below, and the Entry into Jerusalem and the Descent into Hell above. The -ecclesiologist should set these doors open, and then, looking through -the archway into the cloister, where the light glances on an angle -column clustered round with statues, and upon delicate traceries and -vaulting ribs, he will enjoy as charming a picture as is often seen. The -arrangement of the masonry round this door shows, as also does its -detail, that it is an insertion in the older wall.[25] - -[Illustration: No. 3 - -BURGOS CATHEDRAL - -p. 30 - -VIEW OF CLOISTERS FROM THE ROOF] - -The cloisters are full of beauty and interest. They are of two stages in -height, the lower plain, the upper very ornate, the windows being of -four lights, with a circle of ten cusps in the centre, and a -quatrefoiled circle within the enclosing arch over the side lights. The -groining ribs are well moulded, and the details throughout carefully -designed and executed. At the internal angles of the cloister are groups -of saints on corbels and under canopies placed against the groining -shafts, and there is generally a figure of a saint under a recessed arch -in the wall opposite each of the windows;[26] besides which there are -numerous monuments and doorways. Those on the east are the most -noticeable. There is the entrance to the sacristy, with a sculpture of -the Descent from the Cross in its tympanum; the entrance to the room in -which the coffer of the Cid is preserved, with our Lord seated between -SS. Mary and John and Angels; and on the south side are in one bay S. -Joseph of Arimathea laying our Lord in the sepulchre, in another the -Crucifixion; whilst sculptured high tombs, surrounded by iron _grilles_, -abound. Indeed, I hardly know any cloister in which an architect might -be better contented to be confined for a time; for though there are many -which are finer and in better style, I know none altogether more -interesting and more varied, or more redolent of those illustrations of -and links with the past, which are of the very essence of all one’s -interest in such works. - -One of the doors on the east side of the cloister opens into the old -sacristy, a grand room about forty-two feet square, the groining of -which is octagonal, with small three-sided vaulting bays filling in the -angles between the square and the octagon. The corbels supporting the -groining shafts are very quaintly carved with the story of a knight -battling with lions. - -Here are kept the vestments of the altars and clergy, a right goodly -collection in number, and three of them very fine. These are a blue -velvet cope with orphreys, fairly wrought on a gold ground, and all the -work bound with a twisted cord, which in one part is black and yellow; -another cope, also of blue velvet, has a half-figure of our Lord in the -centre of the orphrey, and angels on the remainder and on the hood, with -wings of green, purple, and blue, exquisitely shaded and lined with -gold; another has St. John the Baptist, the Blessed Virgin, our Lord, -and three saints, under canopies. In all of them the velvet ground was -covered with a large diaper pattern in gold, done before the embroidery -was _appliqué_. - -To the south of this sacristy is another groined chamber, in which is -kept the coffer of the Cid,[27] and where the groining ribs are painted -in rich colour for about three feet from the centre boss. A door out of -this leads into the Chapter-house, a room with a flat wooden ceiling of -Moresque character. It is made in parqueterie of coloured woods arranged -in patterns with gilt pendants, and the cornice is of blue and white -majolica, inlaid in the walls: the combination of the whole is certainly -very effective. East of these rooms were others, of which traces still -remain on the outside; but they have been entirely destroyed, and -streets now form, on the east and on the south, the boundaries of the -church and its dependent buildings. Advantage was taken of the rise of -the ground to make a second cloister below that which I have been -describing. In the centre of the enclosure stands a cross, but the -arches are built up, and the cloister is now used for workshops, so that -there is here none of that air of beauty which the gardened cloisters of -Spain usually possess. In the north-west angle of this lower story is a -sacristy, reached by a staircase from one of the choir chapels, and -still in use for it. - -I have now in a general way gone over the whole of this very interesting -church, and have said enough, I hope, to prove that popular report has -never overrated its real merits, though no doubt it has regarded too -much those points only of the fabric which to my eye seemed to be least -worthy of praise--the late additions to it rather than the old church -itself. As to the charm of the whole building from every point of view -there cannot be two opinions. It has in a large degree that real -picturesqueness which we so seldom see in French Gothic interiors, -whilst at the same time it still retains much of that fine Early Pointed -work which could hardly have been the work of any but one who knew well -the best French buildings of his day; whoever he was--and amid the -plentiful mention of later artists I have looked in vain for any mention -of him--he was no servile reproducer of foreign work. The treatment of -the triforium throughout is evidently an original conception; and it is -to be noted that the dog-tooth enrichment is freely used, and that the -bells of the capitals throughout are octagonal with concave sides. The -crocketing of the pinnacles is, I believe, quite original; and the -general planning and construction of the building is worthy of all -praise. Nor was the sculptor less worthy of praise than the architect. -The carving of foliage in the early work is good and very plentiful; the -figured sculpture is still richer, and whether in the thirteenth-century -transept doors, the fourteenth-century cloisters, or the -fifteenth-century Retablos, is amazingly good and spirited. The -thirteenth-century figures are just in the style of those Frenchmen who -always conveyed so riant and piquant a character both of face and -attitude to their work. The later architects all seem to have wrought in -a fairly original mode; and even where architects were brought from -Germany, there was some influence evidently used to prevent their work -being a mere repetition of what was being done in their own land; and so -aided by the admirable skill of the Spanish artists who worked under -them, the result is much more happy than might have been expected. Much, -no doubt, of the picturesque effect of such a church is owing to the way -in which it has been added to from time to time: to the large number, -therefore, of personal interests embodied in it, the variety of styles -and parts each of them full of individuality, and finally to the noble -memorials of the dead which abound in it. In France--thanks to -revolutions and whitewash without stint--the noblest churches have a -certain air of baldness which tires the eye of an Englishman used to our -storied cathedrals: but in Spain this is never the case, and we may go -to Burgos, as we may anywhere else in the land, certain that we shall -find in each cathedral much that will illustrate every page of the -history of the country, if well studied and rightly read. - -[Illustration] - -There is one point in which for picturesque effect few countries can -vie with Spain--and this is the admission of light. In her brilliant -climate it seems to matter not at all how many of the windows are -blocked up or destroyed: all that results is a deeper shadow thrown -across an aisle, or a ray of light looking all the brighter by contrast; -and, though it is often a hard matter to see to draw inside a church on -the brightest day, it is never too dark for comfort, and one comes in -from the scorching sun outside and sits down in the darkest spot of the -dark church with the utmost satisfaction. I saw an evidence here one -night of the natural aptitude of the people for such effects, in the -mode of lighting up the cathedral for an evening service in a large -chapel at the east end. There was one lantern on the floor of the nave, -another in the south transept, and the light burning before the altar: -and in the large side chapel was a numerous congregation, some sitting -on the floor, some kneeling, some standing, whilst a priest, holding a -candle in his hand, read to the people from the pulpit. In this chapel -the only other light was from the lighted candles on the altar. The -whole church was in this way just enough lighted to enable you to see -your way, and to avoid running against the cloaked forms that trod -stealthily about; and the effect would have been inexpressibly solemn, -save for the occasional intrusion of a dog or a cat, who seem to be -always prowling about, and not unfrequently fighting, in Spanish -churches. - -Leaving the other churches and buildings of Burgos for the present, let -us now cross the Arlanzon by one of its many bridges, and presently -striking to the left we shall come upon the well-worn path by the side -of the convent-stream, which in less than a mile from the city brings us -to a postern of Las Huelgas. - -Santa Maria la Real de las Huelgas was founded by Alfonso VIII., son of -D. Sancho el Deseado, at the instance, it is said, of Leonor (or -Alienor) his Queen, daughter of Henry II. of England, of whom I have -before spoken in referring to Bishop Maurice, the founder of the -cathedral. The dates given for the work are as follow:--The monastery -was commenced in A.D. 1180; inhabited on the 1st June, A.D. 1187;[28] -and in A.D. 1199 formally established as a house of Cistercians. The -first abbess ruled from A.D. 1187 to A.D. 1203; and the second, Doña -Constanza, daughter of the founder, from A.D. 1203 to A.D. 1218; and -from that time forward a large number of noble persons here took the -veil, whilst kings were knighted, crowned, and buried before its -altars. No wonder, therefore, that the postern-gate of Las Huelgas--a -simple thirteenth-century archway--leads, not at once into the convent, -but into the village which has grown up around it, and which, whatever -may have been its aspect in old times, is now as dreary, desolate, and -forlorn-looking as only a Spanish or an Irish village can be, though -still ruled as of yore by the lady abbess,--no doubt with terribly shorn -and shrunken revenues. There is a small church in the village here, but -it is of no interest: and we may well reserve ourselves for the great -church rising from behind the boundary walls which shut in the convent -on all sides, and the people’s entrance to which is from an open -courtyard on its north side through the transept porch. - -[Illustration: BURGOS: Ground Plan of Cathedral: Plate 1. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865.] - -[Illustration] - -I give an illustration of the ground plan,[29] from which it will be -seen that the church consists of a nave and aisles of eight bays, -transepts, and choir, with two chapels on either side of it opening into -the transept, whilst a porch is erected in front of the north transept, -and a cloister passage along the whole length of the north aisle. A -tower is placed on the north-east of the north transept, and a chapel -has been added on its eastern side. There is another cloister court, of -which a not very trustworthy lithograph is given in M. Villa Amil’s -work. This is within the convent, from which every one but the inmates -is rigorously excluded, but, as far as I can learn, it is on the south -side of the nave. The central compartment of the transept is carried up -above the rest as a lantern, and groined with an eight-sided vault. The -choir has one bay of quadripartite and one of sexpartite vaulting, and -an apse. The transept chapels are all of them square in the plan but, by -the introduction of an arch across the angle (the space behind which is -roofed with a small vault), the vault is brought to half-octagon at the -east end. This will be best understood by the illustration which I give -of one of these chapels: and here, too, it will be seen that the -masonry of the vaulting cells is all arranged in vertical -lines,--parallel, that is, to the centre of the vault, and that the -transverse section of the vault is in all cases exceedingly domical. -Nothing can be more peculiar than this description of early vaulting, -and it is one which, I believe, originated in Anjou or Poitou, where -numberless examples may be found all more or less akin to this at Las -Huelgas. This fact is most suggestive, for what more probable than that -Alienor, Henry II.’s daughter, should, in the abbey which she induced -her husband to found, have procured the help of some architect from her -father’s Angevine domain to assist in the design of her building? Yet, -on the other hand, there are some slight differences of detail between -the work here and any French example with which I am acquainted, which -make it possible that the architect was really a Spaniard, but if so, he -must have been well acquainted, not only with the Angevine system of -vaulting, but also with some of those English details which, as is well -known, were in common use both in Anjou and in England in the latter -part of the twelfth, and first half of the thirteenth century. A -foreigner naturally gives us an exact reproduction of the work of some -foreign school, just as we see at Canterbury in the work of William of -Sens, and my own impression is strong that he must have been an Angevine -artist who was at work here. - -If I am correct in attributing this peculiar church to the Angevine -influence of the Queen, I prove at the same time a most important point -in the history of the development of style in Spain. The planning of the -church at Las Huelgas influenced largely the architects of Burgos, the -capital of Castile and Leon. The groining of the only original chapel in -the transept of the cathedral is a reproduction of the octopartite vault -of the lantern at Las Huelgas; and one may fairly suspect that so, too, -was the original lantern of the cathedral. Then, again, in a -fourteenth-century chapel, north of the choir of the cathedral, we see -the same device (_i.e._ the arched pendentive across the angle) adopted -for obtaining an octagonal vault over a square chamber; and again in the -fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in a chapel on the south of the nave, -in the old sacristy, and finally in the all but Renaissance chapel of -the Constable, we have the Spanish octagonal vault, supported on -pendentives, evidently copied by the German architect from the -pendentives of the Romanesque churches on the Rhine. In these Burgalese -examples we have a typal vault which is extensively reproduced -throughout Spain, and which I last saw at Barcelona, in work of the -sixteenth century. It is a type of vault, in its later form, almost -peculiar to Spain, and when filled in with tracery in the cell, I -believe quite so. And it is undoubtedly more picturesque and generally -more scientific in construction than our own late vaults, and infinitely -more so than the thin, wasted-looking vaults of the French flamboyant -style. - -But to proceed with my notice of the church of Las Huelgas. The nave is -groined throughout with a quadripartite vault; but beyond this I can say -but little, as it is screened off from the church for the use of the -nuns,[30] and the only view of it is obtained through the screen. The -main arches between the nave and aisles are very simple, of two orders, -the inner square, the outer moulded. Above these is a string-course -level with the springing of the groining, and then a clerestory of long, -simple lancet windows, the whole forming a noble and impressive -interior. Above the nuns’ stalls on the south I noticed a good -fifteenth-century organ, with pipes arranged in a series of stepped -compartments, and painted shutters of the same shape; below the -principal range of pipes those of one stop are placed projecting -horizontally from the organ. This is an almost universal arrangement in -Spanish organs, and is always very picturesque in its effect, and I -believe in the case of trumpet-stops very useful, though somewhat -costly.[31] - -The detail generally of all the architecture here is very good, and in -particular nothing can be more minute and delicate in execution than -some of the sculpture of foliage in the eastern chapels, where also, as -is frequently the case in early Spanish buildings, the dog-tooth -enrichment is freely introduced wherever possible. The design of the -interior of the choir is very good; below are lancet windows, with -semi-circular inside arches; and above, lancets with double internal -jamb-shafts, very picturesquely introduced high up in the walls, and -close to the groining. I could only get a glimpse of the exterior of the -apse, owing to the high walls which completely enclose the convent on -the east. It has simple but good buttresses, but otherwise there seems -nothing worthy of note. The rest of the exterior is, however, very -interesting. The general view which I give shows the extremely simple -and somewhat English-looking west front; the gateway and wall, with its -Moorish battlements, dividing an inner court from the great court north -of the church; and the curious rather than beautiful steeple. An arched -bell-cot rises out of the western wall of the lantern, and a tall -staircase-turret out of the western wall of the north transept. The -cloister, which is carried all along the north aisle of the nave of the -church, is very simple, having two divisions between each buttress, the -arches being carried on shafts, coupled in the usual early fashion, one -behind the other. A very rich first-pointed doorway opens into the -second bay from the west of this cloister, and a much simpler archway, -with a circular window over it, into the fifth, and at its east end a -most ingenious and picturesque group is produced by the contrivance of a -covered passage from the cloister to the projecting transept-porch. The -detail here is of the richest first-pointed, very delicate and -beautiful, but, apparently, very little cared for now. The cloister is -entirely blocked up and converted into a receptacle for lumber, but I -was able to see that it is groined. The rose window in the -transept-porch, with doubled traceries and shafts, set one behind the -other, with fine effect, the elaborate corbel-tables, and the doorway to -the smaller porch--rich with chevron and dog-tooth--ought to be -specially noticed: their detail being tolerably convincing as to their -French origin. There are some curious monuments inside the -transept-porch, which I was not able to examine properly, as when I went -to Las Huelgas a second time, in order to see them, I found the church -locked for the day. To see such a church properly it is necessary to -rise with the lark; for after ten or eleven in the morning it is always -closed. - -There is a good simple gateway of the thirteenth century leading into -the western court of the convent, but otherwise I could see nothing old, -though I daresay the fortunate architect who first is able to examine -the whole of the buildings will find much to reward his curiosity.[32] -For there is not only a very fine early cloister, but also, if Madoz -is to be trusted, a chapter-house, the vaulting of which is supported on -four lofty columns, and which is probably, therefore, a square chamber -with nine vaulting bays. - -[Illustration: No. 4. - -LAS HUELGAS. BURGOS. - -p. 38. - -NORTH-WEST VIEW.] - -A long list of royal personages buried here is given by Florez.[33] In -the choir are the founders, Alfonso VIII. and Alienor; in the nave of -Sta. Catalina, Alfonso VII., the founder’s grandfather, his father, his -son Don Henrique I., and twenty more of his kin; and in the other parts -of the church a similarly noble company. - -The king seems to have founded a hospital for men at the same time as, -and in connexion with, the convent; but I saw nothing of this, and I do -not know whether it still exists. - -Here took place many solemnities: Alfonso VII., nephew of the founder, -was the first who was made a knight in it (A.D. 1219, Nov. 27); and in -A.D. 1254 Don Alfonso el Sabio knighted Edward I. of England before the -altar; whilst in later days it seems that in A.D. 1330, in A.D. 1341, -and again in A.D. 1366, the kings were here crowned;[34] and in 1367 -Edward the Black Prince lodged here after the battle of Navarrete, and -went hence to the church of Sta. Maria to swear to a treaty with the -King Don Pedro before the principal altar.[35] - -The convent seems to have been quite independent of the Bishop,[36] save -that each abbess after her election went to ask him to bless the house, -when he always answered by protesting that his consent to do so was in -no wise to be construed in any sense derogatory to his power, or as -binding on his successors. I observe that the abbesses here were elected -for life until A.D. 1593, but that from that time they have held office -for three years only; though in a few instances they have been -re-elected for a second such term. - -It was a relief, after the picturesque magnificence of the later -Burgalese architects, to turn to such a simple severe church as this at -Las Huelgas. But I must not detain my readers any longer within its -pleasant walls; and we will imagine ourselves to be there in A.D. 1454, -in the midst of a group of the greatest of the nobles and clergy of -Castile: we should have found the Bishop Alfonso de Cartagena there, and -with him Juan de Colonia, his German architect, and Maestro Gil de -Siloe, the sculptor, and Martin Sanchez, the wood-carver, all of them -invited and ready to take part in a great work just about to be -completed. Juan II. had just died at Valladolid, and forthwith his body -was taken towards the Carthusian convent of Miraflores, by Burgos, where -of old stood a palace, which in A.D. 1441 he had converted into a -convent, and in A.D. 1454, just before his death, had begun to rebuild. -The Bishop met his body at Palenzuela--one day’s journey from -Burgos--and brought it in procession to the “Real Casa de Las Huelgas,” -where he rested the night; and thence he went onward, the coffin borne -by ladies and gentlemen, to San Pablo in the city, where the Dominican -Fathers sung the funeral office, and the next day--the feast of St. John -the Baptist--to Miraflores, where the Bishop himself said the office and -preached. Then the body was deposited with much pomp in the sacristy -until the church should be finished.[37] - -Let us follow them thither. The walk is dreary enough on this hot -September day, and terribly deep in dust; but yet, as it rises up the -slope of the hills on the side of the river opposite to the cathedral -and city, good views are obtained of both. It is but a couple of miles -to the convent, which stands desolately by itself, and never was there a -spot which, in its present state, could less properly be called -Miraflores, where not even a blade of grass is to be seen. The church -stands up high above all the other buildings, but its exterior is not -attractive; its outline is somewhat like, though very inferior to that -of Eton College chapel, and its detail is all rather poor. The windows, -placed very high from the floor, are filled with flamboyant tracery, the -buttresses are plain, and the pinnacles and parapet quite Renaissance in -their character, and are, no doubt, additions to the original fabric. -The west gable is fringed with cusping--a very unhappy scheme for a -coping-line against the sky! A court at the west end opens into the -chapel by its west door, which is close to the main entrance to the -convent; but we were taken round by several courts and quadrangles, one -of them a cloister of vast size, surrounded by the houses of the monks. -These are of fair size, each having two or three rooms below, and two -above. Their entrance doorways are square-headed, quaintly cut up into a -point in the centre of the lintel, and by the side of each door is a -small hatch for the reception of food. Another smaller cloister, close -to the south door of the church, has fair pointed windows, with their -sills filled with red tiles, and edged with green tiles. Besides these -remains, the only old work I saw was a good flat ceiling, panelled -between the joists, and richly painted in cinquecento fashion. A good -effect was produced here by the prevalence of white and red alternately -in the patterns painted on the joists. - -The chapel is entered from the convent by a door on the south side, in -the third bay from the west. It consists of five bays and a polygonal -apse, and is about 135 feet long, 32 wide, and 63 feet in height. The -western bay is the people’s nave, and is divided from the next by a -metal screen. The second bay forms the Coro, and has stalls at the -sides, and two altars on the east, one on each side of the doorway in -the screen which separates the Coro from the eastern portion of the -chapel. This last is fitted with five stalls on each side against the -western screen, and with twenty on either side, all of them extremely -rich in their detail: there is a continuous canopy over the whole, and -very intricate traceries at the back of each stall.[38] - -A step at the east end of the stalls divides the sacrarium from the -western part of the chapel; and nearly the whole of the space here is -occupied by the sumptuous monument of the founder and his second wife, -Isabel or “Elizabeth,” as she is called in the inscription. In the north -wall is the monument of the Infante Alfonso, their son; and against the -south wall is a sort of throne with very lofty and elaborate canopy, -which is said by the cicerone to be for the use of the priest who says -mass. Finally, the east wall is entirely filled with an enormous -Retablo. The groining throughout has, as is usually the case in late -Spanish work in Burgos, a good many surface ribs, and enormous painted -bosses at their intersections. These are so much undercut, so large, and -so intricate in their design, that I believe they must be of wood, and -not of stone. They are of very common occurrence, and always have an -extravagant effect, being far too large and intricate for their -position. The apse is groined in thirteen very narrow bays, and its -groining ribs are richly foliated on the under side. Pagan cornices of -plaster and whitewash have been freely bestowed everywhere, to the great -damage of the walls, and to such an extent as to make the interior look -cold and gloomy. The windows are filled with what looks like poor -Flemish glass, though it may perhaps be native work, as the names of two -painters on glass, Juan de Santillana and Juan de Valdivieso, are known -as residents in Burgos at the end of the fifteenth century,[39] about -the time at which it must have been executed. - -The monument of Juan and Isabel is as magnificent a work of its kind as -I have ever seen[40]--richly wrought all over. The heraldic achievements -are very gorgeous, and the dresses are everywhere covered with very -delicate patterns in low relief. The whole detail is of the nature of -the very best German third-pointed work rather than of flamboyant, and I -think, for beauty of execution, vigour and animation of design, finer -than any other work of the age. The plan of the high tomb on which the -effigies lie is a square with another laid diagonally on it. At the four -cardinal angles are sitting figures of the four evangelists, rather -loosely placed on the slab, with which they seem to have no connexion; -the king holds a sceptre, the queen a book, and both lie under canopies -with a very elaborate perforated stone division between the figures; -round the sides of the tomb are effigies of kings and saints, figures of -the Virtues, sculptured subjects, naked figures, and foliage of -marvellous delicacy. A railing encloses the tomb. The whole is the work -of Maestro Gil de Siloe; and from the Archives of the Church it appears -that, in A.D. 1486, he was paid 1340 maravedis for the design of the -work, that he commenced its execution in A.D. 1489, and completed it in -A.D. 1493. The monument cost 442,667 maravedis, exclusive of the -alabaster, which cost 158,252 maravedis.[41] - -About the same time the same sculptor executed the monument of Alfonso, -son of Juan and Isabel, in the north wall of the sacrarium. This, though -less ambitious than the other, is a noble work. It consists of a high -tomb with a recessed arch over it, and pinnacles at the sides. The high -tomb has a great shield held by angels, with men in armour on either -side; under the arch above the Infante kneels at a Prie-Dieu. The arch -is three-centred, edged with a rich fringe of foliage and naked figures; -and between it and the ogee gable above it is a spirited figure of St. -George and the Dragon. The side pinnacles have figures of the twelve -apostles, and one in the centre the Annunciation.[42] - -The Retablo is no less worthy of notice. Its colour as well as its -sculpture is of the richest kind. Below, on either side of the -tabernacle (which has been modernized), are St. John Baptist and S. Mary -Magdalene, and subjects on either side of them; on the left the -Annunciation, and S. Mary Magdalene anointing our Lord’s feet, and on -the right the Adoration of the Magi, and the Betrayal of our Lord; -whilst beyond, Alfonso and Isabel kneel at faldstools, with their -coats-of-arms above them. Above the Tabernacle is the Assumption of the -Blessed Virgin, and above this a grand circle entirely formed of -clustered angels, in the centre of which is a great crucifix surmounted -by the Pelican vulning her breast. Within this circle are four subjects -from the Passion, and a King and a Pope on either side holding the arms -of the Cross, which is completely detached from the background. On -either side are S. John and S. Mary; and beside all these, a crowd of -subjects and figures, pinnacles and canopies, which it is impossible to -set down at length. The whole of this work was done by the same Gil de -Siloe, assisted by Diego de la Cruz, at a cost of 1,015,613 maravedis, -and was executed between A.D. 1496 and 1499. Behind the Retablo some of -the old pavement remains, of encaustic tiles in blue, white, and red. - -The works at this church seem to have made but slow progress owing to -the troubled state of the kingdom after the death of Juan II. His son -gave something towards the works in A.D. 1454, but nothing more until -A.D. 1465. In A.D. 1474 he died, and was succeeded by Isabel the -Catholic, who, in A.D. 1476, confirmed the grants to the monastery, and -completed the church in A.D. 1488; but it was not, as we have seen, -until the end of the century that the whole work was really finished. -Juan de Colonia made the plan for the building in A.D. 1454, for which -he received 3350 maravedis: he directed its construction for twelve -years, and after his death, in A.D. 1466, Garci Fernandez de Matienzo -continued it till he died of the plague in the year 1488, when Simon, -son of Juan de Colonia, completed it.[43] - -Having completed my notice of the three great buildings of Burgos and -its neighbourhood, and which in their style and history best illustrate -the several periods of Christian art, I now proceed to give some notes -of the Conventual and Parish Churches, which are numerous and fairly -interesting. In Burgos, however, as is so often the case on all parts of -the Continent, the number of desecrated churches is considerable. The -suppression of monasteries involved their desecration as a matter of -course; and without religious orders it is obviously useless to have -churches crowded together in the way one sees them here. I remember -making a note of the relative position of three of these churches, which -stand corner to corner without a single intervening house; and though -this is an extreme case, the churches were no doubt very numerous for -the population. Unluckily a desecrated church is generally a sealed book -to an ecclesiologist. They are usually turned to account by the -military; and soldiers view with proverbially jealous eyes any one who -makes notes! - -Just above the west front of the Cathedral is the little church of San -Nicolas, mainly interesting for its Retablo, which, however, scarcely -needs description, though it is gorgeously sculptured with the story, I -think, of the patron. Its date is fixed by an inscription, which I give -in a note.[44] On either side are monuments of a type much favoured in -Spain, and borrowed probably from Italy, of which the main feature is, -that the figures lie on a sloping surface, and look painfully insecure. -Here too I saw one of the first old western galleries that I met with in -my Spanish journeys; and as I shall constantly have to mention their -existence, position, and arrangement in parochial churches, it may be as -well to say here, that at about the same date that choirs were moved -westward into the naves of cathedrals, western galleries, generally of -stone, carried on groining, and fitted up with stalls round three sides, -with a great lectern in the centre, and organs on either side, were -erected in a great number of parish churches. It cannot be doubted that -in those days the mode of worship of the people was exactly what it is -now; no one cared much if at all for anything but the service at the -altar, and the choir was banished to where it would be least seen, least -heard, and least in the way! At present it seems to me that one never -sees any one taking more than the slightest passing notice of the really -finely-performed service even in the cathedral choirs; whilst in -contrast to this, in the large churches, with an almost endless number -of altars, all are still used, and all seem to have each their own -flock of worshippers; and though it is a constant source of pain and -grief to an ever-increasing body of English Churchmen that the use of -their own altars should be so lamentably less than it ever was in -primitive days, or than it is now in any other branch of the Catholic -Church, it is some comfort to feel that our people have tried to retain -due respect for some of the other daily uses of the Church, inferior -though they be. In Spain, though I was in parish churches almost every -day during my journey, I do not remember seeing the western gallery in -use more than once. Sometimes it has been my fate to meet with men who -suppose that the common objection to galleries in churches is, that -there is no old “authority” for them. Well, here in Spain there is -authority without end; and I commend to those Anglicans who wish to -revive or retain their use in England the curious fact, that the country -in which we find it is one distinguished beyond all others by the very -decided character of its Romanism, and the period in which they were -erected there, one in which Rome was probably more hostile to such as -they than any other in the whole course of her history.[45] - -The gallery of San Nicolas is less important than most of its class are; -and there is indeed little to detain any one within its walls. -Externally there is a low tower rising out of the west end of the south -aisle. This has a fine third-pointed south doorway with an ogee -crocketed canopy, and a belfry stage of two lancet-lights on each face, -roofed with a flat roof of pantiles. The remainder of the church has -been much altered; but a good flying-buttress remains on the south side, -and one or two lancet-windows which convey the impression that the first -foundation of the church must have been in the thirteenth century. The -east wall is not square, but built so as to suit the irregular site. The -whole church is ungainly and ugly on the exterior, and its planning and -proportions neither picturesque nor scientific. It is, in short, one of -those churches of which we have so many in England, from which nothing -is to be learnt save on some small matter of detail; and the -alterations of its roofs, windows, and walls have in the end left it an -ungainly and uncouth outline, which is redeemed only by its picturesque -situation on the slope of the hill just above the cathedral parvise, -with which it groups, and from which it is well seen. - -Following the steep path of the east end of San Nicolas, I soon reached -the fine church of San Esteban. It stands just below the castle, the -decaying walls of which surround the slope of melancholy hill which -rises from its doorway; these, though now they look so incapable of -mischief, yet effectually thwarted the Duke of Wellington.[46] It is -quite worth while to ascend the hill, if only for the view. San Esteban, -shorn as it is--like all Spanish churches--of more than half its old -external features, with pinnacles nipped off, parapets destroyed, -windows blocked up, and roofs reduced from their old steep pitch to the -uniform rough, ragged, and ruinous-looking flat of pantiles, which is -universal here, forms, nevertheless, a good foreground for the fine view -of the cathedral below it and the other points of interest in the town -beyond. Yet these are fewer than would be expected in such a city, so -long the capital of a kingdom and residence of a line of kings. There -are no steeples worthy of remark save those of the cathedral, the -churches are all, like San Esteban, more or less mutilated, and there -is--as always in cities which have been great and now are poor--an air -of misery and squalor about only too many of the buildings on which the -eye first lights in these outskirts of the city. - -I have not been so lucky as to find any record bearing in any way upon -the erection of San Esteban, and I regret this the more, as its place -among the churches of Burgos is no doubt next after the cathedral, and -in all respects it is full of interest. - -The ground plan (Plate II.) will explain the general scheme of the -building--a nave and aisles, ended at the east with three parallel -apses, a cloister, and a large hall on the south of and opening into the -cloister. The north side of the cloister has been much mutilated by the -erection of chapels and a sacristy, whilst the north wall of the church -is blocked up by low buildings built against it. The only good view of -the exterior is that from the south-west. Spanish boys did their best to -make sketching it impossible, yet their amusements were after all -legitimate enough for their age, and it is very seldom in Spain that a -sketcher is mobbed and annoyed in the way he commonly is in France or -Italy when he ventures on a sketch in an at all public place. - -[Illustration:--BURGOS:--Ground Plans of San Gil: San Esteban: and -Convent of Las Huelgas. Plate II - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1865.] - -The erection of this church may, I believe, be dated between A.D. -1280-1350; and to the earlier of these two periods the grand west -doorway probably belongs. The tympanum contains, in its upper -compartment, our Lord seated, with St. John the Evangelist, the Blessed -Virgin and angels kneeling on either side--a very favourite subject with -Burgalese sculptors of the period; below is the martyrdom of the patron -saint, divided into three subjects: (1) St. Stephen before the king; (2) -Martyrdom of St. Stephen, angels taking his soul from his body; and (3) -the devil taking the soul of his persecutor. The jambs have each three -figures under canopies, among which are St. Stephen (with stones -sticking to his vestments) and St. Laurence. The doorway is built out in -a line with the front of the tower buttresses, and above it a modern -balustrade is placed in advance of the west window, which is a fine rose -of twenty rays. This window at a little distance has all the effect of -very early work; but upon close inspection its details and mouldings all -belie this impression, and prove it to be certainly not earlier than the -middle of the fourteenth century. The whole of the tracery is thoroughly -geometrical, and the design very good. Above it is a lancet window on -each face, and then the lower part only of a belfry window of two -lights, cut off by one of the usual flat-pitched tiled roofs. A -staircase turret is carried up in the south-west angle and finished with -a weathering at the base of the belfry stage. The buttresses are all -plain, and, as I have said, shorn of the pinnacles with which they were -evidently intended to be finished.[47] - -This church seems to be always locked up, and I think it was here that -the woman who lives in the cloister and shows the church told me that -there was service in the church once only in the week; and certainly it -had the air which a church misused in this way usually assumes. - -We were admitted by the cloister, a small and much mutilated work of -circa A.D. 1300. It opens by four arches into a large hall on its south -side, which is groined at a higher level than the cloister. The -groining of the cloister is good, and the ribs well moulded; but the -window tracery is all destroyed, and most of the windows are blocked up. -The central court is very small, as indeed is the whole work; but a -cloister may be of any size, and in some of our many collegiate -erections of the present day it would be as well to remember this, and -emulate really and fairly the beautiful effects always attained by our -forefathers in this way.[48] - -In the western wall of the cloister are two arched recesses for -monuments, one of which has a coped tomb, with eight steps to the foot -of the cross, which is carved upon its lid. The eastern side is later -than the rest, and its groining probably not earlier than A.D. 1500. - -Entering the church from hence we find a very solid, simple, and -dignified building, spoilt indeed as much as possible by yellow wash, -but still in other respects very little damaged. It is groined -throughout, and the groining has the peculiarity of having ridge ribs -longitudinally but not transversely. This is common in Spain; but it is -impossible to see why one ridge should require it and the other not, and -the only explanation is that possibly the architect wished to lead the -eye on from end to end of the building. In the groining of an apse this -ridge-rib in its western part always looks very badly, and jars with the -curved lines of all the rest of the ribs. The columns of the nave -arcades are circular, with eight smaller engaged shafts around them, -those under the western tower being rather more elaborate and larger -than the others. Here we see a clear imitation of the very similar -planning of the cathedral nave. The planning of the east end is more -interesting, because, whilst it has no precedent in the cathedral, it is -one of the evidences we have of the connexion of the Spanish -architecture of the middle ages with that of other countries, which we -ought not to overlook. I have said something on this in speaking of the -plan of Las Huelgas. Here, however, I do not think we can look in the -same direction for the original type of plan; for, numerous as are the -varieties of ground-plan which we see in France, there is one--the -parallel-triapsidal--which we meet so seldom that we may almost say it -does not occur at all. In Germany, on the other hand, it is seen -everywhere, and there, indeed, it is the national plan: in Italy it is -also found constantly. In Spain, however, it was quite as much the -national ground-plan as it was in Germany; almost everywhere we see it, -and in any case the fact is of value as proving that the Spaniards -adopted their own national form of Gothic, and were not indebted solely -to their nearest neighbours, the French, for their inspiration and -education in architecture, though undoubtedly they owed them very much. - -[Illustration: NO. 5 - -SAN ESTEBAN, BURGOS. - -p. 49. - -INTERIOR LOOKING WEST.] - -San Esteban is lighted almost entirely from windows set very high up in -the walls. Those in the apses are in the position of clerestory windows, -their sills being level with the springing of the groining. The -consequence of this arrangement--a very natural one in a country where -heat and light are the main things to be excluded from churches--was -that a great unbroken space was left between the floor and the windows; -and hence it happened that the enormous Retablos, rising seldom less -than twenty feet, and often thirty, forty, or even sixty feet from the -floors, naturally grew to be so prominent and popular a feature. In San -Esteban the Retablos are none of them old, but doubtless take the place -of others which were so. - -The western gallery is so good an example of its class, that I think it -is quite worthy of illustration. It is obviously an insertion of circa -A.D. 1450, and is reached by a staircase of still later date at the west -end of the south aisle. I cannot deny it the merit of picturesqueness, -and the two ambons which project like pulpits at the north and south -extremities of the front add much to its effect. The stalls are all -arranged in the gallery in the usual fashion of a choir, with return -stalls at the west end and a large desk for office books in the centre. -The organ is on the north side in the bay east of the gallery, and is -reached through the ambon on the Gospel[49] side. This organ, its loft, -and the pulpit against it are all very elaborate examples of -Plateresque[50] Renaissance work. - -Of the fittings of the church two only require any notice, and both of -them are curious. One is an iron lectern, just not Gothic, but of very -fair design,[51] and of a type that we might with advantage introduce -into our own churches. The other is a wooden bier and herse belonging to -some burial confraternity, and kept in the cloister; the dimensions are -so small (and I saw another belonging to the confraternity of San Gil of -the same size), that it was no doubt made for carrying a corpse without -a coffin. One knows how in the middle ages this was the usual if not -invariable plan,[52] and as these herses are evidently still in use -(that of San Gil having been repainted in 1850), it has possibly never -been given up. - -[Illustration] - -The main thing, I think, that struck me in the architecture of San -Esteban, was the very early look of all its proportions and details -compared to what seemed to be their real date, when examined more in -detail and with the aid of mouldings, traceries, and the like; and its -value consists mainly in the place it occupies among the buildings of -Burgos, illustrating a period of which otherwise there would be very -little indeed in the city. - -From San Esteban I found my way first through the decayed-looking and -uninteresting streets, and then among the ruined outskirts of the -north-eastern part of the city, to the church of San Gil, situated very -much in the same kind of locality as San Esteban, on the outskirts of -the city. This church is just mentioned in ‘España Sagrada’[53] twice: -first as being named, with ten other churches in Burgos, in a Bull of -A.D. 1163; and subsequently, as having been built by Pedro de Camargo -and Garcia de Burgos, with the approbation of Bishop Villacraces in A.D. -1399; and Don Diego de Soria, and his wife Doña Catalina, are said to -have rebuilt the Capilla mayor in A.D. 1586. - -[Illustration: No. 6. - -SAN GIL, BURGOS - -p. 51. - -IRON PULPIT.] - -I give the plan of this church on Plate II., and am inclined to doubt -the exact truth of the statements I have just quoted. I believe the -church to be a cruciform structure of the fourteenth century, whose -chancel and chancel aisles reproduced the plan of Las Huelgas, but were -probably rebuilt in A.D. 1399. The so-called Capilla mayor is probably -the chapel on the north side of the north aisle, a very elaborate -semi-Renaissance erection, with an octagon vault, reproducing many of -the peculiarities of Spanish groining, supported upon pendentives -similar to those of which I have spoken in describing the later works in -the cathedral; and it is no doubt the work of one of the descendants or -pupils of Juan de Colonia. The late chapels on each side of the choir -have enormous wooden bosses at the intersection of the groining ribs, -carved with tracery, and with a painting of a saint in the centre. This -mixture of painting and sculpture is very much the fashion in Spanish -wood-carvings, and the altar Retablos often afford examples of it. In -the floor of this church are some curious effigies of black marble, with -heads and hands of white.[54] Two such remain in the east wall of one of -the southern chapels, where they lie north and south. - -The Retablos of the two chapels, north and south of the choir, are very -sumptuous works. - -Against the north-west pier of the crossing there stands what is perhaps -the most uncommon piece of furniture in the church, an iron pulpit. It -is of very late date, but I think quite worthy of illustration. The -support is of iron, resting on stone, and the staircase modern. The -framework at the angles, top and bottom, is of wood, upon which the -ironwork is laid. The traceries are cut out of two plates of iron, laid -one over the other, and the ironwork is in part gilded, but I do not -think that this is original. The canopy is of the same age and -character, and the whole effect is very rich, at the same time that it -is very novel.[55] I saw other iron pulpits, but none so old as this. - -I visited two or three other parish churches, but found little in them -worth notice. San Lesmes is one of the largest, consisting of a nave -with aisles, transepts, apsidal choir, and chapels added in the usual -fashion. The window tracery is flamboyant, and the windows have richly -moulded jambs, and are very German in their design. The south door is -very large and rich, of the same style, and fills the space between two -buttresses, on the angles of which are St. Gabriel and the Blessed -Virgin.[56] Close to San Lesmes are the church of San Juan, and another, -the dedication of which I could not learn, whilst opposite it is the old -Convent of San Juan, now converted into a hospital. The entrance is a -great doorway, remarkable for the enormous heraldic achievements which -were always very popular with the later Castilian architects. The church -of San Juan is now desecrated; it is cruciform in plan, with a deep -apsidal chancel, and seems to have had chapels on the east side of the -transepts. The church is groined throughout, and its window tracery poor -flamboyant work. San Lucas has a groined nave of three bays, and there -is another church near it of the same character. They both appear to -have been built at the end of the sixteenth century. - -Of old Convents, the most important appears to have been that of San -Pablo. It is now desecrated, and used as a cavalry store; and though I -was allowed to look, I could not obtain permission to go, into it. -Florez[57] gives the date of the original foundation of the monastery in -A.D. 1219, and says that it was moved to its present site in A.D. 1265, -but not completed for more than 150 years after that date. The -inscription on the monument of Bishop Pablo de Santa Maria, on the -Gospel side of the altar in San Pablo, records him to have been the -builder of the church,[58] and his story is so singular as to be worth -telling. He was a Jew by birth, a native of Burgos, and married to a -Jewess, by whom he had four sons[59] and one daughter. In A.D. 1390, at -the age of forty, he was baptized; and having tried in vain to convert -his wife, “he treated her as though she were dead, dissolving his -marriage legally, and ascending to the greater perfection of the -priesthood.” In A.D. 1415 he was made Bishop of Burgos, and being at -Valladolid at the time, all Burgos went out to meet him as he came to -take possession of his see. “His venerable mother, Doña Maria, and his -well-loved wife Joana, waited for him in the Episcopal Palace, from -whence he went afterwards to adore God in the cathedral.” Doña Joana was -buried near the bishop in San Pablo, with an inscription in Spanish, -ending, “she died (‘falleció’) in the year 1420,” and from the absence -of any religious form in the inscription, I infer that she died -unconverted. The bishop died in A.D. 1435. - -The church of San Pablo consists of a nave and aisles of five bays, -transepts and apsidal choir, with many added chapels. The nave groining -bays are square, those of the aisle oblong, a mode of planning which -marks rather an Italian-Gothic than a French or German origin. The -church is vaulted throughout, with very domical vaults, and lighted with -lancets in the aisles, circular windows in the clerestory, and traceried -windows in the choir. Part of the old western gallery still remains. The -vaulting has transverse, diagonal, and ridge ribs. The apse is well -buttressed, but, like all the churches in Burgos, San Pablo has lost its -old roofs, and has been so much spoilt by the additions which have been -made to it, that its exterior is very unprepossessing. Not so the -interior, which, both in scale and proportion, is very fine. The -architect of San Pablo is said to have been Juan Rodriguez, who -commenced it in 1415, and completed it before 1435.[60] - -Another convent, that of La Merced, has been treated in the same way, -and is now a military hospital. Its church is on the same plan as that -of San Pablo, with the principal doorway in the north wall instead of -the west, and this opening under the usual vaulted gallery. There is, -too, a small apsidal recess for an altar in the north wall of the north -transept. The window tracery and details here are all of very late -Pointed, but the buttresses and flying buttresses are good. Flat roofs, -destroyed gables, and the entire absence of any steeple or turret to -break the mass, make the exterior of little value. This convent was -moved to its present site in A.D. 1272, but I doubt whether any part of -the exterior now visible is so old as this. - -I saw no other churches worthy of mention in Burgos; but there are -others which ought to be examined in the neighbourhood, among which one -a little beyond Las Huelgas, of large size, surrounded by trees, and -apparently belonging to a convent, seemed to be the most important.[61] - -There are but few remains of old Domestic Architecture. The Palace has -been modernized, but is still approached by a groined passage from the -south door of the cathedral. The Palace of the Constable Velasco is a -bald and ugly erection of the sixteenth century, in the very latest kind -of Gothic; its walls finished with a strange parapet of crocketed -pinnacles and stones cut out into a sort of rude fork; its entrance a -square-headed doorway, with a large space above it, enclosed with -enormous chains carved in stone, within which are armorial bearings. The -internal courtyard is surrounded by buildings of three stages in height, -with open arcades to each, and traceried balconies. The arcades and -windows throughout have debased three-centred arches. - -The principal town gateway, that of Sta. Maria, is close to the -cathedral; its rear is a very simple but massive work of the thirteenth -century, and rather Italian in its design. The front facing the Prado -and the river was so much altered by Charles V. that it is doubtful -whether any of the old work remains; it is now a very picturesque jumble -of circular towers and turrets, battlemented and crenellated, and -looking rather like one of those mediæval castles which are seen either -in an illumination, or in a canopy over a figure in stained glass, than -like a real and useful fortified gateway. - -It will be seen how full of interest to the ecclesiologist Burgos is. My -notes are, I have no doubt, not by any means exhaustive; and I have -equally little doubt that one who had more time at his disposal would -discover much more than I found; besides which, I was under the -impression, when I was at Burgos, that the Monastery of San Pedro de -Cardeña, so intimately connected with the story of the Cid, and where he -lay peacefully till the French invasion, had been entirely destroyed, -whereas, in truth, I believe the church founded in the thirteenth -century still remains; and, if so, must certainly reward examination. It -is but a few miles from Burgos. - -The great promenade here is along the river-side, where the houses are -all new, bald, and uninteresting; but the back streets are picturesque, -and there is a fine irregularly-shaped Plaza, surrounded by arcades in -front of the shops, where are to be found capital blankets and _mantas_, -useful even in the hottest weather if any night travelling is to be -undertaken, and invariably charming in their colour. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -PALENCIA--VALLADOLID. - - -It was after a day of hard work at Miraflores, Las Huelgas, and Burgos, -taking last looks and notes, that we drove to the railway station _en -route_ for Palencia. Castile does not improve on acquaintance, and, so -far as I could judge in the hurried views obtained from the -railway-carriage, we missed nothing by moving apace. The railroad -follows the broad valley of the Arlanzon, bounded on either side by -hills of moderate height, occasionally capped with sharp cones and -peaks, but everywhere of an invariable whitish-grey colour, which soon -wearies the eye unspeakably. The few villages seen from the valley -seemed generally to occupy the slopes of the hills, and to have large, -shapeless, and unattractive churches. Indeed, it is not possible to go -very far in Spain without feeling either that Spanish architects seldom -cared for the external effect of their buildings, or that whatever they -did has been ruthlessly spoilt in later days. Even in a city like Burgos -this is the case, and of course it is even more so in villages and -smaller towns. - -The Spanish railways are, on the whole, well managed. They are usually -only single lines, and there is no attempt made to go very fast. -Perhaps, too, any one who has travelled along Spanish roads, deep with a -five months’ accumulation of dust, and at the pace popular with -diligence proprietors, comes to the consideration of the merits and -management of a railway in a frame of mind which is not altogether -impartial. The luxury even of a second-rate railway is then felt to the -utmost, and there is not much desire, even if there is need, for -grumbling. It was dark when we arrived at Palencia, and, getting a boy -to carry the baggage, we walked off under his directions in search of -the Posada de las Frutas. The title was not promising. But Palencia, a -cathedral city, and the principal town between Valladolid and Santander, -has nothing in the way of an inn better than a Posada, and it was to the -best of its class that we had been recommended. The first look was not -encouraging, but the people welcomed us cheerfully, and going across -the covered entrance way, took us up to a room which was fairly clean -and furnished with the remains of eight smart chairs, six of them -hopelessly smashed, and the other two so weak in their legs and spines -that it was necessary to use them in the most wary and cautious manner! -However, the beds were clean, and the bread and grapes--here as -everywhere at this season in Spain--so delicious, that, even had the -cookery been worse than it was, we might have managed very well. Later -in the evening, when I came back from a short ramble through the town, I -found the open entrance-court and passage uneven with the bodies of a -troop of muleteers, each of whom seemed to have a skinful of wine in his -charge and a rough kind of bed laid on the stones; and if I may judge by -the way in which they snored as I picked my way among them to my room, -they had no occasion to envy me my occupation of the room of state. - -I spent a day in Palencia, and found it almost more than its -architectural treasures required. I went there with some idea that I -should find a very fine cathedral, still retaining all its old furniture -of the fourteenth century, and soon discovered that I had been somewhat -misinformed. I hoped too, at any rate, if I found no first-rate work, to -find something which was peculiar to the district in its artistic -character; but in this also I was doomed to be disappointed. - -The city is divided into two parts by a very long winding street running -entirely across it from north to south. The houses on either side are -supported on stone columns (some of them very lofty), so that the -general effect is much that of one of the old arcaded Italian cities. - -The cathedral, dedicated to S. Antholin, stands in a desolate-looking -open space on the edge of the hill which slopes down to the river -Carrion on the west side of the city. Cean Bermudez says that it was -commenced in A.D. 1321,[62] and completed in the beginning of the -sixteenth century.[63] An inscription on the door from the cloister to -the church has the date A.D. 1535, and the enclosure of the choir is of -A.D. 1534. These dates appear to be fairly correct; but the work having -been so long in progress, it may, I think, be assumed that the -ground-plan only is of the earliest date, and that the greater part of -the architectural detail belongs more probably to the fifteenth than to -the fourteenth century. This is quite consistent with the evidence -afforded by the building, for the detail of the design is of very poor -character throughout, and the window tracery is generally of inferior -and rather late flamboyant style. The triforium is well developed, -having large traceried openings; and the church is groined throughout. -In the eastern part of the chevet the window tracery has an early -character, but the mouldings belie this effect; and, if I may judge by -them, none of it is earlier than circa A.D. 1350-1370. The plan of the -chevet is probably old, but all its details, save those of the piers -between the chapels, have been modernized. The thin spandrels of the -vaulting in the apse of the choir are pierced with cusped circles, a -device occasionally seen in French churches. - -It will be seen, therefore, that there is little to praise here, save -the grand scale upon which the work has been done. The nave is 36 feet 8 -inches from centre to centre of the columns, whilst each aisle is no -less than 31 feet 2 inches. The relative proportions are bad, but owing -to the arrangement of the Coro in the nave there is not much opportunity -of seeing this, and the internal view of the aisles, owing to their -width and to the very massive character of the nave columns, is -extremely fine. The nave is of five bays in length, the two eastern bays -being occupied by the Coro. There is an altar against the western screen -of the Coro, in front of which are some steps leading down to a well, -said to be that of St. Antholin, the tutelar saint. The whole of the -stalls are old, and fine of their kind; they are mainly the work of El -Maestro Centellas, a Valencian, who contracted to execute them about the -year 1410,[64] but they are not in their old place, for in A.D. -1518-1519 Pedro de Guadalupe agreed to move them from the old choir into -the new choir for the sum of fifteen hundred maravedis, and to execute -twenty additional stalls for the sum of two thousand maravedis each.[65] -At the same time the Retablo was moved forward and enlarged to fit its -new position by one Pedro Manso, at a cost of two hundred ducats; whilst -Juan de Valmeseda executed the statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. -John, and the Crucifixion for it for one hundred ducats.[66] - -These facts are of great interest, proving as they do that the stalls -stood from the year 1410 to 1518 in their proper place in the choir, and -were then moved to their present position in the nave precisely in the -same way that we have already seen the old arrangement changed at Burgos -at about the same period. This peculiar Spanish arrangement of the Coro -in the nave, and separated from the altar, we may now, I think, assume -was not known or thought of until this comparatively late date in this -part of Spain, though now it is universal throughout the country. The -design of the stalls is somewhat like that of late Flemish work, but -peculiar in many respects: the forward slope of the stall elbows, the -rich traceries behind the lower stalls--very varied in their design--and -the upper stalls, are all worthy of notice. I did not observe any -distinction in the style of the work answering to the dates at which -Maestro Centellas and Pedro de Guadalupe were employed, and I think, -therefore, that the latter must have copied rather closely the work of -the former. Probably, however the Prie-Dieu desk in front of the -bishop’s stall is of the later date, as also the desks which have been -widened in front of the upper row of stalls; and possibly Pedro de -Guadalupe executed the twenty stalls on each side of the choir forming -the easternmost block. - -[Illustration: Prie-Dieu.] - -The eastern part of the church has been worse treated even than the -nave, all the old arrangements having been ruthlessly altered. The apse, -shut in by screens, covered with a low groined gallery, and used as a -mere chapel,[67] is dark, dismal, and undignified. The bay west of the -apse is open from north to south, but walled in on the west with the -wall behind the high altar. West of this are two bays walled in at the -sides, and then we come to the transept, which is open, save the rails -marking the passage from the Coro to the choir. The whole arrangement is -so confused, unintelligible, and contrary to the obvious intentions of -the first designers of the fabric, that it hardly needed documentary -evidence to prove that it had no kind of ancient authority. There is no -lantern or Cimborio at the crossing. The metal screens[68] across the -choir are of no special interest, but those round the apse and opening -into one or two of the chapels of the chevet are better, and well -illustrate the designs of most of the fifteenth-century iron screens in -Spain. They are met with in all directions, for there was no country in -the middle ages which made so free a use of iron. They have most of the -faults of German ironwork of the same age, the smiths having apparently -forgotten the right use of their hammers, and, like Birmingham smiths of -the present day, having tried to do what was necessary with thin plates -of iron twisted about fantastically here and there, but very much more -easily wrought, and proportionably less effective, than the work of the -English smiths of a couple of hundred years earlier. - -The whole of the floor of the eastern part of the church has been -lowered, in some places as much as three feet, in order to obtain a -level procession path all round the aisles. - -On the south side of the nave are the cloisters, which are large, with -lofty arched openings, but they have been despoiled of their traceries. -Their style is poor third-pointed, and in their present state they are -thoroughly uninteresting.[69] To the west of them is the -Chapter-house, a large groined room, opening, not, as is usual, from the -cloister, but from an outer lobby. The sacristy, on the south side of -the choir, contains a few objects of interest, the best being a fine -gilt monstrance, covered with crockets and pinnacles, but not earlier -than circa A.D. 1500.[70] - -[Illustration: PALENCIA AND VALLADOLID:--Ground Plans of San Miguel -Sta Maria and San Benito - -Plate III. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865.] - -The sacristan thought much more of a great plated temple, six or eight -feet in height, raised on a stage, and travelling on wheels worked by a -couple of men concealed within the platform and its hangings, which is -used for processions throughout the town on Corpus Christi day. - -I saw only two Gothic churches out of many which I looked into in -Palencia--those of San Miguel and San Francesco. - -San Miguel is both the earliest and best church in the city, and -deserves most careful study. I give an illustration of its ground-plan -on Plate III. The portion east of the crossing appeared to me of the end -of the twelfth century, and the rest of the church a few years later. -The plan is one of a not uncommon type, and suggestive either of Italian -or German influence in the mind of its designer. The regular planning of -the whole work, the bold dimensions of the groining shafts, and the good -character of the mouldings and windows, corbel-tables and buttresses, -all deserve special notice. The apse is groined in four compartments, so -that a rib and buttress occur in its centre,[71] and the ribs here are -square and plain in section, whilst those throughout the nave are well -moulded. The bosses at the intersection of the groining ribs in the nave -are sculptured: that on the east bay having St. Michael and the Dragon, -whilst the next bay but one has an Agnus Dei. There is a peculiarity in -the finish of the buttresses of the apse, which I noticed also at San -Juan and San Pablo at Burgos. In all of them the face of the buttress is -carried up to the eaves-cornice, which is returned round them, instead -of being carried on to their centre, as is usual: so that at San Miguel, -in place of the apse at the cornice-line having four sides only, it has -four long and three shorter sides, the latter above the buttresses. All -the work in the chancel appears to be of earlier date than that in the -nave, and its western arch is segmental, and of poor character. - -[Illustration: Steeple of San Miguel.] - -The windows here are plain, round-arched lancets, but those in the -clerestory of the nave are two-light windows, with a plain circle in the -head, and richly moulded. The most striking architectural feature on the -outside is the western steeple, which well deserves illustration, being -full of peculiarity and vigour. The belfry-windows are singularly -varied, for they are of three lights on the west, of two very wide -lights on the south, and of two narrow lights on the east side. The -tracery in all consists of uncusped circles, packed together in the same -fashion as in the clerestory of Burgos Cathedral. The west window is of -two lights, with simple piercings in the tympanum, and between it and -the west doorway are a number of corbels all across the west front, -which seem to prove that there was a pent-house roof across the whole of -it. This must have largely added to the picturesqueness of the -building, whilst at the same time it must, in such a climate, have been -a most wise expedient for sheltering the doorway from the heat. The west -doorway is a really fine work, but terribly mutilated. It has six series -of subjects, in as many lines of archivolt moulding, the innermost order -containing angels only: the second, figures with books or instruments of -music: the third, angels again: the fourth, the Resurrection (with the -Last Judgment, occupying the centre of this and the next order): the -fifth and sixth, subjects from the life of our Lord, beginning with the -Annunciation on the left. The outside moulding consists of a bold -bowtell, with another arranged in continuous cusping in front of it, as -in some of our own transitional work. The lower stage of the tower has a -groined gallery, in which are the stalls, lectern, and organ. - -It is much to be lamented that the finish of the steeple is not -original, for we should then have had a complete example of a fine -parish church, which must have been building from circa A.D. 1190 to -circa A.D. 1250; but an early building unaltered on the exterior is a -treat for which one generally sighs in vain in Spain. - -San Francesco has been much more mutilated than San Miguel, but seems to -be a work of about the same age; it is said to have been built in A.D. -1246.[72] There is a large open market-place, busy with venders of -vegetables, in front of the building and a small enclosed courtyard -between the two seemed to be the receptacle for all the market filth. -The west front has a small sort of cloister in front of the doors, with -a tiled lean-to roof above it. Over this roof rises the west front, a -strange combination with a western gable, and a great bell-gable rising -out of its southern slope. The west window appears to have been a fine -cusped circular opening, under a pointed arch, the spandrel between the -two being filled with circles similar to the traceries in the steeple of -San Miguel. Entering the church, I found its broad aisleless nave -completely Paganized, but still retaining the low fifteenth-century -gallery for the Coro over the two western bays. At the east bay of the -nave are small transeptal chapels, and the chancel arch, and two smaller -arches open into the chancel and two chancel aisles. The whole -arrangement is thoroughly Italian,[73] but the detail of the arches, -which are well moulded and adorned with a chevron, is northern. The -chancel is apsidal, but its groining is so late, and its east end so far -hidden by a Pagan Retablo, that it was impossible to discover whether -any traces of the original work remained. - -I saw several other churches, but their old features are in all cases of -the very latest Gothic or else Pagan, so as to be hardly worthy of -record. Sta. Clara appears to be desecrated: it has windows just like -those of San Pablo, Burgos, and buttresses to the apse managed in the -same way as at San Miguel. It has also a large flamboyant door of poor -style. Near it is another church, which has an apse with buttresses and -pinnacles at the angles, and from the even and undisturbed look of its -masonry I concluded that it never had any windows. This church has a -poor tower, but generally the churches here have enormous bell-gable -turrets of the most flaunting Renaissance device, which are common -throughout a great part of Spain. They have generally several bells hung -in openings in the wall, and are often nearly the whole width of the -front, and finished with cornices and broken pediments in the most -approved fashion of the worst style of Renaissance. - -Everywhere, save in the long main street, Palencia was as _triste_ a -place as I have seen. The streets were emptied, probably by the heat of -the day, and, save a curious crowd of boys who pursued me relentlessly -all round San Miguel, I saw few signs of life. Much of the old wall -round the city remains, and walking round the north-eastern part of -this, I came to a picturesque angle, where is an old walled-up gateway -with pointed arch, round towers on either side, and deep machicolations -above, which may well have been built before the Cid rode into Palencia -for his marriage with Doña Ximena. The town walls are lofty and massive, -and crested with what is, I believe, a Moorish battlement. Its -peculiarity consists in the battlements and spaces between them being -equal, and the former being capped with a stone weathered on all four -sides nearly to a point. - -On the way to the railway station we saw two churches, both having some -portions of fair fifteenth-century work; and then passing the old wall, -found ourselves on the melancholy open plain that surrounds the city. -Under the hot sun, and after the harvest has all been gathered in, the -country looks wretched and arid in the extreme. Not a tree is to be -seen, nor a blade of grass; but first a sandy plain of two or three -miles, and then rocky and sandy hills, all bleached to much the same -colourless tint, rose in long lines against the deep-blue sky. On the -other side of the city the river was hardly more attractive; it was -wellnigh dry, though it is true there were some trees near its banks -which to some extent redeemed the aridness of the soil out of which they -grew. As I neared the station I found the whole city assembled to greet -the Duke and Duchess of Montpensier, who were to stop for a few minutes -to enjoy _azucarillos_ and sweetmeats. Officers of all grades, the -bishop and his clergy, and smart people in abundance were there; and as -soon as the train arrived there was lusty cheering, and great firing of -rockets. After a fight with the mob for a passage to the train, we -secured seats, and were soon off. There are some parts of the road which -seemed more interesting than most of the country we had been passing. -The river runs here and there under steepish bluffs, and occasionally -considerable vineyards give--what is so much wanted--some variety of -colour to the landscape. I suppose one ought to be cautious in -describing such a country after seeing it in September; for I can well -imagine that in the spring, when the whole land is covered with great -crops of corn, the impression it produces may be very different. - -At Valladolid we were delayed a long time whilst the Duke and Duchess of -Montpensier, saluted again with rockets, and escorted by cavalry, took -their departure from the station to pass the night at the -Captain-General’s. As far as a stranger can see and hear the truth, the -Royal family seem to be very popular in Spain, and none of them more so -than the Duke and Duchess; and the good people of Valladolid did their -best, by illuminations, cheering, and decoration of their houses with -coloured cloth, to welcome their coming, and speed their parting the -next day.[74] - -In the evening I strolled out into the town, and presently found myself -in the Great Plaza, an imposing square surrounded on three sides by -houses on arcades, and having on the fourth side the Town-hall. This was -brilliantly illuminated by a number of enormous wax-candles in great -sconces flaring in the air, whilst a good military band played waltzes, -and the people--soldiers and civilians, men, women, and children--danced -merrily and vigorously in groups all about. Presently crossing the Plaza -from this noisy scene, I stumbled over a bundle on the ground, and -found it to be a couple of labourers who, having been at work at the -pavement, had made a bed of sand, covered themselves over with a -blanket, and had gone to sleep by the side of their tools for the night, -indifferent to all the noise and excitement of the place! - -Valladolid is a city of which I have very pleasant general -recollections, but of which nevertheless the architecture is nowhere of -very great interest. It has the misfortune to have a cathedral built by -Herrera, only one or two early works, several gorgeous examples of the -richest late-pointed work, and a multitude of examples of the works of -Berruguete, Herrera, and their followers. But the streets are -picturesque and busy, and have that unmistakably foreign aspect which is -always so pleasant to the traveller. - -I need say but little of the Cathedral. Its design is said to be the -greatest work of Herrera (A.D. 1585); but a small portion only of it has -been completed. The complete plan is given by Ponz.[75] It was to have -been cruciform, with four towers at the angles, four bays of nave, and -four of choir, with aisles to both. The stalls of the Coro were intended -to be in the choir behind the altar. There is a large cloister on the -north side of the nave. The nave of four bays, with its aisles and -chapels on either side of them, is all that is completed; and, large as -it is, the parts are all so colossal that there is not the impression of -size that there ought to be. The piers are some 60 feet from centre to -centre north and south, and 45 feet east and west; they carry bold -arches, above which runs a great cornice surmounted by a white -(plastered and panelled) groined ceiling, which contrasts violently with -the dark sombre grey of the stonework below. These vaults are of red -tile; and if the plaster were altogether taken off, the vault covered -with mosaic, and the mouldings of the cornices carefully removed, the -interior would really be fine and impressive. Nothing, however, could -ever cure the hideous unsightliness of the exterior. Herrera’s west -front was revised by Churriguera in the eighteenth century, and cannot -therefore be fairly criticised; but the side elevation remains as -Herrera designed it, and is really valuable as a warning. Flying -buttresses were of course an abomination; so in their place he erected -enormous solid buttresses above the aisles to resist the thrust of the -nave vault. They are shapeless blocks of masonry projecting about forty -feet from the clerestory wall, and finished with a horrid concave line -at the top. However, it is only right to give Herrera his due, and to -say, that after all he only did what Wren did at St. Paul’s, but had the -courage and the honesty to let his deeds be seen, instead of spending a -vast sum, like Wren, in concealing them. And again it is plain that he -thought much more of the internal effect of his church than of the -external;--how unlike ourselves, who but too often, if we can attract -men to our new churches by a smart spire or a picturesque exterior, seem -to forget that we must make the interior noble, winning, solemn, and -instructive too, if we would keep them there! - -A few fragments of the old cathedral remain to the north-east of the -present church, but I could not obtain access to them; and I think -nothing now exists but a wall pierced with one or two fourteenth-century -windows. - -Sta. Maria l’Antigua--the most attractive church, to my mind, in -Valladolid--is close to the cathedral. It is so valuable an example, and -illustrates so well some peculiarities of Spanish architecture, that I -give an illustration of its ground-plan.[76] It is of the common -parallel-triapsal arrangement, and has a fine western steeple, and a -cloister along the north wall. This kind of cloister is of not -unfrequent occurrence: I have already noticed one in the convent at Las -Huelgas; and there are two or three churches at Segovia in which also it -is introduced. It would seem to be an arrangement expressly adopted to -suit a tropical climate, and its effect is always very good. - -[Illustration: Cloister. L’Antigua, Valladolid.] - -The cloister here is walled up, and considerably defaced on the north -side; and on the south, if one ever existed, it has been entirely -destroyed. That on the north side is of three bays in length, the -western bay having four arches, and the others five. The arches are -semi-circular, with labels enriched with dog-tooth ornament, and the -shafts which carry them are moulded and wrought in imitation of the -coupled columns of early Italian artists. Simple buttresses separate the -bays, and there is a corbel-table under the eaves. A bold round-arched -doorway opened at the west into this cloister. - -The interior of this church is fine. It is groined throughout; and most -of the groining has longitudinal (but not transverse) ridge-ribs, -considerably arched in each bay, to suit the domical section of the -vaults. The western bay has the usual late gallery for the Coro -supported on a debased arch, and with open tracery in its front, and the -stalls and organ still remain in it. The main columns are cylindrical in -plan, and each surrounded by eight attached shafts. The transepts are -not at all defined in the ground-plan, but are groined at the same level -as the nave. The abaci of the capitals are either square or octagonal in -plan. The groining has bold and well-moulded transverse arches, and -diagonal ribs of an ordinary thirteenth-century section. In the apse of -seven bays the vaults, for the greater part of their height, are no -thicker than the moulding of their ribs, and are pierced with cusped -circles in their spandrels, just above the line of the springing of the -windows, in the same manner as at Palencia Cathedral. The clerestory -seems to have been lighted with simple lancets, of which one only -remains on the south of the nave. Of the old furniture still existing I -noticed a good Retablo, partly carved and partly painted, in a chapel on -the south side of the choir, and another in the baptistery opening into -the south transept.[77] The steeple is the most remarkable feature of -the exterior, and from its great height gives, in company with the -similar steeple of San Martin, much effect to many views of the city, -which, with these exceptions, has nothing to break its monotony. It -rises three stages above the roof, the lower stage having an arcaded -window of two lights on each face, the middle one of three lights, and -the upper, again, one of two lights. The arches are all semi-circular, -and are carried upon shafts. There are string-courses under each window, -and the abaci are also carried round the steeple as string-courses of -inferior scale. There are nook-shafts at the angles, with caps and bases -between each of the horizontal string-courses. The upper string-course -and the eaves-cornices are carved with a dog-tooth ornament, and the -others with a billet mould. The steeple is finished with a low square -spire, covered with tiles, some green and some red, and each tile made -of a pointed shape, so as to form a series of scallops. This steeple is -of the same date as the cloister and lower part of the church--probably -circa A.D. 1180-1200; but the east end of the church is evidently a work -of later date, being much more advanced in style, and corresponding -exactly in some respects with the upper part of the transepts and -clerestory of Burgos Cathedral. The windows have three engaged -jamb-shafts, with square capitals. The tracery has soffeit-cusping, and -there is a peculiarity here which is seen also in the clerestory at -Burgos. The arches of the lights and the circle above them are only -chamfered on one side, and their fillets do not mitre at the junction; -it looks, consequently, as though the circle were merely put in loosely -on the back of the arched heads to the lights, without being in any way -connected with them. I need not say that the effect is not good: it has -the appearance of being the work of men who did not quite understand -what they were about; and, though I know of no example of the same thing -in England or France, it is not uncommonly seen in the thirteenth and -fourteenth century works of the Italian architects. It is, however, -impossible to charge the architect of this apse with the indifference -to, or ignorance of, other examples of the same age which marked the -Italians, for in every other respect his work is as good as possible of -its kind. The pinnacles marking the junction of the apse with the choir -are very fine. They are hexagonal below, but, with admirable effect, are -covered with circular stone spires, enriched by delicate crockets of the -same fashion as those at Burgos, illustrated at p. 28, and the springing -of the spirelet is marked by small pinnacles. The external roofs have -been altered in accordance with the invariable custom, and at the east -end they now partially obscure the old pierced parapets which fill the -spaces between the pinnacles of the apse. The south transept had a -rose-window, which is now blocked up, and the open parapet of the choir -was continued round it. This side of the church is now much built -against, and concealed by houses, the north side being quite open. I -ought not to forget that there is a good sacristy at the north-east -angle of the church, and of the same date as the choir. - -Sagrador y Vitores[78] says that this church was founded by Don Pedro -Ansurez and Doña Eylo his wife, in the latter part of the eleventh -century, and rebuilt by King Don Alonso XI. I confess I cannot reconcile -these dates (for which no authorities are given) with the existing -building. The earlier portions of the work hardly seem to be so early in -date as the eleventh century; and the later alterations are so identical -in character with work of which we know the age in the thirteenth -century, that it is almost impossible they should belong to the time of -Alonso XI. (A.D. 1350-1369). The reign of Alonso IX. (A.D. 1230-44) -would have been a more likely date. - -The church of San Martin, near Sta. Maria, has been rebuilt, with the -exception only of its steeple, which is a fine example, very similar to -that of Sta. Maria, though, no doubt, of rather later date. The arches -here are pointed, in place of round, as they are in the other example; -the two upper stages are arranged just as they are there, and the lower -stage has a two-light window, with its tracery contrived in a similar -way to the apse windows of that church. San Martin is said to have been -founded in A.D. 1148,[79] and the earliest part of the steeple may -probably be of this age, though I do not think it can have been -completed earlier than about A.D. 1250. - -Both these steeples bear unmistakable marks of Lombard influence. The -absence of buttresses, the repetition of very nearly similar stages one -over the other, and the multitude of horizontal string-courses, are all -features of constant occurrence in Italy; and it will be sufficient to -mention such an example as the steeple of Lucca Cathedral, as, among -others, illustrating this similarity very remarkably. - -There is not, so far as I could see or learn, any other work of early -date in Valladolid; but, on the other hand, the city is rich in works of -the latest Gothic, some of which are exceedingly sumptuous, and among -the finest of their kind; and they are so characteristic of Spanish -art--albeit they are undoubtedly derived from German sources--that it -would be unpardonable to pass them by without notice. At the same time -it is luxury of ornamentation, profusion of labour, marvellous manual -skill and dexterity, rather than real art, which we see displayed in all -the works of this school; and, attractive as these often are to the -uneducated eye, they are almost offensive to one who has learnt ever so -little to look for true art first and above all in all works of -architecture, and to regard mere excellence of workmanship as of -altogether secondary importance. - -The most remarkable of these works are the churches of San Pablo, San -Benito, La Magdalena, and the colleges of San Gregorio and Sta. Cruz, -which last is now converted into a museum. Their dates are all known -very exactly, and the following facts relating to them may as well be -recorded. - -San Pablo was commenced by Cardinal Don Juan Torquemada, and completed -in A.D. 1463.[80] It is said by some to be the work of Juan and Simon de -Colonia, but I can find no proof of this statement, though I think that -the elaborate façade may possibly be the work of the artists Gil de -Siloe or Diego de la Cruz, who wrought under Juan de Colonia and his son -at the monuments and Retablo in the convent at Miraflores. - -The first stone of the college of San Gregorio was laid in A.D. 1488, -and it was finished in A.D. 1496.[81] The architect is said to have been -Macías Carpintero of Medina del Campo; but as he cut his own throat in -1490,[82] some other architect or sculptor must have completed the work. - -The monastery of San Benito was founded by King Don Juan, who obtained a -Bull from Pope Clement VII., on Dec. 28, 1389, for the purpose. But the -existing church was erected more than a century later, by Juan de -Arandia (probably a Biscayan architect), who began his work in A.D. -1499. He agreed to execute the nave and one aisle for 1,460,000 -maravedis, and afterwards the other aisle for 500,000. The Retablo and -the stalls were the work of Berruguete, between A.D. 1526 and 1532, and -are now preserved in the museum. - -The college of Sta. Cruz was founded in A.D. 1480, and completed in -A.D. 1492, and was designed by Enrique de Egas[83], son of Anequin de -Egas of Brussels. - -The church of La Magdalena appears, by extracts from the archives of the -Marquis de Resilla, to have been planned by Rodrigo Gil, of Salamanca. -By a contract, dated June 14, 1576, he undertook the erection of the -Capilla mayor and sacristy for 4,000,000 maravedis, whilst the “master -of the works,” Francisco del Rio, by an agreement of October 11, 1570, -agreed to build the tower and body of the church according to Rodrigo -Gil’s plan, for 6400 ducats. - -Having given these details of their history, I must now say a few words -about the buildings themselves. - -Going from the great Plaza de la Constitucion down a narrow street to -the north, we soon came out on another large irregular open place, -frequented chiefly by second-hand clothesmen, whose wares would be -deemed bad even in Houndsditch, and whose wont it seems to be to induce -their customers to make complete changes of their apparel behind scanty -screenworks of cloths. At the angle of the further side of this Plaza is -the grand church and convent of San Benito. The monks are, of course, -all gone, as they are everywhere in Catholic Spain, and the convent is -turned into a barrack; the church is left open, but unused, and the more -valuable portions of its furniture, its stalls and Retablos, have been -carried away for exhibition in another religious house, now used as a -museum! Valladolid seems to have been a city of religious houses; and -when the revolution, following on civil wars, made so clean a sweep of -religious orders, that not only does one see no monks, but even Sisters -of Mercy are scarcely ever met[84], there was nothing, I suppose, to be -done but to convert these buildings to the first miserable purpose that -suggested itself; and we ought perhaps to be thankful when we find a -church like San Benito simply desolate and unused, and not converted to -some purely secular use. - -The ground-plan of the church is given on Plate III. At the west end -are the remains of a tower, which seems never to have been completed, -and which, though of vast size, is so poor, tame, and bald in detail, -that it could hardly have produced a successful effect if it had been -finished. The whole design of the exterior of the church is extremely -uninteresting; but the interior is much more impressive, being fine, -lofty, and groined, and lighted chiefly by large clerestory windows, -aided by others high up in the aisle-walls. The groining is all very -domical in section, and rather rich in ribs; and the grand scale of the -whole work, and the simplicity of the piers--cylinders with eight -engaged shafts round them--contribute to produce something of the effect -of a building of earlier date. The bases of the columns are of enormous -height from the floor, and their caps are generally carved with stiff -foliage. Several altars, monuments, and chapels have been inserted -between the buttresses of the north wall; and there is one old tomb on -the north side of the high altar, with a sculpture of the Crucifixion. -The buttresses on the exterior all rise out of a continuous weathered -basement, and there is no variety in their design in any part. - -The ritual arrangements deserve a few words of description. There are -six steps up from the nave to the altar, and there is an ambon on each -side of them entered from the altar side. There is a stalled western -gallery, with an organ on its south side, of late mediæval design, but -apparently an insertion, and not erected at the same time as the Coro. -Beside the gallery Coro, there is a second Coro on the floor, with -screens round it on the north, south, and west sides, which are -evidently not original, being mere brick walls. A metal screen extends -all across the nave and aisles at the east of the Coro; and there are -gates, not only in these, but also in the screen on the west side of the -Coro, which, it will be remembered, is an unusual arrangement at this -late date. The large organ is on the north side of the Coro, and of the -same date as the woodwork of the stalls. The good people of Valladolid, -who seem to feel inordinately proud of all that Berruguete did, have -carried off the stalls to the museum. They are much praised by Mr. Ford, -but for what reason I endeavoured in vain to discover. Their sculpture -appeared to me to be contemptible, and mainly noticeable for woolly -dumplings in place of draperies, and for the way in which the figures -are sculptured, standing insecurely on their feet, dwarfed in stature, -altogether inexpressive in their faces, out of drawing, and wholly -deficient in energy or life. There were also three great Retablos to the -principal altars at the ends of the aisles. The Renaissance frames of -these are mostly _in situ_, but the sculptures have all been taken, with -the stalls, to the museum, where they cumber the little chapel in the -most uncouth fashion. I never saw such contemptible work; yet Mr. Ford -calls this work[85] “the _chef-d’œuvre_ of Berruguete, circa -1526-1532.” I can only say that the architecture is bad, the sculpture -is bad, and the detail is bad; that all three are bad of their kind, and -that their kind is the worst possible.[86] It is in truth the ugliest -specimen of the imbecility and conceit which usually characterize -inferior Renaissance work that I ever saw. The whole of the figures are -strained and distorted in the most violent way, and fenced in by columns -which look like bedposts, with entablatures planned in all sorts of new -and original ways and angles. I have no patience with such work, and it -is inconceivable how a man who has once done anything which, from almost -every point of view, is so demonstrably bad, can have preserved any -reputation whatever, even among his own people. It is a curious -illustration, however, of the singular extent to which both Gothic and -Renaissance were being wrought at the same time in Spain; for at the -time he did this work, in which not a trace of Gothic feeling or skill -remained, other men at Salamanca, Zaragoza, and elsewhere, were still -building in late Gothic, and some buildings were still more than half -Gothic which were not erected for at least fifty years later. - -A short walk from San Benito leads to another Plaza, on one of which is -the west front of San Pablo, whilst the great convent of San Gregorio is -on its south side. - -I could not find any means of getting into San Pablo, and am uncertain -whether it is in use or desecrated. Its façade is a repetition, on a -large scale, of work like that of Juan and Simon de Colonia--who are -said to have been the architects employed--in the chapel monuments at -Miraflores. Armorial bearings have much more than their due prominence, -mouldings are attenuated, every bit of wall is covered with carving or -tracery, and such tricks are played with arches of all shapes, that, -though they are ingenious, they are hardly worth describing. The western -doorway is fringed with kneeling angels for crockets, and there are -large and small statues of saints against the wall on either side of it. -Above is the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin, with St. John the Baptist -on one side, and the kneeling founder on the other, flanked by angels -carrying armorial achievements. Above, in the centre, is our Lord -seated, St. Peter and St. Paul on either side, and the four Evangelists -seated at desks, and instructed by angels. Every vacant space seems to -have a couple of angels holding coats-of-arms, so that it is impossible -not to feel that the sculptor and the founder must have had some idea of -heaven as peopled by none with less than a proper number of quarterings -on their shields, or without claim to the possession of _Sangre Azul_. I -must not forget to say of this work that, though its scheme is -displeasing and Retablo-like, its execution is wonderful, and the merit -of the detail of many parts of it very great. - -The façade of San Gregorio is a long lofty wall, pierced with small -ogee-headed windows, and finished with a quaint, carved, and pinnacled -parapet; in the centre is the entrance gateway, corresponding pretty -much in its detail with the front of San Pablo, but even more extremely -heraldic in its decorations. The doorway is a square opening under a -segmental arch, with an ogee-trefoiled canopy above. Full-length statues -of hairy unclad savages on either side may have a meaning which I failed -to discover; to me they looked simply uncouth and rude. The canopy over -the doorway runs up and forms a great heraldic tree, with an enormous -coat-of-arms and supporters in the centre. The finish at the top is one -of those open-work conceits of interlacing pierced cusping, which looks -like nothing better than a collection of twigs. - -The sculpture on this doorway is altogether inferior in its character to -that of the doorway of San Pablo. The convent is now, I believe, a -barrack, and the sentry refused me admission; but I saw a picturesque -court open in the centre, with the usual galleries round it, supported -on columns, the wooden ceiling of the passage being painted. - -The church of la Magdalena does not look so late in date as the -documentary evidence seems to prove that it is; but it is late enough to -be most uninteresting. The west front is the _ne plus ultra_ of heraldic -absurdity, being entirely occupied with an enormous coat-of-arms and its -adjuncts. - -Close to the east end of this church is a Moorish archway of brick, a -picturesque and rather graceful work. It owes not a little of its effect -to the shape of the bricks, which are 7 in. wide by 11 in. long by 1½ -in. thick, and to the enormous quantity of mortar used, the joints being -not less than an inch wide.[87] The ruggedness and picturesque effect of -work done in this way is much greater than that of the smooth, neat -walls--badly built of necessity where there is not much mortar used--of -our modern buildings. - -The Museum is housed in the old college of Sta. Cruz, close to the -University, and near to the Cathedral. It is a building of a class whose -name is legion in these parts. It encloses a central court surrounded by -cloisters, above which there are open arcades all round on each of the -three floors, traceried balustrades occupying the spaces between their -columns, and the rooms being all entered from these cloister-like open -passages. With good detail such an arrangement might easily be made very -attractive; but I saw no example in any but the very latest style of -Gothic. The contents of the Museum are most uninteresting. There are -three paintings said to be by Rubens, but they seemed to me to have been -much damaged; and the rest of the pictures are unmixed rubbish. There is -a large collection of figures and subjects from sculptured Retablos, all -of which are extravagant and strained in their attitudes to the most -painful degree. I have already referred to some of Berruguete’s work -preserved here, and the rest is mostly of about the same low degree of -merit. - -The Library, which appeared to have many valuable books, is a large -room, well kept and well filled, with a librarian very ready to show it -to strangers. - -The University is a cold work of Herrera--the coldest of Spanish -architects. Mr. Ford mentions an old gateway in it; but I could not find -it. - -I spent one day only in Valladolid; but this is ample for seeing all its -architectural features. It is one of those cities which was too rich and -prosperous during an age of much work and little taste, and where, -though Berruguete and Herrera may be studied by those who think such -labour desirable, very little mediæval architecture of any real value -is to be seen. Yet as a modern city it is in parts gay and attractive, -being after Madrid the most important city of the North of Spain. Its -suburbs are less cheerful, for here one lights constantly on some -desecrated church or ruined building, which recalls to mind the vast -difference between the Valladolid of to-day--a mere provincial town--and -the Valladolid of two centuries ago, for a short time the capital of -Spain. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -SALAMANCA--ZAMORA--BENAVENTE. - - -The long dreary road which leads over the corn-growing plain from Medina -del Campo is at last relieved some two or three miles before Salamanca -is reached by the view of its imposing group of steeples and domes, -which rise gradually over the low hills on the northern side. The long -line of walls round the city still in part remains, but seems daily to -be falling more and more to decay, and indeed generally all its grand -buildings speak rather of death than of life. Few even of Spanish towns -seem to have suffered more at the hands of the French during the -Peninsular war than did Salamanca, and we ought not perhaps to be -surprised if its old prosperity comes but slowly back again to it. - -The public buildings here are generally grandiose and imposing; but -almost all of them are of the period of the Renaissance, and there are -no very remarkable examples of this bad age. Still when they were -perfect there must have been a certain stateliness about them, befitting -the importance of a great university. - -The main objects of attraction to me were the two cathedrals, the one -grand and new, of the sixteenth century, by whose side and as it were -under whose wing nestles the smaller but most precious old cathedral of -the twelfth century, fortunately preserved almost intact when the new -one was erected, and still carefully maintained, though, I believe, very -seldom used for service. The remarkable relative positions of these two -cathedrals will be readily understood by the accompanying -ground-plan,[88] in which, as will be seen, the vast bulk of the later -church quite overwhelms the modest dimensions of the earlier. I know -indeed few spots, if any, in which the importance, or the contrary, of -mere size in architecture can be better tested than here. Most educated -artists would, I dare say, agree with me in rating size as the lowest of -all really artistic qualities in architecture; and here we find that -the small and insignificant old church produces as good an effect as the -large and boastfully ambitious new one, though its dimensions are -altogether inferior. This is owing to the subdivision of parts, and to -the valuable simplicity which so markedly characterizes them. On the -other hand, it would be wrong to forget that from another point of view -mere size is of the primest importance, for we may well feel, when we -compare, for instance, an extremely lofty church with one of very modest -height, that in the former there is on the part of the founders an -evident act of sacrifice, whilst in the latter their thoughts have -possibly never risen above the merest utilitarianism; and it would be a -spirit entirely dead to all religious impressions that could regard such -an act of sacrifice otherwise than with extreme admiration. - -The foundation of the first of these two cathedrals may be fixed, I -think, with a fair approach to certainty, as being some time in the -twelfth century. It was at this time, soon after the city had been -regained from the Moors, in A.D. 1095, that Bernard, Archbishop of -Toledo, himself a Frenchman, brought many other Frenchmen into Spain, -and through his great influence procured their appointment to various -sees--a fact which I may say, in passing, suggests much in regard to the -origin of the churches which they built. Among the French ecclesiastics -so promoted was Gerónimo Visquio,[89] a native of Périgord, who was for -a long time the great friend and close companion of the Cid Rodrigo -Diaz, and confessor to him and Doña Ximena his wife. On the Cid’s death -he brought his body from Valencia to the monastery of Cardeña, near -Burgos, and there dwelt till Count Ramon and Doña Urraca made him Bishop -of Salamanca. Gil Gonzalez Dávila[90] says that at this time the church -was founded, and Cean Bermudez adds some documentary evidence as to -privileges conceded to its chapter for the works about this time by -Count Ramon.[91] In A.D. 1178 a priest--Don Miguel of San Juan, Medina -del Campo--made a bequest to the Chapter of his property for the work of -the cloister, and we may fairly assume, therefore, that before this date -the church itself was completed. The new cathedral was not commenced -until A.D. 1513, and of this I need not now speak; but in an inscription -on it, which records its consecration in A.D. 1560, the first mass is -related to have been said in the old cathedral four hundred and sixty -years before, _i.e._ in A.D. 1100.[92] This probably was only a -tradition; but it may fairly be taken to point to the twelfth century as -that in which the cathedral was built. - -This early church is, it will be seen,[93] cruciform, with three eastern -apses, a nave and aisles of five bays, and a dome or lantern over the -crossing. There is a deep western porch, and I think it probable that -there were originally towers on either side of this. The church has been -wonderfully little altered, save that its north wall has been taken down -in order to allow of the erection of the new cathedral, and at the same -time the arch under the northern part of the central lantern or dome was -also underbuilt. In other respects the church is almost untouched, and -bears every mark of having been in progress during the greater part of -the twelfth century. - -There is no provision in the plan of the main piers for carrying the -diagonal groining ribs, and it may be, therefore, that when they were -first planned it was not intended to groin the nave. The groining-ribs -are now carried on corbels, in front of which were statues, only two or -three of which, however, now remain in their places.[94] The vaulting -throughout is quadripartite in the arrangement of the ribs; but the -vaults of the three western bays of the nave, of the south transept, and -of the aisles are constructed as domes, with the stones all arranged in -concentric lines, but with ribs crossing their undersides; the two -eastern bays of the nave have quadripartite groining, planned in the -common way. The apses have semi-domes. The main arches everywhere are -pointed, those of the windows semi-circular, and the capitals throughout -are elaborately carved, either with foliage or groups of coupled -monsters or birds, a very favourite device of the early Spanish -sculptors. - -The most interesting feature in this old cathedral still remains to be -mentioned: this is the dome over the crossing. The remainder of the -original fabric is bold, vigorous, and massive, well justifying the line -in an old saying about the Spanish cathedrals, “Fortis Salmantina;” but -still it is merely a good example of a class of work, of which other -examples on a grander scale are to be met with elsewhere. Not so, -however, the dome; for here we have a rare feature treated with rare -success, and, so far as I know, with complete originality. The French -domed churches, such as S. Front, Perigueux, and others of the same -class, Notre Dame du Port, Clermont, and Notre Dame, le Puy, have, it is -true, domes, but these are all commenced immediately above the -pendentives or arches which carry them. The lack of light in their -interiors is consequently a great defect, and those which I have seen -have always seemed to me to have something dark, savage, and repulsive -in their character. And it was here that the architect of Salamanca -Cathedral showed his extreme skill, for, instead of the common low form -of dome, he raised his upon a stage arcaded all round inside and out, -pierced it with windows, and then, to resist the pressure of his vault, -built against the external angles four great circular pinnacles. - -[Illustration: No 7 - -SALAMANCA OLD CATHEDRAL p. 80. - -INTERIOR OF LANTERN, LOOKING EAST] - -The effect of his work both inside and out is admirable. It is divided -into sixteen compartments by bold shafts, which carry the groining ribs; -and three of these divisions over each of the cardinal sides are pierced -as windows. The other four occur where the turrets on the exterior make -it impossible to obtain light. These arcades form two stages in height -between the pendentives and the vault. The vault is hardly to be called -a real dome, having a series of ribs on its under side, nor does the -external covering follow the same curve as the internal, but with -admirable judgment it is raised so much as to have rather the effect of -a very low spire, with a considerable entasis, than of a regular dome. -The exterior angles have lines of simple and boldly contrived crockets, -and the stones with which it is covered seem all to have been cut with -scallops on their lower edge. The stonework of the exterior is much -decayed, but otherwise the whole work stands well and firmly. - -My drawings explain better than any written description can, the various -details of the design; but I may well call attention to the admirable -treatment of the gables over the windows on the cardinal sides of the -dome. No doubt they answer the same purpose as the circular turrets at -the angles in providing a counterpoise to the thrust of the vault, and -the change from the circular lines of the angle turrets to the sharp -straight lines of these gables is among the happiest efforts of art. So -again I ought to notice the contrast between the shafted windows, with -their springing lines definitely and accurately marked by sculptured -capitals, and the openings in the turrets, with their continuous -mouldings. The value of contrast--a treasure in the hands of the real -artist--is here consciously and most artistically exhibited; and it was -no mean artist who could venture to make so unsparing a use of -architectural ornamentation without producing any sense of surfeit on -those who look at his work even with the most critical eyes. - -I have seldom seen any central lantern more thoroughly good and -effective from every point of view than this is: it seems indeed to -solve, better than the lantern of any church I have yet seen elsewhere, -the question of the introduction of the dome to Gothic churches. The -lofty pierced tambour, and the exquisite effect of light admitted at so -great a height from the floor, are features which it is not, I believe, -vain to hope we may see emulated ere long in some modern work. But in -any such attempt it must be borne well in mind that, though the scale of -this work is very moderate, its solidity and firmness are excessive, and -that thus only is it that it maintains that dignified manliness of -architectural character which so very few of our modern architects ever -seem even to strive for. - -From all points, too, this lantern groups admirably with the rest of the -church. My sketch was taken from the west end of the nave roof, in order -to show the detail of the work to a fair scale; but the best view on the -whole is that from the south-east, where it groups with the fine -exterior of the eastern apses, with their engaged columns and rich -corbel-tables, and with a turret to the east of the transept, which has -been carried up and finished rather prettily in the fourteenth century -with a short spire, with spire-lights on each side of its hexagonal -base. - -The old corbel-tables under the eaves remain throughout the east end; -but the wall has been raised above them with a line of pierced -quatrefoils, over which the rough timbers of the roof project. No doubt -here, as we shall find in some other examples, the original intention -was to have a stone roof of rather flat pitch. The space between the -eaves of the chancel and the lower windows of the lantern would admit of -no more than this; and though there is a good deal of piquant effect in -the line of dark pierced traceries under the eaves and the rough tiled -roof above them, one cannot but regret very much the change from the -original design in so important a part of the work. The eaves-cornices -are carved with a very rich variety of billet moulding, and carried upon -corbels, some of which are carved and some moulded. The walls generally -have flat pilasters at short intervals, finishing under the -eaves-cornices, and the principal apse has the common arrangement of -three-quarter engaged shafts dividing it into three bays. The -window-arches are boldly moulded and carved, but the lights are narrow, -and those in the main apse are remarkable for the delicate intricacy of -the contemporary iron _grilles_ with which they are guarded--genuine -laborious smith’s work, utterly unlike the poor modern efforts with -which in these days men earn fame without using their hammers! The -effect here of the intricate curved lines, relieved by the dark shadow -of the window opening, is charming. It may fairly be doubted, I think, -whether these windows were ever meant to be glazed. In the transept -pointed relieving arches are built over the windows, and one of them is -a good example of the joggling of the joints of stonework, not -uncommonly seen in early flat arches, but the use of which is not very -obvious in a high pointed arch. The smaller apses have only one window, -and are lower in proportion to the principal apse than is usually the -case. - -[Illustration: No. 8. - -SALAMANCA OLD CATHEDRAL p. 82. - -EXTERIOR OF LANTERN] - -There are some fine monuments in the south transept, all of them adorned -with elaborate bas-reliefs of scriptural subjects. One, of the -thirteenth century, has a tomb supported on lions, and a death-bed -represented on its side; a little apsidal recess above is groined with a -semi-dome, with ribs. Another has sculptures of the Crucifixion, the -Entombment, the Maries going to the Sepulchre, and the “Noli me -tangere;” and a third has another representation of a death-bed. The -effigies are all slightly tilted outwards, and those in the east wall -have their feet to the north. The most remarkable features in the -decoration of the church are, however, the Retablo and the painting on -the semi-dome above it. On the vault the Last Judgment is painted, our -Lord being drawn much in the famous attitude of St. Michael in Orcagna’s -fresco at Pisa, and without drapery. The Retablo is a work of the -fourteenth century, of wood, and planned so as exactly to fit the curve -of the apse wall. It is divided into five panels in height and eleven in -width, so that there are fifty-five subjects, each surrounded by an -architectural framework of delicate character. The subjects are all -richly painted on a gold ground, and seemed to me to be well drawn. The -coloured decoration of the whole is very effective, and owes much to the -white ground of its traceries. Generally speaking, a Retablo is placed -across the apse and cuts off its eastern portion, which thenceforward -becomes a receptacle for all the untidiness of the church; and when so -arranged, if it reaches the height common in Spain, it almost, and in -some cases altogether, destroys the internal effect of the apse. Here, -however, the exact fitting of the Retablo to the curve of the wall is -free from this objection, and its effect is unusually good. - -The cloister on the south side is almost all modernized, though one or -two old doorways remain. That into the south transept has spiral shafts, -with the spiral lines reversed at regular intervals. It has also some -very good carving of foliage, with birds and naked figures, and on its -jambs are some memorial inscriptions of A.D. 1190, 1192, and 1194. On -the south side of the cloister is a richly decorated little chapel, -which retains in one corner a very curious mediæval organ, with -shutters. On the east side and close to the transept, what was no doubt -the original Chapter-house still remains, though it is now called the -Mozarabic chapel, and was formerly used for the Mozarabic ritual. At -present the boy who had the keys said it was not used; but the proper -books were all there. It is a very remarkable chamber, square in plan -below, and brought to an octagon above by arches thrown across the -angles, and finally roofed with a sort of dome, carried upon moulded and -carved ribs of very intricate contrivance. The interlacing of these ribs -gives the work somewhat the effect of being Moorish, and there can be -little doubt, I think, that it owes its peculiarities in some degree to -Moorish influence. It will be seen by reference to the plan, that the -groining ribs are arranged in parallel pairs. The ribs go from the -angles to the centre of the opposite side instead of from angle to -angle, and the sixteen ribs form a star-shaped compartment in the -centre. This coupling of ribs in parallel lines is a feature of Moorish -work, and is seen in the curious mosque, the Cristo de la Luz, at -Toledo, and in the somewhat Moorish vault of the Templars’ church at -Segovia. But whether Moorish or not, it is a remarkable room, and -deserves careful study. The diameter is but a little over twenty-six -feet, and the light is admitted by small windows in the upper stage. I -should be inclined to attribute this room and its vault to the architect -of the lantern of the church, and I regret that the only part of the -outside which I could see was so modernized as to render it impossible -to ascertain the original design. I call this the Chapter-house, because -I find that it opened originally into the cloister, with three arches, -that in the centre a doorway, the others windows of two lights--the -almost invariable arrangement of all Chapter-houses at this time.[95] - -A considerable number of masons’ marks remain on the exterior of the -early part of this church; and if they are the marks of the men who -erected so complicated a piece of stonework as the vault of the -Chapter-house, they well deserve to be preserved. Throughout this -church, indeed, the masonry is unusually good, and, owing to the rich -warm colour of the stone, the eastern apses, though they follow the -common design of most of the Romanesque apses in this part of Spain, are -more than usually good in their effect. - -A flight of eighteen steps leads up from the old cathedral through the -north transept into one of the southern chapels of the new cathedral, -and I know few changes more remarkable than that from the modest -simplicity, yet grandeur, of the early church, to the overbearing -magnitude and somewhat flaunting character of the late one. - -Salamanca seems to have tasted early of that prosperity which in the end -ruined art in Spain; and it was possible, therefore, for the Bishop, in -the beginning of the sixteenth century, to propose a scheme for -replacing his modest old cathedral by one of the most sumptuous and -ambitious in Spain, without attempting what was absurd or sure to fail. -The whole discussion as to the planning of the church is told us in a -series of documents published by Cean Bermudez, which are, I think, of -sufficient interest to make them quite worth a place in the Appendix to -this volume. I shall discuss in another chapter the light which they -throw upon the architectural practice of the day, and here it will only -be necessary to refer to such parts of them as affect the architectural -history of the building. - -In A.D. 1509 a Royal order was issued to Anton Egas, master of the works -at Toledo Cathedral, to go to Salamanca to make a plan for the cathedral -there. Egas seems to have delayed so long that it was necessary to send -another order to him, and then at last, in May, 1510, he went. The same -kind of command had been laid at the same time by the king on Alfonso -Rodriguez, the master of the works at Seville, and after these two had -considered the matter, they presented a joint plan, drawn on parchment, -showing the heights and widths of the naves, the thickness of the walls, -and so forth; but they were unable, they said, to agree as to the -proportion of length to breadth in the Capilla mayor, and so they -settled to meet in ten days at Toledo, and then to appoint an umpire. -Nothing more seems to have been done by them, for in A.D. 1513 the -Bishop and Chapter resolved to call together a Junta of architects to -make another report; and Rodriguez being dead, they summoned Anton Egas -of Toledo, Juan Gil de Hontañon. Juan de Badajoz of Leon, Alonso de -Covarrubias of Toledo, Juan Tornero, Juan de Alava, Juan de Orozco, -Rodrigo de Saravia, and Juan Campero, who all assembled in September, -A.D. 1512, at Salamanca, and drew up their report. The detailed -character of this report is very curious. It decides the dimensions of -every part of the church, the thickness of the walls, the projection of -the buttresses, and the exact position that it ought to occupy. The -architects not only agreed in all their opinions, but testified to their -truth by taking an oath “by God and St. Mary,” saying, each one, “So I -swear, and amen.” - -The question was, whether the new cathedral should be on the site of the -old cathedral, or to the north or to the south of it; and among other -reasons for placing it to the north, where it now is, the existence of -the steeple at the west end of the old cathedral was mentioned. In fine, -the church has been so placed as not to interfere at all with the -steeple, but little with the old cathedral, and not at all with the -cloister. The opinion of the Junta of Architects has been acted upon, in -short, in everything save the shape of the head of the church, which -they preferred should be octagonal, and which is, in fact, square in -plan. - -Three days after the presentation of this report certain of the Chapter -were appointed to select an architect, and their choice fell at once on -Juan Gil de Hontañon for the architect, and Juan Campero for clerk of -the works.[96] Whether Juan Gil really made the plans or not seems very -uncertain; and I confess that to me it seems more probable that the plan -made in A.D. 1509 by Egas and Rodriguez was laid before the Junta, and -that they drew up their resolutions upon the data it afforded, and left -to Hontañon no choice as to the proportions of his church, but only the -management of its construction and the designing of its details. - -If this supposition be correct, I fear I can award but little credit to -Hontañon; for in this cathedral the only point one can heartily praise -is the magnificence of the general idea, and the noble scale and -proportion of the whole work. But the detail throughout is of the very -poorest kind, fairly Gothic in character inside, but almost Renaissance -outside, and everywhere wanting in vigour and effect. Nothing can be -much worse than the treatment of the doorways and windows, and--to take -one portion--the south transept façade is spotted all over with niches, -crockets, and pedestals in the most childish way; whilst every spandrel -has a head looking out of a circle, reminding one forcibly of the old -application of a horse-collar, and, in fact, the men were foolish who -repeated, _usque ad nauseam_, so stale and unprofitable an idea! - -In one respect, however, the design of this church is very important. -The Spanish architects seldom troubled themselves to suit their -buildings in any respect to the climate; and this, no doubt, because in -very many cases they were merely imitating the works of another country, -in which no precautions against heat were necessary. Here we have a -church expressly designed, and with great judgment, for the requirements -of the climate. The windows are very high up, and very small for the -size of the building, so that no sunlight could ever make its way to any -unpleasant extent into it. There are galleries in front of all the -windows, both in the nave and aisles, but they are of thoroughly -Renaissance character. The section of the church gives a main clerestory -to the nave, and a second clerestory on one side of each aisle over the -arches opening into the side chapels. The upper clerestory has two -windows of two lights, and a circular window above them in each bay, and -the lower clerestory traceried windows generally, I think, of three -lights. The traceries are very weak and ill proportioned; but I noticed -in places what seemed to be a recurrence to earlier traditions in the -groupings of small windows, with several circles pierced in the wall -above them. It was, however, just like the imitation of old works we so -often see from incompetent hands at the present day. You see whence the -idea has been taken, though it is so travestied as to be not even -tolerable where the original was probably perfect! - -The planning of the church is certainly infelicitous. The square east -end is bald to a degree externally, and finished as it is inside with -chapels corresponding with those of the aisles, wants relief and life. -If the square east end is adopted in a great church, no doubt the -prolonged Lady Chapels of our own churches are infinitely to be -preferred to such a plan as this, which fails to give the great east -windows of which we boast, and loses all the effects of light and shade -in which the apsidal chevets of the Continent are so rich. - -Everywhere here the buttresses are finished with pinnacles, always -planned in the same way, each group being planned on a square, -counterchanged over the one below: they are of several stages in -height, furnished throughout with crocketed finials on all sides, and at -last with a single tall pinnacle. Nothing can be more wearisome than -this kind of pinnacled buttress, but the later Spanish authorities were -very fond of it, and repeated it everywhere. The dome, or Cimborio, is -altogether Pagan in its design and detail outside, and on the inside is -so plastered with an _olla_ of pink cherubs, rays of light, and gilt -scallopshells of monstrous size, and the like, as to be utterly -contemptible in its effect. It is, moreover, too small, and too little -separated from the rest of the vaulting, to look really well. The church -throughout is finished with hipped roofs in place of gables: but the -parapets in front of these are all Renaissance, and marked at intervals -by the favourite urns in which Renaissance architects still generally -and most unfortunately indulge. - -The cathedral was first used for service in A.D. 1560, when on all sides -Renaissance buildings were being erected, and perhaps it would be more -just to Juan Gil de Hontañon to look upon him as striving to the last to -maintain the cause of Christian art against the inroads of the enemy, -and failing in his detail not for want of will, but because it was -simply impossible to resist the tide which had set in before he died. -Much, too, of the church must, no doubt, be attributed to other men; -Juan de Alava, Rodrigo Gil de Hontañon, Martin Ruiz, and Juan de Ribero -Rada, having been masters of the works after Juan Gil, and the church -not having been completed until more than a century after its -commencement.[97] - -It will have been noticed that the old steeple is spoken of by the Junta -of Architects as a work of so much importance as to make it advisable to -change the position of the new cathedral, rather than interfere with it. -I do not quite understand this, for the greater part of it is now -entirely of late Renaissance detail,[98] though some large crocketed -pinnacles still exist at the angles of the highest stage. The lower -part is very plain, but the upper stage of the square tower has a rich -balustrade, and windows and pilasters, and above it is an octagonal -stage with pinnacles at the angles, and this in its turn is surmounted -by a dome, with a lantern at the top. The outline is certainly fine, and -its great height and mass make it a conspicuous object for a very long -distance from Salamanca. - -The mixed character of the detail in this church is well seen in the -great doorway. Its jambs are richly moulded and carved, but the -mouldings are all planned on a line receding but little from the face of -the wall, so that the general effect is flat, and wanting in shadow. The -main arch is a bold simple trefoil, but the label above it is carried on -in an ogee line, and the arches below over two sculptured subjects, and -over two door-openings under them, are elliptical. So, too, in the -sculpture on the bas-reliefs over the door-openings, we have the richest -luxuriance of the latest school of Spanish Gothic, with its beasts, its -crisp foliage, and its wild love of heraldic achievements, and, mixed -with all this, naked cherubs, clouds, and representations of Roman -architecture. - -In conclusion, I am bound to say of this great church that, whilst its -exterior fails in almost every single particular, its interior, thanks -to compliance with certain broad rules of Gothic building, is beyond -question very grand and impressive. To the vast size and height of the -columns this is mainly owing, for though they are cut up with endless -little mouldings ingeniously “stopped,” one does not observe their -pettinesses, and the arches which they carry are bolder and more -important than might have been expected. - -Some of the side chapels have altars both at the east and the west; and -where the old altars remain they have carved in stone an imitation of an -altar frontal. They represent worked super-frontals with fringes, and -frontals with fringed orphreys at either end: and I saw one altar with a -painted imitation of embroidery all over it. A chapel on the south side -of the nave has an altar entirely covered with glazed tiles, the walls -around it being similarly inlaid. - -Close to the cathedral is one of the University buildings, with a -central dome and two dome-capped towers to the west of it, and near -these again is another domed church, and in the distance this group is -very remarkable and stately-looking. - -I wandered all over Salamanca looking for old churches, and could find -few of any interest.[99] The finest are all but Renaissance in their -character and detail, and seem to have owed much to the influence of -Hontañon. The convents and colleges, where not ruined, are grand in -scale, yet they produce none of the effect which our Oxford buildings -do: but, on the other hand, they are built of a much better stone, and -of a rich, warm, yellow tint. The good people here are smartening up the -entrance to the town with flower-gardens, seats, and acacias, and are -certainly putting their best feet forward, though there is nothing else -even approaching to smartness in the place. A walk round the old walls -is a melancholy amusement. They are, in part, being levelled; still I -saw two or three pointed gateways, which seemed to be of early date, but -very simple. I saw also some convents in a dilapidated state, and indeed -everywhere the state of these is very bad, and I never saw so many waste -places or half-ruined buildings. A good deal of this is no doubt owing -to the operations of the French during the Peninsular War, but something -certainly to the natives, who are busier in pulling down than building -up; or at any rate, when they do the latter, they combine it with the -former; for in some repairs of one of the University buildings I found -the men re-using old wrought stones from some fifteenth-century -building. - -A bull-fight had just been celebrated here, and the principal square in -the city, the “Plaza Mayor,” one of the best I have seen in Spain, had -been fitted up for the occasion as an arena, with seats sloping up from -the ground to the first floor windows of the houses all round it. (There -was a regular arena, but it was being demolished, to give place, I -presume, to one on a grander scale.) Another Plaza close to it is the -principal market-place, and affords good opportunities for the study of -the costumes of the peasantry. - -[Illustration: No. 9. - -ZAMORA. p. 94. - -THE BRIDGE ACROSS THE DOURO.] - -I was fortunate in happening to light upon one very curious church -here--that of San Marcos. The engraving of the plan[100] will show how -very cleverly its architect managed to combine the scheme of a circular -church with the usual Spanish triapsidal arrangement. The apses are -vaulted with semi-domes, whilst the rest of the church is covered -with wooden roofs, and these all lean towards the central square, which -has a hipped roof. The arches are all pointed, and there are rudely -carved capitals to the columns. A simple corbel-table is carried along -under the eaves, and there are one or two slits--they are not more--for -light. This little church is close to the town walls, and the absence of -windows gives it the look of a part of a fortress. The plan seems to me -to be admirably suggestive: we are too much in the habit of working -perpetually in certain grooves which have been cut for us by our -forefathers, and most men now-a-days would be afraid to plan a little -church like this, even if the idea of it came into their heads. Yet it -struck me as being really an extremely useful and economical -construction, and such a scheme might with ease be fitted specially for -a cemetery chapel in place of one of the vulgar erections with which we -are now everywhere indulged. - -The church of San Martin has a fine early doorway, in which I first saw -a very peculiar order of decoration, which I saw again at Zamora, and of -which no doubt more examples exist in this district. My illustration -will explain its design, one member of the archivolt of which is like a -succession of curled pieces of wood put side by side and perfectly -square in section. The effect of light and shade in such work is rather -good, but it is nevertheless rather too bizarre to be quite pleasing. - -[Illustration: Archivolt. San Martin.] - -Another little church--that of San Matteo--has a rather fine, though -rude, Romanesque doorway, with a buttress on each side, and a -corbel-table above. But besides these I saw no remains of early work in -Salamanca. - -From Salamanca an uninteresting road leads to Zamora: occasionally there -are considerable woods, and in other parts of the road the fields were -well covered with vines. For two or three hours the domes of Salamanca -are in sight, backed, as every view in Spain seems to be, by a fine line -of distant mountains. No old churches are passed on the road, unless I -except a large convent, now desecrated and nearly destroyed, but which -seemed by the glimpse I caught of it to have old parts. - -The entrance to Zamora is very striking: the city crowns the long back -of a rock, falling steeply on the south to the Douro, and on the north -to another valley. At the extreme end of this hill is the cathedral, as -far away from the bulk of the people as it can be, but, for all that, -very picturesquely and finely perched. Below the cathedral is a scarped -rock, and to the left the noble river flows round a wooded point, and -then out of sight under a long line of green vine-covered hills. All -this view is taken in from the end of an old bridge, carried on sixteen -or seventeen pointed arches, across which, near the southern end, is -built a picturesque and tall gate-tower. The long line of houses -occupies the top of the rock, and then opposite the bridge the street -descends by a steep-stepped hill, and the houses cluster round the -water-side. - -The want of water in most Spanish landscapes is so great, that I was -never tired of the views here, where it is so abundant. One of the best, -perhaps, is that from just below the cathedral, looking past the -picturesque bridge across the cattle-peopled plains to a long line of -hills which bounds the horizon, with the dead-level line with which so -many of the Spanish table-lands finish above the banks of their rivers. - -Of the history of Zamora Cathedral I know but little. Here, as elsewhere -at the same time, a Frenchman, Bernardo, a Benedictine, was bishop from -A.D. 1125 to 1149, having been appointed through the influence of, and -consecrated by, his namesake, the French Archbishop of Toledo.[101] -Dávila says that the cathedral was built by a subsequent bishop, Don -Estevan, “by order and at the cost of the Emperor Don Alonso VII., as is -proved by some lines which were in this church.” These lines give the -date of 1174 as that of the completion of the work,[102] and it tallies -fairly with the general character of much of the building; for, though -it is true that everywhere the main arches are pointed, much of the -detail is undoubtedly such as to suggest as early a date as that here -given. - -[Illustration: No. 10. - -ZAMORA CATHEDRAL. p. 92. - -INTERIOR OF NAVE, LOOKING EAST] - -This cathedral is on a small scale, and the most important portion of -the ground-plan--the choir--having been rebuilt, it has lost much of its -interest. It consists now of a nave and aisles of four bays, shallow -transepts, with a dome over the crossing, a short choir with an apse of -seven sides, and two choir aisles with square east ends. At the west end -are chapels added beyond the church, that in the centre being of -considerable length, and groined with the common intersecting ribs.[103] -At the west end of the north aisle is an unusually large and fine -Romanesque steeple--the finest example of the kind I have seen in -Spain--and erected, no doubt, during the time of one of the French -bishops already referred to. - -The nave piers are very bold and vigorous in design; they are planned -with triple shafts on each face of a square core, and have square caps -and bases. The arches are very simple, but pointed. The massiveness of -the piers is very remarkable, for though the clear width of the nave is -only about twenty-three feet, the columns are not less than seven feet -across. The nave is groined in square, the aisles in oblong -compartments. There are no groining ribs in the aisles, though the -vaults are quadripartite, and in the transepts there are pointed waggon -roofs. The central dome is carried on pendentives, similar to those in -the old cathedral at Salamanca. It has an arcaded and pierced stage -above the pendentives, and then a dome or vault, divided into sixteen -compartments by ribs of bold section, the filling in between which is a -succession of small cylindrical vaults, so that the construction inside -looks rather complicated. It is, moreover, so defaced by whitewash and -plaster as to produce a much less fine effect than the dome at -Salamanca; but, on the other hand, there can be but little doubt, I -think, that it is the earlier of the two by some years. The exterior of -the dome, though much decayed and mutilated, is still very noble in its -design and effect. It will be seen that in many respects it is -singularly like that at Salamanca. The circular angle turrets, the -dormers on the cardinal sides, are similar in idea, though ruder and -heavier here than there: here, too, the outline of the dome is more -thoroughly domical. All the courses of stone in the dome seem to have -been scalloped at the edges. The arches of the windows and arcades are -all semi-circular, and the angles of the dome have a sort of sharp -fringe of ornament, in which we see the very earliest kind of suggestion -of a crocket: it is very simple, and extremely effective. Unfortunately -this extremely interesting work is not only very much decayed, but also -rent throughout with cracks, and I much fear that ere long it may cease -to exist. The loss of such an example would be one of the greatest -misfortunes for the student of Christian art in Spain, and for rarity -and peculiarity I am not speaking too strongly when I say that we in -England have no monument of the middle ages which is one whit more -precious. It is to be hoped that the authorities of the church will do -their best to preserve it from further decay as far as possible, and to -repair it in the most tenderly conservative spirit. - -The aisles have very broad massive buttresses, and the corbel-tables -which crown the wall are carried round them also. There were simple -round-arched, shafted windows in each bay, and the clerestory was -finished like the aisle with a corbel-table. - -[Illustration: No. 11. - -ZAMORA CATHEDRAL p. 94. - -EXTERIOR FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.] - -The south transept façade is, after the lantern, the most interesting -part of the church. Its general character is extremely peculiar, and -unlike any other work I have seen in Spain. There are plain buttresses -at the angles, and the space between them is divided into three -compartments by fluted pilasters, which rise as far as the corbel-table -(continued at the same level as the eaves-cornice), and carry three -pointed arches which are fitted to the original flat-pitched gable, the -centre arch being the widest and highest. The centre compartment has a -doorway with three shafts in each jamb, and four orders in the arch all -alike, and resembling the door in San Martin, at Salamanca, illustrated -at p. 91. The effect of light and shade in this ornamentation is very -great; and, executed as it is with comparatively little labour, I rather -wonder not to have seen more of the same work elsewhere. Two small -recessed arches occupy the side compartments of the façade on either -side of the doorway: that on the right hand has its archivolt carved -with extreme delicacy with a small leaf repeated frequently; and both -have within their arches sculptures of figures. The bases of all the -columns are fluted, and the capitals are all carved rather rudely, and -have heavy abaci. Over the side arches are square sunk compartments -enclosing circular ornaments carved with a succession of hollow flutings -sinking back to the centre. In fact, these strange ornaments--which at -first sight look almost like modern insertions--are precisely like -models of the dome with its arched groining spaces between the ribs. -Above the doorway is a row of five arches recessed in the wall,[104] and -under the central arch in the gable is a blocked-up window-opening. - -I was unable to gain admission to the interior of the steeple. On the -outside it rises in a succession of nearly equal stages, of which the -upper three have, in the common Lombard fashion, windows of one, two, -and three lights respectively. - -It remains to say a few words as to the fittings of the church. The Coro -here occupies the two eastern bays of the nave, and is fitted with very -rich late stalls and canopies, which are quite magnificent in their -effect. The backs of the stalls are carved with figures, and those over -the lower range of stalls throughout with half-length figures of Old -Testament worthies, most of which have inscribed scrolls, with legends -referring to our Lord, in their hands. These texts have been printed by -Dr. Neale in the ‘Ecclesiologist,’ and they afford so valuable an -example of the right mode of selecting inscriptions, that, with his -consent, I give a copy of his account.[105] The figures are rather in -the style afterwards so much employed by Berruguete, large scale -bas-reliefs of single figures--always an awkward kind of sculpture in -the hands even of the very best artist. The traceries and crockets of -this stall-work are very elaborate, crisp, and good of their kind. There -is a continuous horizontal canopy above the upper stalls, each division -of which is filled with purely secular sculptures of beasts and animals. -The metal Rejas are of the same age as the stalls; and there is a fine -ancient lectern for the choir, of enormous size, in the centre of the -Coro, and two others of more modern date. The western screen is old--of -the fifteenth century--and has the rare feature of two doorways, leaving -the centre unpierced for the altar in the nave, and the bishop’s throne -on its eastern side, towards the Coro. By the time this work was done, -it was very generally settled that the bishop’s place was here, in the -centre of the western end of the Coro; but I have seen no other screen -in which the entrance has still been retained at the west in connexion -with this arrangement of the stalls. There is an old metal screen or -Reja under the eastern arch of the crossing, which is of the same age as -the choir fittings, and has two iron pulpits projecting from its western -face. These pulpits are lined with wood, and stand on stone bases; the -staircases to them are of wood, carved on the Gospel side with figures -of the Evangelists and St. Laurence, and on the Epistle side with St. -John, St. Peter, and other Epistolers. Each pulpit has a desk on a -little crane projecting from the column by its side. - -[Illustration: Choir Lectern, Zamora Cathedral.] - -The cloisters on the north side of the cathedral, and the bishop’s -palace on the south, are all completely modernized; but just under the -old town walls, to the north of the Cathedral Plaza, is the small -Romanesque church of San Isidoro. It has a square-ended chancel of two -bays, and a nave of three, the latter lighted by very small -windows--mere slits in the masonry--the former by shafted windows with a -deep external splay to the openings, which are also very narrow. There -are two of these windows at the east end, and there is a corbel-table -under the eaves. This church was not intended for groining. - -The long, narrow, and winding street which leads along the thin crest of -the hill to the centre of the city, passes on the way the very -interesting little church of La Magdalena. This is a Romanesque church, -divided into nave, chancel, and apsidal sanctuary, in the way we so -often see in works of similar date in England. The chancel has a pointed -waggon-vault, the apse is groined with ribs, whilst the nave has now a -modern (and probably always had a) flat wooden roof. The south doorway -is placed very nearly in the centre of the south wall of the nave. It is -a very grand example of the most ornate late Romanesque work, with -twisted and moulded shafts, and a profusion of carving in the capitals -and archivolts. Over this door is a circular window with dog-tooth in -the label, and a quatrefoil piercing in the centre; and on each side, in -the other bays, are round-arched windows of two lights. There is a very -considerable likeness between the plan of this church and that of San -Juan at Lérida.[106] In both, the overwhelming size and grandeur of the -doorway as compared with that of the building, combined with its central -position, produces at first the impression that it is the western, and -not the southern, façade one is looking at. This is a defect; yet -perhaps more so to the eyes of an Englishman, who now as of old prefers -creeping through little holes[107] in the wall into his finest churches, -than to those of any one used to the noble doorways of the Continent. -The interior of La Magdalena is more interesting than the exterior; for, -in addition to the good early detail of the arches across the chancel, -it has at the east end of the nave some very fine and very peculiar -monuments. Two of these are high tombs, with lofty canopies over them, -occupying the space between the side walls of the nave and the jambs of -the chancel arch. These canopies are square-topped, with round arches on -the two disengaged sides, and carried upon large shafts standing -detached on the floor. The detail of the canopies is as plain as -possible; but the capitals are carved with very pure and vigorous -conventional foliage, and the shafts are twisted; the moulding on those -of the northernmost of the two monuments being reversed in mid-height, -so as to produce a large and simple chevron. The mouldings of the shaft -are carefully stopped below the necking, and above the base. The effect -of this monument, filling in as it does the angle at the end of the -nave, is extremely good; its rather large detail and general proportions -giving it the effect of being an integral part of the fabric rather -than, as monuments usually are, a subsequent addition. - -[Illustration: Monument, la Magdalena.] - -To the west of the monument already mentioned, against the north wall, -is another of about the same age--probably the early part of the -thirteenth century--and even more curious in its design. It has three -shafts in front carrying the canopy; and this is composed of two -divisions of canopy-work, very similar to those so often seen in French -sculpture over figures and subjects in doorways; under each are a pair -of monsters--wyverns, or some such nondescripts--fighting. The capitals -are similarly carved, and the abaci have conventional foliage. The tomb -under the canopy has a plain coffin-shaped stone with a cross on it; but -against the wall are, below, a figure lying in a bed carved on a bold -block of stone projecting from the wall; and, above this, the soul of -the departed being carried up by angels. The whole design and character -of this monument are so unlike any other work that I know, that I give a -native artist the credit of them. Yet the character of the detail seems -to me to show an acquaintance with the French and Italian architecture -of the day. - -La Magdalena is said to have been a church founded by the Knights -Templars, but on the suppression of their order in A.D. 1312 to have -become the property of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. - -[Illustration: San Vicente. Zamora.] - -San Miguel, near the picturesque market-place in the centre of the city, -has a fine south door. The archivolts are bold, but quite plain, and -square in section. Each order is carried on three shafts, and the -boldness of the effect is very striking. On the other side of the Plaza -the tall tower of San Vicente rises well up against the sky. It has a -fine west doorway, and rises above the roof in three stages, lighted -respectively by windows of one, two, and three lights. It is finished -with a simple corbel-table, above which is a modern roof. The whole of -the detail here is fine, simple, early-pointed, very pure and good. The -church seems to be almost entirely modernized. - -In the lower and eastern part of the city there are also one or two -interesting churches. San Leonardo has a square tower engaged against -the north side of the west front, very plain below, but with a -belfry-stage of two pointed windows, moulded angles, simple -corbel-table, and a low square slated spire--the slates cut to pattern, -like scales. The fine west door of this church is round-arched, and on -either side of it are great brackets sculptured with a lion and a bear. - -Sta. Maria de la Horta is a church of the same class as La Magdalena. It -has a western tower, a nave of three bays of quadripartite groining -carried on very bold piers and shafts in the side walls, a chancel, and -apsidal sanctuary. The apse has a semi-dome, with a pointed archway in -front of it. The chancel has a round waggon-vault, and the arch between -it and the nave is semi-circular. The vaulting of the nave is extremely -domical in its section. The light is admitted by small windows in the -upper part of the walls, and above the abaci of the groining shafts, -which are continued round the building as a string-course. The west -doorway is round-arched, with chevron, and a sort of shell or -flower-ornament in its arch-mouldings. The tower is of the prevailing -type: in the stage above the roof there is a window of one light; in the -next there are two lights; and above this the steeple has been -destroyed, and a modern roof added. The walls outside are finished with -a fine and bold thirteenth-century eaves-cornice. - -I think one may see here the local influence exercised by the fine -Romanesque tower of the cathedral, which, in its division into equal -stages, with an increasing number of openings, has been followed in all -these other steeples. - -A walk over the bridge takes one to the ruins of a rather fine church -close to its further end. This has an apse of seven sides, with good -windows of two lights, with a trefoiled circle in the head; above this -is a string-course with trefoiled arcading under it, and above this a -second tier of windows. The whole is of good early middle-pointed -character.