diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:11:01 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:11:01 -0700 |
| commit | cdfc9da5e0357d3937785d798b3fca7af4b0c924 (patch) | |
| tree | c29dfeb52ac50f0c3189e26a8aea709a297435f4 /64900-0.txt | |
Diffstat (limited to '64900-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 64900-0.txt | 8126 |
1 files changed, 8126 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/64900-0.txt b/64900-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab0560e --- /dev/null +++ b/64900-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8126 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 64900 *** + + THE SPANISH SERIES + + TOLEDO + + + + + THE SPANISH SERIES + + _EDITED BY ALBERT F. CALVERT_ + + + GOYA + TOLEDO + MADRID + SEVILLE + MURILLO + CORDOVA + VELAZQUEZ + THE PRADO + THE ESCORIAL + ROYAL PALACES OF SPAIN + GRANADA AND ALHAMBRA + SPANISH ARMS AND ARMOUR + LEON, BURGOS & SALAMANCA + VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA, + ZAMORA, AVILA & ZARAGOZA + + + + + TOLEDO + + AN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE + ACCOUNT OF + THE “CITY OF GENERATIONS,” + BY ALBERT F. CALVERT, WITH + OVER 500 ILLUSTRATIONS + + + LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD + NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMVII + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE & CO. LIMITED + Tavistock Street, London + + + TO + S.A. INFANTA MARIA TERESA + IN WHOSE SYMPATHY + THE ANCIENT GRANDEUR IS LINKED WITH + THE FUTURE GREATNESS OF SPAIN + THIS VOLUME + WITH AN ASSURANCE OF SINCERE ESTEEM + IS DEDICATED + + + + +PREFACE + + +The author would, in the ordinary way, be hard put to it to frame a +reasonable apology for compiling a new volume on the subject of the +ancient and royal city of Toledo. Artists have reproduced its wonder of +imposing and picturesque detail; archæologists have explored its many +monuments; historians have discovered in its archives a record which, +for many centuries, represents the log-book of Spain. There is no +secret, apart from the impenetrable mystery of its origin, which has not +been revealed; its chronicle is a well-thumbed volume. The beginnings of +Spanish history go no further back than the earliest references we have +to the natural stronghold founded on the seven rocks on the banks of the +Tagus, and Spanish tradition claims for the citadel an antiquity coeval +with the sun and stars. Both the history and the legends have been +transcribed in many languages, yet, in a series which is intended to +embrace all Spain in its compendious design, the inclusion of the +twice-told tale of the “city of generations” carries with it an +unquestionable justification. + +The ambition of the author has not been to throw fresh light on a +well-worn subject, nor to supplement the work of earlier and more +erudite writers with new facts or theories, but simply, as in the case +of the earlier volumes in this series, to equip the illustrations with a +brief, explanatory text. It would be futile to attempt to even outline +the story of Toledo in some hundred and fifty pages of letterpress, but +I hope it may be found that in this limited space sufficient detail has +been given to convey to the reader a general idea of the changing +fortunes and unchanging character of the city, which Padilla has +described as “the crown of Spain, the light of the world, free from the +time of the mighty Goths.” + +The impression of grandeur and melancholy, of strength and silence, +which the traveller receives from a visit to the one-time capital of the +Peninsula, cannot be suggested by the written word, but it may be that +the illustrations will recall, if they do not suggest, the feeling which +the city inspires. Toledo is mediæval in its architecture and its +atmosphere. The Moorish occupation has left no more than a scratch upon +its Gothic character; the spirit of modernity has been defied by its +virile antiquity. But the Moslem remains have been made a feature of the +illustrations, and, as in the volumes devoted to Seville, Cordova, and +Granada in this series, the intricacies of Arabian decoration have been +extensively reproduced. + +Many of the plates are included here by the courtesy of Messrs. +Alguacil, Rafael Garzon, Hauser and Menet, and Moreno, and to these +gentlemen I tender my sincere thanks for the permission accorded me to +reproduce them. I have also to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. E. B. +d’Auvergne for the assistance rendered by him in the compilation, and to +Messrs. Martin and Gamoneda for their kindness in allowing me to make +use of the matter and illustrations contained in the volume on _Toledo_ +which they have published in the new series of the _Monumentos +Arquitectónicos de España_. + +I venture to hope that no apology is needed for including the chapter on +El Greco, and the selection of his pictures, which appear in this +volume. A separate book, devoted entirely to this subject, which will be +issued in this series, cannot be ready for some time, and as so little +has been written about Domeniko Theotokopouli, and so few of his +pictures have been reproduced, I have decided to incorporate these brief +notes concerning the Cretan painter, whose association with Toledo +extended over a period of nearly forty years. + + A. F. C. + + +“ROYSTON,” + + SWISS COTTAGE, + + N.W. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +THE CHILDHOOD OF THE CITY 1 + +THE CITY UNDER THE VISIGOTHS 8 + +TOLEDO UNDER THE MOOR 29 + +TOLEDO THE CAPITAL OF CASTILE 59 + +BUILDINGS OF THE CASTILIAN PERIOD 83 + +THE CATHEDRAL 101 + +THE DECLINE OF THE CITY 130 + +EL GRECO 147 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + TITLE PLATE + +Toledo. (_Specially drawn for The Spanish Series_) 1 + +General View of Toledo from the South-east 2 + +View of Toledo from the South-east 3 + +General View of Toledo 4 + +View of Toledo from the Campo del Rey 5 + +General View of Toledo 6 + +State of the Ruins of the Circo Maximo in the Year +1848, according to the “Album Artistico” 7 + +The River Tagus 8 + +Bridge of Alcantara 9 + +Perspective of St. Martin’s Bridge and the Direction +of the Fortified Lines 10 + +Perspective View of the Site of the Aqueduct 11 + +Environs of Toledo 12 + +Plaza de Zocodover 13 + +The Town Hall 14 + +The Market-place 15 + +The Market-place 16 + +A Street in Toledo 17 + +A Street in Toledo 18 + +A Street in Toledo 19 + +A Street in Toledo 20 + +A Street in Toledo 21 + +A Street in Toledo 22 + +A Street in Toledo 23 + +A Street in Toledo 24 + +Visagra Gate 25 + +A Street in Toledo 26 + +A Street in Toledo 27 + +Bridge of Alcantara 28 + +Alcantara Gate 29 + +Alcantara Portal and Bridge 29 + +Exterior of the Northern City Walls 30 + +Fortifications of the old Bridge of Boats, replaced by +the Bridge of St. Martin 31 + +Remains of the City Walls of “Al-Hizém,” from the +Gate of the Doce Cantos to the Plaza de Armas of +the Bridge of Alcantara 32 + +Remains of the City Walls, south-west, rebuilt at the +Time of the Reconquest 33 + +Remains of the Roman Ramparts of the first Enclosure +of the City 34 + +Remains of the Roman Ramparts of the first Enclosure +of the City. (Plaza de Armas of the Bridge of +Alcantara) 35 + +Visigoth Capital transformed into a Fountain Basin. +(No. 9, Callejon de la Lamparilla) 35 + +Principal Entrance to the House of the Baths of Aben-Ya-Yix +Bajada al Colegio del Infantes 36 + +Sepulchral Arch of the Infante don Fernando Perez +in the Belen Chapel in the Convent of the Comendadora +de Santiago 36 + +Ruins of Polan Castle. Fourteenth Century 37 + +Guadamar Castle 38 + +Remains of the Roman Ramparts of the first Enclosure +of the City 39 + +The Exterior Walls 40 + +Remains of the Fortifications in the Jewish Suburb 40 + +Gate of the “Almofala” (Bib-al-Mojadha) rebuilt in +the Fourteenth Century 41 + +“The Abbot’s Tower” in the Northern Walls 41 + +Ruins of the Aquaria Tower, commonly called “Horno +del Vidrio” 42 + +Remains of the Aqueduct (left bank of the river) 43 + +Remains of the Aqueduct (right bank of the river) 43 + +Remains of the Roman Construction in the Tower of +the Plaza de Armas of the Bridge of Alcantara 44 + +Bridge of Alcantara 45 + +East Side of the Bridge of Alcantara 46 + +Posterior Façade of the defensive Tower of the Bridge +of Alcantara 47 + +Defensive Tower of the Bridge of Alcantara. Anterior +Façade 48 + +Alcantara Gate 49 + +Commemorative Inscription in the Avenue of the +Defensive Tower of the Bridge of Alcantara 50 + +Coat-of-Arms of the Catholic Sovereigns in front of +the Defensive Tower of the Bridge of Alcantara 51 + +“The Khalif’s Capitals” at No. 13 Calle del Coliseo 51 + +Perspective of the Bridge of Alcantara 52 + +St. Martin’s Bridge 53 + +St. Martin’s Bridge 54 + +Façade of Santa Cruz 54 + +Defensive Towers at the Entrance of St. Martin’s +Bridge and the Town 55 + +Restored Posterior Façade of the Arch de La Sangre 55 + +Remains of the Aqueduct (right bank) 56 + +East Side of St. Martin’s Bridge 57 + +Defensive Tower of St. Martin’s Bridge. Façade seen +from the Bridge 58 + +Defensive Tower of St. Martin’s Bridge. Façade seen +from the Highway 58 + +Malbardón Gate. Eleventh Century 59 + +Visagra Gate 60 + +Upper Part of the Visagra Gate. Built in 1550 61 + +Tower in the City Walls of “The Suburb of San Isidoro,” +near the new Visagra Gate 62 + +Hydraulic Machine and Remains of the Walls in the +Quarter of the Curtidores, near the River 63 + +Walls of the Suburb of San Isidore 63 + +Ancient Visagra Gate 64 + +Ancient Visagra Gate. The Side which joins the Wall +and the side Defensive Tower 65 + +Ancient Visagra Gate. Defensive and Side Tower 66 + +Ancient Visagra Gate. Remains of the Eastern Façade 67 + +Detail of the Principal Façade of the old Visagra Gate 68 + +Interior of the old Visagra Gate 68 + +Ancient Visagra Gate 69 + +The Tower called “Puerta Baja de la Herreria,” now +“Gate of the Sun” 70 + +Castle of San Servando 71 + +Castle of San Servando. Ancient Entrance in the West +Façade 72 + +Castle of San Servando. South-east Angle 72 + +Door of the Castle in San Servando 73 + +Gate of Valmadron 74 + +Gate of Cambrón 75 + +Los Baños de Florinda de Cava 76 + +Entrance to Los Baños 77 + +Ruins of the Tower called “Los Baños de Florinda +de Cava” 78 + +Details of the Convent of Santa Fe. Eleventh Century 79 + +West Portal in the old Hermitage, now the Inn of Santa +Ana, on the Sisla road 80 + +Altar-piece of San Justo 81 + +Detail of the Church of San Justo. Fifteenth Century 82 + +Detail of the Chapel of Santos Justo and Pastor 83 + +Effigies of Juan Guas, architect of San Juan de Los +Reyes, and of his son. Chapel of Christ at the +Column, in the Parish Church of San Justo 84 + +Effigies of Mari Alvares, wife of Juan Guas, and of her +Daughter. Chapel of Christ at the Column, in +the Parish Church of San Justo 85 + +Mosque of the Tornerias. Exterior of the South Façade, +South-west Angle 86 + +Interior of the Mosque de las Tornerias 87 + +Arch of the “Kibláh” in the Mosque de las Tornerias 88 + +Mosque of the Tornerias. Trefoil Arched Window 89 + +Mosque of the Tornerias. Horse-shoe Window 89 + +Mosque of the Tornerias. Arched Window 90 + +Mosque of the Tornerias. Rectangular Window 90 + +Mosque de las Tornerias 91 + +Mosque of the Tornerias, built over Roman Remains 92 + +Supposed Elevation of the Mosque of Bib-al-Mardóm 93 + +Supposed Plan of the Mosque of Bib-al-Mardóm 94 + +Actual Situation of the North-east Façade of the +Ancient Mosque of Bib-al-Mardóm, a Transept +and _Mudejar_ Apsis of the Hermitage of Santo +Cristo de la Luz 95 + +The Mosque of Bib-al-Mardóm, Horse-shoe Arch and +Remains of the Dado and Little Arches and Windows +in the North-east Façade (right side) 96 + +The Mosque of Bib-al-Mardóm, Horse-shoe Arch and +Remains of the Dado of Little Arches and Windows +in the North-east Façade (left side) 97 + +Principal Nave in the Mosque of Bib-al-Mardóm 98 + +Arch in the Southern Interior of the Mosque of Bib-al-Mardóm 99 + +Actual Entrance to the Castle 99 + +Mosque of Bib-al-Mardóm. Arch in the Interior Wall, +South-west Angle 100 + +Detail of the North-west Façade of the Mosque of Bib-al-Mardóm 100 + +Bib-al-Mardóm. “Arch of the Cross,” Interior Façade 101 + +Bib-al-Mardóm. “Arch of the Cross,” Exterior Façade 101 + +Mosque of Bib-al-Mardóm 102 + +North-west Façade of the Mosque of Bib-al-Mardóm +(Hermitage of Santo Cristo de la Luz), discovered +in February 1899 103 + +The Epigraphic Medallion on the North-west Façade of +the Mosque of Bib-al-Mardóm (Hermitage of +Santo Cristo de la Luz), rebuilt in the year 370 +after the Hegira (A.D. 980) 104 + +Visigoth Capital in the old Moorish Parish Church of San +Sebastian 105 + +Visigoth Base which serves as a Capital in the old +Moorish Parish Church of San Sebastian 105 + +Santo Cristo de la Luz 106 + +The Hermitage of Santo Cristo de la Luz 107 + +Wall-Paintings of Santo Cristo de la Luz 108 + +Church of Santo Cristo de la Luz 109 + +Wall-Paintings of Santo Cristo de la Luz 110 + +Ancient Mosque, now the Hermitage of Santo Cristo +de la Luz 111 + +Exterior of the Hermitage of Santo Cristo de la Luz, +and Towers of various Churches 112 + +Detail of the Transito (Synagogue), built in 1360 at the +expense of Samuel Levi 113 + +Details of the Interior Decoration of the Church of the +Transito (Ancient Synagogue) 114 + +Details of the Interior Decoration of the Church of the +Transito (Ancient Synagogue) 115 + +Details of the Transito (Synagogue) 116 + +Details of the Transito (Synagogue) 117 + +Details of the Transito (Synagogue) 118 + +Entrance Arch in the Building called Taller Del Moro 119 + +Detail of Decoration in the Moorish Workshop 120 + +Details of the Palace of the Ayalas 121 + +Details of the Palace of the Ayalas 122 + +Exterior of the Chapel of Santo Cristo de la Vega 123 + +Door and Exterior of Santa Maria la Blanca 124 + +Sections and Details of the Ancient Synagogue, now the +Church of Santa Maria la Blanca 125 + +Part of the Longitudinal Section of the Ancient Synagogue, +now the Church of Santa Maria la Blanca 126 + +Interior of Santa Maria la Blanca 127 + +Interior of Santa Maria la Blanca 128 + +Interior of Santa Maria la Blanca 129 + +Cárcel de Santa Hermandad 130 + +A Gothic Doorway 131 + +A Doorway 132 + +St. Michael’s Tower. Fourteenth Century 133 + +House of the Toledos 134 + +Details of a Courtyard 135 + +Details of a Courtyard 136 + +Details of a Courtyard 137 + +Details of a Courtyard 138 + +Details of a Courtyard 139 + +The Fountain of Calerahigo 140 + +Arab Details 141 + +Visigoth Crowns and Crosses of Guarrazar 142 + +Visigoth Crowns and Crosses of Guarrazar 143 + +Visigoth Crowns and Crosses found at Toledo and now +in the Royal Armoury at Madrid 144 + +San Pedro Martin 145 + +Calle de Santo Tomé 145 + +Alcazar Royal Palace. Reproduction of the Engraving +made in 1566 for Braun’s “Civitates Orbi Terrarum” 146 + +Perspective of the Alcazar in 1845. East and North +Façades. Reproduction of an Engraving in the +Work “Toledo Pintoresca” 147 + +The Alcazar. Taken from the Plaza de Zocodover 148 + +South Façade of the Alcazar 149 + +The Alcazar. West Façade after the latest Restoration 150 + +The Alcazar 151 + +Alcazar. Principal Façade on the North 152 + +The Alcazar. East Façade, after the latest Restoration 153 + +General View of the Alcazar 154 + +The Alcazar. The Principal Staircase 155 + +The Alcazar. Principal North Portal 156 + +The Alcazar. Court and Plan 157 + +Court of the Alcazar 158 + +Court in the Alcazar. After the latest Restoration 159 + +The Alcazar. Plan and Details. North Façade 160 + +Details of the North Façade of the Alcazar 161 + +Door of the Hall of the House of the Mesa (the Table) 162 + +Details of the House of the Mesa 163 + +Details of the House of the Mesa 164 + +Details of the House of the Mesa 165 + +Details of the Hall of the House of the Mesa 166 + +Details of the Hall of the House of the Mesa 167 + +Details of the Hall of the House of the Mesa 168 + +Details of the House of the Mesa 169 + +Doorway of the College of the Infantes. Sixteenth +Century 170 + +Doorway of the Palace of the Martinez 171 + +Roman Tower of San Juan de los Reyes 172 + +Cloisters of San Juan de los Reyes 172 + +Exterior of San Juan de los Reyes 173 + +San Juan de los Reyes 174 + +Plan of the Church and Processional Cloister of San +Juan de los Reyes 175 + +Doorway in San Juan de los Reyes 176 + +Gothic Doorway in San Juan de los Reyes 177 + +Exterior of the Arch of San Juan de los Reyes 178 + +Interior of San Juan de los Reyes 179 + +Interior of San Juan de los Reyes 180 + +Interior of San Juan de los Reyes 181 + +Longitudinal Section of the Church of San Juan de los +Reyes 182 + +Interior, San Juan de los Reyes 183 + +Retablo, San Juan de los Reyes 183 + +Gallery in San Juan de los Reyes 184 + +Gallery in San Juan de los Reyes 185 + +Details of San Juan de los Reyes 186 + +Details of Gallery in San Juan de los Reyes 187 + +Details of San Juan de los Reyes 188 + +San Juan de los Reyes. Wall in the Presbytery 189 + +Interior of San Juan de los Reyes 190 + +Interior of San Juan de los Reyes 191 + +Interior of San Juan de los Reyes 192 + +San Juan de los Reyes. Decoration in the Transverse +Nave 193 + +San Juan de los Reyes. Details of the Arms of Isabella +the Catholic 194 + +Details of the Transept of the Church of San Juan de +los Reyes 195 + +San Juan de los Reyes. Interior 196 + +A Dome in San Juan de los Reyes 197 + +Remains of Windows of San Juan de los Reyes 198 + +Details of the Cross-Aisle in the Church of San Juan +de los Reyes 199 + +Altar of San Juan de los Reyes 200 + +Altar of San Juan de los Reyes 200 + +Details of the Altar-piece in San Juan de los Reyes 201 + +Copy of the original Drawing of the Arch and Cross-Aisle +of San Juan de los Reyes 202 + +Longitudinal Section of the Cloister of San Juan de los +Reyes 203 + +Cloisters of San Juan de los Reyes 204 + +San Juan de los Reyes. The Cloisters 205 + +Cloisters of San Juan de los Reyes 206 + +Cloisters of San Juan de los Reyes 207 + +Details of the Cloisters of San Juan de los Reyes 208 + +Compartment of the Cloisters of San Juan de los Reyes 209 + +San Juan de los Reyes. Details of the Cloisters 210 + +Details of the Cloisters of San Juan de los Reyes 211 + +San Juan de los Reyes. Details of the Cloisters 212 + +San Juan de los Reyes. Details of the Cloisters 213 + +San Juan de los Reyes. Details of the Cloisters 214 + +San Juan de los Reyes. Details of the Cloisters 215 + +Church of San Juan de los Reyes. Courtyard 216 + +Court in San Juan de los Reyes 217 + +Doorway of the Museum of San Juan de los Reyes 218 + +San Juan de los Reyes. Details above Door of Museum 219 + +Palace of Don Pedro the Cruel 220 + +Details of the Palace of Don Pedro the Cruel 221 + +Façade of the Palace of Don Pedro the Cruel 222 + +Doorway of the Palace of Don Pedro the Cruel 223 + +Doorway of the Palace of Don Pedro the Cruel 224 + +The Cathedral 225 + +General View of the Cathedral 226 + +The Cathedral 227 + +Section of the Cathedral 228 + +Longitudinal Section of the Cathedral 229 + +Transverse Section of the Cathedral 230 + +Principal Façade of the Cathedral and Tower 231 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Exterior 232 + +The Cathedral. Portal of the Principal Façade 233 + +The Cathedral. Principal Gate 234 + +The Cathedral. The Gate of the Lions 235 + +The Cathedral. Porch of the Principal Façade 236 + +The Cathedral. The Lion Door 237 + +The Cathedral. The Lion Door 237 + +Door of the Cathedral 238 + +The Cathedral. Door of the Lost Child 239 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Puerta de la Feria 240 + +The Cathedral. Gate of the Conception 241 + +The Cathedral. Ornamental Details of the Gates 242 + +The Cathedral. Central Nave 243 + +The Cathedral. Tomb of Alonso de Carrillo 243 + +The Cathedral. General View of the Interior 244 + +The Cathedral. General View of the Interior 245 + +The Cathedral. Interior 246 + +The Cathedral. Interior 247 + +Windows in the Principal Nave of the Cathedral 248 + +The Cathedral. Grating of the Principal Chapel. +Sixteenth Century 249 + +The Cathedral. Exterior of the Principal Chapel 250 + +The Cathedral. Exterior of the Principal Chapel 251 + +The Cathedral. Exterior of the Principal Chapel 252 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Principal Chapel 253 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Principal Chapel 254 + +The Cathedral. Exterior of the Principal Chapel 255 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Principal Chapel 256 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Principal Chapel 257 + +The Cathedral. Altar-piece of the Principal Chapel 258 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Altar-piece of the Principal +Chapel 259 + +The Cathedral. Exterior of the High Altar 260 + +The Cathedral. Exterior of the High Altar 261 + +The Cathedral. Exterior of the High Altar 262 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Altar-piece 263 + +The Cathedral. Frontal of the High Altar. Fifteenth +Century 264 + +The Cathedral. Frontal of the High Altar. Fifteenth +Century 265 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Frontal of the High +Altar 266 + +The Cathedral. Exterior of the Principal Chapel 267 + +The Cathedral. Sepulchre of Cardinal Mendoza in the +Principal Chapel 268 + +The Cathedral. Dome of the Principal Chapel 269 + +The Cathedral. Exterior of the Choir 270 + +The Cathedral. Exterior of the Choir 271 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Exterior of the Choir 272 + +The Cathedral. Exterior of the Choir 273 + +The Cathedral. Choir Stalls 274 + +The Cathedral. Choir Stalls 275 + +The Cathedral. Choir Stalls 276 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Choir Stalls, representing +the Re-conquest of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella 277 + +The Cathedral. Interior of the Choir 278 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Choir 279 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Choir 280 + +The Cathedral. The Archbishop’s Throne, representing +the Transfiguration. By Berruguete 281 + +The Cathedral. Virgin of the Laneros 282 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Choir Stalls. Re-conquest +of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella 283 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Choir Stalls. Re-conquest +of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella 284 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Choir Stalls. Re-conquest +of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella 285 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Choir Stalls. Re-conquest +of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella 286 + +The Cathedral. Detail of Choir Stalls. The Capture +of Alhama by Ferdinand and Isabella, 1482. Re-conquest +of Granada 287 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Choir Stalls. Re-conquest +of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella 288 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Choir Stalls. Re-conquest +of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella 289 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Choir Stalls. Re-conquest +of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella 290 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Choir Stalls. Re-conquest +of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella 291 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Choir Stalls. Re-conquest +of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella 292 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Choir Stalls. Re-conquest +of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella 293 + +The Cathedral. Upper part of the Choir Stalls, carved +by Berruguete and Borgoña. Sixteenth Century 294 + +The Cathedral. Upper part of the Choir Stalls, carved +by Berruguete and Borgoña. Sixteenth Century 295 + +The Cathedral. Upper part of the Choir Stalls, carved +by Berruguete and Borgoña. Sixteenth Century 296 + +The Cathedral. Upper part of the Choir Stalls, carved +by Berruguete and Borgoña. Sixteenth Century 297 + +The Cathedral. Upper part of the Choir Stalls, carved +by Berruguete and Borgoña. Sixteenth Century 298 + +The Cathedral. Upper part of the Choir Stalls, carved +by Berruguete and Borgoña. Sixteenth Century 299 + +The Cathedral. Upper part of the Choir Stalls, carved +by Berruguete and Borgoña. Sixteenth Century 300 + +The Cathedral. Masonry in the Choir 301 + +The Cathedral. Exterior of the Presbytery 302 + +The Cathedral. Interior of the Chapel of the New +Kings with the Sepulchres of Don Henry the +Bastard and his Wife 303 + +The Cathedral. Sepulchres of Don Henry the Bastard +and his Wife in the Chapel of the New Kings 304 + +The Cathedral. Sepulchre of Cardinal Tavera in the +Chapel of the New Kings 305 + +The Cathedral. Sepulchre of Don Juan I. in the Chapel +of the New Kings 306 + +The Cathedral. Sepulchre of Doña Leonor, Wife of Don +Juan I., in the Chapel of the New Kings 307 + +The Cathedral. Chapel of the Descent of the Virgin 308 + +The Cathedral. Muzarabic Chapel 309 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Chapel of the Virgen +de la Antigua 310 + +The Cathedral. Chapel of the Virgen de la Antigua. +Fourteenth Century 311 + +The Cathedral. Doorway of the Chapel of the Canons 312 + +Altar-piece of Santa Isabel 313 + +Altar-piece of Santa Catalina 313 + +Altar-piece of Santa Catalina 314 + +Altar-piece of Santa Catalina 315 + +Altar-piece of Santa Catalina 316 + +Chapel of Santa Catalina. Founded by the Counts of +Cedillo 317 + +The Cathedral. Chapel of Santiago, containing the +Sepulchres of Don Alvaro de Luna and that of his +Wife Doña Juana. Fifteenth Century 318 + +The Cathedral. Sepulchre of Don Juan de Zerezuela in +the Chapel of Santiago. Fifteenth Century 319 + +Cupola of the Chapel “de los Reyes Nuevos” in the +Cathedral 320 + +Cupola of the “Capilla de Santiago,” called “De Don +Alvaro de Luna” in the Cathedral 320 + +The Cathedral. Sepulchre of Don Gil Carrillo de Albornoz +in the Chapel of San Ildefonso 321 + +The Cathedral. Sepulchre of Gil de Albornoz in the +Chapel of San Ildefonso 322 + +The Cathedral. Entrance to the Chapter Room. Sixteenth +Century 323 + +The Cathedral. Chapter Room 324 + +The Cathedral. Various Portraits of Cardinals 325 + +The Cathedral. Various Portraits of Cardinals 326 + +The Cathedral. Details in the Chapter Room 327 + +The Cathedral. Chapter