[108] - -The walls here, as in so many of the Spanish towns, are fairly perfect, -and are thickly studded with the usual array of round towers throughout -their length. The bridge already mentioned is probably a work of the -thirteenth century. The arches are perfectly plain and pointed, -springing from about the water-level. The piers between the arches -project boldly; and over each is a small arch pierced through the -bridge, which gives a good deal of additional effect to the design. The -grand length of this bridge, with its long line of pointed arches -reflected in the lazily-flowing Douro, and backed by the towers and -walls of the city, is extremely striking. Neither of the gateways on it -is really old; but nevertheless they add much to its picturesqueness. -The only old domestic building of any note that I saw in Zamora was a -very late Gothic house in the Plaza de los Momos. The entrance doorway -has the enormous and exaggerated arch-stones so common in the later -Catalan buildings, but not often seen in this part of Spain. It has -above it a label, which is stepped up in the centre to enclose a great -coat-of-arms, with its supporters. On either side of this are two -windows which, with the coat-of-arms in the centre, make a panel of the -same width as the door below. The other principal windows are on a line -with these, and all of them of thoroughly debased design. They are of -two round-headed lights enclosed within a label-moulding, which finishes -in an ogee trefoil; and this again within another label-moulding, either -square or ogee in the head. The vagaries of these later Gothic -architects in Spain are certainly far from pleasant; yet odd as its -detail is, the plain masses of unbroken wall in the lower part of this -front give it a kind of dignity which is seldom seen in modern work. The -practice of making all the living-rooms on the first-floor of course -conduces largely to this happy result. - -I was unable, unfortunately, to spare time when I was at Zamora to go -over to Toro to see the fine Collegiata there. M. Villa Amil has given a -drawing of the domed lantern over the Crossing. In plan it is similar to -the domes at Salamanca and Zamora as to the angle pinnacles, but not as -to the gabled windows between them. But it appears to have lost its -ancient roof; and I cannot understand, from the drawing, how the domical -roof, which it was no doubt built to receive, can now possibly -exist.[109] It seems pretty clear that this example is of rather later -date than that at Salamanca; and we have therefore in Zamora, Salamanca, -and Toro a very good sequence of Gothic domes, all upon much the same -plan, and most worthy of careful study. A more complete acquaintance -with this part of Spain might be expected to reveal some other examples -of the same extremely interesting kind of work. - -From Zamora, cheered by the recollection of perhaps the most gorgeous -sunset and the clearest moonlight that I ever saw, I made my way across -country to Benavente. It is a ten hours’ drive over fields, through -streams and ditches, and nowhere on a road upon which any pains have -ever been bestowed; and when I say that the country is flat and -uninteresting, the paternal benevolence of the government which leaves -such a district practically roadless will be appreciated. Beyond -Benavente the case is still worse, for the broad valley of the Esla, -leading straight to Leon, is without a road along which a tartana can -drive, though there is scarcely a hillock to surmount or a stream to -cross in the forty miles between a considerable town and the capital of -the province! - -Soon after leaving Zamora some villages were seen to the right, and one -of them seemed to me to have a church with a dome; but my view of it was -very distant, and I cannot speak with any certainty. From thence to -Benavente no old building was passed. - -[Illustration: No. 12. - -BENAVENTE. - -EAST END OF STA. MARIA. p. 102.] - -Benavente is the most tumble-down forlorn-looking town I have seen. Most -of the houses are built of mud, rain-worn for want of proper thatching, -of only one story in height, and relieved in front by a doorway and -usually one very small hole for a window. There is, however, a -church--Sta. Maria del Azogue--which made the journey quite worth -undertaking. It is cruciform, with five apses projecting from the -eastern wall, that in the centre larger than the others.[110] The apses -have semi-domes, the square compartments to the west of them -quadripartite vaulting in the three centre, and waggon-vaults in the two -outer bays. The transepts and crossing are vaulted with pointed -barrel-vaults at the two ends, and three bays of quadripartite vaulting -in the space between these two compartments; and the internal effect is -particularly fine, owing to the long line of arches into the eastern -chapels and the rich character of most of the details. The nave and -aisles no doubt retain to some extent their old form and arrangement, -but most of the work here is of the fifteenth century, whilst that of -the eastern part of the church is no doubt of circa A.D. 1170-1220. The -west front is quite modernized. The transept walls are lofty, and there -is a simple pointed clerestory above the roofs of the eastern chapels, -and a rose window over the arch into the Capilla mayor. The smaller -chapels have each one window, the centre chapel three windows with the -usual three-quarter engaged shaft between them, finishing in the -eaves-cornice. The south transept has a fine round-headed doorway, but -all its detail is that of early-pointed work. It has an Agnus Dei -surrounded by angels in the tympanum, the four Evangelists with their -emblems in one order of the arch, bold foliage in the next, a deep -scallop ornament in the third, and delicate foliage in the label. The -capitals are well carved, and the jambs of the door and one of the -members of the archivolt have simple rose ornaments at intervals. The -abaci of the capitals are square, but notwithstanding this and the other -apparently early feature of the round arch I am still not disposed to -date this work earlier than circa A.D. 1210-20.[111] Of the same age and -character probably are all the eaves-cornices of the earlier part of the -church, and, I have little doubt, the whole lower portion of the church -itself. - -There is a fine doorway to the north transept, and a lofty tower of very -singular design rises over its northern bay. This is three stages in -height above the roof, and is finished with a corbel-table and a modern -spire of ogee outline. The masons’ marks on the exterior of the walls -are here, as is usual in these early churches, very plentiful. - -The church of San Juan del Mercado seems to be in some respects even -more interesting than the other. It has a south doorway of singularly -rich character, the two inner orders of the arch being round and the -others pointed. The shafts are unusually rich and delicate; they are -carved with acanthus-leaves diapered all over their surface, with -chevrons and spiral mouldings, and above their bands at mid-height have -in front of them figures of saints, three on either side. The tympanum -has the Adoration of the Magi, and the order of the arch round it is -sculptured with angels. Altogether this is a very refined and noble -work, and the combination of the pointed and round arches one over the -other is very happy. The west front has also a fine doorway and engaged -shafts at intervals in the wall, and the east end is parallel triapsidal -of the same character as that of San Juan. - -There are some other churches, but those which I saw seemed to be all -late and uninteresting. There are, too, the rapidly wasting ruins of an -imposing castle. It is of very late sixteenth century work, and -apparently has no detail of any interest; but the approach to it through -a gateway, and up a winding hilly road under the steep castle walls, is -very picturesque. By its side an Alameda has been planted, and here is -the one agreeable walk in Benavente. Below is the river Esla, winding -through a broad plain well wooded hereabouts with poplars and aspens; in -the background are lines of hills, and beyond them bold mountain -outlines; and such a view, aided by the transparent loveliness of the -atmosphere, was enough to make me half-inclined to forget the squalid -misery of everything that met the eye when I passed back again to my -lodging. - -[Illustration: SALAMANCA:--Ground Plans of old and new Cathedrals:--and -of San Marcos:--Plate IV. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865.] - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -LEON. - - -It is a ride of some six-and-thirty or forty miles from Benavente to -Leon. The road follows the course of the valley of the Esla all the way, -and, though it is as nearly as possible level throughout, it is -impassable for carriages. This is characteristic of the country; the -Spaniards are content to go on as their fathers have done before them, -and until some external friend comes to make a railway for them, the -people of Benavente and Leon will probably still remain as practically -isolated from each other as they are at present. - -The valley is full of villages, as many as ten or twelve being in sight -at one time on some parts of the road. None of their churches, however, -seem to be of the slightest value. They are mostly modern and built of -brick, though some have nothing better than badly built cob-walls to -boast of; and their only unusual feature seems to be the great western -bell-gable, which is generally an elevation above the roof of the whole -width of the western wall, in which several bells are usually hung in a -series of openings. The villages, too, are all built of cob; and as the -walls are either only half-thatched or not thatched at all, they are -gradually being worn away by the rains, and look as forlorn and sad as -possible. One almost wonders that the people do not quit their hovels -for the wine-caves with which every little hill near the villages is -honeycombed, and upon which more care seems to be bestowed than upon the -houses. In these parts the peasants adorn the outside of their houses -with plenty of whitewash, and then relieve its bareness with rude red -and black paintings of sprigs of trees, arranged round the windows and -doors. - -The cathedral of Leon is first seen some three or four hours before the -city is reached. It stands up boldly above the well-wooded valley, and -is backed by a noble range of mountain-peaks to the north; so that, -though the road was somewhat monotonous and wearying, I rode on -picturing to myself the great things I was soon to see. Unfortunately I -visited Leon a year too late, for I came just in time to see the -cathedral bereft of its southern transept, which had been pulled down to -save it from falling, and was being reconstructed under the care of a -Madrilenian architect--Señor Lavinia. I saw his plans and some of the -work which was being put in its place, and the sight made me wish with -double earnestness that I had been there before he had commenced his -work! In England or in France such a work would be full of risk, and -might well fill all lovers of our old buildings with alarm; but in Spain -there is absolutely no school for the education of architects, the old -national art is little understood and apparently very little studied, -and there are no new churches and no minor restorations on which the -native architects may try their prentice hands. In England for some -years we have lived in the centre of a church-building movement as -active and hearty perhaps as any ever yet known; our advantages, -therefore, as compared with those possessed by foreigners generally, are -enormous; whilst perhaps, on the other hand, in no country has so little -been done as in Spain during the present century. Yet in England few of -us would like to think of pulling down and reconstructing one side of a -cathedral, and few would doubt that art and history would lose much in -the process, even in the hands of the most able and conservative -architect. - -The two great architectural features of Leon are the cathedral and the -church of San Isidoro; and to the former, though it is by much the most -modern of the two, I must first of all ask my readers to turn their -attention. - -Spaniards are rightly proud of this noble church, and the proverbs which -assert its pre-eminence seem to be numerous. One, giving the -characteristics of several cathedrals, is worth quoting:-- - - “Dives Toletana, Sancta Ovetensis - Pulchra Leonina, fortis Salamantina.” - -And again there is another Leonese couplet:-- - - “Sevilla en grandeza, Toledo en riqueza, - Compostella en fortaleza, esta en sutileza.” - -So again, just as our own people wrote that jubilant verse on the -door-jamb of the Chapter-house at York, here on a column in front of the -principal door was inscribed-- - - “Sint licet Hispaniis ditissima, pulchraque templa, - Hoc tamen egregiis omnibus arte prius.” - -There used to be a controversy as to the age of this cathedral, which -must, however, one would think, long since have been settled. It was -asserted that it was the very church built at the end of the ninth -century during the reign of Ordoño II.; and the only proof of this was -the inscription upon the fine fourteenth-century monument of the King -which still stands in the aisle of the chevet behind the high altar:-- - - “Omnibus exemplum sit, quod venerabile templum - Rex dedit Ordonius, quo jacet ipse pius. - Hunc fecit sedem, quam primo fecerat ædem - Virginis hortatu, quæ fulget Pontificatu. - Pavit eam donis, per eam nitet urbs Legionis - Quesumus ergo Dei gratia parcat ei. Amen.” - -Fortunately, however, in addition to the indubitable evidence of the -building itself, there is sufficient documentary evidence to give with -tolerable exactness the dates of the commencement and completion of the -existing church, and I did not see, and believe there is not, a relic of -the church which preceded it still remaining. - -One or two facts of interest in regard to the first cathedral may, -however, well be mentioned here. The architect is said by Sandoval to -have been an Abbat; and in Ordoño II.’s absence he is said to have -converted the old Roman baths in the palace into a church, the plan -being similar to that of churches with three naves.[112] It is -interesting to find this plan so popular in the eleventh and twelfth -centuries, already described as existing in the ninth.[113] - -Don Manrique, Bishop of Leon from A.D. 1181 to A.D. 1205, is said to -have been the first founder of the present cathedral. The contemporary -chronicler Don Lucas de Tuy speaks most positively on this point, and as -he wrote his history in the convent of San Isidoro close by, it is -difficult to dispute his testimony.[114] How much he completed nowhere -appears, though, judging by the style of the church, I should say it -could have been but very little. Later than this, in A.D. 1258, during -the episcopate of D. Martin Fernandez, a Junta of all the bishops of the -kingdom of Leon was held at Madrid, at which the state of the fabric of -the cathedral was discussed, and forty days of indulgence offered to -those who made offerings towards the further promotion of the -works.[115] Sixteen years later a council was held in Leon, and again -the state of the fabric of the church was discussed and indulgence -offered to those who gave alms for it.[116] Finally, in A.D. 1303, the -Bishop Don Gonzalez gave back to the use of the Chapter a property which -had been devoted to the work of the church, “because,” he says, “the -work is now done, thanks be to God.” Nothing more clear on the face of -it than this list of dates can be desired; yet, as frequently happens, -when we come to compare them with the building itself, it is utterly -impossible to believe in the most important part of it--the foundation, -namely, of any part of the present church in the time of Bishop Manrique -before the year 1205. I have elsewhere in this volume had occasion to -show how much the Spaniards borrowed from the French in their -architecture. Certain entire buildings, such as Burgos, Toledo, and -Santiago, are distinctly derived from French churches, and in all cases -are somewhat later in date than the French examples with which they most -nearly correspond. If we apply this test to Leon it will be impossible -to admit that any part of the existing church was built much before A.D. -1250. The church from beginning to end is thoroughly French; French in -its detail, in its plan, and in its general design. And inasmuch as -there is no long and regular sequence of Spanish buildings leading up -step by step to the developed style which it exhibits, it is quite out -of the question to give it credit for an earlier existence than the -corresponding French churches, in the history of which such steps are -not wanting. - -[Illustration: No 13. - -LEON CATHEDRAL. p. 108 - -INTERIOR OF AISLE ROUND THE APSE.] - -The churches which are nearest in style to Leon are, I think, the -cathedrals at Amiens and Rheims, and perhaps the later part of S. Denis. -Of these, Amiens was in building from A.D. 1220 to A.D. 1269, and Rheims -from A.D. 1211 to A.D. 1241. But both are slightly earlier in their -character than Leon. In all three the chapels of the apse are planned in -the same way; that is to say, they are polygonal and not circular in -their outlines, and the sections of the columns, the plans of the bases -and capitals, and the detail of the arches and groining ribs are as -nearly as may be the same; and in all these points the resemblance -between them and Leon Cathedral is close and remarkable. - -A similar conclusion will be arrived at if we pursue the inquiry from a -different point, and compare this cathedral with other Spanish works of -the date at which it is assumed to have been in progress. I can only -suppose that Don Lucas de Tuy, when he spoke of Bishop Manrique’s work -at the cathedral, did so only from hearsay, or else that the work then -commenced was subsequently completely removed to make way for the -present building. Certainly in A.D. 1180-1200 all Spanish churches seem -to have been built on a different plan, in a very much more solid -fashion, and so that it would have been very difficult indeed to convert -them into anything like the existing building. I venture to assume, -therefore, that the scheme of Leon Cathedral was first made circa A.D. -1230-1240, and that the work had not progressed very far at the time the -Junta of bishops was held in Madrid in A.D. 1258. - -In plan[117] the cathedral consists of a nave and aisles of six bays, -transepts, a choir of three bays, and chevet of five sides, with a -surrounding aisle and pentagonal chapels beyond. There are two western -towers, a large cloister on the north side, sacristies on the -south-east, and a large chapel on the east side of the cloisters, with -other buildings on their northern and western sides, arranged very much -in the usual way; the chevet projects beyond the line of the old city -wall, one of the towers of which is still left on the east side of the -cloister. The city was long and narrow; and whilst the cathedral -projects to the east of the wall, the church of San Isidoro has its -western tower built out beyond the western face of the wall. There is -not, however, here, as there is at Avila, any very distinct attempt to -fortify the chevet of the cathedral, otherwise than by forming passages, -passing through the buttresses all round it, and by raising the windows -high above the ground on the east. - -There are doorways in all the three grand fronts, west, north, and -south; but these shall be described further on. The columns throughout -are cylindrical, with attached shafts on the cardinal sides, the -groining-shafts towards the nave and choir being, however, triple, -instead of single. In the apse the small shafts are not placed regularly -round the main shaft, but their position is altered to suit the angles -at which the arches are built. The same alteration of plan occurs in the -chevet of Amiens, a work which was in progress about A.D. 1240, and to -which, as I have said, the plan of this cathedral bears considerable -resemblance. - -The feature which most struck me in this cathedral was the wonderful -lightness which characterizes its construction in every part. The -columns of the nave are of moderate size, and the arches which they -carry very thin, whilst the large and lofty clerestory, and the -triforium below it, were both pierced to such an extent as to leave a -pier to receive the groining smaller than I think I ever saw elsewhere -in so large a church. There are double flying buttresses, one above the -other, and the architect trusted, no doubt, that the weight of the -groining would be carried down through them to such an extent as to make -it safe to venture on as much as he did. Moreover, he was careful to -economize the weight where possible; and with this view he filled in the -whole of his vaults with a very light tufa, obtained from the mountains -to the north of Leon.[118] In short, when this cathedral was planned, -its architect must either have resolved that it should exceed all others -in the slender airiness of its construction, or he must have been -extremely incautious if not reckless. It is not a little curious that in -France, at the same time, the same attempt was being made, and with the -like result. The architect of Beauvais, unable to surpass the majestic -combination of stable loftiness with beauty of form, which characterized -the rather earlier work at Amiens, tried instead to excel him alike in -height, and in lightness of construction. No one can pretend that he was -an incompetent man, yet his work was so imprudently daring, that it was -impossible to avoid a catastrophe; and we now have it rebuilt, to some -extent in the same design after its fall, but with so many additional -points of support as very much to spoil its symmetry and beauty. Here, -then, we have an exactly parallel case: for at Leon, no sooner was the -church completed than it became necessary to build up the outer lights, -both of the clerestory and triforium, to save the work from the same -misfortune. Nor was the precaution altogether successful, for, owing -almost entirely to the over-hazardous nature of the whole construction, -the south transept had recently, it is said, become so dangerously rent -with cracks and settlements as to render it absolutely necessary to -rebuild it; and the groining throughout the church shows signs of -failure everywhere, and this of serious, if not of so fatal a character. - -At the risk of repetition, I cannot help saying how strongly this -parallel between Beauvais and Leon tells in favour of the assumption -that its origin was rather French than Spanish. For in Spain there were -no other churches at the time it was built from which a Spanish -architect could have made such a sudden development as this design would -have been. The steps by which it would have been attained are altogether -wanting, and yet in France we have every step, and, finally, results of -precisely the same kind. Both at an earlier and at a later date, when -Spaniards made use of their own school of architects, they developed for -themselves certain classes of churches, unlike, in some respects, to -those of any other country. Here, however, we have an exotic, which, -like the cathedral at Burgos, is evidently the work of some artist who -had at least been educated among the architects of the north of France, -if he was not himself a Frenchman. The proof of this is to be found more -perhaps at S. Denis than anywhere, for there the section of the -mouldings of the clerestory windows, as well as their general design, -tallies so closely with the same parts of Leon Cathedral that it is -almost impossible to doubt their common origin. - -One other feature not yet insisted upon, affords strong evidence in the -same direction. This cathedral is a mere lantern, it has scarcely a yard -of plain unpierced wall anywhere, and the main thought of its architect -was evidently how he might increase to the utmost extent the size of the -windows, and the spaces for the glorious glass with which he contrived -to fill the church. No greater fault could be committed in such a -climate. This lavish indulgence in windows would have been excessive -even in England, and must have always been all but insupportable in -Spain. It was the design of French and not Spanish artists, for in their -own undoubted works these last always wisely reduced their windows to -the smallest possible dimensions. The cathedral at Milan is a case of -the same kind, for there a German architect, called to build a church in -a foreign land, built it with as many windows as he would have put had -it been in his own country, and with a similar contempt for the customs -of the national architects to that which marks the work of the architect -of Leon Cathedral. - -Regarding this cathedral, then, as a French, rather than as a Spanish -church, and giving up all attempt to make it illustrate a chapter of the -real national artistic history, we shall best be able to do justice to -it as a work of art. It is, indeed, in almost every respect worthy to be -ranked among the noblest churches of Europe. Its detail is rich and -beautiful throughout, its plan very excellent, the sculpture with which -it is adorned quite equal in quantity and character to that of any -church of the age, and the stained glass with which its windows are -everywhere filled, perhaps some of the most brilliant in Europe. - -There are many features in its construction and design which must be -referred to somewhat in detail, and to this part of my subject I must -now turn. - -I have already mentioned that the triforium throughout the church was -originally glazed. In order to obtain this the aisles were covered with -gabled roofs, whose ridges were parallel with the nave; and in order to -allow of this being done a stone gutter was formed below the sills of -the clerestory windows, and below this again corbels were built into the -wall to carry the aisle roofs; cross gutters also of stone were carried -through the roof in each bay from the clerestory gutter to the outer -wall of the aisles. I cannot say that the effect of this arrangement is -good. The eye seems to require some grave space of wall between the main -arches and the glazing of the clerestory; and it is difficult to say on -what ground the triforium is to be treated as a separate architectural -division of the fabric, when it is in truth, as it is here, nothing more -than a prolongation of the clerestory. - -The flying buttresses are rather steep in pitch, and each consists of -two arches abutting against very broad buttresses rising from between -the side chapels; the lower arch supports the clerestory just at the -level of the springing of the groining; the higher a few feet only below -the parapet. Two pinnacles rise out of each of the buttresses, and -others form a finish to them all round the clerestory, and at the angles -of the chapels of the apse. - -The windows throughout have good traceries. They are all of pure -geometrical character; those in the chapels of the choir being of two -lights, with large cusped circles in the head, and those in the -clerestory of four lights, subdivided into two divisions, similar to the -chapel windows, with another cusped circle above. The heads of the -lights throughout the windows are uncusped, the cusping being confined -to the traceries. The clerestory windows originally had six lights, but -the outer lights were rather clumsy additions to the original scheme for -four-light windows, and have since been walled up, to give the necessary -strength to the groining piers. The general arrangement of the traceries -in this part of the church will be best understood by reference to the -engraving which I give of one bay of the choir. - -[Illustration: Bay of Choir, Leon Cathedral.] - -The stone-work of all the window traceries was very carefully cramped -together with strong toothed iron plugs let into the centre of the -stones, and the masons seem, in many cases, to have marked the beds and -not the face of the stones. Indeed, the early masons’ marks are but few -in number, and most of those that I saw occurred at the base of the -eastern walls, and again in the upper portion of the work. On the late, -and thoroughly Spanish chapel of Santiago also, a good many occur on the -outer face of the stones. Owing to the works which were in progress in -the south transept, I had an unusually good opportunity of looking for -these marks, not only on the face of the stones, but also on their beds, -and their almost entire absence from the early work was very remarkable. -On the other hand, there were markings on some of the other stones which -were of much more interest. I found, for instance, one of the large -stones forming the capital of the pier at the crossing of the nave and -transepts, carefully marked, first with an outline of the whole of the -jamb mould, then with the lines of the capital, and finally with the -whole of the archivolt. It had all the air of being the practical -working drawing used for the execution of the work, some little -alterations having been made in the archivolt. It is easy to conceive -that the architect may thus have designed his details, and his mode -bears considerable analogy to that which M. Verdier describes as having -been adopted at Limoges, where the lines of the groining and all the -working outlines were scratched on the floor of the triforia; here the -lines are scratched boldly on the surface of the stones. - -The walls throughout the church were built of rubble, faced with wrought -stone inside and out, and some of the failures in the work are -attributable, no doubt, to the want of strength and bond of this kind of -walling. - - The dimensions of the various parts are about as follows:-- - Total internal length 300 feet. - “ width of nave and aisles 83 feet. - Height to springing of main arches 25 feet 6 inches. - “ floor of triforium 46 feet. - “ centre of groining about 100 feet. - -These dimensions, though not to be compared to those of many of the -French churches, are still very noble, and would place this among the -finest of our own buildings in respect of height; but, like all Spanish, -and most French churches, the length is not very grand. - -The various views of the exterior are fine, but everywhere the height of -the clerestory appears to be rather excessive. This is seen even at the -west end, where a little management might easily have prevented it. But -the two steeples standing beyond the aisles leave a narrow vertical -chasm between their side walls and those of the clerestory, which is -brought out, without any break in its outline by means of buttresses, -quite to the west front. The lower part of these steeples is perfectly -plain; each has a sort of double belfry stage, and they are both -finished with low spires--that on the south pierced with open traceries, -and that on the north simply crocketed; both of them are somewhat -ungainly, of very late date, and not sufficiently lofty or important for -the church to which they are attached. - -The grand feature of the west front is the beautiful porch which extends -all across, forming three grand archways, corresponding with the nave -and aisles, with smaller and extremely pointed arches between them. -These arches are all supported on clustered shafts, standing away -between four and five feet from the main wall, in which the doorways are -set. Statues are set on corbels round the detached shafts, and again in -the jambs of all the doorways, and the tympana and archivolts of the -latter are everywhere crowded with sculpture. An open parapet is carried -all across the front above the porch, and above this the west end is -pierced with a row of four windows corresponding with the triforium, and -again, above, by a very large and simple wheel-window. The finish of the -west front is completely modernized, with a seventeenth-century gable -between two pinnacles. - -The sculpture of the western doors well deserves description and -illustration. It is charming work, of precisely the same character as -the best French work of the latter half of the thirteenth century, and -there is a profusion of it. - -The central west door has in the tympanum our Lord seated, with angels, -and St. John and the Blessed Virgin worshipping on either side. Below is -the Last Judgment, the side of the Blessed being as pretty and -interesting as anything I have seen. A youth sits at a small organ -playing sweet songs to those who go to Paradise; and a king, going -jauntily, and as if of right, towards St. Peter, is met by a grave -person, who evidently tells him that he must depart to the other and -sadder side. The three orders of the arch are filled with the -resurrection of the dead, angels taking some, and devils others, as they -rise from their graves,--the whole mixed very indiscriminately. On the -central shaft is a statue of the Blessed Virgin and our Lord, now with -wretched taste dressed up and enclosed in a glass case, to the great -damage of the whole doorway. - -The north-west doorway has its tympanum divided in three horizontal -lines. The lower compartment has the Salutation, the Nativity, an -Angel, and the Shepherds; the middle the Magi adoring our Lord in the -Blessed Virgin’s arms, and the Flight into Egypt; and the upper, the -Massacre of the Innocents. The arch of this door is elliptic, and the -space between it and the tympanum is filled with figures of angels with -crowns and censers, playing an organ and other instruments, and singing -from books. The meaning of the sculpture in the archivolt was not clear -to me, and seemed to refer to some legend. - -The south-west doorway has the tympanum divided as the last, and in the -lower compartment the death of the Blessed Virgin; next to this our Lord -and the Blessed Virgin seated; and above, angels putting a crown on her -head. The archivolt here is adorned with one order of sitting figures of -saints and two of angels. - -The east end is more striking than the west. It retains almost all its -old features intact, save that the roof is now very flat, and covered -with pantiles, whereas it is probable that at first it was of a steep -pitch. It stands up well above the sort of boulevard which passes under -its east end, and when seen from a little further off, the steeples of -the western end group well with it, and, to some extent, compensate for -the loss of the old roofing line. - -The south transept had been entirely taken down when I was at Leon, and -the sculpture of its three doorways was lying on the floor of the -church. It is of the same fine character as that of the western doors; -the central door has a figure of our Lord with the emblems of the -Evangelists on either side, and beyond them the Evangelists themselves -writing at desks. Below this are the twelve Apostles seated, and the -several orders of the archivolt are carved with figures of angels -holding candles, sculptures of vine and other leaves, and crowned -figures playing on musical instruments. The south-west door of the -transept has no sculpture of figures, but the favourite diapers of -fleur-de-lys and castles, and lions and castles, and an order of foliage -arranged in the French fashion, _à crochet_. The south-east door has in -its tympanum the death of the Blessed Virgin, with angels in the -archivolt holding candles. The gable of this transept seems to have been -very much altered by some Renaissance architect before it was taken -down. - -The north transept has two doorways, only one of which is now open. This -has a figure of our Lord seated within a vesica, supported by angels, -and the archivolt has figures of saints with books. The jambs -have--like all the other door-jambs--statues under canopies, and below -them the common diaper of lions and castles. The closed north-west door -of this transept now forms a reredos for an altar; it has no sculpture -of figures. - -The north transept doorway opens into a groined aisle which occupies the -space between the transept and the cloister. This aisle is very dark, -and opens at its eastern end into the chapel of Santiago, a fine late -building of the age of Ferdinand and Isabella, running north and south, -and showing its side elevation in the general view of the east end to -the north of the choir. - -The cloister is so mutilated as to have well-nigh lost all its -architectural value. The entrance to the porch in front of the north -transept is, however, in its old state; it is a fine doorway, richly and -delicately carved with small subjects enclosed in quatrefoils. The -original groining shafts, which still remain, show that the whole -cloister was built early in the fourteenth century; the traceries, -however, have all been destroyed; and the groining, the outer walls, and -buttresses altered with vast trouble and cost, into a very poor and weak -kind of Renaissance. But if the cloister has lost much of its -architectural interest, it is still full of value from another point of -view, containing as it does one of the finest series of illustrations of -the New Testament that I have ever seen, remaining in each bay of the -cloister all the way round. These subjects begin to the east of the -doorway to the north transept, and are continued round in regular order -till they finish on its western side. I have not been able to learn -anything as to the history of these works. If they are Spanish, they -prove the existence of a school of painters of rare excellence here, for -they are all more or less admirable in their drawing, in the expression -of the faces, and in the honesty and simplicity with which they tell -their story. The colours, too, where they are still visible, are pure -and good, and the whole looked to me like the work of some good -Florentine artist of about the middle of the fifteenth century. It would -not be a little curious to find the King or Bishop of Leon not only -sending to France for his architect, but to Tuscany for his -wall-painter, and, if it be the fact, it would show how firm must have -been the resolve to make this church as perfect as possible in every -respect, and how little dependence was then placed on native talent. - -The subjects represented are the following, each painting filling the -whole of the upper part of the wall in each bay of the cloister:-- - - 1. The Birth of the Blessed Virgin. - 2. Her Marriage. - 3. The Annunciation. - 4, 5, 6. Destroyed. - 7. Massacre of the Innocents, and Herod giving orders for it. - 8, 9. Destroyed. - 10. The Blessed Virgin Mary seated with our Lord, angels above, - and three figures with nimbi sitting and adoring, others with - musical instruments. - 11. The Baptism of our Lord. - 12. Destroyed. - 13. An ass and its foal, Jerusalem in the background, and indistinct - groups of figures. - 14. Our Lord riding into Jerusalem. The city has circular towers all - round, and churches - with two western octagonal steeples. - 15. The Last Supper. - 16. Our Lord washing the Disciples’ feet; some figures on the right - carrying water-jars are drawn with extreme grace. - 17. Destroyed. - 18. The Betrayal. - 19. Our Lord bound and stripped, and, - 20. Scourged. (These two subjects are very finely treated.) - 21. Brought to the Place of Judgment: desks with open books on them - in front. - 22. Buffeted and spit upon. - 23. Judged: Pilate washing his hands. - 24. Bearing the Cross. (This subject is painted round and over a monument - on which is the date XXIII. October, A.D. MCCCCXL.; so that it must - be of later date than this.) - 25. Nailed to the Cross: the Cross on the ground. - 26. The Descent from the Cross. - 27, 28. The Descent into Hell. - 29. The Incredulity of St. Thomas, and the appearance of our Lord on - the way to Emmaus. - 30. The Ascension. - 31. The Descent of the Holy Ghost. - -It will be noticed that the Crucifixion is most remarkably omitted from -this series. There is no place on the wall for it, and it occurred to me -as possible that there may have been a crucifix in the centre of the -cloister, round which all these paintings were, so to speak, -grouped.[119] - -There are several fine monuments in these cloisters, some of them -corbelled out from the wall, and some with recumbent effigies under -arches in it. One of the latter is so fine in its way as to deserve -special notice. The arch is of two orders, each sculptured with figures -of angels worshipping and censing our Lord, who is seated in the -tympanum of the arch holding a book and giving His blessing. Below, on a -high tomb, is the effigy recumbent; and behind it, below the tympanum, -two angels bearing up the soul of the departed. The sculpture is -admirable for its breadth and simplicity of treatment; and the monument -generally is noticeable for the extent to which sculpture, and sculpture -only, has been depended on, the strictly architectural features being -few and completely subordinate. - -The cloister is surrounded by buildings, some of which only are ancient. -On the north side are the chapel of San Juan de Regla, another chapel, -and the Chapter-house. The latter has one of those foolish Spanish -conceits, a doorway planned obliquely to the wall in which it is -set.[120] - -In the church itself there are several very fine monuments. The most -elaborate is that of Ordoño II., the original founder of the old -cathedral, which occupies the eastern bay of the apse, with its back to -the high altar. This is sometimes spoken of as if it were a contemporary -work. It is, however, obviously a work of the fourteenth century, and -recalls to mind some of the finest monuments in our own churches. The -effigy of the king, laid on a sloping stone, so that it looks out from -the monumental arch, is singularly noble, very simple, of great size and -uncommon dignity. The general design of this fine monument will be seen -in my view of the aisle round the choir. - -Another monument in the north transept has a semicircular arch carved -alternately with bosses of foliage and censing angels; and within this a -succession of cusps, the spandrels of which have also angels. The -tympanum has a representation of the Crucifixion;[121] and below this, -in an oblong panel just over the recumbent figure, is a representation -of the service at a funeral. The side of the high tomb has also an -interesting sculpture representing a figure giving a dole of bread to a -crowd of poor and maimed people, whilst others bring him large baskets -full of bread on their backs. The date in the inscription on this -monument is Era 1280, _i.e._ A.D. 1242. - -In a corresponding position in the west wall of the south transept is -another monument of a bishop, recessed behind three divisions of the -arcade which surrounds the walls of the church. The effigy is rather -colossal, and has a lion at the head, and another under the feet. Over -the effigy is a group of figures saying the burial office; and above, in -panels within arches, are, (1) St. Martin dividing his Cloak, (2) the -Scourging of our Lord, and (3) the Crucifixion. The soffeits of the -arcade are diapered, and there were three subjects below the figure of -the bishop, but they are now nearly destroyed. - -The arches round the Capilla mayor were walled up, and those on either -side of the monument of Ordoño II., already described, still retain the -paintings with which they were all once adorned. They are of the same -class as those in the cloister, and one of them, a large Ecce Homo, is -certainly a very fine work. Unfortunately the figure of our Lord in the -centre has been very badly repainted, but the troop of soldiers and Jews -reviling Him on either side is full of life and expression. - -The choir occupies the two eastern bays of the nave, and its woodwork is -fine, though of late fifteenth-century date. There are large figures in -bas-relief, carved in the panels behind the stalls. There is a western -door from the nave into the Coro; and in part on this account, and in -part from its considerable scale, the nave has less than usual of the -air of uselessness which the Spanish arrangement of the Coro produces. - -I have already incidentally mentioned that the windows are full of fine -stained glass. It is all of the richest possible colour, and most of it -of about the same date as the church. Modern critics would, no doubt, -object to some of the drawing for its rudeness and want of accuracy. Yet -to me this work seemed to be a most emphatic proof--if any were -needed--that we who talk so much about drawing are altogether wrong in -our sense of the office which stained glass has to fulfil in our -buildings. We talk glibly about good drawing, and forget altogether the -much greater importance of good colour. At Leon the drawing is forgotten -altogether, and I defy any one to be otherwise than charmed with the -glories of the effect created solely by the colour. At present in -England our glass is all but invariably bad--nay, contemptible--in -colour; whilst the so-called good drawing is usually a miserable attempt -to reproduce some sentimentality of a German painter. Two schools might -well be studied a little more than they are; the one should be this -early school of rich colourists, and the other the beautiful works of -the sixteenth and seventeenth century French glass-painters, where there -is good drawing enough for any one, and generally great beauty and -simplicity of colour. Finally, two practices might be suggested to our -stained-glass painters,--one, that they should only use good, and -therefore costly glass; and the other, that they should limit their -palettes to a few pure and simple colours, instead of confusing our eyes -with every possible tint of badly-chosen and cheaply-made glass. - -If we want religious pictures in our churches--as we do most surely--let -us go to painters for them, and, with the money now in great part thrown -away on stained glass, we might then have some works of art in our -churches of which we might have more chance of feeling proud, and for -which our successors would perhaps thank us more than they will for our -glass.[122] - -I have detained my readers only too long, I fear, upon this cathedral, -but it is too full of interest of all kinds to allow of shorter notice, -and is, in its way, the finest church of which Spain can boast; at the -same time the work is all so thoroughly French as to destroy, to some -degree, the interest which we should otherwise feel in it. - -The other great architectural attraction of Leon is the church of San -Isidoro “el Real.” This is altogether earlier than, and has therefore an -interest entirely different from, that of the cathedral. - -Gil Gonzalez Dávila says that the church was founded in A.D. 1030,[123] -by Ferdinand I., the Great. An inscription in the floor of the church -gives the name of its architect;[124] and from the mention of Alonso -VI., who came to the throne in A.D. 1065, and his mother Sancha, who -died in A.D. 1067, the date of his death must have been between these -two periods.[125] In A.D. 1063 King Ferdinand--Alfonso’s father--and -Queen Sancha had very richly endowed the church, in the presence of -various bishops, who had come together to celebrate the translation of -the remains of San Isidoro.[126] Finally Dávila, in his History of the -Cathedral at Avila, gives the date of the consecration of the church, -from a deed in the archives there, as A.D. 1149.[127] - -From these statements it would seem that the church was fit for the -reception of the body of San Isidoro in A.D. 1065, and had then three -altars; and yet that in A.D. 1149 it was consecrated, though indeed Ponz -speaks of an inscription in the cloister which mentions the _dedication_ -of the church in A.D. 1063.[128] - -San Isidoro was one of the most popularly venerated saints in Spain, and -many are the miracles said to have been wrought by him. One of them is -not a little suggestive of plans for church-building, not a whit behind -the cleverest schemes of the present day. It is said that in a time when -much sickness prevailed, the body of the saint was taken out in -procession to a village near Leon, Trobajo del Camino, the bearers of -the body barefooted, and all singing hymns, in order to charm away the -disease from the people. Suddenly the weight became so great that it was -impossible to move or lift the saint, even by the aid of a strong body -of men: and many complained not a little of the Canons for bringing the -body out on such an errand, whilst the King, who was at Benavente, was -so incensed, that he insisted, as the saint would not move, that they -should build a church over him for his protection; and at last came the -Queen, grieving bitterly appealing to “her beloved spouse” San Isidoro, -and saying, “Turn, O blessed confessor! turn again to the monastery of -Leon, which my forefathers, out of their devotion, built for you;” and -then the saint, moved by her prayer, allowed himself to be borne back -upon the shoulders of four children, who brought him back to Leon amid -the rejoicings of the people: and these, moved by the miracle, at once -built a chapel on the spot which the saint had marked out for the -purpose by his pertinacious refusal to move until the King had ordered -it to be built, and until the Queen had shown how deep was her interest -in the work. - -[Illustration: Interior of S. Isidoro.] - -But I must not dwell longer on what is merely legendary, but return to -this church of San Isidoro at Leon. It is cruciform in plan,[129] with -apsidal chapels on the eastern side of the transepts. The nave and -aisles are of six bays in length, and there is a tower detached to the -west. There is a chapel dedicated to Sta. Catalina (now called El -Panteon) at the north-west end of the church, and a choir of the -sixteenth century takes the place of the original apse. The whole of the -nave is vaulted with a waggon-vault, with transverse ribs under it in -each bay; and this vault is continued on without break to the chancel -arch, there being no lantern at the crossing. The arches into the -transepts have a fringe of cusping on their under sides, which has a -very Moorish air, and the transepts are vaulted with waggon-vaults, but -at a lower level than the nave. The chapels to the east of the transept -are roofed with semi-domes. The nave has bold columns, with richly -sculptured capitals, stilted semi-circular arches, and a clerestory of -considerable height, with large windows of rich character. - -The whole interior of the church has been picked out in white and brown -washes to such an extent, that at first sight its effect is positively -repulsive: nevertheless, its detail is very fine. The capitals are all -richly sculptured, generally with foliage arranged after the model of -the Corinthian capital; but some of them _historiés_ with figures of men -and beasts; and I noticed one only with pairs of birds looking at each -other. The western part of the church is abominably modernized, but the -alterations in the fabric evidently commenced at a very early period, -for in the south aisle one of the groining-shafts is carried up exactly -in front of what appears to be one of the original aisle windows. I -confess myself quite at a loss to account for this, unless it be by the -assumption that the church, consecrated in A.D. 1149, was commenced on -the same type as S. Sernin, Toulouse--copied, as we shall see further -on, at Santiago--and that before the consecration the original triforium -had been altered into a clerestory by the alteration of the aisle-roofs -and the introduction of quadripartite vaulting in them at a lower level, -thus necessitating the introduction of the groining-shaft in front of a -window. The difficulty did not occur to me forcibly when I was on the -spot, and I am unable to say, therefore, how far a thoroughly close -examination of the work would clear it up. It might of course be said -that such an alteration proves that the church was of two periods; and -such an opinion would be to some extent supported by reference to the -certainly early character of the south door, which might have been -executed before A.D. 1063. But I am, on the whole, disposed rather to -regard the chapel of Sta. Catalina as the original church, and to assume -that the remainder of the building was built between A.D. 1063 and A.D. -1149, and that the awkward arrangement to which I have just referred -was, in fact, the result of some accident or change of plan. This -supposition would reconcile more satisfactorily all the difficulties of -the case than any other, and would tally well with what I have been able -to learn as to the history of the church. The body of San Isidoro was -sent for rather suddenly, and brought from Seville, and the King had -but short time for the preparation of the building for its reception. -Two years later the body of San Vicente was brought from Avila, and no -doubt the popularity of the two saints soon made it necessary to enlarge -the church. Then it might well happen that the old church was left in -its integrity, and the new building added to the east, but with its -north wall in a line with the north wall of the old one, so as to allow -of the cloister being built along their sides, and without at all -disturbing the early church or its relics. The relative position of the -churches makes it probable, in short, that the large church was added to -the small one, and not that the latter was a chapel added to the former. - -The style of the two buildings leads to the same conclusion, for in Sta. -Catalina Ave have a small, low, vaulted church, two bays only in length -and three in width. The two detached columns which carry the vaults are -cylindrical, with capitals of somewhat the same kind as those in the -church, but simpler and ruder. Recessed arches in the side walls contain -various tombs of the Royal Family, who for ages, from the time of -Fernando I. and Doña Sancha his queen, have been buried here; and the -very circumstance that this little chapel was selected for the burial of -so many royal persons, seems to make it extremely probable that it was -the very chapel in which the body of San Isidoro had first been laid. - -The door of communication from the chapel to the church has an arch of -the same kind as the transept arches, semi-circular and fringed with -several cusps; and the chapel is now lighted by two open arches on the -north side, which communicate with the cloister. The groining is all -quadripartite, without ribs, but with plain bold transverse arches -between the bays. - -The exterior of the church has some features which have all the air of -being very early and original in their character. Such is the grand -south doorway of the nave. Its arch is semicircular, and above it the -spandrels are filled with sculpture. Above this is a line of panels -containing the signs of the Zodiac; below are figures with musical -instruments; and below these again, on the west, is a figure of San -Isidoro, and on the right a figure of a woman, I think, book in hand, -both of them supported on corbels formed of the heads of oxen. The -tympanum itself is divided into two parts, the lower half being -surmounted by a flat pediment, and the upper filling up the space from -this to the _intrados_ of the arch. The upper half has an Agnus Dei in a -circle in the centre, and the lower half has Abraham’s sacrifice, with -figures on horseback on either side. The head of the opening of the -doorway is finished with a square trefoil, under which rams’ heads are -carved. The whole detail of this sculpture is very unlike that of most -of the early work I have seen in Spain; the figures are round and -flabby, and badly arranged, and very free from any of the usual -conventionality. All this made me feel much inclined to think that the -execution of this work was at an early date, and soon after the first -consecration of the church. - -The elevation of the south transept is rather fine. It has a doorway, -now blocked, with a figure against the wall on either side, standing -between the label and a second label built into the wall from buttress -to buttress. Above this is a rich corbel-table, and then an arcade of -three divisions, of which the centre is pierced as a window; in the -gable is another statue standing against the wall. The doorway has its -opening finished with a square trefoil, and the tympanum is plain. The -design of the apsidal chapel east of the apse is so precisely like the -eastern apsidal chapels of many of the Spanish Romanesque churches,[130] -that its date must, to some extent, be decided by theirs: and it may -well be doubted whether it can be much earlier than circa A.D. 1150, -though the lower part of the south transept appeared to me to be as -early as the south door, or at any rate not later than A.D. 1100. - -The walls are all carried up high above the clerestory windows, and -finished with corbel-tables, carved with a billet-mould on edge, and -carried on corbels moulded, not carved. Simple buttresses divide the -bays of the clerestory. - -The choir, as has been said, was a late addition in place of the -original Romanesque apse. It was built in A.D. 1513, or a little after, -by Juan de Badajoz, master of the works at the cathedral.[131] It is of -debased Gothic design and coarse detail, but large and lofty. The -groining at the east end is planned as if for an apse, and portions of -diagonal buttresses, to resist the thrust of the groining ribs, are -built against the east wall, in the way often to be noticed in the later -Spanish buildings. The east window was of two lights only, and is now -blocked up by the Retablo. In this church there is a perpetual -exposition of the Host, and the choir is therefore screened off with -more than usual care, none but the clergy being allowed to enter it. At -Lugo, where there is also a similar exposition, the choir is left open, -but two priests are always sitting or kneeling before faldstools in -front of the altar. - -[Illustration: No. 14. - -SAN ISIDORO, LEON p. 126. - -SOUTH TRANSEPT.] - -I could not gain admission to the cloister on the north side of the -church; it is large and all modernized, and surrounded by the buildings -of the monastery, which is now suppressed. A chapel dedicated to the -Holy Trinity was founded here in A.D. 1191, and a list of the relics -preserved at its altar is given on a stone preserved in the convent. - -The chapel of Sta. Catalina, already described, is specially interesting -on account of the remarkable paintings with which the whole of the -groining is covered. These all appeared to me to have been certainly -executed at the end of the twelfth century, circa A.D. 1180-1200, and -they are remarkably rich in their foliage decoration, as well as in -painting of figures and subjects. Beginning with the eastern central -compartment, over the altar, and going round to the right, the subjects -in the six bays of the vault are as follows:-- - -(1.) In this our Lord is seated in a vesica, at the angles of -which are four angels, with the heads of the four Evangelists, -with their books and names painted beside them. Our Lord’s -feet are to the east, and He holds an open book and gives His -blessing. - -(2.) The angel speaking to the shepherds, with the inscription, -“_Angelus a pastores_.” - -(3.) The Massacre of the Innocents. - -(4.) The Last Supper, painted without the slightest regard -to the angles formed by the groining, and as if the vault were a -flat surface. - -(5.) _a._ Herod washing his hands. - _b._ St. Peter denying our Lord. - _c._ Our Lord bearing his Cross. - _d._ The Crucifixion (this is almost destroyed). - -(6.) Our Lord seated with His feet to the west; the seven -churches around Him, seven candles, and an angel giving the -book to St. John. - -The soffeits of the cross arches between the vaults are painted, some -with foliage, others with figures. Of the latter, one has the twelve -Apostles, another the Holy Spirit in the centre, with angels worshipping -on either side, and a third a Hand blessing (inscribed “Dextra Dei”) in -centre, and saints on either side. The whole detail of the painted -foliage is of thoroughly good conventional character, and just in the -transitional style from Romanesque to Pointed. - -There is a fine steeple detached from the church to the west. It stands -on the very edge of the old town wall, several of the round towers of -which still exist to the north of it, and below the great walls of the -convent built within them. This steeple is very plain below, but its -belfry stage has two fine shafted windows in each face, and nook shafts -at its four corners. It is capped with a low square spire with small -spire-lights: but as I found the working lines of all this drawn out -elaborately on the whitewashed walls of one of the cloisters, and as all -the work appears to be new, I cannot say whether or no it is an exact -restoration, though I dare say it is. - -In the sacristy there are some paintings, of which one or two are of -great beauty. One is a charming picture of the Blessed Virgin with our -Lord, with angels on either side, and others holding a crown above: the -faces are sweet and delicate. One of the attendant angels offers an -apple to our Lord; the other plays a guitar: the background is a -landscape. The frame, too, is original. It has a gold edge, then a flat -of blue covered with delicate gold diaper, and there are two shutters -with this inscription on them:--“_Fœlix ē sacra virgo Maria et -omni laude dignissima quia in te ortus est sol justicie Chrūs Deus -noster._” There is also a very little triptych, with a Descent from the -Cross, and an inscription on the shutters. Two figures are drawing out -the nails, and hold the body of our Lord; two other figures on ladders -support His head and feet, and St. Mary and St. Mary Magdalene weep at -the foot of the cross. The inscriptions on the shutters are from -Zachariah xii., _Plagent eum, &c._, and Second Corinthians, “_Pro -omnibus mortuus est Christus_.” There are other paintings which the -Sacristan exhibits with more pride, but these two are precious works, of -extremely good character, and painted probably about the end of the -sixteenth century. - -Leon is a much smaller city than might be expected for one so famous in -Spanish history; its streets wind about in the most tortuous fashion; -there are but few buildings of any pretension, and I saw no other old -churches. There is indeed a great convent of San Marcos, built from the -designs of Juan de Badajoz, in the sixteenth century, and afterwards -added to by Berruguete, but I forgot to go to see it, and his work at -San Isidoro makes me regard the omission as a very venial one. Round the -city, on all sides, are long groves of poplars which look green and -pleasant; there is a river--or at least in summer, as I saw it, the -broad bed of one--and over the low hills which girt the city is a -background of beautiful mountains. Both for its situation, therefore, -and for the artistic treasures it enshrines, Leon well deserves a -pilgrimage at the hands of all lovers of art. - -[Illustration: LEON:--Ground Plan of Cathedral &c. Plate V. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865.] - -[Illustration: LEON:--Ground: Plan: of: Church: of: San: Ysidoro: Plate -VI. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865.] - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -ASTORGA, LUGO, LA CORUÑA. - - -The road from Leon to Astorga is bad, and traverses a very uninteresting -country. A good part of the old walls of Astorga still remains, with the -usual array of lofty round towers at short intervals: they were in -process of partial demolition when I saw them, and I noticed that they -were in part constructed with what appeared to be fragments of Roman -buildings. There is a rather picturesque Plaza de la Constitucion here, -one end of it being occupied by a quaint town-hall of the seventeenth -century, through an archway in the centre of which one of the streets -opens into the Plaza. A number of bells are hung in picturesque slated -turrets on the roof, and some of them are struck by figures. - -The only old church I saw was the cathedral. A stone here is inscribed -with the following words in Spanish: “In 1471, on the 16th of August, -the first stone of the new work of this holy church was laid;” and there -is no doubt that the church is all of about this date, with some -additions,--chiefly, however, of Retablos and other furniture,--in the -two following centuries. The character of the whole design is -necessarily in the very latest kind of Gothic; and much of the detail, -especially on the exterior, is quite Renaissance in its character. The -east end is finished with three parallel apses, and the nave is some -seven or eight bays in length, with towers projecting beyond the aisles -at the west end, and chapels opening into the aisles between the -buttresses. The light is admitted by windows in the aisles over the -chapel arches, and by a large clerestory. These windows are fortunately -filled with a good deal of fine early Renaissance glass, which, though -not all that might be wished in drawing and general treatment, is still -remarkable for its very fine colour. Arches of the same height as the -groining of the aisles open into the towers, the interior view across -which produces the effect of a sort of western transept, corresponding -with a similar transept between the nave and the apsidal choir. The -detail is throughout very similar to that of the better known -cathedrals at Segovia and Salamanca, the section of the columns being -like a bundle of reeds, with ingeniously planned interpenetrating base -mouldings, multiplied to such an extent that they finish at a height of -no less that ten feet from the floor. Another evidence of the late -character of the work is given by the arch mouldings, which die against -and interpenetrate those of the columns, there being no capitals. Beyond -a certain stateliness of height and colour which this small cathedral -has in common with most other Spanish works of the same age, there is -but little to detain or interest an architect. But stateliness and good -effects of light and shade are so very rare in modern works, that we can -ill afford to regard a building which shows them as being devoid of -merit or interest. - -From Astorga the road soon begins to rise, and the scenery thenceforward -for the remainder of the journey to la Coruña becomes always -interesting, and sometimes extremely beautiful. The country can hardly -be said to be mountainous, yet the hills are on a scale far beyond what -we are accustomed to; and the grand sweep of the hill sides, covered -occasionally with wood, and intersected by deep valleys, makes the whole -journey most pleasant. One of the prettiest spots on the road, before -reaching Villafranca, is the little village of Torre, where a quaint -bridge spans the brawling trout-stream; and where the thick cluster of -squalid cottages atones to the traveller, in some degree, by its -picturesqueness, for the misery in which the people live. They seem to -be terribly ill off, and their chimneyless hovels--pierced only with a -door and one very small window or hole in the wall, into which all the -light, and out of both of which all the smoke have to find their -way--are of the worst description. The village churches appear to be, -almost without exception, very mean; and all have the broad western -bell-turret, so popular in this part of Spain. - -In ten hours from Astorga, passing Ponferrada on the way, from the hill -above which the view is very fine, Villafranca del Vierzo is reached; -and this is the only place of any importance on the road. Its situation -is charming, on a fine trout-stream, along whose beautiful banks the -road runs for a considerable distance; and it is the proper centre for -excursions to the convents of the Vierzo, of which Mr. Ford gives an -account which made me anxious to examine them, though unfortunately the -time at my disposal put it completely out of the question. These old -towns, of the second or third rank, have a certain amount of picturesque -character, though far less than might be expected of external evidence -of their antiquity. Here, indeed, the picturesqueness is mainly the -result of the long tortuous streets, and the narrow bridges over the -beautiful river, which make the passage of a diligence so much of an -adventure, as to leave the passengers grateful when they have gained -with safety the other side of the town. The Alameda here is pleasantly -planted; and the town boasts of an inn which is just good enough to make -it quite possible for an ecclesiologist to use it as headquarters in a -visit to the convents of the Vierzo, whilst any one who is so fortunate -as to be both fisherman and ecclesiologist could scarcely be better -placed. - -Villafranca has one large, uninteresting, and very late Gothic church, -into which I could not get admission; the other churches seemed to be -all Renaissance in style. - -I arrived at Lugo after a journey of more than thirty hours from Leon. -Like Astorga it is surrounded with a many-towered wall, which still -seems to be perfect throughout its whole extent. The road passes along -under it, half round the town, until at last it turns in through an -archway, and reaches the large Plaza of San Domingo, in which is the -diligence Fonda. This was so unusually dirty even to the eyes and nose -of a tolerably well-seasoned traveller, that I was obliged to look for a -lodging, which, after a short search, I discovered; and if it was not -much better, it was still a slight improvement on the inn. In these -towns lodgings are generally to be found; and as they are free from the -abominable scent of the mules, which pervades every part of all the -inns, they are often to be preferred to them. Mine was in a narrow -street leading out of the great arcaded Plaza, which, on the day of my -arrival, was full of market-people, selling and buying every kind of -commodity; and on the western side of this Plaza stands the cathedral. - -This is a church of very considerable architectural value and interest. -It was commenced early in the twelfth century, under the direction of a -certain Maestro Raymundo, of Monforte de Lemos. His contract with the -bishop and canons was dated A.D. 1129; and by this it was agreed that he -should be paid an annual salary of two hundred _sueldos_ of the money -then current; and if there was any change in its value, then he was to -be paid six marks of silver, thirty-six yards of linen, seventeen -“cords” of wood, shoes and gaiters as he had need of them; and each -month two sueldos for meat, a measure of salt, and a pound of candles. -Master Raymundo accepted these conditions, and bound himself to assist -at the work all the days of his life; and if he died before its -completion, his son was to finish it.[132] - -The church built by Raymundo is said to have been finished in A.D. -1177,[133] and still in part no doubt remains.[134] It consists of a -nave and aisles of ten bays in length, transepts, and a short apsidal -choir, with aisle and chapels round it. The large central eastern chapel -is an addition made in A.D. 1764; and the west front is a very poor work -of about the same period. There is an open porch in front of the north -transept, and a steeple on its eastern side. - -The design and construction of the nave and aisles is very peculiar, and -must be compared with that of the more important, cathedral at Santiago. -This had been finished, so far as the fabric was concerned, in the -previous year, and evidently suggested the mode of construction adopted -at Lugo. - -Here the arches, with few exceptions, are pointed; but otherwise the -design of the two churches is just the same. The nave has a pointed -barrel-vault; the triforium, however, has quadripartite vaulting -throughout, in place of the half barrel-vaults used at Santiago; and the -buttresses externally are connected by a series of arches below the -eaves. The triforium consists in each bay of two pointed arches under a -round enclosing arch, carried upon coupled shafts, which have rudely -sculptured capitals. The five eastern bays of the nave appear at first -sight to have no arches opening into the aisles; but upon closer -examination the outline of some low arches will be found behind the -stall work of the Coro. These arches are all blocked up; but if they -were originally open they are so low that they could not have made the -effect very different from what it now is. It looks, in fact, at first -sight, as if the present arrangement of the Coro were that for which the -church was originally built, and as if the nave proper was always that -part only of the church to the west of the present Coro which opens to -the aisles with simple pointed arches of the whole height of the aisle. -But on further examination we find that the vaulting of the aisles in -the four eastern bays is a round waggon-vault, and this, of course, -limited the height to which it was possible to raise the arches between -the aisle and the nave; and it is therefore probable that their height -is not to be attributed so much to the wish to define a Coro in the -nave, as to the fault of the architect, who did not at first -perceive the advantage of using a quadripartite vault instead of a -waggon-vault. The three bays west of these have the former kind of -vaulting without ribs, and with windows both larger and higher from the -floor than the simple round-arched openings which light the four eastern -bays. The eighth and ninth bays are evidently rather later than the -rest; and the western bays, again, are quite subsequent additions. The -crossing has a quadripartite vault, and the transepts waggon-vaults like -those of the nave. - -[Illustration: No. 15. - -LUGO CATHEDRAL. p. 131. - -INTERIOR OF TRANSEPT, LOOKING NORTH-WEST.] - -[Illustration: LUGO:--Ground: Plan: of: the: Cathedral: Plate VII. - -W. West, Lithr. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865.] - -It is pretty clear that the work was commenced upon the scheme which we -still see in the bays next the crossing, and carried on gradually with -alterations as the work went on, and probably as it went on the -architect discovered the mistake he was making in confining himself to -waggon-vaulting in the aisles. It is somewhat remarkable that, with the -example of Santiago so near, such a scheme should ever have been -devised, unless, indeed, the work was commenced earlier than the date -assigned, of which I see no evidence. - -The choir shows the same gradual variation in style; and I have -considerable difficulty in assigning a precise date to it. It is clear, -however, that the whole of it is of much later date than the original -foundation of the cathedral; and it is probable, I think, that it was -reconstructed in the latter half of the thirteenth century. The windows -in the chapels of the chevet are of two lights, with a small quatrefoil -pierced in the tympanum above the lights. The mouldings of the groining -are extremely bold and simple. The aisle-vaulting, too, is very simple -and of early-pointed character, whilst the clustered columns round the -apse look somewhat later. There is, however, no mark of alterations or -additions; and I think, therefore, that the whole of this work must be -of the same date, and that the difference visible between the various -parts of it may be put down to the long lingering of those forms of art -which had been once imported into this distant province, and to the -consequent absence of development. The sculpture of the capitals in the -chevet is nowhere, I think, earlier than about the end of the thirteenth -century, though that in the chapels round it, being very simple, looks -rather earlier. - -Unfortunately all the upper part of the choir was rebuilt about the same -time that the eastern chapel was added. It has strange thin ogee flying -buttresses, large windows, and a painted ceiling. - -Here, as at San Isidoro, Leon, the Host is always exposed, and, as I -have mentioned before, two priests are always in attendance at -faldstools on each side of the Capilla mayor in front of the altar. - -The interior, of course, has been much damaged by the destruction of the -old clerestory of the choir. It is, nevertheless, still very impressive, -and much of its fine effect is owing to the contrast between the bright -light of the nave and the obscure gloom of the long aisles on either -side of the Coro. The length of the nave, too, is unusually great in -proportion to the size of the church; and though much of the sculpture -is rude in execution, it is still not without effect on the general -character of the building. - -On the north side of the nave a chapel has been added, which preserves -the external arrangement of the windows and buttresses in the earliest -part of the building, as they are now enclosed within and protected by -it. The simple and rather rude buttresses are carried up and finished -under the eaves’ corbel-tables with arches between them, so as to make a -continuous arcade the whole length of the building on either side. - -The north doorway is of the same age as the early part of the church, -and has a figure of our Lord within a vesica in the tympanum, and the -Last Supper carved on a pendant below it. The head of the door-opening -is very peculiar, having a round arch on either side of this central -pendant. The door has some rather good ironwork. The porch in front of -it is a work of the fifteenth century, or perhaps later, and is open on -three sides. - -The only good external view of the church is obtained from the north -side. Here the tower rises picturesquely above the transept, but the -belfry and upper stage are modern[135] and very poor. The bells are not -only hung in the windows, but one of them is suspended in an open iron -framework from the finish the centre of the roof. - -The cloister and other buildings seem to be all completely modern, and -are of very poor style. - -There are two old churches here--those of the Capuchins and of San -Domingo--both of them in or close to the Plaza of San Domingo. The -church of the Capuchins is evidently interesting, though I could not -gain access to its interior, which appears to be desecrated. It has -transepts, a low central lantern, a principal apse of six sides, and two -smaller apses opening into the transepts. These apses are remarkable for -having an angle in the centre, whilst their windows have a bar of -tracery across them, transome fashion, at mid-height. It is certainly a -very curious coincidence, that in both these particulars it resembles -closely the fine church of the Frari at Venice; and though I am not -prepared to say that the imitation is anything more than the merest -accident, it is certainly noteworthy. The eaves are all finished with -moulded corbel-tables; and there is a rather fine rose-window in the -transept gable. The circles in the head of the apse windows are filled -in with very delicate traceries, cut out of thin slabs of stone, a -device evidently borrowed from Moresque examples; and it is somewhat -strange to meet them here so far from any Moorish buildings or -influence. - -The church of San Domingo is somewhat similar in plan. It has a -modernized nave of five bays, a central dome, which looks as though it -might be old, but which is now all plastered and whitewashed, a -principal apse of seven sides, transepts covered with waggon-vaults, and -small apses to the east of them. The capitals have carvings of beasts -and foliage; but none of these, or of the mouldings, look earlier than -the fourteenth century; yet the capitals are all square in plan, and the -arches into the chapels have a bold dog-tooth enrichment. There is a -fine south doorway to the nave, in which chevrons, delicate fringes of -cusping, and dog-tooth, are all introduced. In such a work the date of -the latest portion must be the date of the whole; and so I do not think -it can be earlier than the rest of the church, though at first sight it -undoubtedly has the air of being more than a century older. - -Gil Gonzalez Dávila[136] says that Bishop Fernando gave permission for -the foundation of the convent of San Domingo in A.D. 1318, and that -_circa_ A.D. 1350-58 the Dominican Fray Pedro Lopez de Aguiar founded -it; and this date appears to me to accord very well with the peculiar -character of the work. - -There is little more to be seen in Lugo. The old walls, though they -retain all their towers, have been to some extent altered for the worse -to fit them for defence in the last war; they have been also rendered -available as a broad public walk,--very pleasant, inasmuch as it -commands good views of the open country beyond the city. - -The people here and at Santiago all go to the fountains armed with a -long tin tube, which they apply to the mouths of the beasts which -discharge the water, and so convey the stream straight to their pitchers -placed on the edge of the large basins. The crowd of water-carriers -round a Spanish fountain is always noisy, talkative, and gay; and many -is the fight and furious the clamour for the privilege of putting the -tube to the fountain in regular order. - -I travelled between la Coruña and Lugo by night, so that I am unable to -say anything as to the country or scenery on the road, save that for -some distance before reaching Lugo it is cold, bare, and unattractive. - -Betanzos, the only town of importance on the road, has two or three good -churches, which I missed seeing by daylight. They are of early date, -with apsidal east ends, and somewhat similar, apparently, to the -churches at la Coruña, though on a larger scale. - -La Coruña is charmingly situated, facing a grand landlocked bay, but on -the inner side of a narrow ridge, a short walk across which leads to the -open sea, which is here very magnificent. The views of the coast, and -the openings to the grand bays or rios of Ferrol, Betanzos, and la -Coruña, are of unusual beauty, and it is rarely indeed that one sees a -more attractive country. But there is not very much to detain an -architect. The town is divided into the old and the new; and in the -former are two old churches, which, though small, are interesting; -whilst in the latter there is absolutely nothing to see but shops and -cafés. - -The Collegiata of Sta. Maria del Campo was made a parish church by King -Alonso X. in A.D. 1256, and in A.D. 1441 was made collegiate: it has a -nave and aisles of five bays, and a short chancel, with an apse covered -with a semi-dome vault.[137] The nave and aisles are all covered with -pointed waggon-vaults springing from the same level; and as the aisles -are narrow, their vaults resist the thrust of the main vault, without -exerting a violent thrust on the aisle walls. The capitals are rudely -carved with foliage, and the arches are perfectly plain. The bay of -vaulting over the chancel is a pointed waggon-vault, with ribs on its -under side, arranged as though in imitation of a sexpartite -vault.[138] - -[Illustration: Churches at LA CORUÑA:--SEGOVIA:--LÉRIDA: and BENAVENTE: -Plate VIII. - -W. West, Lithr. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle Street 1865.] - -The western doorway has a circular arch, with rudely carved foliage in -the outer orders; and ten angels, with our Lord giving His blessing in -the centre, in the inner order. The tympanum has the Adoration of the -Magi. The abaci and capitals are carved, but everywhere the carving is -overlaid with whitewash so thickly as to be not very intelligible. The -south door has storied capitals, and angels under the corbels, which -support the tympanum over the door-opening; this has a figure with a -pilgrim’s staff, probably Santiago, and there are other figures and -foliage in the arch. The abacus is carried round the buttresses, and a -bold arch is thrown across between them above the door. An original -window near this door is a mere slit in the wall, and not intended for -glazing. The north door is somewhat similar to the other, with a -sculpture of St. Katharine in the tympanum. - -The apse has a very small east window, engaged columns dividing it into -three bays, and a simple corbel-table. - -[Illustration: Sta. Maria, la Coruña.] - -The west front is quaint and picturesque. It has a bold porch--now -almost built up by modern erections--and two small square towers or -turrets at the angles. Of these the south-western has a low, square -stone spire, springing from within a traceried parapet, and with some -very quaint crockets at the angles. A tall cross, with an original -sculpture of the Crucifixion, stands in the little Plaza in front of the -church. The Coro here is in a large western gallery, but both this and -the stalls are Renaissance in style. - -The other church is that of Santiago. This has a broad nave, forty-four -feet wide, into the east wall of which three small apses open.[139] The -nave is divided into four bays by bold cross arches, which carry the -wooden roof; and of the three eastern arches, the central rises high -above the others, and has a circular window above it. The west front has -a very fine doorway, set in a projecting portion of the wall, finished -with a corbel-table and cornice at the top. This has a figure of -Santiago in the tympanum, and statues in the jambs. The north doorway -has heads of oxen supporting the lintel, and rude carving of foliage in -the arch. One of the original windows remains in the north wall. This is -roundheaded and very narrow, but has good jamb-shafts and -arch-mouldings. The detail of the eastern apse is of bold and simple -Romanesque character, with engaged shafts supporting the eaves-cornice. - -There is not, so far as I know, any evidence as to the exact date of -these churches; but I think that the character of all their details -proves that they were founded about the middle of the twelfth century. -They are evidently later than the cathedral at Santiago, and tally more -with the work which I have been describing in the nave of Lugo -Cathedral. And though the dimensions of both are insignificant, they -appear to me to be extremely valuable examples, as showing two evident -attempts at development on the part of their architect, who, to judge of -the strong similarity in some of their details, was probably the same -man. - -Three barrel-vaults on the same level as at Sta. Maria are seldom seen; -and the bold cross arches spanning Santiago are a good example of an -attempt in the twelfth century to achieve what few have yet attempted to -accomplish in the revival of the present day--the covering of a broad -nave in a simple, economical, and yet effective manner. - -In the church of Santiago there is preserved a fragment of an -embroidered blue velvet cope. The sprigs with which it is diapered are -so exactly similar in character to those of some of our own old -examples--the Ely cope in particular--as to suggest the idea that the -work is really English. - -[Illustration: No. 16. - -LA CORUÑA. p. 138. - -CHURCH OF SANTIAGO.] - -From La Coruña to Santiago the road is, for the first half of the way, -extremely pleasant, and passes through a luxuriant country; gradually, -however, as the end of the great pilgrimage is reached, it becomes -dreary and the country bare; still the outlines of the hills are fine, -and some of the distant views rather attractive. But Santiago is too -important a city, and its cathedral is too grand and interesting, to be -described at the end of a chapter. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA. - - -The journey from Lugo to Santiago is pleasant so far as the country is -concerned, and there is one advantage in the extremely slow and grave -pace of the diligences in this part of the world, that it always allows -of the scenery being well studied. Moreover, in these long rides there -is a pleasure and relief in being able to take a good walk without much -risk of being left behind, which can hardly be appreciated by the modern -Englishman who travels only in his own country. The general character of -the landscape is somewhat like that of the Yorkshire moors, diversified -here and there by beautiful valleys, the sides of which are generally -clothed with chestnut, but sometimes with walnut, oak, and stone-pines. -The heaths were in full flower, and looked brilliant in the extreme, and -here and there were patches of gorse. The road is fine, and has only -recently been made. The country is very thinly populated, so that we -passed not more than two or three villages on the way, and in none of -them did I see signs of old churches of any interest. It is difficult to -picture anything more wretched than the state of the Gallegan peasantry -as we saw them on this road. They were very dirty, and clothed in the -merest rags: the boys frequently with nothing on but a shirt, and that -all in tatters; and the women with but little more in quantity, and -nothing better in quality. The poorest Irish would have some difficulty -in showing that their misery is greater than that of these poor -Gallegans. - -My journey to Santiago was quite an experiment. I had been able to learn -nothing whatever about the cathedral before going there, and I was -uncertain whether I should not find the mere wreck of an old church, -overlaid everywhere with additions by architects of the Berruguetesque -or Churrugueresque schools, instead of the old church which I knew had -once stood there. In all my Spanish journeys there had been somewhat of -this pleasant element of uncertainty as to what I was to find; but here -my ignorance was complete, and as the journey was a long one to make on -speculation, it was not a little fortunate that my faith was rewarded -by the discovery of a church of extreme magnificence and interest. - -The weary day wore on as we toiled on and on upon our pilgrimage, and it -was nearly dark before we reached the entrance of the city, and after -much delay found ourselves following a porter up the steep streets and -alleys which lead up from the diligence Fonda to the principal inn, -which happens fortunately to be very near the one interesting spot in -the city--the cathedral. The next morning showed us not only the -exterior of the city, but enabled us also to form a good idea of its -surroundings. It stands on the slope of a steep hill, with great bare -and bleak hills on all sides, rising generally to a great height. From -some of them the views are no doubt very fine, and the town with its -towers and walls may well look more imposing than it does on a nearer -view. - -For, to say the truth, if the cathedral be left out of consideration, -Santiago is a disappointing place. There is none of the evidence of the -presence of pilgrims which might be expected, and I suspect a genuine -pilgrim is a very rare article indeed. I never saw more than one, and he -proclaimed his intentions only by the multitude of his scallop-shells -fastened on wherever his rags would allow; but I fear much he was a -professional pilgrim; he was begging lustily at Zaragoza, and seemed to -have been many years there on the same errand, without getting very far -on his road. And there is not much evidence in the town itself of its -history and pretensions to antiquity; for, as is so often the case in -Spain, so great was the wealth possessed by the Church in the -seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth century, that all the -churches and religious houses were rebuilt about that time, and now, in -place of mediæval churches and convents, there are none but enormous -Renaissance erections on all sides; and as they are bad examples of -their class, little pleasure is to be derived from looking at them, -either outside or inside. - -Perhaps some exception ought to be made from this general depreciation -of the buildings at Santiago in favour of the _entourage_ of the -cathedral; for here there is a sumptuous church opening on all sides to -Plazas of grand size, and surrounded by buildings all having more or -less architectural pretension. Steep flights of steps lead from one -Plaza to another, a fountain plays among quarrelsome water-carriers in -one, and in another not only does an old woman retail scallop-shells to -those who want them, but a tribe of market people ply their trade, cover -the flags with their bright fruit, make the ear tired with their eternal -wrangle, and the eye delighted with their gay choice of colours for -sashes, headgear, and what not. - -The whole record of the foundation of this cathedral is a great deal too -long to enter upon here; but fortunately enough remains of its -architectural history to make the story of the present building both -intelligible and interesting, and to this I must now ask the attention -of my readers. - -There seems to have been a church founded here in or about the year -868,[140] which is said to have been completed in thirty-one years,[141] -and consecrated in A.D. 899. Of this church nothing now remains; but the -contemporary deed of gift to the church by the King Alfonso III., and -the account of the altars and relics existing in it at the time, are of -considerable interest.[142] - -I need hardly say how much store was laid by the clergy of Santiago on -their possession of the body of the Apostle. Mr. Ford[143] gives only -too amusing, if it is, as I fear, only too true, a version of the story -of the Saint’s remains. Suffice it here to say, that there no longer -seem to be great pilgrimages to his shrine, and that even in Spain the -old belief in the miracle-working power of his bones seems now -practically to have died out.[144] Nothing could, however, have been -stronger than the old faith in their patron, and the extreme wealth -brought to the church by the pilgrimages made of old to his shrine from -all parts of Europe would no doubt have involved the entire destruction -of all remains of the early church, in order to its reconstruction on a -far grander scale, had it not been destroyed, so far as possible, in the -century after its erection, by the Moors under Almanzor. - -From the end of the tenth century I find no mention of the cathedral -until the episcopate of Diego Gelmirez, in whose time Santiago was made -an archbishopric. He was consecrated in the year 1100, and died in A.D. -1130, and the history of his archiepiscopate is given in great detail in -the curious contemporary chronicle, the ‘Historia Compostellana.’[145] -Here it is recorded that, in A.D. 1128, “forty-six years after the -commencement of the new church of St. James,” the bishop, finding that -the subordinate buildings were so poor that strangers absolutely -“wandered about looking for where the cloisters and offices might be,” -called his chapter together, and urged upon them the necessity of -remedying so grave a defect, finishing his speech by the offer of a -hundred marks of pure silver, thirty at once, and the rest at the end of -a year.[146] This would put the commencement of the new cathedral in the -year 1082, during the episcopate of Diego Pelaez, though, as will be -seen, the same History elsewhere says that the church was commenced in -A.D. 1178, a date which occurs also on the south transept door-jamb; and -the works must have been carried on during the time of his successors, -Pedro II. and Dalmatius (a monk of Cluny), to its completion under -Gelmirez.[147] It was in the time of this bishop, in the year 1117, it -is recorded in the Chronicle, that during a violent tumult in the city, -in which both the bishop and queen hardly escaped alive, the cathedral -was set on fire by the mob; but its construction is so nearly fireproof, -that doubtless it was the furniture only that was really burnt; for, -eleven years later, in A.D. 1128, the bishop, in his speech to the -chapter, already mentioned, speaks of the church as being extremely -beautiful, and, indeed, renowned for its beauty.[148] In A.D. 1124 two -canons of Santiago were collecting money for the works at the cathedral, -in Sicily and Apulia,[149] and the cloister, which was commenced in A.D. -1128, seems to have been still unfinished in A.D. 1134.[150] From this -date until A.D. 1168 I find no record of any alteration; but in this -year Ferdinand II. issued a warrant[151] for the payment of the master -of the works--one Matthew--and twenty years later, the same master of -the works put the following inscription on the under side of the lintel -of the western door:-- - - “Anno: ab: Incarnatione: Dai: Mº. Cº. LXXXVIIIvo: Era Iª CCXXh. VI.:ª - Die K-L. Aprilis: supra liniharia: Principalium: portalium.” - - “Ecclesiæ: Beati: Jacobi: sunt collocata: Per: Magistrum: Matheum: qui: - a: fundamentis: ipsorum: portalium: gessit: magisterium.”[152] - -In addition to these evidences, there are two others in the church -itself; one, to which I shall refer again, a date which I take to be -A.D. 1078, on the jamb of the south transept doorway; and the other, an -inscription which, with some modifications, is repeated several times -round the margins of circles let into the aisle walls, in the centre of -which are the dedication crosses. The date on one of these over the west -side of the transept, as well as I could read it, appeared to me to be -A.D. 1154;[153] but as the inscriptions vary somewhat round the -different crosses, it is possible that the dates may vary also with the -time of completion of the various parts of the building; and I regret -therefore that I did not make accurate copies of all of them. The -dedication crosses are all floriated at the ends, and have in the -spandrels between the arms of the cross--above, the sun and moon, and -below, the letters A and Ω. Three of these remain on each -side of the nave, two in each transept, and two in the choir aisle, -twelve in all. I saw none on the exterior; but so little of the old -external walls can now be seen that this is not to be wondered at. - -It is now time to describe the building itself, the age of its various -parts having been pretty accurately defined by the documentary evidence -which I have quoted. - -This cathedral is of singular interest, not only on account of its -unusual completeness, and the general unity of style which marks it, but -still more because it is both in plan and design a very curiously exact -repetition of the church of S. Sernin at Toulouse.[154] But S. Sernin is -earlier in date by several years, having been commenced by S. Raymond in -A.D. 1060, and consecrated by Pope Urban II. in A.D. 1096; and the -cathedral at Santiago can only be regarded, therefore, as to a great -extent a copy of S. Sernin, the materials being, however, different, -since granite was used in its construction in place of the brick and -stone with which its prototype was constructed. - -The dimensions of the two churches do not differ very much; Santiago has -one bay less in its nave, but one bay more in each transept; it has only -one aisle, whilst S. Sernin has two on each side of the nave; and its -two towers are placed north and south of the west front, instead of to -the west of it, as they are at S. Sernin. The arrangement of the chevet -and of the chapels on the east of the transepts was the same in both -churches. Here they still exist in the chevet, but in the transepts -traces of them are only to be found after careful examination. Three of -them, indeed are quite destroyed, though slight traces still exist of -the arches which opened into them from the aisles, but the fourth has -been preserved by a piece of vandalism for which one must be grateful. -It has been converted into a passage-way to a small church which once -stood detached to the north-east of the cathedral, and the access to -which was by a western doorway. The erection of a modern chapel blocked -up the access to this doorway, and an opening was then made through the -northern chapel of the north transept, which has thus been saved from -the fate which has befallen the others. The position and size of these -chapels are indicated in the ground-plan. - -The proportions of the several parts of the plans of the two churches -are also nearly identical; and owing in part to the arrangement of the -groining piers of the transepts, in which the aisles are returned round -the north and south ends, the transept fronts in both churches have the -very unusual arrangement of two doorways side by side--a central single -doorway being impossible. The triforium galleries surround the whole -church, being carried across the west end and the ends of the transepts, -so that a procession might easily ascend from the west end, by the tower -staircases--which are unusually broad and spacious--and make the entire -circuit of the church. Finally, the sections of both these great -churches are as nearly as possible the same; their naves being covered -with barrel-vaults, their aisles with quadripartite vaults, and the -triforia over the aisles with quadrant vaults, abutting against and -sustaining as with a continuous flying buttress the great waggon-vaults -of their naves.[155] - -[Illustration: No. 17 - -SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL p. 147. - -INTERIOR OF LOWER CHURCH] - -The exterior of the cathedral at Santiago--to a more detailed -description of which I must now devote myself--is almost completely -obscured and overlaid by modern additions. The two old western steeples -shown on the plan are old only about as high as the side walls of the -church, and have been raised to a very considerable height, and finished -externally with a lavish display of pilasters, balustrades, vases, and -what not, till they finish in a sort of pepper-box fashion with small -cupolas. Between them is a lofty niche over the west front, which -contains a statue of the tutelar.[156] Fortunately the whole of the -façade between the steeples was built on in front of, and without -destroying, Master Matthew’s great work, the western porch. The ground -falls considerably to the west, and a rather picturesque quadruple -flight of steps, arranged in a complicated fashion, leads up from the -Plaza to the doors. There are two great and two lesser flights of steps, -so that a procession going up might be divided into four lines; a -doorway in the centre of the western wall below these steps leads into a -chapel constructed below the western porch. This is now called the -Chapel of St. Joseph, but seems to have been known of old as Santiago la -Vajo. The arrangement of its plan is very peculiar.[157] There are two -large central piers east and west of a sort of transept; to the west of -this are two old arches, and then the modern passage leading to the -doorway at the foot of the steps. To the east of the transept is an apse -consisting of an aisle formed round the great central pier, with small -recesses for altars round it. The aisle is covered with a round-arched -waggon-vault; it has five recesses for altars; the easternmost _seems_ -to have a square east end, the next to it on either side have apses, and -the others are very shallow recesses hardly large enough for altars. -There can be no doubt whatever, I think, that this is the work on which -Master Matthew was first employed; it is exactly under the porch and -doorway, on which, as we know by the inscription on the lintel of the -door, he wrought; and as he was first at work here in A.D. 1168, and -finished the doors in A.D. 1188, we may safely put down this chapel as -having been begun and finished circa A.D. 1168-1175. In this the bases -are some of them square, some circular in plan; the sculpture of the -capitals is elaborate and similar in character to most of the later work -in the cathedral. The favourite device of pairs of animals regarding -each other is frequently repeated; and there are moulded and spiral -shafts in the jambs of the western arches. My view of the interior of -this interesting little chapel will best explain its general character -and peculiarities, and it will be felt, I think, that it is certainly -not earlier than the date I have assigned, and therefore, like the great -western door, of later date than the church in connection with which it -was built. Behind the eastern altar there is an arcade of three arches -forming a kind of reredos, but I am not at all sure whether they are in -their old places, and I am inclined to think it more likely that there -is an eastern apse behind them. There is nothing to prove whether there -were any western doors to this chapel, and as all the light must -originally have come through the western arches, it would seem to be -most probable that there were none. The chapel is now kept locked, and -is but seldom used for service.[158] - -To return to the west front. This is the centre only of a vast -architectural façade; to the right of the church being the chapter-house -and other rooms on the west side of the cloister, and to the left -another long line of dependent buildings. The Plaza is bounded by public -buildings on its other three sides;[159] and beyond, to the west, the -ground falling very rapidly affords a fine view across the valley to the -picturesque mountain-like ranges which bound the landscape. This is the -Plaza Mayor or “del Hospital.” - -Going northward from the west entrance, and turning presently to the -east, a low groined gateway is reached, which leads into another Plaza -fronting the north transept. This gateway is a work of the twelfth -century, but of the simplest kind. The Plaza de San Martin, to the north -of the cathedral, is picturesquely irregular; its north side is occupied -by a vast convent of St. Martin, and the ground slopes down steeply from -it to the cathedral. Here is the gayest and busiest market-place of the -town, and the best spot for studying the noisy cries and the bright -dresses of the Gallegan peasantry. They are to be seen on a Sunday, -especially, in all their finery,--bright, picturesque, and happy -looking, for those who can afford to dress smartly are happy, and those -who cannot don’t seem to come--selling and buying every possible kind of -ware, save, perhaps, the large stock of scallop-shells, which, though -they are kept for sale with due regard to the genius loci, seemed to me -never to attract any one to become a purchaser, and to adopt the badge -of St. James! - -The whole of the northern front of the transept and church is -modernized. But to the east of it lies the little church used as the -Parroquia, and which will be better described when I go to the -interior, as externally it has no old feature save a simple little -window in its north wall. - -[Illustration: Exterior of Chevet.] - -A narrow passage from the Plaza de San Martin leads to the upper side of -a third Plaza opposite the east end; and here, though the cathedral has -been enclosed within square modern walls, there is fortunately just -enough left of the exterior of the eastern chapel and part of the apse -enclosed in a small court to explain its whole original design. The -entrance to this court is garnished with a number of statues, evidently, -I think, taken from a doorway, and perhaps from the destroyed north -doorway.[160] From this fragment of the chevet, it seems that the -eastern chapel was surrounded with a deeply recessed arcading, within -which were broad, round-arched windows with moulded archivolts carried -on shafts with sculptured capitals. The smaller chapels have -three-quarter shafts running up to the cornices placed between the -windows, and the corbel-tables at the eaves are simple and bold. The bay -between the chapels has a window occupying the whole space in width, and -above it is a small circular window, a feature which occurs in almost -exactly the same position in S. Sernin, Toulouse.[161] A string-course -is carried round the aisle wall above the roofs of the chapels, and the -wall is continued up to the same level as the walls of the aisles of the -church, and has alternately windows and arcading in its outer elevation. -This is perhaps the only serious difference between the design of this -church and that of S. Sernin. There the triforia are not carried round -the chevet, and consequently the aisle walls are not so lofty, and the -clerestory of the apse is shown in the usual way. - -Continuing the circuit of the cathedral, we now reach the Plaza de los -Plateros, in front of the south transept. This is bounded on the west -side by the outer walls of the cloisters, and a broad flight of steps -all across the Plaza leads up to the transept. This has been to some -extent damaged by the erection of a lofty clock-tower projecting at its -south-east angle, in which are the clock and the bells. The rest of the -old façade is fortunately preserved. It has two doorways in the centre -division, and two grand and deeply recessed windows above them. The ends -of the aisles seem to have been similarly treated above. The finish of -the transept wall is modern, but there still remain two canopies in it, -under one of which is a figure of the Blessed Virgin, no doubt part of a -sculpture of the Annunciation. - -The detail of the work in this front is of great interest, inasmuch as -it is clearly by another and an earlier workman than that of the western -part of the church. There are three shafts in each jamb of the doors, -whereof the outer are of marble, the rest of stone. These marble shafts -are carved with extreme delicacy with a series of figures in niches, the -niches having round arches, which rest upon carved and twisted columns -separating the figures. The work is so characteristic as to deserve -illustration. It is executed almost everywhere with that admirable -delicacy so conspicuous in early Romanesque sculpture. The other shafts -are twisted and carved in very bold fashion. - -[Illustration: No. 18. - -SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL p. 150. - -SHAFTS IN SOUTH DOORWAY] - -The jamb of this door retains an inscription deeply cut in large -letters, which appears to give the same date--Era 1116, 5 Ides of -July--that I have already quoted from the ‘Historia Compostellana.’ But -as the reading of this inscription is open to doubt, I think it well to -engrave it. This Era would make the date of these doors agree with the -commencement of the works. Figures on either side support the ends of -the lintels of the doors, but the tympana and the wall above for some -feet are covered with pieces of sculpture, evidently taken down and -refixed where they are now seen. They are arranged, in short, like the -casts at the Crystal Palace, as if the wall were part of a museum. One -of the stones in the tympanum of the eastern door has the Crowning with -Thorns and the Scourging; and on other stones above are portions of a -Descent into Hades, in which asses with wings are shown kneeling to our -Lord. Asses and other beasts are carved elsewhere, and altogether the -whole work has a rude barbaric splendour characteristic of its age. - -[Illustration: Inscription on South Door.] - -The windows above deserve special notice. Their shafts and archivolts -are very richly twisted and carved, and the cusping of the inner arch is -of a rare kind. It consists of five complete foils, so that the points -of the lowest cusp rest on the capital, and, to a certain extent, the -effect of a horseshoe arch is produced. This might be hastily assumed to -be a feature borrowed from the Moors; but the curious fact is that this -very rare form of cusping is seen in many, if not most, of the churches -of the Auvergnat type, to which reference has already been made, and it -must be regarded here, therefore, as another proof of the foreign origin -of most of the work at Santiago, rather than of any Moorish influence. I -have omitted to say that in addition to the other steeples there is a -modern dome over the crossing. The lower part of the lantern is old, and -the four piers which support it are somewhat larger than the rest. - -The exterior of the cloister is rather Renaissance than Gothic in its -character, and has some picturesque small towers at the angles. - -Altogether the impression which is first given here is of a church which -has been completely altered by Renaissance architects of rather a more -picturesque turn of mind than is usual; and the generally similar -character of the work in the Plazas on the several sides of the church -gives certainly a rather stately, though to me it was a very -disappointing, _tout ensemble_. - -With such feelings about the exterior, the complete change in the -character of the work as one goes through the door is more than usually -striking, for you are at once transferred from what is all modern, to -what is almost all very old, uniform, and but little disturbed. The -interior of the transepts is very impressive; their length is not far -from equal to that of the nave, and the view is less interrupted than in -it, as the rails between the Coro and the Capilla mayor are very light, -and the stalls are all to the west of the crossing. The whole detail of -the design is extremely simple. The piers are alternated throughout the -church of the two sections given on my ground-plan. The capitals are all -carved, generally with foliage, but sometimes with pairs of birds and -beasts. Engaged columns run up from the floor to the vault, and carry -transverse ribs or arches below the great waggon-vault. The triforium -opens to the nave with a round arch, subdivided with two arches, carried -on a detached shaft. I have already described the construction, and I -need only add here that the buttresses, which appear on the ground-plan, -are all connected by arches thrown from one to the other, so that the -eaves of the roof project in front of their outside face. There is -consequently an enormous thickness of wall to resist the weight and -thrust of the continuous vault of the triforium, these arches between -the buttresses having been contrived in order to render the whole wall -as rigid and uniform in its resistance to the thrust as possible. The -height of the interior, from the floor to the centre of the barrel-vault -of the nave, is a little over seventy feet. This dimension is, of -course, insignificant if compared with the height of many later -churches; but it must be borne in mind that here there is no clerestory, -and that, owing to its absence, there is much less light in the upper -part of the church than is usual, and one consequence of this partial -gloom is a great apparent increase in the size of every part of the -building. The original windows remain throughout the greater part of the -church. In the aisles they have jamb-shafts inside, and in both aisles -and triforia there are jamb-shafts outside. Occasionally at the angles -of the aisles, and elsewhere where it was impossible to pierce the walls -for windows, sunk arcading, corresponding with them in outline and -detail, is substituted for them. - -The chevet has been a good deal altered; most of the chapels remain, but -the columns and arches round the choir have all been destroyed, or, at -any rate, so covered over with modern work as to be no longer visible. A -thirteenth-century chapel has been added on the north of the apse, and a -small chapel of the fifteenth century and a large one of the -Renaissance period on its south-west side. The other alterations are -clearly indicated on the engraving of the ground-plan. - -[Illustration: No. 19 - -SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL. p. 152. - -INTERIOR OF SOUTH TRANSEPT, LOOKING NORTH-EAST] - -I have already said that the existing Renaissance steeples at the west -end are built upon the lower portions of the original Romanesque towers. -The only peculiarity about these is the planning of their staircases. -The steps are carried all round the steeple in the thickness of the -wall, and the central space is made use of for a succession of small -chambers one over the other. These staircases are unusually wide and -good, and their mode of construction is obviously very strong. - -The only other part of the church of the same age as the original fabric -is the detached chapel to the north-east of it. This seems to have had -originally no connexion whatever with the cathedral, the passage which -now leads to its western doorway from the north transept being quite -modern, and made for the reason already mentioned. Its western door is a -good late Romanesque work, with shafts in the jambs, and carved -capitals. The church itself consists of a nave and aisles of two bays in -length, and a chancel with an aisle on either side. The columns are -cylindrical, with carved capitals. The aisles have quadrant vaults, and -the nave a semi-circular ceiling, but I could not ascertain certainly -whether this was of plaster or stone. If the latter, then this little -church affords a very interesting example of the adaptation of precisely -the same mode of construction that we see in the great cathedral by its -side, viz. the waggon-vault in the nave supported on either side by the -quadrant vaults of the aisles. - -[Illustration: Central Shaft of Western Doorway.] - -It is now necessary to say something about what is to an architect the -chief glory of this noble church--its grand western entrance, fitly -called the Portico de la Gloria. On the whole, with no small experience -to warrant my speaking, and yet with a due sense of the rashness of too -general an approval, I cannot avoid pronouncing this effort of Master -Matthew’s at Santiago to be one of the greatest glories of Christian -art.[162] Its scale is not very grand, but in every other respect it is -quite admirable, and there is a freshness and originality about the -whole of the detail which cannot be praised too much. If we consider the -facts with which we are acquainted, we may understand how it is that it -has these great merits. Let us assume that Master Matthew was, as he no -doubt was, extremely skilled when the king sent him to Santiago with -his special warrant and recommendation. From that time until the happy -day came, after twenty years of anxious labour, when he was able to -write his inscription on the lintel of the door, it is probable that -this same man wrought on slowly but systematically on this great work. -During all this time he had but a very moderate opportunity of studying -similar works in his own neighbourhood, or of receiving incitement by -the competition of others of his craft; and I think the whole work bears -about it evidence that this was its history. There is up to a certain -point a conformity to common custom and precedent, and yet at the same -time a constant freshness and originality about it which seems to me to -show that its sculptor was not in the habit of seeing other similar -works during its progress. The figures are almost all placed in -attitudes evidently selected with a view to giving them life and -piquancy. But these attitudes are singularly unconventional; and though -they are by no means always successful to an eye educated in the -nineteenth century, they have all of them graces and merits which are -almost entirely unseen in the productions of nineteenth century -sculptors; whilst, again, in strong contrast to what is now almost the -invariable rule, there is no doubt that here we have the absolute -handiwork of the sculptor, and not a design only, the execution of which -has been relegated to a band of unknown and unrewarded assistants! The -detail of some of the smaller portions, as _e.g._ of the sculptured -shafts, is exquisitely refined and delicate, beautifully executed, and -with a singular appreciation, in some respects, of the good points of -classic sculpture. - -The doorways are three in number, of which that in the centre opens into -the nave, and those on either side into the aisles. In front of these -doors is a western porch, of three groined divisions in width, the outer -face of which has been built up and concealed by the modern western -façade. The groining ribs of this porch are very richly decorated with -sculpture of foliage in their mouldings. The general design of the doors -will be best understood by reference to the engraving which I give of -them. The bases are all very bold, and rest generally on monsters. That -under the central shaft has a figure of a man with his arms round the -necks of two open-mouthed winged monsters;[163] whilst on the other side -is a figure of a person kneeling towards the east, in prayer, and about -life-size. The central shaft is of marble, and carved all over with the -tree of Jesse. The detail of this shaft is so delicate and -characteristic of the whole work, that I give an engraving of a portion -of it; nothing can be prettier or more graceful than the design, and the -execution is admirable. The corresponding shaft in either jamb is also -sculptured, but in these there is no story, the shafts being twisted -with carving of foliage and figures in the alternate members. The -capital of the central shaft has the figures of the Holy Trinity, with -angels on either side censing; and above is a grand sitting figure of -St. James, with a scroll in his right hand, and a palmer’s staff in the -other. His nimbus is studded with large crystals; but as none of the -other figures throughout the door have nimbi, I suspect it has been -added in his case. The main capital of the central shaft, above the -saint’s head, has on three sides the Temptation of our Lord, and on its -fourth side angels coming and ministering to Him. - -The tympanum of this central door has a central seated figure of our -Lord, holding up His open hands. Around Him are the four Evangelists, -three of them with their emblematic beasts standing up on their hind -legs, with their paws in the Evangelists’ laps. Beyond them are angels -holding the various instruments of the passion, and above these angels a -multitude of small figures worshipping--the hundred and forty-four -thousand, many of them naked, _i.e._ free from sin. The archivolt is -perhaps the most striking feature in the whole work, having sitting -figures of the four-and-twenty elders arranged around its circumference, -in a manner at once quite original and singularly effective. The skill -and fancy shown in the treatment of this crowd of figures is beyond -praise, and there is a certain degree of barbaric splendour about the -profuse richness of the work which is wonderfully attractive. Traces -everywhere remain of the old delicate colouring with which the sculpture -was covered, and this just suffices to give a beautiful tone to the -whole work. - -The side jambs have standing figures on a level with that of St. James. -On the north jamb are Jeremiah, Daniel, Isaiah, and Moses, and on the -opposite side St. Paul, and, I suppose, other New Testament saints, -though I could not tell which. The side doorways, though there is no -sculpture in their tympana, have figures corresponding with the others -in their jambs. Under the groining against the north wall is an angel -blowing a trumpet, and there are other angels against the springing of -the groining ribs holding children in their hands. - -The whole scheme is, in fact, a Last Judgment, treated in a very -unconventional manner; the point which most invites hostile criticism -being the kind of equality which the sculptor has given to the figures -of our Lord and St. James, both being seated, and both in the central -position; and though the figure of the apostle is below that of his -Lord, it is still the more conspicuous of the two. - -The design of the interior of the west end is peculiar. The doorway -occupies the same space in height as the nave arches; above it the -triforium is carried across over the porch, opening into the nave with -two divisions of the same arcade as in the side galleries. Above this is -a large circular window, with sixteen small cusps and a small pierced -quatrefoil on either side. These openings now all communicate with the -western triforium gallery; and I found it impossible to make out, to my -own satisfaction, what the original scheme of the west end could have -been. It does not appear clear whether there ever were any doors hung in -the doorways, but I think there never were; and, perhaps, as we are told -that the first church built over the body of the saint was of two stages -in height, and open at the ends[164] (somewhat like the curious church -still remaining at Naranco, near Oviedo), we may be safe in assuming -that this western porch was in the same way open to the air. Above it -the vault of the nave may have been prolonged between the towers, and -under this the circular window would have been seen from the outside as -it is still from the inside. Whether there was any direct access to this -western porch from the ground, may admit of question; but it seems -difficult to see how it would have been contrived without blocking up -the chapel below the porch, which I have already described. - -The only remaining work of any importance is the cloister, with its -adjacent buildings,--the sacristies, chapter-room, library, &c. The -present erections show no relics whatever of the work which, as we have -seen, the Archbishop Diego Gelmirez undertook in the twelfth century. It -is uncertain, indeed, whether his constructions were on this side of the -church, for there are still remains of walls which seem to be coëval -with the church round a courtyard on the north side of the nave. The -cloisters now in existence are the work of Fonseca, afterwards -Archbishop of Toledo, and were commenced in A.D. 1533. As might be -expected by the date, there is very little Gothic character in their -design; they have the common late many-ribbed Spanish groining; and if -they have ever had traceries in the arches, these are now all destroyed. - -The festival of St. James is celebrated with special solemnity whenever -it happens to fall upon a Sunday. Then the people, I was told, ascend a -staircase behind the altar, pass in front of some of his relics, and -descend by another staircase[165] on the other side. The body of the -saint is said to be contained in a stone tomb below the high altar, -which lies north and south, with a modern sarcophagus over it, and there -is a rather good old statue of him on horseback against the west wall of -the south transept. - -The ritual arrangements here are the same as they usually are in Spain. -The Coro occupies four bays of the nave, and there is a passage railed -off between the Reja of the Coro and that of the Capilla mayor, and -there are not many altars now in use, but the number of clergy is very -great, and the church is constantly crowded with worshippers. - -On a Sunday morning during my stay the Archbishop said Mass, and there -was a procession with tapers all round the church. As the slow chant -rose from among the dense crowd of worshippers, and the flickering -lights of the tapers struck here and there on the walls of the dark old -church, one of those pictures was produced which one must, I suppose, go -to Spain to see really in perfection. The number of communicants seemed -to be extremely small, but the number of those at confession unusually -large. The penitents have a way of kneeling with their cloaks held up -over them against the confessional, so that their heads are quite -concealed. Spanish women are fond of squatting on the floor, fanning -themselves, before an altar; but here they often kneel, with their arms -stretched out as in wild entreaty, for a long time together, and with -rather striking effect. I think I am within bounds in saying that fifty -or sixty priests are to be seen in this church at one time, some at the -altars, some hearing confessions, and others with a large staff of -singing men and boys in the choir. - -I have but little more to say about Santiago. The churches seemed -everywhere to be modern, and, though some of them are very large, -extremely uninteresting. The streets are narrow, picturesque, and -winding, but with far fewer traces of any antiquity in the houses than -might have been expected. The only Gothic domestic building that I saw -is the great hospital, close to the cathedral, which has four fine -courts, and the principal entrance through a chapel or oratory, with an -altar in it. The detail of this work is, however, extremely late and -poor; it was founded in A.D. 1504 by Ferdinand and Isabella, Henrique de -Egas being the architect. - -The interest which, as an architect, one must feel in a building which -is--as I have shown the cathedral here to be--a close copy of another -church in another country, is very great. And the only regret I feel is -that I am unable to give any evidence as to the nationality of the men -who wrought the exquisite work in the western porch. My feeling is -certainly strong that they must have been Frenchmen, and from the -district of Toulouse. This I infer from the execution of their work. -Moreover, I do not know where in Spain we are to find the evidence of -the existence of a school in which such artists could have been trained, -whilst at Toulouse no one can wander through the Museum in the -desecrated convent of the Augustines without recognizing the -head-quarters of a school of artists from among whom the sculptor of -Santiago might well have come thoroughly educated for his great work. - -[Illustration: SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA:--Ground Plan of the Cathedral -&c. Plate IX.] - -From Galicia I travelled back by the same road along which I had already -journeyed as far as Leon; and from thence by Medina del Rio Seco--a -poor, forlorn, and uninteresting town--to Valladolid. The plain between -Leon and Valladolid is most uninteresting; and the whole journey from -the coast of Galicia to the last-named city is one of the most wearisome -I ever undertook. The occasional beauty of the scenery,--and on this -road it is oftentimes very beautiful,--does not prevent one’s feeling -rather acutely a diligence journey of sixty-six hours with few and short -pauses for meals; and the only solace--if solace it is--one has, is that -the _adalantero_ or postilion, who has to ride the whole distance, is in -infinitely worse case than oneself! Fortunately the least interesting -part of the road is now superseded by the opening of the railway from -Palencia to Leon. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -MEDINA DEL CAMPO--AVILA. - - -In going by the railroad from Valladolid to Madrid the decayed old town -of Medina del Campo is passed, and few travellers can have failed to be -struck by the size and magnificence of the great castle, under whose -walls they are hurried along--the Castle “de la Mota,” founded in 1440, -and built under the direction of Fernando de Carreño, as master of the -works.[166] - -The castle founded at this time evidently took the place of one of much -earlier date; for at some distance from its walls there still remain -great fragments of old concrete walls lying about, mis-shapen, decayed, -and unintelligible; whilst the greater part of the existing castle is a -uniform and simple work entirely executed in brick, incorporating and -retaining, however, in one or two parts, portions of the walls of the -earlier building. The outline is a very irregular square, with round -towers at all its angles rising out of the sloping base of the walls, -and overlooking the moat which surrounds the whole. Within these outer -walls rise the lofty walls of the castle, flanked by occasional square -towers, and with an unusually lofty keep at one angle. The entrance is -protected with much care, the gateways always opening at right angles to -each other, so as to give the best possible chance of easy defence. -Entering by the gateway in the centre of the principal front, across the -now destroyed bridge, the path turned round the walls of the keep, and -then through a small gate by its side into the great inner courtyard, -the shape of which is very irregular, and the buildings opening into -which are almost all destroyed. There seems to be no direct mode of -getting into the keep save by climbing up the face of the wall some -twenty feet from the ground; and to this I was unequal, though it was -evident, from the well-worn holes in the brick-work, that some of the -natives are not so. Possibly there may have been an entrance from below, -for the whole of the walls surrounding the castle, and looking out -upon the moat, are honeycombed with long vaulted galleries at various -levels, along which I tramped for a long time, looking in vain for an -outlet towards the keep. The architectural detail here is all of the -simplest possible kind; the arches are pointed, but square in section, -and only remarkable for the great depth of their archivolts, which gives -them an air of strength very fitting to such a building. The bricks are -generally a foot long, eight inches wide, and an inch and three-eighths -thick, and the mortar-joints are generally an inch and three-quarters -wide. Little as such a work affords for mere technical description, I -have seldom seen one of its kind altogether more magnificent. The great -height of the walls, the simplicity of the whole detail, and the bold -vigour of the outline sufficiently account for this. - -[Illustration: No. 20. - -MEDINA DEL CAMPO. p. 160. - -THE CASTLE.] - -Medina del Campo is the dullest and saddest of towns now, though three -hundred years ago it seems to have been one of the most important places -in the district. Nor is there much to detain the ecclesiologist or -architect. The principal church--S. Antholin--seems to have been founded -in the sixteenth century. An inscription round the chancel gives the -date of its erection as A.D. 1503,[167] and the church was probably -built at the same time. The plan consists of nave and aisles of three -bays in length, and a chancel of one bay. The nave and aisles cover an -area of about ninety feet each way, the dimensions being, as they -usually are here, very considerable. The columns are really clusters of -groining-ribs banded together with a very small cap at the springing, -and then branching out into complicated vaulting-bays, most of which are -varied in pattern. The Coro is near the west end of the nave, and about -equal in length to one of its bays, nearly two bays between its Reja and -the Capilla mayor being left for the people; its fittings are all of -Renaissance character, and there is a very picturesque organ above it, -on the south, bristling with projecting trumpet-pipes, and altogether -very well designed. The columns are lofty, and the church is lighted by -small round-headed windows of one or two lights placed as high as -possible from the floor; there is one light in each southern bay, and -two in each on the north side; evidently therefore the whole work is -carefully devised for a hot country; and it is an undoubted success in -spite of the extremely late character of all its detail. Twenty years -only after the foundation of the chancel, and just about the time that -Segovia Cathedral was being commenced, a chapel was added on the north -side of the altar, covered with a dome, and thoroughly Pagan in almost -all its details. - -There are three pulpits in this church--one on each side of the chancel, -and one in the nave; and low rails keep the passageway from the Coro to -the Capilla mayor. - -There is a good painting of the Deposition in the sacristy of S. -Antholin; and a still more interesting work is the Retablo of a small -altar against the eastern column of the nave. This has the Mass of St. -Gregory carved and painted, with other paintings of much merit. That of -the Pietà recalls Francia, and the figure of the Blessed Virgin in an -Annunciation is full of tender grace and sweetness. It is strange how -completely the Inquisition altered the whole character of Spanish art, -and deprived it at once and for ever apparently of all power of -regarding religion from its bright and tender side! - -An uninteresting country is passed between Medina and Avila. This old -city is indeed very finely situated; and if it be approached from -Madrid, seems to be a real capital of the mountains, with ranges of -hills on all sides. It lies, in fact, on the northern side of the -Sierra, and just at the margin of the great corn-growing plains which -extend thence without interruption to Leon and Palencia. Of the many -fortified towns I have seen in Spain it is, I think, the most complete. -The walls are still almost perfect all round the city; they are -perfectly plain, but of great height, and are garnished with bold -circular towers not far apart; and for the gateways two of these towers -are placed near together, carried up higher than the rest, and connected -by a bold arch thrown from one to the other. There are in all no less -than eighty-six towers in the circuit of the walls, and ten gateways; -and so great is their height[168] that nothing whatever is seen of the -town behind them, and they follow all the undulations of the hill on -which they stand with a stern, repulsive, savage look which seems almost -to belong to a city of the dead rather than to a fairly lively little -city of the present day. - -The space within the walls was very confined, and no doubt it was found -impossible for any new religious foundations to be established within -their boundaries. Several of the great churches, and among these some of -the most important--as San Vicente, San Pedro, and San Tomás--were -therefore built outside the walls; and the Cathedral itself, cramped by -its close neighbourhood to them, was built out boldly with its apse -projecting beyond the face of the walls, and making an additional -circular tower larger and bolder than any of the others. - -[Illustration: Puerta de San Vicente.] - -The walls of Avila were commenced in A.D. 1090, eight hundred men having -been employed on them daily in that year;[169] among them were many -directors who came from Leon and Biscay, and all of them wrought under -Casandro, a master of geometry and a Roman, and Florin de Pituenga, a -French master; so at least we learn from the contemporary history -attributed to D. Pelayo, Bishop of Oviedo. The walls were finished in -1099. - -In 1091 the Cathedral of San Salvador was commenced by an architect -named Alvar Garcia, a native of Estella, in Navarre;[170] the work was -completed in sixteen years, as many as nineteen hundred men, according -to the authority already quoted, having been employed on the works. D. -P. Risco[171] throws considerable doubt on the veracity of D. Pelayo; -and his figures certainly seem to be on too grand a scale to be at all -probable. - -I doubt very much whether any part of the existing Cathedral is of the -age of the church whose erection is recorded by Don Pelayo, except -perhaps the external walls of the apse. Its general character is -thoroughly that of the end of the twelfth or early part of the -thirteenth century, with considerable alterations and additions at later -periods; and we may safely assume that the chevet, commenced in A.D. -1091, was continued westward very slowly and gradually during the -following hundred years or more. The ground-plan will show the very -singular disposition of the plan; in which the chevet, with its double -aisle and semi-circular chapels in the thickness of the walls, is, I -think, among the most striking works of the kind in Spain.[172] The -external wall of the apse is a semi-circle divided into bays by -buttresses of slight projection alternating with engaged shafts. The -chapels do not therefore show at all in the external view; and indeed -all that does appear here is a projecting tower of vast size pierced -with a few very small windows--mere slits in the wall--and flanked on -either side by the wall and towers of the town. It is finished at the -top by a corbel-table and lofty battlemented parapet; and behind this -again, leaving a passage five feet and a half in width, is a second and -higher battlemented wall, from within which one looks down upon the -aisle-roof of the chevet, and into the triforium and clerestory windows -of the central apse. From below very little of the apse and flying -buttresses which support it are seen; and one is more struck perhaps by -the strange unlikeness to any other east-end one has ever seen, than by -any real beauty in the work itself; though at the same time it is -pleasant to see that not even so difficult a problem as that of a -windowless fortified chevet presented any serious difficulty to these -old architects. - -[Illustration: No. 21 - -AVILA CATHEDRAL p. 164. - -INTERIOR OF AISLE ROUND THE APSE.] - -[Illustration: East End, Avila Cathedral.] - -Assuming as I do that the external wall of the apse is as old as the end -of the eleventh century, I think it nevertheless quite impossible that -the chapels within it, in their present state, should be of the same -early date. In general plan it is true that they are similar to those -round the chevet of the abbey at Veruela,[173] the eastern chapels in -the transepts being apsidal in both cases, and similarly planned in -connection with those of the apse. The church of Veruela was completed -by about the middle of the twelfth century, and is beyond all question -earlier in style than the interior of Avila. The great beauty of the -latter arises from the narrow, recessed aisle round the apse, the -groining of which is carried on lofty and slender shafts, whilst the -columns round the apse itself consist of a bold single column with three -detached shafts on the side next the aisle. The groining throughout -is extremely good, and, in the chapels, is carried on clustered shafts. -A careful examination of the groining of the choir shows clearly how -much the design of the church was altered during its progress, though it -is certainly not an illustration of the advantage of such a course. The -lines of the groining on the plan explain that it is planned with hardly -any reference to the structure below: some of the groining shafts not -being over the piers, and everything having been sacrificed by the -architect of the triforium and clerestory in order to make all their -bays equal in width both in the apse and in the side walls. East of the -Crossing there is a narrow quadripartite bay of vaulting, then a -sexpartite bay, and then those of the apse, and each of the three bays -of the choir is thus made about equal to those of the apse, though the -arches below are quite unequal. Externally all of them are supported by -regularly arranged flying-buttresses, some of which must, I think, be -supported on the cross-arches of the aisle in front of the chapels. The -triforium is round-arched, of two horseshoe-headed lights divided by a -shafted monial; and the clerestory is of round-headed broadish windows, -with jamb-shafts and richly-chevroned arches. The flying-buttresses are -all double, the lower arch abutting against the triforium, and the upper -against the wall above the clerestory windows; and all appear to me to -have been added after the original erection of the clerestory. The -parapet here, as well as in the aisles, is battlemented, the battlements -being finished with pyramidal copings of the common Moorish type. I -should have observed that the passage round the town walls is connected -with that round the aisle walls, and that the two levels of battlements -in the latter are connected by occasional flights of stone steps. - -The transepts have the same triforium in their eastern walls as the -choir; and here, too, the same kind of construction was ventured on, the -groining shafts not being over the clustered column which divides the -arches of the aisles round the chevet. When this was done the intention -was evidently to erect one bay of sexpartite vaulting next the Crossing, -and then a quadripartite bay beyond it. At present both bays are -similar--quadripartite--and the clerestory is filled with large -traceried windows. - -The remainder of the church was so much altered in the fourteenth -century, that its whole character is now of that period. The north -transept façade has in its lower stage two windows of two lights, the -traceries of which are precisely similar to those of our own early -geometrical style, and there is a very fine rose window above them. This -rose is of sixteen divisions, each containing two plain pierced circular -openings, but the dividing lines between them being marked, give the -whole tracery that effect of radiation from the centre which is so -important a feature in the designs of many wheel-windows. All the -windows in this façade are richly moulded, and there are well-developed -buttresses at its angles, but, unhappily, the gable has been entirely -destroyed, and the present termination of the wall is a straight line of -brickwork below the eaves of the hipped roof. The question of the -original pitch of the roof--always so interesting--is therefore left -uncertain and undecided. The clerestory throughout is filled with -enormous six-light traceried windows, with transomes, and the double -flying buttresses between them are very large, and are finished at the -top with a line of traceries below their copings, and with crocketed -pinnacles in front. There are two towers at the ends of the aisles, -which do not open into them, but only into the nave. The south-west -tower has never been completed, but the north-west steeple is a very -fine work of the same age as the clerestory of the nave. It has bold -buttresses, and a belfry stage lighted by two windows on each side, with -tall crocketed pediments above them, and below the battlemented parapet -a line of rich sunk tracery. The angles--internal as well as -external--are carved with a ball enrichment, which at a distance -produces the same effect as our English ball-flower ornament; and, like -it, gives an air of richness to the whole work. The buttresses finish -above the parapet with crocketed pinnacles, and the parapet with a -pointed coping, which somewhat recalls the outline of the Moorish -battlement. The whole effect of the steeple, transept, and nave is -certainly very noble, and they are marked by an entire absence of any of -those foreign peculiarities which usually strike an English eye. The -whole might, in fact, be English work of the fourteenth century. The -north door of the nave is of grand dimensions, having six statues in -niches in each jamb, and others against the buttresses on either side. -The tympanum is sculptured with our Lord in an aureole in the centre, -the Betrayal and the Last Supper below, angels censing on either side, -and the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin above. The orders of the -archivolt are filled with figures, some representing the resurrection of -the dead, and others figures of kings and saints worshipping the central -figure of our Lord. The door-opening has the peculiarity of having an -elliptical or three-centred arch. This feature I noticed also in doors -evidently of about the same age at Burgos and at Leon, and it is just -one of those evidences which go surely to prove that the several works -are all designed by the same architect. The resemblance of the mouldings -in the jamb of this doorway to those in the western end of Leon -Cathedral is very close, and all these doors have an order of very -similar foliage between the several sculptured or storied orders of the -archivolt. I do not think the work here is quite as good as that at -Leon, though the filling in of the tympanum with a well-marked vesica in -the centre, and four rows of subjects divided by well-defined horizontal -lines, is uncommonly good. A sort of shallow porch has been formed by -some later groining, which occupies the space between the buttresses on -either side of the doorway, and this is finished in front with a rich -open traceried parapet and pinnacles. - -It was during the prelacy of Don Sancho III., Bishop of Avila from A.D. -1292 to 1353, that most of the later works of the cathedral were -executed, and his arms are sculptured upon the vault of the Crossing. -The character of all the work would agree perfectly with this date, -which is given by Gil Gonzalez Dávila[174] in his account of the church. - -[Illustration: Roofing, Avila.] - -A staircase in the south-west tower leads up into the roof of the -aisles, which now partly blocks up the too large clerestory; and passing -through this, and then over the roofs of the sacristies, we reach the -exterior of the chevet and the fortified eastern wall. Over the -sacristies is some original stone roofing, of an extremely good, and, so -far as I know, almost unique kind, with which it, seems very probable -that the whole of the roofs were originally covered. But it is now, as -well as all the others, protected by an additional timber roof covered -with tiles, and is not visible from the exterior. This roofing is all -laid to a very flat pitch with stones, which are alternately hollowed on -the surface for gutters, and placed about eight and a half inches apart, -and other square stones, which rest on the edges of the first, so as to -cover their joints. The stones are of course all of the same -length--two feet seven inches--and set over each other so as to form a -drip. The cornice at the eaves of this roof is very well managed, and -looks as if it were of the thirteenth century. Its construction reminded -me much of the stone guttering so frequently seen in the early Irish -buildings, and which, being so much less perishable than lead, has often -preserved them, where the common English construction would long ere -this have involved the whole building in ruin. - -[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF SAN SALVADOR AVILA--Ground Plan of Church -and Cloister &c. Plate 3 - -Published by John Murray. Albermarle St. 1865.] - -The cloister on the south side of the nave is much decayed and -mutilated. It was built probably in the early part of the fourteenth -century, and has good traceried windows, generally of four lights, but -blocked up, and with all their cusping destroyed. On its east side is a -fine fifteenth century chapel, with an altar at the south end, and a -passage through its other end, screened off by an iron Reja, leading to -the priests’ rooms, and so round to the sacristies. The windows of this -chapel are covered with a rude ball ornament, constantly seen in works -of the fifteenth century. - -I must not forget to notice the furniture of the interior of the -cathedral, some of which is very fine. The Retablo of the high altar is -very grand, having five sides, which follow the outline of the apse, and -it is of three stages in height. The lowest stage has the four -evangelists and the four doctors painted on its side panels, and SS. -Peter and Paul in the centre; the next has the Transfiguration in the -centre, and the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, -and the Presentation in the Temple at the sides; and the upper stage the -Crucifixion in the centre, and the Agony, the Scourging, the -Resurrection, and the Descent into Hell at the sides. These paintings -were executed in A.D. 1508 by Santos Cruz, Pedro Berruguete, and Juan de -Borgoña: and some of them are not only valuable in the history of art, -but of great merit. The St. Matthew attended by an angel, who holds his -ink for him, is designed with great grace; and the Adoration of the -Magi, and some of the other subjects, are admirably designed and -painted. The drawing is rather sharp and angular, and has more the -character of German than of Italian art. The woodwork in which the -paintings are framed is richly carved and gilt, but in a jumble of -styles; the canopies over the pictures being Gothic, and the columns -which support them thoroughly Renaissance in style.[175] - -The fittings of the Coro are all Renaissance, and there is a screen of -the same age across the nave on its western side. To the east is the -usual metal Reja, and low rails enclosing the passage from the Coro to -the Capilla mayor. A flight of seven steps in front of the altar, the -magnificent colour of its Retablo, and the contrast of the extremely -light choir and the almost windowless aisles and chapels round it, make -the pictorial effects here extremely fine; and they are heightened by a -good deal of stained glass, which, though of late date, has some fine -rich colour. It was executed at the end of the fifteenth century. - -Fine as this cathedral is, I think, on the whole, I derived almost as -much pleasure from the church of San Vicente, built just outside the -walls, a little to the north of the cathedral. This is a very remarkable -work in many respects. - -[Illustration: No. 22 - -SAN VICENTE, AVILA. p. 170. - -NORTH-EAST VIEW] - -The church--dedicated to the three martyrs, Vicente, Sabina, and -Cristeta, who are said to have suffered on the rock still visible in the -crypt below the eastern apse--is cruciform in plan,[176] with three -eastern apses, a central lantern, a nave and aisles of six bays in -length, two western steeples with a lofty porch between them, and a -great open cloister along the whole south side of the nave. The south -door is in the bay next but one to the transept, and there are staircase -turrets in the angles between the aisles and the transepts. The design -and detail of the eastern apses recall to mind the Segovian type of -apse. Their detail as well as their general design are, in fact, as -nearly as possible identical, and no doubt they are the work of the same -school of late Romanesque architects. They are very lofty, the ground -being so much below the floor of the church that the windows of a crypt -under the choir are pierced in the wall above the plinth. They have, -too, the usual engaged shafts between the windows, dividing each apse -into three vertical compartments, each pierced with a round-headed -window. These shafts are finished with finely carved capitals under the -eaves’ corbel-tables; and the stringcourses which occur below the -windows, on a level with their capitals, and again just over their -arches, are generally delicately carved, but sometimes moulded. The -central apse is higher than those on either side, and consequently none -of the horizontal lines are continuous round the three apses; and as the -eastern walls of the transepts have no openings, and no stringcourses or -enrichments of any kind between the ground and the eaves, there is a -certain air of disjointedness in the whole design which is not pleasing. -The transept façades are very simple: both are pierced with windows of -one light high up in the wall, and the northern transept is vigorously -treated with a grand system of buttressing, used as mediæval artists -alone apparently knew how! The buttresses are mere pilasters at the top, -and the eaves-cornices are carried round them and up the flat-pitched -gable-line in the way so commonly seen in Italian Gothic. But at -mid-height these pilasters are weathered out boldly, and run down to the -natural rock on which the church is built, and which here crops up above -the surface of the ground: a central buttress is added between the -others, and between the buttresses the whole wall is battered out with a -long succession of weatherings to the same thickness at the base as the -greatest projection of the buttresses. Probably the lower part of this -front has been added long after its first erection for the sake of -strength; and undoubtedly the somewhat similar system of buttressing -which is carried along the north wall of the nave is long subsequent in -date to the early church, to which it has been applied. The south -transept, owing to the rapid rise of the ground to the south, is much -less lofty than the other, and has between its buttresses three high -tombs. - -The whole south side of the nave is screened, so to speak, by a very -singular lofty and open cloister, which extends from the west wall of -the transept to a point in advance of the west front. It is very wide, -and is entirely open to the south, having occasional piers, with two -clustered shafts between each. There is something at first sight about -the look of these clustered shafts which might lead one to suppose them -to be not later than the thirteenth century; and as the lofty arches are -semi-circular, this idea would be strengthened were it not that a -careful comparison of the detail with other known early detail proves -pretty clearly that they cannot be earlier than about the middle of the -fourteenth century. The material--granite--favours this view, for here, -just as in our own country, the early architects seem to have avoided -the use of granite as much as possible, even where, as at Avila, it lies -about everywhere ready for use. There is something so novel and singular -about this open loggia or cloister, that I could not help liking it -much, though it undoubtedly destroys the proportions, and conceals some -of the detail, of the old church in front of which it has been added. - -The bays of the aisle are divided by pilaster-buttresses, and lighted -with round-headed windows which have external jamb-shafts. - -The west end is, perhaps, the noblest portion of this very remarkable -church. There are two towers placed at the ends of the aisles. These are -buttressed at the angles, and arcaded with sunk panels of very -considerable height on the outer sides; they are groined with -quadripartite vaults, and do not open into the church, but only into the -bay between them, which, though it is a continuation of the full height -of the nave, is treated simply as a grand open porch, with a lofty -pointed arch in its outer (or western) wall, and a double doorway in its -eastern wall opening into the church. This porch is roofed with a vault -of eight cells, level with that of the nave, and extremely lofty and -impressive, therefore, from the exterior, and over the doorway a window -opens into the nave. The western, as well as the side arches, have bold -engaged shafts, and the groining is also carried on angle shafts. The -whole effect is fine, and the light and shade admirable and well -contrasted: but the charm of the whole work seemed to me to lie very -much in the contrast between the noble simplicity and solid massiveness -of the architecture generally, and the marvellous beauty and delicacy of -the enrichments of the western doorway, which is certainly one of the -very finest transitional works I have ever seen. It is, as will be seen -by the engraving, double, with round arches over each division, and the -whole enclosed under a larger round arch. Statues of saints are placed -in either jamb, and against the central pier in front of the shafts -which carry the archivolt, and the latter and the capitals are carved -with the most prodigal luxuriance of design and execution, and with a -delicacy of detail and a beauty of which an idea cannot be conveyed by -words. Sculptured subjects are introduced in the tympana of the smaller -arches, and a richly carved stringcourse is carried across under a -parapet which is placed over the doorway. The figures and carving are -all wrought in a very fine and delicate stone. The tympana are -sculptured on the left with the story of Dives and Lazarus, and on the -right with a death-bed scene, where angels carry up the soul to -Paradise. The detail of the foliage seemed to me to have a very -Italianizing character, being mostly founded on the acanthus-leaf. The -capitals are very delicate, but copied closely from Classic work, and -the figures are dignified in their pose, but their draperies are rather -thin and full of lines. Some of the shafts are twisted, and beasts of -various kinds are freely introduced with the foliage in the sculpture. - -[Illustration: No 23. - -SAN VICENTE, AVILA. p. 172. - -INTERIOR OF WESTERN PORCH.] - -To me the sight of such work as this is always somewhat disheartening. -For here in the twelfth century we find men executing work which, both -in design and execution, is so immeasurably in advance of anything that -we ever see done now, that it seems almost vain to hope for a revival of -the old spirit in our own days: vain it might be in any age to hope for -better work, but more than vain in this day, if the flimsy conceit and -impudent self-assertion which characterize so much modern (so-called) -Gothic is still to be tolerated! for evil as has been the influence of -the paralysis of art which affected England in the last century, it -often seems to me that the influence of thoughtless compliance with what -is popular, without the least study, the least art, or the least love -for their work on the part of some of the architects who pretend to -design Gothic buildings at the present day, may, without our knowing it, -land us in a worse result even than that which our immediate ancestors -arrived at. Here, however, at Avila, in this porch of San Vicente, let -us reverence rightly the art and skill of him who built, not only so -delicately and beautifully, but also so solidly and so well; let us try -to follow his example, knowing for certain that in this combination lies -the true merit of all the best architecture--Pagan or Christian--that -the world has ever seen. - -The three stages of the western towers are, I think, respectively of the -twelfth, thirteenth, and fifteenth centuries. The second or intermediate -stage is arcaded, and has its angles planned with a shaft set in a broad -splay precisely in the mode we see so commonly adopted in the Segovian -towers.[177] The upper stage is finished with gables on each face, the -gable being fringed with a line of granite trefoils in not very good -taste. Gil Gonzales Dávila[178] says that the tower of this church was -built by alms in A.D. 1440. He refers, no doubt, to the upper stage, the -design of which agrees with this statement. I was not able to learn how -it had originally been roofed; but my impression is that it probably had -two stone gabled roofs intersecting each other. - -In addition to the western door there is another fine entrance on the -south side of rather earlier date than the other, and now always in use -as the ordinary entrance to the church. Descending here by some steps -from the cloister, we find ourselves in the impressive interior, and are -at once struck by some features which are of rare occurrence in this -part of Spain. The columns are of very bold, perhaps heavy, design, and -rest on circular bases. Their front portion is carried up on a bold and -massive groining pier in front of the main wall; the arcades are -severely simple, the arches semi-circular, and the capitals richly -carved. A carved stringcourse is carried round the church above the -arches, and there is the very uncommon arrangement (in this country) of -a well-developed triforium; each bay here having a round-arched opening, -subdivided into two smaller openings, divided by a massive column with -sculptured capital. Another stringcourse divides the triforium and -clerestory, which has also round-arched windows of one light. The -vaulting, both in the nave and aisles, is quadripartite, the only -remarkable feature in it being the massive size of the ribs. - -The three eastern apses are vaulted with waggon-vaults over their -western compartments, and semi-domes over the apses, and the transepts -are roofed with waggon-vaults. All the latter have cross arches or ribs -below them carried on engaged shafts, and the side walls of the chancel -and chancel-aisles are arcaded below the vaulting. - -The central lantern is carried on piers, which have evidently been in -great part rebuilt at some time subsequent to the foundation of the -church. They carry pointed arches of granite, clumsily moulded, and have -rudely-carved capitals. Two piers on the south of the nave next the -Crossing, and one on the north, were either partly or altogether rebuilt -at the same time, and it looks very much as though the first lantern had -partly fallen, and then, two centuries after the original foundation of -the church, the existing one had been erected, for over the pointed -arches there still seem to be remains of the older round arches. The -lantern is rather loftier than is usual; it is vaulted with an -eight-ribbed dome, carried on arched pendentives, and is lighted by -small windows of two lights in its upper stage. Dávila[179] says that -this church was rebuilt in the time of Ferdinand “El Santo” (1252-1284), -who endowed it with certain rents for the purpose. But other authorities -say, with more show of probability, that the work undertaken in this -year was the repair of the church. The rebuilding at this date, which is -utterly inconsistent with the whole character of the church, agrees, -nevertheless, very well indeed with that of the lantern. Subsequently, -in A.D. 1440, according to Dávila,[180] the tower of the church was -built, and this statement probably refers to the upper stages of the -western steeples. The crypt under the choir, called Nra. Sra. de -Soterraña, is important only for its position: it is entered by a long -flight of steps from the east end of the north aisle, and extends under -the three eastern apses. It is mainly modernized, and the great -attraction seems to be the hole in which, as I understood, people who -wish to take a solemn oath put their hands whilst they swear. - -There are no original ritual arrangements remaining here; but an iron -Reja is carried across the nave and aisles one bay to the west of the -crossing, and here probably was the old place for the Coro, as the -position of the shrine of San Vicente under one side of the lantern -would have made it impossible for the Coro to be placed nearer the east. - -Some features still remain to be noticed, and the most important is the -tomb or shrine of the tutelars--San Vicente and his brethren. This is -picturesquely placed on one side of the space under the lantern, with -entire disregard to that desire for balance everywhere which so -painfully affects almost all of us now-a-days. It is a -thirteenth-century erection standing on detached shafts, within which -appears to be a tomb which is always kept covered with a silken pall. -Over this is a lofty canopy carried on four bold shafts at the angles, -and consisting of a deep square tester, above which is a lofty pyramidal -capping with its sides slightly concave and crockets at the angles. It -is rather difficult to convey an idea of this very remarkable work -without large and careful illustrations. The inner tomb or shrine is the -really important work, the outer canopy or tester being evidently a much -later addition.[181] The shrine has all the character of an early -pointed Italian Gothic work. Its canopy is carried on clusters of four -shafts twisted together, at each of the angles; between them, on each -side, are three coupled columns, and at the east and west ends are -single shafts. These carry trefoiled or many-cusped arches, the -spandrels of which are sculptured; and above this is a sort of shrine -with a sloping stone scalloped all over on either side, and a steep -diapered roof rising out of the centre. A series of subjects is carved -in panels all along the sides of the shrine, which seem to have -reference to three saints and martyrs--probably to San Vicente and his -companions. Figures of the Twelve Apostles are introduced, two and two, -at the angles, and other figures sitting and reading between the -subjects. A late iron screen between the columns of the outer baldachin -makes it rather difficult either to see or to sketch this interesting -work carefully. Its detail is all very peculiar, and in the twisted and -sculptured shafts, the strange form of some of the cusping, and the iron -ties with which it is undisguisedly held together, I thought I saw -evident traces of the influence of Italian art. I take the shrine to be -a work of the thirteenth century, though the baldachin is no doubt of -later date. - -Near this shrine in the south aisle is some very fine rich and delicate -wrought-ironwork in a _grille_ round a side altar. It is possibly part -of the old choir-screen, and at any rate does not belong to the place in -which it is now preserved. The beauty of this work consists in the -delicacy of the thin strips of iron, which are bent into a succession of -circular lines ending in roses, and on an excessively small and delicate -scale. Some similar work is still to be seen in one of the windows of -the apse. - -The arches on either side of the great western porch are filled in with -open trellis-work wood-screens, which show how good occasionally may be -the adaptation by Gothic hands of Moorish work. Here the lines of wood -cross each other at intervals, leaving, of course, a regular series or -diaper of open squares. The edges of all these are simply cut out in a -pattern, or notched, in a variety of forms, and the effect is extremely -good. The same kind of work is common in Moorish buildings, but I had -not seen it before so boldly used by Christians. - -[Illustration: AVILA: San Vicente and MEDINA DEL CAMPO: S: Antholin: -Plate XI. - -Published by John Murray, Albermarle Street 1865] - -San Vicente stands outside the walls of Avila, close to one of the -principal gates, and near the north-east angle of the city. The church -of San Pedro is similarly placed at the south-east angle, and at the end -of a large open Plaza called the Mercado Grande. It is not a little -remarkable that so soon after the enclosure of the city within enormous -walls two of the most important of its churches should have been built -deliberately just outside them, and exposed to whatever risks their want -of defence entailed. In plan and general design San Pedro is very -similar indeed to San Vicente. It has a nave and aisles of five bays, -transepts of unusual projection, a central lantern, and three apsidal -projections to the east. The doors, too, are in the centre of the west -front, and in the next bay but one to the transept on both sides. The -detail is almost all of a simple and extremely massive kind of -Romanesque, round arches being used everywhere and uncarved capitals -with square abaci. The nave piers are of the commonly repeated section, -but very large in proportion to the weight they have to carry. There is -no triforium, and the clerestory windows are of moderate size, whilst -those in the aisles are very small, and placed as high as possible from -the floor. The groining generally is quadripartite, and some of the ribs -boldly moulded in a manner which suggests the possibility of this severe -Romanesque-looking work being in truth not earlier than circa 1250. The -transepts and the western portion of the apses are covered with -waggon-vaults, and the apses themselves with semi-domes. The lantern -over the Crossing is probably not earlier than A.D. 1350, the mark of -the junction with the old work just over the arches into the transepts -being still very plainly visible. The vaulting here is very peculiar. -Groined pendentives at the angles are introduced to bring the vault to -an octagon in plan, but the eight compartments are variously treated; -those on the cardinal sides having ordinary vaulting cells over the -windows, whilst those on the intermediate or diagonal sides are crossed -with four segments of a dome with the masonry arranged in horizontal -courses. - -The west front has three circular windows, that in the centre having -wheel tracery; the north doorway has a richly-sculptured archivolt, -which is later in character than the general scheme of the church, -having an order of good dog-tooth enrichment, and the abacus is carved -with rosettes. There are staircases in the usual position in the angle -between the transepts and the aisles, and the apses are divided into -bays by engaged shafts with sculptured capitals. There is, in fact, not -very much to be said about this otherwise noble and remarkable church, -because it repeats to so great an extent most of the features of its -neighbour San Vicente. Yet its scale, character, and antiquity are all -such as would make us class it, if it were in England, among our most -remarkable examples of late Romanesque. - -There are several other churches in Avila,[182] but the only one besides -those already mentioned of which I made any notes is that of the -Convent of San Tomás built between A.D. 1482 and 1493.[183] In a charter -of Ferdinand the Catholic, dated May 29, 1490, reference is made to this -monastery, together with those of Sta. Cruz, Segovia; San Juan de los -Reyes, Toledo; Sta. Engracia, Zaragoza; and other churches in Granada, -&c., all of them founded by that King and Queen Isabella. They founded -this convent on the petition of Confessor P. W. Tomás de Torquemada. - -The convent has been closed for some years, but has just been purchased -by the Bishop of Avila, who is now repairing it throughout, with the -intention, I believe, of using it as a theological seminary. The detail -of the conventual buildings, which surround two cloisters, one of which -is of great size, is, as might be expected, of the latest kind of -Gothic, and extremely poor and uninteresting, whilst the design of the -church, as so often seems to be the case with these very late Spanish -churches, is full of interest. It has a nave of five bays with side -chapels between the buttresses, short transepts, and a very short square -chancel to the east of the Crossing; but the remarkable feature is, that -not only is there a large gallery filling the two western bays of the -nave and fitted up with seventy stalls with richly-carved canopies, the -old choir-book desk in the centre, and two ambons projecting from the -eastern parapet, but that there is also another gallery at the east end, -in which the high altar, with its fine carved and painted Retablo, is -placed. This eastern gallery has also gospel and epistle ambons -projecting from its front. Strange as the whole arrangement of this -interior is, it strikes me as almost more strange that it should not -have been one of constant occurrence in a country where at one period -the Coro was so constantly elevated in a western gallery. For there is a -sort of natural propriety, as it seems to me, in the elevation of an -altar, where folk care at all for the mysteries celebrated at it, to at -least as high a level as any part of the church used for service; and -undoubtedly the effect of the altar-service to those in the raised Coro -is much, if not altogether, marred where the altar is in its usual place -on the floor. Here the effect is certainly very fine, whether the altar -is looked at from the Coro or from the floor of the nave below it; and -from the former in particular, the strangeness of looking across the -deep-sunk well of the nave to the noble altar raised high above it at -the east is in every way most attractive. The detail of all the -architecture here is very uninteresting, though the many-ribbed vaulting -is certainly good, and the effect of the dark cavernous nave under the -western gallery is very fine in light and shade. Rarely as I trouble my -reader with any reference to Renaissance works, I must here in justice -say that the great tomb of Don Juan, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella, -which occupies the floor below the altar, is one of the most tender, -fine, and graceful works I have ever seen, and worthy of any school of -architecture. The recumbent effigy, in particular, is as dignified, -graceful, and religious as it well could be, and in no respect unworthy -of a good Gothic artist. It was executed by Micer Domenico Alexandra -Florentesi, who refers to it in a contract which he entered into with -Cardinal Ximenes in 1518; but it is said to have been completed as early -as A.D. 1498.[184] At present it is necessary to get an order to see it -from the Bishop, who has the key of the church; doubtless before long -this will not be necessary, but it is well to give the caution, as the -convent is some little distance beyond the town-walls, and the Bishop’s -palace is in the very centre of the city. - -It will be felt, I think, that Avila is a city which ought on no account -to be left unseen in an architectural tour in Spain. Fortunately it is -now as easy of access as it was once difficult, for the railway from -Valladolid to Madrid, in order to cross the Sierra de Guadarrama, makes -a great détour by Avila, and thence on to the Escorial is carried on -through the mountain ranges with considerable exhibition of engineering -skill, and with great advantage to the traveller, as the views -throughout the whole distance are almost always extremely beautiful. - -I did not stop on my road to see the Escorial: as far as the building is -concerned, it is enough I think to know that Herrera designed it, to be -satisfied that it will be cold, insipid, and formal in character. And -the glimpses I had of it as I passed amply justified this expectation. -It is, too, as utterly unsuited to its position on the mountain-side as -it well could be. On the other hand, I no doubt lost much in neglecting -to make the excursions to the various points of view which it is the -fashion for visitors to go to, though it seemed to me that the country -in the neighbourhood of La Granja, which one passes on the road from the -Escorial to Segovia, was more interesting than this, the mountains being -as high and much more finely wooded. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -SEGOVIA. - - -Few journeys can be made by the ecclesiologist in Spain which will be -altogether more agreeable or more fruitful of results than one to this -time-honoured city; for not only does it contain within its walls more -than the usual number of objects of architectural and ecclesiological -interest, but the road by which it is usually approached, across the -Sierra de Guadarrama, presents so much fine scenery as to be in itself -sufficient to repay the traveller for his work. It was from Madrid that -I made my way to Segovia, taking the railway as far as the little -station at Villalba, near the Escorial, and travelling thence by a -fairly-appointed diligence. The very fine and picturesque granite ranges -of the Guadarrama are generally bare and desolate on their southern -side, though here and there are small tracts of oak-copse, or fern, or -pine-trees; but, after a slow ascent of some three or four hours, when -the summit of the pass is reached, the character of the scenery changes -entirely, and the road winds down through picturesque valleys and dips -in the hills, which are here thickly covered everywhere with pine-trees -of magnificent growth. It is necessary to travel for a time in the -dismal plains of Old Castile, to enjoy to the full the sudden change to -the mountain beauties of the Guadarrama; and it is impossible not to -sympathize with the kings of Spain, who at La Granja, on the lower -slopes of the northern side of the range, have built themselves a palace -within easy reach of Madrid, and--owing to its height above the sea--in -a climate utterly different from, and much more endurable than, that of -the capital. Of the palace they have built I must speak with less -respect than I do of their choice of its site, for it is now untidy in -its belongings and apparently little cared for. A church forms the -centre of it, and the whole group of buildings has slated roofs, -diversified by an abundance of _tourelles_. The walls are all plastered -and covered with decaying paintings of architectural -decorations--columns, cornices, and the like--which give a thoroughly -pauperized look to the whole place. But probably the interior of the -palace and its famous gardens would correct the impression which I -received from a hurried inspection of the exterior only. It is an -uninteresting drive of about an hour from La Granja to Segovia. The -tower of the cathedral is seen long before reaching the city; but it is -not till one is very near to it that the first complete view is gained, -and this, owing to the way in which the Alcazar and cathedral stand up -upon a rocky height above the suburbs, and the streams which girt it on -either side, is very picturesque. Even finer is it as one drives on -through the suburb and first finds oneself in presence of the grand old -Roman aqueduct, which, still perfect and still in use, spans with its -magnificent ranges of arch upon arch the valley which separates the city -rock from the hills beyond. Its base is girt closely round by houses and -the diligence road passes under one of its arches, so that the enormous -scale upon which it is built is thoroughly appreciated, and it is quite -impossible not to admire the extreme simplicity and grandeur of the -work. Nothing here was done that was useless or merely ornamental, and -the whole still stands with but little repair--and that little well -done--after so many centuries of good service, as useful as at the -first. - -A steep hill leads up from the valley below the aqueduct through a -gateway in the walls into the city, and after threading the narrow -winding streets we find ourselves in the fine Plaza de la Constitucion, -which is surrounded by picturesque balconied houses, save at its -north-west angle, where it opens so as to allow a fine view of the east -end of the cathedral. The houses have generally extremely picturesque -open upper stages of wood arcading, and the windows and balconies are -all gay with the heavy curtains which protect them from the sun. - -The situation of the city is in every way striking. On either side of it -there is a deep valley, and these at their meeting have between them the -great rock on which the Alcazar is built--as admirably secure a site for -a castle as could have been selected. Going eastward along the narrow -ridge the cathedral is soon reached, and this is the centre of the city, -which then widens somewhat, before the edge of the hill is reached which -leads down to the suburb below the aqueduct. In the two valleys are some -of the best of the buildings: San Millan in one, the Templars’ Church -and the Convent of El Parral in the other; but most of the old churches -are crowded closely together on the summit of the hill. - -I shall begin my architectural notes with the cathedral, in deference -only to its rank, and not at all to its age or architectural merits. It -is nevertheless a building of no little value in the history of Spanish -art, as being perhaps the latest Gothic building erected, and one which -was yet but little influenced by Renaissance art. In the Appendix I give -a translation of the interesting contemporary account of the church, -written by one Juan Rodriguez, who appears to have been the canon in -charge of the work. According to his account, Juan Gil de Hontañon, the -architect of Salamanca Cathedral, was appointed in A.D. 1522 to -superintend the work, and on the 8th of June in the same year the Bishop -ordered a procession, and, going himself to the site of the church, laid -its foundation-stone at the western end. Cean Bermudez, in his account -of this cathedral, speaks of a competition among several architects for -the work, and says that the design of Rodrigo Gil de Hontañon--the son -of Juan Gil--was selected.[185] But this seems to be clearly contrary to -the distinct statement of the Canon Juan Rodriguez. The work was -commenced, as we have seen, in 1522, and Juan Gil seems to have died -circa 1531. His son Rodrigo was not made Maestro mayor until 1560, and -on the 5th of August, 1563, laid the first stone of the Capilla mayor. -The inscription on his tombstone in the cloister[186] says that he laid -the first stone of the church; but if he did so it was on behalf of his -father, who was then undoubtedly the Maestro mayor, and we may assume, I -believe, that the greater part of the church, as we now see it, was -finished before the year 1577, in which he died, though, indeed, Madoz -says that the Sacrament was moved to the new cathedral as early as 1558, -though the chapels of the apse were not completed until 1593. The north -door, by Juanes de Mugaguren, was added in A.D. 1626, and is thoroughly -Pagan. - -The plan[187] of this church must be compared with that of the new -cathedral at Salamanca, built by the same man. The details of the two -churches are very similar; but the scale of Segovia is slightly greater -than that of Salamanca, and it has the enormous advantage of having a -grand chevet in place of a square east end. It will be seen, on -reference to my account of Salamanca, that the architects who drew up -the scheme for the cathedral there, intended that its end should be -circular, but that nevertheless it has not been so built. It seems -probable, therefore, that Hontañon felt that this alteration was a -mistake, or else that we owe the amended plan of Segovia to the better -taste of his son Rodrigo, who was master of the works of the eastern -portion of the church. But in any case, whether it is to the father or -the son that we owe it, the internal effect is undoubtedly very noble, -in spite of all the shortcomings which must be looked for in a work of -such a date. The main columns are of grand dimensions, moulded, and -rising from lofty bases planned with that ingenious complication of -lines which was always so much affected by the later German and Spanish -architects. The arches are very lofty, and there is no triforium, but -only a traceried balustrade in front of the clerestory, which consists -of uncusped triplets filling the wall above the springing of the -groining, and very low in proportion to the great height of the church, -though at the same time amply sufficient for the admission of all the -light necessary in such a climate. The aisle has a somewhat similar -clerestory, but without the traceried balustrade which we see in the -nave clerestory, and the aisles and chapels are all lighted with -windows, each of one broad light. Most of the smaller arches here are -semi-circular; but though this is the case, and though so many of the -windows are of one light, there is no appearance anywhere of any attempt -to revive the form or detail of earlier work. - -On the exterior the general character is just the same as that of -Hontañon’s work at Salamanca. There are the same pinnacles and -buttresses, the same parapets, and the same concealment of the roofs and -roof-lines everywhere--even in the transepts, which have no gables--and -there is also a domed lantern over the Crossing and a lofty tower at the -west end, finished with an octagonal stage covered with a dome, and -rising from between four great pinnacles. So great, in short, are all -the points of similarity, that I can well believe that portions of the -two works may have been executed from the same plans, and this close -copying of the earlier work at Salamanca may perhaps have been the true -reason of the respectably Gothic detail of the chevet, built as it was -so near the end of the sixteenth century. The groining is all of the -kind so common in Spain, having ogee lierne ribs in addition to the -diagonal, and in place of ridge ribs. - -Not a little of the grand effect of the interior is owing to the rich -stained glass with which all, or nearly all, the windows are filled. It -is all, of course, of the very latest kind, and poor in much of its -design; yet nevertheless it is often magnificent in colour, and in this -respect quite beyond anything that most of our artists in glass seem to -me to accomplish nowadays. The Coro is here--and probably was from the -first--in the nave; but there is nothing either in its fittings or in -those of the Capilla mayor which struck me as worthy of note. The detail -of the central dome is quite Pagan, and here and there throughout the -work little indications of the same spirit peep out, and show how narrow -was the escape which the whole church had of being from first to last -executed in the Renaissance style. - -With all its faults this church has grand points: this every one will -allow who has seen it rising in a noble pyramidal mass above the houses -of the town from the open space in front of the Alcazar, from whence all -its parts are seen to great advantage. Of the other subordinate -buildings I need not say much. The canon, whose account I give in the -Appendix, is much more enthusiastic about them than I was, for in truth -they are cold and tame in design and meagre in detail; and wanting the -effect of height and colour of the interior of the cathedral, want all -that makes it so striking. I saw no great, if any, difference of style -between the cloisters and the church; but they were the cloisters of the -old church, and were removed here by a contract entered into by one Juan -de Campero in 1524. Campero was one of the architects consulted as to -the rebuilding of Salamanca Cathedral, and was evidently a mason or -builder as well as an architect. I was not aware of the history of the -cloister when I was at Segovia, and I did not notice any evidence of the -work having been rebuilt and added to in the way described. - -The cathedral is the largest and most important, but at the same time -the most modern mediæval building in Segovia; whilst, on the contrary, -one of the smallest, the church of the Templars, is also one of the most -ancient and curious; it is situated by the roadside just out of the -city, on its north-west side, and below the great rock which is crowned -by the Alcazar. The date of its consecration in A.D. 1208 is given by an -inscription which still remains in the interior, and which has been -incorrectly given by Cean Bermudez. It is as follows:-- - - Hæc sacra fundantes cœlesti sede locentur; - Atque suberrantes in eadem consocientur. - Dedicatio ecclesiæ beati Sepulchri Xrti - Idus Aprilis Era MCCXLVI. +. - -[Illustration: No. 24. - -SEGOVIA p. 184. - -INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLARS CHURCH LOOKING N E.] - -The plan is very peculiar.[188] The nave is dodecagonal, and has a small -central chamber enclosed with solid walls, round which the vaulted -nave forms a kind of aisle. This central chamber is of two storeys in -height, the lower entered by archways in the cardinal sides, and the -upper by a double flight of steps leading to a door in its western side. -The upper room is vaulted with a domical roof which has below it four -ribs, two parallel north and south, and two parallel east and west, and -it retains the original stone altar, arcaded on its sides with a -delicately wrought chevron enrichment and chevroned shafts. The upper -chapel is lighted by seven little windows opening into the aisle around -it. The room below the chapel has also a dome, with ribs on its under -side. On the east side of the building are the chancel and two chapels, -forming parallel apses, to the south of which is a low steeple, the -bottom stage of which is also converted into a chapel. The chapel in the -centre of the nave is carried up and finished externally with a pointed -roof, whilst the aisle is roofed with a lean-to abutting against its -walls. There are pilasters at the angles outside, small windows high up -in the walls, and a fine round-arched doorway on the western side. The -character of the whole of this interesting church is late Romanesque, -and its value is considerable, as being an accurately dated example. It -is not now used, the Templars having been suppressed in A.D. 1312. - -Within a few minutes’ walk of this church of La Vera Cruz (for this is -its dedication) is the convent of El Parral, founded in the fifteenth -century,[189] by a Marquis de Villena, on a spot once so beautiful as to -give rise to the saying, “Los huertos del Parral, Paraiso terrenal,” but -now so dreary, desolate, decaying, and desecrated, that the eye refuses -to rest on it, and seeks relief by looking rather at the grand view of -the town on the rocky heights on the other side of the little valley. - -Juan Gallego, a native of Segovia, was the master of the works here in -1459, and it is recorded that before beginning to construct the convent -he collected all the waters from the hill above its site, and -distributed them by aqueducts for the service of the convent. The -Capilla mayor was not commenced until A.D. 1472, in which year a -contract was drawn up with Bonifacio and Juan de Guas, of Segovia, and -Pedro Polido, of Toledo, binding them to complete the work within three -years, for the sum of 400,000 maravedis. Then the tribune of the Coro -was found to be too low for the taste of the monks, and it was taken -down and rebuilt by Juan de Ruesga, of Segovia, for 125,000 maravedis; -and by a contract signed in July, 1494, he bound himself to complete the -work before the end of the same year. After this, in 1529, Juan Campero, -whose name has already been mentioned in connexion with the rebuilding -of the cloister of the cathedral, undertook to raise the tower -twenty-nine feet.[190] - -The ground-plan and general design of this church are very peculiar. The -accompanying sketch-plan[191] will explain them better than any words; -and, strange as the planning of the transepts looks, it is, -nevertheless, very fine in effect. This is mainly the result of the very -remarkable distribution of light. The western part of the church is -almost without windows, and the great western gallery coming forward -just half the length of the nave, adds much to the impression of gloom -at this end of the building. The eastern end seems to be by contrast all -window, being lighted by twelve large three-light windows, with statues -of the Apostles in their jambs. The effect of the brilliant light at the -east end, and the deep gloom of the west, is most impressive, and shows -how much architects may do by the careful distribution of light. Few old -buildings are altogether without some sign of attention to this -important element of beauty in building, whilst few modern buildings -seem to me ever to have been devised with even any thought of the -existence of such a phenomenon as a shadow! The front of the gallery is -elaborately panelled, and returned eastward on the north side, to form a -gallery in front of the organ; and on the south, to make a passageway to -the staircase by which the monks reached the Coro. The arch under the -gallery is struck from three centres and richly cusped, and the whole is -carried on a stone vault. A very richly carved and cusped doorway leads -from the south transept to the cloisters, and to an elaborately painted -chapel, which has been added on the south-east of the choir. The -exterior of the church and convent is poor and uninteresting, though -there is a rather fine double west door, with a statue of the Blessed -Virgin in the centre, and saints on either side in the jambs. - -The conventual buildings deserve but little notice. In the modern -cloister--fast falling to ruin--are retained the traceried balustrades -which probably adorned the cloister built at the time of the foundation -of the convent. - -[Illustration: No. 25. - -SAN ESTEBAN, SEGOVIA. p. 187. - -SOUTH-EAST VIEW OF CHURCH AND STEEPLE] - -A very picturesque path loads up from El Parral into the city. The -effect of the Alcazar from hence is very imposing, the enormous -keep-tower which rises out of its western face being very prominent, -with its outline marked by round corner turrets projecting from the -angles so often seen in the old castles of Castile. Its walls, as well -as many others in the Alcazar, are covered with diapers in plaster, with -the pattern left slightly in relief, a mode of decoration which seems to -have been extremely popular in Segovia in the fourteenth and fifteenth -centuries. Until very lately this Alcazar was covered with picturesque -tall slated roofs, but, unfortunately, a fire has completely gutted the -whole building, and left nothing but the outside walls, which still, -however, are most imposing in their effect. The old town walls diverge -slightly from the Alcazar, and enclose the whole city; their outline is -broken picturesquely with towers, sometimes round and sometimes square, -and they wind about to suit the uneven and rugged surface of the rock on -which they are built. The gateways are not very remarkable, though -always effective. One of them is passed in coming from El Parral, and, -as soon as the town is reached, the noble steeple of San Esteban--one of -its finest architectural features--is seen in front. - -I have seldom seen a better work than this. It is evidently one of a -large class, most of the other steeples here reproducing the unusual -arrangement of the angles. They are boldly splayed off, and in the -middle of the splay is set a shaft, which finishes with a sculptured -capital. The effect of this design is to give great softness of contour -to the whole steeple, and yet to mark boldly and broadly the importance -of the angles. The arcading of the various stages is richly and -admirably managed, and the details throughout are very pure and good. I -have found no evidence of its exact date, though it is evidently a work -of the first half of the thirteenth century. - -The church to which this steeple belongs is remarkable for the remains -of an external cloister against the walls of the nave. There are several -churches here which have the same feature, and in other parts of this -book I have mentioned similar cases at Las Huelgas, Burgos, and at La -Antigua, Valladolid. It looks like an arrangement for keeping the -building cool, and is as good in its effect, as in so hot a climate it -must be convenient. - -Of the early churches here none is altogether so fine as that of San -Millan. It stands in the southern valley, not far from the aqueduct, and -exactly on the opposite side of the town to the Templars’ Church. Like -that, too, it is outside the walls, and in a scantily-peopled suburb. -It consists of a nave and aisles,[192] all finished at the east end with -apses, and protected on both sides by cloisters similar to those of San -Esteban, save that they are confined to the sides, and do not return -across the west front. There is a low square lantern at the Crossing, -and transepts which do not project beyond the aisles, and hardly show -themselves, therefore, on the ground-plan. The central lantern is -finished with a corbel-table, roofed with a low tiled roof, and lighted -by a small window in each face. The apses are similar in style and -detail to most of the early Spanish apses, having engaged shafts at -intervals, richly wrought corbel-tables, and round-arched shafted -windows. Both the transepts probably had flat gables, with single -windows, like those in the apse, but the north transept has been -destroyed for the erection of a steeple, which seems to have formed no -part of the original plan. The most striking view of the church is from -the north-west. The west front is quite unaltered, save by the addition -of three little windows over the west door, and is a capital example of -simple Romanesque. The gables are all of the same pitch, and the aisle -walls are arcaded and pierced with windows above the cloister roofs. The -cloister is a very rich composition, the shafts being coupled, with -finely sculptured capitals, and the arches enriched with billet -mouldings. The corbel-tables and cornices to these cloisters have -evidently been carved at a date long after the original foundation of -the church, the edge of the eaves-cornice being cut in a rich -interlacing pattern of ivy-leaves, which cannot, I think, be earlier -than from A.D. 1250 to 1270, and the heads, figures, and foliage on the -corbels under it are all of the same character. There are fine north and -south doors here, and there is a local peculiarity in their design which -deserves notice. Their jambs consist of shafts set within very bold -square recesses; and the number of orders in the arch is double that of -those in the jamb, they being alternately carried on the capitals of the -shafts, and upon the square order of the jambs. The effect is good, the -bold spacing of the shafts, and the massiveness of the intermediate -square jambs, tending to give that effect of solidity which these early -Spanish architects never tired in their attempts to attain. - -[Illustration: No. 26. - -SAN MILLAN, SEGOVIA. p. 188. - -NORTH-WEST VIEW.] - -The interior of the church has been much modernized, but still enough -remains to render the whole scheme intelligible. The arcades between the -nave and aisles are all perfect; they are very plain, but spring from -carved capitals of large size. The capitals of the nave arcades have -their abaci planned with re-entering angles, so as exactly to fit the -plan of the two square orders of the archivolt. Some of the caps are of -foliage only, others are _historiés_; one I remember having all round it -the Adoration of the Magi, who are represented as large figures on -horseback, and produce a most strange effect in such a place. The cross -arches under the lantern are old, as also are those across the aisles, -but the roof of the nave is now all under-drawn with plaster, and there -are no means of telling precisely how it was originally covered; but, on -the whole, I incline to the belief that it must have had a cylindrical -vault, with quadrant vaults in the aisles, though it is possible, of -course, that it had a flat wooden ceiling. The square piers in the nave -favour this alternative, inasmuch as they seem to rise higher than they -would have done had the roof been a stone vault. The pilasters against -the aisle walls also run up to the level of the plate inside, and this -(though it is modern) is higher than the springing of the nave arcades, -and seems to prove that there have never been cross arches in the -aisles. The external walls of the aisles above the cloister roofs are -arcaded with plain arches between the pilasters, by which it is divided -into bays, and the aisle windows are set within these arches. The -lantern is modernized, but there still remain coupled cross ribs on its -under side, and these, though they are plastered, being similar to those -under the central vault of the Templars’ Church, are probably original. - -I wish much that I could put my hands on some documentary evidence which -would fix the exact date of this very fine and interesting church, for, -from its importance, it may be considered to be a leading example; and -there is no doubt that it very largely influenced the other churches of -this important city. It is possible, however, from the character of some -of the detail, that part of it is older than the Templars’ Church, -consecrated, as we have seen, in A.D. 1208; though other parts of the -detail--as, for instance, that of the external cornices--cannot be -earlier than A.D. 1250-1270. Before the last of these dates, therefore, -I have no doubt the church was erected, though, as the arches are all, -or nearly all, semi-circular, the greater part of the work was probably -finished early in the century, if not in the twelfth century, and the -decorations may have been completed afterwards.[193] - -The non-introduction of pointed arches is certainly in favour of the -earlier date, seeing that in the Templars’ Church most of the main -arches, rude as they are, are pointed; and were it not for the late -character of some parts of San Millan, and looking only to the character -of the plan and general design, I might have assumed its date to be -about A.D. 1150. It is possible that the cloisters were added after the -erection of the church. - -The object of these external cloisters has been, I believe, matter of -considerable discussion, yet I confess that they always seemed to me to -be adopted mainly, if not solely, on account of the excessive heat in -Spain in summer, and to be well worth our imitation when we have to -erect churches in tropical climates. That they were confined very much -to certain localities is perfectly true, but this is constantly the -case, with local developments, in all parts of Europe; and here, no -doubt, the idea once suggested by some early architect was frequently -repeated by him, without taking the fancy of his brethren generally -enough to make them repeat it elsewhere. - -[Illustration: Capital in Cloister, San Martin, Segovia.] - -Another example of the same class, which in its original state must have -been finer than San Millan, is to be seen in the church of San Martin. -Here the cloister was carried not only along the sides, but across the -west front also, with a bold projecting west porch, breaking its lines, -and giving great character and dignity to the whole scheme. The west -doorway of the porch has statues in its jambs, and the detail seems to -me to be all genuine thirteenth century work. The illustration of one of -the cloister capitals will, I think, prove this; for though the old -favourite device of couples of birds is repeated here, the lines are all -extremely fine and graceful, and the carving of the abacus of an -advanced kind. This church is, unfortunately, very much modernized -throughout. It seems to have had three parallel apses at the east end, -and transepts, against which the side cloisters of the nave were -stopped. There is a modern lantern over the old crossing, and a tower to -the west of it rising from out of the centre of the nave, which seems to -be in part old. There were northern and southern as well as western -doors, and openings in the cloister opposite each of them. - -San Roman, a desecrated church near the palace of the civil governor, -has a short nave, chancel, and apse, with a tower on the south side of -the chancel. The walls are very lofty, and are all finished with -corbel-tables at the eaves. The apse has three round-headed windows, and -there is a noble north door, similar in design to those of San Millan, -and with the abaci and labels richly carved. The west end has a small -doorway, and a circular window over it, the former certainly, and the -latter probably, not original. The lower stage only of the tower -remains. This church must be of about the same age as San Millan. - -San Facundo is similar in plan to San Roman, and of the same date. The -detail of the apse is precisely the same as that of San Millan. There is -a large west door, modernized, and an open cloister seems to have been -added at a later date to the side of the church, and is now walled up. -This church is desecrated, and converted into a Museum of Paintings. - -Santa Trinidad has a fine apse, and this is again of the San Millan -pattern. It has carved stringcourses at the springing of the windows, -and again just over their arches, and there are three-quarter engaged -wall-shafts between the windows, and a richly sculptured eaves-cornice -and corbel-table. - -San Nicolas, close to Santa Trinidad, has two apses, each lighted with a -single window, engaged wall-shafts, and the usual carved labels, abaci, -and corbel-tables. The tower is on the north side, rises one stage above -the roof, and is lighted with two round-arched belfry windows. A small -apse was added rather later than the original fabric to the east of this -tower, and before its erection the plan must have been almost the same -as that of San Roman, but reversed. About a hundred yards from San -Nicolas is another church which is almost an exact repetition of San -Roman. - -San Luine (?), in the Plazuela de Capuchinos, is of just the same class -as the rest, with nave, chancel, and apse, and a second apse east of the -tower on the south side. There are no side windows here, and only a -single light at the east end. - -Another church, in the Plaza de Isabel II., is of the same plan as the -last, with a modernized tower. The carving on the string-courses here -is of the same kind of natural foliage that I have described at San -Millan. - -Near the aqueduct are two churches. One of them, S. Antholin (I think), -has a tower at the north-east of the nave; its two upper stages have on -each face two round-arched shafted windows, and the angles are treated -in a precisely similar way to those of San Esteban, having bold splays -with engaged shafts in their centres. Another church close to this is -modernized, but retains its old tower, with the angles treated in the -same way. - -The church of San Juan has remains of an external cloister on one side. - -The last church of this long, and I fear very dry, catalogue, is that of -San Miguel, which stands in the Plaza near the cathedral. It has four -bays of nave, shallow transepts, and a very short choir, which is, I -think, apsidal, but almost concealed by a pagan Retablo. The whole is of -late fifteenth-century date, and must, I think, be the work of the same -hand as the cathedral. Some figures at the west end, representing St. -Michael and the Annunciation, have evidently been taken from some older -building, and built into the walls here. There is a very beautiful -triptych in the north transept, with a Descent from the Cross in the -centre, which ought to be looked at. It is a fine work of, I suppose, -the latter part of the sixteenth century.[194] - -I have already mentioned the great Alcazar, and the old town walls and -gateways. They are magnificent in their scale, and very picturesque. The -Alcazar was burnt some two or three years ago, and is now roofless, and -I was told that its interior had been completely destroyed. I foolishly -omitted to verify this statement by personal inspection, and contented -myself with the sight of the exterior. The walls of the front towards -the city are all diapered in plaster, and here and there about the town -several other examples of the same kind of work are to be seen. The -patterns are generally tracery patterns of the latest Gothic, repeated -over and over again, so as to produce a regular diaper throughout. I -presume that it was executed with a frame cut out to the required -pattern, so as to allow of the ground being cut back slightly, leaving -the pattern lines formed in the original face of the plaster. This kind -of decoration seems to be perfectly legitimate, and here, owing to the -care with which the plaster has been made and used, it has stood -remarkably well, though most of the patterns that I saw had evidently -been executed in the fifteenth century. - -In the front of the Alcazar these plaster patterns are carried not only -all over the plain face of the walls, but also round the towers and -turrets at the angles, so that the very smallest possible amount of -wrought stone is introduced. The great tower or keep standing back a few -feet only from the front is similarly ornamented, but has stone quoins -bonded irregularly into the walls; in its upper stage it has windows -surmounted by quaint stone canopies, and then a series of great circular -turrets, corbelled boldly out from the face of the wall, and carried up -a considerable height, give its extremely marked and Spanish air to this -grand tower. These turrets are of stone, and between them is a parapet -boldly corbelled out on machicoulis from the walls. With that contempt -for uniformity which marks mediæval artists, the keep is more than twice -as broad on one side as on the other, and the great mass of wall and -turret, roofs and spirelets, which crowned the whole building before the -fire, well sustained its picturesque irregularity of shape. - -The front of a private house near the walls, not far from San Esteban, -is another capital example of the same kind of plaster-work. Here the -façade is a perfectly smooth and unbroken surface, pierced for doors and -windows, which are set in square panels of stone, and with a regular and -straight line of stone quoining at the angles. At one end a low tower is -carried up a few feet above the general line of the building. The -windows are generally mere plain square openings; but two set side by -side in the principal stage have delicate _ajimez_ windows of two -lights, with elaborately traceried heads. The patterns in the plaster -are three in number: the first carried from the stone plinth up to the -sills of the principal windows, where it is cut by a narrow band of -ornament, acting as a stringcourse to divide it from the second pattern, -which is carried up to the eaves, the tower being covered with a third -diaper, rather less intricate than the others. - -Near this house is a tower in the walls even more worthy of notice. It -is of very considerable height, quite plain in outline, and pierced with -only one or two square-headed windows, but surmounted by a fine parapet -supported on machicoulis. The whole tower is built with bold stone -quoins and horizontal bands of brickwork, each band two courses in -height, at intervals of about three feet. Between these bands the walls -are plastered and diapered. Here, as in the other house, only two or -three patterns are used, but I think great judgment is shown in the -repetition for the greater part of the height of the same pattern, which -is changed at last near the top, where it was desirable to emphasize the -work. Most men having three patterns to use would have divided them -equally, but the real artist gives all their value to his simple -materials by not doing so. The construction of this tower led naturally -to its decoration. The wrought stone at the angles, the rough stonework -of the walls, and the occasional bonding-courses of brick, were all used -simply as the best materials for their respective parts; and the rough -stonework being plastered and diapered, gave a richness and polish to -the whole work which it would otherwise have wanted, whilst it in no -degree destroyed the air of stability of the wall, which is secured by -the obviously constructional arrangement of the stone and brick. - -The Moors were always distinguished by the beautiful use they made of -plaster; and whether or no these Segovian buildings were executed by -Moorish architects, it is quite certain that at any rate we owe them to -their influence and example. The patterns used are generally such as in -stone-work would be unhesitatingly attributed to the end of the -fifteenth or first half of the sixteenth century, and to this period no -doubt the works I have been describing belong. They deserve a detailed -notice because they prove, as do most Moorish works, that plaster may be -used truthfully and artistically, and that without any approach to the -contemptible effect which the imbecility and dishonesty of the -nineteenth-century designers of plaster-work have contrived to impress -on almost all their productions. - -My last work in Segovia was to go to the Alcazar to get a sketch of the -town, with the cathedral rising in a noble mass in its very centre, -backed by the line of the Guadarrama mountains, looking black and angry -with the storm-clouds which swept over the sky and around their summits -at sunset; and then strolling quietly back into the town, I went into -the cathedral, to be impressed, as one always must be in such a place, -by the aweful solemnity which even the latest Gothic architects in Spain -knew how to impart to their buildings. - -[Illustration: SEGOVIA:--Ground Plan of the Cathedral: Plate XII. - -W. West, Lithr. Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865.] - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -MADRID--ALCALÁ--GUADALAJARA--SIGÜENZA. - - -On my first journey to Madrid I travelled most of the way from -Valladolid by diligence, and though the way was long and weary, the -passage of the Sierra de Guadarrama was very fine, and I remember few -pictures more lovely than that which we saw at sunrise, as we climbed -the northern side of the mountains amid groups of stone-pines; whilst -the steep descent to the village of Guadarrama, on the south, with a -slight distant view of Madrid, and a near view of the Escorial, was -quite a thing to be remembered with pleasure. Now, however, instead of -arriving at Madrid hot, dusty, and sore with a diligence journey, the -railway is completed, and the line of country it takes is so beautiful -between Avila and Madrid as to leave no room for regrets for the old -passage of the mountains by road. - -The entrance to Madrid is not very striking. For the last three or four -miles the road passes by a fair amount of planted woods, but the river -by its side is dry and dreary, and every one in the hot season at which -I arrived seemed to be gasping for breath. A very small suburb only is -passed before the Queen’s palace is reached: this is built on the edge -of a steep hill overhanging the river, and commands a grand view of the -Sierra de Guadarrama. This is indeed the one and only glory of such a -site as that of Madrid, for were it not for this distant view, I know -nothing more dreary and unhappy than the country with which it is -surrounded. At the same time, partly owing to the great height above the -sea, and partly, probably, to the neighbourhood of this mountain range, -the climate here is most treacherous, changing rapidly from the most -violent heat in the daytime, to what seems by contrast to be icy -chilliness at night. - -A garden with statues is laid out in front of the palace, and beyond -this, passing some narrow streets, one soon reaches the Puerta del Sol, -a fine irregular space in the centre of the city, with a fountain in the -centre which is always playing pleasantly, and on great occasions sends -up a jet to an unusual height. The Puerta del Sol is very irregular, -and on sloping ground, and hence it has a certain pleasing -picturesqueness, which probably accounts for the reputation it has -achieved. - -There is one great attraction to me in Madrid, and only one--the Picture -Gallery. And it is as well for travellers to take up their quarters in -one of the hotels near the Puerta del Sol, where they are within a walk -of it, rather than in the respectable Fonda de Ynglaterra, where I found -myself quite too far from everything that I wanted to see. - -I discovered no old churches here. Madrid is, in fact, a thoroughly -modern city, and is remarkable as not being the see of a bishop, the -Archbishops of Toledo having succeeded in retaining it in their diocese. - -I found, therefore, nothing whatever to do in the way of -ecclesiologizing; and yet, on the whole, having formed a very low -estimate of the place beforehand, I was rather agreeably disappointed. -The situation is unquestionably fine, the views of the mountains -beautiful, the streets busy and smart, and the fountains, which seem to -be innumerable, are on a scale which would astonish our London -authorities. The evenings are always deliciously cool, and then all -Madrid is on the move; the very well laid out and planted Prado is -thronged with smart people on foot, and smarter people in carriages; and -until one has suffered as one does from the extreme heat of the day, it -is hardly possible to imagine the luxurious freshness of the cool night. -It is said, however, to be a dangerous pleasure, pulmonary complaints -being very common. - -The two great sights are the Museo and the Armeria; the latter is said -to be the best collection of arms in Europe, but somehow I always -managed to want to go there too early or too late, and, after divers -mistakes, in the end did not see it at all. Of the Museo it is difficult -to speak with too much enthusiasm: the number of pictures is enormous, -and it seemed to me that there was a larger proportion than is usual of -very first-rate works. Its deficiency is mainly in early -pictures--Italian, German, and Spanish. The early Italian schools are -represented by one Angelico da Fiesole only: this is a beautiful -example; an Annunciation, with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden -on the left of the picture, and five subjects from the life of the -Blessed Virgin in the predella. Among these, the Marriage of the Blessed -Virgin has a close resemblance to Perugino’s and Raffaelle’s celebrated -pictures. I could see no examples of Francia or Perugino, not to speak -of earlier men; whilst the few early German works were none of them of -any great interest. - -On the other hand, the pictures by Titian, Velasquez, Raffaelle, -Veronese, Tintoret, Murillo, and others of the great masters of their -age, are numerous and magnificent beyond description. - -Velasquez and Titian are both so grand that I hardly knew which to -admire the most; of the former, perhaps on the whole the most charming -work is the portrait of Prince Balthazar, a noble boy, galloping forward -gallantly on his pony; whilst of the Titians, I think the most striking -was a weird-looking portrait of Charles V. in armour on horseback. -Murillo of course is in great force; he has frequent representations of -the Assumption, always treated in the same way: his work has a religious -spirit wanting in the manlier work of Titian and Veronese, but yet not -the true religious spirit so much as a sentimental affectation of it. Of -Ribera--better known in England as Spagnoletto--there are a great many -examples, generally disagreeable portraits of emaciated saints in -distorted attitudes, and a horrible elaboration of ghastliness. Juan -Juanes, an earlier Spanish painter, is much more agreeable, and he seems -to have been largely inspired by Perugino and his school; a series of -five subjects from the life of St. Stephen are perhaps the most -interesting of his works here. - -The room in which the greatest treasures of the Gallery are collected is -called the Salon de la Reyna Isabel. Unfortunately a large opening in -the floor, to give light to a gallery of sculpture below, makes it a -little difficult to see some of the pictures at all well. At its upper -end is the famous Spasimo de Sicilia, a noble work, but spoilt by the -awkward and distorted drawing of the soldiers on the left. Near it is a -very fine Giovanni Bellini, the Delivery of the Keys to St. Peter; and -by its side a Giorgione, with a man in armour, as fine as anything I -know,--the subject, the Virgin and Saints. By Bronzino there is a -violin-player, a lad with a face beyond measure loveable. But it were -endless to go on through a list even of the _chefs-d’œuvre_ in such a -collection; and it is the less necessary to say much more than generally -to praise the whole Gallery as one of the first, if not the first, in -Europe, because, now that railways make the journey thither so much more -easy, some, no doubt, of our thousands of annual travellers will make -their way to Madrid, to make lists for themselves of the best of its -pictures. - -There is as little interest in modern as in earlier architecture here; -the only development that struck me being a fashion the people have of -diapering houses all over with a kind of thirteenth-century painting on -plaster; but I was not struck with the beauty of the development. The -best street is the Calle de Alcalá, leading from the Puerta del Sol to -the Prado. It is of great width, rising from the Puerta del Sol and -falling to the Prado, and not straight, all which points are much in its -favour: but the houses on either side are not generally so fine as they -should be, and there is consequently a slightly faded look about it, -which is not otherwise characteristic of Madrid. To see the Calle de -Alcalá to advantage, the day of a bull-fight should be selected. Then -from half-past three to four all the world streams along it to the -arena, excited, running, pushing, buying red and yellow paper fans for -the seats in the sun, and as noisy, boisterous, and enthusiastic as all -the world at any of our own national gatherings. The _picadors_ in their -quaint dresses come galloping along on their sorry steeds, each attended -by a man in a blouse riding on the same horse, and whose office it is -afterwards to make the poor wretch face the bull by beating him with a -long stick. Omnibuses and vehicles of all kinds bring their share of the -mob; and when I took my seat, I believe there were not less than twelve -thousand people assembled, every seat in the rather shabby but vast -arena being full. Women formed a very small proportion only of the whole -number, and I noticed that a lady who sat near me seemed as much shocked -as I was at the brutal parts of the exhibition; for all parts of it are -by no means brutal, and, indeed, I should be inclined to limit the term -to those parts in which horses are introduced. It would be quite as -pleasant to indulge oneself by an occasional visit to a knacker’s yard, -as to sit quietly looking on whilst a furious bull rips up a miserable -beast, usually blindfolded, in order that it may not move from the spot -at which the _picador_ chooses to receive the attack; but this part of -the performance over, there is little that is disgusting, and a great -deal that is singularly exciting and skilful. The men seldom seem to be -in any real danger of being caught by the bull, and nothing can be -cleverer than the way in which one of the _chulos_ will dance before him -half across the arena, always avoiding his charge by a hair’s-breadth -only, or in which one of the _banderilleros_, seated in a chair, will -plant his two arrows exactly on each side of the bull just as he stoops -to toss him, and the next instant jump out of his seat, whilst the chair -is dashed to atoms by the furious beast. - -I felt, however, that one bull-fight was enough for me; the treatment of -each bull is of necessity the same, and the mules have no sooner -galloped out of one door trailing the dead bull and his victims out of -the arena, than another dashes in from the opposite side, only to meet -the same fate. The way in which the bulls come in is very striking: they -rush in madly like wild beasts, and generally charge rapidly at one of -the _picadors_ or _chulos_. I asked a Spaniard how this was managed, and -he explained that in the den from which they emerge they are goaded with -sharp-pointed spears just before the doors are opened, and of course -come into the arena mad with rage! - -The object of bull-fights seems to be generally charitable--in the sense -that charity bazaars are so. At Valencia, where they have recently -erected an arena which almost rivals in size the Roman amphitheatres, -the work has been done by the trustees of the hospitals, and this seemed -to be usually the destination of the receipts whenever I saw them -advertized. That it is possible to have a bull-fight of even a worse -kind than the Spanish I learnt at Nîmes, where the cicerone showing me -the amphitheatre explained that they had a bull-fight every Sunday, but -never killed their bulls--only goaded them week after week! - -Whilst I was at Madrid I made an excursion to Alcalá de Henares, the -seat of Cardinal Ximenes’ famous university, under the impression that I -should find a good deal to reward me. In this, however, I was -disappointed, as the churches are mostly works of the seventeenth and -eighteenth centuries, and the whole place is decayed, unprosperous, and -uncared for, without being picturesque and venerable. - -The principal church, “El Magistral,” of SS. Just y Pastor--the tutelars -of the city--is a large, late church of poor style. It has a nave and -aisles of five bays, transepts and choir of one bay, and an apse of -three sides. The aisle round the apse is contrived with three square -bays and four triangular, and is evidently founded on the beautiful plan -of the chevet of Toledo cathedral; but I must say that Pedro Gumiel “el -Honrado,” Regidor of Alcalá, and architect of this church, has perfectly -succeeded in avoiding any repetition of the beauties of Toledo; his work -being thoroughly uninteresting and poor. The three western bays of the -nave are open; the two eastern enclosed with screens and stalled for the -Coro. A bronze railing under the Crossing connects the Coro with the -Capilla mayor. There are no less than six pulpits here! two at the -entrance to the choir for the Epistoler and Gospeller, two on the west -of the Crossing, and two more opposite each other against the second -column from the west in the nave. It looks just as though they had -ordered a pair of pulpits as they did a pair of organs; and as preaching -does not seem to be much the fashion now in Spain, I had no opportunity -of learning how these many pulpits were to be used. There are two -organs, one on each side over the Coro; that on the south so picturesque -as to be worthy of illustration. - -[Illustration: Organ, Alcalá.] - -Two great monuments--one in the nave, and one under the Crossing--are -remarkable for the position of the effigies with their feet to the west. -On the south side of the south transept is a small chapel roofed with a -most rich and delicate Moorish plaster ceiling; the whole was richly -coloured. It did not appear to be earlier than the church, which is said -to have been constructed between the years 1497 and 1509. - -The University founded by Ximenes is in a wretched state of -dilapidation; it is said to have been designed by the same Pedro Gumiel -who built SS. Just y Pastor, but the work, so far as I saw it, was all -Renaissance. The façade and court behind it were the work of Rodrigo Gil -de Hontañon, between A.D. 1550 and 1553, and he destroyed Pedro Gumiel’s -work in order to erect it. By the side of the college stands the church -of San Ildefonso, which I suppose must be the chapel built by Pedro -Gumiel. It is, I believe, desecrated, and no one could tell me where the -key was to be found, so that I was unable to do more than get a note of -the curious Cimborio from the exterior. It is not a lantern, but rather -a raising of the whole centre of the church above the remainder. It is -constructed of brick and stone, and is evidently of late date. Under -this Cimborio, I believe, is the monument of the great Cardinal. - -[Illustration: Domestic Window, Alcalá.] - -There are considerable remains of the old walls, with circular towers -rather closely set around them. The bishop’s palace retains a fine -tower, which seems to have been connected with the town walls. It is -plain below, but has turrets picturesquely corbelled out on machicoulis -over the centre of each side and at each angle. A wing of the palace -which joins this tower has some very remarkable domestic windows, which -deserve illustration. The shafts are of marble, the tracery and the wall -below the sill of stone, but the wall of brick. The shafts are set -behind each other, there is a good ball-flower enrichment in the label, -and the mouldings are rich and good of their kind. Such a window seems -to unite the characteristics of two or three countries, and is, indeed, -in this, an epitome of Spanish art, which borrowed freely from other -lands, and often imported foreign architects, yet, in spite of all this, -is still almost always national in its character. - -It is an easy journey from Alcalá to Guadalajara; and though the latter -place disappointed me much, it is still worthy of a few hours’ delay to -those who pass by it on the Madrid and Zaragoza railway. Seen from the -distance it is an imposing city, and if it be seen as I saw it during -fair time, full of peasants in gay costume, the general impression may -be not unpleasant; but unfortunately, the early architectural remains -are few and generally insignificant. - -The church of Sta. Maria is the subject of a picturesque view in Villa -Amil’s book, and he deserves great praise for the skill with which he -has created something out of nothing. I could find no feature worth -recording save its two Moresque doorways, in one of which--that at the -west end--the arch is of the pointed horseshoe form, and the archivolt -is built of bricks, some of which are set forward from the face of the -wall in the fashion of the rustic work in the execution of which certain -schools of architects everywhere seem to take a grave pleasure, of -which, perhaps, it would be unkind to wish to deprive them. - -The church of San Miguel has a portion of the exterior built in a rich -nondescript style--debased Moresque is, perhaps, the right term for -it--in the year 1540, as an inscription on the church records. The lower -part of the only original portion remaining is built of rough stone, the -upper of brick; and it is argued by some, I believe, that the use of the -two materials proves that the work was executed at different epochs. To -me it seemed that the whole was uniform in style, and evidently the work -of sixteenth-century builders. It has large circular projections at the -angles, which are finished with fantastic cappings, and sham machicoulis -below the ponderous overhanging cornices which ornament the walls both -at the end and sides. These cornices have deep brick consoles at -intervals, the spaces between them filled with crosses on panels of -terracotta. The rest of the church seems to be modernized. Both here and -at Sta. Maria there are external cloister passages outside the church -walls, modern in style and date, but similar in object to those of -Segovia and Valladolid already described. Another little church, called -La Antigua, has an eastern apse of brick and stone, with window openings -of many cusps formed very simply with bricks of various lengths. This -work is similar to much of the Moresque work at Toledo, and it is rather -remarkable how continuous the line of Moresque buildings from Toledo -to Zaragoza seems to be. - -[Illustration: No. 27. - -GUADALAJARA. p. 203. - -PALACE OF THE DUKE DEL INFANTADO.] - -I saw no other old church here; but the very fine late Gothic palace del -Infantado is well worth a visit. It is like so much Spanish work, a -strange jumble of Gothic and Pagan, slightly dashed perhaps with Moorish -sentiment, and with the somewhat strange feature that the most Gothic -portion is above, and the most Pagan below. The façade has a rich late -Gothic doorway, and the face of the wall is diapered all over with what -look like pointed nail-heads. The two lower stages have windows of the -commonest type, with pediments, whilst the upper stage has a rich open -arcade, every third division of which has a picturesque projecting -oriel, boldly corbelled forward from the face of the wall. Some Pagan -windows have evidently been inserted here; and it is possible that some -of the other details have been, but if so the work has been done so -neatly that it is difficult to detect the alteration. The courtyard or -_patio_ has seven open divisions on two sides, and five divisions on the -others, and is of two stages in height. The lower range of columns has -evidently been modernized, but in the upper they are very richly carved -and twisted. The arches are ogee trefoils cusped, and their spandrels -are clumsily filled with enormous lions cut in deep relief, and boldly -standing on nothing, whilst they manage to hold up a diminutive coat of -arms as a sort of finial to the arch. In the upper arcades griffins take -the place of the lions, and the arches are again richly cusped. I -noticed the date of A.D. 1570 on the capital of one of the columns, but -this I have no doubt was the date of the Pagan alterations, and not that -of the original fabric, which is said to have been erected in the year -1461.[195] - -The Dukes del Infantado had a grand palace in this building, and though -it has long been neglected and disused, it seems as if it were again -about to be occupied, as I found workmen busily engaged in a sort of -restoration of the sculptures in the _patio_, which they were repairing, -if I remember right, with plaster. - -The sight of a river is always pleasant in this part of Spain, and so, -though there is not much water in the Henares, I looked gratefully at -it, and at the trees growing by its banks, as I sauntered down to the -railway station after a rather weary day spent in vainly trying to find -enough to occupy my time and my pencil. - -A railway journey of two or three hours carries one hence to a far -pleasanter and more profitable city, Sigüenza, whose cathedral is of -first-rate interest, and, generally speaking, well preserved. It is, -like so many of the Spanish churches, unusually complete in its -dependent building’s; and though these sometimes obscure parts of the -building which one would like to examine, they always add greatly to the -general interest. The plan[196] here consists of a nave and aisles of -only four bays in length, but the dimensions are so considerable that -the interior does not look short. Two western towers are placed at the -angles, touching the main walls only at one corner, and giving -consequently great breadth to the façade. There are transepts and an -apsidal choir, with an aisle, or procession-path--and no chapels--all -round it. The choir is old, the procession-path of Renaissance -character, and it is clear that when first built this church had no -choir-aisle with surrounding chapels, and it was, I have no doubt, -terminated in the usual early Spanish fashion, with three eastern -apsidal chapels. - -I have not met with any notice of the foundation of this church, save -that given by Gil Gonzalez Dávila.[197] He says that the king Don -Alonso, after having gained Toledo from the Moors, and appointed -Bernardo archbishop, took Sigüenza, Al-maçan, Medina Celi, and other -places of importance. He then restored the cathedral here, which was -dedicated on June 19th, 1102, and appointed as first bishop Don -Bernardo, a Benedictine monk, who had taken the habit at Cluny, and who -was a native of France. The Archbishop of Toledo was his patron, and he -was one of the many French bishops appointed at this time to Spanish -sees through his great influence. The epitaph of D. Bernardo, given by -Dávila, records that he rebuilt this church, and consecrated it on the -day of St. Stephen in the year 1123. This inscription, however, is not -of much value, as it was written after the translation of the bishop’s -body in 1598. The second bishop was also a Frenchman, and a native of -Poitiers. - -[Illustration: No. 28 - -SIGÜENZA CATHEDRAL p. 304. - -INTERIOR OF NAVE AND AISLES LOOKING NORTH EAST] - -A very small portion--if indeed any--of the work of the first bishop now -remains. There is one fragment of early Romanesque work to the east of -the cloister, which no doubt formed part of it; and it is just possible -that the three enormous cylindrical columns, which still remain in the -nave, are of the same age. If this be so, I should be inclined to assume -that the choir only was consecrated in A.D. 1123, and that the nave was -commenced and carried on very slowly, until, as the style developed, -the simple cylindrical columns were abandoned for the fine groups of -clustered shafts which are elsewhere used. The general style of the -church is a very grand and vigorous first-pointed, early in the style, -but still not at all Romanesque in character; and I know few interiors -which have impressed me more with their extreme grandeur and stability -than this. The truth is, that the somewhat excessive solidity of the -work--as heavy and ponderous in substance as the grandest Romanesque--is -singularly noble when combined as it is here with very considerable -height in the columns and walls, and with fine pointed arches, early -traceried windows, and good sculpture. Unfortunately this massive -grandeur is only a matter of envy to a wretched architect in the -nineteenth century, whose main triumph, if he would prosper, must be to -use as few bricks and as small fragments of stone as he can, to the -intent that his work should certainly be cheap, and in forgetfulness, if -possible, that it will also certainly be bad! Here, however, the -architect wrought for eternity as far as was possible, and with a -success which admits of no doubt and no cavil. He has been singularly -fortunate, too, in the comparative freedom from subsequent alterations -which his work has enjoyed. The Renaissance procession-path round the -choir, which is the most important addition, certainly spoils the -external effect; but it is hardly noticed in the interior, until you -find yourself under its heavy and tame panelled roof, and outside the -solid wall which still encircles the ancient apse. - -The groining of the choir and transepts is sexpartite, but everywhere -else it is quadripartite; and the ribs, which are very bold in their -dimensions, are generally moulded, but over the crossing are enriched -with the dog-tooth ornament. The same decoration is also carved on the -clerestory windows of the choir and transepts. - -The original windows generally still remain. Those in the aisles are -single round-headed lights of grand size, with double engaged shafts, -both inside and outside: those in the clerestory are of more advanced -character, some being of two and some of four lights, of the best early -plate tracery, with pointed enclosing arches. The western bay of the -choir has lancet clerestory windows, and the apse of seven sides has -also a lancet in each face, with a sort of triforium below, which is now -closed, but which before the addition of the procession-path was -probably pierced. Below this quasi-triforium the wall of the apse is -circular in plan, whilst above it is polygonal, and the difference shows -the very gradual way in which the building was erected, one of the most -usual points of distinction between the Romanesque and the early-pointed -planning of an apse being that in the former it is circular, and in the -latter polygonal. - -In speaking of the windows, I have omitted to mention the finest, which -are undoubtedly the roses in the principal gables. That in the south -transept is one of the finest I know;[198] and whilst it is remarkable -for the vigorous character of its design it is also to be noted for a -peculiarity which I have before observed in early Spanish traceries. -This is the mode in which the traceries are, as it were, packed against -each other. It is especially noticeable in the outer line of circles -which are inserted like so many wheels abutting against each other, and -without the continuous central moulding to which we are generally -accustomed. Here, as well as in the interior, the dog-tooth ornament is -freely used; and the outer mouldings of the circle are of good -character. - -The exterior of this church is of as great interest as the interior. The -two western steeples are of the very plainest possible character, -pierced merely with narrow slits, which light the small chambers in the -interior of the tower. - -The buttresses are of enormous size; and in the angles between them and -the walls are set engaged shafts, which run up to and finish under the -arcaded eaves-cornices with which the walls are finished under the roof. -At the west end these shafts are carried up to a greater height, and -support three bold arches, one in each division of the façade, -corresponding in height pretty nearly with the groining inside. I find, -on looking at my notes on this church, that I observed upon this as a -feature which I recollected at Notre Dame, Poitiers; and there is some -significance, therefore, in the record of the fact that the second -bishop, in whose time probably this part of the church was built, was a -native of that city. - -The western door is round-arched, but the cornice over it has been -destroyed; and the finish of the buttresses and whole upper part of the -west front have been modernized. The transept doors are not old, but -seem to be in their old places, placed close to the western side, so as -not to interfere with the placing of an altar against the eastern wall. -At Tudela cathedral the old doorways still remain just in the same -place; and viewed in regard to convenience, and not with a view to -making the most important and regular architectural elevation, there is -no doubt as to the advantage of the plan. - -In addition to the two western steeples there is also one of more modern -erection and smaller dimensions on the east side of the south transept. -The other late additions to the church are some chapels on the south -side of the choir, a grand sacristy on its north side, some small -chapels between the buttresses on the north side, and the Parroquia of -San Pedro, running north and south, near the west end. This and the -chapel on the south side of the choir are of late Gothic date, and of -very uninteresting character. Indeed it is remarkable how little the -work of the later Spanish architects ordinarily has in it that is of -much real value. The early works always have something of that air of -mystery and sublimity which is the true mark of all good architecture, -whilst the later have generally too much evidence of being mere -professional cut-and-dried works, lifeless and tame, like the large -majority of the works to which a vicious system of practice has reduced -us at the present day. - -The cloister, to which also the same remark will apply, was finished in -A.D. 1507 by Cardinal Mendoza, as we learn from an inscription in Roman -letters with a Renaissance frame round them, which is let into the wall -on the south side;[199] and I noticed that the very florid early -Renaissance altar-tomb and door to the cloister, which fills a great -part of the inside of the north transept, is inscribed to the memory of -the same cardinal.[200] - -The buildings round the cloister are not remarkable. The summer -Chapter-house is of grand size, with a rather good flat painted ceiling, -and pictures of the Sibyls against the walls. At the south end is a -chapel with an altar, divided by an iron Reja from the Chapter-room. - -A Renaissance doorway to another room on the east side of the cloister -has the inscription, _Musis. sacra. domus. hec_, and leads to the -practising-room for the choir. - -The ritual arrangements here are of the usual kind. The bishop’s stall -is in the centre of the west end, and was made for its place; but the -whole of the woodwork is of the latest Gothic, and proves nothing as to -the primitive arrangement. Gil Gonzalez Dávila[201] gives an -inscription from the tomb of Simon de Cisneros, who died in 1326, and -who is there said to be the bishop: “Qui hanc ecclesiam authoritate -apostolica ex regulari in secularem reduxit ac multis ædificiis -exornavit.” I hardly know what buildings still remaining can be exactly -of this date; but it is evident that the statement refers to subordinate -buildings and not to the main fabric of the church. - -The people of Siguëuza seem to be more successful than is usual in Spain -in the cultivation of green things. The cloister garden is prettily -planted, and has the usual fountain in the centre. There is a grove of -trees in the Plaza, on the south side of the church; and a public garden -to the north is really kept in very fair order, and looks pleasantly -shady. - -I saw no other old building here except a castle on the hill above the -town, with square towers projecting at intervals from the outer wall; -but it seemed to have been much modernized, and I did not go into it. - -[Illustration: SIGÜENZA: Ground Plan of the Cathedral &c. Plate XIII. - -Published by John Murray. Albemarle Street 1865] - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -TOLEDO. - - -Toledo is now extremely easy of access from Madrid, a branch from the -main line of the Alicante railway turning off at Castellejon, and -reducing the journey to one of about two or three hours only, from the -capital. Of old the road passed through Illescas, and the picturesque -church there, illustrated by Villa Amil, made me regret that the less -interesting railroad rendered the journey by road out of the question. - -The country traversed by the railway is very uninteresting, and -generally looks parched and arid to a degree. Near Aranjuez the waters -of the Tagus have been so assiduously and profitably used, that a great -change comes over the scene, and the train passes through woods where -elms and other forest trees seem to thrive almost as well as they do in -damp England; and one can easily understand how this artificial verdure -in the plain must delight the Castilian, who otherwise, if he wishes to -enjoy such sights, must leave the heat of the plain for the cold winds -of the mountain ranges of the Guadarrama. Aranjuez is, however, but an -oasis in this Castilian desert, and the railway, soon leaving it behind, -wends its way along the treeless, leafless plain to the ecclesiastical -capital of the kingdom. On the opposite or right bank of the Tagus, the -hills rise to a considerable height, and here and there their dull brown -outlines are marked, though hardly relieved, by large clusters of houses -surrounding the lofty and apparently uninteresting churches which mark -the villages, whose _tout ensemble_ seems everywhere on nearer -inspection most uninviting to the eye. The banks of the Tagus are more -refreshing, for here the water-wheels for raising water, which line the -margin of the stream, suggest some desire on the part of the people to -make the most of their opportunities, and they are rewarded by the -luxuriant growth which always attends irrigation in Spain. - -I looked out long and anxiously for the first view of Toledo, but the -hills, which nearly surround it, conceal it altogether until one has -arrived within about two or three miles distance; and here, with the -Tagus meandering through its _vega_ in the foreground, the great mass -of the hospital outside and below the city to the right hand, and the -wall-encircled rock on which the city is perched, crowned by the vast -mass of the Alcazar to the left, the view is certainly fine and -impressive. - -From most points of view, both within and without the city, the -cathedral is seldom well, and sometimes not at all, seen, standing as it -does on much lower ground on the side of the rock which slopes towards -the least accessible part of the river gorge, and much surrounded by -other buildings, whilst the Alcazar, which occupies the highest ground -in the whole city, is so vast and square a block of prodigiously lofty -walls (old in plan, but modern in most of their details), as to command -attention everywhere. The other side of the river is edged by bold -hills, and all along its banks are to be seen water-wheels so placed as -to raise the water for the irrigation of the land on either side. It is -not, however, until after more intimate knowledge of the city has been -gained, that its extreme picturesqueness and interest are discovered. -The situation is, indeed, most wild and striking. The Tagus, winding -almost all round the city, confines it much in the fashion in which the -Wear surrounds Durham. But here the town is far larger, the river banks -are more rocky, precipitous, and wild than at Durham: whilst the space -enclosed within them is a confused heap of rough and uneven ground, well -covered with houses, churches, and monasteries, and intersected -everywhere by narrow, Eastern, and Moorish-looking streets and alleys, -most of which afford no passage-room for any kind of carriage, and but -scanty room for foot passengers. It is, consequently, without exception, -the most difficult city to find one’s way in that I have ever seen, and -the only one in which I have ever found myself obliged to confess a -commissionaire[202] or guide of some sort to be an absolute necessity, -if one would not waste half one’s time in trying to find the way from -one place to another. - -The railway station is outside the city, which is entered from it by the -famous bridge of Alcantara, which has a single wide and lofty arch above -the stream, guarded on the further side by a gateway of the time of -Charles V., and on the town side by one of semi-Moorish character. Above -it are seen, as one enters, the picturesque apses of the old church of -Santiago, and the tolerably perfect remains of the double _enceinte_ of -the city walls; whilst on the opposite side of the river, as a further -guard to the well-protected city, was the Castle of San Cervantes[203] -(properly San Servando), of which nothing now remains but a few rugged -towers and walls crowning the equally rugged rocks.[204] - -The road from the bridge, passing under the gateway which guards it into -a small walled courtyard, turns sharply to the right under another -archway, and then rises slowly below the walls until, with another sharp -turn, it passes under the magnificent Moorish Puerta del Sol, and so on -into the heart of the city. - -The Alcazar is the only important building seen in entering on this -side; but from the other side of the city where the bridge of San Martin -crosses the Tagus, the cathedral is a feature in the view, though it -never seems to be so prominent as might be expected with a church of its -grand scale. From both these points of view, indeed, it must be -remembered that the effect is not produced by the beauty or grandeur of -any one building; it is the desolate sublimity of the dark rocks that -bound the river; the serried phalanx of wall, and town, and house, that -line the cliffs; the tropical colour of sky, and earth, and masonry; -and, finally, the forlorn decaying and deserted aspect of the whole, -that makes the views so impressive and so unusual. Looking away from the -city walls towards the north, the view is much more _riant_, for there -the Tagus, escaping from its rocky defile, meanders across a fertile -_vega_, and long lines of trees, with here a ruined castle, and there -the apse of the curious church of the Cristo de la Vega, and there -again the famous factory of arms, give colour and incident to a view -which would anywhere be thought beautiful, but is doubly grateful by -comparison with the sad dignity of the forlorn old city. - -The buildings to be studied here are of singular interest, inasmuch as -they reflect in a great degree the striking history of the city itself, -as well as of the kingdom of which it was so long the capital. There is -no doubt that there was a cathedral, as well as some churches,[205] here -before the conquest of this part of Spain, in A.D. 711, by the Moors; -and in the course of the long period of nearly four centuries during -which the Mahomedan rule lasted, many buildings were erected, and a -Moorish population was firmly planted, which, when Alonso VI. regained -the city in 1085, was still protected, and continued to live in it as -before. The Moors had, indeed, set an example of toleration[206] worthy -of imitation by their Christian conquerors; for though it is true that -they converted the old cathedral into their principal mosque, they still -allowed the Christians to celebrate their services in some other -churches[207] which existed at the time of the Conquest; and during the -greater part of the Christian rule, their tolerant example was so far -followed, that the Moors seem to have enjoyed the same freedom, and to -have lived there unmolested, whilst they built everywhere, and acted, in -fact, as architects, in the old city, not only for themselves, but also -for the Christians and the Jews, down to the establishment of the -Inquisition. It is a very remarkable fact, indeed, that with one grand -exception nearly all the buildings of the twelfth, thirteenth, and -fourteenth centuries, which are to be seen here, are more or less -Moorish in their character;[208] and though the cathedral, which is the -one exception, is an example of thoroughly pure Gothic work almost from -first to last, there never seems to have been any other attempt to -imitate the Christian architectural idea of which it was so grand an -exponent. I have purposely avoided going to those parts of Spain in -which the Moors were undisputed masters during the middle ages; but here -it is impossible to dismiss what they did without proper notice, seeing -that, after Granada and Cordoba, perhaps nowhere is there so much to be -seen of their work as in Toledo. - -The buildings to be examined will be best described under certain heads, -reserving the cathedral for the last, because some of the Moorish -buildings are the oldest in the city, and these lead naturally on to the -later works of the same class. The order in which I shall attempt to -take them will be therefore as follows:-- - - I. The Moorish mosque; - II. The Jewish synagogues; - III. The Moorish houses; - IV. The Moorish work in churches; - V. The gateways, walls, and bridges; - VI. The cathedral and other examples of Christian art. - -There are, indeed, some works anterior to the rule of the Moors, for -below the walls, in the _vega_, are said to be some slight remains of a -Roman amphitheatre;[209] in addition to which there are still some -fragments of work _possibly_ Visigothic, and anterior therefore to the -Moorish Conquest of 711. These are confined to a few capitals which have -some appearance of having been re-used by the Moors in their own -constructions, such _e.g._ as the capitals of the Mosque now called the -“Cristo de la Luz,” and those of the arcades on either side of the -church of San Roman, together with some fragments preserved in the court -of the hospital of Sta. Cruz. They are very rudely sculptured, and bear -so slight a resemblance to the early Romanesque work of the same period, -that it is difficult, I think, to decide positively as to their age. It -is certain, however, that the earliest distinctly Moorish capitals are -entirely unlike them in their character, and quite original in their -conception; and it is, of course, very possible that the Moors, pressed -by the necessity of the case, would, after their conquest, not only have -retained some of the existing buildings, but also have re-used the best -of their materials in their new works. - -[Illustration: S. Cristo de la Luz, Toledo.] - -The earliest of the distinctly Moorish buildings is a little -mosque--now called the church of “Cristo de la Luz”--which was standing -at the time of the entrance of Don Alonso VI. into the city, on Sunday, -May 25, 1085. He entered by the old Puerta de Visagra, and, turning into -this the first mosque on his road, ordered mass to be said, and hung up -his shield there before he went further. No doubt the nave of the -building is still very much in the state in which he found it; it is -very small, only 21 ft. 7¼ in. by 20 ft. 2 in., and this space is -subdivided into nine compartments by four very low circular columns, -which are about a foot in diameter. Their capitals are some of those of -which I have just spoken; they are all different, and, it seemed to me, -more like Moorish work than the other capitals of the same class at San -Roman and Sta. Cruz. The arches, of which four spring from each capital, -are all of the round horseshoe form; above them is a string-course, and -all the intermediate walls are carried up to the same height as the main -walls. They are all pierced above the arches with arcades of varied -design, generally cusped in very Moorish fashion, and supported on -shafts; and above these each of the nine divisions is crowned with a -little vault, formed by intersecting cusped ribs, thrown in the most -fantastic way across each other, and varied in each compartment. The -scale of the whole work is so diminutive that it is difficult, no doubt, -to understand how so much is done in so small a space; but, looking to -the early date of the work, it is impossible not to feel very great -respect for the workmen who built it, and for the ingenious intricacy -which has made their work look so much larger and more important than it -really is.[210] It is, indeed, an admirable instance of the skill and -dexterity in design which seem to have marked the Moors so honourably -from the first, and which must have made them, as far as one can judge, -in every respect but their faith so much the superiors of their -Christian contemporaries. An apse has been added for the altar, but this -is evidently a much later addition to the old mosque. The exterior face -of the walls is built of brick and rough stone. The lower part of the -side wall being arcaded with three round arches, within the centre of -which is a round horseshoe arch for a doorway; above is a continuous -sunk arcade of cusped arches, within which are window openings with -round horseshoe heads. The lower part of the walls is built with single -courses of brick, alternating with rough stonework; the piers and arches -of brick, with projecting labels and strings also of unmoulded brick. -The arches of the upper windows are built with red and green bricks -alternated. The horseshoe arches here are built in the usual Moorish -fashion, the lower part of the arch being constructed with bricks laid -horizontally, and cut at the edge to the required curve; and about -halfway round the arch they are cut back to receive the arch, which is -there commenced. In the same way the cinquefoiled arches of the upper -arcade have their lowest cusps formed by the stone abacus, the -intermediate cusps by bricks laid horizontally and cut at the edge, and -the upper central cusp alone has any of its masonry constructed as an -arch. - -The upper stage of the mosque called De las Tornerias is Moorish work of -the same plan as the Cristo de la Luz; but I am much inclined to doubt -whether it is equally ancient. The rosettes cut in the vaults, and the -cusped openings, give this impression, and the vaults are quadripartite -and domical in section, the centres of the nine small bays of vaulting -being raised higher than the others, and having two parallel ribs -crossing each other both ways, in the way I have already noticed in the -Chapter-house at Salamanca, and the Templars’ Church at Segovia. - -There is, so far as I know, no other mosque in the city so little -altered as these; but among the churches some are said to have been -first of all built for mosques. San Roman is one of these. It was -converted into a parish church at the end of the eleventh century,[211] -and the column and arches between the nave and aisles are probably of -this date. The arches are of the horseshoe form, and the capitals are, I -think, commonly quoted as some of the earlier works re-used by the -Moors. But I very much doubt whether their style justifies my -attributing to them any date earlier than the eleventh century. The -church was not consecrated until June 20th, 1221, but there can be no -doubt that it was built before this date. The noble steeple is one of -the works built by Moorish architects for Christian use, and it will be -better, perhaps, to reserve it for description with other works of the -same class. - -Of the two synagogues the older is that which was founded in the twelfth -century, but seized in A.D. 1405 by the Toledans--instigated by the -preaching of San Vicente Ferrer--and dedicated as a church under the -name of Sta. Maria la Blanca.[212] The modernized exterior is of no -interest, but the interior is fairly preserved by the zeal, I believe, -of some Spanish antiquaries, having long been disused as a church. In -plan it consists of a nave, with two aisles on either side. A -quasi-chancel was formed at the east end (in the sixteenth century -apparently) by the prolongation of the central compartment or nave -beyond the aisles, and the intermediate aisles were also lengthened to a -less extent at the same time. There are eight horseshoe arches rising -from octagonal columns in each of the arcades, and the whole of them, as -well as their capitals, are executed in brick, covered with plaster. The -capitals are exceedingly elaborate, but very slightly varied in pattern: -they have but little connexion with any of the usual types of Byzantine -or Romanesque capitals, though they have rather more, perhaps, of the -delicate intricacy of the former than of any of the features of the -latter, and they are, I imagine, very much later than the original -capitals which they overlay. All the Moorish decorative work seems to -have been executed in the same way in plaster. This was of very fine -quality, and was evidently cut and carved as if it had been stone, and -seldom, if ever, I think, stamped or moulded, according to the mistaken -practice of the present day. The consequence is that there is endless -variety of design everywhere, and--wherever it was desired--any amount -of undercutting. The spandrels above the arches are filled in with -arabesque patterns, and there is a cusped wall arcade below the roof; -but almost all of this is evidently of much later date than the original -foundation, as the patterns are all of that large class of Moorish -devices which, though they retain many of their old peculiarities, -borrow largely at the same time from the traceries and cusping of late -Gothic work. Unfortunately in such work the material affords so small an -assistance in the detection of alterations, that it requires the -exercise of considerable caution to ascertain their exact limits; and in -Toledo, as in most places, people seem always disposed to claim the -highest possible antiquity in all cases, seldom allowing anything to -have been done by the Moors after the restoration of the Christian rule, -though, in fact, the exact converse of this would be nearer the truth. -The roof has coupled tie beams--placed a very slight distance apart--an -arrangement of which the Moorish carpenters seem to have been always -very fond. The pavement is very good, but must, I imagine, be of about -the date of the conversion of the synagogue into a church. It is divided -into compartments by border tiles, laid down the length of the church on -either side of the columns. The spaces between these are filled in with -a rich diaper of encaustic and plain red tiles, whilst the general area -between these richer bands is paved with large red, relieved by an -occasional encaustic tile. The latter have patterns in white, dark blue, -and yellow, and in all cases they are remarkable for the beautiful -inequality both of the colours and of the surface of the tiles. Both -colour and material are in themselves better than the work of our -tile-manufacturers at the present day, and illustrate very well the -difference between hand-work and machine-work, which I have already -noticed in comparing the old and new modes of dealing with plaster. The -Moorish tiles are very commonly seen in Toledo, and were used both for -flooring and inlaying walls, and in some cases for the covering of -roofs. This synagogue of Sta. Maria la Blanca is on the whole -disappointing. I went to it expecting to see a building of the ninth or -tenth century, and found instead a fabric possibly of this age, but in -which--thanks to the plasterers of the fourteenth or fifteenth -centuries--nothing of the original building but the octagonal columns -and the simple form of the round horseshoe arches is still visible. -Nevertheless it well deserves examination, and a more accurate -knowledge of the detail of Moorish work would, I dare say, have enabled -me to separate more clearly the work of the original church from the -additions with which it has been overlaid. - -[Illustration: No. 29. - -STA. MARIA LA BLANCA, TOLEDO. p. 318. - -INTERIOR, LOOKING EAST.] - -The other synagogue is now converted into the church called “del -Transito,”[213] and about the date of this there is no doubt. It was -erected by Samuel Levi,[214] a rich Jew, who held the office of -treasurer to Pedro the Cruel, and was completed in A.D. 1366; but it did -not long retain its first purpose, the Jews having been expelled the -kingdom in 1492,[215] and this synagogue having then been given by -Ferdinand and Isabella to the order of Calatrava. - -The building is a simple parallelogram, 31 feet 5 inches wide, by 76 -feet in length. The lower portion of the side walls is quite -unornamented for 20 or 25 feet in height; but above this is very richly -adorned with plaster-work. There is, first, a broad band of foliage, -with Hebrew inscriptions above and below it, and above this on each side -an arcade of nineteen arches, springing from coupled shafts, eight of -its divisions being pierced and filled with very elaborate lattice-work. -The end wall (now the altar end) has a very slight recess in the centre, -and the whole of it to within some seven feet of the floor is covered -with rich patterns, inscriptions, and coats of arms, whilst above the -arcade is continued on from the side walls in eight divisions. The -arcades are all cusped in the usual Moorish fashion, the outline of the -cusps being horseshoe, but without an enclosing arch. The end opposite -to the altar has two windows pierced in the upper arcade, and three -windows below breaking up into the band of foliage and inscriptions. -The whole is now whitewashed, and though the detail is all fantastic and -overdone, the effect is nevertheless fine, owing to the great height of -the walls and to the contrast between the excessive enrichment of their -upper and the plainness of their lower part. - -The Retablo over the principal altar is a work of the end of the -fifteenth century, but not of remarkable merit, having paintings of -Scripture subjects under carved canopies; there is another of the same -class against the north wall. The roof is a grand example of the Moorish -“_artesinado_”[216] work. It has coupled tie-beams, and a deep cornice, -which is carried boldly across the angles, so as to give polygonal ends -to the roof, which is hipped at the ends, the rafters sloping equally on -all four sides. These rafters are only introduced to improve the -appearance of, and--it may be--the possibility of hearing what was read -in, the synagogue. The pitch of the real roof is very flat, and where a -flat roof is absolutely necessary, this kind of ceiling is undoubtedly -very effective. At some height above the plate the sloping rafters are -stopped by a flat ceiling below the collar rafters, panelled all over in -the ingeniously intricate geometrical figures of which the Moorish -architects were so fond, and in the device of which they were always -only too ingenious. The rafters as well as the tie-beams are used in -pairs placed close to each other, and the space between them is divided -into panels by horizontal pieces at short intervals, with patterns sunk -in the panels. There is a western gallery, and some seats made of glazed -encaustic tiles on each side of the sanctuary. - -The exterior has arcades answering to those of the interior: it is built -mainly of brick, with occasional bands of rough stonework. The bricks -are 11 in. by 7¾ in. by 1¼ in. in size, and are used with a mortar joint -1¼ in. in thickness. - -It is impossible to deny the grandeur of the internal effect of this -room. The details are entirely unlike what I should wish to see -repeated; but the proportions, the contrasted simplicity and intricacy -of the lower and upper part of the walls, the admission of all the light -from above, and the magnificence of the roof, might all be emulated in a -Gothic building, and I have seen few rooms which have appeared to me to -be more suggestive of the right form and treatment for a picture gallery -or saloon for any state purpose. - -The two synagogues I have described stand now in the most deserted and -melancholy part of Toledo. The old _Juderia_, or Jews’ quarter, is -decayed and abandoned. The Jews, of course, are all expelled from it, -and the Christians seem to have avoided their quarter as though there -were a curse on it. Samuel Levi, the founder of El Transito, built for -himself a magnificent palace near it, of which, I believe, some part -still exists, though I did not see it. - -The Moorish houses, which I must now shortly describe, appear to be very -numerous and of all dates, from the twelfth century down to the conquest -of Granada; and it seemed to me that up to this time almost _all_ the -houses must have been the work of Moorish architects. The Jews and Moors -were both very numerous bodies--so much so that Toledo is charged by an -old writer with having had in it none others,--and there is nothing to -show that the Christians ever employed any other architects. The common -type of house is one which is completely Moorish in plan, even when the -details are not so. It almost always had a long dark entrance passage, -with an outer door to the street, studded thickly with nails of the most -exaggerated size, and furnished with great knockers. The outer room or -passage--ceiled with open timbers, boarded or panelled between--opens -into the _patio_ or central court, over which in hot weather an awning -or curtain could be hung. This _patio_ is surrounded by open passages on -all sides, supported by wooden posts, or sometimes on granite columns, -and the staircase to the upper floors rises from one angle of it. The -woodwork is generally well wrought with moulded ends to the joists and -moulded plates. Here are usually one or two wells, the court having been -the impluvium where all the water from the roof was collected in a large -cistern below the pavement, Toledo is still a clean city, and Ponz,[217] -defending its credit from an attack by an Italian writer, maintains that -the women are so clean that they wash the brick-floors of their houses -as often as they do their dishes! - -[Illustration: Knocker and Nails on Door, Toledo.] - -This is the type of house to be seen probably in every street in the -city; but here and there are still left other houses of distinctly -Moorish architecture, and of extreme magnificence in their adornment, -Looking to the frail material of all these enrichments, the wonder is, -not that so few houses remain, but rather that anything at all exists; -and even in their present forlorn state there is something very -interesting in these houses and rooms and decorations, so utterly -unlike anything to which a northern eye is ever accustomed at home. The -examples of this class which I saw seemed to be all of the same -date--either of the fourteenth or fifteenth century--and though full of -variety in their detail, extremely similar in their general effect. A -room in the Casa de Mesa is the finest I saw, and I suppose that even in -the South of Spain there are few better examples of its class. Its -dimensions are 20 ft. 3 in. in width, by about 55 ft. in length and 34 -ft. in height. The walls are lined at the base with very good encaustic -tiles, rising nearly 4 ft. from the floor; above this line they are -plain up to the cornice, save where the elaborately-decorated entrance -archway--an uncusped arch, set in a frame, as it were, of the most -fantastic and luxuriant foliage, arcading, and tracery--occupies a -considerable part of one of the side walls. A very deep cornice of but -slight projection, with a band of enrichment below it, surrounds the -room, and this is interrupted by the doorway at the side, and by a small -two-light window at one end. This window of two lights, with a cusped -round-arched head to each light and some delicate tracery above, is -framed in a broad border of tracery work, copied from the latest Gothic -panelling, so that the whole design is a complete mixture of Gothic and -Moorish detail. The ceiling is in its old state and of the usual -_artesinado_ description. Its section is that of a lofty-pointed arch, -truncated at the top, so as to give one panel in width flat, the rest -being all on the curve. The roof is hipped at both ends and panelled -throughout, each panel being filled in with a most ingenious star-like -pattern, of the kind which one so commonly sees in Moorish work. The -patterns are formed by ribs (square in section) of dark wood, with a -white line along the centre of the soffeit of each. The sides of the -ribs are painted red, and the recessed panels have lines of white beads -painted at their edges, and in the centre an arabesque on a dark blue -ground. The colours are so arranged as to mark out as distinctly as -possible the squares and patterns into which it is divided, and the -sinking of some panels below the others allows the same pattern to be -used for borders and grounds with very varied effect. The reds are -rather crimson in tone, and the blues very dark. The plaster enrichments -on the walls seemed, as far as I could make out, to have been originally -left white, with the square edges of the plaster painted red; but I -cannot speak quite positively on this point. - -A room in a garden behind the house No. 6, in the Calle la Plata, is an -almost equally good example, though on a smaller scale, and with a flat -ceiling. The great entrance archway in the middle of one side is fringed -with a crowd of small cusps, but otherwise it is treated very much in -the same way as the door in the Casa de Mesa. The cornice here also is -very deep, and the band of plaster enrichment below it is filled with -Gothic geometrical tracery patterns. The ceiling is particularly good, -being diapered at regular intervals with figures formed by two squares -set across each other, with an octagonal cell sunk in the centre of -each. This room is about 36 ft. long by 11 ft. 8 in. wide, and 11 ft. 5 -in. high to the band below the cornice, and a little over 16 ft. in -total height. - -The “Taller del Moro,” so called because it was turned into a workshop -for the cathedral, and is in the Calle del Moro, is a more important -work, consisting of three apartments, lavishly decorated. Don Patricio -de la Escosura, in the letterpress to ‘España Artistica y Monumental,’ -considers the date of this building to be between the ninth and tenth -centuries;[218] but I see no reason whatever for believing that its -plaster decorations are earlier than 1350, or thereabouts. - -The list which I have already given of Moorish works will show how many -I have to leave undescribed; but I had not time to see all, and it is -not worth while to describe with any more detail those that I did manage -to see, for they are all extremely similar in the character of their -decorations. - -The work of the same kind in the churches of Toledo is of more interest, -because here it is of that partly Moorish and partly Christian -character, which shows that the Mahomedan architects, to whom no doubt -we owe most of it, wrought under the direction to a considerable extent -of their Christian masters, and in some respects with very happy -results. In most of the general views of Toledo, some steeples which are -attached to churches of this class are to be seen, and they give much of -its character to the city. I saw six of these, namely, those of San -Tomé, San Miguel, San Pedro Martyr, Sta. Leocadia, San Roman, and La -Concepcion; whilst among the churches in the same style are parts of -Sta. Isabel, San Eugenio, San Bartolomé, Sta. Ursula, Sta. Fé, Santiago, -and San Vicente. - -The whole of these works are very similar in their general character, -being built rather roughly of brick, with considerable use of cusped -arcades in a succession of orders one over the other, the churches -generally being finished with apses at the east end, and the towers -being built without buttresses, and roofed with tiled roofs of moderate -pitch. - -The steeple of San Roman is the finest example of its class to be seen -here. For half its height it is perfectly plain, built of rough stone, -with occasional courses of brick, and quoined with brick. The -string-courses are all of brick, unmoulded. The character of the three -upper stages will be best understood by the illustration which I give. -The cusped arch of the lower of these stages is certainly very pretty, -but the common form of trefoiled Moorish arch enclosed within it seems -to me to be the most frightful of all possible forms. It is neither -graceful in itself, nor does it convey the idea of repose or strength; -and it is so completely non-constructional, that the lower portion of -the apparent arch is never built as an arch, but always with horizontal -courses. In the belfry stage the bold variation of the openings is -worthy of notice; and throughout the whole the utmost praise is due to -the architect who, with none but the commonest materials, and at the -least possible expense in every way, has, nevertheless, left us a work -much more worthy of critical examination than most of the costly works -in brick erected by ourselves at the present day. It is amazing how much -force is given by the abandonment of mouldings and chamfers, and the -trust in broad, bold, square soffeits to all the openings. I must not -omit to mention that the small red shafts in the arcade below the -belfry seem to be made of terracotta. - -[Illustration: San Roman. Toledo.] - -The construction of the steeple is very peculiar. In the lowest stage it -is divided by two arches springing from a central pier, and the two -compartments thus formed are roofed with waggon-vaults. In the next -stage the central pier is carried up, and has four arches springing from -it to the walls. The four spaces left between these arches are vaulted -with barrel-vaults at right angles to each other. The steps of the -ascent to this tower are carried on arches against the side walls, with -occasional openings in the vaults when necessary for passing. - -San Roman has a nave and aisles, with arcades of two arches between -them; a chancel, mainly of Renaissance style, covered with a dome, but -with some late Gothic groining to its apse; and a south chancel aisle -ending without an apse. The tower is on the north side of the chancel. -The whole church is plastered and whitewashed most painfully, but still -retains one or two interesting features. The footpace in front of the -altar has a good pavement of large plain red tiles, laid diagonally, -with small encaustic blue and white glazed tiles at intervals. The whole -pavement is divided into a number of strips by rectangular bands of blue -stone. The altar at the east end of the south choir aisle also deserves -a note, being built with a solid black stone front, carved in imitation -of embroidery and fringes, with an inscription on the superfrontal, and -a shield suspended in the centre of the frontal. This strange device for -economizing altar vestments was not common, I think, here, but several -examples remain in the new cathedral at Salamanca. The reredos over this -altar has a very sweet painting of the Last Supper, the figure of our -Lord being much raised above those of the apostles, and the table at -which He sits being polygonal. - -[Illustration: Santa Magdalena. Toledo.] - -Sta. Magdalena has a smaller and simpler tower of the same class; it is -perfectly plain below the belfry stage, which has two windows in each -face. The bells hang here, as is so often the case in Southern -buildings, in the window; and in all these buildings, as in most other -old examples of brickwork, the putlog-holds (or holes for the insertion -of the scaffold-poles) are left open. The bricks, too, are used very -roughly and picturesquely with a very thick mortar-joint, and the -consequence is that every part of this work has a value in texture and -light and shade undreamt of by those who have never seen anything but -our own smooth, smart, and spiritless modern brick walls, built with bad -bricks and no mortar.[219] - -The steeple of San Tomé is so absolutely identical in its details--save -that its shafts of glazed earthenware are alternately green and -yellow--with that of San Roman, that it is unnecessary to describe -it.[220] - -San Pedro Martyr has a steeple which is much wider on one side than on -the other, but is otherwise similar to that of San Roman in its general -design. San Miguel, and Sta. Leocadia, and La Concepcion, have steeples -more like that of La Magdalena, the towers being small, and with only -one arcaded stage below the belfry. The masonry and brickwork is the -same in all these examples, but their scale differs considerably, the -steeple of San Roman being by far the largest and loftiest, that of San -Tomé the next, and the others a good deal smaller. - -All these steeples seem to me to illustrate not only the proper use of -brick, already mentioned, but also the great difference between old and -new works in the degree of simplicity and amount of cost with which -their authors appear to be satisfied. It is seldom, indeed, at the -present day, that we see a steeple erected which has not cost twice as -much, in proportion to its size and solidity, as either of these old -Toledan examples; and it is to be feared that few of us now have the -courage to trust entirely in the virtue of doing only what the money -given to us to spend will properly allow, without raising that silly and -too-frequently-heard wail about our work having been spoilt for want of -money, which no medieval work, however poor, ever was! - -I have been unable to satisfy myself, by any documentary evidence, as to -the age of these buildings. There is some record of extensive works in -the church of San Tomé, in the beginning of the fourteenth century,[221] -but, as we see that the church has since been paganized without damage -to the town, it is possible that they may also have escaped the previous -works. On the other hand, the king Don Alonso VIII. is said to have been -proclaimed from the steeple window of San Roman, in 1166; and, looking -to the character of the Puerta Visagra--an undoubted work of the -commencement of the twelfth century--I do not know whether we should be -justified in refusing to give the steeple of San Roman the date claimed -for it, though my impression when I was looking at it, without -consulting any authorities, was, that this work was none of it older -than the end of the thirteenth century. The first impressions of an -English eye in looking at this Moorish work are not, however, much to be -depended on, the profusion of cusped arches, in which the Moorish -architects so early indulged, always giving their work a rather late -effect. - -Among the churches of Moresque character that I saw, I may specially -mention those of Santiago and Sta. Leocadia. The former appeared to me -to be a work mainly of the fourteenth century. It is a -parallel-triapsidal church, and has some old brick arcading on the -exterior of the chancel aisle, but is generally so bedaubed with plaster -and whitewash as to be uninteresting. It is said to have an _artesinado_ -ceiling, but I do not recollect this, and I believe it has a plaster -ceiling below the old one. The pulpit is a rather striking work of that -mixed Moorish and Gothic detail which prevailed in the fifteenth -century. One fact I noticed here, and again at Valencia Cathedral, was, -that the pulpit had no door, and the only access seemed to be over the -side, by aid of a ladder! When pulpits were erected, it is fair to -suppose that they were meant to be used; but in the Spain of the present -day it is, perhaps, not of much consequence if they are unusable, as -sermons do not seem to be very much in vogue. - -Of the other churches in the city Sta. Isabel has a polygonal apse, with -each side arcaded with a Moorish trefoil arch. San Eugenio has a similar -apse, with a second stage, with multifoil arcading all along it; and San -Bartolomé has three of these cusped and arcaded stages in its apse. Sta. -Ursula has a stone apse, circular in plan, coursed with brick, and -pierced with three Moorish windows. La Concepcion has a polygonal apse -of rude stonework below, and is coursed with bricks from mid-height -upwards, with three Moresque windows set within square recessed panels; -whilst Sta. Fé presents the unusual feature of buttresses to the apse, -and has an interlacing arcade below the eaves, and long lancet windows -set within Moresque cusped panels. Sta. Leocadia (commonly called Cristo -de la Vega), just outside the city, and in the valley below its walls, -also retains the apse of its church, erected on a site which is said to -have been first built upon as early as the fourth century. This is -entirely covered with arcading from the ground to the eaves, arranged in -three equal orders, the lower cusped, the next having the common Moorish -trefoil, and the upper being round-arched. Some of the panels of these -arcades are pierced for light. The existing building is probably in no -part earlier than the twelfth century; it consists of a small modern -nave, a sanctuary of two bays with round transverse arches, and cusped -Moresque arches in the side walls. The apse at the east end is roofed -with a semi-dome. At the west end is a small modern cemetery, full of -gravestones, inscribed at least as fully, fondly, and foolishly, as -those we indulge in in our own cemeteries. - -In addition to these more important works there are, in the cathedral, a -door leading into the chapter-room, and a recessed arch in one of the -chapels on the south side of the nave, executed by Moorish artists -probably in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. It has been absurdly -enough suggested that these are parts of the ancient mosque which stood -on the same site; but there is no ground whatever for the idea, the work -being evidently of much later date, and it being at the time a common -fashion to introduce some work of this kind into buildings which -otherwise are purely Gothic. - -The last head under which I have to describe Moorish work, is, perhaps, -also the most interesting. The walls, gateways, and bridges of Toledo -are, I think, the finest I have anywhere seen; in part, at least, of -extreme age, very perfectly preserved, and on a grand scale. There is a -double line of wall on the unprotected side of the city towards the -_Vega_, the inner line said to be the work of the Visigoths, before the -Moorish conquest, in 711,[222] and the outer built in 1109, by Alonso -VI. Both walls seem to go from the Bridge of Alcantara on one side of -the city, to the Bridge of St. Martin on the other. Outside the wall the -hills and walls slope down rapidly to the valley; whilst within them the -uneven surface is covered thickly with houses everywhere, until the -Tagus, winding round three parts of the city in its deep, savage, and -solitary defile--a solitariness all the more impressive from being so -near to the busy hive of men--encloses it, and makes defensive erections -almost unnecessary. - -[Illustration: Puerta del Sol. Toledo.] - -I have already given some account of the Bridge of Alcantara.[223] It is -of two lofty arches, with a bold projecting pier between them. Here is -one of the best points of view of the two lines of wall, which are -broken constantly by round or square projecting towers, and ascend and -descend in the most picturesque fashion, to suit the rugged inequality -of the rocks on which they are built. I know no view more picturesque -and magnificent. The first gateway reached is the Puerta del Sol, which -is so admirable an example of the picturesqueness of which the style is -capable, that I cannot resist giving an illustration of it. It is, -indeed, not only picturesque, but in all respects a dignified and noble -work of art. The variety of arches, one behind the other, which is seen -here, was a very favourite device with the Moorish architects. Here, I -think, there are four, two pointed and two round, but all horseshoe in -their outline. The outer gateway on the old Bridge of St. Martin has -five such arches, two of them being round and one pointed horseshoe, one -a plain round, and one a plain pointed arch. In the Puerta del Sol the -intersecting arcades in brickwork over the arch, and the projecting -turrets on a level with them, are extremely picturesque. The materials -used are wrought stone, rough walling stones, and brick. The battlements -are of a type which was repeated by the Christians in most parts of -Spain, but was, no doubt, derived first of all from the Moors. The -situation of the gateway is charming; with due regard to military -requirements it turns its side to the enemy, and is reached by a winding -road, which bends round at a sharp angle just before reaching it. To the -left is seen the sweet view over the _Vega_, watered and made green by -the kind river; a view which gains immensely on one’s liking, compared, -as it always is, with the dreary arid hills beyond, and with -recollections of the weary waste over which so much of the traveller’s -road to Toledo must needs lie. The age of this gateway is not known, but -it dates probably from the end of the twelfth, or beginning of the -thirteenth century. So, at least, I judge by comparing it with the next -gateway, that called the Puerta de Visagra, the finest gateway in the -outer wall (which was erected circa 1108-26), and which cannot, -therefore, be earlier than the beginning of the twelfth century. - -The design of this Puerta de Visagra is clearly due to a Moorish -architect, and it is extremely interesting to find the Christian king, -so soon after his conquest of the city, making use of the Moors for his -work, and to find them doing their best, apparently in their capacity as -builders, to second his endeavours to make the recapture of the city by -the Infidels impossible. The materials of this gate are the same as -those of the other, but its character is much heavier and ruder. The -contrast between the grand outer arch and the extremely small inner arch -is very curious; the ground has, however, risen considerably in front of -it, so that its real proportions are very much concealed. The wall is -carried out in advance of this gateway, and has an angle-tower, which -was schemed, no doubt, to secure the proper defence of the entrance. -Further along, beyond the point at which the two walls unite, we reach -the Bridge of St. Martin--a noble arch of even grander scale than that -of Alcantara, and, like it, guarded at either end by gateways, of which -that on the further side has the remains of Moorish work in the arches -which span it, and which have been already mentioned; it is finished -with the Moorish battlement. This bridge has five arches, of which the -largest is magnificent in scale,--no less than 140 (Spanish) feet wide -by 95 high. The arches are very light and lofty, and spring from grand -piers, behind which the rocky defile is seen in its greatest grandeur. -It seems to have been built in 1212, and repaired, the central arch -being rebuilt,[224] by Archbishop Tenorio, circa 1339. - -My notice of these various works has been, as it were, only the preface -to the real glory of Toledo; for interesting and unique as some of them, -and strange and novel as all of them are, there is a higher value and a -greater charm about the noble metropolitan church of Spain than about -any of them: a charm not due only to its religious and historical -associations, but resulting just as much from its own intrinsic beauty -as an example of the pure vigorous Gothic of the thirteenth century, -such as when I left France on my first Spanish journey I supposed I -should not see again till my eyes rested once more on Chartres, Notre -Dame, Paris, or Amiens! Here, however, we have a church which is the -equal in some respects of any of the great French churches; and I -hardly know how to express my astonishment that such a building should -be so little known, and that it should have been so insufficiently if -not wrongly described whenever any attempt at a description has been -made by English travellers who have visited it. - -The cathedral is said to have occupied the present site before the -capture of the city by the Moors.[225] They converted it into a mosque, -and in course of time enlarged and adorned it greatly. At the -capitulation to Alonso VI., in 1085, it was agreed that the Moors should -still retain it; but this agreement was respected for a few months only, -when the Christians, without the consent of the king, took it forcibly -from them and had it consecrated as their cathedral.[226] Of this -building nothing remains. The first stone of the new cathedral was laid -with great ceremony by the king Don Fernando III., assisted by the -Archbishop, on the 14th of August, A.D. 1227;[227] and from that time -to the end of the seventeenth century additions to and alterations of -the original fabric seem to have been constantly in hand. - -The cathedral is built east and west, “according to the universal -tradition of the Church,” says Blas Ortiz, forgetting apparently that -this is no tradition of the Roman Church. I think it is always attended -to in Spain, save in cities like Barcelona, where the commercial -intercourse with Italy perhaps introduced the Italian tradition. The -feeling about the Orientation of churches was stronger among the English -and Germans than anywhere else, and possibly the Spanish tradition dates -from the time of the Visigothic kings. - -It was the same king who laid the first stone of Burgos Cathedral in -1221, and it will be remembered that Maurice, the then Bishop of Burgos, -is said to have been an Englishman, and had been Archdeacon of Toledo. -Ferdinand’s first wife was a daughter of the Duke of Suabia, his second -a Frenchwoman. The name of the architect was preserved on his epitaph, -which I copy from Blas Ortiz:-- - - “Aqui: jacet: Petrus Petri: magister - Eclesia: Scte: Marie: Toletani: fama: - Per exemplum: pro more: huic: bona: - Crescit: qui presens: templum: construxit: - Et hic quiescit: quod: quia: tan: mire: - Fecit: vili: sentiat: ire: ante: Dei: - Vultum: pro: quo: nil: restat: inultum: - Et sibi: sis: merce: qui solus: cuncta: - Coherce: obiit: x dias de Novembris: - Era: de M: et CCCXXVIII (A.D. 1290).” - -I did not see this inscription, and am unable to say, therefore, whether -it is original; but I believe there is little doubt of this.[228] I -should have much more doubt as to the nationality of the architect. The -Spanish writers all talk of him as “_Pedro Perez_;” but as the Latin -inscription is the only authority for his name, he may as fairly be -called Pierre le Pierre, and so become a Frenchman; and I cannot help -thinking that this is, on the whole, very much more likely than that he -should have been a Spaniard. This, at any rate, is certain: the first -architect of Toledo, whether he were French or Spanish, was thoroughly -well acquainted with the best French churches, and could not otherwise -have done what he did. In Spain itself there was, as I have said before, -nothing to lead gradually to the full development of the pointed style. -We find, on the contrary, buildings, planned evidently by foreign hands, -rising suddenly, without any connexion with other buildings in their own -district, and yet with most obvious features of similarity to works in -other countries erected just before them. Such, I have shown, is the -case with the cathedrals at Burgos, at Leon, and at Santiago, and such -even more decidedly is the case here. Moreover, in Toledo, if anywhere, -was such a circumstance as this to be expected. In this part of Spain -there was in the thirteenth century no trained school of native artists. -Even after the conquest the Moors continued, as has been said before, to -act as architects for Christian buildings whether secular or -ecclesiastical, and, indeed, to monopolize all the science and art of -the country which they no longer ruled. In such a state of things, I can -imagine nothing more natural than that, though the Toledans may have -been well content to employ Mahomedan art in their ordinary works, yet, -when it came to be a question of rebuilding their cathedral on a scale -vaster than anything which had as yet been attempted, they would be -anxious to adopt some distinctly Christian form of art; and, lacking -entirely any school of their own, would be more likely to secure the -services of a Frenchman than of any one else; whilst the French -archbishop, who at the time occupied the see, would be of all men the -least likely to sympathise with Moresque work, and the most anxious to -employ a French artist. But, however this may have been, the church is -thoroughly French in its ground-plan and equally French in all its -details[229] for some height from the ground; and it is not until we -reach the triforium of the choir that any other influence is visible; -but even here the work is French work, only slightly modified by some -acquaintance with Moorish art, and not to such an extent as to be -recognized as Moresque anywhere else but here in the close neighbourhood -of so much which suggests the probability of its being so. The whole -work is, indeed, a grand protest against Mahomedan architecture, and I -doubt whether any city in the middle ages can show anything so -distinctly intended and so positive in its opposition to what was being -done at the same time by other architects as this. It is just what we -see at the present day, and we owe an incidental debt of gratitude to -this old architect for showing us that in the thirteenth century, just -as much as in the nineteenth, it was possible for an artist to believe -in the fitness and religiousness of one style as contrasted with -another, and steadily to ignore the fantastic conceits of the vernacular -architecture of the day and place in favour of that which he knew to be -purer and truer, more lovely and more symbolical. - -From A.D. 1290, the date of the death of the first architect, to A.D. -1425, I have not met with the name of any architect of this cathedral; -but from that year to the end of the last century the complete list is -known and published,[230] and contains of course many well-known names. - -The plan of the cathedral is set out on an enormous scale, as will be -seen by the table of comparative dimensions which I give below, as well -as by comparison with the other plans in this volume.[231] In width it -is scarcely exceeded by any church of its age, Milan and Seville -cathedrals--neither of them possessing any other great claim to -respect--being, I think, the only larger churches in Christendom; and -the area covered by the cloisters, chapels, and dependencies of Toledo, -being on the same large scale, is of course in excess altogether of -Milan, which has none. The original plan consisted of a nave with double -aisles on either side, seven bays in length; transepts of the same -projection as the aisles; a choir of one bay; and the chevet formed by -an apse to the choir of five bays, with the double aisles continued -round it, and small chapels--alternately square and circular in -plan--between the buttresses in its outer wall. Two western towers were -to have been erected beyond the west ends of the outer aisles;[232] and -there were grand entrances in each transept, and three doorways at the -west end. The great cloister on the north side, and all the chapels -throughout (save two or three of the small chapels already mentioned, -which still remain in the apse), are later additions. Scarcely a -fragment of the lower and visible part of the exterior of the cathedral -has been left untouched by the destructive hands of the architects of -the last three centuries; and the consequence is, that it is after all -only the interior of this noble church that is so magnificent, there -being very little indeed that is either attractive or interesting on the -exterior. There is absolutely no good general view to be had of it; for -a network of narrow winding lanes encompasses the building on all sides, -leaving no open space anywhere, save at the west end; and here the -exterior has been so much altered as to deprive the view of its value. I -had some difficulty in mounting to the roof, the canon in authority -sternly and rudely refusing me permission; but as the sacristan -considered that I had done my duty in asking, and that the canon had -exceeded his in refusing, in the end he took me everywhere. We ascended -by a staircase in the archbishop’s palace, which leads by a gallery -thrown over the road to the upper cloister. This extends above the whole -of the great cloister, and has a timber roof carried on stone shafts, -which appear by their mouldings to be of the fifteenth century. This -upper cloister is entirely surrounded by houses occupied, some by -clergy, and some by the servants of the church, and where little -choristers in red _capotes_ and white laced albs run about playing in -their spare moments. Nothing that I have met with in Spain exceeds the -intolerable stench which everywhere pervades these ecclesiastical -tenements! But the look-out is rather pleasant, for the cloister court -is planted thickly with fine shrubs and trees which shoot up as high as -the top of the walls. - -[Illustration: Stone Roof of Outer Aisle and Chapels, Toledo.] - -The exterior of the church, seen from this point, is altogether in a -great mess--no other word so well describes its state! So far as I could -make it out, I think the original mode of roofing the church was as -follows: the aisle next the nave was covered with a timber roof sloping -down from the clerestory windows; whilst the outer aisle and the chapels -beyond it were roofed with stone roofs laid to a flat pitch, and sloping -down to a stone gutter between the two, which again carried the water -east and west till it discharged in a pipe through each buttress. In -place of this, a gabled roof now covers both aisles with a gutter -against the clerestory and overhanging eaves on the outside. The main -roofs were probably steep and tiled; that of the choir appears to have -been carried on stone columns or piers, in front of which was the -parapet, so that there was a current of air throughout. In the apse I -was able to see my way a little more clearly; for here the stone roofs -of the chapels and outer aisle are still perfect, and most ingeniously -contrived, as the accompanying diagram will explain. Here again I was -unable to find out what was the original roof of the inner aisle; but it -was possibly of stone like the others, though my impression on the spot -was that it must have been of wood, and covered with tiles. The diagram -shows the roof over one of the circular and two of the square chapels of -the apse, and the three corresponding bays of the outer choir aisle. The -triangular bays and square chapels have stone roofs sloping down to a -gutter between them; whilst the bay between them had a square roof -sloping slightly all ways, and over the outer chapel a roof sloping back -to the same gutter. The water is all carried away by stone -channel-drains to the outside of the walls. The whole of this -contrivance is now obscured by an extraordinary jumble of tiled roofs -one over the other, added, I suppose, from time to time as the original -roof required repair.[233] There are double flying-buttresses wherever -there are transverse arches in the groining. These were altered in the -fifteenth century by the addition of a fringe of cusping on the edge of -their copings, which of course spoilt their effect, though this is not -of much consequence now, as they are never seen. The nave also has -double flying-buttresses; and its clerestory and triforium were thrown -into one, and large windows inserted, in the fourteenth century in place -of the original work. The only portion of the original external walls of -the aisle that I could see was on the south side of the choir. Here in -the apse chapels there are good and rather wide lancet-windows with -engaged shafts in the jambs, well moulded, and labels adorned with -dog-tooth. The old termination of the buttresses seems to be everywhere -destroyed. The flying-buttresses in the apse were finely managed. Owing -to the arrangement of the plan two flying-buttresses support each of the -main piers, and they are double in height. Their arches are moulded with -a very bold roll-moulding, with a smaller one on either side, and the -piers which receive them are faced with coupled shafts with carved -capitals. The arrangement of the buttresses follows exactly (and of -necessity) the planning of the principal transverse arches of the -groining. From each angle of the apse there are two flying-buttresses; -these each abut against a pinnacle, which is again supported by two -diverging flying-buttresses. It might be expected that the effect would -be confused, as it is in the somewhat similar plan of the chevet of Le -Mans; but here the buttresses and pinnacles seem to have been less -prominent, and therefore to have interfered less with the general -outline of the church which they support. The pinnacles to the -buttresses of the central apse are tolerably perfect, but they appear to -be not earlier than the fifteenth century. Those of the intermediate -aisle are all destroyed, but many of those in the outer aisle still -remain. The chapel of San Ildefonso, too, beyond the chevet, retains its -pinnacles and parapets; and behind these rises a flat-pitched tiled -roof, which, as everywhere else throughout the cathedral, has the air of -being a modern substitute for the old roof: undoubtedly the whole work -wants steep roofs to make it equal in effect to the French churches from -which it was derived, and in which this feature is usually so marked. - -The external mouldings of the windows in this part of the church are -very good, and of the best early-pointed work; among others I saw that -the external label of the rose-window in the north transept is filled -with quaint crockets formed of dogs’ heads projecting from the hollow -member of the moulding. - -All these remains of the original design of the early church can only be -seen by ascending to the roofs; and as they illustrate the most -interesting portion of the whole work, I have taken them first in order. - -It is now time to take the rest of the fabric in hand; and for this -purpose it will be necessary to confine myself henceforth almost -entirely to the interior. The doorways will be mentioned further on, -because they are all additions to, and not coeval with, the original -fabric; and, similarly, the window-traceries--except in the case of one -or two of the apse windows, and the openings of the triforium and -clerestory of the choir--are none of them original. - -[Illustration: No. 30. - -TOLEDO CATHEDRAL. p. 241. - -INTERIOR OF TRANSEPT, &c., LOOKING NORTH-WEST.] - -The first view of the interior is very impressive. The entrance most -used is that to which the narrow, picturesque, and steep Calle de la -Chapineria leads--that of the north transept. The buildings on the east -side of the cloister rise on the right hand, and chief among them the -fine fifteenth-century chapel of San Pedro, which, in entire contempt of -all rules as to orientation, runs north and south, and opens into the -aisle of the church by a sumptuous archway. Near the end of this chapel -an old and very lofty iron _grille_ crosses the road; and passing -through this, and by the group of beggars ever clustered round it, the -fine fourteenth-century north doorway, rich in sculpture, is passed, and -the transept is reached. The view across this, as is usually the case in -Spain, is the great view of the church; for here only is there any -really grand expanse of unoccupied floor, and without such a space real -magnificence of effect can never be secured. The view hence into the -double aisles round the choir, across the gorgeously decorated Capilla -mayor, and down the side aisles of the nave, is truly noble, and open, I -think, to but one criticism, viz., that it is somewhat wanting in -height. Judged by English examples, its height is unusually great; but -all the other dimensions are so enormous that one requires more than -ordinary height, and the vast size of the columns throughout the church, -as well as the fact that most of the perspectives are those of the side -aisles, which are of necessity low, gives perhaps an impression of -lowness to the whole which is certainly not justified by the measurement -in feet and inches of the central vault. - -If my readers will refer to the engraving of the ground-plan, they will -be struck by the extreme simplicity and uniformity of the original -outline of the cathedral, and the entire absence of all excrescences, -whether of transepts or chapels. In this respect it is not a little like -some of the finest French examples, such as Notre Dame, Paris, and -Bourges, and extremely unlike the ordinary early Spanish plan, in which -the transepts, the lantern, and the three eastern apses, are always -distinctly and emphatically marked. Here the excrescences are all later -additions. The chapels of the chevet were very small, and almost -contained within the semi-circle which forms its outline. There is no -lantern, and the transepts are hardly recognized on the ground-plan. The -aim of the great French architects of the period was to reduce their -work to an almost classic simplicity and uniformity; and their ambition -was evidently shared by the architect who presided over the erection of -this Cathedral at Toledo. - -Let us now examine with some minuteness the arrangement of the plan of -the chevet. This is rightly the first point to be considered; for this -is always the keynote, so to speak, of the whole scheme of such a -church; and it is here that the surest evidence is afforded of what I -believe to be the foreign origin of the design; for not even in details -is there anything by which it is more easy in some cases to trace the -origin of an old church than in the general scheme of the ground-plan; -and in large churches the plan of the chevet is that which regulates -every other part. To this part therefore I must now address myself. - -[Illustration: Diagrams of Vaulting.] - -In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the ingenuity of the greatest -French architects--the greatest school perhaps the world has ever -seen--was taxed to the utmost to devise means for obviating all the -difficulties attendant on the plan of an apse with an aisle or aisles -continued round it.[234] The arrangement of the central vault is easy -enough; but the great flying-buttresses which support this have to be -carried in part on the columns which form the divisions of the aisles -surrounding the apse. From the centre of the apse, therefore, a number -of lines drawn through its angles represent the lines of the -flying-buttresses, and mark the position for the outer orders of -columns. These lines diverge so rapidly from each other that the -compartments enclosed within them become extremely irregular in their -outline; and this renders it very difficult to cover them with vaults -which shall look thoroughly well, and in which the arched ribs shall not -be crippled or irregular in their lines. The French architects had from -the first realized the necessity for making the diagonal vaulting rib a -semi-circle. They saw that the line thus obtained was a continuous line -of the utmost value, leading the eye on in succession from one bay of -vaulting to another without any interruption--gradually from one end of -the vastest vault to the other. Whenever this form is given up the -effect of vaulting is half destroyed; and it matters not whether we turn -to the domical pointed vaults of the Angevine architects, or the vaults -of some of our own cathedrals, with their pointed diagonal ribs, we -shall at once see how inferior they are to the old French mode.