Room 328 + +The Cathedral. Doorway of the Chapter Room 329 + +The Cathedral. Detail of a Doorway in the Chapter +Room 330 + +The Cathedral. Cupboard made by Gregorio Pardo +(1549-1551), for the Antechamber of the Chapter +House 331 + +Cupboard in the Cathedral 332 + +The Cathedral. A Rich and Gossamer-carved Ceiling +in the Chapter Hall. Sixteenth Century 333 + +The Cathedral. Ceiling in the Chapter Hall 334 + +The Cathedral. A Ceiling in the Ante-room 335 + +The Cathedral Cloisters 336 + +The Cathedral Cloisters 337 + +Presentation Portal in the Cloister of the Cathedral 338 + +Exterior, by the Cloisters of the Chapel, of the Place of +Sepulchre built by Henry II. for his Tomb 339 + +The Cathedral. Picture by Bayeu in the Cloisters 340 + +Portal of St. Catherine in the Cloister of the Cathedral 341 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Gate of the Presentation +in the Cloister 342 + +The Cathedral. Reliquary of San Sebastian in the +Octavo 343 + +The Cathedral. Detail of the Reliquary of San Sebastian +in the Octavo 344 + +The Cathedral. A Byzantine Reliquary 345 + +Sepulchres in the Cathedral 346 + +Sculpture in the Cathedral 347 + +The Cathedral. Bronze Lectern and Books of the +Holy Office 348 + +The Cathedral. A Bronze Pulpit 349 + +The Cathedral. Detail of a Pulpit 350 + +Pulpit in the Cathedral 351 + +Cathedral Bells which Ring when the Host is Elevated 352 + +The Cathedral. Statue of Don Juan II. Sixteenth +Century 353 + +The Cathedral. St. Francis of Assisi 354 + +The Cathedral. A Picture by Bayeu 355 + +Details in the Cathedral 356 + +The Cathedral. Cover of a Missal 357 + +The Cathedral. Silver Salver, “The Abduction of the +Sabine Women,” by Benvenuto Cellini 358 + +The Cathedral. Chalice and Paten 359 + +The Cathedral. A Ship that belonged to Queen Juana +la Loca 360 + +Monstrance in the Cathedral 361 + +The Cathedral. Sword of Alfonso VI. 362 + +The Cathedral. The Adoration of the Kings (silk) 363 + +The Cathedral. The Veil of Santa Leocadia (silk) 364 + +The Cathedral. The Assumption (silk) 365 + +The Cathedral. The Beheading of San Eugenio (silk) 366 + +Kufic Entablature in the Cathedral 367 + +The Cathedral. A Dalmatic embroidered in Gold and +Silk. Sixteenth Century 368 + +The Cathedral. A Chasuble embroidered in Gold and +Silk. Sixteenth Century 369 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Puerta del Reloj 370 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Puerta del Reloj 371 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Puerta del Reloj 372 + +The Cathedral. Details of the Puerta del Reloj 373 + +Effigies of Juan Guas (architect of San Juan de los +Reyes), his Wife, and Children 374 + +Sculpture in San Andrés 375 + +Banner of the Salado 376 + +St. Peter Natano and St. Theresa sculptured in Wood 377 + +Plan of the Santa Iglesia Primada 378 + +Santa Isabel. Side Altar-piece 379 + +Santa Isabel. Detail of an Altar-piece 380 + +Parish Church of Santiago 381 + +Exterior of Santiago del Arrabal. Thirteenth Century 382 + +Pulpit in the Church of Santiago del Arrabal, from +which San Vicente de Ferrer preached against the +Jews 383 + +Parochial Church of Santiago del Arrabal 384 + +Church of San Tomé 385 + +Detail of an Altar-piece in the Church of the Trinity 386 + +Sepulchres in the Church of St. Peter the Martyr 387 + +Details of a Sepulchre in the Church of St. Peter the +Martyr 388 + +Church of St. Peter the Martyr. Statue of a Kneeling +Canon 389 + +Chapel in San Juan de la Penitencia 390 + +Chapel in San Juan de la Penitencia 391 + +Details of San Juan de la Penitencia 392 + +Sepulchre in San Juan de la Penitencia 393 + +Sepulchre in San Juan de la Penitencia 394 + +Detail of the Convent of San Juan de la Penitencia 395 + +Details of the Convent of San Juan de la Penitencia 396 + +Convent of Santo Domingo 397 + +Convent of Santo Domingo 398 + +Convent of Santo Domingo 399 + +Ancient Sepulchre in the Convent of Santo Domingo 400 + +Santo Domingo el Real. Principal Altar-piece 401 + +Doorway of the Convent of San Antonio 402 + +Porch of the Church and Convent of San Clemente 403 + +Porch of the Church and Convent of San Clemente 404 + +Detail of the Interior of the Convent of San Clemente 405 + +Portal of Santa Cruz 406 + +Portal of Santa Cruz 407 + +Porch of Santa Cruz 408 + +The Hospital of Santa Cruz 408 + +Court of Santa Cruz 409 + +Courtyard of the Hospital 410 + +Court of Santa Cruz 411 + +Court of Santa Cruz 412 + +Detail of the Portal of the Hospital of Santa Cruz 413 + +Details of Santa Cruz 414 + +Hospital of Santa Cruz 415 + +Portals in the Vestibule of the Ancient Hospital of +Santa Cruz 416 + +Hospital of Santa Cruz. Portrait of the Founder, +Cardinal Mendoza 417 + +Hospital de Afuera. The Court 418 + +Hospital de Afuera 419 + +Hospital of St. John Baptist 420 + +Hospital de Afuera. Sepulchre of Cardinal Tavera, +1557, Alonzo Berruguete 421 + +The University 422 + +The University 422 + +Details of the House of Munárriz 423 + +Gate of Al Mardóm 424 + +Altar of the Church of San Justo 424 + +Portal of the Archbishop’s Palace 425 + +In the Town Hall 425 + +Cloisters of San Juan de los Reyes 426 + +View of St. Martin’s Bridge, looking down the River 426 + +Gallery of San Juan de los Reyes 427 + +A Moorish Workshop 427 + +Hotel Castilla 428 + +Detail of the Courtyard of the Hotel Castilla 429 + +Visigoth Capitals in the Church of San Sebastian 430 + +National Archæological Museum. Capital, Fourth +Century after the Hegira 431 + +National Archæological Museum. Capital of Santiago +de los Caballeros near the Alcazar. Fourth +Century after the Hegira 431 + +Capital in the Archæological Museum 432 + +National Archæological Museum. Fragment of Dado +found near the Basilica of Santa Leocadia 433 + +National Archæological Museum. Window of San Ginés 433 + +National Archæological Museum. Decorative Table in +White Marble, belonging to the Aljama Mosque of +Toledo 434 + +National Archæological Museum. Decorative Fragment +found at the “Miradero.” Carved in White +Marble 434 + +Capital in the South-west Angle, belonging to the old +Mosque, now the Hermitage of Santo Cristo de la +Luz 435 + +The Fifth of the Visigoth Capitals of the Hospital of +Santa Cruz 435 + +National Archæological Museum. Skylight or Ornament +found at Toledo 436 + +Visigoth Capital in the Provincial Museum 436 + +Architectural Fragments of the Visigoth Period in the +Parish Church of San Román 437 + +Architectural Pieces of the Visigoth Period existing in +the City 438 + +Architectural Fragments of the Visigoth Period 439 + +Capital of the South-east Angle belonging to the ancient +Mosque, now the Hermitage of Santo Cristo de la Luz 440 + +Visigoth Capital of the old Parish Church of San Sebastian 440 + +National Archæological Museum. Visigoth Capitals of +the Church of Santa Eulalia. Fragment of the +Dado of the Basilica of Santo Leocadia 441 + +Capitals in the Archæological Museum 442 + +Provincial Museum. Capital of the Fourth Century +after the Hegira 443 + +National Archæological Museum. Arab Astrolabe +made at Toledo in the year 459 after the Hegira +(A.D. 1067) 443 + +Architectural Fragments of the Visigoth Period 444 + +Architectural Fragments anterior to the Mahometan +Irruption, No. 1 445 + +Architectural Parts and Decorative Remains anterior +to the Mahometan Irruption, No. 2 446 + +Architectural Parts and Decorative Fragments anterior +to the Mahometan Irruption, No. 3 447 + +Arches of various Churches of the Fourteenth and +Fifteenth Centuries 448 + +Denudation of our Lord before the Crucifixion. El +Greco. Sacristy of the Cathedral 449 + +The Virgin, St. Anne, the Child Jesus, and St. John. +El Greco. Chapel of St. Anne 450 + +Our Lady of Sorrows. El Greco. Sacristy of the New +Kings, in the Cathedral 451 + +Pentecost. El Greco. Church of the Trinity 452 + +Jesus and St. John. El Greco. Church of St. John +the Baptist 453 + +The Assumption. El Greco. Chapel of San José 454 + +St. Martin. El Greco. Chapel of San José 455 + +The Holy Eucharist, by El Greco. Church of San José 456 + +San José and the Child Jesus. El Greco. Parish +Church of the Magdalene 457 + +The Interment of Count de Orgaz. El Greco. Church +of Santo Tomé 458 + +Detail of the Interment of Count de Orgaz. El Greco 459 + +Fragment of the Interment of the Count de Orgaz. El +Greco 460 + +Fragment of the Interment of the Count de Orgaz. El +Greco 461 + +Fragment of the Interment of the Count de Orgaz. El +Greco 462 + +Fragment of the Interment of the Count de Orgaz. El +Greco 463 + +Fragment of the Interment of the Count de Orgaz 464 + +Fragment of the Interment of the Count de Orgaz. El +Greco 465 + +Fragment of the Interment of the Count de Orgaz. El +Greco 466 + +The Annunciation. El Greco. Parish Church of San +Nicolás 467 + +The Crucifixion. El Greco. San Nicolás 468 + +San Pedro Nolasco. El Greco. Parish Church of San +Nicolás 469 + +The Assumption. El Greco. Parish Church of San +Vicente 470 + +San Eugenio. El Greco. Parish Church of San Vicente 471 + +St. Peter. El Greco. Parish Church of San Vicente 472 + +Jesus and the Virgin. El Greco. Parish Church of +San Vicente 473 + +The Ascension. El Greco. San Domingo el Antigua 474 + +A Saint (? Santo Domingo el Antigua). El Greco 475 + +The Birth of Jesus. El Greco. Santo Domingo el +Antigua 476 + +Santa Veronica with the Sudarium. El Greco. Santo +Domingo el Antigua 477 + +St. John Baptist. El Greco. Santo Domingo el Antigua 478 + +St. John the Evangelist. El Greco. Church of Santo +Domingo 479 + +Altar-piece of the Convent of Santo Domingo. El Greco 480 + +St. Francis of Assisi. El Greco. College of Noble +Ladies 481 + +The Baptism of Jesus. El Greco. Hospital of St. John +Baptist 482 + +Portrait of Cardinal Tavera. El Greco. Hospital of +St. John Baptist 483 + +View of the High Altar of the Tavera Hospital. El +Greco 484 + +General View of Toledo (left half). El Greco. Provincial +Museum 485 + +General View of Toledo (right half). El Greco. Provincial +Museum 486 + +View of Toledo. El Greco. Provincial Museum 487 + +Portrait of Antonio Covarrubias. El Greco. Provincial +Museum 488 + +Portrait of the Son of Covarrubias. El Greco. Provincial +Museum 489 + +The Crucifixion. El Greco. Provincial Museum 490 + +Allegory of the Virgin. El Greco. Provincial Museum 491 + +Portrait of Juan de Avila. El Greco. Provincial +Museum 492 + +Our Saviour. El Greco. Provincial Museum 493 + +St. John the Evangelist. El Greco. Provincial Museum 494 + +St. Peter. El Greco. Provincial Museum 495 + +St. Matthias. El Greco. Provincial Museum 496 + +St. Philip. El Greco. Provincial Museum 497 + +St. Andrew. El Greco. Provincial Museum 498 + +St. Thomas. El Greco. Provincial Museum 499 + +St. Simon. El Greco. Provincial Museum 500 + +St. Matthew. El Greco. Provincial Museum 501 + +St. Jude Tadeo. El Greco. Provincial Museum 502 + +An Apostle. El Greco. Provincial Museum 503 + +An Apostle. El Greco. Provincial Museum 504 + +An Apostle. El Greco. Provincial Museum 505 + +The Annunciation. El Greco 506 + +The Dream of Philip II. El Greco. Chapter Hall +of the Escorial 507 + +St. Maurice and the Theban Legion. El Greco. Chapter +Hall of the Escorial 508 + +Portrait of El Greco by Himself. Señor A. de Beruete, +Madrid 509 + +Christ driving the Money Changers from the Temple. +El Greco. Señor de Beruete, Madrid 510 + +Portrait of a Student (El Greco?). El Greco. Don +Pablo Bosch, Madrid 511 + + + + +TOLEDO + + + + +THE CHILDHOOD OF THE CITY + + +There are spots that stand out in the ocean of time like islands +unsubmerged. The flood of years has rolled onwards past and around them, +and its billows have broken in vain against their shores. Such a spot is +Toledo. It lifts its head above the ever-shifting waters of the ages, +and looks forth unchanged, unchanging, across the sea of centuries--a +last surviving beacon of the drowned mediæval world. + +Very old is the city. It has outgrown decay. Nor can we conceive it as +changing. It has almost become a part of the everlasting hills on which +it stands. The rock has grown into Toledo and Toledo into the rock. + +In a land where all is old, men marvel at the antiquity of this city. +And when it was younger by centuries, the chroniclers, groping amid +legends and fables the wildest and most extravagant, strove to penetrate +the darkness of the ages and to discern the pale glimmerings of Toledo’s +dawn. Here, surely, first trod the first man, thought the ancients, and +here was already a city when God first placed His sun exactly over it in +the yet-dark Heavens. If this was not so, said another chronicler, then +beyond doubt Toledo’s seven hills were the first to appear above the +waters of the Deluge, and Tubal, the grandson of Noah, established here +a kingdom. So stories and traditions multiplied, each historian +inventing a fresh one. These fables of the city’s founding are quaint, +curious, and ingenious. Iberia and Hispania of course suggested persons, +and so we find Iberia, daughter of King Hispan, and wife of a Persian +captain, Pyrrhus, resorting in search of health to the banks of the +Tagus, and her husband making a bower for her on these rocky steeps. +Hercules, who is credited with the foundation of Seville, added the +building of Toledo to his many labours. “Dismiss these far-fetched +fables,” cries the learned prelate De Rada, “and admit that our city was +founded by the Consuls Tolemon and Brutus, in the reign of Ptolemy +Evergetes.” But another conjecture as absolutely baseless as the others! +More interesting is the legend that the town was built by Jews flying +from Nebuchadnezzar, by whom it was named Toledoth, “the city of +generation.” Certain it is that Jews lived in Toledo at the earliest +periods of its history, and played a great part, as we shall see, in its +affairs. However picturesque may be these traditions and wonderings of +the sages, we cannot resist the conclusion that the beginnings of this +old capital of Spain were obscure and commonplace enough. Along the +banks of the yellow Tagus savage tribesmen pastured their flocks and +herds, and the more practical spirits among them recognised the +advantages of the cliff above the river as a settlement. Doubtless mere +temporary encampments succeeded each other here season after season, +till some sentiment or necessity attached men permanently to the spot, +and a rude cluster of huts was formed--the rough inception of our +greatest towns. + +The Celtiberians hereabouts were known to the Romans as Carpetani (how +ill these Latin forms seem to reproduce the uncouth designations which +these primitive peoples really bore!) The Carthaginians were the first +civilised nation to come in contact with them, and we hear of a Punic +governor, Tago. It is impossible to resist the suspicion that his +personality arose, Aphrodite-like, from the river Tagus. But a Moorish +writer gives a plausible account of a revolt which arose among the +Carpetani consequent on Tago’s assassination by Hasdrubal, the +contemporary of Hannibal. This brought that great commander himself upon +the scene. Before him the tribesmen were scattered like chaff before the +wind. + +Did the African Phœnicians found a permanent station at Toledo? It +would not seem so. No vestige or fragment, no trace whatever of their +domination has come down to us. Most likely this was a mere trading +centre, where the black-bearded, keen-eyed Semites bartered the wares of +Africa and the East against the ores and fleeces of Spain. The +population remained almost purely Celtic. One wonders if a few +Carthaginians settled amongst them, and if their descendants became +confounded with their kinsmen in race, the Jews. It is a wild +conjecture, but might not the presence of such Semitic settlers have +given rise to the fantastic legend of the founding of Toledo by the +Children of Israel? + +Where the Carthaginian sowed, the Roman reaped. And now the Carpetanian +village looms in the light not of mere tradition, but of history. Livy +tells us that in the year 193 B.C. the Pro-Consul Marcus Fulvius +Nobilior defeated a host of Celtiberians, Vaccei and Vectones in this +region, and took prisoner a king called Hilerno. In consequence of this +victory Toledo--described as _urbs parva sed loco munito_--fell into the +power of the conquerors. The wild rebellious Celts might henceforward +chafe and lash themselves into impotent fury; on their necks the yoke of +the Roman was firmly riveted, never by the natives unassisted to be +shaken off. + +Historians have remarked on the aloofness of the Toledans during the +long winter of foreign domination. Between the various leaders and +factions who made Spain their cock-pit, the citizens observed strict +neutrality. They rendered no assistance to Viriathus in his magnanimous +attempt to recover national independence. Perhaps they were not wanting +in sympathy for their compatriots; but the conquerors had long +recognised the military value of the town by the Tagus, and here we may +suppose was always a strong garrison ready to stamp out the first +efforts at revolt. + +Under the wings of the Roman eagle, the material prosperity of Toledo +steadily increased. From a collection of wretched huts, it had become a +_colonia_, the capital of Carpetania. As such it would have had its +_arx_, or citadel, prætorium, forum, temples, baths, and _vici_, or long +suburbs straggling into the country. Of all these practically no traces +remain. But in the Vega, outside the town, may be traced a semicircular +enclosure, formed by masses of stones and mortar, about a metre in +thickness, but of varying height. This space has been dignified with the +name of Circus Maximum, and is undoubtedly a Roman work. But Señor +Amador de los Rios has demonstrated almost conclusively that the Circus +never advanced much beyond the foundations, which we now see before us +probably in no very different state from that in which they were left +some two thousand years ago. But though no Celtiberian captives or +Christian martyrs here were “butchered to make a Roman holiday,” the +consecration of the spot to the practice of cruelty bore fruit in after +years. For the fires lit by the Inquisition were kindled here, and the +Christian put the incompleted amphitheatre to the use for which it had +been designed by the Pagan. To-day the men of Toledo play at _pelota_ in +the enclosure, and their cheery shouts may well scare away the ghosts of +torturer and victim. + +This may be regarded as the most important Roman remains in the +neighbourhood of the city. The famous Cave of Hercules, which figures so +largely in legendary lore, was probably the crypt or substructure of a +Temple of Jupiter; and on the cliff-side below the Alcazar are a few +fragments of a once-important aqueduct. + +It has been conjectured from the dimensions of the projected Circus that +the Romans had at one time thought of elevating Toledo to the rank of +chief city of Spain. The design, if it ever was formed, was never +carried into execution. Of what passed in the town under Latin rule we +have but the vaguest notion. Toledo, like almost every other place in +Europe, has its traditions of fierce persecution productive of local +martyrs. Almost as many Christians were massacred in Spain, if we +credit these stories, as Gibbon thinks perished in the whole Roman +Empire. Among the martyrs of Toletum, it is perhaps superfluous to say, +was a young and lovely virgin, in this instance called Leocadia. She was +done to death by the truculent Dacian. St. Eugenius, the first bishop of +Toledo, is said to have been a disciple of St. Paul. He was martyred at +Paris, and his alleged remains were obtained from Charles IX. of France +and presented to the city by Philip II. + +In early ecclesiastical annals Toledo has less shadowy claims on +remembrance as the seat of several councils, the most celebrated being +those of 396, 400, 589. The minutes of the second council are preserved +in the local archives. Miss Hannah Lynch makes merry over the fathers’ +spirited denunciations of her sex. In truth, the irreverent reader is +reminded of those other fulminations launched in the diocese of Rheims +against certain persons unknown, and of the poet’s surprised comment on +their want of effect. The sex fared better at the hands of the Council, +however, than vegetarians and mathematicians, both of whom were +excommunicated downright. Neither class is numerous in Spain at the +present day, so the labours of the fathers may not have been altogether +ineffectual. + + + + +THE CITY UNDER THE VISIGOTH + + +During the fifth century the Toledans may well have listened with +attention to spiritual discussions, for looking forth from their rocky +perch, they beheld the kingdoms of the earth passing away, and all that +had seemed stable and eternal fading like the morning mist. The final +breaking-up of the great world-controlling power was evident. Nations, +the very names of which the men of the south had never heard, loomed +from out the darkness of the north, and swept like a cloud of locusts +over the land. The whole of Spain was desolate. Toledo, ever grim and +stubborn, stood prepared to die hard. The tide of Vandal invasion surged +in vain round her walls; then spent its fury in the south. The Visigoths +established themselves in southern France. Under Walya they had overrun +Spain, but had exchanged it, willingly enough, for Aquitania. Euric the +Balthing, who succeeded his brother Theodoric as king in 466, seems to +have repented of the bargain. He reconquered all Spain, except Galicia, +which was held by the Suevi, and took Toledo. Where the Vandal had +failed, the Visigoth succeeded. In the first years of the sixth century +the Franks stripped Euric’s grandson, Amalaric, of practically all his +possessions north of the Pyrenees, and the kingdom of the Visigoths +became synonymous with Spain. Its capital was Narbonne during the +troubled reigns of Theudis and Theudigisel. But in 553 Athanagild was +elected king. His wife was the sister of the Bishop of Toledo, and +partly on that account, perhaps, but more probably because of its +central position, he made that city his capital. That rank it retained +during the continuance of the Visigothic monarchy, with the brief +interval of the reign of Liuba, who succeeded Athanagild in 567 and +removed his Court to Narbonne. + +The history of Toledo for the next century and a half becomes, in some +sort, the history of Spain. Under Liuba’s brother and successor +Leovigild (more correctly Liobagilths) the monarchy was consolidated. +The Suevi in the north-west were subdued, and the nominal suzerainty of +the Eastern Emperor was disavowed. Despite the difference in religion +between the Visigoths, who were Arians, and the Romanised Iberians, who +were Catholics, the two races began to intermingle, and the fusion of +both into a single nation commenced. Leovigild was the first of his line +to assume the insignia and appurtenances of royalty, and struck coins +with his own likeness and the description, “King in Toledo.” The title +is significant of the increased importance of the city. The prosperity +of the kingdom was temporarily interrupted by the celebrated +insurrection of the monarch’s son Ermenegild. This was the outcome of +the marriage of that prince with Ingunthis, the daughter of the Prankish +and Catholic king Sisebert. The wedding was solemnised in Toledo with +great pomp, but the city shortly after became the scene of violent +quarrels between Queen Goiswintha and her daughter-in-law. Ermenegild +embraced his wife’s religion, and headed a revolt against his father. He +was defeated, and paid the penalty with his life at Tarragona, after +refusing to accept the sacrament at the hands of an Arian bishop. +Unedifying though his conduct may appear to us, he was regarded as a +martyr for the faith, and is enrolled among the saints of the Catholic +Church. + +Nor does his example seem to have been without its effect upon his +brother, Reccared, who succeeded Leovigild in 587. In the month of May +589, Toledo was thronged with Catholic bishops and priests--many lately +returned from exile--and with nobles from all parts of Spain, making +their way to the Basilica of Santa Maria de la Sede Real, to assist at +the solemn profession of the Catholic faith by the king and his queen, +Baddo. Sixty-two prelates took part in this, the third Council of +Toledo, the most eminent being Massona, Bishop of Merida, Leandro of +Baetica, Santardus of Braga, Ugno of Barcelona, Megecias of Narbonne, +and Eufemio of Toledo. It was a memorable day for Spain. The king’s +example was soon followed by his subjects of his own race, and the +unification of the two peoples was greatly accelerated. + +During the hundred and ten years that elapsed between the death of +Reccared (601) and the rout of the Guadelete (711), no fewer than +fifteen sovereigns sat on the throne of Spain. Toledo was the theatre of +their barbaric triumphings, their violent entrances and tragic exits. +Now the city would resound with the savage, exultant yells of the +townsmen, as they dragged the body of the usurper Witeric up and down +the steep, uneven streets--to cast the bleeding, shapeless thing that +had so lately been a king, upon a dunghill. Now, the people would be +acclaiming Wamba, greatest of the Visigoths--after the strange scene at +Gerticos, where the crown was forced upon him at the sword’s point; +another time, a long procession of captives would file through the +gates, to witness to the old king’s triumph in Narbonnese Gaul. Not a +“demise of the crown” but there would be angry mutterings among the +townsfolk, and whispers of murder, compulsion, and fraud. And while the +kings raved and the people wept, the Church grew every day stronger--so +strong that usurper and legitimate sovereign alike had perforce to +obtain her sanction to his election and accession. And as the years went +on, the spark of religious zeal in the breast of Spain was fanned into +flame, and we read of fierce onslaughts on the Jewish citizens, and of +merciless edicts, condemning them to penalties painful and humiliating. +Dark days were these for the Children of Israel whose home Toledo so +long had been; but darker still were impending for their persecutors and +for the royal line of the Visigoths. + +An exact picture of society in Spain at this period has been preserved +in the Etymologies of Isidore Pacense. The Visigoths were a primitive, +barbarous people, who had imposed upon themselves the outward +appearances of Roman, or