[235] In -these unequal vaulting bays in the apse it was impossible to make a -straight diagonal rib a semi-circle, for then (I) the highest part of -the vault would be higher than the intersection of the ribs, and the -connexion of the intersection with the highest part of the transverse -arch would be extremely bad, and all but unmanageable. To get over this -difficulty, we find the architect of Bourges (A.D. 1230) planning his -diagonal ribs on a curve (II); whilst at Chartres (A.D. 1220) the -architect planned this rib on a broken line (III). The architect of the -choir of Le Mans (just later in date than Chartres--circa A.D. 1230) -improved enormously upon what his brethren had done by the introduction -of a triangular compartment in the outer aisle, which enabled him to -make the vaulting bays between them nearly square, and to obtain a light -between each of the chapels of the apse, which vastly increased its -beauty. The architect of Bourges had indeed introduced -triangular-vaulting compartments in his outer aisle, but so clumsily, -that he had increased rather than diminished the difficulty with which -he was dealing; and the earlier architect of Notre Dame, Paris (A.D. -1170), had ingeniously planned almost all the vaults of his apse in -triangular compartments, with great gain over the systems of those who -had preceded him; but his plan had the grave defect of placing a column -behind the eastern central arch of the apse, and so stopping all view -eastward from the choir. It remained for the architect of Toledo -Cathedral to resolve all these difficulties by a disposition of his -columns so ingenious and so admirable as to be certainly beyond all -praise. His plan looks indeed simple and very obvious; yet how many -attempts had been made in vain to accomplish what he did; and how -completely has he not overcome all his contemporaries! I hold it to be -in the highest degree improbable that anyone could have devised this -improvement who had not been actively engaged in the study of the French -Cathedrals.[236] No churches exist in Spain which in the least degree -lead up to the solution of the problems involved. And indeed almost at -the same time that this church was commenced, we have Spaniards at work -at other churches, as, _e.g._, at Lérida and Tarragona, in an entirely -different and in a much more primitive style. The architect -therefore--if he was a Spaniard--was one who had spent much time upon -French buildings; but was much more probably a Frenchman, who also, -unless I am mistaken, brought with him some of his countrymen to direct -the sculpture of the capitals, &c., which, as well as the mouldings, are -thoroughly good, pure examples of French Gothic of the date. - -The engraving of the plan will best explain the beauty of the -arrangement of the chevet.[237] There are twice as many columns between -the aisles as there are round the central apse, and the points of -support in the outer wall are again double the number of the columns -between the aisles. The alternate bays throughout are thus roofed with -triangular compartments, and the remaining bays are, as nearly as -possible, perfectly rectangular, whilst the vista from west to east is -perfectly preserved, and the distance from centre to centre of the outer -row of columns is, as nearly as possible, the same as that of the inner -order. The outer wall of the aisle was occupied alternately by small -square chapels opposite the triangular vaulting compartments, and -circular chapels opposite the others. Very few of these remain -unaltered; but the sketch and plan which I give will show what their -character was. The analogy of the small chapels in the chevets of Paris, -Bourges, and Chartres, would seem to prove that originally there was no -larger chapel at the east end, and the similar arrangement of the -vaulting compartments throughout seems to confirm this view. - -In the eastern portion of the church a good deal of dog-tooth enrichment -is introduced. I have noticed the same fact in the account of Burgos -Cathedral, and suggested that it was imported there from Anjou. Here, -however, the architect clearly knew not much, if anything, of Angevine -buildings, and probably borrowed the dog-tooth from Burgos, though of -the other peculiarities of detail in that church I see no trace. - -[Illustration: Chapels of the Chevet. Toledo Cathedral.] - -The planning of the whole church was uniform throughout. The columns are -all circular, surrounded by engaged shafts, which, in the great piers in -the transept, are trefoiled in section. There do not appear to have been -chapels anywhere in the side walls of the nave, save on the south side -of the south aisle, where the chapel of Sta. Lucia appears to be of the -same age as the church, and is recorded to have been founded by -Archbishop Rodrigo, with an endowment for two chaplains to say masses -for the soul of Alonso VI.[238] This chapel has triple groining-shafts -in the angles, a good triplet, with dog-tooth and engaged jamb-shafts, -in the south wall, and a window of two lancets, with a circle in the -head, in the east wall. On the west side of this chapel is an extremely -rich recessed arch in stucco, of late Moorish work--a curious contrast -to the fine pointed work of the chapel. - -[Illustration: No. 31. - -TOLEDO CATHEDRAL p. 246. - -INTERIOR OF NORTH AISLE OF CHOIR] - -The original scheme of the church is only to be seen now in the choir -and its aisles. These are arranged in three gradations of height,--the -choir being upwards of a hundred feet, the aisle round it about sixty -feet, and the outer aisle about thirty-five feet[239] in height. The -outer wall of the aisle is pierced with arches for the small chapels -between the buttresses, the design and planning of which are shown -clearly in the illustration which I give. The intermediate aisle has in -its outer wall a triforium, formed by an arcade of cusped arches; and -above this, quite close to the point of the vault, a rose window in each -bay. It is in this triforium that the first evidence of any knowledge on -the part of the architect of Moorish architecture strikes the eye. The -cusping of the arcade is not enclosed within an arch, and takes a -distinctly horseshoe outline, the lowest cusp near to the cap spreading -inwards at the base. Now, it would be impossible to imagine any -circumstance which could afford better evidence of the foreign origin of -the first design than this slight concession to the customs of the place -in a slightly later portion of the works. An architect who came from -France, bent on designing nothing but a French church, would be very -likely, after a few years’ residence in Toledo, somewhat to change in -his views, and to attempt something in which the Moorish work, which he -was in the habit of seeing, would have its influence. The detail of this -triforium is notwithstanding all pure and good; the foliage of the -capitals is partly conventional, and, in part, a stiff imitation of -natural foliage, somewhat after the fashion of the work in the -Chapter-house at Southwell; the abaci are all square; there is a -profusion of nail-head used in the labels; and well-carved heads are -placed in each of the spandrels of the arcade. The circular windows -above the triforium are filled in with cusping of various patterns. -The main arches of the innermost arcade (between the choir and its -aisle) are, of course, much higher than the others. The space above them -is occupied by an arcaded triforium, reaching to the springing of the -main vault. This arcade consists of a series of trefoil-headed arches on -detached shafts, with sculptured figures, more than life-size, standing -in each division; in the spandrels above the arches are heads looking -out from moulded circular openings, and above these again, small pointed -arches are pierced, which have labels enriched with the nail-head -ornament. The effect of the whole of this upper part of the design is -unlike that of northern work, though the detail is all pure and good. -The clerestory occupies the height of the vault, and consists of a row -of lancets (there are five in the widest bay, and three in each of the -five bays of the apse) rising gradually to the centre, with a small -circular opening above them. The vaulting-ribs in the central division -of the apse are chevroned, and, as will be seen on the plan, increased -in number, this being the only portion of the early work in which any, -beyond transverse and diagonal ribs, are introduced. There is a weakness -and want of purpose about the treatment of this highest portion of the -wall that seems to make it probable that the work, when it reached this -height, had passed out of the hands of the original architect. It is -strange that, so far as I have been able to learn, no record exists of -the date of the consecration of the church; so that it is quite -impossible to give, with certainty, the date at which any part of it had -been finished and covered in. In the nave the original design (if it was -ever completed) has been altered. There is now no trace of the original -clerestory and triforium which are still seen in the choir; and in their -place the outer aisle has fourteenth-century windows of six lights, with -geometrical tracery, and the clerestory of the nave and transepts great -windows, also of six lights, with very elaborate traceries. They have -transomes (which in some degree preserve the recollection of the old -structural divisions) at the level of the springing of the groining. The -groining throughout the greater part of the church seems to be of the -original thirteenth-century work, with ribs finely moulded, and vaulting -cells slightly domical in section. The capitals of the columns are all -set in the direction of the arches and ribs they carry, and their abaci -and bases are all square in plan. - -The great rose-window of the north transept, though later, is not much -more so than the work I have been describing. It has an outer ring of -twelve cusped circles, six within these, and one in the centre. The -whole is filled with old glass. The centre circle has the Crucifixion; -the six circles round it St. Mary, St. John, and four Angels; and the -outer circles figures of the twelve greater prophets, pointing towards -our Lord. The ground of the centre circles within the cusps is a light -pure blue, and the cusps are filled with conventional foliage. The whole -is fastened to rings of iron, in the usual way, and is the best example -of stained glass now remaining in the cathedral. - -The works undertaken here in the fourteenth century were very -considerable. The north doorway, the doorway of St. Catherine, leading -from the cloisters; the clerestory in the nave and nave-aisles and -transepts, and probably the whole of the four western bays of the nave; -the screens round the Coro, the chapel of San Ildefonso, and some other -portions, were all of this period; and the dates of many of them being -certain, they give admirable opportunities for the study of the detail -of the Spanish middle-pointed style. The north door has three statues in -each jamb, and a central figure of the Blessed Virgin and our Lord. The -arch has in its three orders different orders of angels, and the -tympanum is divided into four spaces by horizontal divisions, containing -the following subjects: (1) The Annunciation, the Salutation, the -Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Massacre of the Innocents; (2) -the Marriage at Cana, the Presentation, the Dispute with the Doctors, -the Flight into Egypt; (3) the Marriage at Cana continued all across; -and (4) the Death of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The whole is good work of -the end of the fourteenth century. The doorway of St. Catherine, which -opens into the cloister, is mainly remarkable for its elaborate -mouldings, but has a central figure of the saint and two others standing -on capitals, and under canopies, on either side of the doorway. The arch -is crocketed and covered with a profusion of small carving, and with -coats-of-arms of Castile and Leon. The label is crocketed, and between -the doorway and the vault of the cloister a rose window and two windows -of two lights each are picturesquely grouped. The other great doorways -are almost all modernized and uninteresting. - -The screen round the Coro is a feature of as great interest as any in -the church. It encloses the whole of the two eastern bays of the nave; -and, as far as I could judge by the way in which it finishes against the -transept column, where the old work ends abruptly, and is completed -with a later carving of lions and castles, it seems possible that it -crossed the transepts and completely shut them out from the choir. There -is, however, no certain evidence of this; and the main fact proved, is -that from the very first the choir-stalls were locally in the nave. In a -plan such as this, with an extremely short choir, founded evidently, -like so many of the Spanish churches, on the plan of the great Abbey of -Citeaux, it must, from the first, have been intended that this should be -the arrangement; but, as I have observed before, the present use of the -choir and the old use are unlike in the only point in which the Spanish -plan is distinctly national. For, in the western face of this old -screen, the doorway into the choir remains; and this has since been -blocked up, in order to put the archbishop’s throne in the centre of the -west end of the Coro, the only access to which is now from the transept -crossing through the eastern Reja or screen. The screen-work is -continued on round the apse, but much mutilated by Berruguetesque and -other alterations, the work of which at the east, behind the altar, is -the worst in the world--_el trasparente_--where angels, clouds, and rays -of light, all painfully executed in marble, are lighted by a big hole, -wickedly pierced right through the old thirteenth-century vault! - -The nave-screen consists of an arcade filled with rich tracery, and -carried upon marble and jasper shafts (said, but on what authority I -know not,[240] to have come from the seventh-century Basilica of Sta. -Leocadia). The wall above the capitals is divided by pinnacles; between -each of which is a niche containing a subject sculptured in high relief -under a canopy. The detail of the whole is of the richest kind of -middle-pointed, and altogether very similar in the amount of work and -delicacy of design to the arcades round some of the richest of our own -buildings, as, for instance, round the Chapter-house at Ely. The -sculptures are many of them admirable, full of the natural incidents so -loved by, and the _naïveté_ so characteristic of, the best mediæval -sculptors of their age. I give a complete list of these subjects in the -Appendix, and strongly recommend careful study of them to those who -visit Toledo. I feel the more bound to do this, because in all the -Spanish Guide-books they will find them spoken of with the utmost -contempt, whilst all the praise is reserved for a vile gilt creation by -Berruguete, which has taken the place of the three central western -subjects over the choir-door, and for two statues of Innocence and Sin, -which seem to me to be innocent of art, and to sin against nature! - -In addition to the western doorway there were four others in these -screens, two on the north and two on the south; these opened into small -chapels contrived in the space left between the screen just described, -outside the columns, and the wooden screen inside the columns and behind -the choir-stalls. - -The screen on the south side of the apse--the remains of what no doubt -once went all round it--is even more elaborate than that round the Coro: -it is pierced below, so that the altar may be seen, and has large -statues of saints above, and an open-gabled parapet, finished with -angels everywhere, and truly a most gorgeous work! This is in the -south-west arch of the choir only, a late flamboyant screen having been -added afterwards beyond it to the east, whilst on the north side a -Berruguetesque monument has taken the place of the old screen. - -The last great middle-pointed feature is the chapel of San Ildefonso, at -the extreme east end of the church. It is a most elaborate work, groined -with an eight-sided vault; its windows and arches full of rich -mouldings, and enriched by ball flowers and some of the other devices -commonly seen in our own work of the same age. Each side of this chapel -had an elaborate tomb with an arched recess in the wall over it, -surmounted by a gabled canopy between pinnacles, and under which -sculptured subjects are introduced.[241] These tombs were evidently all -erected at the same time, and help to make the _tout ensemble_ of the -chapel very rich and striking. A string-course is carried round above -them; and above this there are large traceried windows, alternately of -three and four lights. The vaulting-ribs are treated in an unusual and -rather effective way, being fringed with a series of cusps on their -under side, which give great richness to the general effect. There are -small triangular vaulting compartments in the two western angles, which -are necessary in order to bring the main vault to a true octagon in -plan. - -The works added in the fifteenth century were both numerous and -important. The cloister and chapel of San Blas, on its north side, are -the first in importance. They owe their origin, indeed, to the previous -century, the first stone having been laid on the 14th of August, A.D. -1389, by Archbishop Tenorio,[242] Rodrigo Alfonso being the master of -the works. In the chapel is a fine monument of the Archbishop; and in -the cloister walls a door which, in the capricious cusping and -crocketing of its traceried work, illustrates the extreme into which the -Spanish architects of this age ran in their elaboration of detail and -affectation of novelty. The traceries of the whole of the windows of the -cloister are destroyed, but the groining remains, and the proportions -and scale of the whole work are both very fine. - -The west front was commenced in A.D. 1418, and the north-west tower in -A.D. 1425, one Alvar Gomez being the architect employed upon them; and -in A.D. 1479 the upper part of the west front was completed; but the -whole of this was again repaired and altered in A.D. 1777, so that now -it presents little if anything really worthy of notice. The circular -west window seems to be of the earlier half of the fourteenth century, -and the later works were carried out in front of it. Between this window -and the gable of the great doorway is an enormous sculpture of the Last -Supper: the table extends from buttress to buttress; and our Lord and -the Apostles sit each in a great niche. The steeple is certainly rather -imposing in outline: a simple square tower at the base, and for some 170 -feet from the ground, it is then changed to an octagon with bold turrets -and pinnacles; and above this is a low spire, chiefly to be noticed for -the three rows of metal rays which project from its sides. The upper -part of the steeple was built when Alonso Covarrubias was the master of -the works, but rebuilt after a fire in A.D. 1660.[243] - -The chapel of Santiago, to the north-east of the chevet, was another -great work of this period. It is similar in plan to that of San -Ildefonso, by the side of which it is built, and has in its centre a -grand high tomb, carrying recumbent effigies of the Constable D. Alvaro -de Luna and his wife Doña Juana.[244] Each of the tombs has life-size -kneeling figures, one at each angle, looking towards the tomb, and -angels holding coats of arms--that most unangelic of operations, as it -always seems to me--in panels on the sides. Here, as in the chapel of -San Ildefonso, the sides of the chapel were each provided with a great -canopied tomb, whilst on one side a mediæval carved and painted wooden -Retablo to an altar conceals the original altar arrangement. The -exterior of this chapel is finished with a battlement and circular -overhanging turrets at the angles; above which is a tiled roof of flat -pitch. Don Alvaro de Luna died in A.D. 1453, and his wife in A.D. 1448; -and the chapel bears evidence in the “perpendicular” character of its -panelling, arcading, and crocketing, of the poverty of the age in the -matter of design. At this period, indeed, the designers were sculptors -rather than architects, and thought of little but the display of their -own manual dexterity. - -I have already described the external screens of the Coro. Its internal -fittings must not be forgotten, being very full of interest, and of much -magnificence. The lower range of stalls all round (fifty in number) are -the work of Maestro Rodrigo, circa A.D. 1495; and the upper range were -executed, half by Berruguete, and half by Felipe de Borgoña, in A.D. -1543.[245] The old stall ends are picturesque in outline, very large, -and covered with tracery, panels, and carvings, with monkeys and other -animals sitting on them. The upper range of stalls is raised by four -steps, so that between the elbows of the lower stalls and the desk above -them are spaces which are filled in with a magnificent series of -bas-reliefs illustrating the various incidents of the conquest of -Granada. They were executed whilst all the subjects depicted in them -must have been fresh in the minds of the people; and they are full of -picturesque vigour and character. The names of the fortresses are often -inscribed upon the walls: in some we have the siege, in others the -surrender of the keys, and in others the Catholic monarchs, accompanied -by Cardinal Ximenes, riding in, in triumph, through the gates. It may be -a fair complaint that the subjects are rather too much alike; but in -subjects all of which were so similar in their story, it was, of course, -difficult to avoid this. Their effect is in marked contrast to the heavy -dull Paganism of the sculptures by Berruguete, whose work took the -place, no doubt, of some more ancient stalls. The canopies in his work -rest on columns of jasper, a material which seems to be very abundant -here. - -In the centre of the Coro stands the great Eagle, a magnificent work in -brass. The enormous bird, with outstretched wings, is fighting a dragon -which struggles between its feet: its eyes are large red stones, and it -stands upon a canopied, buttressed, and pinnacled pedestal, crowded with -statues, among which are those of the twelve apostles. Six lions -couchant carry the whole on their backs, and serve to complete the -family likeness to other brass eagles, of which, however, this is, I -think, by far the most grandiose I have ever seen. - -Here as elsewhere throughout Spain the iron and brass screens are very -numerous. The two Rejas, east of the Coro and west of the Capilla mayor, -were finished in A.D. 1548. There is little to admire in their detail; -but they are massive and bold pieces of metal-work, for the dignified -simplicity of which there is much, no doubt, to be said, when we think -of the terribly over-ornamented work--semi-renaissance in its -feeling--which is so unfortunately fashionable among some of our own -church restorers now-a-days.[246] The great iron screen outside the -north transept door is an earlier work, and fine in its way. The detail -of this is very much like the screens already described at Palencia. - -There are also many Retablos, and some of them ancient. That behind the -high altar is a grand work, of so great height that it rises quite from -the floor to the roof, being filled with subjects from our Lord’s life, -arranged with the most complete disregard to their chronology, and, so -far as I could see, without any other better system of arrangement. The -whole, however, is most effective, the subjects being richly painted -and gilded, and the whole of the canopies and niches covered with gold, -so that the effect is one of extreme richness and perfect quietness -combined, the usual result of the ample use of gold. Many other small -Retablos exist elsewhere, and many have been destroyed.[247] - -The difficulty in the way of seeing to sketch anything inside the -cathedral is as great as it usually is in Spain, but not at all in -consequence of the absence of windows; for, as will have been seen from -my description, the windows are both many and large: all of them, -however, are filled with stained glass, and hence, in addition to the -wonderful charm of contrasted lights and shades, which we have here in -marvellous perfection, we have also the charm of seeing none but -coloured rays of light where any fall through the windows on the floor -or walls. - -Most of the glass appeared to me to be of the fifteenth century, and -later. The rose of the north transept, which is earlier, has already -been described; and the glass in the eastern windows of the transept -clerestory (single figures under canopies) looked as if it were of the -same date, or at any rate earlier than A.D. 1350. The rest of the church -is glazed rather uniformly with cinquecento glass of extreme brilliancy -and unusual depth of colour, the upper windows having generally single -figures, the others subjects in medallions. I had not time to make out -the scheme of their arrangement; but I observed that the medallions of -the clerestory of the intermediate aisle began at the west end, with the -Expulsion from Paradise, and went on with subjects from the Old -Testament. - -Of colour on the walls, little, alas! remains. They have been -whitewashed throughout, and in the choir coarsely diapered with broad -gilt masonry lines, edged with black. The internal tympanum of the south -transept door has a tree of Jesse, and close to it is an enormous -painting of S. Christopher; and the cloister walls had remains of -paintings which used to be attributed (but without the slightest -foundation, I believe) to Giotto, but these have now given way to new -wall-paintings of poor design and no value of any kind. - -The stateliness of the services here answers in some degree to the -grandeur of the fabric in which they are celebrated. At eight o’clock -every morning there appears to be mass at the high altar, at which the -Epistle and Gospel are read from ambons in the screen in front of it, -the gospeller having two lighted candles; whilst the silvery-sounding -wheels of bells are rung with all their force at the elevation of the -Host, in place of the single tinkling bell to which our ears are so used -on the Continent.[248] The Revolution in Spain, among other odd things, -has enabled the clergy here to sing the Lauds at about four o’clock in -the afternoon instead of at the right time. The service at the Mozarabic -Chapel at the west end of the aisle goes on at the same time as that in -the Coro, and anything more puzzling than the two organs and two choirs -singing as it were against each other can scarcely be conceived. There -are neither seats nor chairs for the people; the worshippers, in so vast -a place, seem to be few, though no doubt we should count them as many in -one of our English cathedrals. I always wish, when I see a church so -used, that we could revive the same custom here, and let a fair -proportion, at any rate, of the people stand and kneel at large on the -floor. Our chairs, benches, and pews are at least as often a nuisance to -their occupiers as the contrary; and for all parts of our services, save -the sermon, all but superfluous. Some day, perhaps, when we have -discovered that it is not given to every one to be a good preacher, we -may separate our sermons from our other services, and may live in hopes -of then seeing the floors of our churches restored to the free and -common use of the people, whilst some chance will be given, at the same -time, to our architects of exhibiting their powers to the greatest -advantage. - -It would be easy to elaborate the account which I have given of this -cathedral, to very much greater length; for there are other erections -in connexion with it besides all those that I have noticed, of a grand -and costly kind, owing their foundation to the builders of the -seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and everywhere affording the same -exhibition of magnificence and wealth; but these works are all worthless -from the point of view which I have taken for my notes of Spanish -architecture, and if I were to chronicle them I should be bound to -chronicle all the works of Berruguete, Herrera, and Churriguera -elsewhere, for which sad task I have neither space nor inclination. I -cannot, indeed, forgive these men, when I remember that to them it is -due that what remained before their time of the original design of the -exterior of this church was completely modernized or concealed -everywhere by their additions. - -The only other great Gothic work in the city, after the cathedral, seems -to be the church of San Juan de los Reyes,[249] which was erected by -order of Ferdinand and Isabella, in A.D. 1476, to commemorate their -victory in the battle of Toro over the King of Portugal. Nothing can be -much more elaborate than much of the detail of this church, yet I have -seen few buildings less pleasing or harmonious. It was erected in the -age of heraldic achievements, and angels with coats of arms are crowded -over the walls. There is a nave of four bays, a Cimborio or raised -lantern at the Crossing, roofed with an octagonal vault with groined -pendentives, quasi-transepts (they are in fact mere shallow square -recesses), and a very short apsidal choir of five unequal sides. The -western bay of the nave has a deep groined gallery, of the same age as -the church, and in which are the stalls and organs, with two small -ambons in its western balustrade: chapels are formed between the nave -buttresses. Other ambons are placed at some height from the floor -against the north-west and south-west piers of the Cimborio. The lantern -on the outside is octagonal with pinnacles at the angles and a pierced -parapet. - -The bald panelling of the external wall of the south transept is -furnished with a ghastly kind of adornment in the chains with which -Christians are said to have been confined by the Moors in Granada. - -The ruling idea of the interior of this church is evidently that which, -unfortunately I think, is somewhat fashionable at the present day--the -bringing of the altar forward among the people without reserve or -protection. The removal of the Coro to the western gallery, the shallow -recess in which the altar is placed, and the broad, unbroken area of the -nave, are all evidences of this, and could only have been adopted when -all desire to interest the people in any but the altar services had been -given up, and with it that wholesome reverence which, in earlier days, -had jealously guarded, fenced around, and screened these the holiest -parts of holy buildings. - -A blue velvet canopy still hangs above the altar; it is a square tester, -with hangings at the back and on either side. The velvet is marked with -vertical lines of gold lace, and the eagle of St. John--the crest of -Ferdinand and Isabella--is introduced in the embroidery. - -The pulpit was against one of the piers on the south side of the nave; -the door into it is now stopped up, and another pulpit has been erected -below the Gospel ambon. There is a gallery corbelled out from the -clerestory, in front of one of the south windows, the use of which did -not seem to be at all clear, unless, indeed, it was similar in object to -such an example as the minstrels’ gallery at Exeter Cathedral. - -The old cloister, though falling down through neglect and bad usage, is, -on the whole, the finest portion of the whole work; it is groined -throughout, and covered with rich sculpture of foliage and animals, and -saints in niches. It has been much damaged, mainly, I believe, by French -soldiers during the war, and is now used in part as a picture gallery, -and in part as a museum of antiquities. The pictures, like those in most -of the inferior Spanish collections, are very sad, ghastly, and gloomy; -but among the antiquities are many of value, including a good deal of -Moorish work of various ages. The cloister is of two stages in height, -the lower having traceried openings, the upper large open arches in each -bay. - -The refectory also remains, with ogee lierne ribs on its groining: over -the entrance to it is a great cross, recessed within an arch, with a -pelican at the top, and statues of St. Mary and St. John[250] on either -side, but without the figure of our Lord. - -And now I bid farewell to Toledo. Few cities that I have ever seen can -compete in artistic interest with it; and none perhaps come up to it in -the singular magnificence of its situation, and the endless novelty and -picturesqueness of its every corner. It epitomizes the whole strange -history of Spain in a manner so vivid, that he who visits its old nooks -and corners carefully and thoughtfully, can work out, almost unassisted, -the strange variety which that history affords. For here, Romans, -Visigoths, Saracens, and again Christians, have in turn held sway, and -here all have left their mark; here, moreover, the Christians, since the -thirteenth century, have shown two opposite examples,--one of toleration -of Jews and Moors, which it would be hard to find a parallel for among -ourselves, and the other of intolerance, such as has no parallel out of -Spain elsewhere in Europe. - -I need hardly say that in such a city the post-Gothic builders have also -left their mark. They have built many and imposing houses of various -kinds, chief among which are the altered Alcazar, now destroyed and -ruined, and the Convent of Sta. Cruz. But there was nothing in these -works specially appropriate to the locality, and nothing, therefore, -which takes them out of the position which their class holds elsewhere -in Spain. - -I believe that Toledo, in addition to all its other charms, is a good -starting-point for visits to several of the best examples of mediæval -Castilian castles. I have not been able to afford the time necessary for -this work, and was unluckily obliged, therefore, to neglect it -altogether; but the Spanish castles are so important that they deserve a -volume to themselves; and it is to be hoped that ere long some one will -undertake the pleasant task of examining and illustrating them. - -[Illustration: TOLEDO Ground Plan of Cathedral &c. Plate XIV. - -W. West, Lithr. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865.] - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -VALENCIA. - - -From Toledo I took the railway to Valencia. But as the junction of the -Toledo branch with the main line is a small station of the meanest -description, and as there were three or four hours to dispose of before -the mail-train passed, I went back as far as Aranjuez, intending to dine -there. The station is close to the palace, a large, bald, and -uninteresting pile. The principal inn is kept by an Englishman with a -French wife, and as it was not the right season for Aranjuez we had -great difficulty in getting anything. In truth the French wife was a -tartar, and advised us to go back again; but finally, the husband having -interceded, she relented so far as to produce some eggs and bacon. - -Aranjuez seemed to consist mainly of the palace and its stables, and to -be afflicted with even more than the usual plague of dust: but in the -spring no doubt it is in a more pleasant state, and may, I hope, justify -the landlord’s assertion that there is nothing in the world to compare -with it! - -Late in the evening we started for Valencia: it was a bright moonlight -night, so that I was able, when I woke and looked out, to see that the -country we traversed was an endless plain of extremely uninteresting -character, and that we lost little by not seeing it. I should have -preferred leaving the railway altogether, and going by Cuença on my way -to Valencia; but time was altogether wanting for this détour, though I -have no doubt that Cuença would well repay a visit. - -At Almanza, where the lines for Alicante and Valencia separate, there is -a very picturesque castle perched upon a rock above the town, and here -the dreary, uninteresting country, which extends with but short -intervals all the way from Vitoria, is changed for the somewhat -mountainous Valencian district, which everywhere shows signs of the -highest luxuriance and cultivation, resulting almost entirely from the -extreme care and industry with which the artificial irrigation is -managed. The villages are numerous, and around them are beautiful -vineyards, groves of orange-trees, and rice-fields; whilst here and -there clumps of tall palm-trees give a very Eastern aspect to the -landscape. The churches seemed, as far as I could judge, to be all -modern and most uninteresting. After passing the hilly country, a broad -plain is crossed to Valencia. Here the system of irrigation, said to be -an inheritance from the Moors, is evidently most complete. Every field -has its stream of water running rapidly along, and the main drawback to -such a system, so completely carried out, is that the beds of the rivers -are generally all but dry, their water being all diverted into other and -more useful channels. The Valencian farm-labourers’ dress is quite worth -looking at. They wear short, loose, white linen trousers and jackets, -brilliantly coloured _mantas_--generally scarlet--thrown over their -shoulders, coloured handkerchiefs over their heads, and violet scarfs -round their waists. They have a quaint way of sitting at work in the -fields, with their knees up to their ears, like so many grasshoppers; -and their skin is so well bronzed that one can hardly believe them to be -of European blood. They are said to be vindictive and passionate, but -they are also, so far as I saw them, very lively, merry, and talkative. -The farms appear to be very large, and when I passed the farmers were -hard at work threshing their rice. This is all done by horses and mules -on circular threshing-floors. In many of the farms eight or ten pair of -horses may be seen at work at the same time on as many threshing-floors, -and the effect of such a scene is striking and novel. - -As we went into Valencia we passed on the right the enormous new Plaza -de Toros, said to be the finest in Spain. Railroads will, I suppose, -rather tend to develop the national love for this institution, and this -theatre must have been built with some such impression, for otherwise it -is difficult to believe that a city of a hundred and twenty thousand -inhabitants could build a theatre capable of containing about a tenth of -the whole population! - -The national vehicle of Valencia is the _tartana_, a covered cart on two -wheels, with a slight attempt only at springs, and rendered gay by the -crimson curtains which are hung across the front. Jumping into one of -these, we soon found ourselves at the excellent Fonda del Cid, whose -title reminds us that we are on classic ground in this city of Valencia -del Cid. - -The Cid took the city from the Moors after a siege of twenty months, in -A.D. 1094, established himself here, and ruled till his death, in A.D. -1099. The Moors then regained possession for a short time, but in A.D. -1238 or 1239 it was finally re-taken from them by the Spaniards. - -It is hardly to be expected that anything would remain of Christian work -earlier than A.D. 1095, or, more probably, than A.D. 1239, and this I -found to be the case. The cathedral, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, is -a church of only moderate interest, its interior having been overlaid -everywhere with columns, pilasters, and cornices of plaster, and the -greater part of the exterior being surrounded so completely with houses, -that no good view can be obtained of it. - -The ground-plan is, however, still so far untouched as to be perfectly -intelligible. It has a nave and aisles of four bays, transepts -projecting one bay beyond the aisles, and a lofty lantern or Cimborio -over the Crossing. The choir is one bay only in length, and has a -three-sided apse. An aisle of the same width as that of the nave is -continued round the choir, and has the rare arrangement of two polygonal -chapels opening in each of its bays. The vaulting compartments in the -aisle are therefore cincopartite, those throughout the rest of the -church being quadripartite. A grand Chapter-house stands detached to the -south of the west bay of the nave, and an octagonal steeple, called “El -Micalete,” abuts against the north-west angle of the west front. - -The ritual arrangements are all modern, and on the usual plan. The -western bay of the church is open; the stalls of the Coro occupy the -second and third bays; and metal rails across the fourth bay of the nave -and the Crossing connect the Coro with the Capilla mayor. - -The evidence as to the age of the various portions of the building is -sufficient to enable us to date most of the work rather accurately. The -foundation of the church is recorded by an inscription over the -south-transept door to have been laid in 1262:[251] and some portion of -the exterior is, I have no doubt, of this date. The whole south-transept -front, a portion of the sacristy on the east side, and the exterior of -the apse, are all of fine early-pointed style, and, in the absence of -any specific statement of their date, might well have been thought to -belong to quite the commencement of the century. But I think a careful -examination of the detail will show that the work is possibly not so -early as it looks: and it has so much in common with Italian work of -the same age, that we need not be surprised to find in it features which -would nevertheless be inconsistent with its execution in the middle of -the thirteenth century in any work in the North of Europe. The south -transept façade consists of a round-arched doorway, with a horizontal -cornice over it, and a large and fine lancet-window above. The door and -window have respectively six and three jamb-shafts, and the abaci -throughout are square in plan. The archivolt of the doorway is very -rich: it includes five orders of enriched dog-tooth moulding, one order -of seraphs in niches, one of chevron, one of scalloping, and two of -foliage: good thirteenth century mouldings are also freely used. The -shafts are detached, and there is foliage on the jamb between them. The -abaci are very richly carved with animals and foliage, and the capitals -are all sculptured with subjects under canopies. The detail of the whole -of the work is certainly very exquisite. Undoubtedly in the north of -France such work would be assumed to have belonged to the twelfth rather -than the thirteenth century; but the quatrefoil diapering on the -capitals, the canopy work over the subjects in them, and the pronounced -character of the mouldings and dog-tooth enrichment, make it pretty -clear that the recorded date applies to this work. Indeed I do not know -how we can assume any other date for it without altogether throwing over -the extremely definite old inscription: for as it is evident that the -south transept and choir are of the same date, it is difficult to see -how it could have been possible to speak of the first stone, if all this -important part of the fabric were already in existence.[252] Close to -the transept on the east, in the wall of what is now a sacristy, is -another lancet window, of equally good, though simpler detail. Enough, -too, remains of the original work in the exterior of the apse to show -that it is of the same age as the south transept. The clerestory windows -seem to have been simple broad lancets; there are corbel-tables under -the eaves; and the buttresses are very solid and simple. On the interior -nothing but the groining has been left untouched by the pagan plasterers -of a later day. - -[Illustration: No. 32. - -VALENCIA CATHEDRAL. p. 263. - -NORTH TRANSEPT AND CIMBORIO.] - -I have found no evidence as to the date of the next portion of the -fabric, which is the more to be regretted as it is altogether very -important and interesting in its character. It includes the whole façade -of the north transept, a noble lantern at the Crossing, and a small -pulpit, and the whole of this is a good example of probably the latter -half of the fourteenth century. The north transept elevation is -extremely rich in detail. The great doorway in the centre of the lowest -stage--De los Aposteles--has figures under canopies in its jambs, and -corresponding figures on either side beyond the jambs. The arch is -moulded, and sculptured with four rows of figures and canopies, divided -by orders of mouldings. The tympanum of the door is adorned with -sculptures of the Blessed Virgin with our Lord and angels. Over the arch -is a gabled canopy, the spandrels of which are filled with tracery and -figures. Above, and set back rather from the face of the doorway, is a -rose window, the very rich traceries of which are arranged in -intersecting equilateral triangles; over it is a crocketed pediment, -with tracery in the spandrels and on either side, and flanked by -pinnacles. Every portion of the wall is panelled or carved. This front -affords an admirable example of that class of middle-pointed work which -was common in Germany and France at the end of the thirteenth and -beginning of the fourteenth centuries. The style prevailed for some -time, and it was probably about the middle of the fourteenth century -that this building was executed. - -The pulpit is placed against the north-east pier of the Crossing; it has -evidently been taken to pieces and reconstructed, and it is not certain, -I think, that it was originally a pulpit. Many of the members of the -base and capital of its stem, and the angles of the octagonal upper -stage, are modern, and of bronze; the rest is mainly of marble. The stem -is slender, and the upper part is pierced with richly-moulded -geometrical traceries, behind which the panels are filled in with -boards, gilt and diapered with extremely good effect. A curious feature -in this pulpit is that there is now no entrance to it, and if it is ever -used for preaching, the preacher must get into it by climbing over the -sides! - -The lantern or Cimborio, though in some respects similar to, is no doubt -later than the transept; it is one of the finest examples of its class -in Spain. Mr. Ford says that it was built in A.D. 1404, but I have been -unable to find his authority for the statement,[253] and though he may -be right, I should have been inclined to date it somewhat earlier. It is -an octagon of two rather similar stages in height above the roof. -Crocketed pinnacles are arranged at each angle, and large six-light -windows with very rich and varied geometrical tracery fill the whole of -each of the sides. The lower windows have crocketed labels, and the -upper crocketed canopies, and the string-courses are enriched with -foliage. From the very transparent character of this lantern, it is -clear that it was never intended to be carried higher. It is a lantern -and nothing more, and really very noble, in spite of its somewhat too -ornate and frittered character.[254] - -[Illustration: The Micalete.] - -The portion of the work next in date to this seems to have been the -tower. This, like the lantern, is octagonal in plan, and it is placed at -the north-west corner of the aisle, against which one of its angles is -set. A more Gothic contempt for regularity it would be impossible to -imagine, yet the effect is certainly good. The circumference of this -steeple is said to be equal to its height, but I had not an opportunity -of testing this. Each side is 20 ft. 8 in. from angle to angle of the -buttresses, so that the height, if the statement is true, would be about -165 feet. It is of four stages in height; the three lower stages quite -plain, and the belfry rather rich, with a window in each face, panelling -all over the wall above, and crocketed pediments over the windows. The -buttresses or pilasters--for they are of similar projection throughout -their height--are finished at the top with crocketed pinnacles. The -parapet has been destroyed, and there is a modern structure on the roof -at the top. The evidence as to the age of this work is ample. It is -called “El Micalete” or “Miguelete,” its bells having been first hung on -the feast of St. Michael. - -Some documents referring to it are given by Cean Bermudez,[255] and are -as follows:-- - -I. A deed executed in Valencia before Jayme Rovira, notary, on the 20th -June, 1380, by which it appears that Michael Palomar, citizen, Bernardo -Boix and Bartolomé Valent, master masons, estimated what they considered -necessary for the fabric of the tower or campanile at 853 scudi. - -II. From the MS. diary of the chaplain of King D. Alonso V. of Aragon, -it appears that on the 1st January, A.D. 1381, there was a solemn -procession of the bishop, clergy, and _regidors_ of the city to the -church, to lay the first stone of the Micalete.[256] - -III. By a deed made in Valencia, May 18th, A.D. 1414, before Jayme -Pastor, notary or clerk of the chapter, it is settled that Pedro -Balaguer, an “able architect,” shall receive 50 florins from the fabric -fund of the new campanile or Micalete, “in payment of his expenses on -the journey which he made to Lérida, Narbonne, and other cities, in -order to see and examine their towers and campaniles, so as to imitate -from them the most elegant and fit form for the cathedral of Valencia.” - -IV. By another deed, made before the same Jayme Pastor, September 18th, -A.D. 1424, it is agreed that Martin Llobet, stone-cutter, agrees to do -the work which is wanting and ought to be done in the Micalete, to wit, -to finish the last course with its gurgoyles, to make the “_barbacano_,” -and bench round about, for the sum of 2000 florins of common money of -Aragon,[257] the administration of the fabric finding the wheels, ropes, -baskets, &c. - -An inscription on the tower itself, referred to by Mr. Ford (but which I -did not see), states that it was raised between A.D. 1381 and A.D. 1418, -by Juan Franck, and it is said to have been intended to be 350 feet -high.[258] - -It is evident, therefore, that several architects were employed upon the -work, and I know few facts in the history of mediæval art more -interesting than the account we have here of the payment of an architect -whilst he travelled to find some good work to copy for the city of -Valencia. The steeple of Lérida cathedral will be mentioned in its -place, and it is sufficient now to say that it is also octagonal, of -great height, and dates from the commencement of the fourteenth century. -I know nothing at Narbonne which could have been suggestive to Pedro -Balaguer, but the city was Spanish in those days, and is probably only -mentioned as one of the most important places to which he went. - -When the Micalete was built the nave of the church seems to have been -still unfinished, the choir and transepts and part of the nave only -having been built. In 1459, under the direction of an architect named -Valdomar, a native of Valencia, the work was continued, and the church -was joined to the tower. The authority for this statement is a MS. in -the library of the convent of San Domingo, Valencia, which says: “In the -year of our Lord 1459, on Monday, the 10th of September, they commenced -digging to make the doorway and arcade of the cathedral; Master Valdomar -was the master of the works, a native of the said city of -Valencia.”[259] Of Valdomar’s work in this part of the church nothing -remains, the whole has been altered in the most cruel way, and the most -contemptible work erected in its place. Valdomar appears to have died -whilst his work was in progress, and to have been succeeded by Pedro -Compte, who concluded the work in 1482. The manuscript already quoted -from the library of San Domingo is the authority for this statement, and -describes Pedro Compte as “Molt sabut en l’art de la pedra.”[260] - -On the south side of the nave there is a Chapter-house, which is said by -Ponz[261] to be the work of Pedro Compte, and to have been built at the -cost of Bishop D. Vidal Blaues, in A.D. 1358. If this statement is -correct, it follows that there were two architects of this name, the -second having erected the Lonja de la Sedia, to which I shall have -presently to refer, in A.D. 1482. The tracery of the windows, and the -details generally of the Chapter-house, is so geometrical and good, that -it is probable that the date given by Ponz may be depended upon. It is a -square room nearly sixty feet in diameter, and groined in stone. The -vault is similar to those which I first saw at Burgos, having arches -thrown across the angles to bring it to an octagon, and the triangular -compartments in the angles having their vaults below the main vault. It -is lighted by small windows very high up in the walls on the cardinal -sides, and these are circular and spherical triangles in outline, filled -with geometrical tracery. On the south side is a very elaborate arcaded -reredos and altar, and on the west a pulpit corbelled out from the wall. -The design and detail of the whole are extremely fine, and I regret that -I was able to make but a very hurried examination of it, and no -sketches; meeting here, almost for the first time in Spain, with a -sacristan who refused to allow me to do more than look, the fact being -that it was his time for dinner and siesta! - -In the old sacristy to the east of this room are still preserved two -embroidered altar frontals, said to have been brought from our own old -St. Paul’s by two merchants, Andres and Pedro de Medina, just about the -time of the Reformation.[262] They are therefore of especial interest to -an Englishman. They are very large works, strained on frames, and were, -I believe, hangings rather than altar frontals, as they are evidently -continuations one of the other. The field is of gold, diapered, and upon -this a succession of subjects is embroidered. On one cloth are -(beginning at the left) (1) our Lord bearing his Cross; (2) being nailed -to the Cross; (3) crucified, with the thieves on either side; (4) -descending from the Cross; (5) entombed. The next cloth has (1) the -descent into Hell; (2) the Maries going to the sepulchre; (3) the Maries -at the tomb, the angel, and (4) the Resurrection. The effect of the -whole work is like that of a brilliant German painting, and the figures -are full of action and spirit, and have a great deal of expression in -their faces. The diapered ground is made with gold thread, laid down in -vertical lines, and then diapered with diagonal lines of fine bullion -stitched down over it to form the diaper. The gold is generally -manufactured in a double twist, and borders and edgings are all done -with a very bold twisted gold cord. The faces are all wrought in silk, -and some of the dresses are of silk, lined all over with gold. The old -border at the edge exists on one only of the frontals. The size of each -is 3 ft. 1 in. by 10 ft. 2 in., and the date, as nearly as I can judge, -must be about A.D. 1450. There is also preserved here a missal which -once belonged to Westminster Abbey. - -I could find no other church of any interest. There are several which -have some old remains, but they are generally so damaged and decayed, -that it is impossible to make anything of them. One I saw desecrated and -occupied by the military, and was unable to enter; and there is another -in a street leading out of the Calle de Caballeros, which has a very -fine round-arched doorway, with three shafts in the jambs, and good -thirteenth-century mouldings in the arch, and which is evidently of the -same age as the south door of the cathedral. The capitals have each two -wyverns fighting, and the abaci are well carved. The church, however, -was desecrated, and no one knew how I could gain admission to it. - -[Illustration: Puerta de Serranos. Valencia.] - -The walls and gates are of more interest. They are lofty, and generally -well preserved. The two finest gates are the Puerta de Serranos, and -that del Cuarte. The former, said by Ford[263] to have been built in -A.D. 1349, is a noble erection. Two grand polygonal towers flank the -entrance archway, which is recessed in the centre. Above this the wall -is covered with tracery panelling, and then a great projecting gallery -or platform, supported on enormous corbels, is carried all round the -three exposed sides of the gateway. The towers are carried up a -considerable height above this gallery, and it is probable that there -was originally a wooden construction over it, of the kind which M. -Viollet le Duc, in his treatise on military architecture, has shown to -have been commonly adopted in fortifications of this age. The Puerta del -Cuarte is of the same description, and has two circular flanking towers, -but is less imposing, and is said to have been built in A.D. 1444. Both -gateways are completely open at the back, enormous open arches, one -above the other, rendering them useless for attack against the city; and -the corbelled-out passages at the top are not continued across the back. - -The domestic remains here are of some importance. One feature of rather -frequent occurrence is the window of two or three lights, divided by -detached shafts. The earlier examples have simple trefoil heads, and -sculptured capitals to the columns. In the later examples there are -mouldings round the cusped head, and the abaci and capitals are carved: -but it is a very curious fact, that wherever I saw any old towns on the -coast of the Mediterranean, there I always saw some specimens of this -later kind of window, with detail and carving so identical in character, -that I was almost driven to the conclusion that they were all executed -in the same place, and sent about the country to be fixed! Nevertheless, -they are always very pretty, so that one ought not to grumble if they do -occur a little too often. The shafts are generally of marble, and often -coupled one behind the other. - -The Arabs had a name for this class of windows, and as we have not, and -want one, it may be as well to mention it. They are called _ajimez_, -literally windows by which the sun enters. The Arabs seem to have -supplied many of the architectural terms in use in Spain, and probably -we owe them in this case not only the name, but the design also. Among -other Arab words still in common use, I may mention Alcazar, Alcalá, -Tapia, and many more are given in vocabularies. - -[Illustration: Ajimez Window. Valencia.] - -[Illustration: No. 33 - -VALENCIA. p. 270. - -THE CASA LONJA.] - -One of the earliest of these _ajimez_ windows is in a house on the east -side of the cathedral; and a fine example of later date is in an old -house in the Calle de Caballeros, the internal court and staircase of -which are also picturesque, though hardly mediæval. All the houses here -seem to be built on the same plan, with the stables and offices on the -ground floor, arranged round an internal court, an open stone staircase -to the first floor, and the living-rooms above. The fronts towards the -streets are generally rather gloomy and forbidding-looking, but the -courts are always picturesque. The finest domestic building in the city -is the Casa Lonja, or Exchange, which was commenced on the 7th November, -1482, the year in which the works at the cathedral were completed by -Pedro Compte. There is no doubt, I believe, that he was the architect; -and on March 19, 1498, he was appointed perpetual Alcaide of the Lonja, -with a salary of thirty pounds (“libras”) a year. He was also “Maestro -Mayor” of the city, and was employed in several works of engineering on -the rivers and streams of the district.[264] The main front of the Lonja -is still very nearly as he left it, a fine specimen of late Spanish -pointed work. The detail is of the same kind as, but simpler than, the -contemporary works at Valladolid and Burgos, and there is a less -determined display of heraldic achievements; though the great doorway, -and the window on either side of it which open into the great hall, and -which are so curiously grouped together by means of labels and -string-courses, have some coats of arms and supporters rather -irregularly placed in their side panels. The great parapet of the end, -and the singular finish of the battlements, are very worthy of note, -and give great richness to the whole building. The principal doorway -leads into a fine groined hall, 130 feet long by 75 feet wide, divided -into a quasi nave and aisles of five bays by eight columns, sculptured -and spirally twisted. The portion of the building to the left of the -centre is divided into three chambers in height, the upper and lower -rooms being low, the central room lofty and well proportioned. The lower -rooms have plain square windows; the next stage, windows of much loftier -proportions, and with their square heads ornamented with a rich fringe -of cusping. There are pointed discharging arches over them. The upper -stage of this wing is extremely rich, the window-openings being pierced -in a sort of continuous arcading, the pinnacles of which run up to and -finish in the parapet. This parapet is enriched with circular medallions -enclosing heads, a common Italian device, betokening here the hand of a -man whose work was verging upon that of the Renaissance school. At the -back is a garden, the windows and archways opening on which are of the -same age as the front. - -Valencia, though not containing any building of remarkable interest, is -nevertheless well worth a visit: it is a busy city, full of picturesque -colour and people. The _manta_ or rug worn by the peasants throughout -Spain is here seen in perfection: it is of rich and very oriental -colour, and charms the eye at every turn. I went into a shop and looked -at a number of them, and there were none which were not thoroughly good -in their colour; and, worn as they are by the sunburnt peasants, hanging -loosely on one shoulder, they contrast splendidly with their white linen -jackets and trousers, and swarthy skins. The river is, at any rate in -the autumn, the broad dry bed only of a river, with here and there a -puddle just deep enough for washerwomen. The water is all carried off to -irrigate the fertile country around, and troops of cavalry and -artillery, with their guns all drawn by fine mules, were hard at work -exercising where it ought to have been. On the side of the river -opposite to the city are some rather nice public gardens, with fine -walks and drives planted with noble trees. A drive which begins here -extends all the way to Grao, the port of Valencia, some two or three -miles off. In the afternoon it seems to be always thronged with -_tartanas_, carriages, and equestrians on their way to and from the sea: -and each _tartana_ is full generally of a lively cargo of priests and -peasants, men, women, and children, all laughing, cheerful, and -picturesque. I went to Grao to embark on the steamer for Barcelona. -There is nothing to see there save the usual accompaniments of a -sea-port, and the provision for a large and fashionable population of -bathers from Madrid during the summer months. For their convenience -small and very rude huts are put up on the beach, and left there to be -destroyed by the winter storms. Not much is sacrificed, as they are of -the very rudest description, and evidently devised for the use of people -who go to Grao to be amused and to bathe, and not merely to show -themselves off as fine ladies and gentlemen. - -At Valencia the national love for the _mantilla_, which in courtly -Madrid seems to be now half out of fashion, finds vent in the positive -prohibition at one of the churches for any woman to enter who wears a -bonnet in place of it! - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -TARRAGONA. - - -No one should go from Valencia to Barcelona without paying a visit to -Tarragona. It is even now easy of access, and before long will be still -more accessible by means of the railway which is being made between the -two towns. I travelled from Barcelona to Tarragona and back again by -diligence, and both journeys, unfortunately, were made for the most part -by night, so that I am unable to speak very positively about the scenery -upon the road. But both on leaving Barcelona and again before I reached -Tarragona the road was very beautiful, and I have no doubt it would -reward any one who could contrive to give up more time and daylight to -it than I could. There is but one town of any importance on the -road--Villafranca de Panades,--and here I caught a glimpse of an old -church, which seemed to be of the fourteenth-century Catalan type, and -fully to deserve examination. - -The approach to Tarragona is very lovely. The old city stands on the -steep slope of a hill, crowned by the stately mediæval cathedral, and -surrounded on all sides by walls, which are still very perfect and in -some parts unusually lofty and imposing. Below and beyond the walls to -the left, as you approach, is the mean and modern town which covers a -low promontory, and is now the centre of all the trade and business of -the city. A broad street, in which are the principal inns, divides the -two halves of the city, on the upper side of which the whole -architectural interest is centred. The views on all sides are beautiful. -Looking back to the east one sees hill after hill, ending in point after -point, which jut out into the sea one beyond the other, and, combining -with the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean, produce the most -charming picture. To the south, looking over the modern town, mole, and -harbour, is the sea; whilst to the west the eye wanders, well content, -over a rich green expanse of level land, studded all along its breadth -with rich growth of trees, till the view is bounded by the hills which -rise beyond the old town of Reus, now an active and enterprising centre -of manufacturing industry. - -I ought, no doubt, to fill many pages here with an account of the Roman -antiquities, which are numerous and important, Tarragona having been one -of the most important Roman stations in Spain. But they have been often -described, and the time at my disposal allowed only of a hurried glance -at them, unless I chose to neglect in their favour the--to me--much more -interesting Christian remains, which I need hardly say I was not -prepared to do. The city walls are, I believe, to a considerable extent -Roman. There are remains--though but slight--of an amphitheatre; the -magnificent aqueduct, some little distance from the city, is one of the -finest in Europe; and, finally, there is a museum full of Roman -antiquities, which seem well to deserve due examination. But I was -obliged to neglect all these, giving them the most cursory inspection, -as I found in the cathedral ample occupation for every minute of my -time. - -This is certainly one of the most noble and interesting churches I have -seen in Spain. It is one of a class of which I have seen others upon a -somewhat smaller scale (as _e.g._ the cathedrals at Lérida and Tudela), -and which appears to me, after much study of old buildings in most parts -of Europe, to afford one of the finest types, from every point of view, -that it is possible to find. It produces in a very marked degree an -extremely impressive internal effect, without being on an exaggerated -scale, and combines in the happiest fashion the greatest solidity of -construction with a lavish display of ornament in some parts, to which -it is hard to find a parallel. Unfortunately the documentary evidence -that I have been able to find as to the age of the various portions of -this church is not so complete as I could wish. A very elaborate and -painstaking history of the city is in course of publication; but when I -was there[265] the first volume only of this had been published, and -this was confined entirely to the Roman antiquities contained in the -Museum and other collections. The volume of España Sagrada, which -relates to Tarragona, contains but few documents of any value, and I -have been unable to put my hands upon any other which contains any at -all. Yet there cannot be much doubt that a see whose history is so -important, and whose rank is so high,[266] must have in its archives a -vast store of information, out of which might be gathered all the -material facts as to the foundation of, and additions to, the church. - -A few notices of the building of the cathedral have, however, come under -my eye, and of these the most important are the following:--In A.D. -1089[267] Pope Urban II. addressed an epistle to the faithful, -recommending them to aid in every way in the restoration of the church, -which had then just been recovered from the hands of the Moors. Not long -after this, in A.D. 1131, Pope Innocent II. issued a Bull, wherein he -recommended the suffragan churches to contribute to the cost of -rebuilding the cathedral.[268] More than a century after this, works -were again in progress, for in the necrology of the cathedral, on 11th -March, 1256, mention is made of “Frater Bernardus, magister operis hujus -ecclesiæ;” whilst again, in 1298, Maestro Bartolomé is mentioned as the -sculptor who wrought nine statues of the apostles for the western -façade, the remainder having been executed by Maestro Jayme Castayls in -1375. - -Comparing this cathedral with that of Lérida, of which the date is -tolerably well ascertained, it is difficult to pronounce decidedly which -is the oldest, except that the eastern apse here, which is very peculiar -in its character, has every appearance of being a work of the middle of -the twelfth century, at the latest, and earlier by far, therefore, than -the foundation of the church of Lérida, which was not commenced until -A.D. 1203, and which was finished and consecrated in A.D. 1278. I -believe, indeed, that the eastern part of this cathedral may most -probably have been commenced about A.D. 1131, in consequence of the Bull -of Innocent II., though the greater portion of the fabric (including the -nave and its aisles and the cloister) seems to me to have been executed -at the end of the twelfth and during the first half of the thirteenth -century; and it is very possible, therefore, that the Brother Bernardus, -who died in 1256, may have been the architect of the larger part of the -existing fabric, both of the church and its cloister. - -The original plan of the cathedral was very simple. It had a nave and -aisles, transepts, with apsidal chapels to the east of them, a raised -lantern or Cimborio over the Crossing, and three parallel apses east of -it. On the north-east side of the church--an unusual position, selected -probably in obedience to some local necessity--is a large cloister of -the same age as the church, with a Chapter-house on its southern side. -The piers throughout are clustered in a very fine and massive style, and -of a section which is often repeated in early Spanish Gothic; each arch -being carried on two coupled half-columns, and the groining-shafts being -placed in a nook in the angle between each of these pairs of columns. -The nave piers are no less than 11 ft. 9 in. in diameter, the clear -width of the nave being about 40 ft. 8 in., and the span of the arches -east and west about 20 ft. The bases are finely moulded, and have -foliage carved on the angle between their circular and square members. -The capitals and abaci are carved generally with a most luxuriant -exuberance of conventional foliage, whilst the broad solid unmoulded and -unchamfered sections of the arches which rise above them seem to protest -gravely against any forgetfulness of solidity and massiveness as the -greatest elements at the disposal of the architect. The groining of the -nave and its aisles is all quadripartite, as also is that of the -transepts, save at the extreme end of the northern transept, which is -covered with a pointed waggon-roof. The choir has two bays of -cross-vaulting on its western portion and a semi-dome over the apse--a -form of roofing which is repeated over the other early apses; that of -the north transept having been rebuilt in the fourteenth century, and -vaulted in the usual manner. It is probable that the cross-vaults in the -choir were not originally contemplated, as they are carried on small -shafts raised on the capitals of the main groining-shafts, which may -perhaps have been intended to carry a waggon-vault. The roof of the apse -is considerably lower than that of the choir, and a small rose window is -pierced in the spandrel between the two. The arch in front of the -semi-dome of the apse is--like all the other main arches--pointed, -though those which open into the smaller apses are semi-circular. The -latter, being in the lower part of the wall, were, no doubt, completed -at an early date; whilst the former, being on the level of the groining, -would not be finished until much later. The apse is lighted with three -windows in the lower part of the wall, which are richly shafted inside, -and by seven small and perfectly plain round-arched windows, pierced in -the lower part of the semi-dome with very singular effect. On the -exterior all these windows are remarkable for a very wide splay from the -face of the wall to the glass--a feature of early work in England, and -usually preceding the common use of glass. The walls are carried up a -considerable height above the springing of the dome, in order to resist -its thrust, and are finished at the top with a rich projecting -corbel-table, from which, at regular intervals, five divisions are -brought still further forward, looking much like machicoulis, and yet -evidently introduced only for the sake of effect, as there is no access -to them. These projections are square in plan, carried on very large -corbels, and the cornice under the eaves has a course of square stones -set diagonally--a kind of enrichment very common in brickwork, and which -I saw in the early church of San Pedro at Gerona. The great depth of -this cornice is very imposing. The stone roof above it abuts against a -gable-wall, carried by the arch on its western side; but owing to the -destruction of the original finish of the staircase turrets, and the -erection of a steeple in the angle between the choir and the transept, -the general view has to some extent lost its original stern Romanesque -character. - -[Illustration: Apse of Choir.] - -[Illustration: Newel Staircase.] - -The exterior of the other apses on the south has the same appearance of -age. The wall of one of them has been raised several feet at a later -date, but the other is still altogether in its original state. Both are, -of course, very low and insignificant as compared with the choir. The -whole detail of the great eastern apse appeared to me to have much more -the air of having been the work of an Italian than of a French -architect. The masonry is in extremely large square blocks, many of the -window-heads being cut out of one block of stone, and in this part of -the church I found a large number of masons’ marks on the face of the -stones. These tally, like most of those I have seen in Spain, very -closely with those which are found in our own buildings, and indeed with -those which are used by our own masons at the present day: it is, -however, comparatively rare to find them on the outer face of the -stones.[269] The stones marked in this way are tooled on the face, and I -observed that stones worked by the same man were marked indifferently -with perpendicular and diagonal tooling lines. On the south side of the -choir, just at its junction with the principal apse, is a staircase -which leads to the roof: this is carried up in a large square turret, -and is of remarkable construction. The newel is 1 ft. 6 in. in diameter, -and worked in stones, each of about 2 ft. 3 in. in height. Each of these -has three corbels, with sockets for the steps, which are thus supported -by the newel and yet independent of it. The aisles on either side of the -choir seem to have been intended to form the lower stage of steeples. On -the south side the Romanesque tower seems to have been built no higher -than the height of the side walls of the church; but subsequently--circa -A.D. 1300-1350--it was carried up as an octagonal steeple, with -buttresses against the canted sides of the lower stage over the angles -of the square base, finished with crocketed pinnacles. This tower -occupies the angle between the choir and transept, and I suppose that -traces would be found of a corresponding tower on the opposite side, -somewhat in the way so commonly met with in all the German Romanesque -churches. Unfortunately the north choir aisle was altered if not rebuilt -in the fourteenth century, and I was unable to examine the walls above -it, where the evidence of the existence of a second tower would have to -be sought. The roof of the apse on the east side of the south transept -presents an admirable example of a semi-dome, with the masonry arranged -in the usual fashion in regular horizontal courses, and the moulding of -the abacus of the arch in front of it carried round it as a -string-course at its springing. - -The rest of the church is of rather later date than the east end. It is -all just of that transitional period in which, whilst the pointed arch -was used where great strength was required, the round arch was -nevertheless retained for the smaller openings in the walls. But the -capitals throughout the church are sculptured so magnificently, and in -so well-developed a style, that it is impossible to regard the work -anywhere, except at the extreme eastern end, as one in which a -Romanesque influence was paramount. We have, indeed, here one of those -cases in which almost all the character of the work has been stamped on -it by the hands of the sculptor rather than of the architect; for I -believe that, had it presented us with a series of plain Romanesque -capitals, we should have felt no difficulty about classing the whole -work as essentially Romanesque in style, whereas now the effect is -rather that of a glorious Pointed church, the exuberance of whose -sculpture is kept in subordination by the stern simplicity of the bold -unmoulded arches, the massive section of the piers, and the regularity -of the outline and firmness of shadow which the deep square abacus -everywhere enforces. Here, then, I thought I saw one of those openings -which are now and then almost accidentally given us for the infusion of -new vigour and greater spirit into our own works. It is no copying of a -Spanish work that I should wish to see attempted, but only a deliberate -determination on the part of the builder of some one building in England -to emulate the grand solidity of this old Spanish church; and if he -feels that this is by itself too rude and unpolished for an -overcivilized age like ours, then let him take a lesson from the same -old Spanish work, and show the extent of his refinement in the subtle -delicacy of the sculpture with which he adorns it. We have few if any -such churches in England. Our transitional examples are neither very -numerous nor very fine; and it is in Germany and in Spain--so far as my -experience goes--that we find the finest examples of this noble period. -In neither of these countries was the progress of architectural -development so rapid as it was in England and in the north of France, -and consequently such churches as the cathedrals of Tarragona, Lérida, -and Tudela were rising in Spain at the same time as the more advanced -and scientific, but perhaps less forcible and solemnly grand cathedrals -of Salisbury, Lincoln, and Wells were being built in England. - -I hardly know when I have been much more struck than I was with the view -of the interior of the transept, of which I give an engraving. For -though the picturesque furniture of later times, the screens and -pulpits, the organs and other furniture, are in great contrast with the -glorious solidity of the old work, the combination of this with them -makes a singularly beautiful picture. - -The nave of the cathedral at Tarragona has been a good deal altered by -the introduction of large fourteenth-century clerestory windows of three -lights. There is not and there never was a triforium, and the clerestory -throughout was, I have no doubt, the same in design that it still is in -the transepts, lighted by a simple round-headed window in each bay. The -groining has transverse arches or ribs of very large size, diagonal ribs -formed with a bold roll moulding only, and no wall ribs. - -[Illustration: No 34. - -TARRAGONA CATHEDRAL. p. 280. - -VIEW ACROSS TRANSEPTS.] - -The lantern over the Crossing still remains to be described. It is -octagonal in plan, segmental arches being thrown across the angles of -the square base to support its diagonal sides. The groining springs from -immediately above the apex of the main arches, and the light is admitted -by windows alternately of three and four lights. Its interior is very -fine. The ribs of its eight-celled vault are very bold, and the -dog-tooth enrichment is freely used round all the arches and along the -string-courses. The diagonal or canted sides of the lantern are carried -on pointed arches, the space below which is filled in with pendentives, -with the stones arranged in courses radiating from the centre. Such a -form of pendentive is rarely seen in works of this age. The details of -this lantern are all rather rude, and its height is not great, as it -rises only some twenty-five feet above the roofs. The outside has at -each angle a buttress, with an engaged shaft in front of it, and the -windows are all set within simple enclosing arches. Their tracery is -that of ordinary first-pointed windows, the three-light windows having -lancet lights, with the centre light longer than the others, and the -four-light windows having the two centre lights longest. The old outside -roof is destroyed; but the finish of the lanterns of Lérida and of the -old cathedral of Salamanca seems to make it pretty certain that it was -intended to have a pyramidal or domical stone roof. Access is now gained -to the top of the lantern by means of a passage boldly carried on an -arch which is thrown from the belfry window of the south-east steeple to -the side of the lantern. I ought to have mentioned that the upper stage -of this steeple is groined, and that the bells are hung in the window -openings; but this is not their original place, the jambs having been -cut away to make room for them. Its upper stage seems to have been -finished with a pinnacle at each angle, and a gable over each window -rising through the parapet--a somewhat similar design to that of the -great tower at Lérida, and to that of the Micalete at Valencia, both of -which ought, therefore, to be compared with this, and with which it is -probably contemporary. - -The roofs are covered throughout with pantiles; but these are evidently -not the old covering, being put on very carelessly and interfering with -the design of the stonework. The position of the windows in the central -lantern proves that in the beginning of the thirteenth century the roofs -must have been very flat, and the probability is, therefore, that they -were all covered with flat-pitched stone roofs, similar to those of -Toledo and Avila. - -Few of the original windows remain save those already noticed in the -eastern apses. At the west end of the aisles there are circular windows, -without tracery and with very bold mouldings enriched with two or three -orders of dog-tooth ornament. The windows in the aisles of the nave have -all been destroyed by the addition of chapels against the side-walls, -whilst the clerestory has been filled for the most part with early -geometrical tracery windows in place of the lancets, with which it was, -no doubt, originally lighted. - -The doorways are numerous and somewhat remarkable for their position. -There are three at the west end, whereof those to the aisles are of the -date of the earliest part of the fabric, whilst the great central -western doorway, being an addition of the fourteenth century, will be -described further on. The tympanum of the western door of the north -aisle is sculptured with the Adoration of the Magi, the figures all in -niches and carved in small and very delicate style. The door of the -south aisle is similar in style, but simpler and without sculpture. The -other doors are, as will be seen on reference to the plan, placed in a -most unusual position in the north and south choir aisles. It is rare in -churches of this plan to find any doorway east of the transept, and -where the aisles or chapels are so short this seems to be a very good -rule. Here the access to the church is so near the altars of these -aisles as to produce a bad effect. The north door was evidently so -placed because it was necessary to put the cloisters in a most unusual -position, to the north-east of the church, and I suppose we must assume -that the south door was put in a corresponding position for no better -reason than that it might match the other. - -[Illustration: No. 35 - -TARRAGONA. p. 283. - -INTERIOR OF CLOISTER.] - -The door from the cloister into the church is the finest in the church. -It is a round-arched doorway, with four engaged shafts in each jamb, and -a central shaft, which is remarkable for the grand depth and size of its -sculptured capital and base. All the capitals are very delicately -wrought, and with an evident knowledge of Byzantine art; and that of the -centre shaft has a subject sculptured on each face, of which the three -which are visible are: (1) The Procession of the Kings; (2) their -Worship of our Lord; and (3) the Nativity. The fourth side is concealed -by the modern door-frame, the doorway not having had a door at all -originally. A deep plain lintel forms the head of the door, and above -this the tympanum is filled with that often-repeated scheme, our Lord in -a vesica-shaped aureole, surrounded by the emblems of the Evangelists, -each of which has a book, as also has our Lord, who holds His in the -left hand, whilst He gives His blessing with the right hand. The small -spandrel between the round arch of this door and the pointed arch of the -vault above, is filled with a circle containing the monogram, -[Illustration: monogram] supported by two angels. On the same (south) -side of the cloister is the entrance to the Chapter-house, which follows -the invariable type of Chapter doorways, having a central doorway with a -window on either side of it. One of the groining-ribs is brought boldly -down between the doorway and one of the window openings, a peculiarity -which should be compared with the similar arrangement of the -Chapter-house at Vernela.[270] The detail is precisely the same as that -of the rest of the cloister, the arches all being semi-circular, and -the side openings being of two lights, with coupled shafts in place of -monials. In the east wall of the cloister, and close to the -Chapter-house, is another fine doorway of the same early style. Its door -was painted very richly with angels holding coats-of-arms; but this -delicate work is now almost all defaced. This spacious cloister is one -of the most conspicuous of the earlier portions of the cathedral. A -public thoroughfare does now, and probably did always, bound the -cathedral close to its southern wall, so that there was no room for the -cloister in the usual position to the south of the church. But it is -very rare, I think, to find the Chapter-house built as it is here, -opening out of the southern alley of the cloister, in place of the -eastern. Its character is unusually good, even in this country of fine -cloisters. Each bay has three round-arched openings divided by coupled -shafts, and above these two large circles pierced in the wall. The -arches and circular windows are richly moulded, and adorned largely with -delicate dog-tooth enrichments. Some of the circular windows above the -arcades still retain--what all, I suppose, once had--their filling in, -which was of very delicate interlacing work, pierced in a thin slab of -stone, and evidently Moorish in its origin, though, at the same time, -the work probably of Christian hands, as in some of them, the figure of -the Cross is very beautifully introduced.[271] - -It is so rare to find any such influence as this exerted, that these -traceries have an artificial interest. Yet they are in themselves very -charmingly designed, and serve admirably to break the too-powerful rays -of the sun. Indeed, nothing in its way can be much prettier than the -effect of the shadows of these delicate piercings thrown sharply on the -pavement by the brilliant sunlight. The groining is carried by triple -engaged shafts, and its thrust resisted by buttresses, with an engaged -shaft on their outer face. The groining is simple quadripartite, and the -ribs are well moulded; many of the capitals are carved with great -vigour, and some of their abaci are covered also with stories admirably -rendered. Take, for instance, this story of the Cat and the Rats, which -I sketched on one of the abaci of the southern walk of the cloister. It -is full of a spirit and humour which are thoroughly foreign to the -conventional traditions of our present school of workmen. Give one, -now-a-days, such a story to illustrate, and the result would probably -be simply absurd, whilst in the hands of this natural Tarragonese artist -the whole thing is instinct with life and humour, to as great an extent -now as it was when his brother workmen first gathered round him and -laughed their approval of the speedy retribution which met the silly -rats when they forgot to tie the limbs of their enemy. I ought to have -sketched the capitals which were under this abacus, for they were -sculptured with cocks fighting, with their wings and heads so -ingeniously arranged as to conform to the ordinary outlines of the early -thirteenth-century foliage capital. It is rarely that so much fine and -original sculpture of various kinds is to be found in one such church as -this; and I recommend those who follow my footsteps here to go prepared -to devote some little time to the accurate delineation and careful study -of it. - -[Illustration: Sculptured Abacus in Cloister.] - -Much of the flooring of the cloister appears to be coeval with it;[272] -and though composed of the very simplest materials, it is most -effective. Most of the patterns are formed with red tiles of different -sizes, fitted together so as to make very simple diapers, and with the -addition here and there of small squares of white marble, which are used -with the tiles. Some of these have an incised pattern on their face, -sunk about a quarter of an inch; and in one case I found that this -pattern had been filled in with red marble. The pattern is arranged with -a broad stripe down the centre of the cloister, and on either side of -this a succession of varying arrangements of tiles is contrived, each -pattern being continued for but a short distance. Here, with the -simplest materials, very great variety of effect is obtained, whilst, -with the much smarter and very elaborate materials of the present day, -we seem to run every day more risk than before of sinking into the -tamest monotony. - -In the west wall of this cloister there is a monumental recess of -completely Moorish character, very delicately adorned; and on one of the -doors I noticed that the wood had been covered with thin iron plates, -stamped with a pattern, gilded, and fastened down with copper nails. The -Chapter-house, of whose entrance archways I have spoken, is a square -room, roofed with a stone waggon-vault of pointed section; and at the -south end of this is a seven-sided apse, which seems to have been added -to the original fabric circa A.D. 1350. On the eastern side of it are -some large sacristies, but they did not appear to be old. - -So far the work I have had to describe has been all, with the exception -of part of the steeple and Cimborio, not later than the end of the -thirteenth century. It is evident, however, that considerable works were -undertaken in various parts of the fabric at a later date. Most of the -nave windows were taken out, in order to insert others with very fair -geometrical traceries; the upper part of the steeple was, as we have -seen, erected; and finally the west front was, in great part, -reconstructed. The original west front of the aisles still remains, with -a simple doorway, and richly moulded and carved circular windows, -without tracery. Pilaster buttresses are placed at their north-west and -south-west angles, and these have shafts at their angles, but have lost -their old finish at the top. Probably another door and circular window -of large size occupied the end of the nave in the original design; but -these have been entirely removed, to make way for a work which, though -it seems to have been commenced in A.D. 1278,[273] has all the air of -complete middle-pointed work, and was evidently not completed until -late in the fourteenth century. The existing central doorway is of grand -dimensions, with figures under canopies on either side, and round the -buttresses which flank it. In the centre is a statue of the Blessed -Virgin with our Lord, and above, on the lintel, the Resurrection; and -the tympanum is pierced with rich geometrical tracery. The pedestal -under the statue of the Blessed Virgin has sculptured on its several -sides--(1) the Creation of Adam; (2) of Eve; (3) the Fall; (4) Adam and -Eve hiding themselves; and (5) the Expulsion from Paradise. These -subjects are very fitly placed here, the Fall in the centre coming just -under the feet of her who bears our Lord in her arms, and thus restores -the balance to the world. The arch is lofty, but only moulded; and above -it is a pediment of extremely flat pitch. Above this, again, is a large -and finely-traceried circular window. The lower part only of the gable -remains, and this is of very steep pitch, and must always have been -intended to be a mere sham. Whenever this sort of thing is done, there -is always some ground for suspicion that the architect may have been a -foreigner, unused to the requirements of a southern climate; and, at any -rate, most of the work in this façade might very well have been executed -by a German architect, for its character is all that of German, rather -than of Spanish art. It recalls, to some extent, the façade of the north -transept of Valencia Cathedral, though scarcely so much as to appear to -be the work of the same hands. It is to be regretted that the great -western gable is incomplete, for, unreal as it is, its outline must have -been fine; and even now, seen as it is in its small Plaza from the -steep, narrow, dark and shady street, surmounting the flights of steps -which lead up to it, the effect is very striking. The traceries, both of -the tympanum of the doorway, and of the circular window above, are sharp -geometrical works, very delicately executed. The upper part of the -western gable above the circular window seems to have had three windows, -but these are now partially destroyed. The hinges and knockers of the -western doorway are elaborately designed, covered with pierced -traceries, made with several thicknesses of metal. The doors are -diapered all over with iron plates, nailed on with copper nails, and -with copper ornaments in the centre of each plate. The buttresses are -bold, but rather clumsily designed. The statues of the door-jamb are -carried round their lower parts, and the stage above is occupied with -traceried panels. A great crocketed pinnacle conceals the set-off, and -forms, with the flat pediment of the doorway, a group in advance of the -real face of the western wall. Other crocketed pinnacles probably -finished the angle buttresses on each side of the main gable, but they -are now destroyed. - -The north side of the nave is not easily seen, being enclosed within -walls and behind houses; but the south side is fairly open to view. -Here, however, much of the original design is now completely concealed -by modern additions. The two western bays have chapels, added in the -fifteenth century; the third bay a domed chapel of the seventeenth -century; and there are two other late Gothic chapels in the two bays -nearest the south transept. On the north, side chapels have been added -in the same fashion, those in the two western bays alone being mediæval. -From the west side of the south transept a fair view is obtained of the -best portion of the old exterior. The transept gable is extremely flat -in pitch; the buttresses are all carried up straight to the eaves, and -the trefoiled eaves-arcading, which recalls the favourite brick -eaves-cornices of the Italian churches, is returned round them at the -top, and a deep moulding, covered with billets, is carried along over -the eaves-arcading. The original semi-Romanesque window, with its very -broad external splay, still remains in the bay of the transept next to -the Crossing; but the other windows have been altered; and there is a -rich traceried rose window in the southern façade. The exterior of the -lantern is certainly not very attractive. The entire absence from view -of its roof is a fault of the most grievous kind; though, otherwise, its -windows, recalling as they do the traceries of our own first-pointed, -are not at all to be condemned. I doubt very much whether this lantern -was ever a fine work on the exterior; but we may well be content to have -anything so fine as the interior, and may fairly pardon its architect -for his failure to achieve a more complete success. - -The internal arrangements here do not present much subject for notice. -The Coro is in the nave, and in the screen on its western side the -entrance-doorway still remains. It is of marble, of two well-moulded -orders, and the outer order of the arch has voussoirs of grey and white -marble counterchanged. The steps are of dark marble, with three shields -in low relief on the riser of each, and the bearings which occur here -are seen also in the keystone of the tower vaulting--both being works of -the fourteenth century. The choir stalls and the panelling behind them -are of the very richest and most delicate fifteenth-century work; and -the great desk for books, in the centre of the Coro, is of the same -age.[274] The stall-ends are covered with delicate tracery, put on in a -separate piece against the end, and not carved out of the solid. The -divisions between the panelling at the back of the stalls are wrought -with foliage and animals of really marvellous execution, and a band of -inlaid work with coats-of-arms goes all round just above the stalls. -There is a throne on the right hand of the entrance to the choir, and -another at the east end of the south side; but both of these are of -Renaissance character. - -Many of the choir books are mediæval, with large knops at their angles, -and a piece of fringed leather under each knop. At the east end of the -Coro, and in a line with the west wall of the transepts, is the iron -Reja, and on each side of it a pulpit facing east. These have all the -appearance of having been rebuilt. They have the same armorial bearings -as the doorway to the Coro; and as the screen in which the latter is now -built is not old, it is probable that they all form part of the same old -choir screen, and that the two pulpits were the ambons. I saw nothing to -prove decidedly whether the Coro was in its original place, or whether -it has been moved down into the nave as at Burgos. - -The great organ is on the north side of the Coro; it is not very old, -but its pipes are picturesquely arranged, and it has enormous painted -wings or shutters. - -Much of the pavement is old; that in the choir proper--the Capilla -mayor--is of marble in various stripes of patterns extending across the -church.[275] The nave is also paved with marble, arranged in lines and -patterns divided to suit the position of the columns. The Coro alone is -paved with tiles, and this seems to some extent to prove that this part -of the floor has been altered, which would be the case if the stalls -were moved down from their original position. The high altar has a very -rich reredos executed for the most part in marble, and rich in -sculptured subjects. There is a doorway on each side of the altar, -opening into the part of the apse shut off by this Retablo. Here the -pavement has a large oblong compartment, which seemed to me to suggest -the original position of the altar to have been much nearer the east -wall than it now is. This space is indicated in my ground-plan, and -though it is more than usually set back towards the wall, it was no -doubt a more convenient position in so short a choir than that which the -present altar occupies. - -There is a richly-sculptured monument of a bishop on the southern side -of the sacrarium. - -It will be seen that here, as is the case with so many other Spanish -cathedrals, though the scale is not very great, the dignity and grandeur -of the whole conception is extreme. The cloister, indeed, yields the -palm to few that I have seen, and it is in scale only, and not in real -dignity and nobility, that the interior of the church does so. - -I did not discover any other old church in Tarragona, yet I should -suppose there must be some in so large a city. There is a four-light -_ajimez_ window, of the type so common on this coast, in the Plaza in -front of the cathedral; and in the Plaza della Pallot is an early -round-arched gateway, with a coeval two-light opening above. - -In the wall of a chapel to the east of the cathedral I found a fairly -good example of an early headstone, perfectly plain in outline, and -finished with a flat gable, in which is incised a cross under an arch, -the inscription being carried across the stone in the common mode, just -below the pediment. - -I had not time to make excursions to any of the other churches in this -district, but there are some which appear, from what I have learnt, to -be so fine, that it is to be hoped others will contrive to inspect them. -The monasteries of Vallbona and Poblet, and the church of Sta. -Creus,[276] not far from Poblet, seem to be all of great interest. -Poblet and Sta. Creus seem both to have cloisters with projecting -chapels somewhat similar to that shown on my ground-plan of the -monastery at Veruela. - -The church at Reus, too, is interesting, from the fact that the contract -for its erection is preserved, and has been published by Cean Bermudez. -It dates from A.D. 1510. This town is a few miles only from Tarragona, -and after seeing Poblet and Vallbona, the ecclesiologist would do well, -I think, to make his way across to Lérida, instead of returning to -Barcelona, as I did. But I wished much to examine the Collegiata at -Manresa on my way to Lérida, and for this purpose the line I took was -on the whole the best. - -I bade farewell to Tarragona with a heavy heart, and with a -determination to avail myself of the first chance I may have of -returning to look once more at its noble and too little known -cathedral.[277] - -[Illustration: TARRAGONA:--Ground: Plan: of: Cathedral: Plate XV. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865] - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -BARCELONA - - -The architectural history of Barcelona is much more complete, whilst its -buildings are more numerous, than those of any of our own old cities, of -which it is in some sort the rival. The power which the Barcelonese -wielded in the middle ages was very great. They carried on the greater -part of the trade of Spain with Italy, France, and the East; they were -singularly free, powerful, and warlike; and, finally, they seem to have -devoted no small portion of the wealth they earned in trade to the -erection of buildings, which even now testify alike to the prosperity of -their city, and to the noble acknowledgment they made for it. - -The architecture of Cataluña had many peculiarities, and in the -fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when most of the great buildings of -Barcelona were being erected, they were so marked as to justify me, I -think, in calling the style as completely and exclusively national or -provincial, as, to take a contemporary English example, was our own -Norfolk middle-pointed. The examination of them will, therefore, have -much more value and interest than that of even grander buildings erected -in a style transplanted from another country, such as we see at Burgos -and Toledo; and beside this, there was one great problem which I may -venture to say that the Catalan architects satisfactorily solved--the -erection of churches of enormous and almost unequalled internal -width--which is just that which seems to be looming before us as the -work which we English architects must ere long grapple with, if we wish -to serve the cause of the Church thoroughly in our great towns. - -For a manufacturing town, this, the Manchester of Spain, is singularly -agreeable and unlike its prototype. The mills are for the most part -scattered all over the surrounding country, which rises in pleasant -undulations to the foot of the hills some four or five miles inland from -the sea, and beyond which the country is always beautiful and wild, and -sometimes--as in the savage and world-renowned rocks of -Montserrat--quite sublime in its character. On my first journey I -arrived at Barcelona by a steamer from Valencia. The views of the coast -were generally extremely beautiful, until shortly before our arrival, as -we passed the low level land through which the Llobregat finds its way -to the sea; beyond this the great rock and fortress of Monjuic rise -boldly in front, and rounding its base into the harbour, the tall -octagonal towers and turrets of the cathedral and other churches came in -sight. Little, however, is seen of the sea from the city, the -fortifications of Monjuic on the one side, and the harbour and new -colony of Barcelonette which occupies a point jutting out beyond it -seaward on the other, completely shutting it out. One result of this is -that, whilst nothing is seen of the sea, so, too, the seafaring people -seem to confine themselves to Barcelonette, and not to show themselves -in the thronged streets of the city. Another fortress, a little inland -on the east, places Barcelona under a cross fire, and prevents its -growth in that direction; but wherever possible it seems to be spreading -rapidly, and every external sign of extreme prosperity is to be seen. -The streets are generally narrow, tortuous, and picturesque, with the -one noble exception of the Rambla, a very broad promenade running from -the sea quite across the city, which has a road on either side, and a -broad promenade planted with trees down the centre. Here in the early -morning one goes to buy smart nosegays of the Catalan flower-girls from -the country, and in the evening to stroll in a dense mob of loungers -enjoying the cold air which sweeps down from the hills, and atones for -all the sufferings inflicted by the torrid midday sun. - -[Illustration: West front of San Pablo.] - -It will be best, in describing the buildings here, to begin with those -of the earliest date, though they are of comparatively unimportant -character, and in part fragments only of old buildings preserved in the -midst of great works undertaken at a later date. The Benedictine convent -of San Pablo del Campo, said to have been founded in the tenth century -by Wilfred II., Count of Barcelona,[278] was restored by Guiberto -Guitardo and his wife about 1117, and in 1127 was incorporated with the -convent of San Cucufate del Vallés.[279] The church is very -interesting. It is small and cruciform, with three parallel apses, an -octagonal vault on pendentives over the Crossing, and a short nave, -which, as well as the transepts, is covered with a waggon-vault. The -apses are vaulted with semi-domes. The west end is the only perfect part -of the exterior, and deserves illustration. The work is all of a very -solid and rude description, though I am almost afraid to give it credit -for being so old as is said. The circular window is, however, an -interpolation; and if this were removed, and another small window like -the others inserted in its place, the whole design would no doubt have -an air of extreme antiquity. The ground-plan is a typal one here, and -prevails more or less in all the early churches from Cataluña to -Galicia. One or two others of the same description seem to have a fair -amount of evidence of the date of their consecration, and it is at any -rate unlikely that a church built in A.D. 914 would require rebuilding -in about a hundred years, which must have been the case here, if we -assume that we have not still before us the original church. On the -south side of the nave there was a cloister added, probably in the -course of the eleventh century, and there is some difference in the -character of its design and workmanship, and that of the church and its -west front. This cloister is very small, having on each side four -arches, divided by a buttress in the centre of each side. The openings -are cusped some with three and some with five heavy foliations, plain on -the outside, but both moulded and carved on the inside face. The cusping -is not at all Gothic in its character, being stilted in a very Eastern -fashion, nor is it constructed like Gothic work, the stones being laid -over each other, and cut out in the form of cusps, but not constructed -anywhere with stones radiating on the principle of an arch. The shafts -between the openings are coupled one behind the other, and have -well-carved capitals. A fourteenth-century doorway, with a cross for the -finial of its label, opens from the north wall of the cloister into the -nave; and in the east wall is an extremely good entrance to the -Chapter-house of the same date, and showing the usual arrangement of a -doorway with a two-light traceried opening on either side. There are -also some old monumental arches in the walls. - -This church, which forms so important a feature in the early -architectural history of Cataluña, is near the western end of the city, -and its west front and cloister are enclosed within the walls of a small -barrack; but as Spanish officers and soldiers are always glad to lionize -a stranger, there is no difficulty in the way of seeing them. A simple -early-pointed doorway, under a very flat tympanum, has been added to the -north transept, and there is some evidence of the small apse near it -having been arcaded on the outside. The pendentive under the dome is -similar in its construction to those under the dome of the curious -church of Ainay, at Lyons. Above them there is a string-course, and then -the vault, which rises to a point in the centre, and is not a complete -octagon, the cardinal sides being much wider than the others. The west -doorway has in its tympanum our Lord, St. Peter, and St. Paul; over the -arch are the angel of St. Matthew and eagle of St. John, and above, a -hand with a cruciform nimbus, giving the benediction. - -San Pedro de las Puellas, on the other side of the city, was rebuilt in -A.D. 980, by Suniario Count of Barcelona, and his wife Richeldi, and was -consecrated with great pomp in A.D. 983.[280] This church has been -wofully treated, but it is still possible to make out the original -scheme. It was a cruciform church of the same general plan as San Pablo, -with a circular dome at the Crossing, and a waggon-vault to the south -transept, the nave, and the western part of the chancel. The other -parts were altered at a later date. Very bold detached columns with rich -capitals carry the arches under the dome, and another remaining against -the south wall of the nave suggests that there were probably cross -arches or ribs below its waggon-vault. The sculpture of the capitals is -very peculiar; it is quite unlike the ordinary Romanesque or Byzantine -sculpture, and is very much more like the work sometimes seen in Eastern -buildings. It is a type of capital first seen here, but reproduced -constantly afterwards all along the southern coast, and not, so far as I -know, seen at all in the interior of Spain. - -There is no mark of a chapel on the east side of the south transept, -and, as the apse has been rebuilt, it is impossible to say what the -original plan of the head of the church was. - -In the Collegiata of Sta. Ana, we have the next stage in the development -of Catalan architecture. This is said to have been built in A.D. -1146,[281] and is also a cruciform church, with a central raised -lantern, barrel vaults in the transepts, and two bays of quadripartite -vaulting in the nave. The nave probably dates from about the end of the -twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth century, being lighted with -simple lancet-windows, and having bold buttresses. When I visited this -church the chancel was boarded up for repairs, and I am unable to say -certainly whether the east end is old, but it appeared to me to have -been modernized. The exterior of the lantern is very peculiar; above the -roof it is square in plan, but with eight buttresses around it, -radiating from the centre, and evidently intended to be carried up so as -to form the angles of an octagonal central lantern, of which, however, -only the lowest stage remains. The present finish of the lantern is a -steep tiled roof, which springs from just above the point at which the -angles of the square base are cut off; and on the western slope of this -roof a steep flight of stone steps leads to the very summit. The object -of this arrangement is quite unintelligible. At the west end of the -church, and set curiously askew to it, is a cloister of the fourteenth -century, with a Chapter-room on its east side, opening to the cloister -with a round-arched doorway, on either side of which is a good early -middle-pointed two-light window, making the group so invariably found in -old Chapter-house entrances. The west doorway of the church is severely -simple, with a square opening and plain tympanum, under a pointed arch. -Along the north side of the cloister is a fine ruin of a hall of the -thirteenth century, the construction of which is very characteristic and -peculiar. It is of two stages in height. Segmental arches across the -lower rooms carry the floor beams, which are placed longitudinally, and -over them in the upper room bold pointed arches are thrown to carry the -roof. The roof was of very flat pitch, and consisted of a series of -purlines resting on corbels built into the wall over the stone arches, -upon which were laid the common rafters. I shall have to illustrate a -similar roof which still remains in the church of Sta. Agata, so that I -need not say more on the subject now than that this type is an -exceedingly effective one, and occurs repeatedly in the Barcelonese -buildings. The cloister of Sta. Ana is of two stages in height, and very -light, graceful, and Spanish in its character. The columns are -quatrefoil in section, and the capitals are later works of the same -eastern character as those already described in San Pedro, and have -square abaci. There is, perhaps, scarcely sufficient appearance of -solidity and permanence in such extremely light shafts, seeing that they -have to support a double tier of arcades all round the cloister; but -nevertheless the whole effect of the work is very beautiful. The old -well with its stone lintel remains, and some fine orange-trees still -adorn the cloister court. - -The other early works here are doorways and fragments now incorporated -in other and later works, so that we need no longer delay our inspection -of the cathedral, which is, as it ought to be, the pride of the city. -The ground-plan which I give[282] will best explain the general -arrangements of this remarkable church. Its scale is by no means great, -yet the arrangement of the various parts is so good, the skill in the -admission of light so subtle, and the height and width of the nave so -noble, that an impression is always conveyed to the mind that its size -is far greater than it really is. Of course such praise is not -intelligible to those who believe with some enthusiasts that the -greatest triumph of architectural skill is to make a building look -smaller than it really is--a triumph which the admirers of St. Peter’s, -at Rome, always claim loudly for it--but most unsophisticated men will -probably prefer with me the opposite achievement, often, indeed, met -with in Gothic buildings, but seldom more successfully than here. - -The history of this church is in part given in two inscriptions on the -wall on either side of the north transept doorway,[283] from which it -appears that the cathedral was commenced in A.D. 1298, and was still in -progress in A.D. 1329. The latter date no doubt refers to the transept -façade. But this was not the first church, for one was consecrated here -in A.D. 1058, and the doorway from the cloister into the south transept, -and another into the chapel of Sta. Lucia, at the south-west angle of -the cloister, are probably not very much later than this date. But the -bulk of the work is evidently not earlier than the beginning of the -fourteenth century, and its design appears to be owing to one Jayme -Fabra or Fabre,[284] an architect of whom we first hear at Palma in -Mallorca. In the deed which I give in the Appendix, he describes himself -as “lapiscida,” citizen of Mallorca, and says that he is about to go to -Barcelona, to undertake a certain work there at the request of the King -of Aragon and the bishop. This was in A.D. 1318, and it is clear, I -think, from the terms of his contract,[285] that Fabre was something -more than architect, and really also the builder of this church in -Palma. The term used might indeed lead us to suppose that he was a mere -mason, but the request of the king and the bishop proves that he was -much more than this, and is useful as showing that these titles -literally translated are very apt to mislead.[286] The crypt of Sta. -Eulalia under the choir was completed in A.D. 1339. Jayme Fabre is said -to have been master of the works until A.D. 1388, in which year he was -succeeded by el Maestro Roque, who had an assistant, Pedro Viader. He -received three “sueldos” and four “dineros” a day, and a hundred sueldos -each year for clothing, and in course of time his salary was raised to -“two florins or twenty-two sueldos” a week. His assistant received fifty -sueldos a year for clothes and three sueldos and six dineros a day for -his double office of substitute for the principal architect and workman. -Roque no doubt was able to work elsewhere, whilst his assistant, or -clerk of the works, was confined to one work; in this way the apparent -strangeness of the similar pay to the two men is explained.[287] Roque, -who is said to have commenced the cloister, was succeeded by Bartolomé -Gual, who was one of the architects summoned to advise about the -cathedral of Gerona in 1416, and then described himself as master of the -works at Barcelona cathedral; and, finally, Andres Escuder placed the -last stone of the vault on September 26, A.D. 1448. - -[Illustration: No. 36. - -BARCELONA. - -EAST END OF THE CATHEDRAL. p. 298.] - -Having thus shortly stated the history of the building, let me now -attempt to describe its architecture and construction. It will be seen -that the plan is cruciform. The transepts do not, however, show much on -the exterior, as they form the base of the towers which are erected, as -at Exeter cathedral, above them. The plan of the chevet is very good; it -presents the French arrangement of an aisle and chapels round the apse -in place of the common Spanish triapsidal plan; but the detail is all -completely Catalan. The arches of the apse are very narrow and -stilted, and the columns throughout are composed of a rather confused -jumble of thin mouldings awkwardly arranged. Above the main arches is a -very small arcaded triforium, and above this a range of circular -windows, one in each bay. The groining springs from the capitals of the -main columns, so that the triforium and clerestory are both enclosed -within its arched wall-rib; they are consequently very disproportioned -in height as compared with those of northern churches. But here the -architect evidently intended to grapple with the difficulties of the -climate, and, designing his whole church with the one great object of -minimizing the light and heat, he was compelled to make his windows -small. The clerestory windows were traceried, and filled with rich -stained glass, which was well set back from the face of the wall. The -result is a perfect success as far as light and shade and the ordinary -purposes of a Spanish congregation are concerned, but the difficulty of -taking notes, sketches, or measurements, in most parts of the church, -even at mid-day, can hardly be imagined. The dark stone of which the -whole church is built increases not a little the sombre magnificence of -the effect. There is nothing peculiar about the chapels of the chevet; -but under the centre of the choir, and approached by a broad flight of -steps between two narrower flights which lead to the high altar, is the -small crypt or chapel already mentioned as that in which the remains of -Sta. Eulalia are enshrined. An inscription[288] records the date of the -translation of her remains to this spot in A.D. 1339, but the present -state of the chapel is not suggestive of the possession of any -architectural treasures, being remarkable only for the ugliness of its -altar, and the number of its candlesticks. Behind the altar, however, -there still remains the shrine of the saint. This is a steep-roofed ark -of alabaster carried upon eight detached columns. The ark is sculptured -at the sides and ends with subjects from the life of Sta. Eulalia, -whilst the roof has her soul borne aloft by angels. The columns are of -marble, spiral, fluted, and chevroned, with capitals of foliage, and one -or two of the bases are carved with figures in the mediæval Italian -fashion. A long inscription is carried round the base of the ark, which -again records the death of the saint, her burial in Sta. Maria del Mar, -and her translation to the cathedral in A.D. 878, and afterwards to the -spot where she now rests. The detail of this shrine looks very like -that of Italian Gothic of the same age; and as it is particularly -described in the contemporary memorial of the translation, it is no -doubt part of the work on which Jayme Fabre had been engaged. - -[Illustration: No. 37 - -BARCELONA CATHEDRAL - -INTERIOR OF WEST END OF NAVE p. 301.] - -The transepts are groined at the level of the side chapels, and again -with an octagonal vault just above the aisle roof, and below where the -square base gives place to the octagon on which the upper part of the -steeples is planned. It is therefore only on the ground-plan that the -transepts show themselves, and here they form porches, that on the south -side opening into the cloister. The planning of the nave is very -peculiar. It seems as though the main requirement of the founders of -this church was a plentiful number of altars; for, as will be seen on -reference to the plan, there are no less than twenty-seven distinct -chapels inside the church, and twenty-two more round the cloister. The -chapels in the south aisle have a row of other chapels, which open into -the cloister, placed back to back with them, and the windows which light -the former open into the latter, showing when seen from the nave chapels -their glass, and when seen from the cloister chapels the dark piercings -of their openings. The arrangement is not only extremely picturesque, -but also another evidence of the care with which the sun was kept out of -the building. On the north side the chapels are uniform throughout, and -their windows are pierced in the long unbroken north wall. The Coro here -is in its old position in the two eastern bays of the nave, with the old -screens around it and all its old fittings. It is to be observed, -however, that here, where the late Spanish arrangement was from the -first adopted, the western entrance to the choir was preserved, and so -the awkward blank which the wall of the Coro generally presents on -entering is not felt. There are no signs of any parclose screens across -the transept, and the position of the chapel of Sta. Eulalia makes it -improbable that there ever were any. It seems, indeed, that such a -church as this must from the very first have been built for precisely -the kind of worship still used in it. There was never any proper -provision for a crowd of worshippers joining in any one common act of -prayer or worship. The capitular body filled the Coro and sang the -services of the day unnoticed by the people; whilst, as they separated -to the chapels to which each was attached, the people followed them by -twos and threes to the altar services in which only they wished to join. -At present not more than about half the altars are commonly used; yet -still each morning mass was generally being said at three, or four, -or five of them at the same time, and each altar every day seemed to -have a considerable group of worshippers, among whom I noticed a -considerable number of men of the upper class. The high altar seems -always to have had curtains on either side of it, their rods being -supported on columns of jasper in front. These curtains were drawn at -the _Sanctus_, and remained so until the consecration was completed. One -sung mass only is celebrated at this altar each day, and an old treatise -on the Customs of the Church cites in defence or explanation of this -rule the words of a very early council, _una missa et unum altare_.[289] -West of the Coro are two bays of nave, over the western of which rises -the lower part of a rich octangular lantern. This is carried on bold -piers of square outline, which, from the very simple arrangement of the -shafts of which they are composed, have the grandeur of effect so -characteristic of Romanesque work. The cross arches under the lantern -are lower than the groining, and on the east face the spandrel between -the two is filled in with rich tracery and arcading. Arches are thrown -across the angles to carry the octagonal lantern, of which the lowest -stage only--which is well arcaded--is built. The whole of this work is -so good of its kind that it is much to be lamented it was never -completed; the design of the octagonal lantern at the west, and the two -more slender octagonal steeples at the Crossing, would have been as -striking in its effect, doubtless, as it would have been novel in its -plan, though it may be doubted whether, in so short a church, it would -not have been overpowering. Above the side chapels, on each side of the -nave and at the west end, another floor is carried all round. The only -difference is that the rooms above the chapels are square-ended, not -apsidal, and there seems to be no evidence of their having been intended -for altars. I saw no piscinæ and no Retablos in them, and was tempted to -imagine that the present use may, perhaps, have been the old one--that -of a grand receptacle for all the machinery in fêtes, functions, and the -like, of which a Spanish church generally requires no small store.[290] -There are arches in the wall, affording means of communication all round -this upper floor, and the chambers all open to the church with arches, -and have traceried windows in their outer walls. The transverse section -of the nave is therefore novel, and unlike any other with which I am -acquainted, and interested me not a little. - -The exterior is, perhaps, less interesting than the interior. The chevet -is fine, but with nothing in any way unusual in its design; the upper -part of the buttresses is destroyed, and the walls finish without -parapet or roof, so as to make the church look somewhat like a roofless -ruin. The steeples are quite plain below their belfry stage, under which -are arcaded string-courses; the belfry stages themselves are richly -panelled and pierced, and surmounted by pierced parapets. They are not -perfectly octagonal in plan, the cardinal sides being the widest, and -their height from the floor of the church is as nearly as I could -measure 179 ft. 6 in., whilst their external diameter is about 30 feet. -It is on ascending these towers that one of the greatest peculiarities -of the Barcelonese churches is seen; they are all roofless, and you look -down on to the top of their vaulting, which is all covered with tiles or -stone neatly and evenly laid on the vault, in such a way as effectually -to keep out the weather. The water all finds its way out by the pockets -of the vaults, and by pipes through the buttresses with gurgoyles in -front of them. Everything seemed to prove that this was _not_ the old -arrangement, for it is pretty clear that the walls had parapets -throughout, and that there were timber roofs, though I saw no evidence -as to what their pitch had been. The present scheme, ugly and ruinous as -it looks--giving the impression that all the church roofs have been -destroyed by the fire of the fortresses above and at the side of the -city--seems nevertheless to have solved one of those problems which so -often puzzle us--the erection of buildings which as far as possible -shall be indestructible. There is now absolutely no timber in any part -of the work; but it is of course questionable whether a roof which -endures the test of a Spanish climate, with its occasional deluge of -rain succeeded by a warm drying sun, would endure the constant damp of a -climate like ours. But at any rate the makeshift arrangement which is -universal here is very suggestive. The flying buttresses are -insignificant, owing to the small height of the clerestory. - -Descending from the roof, the only other old portion of the church to be -mentioned is the north transept. It is here that the two inscriptions -given at p. 297 are built into the wall on either side of the lofty -doorway. The doorway is finely moulded, and has a single figure under a -canopy in its tympanum; above it the whole face of the wall is covered -with very rich arrangement of niches, making an arcade over its whole -surface, but there are no figures left in them. Over this again is a -rose window under an arch, and then the octagonal tower. To the east of -the transept are some round-headed windows, but my impression is that -they are not of earlier date than the rest of the work. The outer wall -of the north aisle of the nave has a row of very richly moulded windows -lighting the chapels, and other windows over them which light the -galleries over the aisle chapels. The eaves here have a simple -round-arched corbel-tabling. - -The west front is all modern and squalid; the original design for its -completion is said to exist among the archives of the cathedral, and -ought to be examined; I was not aware of this until long after I had -been at Barcelona. Don F. J. Parcerisa[291] gives a view of this -proposed front--an extremely florid Gothic work--but the drawing is so -obviously not the least like an old one, that I hardly know how far to -trust the statements about it which he makes. He describes it as being -on parchment, sixteen palms long, and much defaced. The print is drawn -in perspective, and elaborately shaded. It is a double door, with a -steep gable above filled with extremely rich flamboyant tracery, and -there are large pinnacles on either side and a great number of statues. - -The cloisters are not good in their detail, but yet are very pleasant; -they are full of orange-trees, flowers, and fountains. One of these is -in a projecting bay at the north-east internal angle, and is old; -another by its side has a little St. George and the Dragon, with the -horse’s tail formed by a jet of water; and a third, and more modern, -plays in the centre among the flowers. In addition, there are some geese -cooped up in one corner, who look as if their livers were being -sacrificed in order to provide _patés_ for the canons; and finally a -troop of hungry, melancholy cats, who are always howling and prowling -about the cloisters and church, and who often contrive to get into the -choir-stalls just before service, whence they are forthwith chased about -by the choristers and such of the clergy as are in their places in good -time! These cloisters are said to have been completed in A.D. 1448,[292] -and I have no doubt this date is correct. On the exterior they are -bounded on three sides by streets, and the apsidal ends of the chapels -do not show, the wall being straight and unbroken. The cloister is lofty -and has panelled buttresses between the windows, of which latter the -arches only remain, the traceries having been entirely destroyed. The -view from hence of the church is one of the best that can be obtained, -the octagonal transept towers being the most marked features. The floor -is full of gravestones, on which the calling of the person commemorated -is indicated by a slight carving in relief of the implements of his -trade. - -The chapel of Sta. Lucia, at the south-west angle of the cloister, is -probably a relic of the first church; it has a very fine round-headed -doorway with its arch-mouldings covered with delicate architectural -carving, and a lancet window under its very flat-pitched gable. The roof -inside is a pointed waggon-vault. The door from the cloister into the -south transept is of about the same date; it has three shafts in the -jamb (one of them fluted), very deep capitals and abaci covered with -carving of foliage, and an archivolt covered with chevron patterns of a -flat and very unusual character. The label is large and carved with very -stiff foliage. The foliage here is to a slight extent copied from the -acanthus, but much of it is derived from some other leaf--I believe from -the prickly pear. - -When the fabric has been passed in review much still remains to be seen -within its walls. A large number of the altars, particularly those of -the cloister chapels, were furnished in the fifteenth century with -Retablos of wood richly carved, and then painted with subjects: these -are always placed across the apse, leaving a space behind the altar, to -which access was obtained by doors on either side of it. Perhaps then as -now the priest attached to the altar kept his vestments in the chapel in -which he ministered, and these spaces may thus have been utilized. -Usually, now-a-days, in Spanish churches, for some ten or twenty minutes -before the offices are sung in the choir, priests may be seen unlocking -the gates of their chapels, vesting themselves, and then going one by -one to their stalls in the choir, and there waiting till, on the clock -striking the hour, the service commences. The paintings in the old -Retablos are sadly defaced and damaged; but many of them have evidently -had much value and interest. They are usually rather of Flemish than of -Italian character, generally well and quaintly drawn, and with those -striking contrasts of colour on gold grounds, of which this early school -was so fond. The doors on either side of the altar have generally a -whole-length figure of a saint painted on them. - -[Illustration: No. 38. - -BARCELONA CATHEDRAL - -VIEW OF THE STEEPLES FROM THE CLOISTER. p. 304] - -Across the outer archway of all these chapels is an iron _grille_; very -many of these are mediæval; and in the cloister in particular there is a -very considerable variety in their treatment, and often great delicacy -of execution. I have before noticed the excellence of the smiths’ -work in the Spanish churches. Yet though their work is of the latest age -of Gothic, it is never marked by that nauseous redundance of ornament in -which so many of the most active metal-workers of the present day seem -to revel. Hence it is always worthy of study. The doors in these screens -are generally double, and shut behind some sort of ogee-arched crocketed -head, and sometimes there are crocketed pinnacles and buttresses on -either side. The locks are often, of course, specially elaborate; and -the illustration which I give of one of them will serve to show their -general character. In all the screens here the lower part is very -simple, consisting generally of nothing but vertical bars, through which -one can see without difficulty to the altars which they guard. The -ornament is reserved for open traceried crestings, with bent and -sharply-cut crockets, for traceried rails, and for the locks and -fastenings. - -[Illustration: Lock on Screen in Cloister.] - -The woodwork of the choir-fittings is of very late date,[293] but good -of its kind. The stall-divisions are richly traceried under the elbow, -and the misereres carved with foliage. Behind the stalls, and under the -old canopies, is a series of Renaissance panels, covered with paintings -of the arms of the Knights of the Golden Fleece.[294] The canopies above -are very delicate, and of the same character as the stalls. The carved -oak pulpit is corbelled out at the east end of the north range of -stalls, and is approached by a staircase outside the arcaded stone -parclose, which still remains north and south of the choir. This -staircase, with its arched doorway between pinnacles at the bottom, its -traceried handrail fringed at the top with fantastic ironwork, and its -door cunningly and beautifully made of open ironwork, is quite worth -notice. - -The Bishop’s throne, second only in height and elaboration to that of -Exeter, occupies its proper place at the east end of the southern side -of the choir, with one stall for a chaplain beyond it. It will be -remembered that in most Spanish cathedrals it is placed where the door -from the nave into the choir ought to be: here, however, the old -arrangement has never been altered. - -The principal altar has a very Gothic Retablo, covered with gilding till -it looks like gingerbread. I imagine it to be modern. It has curtains on -either side, with angels standing on the columns which carry the rods. -The iron screen across, in front of the altar, and round the apse, is -none of it old. - -Near the door to the sacristies a hexagonal box for the wheel of bells -is fixed against the wall; and just below it a fine large square box -arcaded at the sides, and painted, appears to contain a couple of larger -bells. - -The sculpture here is not very remarkable. Over the east door of the -cloister is a Pietà in the tympanum, whilst the finial of the canopy is -a crucifix. The bosses at the intersection of the ribs in the nave are -of enormous size, and each has a figure or subject. The boss in the -chapel over the font in the north side of west door has the Baptism of -our Lord, and another in the large chapel in the north-west of the -cloister has the Descent of the Holy Ghost, and the eight bosses around -it the Evangelists and Doctors. Some of the monuments are peculiar. The -effigy is generally laid on a sloping stone, so as to suggest the -greatest possible insecurity. There are sculptures on the tombs and -inside the enclosing arch; a favourite and odious device in this last -feature is to make the radius of the label much longer than that of the -arch below it; and the space between the two is then filled with -tracery. The nave groining was once painted. There seems to have been -cinquecento foliage extending from the centre, about half-way across -each vaulting cell; and the ribs were painted to the same extent. In the -aisles there seems to have been no painting anywhere but on the ribs. - -[Illustration: BARCELONA:--Ground Plan of Cathedral, Cloister. &c. Plate -XVI - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865] - -The old organ occupies the north tower, and is corbelled out boldly -from the wall. Below it is a pendant, the finish of which is a Saracen’s -head, which, for some reason unknown to me, is held by Catalans to be -appropriate to the position. There are enormous painted shutters, and a -projecting row of trumpet-pipes. The organ was first of all built in the -fourteenth century; Martin Ferrandis, organ-builder of Toledo, having -bound himself, by a contract dated July 25, 1345, to construct it for 80 -libras[295] (pounds). - -The sacristies are old and vaulted. The sacristan knew of no old -vestments or vessels to be seen there; and as they were always occupied -by clergy I had to satisfy myself with his ignorance. - -The bishop’s palace is on the south side of the cloister: its quadrangle -still retains some remains of good late Romanesque arcading, ornamented -with dog-tooth, nail-head, and billet mould; and probably there is more -to be seen if access were gained to the inside. On the opposite side of -the cathedral is a vast barrack, dating from the fifteenth century, and -which, first of all a palace, was given in A.D. 1487 by Ferdinand to the -Inquisition. It seems now to be a mixture of school, convent, and -prison, and is apparently without any architectural interest. - -The grandest church, after the cathedral, is that of Sta. Maria del Mar, -a vast building, of very simple plan, and exceedingly characteristic of -the work of Catalan architects.[296] An inscription written in Limosin -(Catalan) on one side, and in Latin on the other,[297] gives the date of -the commencement of the work as A.D. 1328; and it is said by Cean -Bermudez not to have been finished until A.D. 1483;[298] but -Parcerisa[299] says that the last stone was placed on November 9th, -1383, and the first mass said on August 15th, 1384; and I am inclined to -think that the latter dates are the more likely to be correct. I have -found no evidence as to the architect of this church: he was one of a -school who built many and exceedingly similar churches throughout this -district. My impression is that he was most probably Jayme Fabre, the -first architect of the cathedral. Fabre had constructed a church for the -Dominicans at Palma, in Mallorca, between the years 1296 and 1339. Of -this church I can only learn the dimensions; but these point to a church -of the same class as those in Barcelona. It had no aisles, and was 280 -palms long by 138 broad. The cathedral in the same city is figured in -Parcerisa, and is similar in plan to Sta. Maria del Mar, but of far -larger dimensions, the width from centre to centre of the nave columns -being 71 feet, and the whole church 140 feet wide in the clear, and with -the chapels 190 feet. There are north and south doors, and octagonal -pinnacles at the west end, and, as will be noticed, its dimensions are -proportioned just as at Sta. Maria del Mar. I do not think that Fabre’s -name occurs in connexion with the cathedral at Palma; but his fame must -have been great, as he was specially summoned to Barcelona by the king -and bishop; and nothing is more likely than that he would then have been -consulted about this other great work going on at the same time, and in -which, though the general design is different, there are so many points -of similarity. The church at Manresa is said to have been commenced in -the same year, 1328; and it is extremely similar in all respects to Sta. -Maria del Mar, as I shall have further on to show when I have to -describe it. - -[Illustration: No. 39. - -STA. MARIA DEL MAR, BARCELONA p. 308. - -SOUTH-WEST VIEW.] - -But whether these churches are to be attributed to the influence of one -man suddenly inventing an innovation, or of a school of architects -working on the same old traditions--and I have been unable to find any -kind of evidence of this--it is certain that they are very similar. They -are marked by extreme simplicity, great width, and great height. Usually -they have no arcades and consist of broad unbroken naves, always groined -in stone, and sparely lighted from small windows high up in the walls. -The two examples, so far as I know, which surpass all others, are the -single nave of Gerona, seventy-three feet wide in the clear, and the -nave and aisles of the Collegiata at Manresa, sixty feet wide from -centre to centre of the columns, and a hundred and ten between the walls -of the aisles. The Barcelonese examples do not equal the extraordinary -dimensions of these two churches, but they are still on a fine scale. -Sta. Maria del Mar is the only Barcelonese example with aisles. It -has--as will be seen by the plan[300]--an aisle round the apse, and -small chapels between the buttresses. These apses are all internal only, -so that the side elevation of the church shows a plain straight wall -pierced with windows. This is a very favourite device of this school, -and has been already noticed in the north wall of the cathedral, and in -the wall all round the cloisters. The interior of Sta. Maria del Mar is -very simple. Enormous octagonal columns carry the main arches and the -groining ribs, which all spring from their capitals. The wall rib -towards the nave is carried up higher than the main arches so as to -allow space between them for a small circular and traceried clerestory -window in each bay. The arches of the apse are very narrow, and -enormously stilted. There are small windows above them, but they are -modernized. The aisles are groined on the same level as the main arches, -a few feet, therefore, below the vault of the nave, and they are lighted -by a four-light traceried window in each bay, the sill of which is above -a string-course formed by continuing the abacus of the capitals of the -groining shafts. Below this there are three arches in each bay, opening -into side chapels between the main buttresses. Each of these chapels is -lighted by a traceried window of two lights; and the outer wall -presents, as will be seen, a long unbroken line, until above the -chapels, when the buttresses rise boldly up to support the great vaults -of the nave and aisles. The Barcelonese architects of this period were -extremely fond of these long unbroken lines of wall; and there is a -simplicity and dignity about their work which is especially commendable. -Long rows of little sheds for shops which have managed to gain a footing -all along the base of the walls rather disturb the effect, though they -and their occupants, and the busy dealers in fruit who ply their trade -all about Sta. Maria del Mar, make it a good spot for the study of the -people. - -The altar is a horrible erection of about A.D. 1730, and all the -internal fittings are modern and in the worst possible taste. - -The view which I give of the west front will explain the whole design of -the exterior. Unquestionably it is a grand work of its kind, with good -detail throughout. The great octagonal pinnacles at the angles are, -however, awkwardly designed, and quite insufficient in scale for the -vast mass of building to which they are attached. They are reproduced in -all the churches of the same class in Barcelona; and indeed most of the -features of one of these churches are common to the others. The tracery -in the circular window at the west end certainly looks later in date -than that of the others in this church, and than that in the west front -of Sta. Maria del Pi, which was commenced in A.D. 1329, but not -completed until much later. It is worth mention that the western doors -of this church are covered with iron, cut out into the form of cusped -circles, with rather good effect. - -The church of SS. Just y Pastor is of the same class as Sta. Maria del -Mar, but its foundation is slightly later, as it seems to have been -commenced circa A.D. 1345. It consists of a nave without aisles, but -with chapels between the buttresses--one chapel in each bay. There are -five bays, and an apse of five sides. The altar stands forward from the -wall, and stalls are ranged round the apse. The nave is 43 feet 6 inches -in width in the clear by about 130 feet in length. The vaulting is -quadripartite throughout, with large bosses at the intersection of the -ribs, on which are carved--1, the Annunciation; 2, the Nativity; 3, the -Presentation; 4, the Adoration of the Magi; 5, the Resurrection; 6, the -Coronation of the B.V.M. The whole church has lately been covered with -painting and gilding, in the most approved French style, and to the -destruction of all appearance of age. The light is admitted by -three-light windows with good geometrical traceries, very high up above -the arches, into the side chapels, and by two-light windows in the -chapels themselves. At the west end are remains of the usual octagonal -flanking turrets; but the whole front is modernized. The side elevation -is a repetition of those already described, presenting a long unbroken -wall below, out of which the buttresses for the clerestory rise. - -Santa Maria del Pino is a still grander church, but on the same plan, -with the addition of a lofty octagonal tower detached at the north-east -of the church.[301] This is four stages in height, and the belfry-stage -has windows on each face. The traceried corbel-table under the parapet -remains, but the parapet and roof are destroyed. The nave here consists -of seven bays, is fifty-four feet wide in the clear, and has an eastern -apse of seven sides. The chapels between the buttresses are not carried -round the apse, but an overhanging passage-way is formed all round -outside, upon arches between, and corresponding openings through, the -buttresses just below the windows. The north door here is a very fine -early work of just the same character as those already described in the -earliest portions of the cathedral. It appears to be a work of the end -of the twelfth century, and much older than any other portion of the -church. The west front has a doorway with a figure in a niche in the -tympanum, and a system of niches round and above it, enclosing it within -a sort of square projecting from the face of the wall. The whole scheme -is so exceedingly similar both in design and detail to that of the north -transept door of the cathedral, that we may fairly conclude them to be -the works of the same man. Above the door is a large circular window -filled with good and very rich geometrical tracery. A church existed -here as early as 1070;[302] and Cean Bermudez says that the first stone -of the present church was laid in 1380, and that it was concluded in -1414.[303] Parcerisa,[304] on the other hand, says that materials were -granted for the work in 1329, that it was nearly finished in 1413, and -consecrated in 1453;[305] whilst in A.D. 1416 we have Guillermo Abiell -describing himself as master of the works of Sta. Maria del Pi, and of -St. Jayme, in Barcelona, when he was called as one of the Junta of -architects to advise about the building of the nave of Gerona -cathedral.[306] - -[Illustration: BARCELONA:--Ground Plans of Sta Maria del Mar:--Sta -Maria del Pi:--and the Collegista of Sta Ana: Plate XVII. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865.] - -St. Jayme, of which Abiell was the architect, is a small church in the -principal street of the city, with an ogee-headed door with a crocketed -label between two pinnacles. Above are some small windows; and the whole -detail is poor in character, and exactly consistent with what might be -expected from an architect at Abiell’s time. I believe, therefore, that -either Abiell was only the surveyor to an already existing fabric, who -wished to make the most of his official position among his brethren at -Gerona, or that if he really executed any works at Sta. Maria del Pi -they were confined to the steeple, which is of later character than the -church. I believe that the real meaning of the dates given by the -authorities just quoted is as follows:--In A.D. 1329 stone was granted -for the work which was then no doubt just commenced at the same time as -the similar work in the transept of the cathedral; and the consecration -probably took place in A.D. 1353, a date which occurs in an inscription -in the church, and has been, I suspect, read by Parcerisa by mistake, -1453; and the work commenced in A.D. 1380 was probably the steeple, -which was completed in A.D. 1414. To decide otherwise would be to ignore -altogether all the information to be derived from the character of the -architectural detail, which, after all, is to a practised eye a safer -guide than any documentary evidence. I should assume, too, from the -identity of the character of the two works, that Jayme Fabre was the -architect who designed the church, and that Guillermo Abiell probably -built the tower some time after his death. - -[Illustration: Interior of Santa Agata.] - -I must now take my readers back somewhat to an earlier church, which is -full of interest, but very different from those which I have been -describing, and of different style. This is the church of Sta. Agata, -situated just to the north of the cathedral. I have been unable to learn -anything as to its history. It has a nave of four bays, spanned by -pointed arches, which carry the wooden roof, and a groined apse of five -sides. East of the apse is a waggon-vaulted chamber, whose axis is at -right angles to that of the church, and out of it rises a delicate -octagonal steeple, the belfry-stage of which has two-light windows on -four sides, and gables on each face. These gables run back till they -intersect the base of a low stone spire, which is now nearly destroyed, -but the lower part of which can be clearly made out from the -neighbouring steeple of the cathedral. A staircase, ingeniously -constructed in the thickness of the south wall, leads up from the nave -to the pulpit (now destroyed), and thence on again to a western gallery. -Some of the windows are like domestic windows in design, having a -slender shaft-monial with the capital of foliage so often repeated in -all the towns from Perpiñan to Valencia. The great height of the windows -from the floor--about twenty-six feet--secures an admirable effect of -light, and their detail is thoroughly good early middle-pointed. The -southern façade has a great deal of that picturesque irregularity which -is always so charming when it is natural. The door is in the western -angle of the south front, partly built under a great overhanging arch, -which carries the wall of a building which abuts on the west end of Sta. -Agata. The lower half of the walls has small windows irregularly placed, -lighting the eastern chapel, the pulpit, and the passage to the gallery; -and then above them the wall is set back a couple of feet between -buttresses, and each bay has an extremely well designed and moulded -window of two lights, with geometrical tracery. The finish of the walls -at the top is modernized. The construction of the roof is very -effective, and at the same time of a most unusual character; it consists -of a series of purlines resting on corbels in the walls over the arches -across the nave; and though it is of flat pitch, this is but little -noticed, owing to the good proportions of these arches, which are so -marked a feature in the design. - -The same kind of roof exists still in the great hall of the Casa -Consistorial, and evidently once existed also in the church which I -shall presently mention in the Calle del Carmen. In England we have -somewhat parallel examples at Mayfield and the Mote House, Ightham; but -these Barcelonese examples are useful, as showing how, when a -flat-pitched roof is of necessity adopted, a very good internal effect -may nevertheless be secured. This church is now desecrated, and used as -a sculptor’s workshop. - -Another church, of which only the ruins now remain, in the Calle del -Carmen, must, I presume, be Nuestra Señora del Carmen, founded in -1287.[307] This building was evidently greatly altered in the fourteenth -century. It was first of all roofed with a flat roof, carried on arches -across the nave, as at Sta. Agata, and subsequently the walls were -raised and the church was groined. The groining is now destroyed, and -behind it are seen the corbels in the cross wall marking the rake of the -first roof. The aisles had roofs gabled north and south, and their -windows good fourteenth-century tracery. This church of seven bays in -length is 43 feet wide between the columns of the nave, and nearly 80 -feet wide from north to south. Compared with Sta. Agata, it seems to -prove that this class of timber-roofed church was introduced here -between the early waggon-vaulting of the chapel of Sta. Lucia and of -Sta. Ana, and the great quadripartite vaults of the cathedral and the -other churches of its class. - -The other churches here are not of much interest. The front of San Jayme -has already been incidentally mentioned: its interior is modernized. San -Miguel is probably a very early church, having a Roman mosaic pavement -preserved in the floor. It has a pointed waggon-vault, and a -sixteenth-century stone gallery at the west end. The western front has a -rich west door, half Gothic and half Renaissance, with St. Michael and -the dragon in the tympanum, and the Annunciation in the jambs. The flat -gable has its old crocketed coping and cross, and two very small -windows. The best feature is the tower, a simple structure, square in -plan, from within the parapet of which, over the centre, rises a small -square turret, open at the sides and roofed with four intersecting -gables. It is a pretty arrangement for carrying a fifth bell, the other -bells hanging in the belfry windows, in the Italian fashion. The church -of San Anton has a groined narthex or porch all across the west front, -with three open arches in front. The nave cannot be wide, and has -chapels between the buttresses, but I did not see the interior. Another -church, that of San Gerónimo, is on the same plan, but of later -date.[308] The churches of the Renaissance class are numerous and ugly; -but Berruguete and his followers hardly perpetrated so many freaks in -art here as they did in the centre of Spain; had they been more popular, -there had been much less for me to describe. But in truth, rich as this -old city still is, it was much richer, two or three noble churches -having disappeared at a comparatively late period, either during the war -or in subsequent popular disturbances. - -[Illustration: No. 40. - -BARCELONA. p. 314. - -CASA CONSISTORIAL.] - -[Illustration: Ajimez Window.] - -The civic buildings are quite worthy of the ancient dignity of the city. -The Casa Consistorial, and the Casa de la Disputacion, face each other -on opposite sides of the principal square, not far from the cathedral, -The former has a modern Pagan front, but on the north side the old -work remains. This building is said to have been commenced in A.D. 1369, -and finished in A.D. 1378;[309] and inside the great hall I noticed an -inscription (which unfortunately I neglected to copy) with the date of -1373. The old front to the north of this building seems worthy of -illustration. The enormous arch-stones of the principal doorway are very -common throughout Cataluña, and are seen indeed as far east even as -Perpiñan. The figure of St. Michael has metal wings; and as the little -church dedicated in honour of the same archangel is just on the other -side of the Casa, it seems as if there was some special connection -between the two buildings. The _patio_ or quadrangle is oblong in plan, -and on the first-floor the passage is open to the air, with delicate -arches all round. On the east side of this passage a door opens into a -noble hall, with a dais for the throne at the upper end, and doorways -on each side of the dais. This hall is spanned by four moulded -semicircular arches rising from corbels formed of a cluster of shafts. -These arches support a flat ceiling of rafters, with boarding between -them, resting on corbels in the cross walls. The light is admitted by -large cusped circles high up in the side walls, and by good _ajimez_ -windows of three lights at the dais end. The rafters of the roof are all -painted with coats of arms enclosed within quatrefoils, with a very rich -effect. The dimensions of this room are about 40 feet wide by 90 feet -long, and 45 feet in height. In a passage near it is an admirable -_ajimez_ window, which, as it illustrates this common type very well, is -worth preserving a record of. The marble shafts here are only three -inches in diameter.[310] - -The Casa de la Disputacion _was_ still more interesting; but on my last -visit the delicate arcades of its beautiful _patio_ were all being -walled up with common brick, leaving narrow slits of windows, which I -suppose are to be glazed, to save the degenerate lawyers for the future -from any of the chance squalls of wind or rain which their predecessors -have endured since the fifteenth century, when Master Pedro Blay, the -architect, superintended its erection. This _patio_ is of three stages -in height, with a picturesque external staircase to the first floor. The -lofty corridor round the first floor leads to the various courts and -offices, and in one angle of it is the entrance to the chapel, -consisting of three small arches, forming a door and two windows, with -the wall above them covered with an elaborate reticulation of tracery. -The arches have ogee crocketed canopies, and the side arches iron -_grilles_. This chapel is dedicated to St. George, the tutelar saint of -Cataluña, and a figure of the saint rivals that of St. Michael in the -Sala Consistorial. There are here some extremely well-managed -overhanging passage-ways corbelled out from the walls, and various -excellent features of detail. The parapets generally to the various -passages are of plain stone slabs, pierced here and there only with a -richly traceried circle. - -Another old building--the Lonja or Exchange--was built near the sea in -A.D. 1383.[311] But everything old has been completely destroyed, with -the one exception of its grand hall, which still does service as of old. -This consists of three naves, divided by lofty and slender columns, -which carry stilted semi-circular arches. The ceiling is flat, of the -same description as that of the Sala Consistorial. The dimensions are -about 100 feet in length by 75 feet in width. - -Another great building, founded soon after, circa 1444, was intended for -a cloth-hall:[312] in 1514 it was converted into an armoury, and -subsequently into a residence for the Captains-General of Cataluña; it -has been completely modernized throughout the exterior, and I did not -see the interior. - -Cean Bermudez mentions an interesting fact about the construction of the -old Mole. It was built, he says, by Estacio, a famous hydraulic -architect of Alexandria, in A.D. 1477; and the city authorities took -counsel about it with the most learned professors of Syracuse, Rhodes, -and Candia. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -GERONA--PERPIÑAN--S. ELNE. - - -There are few Spanish towns which are altogether more interesting than -the now insignificant and little-known city of Gerona. It not only -contains several buildings of rare architectural interest, but it has, -moreover, the advantage of being picturesquely placed on the banks of -the rapid river Oña, and on the steep slope of the hills which bound it. - -The Cathedral is the first object of attraction, and its history is so -curious, that I need make no apology for proceeding without further -preface to say the substance of what I have been able to learn about it. - -There was a cathedral here at a very early period; and when Gerona was -taken by the Moors, they converted it into a mosque, but, with their -usual liberality, allowed the services of the Church still to be carried -on in the neighbouring church of San Feliu, which for a time, -accordingly, was the cathedral church. In A.D. 1015 this state of -affairs had ceased, owing to the expulsion of the Moors, and the -cathedral was again recovered to the use of the Church. Considerable -works were at this time executed,[313] if, indeed, the cathedral was not -entirely rebuilt, as the old documents declare, and the altered church -was re-consecrated in A.D. 1038,[314] by the Archbishop of Narbonne, -assisted by the Bishops of Vique, Urgel, Elne, Barcelona, Carcassonne, -and others. In A.D. 1310 works seem to have been again in progress,[315] -and in A.D. 1312 a Chapter was held, at which it was resolved to rebuild -the head or chevet of the church with nine chapels,[316] for which, in -A.D. 1292, Guillermo Gaufredo, the treasurer, made a bequest in favour -of the work.[317] In A.D. 1325 I find that an indulgence was granted by -the Bishop Petrus de Urrea in favour of donors to the work of the -cathedral;[318] and the work, so far westward as the end of the choir, -was probably complete before A.D. 1346, inasmuch as in this year the -silver altar, with its Retablo and baldachin, were placed where they now -stand.[319] We know something of the architects employed during the -fourteenth century upon the works just mentioned. In 1312 the Chapter -appointed the Archdeacon Ramon de Vilarico and the Canon Arnaldo de -Montredon to be the _obreros_ or general clerical superintendents of the -progress of the works. In A.D. 1316, or, according to some authorities, -in February, 1320, an architect--Enrique of Narbonne--is first -mentioned; and soon after this, on his death, another architect of the -same city, Jacobo de Favariis by name, was appointed with a salary of -two hundred and fifty libras[320] a quarter, and upon the condition that -he should come from Narbonne six times a year[321] to examine the -progress of the works. In A.D. 1325 Bart. Argenta was the master of the -works, and he probably carried them on until the completion of the choir -in 1346.[322] - -In A.D. 1395 it was proposed to erect a Chapter-house, and the canons in -charge of the fabric (“canonigos fabriqueros”) presented in writing -their reasons for not erecting it where proposed by the Chapter--at the -south end of the refectory. They said that the works of the church -itself ought first of all to be gone on with, and that the proposed work -would destroy a good and convenient refectory, and make it obscure and -ridiculous: and it seems that their report had the effect of staying the -work. In A.D. 1416 Guillermo Boffiy, master of the works of the -cathedral, proposed a plan for its completion by the erection of a nave; -and though the chevet had an aisle and chapels round it, he proposed to -build his nave of the same width as the choir and its aisles, but as a -single nave without aisles. This proposition was deemed so hazardous, -and created so great a discussion, that the Chapter, before deciding -what plan should be adopted, called together a Junta of architects, and -propounded to each of them separately certain questions, to each of -which they all returned their answers upon oath. In the September -following, these answers were read before the Chapter by a notary, and -it may be supposed carefully digested, for it was not until March 8th, -1417, that Guillermo Boffiy, the master of the works, was called in and -in his turn interrogated with the same questions. Immediately after -this, on the 15th of the same month, at a Chapter-meeting presided over -by the Bishop, it was decided to carry on the work as proposed, with a -single nave. The story is so well worth telling in full, that I have -given in the Appendix a translation of the entire document, which equals -in interest any with which I am acquainted, bearing on the profession of -architect in the middle ages.[323] It is valuable also, incidentally, as -giving us the names of the architects of several other buildings, most -of those who were examined having described themselves in a formal style -as masters of the works of some particular church or churches. It is -difficult to say exactly when the nave was completed, but the great -south door was not executed until A.D. 1458, and the key-stone of the -last division of the vault seems to have been placed in the time of -Bishop Benito, so late as circa 1579.[324] In A.D. 1581 the same bishop -laid the first stone of the bell-tower, and in 1607 the west front and -the great flight of steps leading up to it seem to have been commenced. - -We have thus the story of the periods at which the church was founded, -altered, and enlarged very fully told, and it now only remains to apply -it to what is still to be seen in the existing building. - -A reference to my ground-plan[325] will show that the church remains -very much in the state which the documentary evidence describes. The -choir has nine chapels round its chevet, as described, and has lofty -arches, a series of very small openings in lieu of triforium, and a -clerestory of two-light windows, of decidedly late but still good -Middle-pointed character. The columns, in the usual Catalan fashion of -this age, are clusters of rather reedy mouldings, with no proper -division or subordination of parts, and consequently of poor effect, and -there is no division by way of stringcourses above or below the -triforium. On the exterior the east end is not seen to much advantage, -as it is built into and against a steep hill, so that at a distance of a -few feet only the eye is on a level with the top of the walls of the -chapels round the apse. The roofs, too, have all been modernized and -lowered. The only peculiarities here are a series of trefoiled openings, -just under the eaves of the roof, into the space over the vaulting, and -perhaps devised for the purpose of ventilation: and the gurgoyles -projecting from the buttresses, which are carved and moulded stones -finished at the end with an octagonal capital, through the bottom of -which the water falls, and which almost looks as if it were meant for -the stone head of a metal down-pipe. - -When the choir was built, some considerable portions of the church -consecrated in A.D. 1038 were left standing. The nave was probably -entirely of this age; and a portion of what was no doubt one of the -original towers still remains on the north side, between the cloister -and the nave. This tower has pilasters at the angles and in the centre, -and is divided into equal stages in height by horizontal corbel-tables. -An apse of the same age remains on the east side of what seems to have -been the south transept of the early church: and from its position we -may, I think, assume with safety that the church was then finished with -three or five apses at the east, very much as in the church of San -Pedro, close by, which I shall have presently to describe. In addition -to these early remains there is also a magnificent and all but -unaltered cloister. I cannot find any certain evidence of its exact -date, though it seems to have existed in A.D. 1117, when an act of the -Bishop Raymond Berenger was issued in the “cloister of the -cathedral.”[326] The character of the work confirms, I think, this date. -The plan is very peculiar, forming a very irregular trapezium, no two of -the sides being equal in length. It has on all four sides severely -simple round arches carried on coupled shafts: these are of marble, and -set as much as 20 inches apart, so as to enable them to carry a wall 3 -feet 1½ inches thick. This thickness of wall was quite necessary, as the -cloister is all roofed with stone, the section of the vaults on the -east, west, and south sides being half of a barrel, and on the north a -complete barrel vault. The detail of the capitals is of the extremely -elaborate and delicate imitation of classical carving, so frequently -seen throughout the south of France. The abaci are in one stone, but the -bases of the shafts are separate and rest upon a low dwarf-wall, and -square piers are carried up at intervals to strengthen the arcade. The -columns have a very slight entasis. - -This cloister deserves careful study, as it seems to show one of the -main branches of the stream by which Romanesque art was introduced into -Spain. It is impossible not to recognize the extreme similarity between -such work as we see here, and that which we see in the cloister at Elne, -near Perpiñan, and, to go still farther afield, at S. Trophime at Arles. -And if any Spanish readers of these pages object to my assumption that -the stream flowed from France westward, they must prove the exact -converse, and assume that this Romanesque work was developed from Roman -work in Spain, and thence spread to Elne and Arles, a position which -none, I suppose, will be bold enough to take. - -The nave remains to be described; and to do this well and adequately, it -is necessary to use, not indeed many, but certainly strong, words. -Guillermo Boffiy, master of the works, might well cling fondly to his -grand scheme, for his proposal was not less, I believe, than the -erection of the widest pointed vault in Christendom. Such a scheme might -be expected to meet then in Spain, as it most certainly would now in -this country,[327] a good deal of criticism, and many objections, on the -score of its impracticability; and it is to the honour of the Chapter -that they had the good sense to consult experts and not amateurs as to -the steps to be taken, and then, having satisfied themselves that their -architect was competent to his work, that they left it entirely in his -hands. - -[Illustration: No. 41 - -GERONA CATHEDRAL p. 322 - -INTERIOR LOOKING EAST] - -The clear width of this nave is 73 feet, and its height is admirably -proportioned to this vast dimension.[328] It is only four bays in -length; each bay has chapels opening into it on either side, and filling -up the space between the enormous buttresses, whose depth from the front -of the groining shaft to their face is no less than 20 feet. Above the -arches which open into the side chapels is a row of small cusped -openings, corresponding with those which form the triforium of the -choir; and above these are lofty traceried clerestory windows. The -groining-ribs are very large and well moulded. At the east end of the -nave three arches open into the choir and its aisles; and above these -are three circular windows, the largest of which has lost its tracery. -And here it is that the magnificence of the scheme is most fully -realized. A single nave and choir, all of the same enormous size, would -have been immeasurable by the eye, and would have been, to a great -extent, thrown away; here, however, the lofty choir and aisles, with -their many subdivisions, give an extraordinary impression of size to the -vast vault of the nave, and make it look even larger than it really is. -In short, had this nave been longer by one bay, I believe that scarcely -any interior in Europe could have surpassed it in effect. Unfortunately, -as is so often the case among those who possess the most precious works -of art, there is now but little feeling in Gerona for the treasure it -possesses in this wondrous nave, for the stalls and Coro have been moved -down from their proper place into the middle of its length, where they -are shut in and surrounded by a high blank screen, painted in the -vulgarest imitation of Gothic traceries, to the utter ruin, of course, -of the whole internal perspective. It would be a grand and simple work -of restoration to give up here, for once, the Spanish usage, and to -restore the stalls to the proper choir. I say “restore,” because it is -pretty clear that they could not have been in the nave when they were -first made, inasmuch as this was in A.D. 1351, sixty-six years before -its commencement. A deed still remains in the archives of the cathedral, -by which we ascertain this fact, for by it a sculptor from Barcelona -agreed, on June 7th, 1351, to make the stalls at the rate of 45 libras -of Barcelona for each.[329] The detail of some parts of the woodwork is -exceedingly good, and evidently of the middle of the fourteenth century, -so that it is clear they are the very stalls referred to in the -agreement. There is ample length in the proper choir for them, and they -must have been moved into the nave in unwise obedience to the common -modern Spanish arrangement, which was certainly never more entirely -unfortunate and destructive of effect than it is here. - -It will be seen, by reference to the Appendix, that though the -architects consulted were fairly unanimous as to the possibility of -building the single nave, they were by no means so in their -recommendation of it as the best plan. The general feeling seems to have -been decidedly adverse to it; and we may assume that the Chapter decided -on it partly because it was already commenced, and partly because it -promised to be a cheaper plan than the other. There seems also to have -been great dread on the part of the Chapter of interfering in any way -with the wall which now forms the east end of the nave, for fear lest, -when it was cut into for the introduction of the respond of the nave -arcade, the whole should give way. - -Paschasius de Xulbe, one of the architects questioned, gives the -valuable answer, that if the nave is of triple division in width, the -groining of the choir must be raised in order that it may correspond in -its measurements to its third; from which it is pretty clear that he -spoke of a then recognized system of proportioning the height to the -width of a building. - -Guillermo Sagrera, master of the works at St. John Perpiñan, tells us, -in his answer, that the choir was originally built with the intention of -having a single nave; and this will account for the otherwise -unintelligible finish of its western wall, which it is clear, from the -tenour of all the answers, was not prepared for any arches in the nave. -I am not certain indeed whether we are not to assume, in reading the -questions asked by the Chapter, that the Romanesque nave was itself of -the same plan and dimensions; and the vast width of the old nave of -Toulouse Cathedral--sixty-three feet--affords an example, at no great -distance from Gerona, of the fact that architects, even so early as the -beginning of the thirteenth century, were not afraid to propose and -execute works on so unusual a scale. - -I will not quote farther from the answers of the architects, because -they well deserve to be read in detail; but it is a satisfaction to be -able to say that their conviction of the practicability of the work has -been amply justified, inasmuch as, even to the present day, there is -scarcely a sign of a settlement or crack throughout the entire building. - -It is difficult to express a positive opinion as to the original -intention of the architect in regard to the design and finish of the -exterior of this part of the church. The gable walls have been altered, -the roofs renewed, and the original termination of the buttresses -destroyed. At no time however, I think, can it have looked well. The -position is charming, on the edge of a steep, rocky hill falling down to -the river, and girt on its north side by the old many-towered city wall; -yet with all these advantages it is now a decidedly ugly work, and the -nave looks bald, and large out of all proportion to the subdivided, -lower, and over-delicately-treated choir. On the west side the whole -character of the church is Pagan;[330] and I well remember the -astonishment with which, when I had climbed the long flight of broad -steps which leads to the western door, I looked down the stupendous -interior, for which I had been so little prepared! - -The effect is not a little enhanced by the dark colour of the stone, -which has never been polluted by whitewash; but there are some defects. -The want of length has already been noticed; the entire absence of -stringcourses inside is not pleasant; and the lowering of the arches -into the chapels in the second bay from the west wall, where there are -three in place of the two in each of the other bays, breaks the main -lines of the design very awkwardly. The mouldings too, as might be -expected in work of so late a date, are nowhere very first-rate, though -they certainly retain generally the character of late fourteenth-century -work. - -The doorway on the south side of the nave is remarkable in one respect. -It has in its jambs a series of statues of the Apostles, executed in -terra-cotta; and the agreement for their execution, made, in A.D. 1458, -with the artist Berenguer Cervia, binds him to execute them for six -hundred florins, and “of the same earth as the statue of Sta. Eulalia -and the cross of the new doorway at Barcelona.”[331] This doorway is -very large, but bald and poor in detail; the statues to which the -contract refers still remain, and are in good preservation. - -There is nothing more specially worth noticing in the fabric; but -fortunately the choir still retains precious relics in the Retablo -behind, and the baldachin above, the high-altar. There are also said to -be some frontals of the altar still preserved, which are of silver, and -which were originally adorned with precious stones, and with an -inscription which proves them to have been made before the consecration -of the church, in A.D. 1038. Unfortunately they were not in their place -when I was at Gerona, and so I missed seeing them.[332] The Retablo is -of wood entirely covered with silver plates, and divided vertically into -three series of niches and canopies; each division has a subject, and a -good deal of enamelling is introduced in various parts of the canopies -and grounds of the panels. Each panel has a cinquefoiled arch with a -crocketed gablet and pinnacles on either side. The straight line of the -top is broken by three niches, which rise in the centre and at either -end. In the centre is the Blessed Virgin with our Lord; on the right, -San Narcisso; and on the left, San Feliu. The three tiers of subjects -contain (_a_) figures of saints, (_b_) subjects from the life of the -Blessed Virgin, and (_c_) subjects from the life of our Lord. A monument -in one of the chapels gives some account of this precious work; for -though it is called a ciborium, it is also spoken of as being of silver, -which, I believe, the actual ciborium is not.[333] The date of this -monument is 1362; but in the ‘Liber Notularum’ for A.D. 1320, 21, and -22, it seems that the Chapter devoted 3000 libras for the reparation of -the Retablo, though it was not till A.D. 1346 that the work was -finished, and the altar finally fixed in its present position.[334] The -whole of the work is therefore before this date; and probably the -Retablo and the baldachin date from the period between the two dates -last given, viz. A.D. 1320 and A.D. 1348. - -[Illustration: Altar, Gerona.] - -The baldachin is, like the Retablo, of wood covered with thin plates of -metal. It stands upon four shafts, the lower portions of which are of -dark marble resting on the moulded footpace round the altar. These four -shafts have capitals and bands, the latter being set round with -enamelled coats-of-arms. The canopy is a sort of very flat quadripartite -vault covered with small figures; but on both my visits to Gerona it has -been so dark in the choir as to render it impossible to make out the -subjects. The central subject seems to be the Coronation of the Blessed -Virgin, and in the eastern division is a sitting figure of our Lord -with saints on either side. In order to show the figures on the roof of -the baldachin as much as possible, the two eastern columns are much -lower than the western, the whole roof having thus a slope up towards -the west. A singular arrangement was contrived behind the altar--a white -marble seat for the bishop raised by several steps on either side to the -level of the altar, and placed under the central arch of the apse. Here, -when the bishop celebrated pontifically, he sat till the oblation, and -returned to it again to give the benediction to the people.[335] - -[Illustration: Wheel of Bells, Gerona.] - -The church is full of other objects of interest. Against the north wall -is a very pretty example of a wheel of bells: this is all of wood, -corbelled out from the wall, and is rung with a noisy jingle of silver -bells at the elevation of the Host. Near it is a doorway leading into -the sacristy, I think, which is very ingeniously converted into a -monument. It has a square lintel and a pointed arch above: bold corbels -on either side carry a high tomb, the base of which is just over the -lintel; this is arcaded at the side and ends, and on its sloping top is -a figure of a knight. The favourite type of monument in this part of -Spain is generally a coped tomb carried on corbels, which are usually -lions or other beasts: there are good examples of this kind both in the -church and cloister; and in the latter there is also preserved a great -wooden cross, which looks as though it had originally decorated a -rood-loft. - -The windows have a good deal of very late stained-glass, which consists -generally of single figures under canopies. I have already mentioned the -fine early wood-work in the Coro. In the fifteenth century this was -altered and added to: and a seat was then made for the bishop in the -centre of the western side of the Coro, which has enormous pieces of -carved open-work on either side executed with uncommon vigour and skill. -These, again, were added to afterwards by a Renaissance artist, so that -it is now necessary to discriminate carefully between the work of -various ages. - -If, when the cathedral has been thoroughly studied, one goes out through -the cloister, an external door at its north-western angle leads out to -the top of a steep path from which an extremely picturesque view is -obtained. The old town walls girt the cathedral on the north side; but -in the eleventh century it was thought well to add to them, and a second -wall descends, crosses the valley below, and rises against the opposite -hill in a very picturesque fashion. This wall has the passage-way -perfect all round, and occasional circular towers project from it. The -eye is at once caught in looking at this view by a fine Romanesque -church with a half-ruined cloister and lofty octagonal steeple, which -seems to be absolutely built across and through the walls. This is the -Benedictine church of San Pedro de los Galligans;[336] and a closer -inspection shows that what at first looks like the round-tower of the -town walls, against which the church has been built, is really the very -apse of the church, which when the new walls were built was raised and -converted above into a purely military work. The earliest reference to -this church that I have found is a statement that it existed in the -tenth century, and that, in A.D. 1117, the Count Ramon of Barcelona gave -it to the Benedictine convent of Sta. Maria de la Crassa, in the -bishopric of Carcassonne, of which his brother was Abbat; and I think we -may safely assume that the whole of the existing church was built within -a short time of its transfer from the hands of the Secular to those of -the Regular Clergy. - -The church[337] consists of a nave and aisles of four bays, the arches -being very rude, and the piers plain and square. There are north and -south transepts, the former having one, and the latter two eastern -apsidal chapels; and the choir is also finished with an apse. There is -another apse at the north end of the north transept. The nave is roofed -with a round waggon-vault with plain cross-ribs carried on engaged -shafts; and there is a clerestory of single-light windows which, on the -inside, break up partly into the vault of the roof. The aisles are -roofed with half-waggon or quadrant vaults, and the apses with -semi-domes. The octagonal steeple is built above the north transept, and -has in the eastern wall of its first stage two apsidal recesses, which -seem to have been intended for altars, and are roofed with semi-domes. -The detail of some of the work at the east end is of an unusual kind: it -is built in stone and black volcanic scoriæ, and its rude character is -evidence of its early date. Any one who is acquainted with the noble -church at Elne, near Perpiñan, will remember the similar use of volcanic -scoriæ there, and will be led to class the two monuments together as -works of the same hand and period. The view of the exterior of the -church from the north-west is very striking. There is a fine western -door with a good deal of carving very delicately and elaborately -wrought, one of the capitals having a very careful imitation of a -fern-leaf on it; above the doorway a horizontal cornice is carried all -across the front, and over this is a fine rose window. The side walls -are finished with dentil-courses; and the clerestory--which is carried -up very high above the springing of the vault inside--is finished with -an eaves-arcading also. There were no windows in the side walls of the -aisle; and the clerestory windows, and a window at the west end of the -north aisle, have bold splays on the outside as well as inside. - -The steeple has been much altered; but the original design of the two -upper (and octagonal) stages seems to have had a two-light window with a -bold central shaft, angle-pilasters, and stringcourses, with shallow -arcading below them. - -On the south side are the cloisters. They are locked up and in ruins; -and though I tried two or three times, I was never able to gain -admission to them; but I saw them from the hill above, and they looked -at this distance as if they were designed very much after the pattern of -those attached to the cathedral. The arches are round, and carried on -coupled detached shafts, with piers in the centre of each side of the -cloister. The roof seems to have been a barrel-vault, but great part of -it has now fallen in. All this havoc and ruin is owing, like so much -that one sees in Spain, to the action of the French troops during the -Peninsular war.[338] - -The whole character of this church is very interesting. The west front -reminded me much of the best Italian Romanesque; and the rude simplicity -of the interior--so similar in its mode of construction to the great -church at Santiago in the opposite corner of the Peninsula--suggests the -probability of its being one of the earliest examples of which Spain can -boast. - -[Illustration: No. 42. - -SAN PEDRO, GERONA. - -EXTERIOR FROM THE NORTH-WEST. p. 330] - -Close to San Pedro, to the north-west, stands another church, which, -though it is very small, is fully as curious. This is now desecrated and -converted into workshops and dwelling-houses. It is transverse triapsal -in plan (_i.e._, the transepts and the chancel are all finished with -apses). The Crossing is surmounted by a low tower or lantern, square -below, but octagonal above, and with some remains of an apparently old -tiled roof. The transepts are ceiled with semi-domes, and the chancel -was similarly covered, but its vault has now been removed in order to -facilitate access to the steeple, in which a peasant and his family -live. The nave is roofed with a waggon-vault, at the springing of which -from the wall is a small moulding; and its walls are supported by -buttresses, which do not seem to be earlier than the thirteenth century, -though the rest of the church must date no doubt from the early part of -the twelfth. The exterior is very plain; but the chancel apse is divided -by pilasters which run up to and finish in a corbel-table at the eaves; -and the tower has also an eaves’ corbel-table. All the dimensions of -this church are very small, but it is interesting, as being almost the -only example I have seen in Spain of a transverse triapsal plan; and the -central lantern is one of the earliest examples of what became in later -days one of the most common features of Spanish buildings.[339] - -We came down the hill north of the cathedral to see this church and San -Pedro; and if we retrace our steps, and go out by the western door on to -the platform at the top of the vast flight of steps which leads up to -the cathedral, we shall be at once struck by the beautiful, though -truncated, spire of San Feliu, which stands below, and to the west of -the cathedral. Indeed, in nearly all views of the old city, this steeple -claims the first place in our regard; and perhaps it is seen best of all -in crossing the river at the other end of the town, where it stands at -the end of the vista up the stream, which is edged on either side by the -backs of the tall, picturesque, and crowded houses. - -San Feliu[340] is one of the oldest collegiate foundations in the -diocese of Gerona; and when, in the eighth century, the Moors converted -the cathedral into a mosque, here it was that the Christian rites were -celebrated. No doubt, therefore, a church stood here long before the -first recorded notices of the fabric, for these do not occur before the -early part of the fourteenth century, save such indications of work in -progress as the bequest of ten solidos to the work by Bishop William in -A.D. 1245, and such evidence of its damage or destruction as is the fact -that the French, attacking the city in A.D. 1285, obtained possession of -the church and did it much damage. In A.D. 1313, when the Chapter of the -cathedral were obtaining royal concessions towards the work of their own -church, they granted an exemption to San Feliu, giving to its clergy the -first-fruits of their benefices to spend on the work of their own -church.[341] In A.D. 1318 there is evidence that the choir was -completed, but other works were going on during the rest of the century. -In A.D. 1340 the Chapter determined to erect cloisters, under the -direction of an architect named Sancii, and bought a site for them to -the north of the church; and the _operarius_ or canon in charge of the -work seems to have raised alms for them even so far off as at Valencia -and in the Balearic Isles. The work was begun in A.D. 1357 and finished -in 1368, in which year the Chapter entered into a contract[342] with an -architect, one Pedro Zacoma, for the erection of the campanile. In A.D. -1363, however, it was deemed necessary, on account of the position of -the church just outside the old walls, and on the north of the town, -that it should be fortified; and to accomplish this work, and others of -the same kind ordered in A.D. 1374 and 1385, the cloisters so recently -built were destroyed. The steeple is said to have been finished in -1392,[343] Pedro Zacoma having acted as architect as late as A.D. 1376. - -The church bears evident marks of many alterations and additions. It -consists of nave and aisles, transepts, central apse, and two apsidal -chapels on the east side of the south, and one on the east of the north -transept. The piers are plain square masses of masonry, and the main -arches are semi-circular, unmoulded, and springing from a very plain -abacus. There is a kind of triforium, an arcade of three divisions in -each bay, and a fair pointed vault of ten bays--two to each bay of the -nave arcade--carried on groining-shafts corbelled out from the wall. The -north transept retains a waggon-vault, the axis of which is north and -south, whilst the south transept has two bays of cross vaulting. The -eastern apse is circular in plan, but divided into seven groining bays, -and lighted by three windows of three lights. The apses of the south -transept are also circular, lighted by lancets, and groined with -semi-domes, though the arches into the transept are pointed. The general -character of the later part of this church is, I should say, that of -late first-pointed work; yet it is pretty clear that it is almost all a -work of the fourteenth century. There is a fine fourteenth-century south -porch, with some good arcading in its side walls, in which the tracery -is all executed with soffeit-cusping. - -Of the western steeple I need not say very much, as my sketch shows the -nature of its design, and the evidence as to its date is evidently very -accurate. The character of the architectural detail is quite that of -flamboyant-work, and the outline is bold, original, and good. It is -seldom indeed that the junction of the tower and spire is more happily -managed than it is here; and before the destruction of the upper part of -the spire, the whole effect must have been singularly graceful. This is -the more remarkable in a country where a genuine spire is so rare a -feature; but the architect was fortunate in following the customs of the -country when he made his steeple octagonal in plan, for it is extremely -difficult--one may almost say impossible--to put a spire upon an -octagonal tower the outline of which shall not be graceful. In an arch -against the wall of this tower is a tomb resting on lions jutting out -from the wall, and with the date 1387 in the inscription. It is a good -example of the late date to which this early-looking type of monument -continued to be used in Spain. - -[Illustration: Spire of San Feliu.] - -This church has a rather elaborate wooden Retablo, carved and gilt with -subjects painted on its panels. The pulpit is also old, and has rich, -late flamboyant tracery panels: it is placed against a pier on the south -side of the nave, and a second modern pulpit faces it on the north. The -old metal screen also remains: it is rather rude, and has prickets for -candles along it, each of which has a sort of frame which looks as -though it were meant to hold a glass. - -There are also a few remains of old domestic buildings. A house near the -cathedral has the usual Catalan features of trefoiled _ajimez_ windows, -and a doorway with a prodigiously deep archivolt. Another house near San -Feliu has a broad window with a square-headed opening; the head is an -ogee arch, with tracery in the tympanum, and over all is a square-headed -label-moulding. It is not an elegant window, yet it has some value as -an example of an opening as large as we usually adopt now-a-days, and -with a square head. The most interesting house, however, is the Fonda de -la Estrella, the principal inn in the town. The windows here are capital -examples of shafted windows of the end of the twelfth century. The -shafts are very delicate (4¼ inches by 6 ft. 1 inch); the capitals are -well carved with men and animals, and the carved abacus is carried from -window to window. The windows are of three lights, and with only a -narrow space of wall between them. The back of this house is less -altered than the front: on the ground it has an arcade of four round -arches, on the first floor five windows of the same sort as these just -described, but simpler, and above this a series of pilasters, which now -carry the roof. There must have been arches I think to this open upper -stage. - -There is another house in the same street, and just opposite the inn, of -rather later date, but also with early _ajimez_ windows, and this had -also an open stage below the roof. - -The whole city looks picturesque and old, and I daresay a more careful -search than I had time for would be rewarded with further discoveries of -old remains. Most of the houses are arcaded below, and their lower -stories are groined, the cells of the vaults being filled in with bricks -laid in herring-bone patterns. - -From Gerona to Barcelona there are two railways branching from the -station at Empalme. That which follows the coast passes by several small -towns facing the sea, in which there are many remains of old walls and -castles, and not a few _ajimez_ windows. It is, in short, a charming -ride in every way. The other line going inland also passes a very -striking country, and some old towns. Hostalrich is a very picturesque -old walled town, with its walls and towers all fairly perfect. Fornelles -has a good church, with a low crocketed spire on an octagonal steeple, -brought to a square just below the belfry-stage. Granollers has a rather -good fourteenth-century church, of the same general character as the -Barcelona churches of the same date. It has a nave of five bays, and an -apse of seven sides, with a tower at the north-west angle. Some trace of -an earlier church remains in a round-arched western door. The western -bay is occupied by a late fifteenth-century groined gallery carried on -an elliptic arch, with a parapet pierced with richly-cusped circles. The -staircase to this gallery is in a sort of aisle or side chapel, and has -an extremely well managed iron hand-railing, supported by occasional -uprights, and quite worthy of imitation. The tower has a delicate newel -staircase in its angle: the newel has a spiral moulding, and the under -side of the steps is very carefully wrought. The upper part of the -steeple is like those of Barcelona cathedral--an irregular octagon, and -has a traceried parapet and low spire. There is a very rich late wooden -pulpit, corbelled out from the wall, through which a door is pierced, -and some rich woodwork is placed at the head of the steps leading to it. -The apse has two-light and single-light windows in the alternate sides, -and the nave the latter only. Small chapels are formed between the -buttresses, and these are also lighted with small windows. On the whole -this church has a good many features of interest, and its very -considerable height gives it greater dignity than our own churches of -the same class have. - -On the road from Gerona into France I have seen only one or two -churches. At Figueras the cathedral has a steeple extremely similar to -that just described at Granollers, and evidently of the same date. The -sides of the octagon are not equal, and bells are hung in the windows, -and one in an arched frame at the top. This tower is on the north side -of the nave, which has four bays, transepts, and a Renaissance central -dome covered with glazed tiles. The fabric of the nave seems to be of -the thirteenth century, having lancet windows and buttresses of great -projection rather well designed, chapels occupying the space between -them. The west door label runs up to, and is terminated by, a long -cross. At la Junquera, between Figueras and the frontier, the little -Parroquia has the date of A.D. 1413 on the door. Its only feature of -interest is the tower, which has a staircase carried on arches thrown -from side to side of the tower, and having a square opening or well-hole -in the centre. The same kind of staircase has been described in the -church of San Roman at Toledo. - -From hence a pleasant road among the mountains, beautifully clothed here -with cork-trees, and disclosing charming views at every turn, leads by -the frontier fortress of Bellegarde, over the Col de Pertús, and so on -down the eastern side of the Pyrenees to Perpiñan. Here, if we look only -at the map of modern France, my notes ought to stop. But Perpiñan was of -old a Spanish city, and its buildings are so thoroughly Spanish in their -character that I may venture to say a very few words about them.[344] - -The church of San Juan is of very remarkable dimensions. The clear width -of the nave is sixty feet, but in the easternmost bay this is gathered -in to fifty-four feet, which is the diameter of the seven-sided apse. -Guillermo Sagrera, master of the works of this cathedral, was one of the -architects summoned to advise about the erection of the nave at Gerona, -and I think there can be but little doubt that the plan of this church -was his handiwork, and that it was erected, therefore, at the beginning -of the fifteenth century. It will be seen that he was one of the -architects who spoke most strongly in favour of the erection of a broad -unbroken nave. The vault he erected here is of brick with stone ribs, -and the brickwork is rather rough, with very wide mortar joints, and -looks as if from the first it were intended to plaster and paint it. The -roofs of the chapels which are built between the large buttresses have -flat gables north and south, and the same arrangement is carried round -the apse. The most striking feature in this cathedral is that very rare -thing--a very fine mediæval organ. It is corbelled out from the north -wall of the nave, and is of great size and height. The pipes are -arranged in traceried compartments at five different levels. This -complicates the machinery for the supply of wind, but adds greatly to -the picturesque character of the instrument. Originally this organ had -great painted shutters, which are now nailed up against the wall close -to the south porch. The width of its front is about twenty-five feet, -its projection from the wall three feet six inches, and the organist -sits in a gallery at its base.[345] - -There are several good old houses here: but I must content myself with -the mention of one only in the Rue de la Barre. Here we have the -peculiarities of the Spanish houses, as they are seen along the coast -from Gerona to Valencia, very decidedly developed: the windows are all -_ajimez_, with the usual delicate trefoiled head to the lights, and -slender shafts between them, and the arch-stones of the doorway are more -than usually enormous, being little less than six feet in length. - -A drive of a few miles from Perpiñan leads to the extremely interesting -church at Elne, consecrated in _A.D._ 1058.[346] Here, as in San Pedro, -Gerona, and to the east of it in the cathedral at Agde, there are -occasional lines of black volcanic scoriæ used in the Romanesque steeple -and west front, and with good effect. The nave of the church has a -pointed barrel vault, and the aisles half-barrel vaults, but all the -cross arches are semi-circular. At the west end is a sort of -thirteenth-century narthex, and the three apses at the east have -semi-domes. On the north side of the church is a noble cloister, planned -just like that in the cathedral at Gerona with the most complete -disregard to symmetry. It is extremely similar to it also in general -design: but it is very remarkable as having its east and north sides -erected about the end of the thirteenth century in evident and very -close imitation of the earlier work on the other two sides. The vaulting -throughout the cloister is of the later date, and raised considerably -above the level of the old vault. The whole of this cloister is wrought -in a veined white marble, and a door from it into the church is built in -alternated courses of red and white marble. - -On the whole S. Elne well deserves a visit, not only on account of the -extreme interest of its church and cloister, but, to the student of -Spanish architecture, on account of the very important link which it -supplies in the chain which connects the early Spanish with the early -French buildings of the middle ages. - -The history of Cataluña shows how intimate was the connection of the -people and towns on both sides of the mountains, and it is here and -elsewhere in the south of France that we see the germ of almost all the -mediæval Spanish art. - -[Illustration: GERONA:--Ground Plan of Cathedral &c. - -S. Daniel or(?) S. Nicholas. - -S. Pedro De Los Galligans. - -Plate XVIII - -Published by John Murray. Albemarle Street 1865] - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -MANRESA--LÉRIDA. - - -THE railway which connects Barcelona with Zaragoza enables the -ecclesiologist to see some of the best buildings in this part of Spain -with great ease. As far as Manresa its course is extremely picturesque, -as it winds about among the Catalan hills, in sight, for a considerable -part of the way, of that wonderful jagged mountain-range of Montserrat, -which, after much experience of mountains, strikes me more each time -that I see it as among the very noblest of rocks. I know not its height -above the sea, but its vast precipitous mass, rising suddenly from among -the ordinary features of a landscape, and entirely unconnected with any -other mountain range, produces an impression of size which may possibly -be vastly in excess of the reality. Its sky-line is everywhere formed by -grand pointed pinnacles, or aiguilles of rock, and the whole mass is of -a pale grey colour which adds very much to its effect. The convent is a -considerable distance below the summit; but as there appears, so far as -I can learn, to be nothing left of any of its mediæval buildings, I was -obliged to deny myself the pleasure of the climb to the summit of the -rock, which a visit to the monastery would have excused, and in part, -indeed, entailed. To the north of the line of the railway the hills rise -gradually almost to the dignity of mountains, and suggest a beautiful -situation for that old episcopal city--Vique--whose fine cathedral seems -to have been destroyed and rebuilt, but where there is still to be seen -a very rich late middle-pointed cloister. Everywhere the richly-coloured -soil teems with produce; here vineyards and there corn-fields, all of -them divided by long parallel lines of olives and standard peaches; -whilst the deep river dells, clothed with cork-trees, stone pines, or -underwood, add immensely to the interest of the road, which constantly -crosses them. - -Beyond Manresa the character of the country changes completely; and when -he has once reached the frontier of Aragon, the traveller has his only -pleasure in the fine distant views of the Pyrenees; and if his journey -be made in the spring--in the sight of a vast extent of corn-fields, -stretching on all sides far as the eye can see. In the summer nothing -can be more saddening than the change which comes over this country; the -corn is all cut before the end of May, and then the universal -light-brown colour of the soil makes the landscape all but intolerably -tame and uninteresting. - -[Illustration: MANRESA: COLLEGIATE: CHURCH:--Ground: Plan: Pl. XIX. - -Published by John Murray Albemarle St. 1865] - -Two or three old buildings are seen from the railway. Between Sardanola -and Sabadell is a house with a tower, in which is a very good -round-arched _ajimez_ window. At Tarrasa the churches evidently deserve -examination. There is one with a lofty central lantern, and of -transverse triapsal plan, which seems to be entirely Romanesque in -character; and there is another of the usual later Catalan type, seven -bays in length, with an apse of five sides, a tower on the south side of -the choir, and a large rose-window at the west end. Near the same town, -to the north, is a Romanesque village church with a lofty belfry, which, -like that of the early church in the town itself, has belfry-windows of -two lights, with a dividing shaft, and a low square spire-roof. A church -of the same type is seen near Monistrol--the station for -Montserrat,--and from this point there is nothing to be noticed until -Manresa is reached, picturesquely situated on the steep hill above the -river Cardener, with two or three churches and convents, and a great -Collegiata--or collegiate church--towering up imposingly above -everything else. But if the situation of this church is noble, the -building itself is even more so; and having passed it in my first -journey, I was so much struck by its size and character that I made a -point of going again to the same district, in order to examine it at my -leisure. The town is poor and decayed; but I was there on a _festa_, and -have seldom had a better opportunity of seeing the Catalan peasantry, -who thronged the streets, the Plazas, and the churches, and made them -lively with bright colours and noisy tongues. There was a church -consecrated on the same site in A.D. 1020, and it is of this probably -that a fragment still remains on the north side. The rest has been -destroyed, and Fr. J. Villanueva[347] says that the existing church was -commenced in A.D. 1328,--a date which accords very well with the detail -of the earlier portion of the work,--but he does not give his authority -for the statement. I have not been able to find any other evidence which -would fix the date of the dedication or completion of the building; but -as Arnaldo de Valleras, one of the architects consulted in 1416 as to -the design for Gerona cathedral, speaks of himself as then engaged on -the construction of the church of Manresa, there can be but little doubt -that at this time the Collegiata was still unfinished, having, as the -detail of the design suggests, been a long time in progress. It is of -the common Catalan type of the fourteenth century, and though it is one -of the most important examples of its class, it presents so few new or -unusual features that it hardly seems to require a very lengthy -description. Its design is in nearly all respects of the same kind as -those of the Barcelonese churches of the same age; but its plan[348] is -very remarkable, as giving, perhaps, the widest span of nave anywhere to -be seen in a church with aisles and a clerestory. Or perhaps I ought to -limit myself to examples on the mainland, for at Palma in Mallorca the -width of the nave of the cathedral seems to be even greater, and the -plan is almost exactly the same. The scheme is very similar to that of -Sta. Maria del Mar, Barcelona, but the width of the nave here is -considerably greater, and the general effect of the interior is even -finer. The buttresses are necessarily of vast size, and are formed -partly inside and partly outside the church. A lofty tower is erected -over one of the bays of the north aisle, and the two nave columns which -carry it are in consequence built of larger dimensions than any of the -others. A fine Romanesque doorway still remains in the wall, just -outside this tower, and leads now into the modern cloister court; but -the principal entrances to the church are by grand doorways of the same -age as the church, whose jambs and arches have rich continuous -mouldings. These doorways are opposite each other, and just to the west -of the apse, a position of much importance in regard to the ritual -arrangements of the church. There is also a western doorway, but this, -together with the rest of the west front, has all been modernized, -whilst the cloister and its chapels appear to be entirely modern. - -The magnificent scale of the plan is perhaps hardly supported as it -should be by the beauty of the design in detail. In its present state it -is hardly fair to judge of the original effect of the exterior, but -inside one is struck by the enormous width and height, and not at all by -the beauty of the details. The columns are of vast height and size: but -plain piers, with poor bases and capitals, and poverty-stricken arches, -seem out of place in such a church, and, owing to the enormous size of -the vault, the clerestory windows are but little seen in the general -view of the interior. - -The columns are simple octagons in plan, and of great size: they have -poor, shallow, carved capitals, which support the very thin-looking main -arches, and the large moulded piers which carry the groining. This is -quadripartite throughout, and has very bold ribs, with carved bosses at -the meeting of the diagonal ribs. The window traceries throughout are of -rich geometrical character, and savour rather of German influence than -of French. Those in the aisles are generally of two lights, and in the -clerestory of three and four lights--the window in the eastern bay of -the apse being of four lights, whilst those in the other bays are only -of three. - -The whole roof of the aisles is paved with stone laid on the back of the -vault, as at Toledo cathedral, with gutters following the lines of the -vaulting ribs, and the water is carried down into the pockets of the -vaults, and thence through the buttresses into gurgoyles. Over this -roof--which seemed to me to be undoubtedly the old one--a modern wooden -roof covered with pantiles has been erected, which blocks up all the -lower part of the clerestory windows, and is carried in a very clumsy -fashion on arches thrown across between the flying buttresses. The nave -roof is now all covered with pantiles laid on the vault itself, so that -from below the church has the effect, already noticed at Barcelona, of -being roofless. This is certainly not the old arrangement, but whether -of old there was any visible roof to any of these late Catalan churches -I am wholly unable to say. - -The flying buttresses are double in height, the lower arches abutting -against the wall a few feet above the sills of the clerestory windows, -and the upper somewhat above their springing. It is possible that this -upper flying buttress is an addition to the original design, provided to -meet some settlement in the fabric, for many of the buttresses have only -the lower arch, which would hardly be the case if they had all been -executed at the same time. The buttresses generally are finished with -crocketed pediments, but there are now no traces to be seen of their -pinnacles, or of the parapets between them. A lofty octagonal staircase -turret is carried up to the height of the clerestory against one of the -outer angles of the aisle wall, and a passageway from it to the -clerestory roof is boldly carried upon an arch, which takes the place of -a flying buttress. - -[Illustration: No. 43. - -MANRESA p. 342 - -INTERIOR OF THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH.] - -The steeple is lofty: it is entered by old doorways opening on to the -paved roof of the aisles, and is groined both under and above the bells. -An old newel staircase in one angle has been destroyed, and steps -projecting from the side walls have been ingeniously introduced -instead. On the top of the tower a large bell is suspended from the -intersection of four arched stone ribs; these ribs rise about -twenty-five feet from the roof, are about one foot six inches thick, and -abut against piers or dwarf pinnacles at the base, about four feet deep -by one foot eleven inches thick. Two architects, said to be -French--though their names seem to me to be those of Catalans--Juan Font -and Giralt Cantarell, are said to have worked at this steeple from 1572 -to 1590,[349] and no doubt it was this upper portion on which they -wrought. - -The sacristies on the south-east side of the apse are old, but not -interesting. The only antiquities I saw in them were four fine -processional staves, with tops of silver richly wrought with tracery in -the sides, and crocketed gables over the traceries. Behind the openings -of tracery the plate is gilt, the rest being all silver. - -The arrangement of the interior of the church for service follows that -usually seen in these enormously wide buildings. Within the apse the -choir is formed by means of iron _grilles_, leaving a passage some ten -feet wide all round it, and under the choir is a crypt as at Barcelona -cathedral, approached in the same way, by a flight of steps from the -nave. The Coro is placed, according to the common fashion, in the nave, -occupying about two of its bays in length, and there is an equal space -to the west of it, between its eastern screen and the steps to the -Capilla mayor. The width of the Coro is much less than that of the nave, -and its enclosing walls are mainly old. At first sight, therefore, it -seems to be a good example of an early introduction of this common -Spanish arrangement: but on closer view it appears to have been taken -down and rebuilt, and may not, possibly, retain its old position. But, -on the other hand, the two great doors in the side walls would never -have been placed where they are if the Coro had occupied its usual -English position to the west of the altar enclosure. The plan of -Barcelona cathedral has just the same arrangement of great doorways -north and south between the Coro and the altar, and there, beyond any -doubt, the Coro is in its old place; and seeing how close the points of -similarity are in both churches, it must, I think, be assumed that even -if this screen at Manresa has been rebuilt it still occupies its old -place. It is a work of the fifteenth century, of stone, arcaded on -either side of a central western doorway. The divisions of the arcade -have figures painted within them of the apostles and other saints. The -stalls and fittings of the Coro are all of Renaissance character. - -On either side of the altar there still remain three octagonal shafts -with carved capitals, to which, no doubt, were originally hung the -curtains or veils which protected the altar. They are of the same date -as the church, and about ten feet six inches in height. The footpace is -also old, and placed exactly in the centre of the apse. The richest -treasure here is, however, still to be described. Among a number of -altar-frontals, neither better nor worse than are usually seen, there is -still preserved one which, after much study of embroidery in all parts -of Europe, I may, I believe, safely pronounce to be the most beautiful -work of its age. It is 10 feet long, by 2 feet 10¾ inches in height, -divided into three compartments in width, the centre division having the -Crucifixion, and the sides being each subdivided into nine divisions, -each containing a subject from the life of our Lord.[350] An inscription -at the lower edge of the frontal preserves the name of the artist to -whom this great work is owing. It is in Lombardic capitals, and as -follows:-- - - GERI: LAPI: RACHAMATORE: MEFECIT: INFLORENTIA. - -The work is all done on fine linen doubled. The faces, hands, and many -other parts--as, _e.g._, the masonry of a wall--are drawn with brown ink -on the linen, and very delicately shaded with a brush. The use of ink -for the faces is very common in early embroidery, but I have never -before seen work so elaborately finished with all the art of the -painter. The faces are full of beauty and expression, and have much of -the tender religious sentiment one sees in the work of Fra Angelico. The -drawing is extremely good, the horses like those Benozzo Gozzoli -painted, and the men dressed in Florentine dresses of the early part of -the fifteenth century. The subjects are full of intricacy, the -Crucifixion having the whole subject, with the crucifixion of the -thieves, and all the crowd of figures so often represented. - -The work is marvellously delicate--so much so that, passing the hand -over it, it is difficult to tell exactly when it ends and the painting -begins. The colours are generally very fresh and beautiful; but the gold -backgrounds being very lightly stitched down are a good deal frayed. -There are borders between and around all the subjects. Such a piece of -embroidery makes one almost despair. English ladies who devotedly apply -themselves to this kind of work have as yet no conception of the -delicacy of the earlier works, and reproduce only too often the coarse -patterns of the latest English school.[351] - -In the choir-aisle is a wheel of bells in its old case, and under the -organ is the favourite Catalan device of a Saracen’s head. - -A picturesque effect was produced in the church here by the large white -flannel hoods which all the women wore at mass. The church was crowded -with people, and these white hoods contrasted well with the -many-coloured bags or sacks--red and violet predominating--which the men -always wear on their heads. - -[Illustration: Wheel of Bells.] - -I saw two other old churches here. That “del Carmen” is of the same age -as the Collegiata, with a nave of six bays and an apse of seven sides. -It is forty-seven feet wide in the clear, without aisles, has chapels -between the buttresses, and is lighted by large clerestory-windows. -Here, as at the cathedral, almost all the windows are blocked, and -sufficient light seems to be obtained for the whole church by some ten -or twelve holes about two feet square pierced here and there. The other -church is of the same description, but less important. - -Between Manresa and Lérida, the only town of any importance is Cervera. -Here there is a vast and hideous university building going to ruin; and -two churches, one of which, with a square steeple, seems to be early in -date, and the other--that of Sta. Maria, I believe--of the usual Catalan -fourteenth-century type. This steeple was completed, in A.D. 1431, by an -architect of Cervera, Pedro de Vall-llebrera; but it must have been long -in progress, inasmuch as the principal bell--which was never to be -tolled save for the funeral of a peer, a royal officer, or a bishop--was -put in its place in A.D. 1377.[352] This bell has disappeared. On -another, however, is this inscription:--“I.H.S.. Mateus. de. Ulmo. -magister. cimbalorum. ville. Cervariæ. me. fecit. anno. a. nativitate. -Domini. millesimo. quadringentesimo. vigesimo. quarto. Si. ergo. me. -queritis. sinite. os. habire.” And on another--“+ Barbara. nos. serva. -Christi. sanctissima. serva.” - -Between Cervera and Lérida the country is very uninteresting until near -the end of the journey, when a good view of Lérida, and the cliff above -the river, is obtained. I have twice visited this interesting old city. -In the autumn of 1861 I passed a day there, when the greater part of my -time was spent in endeavouring to get admission into the cathedral, so -that I only saw enough to make me wish to repeat my visit; and this I -was fortunately able to accomplish in the spring of 1862. My readers -will agree with me, when they have realized to themselves what is to be -seen, that such a cathedral as that of Lérida is in itself worth the -journey from England. Unfortunately its examination will always be beset -with difficulties--if indeed it is allowed at all when visitors become -more numerous than they have been hitherto. - -The town consists mainly of one very long, tortuous street parallel with -the river Segre, a broad, rapid stream, carrying the waters of a large -part of the southern slopes of the Pyrenees into the Ebro at Mequinenza. -There is an Alameda all along the river-bank, and at about midway in its -length a large stone bridge across the river. Behind the town a hill -rises rapidly--in some parts abruptly--to an elevation of, I suppose, -about three hundred feet above the river; and on the summit of this -stand the old cathedral, and some remains of other coeval buildings, now -the centre of a formidable-looking, though really neglected, system of -fortifications. Two other old churches--San Lorenzo and San -Juan--remain, one in the upper part of the city, and the other on the -Plaza, near the bridge. A modern cathedral, of the baldest and coldest -Pagan type, but of great size, was built in the main street, near the -river, when the old cathedral was converted into a fortress; and I -cannot do better than quote Mr. Ford’s rather ironical statement of its -history:--“The ruin,” he says, “of the old cathedral dates from 1707, -when the French made it a fortress: nor has it ever been restored to -pious uses; for in the piping times of peace the steep walk proved too -much for the pursy canons, who, abandoning their lofty church, employed -General Sabatani! to build them a new cathedral below, in the convenient -and Corinthian style.” From the date of its desecration nothing whatever -has been cared for; and it goes to one’s heart to see so noble a work, -and one so sacred, put to such vile uses, and to so little purpose: for -even now when Spain bristles with soldiers, and the whole nation is -bitten with the love of military sights and sounds, the desecration of a -sacred building is all that has been accomplished; for I believe that -the Spaniards have seldom managed to hold possession of it against the -French, and in its present dilapidated state are less than ever likely -to do so.[353] The position is, however, a very strong one; and another -hill to the west of the city is crowned with a second fort connected -with it. Admission is only to be obtained by an order from the -commandant of the district, who resides in the city below; and he very -kindly sent a sub-officer to remain with me whilst I was in the fort, -and with true Spanish courtesy came up himself to see that I gained -admission to every part, and took great trouble to open doors some of -which seemed hardly to have been opened since the Peninsular war! - -The buildings now remaining consist of a church with an enormous -cloister on its western side, and a lofty steeple at the south-west -angle of the cloister. On the north side of the cloister is a large -stone-roofed hall, and north of this again, and detached from the -cathedral, are considerable fragments of what is called a castle, and -these include another noble groined hall. - -My ground-plan of the cathedral and its dependences will show at a -glance how unusual and remarkable the whole scheme is. The south side of -the church is built on the very edge of the precipitous cliff above the -town and river, and the lofty tower is daringly balanced as it were on -the most dangerous point of the whole ground. The mass of the whole -group seen from below, and the vast height of the tower, are therefore -singularly imposing, whilst the view obtained from the summit is one of -rare magnificence. It is true that here the immediate neighbourhood is -not lovely, but still the river does much towards converting to -fruitfulness the usually arid-looking Aragonese soil of the district by -clothing it with trees and verdure, and when last I saw it not only was -the Segre a torrent of rushing waters, but on all sides the hills were -covered with a wide expanse of vineyards and corn-fields; and beyond -these were to be seen towering up in the far distance the grand range of -the Pyrenees, touched here and there--on the Maladetta and some of the -other high peaks--with lines of snow; whilst on the other side the lower -mountain ranges of Aragon completed one of the most beautiful panoramas -I have ever seen from church tower. - -The site of the cathedral has long been occupied. It was an important -stronghold in the time of the Romans, and the first cathedral was -erected as early as in the sixth century. The Moors in course of time -gained possession of the city, and it was not until A.D. 1149 that the -Christians, under Ramon Berenguer, finally drove them out and regained -possession. - -The documentary evidence as to the age of the existing buildings is -fairly clear, and may as well be given at once. I derive all my facts -from the papers printed in ‘España Sagrada;’[354] and besides those -which more particularly interest me as an architect, there are in the -volume which relates to Lérida some most interesting extracts from the -proceedings of councils held there from A.D. 1175 to 1418, and of -diocesan synods from the year 1240. These are full of information as to -the customs of the church, and the rules affecting the clergy.[355] - -The first stone of the new cathedral was laid in the time of the third -bishop after the restoration, and in the presence of the king Don Pedro -II. An inscription on a stone on the Gospel side of the choir, which I -did not see, gives the date[356] as the 22nd July, 1203; and in A.D. -1215 the cloister was, in part at any rate, built, one Raymundo de -Segarra having desired that he might be buried within its walls.[357] -From this time to the consecration we have no notice of the building, if -I except the following inscription still remaining on the eastern jamb -of the south transept doorway, which proves the existence of that part -of the church at the time mentioned:--“Anno Domini M: CCº: XV xi: Kal: -Madii: obiit Gulielmus de Rocas: cuj: aīe: sit:” and there is a -mention in ‘España Sagrada’ of the burial of Bishop Berenguer, in A.D. -1256, by one of the doors, called thenceforward after him. On the last -day of October, A.D. 1278, the church was consecrated by Bishop Guillen -de Moncada, and the record of this on the west wall is now concealed, -but I give a copy of it.[358] - -In 1286 Pedro de Peñafreyta, who had been master of the works, -died;[359] he had probably been employed on the central lantern and the -cloister, for which latter work, on the 21st of August, 1310, the king -Don Jayme II. gave the stone;[360] circa A.D. 1320 Bishop Guillen -founded a chapel; in 1323 the work of the “cloister and tower” was still -going on;[361] and in 1327 alms were asked for the completion of the -same work;[362] and again in 1335 the vicar-general, in the absence of -the bishop, appealed for alms, “pro maximo et sumptuoso opere claustri -ecclesiæ catedralis.” - -In A.D. 1391 Guillermo Çolivella contracted to execute the statues for -the doorway at the price of 240 sueldos each; and in A.D. 1490 Francisco -Gomar contracted for the erection of a grand porch for 1600 sueldos. The -steeple at the angle of the cloister seems to have been commenced about -the end of the fourteenth century. The fabric-rolls for 1397 contain an -item of 350 feet of stone from the river Daspe “for the work of the -tower.” Other similar notices occur, and among them the names of two -masters of the works, Guillelmo Çolivella and Cárlos Galtes de Ruan. It -was probably completed before 1416; for in this year Juan Adam, “de -burgo Sanctæ Mariæ, Turlensis diocesis, regni Franciæ,” contracted for -the making of the great bell, which was finished in 1418, and commended -by the chapter in these words--“Cujus sonitu et mentis vulnera sanari, -et divinitatis singularis gratia possit conquiri.”[363] There are no -other notices of the main portion of the fabric; but we know that, in -A.D. 1414, Pedro Balaguer was sent from Valencia to examine the tower at -Lérida before he built the tower called the Micalete in his own city; -and we may conclude therefore that before this date the work at Lérida -had been completely finished. - -It is easy to distinguish the works referred to in these notices. The -church, of which the first stone was laid in A.D. 1203, and which was -consecrated in A.D. 1278, still remains almost as it was built; and -there can be but little doubt that the greater part of the cloister is -of the same date. The works for which stone was given, in A.D. 1310, -were probably those in its western half, and possibly the lower part of -the steeple; and the chapel, founded in A.D. 1320, must be one of those -added on either side of the great south door, or on the east side of the -south transept. - -It is impossible not to feel greatly more interest in a church whose -scheme is unusual, than in one of a common type, even when its detail is -not of so high a value, or its scale less imposing. Here, however, we -have both extreme novelty in the general scheme,[364] and extreme merit -in all the detail. As one climbs the steep street which leads to the -cathedral, where the open space around the fortifications is reached, -the first general view of the buildings is most puzzling. The low outer -wall of the cloister, with an enormous western doorway, the point of -whose archway reaches to the top of the wall, the steeple on the extreme -right, and the central lantern appearing to rise only just above the -cloister wall, make a most unintelligible group. Making my way to the -great doorway, I was astonished to find it to be the entrance, not of -the church, as I at first assumed it to be, but only of the cloister; -and not less disgusted to find that three sides of this cloister had -been turned into barracks, a floor having been inserted all round at the -level of the springing of the vault, so as to afford ample accommodation -for some hundreds of soldiers, who sleep, cook, and live within its -walls; whilst the eastern side is now a storehouse for arms and -accoutrements, similarly divided by a floor, and without any visible -trace of the doors of communication between church and cloister, which -are said to be on this side. Yet this cloister is certainly, even in its -present desecrated state, the grandest I have ever seen. Its scale is -enormous, and much of its detail very fine. I have no doubt that it was -a long time in progress, and this would account to some extent for the -extreme irregularity of some of its parts. The bays, for instance, vary -in width: the buttresses are variously treated; and the sculpture, which -on the eastern side seems to be coeval with the earliest portion of the -church, is evidently on the other sides of much later date--probably not -earlier than A.D. 1300. The buttresses on the eastern side are carried -on bold engaged columns with sculptured capitals, whilst most of the -others are square in outline, with small engaged shafts in recesses at -their angles. The arches are now all built up and plastered; but in two -of those on the eastern side it is just possible to detect the -commencement of traceries, from which it would seem that each arch had -tracery above an arcade of three or four divisions. In its present state -it is impossible to say more than this, or whether these traceries were -original, though they seem to have been geometrical in style, and -therefore probably later in date than the enclosing arches. The eastern -half of the cloister has the outer arches richly adorned with -complicated chevron and cable ornament, and the remainder of the arches -are finely moulded. The interior is more uniform in character, the vault -being quadripartite throughout, with very boldly moulded ribs; and the -main piers, and the piers at the angles, being very exquisitely planned, -with a number of detached shafts with well moulded bases, bands, and -capitals, the latter carved with foliage and heads. The capitals and -bases are square throughout the cloister. On the south side this -cloister has openings in the outer wall corresponding with those opening -into the inner court; and these, I think, also had traceries. Owing to -the fall of the ground towards the edge of the cliff, these windows are -high above the terrace outside, and very bold buttresses are placed -between each of them. The effect of the cloister on the south side is -that of an enormous ball: and this, in truth, is what it is. Its clear -internal width varies from 26 ft. 6 in. to 27 ft. 6 in., and the height -is quite in proportion. Occupied as it now is by hundreds of soldiers, -one is tempted to ask, whether a building so far larger than could be -required for a mere cloister may not have been built in the first -instance to serve some double purpose; being, for instance, not only an -ambulatory, but a refectory, and dormitory also. The way in which some -of our own old buildings were fitted, with a chapel at the end of a -series of cubicles on either side under the open roof of a great hall -(as, _e.g._, St. Mary’s Hospital at Chichester, Chichele’s College -Higham Ferrers, and a hospital at Leicester), seems to point to the -possibility of some such utilizing of the vast space which these -cloisters afford; and the more as it seemed to me that there were not -the evidences that might have been expected of the existence at any time -of the other dependent buildings required by a cathedral body in all -cases, and more than usually here where the church was so far above and -away from the city. I mentioned the western entrance of the cloister as -being very large: it is a double doorway with niches for six statues in -either jamb, and the orders of the archivolt are alternately of -mouldings and niches for figures. The outer arch is crocketed between -two great pinnacles. The carving has mostly been destroyed; but there is -a poor sculpture of the Last Judgment in the tympanum. The doorway has -evidently been added between two of the earlier buttresses of the -cloister at about the end of the fourteenth century; its detail is -extremely delicate and rich, and somewhat similar to that of the west -doorway of Tarragona cathedral; and both are quite like very good French -fourteenth-century work. - -Unfortunately the doorways from the cloister to the church are now quite -invisible, the wall being completely hidden by military packing-cases -and arms.[365] This is the more to be regretted as the grandeur of the -other doors leads me to suppose that the western doorway would be very -fine. - -[Illustration: No. 44 - -LÉRIDA OLD CATHEDRAL - -VIEW FROM STEEPLE. p. 353] - -It will be seen by reference to the plan that there is a steeple -abutting against the south-west angle of the cloister; it is set against -it in the most irregular fashion; and it is worth mention that the -architect of the Micalete, at Valencia, who was directed to study this -tower, imitated it even in this peculiarity. Here there seems, so far -as I can see, to be no reason for the irregularity; and I can only -conjecture that it may have been the consequence of some variation in -the rock on which it stands. The entrance is by a staircase through a -house, and thence by a newel staircase in the thickness of the wall. The -steeple is octagonal in plan, and of five stages in height; the two -lowest lighted by windows of one light; the third with windows of two; -and the fourth with others of three lights, one in each face of the -octagon. There is a rich parapet of open tracery, supported on corbels, -to this stage, and a great pinnacle at each angle. The pinnacles are -carried up from the ground, and are at present partly destroyed, and -made to carry iron beacons instead of their old finish. The fifth stage -stands entirely within the other; and its plan, as being the most -interesting, is shown on my ground-plan of the whole building. Here each -face of the octagon had a bold opening with a crocketed and traceried -gable over it, and pinnacles at the angles, and probably a traceried -parapet which no longer exists. The various stages are groined with -stone vaults, and the whole construction is of the most dignified and -solid description. The height from the terrace on the west side of the -cloister to the top of the parapet is about 170 feet. The steeple looks -much higher than this: but this is no doubt in great part owing to the -enormous height above the city of the cliff on the edge of which it -stands. The view of the church from the summit is so striking, and gives -so clear an idea of its whole scheme, that I have engraved it. My -drawing shows the cloister in the foreground, and the south-west view of -the church beyond it. Here almost every part that is seen is of the -earliest portion of the fabric, which seems to have been carried out on -a regular plan from first to last. The church is cruciform, with a nave -and aisles only three bays in length, and an octagonal lantern over the -crossing. The choir and its aisles had three parallel apses east of the -transept, and a fourth chapel was added in the fourteenth century, as -were also two chapels on the south side of the nave. Two -staircase-turrets on the west sides of the transepts (a favourite -position for them in early Spanish churches) added much to the -picturesqueness of the outline; but the upper part of one of these has -unfortunately been destroyed, and the other was either carried up or -altered at a later date--probably in the fourteenth century. - -It will be seen that most of the windows are round-headed. Everywhere, -however, the main arches are pointed; and this is, as I need hardly -say, always characteristic of transitional buildings. The strange thing -is, that in a church which was in building between A.D. 1203 and 1278 we -should find such strong evidences of knowledge of nothing but -twelfth-century art; and assuming the dates to be correct--as I think we -must--it affords good evidence of the slow progress in this part of -Spain of the developments which had at this time produced so great a -change in the north of Europe. Either the whole building was built on -the plan at first laid down, or else, having been commenced vigorously, -and in great part finished, some delay must have been caused in its -completion for consecration. The latter is no doubt the more probable -supposition, because, whilst the whole of the walls up to the top of the -clerestory seem to be of perfectly uniform character inside and out, the -central lantern is evidently a work of circa A.D. 1260-1278, and one -which could not have been designed so early as 1203. The sculpture of -all the capitals throughout the interior, as well as that of the -doorways, must also be set down to the commencement of the century; and -the date of A.D. 1215, which occurs on the south transept front, seems -to make it probable that at that time the work in this part of the -church was well advanced. - -Here I may notice one of the remarkable features of this building--that -the external roofs are all of stone. Most of them indeed are modern; but -those of the choir and lantern are undoubtedly original, and there can -be little doubt that the whole church was covered in the same way. They -are formed entirely of stones chamfered and weathered to a flat pitch, -and lapping slightly over each other. Their effect is good, and they -were evidently built by men who hoped their work would last for ever: -yet this has not quite been the result of what they did; for, as I have -said, most of the roofs have been relaid with slabs of stone carefully -fitted together like pavement, and less likely therefore to withstand -the weather than the old roofs were. - -The entrances to the cathedral are at present three in number,--a door -in each transept and one in the south wall--in addition to the western -doorway, which, if it exists, is now blocked up. These doors are all -fine. That in the north transept is simple but effective: it has a -simply-moulded semicircular arch, above which is a pointed arch with a -stone in the enclosed space carved with A and [Omega]; and above it a -very finely-sculptured horizontal cornice. The doorway is set forward a -few inches from the wall, in the Lombard fashion. In the gable of the -transept over it is a large moulded but untraceried circular window, -and enough of an original stepped corbel-table under the eaves to show -that the old pitch of the roofs was very flat, though somewhat steeper -than at present. The south transept doorway is much finer: it has a -richly-sculptured round arch; and on each side of the arch are -niches--one containing a statue of St. Gabriel, and the other one of the -Blessed Virgin. Under the exquisitely sculptured cornice which surmounts -the door is inscribed, in large incised letters, the angelic salutation; -whilst on the right jamb of the door is the inscription of the year -1215, given at p. 349. Above the doorway is, as in the other gables, a -circular window; and here the fine early tracery with which it was -filled in still remains. The whole detail of this front is of the finest -kind, and must have been executed by men who knew something of the best -Italian Romanesque work. Nothing can exceed the delicacy and care with -which the whole was executed. The wheel is divided by eight octagonal -shafts radiating from the centre, and these carry an order of sixteen -semi-circular cusps, two to each division. These cusps are covered with -the billet ornament, and their spandrels have sunk carved circles. The -mouldings which enclose the window are rich and delicate in character; -and though it is unfortunately now walled up, it is well preserved, and -still extremely effective. - -[Illustration: Cornice of South Transept Doorway.] - -The last and grandest of the doors--the “Puerta dels Fillols” or of the -Infantes--is in the centre bay of the south aisle. This is an example of -singularly rich transitional work, with an archivolt enriched with -mouldings, chevrons, dog-tooth, intersecting arches, and elaborate -foliage. There is the usual horizontal cornice over the arch, and above -this a fourteenth-century statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and our -Lord. The horizontal cornice is carried on moulded corbels, between -which and the wall are carvings of wyverns and other animals: whilst the -soffeit of the cornice in each compartment is carved with delicate -tracery panels, in some of which I thought I detected some trace of -Moorish influence. The cornice has a delicate, trailing branch of -foliage; and the label and two or three orders of the arch, in which -sculpture of foliage is introduced, are remarkable for the singular -delicacy and refinement of the lines of the foliage, and for the -exceeding skill with which they have been wrought. There is none of that -reckless dash which marks our carvers now-a-days, but in its place a -patient elaboration of lovely forms, which cannot too much be praised. -The mouldings here are all decidedly characteristic of the thirteenth -century. The whole is now protected by a later--probably fifteenth -century--vaulted porch, which occupies the space between two added -chapels.[366] The effect is very good and picturesque, as will be seen -by the illustration which I give; but as this porch is the storehouse -for rockets and shells, I fear its beauties are likely to be a sealed -book to most travellers, though, owing to the extreme courtesy of the -commandant, I was so fortunate as to be allowed to see and sketch it at -my leisure. - -The original windows are all simple round-arched, with moulded arches, -and shafts, with caps and bases in the jambs; those in the lantern and -at the west ends of the aisles are of later date, and pointed. The west -window is circular and very large, but without tracery; and there is a -small lancet below it which is now blocked up by the roof of the -cloister. No doubt this roof was originally a gabled stone roof with a -gutter against the wall, so as to leave this window open. - -The lantern is octagonal above the roof, with a window in each side, -pilasters at the angles, and an arcaded corbel-table at the eaves. The -staircase-turret on its north-west side is also octagonal, and rises -above the eaves. The roof is original, and of stone. - -[Illustration: No. 45. - -LÉRIDA OLD CATHEDRAL - -SOUTH PORCH.] - -The chapels which have been added seem all to have been built in the -fourteenth century, and are much mutilated: they are good works of their -age, but rather mar the general effect of the church, and do not call -for much notice; two of them were closed, and I was unable to obtain -admission to them. - -[Illustration: Pendentive, &c., under Lantern, Lérida Cathedral.] - -The interior of the church has been as completely encumbered with -arrangements for soldiers’ convenience as has that of the cloister. A -floor has been erected all over the nave at mid-height of the columns, -and in the south transept at the level of their capitals. The choir is -boarded off, and not actively desecrated. The real floor of the church -is now an artillery storehouse; on the raised floor of the nave a -regiment of soldiers sleep and live; and in the south transept the -bandsmen spend all their time making the most hideous and deafening -discord. It is indeed a shameful use for a church, and there is only one -small crumb of consolation in the fact that, soldiers notwithstanding, -there has hitherto been no great amount of wilful damage done to any of -the old work. The capitals throughout are extremely rich in sculpture, -and are still perfect though obscured by whitewash, and the groining has -nowhere been damaged. I know no style more full of vigour and true -majesty than the earliest pointed, of which this interior is so fine an -example. The lavish enrichment of the capitals, the fine section of the -great clustered columns, the severe simplicity of the unmoulded arches, -and the extreme boldness of the groining-ribs, all combine to produce -this result. Almost all the principal shafts are coupled, and the -groining-bays are kept very distinct from one another by very bold -transverse arches; these, and indeed all the main arches, are pointed. -There is no triforium, and but a small space between the arches into the -aisles and the clerestory windows. The canted sides of the central -lantern are supported on pendentives similar to those which occur under -the angles of some of the early French domes.[367] Above these is an -arcaded string-course, and then the windows: these are all double, and -of varied tracery. There are monials and traceries nearly flush with -both the internal and external face of the wall: this was a necessary -arrangement for a work which was to be seen so entirely from below, -where the external traceries would all have been lost to the view. There -are groining-shafts in the angles of the octagon, and an octagonal dome -or vault, with ribs at the angles. The choir is not used at all: it has -a quadripartite vault over its western half, and a pointed arch in front -of the apse, which is covered with a semi-dome. The western bay is -lighted by clerestory windows like those in the nave, and the apse by -three windows, which on the outside have flat buttresses between them. - -None of the old ritual arrangements remain; but there is nothing here to -suggest anything at all different from what might be met with in a -similar church elsewhere.[368] The lantern does not prove anything more -than our own lanterns do as to the arrangement of the choir for worship: -in short, here as elsewhere the central lantern was introduced partly -because it was a custom of the Lombard churches, from which this class -of Spanish church borrowed so much, and in the next place because it was -especially suitable for a climate like that of Spain, where it afforded -the chance not only of lighting the church in the most agreeable way, -but also of ventilating it most efficaciously. - -[Illustration: LÉRIDA:--Ground Plan of Cathedral &c. Plate XX - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1865.] - -No doubt the external effect of this church was improved much by the -addition of the great western steeple, though at the same time it is -plain that its somewhat eccentric position has removed it so far from -the main fabric of the church as to render the whole group of buildings -less compact in its outline than it would have been had it been -attached, like most of our own steeples, to the body of the church -itself. On the other hand, nothing is more difficult, usually, than to -build a steeple to a church which already has a central lantern, without -entirely destroying the importance of this, which ought always, where it -exists, to be a main feature; and here, as is generally the case in -examples derived in any way from Italian examples, the central lantern -is not very important in its dimensions, and required therefore more -than usual caution on the part of the artist who ventured to add to it. -Here, as happens often with detached campaniles, the grouping of the -steeple with the church from various points of view is very -diversified, and often very striking. From its great height above the -valley, it is seen on all sides, and generally at some distance. From -the south, the grand size of the cloister, which connects the steeple -with the church, gives it somewhat the effect of being in fact at the -west end of an enormous building, of which the cloister may be the nave; -whilst from the west, as the ground falls considerably, nothing of the -church is seen but the central lantern rising slightly over the -cloisters, whilst the steeple rears its whole height boldly to the -right, and makes the whole scheme of the work utterly unintelligible -until after a thorough investigation. Again, in the views of the -cathedral from the east side the steeple has the effect of being, like -that of Ely, at the west end of the nave, and here it groups finely with -the central lantern. The same results will be found in some of our -English examples, and the parish church of West Walton, near Wisbeach, -illustrates, as well as any that I know, the extraordinary variety of -effect which a detached tower, at some distance from the main building, -produces. - -The only portion of the building not yet described is a long hall on the -north side of the cloister: this is vaulted with a pointed stone -barrel-vault, and is gloomy-looking in the extreme, being lighted -entirely from one end. A newel staircase has been taken away from the -other end. - -Near the north side of the cathedral, on slightly higher ground, is -another fine fragment of a building of the same age, which looks as if -it had always been built as a defensive work. It contains a magnificent -hall, groined in four bays of quadripartite vaulting, and measuring -about 24 feet by 96 feet. A smaller room next to this has a -waggon-vault. The north and east walls of this hall, and of a building -at right angles to it, are very boldly arcaded on the outside, and have -a simple trefoiled corbel-table under the eaves: the hall windows are -set within the wall-arcade. The bosses at the intersection of the ribs -on the vault of the hall have interlacing patterns of Moorish character -carved upon them, and afford the only distinct evidence of anything like -Moorish influence that I noticed in any of the buildings here. - -There are two other old churches in Lérida, San Lorenzo and San Juan. -San Lorenzo is on the hill, not very far from the cathedral. It is a -parallel triapsidal church, the nave vaulted with a pointed -waggon-vault, divided into three bays by arches springing from coupled -shafts in the side walls. The apse has a semi-dome, and is lighted by -three round-headed windows, five inches wide in the clear, and has a -corbel-table under the eaves outside. The side walls of the nave are -eight feet thick (the nave being thirty-three feet wide), and through -them very simple pointed arches are pierced, opening into the aisles. I -have no doubt that these were additions to the original fabric. They -have polygonal apses at their east end, with very good window-tracery of -circa A.D. 1270-1300. On the south side an octagonal steeple was added -in the fifteenth century, projecting from the aisle walls. This has a -two-light window on each side of the belfry, a pierced parapet, and a -simple octagonal spire. There is a fine fourteenth-century Retablo to -the high altar. It has a niche in the centre with a figure of St. -Laurence under a canopy, and a number of subjects and statues on either -side. There is also one of the usual fifteenth-century galleries at the -west end. - -The interiors both of this church and of San Juan were so dark that I -found it almost impossible to make even the roughest notes of their -contents or dimensions. - -San Juan is another fine early church, perhaps a little later than San -Lorenzo, and of about the same age as the cathedral; neither of them, -however, show any signs of having been, as is the tradition, built as -mosques, and converted into churches after the taking of Lérida from the -Moors in A.D. 1149. The plan here is but little altered, and exhibits -three bays of cross-vaulting, and an apse.[369] On the north side an -aisle has been added; but on the south the façade is nearly unaltered, -and the interior is similarly very perfect. The mode of lighting with -windows very high up is similar to that of the cathedral clerestory, and -is worth the attention of those who wish to adapt the Pointed style for -tropical climates. The rose window and great south door are both very -fine examples, and extremely peculiar in their arrangement. The door, -which is very large and imposing, occupies the whole of the central bay, -and there are fine windows in the bays on either side of it: the -impression produced at first sight is consequently that one is looking -at the west end of a large church, upon one side of which an apsidal -chancel has been added. The door is in fact out of all proportion to the -size of the church, though this very fact gives perhaps somewhat of that -monumental character to the whole work which is so rare in small -buildings. It is worthy of notice that the very same design is to be -seen in the church of la Magdalena at Zamora--already described; and -there is indeed so much identity of character between the two churches -as to make it more than probable that the same architect erected both. - -In the street near San Juan is a very fine old Romanesque house of -unusually good style. It is of three stories in height, the lower story -much modernized. The intermediate stage has a very fine row of -three-light _ajimez_ windows with slender shafts and capitals very -delicately sculptured. The string under these windows is also -elaborately carved: above is an eaves-cornice, resting on corbels, and -above this a modern upper stage. A stone with a Renaissance border to -it, in the lower part of the wall, describes this building as the -Exchange of Lérida, “built in 1589.” A more impudent forgery I do not -know; but probably the architect of that day thought his ugly upper -stage the only part worthy of notice, and meant only to record its -erection. The _patio_ or court-yard behind is small, but has the same -kind of windows as the front--though without any carving--and some good -corbel-tables and archways. - -I saw nothing else of architectural interest in Lérida; but I -confidently recommend other ecclesiologists to examine its buildings for -themselves. They form an important link between the noble cathedral at -Tarragona and the smaller but beautiful church of Tudela; and belonging -as they do to the most interesting period of our art, the end of the -twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth century, they afford examples -for our emulation and study of even more value than the later works at -Barcelona and Manresa, which I have before had to describe.[370] - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -HUESCA--ZARAGOZA. - - -TO the north of the railway between Lérida and Zaragoza, and within easy -distance of the stations of Monzon and Tardienta, are the two old -Aragonese cities of Barbastro and Huesca Monzon--a possession of the -Knights Templars since A.D. 1143--is still dignified by a castle on the -hill, which rises steeply above the town, and in which there are said to -be some remains of the residence of their superior in Aragon. The -accounts I obtained of Barbastro made me think it hardly worthy of a -visit. The cathedral was built between 1500 and 1533; and it is a small -church (about 140 feet in length), without either triforium or -clerestory, the groining springing from the capitals of the columns, and -being covered with ogee lierne ribs.[371] Huesca seemed to promise more, -so leaving the railway at Almudévar[372] I made an excursion thither. It -is a drive of three or four hours from the railway; and the distant -views of the old city are striking, backed as it is by a fine -mountain-range, on one of whose lower spurs it is built. The cathedral -stands on the highest ground in the city; and the rocky bluffs of the -mountain behind it look like enormous castles guarding its _enceinte_. -These picturesque views are the more refreshing by the contrast they -offer to the broad corn-covered plain at their feet. Two or three miles -from Huesca, on another hill, are the remains of the great monastery of -Monte Aragon, which was, however, rebuilt in 1777, and is not very -likely therefore now to reward examination. - -The Plaza in front of the cathedral is surrounded by an important group -of buildings--the palace of the kings of Aragon, the college of -Santiago, and others belonging to the old university. They are mostly -Renaissance in their design; but in the old palace is a crypt called “la -Campana del Rey Monje,” which seems to date from the end of the twelfth -century. It has an apse covered with a semi-dome; and a quadripartite -vault of good character covers the buildings west of the apse. The -arches are all semi-circular. - -The cathedral was almost entirely rebuilt in the fifteenth century, from -the designs of a Biscayan architect, Juan de Olotzaga.[373] The cloister -on the north side is the principal remaining portion of the older -church, and this is so damaged and decayed as to present hardly a single -feature of interest save two or three of the picturesque tombs corbelled -out from the walls, which are so frequently seen in the north of Spain. - -The plan[374] of the cathedral consists of a nave and aisles of four -bays in length, with chapels between the buttresses. The Coro is formed -by screens which cut off the two eastern bays of the nave; it opens at -the east into the rather grand transept, which, as is so invariably the -case in the later Spanish churches, completely usurps the functions of -the nave as the place of gathering for worshippers. To the east of the -transept are five apsidal chapels opening out of it; that in the centre -larger than the others, and containing the High Altar. Three broad steps -are carried all across the church from north to south, in front of these -chapels. It struck me that the plan of this east end was so very similar -to that of some of the earlier Spanish churches[375] as to render it -probable at any rate that Olotzaga raised his church upon the -foundations of that which was removed to make way for his work. The -steeple which takes the place of the westernmost chapel on the north -side of the nave is octagonal in plan, but is much modernized, and -finished with a brick belfry-stage: it is evidently of older foundation -than the church. The columns between the nave and aisles are all -clustered, and the main arches are boldly moulded. There is no -triforium, the wall above the arcade being perfectly plain up to a -carved stringcourse which is carried round the church below the -clerestory; the windows in which are filled with flamboyant tracery. The -groining is generally rather intricate, and has bosses at all the -intersections of the ribs. There is no lantern at the intersection of -the nave and transepts. It has been already said that the Coro occupies -the usual place in the nave; and it is clear that it has never been -moved, as there are small groined chapels formed between the columns on -either side of it. The Reja at the west end of choir is not old; the -usual brass rails are placed to form a passage from the Coro to the -Capilla mayor, across the transept. - -The reredos behind the high altar is carved in alabaster: it is of the -latest Gothic, but certainly very fine. Damian Forment, a Valencian -sculptor, executed it between A.D. 1520 and 1533.[376] It is divided -into three great compartments, the centre rising higher than the others. -Each compartment has a subject, crowded lavishly with figures in high -relief; whilst a broad band of carving is carried round the whole, and -many figures in niches are introduced. The subjects are: 1, The -Procession to Calvary; 2, the Crucifixion, with the First Person of the -Holy Trinity surrounded by angels in the sky; and, 3, the Descent from -the Cross. Between these subjects and the altar are statues of the -twelve Apostles and our Lord, and a door on either side of the altar -opens into the space behind the reredos. - -The west doorway is said by Cean Bermudez to be the work of Olotzaga. My -own impression is that it is a work of circa A.D. 1350. It is a fine -middle-pointed doorway of rich character. The arch is of seven orders; -three enriched with foliage, and the remainder with figures under -canopies, of--1, figures with scrolls; 2, angels; 3, holy women; 4, -apostles and saints. The tympanum has the B. V. Mary and our Lord under -a canopy; she is standing on a corbel, on which is carved a woman with -asps at her bosom; on either side of the canopy is an angel censing; -below, on the left, are three kings, and on the right the Noli me -tangere. The lintel has some coats of arms; and there are seven statues -of saints in each jamb; and below them were subjects enclosed within -quatrefoils, all of which have been destroyed.[377] The gable over the -doorway arch is crocketed, and pierced with tracery, and has pinnacles -on either side. The horn-shaped leaf so often seen in English work is -profusely used here, and in the arches is generally arranged in the -French fashion, _à crochet_. The wooden doors are covered with iron -plates beaten up into a pattern, and nailed on with great brass nails. - -The west end is finished at the top with a straight cornice, with -circular turrets at the angles, and pinnacles between, dividing it into -three compartments. The detail of all this upper part is very poor and -late in style, and altogether inferior to that of the west doorway. The -clerestory is supported by simple flying buttresses, finished with rich -pinnacles. - -There are two other old doorways. That from the cloister on the north -side is round-arched, with dog-tooth, chevron, and roses carved on it; -yet the detail seems to prove that it cannot be earlier than A.D. 1300, -whilst some of the carving looks as if it were even later than this. The -other door is in the south transept, and certainly deserves examination. -It has a small groined porch formed between two buttresses in front of -it; over the arch is the Crucifix, S. Mary, and S. John; whilst on the -west wall are the three Maries coming with spices, &c., to the grave of -our Lord, which is represented on the east wall of the porch, with the -angel seated on it. - -The church of San Pedro el Viejo, which I now have to mention, is by far -the most interesting in the city, being of much earlier date than any -part of the cathedral.[378] It has a nave and aisles of four bays, a -transept with a raised lantern over the crossing, and three parallel -apses at the east end. A hexagonal tower is placed against the north -wall of the north transept, and a cloister occupies the whole south side -of the church; whilst on the east of the cloister is a series of chapels -or rooms of early date. There is, so far as I know, no evidence of the -date of this work; but judging by its style, it can hardly be later than -the middle of the twelfth century, with the exception of the raised -vault of the lantern, which was finished, however, before the -consecration of the church, which is said to have taken place in A.D. -1241.[379] - -The nave and aisles are vaulted with continuous waggon-vaults, the -chapels at the east end with semi-domes, and the lantern with a -quadripartite vault, the ribs of which are enriched with the dog-tooth -ornament. The waggon-vault of the nave is divided into bays by cross -arches corresponding with the piers of the arcades. The vaulting of the -lantern springs from a higher level than the other vaults, and has ridge -ribs as well as diagonal and wall ribs. The lantern is lighted by four -circular windows, which have rich early thirteenth-century mouldings, -and are filled in with tracery which is evidently of Moorish origin. A -fine round-arched doorway, with three engaged shafts in each jamb, -leads from the transepts into the tower, which has groining shafts in -each angle. The Coro here now occupies the western bay of the nave, and -is fitted up with fair fifteenth-century stalls, which, being carried -across the end, block up the old western doorway. - -[Illustration: Interior of San Pedro, Huesca.] - -The whole church is built of red sandstone, but is whitewashed -throughout, and the exterior is much modernized, though the old work is -still in part visible. The west front has a bold arch under the roof, -which corresponds with the waggon-vault inside. The abacus from which -this springs is carried across as a stringcourse, and in the space -enclosed between it and the arch is a round-headed window, with a broad -external splay and plain label moulding. A very plain western doorway is -now (as also is this window) blocked up. The aisles have also small -windows high up in the walls, and the whole church is covered with a -roof of very flat pitch laid immediately on the stone vaults. The -lowest stage of the tower had windows in each of its disengaged sides: -it rises in four stages of equal height, divided by stringcourses, but -is capped with a modern belfry stage. The lantern is carried up to the -level of the top of its vault, and then covered like the rest of the -church with a flat tiled roof. A stringcourse, richly worked with a -billet moulding, is carried round the outer walls of the aisles, and -round their pilaster buttresses. - -[Illustration: HUESCA: Ground: Plans: of: Cathedral: and: of: San: -Pedro: - -Plate XXI. - -W. West, Lithr. - -Published by John Murray, Albermarle St. 1865.] - -The cloister, though in a very sad state of dilapidation, is still very -interesting. It is covered with a lean-to roof, and has round arches -throughout springing from capitals, some of which are carved with -figures, and some with foliage only, but all of rude character. Several -arched recesses for monuments are formed in the outer walls, but none of -the inscriptions that I observed were earlier than A.D. 1200. In the -south wall six of these arches have enormous stone coffins, each -supported on three corbels on the backs of three lions. These coffins -are about two feet deep, by seven feet in length, and covered with a -gabled stone cover. The columns in the arcades of this cloister are -curiously varied, some being coupled shafts, some quatrefoil in section, -some square, and some octagonal. Against the east wall are four chambers -opening into the cloister. That nearest the church is the Chapel of San -Bartolomé, and of the same style as the nave, covered with a low -waggon-vault, and with the original stone altar still remaining against -the square east end. The chapel next to this has a very late vault; the -next, a quadripartite vault; and the southernmost has a pointed -waggon-vault, with three plain, pointed-arched recesses in each of the -side walls. - -Over the modern doorway from the cloister into the church is the -tympanum of the original doorway, rudely sculptured with the Adoration -of the Magi, above which two angels hold a circle, on which are -inscribed the monogram of our Lord, and the letters A and [Greek: -Omega]. - -I could find nothing else of much architectural interest in Huesca. The -Church of San Martin has a plain thirteenth-century west doorway, and -that of San Juan--said to have been consecrated in A.D. 1204--seemed to -have an apse of about that date, with a central lantern-tower carried on -pointed arches. There are remains also of two of the town gateways, but -they are of no interest. - -In the distance, as I approached Huesca, I had noticed what looked like -an old church at Salas, and, having time to spare, I walked there. The -way lay along fields and by the muddiest of roads, where ruts were being -levelled, and the whole made uniformly muddy, in order to accommodate -the Bishop of Huesca, who was coming out in procession to have a service -in the church there. I found the east and west ends of the church to be -old, but the rest, inside and out, had been hopelessly modernized. The -east end retains nothing beyond three very long slits for windows, about -six inches wide, and not intended for glazing. The west end is very -fine, and almost untouched. It has a noble doorway of six orders, very -richly sculptured with chevrons, dog-tooth, mouldings of first-pointed -character, and rich transitional foliage. The capitals have similar -foliage, but the shafts and their bases have been destroyed, and a -modern head to the door has been inserted within the arch. This door is -set forward from the face of the wall nearly four feet, and has engaged -shafts in the angles, and a richly-carved cornice. The gable (which is -of flat pitch) is filled with a large circular window, the tracery of -which has been destroyed. It has three orders of moulding round it, one -moulded only, the others carved with a very bold dog-tooth enrichment. -The label has rather ingeniously contrived crockets of very conventional -design. The whole of this front is of very much the same character as -the early work in the cathedral at Lérida. It is only about a mile and a -half out of Huesca, and ought to be visited, as, with the exception of -San Pedro el Viejo, it is certainly the most interesting work to be -seen. - -Travellers will find accommodation which is just tolerable in the Posada -at Huesca. They should not return, as I was obliged to do, to Zaragoza, -but should extend the journey to Jaca, where there seems to be a fair -Romanesque cathedral. Near Jaca, too, Sta. Cruz de los Seros has a fine -Romanesque church, with an octagonal raised central lantern, and a -steeple of several stages in height on its north side. San Juan de la -Peña, a monastery in the same district, has a fine Romanesque cloister, -of the same character as that of San Pedro at Huesca: but the church is, -I think, modern.[380] - -[Illustration: No. 46. - -SALAS, NEAR HUESCA. - -WEST FRONT OF THE CHURCH.] - -I returned from Huesca to the railway, and thence to Zaragoza, hoping -that, notwithstanding all it had suffered from wars and sieges, -something might still be found to reward examination. I have seen no -city in Spain which is more imposing in the distance, and yet less -interesting on near acquaintance. A great group of towers and steeples -stands up so grandly, that it is natural to suppose there will be much -to see. But whether the French in their sieges destroyed everything, or -whether it is that the city is too prosperous to allow old things to -stand in the way, it is certainly the fact that but few old buildings do -stand, and that none of them are of first-rate interest. The river here -is rapid and broad, and the view of the distant mountains fine, whilst, -partly owing to its being a centre for several railways, it is a fairly -gay and lively city, and is year by year in process of improvement, in -the modern sense of the word. - -There are here two cathedrals, in which I believe the services are -celebrated alternately for six months at a time, the same staff serving -both churches. On the two occasions on which I have stopped in Zaragoza, -it has fortunately happened that the old cathedral was open, and the -exterior of the other promises so little gratification in the interior, -that I never even made the attempt to penetrate into it. - -The old cathedral is called the “Seu,” par excellence, the other being -the Cathedral “del Pilar.” The Seu[381] is the usual term for the -principal church, and the name of the second is derived from a -miracle-working figure of the Blessed Virgin on a pillar, which it seems -that the people care only to worship half the year. - -The Seu is in some respects a remarkable church, but it is so much -modernized outside as to be, with the exception of one portion, quite -uninteresting, and the interior, though it is gorgeous and grand in its -general effect, is of very late style and date, and does not bear very -much examination in detail. It is very broad in proportion to its -length, having two aisles on each side of the nave, and chapels beyond -them between the buttresses; and there are but five bays west of the -Crossing, and of these the Coro occupies two. There is a lantern at the -Crossing, and a very short apsidal choir. The nave and aisles are all -roofed at the same level, the vaulting springing from the capitals of -the main columns, and the whole of the light is admitted by windows in -the end walls, and high up in the outer walls of the aisles. In this -respect Spanish churches of late date almost always exhibit an attention -to the requirements of the climate, which is scarcely ever seen in the -thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and this church owes almost all its -good effect to this circumstance, for it is in light and shade only, and -neither in general design nor in detail, that it is a success. The -detail, indeed, is almost as much Pagan as Gothic. The capitals of the -columns, for instance, have carvings of fat nude cherubs, supporting -coats of arms, and the groining, which is covered with ogee lierne ribs, -has enormous bosses and pendants cut out of wood and gaudily gilded. - -There is some interesting matter in the history of the Cimborio over the -Crossing. It seems that in the year 1500 there was supposed to be some -danger of the old Cimborio falling, and the Archbishop, D. Alonso de -Aragon, and his Chapter, thereupon invited several artificers and -skilled engineers to examine the works, and advise as to its repair. At -this Junta there were present two _maestros_ from Toledo--one of them -Henrique de Egas; Maestro Font, from Barcelona; Carlos, from Montearagon -(Huesca); and Compte, from Valencia; and they, having deliberated with -the artificers attached to the cathedral, reported that it would be -necessary to take down the Cimborio and rebuild it, and do other repairs -to the rest of the church. - -This report having been presented, the archbishop some time afterwards, -in January, 1505, makes an appeal to the King on the subject, in order -that he may obtain the services of Henrique de Egas as architect for the -work. He says that he has had the advice of the most experienced and -able architects of the day, and among them of Egas, and that they were -all agreed that the Cimborio must be taken down, which had been done. -And then he says that, inasmuch as the rest of the church seems to be -much in want of repair, and as Egas seemed to be a man of great ability -and experience, he was very anxious to procure his aid, but that Egas -had excused himself on the plea that he had a certain hospital to build -at Santiago in Galicia for the King, who required him to go there. -Whereupon the archbishop begs the King, for the love of God our Lord, -that he will have pity on him; and since there is no great necessity at -Santiago, and a very great one at Zaragoza, that he will command Egas to -undertake the work. - -It is said that Egas did execute the work after all. But it is -impossible not to be amused at the enormous contrast between those times -and our own, if then it was necessary for an archbishop to appeal to the -King to make an architect undertake such a work![382] - -The detail of the Cimborio is, as might be expected from its date, most -impure. It is octagonal in plan, the canted sides being carried on -semi-circular arches thrown across the angles. It is of two stages in -height, the lower having square recesses for statues, and the upper -traceried windows. The general scheme is Gothic, but the detail is all -very Renaissance in character.[383] - -The choir is apsidal, but the apse is concealed by an enormous -sculptured Retablo, which, in spite of its very late date, is certainly -dignified in its effect. - -Externally there are evidences of the existence of an earlier church, -the lower part of the apse being evidently Romanesque, a portion of the -buttresses and one of the windows retaining their old character. The new -work is of brick, the windows generally of four lights, with flamboyant -tracery, and the walls crowned with rich cornices. The exterior of the -Cimborio, as well as of the church, owes much of the picturesqueness -which marks it to the fact that the brickwork is everywhere very roughly -and irregularly executed. - -One portion of the exterior of the church is, however, most interesting; -for on the face of the wall, at the north-east angle, is a very -remarkable example of brickwork, inlaid with coloured tiles, the -character of which proves that it is, no doubt, part of the cathedral -which was approaching completion in the middle of the fourteenth -century, and earlier in date therefore than the greater part of the -existing fabric. This wall is a lofty unbroken surface, about sixty-four -feet in length from north to south, and is erected in front of a -building of two stages in height, and pierced with pointed windows in -each stage. It is built with bricks of, I think, a reddish colour -(though I am a little uncertain, owing to their being now very dirty), -which are all arranged in patterns in the wall, by setting those which -are to form the outlines forward from one-and-a-half to two inches in -advance of the general face of the wall. The spaces so left are then -filled in with small tiles set in patterns or diapers, the faces of -which are generally about three quarters of an inch behind those of the -brick outlines. The tiles are of various shapes, sizes, and colours, -red, blue, green, white, and buff on white. The blue is very deep and -dark in tone, the green light and bright. The patterns are generally of -very Moorish character; and there can be no doubt, I think, that the -whole work was done by Moorish workmen. The general character of this -very remarkable work is certainly most effective; and though I should -not like to see the Moresque character of the design reproduced, it -undoubtedly affords some most valuable suggestions for those who at the -present day are attempting to develop a ceramic decoration for the -exteriors of buildings. Here I was certainly struck by the grave quiet -of the whole decoration, and was converted to some extent from a belief -which I had previously entertained rather too strongly, that the use of -tiles for inlaying would be likely to lead to a very gay and garish -style of decoration, foreign to all dignity and repose in its effect. -There is an intersecting arcade under the lowest windows, in which, as -also in some other parts, the ground of the panels is plastered; and in -this plaster panels of tiles and single sunk disks of tile are inserted -on the white ground. The windows are pointed, and all of them have rich -borders to their jambs, which are continued round the arches. Within -their borders there appears to have been an order of moulded brickwork, -and then the window opening, which is now blocked, but which may -possibly have had stone monials and tracery. The bricks used here are of -the usual old shape, about 1 ft. 1½ in. long by 6¾ in. wide. They are -generally built alternately long and short, but not by any means with -any great attempt to break the bond. The mortar-joints are also not less -than half an inch in thickness, and this, it must be remembered, in a -work the whole characteristic of which is the extreme delicacy and -refinement of the decoration. The tiles are five-eighths of an inch -thick; some of them are encaustic, of two colours; and all are, as is -usual with Moorish tiles, glazed all over. This tile and brick -decoration begins at a height of about eight feet from the ground, and -is carried up from that point to the top of the wall. Such work seems to -be obviously unfitted to be close to the ground; and the lower part of -the wall is therefore judiciously built with perfectly plain brickwork. - -The most important church in Zaragoza after the cathedral is that of San -Pablo. This is an early thirteenth-century church, of the same class as -that of San Lorenzo at Lérida, having a nave of four bays, and an apse -of five sides with a groined aisle round it. The side walls of the nave, -which are of enormous thickness, are pierced with pointed arches opening -into the aisles, which seem to be of the same date, though from the -enormous size of the piers they are very much cut off from the nave. The -groining ribs are of great size, and moulded with a triple roll in both -nave and aisles. Some trace of the original lancet windows is still to -be seen in the apse; but most of them are blocked up or destroyed. The -aisle is returned across the west end of the nave; and there is a -western door and porch, with a descent of some eleven or twelve steps -into the church. The Coro is at the west end of the nave, and is fitted -with stalls executed circa A.D. 1500-1520, with a Renaissance Reja to -the east of them. There is a good reredos, rich in coloured and -sculptured subjects, which is said to be a work of the beginning of the -sixteenth century, by Damian Forment, of Valencia, who, as will be -recollected, carved the reredos in the cathedral at Huesca. The fine -octagonal brick steeple is evidently a later addition to the church, and -rises from the north-west angle of the nave. It is very much covered -with work of the same kind as the wall veil at the cathedral, which I -have just been describing, though on a bolder and coarser scale; and it -belongs, as far as I can judge by its style, to somewhere about the same -period.[384] The brick patterns here, as there, are in parts filled in -with glazed tiles; and the general effect of the steeple is very -graceful, rising as it does with richly ornamented upper stages, upon a -plain base, out of the low and strange jumble of irregular roofs with -which the church is now covered. - -The great steeple, called the Torre Nueva, in the Plaza San Felipe, is -finer and loftier than that of San Pablo, and is, I suppose, on the -whole, the finest example of its kind anywhere to be seen. It is -octagonal, in plan, and the sections of the various stages differ -considerably in outline, owing to the ingenious manner in which the -face of the walls is set at various angles. The face of most of the work -is diapered with patterns in brickwork as in the other Zaragozan -examples; but the most remarkable feature is, perhaps, the extraordinary -extent to which the whole fabric falls out from the perpendicular. This, -which is so common a fault with the Italian campaniles, arises here -evidently from the same causes, the badness of the foundations, and the -absence of buttresses. A great mass of brickwork has been built up on -one side, in order to prevent the further settlement of this steeple; -and it is to be hoped that the remedy may be effectual; for Zaragoza can -ill afford to lose so remarkable a feature out of the scanty number -still left; and it is valuable also as one of the grandest examples of a -very remarkable class. It is said to have been built in A.D. 1504. - -Another parish church in the principal street has a very small brick -steeple of the same class, but very simple, and with it I think I must -close my list of really Gothic erections here. The Renaissance buildings -have often a certain amount of Gothic detail, and some Gothic -arrangements of plan, but of so late and debased a kind as to make them -little worthy of much study. Their real merit is their great size, and -the rude grandeur of their treatment. They are usually built of rough -brickwork, boldly and massively treated. They have always an arcaded -stage, just below the eaves, which are very boldly corbelled out from -the walls, and generally supported on moulded wood corbels, carrying a -plate which projects some three or four feet from the face of the wall, -and throws, of course, a very fine shadow over it. The _patios_, or -court-yards, are lofty, and surrounded by columns which carry the open -stages of the first and second floors. There is here no attempt at -covering the brickwork with plaster or cement; and accordingly, though -the detail is poor and uninteresting, the general effect is infinitely -more noble than that of any of our compo-covered, smooth-faced modern -London houses. The picturesque roughness of the work which was always -indulged in by the mediæval architects was no sin, it seems, in the eyes -of the early Renaissance architects; and it is, indeed, reserved for our -own times to realize the full iniquity of any honest exhibition of facts -in our ordinary buildings! - -Among the buildings here which illustrate the transition from Gothic to -Renaissance the cloister of the church of Sta. Engracia seems to be one -of the most remarkable. It is said to have been constructed in 1536 by -one Tudelilla of Tarazona, and an illustration is given of it in Villa -Amil.[385] The Gothic element seems here to have been as much Moresque -as Gothic, and hence the combination of these with Renaissance makes a -whole which is as strange and heterogeneous as anything ever erected. - -It will be seen that Zaragoza has not very much to interest an architect -or ecclesiologist. Travellers in Spain who find it necessary to recruit -after roughing it in country towns may no doubt feel grateful for the -creature comforts they will be able to enjoy there, and it is now rather -a centre of railway communication, being on the line of railway which -runs from Bilbao to Barcelona, and at the point where the line from -Madrid joins it. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -TARAZONA--VERUELA. - - -I FOUND a pleasant drive of two and a half hours, through vineyards and -olive-grounds, from Tudela to Tarazona. In front all the way was the -noble Sierra de Moncayo, which, according to one of my Spanish -fellow-travellers, is the highest mountain in Spain, from which view -however I humbly, and somewhat to his annoyance, dissented. But whether -he were right or not, it is still of very grand height, and the more -impressive in that it rises by itself in the midst of a comparatively -flat country. Behind us was an admirable view of Tudela, backed by the -brown and arid hills which skirt the Ebro; beyond them, in the far -distance, the Pyrenees; whilst in the immediate foreground we had a rich -green mass of olives and vines spread in a glorious expanse over the -country. - -The villages on the road have nothing to boast of if I except a -pilgrimage church at Cascante, approached by a long covered gallery from -below, and a brick tower at Monteacadeo, of the Zaragozan type. We -passed, too, a newly-established convent for monks, who are already -beginning to build, in spite of the ruin with which they have so lately -been visited. But long before the end of our journey was reached, the -towers and steeples of Tarazona rose attractively in front over the low -hill which conceals the complete view of the city until you are almost -close upon it. - -Attractive as this general view undoubtedly is, this old city does not -lose when it is examined more closely and carefully. It is not only in -itself picturesque, but its situation on either side of the stream which -a few miles below falls into the Ebro is eminently fine, and has been -made the most of by the happy and probably unconscious skill of the men -who have reared on the cliff above the water a tall pile of buildings on -buildings, carried on grand arches, corbelled here and buttressed there, -and with a sky-line charming in itself, and rendered doubly beautiful by -the sudden break in its outline caused by the lofty brick steeple of la -Magdalena--one of the finest of its class--which rears itself, with -admirable hardihood, on the very edge of the cliff. The streets and -Plazas, too, of the old city are all picturesquely irregular, full of -colour and evidences of national peculiarities, and climb the steep -sides of the hills from the river-side to the high ground at the -northern end of the city, which is crowned by the church of San Miguel. -I call such skill as this “unconscious,” because it is so much a -characteristic of old works of this kind that their authors never -exhibit any of that pert conceit which so distinctly marks the efforts -of so many of us nowadays. Old architects fortunately lived in days when -society was moderate in its demands, and had not ceased to care for that -which is true and natural: sad for us that we live when every man wishes -only to excel his neighbour, and that without regard to what is true or -useful; so that, instead of obtaining those happy results which always -reward the artist who does exactly what is needed in the most natural -and unartificial manner, we, by our attempts to show our own cleverness, -constantly end in substituting a petty personal conceit, where otherwise -we might have had an enduring and artistic success. - -The cathedral stands very much alone, and away from the busier part of -the city, at the upper end of a grass-grown and irregular Plaza, on the -opposite side of the river from the Alcazar, and indeed from the bulk of -the houses. This Plaza, when I first saw it, on a Sunday afternoon, was -thoroughly beautiful and characteristic as a picture of Spanish life. -There was a fountain in the centre, around which hundreds of peasants -were congregated in lively groups, talking at the top of their voices, -and all gay with whitest shirt-sleeves, bright-coloured sashes, and -velvet breeches, slashed daintily at the knees, to show the whiteness of -the linen drawers; and when I went on into the church, I found in the -Lady Chapel another group of them kneeling before the altar, and -following one of their own class in a litany to the Blessed Virgin, the -effect of which was striking even to one unable to join in the burthen -of the prayer. - -The cathedral here is said to have been restored by Alonso the First of -Aragon, in the year 1110; but an old Breviary, cited by Argaïz, fixes -the foundation of the present cathedral in 1235,[386] and with this -date the earliest part of the existing church agrees very closely. The -plan[387] is very good, consisting of a nave of six bays, with aisles -and chapels between their buttresses, transepts, a lofty Cimborio over -the Crossing, and a choir of two bays, ended with a five-sided apse. The -chapels in the chevet have mostly been altered, though the first on the -north side appears to be original, and proves that the outline of the -plan of the chevet could never have been very good. This chapel is -four-sided in plan, but much wider at one end than the other, and we -must, I fear, give but scant credit to the architect who planned it. The -Lady Chapel is a late and poor addition of a very inferior kind, and -completely modernized--as indeed is the greater part of the church--on -the exterior. On the south side of the cathedral there are old -sacristies and a large cloister, of which more presently. The west end -seemed to me to have been intended for two steeples, but one only has -been completed, and this is on the north side of the north aisle. - -The remaining portions of the thirteenth-century church have been so -much altered that the general effect of the early work is almost -entirely destroyed. The columns and arches generally are original; the -former have carved capitals; many of the latter are slightly horseshoe -in shape, and have labels enriched with the dog-tooth ornament. The -choir and transepts retain a good simple arcaded triforium, carried on -detached shafts, and this returns across the gable-walls of the latter; -it is of the simplest early pointed character; so too are the choir -windows, which before their alteration appear to have been lancets, with -engaged shafts in their jambs, whilst in the eastern wall of the -transepts are windows of two lancet lights, with a circle above within -an enclosing arch. Most of the arches of the nave are adorned with -carved flowers on the chamfers, the effect of which is not good; indeed -I half doubted whether they were not plaster additions, though they -seemed to be just too good for this. The choir has two (and only two) -flying buttresses; and as they are evidently of early date, with -pinnacles of the very simplest pyramidal outline, they were probably -erected to counteract a settlement which showed itself immediately after -the erection of the church, for there is no evidence of any others -having existed. The walls of the apse had originally a richly carved -cornice, filled with heads and foliage. The groining of the aisles is -generally simple and early in date, and quadripartite in plan: that of -the whole of the rest of the choir and nave is of the richest -description, and of the latest kind of Gothic. - -[Illustration: TARAZONA Ground Plan of Cathedral Plate XXII. - -W. West, Lithr. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865.] - -Here, as is so frequently the case all over the world, the builders of -one period used an entirely different material from that used by those -of earlier times;[388] so that you may tell with tolerable accuracy the -date of the work by the material of which it is built. Here the early -church was entirely built of stone, but in all the later additions brick -is the prevailing material; and at first sight it is in these later -additions that we seem to find almost all the most characteristic work -in the church. Many of these additions, as for instance the -Churrigueresque alterations of the clerestory, are thoroughly bad and -contemptible; but some of them, though they damage the unity of effect -of the building, and have taken the place of work which one would much -rather have seen still intact, are nevertheless striking in themselves. -Such is the singular and picturesque Cimborio erected by Canon Juan -Muñoz[389] in the sixteenth century; it is certainly most picturesque, -but such a curious and complex combination of pinnacles and turrets -built of brick, and largely inlaid with green, blue, and white tiles, is -perhaps nowhere else to be seen. It is octagonal in plan, and of three -stages in height, the angles of the octagons in the several stages being -all counterchanged. Enormous coats of arms decorate the fronts of the -buttresses. The whole work is of the very latest possible Gothic, -utterly against all rules both in design and decoration, and yet, -notwithstanding all this, it is unquestionably striking in its effect. -The mixture of glazed tiles with brickwork has here been carried to a -very great extent, and the result does not, I think, encourage any one -to hope for much from this kind of development. This work is not to be -compared to that at the east end of Zaragoza Cathedral, where a plain -piece of wall is carefully covered all over with a rich coloured diaper -of brickwork and tiles, which are all harmonious and uniform in -character, and--which is equally important--in texture, and it has, on -the contrary, great similarity to some attempts to combine bricks and -tiles which we see made in the present day, and seems to show that these -attempts are not to be carelessly encouraged. For even when such work is -first executed, and the brickwork is fresh and neat, I think we always -feel that the smooth hard surface of the tile offers rather too great a -contrast to the rougher texture of the bricks; and whilst the former is -likely to remain almost unchanged for ever, the latter is certain -gradually to grow rougher and ruder in its aspect, until, in the end, we -shall have walls showing everywhere picturesque marks of age, and yet -with their decorations as fresh as if they had but just been introduced. -Nothing can well be worse than this; for if the appearance of age is to -be venerated at all, it must be somewhat uniformly evident; and it no -more answers to permit the decorations on an old and rugged wall to be -always new and fresh-looking, than it does to allow a juvenile wig to be -put on the venerable head of an old man! - -The brick steeple of the cathedral is an inferior example of the same -kind as that of la Magdalena, which I shall have presently to describe; -its upper half is modern, and the lowest stage of stone. The west front -is all modernized, and the north transept is conspicuous for a large -porch of base design, erected probably in the sixteenth century, and -exhibiting a curious though very unsuccessful attempt to copy--or -perhaps I ought to say caricature--early work. - -The whole of the clerestory walls have been raised with a stage of -brickwork above the windows, which was added probably in the sixteenth -or seventeenth century. - -The cloister, built in the beginning of the sixteenth century, by D. -Guillen Ramon de Moncada, is a remarkable example of very rich -brickwork. It deserves illustration as being of an extremely uncommon -style, and withal very effective. All the arches and jambs of the -openings are of moulded brick, and there are brick enclosing arches, and -a very simple brick cornice outside; but the delicate traceries which -give so much character to the work are all cut in thin slabs of stone -let into the brickwork. Of course such a work was not intended for -glazing, and was an ingenious arrangement for rendering the cloister -cool and unaffected by the sun, even when at its hottest. The forms of -the openings here are certainly not good, and look much more like -domestic than ecclesiastical work; but in spite of this one cannot but -be thankful for novelty, whenever it is, as here, legitimately -obtained. The bricks are of a very pale red tint, 12½ inches long, 6¼ -inches wide, and from 1½ to 1¾ thick, and the mortar-joint, as usual, is -very thick--generally about ¾ of an inch. The cloister is groined, and -probably in brick, but is now plastered or whitewashed unsparingly, and -its effect is in great degree ruined. - -[Illustration: Cloister, Tarazona.] - -The sacristies are rather peculiar in their arrangement: they are all -groined, and one of them has a small recess in one angle with a chair in -it facing a crucifix, of which I could not learn the use. Another of -this group of buildings contains a fountain under a small dome, the -plashing of whose waters seemed to make it a very popular rendezvous of -the people, and made itself heard everywhere throughout the sacristies -and their passages. - -The stalls in the Coro are of very late Gothic, the bishop’s stall, with -one on either side of it in the centre of the west end, having lofty -canopies. The Coro is more than usually separated from the Capilla -mayor, and there can be little doubt that it does not occupy its -original position. The men who built so long a nave would never have -done so simply to render its length useless by so perverse an -arrangement of the choir. Here, in fact, the Coro occupies the same kind -of position to which one so often sees it reduced in parish churches in -Spain, where it is usually either in a western gallery, or at any rate -at the extreme western end of the nave, behind everybody’s backs, and -apparently out of their minds! - -A chapel on the north side of the nave, dedicated to Santiago, has a -richly cusped arch opening from it to the aisle, and its vault springs -from large corbels, carved with figures of the four evangelists, rudely -but richly sculptured. It is mainly worthy of notice now on account of -the beauty of a panel-painting still preserved over the altar: this is -painted on a gold background, richly diapered, and the nimbi and borders -to the vestments all elaborately raised in gold in high relief. The -frame is richly carved with figures of saints, and gilt. The predella -has on either side of the centre St. John and the Blessed Virgin, and -four other holy women; in the centre a sculpture of our Lord and four -saints which serves as a pedestal for a well-posed figure of Santiago; -and on either side of the saint are two pictures with subjects -illustrating his life. It is, on the whole, a very fine example of the -combination of painting and sculpture, of which the Spaniards in the -fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were so fond. The paintings are less -realistic than German work of the same age, and, if not so delicately -lovely as early Italian works, are yet of great interest and merit. - -[Illustration: No 47. - -TARAZONA. - -CAMPANILE OF LA MAGDALENA.] - -Returning from the cathedral to the town, and before one crosses to the -opposite side of the river, a noble view of the buildings on the cliff -above it is obtained from the bridge. The grandest of these is an -enormous bishop’s palace, once I believe the Alcazar; and close to it is -the church of la Magdelena. The interior of this is entirely modernized, -but the east end outside is a valuable example of untouched Romanesque. -The eastern apse is divided into three by engaged shafts, stopping with -capitals at the eaves-cornice, which is carried on a very simple -corbel-table. To the west of this church is the steeple to which I have -already alluded as giving so much of its character to Tarazona. It is a -very lofty brick tower, without buttresses, with a solid simple base -battering out boldly and effectively, and diapered in its upper stages -with the patterns formed by projecting bricks, of which the builders -of the brick buildings throughout this district were so fond. At a very -slight expense a great effect of enrichment is obtained; the dark -shadows of the bricks under the bright Spanish sunlight define all the -lines clearly; and the uniformity of colour and the absence of -buttresses make the general effect simple and quiet, notwithstanding the -intricacy of the detail. The upper stage of this steeple is, as I need -hardly say, a comparatively modern addition, but it no doubt adds to its -effect by adding so much to the height, and in colour and design it -harmonizes fairly with the earlier work below. - -The church of La Concepcion, not far from this, is a very late Gothic -building, with a western gallery whose occupants are quite concealed by -stone traceries of the same kind as those in the cloisters of the -cathedral. The sanctuary walls here are lined with glazed tiles, and the -floor is laid with blue, green, and white tiles, the colour of each of -which being half white and half blue or green allows of the whole floor -being covered with a diaper of chequer-work, which is very effective and -very easily arranged. - -At the farther end of the city, and on the top of the long hill on which -it is built, is a church dedicated to San Miguel. This has a simple nave -with a seven-sided apse. The groining is all of very late date, the ribs -curling down at their intersection as pendants, the under sides of which -are cut off to receive bosses which were probably large and of wood. -This groining is probably not earlier than the end of the sixteenth -century, though the church itself is of the thirteenth or fourteenth -century, having two doors of one of these dates: that on the north side -has, in most respects, the air of being a work of the thirteenth, but -its sculpture seems to prove that it cannot be earlier than the -fourteenth century. It has the Judgment of Solomon carved on one of the -capitals, angels in the label, and a figure of St. Michael above. The -south doorway is executed in brick and stone, and is of the same date as -the other. A brick belfry on the north side is enriched in the same -fashion as that of la Magdalena, and, like it, batters out considerably -at the base, but it is altogether inferior both in size and design. - -From Tarazona I made a delightful excursion to the Abbey of Veruela. It -is a two hours’ ride, and the path takes one over a hill which conceals -the Sierra de Moncayo from sight in most parts of Tarazona. The scenery -on the road was beautiful. The town itself is always very striking; and -as we ascended, the views of the distant hills and mountains beyond the -Ebro were finer and finer. After riding for an hour and a half, a grand -view of the whole height of Moncayo is obtained; below it to the right -is a little village guarded by a picturesque castle keep, and on beyond -and to the left a long line of roof, and towers, and walls girt around -with trees, which seems to promise much to reward examination: and this -is the old abbey of Veruela. At last the avenue is reached, which leads -to the abbey gateway, in front of which stands a tall but mutilated -cross, which forms the centre from which five paths--each planted with -an avenue of trees--diverge. - -The history of this abbey is interesting. It was the first Cistercian -house in Spain, and was founded by a certain Don Pedro de Atares, and -his mother Teresa de Cajal, who commenced it in A.D. 1146, completed it -in 1151, and obtained its formal incorporation in the Cistercian order -on the 1st of September of the same year. There was a foundation for -twelve monks, who were the first of their order to cross the Pyrenees, -and who established themselves definitively here on the 10th August, -1171, under the direction of Bernard, Abbat of Scala Dei.