rather of Byzantine, civilisation. The +contemptuous reference of Hallam to this “obscure race” is undeserved. +Even in their earlier stages of development the Goths manifested many +noble qualities--notably, a clemency towards their enemies--which were +not conspicuous in the more polished nations of the South. And though +they never properly assimilated the culture of the Latins, they attained +to a degree of refinement and civilisation which compares favourably +with that reached by contemporaries. “Spain,” remarks the author of +“Toledo” in the “Monumentos Arquitectónicos de España,” “may then fairly +and proudly claim that, while in Central Europe art had acquired no +distinctive form--in the midst of the bitterness of slavery, when, +before the abjuration of Reccared, the fusion of the races was not +legally recognised--the Iberian Peninsula had developed a definite and +evident artistic and literary individuality. That individuality must +have been the result of the fortuitous conjunction and union of Latin +traditions, more or less degenerate, with influences originally +Byzantine and with those other transformed elements introduced by the +Germanic hosts of Atawulf; but, even then, it remains an individuality, +which asserts itself in the surviving examples of Visigothic culture, +and which was transmitted to the generations succeeding the Moslem +conquest.” + +According to the standpoint of the critic, the Gothic kings’ taste for +pomp and luxury may be interpreted as proof of their civilised instincts +or of their native barbarism. For of the splendour of the Court of +Toledo we have abundant testimony. From the writings of Isidore, we +learn that the nobles used only goblets and basins of the precious +metals, that their garments were of superfine silk, and their ornaments +of the richest jewels. The elaborate ceremonial of the royal household +may be inferred from the list of functionaries--the First Count, or +Chief Butler, the _Escancias_; the Count Chamberlain, or _Cubiculario_; +the Master of the Horse, _Estabulario_; the Major Domo, or _Numerario_; +the Steward, or _Silonario_; the Master of the Pages, or _Espartarius_; +the Count of the _Sagrarios_, or Sacred Things; and the Treasurer, or +_Argentarios_. These offices were only held by the highest nobles. In +the Cluny Museum at Paris and the Royal Armoury at Madrid are preserved +the superb Votive Crowns discovered at Guarrazar in 1858. These +priceless objects proclaim the wealth and munificence of the Visigothic +monarchs. They are composed of double hoops of gold, decorated on the +outside by three bands in relief. The outer bands are set with pearls +and sapphires, and the middle band with the same stones in a setting of +a red vitreous substance. The crown is suspended by four chains from a +double gold rosette, which encloses a piece of rock crystal set in +facets. Each chain consists of four links, shaped like the leaf of the +pear-tree, and _percées à jour_. In its original state the crown of King +Swinthila, now in the Madrid Armoury, had, hanging from its lower rim, a +cross and twenty-two letters, making up the inscription, SVINTHILANUS +REX OFFERET. All and each of these letters were actual jewels, set in +the red glassy paste already mentioned, to them being attached large +single pearls and pear-shaped sapphires. Though only twelve letters were +remaining when the crown was discovered, the dedication was skilfully +reconstructed by Señores de Madrazo and Amador de los Rios. The crown of +Recceswinth in the Cluny Museum and the crown of the Abbot Theodosius at +Madrid do not differ greatly from that of Swinthila in style and +material. Though the workmanship is rude compared with modern specimens +of the goldsmith’s art, these crowns still excite admiration by their +beauty and richness. Inquiring into the origin of their style, Señor de +Riaño arrives at the conclusion that it “must be looked for in the East; +their manufacture was most probably Spanish. We cannot imagine the +extraordinary magnificence of the Visigothic court, so similar to that +of Constantinople and other contemporary ones, without the presence at +each of a group of artists whose task was to satisfy these demands.” Not +only the applied arts, but letters and learning were cultivated at +Toledo. Swinthila and Recceswinth delighted in the composition of +epistles and verses, in which, unfortunately, the taste, acquired from +the Byzantines, for long-winded, flowery and involved phrases is +painfully apparent. Recceswinth interested himself in the collection and +revision of ancient manuscripts. In his reign flourished the learned and +saintly Ildefonso, who was publicly thanked for his work on the +perpetual virginity of Mary by the martyr Saint Leocadia, who came +expressly from Heaven for the purpose. One of Ildefonso’s successors in +the see of Toledo, Julian, was a Jew by birth, or at least descent. He +was renowned for his erudition and especially as a polemical writer. +Though he narrowly escaped excommunication as a heretic, he is now +venerated as a saint, and was buried beside St. Ildefonso. + +As the seat of a Court which did something more than ape the culture of +the Latins (_pace_ Mr. Leonard Williams), Toledo rose from an obscure +Roman colony into a city of dignity and importance. It is supposed to +have reached its highest stage of development in the reign of King Wamba +(672-680), whose mutilated statue confronts the traveller on approaching +the town from the railway-station. Most of the buildings ascribed by the +chroniclers, however, to that king were in all probability only restored +by his orders, and were originally constructed by his predecessors. +Isidore Pacense enumerates among the edifices existing in his time in +Spain, basilicas, monasteries, oratories, and hermitages; the _Aula +Regia_, or royal residence, “distinguished before all other buildings by +the richness of the four porticos which encircled it”; the _Atrii_ of +the nobility, which were allowed only three porticos; hospitals, +guest-houses, and _Repositaria_, or treasure-houses. It is reasonable to +assume that the capital of Spain would have possessed buildings of all +the kinds specified during the hundred years that elapsed between the +death of Athanagild and the accession of Wamba. + +To the former king is attributed the foundation of the sanctuary +converted later into the Hermitage of Cristo de la Luz, and the Church +of Santa Justa, reconstructed in the sixteenth century. From an +inscription on marble found in 1581, near the Convent of San Juan de la +Penitencia, it would appear that Reccared built a church consecrated to +the Virgin in the year 587. The text runs: IN NOMINE DNI CONSECRA | TA +ECCLESIA SCTE MARIE | IN CATHOLICO DIE PRIMO | IDUS APRILIS ANNO FELI | +CITER PRIMO REGNI D-NI | NOSTRI GLORIOSISSIMI H | RECCAREDI REGIS ERA | +DCXXV. To Liuba II. is ascribed the erection of the Church of San +Sebastian, where some capitals and shafts, discovered in 1899, exist to +attest its Visigothic origin. The Basilica of Santa Leocadia dated from +the days of Sisebut (612-621): and though the chroniclers assign no date +to the dedication of the Church of San Ginés there can be no doubt that +it took place in the seventh century. Wamba adorned with statuary and +partially restored the city walls, but it is an error, based on a +corrupt text of Isidore Pacense’s, to suppose that he built them. + +The site of the Aula Regia, or Palace of the Visigothic kings, has long +been a matter of dispute among archæologists. The author of the article +on Toledo in the “Monumentos Arquitectónicos” decides in favour of the +plot of ground covered by the Convents of the Concepcion and the +Comendadores de Santiago, the ruined Hospital of Santa Cruz, and the new +extension of the Paseo del Miradero--close to the Zocodover, in the +north-east angle of the city. Adjacent to the palace was the Basilica of +Saints Peter and Paul, “which seems,” says Señor Menendez y Pidal, “to +have been the royal pantheon, opened only for the entombment of the +sovereign and the taking the oath of allegiance to his successor.” Here +were suspended the votive crowns, afterwards buried at Guarrazar; here +probably were interred Athanagild, Leovigild, Reccared I., Liuba II., +Gundemar, Sisebut, Reccared II., Tulga, Erwig, Egica, and Witica. Their +very dust has long since been scattered by the wind--who shall say +where? In a hall attached to that Basilica, in similar annexes to the +Basilicas of Santa Leocadia and Santa Maria de la Sede Real, were held +those ecclesiastical synods which so powerfully contributed to the +shaping of the destinies of Spain. Santa Leocadia’s church is now known +as the Cristo de la Vega; the Basilica de Santa Maria faced the Bridge +of Alcantara and was in after years known as Santa Maria de Alficem. +Here Recceswinth is said to have been crowned, the temple being +afterwards restored by Erwig, Wamba’s successor. + +Not a single building erected by the Visigothic kings exists to-day. +“Destroyed by man’s fury and by the vicissitudes of time,” regretfully +observes Señor Amador de los Rios, “or altered till all trace of their +original form has been lost, by the pious care which intended to +preserve them, you may seek in vain in the city of Wamba for an intact +monument of that age; not even the walls ascribed to that prince have +remained entire. Fragments of friezes; isolated capitals, which have +adorned later edifices, oddly out of place in the scheme of decorations, +or cut and defaced; broken shafts, perhaps bearing some inscriptions; +pieces of a hinge, a metope, a lintel, or an impost, perhaps some +dedicatory tablet--this is all that has escaped at Toledo the +devastating scythe of time.” + +These relics, however, are fortunately numerous. For a detailed +description of the more important, the reader is referred to the +“Monumentos Arquitectónicos de España.” Some we shall notice more +particularly in dealing with the edifices of which they now form part. + +Under Wamba the Visigothic monarchy reached the apex of its greatness. +Under his four successors, Erwig, Egica, Witica, and Roderic, State and +people are said to have become hopelessly enervated. The old Gothic +vigour blazed up now and again in some individual ruler or statesman, +but failed to communicate itself to the nation. The kingdom was +tottering to its fall. The taste for display and the amenities of +existence grew stronger in this period of decline. Never was there such +wealth and splendour in Toledo as when it fell a prey to the hosts of +Islam. The rapid decay of this once great and martial race is without a +parallel in history. It is difficult to assign to it a cause. Luxury was +the privilege only of the nobility and clergy, and could hardly have +corrupted the whole people. Modern writers lamely attribute the final +catastrophe to ecclesiastical influence and domination. Perhaps when all +has been said, the state of Spain under Witica and Roderic was not much +worse than under subsequent rulers of other dynasties; and the downfall +may have been due, not so much to the effeminacy of the vanquished, as +to the extraordinary military genius of the conquerors. Historians would +have said little about the degeneracy of the Visigoths if the battle of +the Guadalete had had a different issue. + +The Hispano-Goths, as Catholics, evinced a fanatical and intolerant +temper which had been conspicuously lacking in them as Arians. Harsh +edicts continued to be promulgated against the Jews--then, as till a +much later date, a most important element in the population of Toledo. +The unlucky Children of Israel may have derived in the intervals of +persecution some malicious consolation from the bitter quarrels between +the king and the Catholic clergy. Witica was an enemy, or what was +probably regarded as the same thing, a would-be reformer of the Church. +To his impiety, indeed, monkish writers are fond of ascribing the +destruction of the Gothic kingdom. His predecessor, Egica, did not +hesitate to condemn to excommunication, exile, and confiscation of +property, Sisebert, the powerful Archbishop of Toledo. Perhaps some +clerkly chronicler, by way of retaliation for this outrage upon his +order, invented the following discreditable story, to be found in the +pages of Lozano. + +King Egica had conceived an ardent passion for the beautiful Doña Luz, +who is described as the grand-daughter of Kindaswinth, and the sister of +Roderic, afterwards king. Her love, however, was given to her uncle, Don +Favila, Duke or Governor of Cantabria. The lovers, wearied at last by +the king’s opposition to their union, went through a secret and +simplified form of marriage in the lady’s bedchamber before a statue of +the Virgin. In the course of time. Doña Luz became a mother. Egica’s +suspicions had already been enkindled, and fearing his wrath, she placed +the new-born infant in a little ark and set it afloat on the bosom of +the Tagus. As her maids pushed out the tiny craft from the foot of the +steep path that leads down from Toledo, a radiance diffused itself +around the sleeping child and for long marked his passage down the broad +stream. The irate monarch, divining that Doña Luz must in some way have +disposed of her child, caused a census to be taken of all the children +born in and around the city within the past three months with the names +of the respective fathers. The number of births was recorded at +35,428--a very surprising total for Toledo! And, which is still more +remarkable and highly creditable to the city, the parentage of these +numerous infants was in every case authenticated. What then had become +of Doña Luz’s baby? Baffled in his quest, the king suborned one of his +minions, Melias by name, to accuse the unfortunate lady of incontinency. +The penalty for this offence, we are told, was nothing less than death +by fire; and for that fate Egica bade Doña Luz prepare, unless she could +secure a defender or otherwise clear her reputation. At the eleventh +hour, the valorous champion appeared in the person of Don Favila, who +disproved the charge made against his lady-love to the satisfaction of +mediæval intelligences, by the simple method of running her accuser +through the body. This, however, did not satisfy the sceptical monarch, +who insisted on a further ordeal by combat. A knight named Bristes, +cousin of the recreant Melias, was challenger and accuser on this +occasion, and was quickly despatched by the doughty Favila. + +In the meantime the ark containing Pelayo, the infant child of Doña Luz +and her champion, had reached Alcantara, where the little passenger +almost miraculously fell into the hands of his mother’s other uncle, +Grafeses. This benevolent prince took every care of the child, +unsuspicious, of course, of his origin. Attracted to Court by the noise +of these scandals and combats, he found a handkerchief in his niece’s +room, the counterpart of one which he had discovered in the little ark. +Doña Luz soon confessed to him the whole story, and he endeavoured to +intercede for her with the king. Egica, probably more exasperated than +ever, insisted on a third duel between Favila and a knight called +Longaris. Both combatants had been wounded when a holy hermit appeared +on the scene, and admonished the king as to his wickedness and hardness +of heart. Egica repented and consented to the public celebration of the +marriage of Favila and Doña Luz. Here we have a fine romantic account of +the origin of the heroic Pelayo, the restorer of the monarchy and the +saviour of the Spanish nation. + +Wilder, more romantic still, and better known are the legends clustering +round the last king of the Goths. The scene of most of these is laid in +Toledo. Here was held that wonderful tournament, to which resorted all +the crowned heads of Europe--aye, even such potentates as the Emperor of +Constantinople and the King of Poland. A new city of palaces was reared +in the Vega by the hospitable Roderic to accommodate his fifty thousand +noble guests. This splendid function may have taken place before or +after the king’s strange marriage with the bewitching Moorish princess +Elyata (re-baptized Exilona), who had been washed ashore by the sea on +the coast of Valencia. Lovely as was his consort, Roderic did not, as we +all know, remain faithful to her. Here enters the mournful and very +shadowy figure of Florinda, otherwise known as La Cava. This peerless +damsel was confided to the care of the king by her father, the trusty +Julian (or Illán), governor of Ceuta. Alas for the maiden! while bathing +in the Tagus, her charms were only too well revealed to Roderic, gazing +from his palace windows on the cliff above. A glimpse of a shapely leg +scarce concealed by a diaphanous mantle decided the fate of +Florinda--and of Spain. What he could not effect by persuasion, the +king effected by violence. Perhaps he hoped that the proud Julian’s +daughter would keep silence as to her own dishonour. He was mistaken. A +trusty page, spurring night and day, quickly bore the fatal tidings to +the father at distant Ceuta, and the missive in which the wronged +Florinda implored vengeance on her betrayer. + +To the no doubt conscience-stricken Roderic, seated in good old kingly +fashion upon his throne, appeared two venerable strangers with a message +of mysterious import. When Hercules had founded (as some men say) +Toledo, not far from the city, among the mountains, he had reared a +tower, of which these uncouth brethren were the guardians, as their +ancestors, in an unbroken line, had been before them. On this tower and +on its unknown and fearful contents, the demigod had laid a necromantic +spell. It had been the custom of each of the Kings of Spain to affix to +the massive doors a new lock, and now Roderic was summoned to fulfil +this duty, for failing this and if any rash mortal should discover the +secret of the tower, ruin, absolute and immediate, must overtake his +kingdom. Agog with curiosity, with a brilliant cavalcade, the king +clattered through the streets of his capital, and found the wondrous +tower in the recesses of the hills. The aged custodians besought him to +hasten and to affix his seal to the enchanted doors. In vain! it was +with another intention the impetuous sovereign had come hither. He burst +open the doors and rushed in, where never man since Hercules had dared +to tread. Before him stood a gigantic statue in bronze, which dealt +blows with a great mace unceasingly to right and left. On its breast +were inscribed the words, _I do my duty_. Roderic sternly adjured the +creature of enchantment to let him pass. It obeyed. In the interior of +the tower the King found a casket of rich workmanship. A legend thereon +warned him of the doom that would overtake him who should open it. +Roderic forced open the lid. He beheld a fold of linen on which were +painted the figures of Moorish warriors in battle-array. As he gazed the +figures seemed to move, to grow larger, to assume the proportions of +men. He beheld a battlefield where Goths and Moors contended for the +mastery. Breathless, he awaited the issue. The Goths were flying, and he +saw his own white steed, Orelia, galloping through the fray--riderless. +Affrighted, the king and his attendants rushed to the door. There lay +the two ancient custodians, dead. Thunder rolled, a storm burst over the +land, and Roderic and his cavaliers drew not rein till they reached the +palace of Toledo. Next day the stout-hearted Goths reascended to the +hills. But as they approached, behold a great eagle swooped down from +the sky holding in its talons a flaming brand! The tower blazed up like +matchwood. Then arose a great wind which carried the ashes to every part +of Spain; and every man on whom a portion of the ashes fell was +afterwards slain in battle by the Moors. + +These direful portents must surely have prepared Roderic for treachery, +conspiracies, and unpleasantness of all kinds. But when Count Julian +arrived, smiling and deferential, to take his daughter home to Ceuta, he +seems to have suspected nothing, feared nothing. The rest of the +story--Julian’s invitation to the Moors, the rout of Guadalete, the +disappearance of Roderic--relates to the history of Spain generally, not +to that of Toledo. Dozy believes that Julian actually existed, but he +seems to have been a Byzantine governor of Ceuta, not a Spaniard. It is +hardly necessary to say that Florinda is as much a figment of the +imagination as the enchanted tower. Yet near the Puente de San Martin +(above which never king’s palace stood) some fragments of masonry are +pointed out as the Baños de la Cava (Florinda’s Bath). They are, in +reality, but the remains of a Moorish tomb. + +In July 711, King Roderic set out from Toledo, never to return. Upon the +news of the rout of Guadalete, all the magnates and prelates abandoned +the city. Its surrender to the Moorish host of the one-eyed Tarik was +the work of the Jews, who had not forgotten the persecutions of Sisebert +and Egica. There were Jews in the invading army under the command of +Kaula-al-Yahudi. When Tarik appeared before the walls, a venerable +Israelite was let down in a basket, and, approaching him, offered to +admit him to the city if liberty and the free exercise of their religion +were guaranteed to his race. The Berber joyfully accepted these terms, +and on the following day proud Toledo--deserted by its Christian +inhabitants--was annexed to the Saracen Khalifate. + + + + +TOLEDO UNDER THE MOOR + + +Never again was Toledo to attain to the wealth and splendour it +possessed under Wamba and his successors. The invaders, fresh from the +conquest of the richest provinces of Africa, were dazzled by the +magnificence of the spoils that fell to them in the dark-browed city +above the Tagus. The Arabian historians have need of all their powers of +hyperbole to over-estimate the richness of the treasure. There was +enough and to spare, Al Leyth Ibn Saïd tells us, for every soldier in +the army. The humblest troopers might have been seen staggering under +the weight of priceless silks and garments, chains of gold, and strings +of precious stones. The rude Berbers, fresh from their mountains, but +ill appreciated the value of the loot, and cut the costliest fabrics in +two or more pieces to adjust their shares. A magnificent carpet, +composed of superb embroidery, interwoven with gold and ornamented with +filigree work, and profusely set with gems, is said to have been treated +in this way by the troopers into whose greedy hands it fell. It would be +interesting to learn the place of manufacture of this carpet, for from +the silence of St. Isidore upon the subject of textile fabrics, it would +seem that they were not made in his time in Spain. + +But, to credit the Moorish chroniclers, the rarest of exotic treasures +had been accumulated in the Visigothic capital. Here were found the +Psalms of David, written upon gold leaf in a fluid made from dissolved +rubies! and most wonderful of all, the Table of Solomon made out of a +single emerald! It was brought to Toledo--so runs one version--after the +taking of Jerusalem, and was valued in Damascus at one hundred thousand +dinars--equal to about £50,000. We are not surprised to hear that this +unique piece of furniture “possessed talismanic powers”; for tradition +affirms it was the work of genii, and had been wrought by them for King +Solomon the Wise, the son of David. This marvellous relic was carefully +preserved by Tarik as the most precious of all his spoils, being +intended by him as a present to the Khalifa; and, in commemoration of +it, the city was called by the Arabs, Medina Almyda, that is to say, +“The City of the Table.” + +Thus far Washington Irving. With characteristic credulity, Ibn Hayyan, +the historian, gives in the translation of Gayangos a substantially +different account of the treasure: “The celebrated table which Tarik +found at Toledo, although attributed to Solomon and named after him, +never belonged to the poet-king. According to the barbarian authors, it +was customary for the nobles and men in estimation of the Gothic Court, +to bequeath a portion of their property to the church. From the money so +amassed the priests caused tables to be made of pure gold and silver, +gorgeous thrones and stands on which to carry the Gospels in public +processions, or to ornament the altars on great festivals. The so-called +Solomon’s table was originally wrought with money derived from this +source, and was subsequently emulously enlarged and embellished by +successive kings of Toledo, the latest always anxious to surpass his +predecessor in magnificence, until it became the most splendid and +costly gem ever made for such a purpose. The fabric was of pure gold, +set with the most precious pearls, emeralds and rubies. Its +circumference was encrusted with three rows of these valuable stones, +and the whole table displayed jewels so large and refulgent that never +did human eye behold anything comparable with it.... When the Muslims +entered Toledo it was discovered on the altar of the Christian Church, +and the fact of such a treasure having been found soon became public and +notorious.” + +Gibbon accounts for the presence of the Table of Solomon at +Toledo--assuming that there ever was such a thing, and that it ever was +there at all--by supposing it to have been carried off by Titus to +Rome, whence it may have been taken by Alaric when the Goths sacked the +city. Whichever version of the table’s origin be accepted, it seems +strange that it was not carried away by the clergy in their flight from +Toledo. Of its ultimate fate nothing is known, unless we can accept the +little that is revealed in the following history. + +Upon Musa approaching the city to supersede Tarik, the latter broke off +and concealed one of the legs of the table. Musa was already incensed +against his lieutenant for having deprived him of the glory of the +conquest of Spain, and emphasised his reprimands with strokes of a whip. +When he found that the leg of the table was missing, his anger was very +great. Tarik assured him he had found it in that mutilated condition, +and Musa caused the missing leg to be replaced by one of gold. His +subordinate, however, he cast into prison, where the One-Eyed One +remained till released by orders from the Khalifa himself. He was amply +revenged on Musa, when upon the latter presenting the table to his +sovereign as his own discovery, he was able triumphantly to give him the +lie by producing the missing leg of emerald. And so the wonderful Table +of Solomon, of emerald, or of gold, or of both, passes out of the ken of +history. + +We hear of Musa’s son, Abd-ul-Aziz (or “Belasis,” as he is quaintly +termed by old Spanish writers) marrying King Roderic’s widow, Exilona, +at Toledo. Abd-ul-Aziz, however, was Governor of Seville, where he met +his death, and it is not unlikely, if he married the queen at all, that +he did so in that southern city, where she may have been left by her +first consort to await the result of the battle of the Guadalete. If +there be any truth in the legend that Exilona was of Moorish origin +herself, the story of this second and apparently cold-blooded union +seems less improbable. Tradition has it that the widow of the Goth only +consented to the match on Abd-ul-Aziz promising to observe towards her +all the deference due to a Christian queen. He kept his promise only too +faithfully, and his forcing his officers to bend the knee to a woman and +an infidel, is said to have contributed to bring about his assassination +in the mosque at Seville. + +The conquerors here, as in other parts of the kingdom, acted generously +towards the conquered. A moderate tribute was levied on the Christians, +who were allowed to practise their religion and be governed by their own +laws and customs. Seven churches were allotted to their use, the names +of these being Santa Eulalia, Santa Maria de Alficem, Santa Justa, San +Sebastian, San Marcos, San Torcuato, and San Lucas. But these privileges +must have hardly consoled the citizens for the loss of the town’s rank +as capital of Spain. It became, as it had been under the Romans, “a +strong place,” of which the dominant race valued the advantages, but, in +consequence of the rise of Cordoba and Seville it sank to the condition +of a provincial town. + +As such its career was throughout stormy and turbulent. The spirit of +rebellion seemed instinct in the grim fortress-like city, and infused +itself into Mohammedan and Christian, Arab and Castilian alike. The two +races fraternised well enough. They had a common interest: resistance to +any external authority. This impatience of control was characteristic of +the Toledans for centuries. Its annals during the period of Mohammedan +occupation are a tedious record of sieges, riots, usurpations and +massacres. Such events are only of interest when studied in the minutest +detail. A brief _résumé_ of them is, however, indispensable to a proper +knowledge of the town. + +The citizens’ first appearance in the troubled arena of Muslim politics +was as loyalists--an uncongenial _rôle_! In the civil wars that +distracted the reign of Abd-ul-Malik, Toledo was held by his son Omeya, +and vainly besieged for a month by the rebels. On the approach of +Abd-ul-Malik, the garrison, wishful of glory, made a vigorous sortie and +completely routed the investing force. The townsmen had tasted blood. +It took much to quench their thirst. Knowing their character, in the +troubles fomented by the pretender Yusaf ben Debri, his partisan, +Mohammed Abu-l-Aswad took refuge among them in the year of the Hegira +142. The place was immediately invested by the Wizir, Al Kama, and as +usual offered a stout resistance. Wearied of their ruler, however, the +people played him false and betrayed the town to the Wizir. Abu-l-Aswad +was taken prisoner and sent to Cordoba. + +A year or two later the Toledans repented of their submission. While the +Amir, Abd-ur-Rahman, was engaged in preparations for a war in the east +of Spain, some powerful families, led by one Hixem ben Adra al Fehri, +rose, seized the Alcazar, and put the Wizir to flight. They released the +notorious rebel, Kasim ben Yusuf, from prison, and raised an army of +about ten thousand men--mostly freebooters and masterless men who seemed +to have regarded Toledo as the best market for their peculiar talents. +The Amir’s appearance before the walls, with a powerful army, caused +moderate counsels to prevail among the insurgents. The citizens were +anxious to be rid of the undesirables they had invited into their midst, +and persuaded Hixem to visit the royal camp to solicit terms. +Abd-ur-Rahman generously pardoned him, and once more incarcerating +Kasim, left the town to itself. + +He soon had good reason to repent his forbearance. In 763 Kasim escaped +from confinement, rallied the citizens round him, and declared the town +subject only to the Khalifa of Damascus. The siege that followed was +languidly conducted. The people, we read, were suffered to cultivate +their fields, and to carry produce into the city unmolested. At this +rate the siege might have lasted as long as that of Candia. Kasim, +meanwhile lulled into a sense of security, abused his power, and +alienated his unruly subjects. On the arrival of the Amir, he was given +notice to quit. Having seen him successfully elude the royal forces, +Toledo opened its gates to Abd-ur-Rahman. The Amir, despairing of the +townsmen’s temper, exacted from them but a nominal obedience, but his +successor, Hakam, thought to coerce them by a bitter lesson. As +Governor, he sent them one Amru of Huesca, a renegade Christian, “by a +condescension,” he wrote, “which proves our extreme solicitude for your +interests.” The renegade’s policy was thorough. He ingratiated himself +with the people, and posed as the champion of their liberties. It was at +their own suggestion that he raised a fortress in their very midst. The +place being strongly garrisoned and all being ready, the approach of a +large army, commanded by the Amir’s son, Abd-ur-Rahman, was announced. +At the suggestion of the Governor, the prince was invited by the +nobility into the city; and he, in return, as if to mark his sense of +the honour conferred upon him, ordered a great feast to be made ready at +the Castle. To this all the chief men were bidden. What followed is +known as the Day of the Fosse. The guests were allowed to enter only one +by one. Behind the gate stood a man with bared arm and uplifted axe. As +each guest entered there was a sweep of the arm, a flash of steel, and a +head rolled into the ditch already prepared. Without, nothing was heard, +nothing was seen, nothing suspected. The episode reminds one of the +famous Blood Bath of Stockholm. The butchery is said at last to have +been revealed to those waiting outside the wall by the thick vapour +issuing from the gate. A physician, who had been watching for hours, and +who had noticed that none of the numerous guests who had entered, had +issued forth, was the first to raise the alarm. “Men of Toledo,” he +shouted, “I vow that yonder vapour is not the smoke of a feast, but +rises from the blood of our butchered brethren!” + +This ghastly tragedy occurred in 807, and has given rise to a proverbial +expression current in Spanish--_una noche Toledana_, applied to a night +disagreeably passed in sleeplessness or pain. + +The blow struck by the ferocious Amru was of the kind that alone met +with the approval of Macchiavelli: it not only intimidated, but it +crushed. For a quarter of a century we hear no more of tumults or +dissensions in the City by the Tagus. Meantime it prospered. Arts and +letters flourished. In the year 827 we have to record the death “of the +very learned alfaqui, Isa ben Dinar el Ghafeki, a native of that city +and a disciple of Malik ben Anas. He was a man beloved by all--friendly +in manner, admirable in conversation, and upright of life: such as were +taught by Isa ben Dinar acquired their learning with delight. He was in +the habit of practising some few observances that were considered +extraordinary: he made, for example, the prayer of the dawn with the +preparation and ablutions proper to that of the evening twilight.” + +The opulence of the Jews and Christians decided the Wali, Aben Mafût ben +Ibrahim, to increase their tribute. This led to the outbreak of 832. A +wealthy young citizen, named Hakam el Atiki, otherwise known as El +Durrete, or “the striker of blows,” had been insulted by the Wali, and +used the discontent of the people as a means of avenging his injuries. +He distributed money freely among the more inflammable sections of the +populace, and collected about him a body of lawless followers. One of +these was seized in the Soko, or market-place (the Zocodover) by one of +the Wali’s officers, and a tumult at once uprose. In the end the +Alcazar fell into the hands of the rebels, and the Wali barely escaped +with his life. Hakam, however, was shortly afterwards obliged to abandon +his conquest, and spread abroad the report that he had left the country. +The vigilance of the garrison becoming in consequence relaxed, he seized +the city by a _coup de main_, and held it for some years. He was +wounded, taken prisoner, and beheaded in 837, by Abd-el-Raf, his head +being suspended from the gate of Bisagra. + +So far the risings at Toledo had been mainly political, and the townsmen +had sunk their religious and racial differences to make common cause +against the stranger. The cause of the insurrection of 854 was, by +exception, an outburst of fanaticism on the part of the Muzarabes or +Christians, who practised the ritual of the Spanish Goths. It was at +this time that the Catholics of Cordoba and Seville, subject to some +extraordinary aberration, had in great numbers earned the doubtful +honour of martyrdom by blaspheming Mohammed. To Toledo, as the most +likely spot at which to create a disturbance, came Eulogius and stirred +the Christians to avenge the “wrongs” of their co-religionists. Under +the leadership of Sindola, they dispossessed their Moorish governors, +and carrying the war into the enemy’s own country, defeated the Amir’s +forces at Andujar. Ordoño King of Leon, now came to the assistance of +the citizens, who, hitherto, had shown no eagerness to call in the help +of the Christians of the north. Mohammed, the Amir, presently appeared +before Toledo, and drew the allied forces into an ambush. The Christians +were totally defeated--almost annihilated. Nothing daunted, the +Toledans, later on, insulted their sovereign by electing Eulogius to the +vacant archiepiscopal see. Mohammed, by way of reprisal, inveigled a +large force of Christians on to a bridge which he had undermined. It was +the Day of the Fosse over again. + +In the year 873, we find the independence of Toledo, subject to his +suzerainty, nominally acknowledged by the Amir, who was probably glad to +make any terms that promised peace with vassals so turbulent. In the +reign of the Amir Al Mundhir even this faint shadow of outside authority +was shaken off by the city, which again asserted its complete +independence, in 886, under Ibn Hafsûn. The town was besieged by the +royal forces under the Wizir Haksim. The wily Ibn Hafsûn, seeing that +the stronghold must fall, proposed to the opposing general that he +should allow him to evacuate the place and transport his army to the +frontier of Valencia, on a train of beasts of burden to be provided by +the besiegers. Haksim joyfully assented to this capitulation, and on the +day appointed, what was supposed to be the entire army of the rebel +chief issued from the gates of the city and wended their way, with the +train of packhorses, eastwards. Leaving what he considered a sufficient +garrison in Toledo, Haksim drew off the greater part of his forces and +went to Cordoba. Meanwhile the crafty Hafsûn swiftly retraced his steps, +and with the aid of the considerable detachment he had left concealed in +the town, put the garrison to the sword, and once more hurled defiance +at the Amir. Great was Al Mundhir’s wrath on the receipt of this +intelligence, and before nightfall, the head of Haksim lay severed from +his body. + +Ibn Hafsûn proved a formidable antagonist. The Amir lead an army against +him in 888 and was defeated and killed. Twenty years later Hafsûn died, +bequeathing what was practically an independent sovereignty to his son. +The great Khalifa, Abd-ur-Rahman III., now sat on the throne of Cordoba. +He determined to put an end to the arrogant pretensions of the unruly, +untameable city. His summons to capitulate being contemptuously +rejected, he took the field in 930. For eight years the siege went on, +varied by exploits and incidents, which might prove matter for a Moorish +Iliad. Famine stalked abroad in the obstinate city, but the Hafsûns +would not hear of surrender. When at last it became plain that the +people would yield, the leaders and their partisans, to the number of +four thousand, made a last desperate sortie. Two thousand cavaliers, +with a foot-soldier clutching firmly hold of each horse’s girth, they +broke through Abd-ur-Rahman’s camp, and got clean away. Almost joyfully +the townsmen opened their gates to the great Amir--to be firmly bitted +and bridled during the remainder of his reign. + +That the town was still subject to the central authority in the year +979, we gather from this incident. The Governor, Abd-ul-Malik Ibn Merwân +having some difference with the Wali of Medina Selim (Medinaceli), +challenged him to single combat and slew him. For this, without more +ado, he was removed from office by orders from Cordoba. + +In the first quarter of the eleventh century, Toledo recovered her +freedom, on the break-up of the Umeyyah empire. Under her sultan, +Ismail, in 1023, she was able to boast that she knew no other lord or +ruler under the blue heavens. After Ismail came Abu-l-Hasan Yahya al +Ramân who reigned till 1075, and was then succeeded by Yahya Kadir, who +lost his throne in 1085. + +Before relating the incidents of the reconquest of Toledo by the +Christians and its incorporation in the steadily expanding kingdom of +Leon, we will take a glance at the city as it was under its Mohammedan +rulers. Of its affluence, importance, and strength, the foregoing +cursory sketch of its history has afforded us some idea. It ranked as +the metropolis of the Christian element in the Amir’s dominions, and its +prelates early obtained recognition from their Paynim sovereigns as +dignitaries of the highest standing. Among them were such notable men as +Wistremir and Eulogius. One of the archbishops of Toledo, Elipando, +embraced the heresy of Nestorius, and went the length of excommunicating +his fellow bishops. Upon his death, however, an orthodox successor was +chosen. The Christians were wealthy and arrogant. They were classed in +congregations, dependent on their various churches, each division +including certain families irrespective of their domiciles. Toledo, +during the three and a half centuries of Mohammedan dominion, never +seems to have lost the outward character of a Christian town. Moorish +influence she felt, and it served to soften and chasten her rough +features, but Moorish she never became as did Seville and Cordoba. Yet +in every corner of the old city the guides are prone to point out the +buildings and remains that they fondly believe to be of Arabic +workmanship. In reality, very few monuments of the Mohammedan period +have survived. It is not by what we see but by what we read that we can +form an idea of the city as it was in those days. + +It was renowned for its clepsydras or water-clocks, invented by +Abu-l-Kasim. These are described as follows in an Arabic document: “But +what is marvellous and surprising in Toledo, and what we believe no +other town in all the world has anything to equal, are its water-clocks. +It is said that Az-Zagral [Abu-l-Kasim] hearing of a certain talisman +which is in the city of Arin, of Eastern India, and which shows the +hours by means of _aspas_ or hands, from the time the sun rises till it +sets, determined to fabricate an artifice by means of which the people +could know the hour of day or night, and calculate the day of the moon. +He made two great ponds in a house on the bank of the Tagus, near the +Gate of the Tanners, making them so that they should be filled with +water or emptied according to the rise and fall of the moon.” The water +began to flow into the ponds as soon as the moon became visible, and at +dawn they were four-sevenths full. The water rose by one-seventh every +twenty-four hours, and were full at full moon. As the luminary waned, +the water fell in exact proportion. The exact working of these +contrivances was lost when an astronomer, deputed by Alfonso el Sabio to +examine them, broke parts of the intricate machinery. + +The chroniclers relate wonders of the palace of An Naôra, so called from +its celebrated _noria_ or hydraulic apparatus. The apartments were so +splendid as to rival those of the palace of the Amir himself, and “were +resplendent as the sun at noonday, and the moon at the full.” In the +luxurious gardens was the lake or albuhera, in the centre of which rose +a pavilion of glass, where Al Ramân-bil-Lah, the last sovereign of +Toledo, used to pass the night. “The clever architects”--we quote from +the “Monumentos Arquitectónicos”--who made the lake, not only raised the +waters from the river in order to fill it, but raised them above the +cupola of the pavilion, over and around which they flowed incessantly, +forming around it a diaphanous and crystalline mantle. Not a drop could +penetrate the structure or touch the persons within. With the sonorous +murmur of these waters mingled that produced by the fountains that +gushed forth from the mouths of the lions in metal guarding this +wonderful pavilion. Illumined inside with lamps of various colours, +without it presented a fantastic appearance, which was reflected back +from the waters of the lake, and which the people of Toledo contemplated +with admiration through the dense foliage.” + +Of this exquisite pleasaunce, no trace remains. Nor is anything left of +the other palace of Al Hizem, built by Ismaîl, the first admittedly +independent Sultan of Toledo--afterwards inhabited by the Christian +kings. The principal building in Moorish times was, of course, the +Aljama, or Chief Mosque. This seems to have been erected at the same +time as the great Mezquita at Cordoba, in the reign of Abd-ur-Rahman +II., and to have been richly embellished and enlarged under the third +and greatest Khalifa of that name. We read that in the fourth century of +the Hegira, the architect Fatho ben Ibrahim el Caxevi built two +sumptuous mosques, called, the one, Adabejin, the other Gebel Berida; +but where these were situated, or what was the real Arabic spelling of +the names, we have no means of knowing. + +Happily a few specimens of the local architecture of that epoch remain. +Of these one of the learned compilers of the “Monumentos +Arquitectónicos” writes: “In spite of their varying degrees of +integrity, and although greatly damaged and changed by later +restorations, these works possess an extreme importance, and suffice to +manifest the peculiar physiognomy of the secondary religious edifices of +this part of the Peninsula at the most glorious epoch of the +Khalifate--a physiognomy strikingly different from that of the principal +religious structures, or Aljamas, equivalent to our cathedrals, and +different also from that of the same buildings in the south. They show, +furthermore, decorative processes believed to have been unknown in +Spain at that epoch.” + +The most complete and remarkable of these buildings is the Mosque of +Bib-el-Mardom, now known as the Cristo de la Luz. It is situated to the +north of the city, between the Puerta del Sol and the Puerta Bisagra. +Here Alfonso VI., on entering Toledo on May 25, 1085, halted and caused +Mass to be celebrated, leaving his shield behind him as a memento of the +incident. + +The exterior of this most interesting building is unpromising. It is +thus described by Mr. Street: “The exterior face of the walls is built +of brick and rough stone. The lower part of the side wall is 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 horse-shoe heads. The lower +part of the walls is cut 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.” Restorations carried out in +1899 brought to light a most interesting pierced frieze running round +the north-eastern façade, and serving as a sort of ventilator. Above was +deciphered the following inscription in Arabic characters: “In the name +of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. This mosque was rebuilt ... the +renewal of its upper part, proposing to render it more beautiful, and +[the restoration] was finished, with the help of God, under the +direction of Musa Ibn Ali, the architect, and of Saada. It was completed +in the Muharram of the year 370” [July 17, 979, to August 15, 980 A.D.] +The whole façade of the edifice has been much disfigured by successive +reconstructions, coatings of plaster, &c., and has undergone much more +serious transformation than the interior. + +Entering when the eyes have become accustomed to the obscurity, we make +out the details of a very small and curious structure. Again to quote +Mr. Street, the nave is 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 all +different. 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 important than it really is.” +After the Reconquest, the loftier portion of the temple, consisting of +apse and transept, and containing the altar, was added. Looking closer +into the details of the Moorish portion, one is struck by the contrast +presented by rude shafts and capitals, evidently of Visigothic +workmanship, with the general elegance and delicacy of the whole. On +making a careful study of these features, it is difficult to resist the +conclusion (supported, indeed, by tradition) that they formed part of an +earlier and less skilfully constructed mosque, itself merely a +restoration or adaptation of a Visigothic church. Señor Amador de los +Rios is of opinion that the existing structure constituted only the +inner portion or _maksurah_ of the temple, and believes that the +southern wall is the only part of the outer or enclosing _enceinte_ +remaining. In this he finds traces of the _kiblah_ or sanctuary, +_membar_, and other features peculiar to Mohammedan worship. The mosque +consisted originally, in all probability, in addition to the fabric we +now see, of naves extending on each side of those still standing, from +north-east to south-west. Even thus the mosque must have been very +small. The exact configuration and plan of the original building is +still a matter of great perplexity to archæologists, and a great many +more discoveries remain to be made before anything can be positively +stated under this head. + +The newer, or Christian, portion of the mosque contains some remarkable +mural paintings, discovered in 1871. They date from about the close of +the twelfth century, and exhibit pronounced Byzantine influence. It +seems satisfactorily established that two of the four female figures +represent Saints Eulalia and Martiana; and the other two, in all +probability, the martyrs Leocadia and Obdulia. The fifth figure--that of +a man--represents a prelate. It may be, as Mr. Leonard Williams thinks, +the Archbishop Bernardo, who figures largely in the annals of the +Reconquest; or the prelate’s patron saint. It is not to that archbishop, +however, but to one of his successors--possibly Don Gonzalo Perez +(1182-1193)--that the remodelling of the building into a Christian place +of worship should be ascribed. + +This intensely interesting monument is the subject of several curious +and entertaining legends. In the days of Athanagild (and it is not +impossible, as we know, that the church may have existed at that time) a +crucifix, greatly venerated by the citizens, hung over the door. Two +evil-minded Jews, Sacao and Abishai by name, to express their hatred for +Christianity, drove a lance into the side of the figure. Instantly blood +gushed forth. The terrified Israelites hid the miraculous object in +their own home, but were traced by the stains of blood, and (it is +hardly necessary to add) torn to pieces. This irritated their +co-religionists, who, to avenge them, poisoned the feet of the statue. +This resulted in a second miracle, for when a devout woman was about to +kiss the feet, they were withdrawn--to the discovery and undoing, once +more, of the villainous Jews. The right foot of the image remains +withdrawn to the present day, that all men may know the truth of the +story. + +Now we come to the explanation of the name “Cristo de la Luz.” When the +Moors were about to take the city, the Christians walled up the +miraculous crucifix, with a lamp burning before it. Three hundred and +seventy years passed; and on the glorious May 25, 1085, Alfonso VI. and +his Christian chivalry came riding into reconquered Toledo. Among the +cavaliers was the Cid, Ruy Diaz de Bivar. The warrior’s horse, on +passing the mosque, stumbled, or, as others have it, knelt. With +preternatural acuteness, the Cid suspected some unusual circumstance, +and had the adjacent wall broken down. Then was discovered the crucifix +with the lamp still burning brightly, as when placed there nearly four +centuries before. The mosque was reconsecrated on the spot; and the King +left his shield as a memento. There it hangs to-day, above the central +arch, bearing a white cross on a crimson ground. Whether it is authentic +or not, we cannot say, but below it one may read: _Esto es el escudo que +dejo en esta ermita el Rey Don Alfonso VI., cuando ganó á Toledo y se +dijo aqui la primera misa._ + +The Cristo de la Luz is no longer a church, and is now classed among the +national monuments of Spain. + +Hardly less interesting, but very far from being as well known, is the +ancient mosque in the Calle de las Tornerias. It is contained in the +upper part of the private houses numbered 27, 29, and 31. The mosque +having been built against a steep incline, it was raised on a +substructure of galleries, which now form the ground floor of the modern +houses. The mosque was never converted to Christian uses, and retains +its original physiognomy almost unimpaired. In the opinion of Spanish +archæologists, it belongs to the same period as the Cristo de la Luz; +but Street does not share this view, and thinks it a later work. Like +the other mosque, it is built more or less in the form of a square, and +has likewise Visigothic columns and capitals, pointing to the existence +of a previous structure. Here, also, we find the horseshoe arch and the +cupola, and evidences of the position of the kiblah. Recent restorations +have shown that the walls are composed of the finest brickwork, +unsurpassed for smoothness and regularity. But so far no trace has been +revealed of any texts from the Koran, or inscription commemorating the +architect’s name, such as were usual in the Mohammedan temples of Spain. + +The Puerta Antigua de Bisagra, or ancient gate of Bisagra--not to be +confounded with the new gate of the same name built by Charles V.