[390] - -I suppose the desolate situation of Veruela led to its being carefully -fortified, though, indeed, at the date of its foundation, most religious -houses were enclosed within fortified walls, and the severe rule of the -early Cistercians will account fully for the remote and solitary -situation chosen by the brethren who planted this house where we see it: -at any rate, whatever the cause, it is now completely surrounded by -walls, from which round towers project at intervals. The walls and -towers are all perfectly plain, and surmounted with the pointed -battlement so often seen in early Spanish buildings. A walled courtyard -protects the entrance to the main gateway, and it is in front of this -that the avenues mentioned just now all unite. - -[Illustration: No. 48. - -ABBEY OF VERUELA - -ENTRANCE GATEWAY] - -The view here is very peculiar. In front are the low walls of the outer -court, with a raised archway in the centre; behind these the higher -walls and towers, with a lofty and very plain central gateway, finished -with an octagonal stage and low crocketed spire of late date, but -pierced at the base with very simple thirteenth-century archways, -leading into the inner court. Beyond this, again, is seen the upper part -of the walls and the steeple of the Abbey Church, backed by a bold -line of hills. Passing through this gateway, a long narrow court leads -to the west front of the church; and to the right of this court is a -long range of buildings, all of which I think are of comparatively -modern erection, though the brickwork in a _patio_ entered by one of the -openings is picturesque and good. - -The west front of the church has a very noble round-arched doorway, -boldly recessed, and with many shafts in the jambs. Above this is a -small stone inscribed with the monograms X. P. and A. Ω.; -and then, higher, a delicate line of arcading carried on slender shafts. -All this work is set forward in advance of the general face of the wall. -The nave and aisles were each lighted with a plain circular window, and -the arcading up the eaves of the western gable still remaining shows -that its pitch was always very flat. A steeple was built by an -Abbat--Lope Marco--in the sixteenth century, against the western bay of -the north aisle, and before its erection there was, I suppose, no tower -attached to the abbey. - -In plan[391] the church consists of a nave and aisles six bays in -length, transepts with eastern apses, and a choir with an aisle round -it, and five small apsidal chapels. To the south of the nave is a large -cloister with a Chapter-house on its eastern side, and other ranges of -buildings on the west and south. To the east, too, are large erections -now occupied as a private residence, and of which consequently I saw -nothing properly, but without much regret, as they did not seem to show -any traces of antiquity, and had probably been all rebuilt in those -halcyon days in the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries, when Spaniards -had more money than they well knew how to spend. - -If we compare this church with one of the earliest French convents of -the same order--as, for instance, Clairvaux--we shall find a very -remarkable similarity in most of the arrangements. In both, the church -is approached through a long narrow court, to which it is set in a -slightly oblique line. In both, the extreme simplicity, the absence of -sculptures, the absence of a steeple, are observed in compliance with -the fundamental rules of the Order. Both have their cloisters similarly -placed, with similar Chapter-houses, and lavatories projecting from -their southern alleys. The sacristies and the great libraries are in the -same position--though here the latter has been converted into an -enormous hall--and there are here groups of buildings all round the -cloister, which were probably appropriated much in the same way as were -those at Clairvaux. Both, too, were enclosed in a very similar way with -walls and towers, though at Clairvaux the enclosure was far larger than -at Veruela. - -It is clear, therefore, that the French monks who were brought here to -found this first Spanish Cistercian house, came with the plan approved -by their Order, and it is probable with something more than the mere -ground-plan, for the whole of the work is such as might at the same date -have been erected in France. - -The whole exterior of the church is very fine, though severely simple. -The west front has already been described. The exterior of the chevet is -more striking. The roofs of the chapels which surround it finish below -the corbel-table of the aisle, which has a steepish roof finishing below -the clerestory; and the latter is divided into five bays by plain -pilasters. All the eaves have corbel-tables, and the windows throughout -are round-headed. The chapels on the eastern side of the transepts are -of the same height as the aisle round the choir, and higher than the -chapels of the chevet. The design of the interior, though very simple, -is extremely massive and dignified. The main arches are all pointed, the -groining generally quadripartite (save in the small apses, which are -roofed with semi-domes), and the piers large and well planned. Many of -the old altars remain; and among them the high altar in the choir, and -those in the chapels of the chevet. The former is arcaded along its -whole front, but has been altered somewhat in length at no very distant -period. Near it is a double piscina, formed by a couple of shafts with -capitals hollowed out with multifoil cusping. - -The chapel altars are all like each other, and unlike the high altar, -which is solid, whilst they are stone tables, each supported upon five -detached shafts. They stand forward from the walls in the centre of the -apses, and have rudely carved and planned piscinæ, and credence niches -on the right-hand side as you face them. - -The stones are marked in all directions by the masons, some of them with -a mere line across from angle to angle, but mostly with marks of the -usual quaint description. A number of examples of them are given on the -engraving of the ground-plan. - -[Illustration: No. 49. - -VERUELA ABBEY CHURCH. - -INTERIOR.] - -Some part of the floor is laid with blue and white tiles, arranged in -chevrons with good effect, and other parts with tombstones of Abbats, -whose effigies are carved on them in low relief. They are flatter than -the somewhat similar stones in some of the German churches (as _e.g._ at -S. Elizabeth, Marburg) but are still a great deal too uneven on the -surface to be suitable for a pavement. - -[Illustration: Chapel Altar, Veruela.] - -The capitals are all very rudely sculptured, and the whole of the work -has the air of extreme severity, almost of rudeness, which might be -anticipated from the circumstances of its erection. A chapel was built -in the sixteenth century to the north of the north transept by Ferdinand -of Aragon, Bishop of Zaragoza, and nephew of Ferdinand the Catholic. It -has nothing remarkable in its design. Later than this a large chapel was -added to the east of the sacristy; and from what still remains of the -fittings of the Coro in the nave, they seem to have been still later in -date. - -A fine late Romanesque door leads from the south aisle into the -cloister, the whole of which is a good work of the early part of the -fourteenth century, with well-traceried windows of four lights. The -groining piers are clusters of shafts, and the buttresses on the outside -are finished with crocketed gables and a bold cornice carved with -foliage. The traceries are now all filled in with very thin panels of -alabaster, which do not obscure the light much, whilst they effectually -keep out the sun; but this precaution against sunshine does not seem to -have been much needed, if the men were right who raised a second stage -upon the old cloister, the Renaissance arcades of which are all left -perfectly open. On the southern alley of the cloister there is a very -pretty hexagonal projecting chamber, in which no doubt--if we may judge -by the analogy of Clairvaux--was once the lavatory. The cloister has -been built in front of, and without at all disturbing, the original -Chapter-house, on its east side. The new groining shafts stand detached -in front of the old arcade to the Chapter-house, and the combination of -the two is managed very cleverly and picturesquely. This old arcade -consists of the usual arrangement of a central doorway, with two -openings on either side, all carried on clusters of detached shafts with -capitals of foliage. The Chapter-house itself is divided into nine -groining bays by four detached shafts; it is very low and small, and its -three eastern windows are blocked up, but nevertheless its effect is -admirable. One of its columns has been spoilt by the elaborate cutting -in of the names of a party of Englishmen who ascended the Sierra de -Moncayo to see the eclipse of the sun in 1860, and who recorded their -not very hazardous or important achievement in this most barbarous -fashion. - -[Illustration: Entrance to Chapter-House, Veruela.] - -It is a fact quite worth notice here, that none of the old windows are -blocked up: the truth is that the churches from which this was derived -were, in common with all Romanesque churches, taken straight from Italy, -where the requirements of the climate were very similar to those of -Spain. Yet it was only very gradually that the northern architects -discovered their unfitness for a northern climate, and increased their -dimensions. Here they give just enough and not too much light; but at a -later day, when the northern churches were all window from end to end, -the same fault was committed; and when their architects were employed to -build in other climates, they followed their own traditions without -reference to altered circumstances, as we see at Milan, at Leon, and -elsewhere frequently. - -The church at Veruela seems now to be but little frequented, the high -altar alone being ever used. The stalls of the Coro are gone, and a -shattered fragment of the old organ-case standing out from the wall -serves only as a forlorn mark to show where it once stood. The buildings -generally are sadly decayed and ruinous, and I have seldom seen a noble -building less cared for or respected. It is sad to see this result of -the suppression of religious orders, and one may be permitted to doubt -whether it can be for the interest of religion that this noble -foundation should now be nothing more than the private residence of a -Spanish gentleman, instead of--as it was intended it should be by its -pious founder--a perpetual refuge from the cares of the world of those -in every age who aim to lead the holiest and most devoted lives. - -I left Veruela with regret that I was unable to obtain more accurate -notes of such portions of the monastic buildings as probably still -remain overlaid with the poor additions of a too wealthy convent during -the last three centuries. It is, however, easily accessible, and the -plan which I give of the church will no doubt soon induce others to -complete my examination wherever it has been defective. - -On the ride back to Tarazona, we made a short _détour_ to look at what -seemed to be an important church and village. Neither could well have -been less so! The church was without anything worth remark save a band -of tiles, set chevron fashion, in the cornice, and not harmonizing at -all well with the walls. The village was wretched in the extreme. - -At Tarazona I was much struck by the extremely good character of the -common crockery in use in the inn and elsewhere. It is all painted by -hand, never printed; and the result is that, even when simple diapers -only are used, there is far greater life, variety, and vigour in the -drawing than there ever is in our machine-made work. The colour seems -generally to be used in such a way as that when burnt it varies -charmingly in tint and texture. Every plate is different in pattern; and -I fear that, uncivilized as we might think these good Spaniards in some -things, they would be justly shocked were they to see the wretchedly -inferior patterns with which, after many years of talking about art, we -are still satisfied to decorate our earthenware. These people excel, -too, just as much in form as in ornament. Their jugs are always quaint -and good in outline, and made with the simplest regard to what is -useful. - -[Illustration: VERUELA ABBEY: Ground Plan of the Church &r: Plate XXIII. - -W. West, Lithr. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865.] - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -TUDELA--OLITE--PAMPLONA. - - -FROM Zaragoza the railway to Pamplona passes by Tudela. The line is -carried all the way along the valley of the Ebro, the southern side of -which is a fairly level open country, whilst on the north bold, barren -hills, stream-worn and furrowed in all directions, rise immediately -above the river. The broad valley through which the railway passes is -well covered with corn-land, which, when I first passed, was rich with -crops. To the south, as Tudela is approached, are seen the bold ranges -of the Sierra de Moncayo, whilst in the opposite direction, far off to -the north, soon after leaving Zaragoza the grand and snowy outlines of -the Pyrenees come in sight. - -Alagon is the only considerable town passed on the road, and there seems -to be here an old brick belfry of the same character as the great -steeple of Zaragoza, and, like it also, very much out of the -perpendicular. - -The cathedral dedicated to Sta. Maria at Tudela is one of the same noble -class of church as those of Tarragona and Lérida, and quite worthy in -itself of a long pilgrimage. It is said by Madoz to have been commenced -in A.D. 1135, and consecrated in 1188, and was at first served by -Regular clergy, but Secularized in 1238. It is slightly earlier in date -than the churches just mentioned, yet some of its sculpture, as will be -seen, has, perhaps, more affinity to the best French work, and is indeed -more advanced in style, than that with which the other two churches are -decorated. This may be accounted for, most probably, by its more -immediate neighbourhood to France. Its scale is fairly good without -approaching to being grand, and thus it affords a good illustration of -the great power which the mediæval architects undoubtedly possessed, of -giving an impression of vastness even with very moderate dimensions, and -of securing a thoroughly cathedral-like effect in a building much -smaller in all its dimensions than the ordinary cathedral of the middle -ages. No power is more to be desired by an architect; none marks more -distinctly the abyss between the artist and the mere mechanical -builder; and none has been more lost sight of during the three centuries -which have elapsed since the eclipse of the Pointed style in the -sixteenth century. We see here the usual subdivisions of parts, all -well-proportioned and balanced. The nave[392] is of four bays only in -length, and this is now, and perhaps was always in great part, occupied -by the Coro: but, on the other hand, the proportions of the transept are -very fine, and its internal perspective compensates in great degree for -the loss of that of the nave. Out of this transept five arches in the -east wall open to the choir and to four chapels, two on either side: and -it is remarkable that two of these have square east ends, whilst all the -rest have circular apses. - -The plan of the columns is almost identical with that seen at Tarragona -and Lérida: but it is one of which the eye is never satiated, inasmuch -as it is well defined in its outlines, strong and massive-looking, and -evidently equal to all that it has to perform. The vaulting is all -quadripartite, except in the two eastern chapels on each side of the -centre apse, or Capilla mayor, which are roofed with semi-domes, the -Capilla mayor having its apse groined in five bays, with very bold -groining ribs. - -The arches are all pointed, very simply moulded with bold, broad, flat -soffeits, generally of only one order, and with labels adorned with -dog-tooth. The bases and abaci of the capitals are all square. The -former have the transition from the circular members to the square -managed with admirable skill, tufts of foliage occupying the angles. The -latter throughout the church are deep and boldly carved, as also are the -capitals themselves. These seem to be of different dates: all those on -the eastern side of the transept, and all the lower capitals of the -nave, save the west end and first column, being very classical in their -design, and probably dating from early in the thirteenth century, whilst -the remainder appear to be generally of the latter part of the same -century. In the earlier capitals the abaci are all set square with the -walls, whereas in the later work they are set at right angles to the -arch which they have to carry, and often, therefore, at an angle of 45° -to the walls. - -[Illustration: No 50. - -TUDELA CATHEDRAL. - -INTERIOR OF CHOIR] - -The groining ribs are very bold, and well moulded. There is no -triforium, and the clerestory windows come down to a string-course just -above the points of the main arches. They are of two lights, with a -circle in the arched head, and their rear arches are moulded and carried -on engaged jamb-shafts. The transepts have rose-windows in the bays -next the choir, and lancet-windows in the north and south bays, and the -carved abacus is carried over these as a label. There seem to have been -rose windows round the principal apse at a lower level than the other -clerestory windows; but only one of these is visible on either side, -owing to the reredos: and I found it impossible to get any near exterior -view of the east end, owing to the way in which it is built against by -houses. - -The west front had a large rose-window, which has been blocked up, and -it still retains a noble doorway, of which I shall have to speak more in -detail presently. - -The north transept is now the least altered part of the church, and in -the extreme simplicity of its bold buttresses, the refined beauty of its -sculptured doorway, and the well-proportioned triplet which fills the -upper part of the wall, it recalls to mind an English building of the -thirteenth century. Unfortunately the gable has been destroyed, and the -walls and buttresses are now finished with the straight line of the -eaves. Almost the only peculiarity in the detail here is the wide, -external splay of the windows between the glass and the jamb-shafts in -the centre of the monials. The south transept has a triplet similar to -that in the north transept, and has also lost its gable, and, being more -shut in than the other, is perhaps the most picturesque in effect. A -narrow lane leads up to it along the east wall of the cloister, and -this, turning abruptly when it reaches the church, passes under a broad -archway, which forms the south front of a porch, and then, out of an -eastern archway, the street goes on again, twisting and turning in a -fashion which is not a little eccentric. The exterior of the eastern -apse retains its buttresses of slight projection, which run up to, and -finish under, the eaves-cornice, which is carried, as all the cornices -throughout the church are, upon boldly-moulded corbels. - -It is only at some distance from the cathedral that anything is well -seen of the turrets and tower, which give it most of the character it -possesses. The west end had, I think, two small square towers, finished -with octagonal turrets of smaller diameter than the towers. Of these the -south-western still remains, but on the north side a lofty brick steeple -was erected in the eighteenth century. Another turret is strangely -placed over the centre of the principal apse. This is octangular in -plan, with lancet-windows in the cardinal sides, and the sides of its -spire pierced with two rows of small lights. The tile-roof of the apse -slopes up on all sides from the eaves to the base of this turret; and, -novel as its position is, it seemed to me to be well chosen and -effective.[393] Other turrets rise out of the chapels which have sprung -up round the church, and these, with the altered form of almost all the -roofs, give a strange, informal, and disjointed look to the whole -cathedral, which is eminently the reverse of attractive. Nevertheless -the old work is there, and only requires a moderate amount of attention -in order to understand the whole general character of the original -scheme. - -There are three grand doorways, one to each transept, and one at the -west end. The former are not placed in the centre of the gable, but -close to the western side of the transept, either, as is most probable, -from a proper desire to leave space in front of the altars of the small -transept chapels, or because then, as now, the ground was covered with -houses, which made it impossible to place them centrally. - -The finest of the three doorways is in the centre of the west front of -the church, and its opening is more than nine feet in the clear, each of -the jambs having eight shafts in square recesses. Two corbels support -the tympanum, which has now no sculpture, nor any signs of ever having -had any, and the arch has eight orders of sculptured moulding. The -capitals of the columns in the jambs are all sculptured with subjects in -a very exquisite fashion. There is here no grotesqueness or intentional -awkwardness, but extreme beauty of design, simplicity of story, and -fitness for the position chosen. The abaci are carved throughout with -conventional foliage, well arranged and delicately cut. I know little -even of French carving of the thirteenth century which surpasses this -beautiful work, and none anywhere which more entirely deserves our -admiration, or which may more worthily kindle our emulation. It is true, -indeed, that here as elsewhere the cold formal critic may come and prove -to his own satisfaction that some portions of the work are not -academically correct: on the other hand, it is equally true that it is -not academically cold and soulless, for the men who wrought here wrought -of their love and enthusiasm, and not merely because they were drilled -and paid, and they afford us, therefore, an example not to be despised -of the truths, that in art enthusiasm is worth more than skill, and -feeling more than knowledge; truths specially valuable in these days, -when men fancy they can convert all who call themselves architects into -artists, not by making them rejoice in their work, but simply by -teaching them how to draw. - -The subjects in the capitals are arranged in the following order:--Nos. -1 to 8 are those in the left or northern jamb, and Nos. 9 to 16 those in -the right or southern jamb. Nos. 1 and 9 are next the opening, and Nos. -8 and 16 the extreme capitals right and left of the centre. - - 1. The Creation of Angels. - 2. Do. of Earth, Stars, &c. - 3. Do. of Trees. - 4. Do. of Birds and Beasts. - 5. Do. of Adam. - 6. Do. of Eve. - 7. The Fall. - 8. Eve sleeping with a fig-leaf in her - hand, and the Serpent mocking her. - 9. Expulsion from Paradise. - 10. Adam tilling, Eve spinning. - 11. Cain and Abel sacrificing. - 12. Cain killing Abel. - 13. God cursing Cain. - 14. Cain, a fugitive. - 15. Entry into the Ark. - 16. The Sacrifice of Abraham. - -The two corbels which support the tympanum have on their face angels -blowing trumpets, and under them two lions, eating, one of them two -wyverns, the other a man. The archivolt has a series of eight figures -carved on key-stones at its intersection. These are--beginning with the -lowest--(1) the Agnus Dei, (2) the Blessed Virgin, (3) an angel, (4) a -martyr, (5) a king, (6) a bishop, and (7) another king. On the sides the -archivolt has on the left the Resurrection, and the happiness of the -blessed, who are all represented in pairs; and on the right, the -tortures of the damned, full of terror and horror of every kind. In the -first rank of these unhappy ones are two bishops and an abbat learning -the truth of our Lord’s aweful saying, “Where their worm dieth not, and -their fire is not quenched”--a saying practically ignored by our -sculptors and carvers at the present day, who seem to believe in no Last -Judgment, no masculine saints, and nothing but female angels; so far, at -least, as one can judge by the figures with which they cover so -profusely the walls of some of our new churches. The outer order of the -archivolt has angels all round it, with crowns and sceptres in their -hands. There can be little doubt, I suppose, that the tympanum was -intended to have a sculpture, or, perhaps, had a painting of a sitting -figure of our Lord in Judgment; without this figure the whole scheme -wants the key-note, to give tone and significance to all its varied -story. With it there would be few doorways which would be altogether -finer or more worshipful than this. - -The transept-doors are rightly much more simple than the western door, -and the character of their sculpture has so much Byzantine feeling that -there can he no doubt they are of somewhat earlier date. - -The north transept doorway has on its eastern capitals: 1, The Baptism -of our Lord by St. John; 2, Herod’s Feast; 3, The head of St. John -brought in a charger;--and on its western capitals: 4, St. Martin giving -his cloak to a beggar; 5, Our Lord holding a cloth (?). and two angels -worshipping; 6, St. Nicolas restoring the two children to life. The -door-arch is pointed, and all its orders and the label are very richly -carved, but with foliage only. The south transept door is round-arched, -and its tympanum is not filled in. On the capitals of the western jamb -are: 1, St. Peter walking on the Sea; 2, The Last Supper; 3, The Charge -to St. Peter;--and on the eastern jamb: 4, The Incredulity of St. -Thomas; 5, The Walk to Emmaus; 6, The Supper at Emmaus. - -The west front has two large square turrets, one of which only is -carried up above the line of the roof. Its highest stage is octagonal, -with a lancet opening on each face, and is finished with a low spire. A -bold row of corbels is carried round the turret between the octagonal -and square stages, as if for the support of a projecting parapet which -no longer exists. The western rose-window was inserted under a -broadly-soffeited and bold pointed arch, which spans the whole space -between the turrets and rises nearly to the top of the walls. - -The internal furniture of this church is not interesting. The metal -screens are of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Coro -occupies the second and third bays of the nave, and iron rails are -placed from its eastern door to the doorway in the Reja or screen of the -Capilla mayor, so as to preserve a passage for the clergy. The reredos -of the high altar contains sixteen paintings, enclosed within a -complicated architectural framework of buttresses, pinnacles, and -canopies. In the centre is an enormous canopy and niche, in which is a -modern effigy of the Blessed Virgin. This combination of rich -architectural detail with paintings is not satisfactory to the eye; and -it is evident that sculptured subjects would have been much more in -harmony with the framework. - -In the south-east chapel of the south transept there is a magnificent -monument to the “Muy Hoñorable Señor Môsen Francis de Villia Espepa, -Doctor, Cabalero, et Chanceller de Navarre,” and his “Muy Hoñorable -Duenya Doña Ysabel,” who died in 1423. The two effigies lie under a -deeply-recessed arch filled in with tracery, the recess being adorned -with sculptured subjects on its three sides. There are eight Weepers in -the arcade on the side of the tomb. It was too dark to see what all the -subjects were; but at the back our Lord is seated and censed by angels; -and below this He is represented in His tomb, with His arms bound, with -a weeping angel on either side. - -I have left to the last all notice of the beautiful cloister on the -south side of the nave. The arcades, which open into the cloister-court, -are carried on columns, which are alternately coupled and tripled or -quadrupled; larger piers are introduced in the centre of each side, in -order to give additional strength. The arches are generally simple and -pointed, but on the north and south sides they are chevroned on the -inside. The engraving which I give of the south-east angle of this -cloister will show how elaborate the whole of the work is. The capitals -throughout are carved with subjects and foliage, and most of the latter -is of extremely delicate character. The acanthus-leaf is largely -introduced. I had not time to catalogue the subjects carved in the -capitals; but so many of them are concealed and so many damaged, that I -fear it would be almost impossible at present to do so at all -completely. - -[Illustration: Angle of Cloister, Tudela.] - -I may with safety class this small church at Tudela among the very best -it has been my good fortune to visit in any part of Europe; and there is -much in its Iconography and in its sculptured detail which would reward -a much more lengthened examination than I was able to afford. - -I saw but one other old church here--that of la Magdalena, in the Calle -de Sta. Cruz. It consists of a nave and choir, vaulted with a pointed -waggon roof, with bold transverse ribs carried on carved capitals built -in the side-walls. The chancel makes a very decided bend to the north. -There is a simple tower on the north side, with a round-arched window of -two lights in the belfry stage, and a window of one light in the stage -below it. The west doorway is very fine: it is round-arched, and has in -the tympanum our Lord seated in a quatrefoil, surrounded by the emblems -of the four Evangelists. The label is carved, and the orders of the arch -are in part carved with acanthus, and in part with figures. Among the -latter are the twelve Apostles and (apparently) the Descent of the Holy -Ghost. The capitals are also storied.[394] - -From Tudela I availed myself of a special train on the railway to -Pamplona, which ran solely for the purpose of carrying the passengers of -a diligence from Madrid, and in which the station-master obligingly gave -me a seat. On the road we passed the towns of Olite and Tafalla, the -view of the former of which gave so much promise that I returned there -in order to examine its remains properly. - -Tafalla and Olite were of old called the Flowers of Navarre. Olite now -is dreary, desolate, and ruinous; and though Tafalla looks a little more -thriving, it too has lost all its former claim to the title of a flower! - -In Olite there are the extensive remains of a very fine castle, which -was built as a palace by the kings of Navarre, and two interesting -parish churches, Sta. Maria and San Pedro. Sta. Maria consists of a wide -nave of four bays in length, and a small apse at the east end. On the -west side is a small cloister in front of the principal entrance, which -gives great picturesqueness to the whole work. The cloister is a work of -the fifteenth century, an irregular square in plan, and arcaded with a -good simple open arcade. The east side has been destroyed, in order to -allow of the grand western doorway of the church being seen. This is -protected by a penthouse roof, supported on two tall columns, which have -taken the place of the old arcade. The church was built within the walls -of the castle, but the cloister seems to have been thrown out beyond -their line on the town side. There is a tower on the south of the nave, -finished with a gabled roof, and pierced with some good early-pointed -openings. - -[Illustration: TUDELA: Ground Plan of Cathedral: Plate XXIV. - -W. West, Lithr. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865.] - -The west front is a very elaborate work of the fourteenth century. It -has a central doorway, and a row of niches with figures on each side of -it, above a stringcourse, which is on the same level as the springing of -the doorway. The tympanum of the door has sculptures of the Blessed -Virgin Mary and our Lord under a canopy in the centre; on the (proper) -right, the Baptism, the Flight into Egypt, and the Massacre of the -Innocents; and on the left, the Presentation, the Annunciation, and the -Nativity. The carving of the archivolt is rich, mainly of foliage, but -with two or three figures under niches introduced capriciously in its -midst. The jambs, too, are covered with carvings of subjects arranged in -the oddest way; _e.g._ there are in succession an Agnus Dei, an -Annunciation, the Creation of Eve, Adam tilling the ground, wyverns, an -elephant and castle, the Fall, a pelican vulming its breast with a goat -standing on its hind-legs and looking on; and so on with subjects which -seem to exhibit nothing but the odd conceits of the workman, and to be -arranged in no kind of order. The carving is all of that crisp, sharp, -clever kind, so seldom seen in England, but so common in the -fourteenth-century buildings of Germany, and in which some of the -Spanish sculptors were unsurpassed by all save perhaps their own -successors in the latest period of Gothic art, whose works I have -already described at Burgos, Miraflores, and Valladolid. There are -extensive traces of old painting on the stonework of this doorway; and I -noticed that the detached shafts (of which there are four in each jamb) -were covered with a trailing branch of ivy, with green leaves and red -stems. - -The interior of Sta. Maria is not very interesting, though its scale is -good, the groined nave being 36 feet wide by 108 feet in length. The -groining-shafts are commendably bold and dignified. There is the usual -late western gallery, and a modern chapel and large irregular porch on -the south side. - -Sta. Maria stands, as I have said, partly within the walls of the -ancient castle or palace. This was dismantled in the course of the -Peninsular war, but is still an imposing ruin, with a vast extent of -enclosing wall, out of which rise several fine towers. These are -generally very simple, but lofty, and capped with projecting -machicoulis. I give an illustration of one in which the finish is unlike -any that I remember to have seen.[395] The window here is a good example -of a traceried domestic window, a straight stone transome being carried -across under the tracery, so as to make the window-opening -square-headed. - -Two grand towers on the eastern face of the castle are octangular in -plan, and one of them rises in three stages, each slightly within the -other, and each finished with fine corbelled machicoulis. - -The gateways have extremely small and low pointed arches, looking like -little holes in the great walls. Some of the walls are finished with the -common Arab type of battlement, the coping of which is weathered to a -point. The keep is a large pile, with square towers at the angles; and -near it is a large hall with battlemented side-walls, which has the air -of being the earliest part of the castle, but into which I was unable to -gain admission. - -[Illustration: Castle, and Church of San Pedro, Olite.] - -At the other extremity of the town (or village as it ought rather to be -called) is the church of San Pedro. This forms an important feature in -the picturesque view of the place, owing to its fine and peculiar tower -and spire. This is built against the south side of the church, is quite -plain until it rises above the roof, and then has two stages each -pierced with windows; above this a pierced overhanging parapet, carried -upon very bold corbels, and then a low octagonal stage, each side -surmounted by a crocketed gable, and the whole finished with a spire, -the entasis of which is very distinctly marked. An original design, such -as this is, deserves illustration. The height of the spire bears, it -will be seen, but a small proportion to that of the tower, as is often -to be observed in the case of good steeples; but the most unusual -feature is the enormous parapet, and taking into account the position of -the church just at the extreme angle of the town, it may be supposed to -have been built with some view to military requirements. The greater -part of the steeple is a work I suppose of the fourteenth century--much -later than the church, which, saving modern additions, is a fine work of -quite the beginning of the thirteenth century, if not earlier. The west -doorway is round-arched, having three shafts in each jamb, with -sculptured capitals, and an arch of six orders alternately carved and -moulded. The tympanum is sculptured with our Lord and two censing -angels, and below are subjects from the life of St. Peter: (1) His -commission; (2) His walking on the sea; (3) His trial; and (4) His -crucifixion. Above the doorway is a stringcourse carved in the -fourteenth century, and in the gable a wheel window within a pointed -enclosing-arch. The plan of the nave and aisles is of the same kind as -that of the church at Tudela, though on a smaller scale. A curious -difference in the design is the carrying up of the aisle groining almost -to the same level as that of the nave, whilst the transverse arches -across the aisle are at a much lower level, and have fine pointed and -circular windows pierced in the walls between the arches and the -groining. The eastern part of the church is all modern and very bad. - -Olite is a very squalid and miserable place; but a few hours may be well -spent here; and the castle in particular, which has been very badly -treated within a few years, ought to be carefully examined and drawn -before it is too late. I was there on a hot day in June,--so hot as to -make it difficult to work,--and yet on the summit of the hills, lying to -the south-south-west of the town, a good deal of snow was lying, and in -the evening, as the sun went down, the cautious Spaniards put on their -great cloth cloaks, and stole about muffled up to the eyes as though it -were mid-winter. - -From Olite to Tafalla there was once, or was once intended to be, a -continuous subterraneous communication. The distance must be some three -or four miles, so that the story would appear to be rather improbable. -The intention of Charles III. of Navarre to make such a communication -between the great palace he was building at Tafalla and the already -existing castle of Olite, is mentioned by Cean Bermudez under the date -of 1419; but he gives no authority for his statement. - -I was unable to stop at Tafalla: it is a more important place than -Olite, and has two churches, both apparently of the latest Gothic, with -square-ended transepts, and windowless apsidal choirs like those of the -late Burgalese churches. - -After leaving Tafalla the country becomes at every step wilder and more -beautiful. The hills rise grandly on either side, and are bare and -rocky. The railway passes under an aqueduct, which in height, length, -and simple grandeur of design, is worthy to be ranked among the finest -European aqueducts. It was built at the end of the last century by D. -Ventura Rodriguez. The only old church I saw on this part of the road -was close to Las Campanas station. Its west front had a good doorway, -and above this a great arch rising almost to the point of the gable, -with a circular window pierced within it. The same design is repeated in -one of the churches of Pamplona. - -The towers and walls of Pamplona are seen for some time before they are -reached. The railway follows the winding of a pretty stream, and the -city stands well elevated above it. The situation is indeed very -charming, the whole character of the country being thoroughly -mountainous, and the city standing on an elevated knoll rising out of an -ample and prosperous-looking valley surrounded by fine hills. - -The views from the cathedral and walls are very beautiful, and as the -town is large and rather handsomely laid out with a grand arcaded Plaza -in the centre, it gives a very favourable impression of Spain to those -who make it their first resting-place on a Spanish tour. - -[Illustration: No 51 - -PAMPLONA CATHEDRAL - -EXTERIOR FROM THE NORTH-EAST.] - -The cathedral stands on the outside of the city and close to the walls. -It was commenced in A.D. 1397 by Charles III. of Navarre, who pulled -down almost[396] the whole of the old church (built circa A.D. 1100). -The planning of this church is both ingenious and novel. Its chevet is -entirely devised upon a system of equilateral triangles, and, as will be -seen by reference to my plan,[397] the apse has only two canted sides, -having a column in the centre behind the altar; and though it is -perfectly true that this two-sided apse is in itself not a very graceful -scheme, it is at the same time equally true that the combination of the -chapels with the central apse is very ingenious and clever. The -distortion of the chapel next to the transept is very objectionable, -and seems to be without reason or necessity. There are transepts and a -nave and aisles of six bays in length, with side chapels along the -greater part of the aisles. The extreme shortness of the constructional -choir makes it certain that the church was planned for the modern -Spanish arrangement of the Coro, which now occupies two bays of the -nave, leaving one bay between its eastern Reja and the Crossing. The -Reja of the Capilla mayor is under the eastern arch of the Crossing, so -that the low rails marking the passage from the Coro to the Capilla -mayor are very long. The detail of all the architecture is -characteristic of the late date at which the church was built. The -columns are large, but composed of a succession of insignificant -mouldings, so as to produce but little effect of bold light and shade: -those in the choir are cylindrical, with clusters of mouldings -supporting, and continued on as, the groining ribs, and they all lack -that definiteness of arrangement and plan which is one of the surest -tests of the difference between good and bad Gothic architecture -generally, as it is between the work of men of the thirteenth and -fifteenth centuries almost everywhere. - -The internal effect of the cathedral is certainly very fine. The -peculiar scheme of the apse allows of the erection of a Retablo of -unusual height with less interference with the architectural features -than is common; and the whole design has the merit which I have so often -had to accord to the latest school of Gothic artists in Spain, of having -been schemed with an evident intention of meeting and providing for the -necessities of the climate; and one consequence of this is that almost -all the windows are left as they were originally designed, and have not -been blocked up in order to diminish the glare. The clerestory windows -throughout are small, those in the transepts are only small roses, and -owing to the steep slope of the aisle roofs there is a great space -between these openings and the main arcades. The three eastern bays of -the nave have geometrical traceries, whilst in the western bays and the -choir they are flamboyant in character; but I do not imagine that this -slight difference in character betokens any real difference in their -age. They all, in short, have somewhat of late middle-pointed character, -though their actual date and their detail would make us class them -rather with works of the third-pointed style. - -The stalls in the Coro are of Renaissance character, but founded closely -on the older models; and the Reja, to the east of them, is of wrought -iron, old, but with a Renaissance cresting. The Reja in front of the -Capilla mayor is much finer; it is of wrought iron, and is made, as is -so usual, with vertical bars, set rather close together, and alternately -plain and twisted. What the lower part lacks in ornament the cresting -more than atones for; it is unusually ornate, consisting of interlacing -ogee arches with crocketed pinnacles between them, all very elaborately -hammered up. The horizontal bars and rails are also all covered with -traceries in relief, and at regular intervals on these there are small -figures under canopies. The whole stands upon a moulded and panelled -base of stone. The total height of this screen is not less than thirty -feet, of which the cresting is about a third. - -Of the other furniture I may mention some of the glass in the -clerestory, which is fine; and the old Retablos. Two of these in the -south chapel of the chevet are especially worthy of notice. One of them -has a crucifix (with the figure draped in modern drapery) which has the -feet half plated with silver, and behind it are twelve prophets in rows -of four over each other, and all of them with inscriptions referring to -the Crucifixion--such as the texts beginning “Foderunt manus,” “Vere -languores nostros ipse tulit,” “Post ebdomadas sexaginta dies -occidetur,” “Quid sicut plage iste,” &c. - -The western front is a poor Pagan work utterly out of keeping with the -remainder of the fabric, and erected in the last century from the -designs of D. Ventura Rodriguez. The rest of the exterior is Gothic, but -not at all striking. It was once well garnished with crocketed pinnacles -above its flying buttresses, but they have now for the most part -disappeared. The roofs are flat and tiled, and hipped back in an -ungainly fashion even at the transepts. The north transept door has an -unusually fine example of a latch-handle or closing ring: the handle has -writhing serpents round it, and the plate is perforated all over with -rich flamboyant traceries. - -This cathedral is fortunate in retaining many of its old dependent -buildings in a very perfect state, but unfortunately I have spent only -one day in Pamplona, and I did not see by any means all that is to be -seen. For Cean Bermudez[398] says that some portions of the first -cathedral, founded in A.D. 1100, still remain; particularly the small -cloister and some of the buildings attached to it. This was the last -cathedral in Spain that observed the rule of St. Augustine, and the -canons always lived in common; the refectory, said to be of the -thirteenth century, the kitchen and offices, all still remain. Of about -the same age as the cathedral are the beautiful cloisters on its south -side, and the Chapter-house to the east of the cloister. It is said, -indeed, that a part of this cloister had been built some seventy years -before the fall of the old cathedral rendered it necessary to rebuild it -from the ground, and the style of much of the work encourages one to -believe the statement. It is certainly a very charming work in every -way: it is a square in plan, each side having six traceried windows -towards the centre court, and a small chapel breaks out into this at the -south-west angle. The windows are all of four lights, filled with -geometrical traceries, with crocketed labels to some and canopies to -others, and delicate buttresses and pinnacles dividing the bays. The low -wall below the open windows is covered with small figures in niches, and -the walls above the windows with panelling, as is also the parapet of -the modern upper cloister. The general conception is very ornate, and at -the same time very delicate and light in its proportions; and it is -rendered very interesting by the number of rich doorways, monuments, and -sculptures with which the walls are everywhere enriched. The door called -“Of our Lady of the Refuge” opens from the transept to the cloister; its -front is in the cloister, of which it occupies the north-western bay. In -its tympanum is a sculpture of the burial of the Blessed Virgin, whose -statue, with the figure of our Lord in her arms, occupies the post of -honour against the central pier. The reveals of the jambs are filled -with little niches and canopies in which are figures and subjects; and -below the bases, in a band of quatrefoils, are on the one side the Acts -of Mercy; on the other, figures playing on instruments. Angels in the -archivolt bear a scroll on which is inscribed--“Quæ est ista que -ascendit de deserto deliciis affluens, innixa super dilectum suum? -Assumpta est Maria in cœlum.” Against the east wall of the cloister -is a sculpture of the Adoration of the Magi, and next to this the grand -triple opening to the Chapter-house--a richly moulded door with a -two-light window on either side. In the southern alley are a fine tomb -of a bishop, the door of the Sala Preciosa adorned with a series of -bas-reliefs from the life of the Blessed Virgin, and another door with -the Last Supper and the Entry into Jerusalem; and close to the latter, -but in the western wall, is a doorway with the Crucifixion, and the -Maries going to the Sepulchre. Between these sculptured doorways the -walls are all arcaded with tracery panels corresponding to the windows; -and as all the mouldings are rich and delicate in their design, and the -proportions of the cloister very lofty, it will be seen that I cannot be -very far wrong in considering this to be, on the whole, one of the most -effective and striking cloisters of its age. The projecting chapel on -the south-west angle is exceedingly delicate in its construction, and is -screened from the cloister with iron _grilles_. A quaintly trimmed -box-garden occupies the cloister-court to the no small improvement of -its effect. - -On the eastern side is the Chapter-house; a very remarkable work of -probably the same age as the cloister, though of a simpler, bolder, and -much more grand kind of design. It is square in plan, but the vault is -octagonal, the angles of the square being arched and covered with small -subordinate vaults below the springing of the main vault. Buttresses are -placed outside to resist the thrust of each of the eight principal ribs -of the octagonal vault; and these buttresses, being all placed in the -same direction as the ribs, abut against the square outline of the -building in the most singular and, at first sight, unintelligible -manner. They are carried up straight from the ground nearly to the -eaves, where they are weathered back and finished with square crocketed -pinnacles; whilst between them an open arcade is carried all round just -below the eaves. On the exterior this Chapter-house seems to be so far -removed from the east end of the church as to have hardly any connection -with it; they are separated by houses built up close to their walls, and -present consequently a not very imposing effect from the exterior; and -standing, as the Chapter-house does, just on the edge of the city walls, -it is strange that it has fared so well in the many attacks that have -been made on Pamplona. The interior is remarkable only for the grand -scale and proportions of the vault with which it is covered. - -There are several other old churches here which deserve notice, though -none are on a very fine or grand scale. That of San Saturnino--the first -Bishop of Pamplona--is remarkable chiefly for the very unusual planning -of its eastern end, which has three unequal sides, out of which three -unequal polygonal chapels open.[399] My impression is that there was -never any altar under the great apse, but that the high altar stood in -the central chapel, at its east end. The Coro is, and probably was -always intended to be, in the western gallery, the under side of which -is groined, and any arrangement of stalls on the floor of such a church -would be obviously inconvenient and out of place. Two towers are built -against the eastern bay of the nave. The window tracery is of good -geometrical middle-pointed character, and the mouldings and other -details all seem to prove that the church was built about the middle of -the fourteenth century. The south doorway has the rare feature at this -period of capitals _historiés_; on the left hand are the Annunciation, -the Salutation, the Nativity, and the Flight into Egypt; and on the -right our Lord bearing His Cross, the Descent from the Cross, the -Resurrection, and the Descent into Hell. The Crucifixion forms the -finial of the canopy over the doorway, and three or four other subjects -are concealed by the modern framework round the door. There seems to be -no reason why the idea of such a plan as this should not be adopted -again: the termination of the nave by a kind of apsis, from one side of -which the chancel projects, is extremely good, and perhaps, on the -whole, the best way of effecting the change from the grand span of so -broad a nave to the moderate dimensions (just half those of the nave) of -the chancel. Such a church would probably hold about six hundred -worshippers, all in sight of the altar, and might, with advantage to its -proportions, be lengthened by the addition of another bay; and, simple -as all its parts would be, it would be a relief to eyes wearied by the -flimsy weakness of our modern Gothic work to look upon anything which -could not possibly be constructed without solid walls, massive -buttresses, and some degree of constructive skill. - -The church of San Nicolas is of Romanesque date, but much altered and -added to at later periods. It consists of a nave and aisles of three -bays, a Crossing, and a short eastern polygonal apse. The nave aisles -retain their original waggon vaults, with transverse ribs at intervals; -but the other vaults are all quadripartite. The clerestory of the nave, -too, consists of broad unpierced lancets, which are probably coeval with -the arcades below them. - -The exterior of this church is very much obscured by modern additions -and excrescences, but still retains some features of much interest. -There is a fine early western door, and above this a rose window filled -with rich geometrical tracery, over which is a very boldly projecting -pointed arch, which abuts against a tower on the north and against a -massive buttress on the south. The walls appear to have been finished at -the eaves with very bold machicoulis. At a much later date than that of -the church a lofty open cloister, with plain pointed arches, was added -on the western and northern sides. - -On either side of the apse of this church, in front of the Retablo and -altar, are what look like two tabernacles for the reservation of the -Sacrament: but I had no opportunity of learning the object of this -double arrangement. - -The views from the walls of Pamplona are eminently lovely; I remember -looking across to the east, over the flat which stretches away from them -to where the mountains begin to rise boldly beyond; and, as my eyes -wandered on, I began to turn my thoughts eagerly homewards, and much as -I had enjoyed the Spanish journey which ended at Pamplona, there was -perhaps no part of it which I enjoyed more than this, where I was -ungrateful enough to Spain to allow everything to be seasoned by the -near prospect of home. - -[Illustration: PAMPLONA:--Ground Plans of the Cathedral:--and of San -Saturnino: Plate XXV. - -Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. 1865.] - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -GENERAL SUMMARY. - - -IT is time, now that I have described so many Spanish Gothic buildings -in detail, to undertake a somewhat more general classification of them, -both in regard to their history and their style. Hitherto I have spoken -of each building by itself, only endeavouring to give so clear and -concise an account of each as was necessary in order that their general -character might be understood. But this kind of account would be -incomplete and almost useless without a more generalizing and more -systematic summary of the whole. And to this I propose to devote this -chapter. - -There are, indeed, few parts of Europe in which it is more easy to -detect the influence of History upon Art than it is in Spain. I dismiss -from consideration the period of the Visigothic rule, which lasted from -A.D. 417 to 717; for though it is possible that some works of this age -still exist, as _e.g._ part of the walls of Toledo, and the metal votive -crowns of Guarrazar, they do not really come within the scope of my -subject, inasmuch as there is no kind of evidence that they exercised -any influence over the architecture of the Christian parts of the -country after the Moorish interregnum. - -From the first invasion by the Moors in A.D. 711 down to their expulsion -from Granada in A.D. 1492, their whole history is mixed up with that of -the Christians; and, as might be expected, so great was the detestation -in which the two races held each other, that neither of them borrowed to -any great extent from the art of the other, and accordingly we see two -streams of art flowing as it were side by side at the same time, and -often in the same district,--a circumstance, as I need hardly say, -almost, if not quite, unknown at the same period in any other part of -Europe. The Mosque at Cordoba in the ninth century, the Alcazar and -Giralda at Seville in thirteenth, the Court of Lions in the Alhambra in -the fourteenth, some of the houses in Toledo in the fifteenth century, -are examples of what the Moors were building during the very period of -the Middle Ages in which all the buildings which I have described and -illustrated were being erected; the only exception to be made to this -general statement being, that when the Christians vanquished the Moors -they usually continued to allow them to build somewhat in their own -fashion,--as, for example, they did in Toledo,--whilst on the other -hand, the Moors seem never to have imitated this example, though they -were of course utterly unable to suppress all evidence in their work of -any knowledge of Gothic buildings. - -The reason of this was, no doubt, that throughout this period any -contrast drawn between the Moors and Christians in regard to -civilization would generally, if not always, have been in favour of the -former. They were accomplished both in art and science: their -architectural works would have been impossible except to a very refined -people, and their scientific attainments are evidenced even to the -present day by the system of artificial irrigation which they everywhere -introduced, and which even now remains almost unaltered and unimproved. -The Christians, on the contrary, were warlike and hardy, and in the -midst of constant wars had but scant time for the pursuit of art; and -finally, when they had re-established their supremacy, they wisely -allowed the Moors to remain under their rule when they would, and -employed them to some extent on the works in which they could not fail -to see that they excelled. - -Again, the subdivision of the country into several kingdoms, -administered under varying laws, owing no common allegiance to any -central authority, and inhabited by people of various origin, might well -be expected to leave considerable marks on the style of the buildings; -though, at the same time, the antipathy which the inhabitants of all of -them felt for the Moors rendered this cause less operative than it would -otherwise have been. Some portions of the country had never been -conquered by the Saracens: such were the regions of the Pyrenees lying -betwixt Aragon and Navarre, the Asturias, Biscay, and the northern -portion of Galicia.[400] And though it was by degrees that the other -states freed themselves from their conquerors, it happened fortunately -that the Christian successes generally synchronized as nearly as -possible with that great development of Christian art which at the time -covered all parts of Europe with the noblest examples of Pointed -Architecture. Toledo was recovered by the Christians in A.D. 1085, -Tarragona in 1089, Zaragoza in 1118, Lérida in 1149, Valencia in 1239, -Seville in 1248, whilst Segovia, Leon, Burgos, Zamora, and Santiago -suffered more or less from occasional irruptions of the Moors down to -the beginning of the eleventh century, but from that date were -practically free from molestation. By the middle of the fifteenth -century the number of states into which the country had been divided was -reduced to four, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and the Moorish kingdom of -Granada. Of these Aragon and Castile are the two of which I have seen -the most, and, I may venture to add, those in which the History of -Gothic Architecture in Spain is properly to be studied. For though it is -true that Seville was recovered in the thirteenth century, and Cordoba -about the same time, it is equally so that most of their buildings are -Moorish or modern, the Gothic cathedral in the former not having been -commenced until A.D. 1401, and the Moorish mosque in the latter still -doing service as the Christian cathedral; and generally throughout the -South of Spain, so far as I can learn, there are but few early Gothic -buildings to be seen; whilst the late examples of the style were -designed by the same architects, and in precisely the same style, as -those which were erected in the parts of Spain which I have visited. - -Of these two great divisions of the country, Aragon included the -province of that name, together with Cataluña and Valencia; and owing to -the great political freedom which the Catalans in particular enjoyed at -an early period, to the vast amount of trade with Italy, the -Mediterranean, and the East carried on along its extensive seaboard, and -to its large foreign possessions--which included the Balearic Isles, -Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia--the kingdom of Aragon possessed great -wealth and power, and has left magnificent architectural remains. - -The kingdom of Castile in course of time came to include, in addition to -the two Castiles, Leon, Biscay, the Asturias, Galicia, Estremadura, -Murcia, and Andalusia: and here there was not only a larger Spanish -territory, but one peopled by a much more varied population than that of -Aragon, and which naturally, I think, left a less distinct architectural -impress than we see in the other. - -Each of these kingdoms of course inherited a certain number of buildings -erected under the rulers who had formerly held the country. It is -possible that some portion of the walls of Toledo were built by the -Goths; and at any rate we know by the fortunate discovery of the crowns -at Guarrazar,[401] that, whatever may have been the state of the people -in respect of other arts, that of working in precious metals was in an -advanced state. - -The Moors who succeeded them undertook undoubtedly large works in many -parts of the country. They first built the Bridge of Alcantara across -the Tagus at Toledo, and enclosed several towns with strong walls, among -others Valencia and Talavera. They erected mosques and other public -buildings, and before the Christian conquests of the eleventh century -had no doubt imported much of a very advanced civilization into the -country which they ruled. The mosque “Cristo de la Luz,” at Toledo, is a -remarkable example of delicate skill in design and construction, and -certainly in advance of the coeval Christian works. The ingenuity of the -planning of the vaults is extreme, and though, at the same time, there -is to our eyes an error in trying to do so much in so very small a -space--nine vaulting compartments covered with varied vaults being -contrived in a chamber only 21 feet square--it is to be observed that -this is just one of the mistakes which arises from over-great education -and skill, and is in marked contrast to the kind of design which we see -in the simple, grave, but rude buildings which the less cultivated -Christians were erecting at the same period. - -Of the early Christian buildings I think there can be but little doubt -that some at least still exist. There is no one year in Spanish history -which can be used as that of the Norman Conquest is in England. Here -people are accustomed to argue as though before and after A.D. 1066 two -entirely different styles existed, with few, if any, marks of imitation -of one from the other, though of course both must have had the same -common Roman origin. This cannot be said in Spain; and where we find -distinct and good evidence of the erection of churches in the ninth and -tenth centuries, and the buildings still standing, with every -architectural evidence of not being more modern than the eleventh -century, I see not why we should doubt their greater antiquity. For -looking to the solid way in which all these early works were built, it -seems to be extremely unlikely that they should have required rebuilding -so soon, or that, if they were rebuilt, not only should older stones -with inscriptions recording the dates be inserted in the new walls, but -also that no kind of evidence--documentary or other--should be -forthcoming as to their reconstruction. - -Several inscriptions on foundation-stones are given by Cean -Bermudez,[402] and I regret never having been able to examine the -buildings in which they occur. One of the earliest of these, Sta. Cruz -de Cangas, is described as having a crypt; and a long inscription, with -the date 739, on a stone in it is given by Florez.[403] But I gather -from Mr. Ford that the church has now been modernized. Cean Bermudez -describes it as “strong, arched, and without ornament.” Another church -at Santiañes de Pravia has a labyrinthine inscription of A.D. 776, -recording its erection by the King Silo. This church was very small, but -had a Capilla mayor, two side chapels, a Crossing, and three naves; in -fact, was in plan completely and exactly what the Spanish churches of -the twelfth century were; and in this case it may, perhaps, be doubted -whether the inscription referred to the church described, and was not -taken from some older building. But the most interesting probably of -these early churches is that of Sta. Maria de Naranco, near Oviedo. This -is described and illustrated by Parcerisa,[404] and is undoubtedly a -most remarkable example, though unfortunately I can find no reliable -evidence as to its probably very early date. It seems to be planned with -a view to a congregation outside the church joining in the worship -within, there being galleries and open arches at the ends through which -the altar might be seen. I confess that the details which I have seen, -as well as the plans and views of this church, and of some portions of -Oviedo Cathedral, to which a similarly early date is ascribed, do not -give me the impression of work which is sufficiently distinct in style -to be pronounced, as the Spanish writers have it, “obra de Godos,” or -work of the Goths. Yet it is undoubtedly of early date, and probably, at -any rate, not later than the tenth or eleventh century. The detail is -Romanesque, and the modification of plan in such a building seems to -point to some special use for it rather than to some special age for its -erection. On the other hand, there is some reason to suppose that the -church at Santiago, which existed before the erection of the present -cathedral, was very similar in its plan;[405] and if so, it would seem -to fortify the claim for a very early date for Sta. Maria de Naranco. - -I have thought it right to refer to these buildings on account of the -great age ascribed to some of them; but I have done so with some -hesitation, because I have not seen them myself, and it is impossible to -form any good opinion upon such questions as arise in connexion with -them without careful personal examination. - -It is a relief, therefore, to turn now to more certain ground, and to -speak of churches which I have myself seen. I think the earliest of -these are the two old churches of San Pablo and San Pera, at Barcelona, -said to have been built in A.D. 914 and 983. I see no reason whatever to -doubt these dates; at least it is improbable that if San Pablo was built -in 914 it should have required rebuilding before the end of the next -century; and no one I suppose would suggest a later date for it than -this. In any case it is a valuable example. The ground-plan is -cruciform, with a central lantern and three eastern apses; and the roofs -are all covered with waggon vaulting and semi-domes. The plan is quite -worthy of very attentive consideration, since with more or less -modification of details it is that which more than any other may be said -to have been popular in Spain in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. - -The question as to the quarter from whence it was derived is one of the -greatest possible interest, and admits, I think, of but little doubt. It -must be remembered that in considering these questions there are no -Pyrenees. The towns on what is now the French side of the mountains were -not then French; and such places as S. Elne were not only really -Spanish, but so intimate was the connexion existing between them and -places at a greater distance (as _e.g._ Carcassonne), that for our -purpose they may fairly be considered as being in the same country. The -plan which we see in San Pablo del Campo is one which, having its origin -in the East, spread to the north of Italy, was adopted largely in -Provence, Auvergne, and Aquitaine, and was probably imported from thence -to Barcelona. The central lantern and the three eastern apses are rather -Byzantine than Romanesque in their origin; and though they are not -common in Italy, they are occasionally met with; whilst in the parts of -France just mentioned they are of frequent occurrence. The church which -I coupled with this--San Pedro de las Puellas, in the same city--was -consecrated in A.D. 983; it is also cruciform, but has no chapels east -of the transepts. Here, too, we have waggon-vaults, and a central dome. - -The little church of San Daniel,[406] at Gerona, not much later probably -in date than those first mentioned, is mainly remarkable for the apsidal -north and south ends of its transepts. This common German arrangement is -most rarely seen in Spain, and deserves especial notice. Here it is -coupled with a central octagonal lantern, which has a very good effect. -It is repeated very nearly in the church at Tarrasa, and so far as the -apses at the end of the transept in the church of San Pedro, Gerona; -and there is considerable similarity between the latter and the -cathedral at Le Puy en Velay. - -The succeeding century shows us the same type of plan becoming much more -popular, and developed again in such close imitation of some foreign -examples as to make it almost impossible to doubt its foreign origin. In -these buildings the nave has usually a waggon-vault, and this is -supported by half barrel-vaults in the aisles. There is no clerestory; a -central lantern rises to a moderate height; and three eastern apsidal -chapels open into the transepts, and are roofed with semi-domes. San -Pedro, Huesca--probably not later in date than A.D. 1096-1150--is a -remarkably good and early example of the class; and will be found to be -extremely similar to some of the churches built about the same time on -the other side of the Pyrenees. The plan of the steeple[407]--which is -hexagonal--deserves special record; and it may not be amiss to observe, -that at Tarbes, in the Pyrenees, the principal church not only has three -eastern apses, but also a central octagonal steeple; and the same type -is again repeated at San Pedro, Gerona--said to have been commenced in -A.D. 1117--though here there are two apses on each side of the principal -altar, and all the detail of the design is very Italian, or perhaps I -should rather say Provençal, in its character. If we compare some of -these churches with the earlier portions of the cathedral at -Carcassonne, we shall find them to be almost identical in character and -detail, and cannot avoid coming to the conclusion that they were all -designed by the same school of architects or masons. Carcassonne -Cathedral has a nave and aisles divided by columns formed of a square -block, with an engaged shaft on each face: the covering of the nave is a -waggon-vault with square ribs on its under side, and that of the aisles -is a quadrant. It is, in fact, almost identical with San Pedro at -Gerona. Go farther east, and in the church at Monistrol, between Le Puy -and S. Etienne, the same design precisely will be seen in a remote -French village far from Spain. - -About this period a type of church varying but little from this became -extremely common in Aquitaine and Auvergne; and this again evidently -influenced at least one of the Spanish architects very much indeed: I -allude to such churches as those of Notre Dame du Port, Clermont -Ferrand, and S. Sernin at Toulouse--to name two only out of a large -number. In these the ground-plan has usually nave and aisles, transepts, -central lantern, and a chevet consisting of an apsidal choir with a -surrounding aisle, and chapels opening into it, with spaces between -each chapel. This plan, as I have already shown, is absolutely repeated -at Santiago with such close accuracy that one can hardly avoid calling -it merely a reproduction of S. Sernin at Toulouse.[408] It is the more -remarkable because for some reason the early Spanish architects almost -always avoided the erection of a regular chevet, and adhered strictly to -their first plan of separate apsidal chapels on the eastern side of the -transept. But whilst the early French chevet was only copied at -Santiago, the other features of the French churches to which it belonged -were copied not unfrequently--these are the waggon-vaulted nave, -supported by half waggon-vaults over the aisles, and the central -lantern. Gradually the design of these various parts was developed into -a sort of stereotyped regularity, the instances of which extend so far -across to the Peninsula as to be very surprising to those who have -noticed the remarkable way in which local peculiarities generally -confine themselves to the particular districts in which they originated. -In course of time the groining was varied, and in place of the round -barrel-vault, one of pointed section was adopted, and in place of it -again the usual quadripartite vault. The examples which I have -described, and which belong to this class, are--San Isidoro, Leon; San -Vicente and San Pedro, Avila; several churches in Segovia; the old -Cathedral at Salamanca; Lérida old Cathedral; Sta. Maria, Benevente; and -Santiago, la Coruña. Other churches of precisely similar character exist -at Valdedios, near Gijon; Villanueva and Villa Mayor, near Oña; San -Antolin de Bedon, between Ribadella and Llanes; Sandoval, on the river -Esla; San Juan de Amandi and Tarbes, on the French side of the Pyrenees. -Those in Segovia may be accepted as the best examples of their class, -and they are so closely alike in all their details as to lead naturally -to the belief that they were all executed at about the same period, and -by the same workmen. The sack of the city by the Moors in 1071, when it -is said that thirty churches were destroyed, seems to point to the -period at which most of these churches were probably erected to take the -place of those that had been destroyed; and it seems to be certain that -their leading features remained generally unaltered until about the end -of the twelfth, if not far into the succeeding century. Indeed it is -remarkable in Spain, just as it is in Germany, that the late Romanesque -style, having once been introduced, retained its position and _prestige_ -longer than it did in France, and was only supplanted finally by designs -brought again from France in a later style, instead of developing into -it through the features of first-pointed, as was the case in England and -France. - -In this general similarity there are several subordinate variations to -be observed. At Santiago, for instance, we see an almost absolute copy -of the great church of S. Sernin, Toulouse, erected soon after its -original had been completed. At Lugo it is clear, I think, that the -architect of the cathedral copied, not from any foreign work, but from -that at Santiago: he was probably neither acquainted with the church at -Toulouse, nor any of its class. At San Vicente, Avila, again, though we -see the Segovian eastern apses repeated with absolute accuracy, the -design of the church is modified in a most important manner by the -introduction of quadripartite vaulting in place of the waggon-vault, and -the piercing the wall above the nave arcades with a regular triforium -and clerestory. The same design was repeated with little alteration at -San Pedro, in the same city; and in both it seems to me that we may -detect some foreign influence, so rare was the introduction of the -clerestory in Spanish buildings of the same age. Sta. Maria, la Coruña, -again, though it evidently belongs to the same class as the cathedral at -Santiago, has certain peculiarities which identify it absolutely with -that variation which we see at Carcassonne and Monistrol:[409] for here -there are narrow aisles; and the three divisions of the church are all -covered with waggon-vaults, those at the sides resisting the thrust from -the centre, and, owing to their slight width, exerting but slight -pressure on the outer walls. The distinction between this design and one -in which the aisles are covered with quadrant-vaults is very marked; and -the erection of the cathedral at Santiago would not have been very -likely to lead to the design of such a church as this. - -In all these churches the proportion of the length of the choir to that -of the nave is very small. Usually the apses are either simply added -against the eastern wall of the transept, or else, whilst the side apses -are built on this plan, the central apse is lengthened by the addition -of one bay between the Crossing and the apse. It is very important to -mark this plan, because, however it was introduced--whether in such -churches as that of the abbey of Veruela, where the conventual -arrangement of Citeaux was imported, or in those earlier churches of -which San Pedro, Gerona, may be taken as an example, in which from the -first no doubt the choir was transferred to the nave, and the central -apse treated only as a sanctuary--the result was the same on Spanish -architecture and Spanish ritual. The Church found herself in possession -of churches with short eastern apses and no choirs; and instead of -retaining the old arrangement of the choir, close to and in face of the -altar, she admitted her laity to the transept, divorced the choir from -the altar, and invented those church arrangements which puzzle -ecclesiologists so much. In our own country the same system to some -extent at first prevailed; but our architects took a different course; -they retained their choirs, prolonged them into the nave, and so -contrived without suffering the separation of the clergy from the altar -they serve, which we see in Spain.[410] In one great English church only -has the Spanish system been adopted, and this, strangely enough, in the -most complete fashion. Westminster Abbey, in fact, will enable any one -to understand exactly what the arrangement of a Spanish church is. Its -short choir, just large enough for a sumptuous and glorious altar, its -Crossing exactly fitted for the stalls of the clergy and choir, its nave -and transepts large enough to hold a magnificent crowd of worshippers, -are all mis-used just as they would be in Spain; whilst the modern -arrangements for the people--much more mistaken than they are -there--involve the possession of the greater part of the choir by the -laity, and the entire cutting off by very solid metal fences of all the -worshippers in the transepts from the altar before which they are -supposed to kneel, and the placing of the entire congregation between -the priest and the altar.[411] - -This digression will be excused when it is remembered how universally -this tradition settled itself upon Spain, and how completely the -perseverance in Romanesque traditions has affected her ritual -arrangements, and with them her church architecture from the twelfth -century until the present day. The long choirs which were naturally -developed in England and France were never thought of there; the choir -was merely the “Capilla mayor”--the chapel for the high altar; and the -use of the nave as the people’s church was ignored or forgotten as much -as it was--very rightly--in some of our own old conventual churches, -where the choir was prolonged far down into the nave, and the space for -the people reduced to a bay or two only at its western end. - -I must now bring this discussion to a close, and proceed with my -chronological summary; and here the Abbey Church at Veruela ought to be -mentioned, if regard be had to the date of its erection--circa A.D. -1146-1171--though I must say that I have not been able to discover that -it exercised any distinct influence upon Spanish buildings. It is in -truth a very close copy of a Burgundian church of the period, built by -French monks for an order only just established in Spain, under the -direction probably of a French architect, and in close compliance with -the rather strict architectural rules and restrictions which the -Cistercians imposed on all their branches and members.[412] The -character of the interior of this church is grand and simple, but at the -same time rather rude and austere; but the detail of much of the -exterior is full of delicacy; and the design of the chevet, with its -central clerestory, and the surrounding aisle roofed with a separate -lean-to roof, and the chapels projecting from it so subordinated as to -finish below its eaves, recalls to memory some of the best examples of -French Romanesque work.[413] The beauty and refinement of the little -Chapter-house here lead me to suppose that it cannot be earlier than the -end of the century. - -There are some of these churches which require more detailed notice as -being derived to some extent from the same models, but erected on a -grander scale, and if documentary evidence can be trusted, whose -erection was spread over so long a time as to illustrate very well -indeed the slow progress of the development in art which we so often see -in these Spanish buildings. The old cathedral at Salamanca was building -from A.D. 1120 to 1178; Tarragona Cathedral was begun in 1131; Tudela, -commenced at about the same time, was completed in 1188; Lérida, whose -style is so similar to that of the others as to make me class them all -together, was not commenced until 1203, nor consecrated until 1278; and -Valencia Cathedral, of which the south transept of the original -foundation still remains, was not commenced until A.D. 1262. Yet if I -except the early and Italian-looking eastern apse at Tarragona, most of -the features of these churches look as though they were the design of -the same man, and very nearly the same period; and it is altogether -unintelligible how such a work, for instance, as Lérida Cathedral could -be in progress at the same time as Toledo and Burgos, save upon the -assumption that the thirteenth century churches in an advanced Pointed -style, such as these last, were erected by French workmen and artists -imported for the occasion, and in a style far in advance of that at -which the native artists had arrived. - -Yet I think few churches deserve more careful study than these. I know -none whose interiors are more solid, truly noble, or impressive; and -these qualities are all secured not by any vast scale of -dimensions--for, as will be seen by the plans, they are all churches of -very moderate size--but by the boldness of their design, the simplicity -of their sections, the extreme solidity of their construction, and the -remarkable contrast between these characteristics and the delicacy of -their sculptured decorations; they seem to me to be among the most -valuable examples for study on artistic grounds that I have ever seen -anywhere, and to teach us as much as to the power of Pointed art as do -any churches in Christendom. - -In all there is a very remarkable likeness in the section of the main -clustered piers. They are composed usually of four pairs of clustered -columns, two of them carrying the main arches, and two others supporting -bold cross arches between the vaulting bays, whilst four shafts placed -in the re-entering angles carry the diagonal groining ribs both of the -nave and aisle. The arches are usually quite plain and square in -section, the groining ribs are very bold and simple, and the whole -decorative sculpture is reserved for the doorways and the capitals and -bases of the columns. The windows have usually jamb-shafts inside and -out; and the eastern apses are always covered with semi-dome vaults. -Permanence being the one great object their builders set before them, -they determined to dispense as far as possible with wood in their -construction, and they seem to have laid stone roofs of rather flat -pitch above the vaulting, and in some cases very ingeniously contrived -with a view to preventing any possible lodgment of wet, and so any -danger of decay. It may be said, perhaps, that fragments only of these -roofs remain, so that after all timber roofs covered with tiles would -have been equally good; but this is not so. The very attempt to build -for everlasting is in itself an indication of the highest virtue on the -part of the artist. The man who builds for to-day builds only to suit -the miserable caprice of his patron, whilst he who builds for all time -does so with a wholesome dread of exciting hostile criticism from those -grave unprejudiced men who will come after him, and who will judge, not -consciously perhaps, but infallibly, as to the honesty of his work. In -England we have hardly a single attempt at anything of the kind, though -in Ireland, in St. Cormack’s Chapel at Cashel, we not only have an -example, but one also that proves to us that we may build in this solid -fashion, so that our work may endure in extraordinary perfection come -what may--as it has there--of neglect, of desolation, and of -desecration! Yet of all the virtues of good architecture none are -greater than solidity and permanence, and we in England cannot therefore -afford to affect any of our Insular airs of superiority over these old -Spanish artists! - -Look also at the thorough way in which their work was done. The -Chapter-houses, the cloisters, the subordinate erections of these old -buildings, are always equal in merit to the churches themselves, and I -really know not where--save in some of the English abbeys which we have -wickedly ruined and destroyed--we are to find their equals. Nothing can -be more lovely than such cloisters as those of Gerona or Tarragona, few -things grander than that desecrated one at Lérida, whilst the -Chapter-house at Veruela, and the doorways at Valencia, Lérida, and -Tudela, deserve to rank among the very best examples of mediæval art. - -There are yet two other grand early churches to be mentioned which do -not seem to range themselves under either of the divisions already -noticed, and which yet do not at all belong to the list of churches of -French design with which my notice of thirteenth-century Spanish work -must of necessity conclude. These are the cathedrals of Sigüenza and -Avila.[414] Both of these are, so far as I can see, but to a slight -extent founded upon other examples. Sigüenza Cathedral seems to have had -originally three eastern apses: the plan is simple and grand, and its -scale, either really, or at any rate in effect, very magnificent. The -great size of the clustered columns, their well-devised sections, the -massive solidity of the arches, the buttresses, and all the details, -make this church rank, so far at least as the interior is concerned, -among the finest Spanish examples of its age. At Avila, on the other -hand, we see a remarkable attempt to introduce somewhat more of the -delicacy and refinement of the first-pointed style; and just as if the -architect had been exasperated by the obligation under which he lay to -end his chevet within the plain, bald, windowless circular wall -projecting from the city ramparts which was traced out for him, we find -him indulging in delicate detached shafts, a double aisle round the -chevet, and subsequently in such strange as well as daring expedients in -the way of the support of the groining and the flying buttresses, as -could hardly have been ventured on by any one really accustomed to deal -with the various problems which the constructors of groined roofs -ordinarily had before them. I venture therefore to place these two -churches at Sigüenza and Avila among the most decidedly Spanish works of -their day; I see no distinct evidence of foreign influence in any part -of their design, and they seem to me to be fairly independent on the one -hand of the early Spanish style of Tarragona, Lérida, Salamanca, and -Segovia, and on the other of the imported French style of Toledo, -Burgos, and Leon. - -And now I must say a few words on the three last-named churches. I have -already expressed my opinion as to their origin, which seems to me to be -most distinctly and undoubtedly French. The history of the Spanish -Church at the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth -century, points with remarkable force to such a development as we see -here. What more natural than that the country which looked, on the -recovery from its troubles--on the expulsion of the Saracen--to its -neighbour the French Church to supply it with bishops for its -metropolitan and other sees--should look also to it for a supply of that -instruction in art which had grown and flourished there, whilst men were -fighting and striving with all their might and main here? And what is -there more natural than that French architects, sent over for such -works, should first of all plan their buildings on the most distinctly -French plan, with French mouldings and French sculpture; and then--as we -see both at Burgos and Toledo, in the singular treatment of the -triforia--should have gradually succumbed to the national and in part -Moresque influences by which they were surrounded? At Leon the evidences -of imitation of French work are so remarkable, that no one capable of -forming a judgment can doubt the fact; and if at Burgos and Toledo they -are not quite so strong, the difference is slight, and one only of -degree. I have already spoken upon these points in describing the -churches in question; and here I will only repeat that, as the features -of which I speak are exceptional and not gradually developed, it is as -certain as anything can be that their style was not invented at all in -Spain. We have only to remember the fact, that at the same time that -Lérida Cathedral was being built, those of Toledo and Burgos were also -in progress, whilst that of Valencia was not commenced until much later, -to realize how fitful and irregular was the progress of art in Spain. It -is, in fact, precisely what we see in the history of German art. There, -just as in Spain, the Romanesque and semi-Romanesque styles remained -long time in quiet possession of the field, and it was not until the -marvellous power and success of the architects of Amiens and Beauvais -excited the German architects to emulation in Cologne Cathedral, that -they moved from their Romanesque style into the most decided and -well-developed geometrical Gothic. And just as Cologne Cathedral is an -exotic in Germany, so are those of Burgos, Leon, and Toledo in Spain; so -that, whilst Spaniards may fairly be proud of the glory of possessing -such magnificent works of art, their pride ought to be confined to that -of ownership, and should not extend to any claim of authorship. - -The demands of these three great churches upon our admiration are very -different. The palm must be awarded to Toledo, which, as I have shown, -equals, if it do not surpass, all other churches in Christendom in the -beauty and scale of its plan. Undoubtedly, however, it lacks something -of height, whilst later alterations have shorn it also of some of its -attractiveness in design, the original triforium and clerestory -remaining only in the choir. Nevertheless, as it stands, with all its -alterations for the worse, it is still one of the most impressive -churches I have ever seen, and one in which the heart must be cold -indeed that is not at once moved to worship by the awefulness of the -place. - -I have already, in my account of this great church, entered somewhat -fully into a description of the peculiarities of its plan, and the -evidence which they afford of its foreign origin. The unusual -arrangement of the chevet, in which the vaulting bays in both the -surrounding aisles of the presbytery are made of nearly the same -size,[415] by the introduction of triangular vaulting compartments, and -in which the chapels of the outer aisle are alternately square and -circular in plan, renders it, however, not merely an example of a French -school, but one of the very highest interest and peculiarity. There is -no church, so far as I know, similarly planned, though some are -extremely suggestive as to the school in which its architect had -studied. The cathedral at Le Mans has triangular vaulting compartments -in the outer of its two aisles, arranged somewhat as they are at Toledo, -but with inferior skill, the aisle next the central apse having the -unequal vaulting compartments, which have been avoided here; but the -surrounding chapels in these two examples are utterly unlike. Notre -Dame, Paris, also has triangular vaulting compartments, but they are -utterly different in their arrangement from those in Toledo -Cathedral.[416] Neither of these examples, in short, proves much as to -the authorship of the latter. A far more interesting comparison may, -however, be instituted between the plan of this chevet and that rare -example of a Mediæval architect’s own handiwork, which has been handed -down to us in the design for a church made by Wilars de Honecort, under -which he wrote the inscription, “Deseure est une glize a double charole. -K vilars de honecort trova & pieres de corbie.” In English: “Above is -(the presbytery of) a church with a double circumscribing aisle, which -Wilars de Honecort and Peter de Corbie contrived together.”[417] In this -plan we find these two old architects, not only introducing alternate -square and circular chapels round their apse, but also an arrangement of -the groining which looks almost as though they were acquainted with some -such arrangement as that of the triangular vaulting compartments of Le -Mans and Toledo. The diligent and able editors of Wilars de Honecort--M. -Lassus and Professor Willis--say that no such plan as this is anywhere -known to exist; and I believe they were nearly, though not, as I have -shown, absolutely correct in this assertion. At Toledo they still exist -in part, and once, no doubt, existed all round the chevet; and it may -well, I think, be a question whether Peter, the architect of Toledo, -had not studied in the French school, and with these very men--Wilars -de Honecort and Peter de Corbie--who, “inter se disputando,” as they -wrote on this plan, struck out this original scheme. At the same time it -will be seen, on comparison of the two plans, that if he derived his -idea from his brethren, he developed it into a much more scientific and -perfect form. - -It will be recollected that though I claim a French origin for Toledo -Cathedral, I allow that it is not only possible, but probable, that, as -the work went on, either Spaniards only were employed on it, or (which -is more likely) that the French architect forgot somewhat of his own -early practice, and was affected by the work of other kind being done by -native artists around him. The evidence of this change is mainly to be -seen in the triforium and clerestory of the choir and transepts. - -The religious gloom of the cathedral at Toledo is strangely different -from the religious brightness of that of Leon; for in the latter, where -the sole end of the architect seems to have been the multiplication of -openings and the diminution of solid points of support, the artist in -stained glass has fortunately come to the rescue, and filled the windows -with some of the most gorgeous colouring ever seen, so as to redeem it -from its otherwise utter unfitness for its work in such a climate as -that even of Northern Spain. I have already said that this church has -not stood well. It was, in truth, too daring, and has in consequence -failed to some extent. Yet, in spite of this, I cannot but admire -immensely the hardihood and the skill of the man who could -venture--knowing as much as he did--upon such a daring work as this; and -I know not to whom to liken him so well as to the first architect of -Beauvais Cathedral, though certainly the work at Leon has not failed so -conspicuously as it did there. In both these churches the arrangement of -the ground-plan of the chevet is so nearly similar as to allow of their -being classed together as at any rate works of the same style, if they -are not indeed both works of the same school. Both have pentagonal -chapels round the apse, and square chapels to the west of them, and they -were built within a few years of each other.[418] The detail at Leon is -almost all very French, and the windows of its clerestory are, in their -general design as well as in their detail, almost reproductions of those -at Saint Denis, in the peculiar mode adopted there of strengthening the -principal monials by doubling the smaller monials in width, without any -change in their thickness. - -The cathedral at Burgos is certainly in most respects a somewhat -inferior work to that at Leon. It, too, is French; but its architect was -familiar not with the best examples of French art in the Ile de France -and Champagne, but only, I think, with those of the somewhat inferior -Angevine school. The plan of this chevet[419] was probably never so fine -as that of Leon, though it was very similar to it. Here, too, I think, -we see some local influence exerting itself in the design of the -triforia throughout the church, whereas at Leon the original scheme -seems from first to last to have been faithfully adhered to. But if -Burgos Cathedral is far inferior in scale to that of Toledo, and -somewhat so to that of Leon in skilfulness of design, it is in all other -respects equally deserving of study, and is in its general effect at -present far more Spanish than either of them. The many additions have to -a great extent, it is true, obscured the original design; but the result -is so picturesque, and so far more interesting than an unaltered church -usually is, that one cannot well find fault. The main failure of the -design is the smallness of the scale, and the loss of internal effect -owing to the alteration of the primitive arrangements by the placing of -the Coro in the nave, and the leaving of the ample choir unoccupied save -by the altar at its eastern end. - -The succeeding great division of Gothic art is much more distinctly -marked and more uniform throughout Spain, whilst at the same time it is -even less national and peculiar. There are in truth very considerable -remains of fourteenth-century works, though, perhaps, no one grand and -entire example of a fourteenth-century building. All these examples are -extremely similar in style; and I think, on the whole, more akin in -feeling and detail to German middle-pointed than to French. The west -front of Tarragona Cathedral, the lantern and north transept of Valencia -Cathedral, the chapel of San Ildefonso, the Puerta of Sta. Catalina, and -the screen round the Coro at Toledo, Sta. Maria del Mar and the -cathedral at Barcelona, the chevet of Gerona Cathedral, the north -doorway and nave clerestory of Avila Cathedral, and the cloisters of -Burgos and Veruela, afford, with many others, fair examples of the -design and details of churches of this period. The traceries are -generally elaborately geometrical and rather rigid and ironlike in their -character, the carving fair but not especially interesting--dealing -_usque ad nauseam_ in diapers of lions and castles--and the whole system -of design one of line and rule rather than of heart and mind. Yet, in -this, Spain reflected much more truly than before what was passing -elsewhere in the fourteenth century; and exhibited, just as did Germany, -France, and England[420] at the same moment, the fatal results of the -descent from poetry and feeling in architecture to that skill and -dexterity which are still in the nineteenth century, as they were in the -fourteenth, regarded--and most wrongly regarded--as the elements of art -most to be striven after and most taught. Art, in truth, was ceasing to -be vigorous and natural, and becoming rapidly tame and academical! - -Yet if these works are not very national, they are at any rate most -interesting and deserve most careful study. He was no mean artist who -made the first design for Barcelona Cathedral, who completed the chevet -of Gerona, or who designed the steeple at Lérida, or the cloisters of -Burgos, Leon, or Veruela. At this time indeed art was cosmopolitan, and -all Europe seems to have been possessed with the same love for -geometrical traceries, for crockets, for thin delicate mouldings, and -for sharp naturalesque foliage, so that no country presents anything -which is absolutely new, or unlike what may be seen to some extent -elsewhere. There are perhaps only two features of this period which I -need record here, and these are, first, the reproduction of the -octagonal steeple, which, as we have seen, was a most favourite type of -the Romanesque builders; and, secondly, the introduction of that grand -innovation upon old precedents, the great unbroken naves, groined in -stone, lighted from windows high up in the walls, and inviting each of -them its thousands to worship God or to hear His word in such fashion as -we, who are used to our little English town churches, can scarcely -realize to ourselves.[421] But on this point I will say no more because -its consideration more naturally arises in the succeeding period, in -which the problem was more distinctly met and more satisfactorily -settled. - -The survey of Spanish art in the fifteenth century is, I think, on the -whole, more gratifying than it is in the fourteenth. In the earliest -churches, as the models from which they were derived were first of all -built in hot climates, the windows were small and few, the walls thick, -the roofs flat-pitched, and the whole construction eminently suited to -the physical circumstances of the country. But these models, having been -taken to the north of Europe, and there largely and perhaps -thoughtlessly copied, in spite of the vast difference of climate, were -soon found to be unfitted for their purpose, and were consequently, in -due course of time, developed into that advanced style of Gothic of -which the main characteristic is the size and beauty of its windows. Of -course this development was just that of all others which ought not to -have been tolerated at all under a southern sun; and we must allow the -fifteenth-century architects the credit of having discovered this, and -of having returned very much to the same kind of design as that in which -their thirteenth-century predecessors had indulged. - -The examples of this age which I have described will have given a fair -idea of their main characteristics. The magnificent size, the solid -construction, and the solemn internal effect of such churches as those -of Segovia, Salamanca, Astorga, Huesca, Gerona, Pamplona, and Manresa, -would be sufficient to mark the period which produced them as one of the -most fertile and artistic the world has ever seen. We may approach such -buildings full of prejudice in favour of an earlier style of -architecture, of a purer form of art; but we cannot leave them without -acknowledging that at least they are admirable in their general effect, -and if not conceived in the very purest art, still conceived in what is -at any rate a true form of art. By the time in which they were erected, -Spain had become far more powerful than ever before; she was quite free -from all fear of the Moors, and was so rich as to be able to expend vast -sums of money in works of art and luxury. She had also more trade and -communication with her neighbours; and no doubt their customs and their -schools of art had become so familiar to Spanish architects as to lead -naturally to some imitation of them in their works. In their later works -we find, at any rate, a development beyond that point at which Spaniards -had before arrived, and noticeably an affection for the French chevet or -apsidal choir surrounded by a procession-path and group of chapels. This -arrangement, which, when it was adopted at Veruela, Santiago, Burgos, -Leon, and Toledo, was evidently only adopted because the architects of -these churches were French, was a favourite one of the artists of the -fifteenth century. Huesca and Astorga alone of the great churches -mentioned just now are founded upon the old Spanish type of parallel -apses at the east end: the others are all founded upon that of the -French chevet with some modifications in the details of their design. Of -these, few are more interesting than that which we see in the cathedral -at Pamplona, the chevet of which is, to the best of my belief, unique in -its curious use of the equilateral triangle in the plan. This is perhaps -the most novel modification of the French plan; but among all of them it -is impossible not to award the palm, most decidedly, to the really -magnificent works of the Catalan School. In other parts of Spain the -great churches of this period had no very special or marked character; -nothing which clearly showed them to be real developments in advance of -what had been done before or elsewhere. In Cataluña, on the other hand, -there was a most marked impulse given by a Mallorcan artist at the -latter part of the fourteenth century; and to the influence of his -school we owe some of, I suppose, the most important mediæval churches -to be seen in any part of Europe. Their value consists mainly in the -success with which they meet the problem of placing an enormous -congregation on the floor in front of one altar, and within sight and -hearing of the preacher. The vastest attempt which we have made in this -direction sinks into something quite below insignificance when compared -with such churches as Gerona Cathedral, Sta. Maria del Mar, Barcelona, -or the Collegiata at Manresa. The nave of the former would hold some two -thousand three hundred worshippers, that of the next hard upon three -thousand, and that of the third about two thousand. Their internal -effect is magnificent in the extreme; and if, in their present state, -their external effect is not so fine, it must be remembered, first of -all, that they have all been much mutilated, and, in the next place, -that their architects had evidently mastered the first great necessity -in church-building--the successful treatment of the interior. In these -days it is impossible to say this too strongly: men build churches -everywhere in England, as though they were only to be looked at, not -worshipped in; and forget, in fact, that the sole use of art in -connexion with religion is the exaltation of the solemnity of the -ritual, and the oblation of our best before the altar, and not the mere -pleasing of men’s eyes with the sweet sights of spires rising among -trees, or gables and traceried windows standing out amid the -uninteresting fabrics of nineteenth-century streets! - -In our large towns in England there is nothing we now want more than -something which shall emulate the magnificent scale of these Catalan -churches. They were built in the middle ages for a large manufacturing -or seafaring population; and we have everywhere just such masses of -souls to be dealt with as they were provided for. But then, of course, -it is useless to recommend such models if they are only to be used as we -use our churches, for four or five hours on Sundays, instead of, as -these Spanish churches were and still are, for worship at all sorts of -hours, not only on Sundays, but on every day of the week also. When -English Churchmen are accustomed to see churches thoroughly well used; -when no church is without its weekly, no great church without its daily -Eucharist; and when they see none, great or small, without their doors -open daily both for public and private prayer,--then, and not till then, -can we expect that they will allow architects any chance of emulating -the glories achieved by these old men. Till then we shall hold fast to -our insular traditions of little town churches and subdivided parishes, -and shall doubt the advantages of enormous naves, of colleges of clergy -working together, and of those other old Catholic appliances, which must -be tried fully and fairly before we give up in despair the attempt to -Christianize the working population of our large cities. - -The general idea of these great fifteenth-century churches has no doubt -already been grasped by my readers. Worship at the altar appears to me -to be the key to the design and arrangement of many of them, for nowhere -else in Europe, I suppose, can we find a church on so very moderate a -scale as the Cathedral at Barcelona crowded in the way it is with -altars, and so planned and fitted up as to make it absolutely useless as -a place of gathering for a large number of persons at one service. But -if this multiplication of side altars was here carried to excess, one of -the most remarkable examples of an attempt to glorify the high altar, -and at the same time to provide for one enormous and united -congregation, is unquestionably that which is presented by Sta. Maria -del Mar in the same city. This church has its prototype at Palma in -Mallorca, and I much regret that I have never yet been able to visit -that island, for, so far as I can learn, it seems that the mainland owed -much to it in the way of architectural development, and that some of the -finest examples of the Catalan style in this age are still to be seen -there. - -The special devotion to the altar service which is exemplified in -Barcelona Cathedral led naturally to other architectural developments. -Such are the remarkable church of San Tomás at Avila, with its western -choir and eastern altar both raised in galleries, and its arrangement -for the congregation of worshippers below. Such again is the church of -El Parral, Segovia, with its deep western gallery for the choir, its -dark, gloomy, and austere nave, and the concentration of light and -window round the altar. Indeed, the institution of the western gallery, -so common--I might almost say so universal--in small churches at this -period in Spain, arose from the same feeling as did the removal of the -choir into the nave in the larger churches. The object of all these -changes was to give the people access to the altar, and usually they -seem to have been made upon the assumption that no one would care to -assist at the services in the choir itself. I am very much inclined to -think that the rise of this feeling was to a great extent an accident, -and the result of the fact that almost all the early Spanish churches -were founded on models in which the eastern limb of the Cross was so -very short that the choir or Chorus Cantorum must almost always have -occupied the eastern part of the nave, or the Crossing under the central -lantern. This must have been almost a necessity in such cathedrals as -those of Lérida, Tudela, and Sigüenza: whilst in others, as those of -Tarragona, Tarazona, and Avila, the space must always have been cramped, -though a choir might have been accommodated. Of the larger churches -Burgos alone has a really large constructional choir. In Toledo it is -very short, and in Leon certainly below what we usually find in a French -church of the same age and pretensions. - -The cathedrals of Segovia and Salamanca are the two latest great Gothic -churches in Spain, and in some respects among the grandest; and here, as -might be expected, the Spanish custom as to the position of the Coro had -become so thoroughly fixed and invariable, that the choir proper is very -short, and built only for the altar. The plan of Segovia Cathedral is -very fine and well proportioned; whilst that of Salamanca has been -unhappily ruined by the erection of a square east end, in place of the -apse which was first of all intended: and this, in place of emulating at -all the noble design of any of our English eastern ends, is contrived -with but little skill, the aisle returning across behind the altar, -whilst beyond it to the east there is a line of chapels similar to those -beyond the aisles. - -Of the later styles I need say but little. They are not Gothic, and this -is a summary of Gothic architecture only; yet it is interesting to look -into their history if only to notice how curious the fact is that at the -same time that men like Berruguete were designing in the most -thoroughly Renaissance style, Juan Gil de Hontañon was still painfully -superintending the erection of a great Gothic cathedral. The remarkably -Gothic staircase to the Hall at Christ Church, Oxford (A.D. 1640); the -Gothic window traceries of Stone Church, Kent, of the same date; the -rebuilding of Higham Ferrers steeple by the great Archbishop Laud, and -of the spire of Lichfield Cathedral by good Bishop Hacket in 1669, are -well-known instances of the remarkable love for Christian art which -Englishmen retained long after the fashion for Pagan and Renaissance art -had set in. And it is not a little interesting to find the same contest -going on in Spain, and the same love for the old and hallowed form of -art exhibited. - -I cannot see much--I might almost say I can see nothing--to admire in -the works of the Renaissance school in Spain. It was in their time that -the discovery of America raised the country to the very summit of her -prosperity, and right nobly did she acknowledge her duty by the -offerings she made of her wealth. Few Spanish churches are without some -token of the magnificent liberality of the people at this time, and one -is obliged to acknowledge it in spite of the horror with which one -regards the works they did, and the damage which their erection did to -the older buildings to which they were added. - -It would be dreary work to follow the stream of Spanish art down by -Berruguete and Herrera to Churriguera and so on to our own time; and the -only fact of interest that I know is that the old scheme of cruciform -church with a central lantern is still the most popular, and that down -to the present time almost every modern church has been so planned, with -a lantern dome rising from above the intersection of the nave and -transepts. - -Fortunately, down to this time the tide of “Restoration” has hardly -reached Spain, and one is able therefore to study the genuine old -records in their old state. There are no Salisbury Chapter-houses or -Worcester Cathedrals to puzzle us as to whether anything about them is -old, or whether all may be dismissed or discussed as if it were -perfectly new; and so it affords a field for study the value of which -cannot be overrated, and which ought not to be neglected. It must not be -supposed that this field of study is limited to the general scheme of -the churches. On the contrary, their fittings and furniture, their -appendages and dependent buildings, are unsurpassed in interest by those -of any other land, and in addition to these there are several other -heads under which my subject naturally presents itself. - -First among them is that of church furniture. No country is perhaps now -so rich in this respect as Spain. Few of course--if any--of her churches -retain their old furniture in its original place earlier in date than -the fifteenth century. It is true that the magnificent baldachin and -Retablo at Gerona, the screens round the Coro at Toledo, and the -beautiful painted Retablo in the old cathedral at Salamanca, are earlier -than this; but these are exceptions to the rule. The great glory of the -country in this respect are such Retablos--rich in sculpture, covered -with gold and colour, and in paintings of no mean merit, and lofty and -imposing beyond anything of the kind ever seen elsewhere--as those of -Toledo Cathedral or the Carthusian Church of Miraflores. In these one -hardly knows whether to admire most the noble munificence of the -founders, or the marvellous skill and dexterity of the men who executed -them. It is not only that they are rich and costly, but much more, that -all the work in them is usually good of its kind, and far finer than the -work of the same age and style which we see in the Netherlands and -Germany. The choir stalls, again, are often magnificent. Nothing can be -more interesting than the contemporary chronicle of the capture of -Granada which we see in the lower range of stalls at Toledo; they are -full of character and spirit, and represent what was no doubt felt to be -a truly religious enterprize, with at least as much fidelity as any view -of our own military operations at the present day ever attains to. Other -churches have choir fittings, like those of Zamora, full of curious -interest to the student of Christian iconography; like those at -Palencia, remarkable for the exceedingly elaborate character of their -traceries and panelling; and like those of Gerona, valuable for the fine -character of the rare fourteenth-century woodwork which has been -re-arranged in the modern Coro. Turn again from the choir stalls to the -other fittings of the choir. Seldom elsewhere shall we see the old -columns for the curtains at the side of the altar still standing as they -do at Manresa. Nowhere shall we see such magnificent choir lecterns, in -brass as that of Toledo, or in wood as that of Zamora; nowhere else such -pretty and sweet-sounding wheels of bells for use at the elevation of -the Host; nowhere, perhaps, so many old organs, many of which, if not -Mediæval, are at any rate not far from being so; nowhere else so many or -such magnificent Rejas or metal screens and parcloses, as in this -country. In every one of these works Spanish workmen excelled, because -they devoted themselves to them. We have lists of men who made screens, -of others who carved the choir stalls, of others who made Retablos, and -of others, again, who painted and gilded them. Each class of men is -named after the furniture to the execution of which they devoted -themselves, and occasionally individuals rose to rare eminence from this -kind of work. The time was late, indeed, when it happened, but see how -Borgoña and Berruguete strove for mastery over their work on the upper -stalls at Toledo, or how the poor Matias Bonifé, at Barcelona, was bound -to carve no beasts or subjects on his stalls, to which we may suppose he -was addicted; and how his successor died of distress because the Chapter -did not like the pinnacles he added to the canopies; and consider how -people interested themselves in the matter, how they were excited in the -contest between Borgoña and Berruguete, and no doubt in the others also, -and we see at once how different was the position which these men -occupied from that which, so far as we know, their contemporaries in -England held. - -The monuments in the Spanish churches are not the least of their -glories. From one of the earliest and finest, that of Bishop Maurice at -Burgos, there is a sequence illustrating almost every variety of Gothic -down to that exquisite Renaissance monument of the son of Ferdinand and -Isabella at Avila, in which--in spite of the date and style--the old -spirit still breathes an air of grace, refinement, and purity over the -whole work. Such chapels as those which enshrine these monuments,--that -of the Constable at Burgos, of Santiago at Toledo, of Miraflores near -Burgos,--are well fitted to hold the most magnificent of memorials; for -were it not that such a work as the tomb of Juan II. and Elizabeth is -almost unmatched anywhere for the skill and delicacy of its workmanship, -and that some of the others are almost equally sumptuous, the chapels -within which they are erected would appear to be in themselves the -noblest remembrances of the dead. - -Of the dependent buildings of these great churches I have had to speak -over and over again. The ground-plans which I have given will show how -complete they usually are. Their arrangement varies very much. The -cloister, for instance, is on the north-east at Tarragona; the north at -Sigüenza, Toledo, and Leon; the west at Lérida and Olite; the south at -Santiago, Palencia, Tudela, and Veruela; and the south-east at Burgos. -The Chapter-houses by no means always stand on the east of the cloister, -though they usually retain the old triple entrance, and the remaining -buildings seem to vary very much in the positions assigned to them. - -The roofing of Spanish churches has been incidentally noticed in various -places throughout this volume. It was almost always of stone. So far as -the interior roofing is concerned, the changes that are seen are of -course very much the same as those which marked the vaults of most other -parts of Europe at the same period. At first the cylindrical Roman -vault, then the same vault supported by quadrant vaults over the aisles, -then simple quadripartite vaults, and finally vaults supported on very -elaborate systems of lierne ribs. But there are some minor peculiarities -in these vaults which deserve record. The waggon vaults generally have -transverse ribs on their under side, and occur usually in buildings in -which all the apsidal terminations are roofed with semi-domes--and they -are sometimes (as in Lugo Cathedral, and Sta. Maria, la Coruña) pointed. -The early quadripartite vaulting is generally remarkable for the large -size of the vaulting-ribs, and for the very bold transverse arches which -divide the bays. Ridge-ribs are hardly ever introduced, and the ridge is -generally very little out of the level. The vaults of Leon Cathedral are -filled in with tufa in order to diminish the weight, but I have not -noticed any similar contrivance elsewhere. Down to the end of the -fourteenth century the vaulting seldom if ever had any but diagonal, -transverse, and wall-ribs; and even in many of the works of the -succeeding century the same judicious simplicity is seen. But usually at -this time it became the fashion to introduce a most complicated system -of lierne ribs, covering the whole surface of the vault, dividing it up -into an endless number of small and irregularly shaped compartments, and -very much damaging its effect. My ground-plans of Segovia and (new) -Salamanca Cathedrals show how extremely elaborate these later vaults -very frequently were. There is another form of vault which is not -unfrequently met with: this occurs where a square vaulting bay is -groined with an octagonal vault. In these examples a pendentive is -formed at each angle of the square, and thus the octagonal base is -formed for the vault. Examples of this are to be seen in the Chapels of -San Ildefonso and Santiago at Toledo Cathedral, in three of the late -Chapels at Burgos Cathedral, and in the Chapter-house of Pamplona -Cathedral. The fashion for this vault arose probably from the custom -which had obtained of building central lanterns, which were frequently -finished with octagonal stages, and consequently vaulted with octagonal -vaults. So far as to the internal roofing. The evidence I have found of -the old external roofing in some cases is even more interesting. It is -clear that many of the early churches were intended from the first to -be built entirely of stone in the roof as well as in the walls. Avila, -Toledo, and Lérida Cathedrals, and the Collegiata at Manresa, still -retain some of their old stone covering; and though it is true that in -none of these cases has the attempt to construct an absolutely -imperishable building been perfectly successful, it appears to me that -the workmen and architects who attempted to carry such plans into -execution deserve all our admiration. I have described these roofs in -the course of my notes upon the churches in which they occur, and here I -need only refer to my descriptions and illustrations. - -In sculpture Spain is not so rich as France, but on the whole probably -more so than England. The best complete Gothic work that I have seen is -at Leon; but it offers no variety whatever from the best of the same age -in France. I have given the various iconographical schemes, so far as I -could manage to do so, in describing the several works, and here I will -only repeat that, to my mind, the triple western doors at -Santiago[422]--completed in A.D. 1188--are among the finest works of -their age, and deserving of the greatest care and tenderness on the part -of their guardians. Most of us are conscious how much good sculpture -adds to the interest of good architecture. Usually, however, we spread -our modern sculpture too lavishly in all directions if we have the money -to spend. But even in this there may be too much of a good thing; the -mind and eye become satiated, and sicken; and not half the real pleasure -is felt in seeing some modern works that would be if the work had been -somewhat less lavishly applied, somewhat more thoughtfully, or as at -Santiago, in one spot, leaving the whole of the rest of the church in -its stern, rude simplicity. - -The domestic architecture of Spain in the middle ages is, as might be -expected, very much less important than the religious architecture. -Probably the wealth of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was even -more damaging to the former than it was to the latter. At any rate, no -country--Italy excepted--contains a greater number of showy Renaissance -palaces in all its principal towns than Spain does; and there can be -little doubt that they took the place of Gothic houses to a very -considerable extent. Either I was very unlucky, or, if I saw what is to -be seen, I must pronounce Spain to be unusually barren of old examples -of domestic buildings. Of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries I have -hardly seen a single example, save the house which I have described at -Lérida; whilst of the two following centuries, the best examples seem to -be confined very much to the Mediterranean sea-board. In this part of -Spain are the simple houses lighted by _ajimez_ windows, which I have -described and illustrated; they extend all along the coast from Perpiñan -to Valencia, and are usually so much alike as to produce the impression -that they are all made from the same design. Later than this, the public -buildings at Barcelona and Valencia, the palace of the Dukes del -Infantado at Guadalajara, the museum and other convents at Valladolid, -the house of the Constable Velasco at Burgos, and the great hospital at -Santiago, are no doubt magnificent examples of their class. In these the -buildings are generally arranged round courtyards, which are surrounded -by passages opening to the court, and lighted either with open arches or -with traceried windows. Rich and noble as some of these buildings are, -there is little that is interesting or picturesque in them, and they -seldom attain the degree of importance of which one would suppose such -an architectural scheme skilfully treated would admit. Their date is -rarely earlier than circa A.D. 1450, and the detail of their mouldings -and sculpture is consequently of the latest kind of Gothic. There is, -however, a rude barbaric splendour in some of the courts or patios at -Valladolid, where this kind of building is seen to perhaps greater -advantage than anywhere else. - -The castles of Spain deserve, apparently, much more attention, and are -in every way more important, than the other domestic buildings. Those at -Olite, Segovia, and Medina del Campo have been already described; and -there is, no doubt, a vast number of buildings of somewhat similar -character to be seen, especially in those parts of the country which -formed for a time the frontier land between the Moorish and Christian -kingdoms. Generally, they are remarkable for the unbroken surface of -their lofty walls, crowned with picturesque and complicated projecting -turrets at the angles. The scale on which they are built is magnificent, -and their walls still stand almost untouched by the ages of neglect from -which they have suffered. In the same way the walls which encircle the -Spanish cities are often still so perfect throughout their circuit that -it is almost possible to persuade oneself that they have been untouched -for three hundred years. Avila, Lugo, Segovia, Toledo, Pamplona, -Astorga, Gerona, Tarragona, and many other towns are girt round with so -close an array of tower and wall as to make them still look fit for -defence. The age of these walls varies much; but most are probably of -early foundation, owing their first erection to the days when the Moors -still from time to time rode raiding across the land. They are always of -extraordinary solidity, and consist usually of plain walls with circular -projecting towers at short intervals. - -The materials used by Spanish architects and builders seem to have been -granite, stone, and brick. Granite was used in some of the very earliest -constructions; but after the introduction of Christian art into the -country, nothing but stone was used for two or three centuries, when -granite was again made use of. We see the same thing in England; and no -doubt the admirable masons who played so important a part in the -development of Christian architecture must have detested the hard, -coarse, and unyielding material, when they compared it with the more -easily-wrought free-stones which lent themselves so kindly to their -work. The Spanish masons were always, I think, skilful; and in the -fifteenth century, when Gothic art was glowing forth in all the glory of -decay, pre-eminently so. I know no mere execution of details more -admirable in every way than that which we see, for instance, in the work -of Diego de Siloe. It reaches the very utmost limit of skilful -handiwork. It is not very artistic, but it is so clever that we cannot -but admire it; and I doubt much whether the best of our own works of the -same age can at all be put in comparison with it. It is generally marked -by the extraordinary love of heraldic achievements which is so -characteristic of the Spaniards. There are some of the façades of the -later churches which are adorned with absolutely nothing but coats of -arms and their supporters; and I know no work which is less interesting -in spite of its extraordinary elaborateness. The decorations of parts of -our Houses of Parliament give some idea of this sort of work, though -they are by no means so painfully elaborate. - -The masons seem to have worked together in large bodies, and the walls -are marked in all directions with the signs which, then as now, -distinguished the work of each mason from that of his neighbour, but I -have been unable (save in one or two cases) to detect the mark of the -same mason in more than one work; and from this it would seem to be -probable that the masons were stationary rather than nomadic in their -habits, a deduction which is fortified by the difference of general -character which may, I think, be detected between the groups of marks in -different buildings. Occasionally the number of men employed on one -building seems to have been unusually large, and it is clear therefore -that there were great numbers of masons in the country. In the small -church of Sta. Maria, Benavente, there are the marks of at least -thirty-one masons on the eastern wall; as many as thirty-five were at -work on the lower part of the steeple at Lérida; whilst in one portion -of Santiago Cathedral there appears to have been as many as sixty. These -numbers would be large at the present day; and are very considerable -even if compared with such a building as Westminster Abbey, where, in -A.D. 1253, when the works were in full progress, the number of -stone-cutters varied from thirty-five to seventy-eight. - -The use of bricks was not, so far as I have seen, very great. They were -used either in combination with stone, plaster, or tiles, or by -themselves. Examples of their use in combination with stone may be seen -at Toledo. Here, in all the Moorish or Moresque examples, the walls are -built of rubble stone, with occasional bonding-courses of brick, and -brick quoins. This kind of construction, which has been sometimes -adopted of late years in England, is obviously good and convenient, but -wanted, to some minds, the authority of ancient precedent; and here at -Toledo we are able to show it from a very early period. In the very -early Puerta de Visagra (circa A.D. 1108-1136) single bonding-courses of -brick are used at a very short distance apart, whilst in the later -works, such as the steeples of San Roman and La Magdalena, the bands are -farther apart, and consist frequently of two or three courses of brick, -whilst the stringcourses and corbel-tables are formed of projecting -bricks, which are seldom, if ever, moulded. This, indeed, may almost be -said to be the special peculiarity of Spanish brickwork; for in every -other part of Europe, so far as I have seen, where bricks are much used, -they were always more or less moulded. These examples are useful, -however, as showing how very much richness of effect can be obtained by -the use of the simple rough material in the simplest way. At Zaragoza, -at Tarazona, at Calatayud, and elsewhere, the buildings and their -steeples are covered with panels and arcades, formed by setting forward -some of the bricks a few inches in advance of the face of the wall. In -some cases, as in the Cimborio of Tarazona Cathedral, and the east wall -of Zaragoza, the spaces so left are filled in with extremely rich work -in coloured tiles, the effect of which is far less garish and strange -than might have been expected. - -The most curious feature that I have noticed about Spanish brickwork is, -that it always, or almost always, appears to have been the work of -Moorish workmen, and not of the Christian workmen by whom the great -churches throughout the country were erected. The Moors continued to -live and work in many towns long after the Christians had recovered -them; and wherever they did so, they seem to have retained, to a great -extent, all their old architectural and constructive traditions. We see -this most distinctly in the markedly different character of the old -Spanish brickwork both from the other Spanish architectural developments -of the day, and also from any brickwork of the same period that is seen -in other parts of Europe. If after leaving Zaragoza the traveller were -to cross the Pyrenees, and then make his way to Toulouse, he would find -himself again in the midst of brick buildings, erected at various times -from the twelfth to the sixteenth century; but he would find them -utterly different in style from the brick buildings of the Zaragozan -district, and thoroughly in harmony with the stone buildings which were -being erected at the same time in the same neighbourhood. And this -brings us in face of one of the most curious evidences of the extremely -exotic character of most Spanish art. Spain was the only country in -Europe, probably, in which at the same time, during the whole period -from A.D. 1200 to A.D. 1500, various schools of architecture existed -much as they do in England at the present day. There were the genuine -Spanish Gothic churches (derived, of course, from Roman and Romanesque), -the northern Gothic buildings executed by architects imported from -France, and in later days from Germany, and the Moresque buildings -executed by Moorish architects for their Christian masters. Of these -schools I have already discussed two in this chapter, and I must now say -a few words about the third. - -I do not propose to speak here of Moorish art, properly and strictly so -called, but only of that variety of it which we see made use of by the -Christians, and which throughout this volume I have called “Moresque.” -Of these, the most remarkable that I have seen are in that most -interesting city of Toledo, which, so far as I can learn, seems to -surpass Seville in work of this kind, almost as much as it does in its -treasures of Christian art. Here it is plain that, though Christians -ruled the city, Moors inhabited it. The very planning of the town, with -its long, narrow, winding lanes; the arrangement of the houses, with -their closed outer walls, their _patios_ or courts, and their large and -magnificent halls, speak strongly and decidedly in favour of the Moorish -origin of the whole. And when we come to look into the matter in detail, -this presumption is most fully supported; for everywhere the design of -the internal finishing and decorations of the houses and rooms is -thoroughly Moorish, executed with the remarkable skill in plaster for -which the Moors were noted, and with curious exhibitions here and there -of a knowledge, on the part of the men who did them, of the Gothic -details which were most in vogue at the time. - -It may well be supposed that if the Moors were thus influenced by the -sight of Christian art, the Christians would be not less so by the sight -of theirs. I fully expected when I went first to Spain that I should -find evidences of this more or less everywhere; I soon found that I was -entirely mistaken, and that, though they do exist, they are -comparatively rare and very unimportant. This will be seen if I notice -some of the most remarkable of the examples. - -(1.) In Toledo Cathedral the triforium of the choir is decidedly -Moresque in its design, though it is Gothic in all its details, and has -carvings of heads, and of the ordinary dog-tooth enrichment. It consists -of a trefoiled arcade; in the spandrels between the arches of this there -are circles with heads in them; and above these, triangular openings -pierced through the wall; the mouldings of all these openings -interpenetrate, and the whole arcade has the air of intricate ingenuity -so usual in Moorish work. It might not be called Moresque in England, -but in Toledo there can, I think, be no question that it is the result -of Moorish influence on the Christian artist. So also in the triforium -of the inner aisle of the same Cathedral the cusping of the arcades -begins with the point of the cusp on the capital, so as to produce the -effect of a horseshoe arch: and though it is true that this form of -cusping is found extensively in French buildings in the country between -Le Puy and Bourges, here, in the neighbourhood of the universal -horseshoe cusping of the Moorish arches, it is difficult to suppose that -the origin of this work is not Moorish also. The same may be said with -equal truth of the triforium at the east end of Avila Cathedral. - -(2.) The towers of the Christian churches in Toledo, at Illescas, at -Calatayud, at Zaragoza, and at Tarazona, all appear to me to be -completely Moresque. Those in Toledo make no disguise about it, the -pointed arches of their window openings not even affecting to be Gothic -in their mode of construction. So also in some of the churches of Toledo -much of the work is completely Moresque. The church of Sta. Leocadia is -a remarkable example of the mixture of Romanesque and Moresque ideas in -the same building. - -(3.) In many buildings some small portion of Moorish ornament is -introduced by the Christian workman evidently as a curiosity, and as it -were to show that he knew how to do it, but did not choose to do much of -it. Among these are, (_a_) the traceries in the thirteenth-century -cloister at Tarragona,[423] where the Moresque character is combined -with the Christian symbol; (_b_) the interlacing traceries of the -circular windows in the lantern of San Pedro, Huesca;[424] (_c_) the -carving of a Moorish interlacing pattern on the keystone of a vault at -Lérida; (_d_) the filling in of the windows of the Cloister at Tarazona -with the most elaborate pierced traceries;[425] (_e_) the traceries of -the clerestory of the aisle of the chevet of Toledo Cathedral; (_f_) and -similar semi-Moresque traceries inserted in Gothic windows at Lugo, and -many other places, where everything else is purely Gothic. - -(4.) The introduction of coupled groining ribs, as in the vault of the -Templars’ Church at Segovia, and in that of the Chapter-house at -Salamanca. The Moorish architects seem always to have been extremely -fond of coupled ribs. We see them in several of the vaults in the church -or mosque called Cristo de la Luz;[426] and the principal timbers of the -wooden roofs of the synagogue “del Transito” are similarly coupled. It -is an arrangement utterly unknown, so far as I remember, in Gothic work, -and there can be no doubt that in these examples it is Moresque. The -vault of the Chapter-house at Salamanca, which also has parallel -vaulting ribs, produces, as will be seen[427] in the centre, the sort of -star-shaped compartment of which the Moorish architects were always so -fond. - -(5.) The Moorish battlement is used extensively on walls throughout -Spain. It is weathered on all sides to a point, and covers only the -battlements, and not the spaces between them.[428] - -(6.) The Moorish system of plastering was considerably used, not only -at Toledo, but also to a late period on the Alcazar and on houses and -towers at Segovia. Here, however, though the system of design and the -mode of execution are altogether Moorish, the details of the patterns -cut in the plaster are generally Christian. - -(7.) The Moorish carpentry is very peculiar, and is constantly -introduced in late Gothic work. Most of my readers have probably seen -the ingenious puzzles which the Moors contrived with interlacing ribs in -their ceilings at the Alhambra, illustrated with so much completeness by -Mr. Owen Jones; these patterns are constantly used in Gothic buildings -for door-framing; and examples of this kind of work may be seen -frequently, and especially in towns--like Valencia and Barcelona--on the -eastern coast. - -These evidences of Moorish influence upon Christian art in Spain are, it -will at once be seen, rather insignificant, and serve on the whole to -prove the fact, that Christian art was nearly as pure here as it was -anywhere. This is precisely, I think, what might have been expected. For -where a semi-religious war was for ages going on between two nations, -and where art was, as it almost always is--God be praised--more or less -religious in its origin and object, nothing can be imagined less -probable than that their national styles of art should be much mixed one -with the other. It is probable, on the contrary, that each would have a -certain amount of pride in this practical way of protesting against his -enemy’s heresies, so that art was likely to assume a religious air even -greater and deeper than it did elsewhere. - -The mention of the religious element in art leads naturally to the -consideration of that art which most objectively ministered to the -teaching of religious truths and history--the art of Painting. The -admirable and interesting work of Mr. Stirling[429] begins just where I -leave off, and almost treats the painters before Velasquez, Murillo, and -Joánes as though they had never existed. But in truth I suppose it is -necessary that the whole subject should be studied from the beginning; -and though we can never hope for such a mine of information about -mediæval Spanish painters as Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle have given -us about their Italian contemporaries, it is not, I think, unreasonable -to suppose that a good deal of information might still be obtained. I -regret very much that in all my Spanish journeys my time has been so -fully occupied with purely architectural work that I have never been -able to pay so much attention as they seemed to deserve to the early -paintings that I saw. Yet the works of Borgoña at Avila, the paintings -round the cloister and choir-screen at Leon, the painted Retablos at -Barcelona, Toledo, and elsewhere, seemed to me to be often very full of -beauty both of drawing and colour. Their number is very great, and most -of them are still in the very places for which they were originally -painted. Their character appears to me to be utterly different from that -to which we are accustomed as marking Spanish painting. Almost all our -ideas are formed, as it seems to me, on the work of a school of painters -who, adopting religious art as their special vocation, and shutting -themselves out almost entirely from any representation of any other kind -of subject, contrived unfortunately to take the gloomy side of religion, -and to paint as though an officer of the Holy Office was ever at their -elbow. How contrary this spirit to that of the earlier men, who, so far -as I have seen, painted just as naturally religious men, cheerful, -hearty, and unaffected by the souring influence of the Inquisition, -might be expected to paint! Their work appears to me to give them an -intermediate place between the tenderly delicate treatment of the early -Italian masters, and the intensely realistic and consequently very -mundane style of the early German painters; but it is always bright, -cheerful, and agreeable both in manner and choice of subject. The names -of but a few of these early men are preserved, and unfortunately next to -nothing beyond their names. Among them are Ramon Torrente of Zaragoza, -who died in 1323; Guillem Fort, his pupil; Juan Cesilles of Barcelona, -who at the end of the fourteenth century contracted for the painting of -the Reredos at Reus, and some of whose handiwork may not impossibly -remain among the Retablos still preserved in the cloister chapels of -Barcelona Cathedral; Gherardo d’Jacobo Starna (or Starnina), born at -Florence in 1354, who before the end of the fourteenth century spent -several years painting in Spain; Dello, also of Florence, and a friend -of Paolo Uccello, who died somewhere about 1466-70;[430] Rogel, a -Fleming, who painted a chapel at Miraflores in A.D. 1445; Jorge Ingles -(probably an Englishman), who was painting in Spain circa A.D. 1450; -Antonio Rincon,[431] who was born at Guadalajara in 1446, studied under -Ghirlandaio for a time, and, subsequently residing at Toledo, painted in -A.D. 1483 the walls of the old sacristy, and died circa 1500, with the -reputation of being the painter who had most contributed to the -overthrow of the mediæval style; finally, Juan de Borgoña, who may be -mentioned as one of the latest and greatest of the earlier school, and -almost the only one of them whose known works are still to be seen. His -great work appears to have been a series of paintings round the cloister -of Toledo Cathedral, which have all been destroyed; besides which he -executed other works in the sacristy, chapter-house, and Mozarabic -chapel there, and in the Cathedral at Avila. The feature which strikes -one the most in these early works is the strange way in which sculpture -and painting are combined in the same work. The great Retablos which -give so grand an effect to Spanish altars are frequently adorned with -paintings in some parts and sculptured subjects in others. The frames to -the pictures are generally elaborate architectural compositions of -pinnacles and canopies, and consequently the art is altogether rather -decorative than pictorial in its effect. Sometimes, when the altar is -small, and the Retablo close to the eye, this is not so much the case, -and I have seen many of the pictures in these positions look so -thoroughly well as to give a very high impression of the men who -produced them. They are almost all painted on panel, and, as might be -expected, on gold grounds. Old wall-paintings are comparatively rare: I -have seen no important series save that which I have described at Leon, -and of the later of these some at least appeared to me to be extremely -Florentine in their character. - -This general review of the whole course and history of Spanish art -seemed to be necessary in order to give point and intelligible order to -the various descriptive notices which have been given in the previous -chapters of this book. It is probable that some of my readers may after -all think that I have had but little that was new to tell them. Possibly -this may be so. The history of art repeats itself everywhere in -obedience to some general law of progress; and it might have been -assumed beforehand that we should find the same story in Spain as in -France, Germany, or England. But the real novelty of my account is, I -take it, this,--that whereas generally men credited Spain with forming -an exception to a general rule, my business has been to show that, on -the whole, she did nothing of the sort. Just as we obtained a French -architect for our Canterbury, as the people of Milan obtained one from -Germany for their cathedral, as the architect of St. Mark at Venice -borrowed from the East, as he of Périgueux from St. Mark, as he of -Cologne from Amiens or Beauvais, so Spain profited, no doubt, from time -to time, by the example of her French neighbours. But at the same time -she formed a true branch of art for herself, and one so vigorous, so -noble, and so worthy of study, that I shall be disappointed indeed if -her buildings are not ere long far more familiar than they now are to -English Ecclesiologists. - -I think, too, that the occasional study of any ancient school of -architecture is always attended with the best possible results to those -who are themselves attempting to practise the same art. It recalls us, -when necessary, to the consideration of the points of difference between -their work and ours; and thus, by obliging us to reconsider our -position, may enable us to see where it is defective, and where the -course we are pursuing is evidently erroneous. I have already noticed -incidentally, in more than one place in this work, the noble air of -solidity which so often marks the early Spanish buildings; I need hardly -say that in these days none of us err on this side, and that in truth -our buildings only too often lack even that amount of solidity which is -necessary to their stability. And this leads me naturally to another -questionable feature in modern work, which is to a great extent the -cause of our failing in the matter of solidity. These noble Spanish -buildings were usually solid and simple; their mouldings were not very -many, and their sculptures were few, precious, and delicate. There was -little in them of mere ornament, and never any lavish display of it. -Sculpture of the human figure was but rarely introduced, and whatever -sculpture there was, was thoroughly architectural in its character. How -different is the case now! Hardly a church or public building of any -kind is built, which--whatever its poverty elsewhere--has not sculpture -of foliage and flowers, birds and beasts, scattered broadcast and with -profusion all over it. However bad the work, it is sure to be admired, -and as it is evidently almost always done without any, or with but -little interference of the architect, he is often tempted to secure -popularity for his work in this easiest of ways. I know buildings of -great cost which have been absolutely ruined in effect by this miserable -practice; and I know none in the middle ages in which so much carved -work has been introduced, as has been in some of those which have -recently been erected. I believe it to be a fact that more carving--if -the vulgar hacking and hewing of stone we see is to be called -carving--has been done in England within the last twenty years than our -forefathers accomplished in any fifty years between A.D. 1100 and 1500! -And I believe equally that, if we limited ourselves to one-tenth of the -amount, there would be more chance of our having time to think about it -and to design it ourselves. - -The same misfortune that has befallen us with foliage will soon befal us -with figures. It has suddenly been discovered that every architect ought -to be able to draw the human figure, and soon, I fear, we shall see it -become the fashion to introduce figures without thought or value -everywhere. If men would but look at some of our own old buildings, they -would see how great is still the work which has to be done before we -understand how to emulate the merits of those even among them which have -no sculpture of any kind in their composition, and how great the -architect may be who despises and rejects this cheap kind of -popularity.[432] And they ought to take warning, by the comparison of -old work and old ways of working with new, of those too attractive but -most dangerous schemes for seducing them from the real study of their -art into other paths, certain, it is true, of popularity, but full of -snares and pitfalls, which, as we see on all sides, entrap some of those -even who ought to have been aware of their danger. - -Sculpture in moderation is above everything beautiful. Sculpture in -excess is very offensive. These Spanish churches teach us this most -unmistakably if they teach us anything at all; and as the main object of -the study of ancient art--the main object of those who wish to “stand in -the old ways where is the truth”--is to derive lessons for the present -and future from the practice of the past, I am sure that, in applying -the results of my study of Spanish art in the warning which I here very -gravely give, I am only doing that which as an artist I am bound to do, -if I care at all for my art. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - -THE SPANISH ARCHITECTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. - - -The history of the architects of the middle ages has never been written, -and so few are the facts which we really know about them, that it may -well be doubted whether it ever can be. Yet were it possible to do so, -few subjects would be more interesting. To me it always seems that the -most precious property of all good art is its human and personal -character. I have always had an especial pleasure in tracing out what -appear to be such similarities between different buildings as seem to -prove, or at least to suggest, that they were designed by the same -artist; for, just as in painting, a work becomes far more precious if we -know it to be really the handiwork of a Giotto or a Simone Memmi, so in -the sister art a building is far more precious when we know it to be the -work of an Elias of Dereham, an Alan of Walsingham, or an Eudes de -Montreuil; and if we are able, as in their case to start with the -knowledge that certain men did certain works, the interest of such -investigations is at once manyfold enhanced. - -This is precisely the point at which we have now arrived in regard to -Spanish buildings; for the notices of their architects which I have -given in various parts of this book are so numerous that I think I shall -do well to collect them together in their order; and to sum up, as much -as one can learn from the documents relating to them, as to the terms on -which they carried on their work, and generally, indeed, as to the -position which they held. - -In the earliest period, and just when any information would have been -more than usually interesting to us, I have been able to learn next to -nothing of any real value as to the superintendents of Spanish -buildings. - -One of the first notices of an architect is that contained in an -inscription in San Isidoro, Leon, to the memory of Petrus de Deo, of -whom it was said, “Erat vir miræ abstinentiæ, et multis florebat -miraculis;” and, what is even more to our purpose, he is said to have -built a bridge. He “superædificavit” the church of San Isidoro, and, -from the reference to his saintly life, one is inclined to suspect that -he must have been a priest and probably a monk; if so, it is important -to note the fact, inasmuch as almost all the other architects or masters -of the works referred to in all books I have examined, seem to have been -laymen, and just as much a distinct class as architects at the present -day are. The expression “superædificavit” does not tell us much as to -the exact office of Petrus de Deo; but the next notice of an architect -is not only one of the earliest, but also one of the most curious; this -is in the contract entered into by the Chapter of Lugo with their -architect Raymundo of Monforte de Lemos, in A.D. 1129; and from the -terms of his payment, which was to be either in money or in kind, it is -clear that, whatever his position was, he could not leave Lugo, but was -retained solely for the work there. The terms of the contract are very -worthy of notice, and may be compared with some of the similar -agreements with, the superintendents of English works, who frequently -stipulated for a cloak of office and other payments in kind, though I -doubt whether we know of any English contract of so early a date. It is -clear from the payment of an annual salary, and an engagement for the -term of his life, that Maestro Raymundo was distinctly an architect, not -a mere builder or contractor; it seems that he was a layman, and that -his son followed the same profession. The title given him in the -contract, “Master of the works,” is, as we shall find, that which in -course of time was usually given to the architect; though I am not -inclined to think that it makes it impossible that he should also have -wrought with his own hands. Indeed, the very next notice of an architect -is of one who certainly did act as sculptor on his own works. This was -Mattheus, master of the works at Santiago Cathedral. The warrant issued -by the king Ferdinand II., in A.D. 1168, granted him a pension of a -hundred maravedis annually for the rest of his life,[433] and, though -the amount seems to be insignificant, the fact of any royal grant being -made proves, I think, not only the king’s sense of the value of a fine -church, but also somewhat as to the degree of importance which its -designer may have attained to, when he was recognized at all by the -king. On the other hand, when twenty years later the same man (no doubt) -wrote his name exultingly on the lintels of the church doorway, which -was only then at last finished,[434] there can be no doubt that he had -been acting there both as sculptor and architect: and if, from a modern -point of view, he lost caste as an architect, he no doubt gained it as -an artist; and even now, if one had to make the choice, one would far -rather have been able honestly to put up one’s name as the author of -those doorways, than as the builder of the church to which they are -attached. It will be noticed that here, just as at Lugo, the master of -the works was appointed at a salary for his lifetime, and held his -office precisely in the same way as do the surveyors of our own -cathedrals at the present day. - -Much about the same time, in A.D. 1175, a most interesting document was -drawn out, binding one Raymundo, a “Lambardo,”[435] to execute certain -works in the cathedral at Urgel, in Cataluña. It is very difficult to -say whether this Raymundo was the architect and builder, or only the -builder, of the church, though I incline to believe he was both. He was -to complete his work in seven years, employing four “Lambardos,” and, if -necessary, “Cementarios,” or wallers, in addition; and in return he was -to be paid with a Canon’s portion for the rest of his life. The mode of -payment, the engagement for life, and the fact that there is no mention -whatever of any materials to be provided by Raymundo, as well as the -absence from the contract of any reference to a master of the works, -lead, I think, to the conclusion that he was in truth the architect, but -that he also superintended the execution of the works, and contracted -for the labour.