--is +dilapidated and falling to pieces. In Moorish times it was the principal +entrance to the city. The name was probably originally Bib-Sahla. It +dates from about the beginning of the tenth century, but to the +primitive structure only the foundations of the gate belong. A +reconstruction seems to have been carried out at the time of the +Reconquest, and to that epoch the arch, or gate, properly speaking, may +be assigned. The upper portion of the time-worn fabric belongs to a +still later period. This is the only one remaining of the fifteen gates +with which the walls of Toledo appear to have been furnished during the +Mohammedan occupation. + +The celebrated Puente de Alcantara, as it exists to-day, must be +regarded as the work of the Christians. It took the place of a +structure, built or restored by the Musulmans, and regarded by the +writers of their time and nation as one of the wonders of Spain. +According to an inscription on the bridge tower, the work dated from the +year 997 A.D., and was built by “Alif, son of Mohammed Al Ameri, +Governor of Toledo, under the great Wizir, Al Mansûr.” With it, no +doubt, were incorporated the remains of previous Gothic and Roman +constructions. It was almost entirely swept away in a great flood in the +year 1258, after having already undergone extensive repairs and +restorations since the Reconquest. Thus we may conclude that there can +be few if any traces of the Moorish bridge in the actual Puente de +Alcantara. On the other side of the town there was probably a wooden +bridge or bridge of boats, where the Puente de San Martin now spans the +river. A little below it is a brick tower, with open arches, the +horseshoe curve of which, and other features, bespeak its Moorish +origin. Legend places here the incident of the Bath of Florinda. In +later times the work was believed to be the remains of a bridge. But an +Arabic inscription, recently redeciphered and translated, goes to prove +that the tower formed part of a very different monument: “In the Name of +God, the Merciful, the Compassionate! Oh, men, believe that the promises +of God are certain and let not yourselves be seduced by the flattery of +the world, nor be lured away from God by the deceits of the Evil One! +This is the tomb of Hosàm (?)-ben-Abd ... [He confessed that there is no +other God but] God. He died [may God have mercy on him] ... the year +eight ... and four hundred.” The Baños de la Cava may now be safely +regarded as a Musulman sepulchral monument of the fifth century after +the Hegira. + +We have now briefly considered the only monuments of interest to any but +the most ardent archæologists that can be ascribed, so far as their +general structure is concerned, to the Moslem lords of Toledo. Admitting +that the most important buildings of that time have long since +disappeared, it remains clear that the city could never have presented +the Oriental aspect of the Andalusian seats of Islam. + +The history of the city as an independent State is soon told. Under +Ismail and his son Al Mamûn, Toledo became the most powerful Musulman +State in Spain. The lesser principalities having been disposed of, a +fierce struggle for supremacy was waged between Al Mamûn and the Amir +of Seville. A desperate battle before the walls of Murcia decided the +issue in favour of the Toledan, and gave Valencia into his hands. But, +as is often the case with men of all ranks, Al Mamûn’s strength and +wisdom were undone and rendered unavailing by his fatal trait of +magnanimity. + +Alfonso of Leon, dispossessed of his kingdom by his brother, threw +himself upon the protection of the Amir of Tolaitola. The noble Muslim +bestowed upon the fugitive prince a palace near his own, an oratory, and +a garden “wherein to recreate himself”; and allowed him to establish a +miniature Court for himself and his followers at Brihuega. Lands were +assigned to him as a source of revenue, and he became the most intimate +and honoured friend of the Amir. It is said that in return an oath was +exacted of Alfonso that he would assist his host against all men, and +never war upon him or his son. That some such pledge should have been +asked for in return for such magnificent hospitality seems very +probable. The Archbishop Don Rodrigo relates that one day Al Mamûn found +himself with his most trusty counsellors in a wood from which a full +view of the city could be obtained. The Moorish sovereign fell to +discoursing upon the defences of the place and the best means of +attacking it. These words were overheard by Alfonso, who chanced to be +by, and who at once feigned sleep beneath a tree. Here he was presently +discovered by the Moors, to their great dismay. Some among them asked +leave of Al Mamûn to slay him. On this permission being indignantly +refused, they dropped hot lead on the Leonese prince’s hand to see if he +were really asleep. Alfonso did not stir, which would have convinced +most people that he was feigning sleep. The Muslims, on the contrary, +retired, satisfied that he had heard nothing and seen nothing. + +Before returning to his kingdom, the Christian prince renewed his vows +of loyalty and friendship to Al Mamûn, with whom personally, indeed, he +never broke faith. The Moor’s son, Yahya, reaped the reward of the +father’s generosity. A weak and incapable sovereign, addicted to luxury +and despised for his devotion to superstitious practices, he was +detested by his own subjects, who on one occasion drove him out of the +city, to take refuge at Cuenca. His authority was restored only with the +help of his natural foes, the Castilians. Alfonso, unmindful of his vow, +forgetful of the dead Al Mamûn’s princely generosity, could not resist +this opportunity of adding to his dominions the old capital of the Kings +of Spain. For six years he laid waste the frontiers of the Amirate, and +in the seventh year--carefully availing himself, no doubt, of the +information unwittingly communicated by his old benefactor--invested +Toledo itself. Famine accomplished what arms could not, Yahya asked for +terms. They were onerous enough. They involved the cession of all the +Moorish King’s dominions, except Valencia, the Muslims who elected to +remain in Toledo being guaranteed the free exercise of their religion, +their property, and liberty. They were to be subject to their own laws +and tribunals and to retain their mosques. The terms, as remarks +Quadrado, were, in fact, almost the same as those granted to the +Christians by the Arabs three hundred and seventy years before. Only the +Alcazar, the bridges, gates, and the garden called the Huerta del Rey, +were reserved to Alfonso himself. The capitulation completed, Yahya and +his court took the road to Valencia, and Alfonso VI. entered Toledo by +the Bib-el-Mardom on Sunday, May 25, 1085. + +“May God renew her past splendour, and inscribe once more the name of +Toledo on the list of the cities of Islâm!” This was the devout +aspiration of a Muslim chronicler, but in neither particular has it ever +been fulfilled. + + + + +TOLEDO THE CAPITAL OF CASTILE + + +The incorporation of the haughty city of the Visigoths with the kingdom +of Castile was, when the first wave of enthusiasm had subsided, regarded +with coldness and misgiving by its people. The Toledans were as +tenacious as ever of their peculiar customs and privileges which they +had hoped to maintain intact. Even with the powerful assistance of the +Cid, whom he appointed Alcalde, Alfonso found the ordering of the +affairs of his new capital a difficult and dangerous task. The +population included (remarks Don Jose Quadrado) “the conquered and +resigned Musulman, the Israelite ever submissive and industrious, the +Mozarabe ennobled by his ancient lineage and constancy in his faith, the +Castilian, proud of his conquests, the foreigner rewarded for his +prowess, or attracted from remote countries by signal privileges; and +this multiplicity of races and diversity of creeds demanded as many +separate systems of law and administrations.” The Jews, Musulmans and +foreigners continued subject to their own codes and tribunals; but while +the Mozarabe or native of Toledo clung to the old Fuero Juzgo or +Visigothic law, inherited from his fathers, the Castilians and Leonese +expected to be ruled according to the ruder, rougher code of their +warrior counts and kings. Alfonso dealt with these two peoples of common +race and language as with the other more widely distinct races. Each had +an Alcalde of its own, subject, however, to the Alcalde Mayor named by +the king. A compromise, too, was arrived at, the Castilians being +subject to their own law in civil cases, and to the Mozarabe in criminal +matters. On the whole, the tendency of these measures was to conciliate +the Toledans. But we find evidence of jealousies between them and their +conquerors or deliverers from the North for many years afterwards. + +Alfonso’s honour had not gone unstained in regard to his taking the city +of his old friend and benefactor, and the Moors must have been sanguine +indeed if they looked forward to a scrupulous fulfilment of the pledges +given them by the conqueror while he was _outside_ the walls. The clause +that entitled the Muslims to the free and exclusive use of their mosques +was particularly obnoxious to the rabid ecclesiastics and crusaders who +accompanied the king. With increasing irritation they compared the noble +proportions of the Mohammedan mezquita with those of the humble +provisional Catholic Cathedral of Santa Maria de Alficem. While Alfonso +was absent in Leon, he left the city in charge of his queen, Constancia, +a Frenchwoman, and of her countryman, Bernard, now bishop, and formerly +a monk of Cluny. This prelate took advantage of his sovereign’s absence +to burst one night into the coveted mosque with an armed party, and +having “purified” it, suspended bells in the minarets, which announced +at dawn the celebration of the Christian rite. When word was brought to +the King of this infamous violation of the treaty, he set out for +Toledo, announcing his intention of burning the bishop alive. Moved +either by that magnanimity which in the person of Al Mamûn had +contributed to their downfall, or, as Spanish writers say, by a +far-seeing prudence, the Moors went out in a body to meet the monarch, +and besought him to forgive the highly placed thieves. Alfonso, with a +show of reluctance, acquiesced in their prayer, and the Christians were +most undeservedly confirmed in the possession of a church they had no +hand in creating. The Alfaqui, or headman of the Muslims, was +munificently rewarded for his generosity, his statue being placed in the +Capilla Mayor of the new cathedral, which was solemnly consecrated in +1087. No nation has shown a very nice sense of honesty in respect of +church property, yet it needs no subtle intelligence to perceive that a +church is as much the property of the particular sect for whose special +use it was designed by members of that sect, as any private house is of +its private owner. + +The sturdy Toledans were attached, not only to their laws and customs, +but (which was of more importance in those days) to their own Gothic or +Mozarabic ritual. This differs in what are considered important +particulars from the Roman. The host is divided into nine parts, +representing the Incarnation, Epiphany, Circumcision, Passion, Death, +Resurrection, Ascension, and Eternal Kingdom of Christ. Of these +fragments, seven are arranged to form a cross. Because it is not Roman, +English writers are fond of extolling the beauty and simplicity of this +liturgy. It was a stumbling-block to Queen Constance and the zealous +French bishop, who were anxious to reduce all things in Spain to +Catholic uniformity. The King ordered the question to be decided by +ordeal of single combat. The Mozarabic champion remained the victor. The +bishop then demanded the ordeal of fire. The two missals were +accordingly thrown into a great blazing pile, and the local favourite, +having probably been saturated with some incombustible preparation, +remained unconsumed. Another version has it that neither book was +injured by the flames. Alfonso, after his fashion, clinched the +controversy by ordering the Mozarabic ritual to be confined to the two +parish churches allotted to the Christians by their Moorish rulers, +whilst everywhere else Mass was to be celebrated according to the Roman +office. + +Alfonso VI. had to fight hard to keep possession of Toledo. The +Almoravide invasion had burst like a tidal wave over Southern Spain. +Everywhere the Musulmans were recovering their spirits and their +strength. The Castilian king fled, wounded, from the bloody field of +Zalaca, with only five hundred followers, leaving behind him twenty +thousand slain. Toledo could have had no pleasant associations for its +latest conqueror. Here died three of his _six_ wives--Constancia of +Burgundy, Isabel of France, and Zayda of Seville. At Ucles was slain his +only son, while yet a mere child. “Where is your prince?” asked the +unhappy father of the warriors escaped from the rout. “Where is the +light of my eyes and the staff of my age?” All were silent. “He is dead +and you live!” bitterly exclaimed the king. “Yes,” replied Alvar Fañez +sternly, “we live to save the throne, the country, and the lands +acquired with our blood and sweat.” But the Alcazar re-echoed to the +mournful plaint, “Sancho! Sancho, my son!” till Alfonso VI. passed away +in July 1109. The stones of which the church altars were built had +miraculously distilled tears in token of his approaching death. Before a +year had passed the Vega was blackened by the advancing hordes of Islam. +The Castle of Azeca, the monastery of San Servando, fell into their +hands; but the City of the Goths, thanks to the leadership of Archbishop +Bernard and of Alvar Fañez, hurled back the hosts of Ali and was held +fast for Spain. + +The accession of Alfonso VII. el Batallador brought brighter days to his +capital, but it was assailed during the twelfth century with a +succession of calamities that might have broken down the patience of +Job. The year 1113 was marked by an earthquake and disastrous +overflowing of the Tagus; 1116, by a fire on a large scale; in 1117, the +price of wheat rose, to fourteen soldos the bushel; in 1168, the Tagus +was again in flood; again in 1181 and 1200; between 1187 and 1200, all +the grocery stores were burnt (how or why, we are not told), the Tagus +was frozen over in 1191, and there was a famine the following year. +Eclipses of the sun were of the commonest occurrence: we hear of them in +1114, 1162, 1177, 1191, and 1207. We can easily imagine the Mohammedan +denizens shaking their heads and ascribing these phenomena, especially +the last, to the change of government, and extolling the good old times +of Al Mamûn when earth, river, and sun kept their places and behaved +according to rule. + +Yet Toledo flourished, and her citizens were never more in their element +than in the spring of the year 1212, when their town became the +rallying-point and base of the great crusading army, destined to achieve +the crowning mercy of the Navas de Tolosa. The dominant personality of +that time was the Archbishop Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada. A writer of +history, a valiant soldier, a sagacious statesman, princely in his +magnificence, and angelic in his charity, he was a tower of strength in +Spain, and especially for Toledo, in the dreadful years of famine and +brigandage that followed the victory over the Moor. His name will be for +ever remembered as practically the founder of the great cathedral which +is the city’s crowning glory and title to fame. + +The century of floods, earthquakes, and eclipses passed away, and found +Toledo a hotbed of civil strife and internecine discord. As in Italian +cities at the same time, rival families and factions fought in the +streets, turned their houses into fortresses, and set the civic +authorities at defiance. The hidalgos of Toledo would hurry home from +warring with the infidel to plunge their swords into the bosoms of their +fellow townsmen. Laras and Castros waged pitched battles for the +possession of the capital of Castile. At last the royal power asserted +itself, and with terrible effect. We read that “the King Ferdinand came +to Toledo, and hanged many men and boiled others alive in cauldrons. +Era MCCLXII. (1224).” This boiler of his fellow men is known as _Saint_ +Ferdinand. His father, Alfonso IX. of Leon, is also mentioned as having +broiled his rebellious subjects, and flayed others alive. But such +performances are not considered by a certain class of writers even now +to argue any real depravity of character. + +The sainted king’s severity on another occasion is more creditable to +him. On his entry into the town, two young women threw themselves at his +feet and implored vengeance on their betrayer, Fernandez Gonzalo--the +Alcalde himself. The high rank of the offender did not save him from +instant decapitation, and his head was within an hour gazing down on the +scene of his amours from the Puerta del Sol. Whether the betrayed +damsels or any one else were benefited by these drastic measures, the +panegyrists of the righteous king forgot to tell us. + +Still it was an age when strong measures were called for; and +recognising this, the citizens themselves instituted the famous Santa +Hermandad or Holy Brotherhood for the maintenance of public order and +suppression of brigandage. The organisation received the royal sanction, +and was endowed with many privileges. It supplied the place of a regular +police force for all Castile for at least three centuries, and readers +will remember the frequent references to it in the pages of “Don +Quixote.” + +Toledo had not yet become a capital in the sense of being the permanent +residence of the sovereign. Saint Ferdinand and his immediate +predecessors and successors were essentially soldiers. Their Court was +the camp, and in the unremitting war of reconquest it was necessarily +transferred from place to place, from one confine of the ever-expanding +kingdom to the other. When at Toledo the king resided at the +Alcazar--which in Moorish days had been a fortress constructed of +_tapia_ (a species of concrete), and which was fortified with masonry by +Alfonso VI. The building was enlarged and embellished, and made more +suitable for a royal residence by Sancho el Bravo (1284-1295). But the +state of affairs in what may be termed the Epoch of the Reconquest +(1085-1252), was obviously not favourable to the development of the +building arts. Toledo possesses few memorials of these days, for such +edifices as may have been founded at or before that time have undergone +such transformations as to render them practically the products of later +ages. Such supplies and energies as were not absorbed by the +all-important business of war were naturally diverted to the building of +the cathedral, which was not, as we shall see, completed for another two +centuries. + +Mediæval history concerns itself almost exclusively with kings and +princes, battles and treaties. Of the life of the people in Spain, as +elsewhere, we hear very little. From stray references in the records we +glean the information that the streets of Toledo were filthy and +unpaved, and frequently encumbered with the carcases of beasts. Over the +gates the heads of malefactors were ever rotting, poisoning the already +vitiated air. We have concise details, too, of no particular interest, +as to the municipal constitution of the city. Beyond this meagre +information, we know something of the history of Toledo only so far as +it was also the history of Spain. + +Pedro I., the Cruel (1350-1368), had no liking for the gloomy, turbulent +town, and during his reign Seville might have been called the seat of +government. However much he may have endeared himself to the +Andalusians, the ferocious king was no favourite with the Toledans. When +the ill-used queen, Blanche of Bourbon, escaped from her prison in the +Alcazar and claimed the right of sanctuary in the cathedral, the city +rose in her behalf, and a thousand native blades sprung from their +scabbards to protect her. An alliance was concluded with Talavera and +Cuenca, and the gates opened to Don Enrique of Trastamara, the king’s +half-brother. It is said that Pedro’s faction held the bridge of San +Martin, expecting the rebel prince to enter that way, while his +supporters introduced his troops into the town by the opposite bridge of +Alcantara. The Trastamara partisans attacked the Jewish quarter, the +Israelites being especial favourites of Don Pedro, and a frightful +massacre ensued. Soon the king’s party gained the upper hand, and the +unfortunate Blanche was removed from the city, wherein she had found +such staunch friends, to the castle of Sigüenza. + +This is not the first time we read of a massacre of Jews at Toledo. Yet +the town was for many centuries one of the strongholds of Jewry in +Europe, and a centre of Hebrew culture and activity. The story of the +Jews of Toledo is, in fact, one of the most interesting chapters in the +history of the city and of Spain. + +Jews were settled in the Peninsula at a remote period. The author of +“The Moorish Empire in Europe” (S. P. Scott) thinks their arrival in +that country “antedated the Christian Era by at least a thousand years.” +As we know, legend actually ascribes the foundation of Toledo to the +race. This may, we think, be due to a confusion of the Israelites with +Phœnician settlers. At the time of Christ, the Jews of Spain were very +numerous and opulent. Another legend tells how their chief men addressed +a letter to the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, protesting against the +Crucifixion. A document--altogether spurious, it need hardly be +said--has been produced in support of this story. After the destruction +of Jerusalem by Titus, there seems to have been a large influx of Hebrew +refugees into Spain. So long as the Visigoths remained Arians, they +remained tolerant; but Reccared, soon after his conversion to +Catholicism, levelled the severest enactments against the Israelites. He +set a bad precedent. With Sisebut began the long era of persecution. His +harsh edicts, forcing the Jews to choose between baptism and banishment, +are still to be found in the Fuero Juzgo. Swinthila, Kindila, +Recceswinth, Erwig, and Egica followed the same policy. Among the +tyrannical enactments of this time is the grotesque command that the +Jews of Toledo should eat pork! Under these circumstances it is not to +be wondered that the Spanish Jews beheld with dawning hope the +successful progress of the Mohammedans in Northern Africa. A secret +intelligence was established with these Semitic conquerors of a newer +faith, and thanks to the constant intercourse between the Jews of Africa +and those of Spain, Musa and Tarik were fully supplied with the most +minute particulars of the Visigothic State. + +The period of the Khalifate was the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry. The +numbers of the race, depleted by persecution, were increased by the +advent of upwards of twelve thousand Yemenite Jews, invited by the +Moorish conquerors. Never since the days of Solomon had the Children of +Israel known such peace and prosperity. Possessed already of a +remarkably high degree of culture, they communicated their knowledge to +the Arabs, who showed themselves generous patrons and protectors. Nor +were the new rulers of Spain slow to perceive the advantages to be +derived from the subject race’s commercial enterprise and talent for +affairs. Though the versatility of the Jew at this time was one of his +most remarkable characteristics, it was above all as a physician that he +was esteemed by Muslims and Christians alike. In this capacity he became +the indispensable and most trusted companion of sovereigns and prelates, +and penetrated into the very arcana of power. From Court physician to +Minister the transition in those days of personal government was easy, +and we find Hasdai ben Isaac Ibn Shaprut occupying both positions under +Abd-ur-Rahman I. + +As far as was consistent with their religious beliefs, the Jews of +Toledo assimilated themselves with the conquerors. The minutes of the +congregation were kept in Arabic down to the end of the thirteenth +century, and that language was sedulously cultivated and almost +exclusively employed by the brilliant succession of Jewish theologians +and humanists who made the city a centre of literary and scholastic +activity. + +We have it on the authority of Mr. S. P. Scott that, under the Muslim +dominion, the Jews were allowed to elect a king, always a prince of the +House of Judah, “who, while not openly invested with the insignia of +royalty, received the homage and tribute of his subjects.” It is +illustrative of the respect of the race for learning that the erudite +Rabbi Moses, when recognised exposed as a slave at Cordoba, was +immediately elected to this dubious royalty. + +The Jews of Toledo must have viewed with unpleasant apprehensions the +re-establishment of the Catholic monarchy. Yet at first it seemed they +had no cause for alarm. Alfonso VI., as we know, granted to them the +liberal privileges by which the Muslims also benefited. But in the +charter confirming the customs of the Mozarabes (1091) it was made plain +that no penalty would be exacted of a Christian for the murder of a Jew +or Muslim. The result might have been foreseen. Seventeen years after, +the people rose in savage fury, broke into the synagogues and butchered +the rabbis in their pulpits, burnt and pillaged every Jewish house, and +slaughtered the luckless objects of their animosity without mercy. But +it was the people, rather than the governing classes, who manifested +this violent racial prejudice. As in every other land, in spite of +persecution, the Chosen People grew in wealth and abated not their +industry and commercial activity. It was they who brought to the grim +Gothic city the choicest products of the East; they alone who could +combat the ravages of disease; they alone who could supply the needy +king and nobles with the coin for which in Italy men paid as much as one +hundred and twenty per cent. interest. Spain hated the Jew, but could +not as yet do without him. + +The rule of Alfonso VI.’s successors could not have been excessively +harsh, for many Jewish families, hounded out of Southern Spain by an +unusual manifestation of Mohammedan bigotry, took refuge within the +walls of Toledo. Thanks to the influence of Fermosa, the Jewish mistress +of Alfonso VIII., many of her race exercised important functions at the +Court. But the fanatical temper of the populace attributed to the favour +shown these unbelievers the disaster of Alarcos, and the beautiful +favourite and her friends were murdered in the very presence of the +king. + +“At the beginning of the thirteenth century,” says Mr. Joseph Jacobs, +B.A., in the “Jewish Encyclopædia,” “the Shushans, the Al-Fakhkhars, and +the Alnaquas, were among the chief Jewish families of Toledo, Samuel Ibn +Shushan being nasi [the chief of Sanhedrim] about 1204. His son built a +synagogue which attracted the attention of Abraham ben Nathan of Lunel, +who settled in Toledo before 1205. During the troubles brought upon +Castile by the men of ‘Ultrapuertos’ in 1211-12, Toledo suffered a riot; +and this appears to have brought the position of the Jews more closely +to the attention of the authorities. In 1219 the Jewish inhabitants +became more strictly subject to the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of +Toledo, who imposed upon every Jew over twenty years old an annual +poll-tax of one-sixth of a gold mark; and any dispute about age was to +be settled by a jury of six elders, who were probably supervised by the +nasi, at that time Solomon ben Joseph Ibn Shushan. In the same year +papal authority also interfered with the affairs of the Toledo Jews, +ordering them to pay tithes on houses bought by them from Christians, +‘as otherwise the Church would be a considerable loser.’” + +A significant phrase! But not only houses and land all over the country +were mortgaged to the Jews, but also church plate and even the sacred +vessels. Jewish usurers were said to drink out of the chalices used for +the Precious Elements. The exasperation of the Christians was +disregarded by Alfonso X. the Learned, who entertained a profound +respect for the erudition and traditions of the Jews. A Hebrew, Don Zag +Ibn Said, directed the compilation of the famous Alfonsine Tables; and +under the patronage of the monarch, Toledo became famous for its +translations from the Arabic into Hebrew, Latin, and Spanish. The rabbis +distinguished themselves in medicine and astronomy. While doing his +utmost to draw the oppressed race within the fold of the Catholic +church, the Learned King granted permission to the Jews of Toledo to +erect that beautiful synagogue which, under the name of Santa Maria la +Blanca, ranks to-day among the national monuments of Spain. + +“The Spanish Jews,” says Mr. Scott, “by reason of the peculiarities of +their situation, the hostility of their rulers--which their pecuniary +resources and natural acuteness often baffled, but never entirely +overcame--and their successive domination by races of different origin, +faith, and language, were impressed with mental peculiarities and +characteristics not to be met with in their brethren of other countries. +Their religious formalism was proverbial, and the Hebrew of Toledo +observed more conscientiously the precepts of the Pentateuch and Talmud +than the Hebrew of Damascus or Jerusalem.” Thus we find the Jews of +Toledo siding against the rationalising theories of the great +Maimonides, himself a native of Cordoba, and whose tomb is a conspicuous +landmark on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. + +Don Amador de los Rios reproduces an ancient record for the year 1290, +stating the amount of tribute payable by the various Jewish communities +of Castile. Out of a total of 2,801,345 maravedis the Israelites of the +city of Toledo contributed 216,500, and those in the entire archdiocese +1,062,902 maravedis. The pomp of Catholic public worship and the wealth +of the clergy are partially accounted for by these figures. + +Up till then, always the most valuable (from a European point of view) +and the most prosperous element of the population of Toledo, the Jews +assumed yet greater prominence in the reign of Pedro I. That prince was +declared by his numerous enemies to be the substituted child of a +Jewess, and his Court was reviled as a Jewish Court. He showed favour to +the race in many ways. His treasurer and confidential adviser was the +famous Don Samuel Ha Levi. Whether or not the Jewish statesman’s +administration was in the interests of Castile, it is too late in the +day to say; but there can be no doubt that he was a loyal servant of his +king and a devoted friend of his own people. He it was who caused to be +erected Toledo’s other great synagogue, now called the Transito. He was +a warm ally of the beautiful Maria de Padilla, Pedro’s gentle mistress, +and for years, with consummate astuteness, defended himself against the +insidious and violent attacks of his innumerable enemies. His enormous +wealth--honestly or dishonestly acquired--brought about his downfall. In +the very year (1360) the synagogue was completed, Samuel was seized at +Seville, and, by order of the king, placed upon the rack. The haughty +Hebrew is said to have died of sheer indignation. Pedro shed crocodile +tears over his ill-starred Minister’s fate, and greedily confiscated his +property. His fortune was found to consist of 70,000 doubloons, 4000 +silver marks, twenty chests filled with treasure, and eighty Moorish +slaves. The property of all Levi’s relatives was also forfeited to the +Crown, and was valued at 300,000 doubloons. Pedro did not, however, +withdraw his favour from the Jews as a race. It had been well for them +if he had. Their loyalty to the Bluebeard King earned for them the +detestation of the partisans of Enrique de Trastamara, and brought +about, as we have seen, the massacre of 1355, in which 1200 Jews +perished. + +The new king, Enrique, took advantage of a riot said to have been +excited by the arrogance of the converted Jews in 1367, and in which +1600 houses were burnt to the ground, to impose a tribute of no less +than twenty thousand gold doubloons on the afflicted people. + +It was possibly due to the presence of a large Israelite population that +Toledo, very much against its will, had been held for King Pedro in +1369. It was, in consequence, fiercely assailed by its own archbishop, +Don Gomez Manrique, while Pedro sent an army largely composed of +Saracens to its relief. The city was a prey to famine, internecine +warfare, pestilence, and to every description of calamity. The killing +of Pedro and the accession of Enrique were hailed as an ineffable boon +by the wretched citizens. But from that hour the position of the Jews +grew more and more pitiable. Their prosperity waned, and with it the +prosperity of the old city in which they had so long been unwelcome +guests. + +Their final ruin as a community was effected mainly at the instance of +St. Vicente Ferrer, the Dominican. Visiting the city in 1391 he so +inflamed the devout populace with apostolic zeal that they burst into +the larger of the two Juderias or Ghettos, put practically the whole of +its inhabitants--including the venerable rabbis, Judah ben Asher and +Israel Alnaqua--to the sword, sacked the quarter from end to end, and +demolished most of the synagogues. The saintly Ferrer reappeared at +Toledo twenty years later, but there were nominally no Jews left to +massacre. The Hebrews that remained had been “converted.” The good friar +did what he could, and induced the Toledans to confiscate the synagogue +built in Alfonso X.’s reign and convert it into the Christian Church of +Santa Maria la Blanca. We suggest that it should have been renamed San +Vicente del Sangre. + +The work of destruction was done thoroughly, and henceforward we hear +little in the story of Toledo of the Children of Israel. But their names +have not been altogether forgotten. Mr. Jacobs gives a long list of +members of that luckless congregation, famous for their learning and +science. He enumerates theologians, physicians, astronomers, +grammarians, satirists, poets and astrologers. Toledo, thanks to these +latter, achieved an unenviable reputation as a centre of the magic art. +Indeed, this was known at one time as the Arte Toledana. “It is said” +(we quote Mr. Jacobs) “that Michael Scott learned his magic from a +Toledo Jew named Andreas, who translated works on magic from the +Arabic.” The same writer elsewhere says: “The Spanish Jews differed but +little from the Christian population with regard to customs and +education. They were fond of luxury, and the women wore costly garments +with long trains, also valuable jewellery; this tended to increase the +hatred of the population towards them. They were quarrelsome and +inclined to robbery, and often attacked and insulted one another even in +their synagogues and prayer-houses, frequently inflicting wounds with +the rapier or sword they were accustomed to carry.” With royal +permission a Jew might have two wives. + +Deprived of the more legitimate pastime of Jew-baiting, the Toledans +began to turn their swords against each other and their sovereign. +“Never,” remarks Gamero, “had the nobility shown itself so arrogant and +rebellious as during the reign of Juan II.” Envy of that great man and +powerful Minister, Don Alvaro de Luna, was mainly the cause of this. The +leading families took different sides, and the streets frequently were +slippery with the blood of the citizens. The Alcalde, Pero Lopez de +Ayala, declared against the great Constable and held the town as an +independent seigneurie against the king’s forces for five years. King +Juan had deserved better things of his lieges of Toledo, for in 1431 he +had entertained them on his return from his campaign in Andalusia with +festivities and pageants of the gayest character. The people took part +in bull fights and games in the Zocodover, while the knights and +_ricoshombres_ jousted and feasted in the Vega. The Alcazar re-echoed to +the music of lute and lyre, and the songs of the minstrels. But Toledo +was not to be subdued with kindness. The artisan class presently +revolted on the imposition of a new tax, the tumult being the occasion +of the saying, _Soplara il odrero, y alborozarse la Toledo_ (Let the +ironmonger blow and Toledo will rise). Next, the cruel and miserly +governor, Pedro Sarmiento, followed Ayala’s example, and demanded of the +king the dismissal of the noble Constable. The royal forces were set at +defiance, and a pitched battle was fought below the walls. The fortune +of the day remained with the rebels, and Sarmiento was able for a time +to dictate to his sovereign. He was at last crushed, but was able to +carry off an enormous amount of treasure loaded on two hundred mules. + +These events had produced a permanent feud between the families of Ayala +and Silva, only terminated by the marriage of the heir and heiress of +the respective houses. Toledo, during the first three-quarters of the +fifteenth century, was a prey to incessant warfare. Sometimes the whole +town would be contending against external foes for or against the king, +sometimes it would be the nobles contending with the people, or the +church with the nobles. Toledo, as a whole, supported its archbishop, +Carrillo, when in 1465 he pronounced sentence of dethronement on Enrique +IV. Three years later that unlucky monarch managed, by winning over the +Ayalas to his side, to make his entry into the city. The proud chief of +the family was himself obliged to flee from the town in 1471. The king +was besieged in the Alcazar; the balance inclined sometimes to this +party, sometimes to that. The old animosities between the Ayalas and +the Silvas blazed up again from time to time; and under its weak +sovereign Toledo had its fill of fighting. But those brave days were +drawing to a close, and in 1474, came one before whom even Toledans had +to bend the knee and whom, recognising in her a stronger spirit, they +afterwards delighted to honour. The accession of Isabel the Catholic on +the death of Enrique IV., and to the exclusion of the rightful heiress, +Juana, calumniously nicknamed La Beltraneja, marks the beginning of a +new era in the history of Spain, and therefore of Toledo. + + + + +BUILDINGS OF THE CASTILIAN PERIOD + + +The earliest specimens of post-Moorish architecture in Toledo partake +more or less of the character of fortifications. For many years, as we +have seen, after the Reconquest the Christians’ hold upon the city was +precarious, and the first efforts of the Castilian kings was naturally +towards strengthening its defences. The history of the walls of Toledo +is obscure and confused; but it seems certain that a wall has always +extended within historic times across the northern side of the loop +formed by the river. The Conqueror Alfonso VI. strengthened and added to +this defence by the erection of the newer or outer wall, inclosing the +suburb or Arrabal del Antequeruela. He also appears to have restored the +inner or Moorish wall, and has left traces on the magnificent Puerta del +Sol, a Moorish work which must have been quite new in his day. Indeed, +it may possibly have been built by Moorish masons after the Reconquest. +It is a noble and impressive portal to the grand old city, and most +powerfully impresses the beholder. Quadrado will have it that so +dignified a monument can have been the work only of a ruling race, in +the days of its liberty and glory; it could not have been the mere +afterglow of the ascendency and taste of a nation now subjugated. We +may, however, be permitted to doubt whether the political decadence of a +people becomes _instantly_ manifested in its artistic life. The gateway +forms a high tower with two flanking turrets, one square and abutting on +the wall, the other rounded and finishing off the _enceinte_. The portal +is composed of a succession of four arches, all being of the horseshoe +shape, though the outer arches are more pointed than the inner ones. +Above the outermost arch is a double row of arcades of brickwork, the +arches intersecting. Over the second arch is a circular medallion in +relief, representing the Virgin offering the chasuble to St. Ildefonsus. +Another relief in marble is supposed to represent the summary punishment +of Fernan Gonzalez by St. Ferdinand, for the seduction of two young +women. The battlements are of a type common enough in Spanish Christian +architecture, but which Mr. Street thinks was derived originally from +the Moors. Another writer, Mr. O’Shea, remarks: “This gate with its warm +orange tints, that contrast so admirably with the lapis-lazuli azure of +the cloudless sky, its battlement fringing the top, and opening vistas +of most novel aspect, is a treasure for an artist.” The exceeding +quaintness and majesty of this gateway have moved many writers to +express themselves almost too rapturously. Toledo’s other gates--the +Puerta Nueva de Visagra and the Puerta del Cambrón--date from a much +later period. + +The rude, dismantled pile of the Castle of San Servando, which crowns +the height opposite to the Bridge of Alcantara, marks the site of a +monastery, erected by Alfonso VI. in gratitude for his escape from the +rout of Sacralias (1086). It was peopled by Benedictines from Sahagun +and Cluny. These holy men soon found by the defensive works with which +their new home was provided that their duties would not be entirely of a +clerical description. Yusuf-ben-Tashfin, the Almoravide leader, almost +destroyed the building during his abortive siege of Toledo, and Alfonso +subsequently gave the establishment the aspect and features of a +fortress. As such it bore the brunt of the repeated Saracen onslaughts +in the first half of the twelfth century. It was abandoned in +consequence by the monks, and was bestowed by Alfonso VIII. on the +Knights Templars. It continued in their possession till the suppression +of the Order in 1312. It seems to have fallen into ruins soon after, and +was rebuilt about 1386, on the initiative of the great archbishop, +Tenorio. It is not a very interesting monument. It is built of masonry, +with facings of red brick here and there. Three of its four sides are +standing, and the same number of towers. These bear a resemblance to the +outer or circular tower of the Puerta del Sol. The windows and arches +exhibit Moorish, or rather Mudejar, influence. The castle in its day +must have been a fine specimen of the mediæval stronghold. To-day its +ruin is complete. It serves as a home to the owl and the bat, and the +very ghosts of monks and templars seem to have deserted it as +uninhabitable. + +The castle is referred to by Calderon and other writers, and seems at +one time to have been a favourite spot for duels. + +The increased importance of Toledo as the capital of Castile +necessitated the improvement of its communications with the outside +world. The Bridge of Alcantara was, at the time of the Reconquest, the +only permanent traject across the Tagus, and the bridge of boats on the +western side of the town having been swept away, Alfonso X. (1252-1289) +decreed the construction of a stone bridge now known as the Puente de +San Martin. It was built of five arches and lasted till the reign of +Pedro I., when it was blown up by that king’s partisans to obstruct the +entry of Enrique de Trastamara. It continued in a practically demolished +condition for twenty years, when the great archbishop, Pedro Tenorio, +determined to restore the missing arches at his own expense. It is said +that the architect entrusted with the work found, to his dismay, the +night before the day fixed for the opening, that, owing to some +oversight in his calculations, the whole fabric would collapse on the +removal of the scaffolding. He made known the cause of his anxiety to +his wife; and she rose at dead of night, and setting fire to the whole +structure preserved her husband’s reputation and, not impossibly, his +life. The reconstructed bridge was, of course, without fault or flaw. A +final reconstruction took place in 1690. On the town side, the Puente de +San Martin is defended by two square towers. Above the archway are two +inscriptions relating to the works executed by order of Charles II. The +further extremity of the bridge is defended by another square +battlemented tower with a horseshoe arch. Its two bridges are among the +most picturesque features of Toledo. + +With the obvious exception of the cathedral, the most interesting +monuments of what we may term the middle age of Toledo are the two +synagogues, now styled Santa Maria la Blanca and El Transito. The Jews, +as we have seen, everywhere loom large in the annals of Toledo. + +The first-named of these temples derives its actual name from a +tradition that a Christian church occupied the site in Visigothic times, +to account for the dedication of which a legend is repeated similar to +that of Santa Maria ad Nives at Rome. It is situated on what was once +the Jewry or Ghetto, on the western side of the city, not far from the +Puente de San Martin. Its foundation--as a synagogue--is variously +ascribed to the period of the Reconquest, to the last days of the +Moorish dominion, and to the latter period of the Khalifate. The first +date seems the most probable. It continued to be used for the Jewish +worship till 1405, when, as has been already told, it was seized and +converted into a Catholic church. It has long since become a merely +secular monument. The exterior, approached through the most miserable +and sordid neighbourhood, is very far from reflecting the splendour the +Jews enjoyed at its foundation. The façade, mean and dilapidated like +the rest of the exterior, is probably of much more recent construction +also. Within, a strange, fantastic impression is created. The phrase, +“How are the mighty fallen!” involuntarily rises to the lips as one +contemplates the traces of grandeur and elegance subsisting amid ruin +and decay. The temple is symbolical of the race: exotic, reminiscent of +a lost glory, depressed, oppressed. There is, however, no trace or +suggestion of the primitive Hebrew architectural style about the +building. The traditions of Jerusalem were either unknown to, or had +been forgotten by, those who reared these walls--likely enough Moors, +whose skill was always at the disposal of Christian and Jew. In fact, +the synagogue may be taken as a fine example of late Saracenic work. The +plan consists of a nave with two aisles on each side. The nave was +prolonged in the seventeenth century so as to form a chancel. The +building is 81 feet long by 63 feet wide. The nave reaches to a height +of 60 feet, and is 15 feet broad, while the aisles measure only 12 feet +and rise from 40 to 50 feet high. The nave and aisles are separated by +four rows of octagonal columns, from which spring bold horseshoe arches +of the true Moorish type. The capitals are of stucco and elaborately +designed with floral devices, in which the fir-cone is conspicuous; +there is a vague suggestion of Byzantine influence. Mr. Street imagines +them to be 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.” All this stucco work appears to date +from about the time of Alfonso X., or perhaps from a later restoration. +Above the nave is an exquisite frieze in low relief, formed of lines +interlacing and crossing each other. The roof is of pine-wood, and _not_ +of Lebanon cedar, as at one time alleged. Mr. Street thinks “the +pavement is very good, but must be 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 them 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, tiles. The +latter have patterns in white, dark blue, and yellow, and in all cases +they are remarkable for the beautiful inequality of the colours of the +surface of the design. Both colour and material are in themselves better +than the work of our tile manufacturers of the present day and +illustrate very well the difference between hand-work and machinework.” +The Catholics added three altars in the plateresque style, which, it is +unnecessary to say, do not harmonise with the rest of the edifice. One +of the retablos is attributed to Berruguete. + +Comparing this old Jewish meeting-place with the other and later +synagogue, Miss Hannah Lynch remarks: “As a religious temple, as the +expression of solemn worship rooted in the strange and mysterious East, +the former is by far the more imposing, the more earnest and harmonious. +Prayer in the _Transito_ seems a matter of graceful and artistic +dilettanteism; here it appears a great racial cry of the soul.” + +The later vicissitudes of this synagogue are curious. About the middle +of the sixteenth century it was converted by Cardinal Siliceo into an +asylum for the professional frail ones of Toledo; but about half a +century later the establishment ceased to exist--whether because there +was no more frailty in Toledo or no more repentance, we are not told. +Subsequently it was turned into a barracks, and then (O’Shea says) into +a dancing-hall. + +The Transito (so called after the Transit of the Blessed Virgin, _i.e._, +the Assumption) is situated in the same quarter. We have already told +the story of its foundation by Samuel Ha Levi, the powerful treasurer of +Pedro I. Upon the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, it was +handed over to the Order of Calatrava, who dedicated it to St. Benedict +(San Benito). This synagogue is also purely Moorish in style, but of the +later or Granadan period. Its plan differs radically from that of Santa +Maria la Blanca. It constitutes a parallelogram, undivided into naves +and aisles, 76 feet by 31 feet, and 44 feet high. The effect is simple +and graceful. The side walls are quite plain up to the height of about +twenty feet, where a broad frieze of stucco runs round the building, +with floral and star pattern designs, and bordered by inscriptions in +Hebrew. Above this is an arcade with double shafts, and extremely rich +capitals. The arches are of the horseshoe form, cusped into seven +points. Eight of the arches contain lattice-work of the most beautiful +design. Indeed, the whole of the arcading is rich and graceful beyond +all praise. The western wall, where was formerly the Rabbinical chair, +and is now the altar, is profusely decorated with patterns, +inscriptions, and coats of arms, down to within seven feet of the floor. +In the opposite wall windows have been pierced, breaking into the +frieze. The roof is of cedar, and a fine specimen of _artesonado_ work. +Across it run tie-beams, superfluous in this case, but of which the +Moorish builders were fond. The rafters slope down equally to a deep +cornice, which is carried right across the angles, “so as to give +polygonal ends to the roof.” + +On either side of the altar are long Hebrew inscriptions now illegible, +and the precise meaning of which has been a subject of fierce and +perpetual controversy. The text on the Epistle side may be translated: +“The mercies which God hath shown us, raising up amongst us judges and +princes to deliver us from our enemies and oppressors.... And we of this +land have built this house with a strong and mighty arm. The day that it +was built was great and delightful for the Jews, who, attracted by the +fame of these things, came from the ends of the earth to see ... if a +ruler should be given us who should be as a tower of strength ... to +govern our commonwealth.... And there was raised up to help us, Samuel +[Levi,] and God was with him and with us, and who found for us grace and +mercy. He was a man of peace, powerful among all the people, and a great +builder. These things were accomplished in the reign of the King Don +Pedro; may God be his helper, enlarge his dominions, prosper him and +succour him, and place his seat over all princes. May God be with him +and all his house, and may every man be humbled before him ... and let +those who hear his name rejoice to hear it in all the Kingdoms, and let +it be manifest that he has been unto Israel a defender and a shield.” +The inscription on the Gospel side proclaims the Rabbi Myir Abdali as +the architect and