[436] - -The next notice I find of an architect is in A.D. 1203, when the -architect of Lérida Cathedral, one Pedro de Cumba, is described as -“Magister et fabricator,” and there can be no doubt, therefore, that he -not only designed but executed the work, which, as we go on, we shall -find to have been a not very uncommon custom; but it is rare, -nevertheless, to see this title of “Fabricator” given to the architect, -who is usually “Magister operis,” and no more;[437] as, indeed, we see -in the case of the successor of Pedro de Cumba, one Pedro de -Peñafreyta, who is described on his monument by this title only. - -In the thirteenth century we have the names of several architects, but -nothing more than their names; and the only point which seems worthy of -special note is that, so far as I can learn, none of them were -ecclesiastics; whilst, from first to last, I have found no reference to -anything like freemasonry. Indeed, on both these points, the history of -Spanish architects seems to be singularly conclusive; and there can be -little doubt that they carried on their work entirely as a business, and -always under very distinct and formal engagements as to the way in which -it was to be done. - -In the fourteenth century the earliest notice is that contained in an -order of the king, in 1303, dated at Perpiñan, and directed to his -lieutenant in Mallorca, requiring him to go at once “cum Magistro -Poncio” to Minorca, to arrange about the building a town wall, which the -king wishes to have built with round towers, “sicut in muro Perpiniani;” -and two years later the king writes again, “Item audivimus turrim -nostram Majoricarum, ubi stat angelus ictu fulgens fuisse percussam et -aliquantulum deformatam. Volumus quod celeriter sicut magister Poncius -et alii viderint faciendum celeriter restauretur.”[438] Here it is, to -say the least, doubtful whether Master Ponce was architect and adviser -only, or also the mason who was to do the work. But this could not have -been the case with the two architects of Narbonne, employed in the -rebuilding of the cathedral at Gerona, one of whom was appointed in A.D. -1320-22 at a salary of two hundred and fifty sueldos a quarter, and -under agreement to come from Narbonne six times a year. Here, whilst the -old plan of making the architect enter into a kind of contract is -adhered to, we seem to have a distinct recognition of a class of men who -were not workmen, but really and only superintendents of buildings--in -fact, architects in the modern sense of the word. About the same time, -Jayme Fabre (or Fabra), a Mallorcan, seems to have been one of the -greatest architects of his day, and to have given a very important -impulse to the principal provincial development of architecture of which -we see any evidence in Spain--that of Cataluña. From a contract entered -into in A.D. 1318, between him and the Superior and brethren of the -convent of San Domingo at Palma, in Mallorca, it seems that he was bound -by an older agreement to execute the works of their church; and that he -then promised to come back whenever required to Palma, from Barcelona, -whither he was going to undertake another work at the desire of the king -and the bishop. This “other work” was the cathedral, and here we know -that Fabre was employed till A.D. 1339, when he and the workmen[439] of -the church put the covering on the shrine which contained the relics of -Sta. Eulalia, in the crypt. It is impossible to read the account of the -completion of the shrine of Sta. Eulalia at Barcelona, without feeling -that Fabre superintended a number of masons, and acted in fact as their -foreman, though this is no reason whatever why he should not also have -designed the work they executed. He seems to have carried on the two -works at Barcelona and Palma at the same time; for, on the 23rd June, -A.D. 1317, a year only after his agreement with the convent of San -Domingo at Palma, he was appointed master of the works of Barcelona -Cathedral, with a salary of eighteen sueldos each week, and payment of -his expenses on his voyages to and from Mallorca. Soon after this time, -in A.D. 1368, the fabric rolls of the cathedral at Palma, in Mallorca, -record the name of Jayme Mates, who was “Maestro Mayor” of the work at -Palma, and had a salary of twenty pounds a year, besides six sueldos a -day for the working days, and two for festivals.[440] - -In the same year we have the very interesting contract between the -Chapter of San Feliu, Gerona, and Pedro Zacoma, the master of the works -of the steeple; by this, it seems, he did not contract for the work, but -had permission to employ an apprentice on it, and he was not to -undertake any other work without the consent of the “Operarius,” or -Canon in charge of the works, save a bridge on which he was already -engaged. He was to be paid by the day, with a yearly salary in addition. -I have given the contract at p. 332 of this volume. Zacoma is called in -it the “Master of the work of the belfry.” He must have been employed -constantly at the church, or it would not have been necessary to prevent -his undertaking other works; and in such a building a man could hardly -have been constantly employed, without absolutely working as a mason. - -It may be thought that the “Operarius” was the real architect; but I -find, at this time, that most collegiate and cathedral churches had a -Canon whose special duty it was to make arrangements with the master of -the works. Sometimes they are called “Canonigos fabriqueros,” at others -“Obreros,” or else, as in this case, “Operarii.” Some examples of the -application of these terms may be given to prove what I say:--In A.D. -1312, for instance, the Chapter of Gerona appointed two of their own -body--one an archdeacon, the other a Canon--to be the obreros of their -works.[441] In A.D. 1340 the “Operarius” was gathering alms in Valencia -and the Balearic Isles for the works at Gerona Cathedral.[442] In an -inscription of A.D. 1183, at S. Trophime at Arles, Poncius Rebolli is -called “Sacerdos et operarius;” at Palencia, in A.D. 1321, there was an -“Obrero,” or Canon in charge of the works, as he is described by -Dávila.[443] In the inscription on a stone in the choir of Lérida -Cathedral,[444] the two offices of the “operarius” and the “magister et -fabricator” are contrasted, and the double office of the latter seems to -make it impossible that the former can have been the architect. The -fabric rolls of Exeter Cathedral contain, in A.D. 1318, a payment to the -“Custos operis” for the adornment of the high altar: and, no doubt, he -held the same post as the Operarius in Spain. - -At the end of this century Juan Garcia de Laguardia was named -“Master-mason” of the kingdom of Navarre, by a royal writ, at the wage -of three sueldos a day. His title adds another to those already -mentioned. - -In A.D. 1391 Guillermo Çolivella undertook to make twelve statues of the -apostles, at Lérida, at the price of 240 sueldos for each statue; and -subsequently, in A.D. 1392, he is styled “Magister operis” of the see of -Lérida, and “Lapicida,” and he had the superintendence of the stained -glass windows which Juan de San Amat was making for the apses of the -church, with the stories of the apostles.[445] He was evidently, I -think, a builder, and yet held very much the office of a modern -architect as superintendent of the whole work. Jayme Fabre describes -himself as “Lapicida,” but was also the “Master of the fabric” at -Barcelona; whilst Roque, who succeeded Fabre at Barcelona, was also -called master of the works only, and received three sueldos and four -dineros a day, besides a hundred sueldos a year for clothing. - -Just about this period we have what appears to me to be a rather -important reference to the separate offices of the architect and builder -in the same work; for it seems that during the construction of the tower -of the cathedral at Valencia, one Juan Franck acted as architect, with a -succession of men as builders and contractors under him.[446] I confess -I do not adduce this example with much confidence, inasmuch as one of -them was Balaguer, whose mission to Lérida has already been mentioned, -and who is moreover termed, in a contemporary document, an “accomplished -architect.” - -In the fifteenth century the notices of architects are more numerous, -and their position becomes much more clearly defined. - -In A.D. 1410 a contract was entered into by one Lucas Bernaldo de -Quintana--master mason, as he is called in it--for the rebuilding of the -church at Gijon in the Asturias. In this contract[447] there is no -reference of any kind to plans, or to a directing architect or -superintendent of any kind; but the dimensions and form of the building -are all carefully described in such a way as to lead to the conclusion -that the notary who drew up the contract had some sort of plan before -him. It is said, for instance, “that the church is to be twenty-five -yards long by twelve and a half wide, with three columns on each side, -three vaults each with three ribs crossing them, and all the arches, -pilasters, &c., as well as the door (which is to be twelve and a half -feet high by eight wide), to be of wrought stone. There is to be a -turret for two bells over the door, &c.” “Item, the ‘master’ is to be -allowed to use the materials of the old church.” The contract was -entered into on March 10, 1410, and the key of the building was to be -delivered up on the 1st of May, 1411, and finally two sureties were -bound with the contractor. The whole deed is so very formal and careful -in its terms, that there can be no doubt that Quintana acted as -architect as well as builder, for otherwise the name of the architect -would necessarily have been mentioned. - -It was in A.D. 1415 that the Valencian authorities sent their architect -on a tour of inspection among church steeples in Cataluña, and as far as -Narbonne, on the other side of the Pyrenees, in order that they might be -sure of a good design for their own; but this is a very rare, if not an -unique, instance of such a proceeding. In the year following the Junta -of Architects was assembled at Gerona, and we have in it the first -example of that habit so common in this day, of consulting bodies of -men, instead of trusting in one skilled man, which from this time forth -seems to have been extraordinarily popular in Spain. Incidentally, the -records of the proceedings of this Junta are valuable, as giving the -names of many architects and the works on which they were then engaged; -but they are still more valuable as showing how decided and independent -of each other in their opinions these men were. All of them probably -were architects; but it is observable that all but two call themselves -“Lapicidæ;” that two of them held somewhat inferior offices--one being -the “Socius” of the magister operis, and the other, “Regens,” in the -place of the master. Another is “Magister sive sculptor imaginum;” and -two only--Antonino Antigoni and Guillermo Sagrera--call themselves -masters of the works. Their answers seem to prove that they were all men -of considerable intelligence, but at the same time generally disposed, -just as a similar body would be now, to declare rather for the usual -than the novel course. It is to their credit that they all maintained -the perfect practicability of the work proposed, and the judgment of the -Chapter seems to have been as much influenced by economical -considerations as by artistic, seeing that a majority of the architects -decided against the proposed plan on artistic grounds, whilst some of -them said that it would certainly be the least costly. It was intended -at first that two of the architects consulted should be asked to prepare -a plan for the work; but this does not seem to have been done after all, -the plan of the master of the works at the cathedral having been agreed -to and carried into execution. - -There cannot be a shadow of doubt that at the beginning of the fifteenth -century most of the superintendents of buildings, in Cataluña at any -rate, were sculptors or masons also. Their own description of themselves -is conclusive on this point; at the same time their answers are all -given in the tone and style of architects, and it is quite certain -that, had there been a superior class of men--architects only in the -modern sense of the word--the Dean and Chapter would have applied first -of all to them. The answers which these men gave ought to be carefully -read, as they are valuable from several points of view. Several of them -seem to speak of some recognized system of proportioning the height of a -building to its width; one of them suggests using light stone for the -vaulting; and another, Arnaldo de Valleras, was evidently anxious to -supplant the existing master of the works, and announced what he would -do if the works were intrusted to him. I cannot help thinking that they -had before them the plans of Guillermo de Boffiy, and that the -similarity of the suggestions made by some of them as to the position of -the windows and the proportions of the work are to be taken as an -evidence of their desire to affirm what he had proposed. - -In the same year in which this Junta of architects assembled at Gerona, -one of their number--Guillermo Sagrera--was acting as the architect of -the church of S. John, Perpiñan, a building which is still remarkable -for the enormous width of its nave. Ten years later he contracted for -the execution of the Exchange at Palma, in Mallorca, according to plans -which he presented, and upon certain specified conditions, from which it -appears very clearly that Sagrera was both builder and architect, being -bound to find scaffolding and all materials. The only difference one can -see between Sagrera and an ordinary builder or contractor of the present -day is, that he presented the plans himself, and that there is no trace -whatever of any architect or superintendent over him. It is doubted by -some whether this mixture of the two offices of builder and architect -was ever allowed in the middle ages; but this agreement (of which I give -a translation in the Appendix) is conclusive as regards this particular -case, and we may be tolerably sure that such a practice must have been a -usual one, or it would hardly have been adopted in the case of so -important a building. - -Sagrera seems to have remained a long time at Palma, but having -quarrelled with his employers there, and his dispute having been carried -before the King of Aragon, at Naples, for settlement, the completion of -the work was intrusted to one Guillermo Vilasolar, “lapicida et magister -fabricæ,” who bound himself on March 19th, A.D. 1451, to complete the -works which had been commenced. Two of the clauses in this agreement are -worth quoting; they are as follow:-- - -1st. “That I, the said Guillermo Vilasolar, am bound to execute within -the next coming year all the traceries and terminations or cornices -which I have to make in the six windows of the said Exchange of Felanix -stone, in the following form:--The traceries of two of the said windows -according to the design which I have delivered to you, and the traceries -and the cornices of the remaining four windows just as they were -commenced by Master Guillermo Sagrera, formerly master of the fabric of -the said Exchange; which traceries and cornices of all the said six -windows I am bound to make entirely at my own cost, with all necessary -scaffolding, stone, lime, gravel, and wages for the complete finishing -of the said traceries and cornices. - -“_Item._--That for making all the said traceries and cornices as -described, in the said six windows, you, the said honourable guardians, -shall be bound to give and pay of the goods of the college to me, the -said Guillermo Vilasolar, two hundred and eighty pounds of Mallorcan -money in the following way, viz.: fifty pounds down, and the remainder -of the said two hundred and eighty pounds when the said traceries and -cornices to the said six windows shall have been executed.” - -So that here again, just as in the case of Guillermo Sagrera, we have a -mason contracting for his work, and himself making the drawing according -to which it is to be done. - -After his quarrel with the authorities at Palma, Sagrera seems to have -undertaken work for the King in the Castel Nuevo at Naples, for which he -used stone from Mallorca, and where he was styled “Proto-Magister Castri -Novi.” His work at Palma seems, from the accounts I have been able to -obtain, to have much resembled that of the Lonja at Valencia, which I -have described and illustrated in this volume. - -In A.D. 1485, when Calahorra cathedral was rebuilt, an architect seems -to have been so formally appointed, that the words used appear to me to -be quite worth transcribing here: “Miércoles á ocho dias del mes de -junio, año á nativitate Domini, millessimo quatorcentessimo octuagessimo -quinto cœpit ædificari Capella mayor S. Mariæ de Calahorra. -Composuerunt primum lapidem Johannes Ximenes de Enciso decanus, et -Petrus Ximenes archidiaconus de Verberiego, et ego Rodericus Martini -Vaco de Enciso, canonicus ejusdem ecclesiæ, et artium et theologiæ -magister, dedi duplam unam auri in auro, dicens hæc verba magistro -Johanni ædificatori principali prædictæ capellæ; accipite in signum -vestri laboris, et en protestationem, quod Dominus Deus ad cujus gloriam -et honorem ecclesia et capella ista fundari incipit, implebit residuum -ad preces gloriosæ Virginis Mariæ matris suæ, et Sanctorum martirum -Hemeterij et Caledonij, in quorum honore fundata est ecclesia. In quorum -testimonium supradicta manu propria subscripsi. Rodericus artium et -theologiæ magister.” - -It is remarkable that in the case of so important a city as Seville -there is no mention of an architect to the cathedral before A.D. 1462, -in which year Juan Norman was appointed, with Pedro de Toledo as -assistant (“aparejador”) till A.D. 1472, when the Chapter appointed -three “Maestros Mayores” or principal masters, to the end that the work -might go on faster: but it seems, as might be expected, that these men -were none of them architects, for in A.D. 1496 the archbishop, being at -Guadalajara, was persuaded that it was not well to trust such -ill-informed persons, as their employment would end in loss to the -fabric, and so he called in one Maestro Jimon, who went to Seville and -was made Maestro Mayor until A.D. 1502. - -The works at the Parral, Segovia, A.D. 1472-94, afford another example -of an architect acting also as contractor for the work; and about the -same time a monk of this convent, Juan de Escobedo, superintended the -repair of the aqueduct, and was afterwards sent to the Queen (Isabella) -to report to her on the state of various buildings in Segovia. - -In 1482 Pedro Compte, of Valencia, said to be “Molt sabut en l’art de la -pedra,” was the architect of the Exchange at Valencia--a building -evidently copied to some extent from Sagrera’s Exchange at Palma; and at -a later date he was employed upon some water-works for the keeping up -the waters in the Guadalaviar at Valencia. He held the post of Maestro -Mayor of the city, with an annual salary. In him we seem to have not -only an architect and engineer, but one of so much character and -influence as to hold important posts, being “alcaide perpetuo” as well -as Maestro Mayor of the city. - -In the beginning of the sixteenth century the new cathedral at Salamanca -was commenced, but only after a vast amount of consultation among -architects. The king had to order Anton Egas of Toledo, and Alfonso -Rodriguez of Seville, to go to Salamanca and decide upon the plan for -the church, and these two men drew up a joint plan which they presented -to the Chapter; two or three years later, nothing having been done in -the mean time, a Junta of nine architects was assembled, who jointly -agreed on a very elaborate report, detailing all the parts and -proportions of the church; and their report having been presented, the -Chapter forthwith proceeded to elect a master of the works.[448] -Rodrigo Gil de Hontañon was appointed; and by his will, dated in May, -A.D. 1577, it appears that he had a house rent-free, as well as his -salary of 30,000 maravedis a year.[449] He had also liberty to undertake -other works; for, a few years later, he designed the cathedral at -Segovia, and by his will it seems that he had several other churches in -hand, in some of which it is evident that he acted as contractor, as he -complains bitterly of the difficulties he had been put to by the large -sums he had paid for the work at the church of San Julian at Toro, -without being repaid by the authorities. It is remarkable that the works -at Salamanca were examined from time to time by two architects, who -reported whether Hontañon was following the instructions laid down for -his guidance by the Junta, and this supervision rather leads to the -inference that the design was not made by Hontañon, but prepared for -him; and that it was necessary, as it is nowadays, to employ some one to -see that he executed his work properly. The curiously exact terms of the -report of the Junta, which specifies the height, thickness, and -proportions of all the walls in the church, could not have been adopted -as they are unless the Junta had some plans before them when they drew -up their report, and on the whole I think it probable that the plan -which Egas and Rodriguez prepared formed the basis on which they -proceeded. This plan is still said to be preserved in the archives, and -it would be very interesting to see how far it agrees with the church -which has been erected.[450] - -But, on the other hand, there is a report upon the state of the works in -A.D. 1523, given by Cean Bermudez, which tends to confirm Hontañon’s -position as a real architect.[451] It is signed by three architects, -Juan de Rasinas, Henrique de Egas, and Vasco de la Zarza. They go into -the question of the height to which the vaults ought to be carried, they -say the walls are built properly, and, finally, that they were shown a -plan of Juan Gil de Hontañon’s for some alteration of the work, and that -in their opinion it is good, and they have, therefore, signed it with -their names. - -There are other instances at this time of the assemblage of Juntas of -architects, of which one or two may properly be mentioned here; one of -these was in reference to the Cimborio of the cathedral at Zaragoza -which fell in A.D. 1520, when a number of architects were at once called -together to advise as to its reconstruction; and again, in the same way, -when the Cimborio at Seville fell, in A.D. 1511, several architects were -consulted, and after they had reported, one of them--Hontañon, the -fashionable architect of the day--was selected to manage the execution -of the work.[452] - -At this late date we have, I believe for the first time, the singular -description of a man as “master maker of churches.” This occurs in the -contract entered into by Benedicto Oger, of Alió, for the erection of a -church at Reus. From the terms of the contract Oger seems to have been a -mason: he was to have three others with him, and was bound not to -undertake any other work. And if the authorities desired it they were to -have his work examined by another “master,” though whether by one of his -own grade, or a superior man, does not appear. - -Another contract of a somewhat similar kind was entered into in A.D. -1518 by Domingo Urteaga for the erection of the church of Sta. Maria de -Cocentaina, in Valencia. He bound himself to go with his wife and family -to Cocentaina, where the town was to give him a house rent free. He was -to do all that a “master” ought in the management of such a work, -without attending to other works, and was to receive each day for -himself five sueldos, and was to provide two assistants and two -apprentices, the former to have three sueldos each, and the latter one -and a half. He was to be every day at the work, having half an hour for -breakfast, and an hour for dinner in winter, and an hour and a half in -summer. Here again, though Urteaga was evidently only a foreman of the -works, there is no reference to any superintendent or architect, and -nothing is said about any plans which are to be followed. I conclude, -therefore, that in this case too the foreman of the masons was really -the architect. - -In addition to the men I have here rapidly mentioned, there were many -others whose work was confined to the design and execution of certain -portions of buildings; such a one was Berengario Portell, “lapicida” of -Gerona, who in A.D. 1325 entered into a contract for the execution of -the columns of the cloister of Vique cathedral, and who is commonly said -to have executed the columns and capitals for the cloister at Ripoll -also. Such, in later days, was Gil de Siloe, who both designed and -executed the monuments at Miraflores; and such, though in a less eminent -position, were the various woodcarvers, decorators, painters on glass, -makers of metal screens, and the like, the names of a great number of -whom are still preserved in the volumes of Cean Bermudez.[453] - -There is also another officer who ought not to be forgotten here--the -“aparejador” or assistant of the architect--clerk of the works as we -should call him. About his office there is no doubt, but it will have -been observed that some men who held it--as _e.g._ Juan Campero--have at -other times acted as architects or contractors, which is precisely what -might be expected. - -There are a few but not very important cases of competition among -artists recorded in the work of Cean Bermudez; but generally they seem -to me to have been rather competitions for the execution of work than -for its design. Such, for instance, was the competition for the -execution of the monument of D. Alvaro de Luna and his wife in Toledo -cathedral, when the design of Pablo Ortiz was selected.[454] Cristóbal -Andino is said to have competed unsuccessfully with other men, in A.D. -1540, for the execution of the iron screens of Toledo cathedral. Cean -Bermudez speaks also of a competition among architects as to the -rebuilding of Segovia cathedral;[455] but I doubt whether his statement -can be depended on. - - * * * * * - -The result at which we arrive after this _résumé_ of the practice of -Spanish architects is certainly that it was utterly unlike the practice -of our own day. Whether it was either better or worse I can hardly -venture to say; it seems to me, indeed, to be of comparatively little -importance whether an architect is paid as of old by the year, or as now -by a commission on the cost of the works; probably the difference in -amount is seldom serious; but on the other hand it is possible that -where special contracts are made the sums paid are not always the same, -and so the absurd rule by which at present the best and the worst -architect both get the same amount of pay for their work is avoided; one -result of this rule is, that the architect of the highest reputation, in -order to reap the pecuniary reward to which he is entitled, is tempted -to undertake so much work that it is impossible for him to attend to -half of it, and so in time, unless he have an extraordinary capacity for -rapid work, his work deteriorates, and his reputation is likely to -suffer. - -The other old custom common in Spain--of architects contracting for the -execution of their own works--does not seem to deserve much respect; yet -one cannot but see that it was a natural result of the universal feeling -and taste for art which seems to have obtained in the middle ages; and -though it would now certainly be mere madness to ask any chance builder -to execute an architectural work, there are undoubtedly many builders -who are at least as well fitted to do so as are a large number of those -who, without study or proper education, are nevertheless able, -unchallenged by any one, to call themselves architects. - -On the whole, then, it is vain to regret the passing away of a system -which is foreign to the nature and ideas of an artistic profession such -as that of the architects of England now; though if these old men, whose -art and whose interests pulled opposite ways--seeing they were -architects and contractors--did their work so honestly that it still -stands unharmed by time, we may well take great shame to ourselves if -the rules for our personal respectability, about which we are all so -jealous, are yet in practice so often compatible, apparently, with a -system of shams and makeshifts, of false construction and bad execution, -of which these old architect-builders were almost wholly guiltless. - -The questions between ourselves and them, when simply stated, are -these--Whose work is best in itself, and whose work will last the -longest? If these questions cannot be answered in our favour, then it is -absurd to protest vigorously against the practice which we see pursued -by such men as Juan Campero, Martin Llobet, Juan de Ruesga, Guillermo -Sagrera, or Pedro de Cumba, and we shall do well to admit, whenever -necessary, that he is the best architect who designs the best building, -whatever his education; though it is undoubtedly true that he is most -likely to be the best architect who is the best taught, the most -refined, and the most regularly educated in his art. - -It is often, and generally thoughtlessly, assumed, that most of the -churches of the middle ages were designed by monks or clerical -architects. So far as Spain is concerned, the result at which we arrive -is quite hostile to this assumption, for in all the names of architects -that I have noticed there are but one or two who were clerics. The abbat -who in the eighth or ninth century rebuilt Leon cathedral is one; Frater -Bernardus of Tarragona, in A.D. 1256, another; and the monk of El -Parral, who restored the Roman aqueduct at Segovia, is the third; and -the occurrence of these three exceptions to the otherwise general rule, -proves clearly, I think, that in Spain the distinct position of the -architect was understood and accepted a good deal earlier than it was, -perhaps, in England. In our own country it is indeed commonly asserted -that the bishops and abbats were themselves the architects of the great -churches built under their rule. Gundulph, Flambard, Walsingham, and -Wykeham, have all been so described, but I suspect upon insufficient -evidence; and those who have devoted the most study and time to the -subject seem to be the least disposed to allow the truth of the claim -made for them. The contrary evidence which I am able to adduce from -Spain certainly serves to confirm these doubts. I was myself strongly -disposed once to regard the attempt to deprive us of our great clerical -architects as a little sacrilegious; but I am bound to say that I have -now changed my mind, and believe that the attempt was only too well -warranted by the facts. In short, the common belief in a race of -clerical architects and in ubiquitous bodies of freemasons, seems to me -to be altogether erroneous. The more careful the inquiry is that we make -into the customs of the architects of the middle ages, the more clear -does it appear that neither of these classes had any general existence; -and in Spain, so far as I have examined, I have met with not a single -trace of either. I am glad that it is so; for in these days of doubt and -perplexity as to what is true in art, it is at least a comfort to find -that one may go on heartily with one’s work, with the honest conviction -that the position one occupies may be, if one chooses to make it so, as -nearly as possible the same as that occupied by the artists of the -middle ages. So that, as it was open to them--often with small means -and in spite of many difficulties--to achieve very great works of -lasting architectural merit, the time may come when, if we do our work -with equal zeal, equal artistic feeling, and equal honesty, our own -names will be added to the list, which already includes theirs, of -artists who have earned the respect and affection of all those whose -everyday life is blessed with the sight of the true and beautiful works -which in age after age they have left behind them as enduring monuments -of their artistic skill. - - - - -APPENDIX. - - -(A.) - -CATALOGUE OF DATED EXAMPLES OF SPANISH BUILDINGS, FROM THE TENTH TO THE -SIXTEENTH CENTURY INCLUSIVE. - -NOTE.--_The dates of those Examples which are printed in Italics appear -to me to be very uncertain, or are those of buildings which I have not -visited._ - - DATE. PLACE. REMARKS. - - 914 BARCELONA Church of San Pablo del Campo, said to have - been built. - 983 BARCELONA San Pedro de las Puellas consecrated. - 1017 GERONA _Church of Saint Daniel commenced._ - 1038 GERONA Consecration of first Cathedral, of which remains - exist. - 1058 ELNE Consecration of Church. - 1063 LEON The Panteon, San Isidoro, appears to have - been finished in this year. - 1078 SANTIAGO Cathedral commenced. - 1078 SANTIAGO South transept doorways erected. - 1085 TOLEDO The Church “Cristo de la Luz” existed - before this date. - 1090 AVILA Town walls commenced. - 1091 AVILA Cathedral commenced. - 1109 TOLEDO Outer circuit of walls. - 1117 GERONA _Church of San Pedro de los Galligans commenced._ - 1117 GERONA Cloisters of Cathedral erected. - 1108} - to } TOLEDO Puerta de Visagra erected. - 1126} - 1120 SALAMANCA Old Cathedral commenced. - 1128 SANTIAGO Fabric of Cathedral so far finished as to be - used. - 1129 LUGO Cathedral commenced. - 1131 TARRAGONA Cathedral commenced. - 1136 SALAMANCA _San Tomè de los Caballeros consecrated._ - 1146 BARCELONA Collegiata of Sta. Aña founded. - 1146 VERUELA Abbey commenced. - 1149 LEON Church of San Isidoro consecrated in this year. - 1156 SALAMANCA _Church of San Adrian consecrated._ - 1171 VERUELA Abbey first occupied, and probably completed - in this year. - 1173 BARCELONA _Royal Chapel of Sta. Agueda, attached to the - palace of the Counts of Barcelona, conpleted._ - 1173 SALAMANCA _Church of San Martin consecrated._ - 1174 ZAMORA Cathedral completed. - 1175 SANTIAGO Chapel beneath west front of Cathedral - finished about this year. - 1177 LUGO Cathedral finished. - 1178 SALAMANCA Cloister of old Cathedral in course of erection; - Chapter-house probably erected at same time. - 1179 SALAMANCA _Church of S. Thomas of Canterbury consecrated._ - 1180 BURGOS Convent of Las Huelgas commenced; inhabited - in 1187; formally established as a - Cistercian Convent in 1199. - 1180 POBLET _Benedictine Monastery founded._ - 1188 SANTIAGO Western doors of Cathedral finished. - 1188 TUDELA Cathedral consecrated. - 1203 LÉRIDA First stone of Cathedral laid. - 1208 SEGOVIA Templars’ Church consecrated. - 1212 TOLEDO Bridge of San Martin erected. - 1219 MONDOÑEDO _Cathedral commenced._ - 1221 BURGOS First stone of Cathedral laid. - 1221 TOLEDO Church of San Roman consecrated. - 1227 TOLEDO First stone of Cathedral laid. - 1230 BURGOS Cathedral first used in this year. - 1235 TARAZONA Cathedral founded. - 1239 BARCELONA Chapel of Sta. Lucia, and doorway from - cloister into south transept of Cathedral. - 1252-84 AVILA Central Lantern of San Vicente built. - 1258 TOLEDO Bridge of Alcantara rebuilt. - 1262 VALENCIA First stone of Cathedral laid. South transept - and apse of this date. - 1273 LEON Cathedral in progress. - 1278 LÉRIDA Cathedral consecrated. - 1278 TARRAGONA Nine of the statues of the Apostles in west - front of Cathedral executed. - 1287 BARCELONA Nuestra Señora del Carmen founded. - 1292 AVILA Considerable works in the Cathedral under - Sancho II., Bishop of Avila, 1292-1353. - 1298 BARCELONA New Cathedral commenced. - 1303 LEON Cathedral finished (save the towers) before - this date. - 1310-27 LÉRIDA Western side and entrance to cloister of Cathedral, - and tower at S.W. angle of cloister, - erected between these years. - 1316-46 GERONA Chevet of Cathedral in course of building. - 1318 GERONA Choir of San Feliu completed before this date. - 1321 PALENCIA First stone of Cathedral laid. - 1328 BARCELONA Sta. Maria del Mar commenced, and completed - in 1383. - 1329 BARCELONA North transept of Cathedral. - 1329 BARCELONA Sta. Maria del Pi commenced, and _consecrated in 1353._ - 1332 GUADALAJARA Chapel of Holy Trinity in the Church of - Santiago. - 1339 BARCELONA Crypt and Chapel of Sta. Eulalia in the Cathedral - completed. - 1345 BARCELONA SS. Just y Pastor commenced. - 1346 GERONA Retablo of Altar and Baldachin erected. - 1349 VALENCIA Puerta de Serranos erected. - 1350 LUGO Church of San Domingo consecrated. - 1350 ZARAGOZA _East wall decoration executed._ - 1351 GERONA Stalls in Choir of Cathedral executed. - 1366 TOLEDO Synagogue (now Church “del Transito”) - completed. - 1368-92 GERONA Steeple of San Feliu in course of building. - 1369 BARCELONA Casa Consistorial commenced; finished in 1378. - 1374 LA CORUÑA Chapel of the Visitation in Church of Sta. - Maria. - 1375 TARRAGONA Completion of Statues in west front of Cathedral. - 1380 TOLEDO Bridge of Alcantara repaired. - 1381 VALENCIA First stone of the Micalete (tower of the Cathedral) - laid. - 1383 BARCELONA Sta. Maria del Mar completed. - 1383 BARCELONA The Casa Lonja, or Exchange, founded. - 1388 BARCELONA West doorway of San Jayme. - 1389 ALCALÁ DE HENARES Tower of Archbishop’s Palace. - 1389 TOLEDO Cloister and Chapel of San Blas completed. - 1389 TOLEDO Bridge of San Martin built. - 1391 LÉRIDA West doorway of Cloister completed. - 1397 LÉRIDA Steeple of Cathedral in course of erection. - 1397 PAMPLONA Cathedral commenced. - 1399 BURGOS _Chancel and Aisles of San Gil founded._ - 1400 HUESCA Cathedral commenced. - 1404 VALENCIA Lantern or Cimborio of Cathedral completed. - 1405 TOLEDO Synagogue (now Church of Sta. Maria la - Blanca) converted into a Church, and - much altered. - 1410 PALENCIA Stalls in Choir of Cathedral executed. - 1415 BURGOS Church of Convent of San Pablo erected. - 1416 BARCELONA San Jayme in progress. - 1416 LÉRIDA Steeple of Cathedral completed. - 1416 MANRESA The Collegiata in progress at this date. - 1416 PERPIÑAN Cathedral in progress. - 1416 TARRAGONA Reredos of High Altar. - 1417 GERONA Nave of Cathedral commenced. - 1418 TOLEDO West front of Cathedral commenced. - 1424 VALENCIA Tower of Cathedral completed. - 1425 TOLEDO The N.W. Steeple of Cathedral commenced. - 1431 Cervera _Steeple of Sta. Maria._ - 1435 BURGOS Convent of San Pablo commenced. - 1436 BARCELONA Casa de la Disputacion erected. - 1438 OLITE Considerable works in progress. - 1440 AVILA Tower of San-Vicente completed. - 1440 MEDINA DEL CAMPO Castle “de la Mota.” - 1412 BURGOS Spires of Cathedral commenced. - 1442 TOLEDO Chapel of Santiago (built by D. Alvaro de - Luna) erected. - 1442 VALLADOLID San Pablo commenced. - 1444 BARCELONA The Hala de Paños completed. - 1444 VALENCIA Puerta de Cuarte. - 1448 BARCELONA Cloister of Cathedral completed. - 1453 BARCELONA Sta. Maria del Pi consecrated. - 1454 BURGOS Convent of la Cartucca, Miraflores, commenced. - 1458 GERONA South door of nave of Cathedral. - 1459 TOLEDO Façade “de los Leones” (South transept). - 1459} - to } VALENCIA West end of nave of the Cathedral erected, - 1482} and (probably) the Chapter-house - 1461 GUADALAJARA Palace del Infantado. - 1463 VALLADOLID San Pablo completed. - 1465 AVILA Canopy over the Shrine of San Vicente. - 1471 ASTORGA First stone of Cathedral laid. - 1472 SEGOVIA Capilla Mayor of El Parral commenced. - 1476 TOLEDO San Juan de los Reyes, Toledo, commenced. - 1480 BURGOS Stalls in the Coro of Chapel at Miraflores. - 1480-92 VALLADOLID College of Sta. Cruz. - 1482 VALENCIA The Casa Lonja commenced. - 1482-93 AVILA Convent of San Tomás. - 1483 TOLEDO Doorway of old Sacristy. - 1484 TOLEDO Bridge of Alcantara fortified. - 1485 SEGOVIA Vaulting of El Parral finished. - 1487 BURGOS Chapel of the Constable. - 1488-96 VALLADOLID College of San Gregorio. - 1489 TOLEDO Monument of Alvaro de Luna in Chapel of - Santiago in Cathedral. - 1489-93 BURGOS Monument of Juan and Isabel in the Church - at Miraflores. - 1490 LÉRIDA South Porch. - 1494 SEGOVIA Tribune in Church of El Parral rebuilt. - 1495 TOLEDO Lower range of Stalls in Coro of Cathedral. - 1497 ALCALÁ DE HENARES Church of SS. Just y Pastor commenced. - 1497-1512 BURGOS Stalls in Coro of Cathedral. - 1498 ALCALÁ DE HENARES College of San Ildefonso commenced. - 1499 VALLADOLID Church of San Benito. - 1500 TOLEDO Retablo of High Altar. - 1503 MEDINA DEL CAMPO Capilla Mayor of Church of S. Antholin. - 1504 SANTIAGO Hospital of Santiago. - 1504 TOLEDO Entrance to Winter Chapter-Room. - 1504 ZARAGOZA The Torre Nueva in course of construction. - 1504-10 PALENCIA Cathedral completed. - 1505 ZARAGOZA Cimborio, or Lantern, of the Seu, commenced. - 1507 SAN SEBASTIAN Church of San Vicente commenced. - 1507 SIGÜENZA Cloister of Cathedral completed. - 1508 IRUN Church commenced. - 1509 ALCALÁ DE HENARES Church of SS. Just y Pastor completed. - 1513 LEON San Isidoro, new Choir erected. - 1513 SALAMANCA First stone of new Cathedral laid. - 1514 PALENCIA Cathedral Chapter-house and Cloister. - 1515 HUESCA Cathedral completed. - 1518 AVILA Monument of Don Juan in the Church of - San Tomás. - 1520 HUESCA The Retablo of the Principal Altar commenced. - 1520 TARAZONA _Cathedral Cloister._ - 1520 ZARAGOZA Cimborio of the Seu completed. - 1525 SEGOVIA Cathedral commenced. - 1531 TOLEDO Chapel de los Reyes Nuevos. - 1533 SANTIAGO Cloisters. - 1536 ZARAGOZA Sta. Engracia, Cloister erected. - 1543 TOLEDO Upper range of Stalls in Coro of Cathedral. - 1548 TOLEDO Rejas of Capilla Mayor and Coro of Cathedral. - 1550 TARAZONA Cimborio of Cathedral. - 1553 ALCALÁ DE HENARES Patio of University. - 1567 BURGOS Lantern or Cimborio completed. - 1572-90 MANRESA Steeple of the Seu or Collegiata completed. - 1576 VALLADOLID Church of La Magdalena. - 1579 GERONA Vault of Cathedral finished. - 1586 BURGOS Capilla Mayor in the Church of San Gil. - - -(B.) - -CATALOGUE OF ARCHITECTS, SCULPTORS, AND BUILDERS OF THE CHURCHES, ETC., -MENTIONED IN THIS VOLUME. - -ABIELL [GUILLERMO]. One of the Junta of Architects consulted at -_Gerona._ in A.D. 1416. At this time he was Master of the Works at _Sta. -Maria del Pi_, San Jayme, and the _Hospital of Santa Cruz in Barcelona_. - -ALAVA [JUAN DE]. One of the Architects summoned to the Junta at -_Salamanca_ in A.D. 1513. He was a native of Vitoria, and master of the -works of the Cathedral at _Placencia_. - -ALEMÁN [JUAN]. Sculptor. Wrought at the western and southern doorways of -Toledo Cathedral, A.D. 1462-66. - -ALFONSO [JUAN]. Sculptor. Wrought on the façade of Toledo Cathedral in -A.D. 1418. - -ALFONSO [RODRIGO]. Maestro Mayor of _Toledo_ Cathedral, probably the -Architect of the Cloister and Chapel of _San Blas_, the first stone of -which was laid August 14, 1389. He designed the _Carthusian Convent_ of -_Paular_, near Segovia, in A.D. 1390. - -ANDINO [CRISTÓBAL DE]. Made the iron Screen of the Capilla Mayor in -_Palencia_ Cathedral in A.D. 1520; the screen of the Chapel of the -Constable at _Burgos_ in 1523; and in 1540 he competed unsuccessfully -with other men for the erection of the Screens and Pulpits of _Toledo_ -Cathedral. - -ANTIGONI [ANTONIO]. Master of the Works in the town of _Castellon de -Empurias_, and one of the Junta of Architects consulted at Gerona in -A.D. 1416. - -ARANDIA [JUAN DE]. Probably a native of Biscay. Architect (?) and -Builder of the Church of _San Benito_ at _Valladolid_, which was -commenced in A.D. 1499. He contracted for the first part of the work for -1,460,000 maravedis, and for the remainder for 500,000. - -ARFE [ANTONIO DE]. Silversmith; a native of Leon. His work is thoroughly -Renaissance, and, though much praised, really very uninteresting. Circa -1520-1577. - -ARFE [ENRIQUE DE]. A German; father of Antonio, born in 1470-80; dec. -circa 1550. A famous Silversmith. Worked at _Leon_, _Toledo_, &c. - -ARGENTA [BARTOLOMÉ]. Master of the works, _Gerona_ Cathedral, 1325 to -1346. He seems to have superintended the erection of most of the Choir -now standing. - -BADAJOZ [JUAN DE]. Sculptor and Master of the Works of _Leon_ Cathedral. -Architect of Choir of _San Isidoro, Leon_. In A.D. 1512 he was one of -the Junta of Architects consulted as to rebuilding _Salamanca_ -Cathedral. In 1513 he went to Seville to examine the fabric of the -Cathedral, for which he received a fee of 100 ducats. In 1522 he went to -_Salamanca_ to see that the works at the Cathedral were being properly -executed. In 1545 he was Architect of the Monastery at _Exlonza_ near -_Leon_, and calls himself “Architector” in an inscription on its wall. - -BALAGUER [PEDRO]. Architect of the Tower of _Valencia_ Cathedral in A.D. -1414. He is called an “Arquitecto perito” in a contemporary document, -and was paid for going to _Lérida_, _Narbonne_, and elsewhere, to -examine their steeples with a view to his own work. - -BARTOLOMÉ. Sculptor, _Tarragona_. Executed in A.D. 1278 nine of the -Statues of the Western Doorway. - -BARTOLOMÉ. Silversmith, who executed part of the Retablo of _Gerona_ -Cathedral in A.D. 1325. - -BENES [PEDRO]. Made the Canopy over the Altar at _Gerona_ Cathedral -before A.D. 1340. - -BERNARDUS [FRATER]. Magister Operis of _Tarragona_ Cathedral in A.D. -1256. - -BERRUGUETE [ALONSO]. Architect, Sculptor, and Painter. Went to Italy in -A.D. 1504, and studied at Rome and Florence: afterwards, in A.D. 1520, -returned to Spain, and held the appointment of Maestro Mayor to Charles -V. Executed the Stalls and Retablos of _Sun Benito_, _Valladolid_, in -1526-32, and the upper range of Stalls on the Epistle side of _Toledo_ -Cathedral in 1543. His works are numerous, and he was the great reviver -of Pagan architecture in Spain. - -BLAY [PEDRO]. Architect of the Casa de la Disputacion, _Barcelona_, in -1436 according to Cean Bermudez. But this seems impossible, unless there -were two of the same name, as one was Maestro Mayor of the Cathedral in -1584. - -BOFFIY [GUILLERMO]. Architect of Nave of _Gerona_ Cathedral in A.D. -1416. It was to discuss and advise upon his plan that a Junta of twelve -Architects was summoned; their opinions are given in the Appendix [H], -and in the end his plan was carried into execution. - -BONCKS [ARNAU]. A native of Ax (in the county of Foix). Directed the -works at the Mole of _Tarragona_, for which he was also the contractor, -in A.D. 1507. - -BONIFACIO [MARTIN SANCHEZ]. Maestro Mayor of _Toledo_ Cathedral from -1481 to 1494. He executed the doorway of the old Sacristy, circa 1484. - -BONIFACIO [PEDRO]. Painter on Glass. Executed some of the windows in the -nave of _Toledo_ Cathedral in A.D. 1439. - -BONIFE [MATIAS]. Made the lower range of Stalls in the Coro of -_Barcelona_ Cathedral in A.D. 1457. - -BORGOÑA [FELIPE DE]. Sculptor of the upper range of Stalls on the Gospel -side of _Toledo_ Cathedral. He was consulted as to the design for the -Cimborio or lantern of _Burgos_ Cathedral, and executed the Sculptures -under the arches of the apse in the same church. He is said to have been -Maestro Mayor of _Seville_ Cathedral (?), and was one of the Architects -consulted as to _Salamanca_ new Cathedral in A.D. 1512. He died in 1543. - -BORGOÑA [JUAN DE]. Painted in A.D. 1495 the Cloister of _Toledo_ -Cathedral. In 1508 painted five subjects for _Avila_ Cathedral. He dec. -circa 1533. - -BRUXELAS [JUAN DE]. Executed the Retablo of the Chapel of _San -Ildefonso, Toledo_, in A.D. 1500. - -CAMPERO [JUAN]. One of the Junta of Architects consulted at _Salamanca_ -in A.D. 1512, and afterwards appointed assistant to the Architect there. -In 1529 he was engaged as builder at _El Parral, Segovia_. In 1530 he -contracted with the Chapter of _Segovia_ for the removal and re-erection -of the old _Cloisters_. He had been employed by Cardinal Ximenes as -Architect and Builder at _Torrelunga_. - -CANET [ANTONIUS]. Sculptor of _Barcelona_. One of the Junta at _Gerona_ -in 1416, and Master of the Fabric of the Cathedral at _Urgel_. - -CANTARELL [GIBALT]. Architect engaged on Steeple at _Manresa_ from A.D. -1572 to 1590. - -CARPINTERO [MACÍAS]. A native of Medina del Campo, and Architect and -Sculptor of the College of _San Gregorio, Valladolid_, in A.D. 1488. He -is said to have committed suicide in A.D. 1490. - -CARREÑO [FERNANDO DE]. Master of the Works at the _Castle, Medina del -Campo_, 1440. - -CASTAÑEDA [JUAN DE]. Architect at _Burgos_ A.D. 1539. He was one of the -Cathedral architects, and wrought under Felipe de Borgoña in the -rebuilding of the Cimborio, which he completed in A.D. 1567. He is said -to have designed the _Gateway of Sta. Maria at Burgos_. - -CASTAYLS [MAESTRO JAYME]. Sculptor, _Tarragona_, in 1375. Executed by -contract some of the Statues in the Western Doorway of the Cathedral, -under the direction of Bernardo de Vallfogona, the Master of the Works. -He executed three of the Apostles and all the Prophets, and bound -himself to make them all life-size. - -CEBRIAN [PEDRO]. Master of the Works, _Leon_ Cathedral, A.D. 1175. - -CENTELLAS [EL MAESTRO]. Made the Stalls for the Choir of _Palencia_ -Cathedral in A.D. 1410. A native of Valencia. - -CERVIA [BERENGUER]. Made the terra-cotta Statues in the South Door of -GERONA Cathedral in A.D. 1458. He also made a Statue of Sta. Eulalia and -a Cross of terra-cotta for a doorway in _Barcelona_ Cathedral. - -CESPIDES [DOMINGO]. Maker of the iron Reja, east of the Coro, _Toledo_ -Cathedral, in A.D. 1548. - -CIPRES [PEDRO]. Maestro Mayor of _Gerona_ Cathedral in A.D. 1430. - -ÇOLIVELLA [GUILLERMO]. Master of the Works at _Lérida_ Cathedral, A.D. -1397. He had contracted in A.D. 1391 for the execution of some Statues -for a doorway, and was evidently therefore a working Sculptor. - -COLONIA [FRANCISCO DE]. Said to have been related to Juan and Simon de -Colonia. He was an Architect of Burgos, and was employed in A.D. 1515, -and again in 1522, by the Chapter of _Salamanca_ Cathedral, to go there -and examine the works to see that J. G. de Hontañon was executing them -according to the plan. - -COLONIA [JUAN DE]. Designed the upper part of the Western Steeples of -_Burgos_ Cathedral. They were commenced in A.D. 1442, and in 1456 one -Spire was completed, and the other nearly so. _San Pablo, Valladolid_, -is also said by some to be his work in 1463. He was Architect of the -Chapel of the Constable at _Burgos_ in 1487, and made the design for the -Church at _Miraflores_, for which he was paid 3350 maravedis. He is said -to have been a German by birth, and to have been brought to Spain by -Bishop Alonso de Cartagena when he returned from the Council of Basel. - -COLONIA [SIMON DE]. Completed the Church at _Miraflores_ from A.D. 1488 -to 1500. He was son of Juan de Colonia, and died before A.D. 1512. - -COMAS [PEDRO]. Maestro Mayor, _San Feliu, Gerona_, in A.D. 1385. He -seems to have been Maestro Mayor of _Gerona_ Cathedral from A.D. 1368 to -1397. - -COMPTE [PEDRO]. Architect at _Valencia_, employed on the Cathedral, and -one of the Architects consulted as to the rebuilding of the Cimborio of -_Zaragoza_, and the Architect of the Lonja at _Valencia_. In 1486 he -superintended the laying of a marble pavement in the Cathedral there. He -is described in a contemporary MS. as being “Molt sabut en l’art de la -pedra.” He was made perpetual “Alcaide” of the Lonja, or Exchange, in -1498, with a salary of 30 sueldos a year. He was “Maestro Mayor” of the -city, and was employed on some engineering works for it: one of them was -the bringing the waters of the river Cabriel to augment those of the -Guadalaviar, and in A.D. 1500 he was engaged on another similar work. - -COVARRUBIAS [ALONSO DE]. A native of Burgos. He was one of the -Architects consulted as to the erection of _Salamanca_ Cathedral in -1513. He competed with Diego de Siloe for the erection of the _Chapel -“de los Reyes Nuevos,” Toledo_ Cathedral, and succeeded, 1531-4. Was -Maestro Mayor of _Toledo_ from 1534 to 1566. Employed on the -Archbishop’s Palace at _Alcalá_. Employed by the King on the Alcazars at -_Madrid_ and _Toledo_ in 1537. He was paid 25,000 maravedis a year, and -compelled to attend his work six months in the year, during which time -he received four reals a day for maintenance. He married Maria de Egas, -a daughter, it is thought, of Anequin de Egas; and his son was -afterwards Bishop of Segovia. Various Royal writs in reference to his -work and payment are given by Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. 304-7. - -CRUZ [DIEGO DE LA]. Assisted Gil de Siloe in his works in the church at -_Miraflores, Burgos_, A.D. 1496 to 1499. - -CUMBA [PEDRO DE]. “Magister et fabricator” of the Cathedral at _Lérida_ -in A.D. 1203. - -DEO [PETRUS DE]. Master of the Works at _San Isidoro, Leon_, in A.D. -1065. He also built a bridge called “de Deo tamben,” and seems to have -had a great repute for sanctity. - -DOLFIN [EL MAESTRO]. Painter on Glass. Commenced painting the windows of -_Toledo_ Cathedral in A.D. 1418. - -EGAS [ANEQUIN DE]. Of Brussels. Maestro Mayor of _Toledo_ Cathedral in -1459, and erected the façade “de los Leones” about that year. He had an -“aparejador” (or clerk of the works), Juan (or Alfonso?) Fernandez de -Llena. - -EGAS [ANTON]. In 1509 was engaged at _Toledo_ Cathedral, and received -two writs from the King ordering him to go to _Salamanca_ to assist -other Architects in deciding on the plan of the new Cathedral. In A.D. -1510, conjointly with Alonso Rodriguez, he drew a plan for the -Cathedral. - -EGAS [ENRIQUE DE]. Succeeded his father as Maestro Mayor of _Toledo_ in -A.D. 1494, and held the office until his death in A.D. 1534. He was -summoned with other Architects to decide what should be done after the -fall of the Cimborio at _Seville_. He built the Hospital “de los -Espiritos,” at _Toledo_, in 1504-1514, and the Royal Hospital at -_Santiago_ in 1519. Altered the Mozarabic Chapel at _Toledo_, and built -the Hospital of _Sta. Cruz_, _Valladolid_; went in 1515 with two other -Architects to examine J. G. de Hontañon’s work at _Seville_, for which -he was paid 120 ducats of gold. He and Juan de Alava then made plans -together for the _Capilla Mayor_ at _Seville_. He was ordered by the -King to go to _Zaragoza_ to examine the Cathedral, but endeavoured to -excuse himself on the ground that he had the Royal Hospital at -_Santiago_ in hand. In 1529 he appears to have gone again to _Salamanca_ -to see whether the work at the Cathedral was being done perfectly by J. -G. de Hontañon. He went to _Malaga_ on another occasion with the same -object. In a Royal writ issued in his favour, in A.D. 1552, he is called -“Maestro de Canteria”--Master of Masonry. - -ESCOBEDO [FR. JUAN DE]. A monk of the Convent of El Parral, Segovia. He -repaired the Roman Aqueduct at _Segovia_ in A.D. 1481. - -ESTACIO. Native of Alexandria, Engineer, constructed the Mole at -_Barcelona_, 1477. - -FABRE, OR FABRA [JAYME]. Was Architect of the Dominican Convent at -_Palma, Mallorca_, in A.D. 1317. This seems to have had a single nave of -enormous width. He was ordered in 1307 to go to _Barcelona_ to act as -Architect at the Cathedral. In 1339 he assisted at the translation of -the remains of Sta. Eulalia to the crypt under the high altar. He is -said to have died circa 1388. He seems to have been the architect from -whose work most of the later Catalan buildings were derived. - -FAVARIIS [JACOBO DE]. A native of Narbonne, and Architect of the Chevet -of _Gerona_ Cathedral in A.D. 1320. - -FONT [CARLOS]. Of Montearagon. Was consulted with others as to the -rebuilding of the Cimborio of _Zaragoza_ Cathedral in A.D. 1500. - -FONT [JUAN]. Architect engaged on Steeple at _Manresa_ in A.D. 1572-90. - -FORMENT [DAMIAN]. Executed the alabaster Reredos of _Huesca_ Cathedral -in 1520-1533. - -FRANCES [PEDRO]. Painter on Glass. Executed some of the windows of -_Toledo_ Cathedral, circa 1459, in company with two Germans, Pablo and -Cristóbal. - -FRANCK [JUAN]. One of the Architects employed on the Tower of _Valencia_ -Cathedral, between A.D. 1381 and 1418. He was employed in 1389 at the -Monastery of _Guadalupe_. - -GALLEGO [JUAN]. Master of the Works at _El Parral, Segovia_, in A.D. -1459-1472. - -GALLEGO [PEDRO]. “Gobernador de los Torres” at _Leon_ Cathedral in A.D. -1175. - -GARCIA [ALVAR]. Architect of _Avila_ Cathedral in A.D. 1091, a native of -Navarre. - -GOMAR [FRANCISCO]. Executed the Porch in front of the South doorway of -_Lérida_ Cathedral, in A.D. 1490. - -GOMEZ [ALVAR]. Maestro Mayor of _Toledo_ Cathedral; in A.D. 1418 he -designed the West Front and Tower of the Cathedral. The papers in the -archives of the Cathedral speak of him as “aparejador de las canteras,” -which seems to imply that he was a superintendent of masons. He was -appointed to this office in A.D. 1425, and is the first recorded to have -held it; from his time the names of the architects of Toledo Cathedral -are all known. - -GUADALUPE [PEDRO DE]. Made additional Stalls for _Palencia_ Cathedral, -and moved the old stalls from the choir into the nave, in A.D. 1518. - -GUAL [BARTOLOMÉ]. One of the Architects summoned to the Junta at -_Gerona_ in A.D. 1416. At this date he was Maestro Mayor of _Barcelona_ -Cathedral, and calls himself “lapicida et magister operis.” - -GUAS [JUAN]. Architect of the Convent of San Juan de los Reyes, -_Toledo_, commenced in A.D. 1476. His portrait (together with those of -his wife and children) is preserved in a mural painting in the Convent. - -GUINGUAMPS [JOANNES DE]. “Lapicida” of the town of _Narbonne_, and one -of the Junta of Architects at _Gerona_ in A.D. 1416. - -GUMIEL [PEDRO]. Architect of SS. Just y Pastor, at _Alcalá de Henares_, -in A.D. 1497-1509. He was “Regidor” of the city in 1492, and Architect -to Cardinal Ximenes, and both their names were inscribed on the first -stone of the College of _San Ildefonso_ at _Alcalá_, which was laid in -1497. He died circa 1516. - -GUTIERREZ [ANTONIO]. Executed the Entrance to the Summer Chapter-house, -_Toledo_ Cathedral, in A.D. 1504. - -HENRICUS. “Magister operis” of _Leon_ Cathedral; he deceased in A.D. -1277. - -HOLANDA [ALBERTO DE]. Painter on Glass, of Burgos. Executed several -windows in A.D. 1520 for _Avila_ Cathedral at a charge of 82 maravedis -the foot. - -HONTAÑON [JUAN GIL DE]. Was Maestro Mayor of _Salamanca_ Cathedral when -it was resolved to rebuild it. He made plans, which are still (it is -said) preserved, with the signatures of four Architects who were called -in to advise upon them. He seems, however, to have followed some plans -prepared in A.D. 1510 by Alonso Rodriguez and Anton Egas, and to have -been appointed Architect in 1513, after having given a joint report with -nine other Architects on the mode of construction of the Cathedral. -Subsequently other Architects, Martin de Palencia, Francisco de Colonia, -Juan de Badajoz, and others, were summoned to _Salamanca_ by the Chapter -to certify that he was adhering to the plan originally agreed to. In one -of their reports they speak of a plan made by Juan Gil, of which they -approve. In 1513, after the fall of the Cimborio at _Seville_, he was -summoned (after a Junta of four Architects had reported) to superintend -the work, and before 1522 he made plans for the new Cathedral at -_Segovia_, which was commenced in that year. He deceased in 1531. - -HONTAÑON [JUAN GIL DE]. Son of Juan Gil. Assisted his father in his work -at _Salamanca_. - -HONTAÑON [RODRIGO GIL DE]. Second son of Juan Gil. Continued his -father’s works at _Salamanca_ (with a salary of 30,000 maravedis and a -house) and _Segovia_; he erected the Pagan façade of the College at -_Alcalá de Henares_, and churches in various towns. In the paper -appointing him “Maestro Mayor” of _Salamanca_ Cathedral, he is called -“Master of Masonry.” His will proves that he contracted for as well as -designed some buildings, as he complains bitterly of the losses he has -sustained in this way, especially in the Church of _San Julian_ at -_Toro_, for which he could not get paid. This will is dated May 27, -1577. - -JUAN [PEDRO]. Sculptor. Executed the Reredos of _Tarragona_ Cathedral in -1426-36. - -LAPI [GERI]. Embroiderer, of Florence. He made an Altar-cloth for the -Collegiate Church at _Manresa_, which still exists, and is inscribed -with his name. - -LLENA [JUAN FERNANDEZ DE]. “Aparejador” or assistant to Anequin de Egas, -Architect of _Toledo_ Cathedral in A.D. 1459. - -LLOBET [MARTIN]. Completed the Micalete at _Valencia_ in A.D. 1424. He -seems to have been a mason, and contracted for the execution of the -work. - -LOQUER [MIGUEL]. Made the Canopies of the Upper Stalls in the Coro of -_Barcelona_ Cathedral in A.D. 1483. - -LUNA [HURTADO DE]. Maestro Mayor of the Church at _Irun_ in A.D. 1508. - -MAEDA [JUAN DE]. Assistant to Diego de Siloe, who by his will, in A.D. -1563, left him all his plans and designs. - -MANSO [PEDRO]. Enlarged the Reredos in _Palencia_ in A.D. 1518. - -MATHEUS. Master of the Works of _Santiago_ Cathedral, from A.D. 1168 to -1188. - -MATIENZO [G. FERNANDEZ DE]. Architect of Church at _Miraflores_, from -A.D. 1466 to 1488, after the death of Juan de Colonia. - -MOTA [GUILLERMUS DE LA]. “Socius magistri” of _Tarragona_ Cathedral, and -one of the Junta of Architects at _Gerona_ in A.D. 1416. He completed -the Retablo of _Tarragona_ Cathedral (commenced by Pedro Juan in 1426). - -NARBONNE [ENRIQUE OF]. Architect of Chevet of _Gerona_ Cathedral in A.D. -1316. - -NAVARRO [MIGUEL]. Contracted for the erection of the Cloisters of _San -Francesco el Grande, Valencia_, in A.D. 1421. - -NIETO [ALONSO]. Appointed “Obrero Mayor” of the Works at the Castle “de -la Mota,” _Medina del Campo_, in A.D. 1479. - -OLOTZAGA [JUAN DE]. Designed and commenced the Cathedral at _Huesca_ in -A.D. 1400. He is said to have carved the statues for the façade. - -OROZCO [JUAN DE]. One of the Junta of Architects assembled at -_Salamanca_ in A.D. 1512. - -ORTIZ [PABLO]. Executed the Monuments of the Constable Alvaro de Luna -and his wife, in the _Chapel of Santiago_ in _Toledo_ Cathedral. He -obtained this work in a competition, and contracted for its execution in -A.D. 1489. - -PARADISO [MATEO]. Architect of the Tower on the Bridge of Alcantara, -_Toledo_, in A.D. 1217. - -PEÑAFREYTA [PEDRO DE]. Master of the Works of _Lérida_ Cathedral, -deceased in A.D. 1286. - -PEREZ [PEDRO] or “PETRUS PETRI.” Master of the Works of _Toledo_ -Cathedral. He deceased in A.D. 1290. - -PITUENGA [FLORIN DE]. Superintendent of Works in building the Walls of -_Avila_ in A.D. 1090. He is said to have been a Frenchman. - -PLANA [FRANCISCO DE]. A Catalan, Maestro Mayor of _Gerona_ Cathedral -circa A.D. 1346-1368. - -RAYMUNDO. Master of the Works of _Lugo_ Cathedral, which was commenced -in A.D. 1129. The agreement for his payment is given at p. 131. He was -evidently the Architect, and not the builder, of the Cathedral. - -RIO [FRANCISCO DEL]. Built the Steeple of La Magdalena, _Valladolid_, -under contract, and according to the plans of Rodrigo Gil de Hontañon, -in 1570. - -ROAN [GUILLEN DE]. Maestro Mayor of _Leon_ Cathedral; he deceased in -A.D. 1431, and on his monument he is called “Maestro” of Leon and -“aparejador” of a chapel at _Tordesillas_, in which he was buried. - -RODRIGO. Sculptor of the lower range of Stalls in the Coro of _Toledo_ -Cathedral in A.D. 1495. - -RODRIGUEZ [ALONSO]. Maestro Mayor of _Seville_ Cathedral in A.D. 1503. -In 1510, at the command of the King, he went to _Salamanca_ with Anton -Egas, and prepared a plan for rebuilding the Cathedral, and afterwards -went to the island of _San Domingo_ to build a Church at _Sanlucar_. - -RODRIGUEZ [GASPAR.] Made the Iron Screen across the Coro of _Palencia_ -Cathedral in A.D. 1555. - -RODRIGUEZ [JUAN]. Built the Church of _San Pablo, Burgos_, between A.D. -1415 and 1435. - -ROMANO [CASANDRO]. Superintendent of Works in building the Walls of -_Avila_ in A.D. 1090. - -ROQUE [EL MAESTRO]. Built the Cloister of _Barcelona_ Cathedral, which -was completed in A.D. 1448. He was appointed Master of the Works in A.D. -1388. - -RUAN [CARLOS GALTES DE]. Master of the Works at _Lérida_ Cathedral A.D. -1397 to 1416. He was employed on the Campanile. - -RUESGA [JUAN DE]. An inhabitant of _Segovia_. Was employed by the monks -of _El Parral_ to reconstruct the Gallery for the Coro in their Church -in A.D. 1494; he also completed _Palencia_ Cathedral A.D. 1506-1510, and -seems to have been a builder rather than an architect. - -SAGRERA [GUILLERMO]. Master of the Works of _S. John, Perpiñan_, in A.D. -1416. In the same year he served on the Junta of Architects at _Gerona_. -In 1426 commenced the Lonja or Exchange at _Palma_ in _Mallorca_, for -which he was both Architect and Contractor, and carried it on until A.D. -1448 or 1450, when he quarrelled and went to law with his employers. He -then went to _Naples_, and commenced the _Castel Nuovo_ there in 1450, -of which he is described as “Protomagister” in a Royal writ of that -year. - -SALÓRZANO [MARTIN DE]. Contracted to complete _Palencia_ Cathedral in -A.D. 1504, and deceased in 1506. - -SANCHEZ [BONIFACIO]. Was Maestro Mayor of _Toledo_ Cathedral in A.D. -1481-94, and designed the Entrance to the old Sacristy. - -SANCHEZ [MARTIN]. Executed the Stalls in the Coro of the Church at -_Miraflores_, near _Burgos_, in A.D. 1480. - -SANCHEZ [PEDRO]. “Mayordomo” of the Castle at _Burgos_ during its -construction in A.D. 1295. - -SAN JUAN [PEDRO DE]. A native of Picardy, and Maestro Mayor of _Gerona_ -Cathedral in A.D. 1397. - -SANTA CELAY [MIGUEL DE]. Architect of the Church of _San Vicente, San -Sebastian_, in A.D. 1507. - -SANTILLANA [JUAN DE]. Executed the painted glass at _Miraflores, -Burgos_, circa 1480. - -SARAVIA [RODRIGO DE]. One of the Junta of Architects assembled at -_Salamanca_ in A.D. 1512. - -SILOE [DIEGO DE]. Son of Gil de Siloe the Sculptor. One of the revivers -of Pagan art in Spain. He executed various works in _Granada_, -_Seville_, and _Malaga_, and deceased in A.D. 1563. - -SILOE [GIL DE]. Sculptor of the Monuments of Juan and Isabel, and of -Alfonso their son, in the Church at _Miraflores, Burgos_, and of the -Retablo in the same Church, between A.D. 1486 and 1499. - -TORNERO [JUAN]. One of the Junta of Architects at _Salamanca_ in A.D. -1512. - -TUDELILLA. Of _Tarazona_. Architect of the Cloister of _Sta. Engracia, -Zaragoza_, in A.D. 1536. - -URRUTIA [JUAN DE]. Architect of the Church of _San Vicente, San -Sebastian_, A.D. 1507. - -VALDEVIESO [JUAN DE]. Executed Stained-glass in the Church at -_Miraflores_ in A.D. 1480. - -VALDOMAR. Architect of West end of Nave of _Valencia_ Cathedral in A.D. -1459. - -VALLEJO [JUAN DE]. One of the Architects of _Burgos_ Cathedral. He was -consulted as to the rebuilding of _Salamanca_ Cathedral in 1512, and -wrought under Felipe de Borgoña in rebuilding the Cimborio of _Burgos_ -Cathedral, between A.D. 1539 and 1567. He built the Renaissance Gateway -on the East side of the South Transept between 1514 and 1524. - -VALL-LLEBRERA [PEDRO DE]. Architect of the Steeple of _Sta. Maria -Cervera_, A.D. 1431. - -VALLERAS [ARNALDUS DE]. “Lapicida” and “Magister operis” of the -Collegiata at _Manresa_. One of the Junta of Architects consulted at -_Gerona_ in A.D. 1416. - -VALLFOGONA [BERNARDO DE]. Maestro Mayor of _Tarragona_ Cathedral in A.D. -1375. - -VALLFOGONA [PEDRO DE]. Executed Reredos of High Altar, _Tarragona_, and -was one of the Junta of Architects at _Gerona_ in A.D. 1416. - -VALMESEDA [JUAN DE]. Executed the Statues in the Reredos, _Palencia_ -Cathedral, in A.D. 1518. - -VANTIER [ROLLINUS]. Maestro Mayor of _Gerona_ Cathedral in A.D. 1427. - -XULBE [JOHANNES DE]. One of the Junta of Architects assembled at -_Gerona_ in A.D. 1416. He describes himself as son of Paschasius de -Xulbe and “Lapicida.” - -XULBE [PASCHASIUS DE]. Master of the Works of Church at _Tortosa_, and -one of the Junta of Architects at _Gerona_ in A.D. 1416. - -ZACOMA [PEDRO]. Architect of the Tower of _San Feliu, Gerona_, in A.D. -1368. - - -(C.) - -DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW CATHEDRAL AT -SALAMANCA. - - _Royal Order of Ferdinand the Catholic, requiring Alfonso Rodriguez - to go to Salamanca to choose the site and to make a design for the - Construction of the Cathedral._ - -The KING to the MASTER MAJOR of the Works of the Church of Seville. - -Since it has now to be decided how the Church of Salamanca may be made, -in order that the building and its design may be made as it ought, I -agree that you may be present there. I charge and command you that, -instantly leaving all other things, you may come to the said city of -Salamanca, and, jointly with the other persons who are there, you may -see the site where the said church has to be built, and may make a -drawing for it, and in all things may give your judgment how it may be -the most suited to the Divine worship and to the ornature of the said -church; which, having come to pass, then your salary shall be paid; -which I shall receive return for in this service. - -Done in Valladolid, the 23rd day of the month of November, 1509, -&c.[456] - - -_Order of the Queen Doña Juana to the same._ - -Recites that the King, her Lord and Father, had given an order, which -she repeats, quoting the document above given, and then proceeds:--“And -now, on the part of the Church of the said city of Salamanca, relation -has been made me, that, although the said order was notified to you, -until now you have not come to do anything in the business of which -mention is made therein, making various excuses and delays; and it has -been demanded of me, as for this cause of your not having come there is -much delay in the work of the said church, to order you at once to come -to the said city of Salamanca to make yourself acquainted with the -affairs contained in the said order, as was by it commanded, or as my -will might be; which, being seen by those of my council, it was agreed -that I should order this my letter to be given for the said reason; and -I find it good, as I command you, that immediately that this my letter -shall be made known to you, without making any excuse or delay, you -shall go to the said city of Salamanca, according and as by the said -order was commanded, in order that, conjointly with the other persons -who have to make themselves acquainted with the before-said matter, thou -mayest give a plan how the said church may be made, which done, the -salary will be paid you for the said church, which you are entitled to -have for the coming, and staying, and returning to your house; and thou -mayest not fail in this, under pain of my displeasure, and of 50,000 -maravedis for my treasury. - -“Given in the most noble city of Valladolid, 26th day of the month of -January, from the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ 1510 years.”[457] - - _Writ of Ferdinand the Catholic to Anton Egas, ordering him to go - to Salamanca to choose the site and make the plan for the - Cathedral, November 23rd, 1509._ - -Anton Egas is ordered to go at once, and, jointly with the other -architects there assembled, make a plan, &c.; which done, his salary, -which he receives on service, shall be paid him there. This writ is -endorsed as having been served on his two maids, Maria and Catalina, he -and his wife being both away. - - _Declaration or Information which Alonso Rodriguez and Anton Egas - made before the Chapter of Salamanca on the mode of constructing - the Cathedral._ - -In Salamanca, the second day of the month of May, 1510, Señor Gonzalo de -San Vicente, representative of S. A., being with the Chapter, present -the Reverend Señors D. Alfonso Pereira, Dean of Salamanca, and other -persons, dignitaries and beneficiaries, who were in Chapter, in order to -acquaint themselves touching the order and plan of their church, oath -being taken in the due form by the Señors Alonso Rodriguez, Maestro of -Seville, and Anton Egas, Maestro of Toledo, persons deputed by his -Highness for the ordering and planning of the said church, that all -affection and passion, partiality and interest, or any other cause, -being well and faithfully postponed, they determine and declare, -according to God and their conscience, the most commodious plan and site -that may be fitting for the adornment of the said church, and for the -utility of it and of this city, without prejudice and wrong to the -Schools of this University of Salamanca; both of whom made the said -oath, and replied to its confession, and said, “So I swear, and Amen.” - -And under the said oath they presented a plan and outline of the said -church, drawn on parchment to the heights and widths of the naves, and -thicknesses of the walls, and projections of the buttresses, the whole -taken in writing by me the said notary; the which they affirmed by their -names in my presence, and said that the site marked out by them for -where the said church--our Lord permitting--ought to be, would not do -any wrong or prejudice to the said Schools, rather they would be -benefited and adorned, because the site of the said church commences ten -feet further from the gate “del Apeadero” of the Schools, being set -back from the street by the said Schools fifty feet, in front of the -said church, from the line of the church as it now is. And because there -was a diversity in the opinion of these Masters as to the proportion of -length to breadth in the Capilla mayor, they agreed to meet in Toledo in -ten days, and to select an umpire between them if it were necessary, so -that the decision should be arrived at with more circumspection, and -sent within fifteen days to the said Señor San Vicente, or to this -Chapter.[458] - - _Declaration or Judgment which was pronounced in Salamanca in a - Junta which was held Sept. 3rd, 1512, by the Masters of - Architecture Anton Egas, Juan Gil de Hontañon, Juan de Badajos, - Juan de Alava, Juan de Orozco, Alonzo de Covarrubias, Juan Tornero, - Rodrigo de Saravia, and Juan Campero, as to the mode of - constructing the Cathedral._ - -That which appears to the Masters who were called and assembled by the -most reverend and most magnificent in Christ, Father and Lord Don -Francisco de Bobadilla, by the grace of God, and of the Holy Church of -Rome, Bishop of Salamanca, and of the Council of the Queen our Lady, and -by the Reverend the Dean and Chapter of the Church of Salamanca, to give -the plan of the site and building of this holy church and temple, which -it has been unanimously decided by the said Lord Bishop and Chapter--our -Lord helping--to make and begin, is as follows:-- - -Firstly, the said Masters decided that the site of the church should be -in length as far as the church of San Cebrian, and in width as far as -the Schools. - -_Item._--That the three clear naves should begin from the line of the -tower unto the place of the Schools, so that all the three doors of the -front may show themselves and be clear of the tower. - -_Item._--They determine that the church should be directed and turned as -much as possible to the east; and it appears to them that it can turn -directly to the said east. - -_Item._--They determine that the principal nave may have fifty feet in -width in the clear, and a hundred and ten in height. - -_Item._--That the side naves shall have thirty-seven feet in clear -width, and seventy feet in height, or seventy-five, not being of the -height of the other. - -_Item._--They determine that the chapels opened in the side walls may -have twenty-seven feet in clear width, and forty-three or forty-five in -height. - -_Item._--That the three gable walls of the west front may have all three -seven feet of thickness, and the side walls throughout the church six -feet; but to some of the said Masters it appeared that the end walls -should be eight feet in thickness. - -_Item._--That the buttresses of the end walls may project beyond the -wall twelve feet, and in thickness may have seven feet in front. - -_Item._--That the buttresses of all the side walls of the church may be -five feet thick in front, and project six feet beyond the wall outside. - -_Item._--That the divisions of the chapels in the walls may be seven -feet thick. - -_Item._--That the four principal columns of the Cimborio may be -eleven-and-a-half feet thick. - -_Item._--They determine that the head of the Trascoro may be -octagonal.[459] - -_Item._--They determine that the Capilla mayor may have in length and -breadth two chapels of the sides. - -_Item._--That the chapels in the walls of the Trascoro may be -twenty-seven feet in depth from wall to wall, and that in the spaces of -the walls and buttresses in the angles of the octagons, which are formed -between the chapels on the outside, sacristies for each chapel may be -made. - -_Item._--They declare that the feet of which in this their declaration -and determination mention is made, are to be taken as the third of a -yard; and (marking out the form of the said church) the said Masters -declare that from the mark towards the door of the Schools to the first -step there may be seven yards and a third, which is twenty-two feet. - -_Item._--They declare that the wall of the west front within the tower -has to be begun forty-nine feet from the corner of the said tower on the -inside, and should be in thickness from there forward so much as to -leave forty-nine feet of the tower visible. - -_Item._--They declare that the wall of the side nave, from towards the -old church, has to come with the side of the tower, and has to contract -itself the thickness of the said wall in the said tower. - -And inasmuch as some persons, as well members of the Chapter as out of -it, have held certain opinions in regard to the site of the said -building, and where it ought to stand, the said Lord Bishop and Chapter, -desiring to avoid and escape such opinions as at present and in future -may impede the order and form of the said building, command the said -Masters to give the reasons and motives that may have moved them to -direct and propose the site and position determined on by them, and not -the other places, lines, or sites suggested; and that they should say -specifically for their satisfaction why, with all quietness and -willingness, the order, form, and site laid down by them may be -followed. The which said Masters, in order to satisfy the persons who -either held or might hold opinions contrary to their own, gave the -following reasons:-- - -Firstly. That making or putting the church in another part or site than -that determined on by them, it and its cloister would be separated from -the view of the city, and would be concealed; that it could not be seen -round about, only the end wall by itself, and the Chevet by itself, and -there would be no entire view. - -The second reason is, that the said church would be put behind the -schools from the Crossing almost to the end, where the best view and the -most frequented part of the church ought to be, because there the doors -have to be placed. - -The third reason is, that of the cloister--which already exists--the two -parts are so placed that it would leave a narrow passage between the -church and the Archbishop’s chapel, and the library and Chapter-house, -and the said chapels would remain separated, and one would enter them -from the narrow passage, and in a roundabout way; for though it might be -desired to make a door from the Chevet, it could not be done, because -the sacristy would prevent it. - -The fourth reason which they give is, that if the said church has to be -moved to another site opposed to that declared and determined on by -them, the tower would have to be destroyed, which is a good and singular -work, and could not be rebuilt without a great sum of maravedis, and the -church could not be without a tower. - -The fifth reason is, that if the said church has to be moved to another -site, it will be necessary to take down the house of the said Lord -Bishop, and to restore it opposite the front of the church; and in order -to restore it, besides the great sum of maravedis it would cost, it -would be necessary to destroy fourteen houses, the rent of which is of -much value, and this would be costly to the church, and involve loss to -the treasury of the Chapter. - -The sixth reason is, that in order to make the cloister on another site -contrary to their determination, many houses must be taken; and in order -to make it on the south, it would be necessary to go into it by what is -called the River-door, and afterwards to be more away from the city, and -out of view; and it would be very costly to make the foundations of such -great depth, and to raise the walls to the level of the church. - -The seventh reason which they give is, that the Chevet of the church -would cover the door of the chapel of the Archbishop and the library in -order to join them. - -The eighth reason which they give is, that the Crossing would not come -in the line of any street, and there would be no way out by way of the -cloister, because the new and old cloister would stop it; and supposing -a remedy to be sought, by separating the new cloister, it would be so -high when they had to go out, that it would have at least more than -fifteen steps, and the entrance would be by a narrow passage; because on -one part would be the new cloister, and on the other part of the old -cloister the chapel of the Archbishop. - -The ninth reason which they give is, that the church would encroach upon -the principal street of the schools, which comes before the house of his -Lordship, and the other street, “_del Desafiadero_;” so that if there -was none at the apse of the church there would be no way out; and the -height of the church, putting it so much between the sun and the schools -on the south, would take away much of their light, and darken them much. - -The which reasons they give against the opinions of them who say or -desire to say that the site of the said church should be towards the -house of the Lord Bishop, and towards the street “_del Desafiadero_;” -and in order to answer the other opinion of some who argue that the site -of the said church could go through the cloister, which is already built -to the River bridge, because this would not be a convenient site for the -church; and in order to oppose the opinion for it, they give the -following reasons:-- - -Firstly. That it would be more separated from the city, and would not go -well with the schools, and would lack the appearance which it would have -going, as is agreed, towards the schools. - -The second reason which they give is, that it would stand at an angle -with the schools, and would be an ugly thing, and the façades of the -church and the schools would not be harmonized together by the said -arrangement of the plan. - -The third reason which they give is, that the Plaza of the Lord Bishop’s -house would be narrowed in great part, so that the Plaza would be a -street; and the height of the church would shut out the sun from the -said house of his Lordship, and would stifle it very much; and the doors -of the church would be behind the tower in the view as one comes from -the city through the Street of the Schools. - -The fourth reason which they give is, that the west front of the church -would have to join the wall of the Archbishop’s chapel, and through its -inequality and depth it would be necessary to have many steps through -that part, and towards the town not any, and this would be a defective -and ugly thing. - -The fifth reason which they give is, that, making the cloister towards -the Schools, all the view of the church would be shut out, and the -cloister would be gloomy, and it would be without the harmony and order -of good churches, and without grace. - -The sixth reason which they give is, that the church standing close to -the chapel of the Archbishop and the library, its height would shut out -the light from the small chapels in the walls, and there would be no -exit for the water from the roof of the middle of the church at that -part. - -The seventh reason which they give is, that in order to make the new -church it would be necessary to clear out immediately all the church and -the cloister, and the chapel of the Doctor of Talavera, and of Sta. -Barbara, and the Chapter-house; and in their opinion it would be a grand -inconvenience to be so many years without having where to celebrate the -Divine offices. - -The eighth reason which they give is, that if the church is separated -from above, and put as in a corner, part in the shade through the one -part of the tower and the cloister, and through the other of the library -and the chapel of the Archbishop, it could not have as much of its walls -in light as is convenient. - -The ninth reason which they give is, that the door of the transept would -come out so high from the street, in their opinion, as more than ten or -twelve steps, and would cut across the street “_del Chantre_” and would -be bad in its arrangement, and a place where nuisance would be caused. - -This opinion having been given, it is then pronounced by the deputies -appointed by the Chapter to confer with the architects, that as they -were all agreed both as to the site and as to the general form of the -church, and as they are such learned and skilful men, and experienced in -their art, their opinion ought certainly to be acted on. But for the -more certainty it was thought well to make every one of the architects -take an oath, “by God and St. Mary, under whose invocation the church -is, and upon the sign of the cross, upon which they and each of them put -their right hands bodily,” that they had spoken the entire truth, which -each of them did, saying “So I swear, and amen.”[460] - -The report of the architects having been received, the Chapter then say -that the many singular and great Masters of the Art of Masonry -(canteria) who had been consulted had agreed on a plan, but that it will -be necessary to choose and elect a Master (Maestro) and an overseer -(aparejador).[461] On the same day, Sept. 3rd, 1512, Juan Gil de -Hontañon, “Master of Masonry,” was appointed principal master of the -works (Maestro principal), and Juan Campero, mason, overseer, with a -salary to the former of 40,000 maravedis a year, and 100 maravedis more -for each day that he assisted at the works; and to the latter of 20,000 -maravedis a year, and 2½ reals per day.[462] And on the 10th May, 1538, -Roderigo Gil de Hontañon was appointed principal master of the works, -with the salary of 30,000 maravedis a year. Alonso de Covarrubias seems -to have been joined with Rodrigo Gil de Hontañon as master.[463] By R. -G. de Hontañon’s will it seems that he also had a house rent free from -the Chapter.[464] - - -(D.) - -SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL. - - _Warrant of King Ferdinand II., issued in 1168, in favour of - Mattheus, Master of the Works of Santiago Cathedral, copied from - the Archives._ - -In nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Amen. Majestati regiæ convenit eis -melius providere, qui sibi noscuntur fidele obsequium exhibere, et illis -præcipue, qui Dei sanctuariis et locis indesinenter obsequium probantur -impendere. Ea propter ego Fernandas Dei gratia Hispaniarum Rex ex amore -Omnipotentis Dei, per quem regnant reges, et ob reverentiam sanctissimi -Jacobi patroni nostri piissimi, pro munere dono, et concedo tibi -magistro Matheo, qui operis præfati Apostoli primatum obtines et -magisterium, in unoquoque anno in medietate mea de moneta Sancti Jacobi -refectionem duarum marcharum singulis hebdomadibus, et quod defuerit in -una hebdomada suppleatur in alia, ita quod hæc refectio valeat tibi -centum maravotinos per unumquemque annum. Hoc munus, hoc donum do tibi -omni tempore vitæ tuæ semper habendum quatenus et operi Sancti Jacobi, -et tuæ inde personae melius sit, et qui viderint præfato operi -studiosius invigilent et insistant. - -Si quis vero contra hoc meum spontaneum donativum venerit, aut illud -quoque modo tentaverit infringere, iram incurrat decunti pertinentis, et -iram regiam, et mille aureos parti tuæ tamquam excomunicatus cogatur -exolvere. Facta carta apud Sanctum Jacobum, viii. kalendas Marti, Era M. -CC. VI. Regnante rege Dño Fernando Legione, Extremadura, Gallecia in -Asturiis. - -Ego Dñs F. Dei gratia Hispaniarum Rex hoc scriptum quod fieri jussi -proprio robore confirmo. - - [Signed also by various Bishops and Grandees.] - - -(E.) - -SEGOVIA CATHEDRAL. - - _Memoir of the Canon of Segovia Juan Rodriguez, in which is related - all that happened as to the Construction of the Cathedral from the - year 1522, in which he began to exercise the government and - administration of the fabric, until the year 1562, in which, - through infirmity, he gave it up._--From the Archives of the - Cathedral. - -After reciting his pious reasons for his undertaking, he continues his -Memoir as follows; entering first of all into various particulars in -reference to the subscriptions for the work and so forth, he then goes -on:-- - -“We commence, in the name of God, to give an account of the form and -order which prevailed in the work of the said church and cloister, -Chapter-house, libraries, tower, sacristy, and place for relics,[465] -and all the other necessary offices, which until this time have been -paid for, and now belong to the said holy church, free from all interest -or tax. - -“Commencing at the beginning, which was in the said year of 1520, when -the Chapter was driven out of the other church by reason of the -alterations already mentioned, they had the divine offices in the Church -of Sta. Clara, which the monks of the order of Sta. Clara had left, who -at present reside in the monastery of San Antonio el Real; and beginning -by having the divine office on the floor of the church on some benches -or logs of wood, which were placed for it from the door of the church as -far as the rooms of the keepers of the wardrobe of the convent which -were there, afterwards they made a tribune on some pieces of timber or -posts for the Coro, in order to have the holy office; and afterwards -they put the altars right with Retablos and images, which they brought -from the old church; and they put right the old cloister, which had some -high battlements; and they overcame difficulties and put everything in -order to be able to make use of it, and set right the chapel where the -Crucifix and Sacrament were, and where the chaplains said their office. -Then, likewise, was made a hall of the old corridors, in which the -Chapter was held, where it was for some years, until that one was made -below close to the chapel of the Crucifix. And then the tower was -raised, and there they placed some of the bells of the other old church, -and others they made new in the town of Olmedo; and they got a new clock -from Medina del Campo, and put the whole in the old tower. - -“Then, in consequence of the narrowness of the church, they took some -houses in which lived the wardrobe-keepers, and pulled them down, and -made a wall of lime and stone in front, and placed there the Coro of the -old church, and repaired it in the said place where the divine office -was said, and placed the iron screens of the two Coros; the whole of -which was done between the said year of 1520 and June 8th, 1522, when, -by the consent and resolution of the Lord Bishop D. Diego de Rivera, and -of the Dean and Chapter of the said church, it was agreed to commence -the new work of the said church, to the glory of God, and in honour of -the Virgin Mary and the glorious San Frutos and All Saints, taking for -master of the said work Juan Gil de Hontañon, and for his clerk of the -works (aparejador) Garcia de Cubillas. - -“Thursday, the 8th of June, 1522, the Bishop ordered a general -procession with the Dean and Chapter, and clergy, and all the religious -orders. Solemn mass was said in the Plaza of San Miguel, before the -doors of the said Church of Sta. Clara, and there was a sermon, and -absolution, and general pardon to all who had erred; and they demolished -the other church, and gave absolution for all the faults and sacrileges -which might be committed in it, as is the case in all general pardon of -sins. From there the Bishop, Dean and Chapter, clergy and religious, -went in procession to the part where was the foundation of the principal -wall of the foot of the holy church, and in that place where the -principal door was to be, which is now called ‘del Pardon;’ and the -Master of the works and the officials being there with stone and mortar, -the Lord Bishop placed the foundation in the middle where the said door -had to come, which is called ‘del Pardon.’ Giving first his benediction -on the commencement of the work, he put a piece of silver with his face -on it, and others of metal with certain letters, and upon them placed -the stone and mortar. The workmen then raised the building. - -“All this solemnity, as I have told, began to the glory of God our Lord, -the Virgin Mary, and All Saints, for the promotion of the said work. -This was settled and arranged between the Lord Bishop, the Dean and -Chapter, to be executed in masonry of a rough description, by reason of -the great poverty of the said church. And I then, feeling this, -conferred on this matter with the said Juan Gil de Hontañon and Garcia -de Cubillas, and it seemed to them to be a great pity to execute the -work in such a way in so celebrated a city. And the Lord Bishop, the -Dean and Chapter, having considered this, thought it well to give leave, -confiding in the providence of our Lord, that it should be done as I had -petitioned, for which many thanks be given to our Lord.” - -“The building being commenced, as I have said, on Thursday, July 8th, -1522, was carried on according to the plan first of all given, beginning -from the principal door at the foot of the church, which is called ‘del -Pardon,’ corresponding to the principal nave, and going on in order, -taking the chapel and the chapels in the walls, of which there are five -on either side, ten in all, where at present the private masses and -endowments which the said church has are said. - -“After the same manner the principal pillars in the said church were -built, which divide, and on which is raised the principal nave, and on -either side one, in all five collateral naves; the principal, of 115 to -120 feet in height, and 54 in width, from line to line; the collaterals, -80 feet in height each one of them, and 38 in width, and the chapels -between the buttresses, of which there are ten, 50 feet of height, and -26 in width, as, thanks to God, they have all been made and finished to -perfection, as may be seen. - -“The building, so far erected, reached only to the two principal pillars -of the Crossing, which are twelve feet in width, because they are the -two upon which the Cimborio will have to be built, and the other two -pillars will embellish the work which has to be done presently, when the -Capilla mayor and the Crossing are erected. The other round pillars of -the body of the said church are ten feet in thickness, and are ten in -all, and upon them were built the main nave and its collaterals. - -“Likewise I may mention that these principal pillars, for fear there -should be any misfortune or bursting in the work, were all compacted -throughout their body, with shaped stones, in pieces of the same -thickness as those which are in the face of the work; so that there is -not the least thing omitted which could give strength. - -“Likewise the walls were made, three extending past the said three -principal pillars, which were made for the Cimborio and Crossing, where -the high altar was placed, and the Blessed Sacrament kept, and the -conventual masses said; and on one side, towards the Alumzára, a little -sacristy was made, or a vestry for the ministers of the high altar, -where they kept their boxes for the things necessary for the altar and -choir. - -“Likewise the walls were built, where the stalls of the Coro are placed -for the divine offices, ornamented and made up with such additional -seats as were required, in order that they might occupy the width of the -principal nave; and at the sides they made offices with their furniture -for holding the singing and reading books for the divine offices of the -said church, with doors at the sides for going out by at the -sermon-time. - -“Likewise they made high galleries on either side of the Coro, in which -they placed the organs, finished and adorned, as, at present appears, -for the service of our Lord. - -“Likewise the cloister was founded, which was that which stood in the -old church, which Juan Campero, master of masonry, undertook by -contract for the sum of 4000 ducats, according to the contract with -which he took it; and in the said buildings it was impossible to -foresee, at the first, every necessary thing, because time and the work -itself showed many things which at first were not known; and so, -beginning to feel the said cloister would be low, by agreement with the -said John Campero, they gave him 400 ducats, in order that he should -raise it a yard, which gave him grace enough; and 70,000 maravedis, in -order that he should do the door of the said cloister, which was not in -his contract; and likewise he made a condition that he should not be -obliged to go more than five feet below the ground. - -“In the same manner they made many other adornments in the said cloister -beyond what was in the contract with the said Juan Campero, such as -making many things of granite, and others of carpentry, which were to -have been of common masonry; which was all of much cost, so that the -expenses mounted beyond the contract of the said Juan Campero another -4000 ducats, which was in all 8000, a little more or less, as appears by -the account-book which the said Juan Campero kept. - -“_Item._--To the glory of God and the honour of His Blessed Mother the -building of the tower was commenced, which is at the lower end of the -said church, and which is a very solemn edifice. Its bulk without the -walls is thirty-three feet, and it is square. The walls are four from -base to summit, and each one ten feet thick; and one of them which goes -from the church is fifteen feet at the bottom. - -“_Item._--This tower is more lofty than that of the cathedral at -Seville, measured by a line, more than once brought from thence. It is -wider than that of Toledo by one third part, as will be seen by those -who like to measure it. This measures, as I say, 33 feet inside, and -that of Toledo 22 feet. I say this in order that the goodness of this -tower may be known. Outside the chapel and above it is another very good -chapel for the service of the church, in which necessary things can be -kept; and over this chapel, and in the said tower, is another chamber, -where is placed the man who attends to the bells, with all his family, -and with all the offices necessary for his living; and above this, in -the said tower, is another chamber, which is where the bells are hung in -their frames in their order. And above this chamber, at the four sides -or corners of the said tower, there are four pillars, from which rise -four flying buttresses, which support another building, after the -fashion of a censer with its windows. The clock is here, &c.” “I hold -this building of the tower to be noble and important, just as I hold it -to be certain that it would be difficult to build it now for 50,000 -ducats.” - -“Likewise there are three principal chambers which abut against one wall -of the tower, and go as far as the Calle Mayor of Barrionuevo, which -measure 80 feet or more. One of them below is all made with a vault of -good mason’s work for the workmen’s tools, timber, scaffolding, ropes, -and other instruments required for the prosecution of the works; and -when the said church is finished it will be kept for precious things of -various kinds of which the church has need, for _autos_, &c., which take -place in such churches, so as not to have to make them anew each time. -This chamber has a very good door for entrance, and sufficient lights to -enable them to keep everything that is required to be put there. - -“Over this room, on the level of the cloister, is the cloister -Chapter-room, which is 53 feet long, a little more or less, and 33 wide, -with very good windows, and glazing, and wooden ceiling made with -fretwork, admirably executed by the hands of good workmen; quite an -important room. It is of the height proper for a good room. There is no -other painting in it than an inscription all round. The pavement is of -white and black stone, the black from Aillon, and the white Otero de -Herreros. The seats are temporary; but a large quantity of walnut has -been bought for them. The doors of the Chapter-room are all of walnut, -made by very good workmen, and with frames of black elm. - -“Before entering into the Chapter-house there is a staircase which has -three landings for going to the library, with its steps of hard stone, -and its breast-wall with the four Evangelists placed against the -columns; and in the four windows which light the staircase are the four -principal doctors of the Church; and below the said staircase is a room -in a vacant space, whose windows look into the Calle de Barrionuevo, -which is for the Secretary of the church to keep all the writings, and -books, and bills of the said church, and is placed close to the -Chapter-house, of which the said Secretary keeps the keys. This room is -of the width of the staircase, and its size from the wall of the -Chapter-house is 27 feet, which are what remain of the 80 over and above -the 53 which the Chapter-house measures. The third part, and last in -order of the abovementioned rooms, which is called the library, is the -same width and length. It has four windows, two towards the street, and -two towards the cloister, and in them medallions of SS. Peter and Paul, -John Baptist, and John the Evangelist. - -“And in order to answer satisfactorily any complaints of the Señores of -the city, we may make a comparison with the Church of Salamanca, which -is the same kind as this church, and commenced by the same Master, -though this church is 100 feet broader than Salamanca, which was begun -by the same Master a long time before that of Segovia was commenced -anew. The said work at Salamanca had all the ground on which it was -built, so that the site cost nothing, whereas at Segovia the whole site -required was bought, and redeemed of rents which were heavy,” &c. &c. - - -(F.) - -LIST OF SUBJECTS CARVED ON THE SCREENS ROUND THE CORO OF TOLEDO -CATHEDRAL. - -These screens extend across the west end of the Coro and along its -northern and southern sides. The central subject over the western -doorway, and two subjects on either side of it, have been destroyed in -order to make space for a more modern sculpture. The side screens appear -to have been cut off abruptly at the eastern end, so that possibly some -subjects may have been removed from this part. The subjects are arranged -as follows: Nos. 1 to 9, counting from the north-west angle of the -screen to the western doorway; Nos. 12 to 19, from the central doorway -to the south-west angle of the screen; Nos. 20 to 40 along the southern -screen, going from west to east; and Nos. 41 to 61 along the northern -screen, going from east to west. Some of the subjects are doubtful, and -some unintelligible to me; and I have marked all such in this list with -a note of interrogation. The whole of the subjects illustrate the -earlier passages in the Old Testament in chronological order. - - 1. Chaos. - - GOD looking at a broken ark, and fragments of rock on the ground. - - 2. Creation of the firmament. - - GOD standing with sea behind, and supporting an arc over His head. - - 3. Creation of fowls and fishes. - - Central figure of GOD, birds flying above, fishes and birds - swimming below. - - 4. The creation of sun, moon, and stars. - - GOD with His hands extended. In the two upper corners (dexter side) - the sun and four stars; (sinister side) the moon and four other - stars. There are clouds round the feet of GOD. - - 5. GOD reverenced by angels. - - A standing figure of much majesty, with four angels on either side, - some kneeling, some standing.[466] - - 6. Fall of Lucifer.[467] - - In the centre GOD, and on either side, above, angels; and below, - figures falling headlong. - - 7. The Creation of Adam. - - GOD moulding a figure into the shape of a man. - - Nos. 8 and 9, the central subject over the doorway into the Coro, - and 10 and 11 are destroyed. - - Nos. 12 and 13 are transposed. - - 13. GOD meeting Adam and Eve, and showing them the tree in the - garden. - - 12. GOD meeting Adam and Eve in the garden after the Fall. - - They hold leaves in their hands. - - 14. The expulsion of Adam and Eve. - - On the left a tree, in front of it a battlemented tower or gate, - before which is an angel. Adam and Eve going away. - - 15. Adam tilling the ground, Eve with a child in her arms looking - at him. - - 16. Cain killing Abel (?), or Adam finding the dead body of Abel. - (?) - - A man half supporting a dead body of a younger man. - - 17. Adam digging a grave for Abel. - - A man digging in the ground. - - 18. GOD meeting Cain. - - 19. Two figures in a niche at the angle of the western and southern - screens, both looking up as if in prayer. - - “Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.” - - _South side._ - - 20. (?) - - A figure speaking to a boy; behind, and half-concealed among trees, - another figure of a man naked. - - 21. (?) - - A man with an axe which he has let fall. He has been cutting - branches from a tree, and lifts up his hands in prayer: behind him - stands a woman. - - 22. (?) - - A man with a long axe resting from his labour; a woman stands - behind him, and they both look towards a young man who speaks to - them. - - 23. (?) - - The end of a building. On the left of it an angel and a young man - who looks out from it to the right, where are trees, and below them - the mouth of a whale swallowing a man. - - 24. The burial of Methuselah. (?) - - Five figures surrounding a tomb in which they bury a sixth. - - 25. Noah finds grace in the sight of the Lord. (?) - - Two figures in supplication, apparently, before the third. - - 26. Noah and one of his sons before the ark. - - Noah turns his head towards GOD, who speaks from a cloud and - desires him to go into the ark. - - 27. The ark on the waters. - - On one side of the roof a dove, and on the other one with a twig of - a tree. The ark has three tiers of openings: beasts look out of the - lowest, men and women from the next, and birds from the highest. - - 28. The ark resting on the land, and the drunkenness of Noah. - - Above, Noah prays by a tree. Below, Ham lifts up the garment of - Noah, who is lying on the ground, and Shem and Japheth, kneeling, - cover their faces with their hands. - - 29. Probably the promise to Abraham that he should be the father of - many nations. (?) - - On the left, two figures conversing; on the right, three tiers of - figures. Dead bodies below, two seated figures above them, and one - seated figure above again. - - 30. Lot and the Angels. - - Lot kneels before two angels. - - 31. Abraham’s sacrifice. - - Isaac bound and lying on the ground. Abraham behind him looks back - to an angel, who speaks and points to the ram in a thicket. - - 32. Abraham and Isaac. - - Abraham binding the ram, Isaac standing looking on, with his hands - in prayer. - - 33. Rebekah and Jacob. - - Rebekah speaking to Jacob, who shows her that his arms have no hair - on them. - - 34. Isaac blessing Jacob. - - Isaac sits up in bed, turns his face away from Jacob, and feels his - arms. The expression of blindness is extremely well conveyed. - - 35. Esau’s distress. - - Isaac supports himself on one arm on his couch; with the other he - gesticulates to Esau, who stands before him with his hand before - his face, and evidently in grief. - - 36. Jacob’s dream. (?) - - A man seated before a tree with his hand up to his face. - - 37. Jacob wrestling with the Angel. - - 38. Joseph sold to the Ishmaelites. - - 39. Joseph’s brethren return to Jacob with his coat. - - 40. Joseph’s brethren bowing down before him. - - This is the last subject on the south side of the Coro. It is - possible that it may have been returned on the eastern side of the - columns at this point, so as to allow of two more subjects being - introduced on either side; but if so, these subjects have been - destroyed. The first six subjects on the screen on the north side, - Nos. 41 to 46, are all very similar--a king seated, with generally - many persons in various attitudes around him; possibly these - subjects, with the four which may have been destroyed, represented - the ten plagues of Egypt. I cannot discover any other explanation - for them. - - 47. The institution of the Passover. - - Figures marking the lintels and side posts of a house. - - 48. The institution of the Passover. - - The sacrifice of the lamb, several figures standing round an altar. - - 49. The smiting of the first-born of the Egyptians. (?) - - Two subjects, one above the other; in each a dead body laid out, - and people looking on. - - 50. The passage of the Red Sea. - - The people are walking on the water. - - 51. The drowning of the Egyptians. - - 52. Moses stretching his hand out over the water. - - Moses stoops down and touches the water with his hand. - - 53. Exodus xvi. 10-12. “The glory of the Lord in the cloud.” - - GOD speaking to a crowd of kneeling figures. - - 54. Exodus xvii. 45-6. Moses at the rock in Horeb. (?) - - GOD (with a cruciform nimbus) speaking out of the clouds to Moses, - who speaks to a group seated before him (probably the elders of - Israel, v. 6). - - 55. Jethro, Zipporah, Gershom, and Eliezer coming to Moses. (?) - Exodus xviii. - - Moses kneeling on the right, three figures seated on the left, and - another speaking from out of foliage above. I can think of no other - subject which this sculpture can represent. - - 56. (?) The people giving their ear-rings to Aaron to make the - molten calf. Exodus xxxii. 24. - - Three figures on either side of one who stands in the centre. They - seem to be throwing things into the flames, in the midst of which - is a serpent. - - 57. Moses’ hands stayed up. Exodus xvii. 12. (?) - - Three figures, two holding a book (apparently) under the hands of - the fourth, who appears to be much fatigued. There are flames in - the foreground, in the midst of which is a small head. - - 58. Exodus xix. 10. (?) The people washing their clothes at Moses’ - order. - - A central figure pointing to a sort of well in the centre. - - 59. Massacre of the worshippers of the molten calf. - - 60. Exodus xxiv. 29. - - Moses holds the two tables of the Law, and is surrounded by other - figures all touching the tables. - - 61. Exodus xxiv. 32, 33. - - The two tables held by two figures above a draped altar; four - figures kneeling before them. - -With this subject the series concludes. - -I have thought it quite worth while to give this short account of the -work because it is rather rare to find so large a number of Old -Testament subjects treated in this way. On the whole, too, I think that -this is the most important work of the age in Spain. The sculptured -works of this period (the fourteenth century) are comparatively rare. -The most important of those which I have mentioned in this book are the -north doorway of Toledo, which has a series of subjects in all of which -the Blessed Virgin appears; at Burgos the three western doors, which -have--(1) the birth of the Blessed Virgin, (2) the Assumption, and (3) -the Coronation; in the south door, our Lord with the evangelists, -saints, and prophets; and in the north door, the Last Judgment. At Leon, -the three western doors, which have--(1) subjects from our Lord’s life, -introducing the Blessed Virgin, (2) the Last Judgment, and (3) the -Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the south transept, on one door -our Lord, the evangelists and apostles, and on another the death of the -Blessed Virgin Mary; the north transept, our Lord surrounded by saints. -Avila cathedral has, over its north door, our Lord in the centre, the -Betrayal, Last Supper, and Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and -the Resurrection of the Dead in the archivolt; and there are various -other smaller works, which will be found by reference to the Catalogue -of Sculptures in the index to this volume. I know no other example of -the introduction of Old Testament subjects. - -In all these examples the character of the sculpture is very similar; -the architectural framing of niches and canopies is of the best kind of -Middle Pointed; and the draperies, faces, and pose of the figures are -very much the same as one sees in work of the first half of the -fourteenth century at Bourges and elsewhere in France. The subjects -round the Coro at Toledo are superior to the others in the facility -which the regularity of the openings gave for the free treatment of the -sculptures, and in the variety of treatment which the subjects naturally -involve. But on the other hand, the artistic skill of the sculptors who -were employed at Leon cathedral seems to me to have been greater than -that of the sculptors of any other Spanish work of the same age. And -though the character, mode of design, and manner of execution are all -extremely French, I do not know why we should have any doubt about the -ability of Spaniards to execute such work, when we consider how -exceedingly skilful they were in the succeeding age, when they perhaps -excelled any other sculptors of the same period. - -The French work to which this Spanish sculpture has most similarity, -appears to me to be that of the three western doors of Bourges -cathedral. In some respects, indeed, there is so much likeness between -the two that one can hardly avoid supposing that the sculptor at Leon -had himself been at Bourges. And it is interesting therefore to observe -that one of the most remarkable series of sculptures illustrating the -early portion of the Old Testament is that which is carved in the -spandrels of the arcade which is carried all round the lower part of the -jambs of the Bourges doorways. I have, in the earlier part of this -work, observed that there is evidence of the same men having wrought at -Burgos, Leon, Avila, and Toledo. - - -(G.) - - AGREEMENT BETWEEN JAYME FABRE AND THE SUB-PRIOR AND BRETHREN OF THE - CONVENT OF SAN DOMINGO, AT PALMA IN MALLORCA. - -Sit omnibus notum, quod ego magister Jacobus Fabre lapicida, civis -Majoricarum, præsenti stipulatione convenio vobis fratri Petro Alegre, -gerenti Vices-Prioris conventus fratrum Prædicatorum Majoricarum -antedicti et Notarij infra scripti stipulantis, vice et nomine dicti -conventus; quod quando Prior dictæ domus fratrum Prædicatorum -Majoricarum, vel ejus locum tenens, voluerit, et requisiverit me, quod -redeam ad hanc civitatem Majoricarum ex Barchinona, quo iturus sum in -præsenti, causa faciendi illuc aliqua opera, vel ea dirigendi cum -licencia vestra, et fratrum dictæ domus, ad præces Illustrissimi Domini -Regis Aragonum, et venerabilis Domini Barchinonensis Episcopi: ego -illico recepta monitione vel requisitione vestra vel Prioris dictæ -domus, seu ejus locum tenentis, omnibus operibus et negotiis -postpositis, redeam ad hanc civitatem Majoricarum, salvo justo -impedimento et quod vobis et fratribus vestri conventus faciam, et -consumabo opera vestri monasterij, et alia opera faciam prout pactus -sum, et facere teneor, ut continetur in quodam publico instrumento, -facto inter me et venerabilem Fr. Arnaldum Burgeti, dudum Priorem dictæ -domus; quod instrumentum sit validum, et nihil pro prædictis ille -videatur innovatum, aut mutatum. Quod si per me steterit quod non -redeam, cum citatus fuero, et non compleverim prædicta cum ea complere -possim, tenear dare, et per validam, et solemnem stipulationem dare -promitto operi vestri dicti monasterij in manu et posse Notarij -infrascripti, vice et nomine dicti operis stipulantis, pro pena, et -nomine penæ, quinquaginta libras regalium Majoricensium monetæ perpetæ -minutorum, quæ pro damnis, et interesse computtantur, qua pena soluta, -vel non, nihilominus rata maneant hæc prædicta, et cetera contenta in -instrumento inter me et dictum fratrem Arnaldum Burgeti facto, et pro -prædictis attendendis, et non contraveniendis, obligo vobis, et vestro -conventui supradicto, et nomine infrascripti stipulantis, vice et nomine -ejusdem monasterij me, et omnia bona mea, ubique habita, et habenda. Ad -hæc ego Maymonus Peris civis Majoricarum,” &c. &c. “Actum est hoc -Majoricis octavo idus Junii, anno Domini millessimo trecentessimo -septimo decimo sig✠num Magistri Jacobi Fabre,” &c. &c. - - -(H.) - -REPORTS OF ARCHITECTS ON THE PLAN FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE CATHEDRAL AT -GERONA--A.D. 1417. - - _Junta of Twelve Architects, upon the mode which ought to be - followed in the construction of the Cathedral of Gerona, with the - Reports of each of them, as they appear in the archives of the said - Church._ - -I. - - In nomine Sanctæ ac individuæ Trinitatis, Patris, et Filii, et - Spiritus Sancti. Amen. - -Etsi mansiunculas et domos profanas mundanorum usibus dicatas fideles -Domini erigunt et fabricant opere polimento, quanto magis ipsi fideles -verique zelatores fidei orthodoxæ circa templi Domini fabricam -construendam devotius accelerare deberent? Numquid prisci patres pro -archa Domini tabernaculum opere deaurato mirifice fabricaverunt? Hodie -namque archa illa verissima, et sanctissimum illud Mamuá in templo -Domini a catholicis præseservantur. Dignum quin imo et congruum potest -et debet a quolibet reputari ut domus illa quam orationis veritas -nominavit, in qua etiam illud sacrum Christi fidelibus pignus datum -reconditur et tenetur, artificioso ex politis lapidibus opere -construatur. Hæc enim domus rite noscitur pastori verissime dedicata, in -illa nempe populus Domini et oves ejus Paschuæ cibum dulzoris assumunt. -Sane in domo ista latices sacrosancti noxas perimunt, culpas diluunt et -veternas cuilibet occurrenti. Heu igitur, quam dolendum sacrum Domini -templum ecclesiam Sedis clarissimæ Gerundensis imperfectum opere -minorari! Idcirco cunctis pateat, quod reverendus in Christo Pater et -dominus dominus Dalmacius, Dei gratia episcopus Gerundensis, ipsius -ecclesiæ tunc electus, et honorabile capitulum ecclesiæ Gerundensis -prædictæ præmissa omnia pio sidere aspectantes, considerantesque a -quantis citra temporibus fabrica dictæ Sedis cessavit ex diversorum -controversia juxta opiniones varias artificum subsequentes, nonnulli -enim asserebant opus dictæ fabricæ sub navi una debere congruentius -consummari, affirmantes illud fore nobilius, quam si sub tribus navibus -opus hujusmodi subsequatur. Alii autem a contrario asserebant dictum -opus sub prosecutione trium navium continuari debere, dicentesque, quod -firmius et proportionabilius esset capiti jamque cœpto, quam si cum -navi una ipsa fabrica prosequatur, quoniam opus navis unius multum -reddunt debile distantia parietum, ac etiam testudinis altitudo; et quod -terræmotus, tonitrua, ventosque vagantes timebit apetentes etiam circa -directionem operis dictæ fabricæ consummandæ solertius vacare, ac de -opinione prædictorum veridica informari: et adeo ut controversia et -opiniones hujusmodi clarius tollerentur, convocaverunt artifices -peritissimos, lapiscidas de diversis partibus regni hujus, et etiam -aliunde ad hanc civitatem Gerundæ, quorum nomina inferius annotantur, -indeque habitis collationibus plurimis, tam coram dictis reverendo -domino Episcopo, tunc electo, et honorabili capitulo dictæ ecclesiæ -Gerundensis, quam alias inter ipsos artifices opere præmisso subjecto -primitus oculis cujuslibet eorundem cernentium opus, quod cœptum -fuerat, et qualiter hucusque fuerat; prosecutum in illo, et formatis -super hujusmodi opere prosequendo articulis infrascriptis. - - -II. - -_Inquiry._[468] - -In the name of God Our Lord, and the Virgin our Lady Saint Mary, the -“Maestros” Superintendents and masons summoned for the direction of the -works of the cathedral of Gerona, must be asked the following -questions:-- - -1. If the work of one nave of the said cathedral church, commenced of -old, could be continued, with the certainty of remaining secure and -without risk. - -2. Supposing that it is not possible to continue the said work of one -nave with safety, or that it will not be lasting, whether the work of -three naves, continued on, would be congruous, sufficient, and such as -would deserve to be prosecuted; or, on the contrary, if it ought to be -given up or changed; and in that case unto what height it would be right -to continue what is begun, and to specify the whole, in such sort as to -prevent mistake? - -3. What form or continuation of the said works will be the most -compatible and the best proportioned to the Chevet of the said church -which is already begun, made, and finished? - -The “maestros” and masons, before being asked these questions, must take -their oath; and after having given their declarations, the Lord Bishop -of Gerona and the honourable Chapter shall elect two of the said -masters, in order that they may form a plan or design, by which the work -will have to be continued. All which the secretary of the Chapter will -put in due form in a public writing. - - -III. - -Successive dicti artifices, lapiscidæ sigillatim, ad partem medio a se -corporaliter præstito juramento deposuerunt, et suam intentionem -dixerunt in et super opere prelibato diebus, mensibus et annis inferius -designatis et sub forma sequenti. Die jovis vicessima tertia mensis -Januarii anno nativitatis Domini millesimo CCCC. sexto decimo magistri -et lapiscidæ sequentes juraverunt et deposuerunt apud civitatem Gerundæ -infrascripti, præsentibus et interrogantibus venerabilibus viris dominis -Arnaldo de Gurbo, et Joanne de Pontonibus canonicis, et Petro de Boscho -præsbitero de capitulo dictæ ecclesiæ Gerundensis ad hoc per dictos -reverendum dominum electum in Episcopum et capitulum Gerundense -deputatis super articulis præinsertis et contentis in eisdem ut -sequitur. - - -IV. - - PASCHASIUS DE XULBE _lapiscida et magister operis sive fabricæ - ecclesiæ sedis Dertusensis super primo dictorum articulorum sibi - lecto medio juramento interrogatus, dixit_:-- - -1. That according to his knowledge and belief it is certain that the -work of one nave of the cathedral of Gerona already commenced is secure, -good, and firm; and that the foundations or bases of the old work -already made are also so, and that the rest will be so if they are -constructed in the same manner, and that they will be sufficient to -sustain the vault of the said work of one nave. - -2. Supposing that the work of one nave is not carried out, it is certain -that the one of three naves, already commenced in the said church, is -good and firm. But in the event of the plan of three naves being -adopted, he says, that it would be necessary that the vault which is -over the Coro, towards the altar of the same church, should be pulled -down, and that it should be unroofed, in order that it may be raised -eight palms--a little more or less--above what it is now, so that it may -correspond to its third in its measurements. - -3. That the plan of three naves is more compatible and better -proportioned to the Chevet of the church than that of one nave. - -_Interrogatus._--Whether, in joining the lower voussoirs on the capital -of the pillar over the pulpit, which corresponds to the other of the -Coro, in case the work of three naves is carried out, there will be any -risk of causing a settlement in the said pillar?--I answer, that there -will be none, and that it can be done with safety. - - -V. - - JOANNES DE XULBE, _lapiscida, filius dicti Paschasij de Xulbe, - regens pro dicto patre suo fabricam prædictam, sive opus dictæ - Ecclesiæ Dertusensis, simili juramento à se corporaliter - præscripto, interrogatus super prædictis articulis deposuit ut - infra. Et primo super primo articulo interrogatus, dixit_:-- - -1. That the work of the nave already commenced can be continued, and -that it will be good, firm, and without danger; but that the arches -must be made to the tierce point, and that the principal arch must be -shored up. That the first abutments of the old work, situated on the -south, are good and firm, and that, making the others like them, they -will be so also, and sufficient to sustain the vault which has to be -executed in the said church. - -2. That if the plan of one nave is not to be followed, it is possible to -continue that of three; and that it will be more beautiful, stronger, -and better than the other. But that the three naves ought to be carried -on according to those in the choir of the church; and then it will be -more beautiful and admirable. And that the new vault which is contiguous -to the Chevet ought to be taken down, because it is bastard, and because -it does not correspond with the said Chevet. - -3. That the work of three naves in the form which has just been -explained is the most compatible and the best proportioned to the Chevet -of the church. - -_Interrogatus._--Whether in joining the lower voussoirs of the arch -above the capital of the pillar which is above the pulpit, corresponding -to the other of the choir, in case the work of three naves is carried -out, there will be any risk of causing a settlement in the said -pillar?--I say no, provided that the arches are well shored, so that -they can have no thrust. - - -VI. - - PETRUS DE VALLFOGONA, l_apiscida et magister fabricaæ Ecclesiæ - Terraconensis juramento prædicto medio super dictis articulis - interrogatus deposuit. Et primo super primo articulo interrogatus - dixit_:-- - -1. That the work of the said church, already commenced, of one nave can -be continued, and that it will be good, safe, firm, and without risk. -That the abutments and foundations of the old work are so, and that -those which have to be made will be so if constructed in the same way, -and that they are sufficient to support the vault which such a work -ought to have. But that the abutments made towards the campanile require -to be strengthened more than those constructed on the south side. - -2. That if the plan of one nave is not carried out, that of three is -congruous and worthy to be continued, provided that the second bay of -vaulting, as far as the capitals and lowest voussoirs inclusive, is -taken down; yet if above the principal arch a discharging arch is -erected, it will not be necessary to move the lower voussoirs or the -capitals, and it would be possible to raise the Crossing of that vault -all its width as much as is required; and it could have a light in the -gable, which could have a clear opening of fifteen or sixteen palms, -which would be a notable work. He says further: that the lower voussoirs -which are in the northern and southern angles ought to be altered, and -that they ought to be reconstructed in accordance with the plan of three -naves. - -3. That without comparison the plan of three naves, in the form which -has just been explained, is more compatible and more proportioned to the -Chevet of the church than the plan of one nave. - -_Interrogatus._--Whether, in case the plan of three naves is carried -out, there will be any danger in opening a hole in the pillar over the -pulpit corresponding to the other of the Coro at the time of joining the -voussoirs above the capital?--He said, that there would not; and that it -could be done with safety. - - -VII. - -Postmodum die veneris vicessima quarta dictorum mensis et anni in manu -et posse mei ejusdem Bernardi de Solerio, notarii subscripti, -præsentibus et interrogantibus dictis dominis Arnaldo de Gurbo, Joanne -de Pontonibus, et Petro de Boscho, magistri et lapiscidæ sequentes super -prædictis, medio simili juramento, deposuerunt ut sequitur. - - -VIII. - - GUILLERMUS DE LA MOTA, _lapiscida, socius magistri in opere fabricæ - Ecclesiæ Terraconæ super prædictis articulis, medio juramento, ut - supra interrogatus deposuit. Et primo super primo articulo - interrogatus, dixit_:-- - -1. That he considers that the plan of the church commenced with one nave -could be well executed, and that the Crossing will be firm; but that it -is observed in old works, that bulky buildings, as that of one nave -would be, sink with earthquakes or with great hurricanes, and for these -causes he fears that the work of one nave might not be permanent. - -2. That the plan of three naves is good, congruous, and one that -deserves to be followed, provided that the second Crossing may be new to -the lowest voussoirs; and that its principals be demolished as far as -the capitals, and that horizontal courses of stones be carried up to the -height of fourteen or fifteen palms. That the springers which are -towards the north and the south ought also to be taken down, and that -they ought to be reconstructed in proper proportion to the plan of three -naves. - -3. That without comparison the plan of three naves is more compatible -and more proportioned to the Chevet of the church than that of one nave. - -_Interrogatus._--If there will be danger in opening a hole in the pillar -near the pulpit, to place the springers?--He said that there would not -be any risk. - - -IX. - - BARTOLOMEUS GUAL, _lapiscida et magister operis sedis - Barchinonensis super prædictis articulis, ut supra dicitur, - interrogatus, medio juramento prædicto deposuit. Et primo super - primo articulo interrogatus dixit_:-- - -1. That the bases and abutments of the old work of one nave are -sufficiently strong, making a wall over the capitals between the -abutments, which may rise a “cana”[469] from the windows, and that from -that wall a vault may spring, which will abut against each of the -abutments, and in this way they would remain safe. No doubt the vault -may remain firm over one nave, so that it may resist earthquakes, -violent winds, and other mishaps which may occur. - -2. That the plan of three naves is good, congruous, and such as deserves -to be carried out; but that the new vault of the second arch, the last -done, ought to be taken down to the springing, and ought to be raised -until there is room in that place for a circle (“una O”) of fourteen -palms of opening; and in that way there will be beautiful and notable -work, and it will not be necessary to undo the whole to the springing -line. - -3. That the plan of three naves is beyond comparison much better -proportioned and more compatible to the Chevet of the church than that -of one nave. - -_Interrogatus._--Whether there will be any risk in making an opening in -the pillars in order to join the springers of the arches?--He said that -there would not be; but he counsels that, when the said arch is taken -out, the foot of the arch voussoir in the pillar which has to be altered -should be larger than the other, because that has not so much weight on -it. - - -X. - - ANTONIUS CANET, _lapiscida, magister sive sculptor imaginum - civitatis Barchinonæ, magisterque fabricæ sedis Urgellensis super - prædictis articulis ut prædicitur, interrogatus medio dicto - juramento deposuit. Et primo super primo articulo interrogatus, - dixit_:-- - -1. That according to his knowledge and conscience the plan of one nave, -already commenced, can be continued with the certainty that it will be -good, firm, and secure: and that the abutments which the said work has -are good and firm for the support of the vault, and all that is -necessary in order to carry on the said work. - -2. That the work already begun of three naves is good and -well-proportioned, but that it is not so noble as that of one nave; and -that if the work of three naves is continued it would be necessary that -the vault of the second bay of the middle nave should be taken down to -the capitals; and that the capitals as well should be taken down eight -or ten courses of stone, and so that the first pillar may be joined, -which was constructed in the head of the grand nave, contiguous to the -Chevet of the church, and that the opening shall not be made so low in -the pillar, and the springing of the arch stones may be introduced in it -better. And though it is true that in this way the (triforium) gallery -may be lost, it is worth more to lose it than the bright effect of light -in the temple, which could be secured by a round window in the said -grand nave. But that, if the second nave is followed out as it was -commenced, it will be most gloomy. For which reason he is sure that if -the plan of three naves is to be good, it is necessary for it to be -carried out working in the way he has described. - -3. That the plan of one nave would be much more compatible and better -proportioned to the Chevet of the church as it is already commenced and -completed, than that of three naves, because the said Chevet was -commenced low; and that the plan of one nave will be executed with a -third at least of the cost of three naves. That if the plan of one nave -is followed, the galleries, which are beautiful, will not be lost, and -the church will be beyond comparison much more light. - - -XI. - - GUILLERMUS ABIELL, _lapiscida et magister operum seu fabricarum - ecclesiarum Beatæ Mariæ de Pinu et Beatæ Mariæ de Monte Carmelo, et - de Monte Sion, et Sancti Jacobi Barchinonæ, et hospitalis Sanctæ - Crucis, civitatis ejusdem, sic etiam super prædictis, dicto - juramento medio, interrogatus, dixit_:-- - -1. That according to his understanding and good conscience the work -already commenced of one nave can be continued, and will be good, firm, -and secure; and that the foundations which it has, the rest being made -in the same way, are good and firm to support the work of one nave -without danger. - -2. That, the plan of three naves is good, beautiful, and more secure -than the other, wherefore it deserves to be continued. But that the -vault of the second bay of the middle nave ought to be taken down to the -springers, and be raised afterwards by its third, so that a fine round -window may be had there, and to make an upper vault above the principal: -and in this way the plan of three naves will be very beautiful. - -3. That without any doubt the plan of three naves is more compatible and -adequate to the choir of the church as it is now, than that of one nave, -because that of one nave would be so wide that it would have great -deformity when compared with the Chevet of the church. - - -XII. - - ARNALDUS DE VALLERAS, _lapiscida et magister operis sedis Minorisæ - super dictis articulis, prout alii, interrogatus deposuit medio - dicto juramento ut sequitur. Et primo super primo articulo - interrogatus dixit_:--- - -1. That the work of one nave, already commenced, can very well be -continued, and will be good, firm, secure, and without risk; and that -the foundations which the said work has, and the rest which may be made -like them, are good, and sufficient to sustain the work of a single -nave; and that, though they might not be so strong, they would be firm -and secure. He says further, that the work of the Church of Manresa is -now being constructed, which is higher than this, which has not such -great or strong foundations, and is not of so strong a stone. It is -true, he says, that the Manresa stone is lighter, and combines better -with the mortar than that of Gerona; and that, if he could have to -construct the latter church, he would make the vault of other stone -which was lighter, and which combined better with the mortar, but that -the vaulting ribs, the lower part of the walls, the abutments, and the -rest of such work could be executed in Gerona stone. - -2. That the plan of three naves is good, congruous, and deserves to be -carried out, provided that the vault of the second arch of the middle -nave is taken down to the springers, and that they also are taken down, -so that the work may be raised by its dimensions; so that it will be -possible to have over the principal of the first arch a round window of -twenty palms opening, with which it will look very well and not be -disfigured. - -3. That the plan of three naves in the manner which has been described -is, without comparison, more fitting and better proportioned to the -existing Chevet of this church than that of one nave; because that of -one nave would make the choir appear to be so small and mis-shapen, that -it would always demand that it should be raised or made larger. - -_Interrogatus._--Whether there would be any danger in opening a hole in -the pillars in order to insert the abutments?--He said that there would -not; and that if he, the deponent, should do the work, he would commence -first by opening a hole in the pillars in order to join the abutments, -since in that way they could not settle or give way, as certainly and -without doubt might happen. That he was ready to come and continue this -work in the manner which he had described; obtaining the licence of the -city of Manresa, with which he had contracted to construct the church -there. - - -XIII. - - ANTONIUS ANTIGONI, _magister major operis ecclesiæ villæ - Castilionis Impuriarum super prædictis interrogatus, dicto - juramento medio deposuit. Et primo super primo articulo - interrogatus dixit_:-- - -1. That the plan of one nave, formerly commenced, could be continued -well and firmly without any risk; and the foundations that it has, and -the rest which have to be made like them, are sufficient to sustain with -all firmness the said work of one nave. - -_Interrogatus._--Whether the work of one nave, in case it were made, -would run any risk of falling with hurricanes and earthquakes?--He said -that there was no cause for fear. - -2. That the work of three naves continued of late is not congruous, nor -of such sort as that its plan could be followed, because in no way could -it be constructed with the same dimensions. But it is true that if the -vault of the bay last done is taken down to the springers, and raised -afterwards fourteen or fifteen palms in its measurements, the plan of -three naves would be more tolerable, though it could never be called -beautiful or very complete. - -3. That he has no doubt that the work of one nave would be for all time -without comparison the most beautiful, more compatible and better -proportioned to the Chevet of the church than that of three naves, since -it will be always clear that the latter was not done carefully and with -good taste. - -_Interrogatus._--Whether in case the work of three naves is carried out, -there will be any risk in opening a hole in the pillars in order to join -the abutments?--He said that it could be done, but not without danger. - - -XIV. - - GUILLERMUS SAGRERA, _magister operis sive fabric ecclesiæ Sancti - Joannis Perpigniani ut supra interrogatus dicto juramento medio - deposuit. Et primo super primo articulo interrogatus dixit_:-- - -1. That the plan of one nave, formerly commenced, can be continued, and -that it will be good, firm, and secure; and that the foundations which -it has, with the rest which must be made in the same way, are sufficient -to sustain it. - -_Interrogatus._--Whether if the one nave is adopted there will be risk -by reason of earthquakes and violent winds?--He said that with the -earthquakes which he has seen, and the winds which naturally prevail, -there would be no danger that the said work should fall or become -decayed. - -2. That the work of three naves lately commenced is not congruous, and -does not deserve to be carried on; and in case it is continued, in the -first place the vault of the second bay ought to be taken down from the -springers to the capitals; in the second, also, the other pillars which -were made afterwards ought to be taken down, in order that they may be -raised fifteen palms or thereabouts; and that with all this the work -will not be completed well, but on the contrary will be _mesquin_ and -miserable. That the gallery, which would be lost, could not remain -there; that it would not be possible to place the series of windows due -to the work between the chapels higher than they would be in a single -nave, owing to the thrust or pressure of the arches, which would be -towards the gallery, corresponding to the new pillars of the enclosure -of the choir, and would come against the void of the gallery, wherefore -the work would not have the firmness it ought to have. The deponent -concludes, saying, that for these and other reasons the said work of -three naves would not be good or advantageous. - -3. That the plan of one nave would be beyond comparison more compatible -and more proportioned to the Chevet of the church already built, -commenced, and completed, than would one of three naves; and he says it -is the fact that the said choir of the church was made and completed -with the intention that the remainder of the work should be made and -carried out with a single nave. - - -XV. - - JOANNES DE GUINGUAMPS, _lapiscida, habitator civitatis Narbonæ - super prædictis articulis, sicut alii prædicti interrogatus medio - dicto juramento deposuit ut sequitur. Et primo super primo articulo - interrogatus dixit_:-- - -1. That the work already commenced of one nave could very well be made -and continued; and that when it is done it will be very good, firm, and -secure, without any dispute; and that the foundations which are already -made in the old work, and the others which will be made in the same way, -are good, and have sufficient strength to maintain the work of a single -nave. - -2. That the plan of three naves latterly continued is not congruous or -sufficient, and should not in any way be made or followed, because it -never will have reasonable conformity with the Chevet. - -3. That the plan of a single nave is beyond comparison more fit and -proportioned to the choir of the said church, than would be that of -three naves, for several reasons. 1st. That the deponent knows that the -plan of a single nave with the said choir would be more reasonable, more -brilliant, better proportioned, and less costly. 2nd. Because, if the -work is carried on with one nave, there would not be the deformity or -difference that disgusts. And though some may say that the plan of a -single nave would make the choir look low and small, the more on that -account would no deformity be produced, rather it would be more -beautiful; and the reason is, that in the space which would be left -between the top of the choir and the centre of the great vault, there -would be so large a space that it would be possible to have there three -rose windows: the first and principal in the middle, and another small -one on each side: and these three roses would do away with all -deformity, would give a grand light to the church, and would endow the -work with great perfection. - -_Interrogatus._--Whether, if the plan of three naves is adopted, it -would be dangerous to open the pillars in order to join in them the -springers corresponding to it?--He said that he would not do it or -consent to it on any account, because great danger, great wrong, and -great damage would result, since in no part could the work be brought to -perfection, and such a fissure could not be made without great risk. - - -XVI. - -Postmodum die Lunæ, quæ fuit vicesima octava mensis Septembris, anno jam -dicto a Nativitate Domini millessimo CCCC. sexto decimo, ad instantiam -dicti domini Petri de Boscho operarii hoc anno dictas ecclesiæ -Gerundensis, super ipsius regimine operis una et in solidum cum -honorabili viro domino Francisco Sacalani canonico dictæ ecclesiæ electi -et deputati apud domos Thesaurariæ dictæ ecclesiæ Gerundensis coram -dictis reverendo in Christo patre et domino domino Dalmacio Dei gratia -episcopo et honorabili capitulo ejusdem ecclesiæ Gerundensis ad tactum -cimbali, ut moris est, ibidem convocatis et congregatis; ubi fuerunt -præsentes dictus reverendus dominus dominus Dalmacius, episcopus, et -honorabiles viri Dalmacius de Roseto, decretorum doctor, archidiaconus -de Silva in dicta ecclesia Gerundensi, Arnaldus de Gurbo, Joannes de -Pontonibus, Guillermus de Brongarolis, sacrista secundus, Joannes de -Boscho Thesaurarius, Joannes Gabriel Pavia, Petrus de Boscho prædictus, -Guillermus Marinerii, Petrus Sala, Franciscus Mathei, et Bartholomeus -Vives, presbiteri capitulares et de capitulo ante dicto, capitulum -ejusdem ecclesiæ Gerundensis facientes, representantes et more solito -celebrantes: dicti articuli et dictas depositiones, et dicta a dictis -artificibus super eisdem in scriptis redacta et continuata in dicto -capitulo publice, alta et intelligibilli voce de verbo ad verbum lecta -fuerunt, et publicata per me eundem Bernardum de Solerio, notarium, -supra et infra scriptum. Et eis sic lectis et publicatis, illico dicti -reverendus dominus episcopus et honorabile capitulum super concludendo -et determinando per quem modum juxta opiniones, depositiones et dicta -dictorum artificum melius pulchrius et efficacius dictum opus præfatæ -ecclesiæ Gerundensis sub prosecutione videlicet unius aut trium navium -prosequatur et consumetur, retinuerunt sibi deliberationem et ad -hujusmodi fuerunt pro testibus presentes et evocati discreti viri -Franciscus Tabernerii et Petrus Puig presbiteri benefficiati in dicta -ecclesia Gerundensi. - - -XVII. - -Deinde vero die Lunæ octava mensis Martii anno a Nativitate Domini -millessimo CCCC. decimo septimo alius artifex lapiscida infrascriptus -juravit et deposuit in dicta civitate Gerundæ in posse mei Bernardi de -Solerio notarii supra et infra scripti, præsentibus et interrogantibus -venerabilibus viris dominis Arnoldo de Gurbo, canonico, et Guillermo -Marinierii presbitero de capitulo dictæ ecclesias Gerundensis, ad hoc -per dictos reverendum dominum Dalmacium episcopum et honorabile -capitulum Gerundense, specialiter deputatis super articulis præinsertis, -et contentis in eisdem ut sequitur. - - -XVIII. - - GUILLERMUS BOFFIY, _magister operis sedis dictæ ecclesiæ - Gerundensis simili juramento a se corporaliter præstito super primo - articulo dictorum articulorum interrogatus, dixit et deposuit_:-- - -1. That the work of the nave of the church of Gerona, already begun, -could be made and continued very well; and that if it is continued, it -will be firm and secure without any doubt, and that the foundations, and -others which may be made like them, are and will be good and firm enough -to sustain the said work of one nave. And that it is true that the said -foundations or abutments, even if they were not so strong, would be -sufficient to maintain the said work of one nave, since they have a -third more of breadth than is required: wherefore they are very strong, -and offer no kind of risk. - -2. That the work of three naves for the said church does not merit to be -continued when compared with that of one nave, because great deformity -and great cost will follow from it, and it would never be so good as -that of one nave. - -3. That the work of one nave is, without comparison, the most -conformable to the choir of the church already commenced and made, and -that the plan of three naves would not be so. And that, if the plan of -one nave is carried out, it would have such grand advantages, and such -grand lights, that it would be a most beautiful and notable work. - - -XIX. - -Post prædicta autem omnia sic habita et secuta, videlicet die Lunæ, -intitulata quinta decima dicti mensis Martii, anno jam dicto a -Nativitate Domini millesimo CCCC. decimo septimo, mane videlicet, post -missam sub honore beatæ Mariæ Virginis gloriosæ in dicta Gerundensi -ecclesia solemniter celebratam, dictis reverendo in Christo patre et -domino domino Dalmacio episcopo, et honorabilibus viris capitulo dictæ -ecclesiæ Gerundensis, hac de causa ad trinum tactum cimbali, ut moris -est, de mandato dicti domini episcopi apud domos prædictas Thesaurariæ -dictæ ecclesiæ Gerundensis simul convocatis et congregatis: ubi -convenerunt, et fuerunt præsentes dictus reverendos dominus Dalmacius -episcopus, et honorabiles viri Dalmacius de Raseto, decretorum doctor, -archidiaconus de Silva, Arnaldus de Gurbo, Joannes de Pontonibus, -canonici, Guillermus de Burgarolis, sacrista secundas, Joannes de -Boscho, Thesaurarius, Joannes Gabriel Pavia, Petrus de Boscho, -Guillermus Marinerii, Petrus Sala, Bacallarii in decretis, Franciscus -Mathei et Bartholomeus Vives licentiatus in decretis, presbiteri -capitulares et de capitulo ante dicto, ipsi reverendus dominus episcopus -et honorabiles viri et capitulum prænotati, sicut præmititur -capitulariter convocati et congregati, et capitulum dictæ ecclesiæ -Gerundensis facientes, representantes, et more solito celebrantes, visis -et recognitis per eosdem, ut dixerunt, prædictorum artificum et -lapiscidarum depositionibus ante dictis in unum concordes -deliberaverunt, _sub Navi una prossequi magnum opus antiquum Gerundensis -ecclesiæ_, prælibatis rationibus quæ sequuntur: tum quia ex dictis -præmissorum artificum clare constat, quod si opus trium navium -supradictum opere continuetur jam cœpto, expedit omnino quod opus -expeditum supra chorum usque ad capitellos ex ejus deformitate penitus -diruatur et de novo juxta mensuras cœpti capitis reformetur: tum quia -constat ex dictis ipsorum clare, eorum uno dempto, nemine discrepante, -quod hujusmodi opus magnum sub navi una jam cœptum est firmum, -stabile et securum si prosequatur tali modo et ordine, ut est cœptum, -et quod terræmotus, tonitrua nec turbinem ventorum timebit: tum quia ex -opinione multorum artificum prædictorum constat, dictum opus navis unius -fore solemnius, notabilius et proportionabilius capiti dictæ ecclesiæ -jam incepto, quam sit opus trium navium supradictum: tum quia etiam -multo majori claritate fulgebit quod est lætius et jucundum: tum quia -vitabuntur expensæ, nam ad prosequendum alterum operum prædictorum modo -quo stare videntur opus navis unius multo minori prætio, quam opus trium -navium, et in breviori tempore poterit consumari. - -Et sic rationum intuitu præmisarum dictus reverendus dominus episcopus -et honorabile capitulum supradictæ ecclesiæ Gerundensis voluerunt, -cupierunt, et intenderunt, ut dictum est, opus magnum unius navis -prædictum, quantum cum Deo poterunt prosequi et deduci totaliter ac -effectum. Et talis fuerunt intentionis domini episcopus et capitulum -ante dicti præsente me eodem Bernardo de Solerio, notario supra et infra -scripto et præsentibus venerabilibus viris, &c. &c. &c. - - -(I.) - -CONTRACT OF GUILLERMO SAGRERA FOR THE EXCHANGE AT PALMA. - - _Contract entered into at Palma in Mallorca, March 11, 1426, by - which the Architect Guillermo Sagrera bound himself to construct or - to continue the Construction of the Exchange of that City, - according to Plans which he presented, and to the Conditions - expressed._ - -Recites the names of the contracting parties for the erection of the -fabric of the Exchange which is being built in the Place called “del -Boters,” outside the walls of the city. - -(The following conditions were written in the “Lemosin” or Mallorcan -idiom.) - -_Firstly._--That the said Guillermo Sagrera promises and agrees in good -faith with the said honourable members of the Building Council -(Fabriqueros), that, God helping, he will complete the building of the -said Exchange, to the covering of its vaults, in the first twelve years -from the date of the contract: the said Exchange to be eight “canas[470] -of Monpeller” in height, reckoning from the pavement, to the keystone. - -_Item._--That the said twelve years being passed, the said Guillermo -Sagrera will be obliged in the three succeeding years to make and finish -all the towers, turrets, and other works which pertain to the said -Exchange above the roof. - -_Item._--That the said Guillermo must and is bound to do all the said -work at his own cost and charge, as well what may be necessary by reason -of his art, as for wooden scaffolding and centering; and also for paying -for all the stone, lime, gravel, and all the instruments and tools -necessary for the work; and in the same manner for all the workmen, -officials, and others working in the said Exchange and outside it; and -lastly all the other things necessary for its completion. - -_Item._--That the said Guillermo is obliged to continue and complete the -said work of the Exchange in the form which was begun, and according to -the designs given and put into the hands of the honourable Council of -the Fabric by the said Guillermo. - -_Item._--That the said Guillermo binds himself to build from the base -and to complete all the pillars and keystones of the said Exchange in -Santañi stone, fluted and according to the said design, and to floor it -with the same stone, and to lay the terrace with the mixture of burnt -clay and fresh lime which they call “Trespoll.” - -_Item._--That the said Guillermo binds himself to make the pendents of -the said Exchange of Solleric stone. - -_Item._--That the said Guillermo binds himself to make on the outside -part of the said Exchange, and above the gable of the doorway which -looks towards the Royal castle of the said city of Mallorca, a solemn -tabernacle with the figure of the modest Virgin our Lady Saint Mary. - -_Item._--That the said Guillermo binds himself to make on the other -three fronts of the same Exchange, that is on the outside of each one of -them, a figure of an angel, each one with his tabernacle over him; and -that each of the said angels have on one side the Royal scutcheon, and -on the other that of the said city of Mallorca, in the form and manner -which may be pleasing to the said honourable Council of the Fabric. - -_Item._--That the said Guillermo binds himself to make in each one of -the four corners of the said Exchange on the outside a grand statue, -each one in his tabernacle, similar to the angels: that is, in the -corner which looks towards the Pi Gate, that of San Nicolas; in that -which looks towards the church of San Juan, that of St. John the -Baptist; in that which looks towards the Arsenal, that of Sta. Catalina; -and in that which looks towards the said Royal castle, that of Sta. -Clara; in the form and manner which may please the said honourable -Council of the Fabric. - -_Item._--That the said Guillermo binds himself to make in one of the -four turrets of the corners of the said Exchange a room where a clock -can be placed. - -_Item._--That the said Guillermo binds himself to cover the abutments or -buttresses with sharp-pointed stone weatherings, and in the top of each -of the said weatherings there must be a great knop on which a flower-pot -can stand; and that the balustrade which surrounds all the top of the -Exchange shall be pierced with openings. And all the things which are at -present within the said Exchange shall belong to the said Guillermo; and -it is further declared that the aforenamed will not have to make gates -nor iron screens in the said Exchange. - -_Item._--That the said honourable Council of the Fabric are to give and -pay to the said Guillermo, on account of all the things before said and -specified, 22,000 pounds of Mallorcan money, in instalments, in the form -and manner following: To wit, That the said honourable Guardians and -those who succeed them in the office of Guardians of the Merchants’ -Affairs shall be obliged to pay each year to the said Guillermo the sum -for which they may have alienated the right of dues on the merchandize -imposed by the said Mercantile College upon all the stuffs and -merchandize entering and sailing from the island of Mallorca, reserving -to the said honourable Guardians in each year 150_l._ of the said money -of Mallorca for the expenses and business of the College; and the said -price of the said dues, the 150_l._ already referred to being deducted, -is to be reserved for the said Guillermo every year in payment and -satisfaction of the said 22,000_l._; and this for such time and until -the abovementioned is wholly and completely paid and satisfied to the -whole extent already mentioned. Declaring however and agreeing in which, -the said Guillermo shall be bound to spend each year out of his own -stock on the said work of the Exchange 500_l._ of the said money beyond -that which he shall receive of the said price of the dues of -merchandize. - -&c. &c. - -Signed March 11th, 1426, by Guillermo Sagrera, Francesco Anglada, and -Juan Terriola, and by others.[471] - - - - -INDEX. - - -A. - -Abbey of Veruela, 384. - -Abiell, Guillermo, 311; - his report on plan for completion of Gerona cathedral, 507. - -Acuña, Bishop Luis de, 25 and note, 26. - -Adam, Juan, bell-founder, 350. - -Agata, Sta., church of, at Barcelona, 312. - -Ajimez windows, meaning of term, 269; - examples of, at Segovia, 193; - at Valencia, 269, 270; - at Tarragona, 289; - at Barcelona, 316; - at Gerona, 334, 335; - near Manresa, 340; - at Lérida, 361. - -Alagon, town of, 391. - -Alava, Juan de, architect, 86. - -Alcalá de Henares: church of SS. Just y Pastor, 199; - university, 201; - church of San Ildefonso, 201; - bishop’s palace, 201. - -Alcantara, bridge of, 210, 211 note, 230. - -Alcazar, the, at Segovia, 187; - at Toledo, 211. - -Alfonso, son of Juan II., his monument in the chapel of Miraflores, 42. - -----, Rodrigo, architect, 251. - -Almansa, 259. - -Almudévar, castle of, 362 and note. - -Altar-frontals at Valencia, brought from St. Paul’s, London, 267; - in the collegiata at Manresa, 344. - -Altars, old, 89, 240, 387. - -Amiens, cathedral at, date of, 109. - -Ana, Sta., collegiate church of, at Barcelona, 295. - -Andino, Cristóbal, worker in iron, 60, note. - -Antholin, San, cathedral of, at Palencia. 57; - church of, at Medina del Campo, 161; - at Segovia, 192. - -Antigoni, Antonio, his report on plan for completion of Gerona cathedral, 509. - -Antigua, la, church of, at Valladolid, 69; - at Guadalajara, 202. - -Anton, San, church of, at Barcelona, 314. - -Aqueduct, Roman, at Segovia, 181; - at Tarragona, 274; - modern, near Tafalla, 402. - -Aquitaine and Auvergue, type of church common in, in the twelfth century 415. - -Aragon, kingdom of, provinces composing it, 411. - -Arandia, Juan de, architect, 71. - -Aranjuez, 209, 259. - -Architects, Juntas of, at Salamanca, 85, 459; - at Zaragoza, 266 note, 370; - at Gerona, 320, 456; - others, 460. - -----, the old Spanish, their main object, 420. - -----, Viilanueva’s list of, employed on the cathedral at Gerona, 319, note. - -----, Spanish, of the middle ages, 448-464; - Petrus de Deo, his work at San Isidoro, Leon, 448; - Raymundo of Monforte de Lemos, his contract with the Chapter of Lugo, 449; - Mattheus, master of the works at Santiago cathedral, 449; - Raymundo, a “Lambardo,” employed on Urgel cathedral, 450; - Pedro de Cumba, architect of Lérida cathedral, 451; - Pedro de Peñafreyta, his successor, 452; - Maestro Ponce, 452; - Jayme Fabre, his works at Barcelona and Palma, 453; - Pedro Zacoma, employed on San Feliu, Gerona, 453; - Juan Garcia de Laguardia, master-mason of Navarre, 454; - Guillermo Çolivella, 454; - Juan Franck, 455; - Lucas Bernaldo de Quintana, his contract for rebuilding the church at Gijon, - 455; - Junta of, at Gerona, 456; - Guillermo Sagrera, his works at Perpiñan and Palma, 457; - Guillermo Vilasolar, his agreement to complete work commenced by - Sagrera, 457; - appointment of architect to Calaborra cathedral, 458: - Juan Norman appointed to Seville cathedral, 458; - succeeded by Maestro Jimon, 459; - Juan de Escobedo at Segovia, 459; - Pedro Compte, his works at Valencia, 459; - Anton Egas and Alfonso Rodriguez, their plan for a new cathedral at - Salamanca, 459; - Junta of at Salamanca, 459; - Rodrigo Gil de Hontañon appointed, 460; - report on the state of the works by three architects, 460; - other Juntas of, 460; - Benedicto Oger and Domingo Urteaga, their contracts for erecting - churches, 461; - Felipe de Borgoña, superintends works at Burgos, 461, note; - Jayme Castayls, statues by, 461, note; - Berengario Portell and Gil de Siloe, works of, 462; - few cases of competition among, 462; - usual practice of, 462; - question between ourselves and them, 463; - clerical architects, 464. - -Architects, sculptors, and builders of churches, catalogue of, 471. - -Architectural terms supplied by Arabs, 209. - -Argenta, Bart., architect, 319. - -Arnoldo, Cardinal, 57. - -Artesinado work, meaning of, 220, note. - -Assas, Manuel de, quoted, 213, notes. - -Astorga, walls of, 129; - cathedral, 129. - -Avila: situation, 162; - walls and towers, 162; - cathedral, 163; - church of San Vicente, 170; - San Pedro, 176; - church and convent of San Tomás, 178. - -Aya, Martin de la, sculptor, 20, note. - -----, Rodrigo, 20, note. - - -B. - -Badajoz, Juan de, architect, 85, 126, 128. - -Balaguer, Pedro, architect, 265, 350. - -Baldachin, at Gerona, 327. - -Barbastro, cathedral of, 362. - -Barcelona, 291; - convent and church of San Pablo del Campo, 292; - church of San Pedro de las Puellas, 294; - collegiata of Sta. Ana, 295; - cathedral, 296-307; - chapel of Sta. Lucia, 304; - Bishop’s palace, 307; - church of Sta. Maria del Mar, 307; - Sta. Maria del Pino, 309; - SS. Just y Pastor, 309; - San Jayme, 311; - Sta. Agata, 312; - N. S. del Carmen, 313; - San Miguel, 314; - San Anton, 314; - San Gerónimo, 314; - Casa Consistorial, 314; - Casa de la Disputacion, 316; - Lonja, 316; - building intended for a cloth-hall, 317; - the Mole, 317. - -Barcelonette, 292. - -Bartolomé, Maestro, sculptor, 275, 285 note. - -----, San, church of, at Toledo, 229. - -Bayonne, cathedral, 7. - -Bells, 251, 346, 350. - -----, wheel of, at Toledo, 255; - at Barcelona, 306; - at Gerona, 328; - at Manresa, 345. - -Benavente: appearance of the town, 102; - church of Sta. Maria del Azogue, 102; - San Juan del Mercador, 103; - ruins of castle, 104. - -Benito, San. monastery and church of, at Valladolid, 71, 72. - -Bernardo, Archbishop of Toledo, 79. - -----, Bishop of Toledo, 233, note. - -----, Bishop of Sigüenza, 204. - -----, Brother, architect, 275. - -----, de Vallfogona, architect, 285, note. - -Berruguete, name given to his work, 49, note; - his so-called chef-d’œuvre, 74; - his work at Toledo, 253. - -Betanzos, town of, 136. - -Biarritz, 7. - -Bidart, church at, 8, note. - -Bishops, French, in Spain, 79, 92, 204, 235. - -----, Junta of, at Leon, 108. - -Blas, San, chapel of, in Toledo cathedral, 251. - -Blay, Pedro, architect, 316. - -Boffiy, Guillermo, architect, 320, 322; - his report on plan for completion of Gerona cathedral, 512. - -Boix, Bernardo, mason, 265. - -Bonife, Matias, sculptor, 305, note. - -Borgoña, Felipe de, architect, 24, 252, 461 note. - -----, Juan de, painter, 20, 169 note. - -Bricks, employment of, in Spanish buildings, 76, 216, 220, 227, 337, - 371, 379, 385, 439; - mostly used by the Moors, 440. - -Bridges: at Zamora, 92; - at Toledo, 210, 211 note, 230, 232 and note; - at Tudela, 398 note. - -Building materials used in Spain, 438. - -Bull-fight at Madrid, 198; - at Nîmes, 199. - -Burgos, drive to, 7; - approach to, 10; - cathedral described, 12-34; - churches of San Nicolas, 44; - San Esteban, 46; - San Gil, 50; - San Lesmes, 52; - San Juan, 52; - San Lucas, 52; - San Pablo, 53; - La Merced, 53; - convents of San Juan, 52; - San Pablo, 52; - La Merced, 53; - domestic architecture, 54; - gateway of Sta. Maria, 54; - general character of the cathedral, 426. - -Butterfield, Mr., his church of St. Alban, London, 447, note. - - -C. - -Campanas, las, old church near, 402. - -Campero, Juan, architect, 86, 184, 186. - -Canet, Antonio, his report on plan for completion of Gerona cathedral, 506. - -Cantarell, Giralt, architect, 343. - -Capilla mayor, meaning of, 17. - -Capuchins, church of the, at Lugo, 134. - -Carlos, architect, 370. - -Carmen, N. S. del, church of, at Barcelona, 313; - at Manresa, 345. - -Carpentry, Moorish, 443. - -Carpintero, Macías, architect, 71. - -Carreño, architect, 160. - -Cartagena, Bishop Alfonso de, 26. - -Casandro, architect, 163. - -Cascante, pilgrimage church at, 376. - -Cashel, St. Cormack’s chapel at, an example of an edifice built for - permanence, 421. - -Castañeda, Juan de, 24. - -Castayls, Maestro Jayme, sculptor, 275, 285 note, 461 note. - -Castile, kingdom of, provinces composing it, 411. - -Castles, Spanish, 437. - -Catalina, Sta., chapel of, in San Isidoro, Leon, 125; - remarkable paintings in, 127. - -Catalogue of dated examples of Spanish buildings, 467; - of architects, sculptors, and builders of churches, 471. - -Cataluña, its architecture and architects, 291; - large churches of, 429. - -Cathedrals: - Burgos, 12; - Palencia, 57; - Valladolid, 66; - Salamanca, old, 78; - new, 85; - Zamora, 92; - Leon, 105; - Astorga, 129; - Lugo, 131; - Santiago de Compostella, 141; - Avila, 163; - Segovia, 181; - Sigüenza, 204; - Toledo, 233; - Valencia, 261; - Tarragona, 274; - Barcelona, 296; - Gerona, 318; - Lérida, 347; - Barbastro, 362; - Huesca, 363; - Jaca, 367; - Zaragoza, 369; - Tarazona, 377; - Tudela, 391; - Pamplona, 402. - -Cementarius, meaning of the term, 450, note. - -Centellas, Maestro, carver, 58. - -Cervera, churches at, 346. - -Cervia, Berenguer, artist, 326. - -Chapter-houses, 84, 266, 294, 296, 388, 406. - -Christians in Spain, their connexion with the Moors, 409; - inferior in regard to civilization, 410; - their warlike character, 410; - dates of recovery of certain towns by, 410; - early buildings of, 412. - -Churches, dimensions of some of the largest, 323, note. - -----, Spanish, furniture of, 433; - monuments in, 434; - dependent buildings, 434; - roofing of, 435. - -Church plate, 23, 343. - -Churriguera, architect, 66. - -Cid, coffer of the, 32 and note. - -Cimborio, meaning of the word, 18; - examples of, 24, 35, 80, 93, 174, 183, 188, 256, 263, 280, 295, 301, - 331, 340, 357, 367, 370, 379. - -Cistercians, their first house in Spain, 384. - -Clairvaux, convent of, compared with the abbey of Veruela, 385. - -Clerical architects, belief in a race of, erroneous, 464. - -Clermont-Ferrand, church of Notre Dame at, 81, 416. - -Climate, adaptation of churches to, 87, 112, 187, 299, 369, 380, 389, 403. - -Cloisters, 30, 38, 40, 47, 67, 97, 117, 157, 169, 171, 187, 188, 190, 191, - 202, 207, 251, 257, 296, 303, 322, 330, 338, 351, 367, 368, 381, 387, - 397, 405, 408. - -Çolivella, Guillermo, architect and sculptor, 349, 454. - -Colonia, Juan de, architect, 21, 23, 26, 43, 71. - -----, Simon de, architect, 23, 43. - -Colours used in various seasons at Toledo, 255, note. - -Compte, Pedro, architect, 266, 270, 370, 459. - -Concepcion, la, church of, at Toledo, 227, 229; - at Tarazona, 383. - -Constable, chapel of the, in Burgos cathedral, 21. - -Constantinople, Crimean memorial church at, 322, note. - -Corbie, Peter de, architect, 424. - -Coro, meaning of term, 16. - -----, position of, 14, 41, 96, 300, 343, 382, 392. - -Coruña, la, situation of, 136; - collegiata of Sta. Maria del Campo, 136; - church of Santiago, 138. - -Council at Leon, 108. - -Covarrubias, Alonso de, architect, 86, 254 note. - -Creus, Sta., church of, near Poblet, 289 and note. - -Cristo de la Luz, church of, at Toledo, 215. - -Crockery-ware, good character of, at Tarazona, 389. - -Crockets, 28, 69, 81, 94. - -Crowns, votive, collection of, found near Toledo, 212, note. - -Crucero, meaning of, 16. - -Cruz, Diego de la, sculptor, 43. - -----, Santos, painter, 169. - -----, Sta., college of, at Valladolid, 71; - de los Seros, church at, 368; - de Cangas, church of, 412. - -Cucufate, San, convent of, near Barcelona, 292 and note. - -Cumba, Pedro de, architect, 451. - - -D. - -Deo, Petrus de, architect, 121 note, 448. - -Diligences, Spanish, 10. - -Domestic architecture, specimens of: - at Burgos, 54; - Zamora, 101; - Santiago, 158; - Segovia, 193; - Alcalá, 201; - Guadalajara, 203; - Toledo, 221; - Valencia, 269; - Barcelona, 315; - Gerona, 334; - Perpiñan, 337; - Lérida, 361; - Zaragoza, 374; - general, of Spain, 436. - -Domical vaults, domes, and semi-domes, 81, 88, 93, 174, 229, - 276, 294, 362, 365. - -Domingo, San, church of, at Lugo, 135. - - -E. - -Ebro, church on the, opposite to Miranda, 9; - valley of the, 391. - -Ecclesiologist, the, quoted, 95. - -Egas, Anton, architect, 85, 459. - -----, Enrique de, architect, 72, 370, 460. - -Elne, church at, 337. - -Embroidery, carved imitations of, 89, 240. - -----, remarkable specimens of, at La Coruña, 138; - Valencia, 267; - Mondoñedo, 267; - Manresa, 344; - Durham, 345, note. - -England, commerce of, with the south of Spain, 427, note; - perfection of her village churches, 427, note; - scarcity of large town churches in, 429. - -Engracia, Sta., church of, at Zaragoza, 374. - -Enrique of Narbonne, architect, 319. - -“Era,” the, of Augustus Cæsar, 19, note. - -Escobedo, Juan de, architect, 459. - -Escorial, the, 179. - -Escuder, Andres, architect, 298. - -Esia, valley of the, 105. - -Esteban, San, churches of, at Burgos, 46; - at Segovia, 187. - -Eugenio, San, church of, at Toledo, 229. - -Eulalia, Sta., chapel of, in Barcelona cathedral, 299. - -Exchange at Palma, contract for, 514. - - -F. - -Fabre, Jayme, architect, 297, 453; - his agreement with the sub-Prior and brethren of San Domingo, at Palma, 500. - -Faisans, Ile de, 8. - -Farm-labourers, Valencian, their costume, 260. - -Favariis, Jacobo de, architect, 319. - -Fé, Sta., church of, at Toledo, 229. - -Feliu, San, church of, at Gerona, 331. - -Ferrandis, Martin, organ-builder, 307. - -Figueras, cathedral at, 336. - -Florentesi, Micer Domenico Alexandro, sculptor, 179. - -Fonda, the, 4. - -Font, Juan, architect, 343, 370. - -Ford, Mr., on the cathedral of Lérida, 347. - -Forment, Damian, sculptor, 364 and note, 373. - -Fornelles, 335. - -Fountains Abbey, Chapter-house at, 278, note. - -Francesco, San, church of, at Palencia, 63. - -Franck, Juan, architect, 265, 455. - -Freemasons, belief in peripatetic bodies of, probably erroneous, 464. - -French churches, list of the more remarkable, having the same general - characteristics as the cathedral at Santiago, 146, note; - copies of, in Spain, 417. - -Fuenterrabia, distant view of, 8. - -Furniture of Spanish churches, 433. - - -G. - -Gallegan peasantry, wretched state of, 140; - at Santiago, on Sunday, 148. - -Gallego, Juan, architect, 185. - -Galleries in Spanish churches, 45, 49, 53, 68, 73, 178, 186, 256, 383, 406. - -Galtes, Cárlos, de Ruan, architect, 350. - -Garcia, Alvar, architect, 163. - -Gateways and walls of old towns: - Burgos, 54; - las Huelgas, 38; - Zamora, 101; - Leon, 109, 127; - Astorga, 129; - Lugo, 135; - Avila, 163; - Segovia, 192; - Alcalá, 201; - Sigüenza, 208; - Toledo, 211, 230; - Valencia, 268; - Tarragona, 274; - Gerona, 329; - Hostalrieb, 335; - Veruela, 384; - Olite, 400; - Pamplona, 402. - -Gelmirez, Diego, Archbishop of Santiago, 143. - -Gerona: cathedral, 318-329; - town walls, 329; - church of San Pedro de los Galligans, 329; - another church, 331; - San Daniel, 331, note; - San Feliu, 331; - domestic remains, 334. - ----- cathedral, reports on plan for completion of, 501. - -Gerónimo, San, church of, at Barcelona, 314. - -Gil, San, church of, at Burgos, 50. - -Gomar, Francisco, sculptor, 288. - -Gomez, Alvar, architect, 251. - -Gonzalez, Bishop, 108. - -Granja, la, palace at, 180. - -Granollers, church at, 335. - -Grao, port of Valencia, 271. - -Gregorio, San, college of, at Valladolid, 71, 75. - -Guadalajara: - church of Sta. Maria, 202; - San Miguel, 202; - la Antigua, 202; - palace del Infantado, 203. - -Guadalupe, Pedro de, architect, 58. - -Guadarrama, Sierra de, 5, 180, 195. - -----, village, 195. - -Gual, Bartolomé, architect, 298; - his report on plan for completion of Gerona cathedral, 506. - -Guas, Bonifacio de, builder, 185. - -----, Juan de, builder, 185. - -Guinguamps, Joannes de, his report on plan for completion of Gerona - cathedral, 510. - -Guiniel, Pedro, architect, 199. - - -H. - -Hatton Garden, Italian church in, 45, note. - -Heraldry, love of, in Spain, 22, 75, 203, 256, 379. - -Herrera, architect, 66, 76, 179. - -Honecort, Wilars de, architect, 424. - -Houtañon, Juan Gil de, architect, 86, 182, 460. - -----, Rodrigo Gil de, architect, 182, 201, 460. - -Host, perpetual exposition of the, at Leon, 126; - at Lugo, 133. - -Hostalrich, 335. - -Huelgas, las: - convent of, 34; - village, 35; - church, 35; - solemnities at, 39; - corpse of Juan II. at, 40. - -Huesca: - college and palace, 362; - cathedral, 363; - church of San Pedro, 365; - San Martin, 367; - San Juan, 367. - - -I. - -Ildefonso, San, church of, at Alcalá, 201; - chapel of, in Toledo cathedral, 250. - -Infantado, palace del, at Guadalajara, 203. - -Inns, Spanish, 3. - -Inquisition established at Toledo, 217 note, 219 note. - -Iron lectern, 50. - ----- pulpit, 51, 96. - ----- screens, 60, 73, 241, 253, 305, 404. - -Irun, church at, 8. - -Isabel, Sta., church of, at Toledo, 229. - -Isidoro, San, church of, at Leon, 121; - miracles of, legend concerning, 122. - - -J. - -Jaca, cathedral at, 368. - -James, St., cathedral of, at Compostella, 141. - -----, festival and tomb of the apostle, 157. - -Jayme, San, church of, at Barcelona, 311. - -Jews, spoliation of, at Avila, 178, note; - conversions and persecution of, at Toledo, 217 note, 219 note; - numerous bodies of them, 221. - -Jimon, Maestro, architect, 459. - -Joánes, Juan, painter, 197, 443. - -Joseph, S., chapel of, in the cathedral of Santiago, 147. - -Juan, Don, son of Ferdinand and Isabella, his tomb, 179. - ----- II., funeral of, 40. - ----- II. and Isabel, their monument in the chapel of Miraflores, 42. - -----, San, church and convent of, at Burgos, 52; - church at Zamora, 100, note; - at Benavente, 103; - at Segovia, 192; - at Toledo, 256; - at Perpiñan, 337; - at Lérida, 347, 360; - at Huesca, 367; - monastery and church near Huesca, 368. - -Juni, Juan de, sculptor, 68. - -Junquera, la, Parroquia at, 336. - -Juntas of architects. _See_ Architects. - -Just y Pastor, SS., churches of, at Alcalá, 199; - at Barcelona, 309. - - -L. - -Laguardia, Juan Garcia de, “Master-Mason,” 454. - -Lambardo, meaning of the term, 450, note. - -Lasteyrie, Ferdinand, on votive crowns at Toledo, 212 note. - -Lavinia, Señor, architect, 106. - -Lectern, iron, in San Esteban, Burgos, 50; - brass, in Toledo cathedral, 253. - -Leocadia, Sta., church of, at Toledo, 227, 228. - -Leon, road to, from Benavente, 105; - cathedral described, 105-121; - church of San Isidoro, 121-128; - chapel of Sta. Catalina, 124; - character of the city, 128; - convent of San Marcos, 128. - -Leonardo, San, church of, at Zamora, 100. - -Lérida: the town, 346; - cathedral, 347-359; - fragment of defensive building, 359; - church of San Lorenzo, 359; - San Juan, 360; - Romanesque house, 361; - inn, 361, note; - date of recovery of, from the Moors, 410. - -Lesmes, San, church of, at Burgos, 52. - -Levi, Samuel, 219 and note, 221. - -Light, admission of, in Spanish churches, 34, 49, 81, 82, 87, 111, 129, - 134, 152, 179, 183, 186, 300, 369, 403. - -Llobet, Martin, stone-cutter, 265. - -Lonja (Exchange), the, at Valencia, 270; - at Barcelona, 316. - -Loquer, Miguel, sculptor, 305, note. - -Lorenzo, San, church of, at Segovia, 192, note; - at Lérida, 347, 359. - -Lucas, San, church of, at Burgos, 52. - -Lucia, Sta., chapel of, in Toledo cathedral, 246; - in Barcelona cathedral, 304. - -Lugo: wall, 131; - cathedral, 131; - church of the Capuchins, 134; - San Domingo, 135; - walls and fountains, 135. - -Luine, San, church of, at Segovia, 191. - -Luna, Don Alvaro de, tomb of, and his wife, in Toledo cathedral, 252. - - -M. - -Madrid: entrance to, 195; - palace, 195; - Armeria, 196; - Museo, pictures, 196; - bull-fight, 198. - -Magdalena, la, churches of: at Valladolid, 71, 72; - at Zamora, 97; - at Toledo, 226; - at Tarazona, 382; - at Tudela, 397. - -Mahomedan buildings in Toledo, list of, 213, note. - -Mallorca, influence of an artist of, on mediæval architecture, 429. - -Manresa, situation of, 340; - the Collegiata, 340; - altar-frontal in, 344; - church del Carmen, 345. - -Manrique, Bishop of Leon, 107. - -Manta, the, described, 271. - -Mantilla, instance of the national love for the, 272. - -Maravedi, value of, in middle ages, 449, note. - -Marcos, San, church of, at Salamanca, 90; - convent at Leon, 128. - -Maria, Sta., churches of: - at Burgos, 13; - de las Huelgas, 34; - at Valladolid, 67; - at Zamora, 100; - at Benavente, 102; - at la Coruña, 136; - at Guadalajara, 202; - at Toledo, 217; - at Barcelona, 307, 310; - at Cervera, 346; - at Tudela, 391; - at Olite, 398; - de Naranco, near Oviedo, 413. - -Martin, San, bridge of, at Toledo, 232; - story concerning, 232, note. - -----, churches of: - at Valladolid, 70; - at Salamanca, 91; - at Segovia, 190; - at Huesca, 367. - -Martinez, Gregorio, painter, 20, note. - -Masons, Spanish, 438. - -Matienzo, Garci Fernandez de, architect 43. - -Matteo, San, church of, at Salamanca, 91. - -Mattheus, architect, 144, 153, 449; - warrant of Ferdinand II. in his favour, 488. - -Maurice, Bishop, account of, 18. - -Medina del Campo: castle, 160; - church of San Antholin, 161. - ----- del Rio Seco, 159. - -Merced, la, convent of, at Burgos, 53. - -Micalete, the, at Valencia, 264; - documents relating to, 265. - -Miguel, Don, priest of Medina del Campo, donation of, 79, 84 note. - -----, San, churches of: - at Palencia, 61; - at Zamora, 99; - at Segovia, 192; - at Guadalajara, 202; - at Toledo, 227; - at Barcelona, 314; - at Tarazona, 383. - -Millan, San, church of, at Segovia, 187. - -Miranda del Ebro, 9. - -Miraflores, funeral of Juan II. at, 40; - convent and church of, 40; - chapel of, 41. - -Moncada, Guillen Ramon de, architect, 380. - -Moncayo, Sierra de, 376. - -Monistrol in Cataluña, church near, 340. - ----- in France, 417, note. - -Monjuic, rock and fortress of, 292. - -Monserrat, mountain-range, 339. - -Monte Aragon, monastery of, 362. - -Monteacadeo, tower at, 376. - -Montmajeur, cemetery at, 50, note. - -Monuments in Spanish churches, 31, 48, 83, 98, 119, 179, 207, 250, - 251, 252, 306, 397, 434. - -Monzon, town of, 362. - -Moors, their influence in Spain, 194; - their toleration, 213; - their architectural skill, 216; - numerous in Toledo, 221; - duration of their rule, 409; - examples of their architecture in the period comprised in this work, 409; - their superiority to the Christians in regard to civilization, 410; - some of their public works, 412; - their use of bricks in architecture, 440; - their influence on Christian art, 441. - -Moorish battlement, 38, 167, 232. - ----- houses in Toledo, 221. - ----- vaulting, 84, 215. - ----- and Moresque work, at Valladolid, 76; - at Segovia, 193; - at Guadalajara, 202; - at Toledo, 213-232, 246; - at Tarragona, 283, 285; - at Lérida, 359; - at Huesca, 365. - -Moresque, a variety of Moorish architecture, 440; - examples of, 441. - -Mosques in Toledo, 215, 216. - -Mota, castle de la, at Medina del Campo, 160. - -----, Guillermo de la, his report on plan for completion of Gerona - cathedral, 505. - -Mozarabic chapel at Salamanca, 84; - at Toledo, 237, note. - -Mugaguren, Juanes de, architect, 182. - -Museum, at Valladolid, 76; - at Madrid, 196. - - -N. - -Neale, Dr., quoted, 95, 100, 101, notes. - -Nicolas, San, churches of: at Burgos, 44; - at Segovia, 191; - at Gerona, 331, note; - at Pamplona, 407. - -Norman, Juan, architect, 459. - - -O. - -Oger, Benedicto, architect, 461. - -Olite: - remains of castle, 398, 399; - church of Sta. Maria, 398; - San Pedro, 400. - -Olotzaga, Juan de, architect, 363. - -Oña, river, 318. - -Operarius, office of, 454. - -Organs, old, 37, 49, 73, 161, 200, 288, 306, 337, 345. - -Orientation of churches, 234. - -Orozco, Juan, architect, 86. - -Ortiz, Pablo, architect, 252, note. - - -P. - -Pablo, San, church and convent of, at Burgos, 52; - church at Valladolid, 71, 74; - convent and church at Barcelona, 292; - at Zaragoza, 373. - -Painters and their works in Spain, 443. - -Paintings in churches, 83, 117, 127, 128, 162, 169, 192, 220, 226, - 254, 304, 306, 343, 382, 396. - -Palencia, journey to, and arrival at, 56; - cathedral, 57; - church of San Miguel, 61; - San Francesco, 63; - other churches, 64; - walls, 64; - plain surrounding the city, 64. - -Palma, contract for Exchange at, 514. - -Pamplona: - cathedral, 402; - church of San Saturnino, 406; - San Nicolas, 407; - views from walls, 408. - -Pancorbo, 10. - -Parador, the, 4. - -Parcerisa, Don F. J., quoted, 303. - -Pasage, harbour of, 8. - -Pavements, ancient, 218, 226, 285, 288. - -Pedro, San, chapel of, in Toledo cathedral, 241. - -----, churches of: - at Zamora, 100, note; - at Avila, 176; - at Toledo, 227; - at Barcelona, 294; - at Gerona, 329; - at Huesca, 365; - at Olite, 400. - -Pelayo, D., Bishop of Oviedo, 163. - -Peñafreyta, Pedro de, architect, 349, 452. - -Permanence the main object of old Spanish architects, 420; - neglected in England now, 421. - -Perpiñan, capture of, 336, note; - church of San Juan, 337; - old house, 337. - -Picture-gallery at Madrid, 196. - -Pisa, Francisco de, quoted, 256 note. - -Pituenga, Florin de, architect, 163. - -Plans of early churches, whence derived, 414. - -Plans, original, of Mediæval architects, 85, 303, 460. - -Plastering, at Segovia, 192, 194; - Toledo, 217. - -Plateresque work, explanation of, 49, note. - -Poblet, monastery and church of, 289 and note. - -Polido, Pedro, architect, 185. - -Ponce, Maestro, 452. - -Ponferrada, 130. - -Portell, Berengario, architect, 462. - -Posada, the, described, 3. - -Prescott, historian, quoted, 213, note. - -Prie-dieu, 59. - -Puerta del Cuarte, Valencia, 269. - ----- del Sol, Toledo, 231. - ----- de Serranos, Valencia, 269. - ----- de Visagra, Toledo, 231. - -Pulgar, Hernando del, quoted, 256 note. - -Pulpits, iron: - in San Gil, Burgos, 51; - at Durham, 51, note; - in Zamora cathedral, 96. - - -Q. - -Quintana, Lucas Bernaldo de, architect, 455. - - -R. - -Railways, Spanish, 56. - -Raymundo, a “Lambardo,” 450. - -----, Maestro, of Monforte de Lemos, architect, 131, 449. - -Reims, cathedral at, date of, 109. - -Reja, meaning of, 17. - -Renaissance school in Spain, works of the, little to be admired, 432. - ----- work, specimens of: - in San Esteban, Burgos, 49; - cloister at Santiago, 151; - tomb in San Tomás, Avila, 179; - in Sigüenza cathedral, 205, 207; - in Barcelona cathedral, 305; - in Figueras cathedral, 336; - in collegiata at Manresa, 344; - at Lérida, 361; - at Zaragoza, 374; - at Veruela, 388; - at Pamplona, 403. - -“Restoration,” 27, note; - little practised in Spain, 432. - -Reus, 273, 289, 461. - -Ribero-Rada, Juan de, architect, 88. - -Rodrigo, Archbishop, quoted, 233, notes. - -----, Maestro, wood-carver, 252. - -Rodriguez, Alfonso, architect, 85, 147, 459. - -----, D. Ventura, architect, 404. - -----, Gaspar, architect, 60, note. - -----, Juan, Canon of Segovia, his account of the cathedral, 182, 489. - -----, Jusepe, illuminator, 18, note. - -Romanesque work, specimens of: - near Miranda, 9; - at Santiago, 153; - at Tarragona, 278; - at Barcelona, 307; - at Elne, 337; - near Tarrasa, 340; - at Manresa, 341; - at Lérida, 361; - at Jaca, 368; - at Sta. Cruz de los Seros, 368; - at Veruela, 387; - at Pamplona, 407. - -Roman, San, church of, at Segovia, 191; - at Toledo, 216, 224. - -Roofing of Spanish churches, 168, 239 and note, 302, 342, 354, 435. - -Roque, Maestro, architect, 298. - -Round churches, Salamanca, 90; - Segovia, 184. - -Ruesga, Juan de, builder, 57 note, 186. - -Ruiz, Martin, architect, 88. - - -S. - -Sagrera, Guillermo, architect, 324, 337, 457; - his report on plan for completion of Gerona cathedral, 509; - his contract for the Exchange at Palma, 514. - -Salamanca: - arrival at, 78; - the old cathedral, 79; - new cathedral, 85; - walls and dilapidated buildings, 90; - church of San Marcos, 90; - San Martin, San Matteo, 91; - documents relating to the construction of the new cathedral at, 482. - -Salas, church at, 367. - -Salórzano, Martin de, 57, note. - -Salvador, San, cathedral of, at Avila, 163. - -Sanchez, Martin, wood-carver, 40, 41, note. - -----, Pedro, 46, note. - -Sancii, architect, 332. - -Santa Maria, Bishop Pablo de, account of, 52. - -Santiago, church of, at la Coruña, 138; - at Toledo, 228; - chapel of, in Toledo cathedral, 252; - chapel of, in Tarazona cathedral, 382. - ----- de Compostella, journey to, 140; - situation of the city, 141; - cathedral described, 141-158; - compared with S. Sernin, Toulouse, 145; - festival of S. James, 157; - Mass in the cathedral, 158; - other churches, streets, hospital, 158. - -----, warrant of Ferdinand II. concerning cathedral of, 489. - -Santiañes de, Pravia, church at, 413. - -Santillana, Juan de, painter on glass, 42. - -Saravia, Rodrigo de, architect, 86. - -Saturnino, San, church of, at Pamplona, 406. - -Screens in Toledo cathedral, subjects carved on, 495. - -Sculpture in Spain, 436; - in modern buildings, 446. - ----- of subjects and figures in churches: - Burgos, 18, 20, 28, 30, 31, 33, 42, 47, 52; - Palencia, 63; - Valladolid, 75; - Zamora, 95; - Benavente, 103; - Leon, 115, 116, 119, 120, 125; - Lugo, 134; - la Coruña, 137; - Santiago, 151, 154; - Avila, 167, 172, 175; - Segovia, 186, 189; - Toledo, 248-252, 257; - Valencia, 262, 263; - Tarragona, 282, 286; - Barcelona, 294, 306, 310, 315, 316; - Lérida, 355; - Huesca, 364, 365, 367; - Tarazona, 383; - Tudela, 395, 396, 397, 398; - Olite, 399, 401; - Pamplona, 404, 405, 407. - -Sebastian, San, 8; - church of San Vicente at, 9. - -Segre, river, 346. - -Segovia: - Roman aqueduct, 181; - cathedral, 181; - church of the Templars (Vera Cruz), 184; - convent of El Parral, 185; - the Alcazar, 187; - walls and gates, 187; - church of San Esteban, 187; - San Millan, 187; - San Martin, 190; - San Roman, 191; - San Facundo, 191; - Sta. Trinidad, 191; - San Nicolas, 191; - San Luine, 191; - San Antholin, 192; - San Juan, 192; - San Miguel, 192; - San Lorenzo, 192, note; - specimens of plaster-work, 192, 193; - Moresque tower, 193. - -----, memoir of the Canon Juan Rodriguez on the cathedral of, 490. - -Sernin, S., church of, at Toulouse, compared with cathedral of Santiago, 145. - -Seu, the, at Zaragoza, 369. - -Seville, date of its recovery from the Moors, 410. - -Siloe, Diego de, 28. - -----, Gil de, architect, 22, 42, 43, 462. - -Sigüenza: - cathedral, 204; - gardens, 208. - -Smith’s work in Spanish churches, 305. - -Spain: - the north of, little explored, 1; - drawbacks to travelling in, exaggerated, 1; - fitting season for travelling in, 2; - inns and food, 2; - scenery, 5; - places visited by author, 5; - increased facilities for travelling in, 6; - characteristic of landscapes in, 92; - duration of Visigothic rule in, 409; - duration of Moorish rule in, 409; - Moors and Christians in, 409, 410; - subdivision of the country, 410; - portions of, not conquered by Moors, 410; - states in, in the fifteenth century, 411; - early Moorish and Christian buildings in, 412; - commerce of, with England, 427, note; - sculpture of, 436; - domestic architecture of the middle ages in, 436; - castles of, 437. - -Spanish architects of the middle ages, 448. - ----- buildings, catalogue of dated examples of, 467. - -Stained glass in church at Miraflores, 42; - in Leon cathedral, 120; - in Avila cathedral, 170; - in Segovia cathedral, 183; - in Toledo cathedral, 248, 254; - in Gerona cathedral, 328; - in Pamplona cathedral, 404. - -Steeples, examples of: - Burgos, 26; - las Huelgas, 38; - San Esteban, Burgos, 47; - Palencia, 62, 64; - Valladolid, 68, 70; - Salamanca, 88; - Zamora, 93, 99, 100; - Benavente, 103; - Leon, 114, 127; - Lugo, 134; - la Coruña, 137; - Santiago, 146; - Avila, 167, 172, 174; - Segovia, 183, 187, 191, 192; - Sigüenza, 206; - Toledo, 225, 226, 251; - Valencia, 264; - Tarragona, 281; - Barcelona, 302, 310, 312, 314; - Gerona, 321, 325, 333, 339; - Fornelles, 335; - Granollers, 335; - Figueras, 336; - la Junquera, 336; - Elne, 337; - Tarrasa, 340; - Manresa, 342; - Cervera, 346; - Lérida, 265, 352; - Huesca, 367; - Sta. Cruz de los Seros, 368; - Zaragoza, 373, 374; - Monteacadeo, 376; - Tarazona, 380, 382, 383; - Alagon, 391; - Tudela, 393, 397; - Olite, 400. - -Steeples of mixed architectural character in Toledo, 224. - -Summary of remarks on Gothic buildings in Spain, necessity for, 409; - Visigothic period, 409; - duration of Moorish rule, 409; - effects of the antipathy of Moors and Christians, 409; - superior civilization of the former, 410; - subdivision of the country, portions never conquered by Moors, 410; - dates of Christian successes, 410; - provinces included in the two kingdoms of Aragon and Castile, 411; - relics of the Goths, 411; - of the Moors, 412; - early Christian buildings extant, 412; - plans of churches of the tenth century, 414; - of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, 415; - influence of French types, 415; - copies of French churches, 417; - Spanish system of internal arrangement--adopted in Westminster Abbey, 418; - plan of abbey church at Veruela, 419; - group of churches illustrating the slow development of art in Spanish - buildings, 419; - permanence the great object of the builders, 420; - cathedrals of Sigüenza and Avila, 421; - of Toledo, Burgos, and Leon, 422-426; - design by Wilars de Honecort, 424; - fourteenth-century art, 426; - fifteenth-century art, 427; - Catalan churches, 429; - Segovia and Salamanca cathedrals, 431; - the later styles, 431; - the Renaissance school, 432; - church furniture, 433; - monuments, 434; - dependent buildings, 434; - church-roofing, 435; - sculpture, 436; - domestic architecture of the middle ages, 436; - ajimez windows, 437; - castles, 437; - building materials, 438; - masons, bodies of, 438; - brickwork, 439; - Moresque art, 440; - influence on each other of Moorish and Christian art, 441; - instances of Moorish influence, 441-443; - Spanish painters and paintings, 443; - sculpture in modern buildings, 446; - object of the study of ancient art, 447. - -Synagogues converted into churches, 217, 219. - - -T. - -Tafalla, churches at, 402. - -Tagus, inundation of the, 211, note. - -Taller del Moro, at Toledo, 223. - -Tarazona: - situation and appearance, 376; - cathedral, 377; - chapel of Santiago, 382; - church of la Magdalena, 382; - la Concepcion, 383; - San Miguel, 383; - crockery-ware at, 389. - -Tarragona, the old and new cities, 273; - views, 273; - Roman remains, 274; - cathedral, 274-289; - other churches, 289; - date of recovery of, from the Moors, 410. - -Tarrasa, churches at, 340; - Romanesque church near, 340. - -Tartana, the Valencian, 260. - -Templars’ church (la Magdalena) at Zamora, 99; - (Vera Cruz) at Segovia, 184. - -Temple church, London, 424, note. - -Tenorio, Pedro, Archbishop of Toledo, 251 and note. - -Tiles, encaustic, 43, 218, 372, 379, 383, 386. - -Toledo: - approach to, 209; - view of the city, 210; - bridge of Alcantara, 211, note; - interest of the buildings, 212; - group of votive crowns, 212, note; - Moorish toleration, 213 and notes; - buildings which illustrate the Mahomedan architecture, 213, note; - fragments possibly Visigothic, 214; - church of Cristo de la Luz, 215; - mosque called De las Tornerias, 216; - church of San Roman, 216, 224; - Sta. Maria la Blanca, 217; - del Transito, 219; - the Juderia, 221; - Moorish houses, 221; - the Taller del Moro, 223; - church of Sta. Magdalena, 226; - steeples of several churches, 227; - Santiago, 228; - Sta. Leocadia, and other churches, 229; - walls, 229; - bridges and gateways, 230; - Puerta de Visagra, 231; - bridge of San Martin, 232 and note; - cathedral, 233-256; - chapel of San Ildefonso, 250; - of San Blas, 251; - of Santiago, 252; - church of San Juan de los Reyes, 256; - great artistic interest of the city, 257; - date of its recovery from the Moors, 410. - -----, further notice of the cathedral, 423; - list of subjects carved on screens in, 495. - -Tomás, San, church and convent of, at Avila, 178. - -Tomé, San, church of, at Toledo, 227. - -Tornerias, de las, Moorish mosque, 216. - -Tornero, Juan, architect, 86. - -Toro, collegiate church at, 101. - -Torre, village of, 130. - -Torre Nueva, at Zaragoza, 373. - -Toulouse, church of S. Sernin at, 416. - -Transito, church del, at Toledo, 219. - -Trascoro, meaning of, 16. - -Travelling in Spain, its drawbacks exaggerated, 1; - season for, 2; - improved facilities for, 6. - -Trinidad, Sta., church of, at Segovia, 191. - -Tudela: - cathedral, 391; - church of la Magdalena, 397. - -Tufa, use of, for vaulting, 111. - -Tuy, Don Lucas de, quoted, 107. - - -U. - -University, at Valladolid, 76; - of Ximenes at Alcalá de Henares, 201. - -Urbina, Juan de, painter, 20 note. - -Ursula, Sta., church of, at Toledo, 229. - -Urteaga, Domingo, architect, 461. - - -V. - -Valdivieso, Juan de, painter on glass, 42. - -Valdomar, architect, 266. - -Valencia: - arrival at, 260; - cathedral, 261; - the Micalate, 264; - embroidered altar frontals, 267; - walls and gates, 268; - domestic remains, 269; - ajimez windows, 269; - features of the city, 271; - date of its recovery from the Moors, 410. - -Valent, Bartolomé, builder, 265. - -Valladolid: - arrival at, 65; - great Plaza and town-hall, 65; - cathedral, 66; - church of Sta. Maria la Antigua, 67; - San Martin, 70; - San Pablo, 71, 74; - San Benito, 71, 72; - la Magdalena, 72, 75; - college of San Gregorio, 71, 75; - of Sta. Cruz, 71; - Moorish archway, 76; - museum, library, university, 76. - -Vallbona, monastery and church of, 289 and note. - -Vallejo, Juan de, architect, 24. - -Valleras, Arnaldo de, architect, 340; - his report on plan for completion of Gerona cathedral, 508. - -Vallfogona, Petrus de, his report on plan for completion of - Gerona cathedral, 504. - -Vall-llebrera, Pedro de, architect, 346. - -Valmeseda, Juan de, sculptor, 59. - -Velasco, Constable, palace of the, at Burgos, 54. - -Vergara, 9. - -Veruela, ride from Tarazona to, 383; - abbey at, 384. - -Vicente, San, churches of: at San Sebastian, 9; - at Zamora, 99; at Avila, 170. - -----, his tomb at Avila, 175. - -Vilasolar, Guillermo, architect, 457. - -Villa-Amil, M., quoted, 95. - -Villafranca del Vierzo, 130. - ----- de Panades, 273. - -Villalba, 180. - -Villia Espepa, chancellor of Navarre, monument to him and his - wife in Tudela cathedral, 396. - -Viollet le Duc, M., value of his writings, 242 note. - -Vique, city of, 339. - -Visigoths in Spain, remains of their works in Toledo, 214; - votive crowns of their king Reccesvinthus, 212; - duration of their rule, 409. - -Visquio, Gerónimo, Bishop of Salamanca, 79. - -Vitoria, 9. - - -W. - -Wages of architects, &c., in the middle ages, 20, 41, 42, 58, 60, - 61, 71, 72, 131, 144, 169, 185, 186, 265, 266, 270, 297, 298 - and note, 305 note, 319, 332 note, 349, 449-462. - -Waring, Mr., his view of the cloister at las Huelgas, 38 note. - -Westminster Abbey, example of the internal arrangement of a - Spanish church offered by, 418. - -Windows in churches, undue number of, 111, 112. - -Wren, Sir Christopher, 67; - anecdote of, 370 note. - - -X. - -Xulbe, Joannes de, architect, 304; - his report on plan for completion of Gerona cathedral, 503. - -----, Paschasius de, architect, 324; - his report on plan for completion of Gerona cathedral, 503. - - -Z. - -Zacoma, Pedro, architect, 333, 453. - -Zamora: - entrance to, 92; - cathedral, 92; - church of San Isidoro, 97; - la Magdalena, 97; - San Miguel, 99; - San Vicente, 99; - San Leonardo, 100; - Sta. Maria de la Horta, 100; - ruined church, 100; - San Juan, San Pedro, 100 note; - walls, 101; - bridge, 101; - Gothic house, 101. - -Zaragoza: - old cathedral, 369; - church of San Pablo, 373; - Torre Nueva, 373; - another church, 374; - Renaissance buildings, 374; - church of Sta. Engracia, 374; - date of its recovery from the Moors, 410. - -THE END. - -LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING -CROSS. - - * * * * * - -Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - -Die Christliche Künst in Spanien=> Die Christliche Kunst in Spanien {fn -pgvii} - -Simple buttresses divide the bays of the clerestory.=> Simple the -buttresses divide the bays of the clerestory. {pg 126} - -They are to be seen on a sunday=> They are to be seen on a Sunday {pg -148} - -the onter built in 1109=> the outer built in 1109 {pg 230} - -sarista secundas, Joannes de Boscho=> sacrista secundas, Joannes de -Boscho {pg 513} - - * * * * * - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] I have quoted this book throughout as “Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp.” - -[2] Die Christliche Kunst in Spanien. Leipzic, 1853. - -[3] España Artistica y Monumental, por Don G. P. de Villa Amil y Don P. -de la Escosura. Paris, 1842. - -[4] Recuerdos y Bellezas de España, por F. J. Parcerisa, 1844, &c. - -[5] Monumentos Arquitectónicos de España; publicados á expensas del -Estado, bajo la direccion de una Comision especial creada por el -Ministerio de Fomento.--Madrid, 1859-65, and still in course of -publication. - -[6] The church, at Bidart, between Bayonne and the French frontier, is -quite worth going into. It has a nave about forty-five feet wide, and -three tiers of wooden galleries all round its north, west, and south -walls. They are quaint and picturesque in construction, and are -supported by timbers jutting out upwards from the walls, not being -supported at all from the floor. - -[7] Plate I. This (as are all the other plans in this book) is made from -my own rapid sketches and measurements. It is necessarily, therefore, -only generally correct. But I believe that it, and all the others, will -be found to be sufficiently accurate for all the purposes for which they -are required. Without ground-plans it is impossible to understand any -descriptions of buildings; and they are the more necessary in this case, -seeing that, with the exception of very small plans of Burgos and Leon -Cathedrals, there is probably no illustration of the plan of any one of -the churches visited by me ever yet published in England. I have drawn -all the plans to the same scale, viz., fifty feet to an inch. This is -double the scale to which the plans in Mr. Fergusson’s ‘History of -Architecture’ are drawn; and though it would facilitate a comparison of -the Spanish with other ground-plans illustrated by him to have them on -the same scale, I found it impossible to show all that I wanted in so -very small a compass. - -[8] I have not thought it necessary to draw these ruinous additions to -the early design. That they are additions is easily proved by the way in -which they are tied with bands of iron to the early shafts, as well as -by the complete difference in style. The original work is fortunately -intact behind the added pinnacles, and there is nothing conjectural in -its restoration. - -[9] The Chapter entered into a contract with one Jusepe Rodriguez for -these books; but Philip II. insisted upon his being set free from this -contract in order that he might work for him on the books for the -Escorial, where he wrought from A.D. 1577 to A.D. 1585. Cean Bermudez, -Dice. Hist. de las Bellas Artes en España. Some illustrations of initial -letters in the Burgos books are given by Mr. Waring in his -‘Architectural Studies in Burgos.’ - -[10] ‘España Sagrada,’ vol. xxvi. p. 301. G. G. Dávila, ‘Teatro -Ecclesiastico de las Yglesias de España,’ iii. 65, says that Maurice was -a Frenchman; and he mentions the consecration by him of the -Premonstratensian Church of Sta. Maria la Real de Aguilar de Campo, on -the 2nd Kal. Nov. 1222. - -[11] Esp. Sag., xxvii. 306; ‘Memorial in the Archives at Burgos,’ ii. -fol. 57. The era 1259 answers to A.D. 1221. The “era” so frequently -occurring in Spanish records precedes the year of our Lord by -thirty-eight years, and is, in fact, the era of the Emperor Cæsar -Augustus. See ‘Cronicas de los Reyes de Castilla,’ vol. i. p. 31, and -‘España Sagrada’ vol. ii. pp. 23 et seq., for an explanation of this -computation, which is constantly used as late as the middle of the -fourteenth century in all Spanish inscriptions and documents. - -[12] Esp. Sag., xxvii. 313. - -[13] Esp. Sag., xxvi. 315. - -[14] Ponz states that Bishop Pascual de Fuensanta (1497-1512) moved the -stalls from the Capilla mayor (_i.e._ choir) to the middle of the -church; and Florez, Esp. Sag. xxvi. 315 and 413, makes the same -statement. - -[15] Ponz, ‘Viage de España,’ xii. 28, says that the sculptures of this -Retablo were executed by Rodrigo de la Aya and his brother Martin -between A.D. 1577 and 1593 at a cost of 40,000 ducats; and that Juan de -Urbina (a native of Madrid), and Gregorio Martinez of Valladolid, -painted and gilded it for 11,000 ducats in three years, finishing in -A.D. 1593. - -[16] Esp. Sag., xxvi. 331. - -[17] The chapel of the Visitation was built by Bishop Alonso de -Cartagena, 1435-56. The chapel of Sta. Ana was built by Bishop Luis -Acuña y Osorio, 1457-95. The chapel of Sta. Catalina in the Cloister is -said to have been built in the time of Enrique II.--Caveda, Ensayo -Historico, 379-80. - -[18] Cod. M., No. 9. - -[19] Noticias de los Arquitectos y Arquitectura de España, vol. i., -206-7. - -[20] Florez, Esp. Sag. xxvi. 393, says: “A MS. which I have says that -Bishop Luis Acuña y Osorio (1457-95) reformed the fabric of the transept -in the middle of the church with eight turrets, which became a ruin in -the middle of the following century.” - -[21] A view of the west front in A.D. 1771 shows the three western doors -in their old state; they had statues on the door-jambs, and on the piers -between them.--Esp. Sag. xxvi. p. 404. - -[22] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. 105, 106. - -[23] It was well that I used the word “delighted” when I wrote this -page, for this passage no longer delights me as it did. I visited Burgos -again last (1863), and found the Cathedral undergoing a sort of -restoration; masons cleaning up everything inside, and by way of a -beginning outside they had widened the passage to the south door, so as -to make it square with and of the same width as the doorway; to do this -a slice had been cut off the bishop’s palace, at some inconvenience to -the bishop, no doubt, the result of doing it being simply that much of -the beauty and picturesqueness of the old approach to the church is -utterly lost for ever. Of one thing, such an unsuccessful alteration -satisfies me--little indeed as I require to be satisfied on the -point,--and this is, that in dealing with old buildings it is absolutely -impossible to be too conservative in everything that one does. Often -what seems--as doubtless this thing did to the people of Burgos--the -most plain improvement is just, as this is, a disastrous change for the -worse. And when we find old work, the reason for or meaning of which we -do not quite perceive, we cannot be wrong in letting well alone. It is -to be hoped that Spain is not now going to undergo what England suffered -from James Wyatt and others, and what she is still in many places -suffering at the hands of those who follow in their steps! - -[24] In A.D. 1257 the king gave a piece of land opposite his palace (now -the Episcopal Palace) to the Dean of Burgos. Was not this for the -erection of the cloisters? - -[25] One of the buttresses of the north transept is seen in the western -alley of the cloister. On the face of it still remains one of the -original dedication crosses--a cross pattée enclosed in a circle. - -[26] On the east side these recessed arches have a very rich foliage in -their soffeits. - -[27] The coffer of the Cid is that which he filled with sand, and then -pledged for a loan from some Jews, who supposed it to be full of -valuables; afterwards he honestly repaid the borrowed money, and hence, -perhaps, the coffer is preserved, the first part of the transaction -being unquestionably not very worthy of record. - -[28] Manrique, Anales Cisterciences, iii. 201. - -[29] Plate II. - -[30] The nuns’ choir in the nave is, according to Florez, “the most -capacious of all that are known in cathedrals and monasteries.” Esp. -Sag., xxvi. 582. - -[31] The organ in All Saints, Margaret Street, has the pipes of one stop -similarly placed; but I know no old English example of this arrangement. - -[32] Mr. Waring and M. Villa Amil have both published drawings of the -inner cloister. The drawing of the latter is evidently not to be -trusted; but from Mr. Waring’s view I gather that the arches are round, -resting on coupled shafts, with large carved capitals. Mr. Waring calls -them Romanesque, but in his drawing they look more like very late -Transitional work, probably not earlier than A.D. 1200. They appear to -be arranged in arcades of six open arches between larger piers, and with -such a construction the cloister could hardly have been intended for -groining. The famous cloister at Elne, near Perpignan, with those of -Verona Cathedral, S. Trophine at Arles, Montmajeur, and Moissac, are -examples of the class from which the design of such a cloister as this -must have been derived, and its character is therefore rather more like -that of Italian work, or work of the South of France, than that of -Northern France or England. - -[33] España Sagrada, xxvii. 611-14. - -[34] España Sagrada, xxvi. 350, 359. - -[35] An interesting account of this meeting is given in Cronicas de los -Reyes de Castillos, i. p. 481-3. - -[36] That it was “of no diocese” was expressly recorded among the titles -borne by the Abbess, and given by Ponz, Viage de España, xii. 65. - -[37] See the account at length in Esp. Sag., xxvii. 393 and 558. - -[38] These stalls are like late Flemish work, but wrought by a Spaniard, -Martin Sanchez, circa A.D. 1480, who received 125,000 maravedis for his -labour. - -[39] See Cean Bermudez, Dicc. Hist., vi. 171. - -[40] A decidedly hyperbolical inscription is quoted by Ponz, in which -the Chapel of Miraflores is called a Temple, “second to none in the -world for monuments, beauty and curiousness.”--Ponz, Viage de Esp., xii. -61. The remark might fairly have been made if had referred only to the -monuments. - -[41] Quoted by Cean Bermudez, Dicc. Hist., iv. 378. - -[42] There is an illustration of this monument in Mr. Waring’s book. - -[43] See España Sagrada, xxvii. 559. Cean Bermudez, Dicc. Hist. iv. 324, -vi. 285, and Arq. de España, i. 106 and 121. - -[44] “Nobilis Vir Gonsalvus Polauco, atque ejus conjux Eleonora Miranda -hujus sacri altaris auctores hoc tumulo conquiescunt:” “Obiit ille anno -1505 hæc vero 1503.” - -[45] I fear I must add that Roman Catholics still seem to be fond of -western galleries; for one of the most recent, and I hope the most -hideous of their works, the new Italian church in Hatton Garden, has, in -addition to all its other faults, the glaring one of a western gallery -fitted up like an orchestra, whilst the part of the floor which, -according to all old usage, was given to the choir to sing praises to -God, seems from the aspect of the chairs with which it is filled to be -reserved for the more “respectable” part of the congregation! Extremes -meet, and this Italian church would be easily convertible, as it would -be most suitable, to the use of the baldest form of Dissent! - -[46] Ponz, Viage de Esp., xii. 21, gives an inscription on one of the -towers of the castle, which states that Pedro Sanchez, “Criado y -Ballistero,” servant and archer to the King (Enrique II.), was its -Mayordomo during its construction in the year 1295. - -[47] In Braun and Hohenburgius’ Théâtre des Villes, A.D. 1574, there is -a view of Burgos, which must have been drawn somewhat earlier as the -Chapel of the Constable is not shown in the cathedral: San Esteban is -represented with a spire on its tower. - -[48] I particularly refer here to our colonial cathedrals, in which I -wish that the founders would from the first contemplate the erection of -all the proper subordinate buildings, as well as that of the church -itself; and also to those large town churches which we may hope to see -built before long, and served by a staff of clergy working together and -encouraging each other. - -[49] _i.e._ the north side, which would be the side of the Gospel ambon -if it faced in the right direction. As I never saw these galleries used, -I do not know how the ambons were really appropriated. - -[50] The work of Berruguete and his school is so called in Spain from -its plate-like delicacy of work in flat relief. For Renaissance work it -has a certain air of rich beauty, not often attained in other lands; -and, indeed, it is only a debt of justice due to the architects of Spain -from the time of Berruguete in 1500 to that of the ponderously Pagan -Herrera towards the end of the same century, to say, that whatever -faults may be found with their overgreat exuberance and lavish display -of decoration, they nevertheless possessed rare powers of execution, and -a fertility of conception (generally, it must be owned, of very ugly -things), for which they may well be envied by their school now, as they -were in their own day. Indeed, if the revivers of Renaissance in these -days ever think of such a thing as importing a new idea, I wish heartily -that they would go to Spain and study some of her 16th century -buildings. - -[51] The similar but rather earlier iron lectern preserved in the Hôtel -Cluny, at Paris, is well known. See an illustration of it from a drawing -of mine in the second volume of ‘Instrumenta Ecclesiastica’ of the -Ecclesiological Society. - -[52] The curious cemetery at Montmajeur, near Arles, is full of graves -excavated in the rock, and cut out just so as to receive the body; so -too are all our own old stone coffins. See also the illuminations -illustrating the burial office so constantly introduced in books of -“Hours.” - -[53] Vol. xxvii. p. 675. - -[54] This is a very common Flemish custom; but whether the Flemings -borrowed it from Spain, or _vice versâ_, I cannot say. - -[55] Iron pulpits were not unknown in England in the middle ages. There -was one in Durham Cathedral. See ‘Ancient Rites of Durham,’ p. 40. - -[56] A drawing of this door is given by Mr. Waring, ‘Architectural -Studies in Burgos,’ pl. 39. - -[57] España Sagrada, vol. xxvi. p. 382-387, and vol. xxvii. p. 540. - -[58] “Qui venerandus Pontifex hanc ecclesiam cum sacristia et capitulo -suis sumptibus ædificavit.”--España Sagrada, xxvi. p. 387. The cloister -was rebuilt by Alonso de Burgos, Bishop of Palencia, cir. 1480-99.--G. -G. Dávila, Teatro Eccl. ii. 174. - -[59] The inscription on the monument of Gonsalvo, Bishop of Sigüenza, -contained the following passage: “Hic venerandus Pontifex fuit filius, -_ex legitimo matrimonio_ natus, Reverendi Pontificis Dñi Pauli,” &c. - -[60] Ceau Bermudez, Arq. y Arquos. de España, i. 103. - -[61] In ‘L’Univers Pittoresque, Espagne,’ vol. xxxi. pl. 54, is a view -of the ruin of the west end (apparently) of the convent of Carmelites at -Burgos; it is a very richly sculptured and panelled front of the most -florid kind of latest Pointed, and in a ruinous state. - -[62] The first stone of the cathedral was laid on the 1st of June, 1321, -by Cardinal Arnoldo, legate of Juan XXII., assisted by Juan II., Bishop -of Palencia, and six other bishops, among whom was the Bishop of -Bayonne; “and the first prebendary who had charge of the works -(‘obrero’) in this holy church was Juan Perez de Aceves, Canon and Prior -of Usillos, who assisted in laying the first stone with the legate and -the bishops.”--G. G. Dávila, Teatro Eccl. ii. 159. - -[63] In 1504 the conclusion of the cathedral of Palencia was undertaken -by Martin de Solórzano, an inhabitant of Sta. Maria de Haces, under the -condition that he should finish his work in six years, with stone from -the quarries of Paredes del Monte and Fuentes de Valdepero. Salórzano, -however, died in 1506, and Juan de Ruesga, a native of Segovia, finished -it.--Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, vol. i. p. 142. - -[64] Gil Gonzalez Dávila, ‘Iglesia de Palencia,’ fol. 164, gives a -letter from the Chapter to the Bishop D. Sancho de Rojas, begging for -money for the work. The Chapter state that the stalls are to cost 76,000 -maravedis, and that they are the work of “Maestro Centellas,” and that -they propose to adorn the Bishop’s seat with four achievements of arms. -The bishop at the time this letter was written was at Valencia, -assisting at the wedding of Alonso, Prince of Gerona, and the daughter -of King D. Enrique III.--G. G. Dávila, Teatro Eccl. ii. 164. - -[65] Cean Bermudez, Dicc. Hist., vol. ii. p. 236. - -[66] Ibid., vol. v. p. 121. - -[67] Also in his (D. Sancho de Rojas, A.D. 1397 to A.D. 1411) time was -built the Capilla mayor, which is now the “Parroquia” of the church.--G. -G. Dávila, Teatro Eccl., ii. 164. - -[68] Cristóbal Andino made the Reja of the Capilla mayor in A.D. 1520 -for 1500 ducats, and in 1530 the screen for 430 ducats, and Gaspar -Rodriguez made that of the Coro in 1555 for the sum of 3600 gold ducats, -paid by the bequest of Bishop D. Luis Cabeza de Vaca. - -[69] Cean Bermudez, ‘Arq. Esp.’ i. 60, says the date 1535 exists on the -door from the church to the cloister: and G. G. Dávila, Teatro Ecc., ii. -p. 171, says that in the time of D. Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca -(translated to Burgos in A.D. 1514) the greater part of the chapels from -the crossing downwards were built, as also the cloister and -Chapter-house. The same bishop gave the stairs leading to the well of S. -Antholin, repaired the dormitories, and gave to the sacristy a rich set -of altar vestments (terno) of brocade, four tapestries of ecclesiastical -history, and four others of “Salve Regina.” - -[70] The stained glass which once adorned the church was executed by -Diego de Salcedo in 1542, at the price of 100 maravedis each palm (cada -palmo).--Cean Bermudez, Dicc. Hist., vol. iv. p. 304. - -[71] This rare arrangement is seen in the church of the Frari at Venice, -and in the church of the Capuchins at Lugo. - -[72] Madoz, Dicc. de España. - -[73] It should be compared, for instance, with the church of the -Eremitani at Padua, and the church of San Fermo Maggiore at Verona. - -[74] We put up at the Fonda de Paris, in the Plaza Sta. Ana--a good inn, -kept by some natives of Belliuzona, who took a good deal of trouble for -me, and whose hotel may safely be recommended. - -[75] ‘Viage de España,’ vol. xi. p. 38. - -[76] Plate III. - -[77] The Retablo of the high altar is (except the figure of the Blessed -Virgin) a work of Juan de Juni (circa A.D. 1556-1583). He had studied -under Michael Angelo, and was either an Italian or a Fleming. I am sorry -to differ from Mr. Ford as to the merits of this artist; but I must say -that I never saw figures so violently twisted and distorted, so affected -and unnatural, or coloured decorations so gaudy and contemptible as -those in which he indulged. At the same time, his works are so -characteristic of his period and school as to deserve examination, even -if they provoke contempt. - -[78] Historia de Valladolid, vol. ii. p. 181. - -[79] Sagrador y Vitores, Hist. de Valladolid, vol. ii. p. 186. - -[80] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp. i. 109. - -[81] Sagrador y Vitores, Hist. de Valladolid, ii. 263-268. - -[82] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp. i. 128. - -[83] Enrique de Egas built the Hospital of Sta. Cruz, at Toledo, between -1504 and 1514. His work at Valladolid is still half Gothic; a few years -later, at Toledo, it is completely Renaissance in style. It is seldom -that we can trace this radical change of style in the work of the same -man. - -[84] Little meets the eye, but still I have had several new -establishments of regular clergy pointed out to me, and the Church in -Spain is already, no doubt, regaining something of what she has lost in -revolutions and wars. - -[85] Handbook of Spain, vol. ii. p. 572. - -[86] Berruguete was not dissatisfied with his work. In a letter from him -to Andrés de Nágera (given by Sagrador y Vitores in his History of -Valladolid, vol. ii. p. 257) he expresses his own extreme satisfaction -in the most unreserved way. - -[87] The remarkable brick buildings of Toulouse and its neighbourhood -are similarly constructed; so, too, are those not less remarkable works -at Lübeck and elsewhere in the north of Germany. - -[88] Plate IV. - -[89] It is doubtful whether this surname is correct, and whether it is -not old Spanish for “Vixit” in the inscription on his tomb.--Ford, -Handbook, p. 521. - -[90] Teatro Eccl., iii. 236-8. - -[91] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. 21. - -[92] G. G. Dávila, Teat. Eccl., iii. 344. - -[93] Plate IV. - -[94] The statues at the angles of the lantern are of our Lord, the B. V. -M., an angel, and a bishop. - -[95] Don Miguel, priest of San Juan, Medina del Campo, made a donation -to the church in A.D. 1178, to complete the work of the cathedral. The -Chapter-house is probably of about this date or a little later.--Cean -Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. 23. - -[96] I use the modern terms, which seem to express their offices. The -original words are J. G. de Hontañon, “maestro de canteria para maestro -principal, y en Juan Campero, cautero, para aparejador.” - -[97] Two inscriptions on stones on the church give the dates of its -commencement and first use. - -“+ Hoc Templum inceptum est anno a nativitate Domini millesimo -quingentesimo tercio decimo die Jovis duodecima mensis Maii.” - -“+ Pio. IV. Papa, Philippo II. Rege. Francisco Manrique de Lara, -Episcopo, ex vetere ad hoc templum facta translatio xxv. Martii anno a -Cristo nato 1560.”--G. G. Dávila, Teat. Ecc., iii. 320, 344. - -[98] It will be seen presently that in the somewhat similar cathedral at -Zamora the Romanesque steeple occupies precisely the same position as -this. It is possible that when the Junta sat the steeple they spoke of -was of the same age as the old church, and that it has been subsequently -recast in Renaissance. - -[99] Yet I think a more careful search would be rewarded, for we know of -the consecration of several churches at an early date, and Mr. Ford -speaks of them as still existing. - - Church of San Nicholas, consecrated 11 Kal. Nov. 1192. - Do. San Pedro, do. Nov. 1202. - Church of Sta. Maria de los Caballeros, consecrated Nov. 1214. - Do. San Emilian, do. Nov. 1226. - Do. S. Michael, do. Nov. 1238. - --G. G. Dávila, Teatro Eccl., iii. pp. 272-4. - - -[100] Plate IV. - -[101] G. G. Dávila, Teatro Eccl., ii. 397. Dávila’s statement, supported -by the inscription on his tomb, is that Bernardo was the first Bishop of -Zamora; but this does not appear to accord exactly with the result at -which Florez arrives. His statement is that Gerónimo was the first -Bishop of Zamora after a long hiatus, that he was succeeded by Bernardo, -and that both these bishops were appointed by Bernard of Toledo, and -both were natives of Périgord. The fact seems to be that Gerónimo was -Bishop of Valencia, and had to fly thence when the Moors regained -possession after the Cid’s death, and that he was then made Bishop of -Salamanca. It is certainly not a little curious that two of the -eleventh-century bishops of Zamora should have come from a district -where all the vaulting is more or less domical, and that we should have -in their cathedral one of the most remarkable examples of a domed -church. It will be recollected that nearly the same facts have been -mentioned in regard to Salamanca. See Esp. Sag., vol. xiv. pp. 362-368, -and p. 79 _ante_. - -[102] - - Fit domus hista quidem, veluti Salomonica capridem - Huc adhibite fidem: domus hæc successit eidem. - Sumptibus, et magnis viginti fit tribus annis. - A quo fundatur, Domino faciente sacratur. - Anno millessimo, centessimo, septuagesimo. - Quarto completur, Stephanus, qui fecit habetur. - Alfonsus imperator, Rex Septimus fundavit. - - G. G. Dávila, Teat. Eccl., ii. 397-8. - -The same historian says that King Fernando I. rebuilt the city of Zamora -with very strong walls in 1055.--ii. 395. - -[103] This I suppose is the chapel of San Ildefonso, founded in 1466 by -the Cardinal D. Juan de Mella, Bishop of Zamora. - -[104] M. Villa-Amil, who gives a view of this transept, has converted -this arcade into a row of windows, presented the doorway with a -sculptured tympanum, and entirely altered the character of the archivolt -enrichment. - -[105] On the north side, the figures and inscriptions are as follow:-- - - 1. Abel. _Vox sanguinis._ - 2. Abraam. _Tres vidit; unum adoravit._ - 3. Joseph. _Melius est ut venundetur._ - 4. Melchisedec. _Rex Salem proferens panem et vinum._ - 5. Job. _De terra surrecturus sum._ - 6. Aaron. _Invenit germinans._ - 7. Samson. _De (comedente exivit cibus)._ - 8. Samuel. _Loquere Domine._ - 9. David. _Dominus dixit ad me, Filius._ - 10. Jeremias. _Dominus._ - 11. Ezekiel. _Porta hæc._ - 12. Oseas (with cross botonnée on breast). _Addam ultra._ - 13. Amos. _Super tribus._ - 14. Micheas. _Percutient maxillam._ - 15. Abacuc. _Exultabo in Deo Jesu meo._ - 16. Sophonias. _Juxta est dies._ - 17. Zacharias. _Jesus erat_. - 18. Nabuchodonosor. _Quartus similis Filio Dei._ - 19. Virgilius Bucol. _Progenies._ - -On the south side:-- - - 1. Moyses. _Prophetam excitabit._ - 2. Isaac. _Vox quidem vox._ - 3. Jacob. _Non auferetur Sceptrum de Juda._ - 4. Balaam. _Orietur stella ex._ - 5. Gedeon. _Si ros solo._ - 6. Helias. _Ambulavit in fortitudine._ - 7. Helisæus. _Vade, et lavare septies._ - 8. Salomon. _Levent servi mei._ - 9. Tobias. _Jherusalem._ - 10. Isayas. _Ecce Virgo concipiet._ - 11. Baruch. _Statuam Testamentum illis._ - 12. Daniel. _Septuaginta hebdomades._ - 13. Johel. _Magnus enim dies Domini._ - 14. Jonas. _De ventre._ - 15. Naum. _Ecce super._ - 16. Ageus. _Veniet desideratus._ - 17. Malachias. _A solis ortu usque ad._ - 18. Caiaphas. _Expedit vobis._ - 19. Centurio. _Vere Filius._ - - -[106] See plan, Plate VIII. - -[107] The western doorways of Salisbury Cathedral are emphatically mere -“holes in the wall,” and very characteristic, too. - -[108] I add Dr. Neale’s notes of two churches here which I did not -discover. - -“San Juan de la Puerta Nueva. Principally of Flamboyant date, has a -square east end. The whole breadth of the church is here under one -vault, the span somewhere about sixty feet. The north porch, separated -by a parclose from the chapel of the Cross, has an excellent -Transitional door. The western façade has a middle-pointed window of -five lights. - -“San Pedro. Has had its originally-distinct nave and aisles thrown into -one in Flamboyant times, and vaulted with an immense span.” - -[109] Nevertheless, Dr. Neale describes it as existing, and so, no -doubt, it does.--‘An Ecclesiological Tour,’ Ecclesiologist, vol. xiv. p. -361. - -[110] See plan, Plate VIII. - -[111] There is an inscription on the south-east buttress of the transept -which, I believe, refers to the date of the church; but, unfortunately, -though I noticed it, I forgot to write it down. - -[112] See Catologo de los Obispos de Leon. Cixila II. Esp. Sag., xxxiv. -211. - -[113] In a deed of the 20th March, A.D. 1175, mention is made of Pedro -Cebrian, “Maestro de la Obra de la Catedral,” and of Pedro Gallego, -“Gobernador de las Torres.” It is possible, of course, that Cebrian may -have been the architect of the new cathedral if it was commenced between -1181 and 1205, but I do not believe that this was the case; and the real -architect was, more probably one who is thus mentioned in the book of -Obits of the cathedral: “Eodem die VII. idus Julii, sub era MCCCXV. -obiit Henricus, magister operis,” and who, dying in the year 1277, may -well have designed the greater portion of the work. At a later date, in -1513, Juan de Badajoz was architect of the cathedral, and may probably -have finished one of the steeples.--Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. -37, 38. - -[114] “Hoc tempore,” he says, “ampliata est fides Catholica in Hispania, -et licet multi Regnum Legionense bellis impeterent, tamen Ecclesiæ -regalibus muneribus ditatæ sunt in tantum, ut antiquæ destruerentur -Ecclesiæ, quæ magnis sumptibus fuerant fabricatæ, et multo nobiliores et -pulchriores in toto Regno Legionensi fuudarentur. Tunc reverendus -Episcopus Legionensis Manricus ejusdem Sedis Ecclesiam fundavit opere -magno, sed eam ad perfectionem non duxit.” - -[115] “Cum igitur,” they say, “ad fabricam Ecclesiæ Sauctæ Mariæ -Legionensis quæ de novo construitur, et magnis indiget sumptibus, -propriæ non suppetant facultates, universitatem vestram -rogamus,”--“quatenus de bonis vobis a Deo collatis eidem fabricæ pias -eleemosynas de vestris facultatibus tribuatis, ut per hæc, et alia bona -opera, quæ inspirante Deo feceritis, ad eterna possitis gaudia -pervenire.” This indulgence is preserved in the archives of the -cathedral.--España Sagrada, xxxv. p. 269. - -[116] “Cum igitur Ecclesia Beatæ Mariæ Legion. Sedis ædificetur de novo -opere quamplurimum sumptuoso, et absque fidelium adminiculo non possit -feliciter consummari, universitatem vestram monemus et exhortamur in -Domino,” &c. &c.; “ut per subventionem vestram, quod ibidem inceptum -est, ad effectum optatum valeat pervenire,” &c., given in the general -Council of Leon, 10 Kal. Aug. A.D. 1273.--España Sagrada, xxxv. p. 270. - -[117] Plate V. - -[118] So, at least, I was assured by the superintendent of the works at -the cathedral. Some of the material I saw was no doubt tufa; but some of -it seemed to me to be an exceedingly light kind of concrete. The -vaulting of Salisbury Cathedral is similarly constructed. I do not know -whether at Beauvais the same expedient was adopted to lessen the weight. - -[119] The three crucifixes at the entrance to the cemetery at Nuremberg -will be remembered by all who have ever seen them; and such a group -would have made a fitting centre for such a cloister as this at Leon. - -[120] This conceit is illustrated more elaborately than I have elsewhere -seen it in a palace near San Isidoro, where the angle windows are -designed and executed in a sort of perspective, which is inexpressibly -bad in effect. - -[121] _Not_ a crucifix. - -[122] Witness Mr. E. Burne Jones’s beautiful picture over the altar of -S. Paul, Brighton, and Mr. D. G. Rossetti’s at Llandaff. - -[123] Teatro Ecclesiastico, i. p. 365. - -[124] “Hic requiescit Petrus de Deo, qui superædificavit Ecclesiam hanc. -Iste fundavit pontem, qui dicitur de Deus tamben: et quia erat vir miræ -abstinentiæ et multis florebat miraculis, omnes eum laudibus -prædicabant. Sepultus est hic ab Imperatore Adefonso et Sancia Regina.” -Esp. Sag., xxxv. p. 356. G. G. Dávila, Teatro Eccles., i. p. 340. Dávila -adds the words “servus Dei” before the name of the architect. - -[125] See Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. p. 14. - -[126] The whole of this deed of endowment is interesting. I quote a few -lines only, which have some interest, as bearing, among other things, on -the Gothic crowns found at Guarrazar, and mentioned at p. 212. -“Offerimus igitur” “ornamenta altariorum: id est, frontale ex auro puro -opere digno cum lapidibus smaragdis, safiris, et omnia genere pretiosis -et olovitreis: alios similiter tres frontales argenteos singulis -altaribus: Coronas tres aureas: una ex his cum sex alfas in gyro, et -corona de Alaules intus in ea pendens: alia est de anemnates cum -olivitreo, aurea. Tertia vero est diadema capitis mei,” &c. &c.--Esp. -Sag., xxxvi., Appendix, p. clxxxix. - -[127] “Sub era millesima centesima octuagesima septima, pridie nonas -Martii, facta est Ecclesia Sancti Isidori consecrata per manus Raymundi -Toletanæ Sedis Archiepiscopi, et Joannis Legionensis episcopi,” &c. -&c.--Teatro Eccl., vol. ii., p. 243. See also the similar inscription on -a stone in San Isidoro.--Esp. Sag., vol. xxxv. p. 207. - -[128] Ponz, Viage de España, xi. p. 234. - -[129] Plate VI. - -[130] _E.g._ Segovia, Avila, Salamanca, Benavente, Lérida. - -[131] So, at least, says Cean Bermudez, but without giving his -authority. - -[132] Pallares Gayoso, Hist. de Lugo, from the black book in the -archives. - -[133] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. 25. - -[134] Plate VII. - -[135] A.D. 1577.--Madoz, Dicc. - -[136] Teatro Eccl., iii. 182, 183. - -[137] Plate VIII. - -[138] The following inscription remains on one of the columns on the -north side of the nave:-- - - SANTA : MARIA : RECE - AB : ESTE : PIAR : DE : FON - DO : A TE : CIMA : CON : LA - METADE : DOS : AR - COS : CA : QUELQUE : O : - PAGON : EN : VIII. : IDUS - JULII : ERA : MCCC : XL. - -From which it appears that this column, with the halves of the two -arches springing from it, was built in A.D. 1302. On another column on -the same side is an inscription recording the erection of the Chapel of -the Visitation in A.D. 1374. - -[139] Plate VIII. - -[140] España Sagrada, xix. p. 91. - -[141] Historia del Apostol Sanctiago, by Mauro Castella Ferrer, p. 463. - -[142] The latter document in particular has much architectural interest, -and is worth transcribing in part, on account of its reference to these -early buildings, and their materials and furniture. It commences as -follows:-- - -“In nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, edificatum est Templum Sancti -Salvatoris, et Sancti Jacobi Apostoli in locum Arcis Marmoricis -territorio Galleciæ per institutionem gloriosissimi Principis Adefonsi -III. cum conjuge Scemena sub Pontifice loci ejusdem Sisnando Episcopo.” -(877-903.) “Supplex egregii eximii Principis Ordonii proles ego -Adefonsus Principi cum prædicto antistite statuimus ædificare domum -Domini et restaurare Templum ad tumulum sepulchri Apostoli, quod -antiquitus construxerat divæ memoriæ Dominus Adefonsus Magnus ex petra -et luto opere parvo. Nos quidem inspiratione divina adlati cum subditis -ac familia nostra adduximus in sanctum locum ex Hispania inter agmina -Maurorum, quæ eligimus de Civitate Eabecæ petras marmoreas quas avi -nostri ratibus per Pontum transvexerunt, et ex eis pulchras domos -ædificaverunt, quæ ab inimicis destructæ manebant. Unde quoque ostium -principale Occidentalis partis ex ipsis marmoribus est appositum: -supercilia vero liminaris Sedis invenimus sicut antiqua sessio fuerat -miro opere sculpta. Ostium de sinistro juxta Oraculum Baptistæ et -Martyris Joannis quem simili modo fundavimus, et de puris lapidibus -construximus columnas sex cum basibus todidem posuimus, ubi abbobuta -tribunalis est constructa, vel alias columnas sculptas supra quas -portius imminet de oppido Portucalense ratibus deportatas adduximus -quadras, et calcem unde sunt ædificatæ columnæ decem et VIII. cum aliis -columnelis marmoreis simili modo navigio.”--España Sagrada, xix. p. 344, -Appendix. - -[143] Handbook of Spain, pp. 600-605. - -[144] The authors of the ‘Manual del Viagero en la Catedral de Santiago’ -are, however, not quite of this opinion. They say of it, “The monument -which we examine belongs not to Santiago, to Galicia, to Spain, but is -the patrimony of the Christian religion, of the Catholic world; since in -all fervent souls something remains of the ancient and fervent faith of -our forefathers.” This guide-book, by the way, is one of the worst I -ever met with. - -[145] The twentieth volume of ‘España Sagrada’ is entirely occupied with -the reprint of this chronicle. - -[146] Histor. Compost, lib. iii. cap. 1. - -[147] “Postquam supradictus Episcopus,” “ad Ecclesiam Patroni sui B. -Jacobi Apostoli rediens, circa eam indefessam solicitudinem exhibuit.” -“Reversus itaque a supradicta expeditione, vetustissimam Ecclesiolam -obrui præcepit, quæ intra immensam novæ ecclesiæ capacitatem imminente -ruina lapsum minabatur. Hæc in longitudinem ad altare B. Jacobi -protendebatur ab illo pilari qui juxta principalem ecclesiæ parietem, et -secus unum de quatuor principalibus pilaribus existit, in sinistra parte -superiorem partem chori ingredientibus pone relinquitur, et juxta fores -pontificalis Palatii Ecclesiam introeuntibus, recta fronte opponitur, et -in alia parte, id est in dextera, a pilari opposito supradicto pilari -usque ad idem altare: latitudo vero illius eadem quæ modo et chori est. -Destructa illa Ecclesia in era I.C.L.” (A.D. 1112.) “quæ quasi -obumbraculum totius Ecclesiæ esse videbatur, Chorum satis competentem -ibidem composuit, qui usque in hodiernum diem Dei gratia et B. Jacobi -per industriam ejusdem Episcopi optimi Cleri excellentia egregie -decoratur. Ipse quoque Episcopus, utpote sapiens architectus, in ejusdem -chori dextro capite fecit supereminens pulpitum, in quo Cantores, atque -Subdiacones officii sui ordinem peragunt. In sinistro vero aliud, ubi -lectiones et Evangelia leguntur. Est autem B. Jacobi specialis et -præclara nova ecclesia incæpta Era I. C. XVI.--V. idus Jul.” (A.D. -1078.) Histor. Compost., lib. i. cap. 78. - -[148] The Archbishop’s words were as follows:--“Fratres, nostra ecclesia -non nostris sed Dei gratia et nostri Patroni Beatissimi Apostoli Jacobi -meritis maximi et celeberrimi est nominis, et ultra portus et citra -portus pro ditissima et nobilissima reputatur.” “Quælibet Sedes ultra -portus pulchriora et valentiora ædificia habet quam nostra,” &c. -&c.--Hist. Compost., lib. iii. cap. 1. - -[149] Histor. Compost., lib. ii. cap. 64. - -[150] Ibid., lib. iii. cap. 36. - -[151] See Appendix. - -[152] Before this time, in 1161, Master Matthew had built the bridge of -Cesures in Gallicia.--Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. 33. - -[153] “Era: millena: nova: vicies: duodena.” - -[154] By a strange coincidence, S. Sernin boasts of having, among the -bones of several of the apostles, those of S. James; though, of course, -this would be strongly denied at Compostella. - -[155] The church from which the cathedral at Santiago was copied is one -of a considerable number in France, all of which have the same general -characteristics. I have already given some description of them in a -paper read before the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1861, and -published in their Transactions. The following list of some of the more -remarkable examples will show both their date and locale:--Conques, -completed in A.D. 1060; S. Etienne, Nevers, commenced in A.D. 1063, -consecrated A.D. 1097; S. Eutrope, Saintes, consecrated in A.D. 1096; S. -Genes, A.D. 1016-1120; S. Hilary, Poitiers, A.D. 1049; Montierneuf, -Poitiers, A.D. 1069-1096; S. Radigonde, Poitiers, A.D. 1099; S. Amable, -Riom, A.D. 1077-1120; S. Sernin, Toulouse, A.D. 1060-1096; Cluny, A.D. -1089-1131; Dorat (Haute Vienne) and Bénévente (Creuse), A.D. 1150-1200; -S. Saturnin; Volvic; Issoire; S. Nectaire; N. D. du Port, Clermont -Ferrand, circa A.D. 1080-1160; Brioude, A.D. 1200. There is a church of -similar construction at Granson, on the lake of Neufchâtel. These -churches agree generally in their plans, but especially in those of -their chevets (which almost invariably have chapels in the alternate -bays only). Their sections are also alike, the triforia galleries being -always vaulted with a continuous half-barrel or quadrant vault, and they -have no clerestories. No doubt they were always intended to receive -stone roofs, without any use of timber; and this mode of covering has -been carefully restored recently at N. D. du Port, Clermont Ferrand. - -[156] This façade was designed by D. Ventura Rodriguez, in 1764. - -[157] The ground-plan of this chapel is shown on Plate IX., above the -plan of the cathedral. - -[158] The sacristan will not trouble himself to show this chapel, and it -was by a mere accident that I discovered its existence. The keys are -kept by the carpenter of the chapter, whose shop is below the -chapter-house. - -[159] The seminario on the west, the hospital on the north, and the -College of San Jerónimo on the south side. - -[160] This is the Puerta Santa, and is only opened by the archbishop in -years of jubilee. - -[161] It is just open to doubt whether the small circular window over -the other is original, but I think the similarity to S. Sernin is in -favour of its being so, in spite of some awkwardness in the mode of its -introduction, which would otherwise have inclined me to doubt it. - -[162] See the illustration of this doorway in the frontispiece. - -[163] I could not discern the meaning of a rite the people perform here. -They kneel down and put the thumb and three fingers of one hand into -some cavities just fitted for them in the sculpture of the central -shaft, and then with the other hand throw sand down the throats of the -monsters. Some people evidently did this much to their own satisfaction, -whilst an acolyte called my attention to the practice as being curious -and unintelligible. - -[164] España Sag., vol. xix. - -[165] This practice illustrates the intention of the singular pilgrimage -chapel at the west end of Lapworth church, Warwickshire, which has two -newel staircases to its small upper chamber, evidently intended to -facilitate the passage of a crowd of people. - -[166] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. p. 105. - -[167] “Don Juan of Medina, Bishop of Segovia, Abbat of Medina, President -of the Cortes, Chancellor of Valladolid, ordered this chapel to be made -in the year 1503. Laus Deo.” - -[168] The walls near San Vicente are 42 feet high by 14 feet thick, and -the towers of the gateway upwards of 60 feet in height. - -[169] Ariz, Historia de Avila, part ii. p. 13. Ponz, Viage de España, -xii. 308-9. - -[170] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, vol. i. p. 18. - -[171] España Sagrada, xxxviii. p. 134. - -[172] See ground-plan, Plate X. - -[173] See ground-plan, Plate XXIII. - -[174] Teatro Eccl. ii. 258. Dávila, among the celebrities of Avila, -includes himself, “the least of all, Pulvis et umbra.” One is surprised -to find in his account of his own town so little really original matter -as to the history or the date of its buildings. - -[175] Juan de Borgoña contracted on March 23, 1508, to paint five -pictures which were lacking in this Retablo, receiving 15,000 maravedis -for each, and binding himself to finish them by All Saints’ Day of the -same year. - -[176] Plate XI. - -[177] See the illustration of San Esteban, Segovia. - -[178] Teatro Eccl. ii. 230. - -[179] Teatro Eccl. ii. 229. - -[180] Teatro Eccl. ii. 230. - -[181] “In 1465 the sepulchre of the martyrs was made by donations from -the Catholic kings, prelates,” &c. D. Andres H. Gallejo, ‘Memoria sobre -la Basilica de San Vicente,’ p. 13. This date can only refer to the -canopy. - -[182] The following inscriptions on churches in Avila are given by G. G. -Dávila. On a stone in San Nicolas, “In honorem B. Nicolai dedicavit hanc -ecclesiam Jacobus Abulensis Episcopus, &c. &c., vi. Kal. Novembris, era -MCC.XXXVI.” On a stone in San Bartolomeo, “In honorem S. Bartholomei -Apost. dedicavit hanc ecclesiam Petrus Episcopus, &c. &c., vii. idus -Decembris, MCCXLVIII.” The same bishop consecrated San Domingo in 1240. - -[183] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, vol. i. p. 113. This convent is -said to have been founded by the Catholic monarchs entirely with the -confiscated goods of Jews. - -[184] Cean Bermudez, Dicc., &c., de los Bellas Artes en España, vol. ii. -p. 125. - -[185] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. p. 214. - -[186] Here lies Rodrigo Gil de Hontañon, Master of the Works of this -Holy Church. He died the 31st of May, 1577. He set the first stone, -which the Bishop D. Diego de Ribera laid on the 8th of June, 1525. - -[187] Plate XII. - -[188] See ground-plan, Plate VIII. - -[189] Colmenares (Historia de la insigne Ciudad de Segovia; Segovia. -1637) gives the date of the first foundation 1447, but the buildings do -not seem to have been begun before 1474, and the vaulting was finished -in 1485.--Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. p. 111. - -[190] These particulars are all given in Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, -i. pp. 111, 120, 146. - -[191] See Plate VIII. - -[192] See ground-plan, Plate VIII. - -[193] San Millan is said to have been founded in A.D. 923, and similar -early dates are given for Sta. Columba and San Esteban: none of them, I -believe, retain any features of so great an antiquity. - -[194] I did not see the church of San Lorenzo. It has three eastern -apses, and an arcaded cloister on the western and southern sides, some -of the arches being round and some pointed. The detail is all of the -same kind as in other examples here, with much delicate imitation of -natural foliage.--See Illustration in Monos. Arqos. de España. - -[195] The illustration of this courtyard is engraved from a photograph. - -[196] See ground-plan, Plate XIII. - -[197] Teatro Eccl., vol. i. pp. 131-148. - -[198] See an illustration of this window on the ground-plan of Sigüenza -Cathedral, Plate XIII. - -[199] Hoc. claustrum. a. fundamentis, fieri, maudavit. Reverendissimus. -Dominus. B. Carvaial. Car. S. +. in. Jerusalem. patriarcha. -Ierosolimitan. episcopus. Tusculan. Antistes. hujus. alme. basilice. -quod. cempletum. fuit. de. mense. Novembris. anno. Salutis. -M.C.C.C.C.C.V.II. procurante. D. Serrano. Abbate. S. Columbe. ejusdem. -ecclesiæ. operario. - -[200] B: Carvaial: Car: S: +: eps: Saguntin: - -[201] Teatro Eccl., i 161. - -[202] Señor Cabezas, a commissionaire, to be heard of at the Fonda de -Lino, may be recommended. He knows all the most interesting churches, as -well as the Moorish remains; and to see these last it is indispensable -to have some conductor who knows both them and their owners. - -[203] This castle is said by Ponz to have been built by Archbishop -Tenorio, circa 1340.--Viage de España, i. 163. - -[204] It seems that the bridge of Alcantara fell down in the year 1211, -and when it was repaired Enrique I. built a tower for the better defence -of the city, as is recorded in an inscription given by Estevan de -Garibay as follows: “Henrrik, son of the king Alfonso, ordered this -tower and gate to be made, to the honour of God, by the hand of Matheo -Paradiso in the _era_ 1255” (A.D. 1217). In A.D. 1258 the king D. Alonso -“el Sabio” rebuilt the bridge, and put the following inscription on a -piece of marble over the point of the arch: “In the year 1258 from the -incarnation of Lord Jesus Christ, was the grand deluge of water, which -commenced before the month of August, and lasted until Thursday the 26th -of December; and the fall of rain was very great in most lands, and did -great damage in many places, and especially in Spain, where most of the -bridges fell; and among all the others was demolished a great part of -that bridge of Toledo, which Halaf, son of Mahomet Alameri, Alcalde of -Toledo, had made by command of Almansor Aboaamir Mahomet, son of -Abihamir, Alquazil of Amir Almomenin Hixem; and it was finished in the -time of the Moors, 387 years before this time; and the king, D. Alonso, -son of the noble king D. Fernando, and of the queen Doña Beatriz, who -reigned in Castile, had it repaired and renovated; and it was finished -in the eighth year of his reign, in the year of the Incarnation 1258.” -Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. p. 254-255. The bridge was restored -again by Archbishop Tenorio in 1380, and fortified in 1484 by Andres -Manrique.--Ford, Handbook of Spain, p. 783. - -[205] I must mention in this place one very curious collection of relics -of the age of the Gothic kings of Spain. This is the marvellous group of -votive crowns discovered in 1858 in a place called La Fuente de -Guarrazar, in the environs of Toledo, and which were immediately -purchased by the Emperor of the French for the Museum of the Hôtel de -Cluny. They consist of five or six crowns, with crosses suspended from -them, and three smaller crowns without crosses. They are of gold, and -made with thin plates of gold stamped with a pattern, and they have gold -chains for hanging them up by, and are adorned with an infinity of -stones. They have been illustrated in a volume published by M. F. de -Lasteyrie, with explanatory text. I cannot do better than quote the -conclusions at which he arrives: “(1) The crowns found at Guarrazar are -eminently votive crowns. (2) They have never been worn. (3) Their -construction belongs probably to the age of Reccesvinthus and the -episcopate of S. Ildefonso, who excited so great a devotion to the -Blessed Virgin in Spain. (4) One of the crowns was offered by -Reccesvinthus (whose name, formed in letters suspended from its edge, -occurs on it); possibly the next in size may have been given by the -queen, and the rest by their officers. (5) The place from which they -came was a chapel called N. Dame des Cormiers. (6) All of the crowns, -though found in Spain, appear to belong to an art of the same northern -origin as the conquering dynasty which then occupied the throne. They -certainly give the idea of an extraordinary skill in the gold-smiths’ -art at this early period (circa 650-672), and it is probable that they -had been buried where they were found at the time that the Moors entered -Toledo as conquerors in A.D. 711.”--See Description du Trésor de -Guarrazar, &c., par Ferdinand de Lasteyrie, Paris, 1860. Since this -discovery some other crowns have been found in the same neighbourhood, -and these are, I believe, preserved at Madrid. They have been described -in a short paper in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, to -which I must refer my readers. The crowns preserved at the Hôtel Cluny -certainly form one of the greatest attractions in that attractive -collection. They are in a singularly perfect state of preservation. -Their workmanship is rather rude, and they all appear to be of as nearly -as possible the same age and manufacture. There can be no question that -M. F. de Lasteyrie is right in saying that they were never worn as -crowns; they were designed for suspension before an altar, and most of -them have crosses hanging from them. The largest crown--that of -Reccesvinthus, is formed of two plates of gold, the inner plate plain, -the outer pierced, beaten up, and set with very large stones. The plates -of gold in many cases are stamped with a pattern. At the top and bottom -of the plate which forms the coronet is a narrow band of cloisonnée -gold, the spaces in which seem to have been filled with glass or -red-coloured enamel. The largest crown is eight-and-a-half inches in -diameter, and has a splendid jewelled cross suspended from its centre, -and the name of the king in large Roman letters hung by chains from its -lower edge, and formed of cloisonnée gold. When I see such work done in -the seventh century, and then look at modern jeweller’s work, I am -tempted to think that the much vaunted progress of the world is not -always in the right direction. Gold and silver ornaments were exported -from Spain to so considerable an extent, that the tiara of the Pope, -being richly wrought with precious metal, was called -_Spanoclista_.--Masdeu, Hist. Critica. - -[206] “The Christians, in all matters exclusively relating to -themselves, were governed by their own laws, administered by their own -judges. Their churches and monasteries (rosæ inter spinas) were -scattered over the principal towns, and their clergy were allowed to -display the costume and celebrate the pompous ceremonial of the Romish -religion.”--Prescott, Hist. of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. i. p. 5. - -[207] Sta. Justa (founded in 554), Sta. Eulalia (559), San Sebastian -(601), San Marcos (634), San Lucas (641), San Torcuato (700), and -Nuestra Señora del Arribal were the churches so granted for the use of -the Mozarabic Liturgy. See D. Manuel de Assas, ‘Album Art. de Toledo,’ -Art. II., and D. Sisto Ramon Parro, ‘Toledo en la Mano,’ p. 167 et seq. - -[208] “The most remarkable buildings which illustrate the Mahomedan -architecture in Toledo are the following:--The Mosque, now church of -Cristo de la Luz, the Synagogues Sta. Maria la Blanca and El Transito, -the church of San Roman--probably once a Mosque or Synagogue--the -gateways De Visagra and Del Sol, and one on the Bridge of Alcantara, the -Alcazar, the Palace of D. Diego, the Casa de Mesa, the Taller del Moro, -the Temple (No. 10, Calle de San Miguel), the College of Saint -Catherine, the house No. 17, Calle de las Tornerias, the ruins of the -Palace of Villena, those of St. Augustine, of San Ginés, the Baths de la -Cava, the Castle of San Servando (or Cervantes), the Palace of Galiena, -and finally the Churches of SS. Ursula, Torcuato, Isabel, Marcos, Justo, -Juan de la Penitencia, Miguel, Magdalena, Concepcion, Sta. Fé, Santiago, -Cristo de la Vega (or Sta. Leocadia), SS. Tomé and Bartolomé.”--D. -Manuel de Assas, Album Artist. de Toledo, and Toledo Pintoresca, Don J. -Amador de los Rios. There are other remains, and among them a very fine -room behind the house, No. 6, Calle la Plata. - -[209] Ponz, Viage de España, vol. i. p. 210, gives a view of the -considerable remains of a Roman aqueduct. I believe these have now -entirely disappeared. - -[210] There is a view in Villa Amil’s work of this interior, but the -scale of the figures introduced is so much too small as to increase -largely the apparent size of the building; otherwise the drawing is -fairly correct. The illustration which I give is borrowed from Mr. -Fergusson’s ‘Handbook of Architecture,’ and is from a drawing by M. -Girault de Prangey. - -[211] I find that Archbishop Rodrigo consecrated the church of San Roman -on the 20th of June, 1221. See his Historia de Rebus Hispaniæ, in España -Sagrada, vol. ii. p. 23. - -[212] San Vicente Ferrer is said to have converted more than 4000 -Toledan Jews in one day in the year 1407; and in 1413 a vast number were -converted in Zaragoza, Calatayud, and elsewhere in the north of Spain. -One cannot but fear that coming events in this case cast their shadows -before them, and that the Jews had a shrewd suspicion of the coming of -the edict of 1492, by which 170,000 Jewish families were ordered to -leave the kingdom if they would not be baptized. The establishment of -the Inquisition was the necessary consequence of such an edict. See Don -J. Amador de los Rios, Estudios sobre los Judios de España, pp. 84, 106, -156. - -The illustration which I give of the interior of this synagogue is -borrowed from Mr. Fergusson’s ‘Handbook of Architecture.’ The original -view is in M. Villa-Amil’s work, and gives a fairly correct -representation of the general effect of the building. - -[213] Said to have been so called on account of the passing-bell rung at -the death of any of the Knights of Calatrava, to which it belonged after -A.D. 1492; but more probably owing to its possession of a picture of the -Assumption, the church having sometimes been called Nuestra Señora del -Transito. It is also called San Benito. See D. Man. de Assas, Alb. Art. -de Toledo. - -[214] For some notice of Samuel Levi, and the inscriptions in the -Synagogue, see Don José Amador de los Rios, Estudios sobre los Judios de -España, pp. 52-7. Translations of these long and curious Hebrew -inscriptions are given by D. F. de Rades y Andrada in his Chronicle of -Calatrava, pp. 24, 25. - -[215] The capture of Granada, on Jan. 2nd, 1492, and the expulsion of -the Jews at the end of July in the same year, were jointly recorded over -the door “del Escribanos” at the west end of the cathedral; and at the -same time so great was the zeal for the Christian faith that nothing -else was tolerated anywhere in Spain, and least of all here under the -eye of the Primate. Yet it is more than doubtful whether the country -gained in any way--moral or material--by such a measure; it lost its -most skilled workmen, its most skilled agriculturists; and the -gloom-inspiring effect of the necessary Inquisition, seems permanently -to have fixed itself on Spanish art and manners. 170,000 families of -Jews, at the time of their expulsion, were compelled to leave the -kingdom in four months, or be baptized.--Don J. A. de los Rios, Estudios -s. l. Judios, p. 156. - -[216] From _artesa_, a kneading-trough; a carved ceiling, made in the -shape of an inverted trough. This term is usually applied by Spanish -writers to this class of roof, and I follow Mr. Ford’s example in -adopting it, as we have no term which exactly represents it. - -[217] Viage de España, vol. i. p. 41. - -[218] España Art. y Mon., vol. i. p. 78. - -[219] I am aware that in saying this I blame myself as much as any one -else. The truth is, that so violent is the popular prejudice on some -points that he must be a bold architect who ventures to run counter to -it; and I am quite sure that the first brick building I erect with the -brickwork executed in the proper way will be met by a storm of abuse -from all sides. This is a great snare to most of us. Nothing is more -easy than to secure popular applause in architecture. If we abstain from -study, thought, or over-labour about the execution of every detail, we -may still do what every one will agree is right and proper, because it -has been done five hundred times before; but if we only give a fair -amount of all three we are sure to meet with plenty of critics who never -give any of either, and who hate our work in proportion to their own -incapacity to criticize it from their old standpoint. - -[220] A good illustration of San Tomé is given in Villa Amil, vol. ii. - -[221] Toledo en La Mano, pp. 249 et seq. Escosura in Villa Amil, vol. -ii. p. 51. - -[222] Ford’s Handbook, p. 777. - -[223] see ante, p. 210. - -[224] An inscription was put up in the time of Philip II. giving the -history of the bridge, and stating that it had been rebuilt by Pedro -Tenorio, the archbishop: “Pontem cujus ruinæ in declivis alveo proxime -visuntur, fluminis inundatione, quæ anno Domini MCCIII. super ipsum -excrevit, diruptum Toletani in hoc loco ædificaverunt. Imbecilla hominum -consilia, quem jam amnis lædere non poterat, Petro et Henrico fratribus -pro regno contendentibus interruptum, Petrus Tenorius archiepiscopus -Toletan. reparâdum curavit.” - -A quaint story is told of the building of this bridge. The architect -whilst the work was going on perceived that as soon as the centres were -removed the arches would fall, and confided his grief to his wife. She -with woman’s wit forthwith set fire to the centring, and when the whole -fell together all the world attributed the calamity to the accident of -the fire. When the bridge had been rebuilt again she avowed her -proceeding, but Archbishop Tenorio, instead of making her husband pay -the expenses, seems to have confined himself to complimenting him on the -treasure he possessed in his wife.--Cean Bermudez, Not. de los Arquos., -&c., vol. i. p. 79. - -[225] A stone was found in the 16th century with this inscription on -it:-- - - IN NOMINE DNI CONSECRA - TA ECCLESIA SCTE MARIE - IN CATHOLICO DIE PRIMO - IDUS APRILIS ANNO FELI - CITER PRIMO REGNI DNI - NOSTRI GLORIOSISSIMI H - RECCAREDI REGIS ERA - DCXXV - -This stone is still preserved, and is interesting as a proof that a -church was standing here in the year 587. - -[226] Bernard, the first bishop, after the expulsion of the Moors was -sent from France, at the request of the king, by Hugo, Abbot of Cluny. -The story of this seizure of the mosque is as follows: “Regina -Constantia hortante de revete adscitis militibus Christianis, majorem -Mezquilam ingressus est Toletanam, et eliminata spurcitia Mahometi, -erexit altaria fidei Christianæ, et in majori turri campanas ad -convocationem fidelium collocavit.” The king came back forthwith in -great wrath, determined to burn both queen and archbishop, and riding -into the city was met by a crowd of Moors, to whom he cried out that no -injury had been done to them, but only to him who had solemnly given his -oath that their mosque should be preserved to them. They, however, -prudently begged him to let them release him from his oath, whereat he -had great joy, and riding on into the city the matter ended -peacefully.--Archbishop Rodrigo, De Rebus Hispaniæ, lib. vi. cap. xxiii. - -[227] “In the _era_ 1264 (A.D. 1226) the king D. Fernando, and the -archbishop Don Rodrigo, laid the first stones in the foundation of the -church of Toledo.”--Anales Toledanos III. Salazar de Mendoza, in the -prologue to the Chronicle of Cardinal D. Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, says -that the function took place on the 14th Aug. 1227, the eve of the -Assumption. The archbishop, in his History, lib. ix. cap. 13, says that -the work was carried on to the great admiration of the people: “Et tunc -jecerunt primum lapidem” (the Toledo MS. has lapides) “Rex et -Archiepiscopus Rodericus in fundamento ecclesiæ Toletanæ, quæ in forma -mexquitæ” (of a mosque) “à tempore Arabum adhue stabat: cujus fabrica -opere mirabili de die in diem non sine grandi admiratione hominum -exaltatur.” It is vexatious to find the archbishop who laid the first -stone writing a history of his own times, and saying nothing throughout -the entire volume beyond these few words about his cathedral. No one -seems to be able to judge what will interest another age. Most of the -archbishop’s facts are rather insignificant, and what thanks would we -not have given him for any information as to the building of one of the -grandest churches of the age!--See his History--finished in 1243--in -vol. iii. of Coll. Patrum Ecc. Toletanæ, Madrid, 1795. - -[228] It is preserved in the Chapel of St. Catherine.--See Blas Ortiz, -Summi Templi Toletani graphica Descriptio. - -[229] I venture to speak with great positiveness about some features of -detail. It is possible enough that architects in various countries may -develop from one original--say from a Lombard original--groups of -buildings which shall have a general similarity. They may increase this -similarity by travel. But in each country certain conventionalities have -been introduced in the designing of details which it is most rare to see -anywhere out of the country which produced them. Such, _e.g._, are the -delicate differences between the French and English bases of the -thirteenth century, nay even between the bases in various parts of the -present French empire. These differences are so delicate that it is all -but impossible to explain them; yet no one who has carefully studied -them will doubt, when he sees a French moulding used throughout a -building, that French artists had much to do with its design. - -[230] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., &c., vol. i. pp. 253-4; and Bellas -Artes en España, passim. - -[231] - - +-----------------+---------+---------+-----------+ - | | | |Width of | - | |Width in |Length in|Nave from | - | -- |clear of |clear. |c to c | - | |Walls. | |of Columns.| - | | | | | - +-----------------+---------+---------+-----------+ - | |feet. in.|feet. |feet. in. | - |Toledo[A] |178 0 |395 |50 6 | - |Milan[B] |186 0 |395 |50 6 | - |Cologne[B] |130 0 |405 |44 0 | - |Paris[A] |110 0 |400 |48 0 | - |Bourges[A] |128 0 |370 |49 0 | - |Troyes[A] |124 0 |395 |50 0 | - |Chartres[C] |100 0 |430 |50 0 | - |Amiens[D] |100 0 |435 |49 0 | - |Reims[C] | 95 0 |430 |48 0 | - |Lincoln[C] | 80 0 |468 |45 0 | - |York[C] |106 0 |486 |52 0 | - |Westminster[C] | 75 0 |505 |38 0 | - +-----------------+---------+---------+-----------+ - - A: Five aisles, exclusive of chapels between buttresses. - B: Three aisles, exclusive of chapels between buttresses. - C: Five aisles. - D: Three aisles. - - -[232] The north-west tower only was built, and this long after the -original foundation of the church (_i.e._ circa 1380-1440). Blas Ortiz, -speaking of the foundation of the Mozarabic chapel at the west end of -the opposite (south) aisle, says it was placed “in extrema Templi parte, -ubi cœptæ turris fundamenta surgebant.” The four western bays of the -nave are no doubt rather later in date than the rest of the church, but -they follow the same general design, and are not distinguishable on the -ground-plan. My ground-plan of this enormous cathedral is deficient in -some details; but my readers will pardon any departure from absolute -accuracy in every part, when they consider how much useless labour the -representation of every detail entails in such a work, and how -impossible it would be for any one without a great deal of time at his -disposal to do more than I have done. I am not aware that any plan of -this cathedral has ever before been published. I omitted to examine a -detached chapel--that I believe of the “Reyes Nuevos”--but with this -exception, I think my plan shows the whole of the old portion of the -work quite accurately. - -[233] The account given by Blas Ortiz (who wrote his description of the -cathedral in the time of Philip II.) ought to be given here, because it -seems to show that in his time the roofs were not entirely covered with -stone, but, as at present, with tile roofs in some parts above the -stone. “Ecclesiæ testudines,” he says, “candidæ sunt, muniunt eas, et ab -imbribus aliisque incommodis protegunt tabulata magna (sive -contiguationes) artificiose composita, fulcris statura hominis -altioribus suffulta, tectaque partim tegulis, partim lateribus ac planis -lapidibus. Turriculæ lapideæ in modum pyramidum erectæ, e singulis -(inquam) pilis per totum ædificium exeunt, quæ sacram Basilicam -extrinsecus pulcherrimam faciunt.”--Descrip. Temp. Toletani, cap. xxi. - -[234] M. Viollet le Duc’s articles in the Dictionnaire de l’Architecture -Française on the planning of French churches are extremely valuable, as -indeed is all that he writes; and I take the opportunity afforded me by -the aid which he has thus given me in the consideration of this -question, to express the gratitude which I suppose every student of -Christian art feels for what he has done towards promoting its right -study. - -[235] That ingenious form of vault invented by modern plasterers, in -which the transverse arch gives all the data for the shape of the -diagonal rib, which is consequently neither a true pointed arch, nor a -true curve of any kind, is, of course, the worst of all forms; and it -might be thought unnecessary to utter a protest against it, were it not -that we see some of our best modern buildings disfigured beyond measure -by its introduction. Nothing is simpler than a good vault. The best rule -for it is to make a good diagonal arch and a good transverse arch, and -the filling in of the cells is pretty sure to take care of itself. - -[236] I refer my readers to Chapter XX. for an account of the curious -likeness between this plan and one by Wilars de Honecort. - -[237] Plate XIV. - -[238] Toledo Pintoresca, p. 87. - -[239] I take the height of nave from Blas Ortiz. He gives the dimensions -of the church in Spanish feet as follows:--Length, 404; breadth, 202; -height, 116 feet. - -[240] Compendio del Toledo en la Mano, p. 182. - -[241] The western bay, on the north side, has a monument with a gable, -and the spandrels between it and the side pinnacles crowded with tracery -mainly composed of cusped circles. The second bay, counting from the -north-west, has in the tympanum over the cusped arch figures of the -twelve apostles; and over them, our Lord, with angels holding candles -and censers on either side. The monument in the third bay has figures of -twelve saints, and above them the coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. -The fourth or eastern bay has a modern altar, which conceals completely -the old work. The fifth bay has a Renaissance tomb of a bishop. The -sixth, the same monument as in the second and third bays, with figures -of twelve female saints, and above them the Resurrection, and the Last -Judgment. The seventh bay corresponds with the first, which is opposite -it; and the eighth bay contains the arch of communication with the choir -aisle. - -[242] Archbishop Don Pedro Tenorio was one of the most munificent of the -archbishops of Toledo. In addition to the cloister and chapel of San -Blas he is said to have built the castle of San Servando, the bridge of -San Martin, and the convent of Mercenarios in Toledo. Besides which, he -built castles and forts on the frontier of the kingdom of Granada, and -erected the town of Villafranca with its famous bridge “del Arzobispo.” - -[243] There are twelve bells, of which the largest is San Eugenio. There -are some old lines which show its fame:-- - - Campaña la de Toledo, - Iglesia la de Leon, - Reloj el de Benavente - Rollos los de Villalon. - - -[244] It is said that a number of designs were sent in competition for -this monument, and that from among them that of Pablo Ortiz was -selected, and a contract entered into for its erection on January 7th, -1489.--Bellas Artes en España, iii. 284. - -[245] These later stalls have the following inscription:-- - - “Signa, tum marmorea, tum ligna cœlavere: - Hine Philippus Burgundio - Ex adversum Berruguetus Hispanus - Certaverunt, tum artificium ingenia. - Certabunt semper spertatorum judicia.” - -But for their whole history see Bellas Artes en España, v. 230. Borgoña -carved the stalls on the Gospel side, Berruguete those on the Epistle -side of the choir.--Ponz, Viage de España, i. 59. This same Felipe de -Borgoña was architect of the lantern of Burgos cathedral. - -[246] The Reja east of the Coro was designed by Domingo Cespides, by -order of the Chapter, to whom he presented a model made in wood by -Martinez, a carpenter.--Toledo Pintoresca, p. 40. - -[247] Alonso de Covarrubias, Maestro Mayor from 1534 to 1536, mentions -among his works the removal of most of the Retablos, which, he says, -produced a “detestable effect.” For an account of the Retablo of the -principal altar, and the names of the men who executed it, see Ponz, -Viage de España, i. 65. It was designed in 1500. See also the Life of -Juan de Borgoña, in Diccin., &c., de las Bellas Artes en España, vol. i. -p. 163. - -[248] I find the following interesting account of the colours used -during the different seasons of the ecclesiastical year given by Blas -Ortiz, Descriptio Templi Toletani, pp. 387, 388:-- - -_White._--The Nativity and Resurrection of our Lord, and the feasts of -the Blessed Virgin Mary and Virgins. - -_Red._--Epiphany, Pentecost, Festivity of Holy Cross, Apostles, -Evangelists, and Martyrs, and the Victory of Benamarin. - -_Green._--In the procession on Palm Sunday, and the Solemnity of S. John -Baptist. - -_Saffron, or light Yellow._--On Feasts of Confessors, Doctors, and -Abbots. - -_Blue._--Trinity Sunday, and many other Sundays. - -_Ash-colour._--Ash-Wednesday. - -_Violet._--Advent and Lent, wars, and troubles. - -_Black._--For the Passion of our Lord, and for funerals. And besides -these all sorts of colours mixed with gold on the festival of All -Saints, on account of their diversity of character, and on the coming of -the king or archbishops of Toledo, or of legates from the Pope. - -[249] Hernando del Pulgar, in the ‘Cronica de los muy Altos y -Esclarecidos Reyes Catolicos’ (part ii. cap. 65), records the erection -of the church in accomplishment of a vow made after the battle of Toro; -and D. Francisco de Pisa, in his ‘Descripcion de la Imperial Ciudad,’ -says that Ferdinand and Isabella intended to be buried here. They -changed their intention in favour of the chapel they built at Granada -after the conquest. - -[250] Said to be portraits of Ferdinand and Isabella.--Toledo en la -Mano, p. 137. - -[251] - - ANNO DOMINI M.CC.LXII. X. KAL. JUL. FUIT - POSITUS PRIMUS LAPIS IN ECCLESIA BEATÆ - MARIÆ SEDIS VALENTINÆ PER VENERABILEM - PATREM DOMINUM FRATREM ANDREAM TERTIUM - VALENTINÆ CIVITATIS EPISCOPUM. - - -[252] This doorway ought to be compared with the south door of the nave -of Lérida cathedral, the detail of which is so extremely similar to it -that it is impossible, I think, to doubt that they were the work of the -same men. - -[253] Madoz gives the same date.--Dicc. Geo. Esp. Histórico. - -[254] The illustration which I give of this lantern is borrowed from Mr. -Fergusson’s ‘Handbook of Architecture.’ - -[255] Noticias de los Arquitectos, &c., vol. i. p. 256. - -[256] Viage Lit. á las Iglesias de España, vol. i. p. 31. - -[257] L’an 1238, lorsque Jaques I. Roi d’Arragon assiégoit Valence, qui -etait au pouvoir des Mores, il déclara que les premiers qui -l’emporteroient auroient l’honneur de donner les poids, les mesures, et -la monnaye de leur ville à ceux de Valence; là dessus ceux de Lérida s’y -jettèrent les premiers, et prirent la ville. C’est pourquoi, lorsqu’on -repeupla Valence, ils y envoyèrent une colonie, leurs mesures, et leur -monnaye, dont on s’y sert encore aujourd’hui; et la ville de Valence -reconnoit celle de Lérida pour sa mère.--Les Délices de l’Espagne, iv. -613. Leyden, A.D. 1715. - -[258] Ponz, Viage de España, iv. 21, 22. - -[259] Valdomar also built the chapel “de los Reyes,” in the convent of -San Domingo, commenced 18th June, 1439, and completed 24th June, 1476. -This convent is now desecrated, and I did not see it, but it is said -still to contain a good Gothic cloister. - -[260] Pedro Compte is mentioned as having been invited by the Archbishop -of Zaragoza to a conference with four other architects as to the -rebuilding of the Cimborio of his cathedral, which had fallen down in -1520. - -[261] Viage de Esp., vol. iv. pp. 29, 30. - -[262] Spain boasts other like treasures, _e.g._--a figure still -preserved at Mondoñedo, and which is still called “la Yuglesa,” because -brought from St. Paul’s.--See Ponz, Viage de España, vol. iv. p. 43. - -[263] Handbook of Spain, i. 367. - -[264] Cean Bermudez, Arqua. y Aquos. de España, vol. i. p. 139. - -[265] In May, 1862. - -[266] Tarragona is the see of an archbishop, who claims to be equal, if -not superior, to the Archbishop of Toledo. Practically, of course, he is -nothing of the kind, yet he carries the assertion of his dignity so far -that I noticed a Mandamos of the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo hung up -in the Coro, in which his title “Primada de las Españas,” and the same -word in “Santa Iglesia Primada,” were carefully scratched through in -ink. - -[267] España Sagrada, vol. xxv. p. 214. - -[268] Historia de los Condes de Barcelona, p. 183. - -[269] The Chapter-house at Fountains Abbey has one of the largest -collections of masons’ marks I have ever seen, and in this case they are -of much value, as proving how large was the number of skilled masons -employed on this one small building at the same time. At Tarragona I saw -nothing like the same variety of marks. - -[270] See p. 388. - -[271] See illustrations of these on the ground-plan of Tarragona -Cathedral, Plate XV. - -[272] See detail of this pavement on Plate XV. - -[273] In 1278 M. Bartolomé wrought nine figures of the Apostles for the -façade; and in 1375 M. Jayme Castayls agreed to execute the remainder. -His contract is made under the direction of Bernardo de Vallfogona, -acting as architect to the Chapter, and father probably of the man of -the same name who was consulted about Gerona cathedral, and who executed -the reredos of the high altar at Tarragona in A.D. 1426, and died in -A.D. 1436. - -[274] The stalls of the Coro were executed between A.D. 1479 and 1493, -by Francisco Gomar of Zaragoza. - -[275] See the illustration of this marble pavement on Plate XV. - -[276] Vallbona has a very fine Romanesque cruciform church with eastern -apses and a low central octagonal lantern; Poblet was an early cross -church with a fourteenth-century central lantern, and a cloister of the -same age; and Sta. Creus is an early church with a fourteenth-century -cloister, which has a projecting chapel with a fountain in it on one -side similar to that at Veruela.--Parcerisa, Recuerdos, &c. - -[277] There is a good inn here, the Fonda del Europa. But beware of the -Fonda de los Cuatro Naciones, which is dirty and bad. Tarragona may be -reached easily by steamboats from Barcelona. They go twice a week in -five or six hours, I believe. - -[278] He was buried here, and this inscription was formerly in the -church: “Sub hac tribuna jacet corpus condam Wilfredi comitis filius -Wilfredi, simili modo condam comitis bonæ memoriæ, Dimittat ei Dñs. -Amen. Qui obiit, vi. Kal. Madii sub era DCCCCLII.” (A.D. 914). - -[279] San Cucufate del Vallés is not far from Barcelona; it has a fine -early cloister somewhat like that of Gerona Cathedral, an early church -with parallel triapsidal east end, octagonal lantern and tower on south -side.--See illustrations in Parcerisa, Recuerdos, &c., de Esp. Cataluña, -ii. 23, &c. - -[280] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. 12. - -[281] According to Ford it was built by Guillermo II., Patriarch of -Jerusalem, in imitation of the church of the Holy Sepulchre.--Handbook -for Travellers in Spain, p. 416. It was one of the churches founded by -the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the year 1141, in -which they sent emissaries to Spain for the purpose.--Viage Literario á -las Iglesias de España, xviii. 139. The necrology of the monastery -contained the obit of a canon who came from Jerusalem, called Carfilio, -as follows: “Obiit Caifilius frater Saucti Sepulchri, qui edificavit -ecclesiam sanctæ Annæ.--Viage Lit., xvii. 144. See ground-plan of this -church on Plate XVII. - -[282] Plate XVI. - -[283] The inscription on the right hand of this door is as follows:-- - -+ In: noīe: Dñi: nri: I[=hu]: X[=ri]: ad. honorē. + S[=ce]: Trinitatis: -Pat[=s]. et. Filii. et. S[=p]s. S[=c]i. ac. Beate. Virginis: Marie. et -S[=ce]. crucis. S[=ce]. q. Eulalie. Virginis. et. Martiris. X[=ri]. ac. -civis Barc[=hn]. cujus. sōm. corpus. in ista. requiescit. sede. opus. -istius. eccē. fuit. inceptum. Kl. Madii año. Dñi. M.CCXCVIII. regnāte. -illustrissimo. Dño. Jacobo. rege. Aragonū. Val[=n]. Sardinie. Corsice. + -comite. Q. Barchinone. - -The other inscription is on the left side of the same door:-- - -In. noīe. Dñi. nri. I[=hu]. X[=ri]. K[=ds]. Novēbr. anno. Dñi. -M.CCC.XXIX. regnante. Dño. Alfōso. rege. Aragonū. Valēcie. Sardinie. -Corsice. ac. comite. Barc[=hn]. opus. hujus. sedis. operabatur. ad. -laudē. Dei. ac. B[=te]. M S[=ce] + S[=ce]q. Eul[=aie]. - -[284] The inscription which records the depositing of the body of Sta. -Eulalia in the crypt below the choir in A.D. 1339, says that “el -Maestro” Jayme Fabra and the masons and workmen of the church, Juan -Berguera, Juan de Puigmolton, Bononato Peregrin, Guillen Ballester, and -Salvador Bertran, covered the urn with a tomb and canopy of stone.--Cean -Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. p. 63. Diego, Historia de los Condes de -Barcelona, pp. 298-301. - -[285] “The directors of the work of the new temple,” says S. Furio -(Diccionario historico de los Professores de las Bellas Artes en -Mallorca, p. 55), “agreed to give to the architect, Master Jayme, -eighteen sueldos a week for the whole of his life, as well when he was -ill as well; and during the work, in case he should have to go on -matters of business to Mallorca--his country--the Chapter bound -themselves to pay him his travelling expenses and maintenance as well -going as returning. They promised also to give a house rent free for him -and his family, and two hundred sueldos annually for clothing for him -and his children. - -[286] Mr. Wyatt Papworth’s very learned and complete dissertation on -this subject in the Transactions of the Royal Institute of British -Architects may be referred to as the best paper that has been published -on the architects of our old buildings. I shall reserve what I have to -say on this subject for the last chapter of this volume. - -[287] It is rather difficult to ascertain the exact value of the sums -mentioned in these documents--a sueldo and a dinero being both disused. -The former is said to have been a piece of eight maravedis, the latter a -small copper coin. This at the present day would be only a little over -threepence a day. In A.D. 1350 we find William de Hoton, the -master-mason at York Minster, receiving 2s. 6d. a week--as nearly as may -be the same wages that Roque received. Hoton had also a premium of -10_l._ a year and a house, and liberty to undertake other works. Fabric -Rolls of York, Surtees Soc., p. 166. At Exeter, in the year 1300, Master -Roger, the master-mason, received 30s. a quarter, or about 2s. 4d. a -week. Fabric Rolls of Exeter, in Dr. Oliver’s Lives of the Bishops of -Exeter, pp. 392-407. - -[288] Given in España Sagrada, xxix. p. 314, in facsimile. In the -edition of 1859, engravings both of the shrine and of the crypt are -given. - -[289] Villanueva, Viage á las Iglesias de España, xviii. 157. - -[290] The account of the building of Segovia Cathedral, given in the -Appendix, mentions the provision of rooms for this purpose. - -[291] Parcerisa, Recuerdos, &c., de España. Cataluña, i. 57. - -[292] Viage Lit., xviii. 145. - -[293] The lower range of stalls was made in 1457, by Matias Bonife, for -fifteen florins for labour for each. In his contract with the Chapter he -agrees to carve all the seats, but “in no wise any beasts or subjects.” -In 1483 Miguel Loquer made the pinnacles of the upper stalls. The -Chapter disputed the goodness of his work, and he died--partly of -disgust, apparently--during the lengthy dispute. The Chapter then named -arbiters, who, after a formal examination, pronounced them to contain -grave defects.--Parcerisa, Recuerdos, &c., Cataluña, i, p. 59. - -[294] Here, in 1519, Charles V. celebrated an installation of the Golden -Fleece--the only one ever held in Spain.--Ford’s Handbook, p. 413. - -[295] Viage Lit., xviii. p. 142. - -[296] Plate XVII. - -[297] In nomine Dñi nostri Jesu Christi ad honorem sanctæ Mariæ fuit -inceptum opus fabricæ ecclesiæ Beatæ Mariæ de Mari die Annuntiationis -ejusdem, viii. Kal. Aprilis Anno Domini MCCCXXVIII. - -[298] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. p. 61. - -[299] Recuerdos, &c., Cataluña, i. p. 66. - -[300] Plate XVII. - -[301] Plate XVII. - -[302] Viage Literario á las Iglesias de España, xviii. 161. - -[303] Arq. de España. - -[304] Recuerdos, &c., de España, Cataluña, vol. i. - -[305] An inscription is given by Villanueva, Viage Literario, xviii. -162, said to be cut on the jamb of the side doorway, which records the -consecration of this church on June 17th, 1453. - -[306] See Appendix. - -[307] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. 55. But Diego, ‘Historia de los -Condes de Barcelona,’ p. 316, puts the foundation in A.D. 1293. - -[308] Villanueva, Viage Literario, xviii. 165, mentions the convent of -San Francisco as still existing (in 1851). - -[309] Parcerisa, Recuerdos, &c., Cataluña, i. p. 107. - -[310] See previous page. - -[311] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. 70. - -[312] Hala de paños. - -[313] See España Sagrada, xlv. pp. 2-3. See also the deed executed by -Bishop Roger in 1015. “Nostra necessitate coacti causa ædificationis -prædictæ ecclesiæ, quæ satis cognitum cunctis est esse destructa, -&c.”--Esp. Sag., xliii. p. 423. - -[314] See the act of consecration, España Sagrada, xliii. pp. 432-437, -which declares the church to have been rebuilt “a fundamentis.” - -[315] Esp. Sag., vol. xliv. p. 43. - -[316] “Capitulum Gerundense in cerca nova ecclesiæ Gerundensis more -solito congregatum, statuit, voluit et ordinavit, quod caput ipsius -ecclesiæ de novo construeretur et edificaretur, et circumcirca ipsum -novem cappellæ fierent, et in dormitorio veteri fieret sacristia. Et -cura ipsius operis fuit commissa per dictum capitulum, venerabilibus -Raimundo de Vilarico, archidiacono, et Amaldo de Monterotundo, -canonico.”--España Sagrada, xlv. p. 3. - -[317] “Dimitto etiam ad caput prædictæ ecclesiæ, vel ad cimborium -argenteum faciendum, desuper altare Beatæ Mariæ ilia decem millia -solidurum Barchinon: quæ ad illud dare promisseram jam est diu.”--Will -of Guillermo Gaufredo, Viage Lit. á las Iglesias de España, vol. xii. p. -184. - -[318] Esp. Sag., vol. xliv. pp. 51, 320, 322. - -[319] “Pateat universis,” “quod die Lunæ 4 Idus Marti intitulata anno -Domini 1346. Reverendus in Christo Pater” “S. Tarrachonensis ecclesiæ -archiepiscopus, altare majus Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ cathedralis -Gerundensis ecclesiæ a loco antiquo ipsius ecclesiæ in quo construtum -erat in capite novo operis ejusdem ut decuit translatum est,” &c. “De -quibus omnibus ad perpetuam rei memoriam venerabilis vir Dominus Petrus -Stephani Presbiter de capitulo et operarius memoratæ ecclesiæ mandavit -unum et plura fieri instrumenta per me Notarium infrascriptum -præsentibus ad hoc vocatis testibus,” &c. &c.--España Sagrada, xlv. pp. -373, 374. - -[320] Or “sueldos,” Parcerisa. “Sous,” V. le Duc. = 1500 francs at the -present day. - -[321] Register entitled Curia del Vicariato de Gerona, Liber notulorum -ab anno 1320, ad 1322, fol. 48, quoted in Esp. Sag. xlv. p. 373. See -also Viollet le Duc, Dictionnaire Raisonné, i. p. 112. F. J. Parcerisa, -‘Recuerdos y Bellezas de España,’ Cataluña, i. 146, says that the work -was commenced in 1316, and that Enrique of Narbonne died in 1320. - -[322] The list of architects given by D. J. Villanueva (Viage Lit. á las -Iglesias de España, xii. p. 172 et seq.) does not agree with this. The -first he mentions is Jayme de Taverant, a Frenchman from Narbonne (and -no doubt identical with Jaques de Favariis), in 1320. Francisco de -Plana, a Catalan, held the post after him, and was removed in 1368 in -favour of Pedro Coma (de Cumba), who was employed also at San Feliu, -Gerona; and in 1397 Pedro de San Juan, “de natione Picardiæ,” was -employed. Guillermo Boffiy succeeded him; in 1427 Rollinus Vautier, -“diocesi Biterrensis,” was master of the works, and in 1430 Pedro Cipres -succeeded him. - -[323] The original is in the Liber Notularum. It is reprinted in España -Sagrada, vol. xlv., appendix, pp. 227 to 244. Cean Bermudez has again -reprinted it in Arq. de España, vol. i. pp. 261 to 275; and D. J. -Villanueva in the appendix to vol. xii. of the Viage Lit. á las Iglesias -de España, prints it in the original Catalan dialect. - -[324] This key-stone has a sculpture of San Benito.--España Sagrada, -vol. xliv. p. 420. - -[325] Plate XVIII. - -[326] España Sagrada, xliii. p. 200, and Appendix, p. 453. - -[327] In my first design for the Crimean Memorial church which I am -building at Constantinople, I had a vault thirty-eight feet in clear -span, and this was objected to by a really accomplished critic as too -bold and hazardous an experiment! What would have been said then of a -vault twice as wide? - -[328] I subjoin the dimensions of some of the largest French and other -churches, in order that the dimensions of the nave of Gerona may be -really appreciated. - - Albi 58 feet between the walls. - Toulouse Cathedral 63 do. - S. Jean Perpiñan 60 do. - Amiens 49 centre to centre of column of nave. - Paris 48 do. - Bourges 49 do. - Chartres 50 do. - Cologne 44 do. - Narbonne 54 do. - Canterbury 43 do. do. of choir. - York 52 do. do. of nave. - Westminster Abbey 38 do. - - -[329] Liber Notularum, fol. 31. - -[330] The church was originally intended to have octagonal towers at the -angles of the west front. Of these the south-west tower has been built -up in Pagan style, and the north-west has never been built. - -[331] España Sagrada, vol. xlv. p. 8. Villanueva, Viage Lit., xii. 175, -gives the name of this artist as Antonio Claperos “obrer de ymagens.” - -[332] See the description of this silver frontal in España Sagrada, vol. -xlv. p. 8. The Historia de S. Narciso y de Gerona, by P. M. Roig y -Yalpi, is quoted as authority for the statements given. See also the act -of consecration of the cathedral in A.D. 1038 (España Sagrada, xliii. p. -437), in which among the list of signatures at the end occurs the -following passage:--“S. Ermessendis comitissæ quæ eadem die ad honorem -Dei et Matris Ecclesiæ trescentas auri contulit uncias ad auream -construendam tabulam;” and in a necrologium, from 1102 to 1313, occur -the following entries: “1254. Pridie Kalendas Februarii obiit Guillelmus -de Terradis, sacrista major, qui tabulam argenteam altari Beatæ Mariæ -Cathedralis fieri fecit.” “1229. Kalendis Martii obiit Ermesendis -Comitissa quæ hanc sedem ditavit et tabulam auream ac crucem Deo et -Beatæ Mariæ obtulit, et ecclesiam multis ornamentis ornavit.” - -[333] “Hic jacet Amaldus de Solerio, Archidiaconus Bisalduenensis qui -etiam suis expensis propriis fecit fieri cimborium seu coopertam -argenteam super altaro majori ecclesiæ Gerundensis. Obiit autem anno -Dni. M.CCCXX. sexto, viii. Kal. Augusti.” - -[334] See note^{3}, p. 319. - -[335] See Martene de Antiq. Eccl. Rit., lib. i. cap. iv. art. 3. - -[336] “Galligans; in the old Latin, Galli Cautio. The name is taken from -a little stream which washes its walls and falls into the Oña.”--Don J. -Villanueva, Viage Lit., &c., xiv. 146. - -[337] See ground-plan on Plate XVIII. - -[338] Don J. Villanueva, Viage Literario, xiv. p. 150, asserts that -these cloisters are not earlier than the fourteenth century, though I -notice that some of the inscriptions which he gives from them are of -earlier date. - -[339] Parcerisa describes this little church as that of S. Daniel, but I -was unable on the spot to learn its dedication. I believe, however, that -its dedication is to S. Nicolas, and that S. Daniel is a larger church -of later date. In España Sagrada, xlv. p. 185 et seq., some account is -given of the foundation of S. Daniel. This took place in 1017, Bishop -Roger having sold the church to Count Ramon, and Ermesendis his wife, -for 100 ounces of gold, which were to be spent on the fabric of the -cathedral. The Countess, after the death of the Count, endowed the -church, and the deed still preserved recounts how that “Ego Ermesendis -inchoavi prædictam ecclesiam edificare et Deo auxiliante volo -perficere.” An architectural description of the present church is given -by Villanueva, Viage Literario, xiv. 158, from which it seems that it is -a Greek cross in plan, and mainly of the fourteenth century, with an -altar in a crypt below the high altar, constructed in 1343: and if this -account is correct, this small twelfth-century church cannot be S. -Daniel. - -[340] S. Felix. - -[341] España Sagrada, xlv. p. 41. - -[342] Extract from the book entitled “Obra = Recepte et Expense, ab anno -1365;” It.: Solvi discº. R. Egidii Not. Gerunde v die Septembris, anno -M.CCC.LX.VIII., pro instrumento facto inter Capitalum hujus Eccle. et P. -Zacoma magistrum operis Cloquerii noviter incepti et est certum quod in -isto instrumento continentur in efectu ista.--Pº, Quod ille proficue -procuret ipsum opus dictum evitando expensas inordinatas quantum in ipso -fuerit, et hoc juravit. It.: Quod aliud opus accipere non valeat sine -licencia operarii. It.: Quod quotiescumque fuerit in ipso opere factus -apparatus operandi quod vocatus quocumque opere dimisso operetur in -nostro opere: in premissis fuit exceptum opus Pontis majoris in quo jam -prius extitit obligatus et convenit quando ipso fuerit in ipso opere -Pontis vel in alio quod una hora diei sine lexiare--videat illos qui -operabuntur vel parabunt lapides desbrocar in ipso opere. Et est sibi -concessum dare pro qualibet die faoner quod fuerit in opere predicto -IIII SS. et uni ejus famulo I vel II secundum ministeria ipsorum.--It.: -Ulteris ammatian dare sibi de gratia CXL SS. (_sueldos_), segons lo -temps empero que obraran. Car per lo temps que no obraran en lo Cloquer -ne en padrera no deu res pendrer mes deu esser dedecet dels dets CXL SS. -pro rata temporis, et quantitatis.”--España Sagrada, App., xlv. p. 248. -See Spanish translation do., p. 73. In an old Kalendar, of Gerona, -printed in España Sagrada, xliv. p. 399, is the following paragraph, -which refers to the works of Pedro Zacoma:--“An. 1368 fuit inceptus lo -Pont non de mense Madii; á 9 Aug. ejusdem anni fuit inceptus lo Cloquer -de Saut Fehu.” - -[343] A memorandum in the book of the ‘_Obra_,’ under date 1385, -describes the various works in the fortification then in progress, and -mentions “P. Comas, maestro mayor,” España Sagrada, xlv. p. 45. -Parcerisa, Recuerdos y Bellezas de España, Cataluña, says that the spire -was finished in 1581. But I think he has been misled by some repairs of -the steeple rendered necessary after the destruction of the upper part -of the spire in this year by lightning, and mentioned in the Actas -Capitulares. - -[344] Roussillon belonged to the Kings of Aragon from A.D. 1178. -Perpiñan was taken, after a vigorous resistance, by Louis XI. in 1474, -restored to Spain, and finally taken by the French in A.D. 1642. - -[345] An illustration of this organ is given in M. Viollet le Duc’s -Dictionary of French Architecture. - -[346] Viage Literario á las Iglesias de España, vol. xiv. p. 106. - -[347] Viage Lit. á las Iglesias de España, vii. 179. - -[348] See Plate XIX. - -[349] Viage Lit. á las Iglesias de España, vii. 180. - -[350] The subjects are as follows:-- - - 1. The Marriage of the Blessed Virgin. - 2. The Annunciation. - 3. The Salutation. - 4. The Nativity. - 5. The Adoration of the Magi. - 6. The Flight into Egypt. - 7. The Presentation in the Temple. - 8. The Dispute with the Doctors. - 9. The Money-changers driven out of the Temple. - 10. The Crucifixion. - 11. The Entry into Jerusalem. - 12. The Last Supper. - 13. The Agony in the Garden. - 14. The Betrayal. - 15. Our Lord before Pilate. - 16. The Scourging. - 17. Our Lord bearing His Cross. - 18. The Resurrection. - 19. The Descent into Hell. - -The subjects begin at the upper left-hand corner, and are continued from -left to right, the subjects 1 to 9 being on the left, and 11 to 19 on -the right of the Crucifixion. - -[351] To those who know them I need hardly say that the remains of the -Anglo-Saxon vestments found in S. Cuthbert’s tomb, and preserved at -Durham, are perhaps the most exquisitely delicate works in existence--so -delicate that a magnifying glass is necessary in order to understand at -all the way in which the work has been done. This Florentine work, of a -later age, quite makes up in art for what it lacks in minute delicacy of -execution when compared with S. Cuthbert’s vestments. - -[352] Viage Lit. á las Iglesias de España, ix. p. 17. - -[353] I do not forget the successful defence of Lérida, in the sixteenth -century, against the Prince de Condé; it is one of which the people may -well be proud: but this was before the desecration of the cathedral. - -[354] Vol. xlvii. De la Santa Iglesia de Lérida en su estado moderno. Su -autor el Doctor Don Pedro Sainz de Baranda. - -[355] I give a few notes from the rules of this church as agreed on at -the Synods. In 1240: No priest to say mass more than once in a day, save -in case of great necessity. Priests to administer the sacrament of -penance in the sight of all in the church. Godchildren are prohibited -from marrying the children of their god-parents of baptism or -confirmation. Mendicants are forbidden to celebrate on portable altars -(_super archas_). Clergy are ordered to have a piscina near the altar, -where, after receiving, they may wash their hands and the chalice. In a -Synod held in 1318, it is ordered that, as many corpses are interred in -churches which ought not to be, for the future none shall be so save -that of the patron, or of some one who has built a chapel or endowed a -chaplain. - -[356] “Anno Domini MCCIII. et xi. Cal. Aug. sub Innocentio Papa III. -venerabili, Gombaldo huic ecclesiæ presidente inclitus Rex Petrus II. et -Ermengandus Comes Urgullen. primarium istius fabricæ lapidem posuerunt, -Berengario Obicionis operario existente. Petrus Percumba Magister et -fabricator.”--Esp. Sag. xlvii, p. 17. - -[357] Viage Lit., vol. xvi, p. 81. - -[358] “Anno Dñi MCCLXXVIII. ii Cal. Novembris Dominus G. de Montecatheno -ix Ilerd. Eps. consecravit hanc Eccm. et concessit xl dies indulgencie -per omnes octavas et constituit ut festum dedicationis celebraretur -semper in Dominica prima post festum S. Luce.”--España Sagrada, xlvii. -p. 33. - -[359] Viage Lit., vol. xvi, p. 83. - -[360] “Cum nos concesserimus dari operi claustri Ecclesie Sedis -civitatis Illerde sex mille pedras somadals de petraria domus predicte -de Gardenio: ideo vobis dicimus et mandamus quatenus dictas sex mille -pedras de dicta petraria operario dicte Ecclesie recipere libere -permitatis convertendas seu imponendas in opere supradicto. Datum -Illerde duodecimo calendas Septembris anno Domini M.CCC.X.--Ex. Arch. -reg. Barc. grat. 9 Jacob. II. fol. 145b. - -[361] Esp. Sag., xlvii, p. 46. - -[362] Ibid., p. 47. - -[363] The inscription on this bell was as follows:--“Christus. Rex. -venit. in. pace. et. Deus. homo. factus. est. Chtus. vincit. Chtus. -regnat. Chtus. ab. omn. mal. nos. defendat. Fuit. factum. per magistrum. -Joannem. Adam. anno. Dñi. 1418 in mense. Aprili.--Viage Lit. á las -Iglesias de España, xvi. 89. - -[364] See plan, Plate XX. - -[365] There are said to be three doorways from the cloister to the -church.--Viage Lit., xvi. 86. - -[366] See reference to this porch at p. 349. - -[367] As, _e.g._, at S. Etienne, Nevers. - -[368] “During the episcopate of Romeo de Cescomes, 1361-80, the work of -the principal altar was ordered to be concluded, and it was forbidden to -say mass there from All Saints’ day till the following month of May, -1376.” - -[369] See plan, Plate VIII. - -[370] There is a very fair inn at Lérida, the Parador de San Luis, -pleasantly situated on the bank of the Segre; and the railway from -Barcelona to Zaragoza, passing by Lérida, makes it easy of access. - -[371] Parcerisa, Recuerdos y Bellezas de España, Aragon, p. 120. - -[372] Almudévar has a picturesque castle, with a chapel on its eastern -side, but I was unable to examine it. - -[373] Cean Bermudez (Arq. i. 83) says that the work was commenced in -A.D. 1400, and not finished until A.D. 1515. - -[374] See plan, Plate XXI. - -[375] It will be seen that the plan is exactly the same as that of the -church of Las Huelgas, Burgos (see Plate II.), and the cathedral at -Tudela (Plate XXIV.). - -[376] This reredos cost 5500 crowns (escudos) or libras jaquesas.--- -Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. 218.--Damian Forment is said to have -studied under Donatello, which seems, however, on a comparison of dates, -to have been all but impossible. The epitaph on his monument in the -cloister here described him as “arte statuaria Phidiæ, Praxitelisque -Æmulus,” a statement which must be accepted with the reserve usual in -such cases.--Bellas Artes en España, ii. p. 132. - -[377] See Ainsa, Historia de Huesca, lib. 4. - -[378] See ground-plan on Plate XXI. - -[379] Parcerisa, Aragon, p. 157. - -[380] Views of Jaca and San Juan de la Peña are given by F. J. -Parcerisa, ‘Recuerdos y Bellezas de España,’ Aragon. - -[381] Seu, Sedes, See. - -[382] I am reminded by this of a curious passage of somewhat similar -character in the life of Sir Christopher Wren, which is to be gathered -out of the entries in the old parish books of St. Dionis Backchurch, -Fenchurch-street. Here Sir Christopher built a steeple, and when it was -nigh completion the grave question arose whether they should have an -anchor for a weather-cock. Sir Christopher preferred it, and some of the -parishioners, of course, opposed it. They appealed to the bishop, and -after many interviews it was at last decided that the bishop should meet -them at Sir Christopher’s at 8 o’clock a.m. to settle the matter, Sir -Christopher’s “gentleman” (who was always treated to something to drink -by the churchwarden when he came to the church) having made the -engagement. The bishop was punctual to his appointment, but Sir -Christopher seems to have gone out for an early walk and forgotten all -about it; and finally, the Bishop of London, having waited an hour for -the great man, retired in despair, but ordered Sir Christopher’s -weathercock to be adopted. - -[383] The following inscription on the Cimborio fixes the date of it’s -completion: “Cimborium quo hoc in loco Benedictus Papa XIII. Hispanus, -patria Arago, gente nobili Luna exstruxerat, vetustate collapsum, majori -impensa erexit amplissimus, illustrisque Alphonsus Catholici Ferdinandi, -Castellæ, Arago, utriusque Siciliæ regis filius, q. gloria finatur, anno -1520.” - -[384] Don P. de la Escosura (España Art. y Mon.), iii. 93, attributes -this tower and the church to the twelfth century, but, I feel confident, -without good ground for doing so, as far as the former is concerned. - -[385] Vol. ii., plate 45. - -[386] Madoz, xiv. pp. 595-599. - -[387] See Plate XXII. - -[388] The fact is worthy of record, because in these days, though it is -often manifestly convenient to use a different material from that which -was used by our ancestors, there are many well-disposed people who -object to such a course, as being an unwarrantable departure from old -precedents; yet, if our forefathers’ example is to be followed, we ought -to do as they would have done in our circumstances. - -[389] His name occurs in an inscription on it. - -[390] Madoz, vol. xv. p. 685. - -[391] See Plate XXIII. - -[392] See ground-plan, Plate XXIV. - -[393] The lead _flêche_ in a similar position at Reims cathedral will no -doubt be remembered by many of my readers. No doubt, however, this work -at Tudela is earlier, and being of stone is even more remarkable. - -[394] There is, I believe, a fine old bridge of seventeen arches over -the Ebro, near Tudela: unfortunately I did not see it. - -[395] See illustration on next page. - -[396] I believe a portion of the old cloister remains. I was not aware -of this, and seeing the fine late cloister, assumed, unfortunately, that -there was nothing else to be seen. - -[397] Plate XXV. - -[398] Arq. de España, i. p. 83. - -[399] See ground-plan on Plate XXV. - -[400] Morales, lib. 12, cap. 76. - -[401] See p. 212. - -[402] Noticias de los Arq. de España, i. 1-14. - -[403] Esp. Sag., vol. xxxvii. p. 86-7. - -[404] Recuerdos y Bellezas de Esp., Ast. y Leon, p. 76 and 244. - -[405] See the account of it in the Historia Compostellana, lib. i. cap. -78. - -[406] See p. 331. I am not certain as to the dedication. I refer to the -small church near San Pedro de los Galligans. - -[407] For illustration, &c., see p. 366, and Plate XXI. - -[408] Both these churches are planned upon precisely the same system of -proportions founded upon the equilateral triangle. Taking the width of -the nave and aisles as the base, the apex of the triangle gives the -centre from which the vault of the nave is struck; and all the -subordinate divisions are also so exactly marked that there is hardly -room for doubt that the system was distinctly recognised, and -intentionally acted on. - -[409] The Monistrol I refer to is the village between S. Etienne and Le -Puy, and not the place of the same name at the foot of Monserrat, in -Cataluña. - -[410] _E.g._, St. Albans, Winchester Cathedral, St. Cross Chapel. - -[411] The parallel holds good in very small matters. At Westminster the -clergy and choir assemble in the choir, and begin the service so soon as -the clock strikes. In several Spanish churches the same custom obtains. -I think it would be a great gain if the metal screens across the -transepts were moved so as to form the narrow central passage from the -choir to the altar, so common in Spain. They would then have some -meaning and use, which they certainly have not now. - -[412] See pp. 385-6. - -[413] The design of this chevet is almost a repetition of that of the -church at Avenières, near Laval, which is said to have been commenced as -early as A.D. 1040, though most of it is certainly later by a century -than this. - -[414] I might perhaps add Tarazona Cathedral to this list. - -[415] See ground-plan, Plate XIV. - -[416] The round portion of the Temple Church, London, has its aisle -groined with alternate bays of square and triangular outline. The latter -have no ribs, and are constructed differently from those at Toledo. - -[417] Facsimile of the Sketch-book of Wilars de Honecort. Eng. edit. -Edited by Professor Willis. Plate XXVIII. - -[418] Beauvais cathedral was commenced in A.D. 1225. - -[419] See the plan, Plate I. The chapel marked B is, I think, the only -original one; and this repeated five times will probably give the exact -plan of the original chevet. - -[420] The commerce of the south of Spain with England was considerable; -and it is just possible that some of the middle-pointed work in Valencia -may have an English origin. The English sovereigns encouraged the -Catalan traders by considerable immunities to frequent their ports -during the fourteenth century.--Macpherson, ‘Annals of Commerce,’ i. -502, &c. - -[421] I speak only of town churches here: our little English village -churches are the most perfect in the world, so thoroughly -characteristic, and at the same time so suitable for their work, that we -may always study them with greater gain than any others elsewhere in -Europe. - -[422] See frontispiece. In so small an engraving--putting out of view -the extreme difficulty of getting a faithful transcript of a careful -sketch of sculpture--it is impossible to do justice to such a work; and -I must ask my readers rather to accept my statement than to pass -judgment by aid only of the illustration. - -[423] See p. 283, and illustrations on ground-plan, Plate XV. - -[424] See p. 366. - -[425] See p. 381. - -[426] See p. 215. - -[427] See ground-plan, Plate IV. - -[428] See illustration of this battlement at Las Huelgas, No. 4, page -38, and on the walls at Veruela, No. 48, page 384. - -[429] ‘Annals of the Artists of Spain,’ 1848. - -[430] The paintings at Leon seem to me to be such as one might expect at -the hands of Dello Delli. He is said to have made Seville his place of -residence during the many years that he spent in Spain. But the period -of his abode there is just that during which the paintings at Leon were -executed. - -[431] See the short account of these painters in Mr. Stirling’s ‘Annals -of the Artists of Spain,’ vol. i. chap. ii. - -[432] I venture to regard the stern simplicity of Mr. Butterfield’s -noble church of St. Alban as his silent protest against the vulgarity in -art to which I here refer. Without any sculpture, this church is from -first to last the work of a great master of his art, and one for which -his brother artists owe him a great debt of gratitude. - -[433] See Appendix. The maravedi was, I believe, a more valuable coin -than it is now, so that it is difficult to say what amount of money at -the present day this grant really represents. - -[434] This inscription is referred to at p. 144. - -[435] I do not know the meaning of this term; it is evidently the name -of a trade or calling, and probably corresponds with “masons,” as -distinguished from “wallers;” the two terms, “Lambardos” and -“Cementarios,” being used somewhat in opposition to each other. - -Cementarios is one of the earliest terms used in documents referring to -English buildings, and no doubt would be properly translated by the word -“mason;” but in the case of the Urgel contract, it seems there were to -be several “Lambardos,” and, as “Cementarios” were only to be employed -if absolutely necessary, there must have been some distinction between -them, which was more probably of grade or degree than of profession. -Possibly the “Lambardos” may have been members of a guild, “Cementarios” -common masons. - -[436] This contract is given by Don J. Villanueva, Viage Literario a las -Iglesias de España, vol. ix. pp. 298-300. I extract from it the parts -which are especially interesting:-- - -“EGO A. DEI Gratia Urgellensis episcopus, cum consilio et comuni -voluntate omnium canonicorum Urgellensis ecclesiae, commendo tibi -Raymundo Lambardo opus beatae Mariae, cum omnibus rebus tam mobilibus -quam immobilibus, scilicet, mansos, alodia, vineas, census, et cum -oblationibus oppressionum et penitentialium, et cum elemosinis fidelium, -et cum numis clericorum, et cum omnibus illis, quae hucusque vel in -antea aliquo titulo videntur spectasse sive spectare ad prephatum opus -beatae Mariae. Et preterea damus tibi cibum canonicalem in omni vita -tua, tali videlicet pacto, ut tu fideliter et sine omni enganno claudas -nobis ecclesiam totam, et leves coclearia sive campanilia, unum filum -super omnes voltas, et facias ipsum cugul bene et decenter cum omnibus -sibi pertinentibus. Et Ego R. Lambardus convenio Domino Deo, et beatae -Mariae, et domino episcopo, et omnibus clericis Urgellensis ecclesiae, -qui modo ibi sunt, vel in antea erunt, quod hoc totum, sicut superius -scriptum est, vitâ comite, perficiam ab hoc presenti Pascha, quod -celebratur anno dominicae incarnationis M.º C.º LXXV.º, usque ad VII. -annos fideliter, et sine omni enganno. Ita quod singulis annis habeam et -teneam ad servitium beatae Mariae, me quinto, de Lambardis idest IIII. -lambardos et me, et hoc in yeme et in estate indesinenter. Et si cum -istis potero perficere, faciam, et si non potero addam tot cementarios, -quod supra dictum opus consumetur in prephato termino. Post VII. vero -annos, cum iam dictum opus, divina misercordiâ opitulante, complevero, -habeam libere et quiete cibum meum dum vixero, et de honore operis et -avere stem in voluntate et mandamento capituli postea. Preterea nos, tam -episcopus, quam canonici, omnino prohibemus tibi Raymundo Lambardo, quod -per te, vel per submisam personam, non alienes vel obliges aliqua -occasione quicquam de honore operis, quae modo habet, vel in antea -habebit. De tuo itaque honore, quem nomine tuo adquisisti, et de avere, -fac in vita et in morte quod tibi placuerit post illud septennium. Si -forte, quod absit, tanta esterilitas terrae incubuerit, quod te nimium -videamus gravari, liceat nobis prephato termino addere secundum -arbitrium nostrum, ne notam periurii incurras. Sed aliquis vel aliqui -nostrum praedictam relaxationem sacramenti facere tibi non possit, nisi -in pleno capitulo, comuni deliberatione et consensu omnium. Et quicquid -melioraveris in honore operis, remaneat ad ipsum opus. Si vero pro -melioracione honoris operis oporteret te aliquid impignorare vel -comutare, non possis hoc facere sine consilio et conveniencia capituli. -Juro ego R. Lambardus, quod hoc totum, sicut superius est scriptum, -perficiam, et fidelitatem et indempnitatem canonicae beatae Mariae -Urgellensis ecclesiae pro posse meo, per Deum, et haec sancta evangelia -= Sig + num R. Lambardi, qui hoc iuro, claudo et confirmo = Sig + num -domni Arnalli Urgellensis episcopi,” &c. &c. - -[437] _E.g._ at San Cristóbal de Ibeas-- - - Eia M. C. LXX. - Fuit hoc opus fundatum - Martino Abbate regente - Petrus Christophorus - Magister hujus operis fuit. - -Or another at Ciudad Rodrigo-- - - Aqui yace Benito Sanchez, - Maestro que fue de esta obra, e - Dios le perdone. Amen. - -So too the inscription given at p. 234 of the architect of Toledo. The -same term was used extensively at the same time over the greater part of -Europe. - -In France we have these among others:--“Ci git Robert de Couey, Maitre -de Notre Dame et de Saint Nicaise, qui trépassa l’an 1311.” In A.D. -1251, at Rouen, “Walter de St. Hilaire, Cementarius, magister operis,” -is mentioned; and in A.D. 1440, in the same city, we have this -inscription: “Ci git M. Alexandre de Berneval, Maistre des Œuvres de -Massonerie au Baillage de Rouen et de cette église.” In Italy the same -term was commonly used, as, _e.g._, in the Baptistery at Pisa, which has -the inscription, “Deotisalvi magister hujus operis;” and again in the -church at Mensano near Siena, which has “Opus quod videtis Bonusamicus -magister fecit.” But in England, according to Mr. Wyatt Papworth, who -has devoted much pains to the elucidation of the subject, the term -“Master of the works” appears to be very seldom employed, and sometimes -of the officer called the “operarius” in Spain, rather than of the -architect. - -[438] Villanueva, Viage Lit. xxi. 106. - -[439] Fabre is spoken of in the inscription on the shrine as Jacobus -“Majoricarum, cum suis consortibus.” - -[440] These fabric rolls contain the names of Martin Mayol, G. Scardon, -Bernardo Desdons, and Jayme Pelicer, as painters of pictures between -A.D. 1327 and 1339. - -[441] See p. 319. - -[442] See p. 332. - -[443] See p. 57. - -[444] See p. 349, note 1. - -[445] Villanueva, Viage Lit. a las Iglesias de España, xvi. 99, says -that “Lapicida” does not really mean a cutter of stones, which would be -described as “pica petras.” In vol. xxi. p. 107, however, he speaks of -“Lapicida” as the Latin term corresponding to “picapedres” in the vulgar -tongue; and he says sculptors of figures called themselves -“Imaginayres.” - -[446] See p. 265. - -[447] The contract is given at length by Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, -i. 257-61. - -[448] See the translation of these documents in the Appendix. - -[449] This sum would probably be equal to about 90_l._ or 100_l._ per -annum at the present day. - -[450] Other plans still preserved in Spain are, the original design for -the church of San Juan de los Reyes, Toledo, and that for the west front -of Barcelona Cathedral. I have tried in vain to obtain copies of these -plans. - -[451] Arq. de España, i. 282-4. - -[452] We have accidental evidence of the fact that Hontañon was an -architect, for the “Master of the Works” of La Magdalena, Valladolid, -contracted in A.D. 1570 to build the tower and body of the church -according to his plan for a specified sum. But it will be observed that -the date of this agreement is very late, and that, whilst the maker of a -plan had become an architect in the modern sense of the word, the -Maestro Mayor had descended to be, in fact, nothing more than the -contractor for the work, also in the modern sense. Somewhat in the same -way, we know that when the lantern of Burgos Cathedral fell, in A.D. -1539, Felipe de Borgoũa was summoned from Toledo to superintend the two -cathedral masters of the works: from which it seems probable that they -executed the work which Borgoũa designed. So again at an earlier date, -in A.D. 1375, Jayme Castayls executed some statues for the west front of -Tarragona cathedral, under the direction of Bernardo de Vallfogona, the -Maestro Mayor. - -[453] Bellas Artes en España. This catalogue of artists includes those -who lived before the year 1500, the names of fifty sculptors, thirty -painters, several silversmiths, workers in stained glass, and others. - -[454] See p. 252. - -[455] See p. 182. - -[456] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., vol. i. p. 285. - -[457] Cean Bermudez. Arq. de Esp., vol. i. p. 286. - -[458] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., vol. i. p. 287. - -[459] In the margin of this paragraph is written, in the hand of Maestro -Juan del Ribero Rada,--“It has been built square.” The word ‘Trascoro’ -seems to be used here of the east end of the church. - -[460] From Cean Bermudez, Not. de los Arq. y Arquos de España, vol. i. -p. 293-299. - -[461] The sense of this word is given in Connelly and Higgins’s -Dictionary, as “the substitute of the chief architect of the building, -who places the workmen and distributes the materials according to the -arrangements of the plan.” - -[462] Cean Bermudez, vol. i. p. 300. - -[463] Ibid., vol. i. p. 315. - -[464] Ibid., vol. i. p. 317. - -[465] _Sagrario._--This, I think, sometimes means the chapel, commonly -called the _Parroquia_, or Chapel of the Cathedral Parish. - -[466] This subject occurs in the well-known illustrations of Queen -Mary’s Psalter, 2 B. VII., at the British Museum library. It is -described as “Here GOD reposes on His throne with His angels.” - -[467] This subject occurs in the ‘Biblia Pauperum,’ with the following -inscription:--“Legitur in Apocalypsi xxiº Capº et in iiiº Ysaya xiiii -Capº quod lucifer cecidit per superbiam de celo cum omnibus suis -adherentibus.” - -[468] This interrogatory, and the declarations of the twelve architects, -are in the Catalan idiom in the original, and are translated into -Castilian by Fr. José de la Canal, Esp. Sag. xiv. pp. 227-244. I have -thought it best to give an English translation. - -[469] “Cana,” a measure of two ells Flemish. - -[470] A “cana” equals two yards and three inches Spanish measure. - -[471] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. pp. 276-279. - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Some Account of Gothic Architecture in -Spain, by George Edmund Street - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN *** - -***** This file should be named 41040-0.txt or 41040-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/0/4/41040/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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