extols his pre-eminent virtues, and pathetically +celebrates the return of good and prosperous times--times not destined +to last for the luckless race! + +In the neighbourhood of the synagogue exists the skeleton of the palace +built by the great Jewish treasurer. It afterwards passed into the hands +of the Marquises of Villena, and is associated with Don Enrique de +Aragon, uncle of Juan II., a very interesting personality. He was a man +of vast learning, and was, probably in consequence, reputed to be a +magician and in league with the Evil One. Indeed, his magnificent +library, including his own writings, was, in after years, burnt by order +of the Inquisition. Beneath the mansion are still to be found various +subterranean chambers, which popular superstition declares to have been +the scene of Don Enrique’s conferences with Satan and his satellites. +This necromancer was indeed Marquis of Villena, but it is by no means +certain that he inhabited this house, which afterwards became the +property of another family (the Pachecos), on whom the title was +conferred by Enrique IV. The palace was deliberately burnt by its owner, +the Duque de Escalona, in the reign of Charles V., it having been +contaminated, as he thought, by the temporary residence within its walls +of the Constable de Bourbon, then in arms against his own country. The +Castilian grandee’s sense of honour was not a mere pose. The building is +now the property of the Marquis de la Vega, who has tastefully restored +it. It receives additional interest from its having been, as is now +believed, the home of El Greco. + +Two ruinous structures are pointed out as the palaces of Don Pedro and +of Enrique de Trastamara respectively. The latter probably belonged to +one of the Counts of Trastamara, not to the king who bore that title. It +is in the Moorish style, with horseshoe arches, friezes, and _ajimeces_. +The so-called palace of Don Pedro is of the same class of architecture, +but has much less to show--a horseshoe arch, a dado, and an almost +illegible Arabic inscription which reads, “Lasting glory and perpetual +prosperity to the master of this house.” + +Better examples of the Mudejar (or late Moorish) style are the Casa del +Mesa and the Taller del Moro. The former is situated close to the church +of San Román, and was built soon after the Reconquest by that prominent +Toledan, Esteban Illán. The saloon is one of the very best examples of +this style of architecture. It is 60 feet long by 22 feet wide, and 36 +feet high. The artesonado ceiling is thus described by Street: “The +patterns are formed by ribs (square in section) of dark wood with a +white line along the centre of the soffit 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 entrance--of a +slightly horseshoe pattern--is framed in exquisite and luxuriant +traceries. So also is the opposite _ajimez_ window, but here the designs +show Gothic influence. A high dado of _azulejos_ and a very deep cornice +and frieze of delicate workmanship complete the decoration of this very +beautiful hall. + +The Taller del Moro is (quite without foundation) said to occupy the +site of the massacre of the _Noche Toledana_. It was so called because +it was used as a workshop during the building of the cathedral. There is +a conflict of opinion as to its age, but it probably dates from about +the time of the Reconquest. The Arabic inscriptions, however, imply that +it was intended for the habitation of a Moor, the Latin texts being +doubtlessly added by later owners. The Taller consists of a large hall, +54 feet long by 23 feet wide, and of two adjacent smaller apartments. It +exhibits the artesonado ceiling, the delicate stucco-work and friezes +with star-like and floral designs we are led to expect in specimens of +Mudejar architecture. Street doubts if the stucco-work dates further +back than 1350. The portal is in good Gothic style, and was added by +Cardinal Mendoza. + +As in all other Spanish cities, after their reacquisition by the +Christians, in Toledo, for many, many years, Moorish architects and +masons continued to be employed even in the construction of sacred +edifices. This accounts for the mixed Christian and Saracenic style of +several of the churches, even where these had not originally been +mosques. The interesting church of San Román had been a Mohammedan +temple remodelled to the requirements of Christian worship, while the +tower or steeple is a Mudejar work added by Esteban Illán, and (to quote +Mr. Street), “the finest example of its class to be seen here.” The +steeple is of rough stone and brick, of a warm brown tone, and quite +plain for more than half its height. The upper stages are pierced with +windows which exhibit a very ungraceful trefoiled variation of the +horseshoe arch--then fast dying out. Notwithstanding, the steeple has a +noble and rugged appearance, like most things Toledan. The church itself +has been so often restored, that it is hard to assign it to any one +epoch. The Capilla Mayor is of the sixteenth century, and of the +plateresque style. One of the altars has a front of black stone, carved +at the edges in imitation of an altar-cloth with embroidery and lace. +Here and there traces may be detected of the original mosque. The +steeples of the churches of Santa Magdalena, Santo Tomé, San Pedro +Martir, San Miguel, Santa Leocadia, and La Concepcion, resemble that of +San Román, but differ greatly in size. + +The minor churches of Toledo are not specially interesting. Without the +walls, however, is one with noteworthy characteristics. The little +“basilica” of the Cristo de la Vega occupies the site of the famous +church of St. Leocadia, built by the Visigothic King, Sisebuth, in the +seventh century, to mark the place of the virgin saint’s martyrdom. +Several of the great councils were held here. The story is told that the +saint appeared in person here to St. Ildefonso, in the presence of King +Recceswinth, and having expressed her satisfaction at the theologian’s +masterly defence of the virginity of the Blessed Virgin, allowed him, +with the royal dagger, to cut off a piece of her veil as a souvenir of +her visit. This event naturally raised the “basilica” in the estimation +of the devout. It was demolished by the Moors, and restored in 1162. It +underwent many restorations and was finally ruined by the French during +the War of Independence. The present edifice represents little more than +the apse of the chapel of the Cristo de la Vega. There was a miraculous +crucifix, attached to which is a particularly silly legend. Two lovers +had plighted their troth before the image, and the man afterwards denied +the promise. The girl adjured the Christ to bear witness to the truth of +her statement, and the figure obligingly extended a wooden arm while a +voice from on high proclaimed, “_I testify._” Another version has it +that the figure testified in favour of a Christian who (_mirabile +dictu_) had lent money to a Jew; and yet another, that it expressed +approbation of the magnanimity of a cavalier who had pardoned his enemy +under extraordinary circumstances. Whatever it may have done, the +crucifix has long since disappeared. An Arabic inscription deduces that +Mohammed ben Rahman, first King of Toledo, was buried here, A.D. 743. As +there was no king in the city of that year, and as the first independent +sovereign was otherwise named, the inscription must be apocryphal or +else the word “king” must signify in the original merely _Vali_ or +governor. + +A legend, better known and rather less silly than that of the Cristo de +la Vega, deals with the love affairs of an imaginary Moorish princess, +called Galiana “la mora mas celebrada de toda la moreria,” the daughter +of an equally mythical king, called Galafre. _He_ is linked up with +history by some writers alleging him to have been the nephew of the +wicked Count Julian, Galiana was the apple of her parent’s eye, and for +her delectation he built a palace abounding in all conceivable delights. +The young lady had, in some way, compromised herself with a gigantic +Moor, Bradamante by name; and to rid her of this truculent wooer, no +less a personage than Charlemagne appeared on the scene. All, of course, +ended happily (except for Bradamante) by the conversion of the lovely +princess and her marriage to the gallant Frank. In the Puerta del Rey, +outside the town, may still be seen a building dilapidated, let out in +tenements, which is pointed out as the Palace of Galiana. The place was +a mansion of the great Guzman family and exhibits traces of fine Moorish +work--horseshoe arches, twin-windows, a defaced inscription or two, some +tiling, and arabesques--enough, in short, to conjure up a splendid +Moorish palace, which, however, need not have antedated the Reconquest. + +The building is the property of H.I.M. the Empress Eugénie, and it is +somewhat to be regretted that her attention has not been directed to its +present condition and to the chance here presented of retarding the +decay of a valuable monument of antiquity. + + + + +THE CATHEDRAL + + +Transcending in importance all the other monuments of Toledo and, +indeed, of Castile, is the Cathedral--one of the noblest specimens of +Gothic architecture the world affords. The metropolitan church of Spain, +it is sumptuous without gaudiness, austere without gloominess, admirably +interpreting the spirit of Spanish Catholicism before it withered under +the chilling influence of Philip II. and the Inquisition. The Cathedral +of Toledo does not impress the foreigner as typically national. Indeed +it corresponds no longer to the temper of the nation. And it was raised +as a protest against those Moorish influences which have passed into the +life and art of Spain, and without which nothing can be taken as +representatively Spanish. + +The Cathedral of Toledo, then, is Gothic, and may be said to embody the +ideals of old Spain--of the young fighting nation that looked forward, +not backward. Splendid as the Mosque seized by Archbishop Bernard and +converted to Christian uses may have been, it was the work of the +infidel. In 1227 King Ferdinand III. and the Archbishop Don Rodrigo de +Rada were able at last to give effect to a determination arrived at some +years before; and on August 14 the first stone of a new temple, which +should never have been contaminated by Muslim rites, was laid with +solemn ceremony. The name of the architect continues to be a matter of +controversy. An epitaph in the sacristy of the Capilla de los Doctores +affords some clue to his identity. It runs as follows: + + Agni: 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: sentat: ire: ante: Dei: + Vultum: pro: quo: nil: restat: multum: + Et sibi: sis: merce: qui solus: cuncta: + Coherce: obiit: x dias de Novembris: + Era: de M: et CCCXXVIII (A.D. 1290). + +“Petrus Petri” is interpreted by Spanish writers “Pedro Perez,” but we +incline to Mr. Street’s view that the correct rendering is probably +Pierre le Pierre, the architect having been, as the name implies, a +Frenchman. “This, at any rate,” continues Mr. Street, “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, there was 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 connection 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 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 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 to act as architects for Christian buildings whether secular +or ecclesiastical, and, indeed, to monopolise all the art and science 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 Mohammedan 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 one of any other nation.... But however +this may have been, the church is thoroughly French in its ground-plan +and equally French in all its details 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....” + +The stupendous fabric, once begun, whether by French or Spanish hands, +took two hundred and sixty-six years to finish. From the death of the +first architect in 1270 to the year 1425 the names of the architects +have been lost. During this period, the successive styles of +architecture naturally influenced the original scheme and found +expression in the building. It was in January 1493 that the roof was +finished and the main structure completed. Certain chapels, such as the +Reyes Nuevos, Sagrario, &c., were later additions. Among the later +architects we find Rodrigo Alfonso, Alvar Gomez, Martin Sanchez, and +Juan Guas. The stone employed inside (according to O’Shea) was quarried +at Oliguelas, some nine miles from the city. It becomes harder with age. +“The external portion is all of Berroqueña stone, save the ornamentation +of the portals, which is also of Oliguelas white stone.” + +The Cathedral forms an oblong, semicircular at the eastern end, and +lying east and west. In width it is exceeded only by the Cathedrals of +Milan and Seville, measuring 178 feet broad by 395 feet long. On the +north side are the cloisters and additional chapels and sacristies. From +the eastern side project the chapels of the Reyes Nuevos, San Ildefonso, +and Santiago, and the Winter Chapter-room. The plan of the interior is +easy of comprehension. The nave extends from the western entrance to the +Capilla Mayor: on either side of it are two aisles which are continued +round and behind this chapel in a semicircular sweep. Street extols the +skill with which this arrangement has been carried out. Between the +Choir and the Capilla Mayor a transept extends across the church, not +projecting, however, beyond the outer walls of the farther aisles. The +eighty-eight pillars which support the fabric and mark off these +divisions are composed each of from eight to sixteen light columns, +standing on the same base. The capitals are moulded in plain foliage. +The arches resting on these pillars make up the seventy-two vaults of +which the roof is composed. The aisles rise gradually in towards the +central nave, which is 116 feet high. The crypt or substructure +corresponds in its divisions and the number of its piers to the edifice +above. The pavement is of bluish white marble arranged in chequers. + +In the original plan no side-chapels appear to have been contemplated. +But the chapel of Santa Lucia was added by Archbishop de Rada in memory +of Alfonso VI. And, in addition to chapels built since the rest of the +church, the spaces between the buttresses in the outer aisles have been +railed off so as to form twenty-three chapels of various styles and +periods. The interior is lit by 750 stained-glass windows of rich hues +that delight the spectator. They depict episodes from the Scriptures, +and are said to have been as carefully designed as if intended for close +inspection. Among the artists were Dolfin (1418), De Vergara, Albert of +Holland, Maese Cristobal, Juan de Campos, Vasco Troya, and Pedro +Francés. The effect of the light falling in rays of richest colour on +the pavement and columns is magical. The walls are denuded of colour and +rudely whitewashed. + +The centre of the Cathedral is occupied by the choir (_Coro_), to the +east of which, separated by the transept, is the Capilla Mayor. The +choir is enclosed by walls and cloisters, except on the side facing the +Capilla Mayor, where it is railed in by the magnificent reja, designed +by Domingo de Cespedes and Hernando Bravo (1548). Like the corresponding +railing of the High Chapel opposite, this work was formerly heavily +silver-plated and gilded, but at the time of the French invasion it was +recoated with iron to secure it from spoliation. Unfortunately, no +means have yet been discovered of restoring the reja to its original +state. Among the elaborate ornamentation may be noticed the arms of +Cardinal Siliceo and of the Ayala family, with the interwoven +inscriptions _Procul esto prophani_ and _Psale et psile_. The Choir is +paved with white marble inlaid with dark. The vaulting above the Choir +itself rises to the height of a hundred feet, the aisle round it to +ninety feet, and the outer aisle to thirty-five feet. In the outer aisle +are small chapels placed between the buttresses. Mr. Street describes +this part of the building in great detail and considers that the +original scheme of the Cathedral is only to be seen here. The triforium, +formed of an arcade of cusped arches, in the outer wall of the inner +aisle exhibits Moorish influence. “It would be impossible,” writes the +authority just mentioned, “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 Choir is enriched by a magnificent screen, lecterns, and stalls. The +screen, or _respaldo_, which at one time seems to have been continued +right across the transept, encloses the Choir on three sides, and +consists of an arcade carried on fifty-two columns of jasper and marble, +and supporting and enclosing admirable statuary and sculpture. Above the +capitals of the columns is a series of fifty-six medallions in high +relief, dating from 1380, and representing scenes from the Old +Testament. These reliefs are worthy of close study, and are beautiful +examples of simple and faithful mediæval treatment. The series is +supplemented by a medallion with a bust by Berruguete and the statues of +Innocence and Sin, by Nicolas de Vergara--works on which Street outpours +the vials of his wrath. + +Of the wonderful Choir Stalls of Toledo everyone has heard. They are +unsurpassed triumphs of the carver’s art. The lower tier, including +fifty seats, is the work of Maese Rodrigo, and dates from 1495. The +stalls are of walnut wood, and the carving portrays the campaign against +Granada by the Catholic Sovereigns. The carving being almost +contemporary with the events illustrated has given these reliefs an +historical as well as an artistic value. The names of the fortresses +are here and there indicated by labels, and the designs are somewhat +marred by the introduction of fanciful monsters. The whole breathes very +much of the mediæval spirit, and we can, therefore, hardly complain of a +certain stiffness and lack of variety. They form an admirable contrast +to the finer, more finished work of the upper tier of stalls, executed +fifty years later by Berruguete and Philip of Burgundy, surnamed +Vigarni. Thirty-five seats, including the Primate’s, are the work of the +Spaniard, the thirty-six opposite exhibiting the skill of the +Burgundian. “They were wrought,” says O’Shea, “in rivalry of each other, +and finished in 1543; and as Cardinal Tavera’s inscription runs: +‘Certaverunt turn artificum ingenia; certabunt semper spectatorum +judicia.’” The stalls are placed in recesses of alabaster, and separated +by fine red jasper columns, with capitals in white marble. Over the +recesses is a series of alabaster figures in low relief of the prophets +and patriarchs. The carvings on the stalls themselves depict episodes +from both the New and Old Testaments. The work breathes the spirit of +the Renaissance, interpreted by Berruguete and his colleague with a +skill, it has been truly observed, worthy of Benvenuto Cellini himself. +Berruguete was a pupil of Michelangelo. His work is more vigorous than +that of Vigarni, who excels in elegance and softness of outline. +Street’s denunciations of these triumphs of the carver’s art are a +curious instance of the length to which an artistic bias may lead a +clever writer and critic. The reliefs representing the visits of the +Blessed Virgin to Purgatory and to St. Ildefonso are not by Philip of +Burgundy, but by his brother Gregorio. + +Very fine are the reading-desks, with friezes of gilded bronze, executed +by the two Vergaras in the middle of the sixteenth century. Those on the +Epistle side are carved in low relief with the stories of David and +Saul, the Blessed Virgin and St. Ildefonso, and the Apocalypse; those on +the Gospel side, the stories of St. Ildefonso, the Ark of the Covenant, +and the Passage of the Red Sea. In the centre of the Choir is a +magnificent brass lectern upheld by a great eagle with wings outspread; +its eyes are of red stones and it crushes with its talons a struggling +dragon. It was executed in 1646 by Salinas. The pedestal on which it +stands is older by two hundred years, and is thoroughly Gothic in +character, with buttresses, pinnacles, and statuary. The work is said to +be German. The pedestal is borne by six lions, finely sculptured. + +The northern entrance to the transept, which separates the Choir from +the Capilla Mayor, affords the best and least interrupted view of the +Cathedral. That view impressed the writer with its calm majesty and +sanctity, but by way of contrast it is worth while recording the +impressions of a traveller only lately returned (Mr. Stewart Dick): “My +first feeling was one of disappointment--a feeling that even now has +hardly worn away. + +“It is vast and cold. A white expanse. Huge pillars towering up to a +great height. A blaze of harsh daylight. In the middle, blocking up the +view down the nave, the tawdry gilt of the Coro. Doors opening and +banging all round, people promenading, sitting on the bases of the +pillars and talking with undropped voices. You ask yourself with +amazement, Is this a church? The form is here, but where is the spirit? + +“In fact, it is only in the evening that Toledo Cathedral comes into its +own. It is quiet and peaceful then. The promenaders have all gone away, +the blaring of the organ has ceased, and through the open door you hear +the twittering of birds in the cloisters. The shadows darken among the +pillars, the beautiful windows begin to glow, and a soft light fills the +upper part of the church. It is like the opening of a flower. + +“Then at last you begin to feel the impressiveness and the dignity of +those avenues of mighty pillars. The trivialities that annoyed you are +lost, the effects are broad, grand, and majestic, and at last the +building is a temple; it seems as if the Holy Spirit had entered with +the fall of the twilight.” + +The Capilla Mayor, or High Chapel, occupies the eastern end of the nave, +the aisles sweeping round behind it. The hinder portion was originally +the Capilla de los Reyes Viejos, the chapel in which were entombed +Sancho el Bravo, Sancho el Deseado, Alfonso VII., and others. In the +year 1498 the two chapels were thrown into one by Cardinal Cisneros, who +left the royal tombs for a time undisturbed. The High Chapel, according +to O’Shea, measures 56 feet in length, 50 feet in breadth, and 116 feet +in height. The piers are sculptured with the effigies of kings, +prelates, and saints, and with “a multitude of angels playing on +different instruments, and with outspread wings, that want but incense +to raise them again from the spot where they have alighted.” The walls +of the chapel are pierced or of open-work, the stone in parts being +almost transparent, and thus adding to the brightness of the effect. Two +rows of statuary enhance the beauty of the stonework, which is among the +earliest portions of the fabric. But these walls, for all their +magnificence, are put in the shade by the superb reja or railing, facing +that of the Choir, and contemporary with it. This work is thus described +by Señor Riaño: ‘The reja is 42 feet wide by 19 inches high; it rests +on a pediment of marble ornamented with masks and bronze work upon which +rises the reja, which is divided horizontally by means of a frieze of +ornamentation, and this again vertically into five compartments. In each +vertical division there is a pilaster of four sides formed of _repoussé_ +plates, carved with a fine ornamentation in the Renaissance style; this +is again terminated with life-size figures in high relief of bronze. The +second compartment rises upon the band which divides it in a horizontal +sense; it follows the same decoration in its pilasters, and is +terminated by a series of coats of arms, torches, angels, and a variety +of foliage which finishes the upper part. Upon the centre, hanging from +a thick chain, supported from the roof, is suspended a life-size Rood of +admirable effect, which completes the decoration. In several spots there +are labels with mottoes in Latin; in one of them appears the following +inscription, and the date of 1548, when the splendid work was finished: +‘Anno MDXLVIII. Paul III. P.M. Carol. V. Imper. Rege. Joannes Martinez +Siliccus Archiepiscopus Tolet. Hispaniae Primat.’ The railings of the +reja are silvered, and the reliefs and salient points gilt. The artist +who made it was Francisco Villalpando, a native of Valladolid; this +model was chosen in preference to those of several artists, who +presented their plans in competition before the ecclesiastical +authorities; it is calculated that ten years elapsed before it was +finally finished, Villalpando was greatly distinguished likewise as a +sculptor and architect.” By him are the gilt pulpits in the plateresque +style, made from the bronze tomb that the Great Constable, De Luna, had +caused to be designed for himself. On a pier at the extremity of the +chapel is the statue of the celebrated shepherd, Martin Alhaga, who is +said to have, semi-miraculously, guided Alfonso VIII. and his army to +the rear of the Moorish forces at Las Navas de Tolosa--thus securing the +victory to the Christians. The king, who alone saw his features, is said +to have designed the statue. Opposite is the figure of the Moorish +Alfaqui, Abu Walid, whose intercession secured the old mosque to the +Catholics, in the manner already narrated. + +The splendour of the High Altar, with its jasper and bronzes, renders a +detailed description impossible and inadequate. Its magnificent retablo, +rising to the very roof, is the richest gem of the Cathedral. Designed +by Philip Vigarni (Borgoña), and painted and gilded by his brother Juan, +numerous other masters contributed to its excellences. We may name +Maître Petit Jean (of France or Aragon), Almonacid (a converted Moor), +Copin (a Dutchman), Francesco of Antwerp, Fernando del Rincon, Egas, and +Pedro Gumiel. The retablo is of wood and divided into five compartments +by gorgeous columns. The subjects are from the New Testament, and are +worked out with immense and ornate elaboration. The whole is crowned +with a colossal Calvary. Behind the High Altar is placed that +extraordinary example of eighteenth-century bad taste, the too famous +_Transparente_. The whole architecture, painting, statues, carving and +bronze is the work of the same person, Narciso Thomé who completed it in +1734. Much as we may denounce the taste (or rather the lack of it) of +this triumph of the Churrigueresque style, we are obliged to admire the +wonderful execution of this misdirected genius. + +The royal tombs lie around the High Altar. They were placed in recesses, +sculptured in the Gothic style by Diego Copin of Holland, by order of +Cardinal Cisneros in 1507. The arches are peculiarly graceful and light. +The tombs themselves date from much earlier times. Here sleep their last +sleep Alfonso VII., Sancho el Bravo, Sancho el Deseado, and several +Infantes. To the left of the altar is the sepulchre, more glorious than +any king’s, of the great Cardinal Mendoza, erected by order of Isabel +the Catholic, who owed so much to him. It was the work of Covarrubias, +and is all of precious marbles. One side is formed by the sarcophagus +with its recumbent effigy, the other by an altar. Above this last is a +medallion representing the Archbishop Adoring the Cross. Part of the +wall was demolished to make room for this stately mausoleum. Beneath the +Capilla Mayor is a subterranean chapel, not of special interest. It +contains a Burial of Christ by Copin, deserving of an inspection that in +the dim light is well-nigh impossible, and some pictures by Ricci. + +At the eastern extremity of the Cathedral, behind the Capilla Mayor and +projecting beyond the general outline, is the chapel of San Ildefonso. +Erected by Archbishop de Rada, it remains the last important +middle-pointed feature of the building, though considerably modified by +Cardinal Albornoz in the latter part of the fourteenth century. It is +eight-sided, and has beautiful traceried windows, and arches richly +moulded and decorated. In arched recesses, beneath gabled and pinnacled +canopies, are the tombs of Cardinal Albornoz, and several members of his +family. There is much beautiful detail on the tomb of Don Iñigo de +Mendoza, who fell at Granada in 1491; and the sepulchre of the Bishop of +Avila by Tejada is a noble temple of the plateresque. The altar is +modern. St. Ildefonso was the prelate who distinguished himself by his +advocacy of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. In return he is +said to have received signal marks of favour from the Blessed Virgin, +who invested him with a cassock, came down to attend Matins in his +company, and so forth. + +To the north of this chapel is the larger Capilla de Santiago, likewise +projecting beyond the original ground plan, and dating from 1435. It was +built by order of the Great Constable, Alvaro de Luna, to be the place +of sepulchre of himself and wife, on the site of an earlier chapel +dedicated to St. Thomas à Becket. The plan is similar to that of the +last chapel described. Outside, the flat-pitched tile roof is finished +with a battlement and circular turrets at the angles. The most +conspicuous features of the chapel are the tombs, in Carrara marble, of +the Constable Alvaro de Luna and his wife Doña Juana Pimentel. The +Constable is shown in full armour, and at each corner of his tomb kneels +a knight of Santiago, of which order he was Grand Master. Four +Franciscan monks attend on his lady. In niches in the wall repose +kinsmen of the ill-fated Constable, the tombs all having been executed +by permission of Isabel the Catholic, by Pablo Ortiz in 1488, +thirty-five years after De Luna’s death on the scaffold at Valladolid. +The tombs designed for the Constable in his lifetime were to have been +furnished with life-size figures in bronze, which, by mechanical +contrivance, were to have risen each time Mass was celebrated, and to +have remained during the service in a kneeling posture. These figures +were destroyed by the Infante Don Enrique, and the bronze was used by +Villalpando for the pulpits in the Capilla Mayor. The retablo of the +High Altar reveals the portraits of the founder and his wife by Juan de +Segovia. “The chapel,” says Mr. Street, “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.” + +Passing down a corridor between this chapel and that of Santa Leocadia +we reach the Capilla de los Reyes Nuevos, lying quite outside the +original plan of the Cathedral. It was founded by Enrique II. of +Trastamara, and contains his tomb, his wife’s, and the sepulchres of +Enrique III., his Queen, Katharine of Lancaster, Juan I. and Queen +Leonor, and the effigy of Juan II., who is buried near Burgos. The +chapel is a fine specimen of the Renaissance style, reconstructed by +Alfonso de Covarrubias in 1534. The portal is fine, and is guarded by +two kings armed and bearing escutcheons. During Mass, a gorgeously +apparelled functionary holds upright a mace, crowned and jewelled, and +with the arms of Spain. + +The side-chapels of the Cathedral are not, on the whole, as interesting +as one would expect in a building of such antiquity and associations. To +the south of the Capilla de San Ildefonso is the Capilla de la Trinidad; +next comes the entrance to the Chapter House or Sala Capitular, an early +sixteenth-century work with an artesonado ceiling in red, blue, and +gold, excelling anything of the kind in Andalusia. The thirteen frescoes +adorning the walls of the Chapter House are by Juan de Borgoña, who was +also responsible for the earlier series of portraits of the archbishops. +Copin’s work is to be recognised in the archiepiscopal throne, the other +stalls being by Francisco de Lara. Returning to the church through a +portal in the Moorish style, we find on the left the chapel of San +Nicolas, followed by the chapels of San Gil, San Juan Bautista, Santa +Ana, and the Reyes Viejos, founded in 1290 as the Capilla del Espritu +Santo, with a fine reja by Céspedes. The chapel of Santa Lucia, founded +by Archbishop de Rada, is, of course, in the best Gothic style, and has +“an extremely rich recessed arch in stucco, of late Moorish work--a +curious contrast to the fine pointed work of the chapel.” + +The Capilla de San Eugenio contains the alabaster effigy of Bishop del +Castillo (1521), and the tomb in the Mudejar style of the Alguacil +Fernan Gudiel (1278). The statue of the saint is by Copin, the +paintings on the retablo by Juan de Borgoña. Adjacent to the chapel is +the colossal figure of Saint Christopher, usually seen in Spanish +churches. This figure is probably coeval with the fabric, but was +restored in 1638. A primitive style of art is also to be seen in the +altar-piece of the Capilla de San Martin. The next two chapels--de la +Epifania and de la Concepcion--do not present any features of special +interest. + +In the south-west angle of the church is the interesting Mozárabic +Chapel, built in 1504 by Enrique de Egas, under the orders of the famous +Cardinal Ximenes de Cisneros. It is devoted to the celebration of Mass +and the offices of the church according to the Mozárabic ritual, which +till the middle of the last century was followed in six of the parish +churches. The Cupola dates from 1626, and was the work of Jorge Manuel +Theotocopuli. The porch is Gothic, and the reja in good Renaissance +style, executed by Juan Frances in 1524. The frescoes, of no great +value, painted by Juan de Borgoña, represent the expedition against +Oran, in which the great Cardinal took part. Miss Hannah Lynch gives a +vigorously worded account of a service in this chapel according to its +peculiar rite: “The quaint old ritual may be heard every morning at 9 +A.M., and will be found extremely puzzling to follow. The canons, in a +sombre, flat monotone, chant responses to the officiating priest at the +altar. The sound combines the enervating effect of the hum of wings, +whirr of looms, wooden thud of pedals, the boom and rush of immense +wings circling round and round. After the first stupefaction, I have +never heard anything more calculated to produce headache, nervous +irritation, or the contrary soporific effect. In summer, it must be +terrible.” + +At the opposite, or north-west, angle of the church is the Chapel of San +Juan or of the Canons, so called because Mass can be celebrated here +only by those dignitaries. It was built in 1537 by Covarrubias in the +Renaissance style, and occupies the site of the old tower chapel, called +the Quo Vadis. The ceiling is of artesonado, in gold and black, with +carved flowers and figures. Since 1870 this chapel has been the +repository of the Cathedral Treasure, styled Las Alhajas, or the Jewels. +Here is kept the gorgeous _custodia_, or portable tabernacle, made by +order of Cardinal Cisneros by Juan de Arfe, who began it in 1517 and +completed it without assistance in 1524. This triumph of the +silversmith’s craft is in the form of a Gothic temple, eight feet high, +with all the architectural details, such as columns, arches, and +vaultings, the whole resembling delicate lacework. Scenes from the life +of our Saviour are illustrated in reliefs. There are no fewer than two +hundred and sixty statues of various sizes, all exhibiting the same +skill. The tabernacle was gilded over in 1595 by Valdivieso and Morino. +The _viril_ inside, in which the Host is exposed, was made of the first +gold brought from America, is completely covered with precious stones, +and weighs twenty-nine pounds. In the Treasure is also included the +mantle of the Virgen del Sagrario, considered by Señor de Riaño the most +remarkable specimen of embroidery that exists in Spain. It is described +in the following manner: “It is made of twelve yards of cloth of silver, +entirely covered with gold and precious stones. In the centre is an +ornament of amethysts and diamonds. Eight other jewels appear on each +side of enamelled gold, emeralds, and large rubies; a variety of other +jewels are placed at intervals round the mantle, and at the lower part +are the arms of Cardinal Sandoval [seventeenth century] enamelled on +gold and studded with sapphires and rubies. The centre of this mantle is +covered with flowers and pomegranates embroidered in seed-pearls of +different sizes. Round the borders are rows of large pearls. Besides the +gems which are employed in this superb work of art, no less than 257 +ounces of pearls of different sizes, 300 ounces of gold thread, 160 +ounces of small pieces of enamelled gold, and eight ounces of emeralds +were used.” The beautiful dish, repoussé in silver, the designs on +which represent the Rape of the Sabines and the Death of Darius, was +believed to be the work of Benvenuto Cellini, but is now ascribed to the +Flemish artist, Mathias Méline. Among the Alhajas are also four +geographical globes, with large silver figures, gleaming with +gems--eighteenth-century work. Of historical interest is the sword, said +to have been worn by Alfonso VI. on his entry into Toledo, and the +original letter written by St. Louis of France to the Chapter, bestowing +sacred relics obtained from the Great Emperor: “Given at Etampes, the +year of our Lord, 1248, month of May.” Other objects of value are the +Cope of Cardinal Albornoz and the Cruz de la Manga, made in the +sixteenth century by Gregorio de Varona, a native of the city. Here, +also, are the archiepiscopal cross, planted by Cardinal Mendoza on the +summit of the Alhambra in 1492, and the Golden Bible in three volumes, +dating from the twelfth century. It is to be doubted if the accumulation +of these splendid objects, intended for diverse practical uses, in one +collection, serves to show any of them to the best advantage. + +On the north aisle are the chapels of Teresa de Haro, Nuestra Señora de +la Antigua--where the Spanish colours used in the Moorish campaigns were +blessed--of the Pila Bautismál, with a beautiful bronze font, and a +reja by Céspedes; and the large Capilla de San Pedro, built in 1442 in +the Gothic style by Archbishop de Rojas. The founder’s fine monument was +placed here in the eighteenth century. On the other side of the Puerta +del Reloj is the Capilla de la Virgen del Sagrario, noted for a statue +of the Blessed Virgin, which she is said to have kissed on her visit to +St. Ildefonso. The statue is of dark-coloured wood, and was formerly +clothed in a mantle embroidered by Felipe Corral; and composed of gold, +rubies, emeralds, and pearls, now kept in the Treasury. In this chapel +the degree of doctor is conferred on licentiates. The two small chapels +of the Cristo and of Santa Leocadia are adjacent to the entrance to the +Capilla de los Reyes Nuevos. + +Adjoining the Chapel of the Virgen del Sagrario are a set of apartments, +built with it upon the site of an old hospital, by Nicolas de Vergara, +junior, at the close of the sixteenth century. These rooms are the +Sacristia, Vestuario, Cuarto de la Custódia, and Ochavo. The Sacristia, +entered through a portal 26 feet high, contains paintings by El Greco, +to be noticed in the chapter on that master; the ‘Betrayal of Christ,’ +by Goya; and a ceiling fresco by Luca Giordano, representing the Miracle +of San Ildefonso. The Vestuario contains pictures by several Italian +masters, among them ‘Paul III.’ by Titian; a replica of the portrait at +Naples; a ‘Madonna’ by Rubens; and a ‘St. Francis’ by El Greco. The +Custodia was till lately the Cathedral Treasury. The Ochavo, at the back +of the Capilla de la Virgen, is richly adorned and contains the +collection of relics, among them massive silver caskets, wonderfully +wrought, for the bones of the saints Leocadia and Eugenius. + +The vestments preserved here, to the number of forty sets, belong mostly +to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and are of the most splendid +description. “Each set [says Riaño] generally includes a chasuble, +dalmatic, cope, altar frontal, covers for the gospel stands, and other +smaller pieces. The embroideries on the orphreys, which are formed of +figures of saints, are as perfect as the miniatures on illuminated MSS.” + +The Cloisters to the north-west of the church were built by Cardinal +Tenorio in 1389. They are not, as Miss Lynch observes, to be compared +with those of Burgos, of Santiago, or of Oviedo. The garden they enclose +lends a brighter, gayer note to the columned and arched galleries than +is found in those other cathedrals. The frescoes in the lower cloister +were painted by Francisco Bayeu, and illustrate the lives of St. +Eugenius and the legend of the _Niño perdido_. + +We should, perhaps, have described the exterior of the Cathedral first, +but from the sightseer’s point of view the interior is, of course, more +important. It is a general subject of complaint that it is extremely +difficult to obtain a good view of any considerable part of the fabric +from the outside, nor does it stand out as conspicuously from a distance +as its imposing dimensions would lead one to suppose. The best view is +to be obtained from the church of Nuestra Señora de la Valle, above the +Puente de San Martin. The exterior, with its flying buttresses, finials, +and rose-windows, reflects the Gothic spirit of the interior. The west +façade is flanked by two towers, that above the Chapel of the Canons +alone being complete. It is 295 feet high, and was begun by order of +Archbishop Tenorio, in 1380, by Rodrigo Alfons, and completed under +Archbishop Contreras in 1440 by Alvar Gomez. On the summit is a small +spire, surmounted by a cross, a vane, and an arrow. Here are hung the +bells, among them the famous Campana Gorda, weighing nearly two tons, +and whose note reaches to Madrid. The tower also contains a peal called +the Matraca, worked continuously by mechanism from Maundy Thursday till +Easter Saturday. The view from the summit is far-reaching and inspiring. + +Among the finest features of this noble church are its eight principal +entrances. In the western façade are three portals--the Puerto del +Perdon in the centre, flanked by the Puertas de los Escribános and de +la Torre. All date from the first half of the fifteenth century and are +in the Gothic style. The Puerta del Perdon forms a noble arch, richly +ornamented, and divided into two smaller arches by a column surmounted +by the figure of Christ, above which are the Twelve Apostles. Above +these again is a relief in the Renaissance style representing the gift +of the Chasuble to San Ildefonso. The smaller doors are in single +arches, and are sculptured with statues of angels and patriarchs. The +Puerta de los Escribános is so called because through it the notaries +enter the church to take their oaths. It is also called the Puerta del +Juicio. Above it is a long inscription commemorating the taking of +Granada and the expulsion of the Jews. Above the portals the façade is +adorned with a colossal sculpture of the Last Supper, the Saviour and +the Apostles being seated each in a niche, and the table reaching from +buttress to buttress. The façade is pierced with a beautiful rose-window +thirty feet across with a glazed arcade beneath. + +On the south side are the Puertas Llana and de los Leones. The former in +the classic style, was made by Ignacio Haám in 1800. The Puerta de los +Leones gives access to the transept, and is a magnificent Gothic work, +erected in 1460 by the Fleming, de Egas, and ornamented by Juan Alemán. +The sculpture of the portal is perfect. The six columns of the atrium +are surmounted by six lions holding shields. Here are the famous bronze +doors, wrought by Villalpando and Ruy Diaz del Corral in 1545. The +wood-carving and decoration employed a great many masters, among whom +may be mentioned Velasco, Troyas, and the two Copins. Between them was +divided the sum of 68,672 maravedis. At the opposite or northern end of +the transept is the Puerta del Reloj, dating from the beginning of the +fifteenth century, and so named from the clock above it. The door is of +bronze and above it is a fine rose-window of about the same period. It +is considered by Street the best example of stained glass now remaining +in the Cathedral. West of this, the Puerta de Santa Catalina leads into +the eastern cloister. The decoration is profuse. St. Catharine, and the +instruments of her martyrdom, are shown, with the arms of Spain and the +Tenorio family. The Puerta de la Presentacion, also leading into the +cloister, is in the Renaissance style, and dates from 1565. Pedro +Castañeda, Juan Vasquez, Torribio Rodriguez, Juan Manzano, and Andrés +Hernandez are named as the designers of this very fine portal. The +cloisters are entered from the west side next to the tower, by the +Puerta del Mollete, so called because _molletes_ or rolls were or are +distributed to the poor here. + +The chapel and cloister of San Bias on the north side of the cloisters +are the most important additions made to the structure in the fifteenth +century. The chapel contains the monument of the founder, Cardinal +Tenorio, and “in the cloister walls,” says Street, “a door which, in the +capricious cusping and crocketing of its traceried work, illustrates the +extremes into which Spanish architects of this age ran in their +elaboration of detail and affectation of novelty.” + + + + +THE DECLINE OF THE CITY + + +Toledo, up till then hardly distinguished for its loyalty to the Crown, +loved Isabel the Catholic, and on her account, perhaps, rendered +obedience to her Aragonese husband. The Catholic sovereigns liked the +city, and generally held their Court there. The magnificent Cardinal +Mendoza was the prime mover in the expedition against Granada, and +planted the Cross on the summit of the Alhambra. The power of the +primacy was in no way diminished by the consolidation of the monarchy, +and Toledo still looked rather to its archbishop than to its king for +guidance and governance. Under Ferdinand and Isabel it prospered +exceedingly. The arts of peace were studied, industries flourished, and +the more adventurous and restless spirits found an outlet for their +energies in colonial enterprises beyond the seas instead of cutting each +other’s throats in the byways of the city. Toledo became courtly and +urbane. The luckless princess, Juana, was born at the Alcazar in 1479; +and here the Infanta Isabel was married on April 29, 1498, to the King +of Portugal. Only a few months later her corpse was brought hither from +Zaragoza, to be laid in the convent of Santa Isabel. + +The death of Queen Isabel, and the proclamation of Juana and Felipe I. +on May 22, 1502, put an end to the long spell of peace. Toledo sided at +first with Ferdinand against his son-in-law, and was held by the Silvas +against the latter’s forces under the Marquis de Villena. In the +following year (1506) the Ayalas, supported by the townsmen generally, +took possession of the town, and resolved to maintain its liberties +against the Flemish favourites and centralising tendencies of the new +_régime_. The Silvas, as a matter of course, ranged themselves on the +opposite side, and the streets ran red with blood. Toledo was herself +again. + +The accession of the Flemish prince, Charles, afterwards emperor, +determined the Castilians to make a stand for national independence. +What city had so good a claim to be the headquarters of the movement, +the focus of anti-foreign agitation, as Toledo the turbulent? In 1520 +occurred the outbreak of the _Comuneros_ movement. At its head were four +gentlemen of Toledo: Hernando Dávalos, Gonzalo Gaytan, Pedro de Ayala, +and (greatest of all) Juan de Padilla. Twenty thousand citizens rallied +to the cry of “Padilla y Comunidad!” and the movement spread from the +Tagus to Salamanca and westwards to the frontiers of Portugal. To +Juana, imprisoned at Tordesillas, herself a Toledan, protestations of +loyalty and devotion were addressed. But denounce her son’s fraudulently +obtained sovereignty she would not. Meanwhile Charles’s forces were not +idle. The Alcaide, Clemente de Aguayo, held the tower of San Martin, and +Don Juan de Silva, the Alcazar, against the insurgents. But the townsmen +were victorious. Padilla, however, was defeated at Villalar, and +executed, with his brave lieutenants, Juan Bravo and Maldonado. + +In the Comunero leader’s dauntless wife, Maria de Pacheco, liberty found +a new champion and Spain a new heroine. “She was found praying at the +foot of the Cross,” says Miss Lynch, “when her servants brought her the +news of Padilla’s defeat and death. She rose, robed herself in black, +and walked to the Alcazar between her husband’s lieutenants, Dávalos and +Acuña, who bore a standard representing Padilla’s execution. They named +her captain of the insurgents, and found her implacable and violent, but +still a sovereign commander.” For sixteen months under this Castilian +Joan of Arc the old city of the Visigoths held out against the armies of +Charles V. Routed in a bloody sortie on October 16, 1521, by Zuñiga, +prior of San Juan, the Comuneros were obliged, ten days later, to +abandon the gates to the besiegers. A truce was agreed to, while the +demands of the citizens should be presented to the Emperor. Maria +remained in her own house, as in a fortress, guarded by her faithful +troops. But on February 3 the murder of a citizen brought on a renewal +of the conflict. Desperate battle waged in every street and lane. Maria, +assailed and valiantly defended in her stronghold, at last cut her way +through, and retired to Portugal, dying at Oporto years afterwards. The +townsmen were worsted, and sullenly submitted. Toledo had fought her +last fight. + +Her day was over. Charles V. forgave her, and would come at times to +live in the Alcazar. She was still the capital of Spain. But her haughty +temper and the arrogance of her clergy matched ill with the policy of +Philip II. In 1560 Madrid--upstart, provincial Madrid--was proclaimed +the _única corte_. Less important than under the Khalifate, Toledo +became a mere provincial town. But the Church did not desert her. She is +still the metropolitan see of Spain. + +Let us see what the monarchs of United Spain did for the old city, and +what monuments remain of the days when it was Court and capital. + +The church of San Juan de los Reyes, near the Puente de San Martin, was +built in 1476 by Ferdinand and Isabel, in thanksgiving for the victory +of Toro gained over the Portuguese allies of Juana, nicknamed “la +Beltraneja.” The first architect was a Fleming, Juan Guas, one of the +builders of the cathedral. The church was intended to receive the ashes +of the royal founders, but after the capture of Granada it was decided +to establish the mausoleum in that city, and the completion of San Juan +de los Reyes was delayed till the seventeenth century. In consequence, +the architecture exhibits the transition from the Late Gothic to the +Late Renaissance style. “Nothing,” remarks Street, “can be more +elaborate than much of the detail of this church, yet I have seen few +buildings less pleasing or harmonious.” The exterior is unpromising, and +is decorated, if we can use the word in such a connection, with festoons +of rusty chains which fettered the limbs of the Christians in Moorish +prisons. The chief entrance, to the north, was completed by Covarrubias +in 1610, and is in the decadent style of architecture. It is adorned +with inferior statuary, and the arms and initials of the Catholic +sovereigns. + +The interior is composed of a single nave, two hundred feet long and +from forty-three to seventy feet wide. There are four chapels on one +side and three on the other. At the east end of the church is a shallow +five-sided apse, forming the Capilla Mayor. Over the junction of the +nave and transept is an octagonal cupola, resting on four fine pillars, +with a pointed dome and a window in each face. At the west end of the +church is a deep gallery, containing the choir. The altar dates from the +Renaissance period, and is brought well forward into the nave. It came +from the suppressed church of Santa Cruz. Above it is a blue velvet +canopy, embroidered with the eagle, the symbol of St. John. The whole +fabric is enriched with statuary, tracery, carving, and heraldic devices +in almost reckless profusion. The yoke and the arrows--the devices of +the Catholic sovereigns--and their coats of arms are repeated again and +again. Among the inscriptions is one commemorating the foundation of the +church. It runs: “Este monasterio é églesia mandaron hacer los muy +esclarecidos Principes é señores D. Hernando é Doña Isabel, Rey y Reina +de Castilla, de Leon, de Aragon, de Sicilia, los cuales señores por +bienaventurado matrimonio y uñaron los dichos Reinos, seyendo el dicho +rey y señor natural de los reinos de Aragon y Sicilia, y seyendo la +dicha señora Reina y señora natural de los Reinos de Castilla y Leon; el +cual fundaron á gloria de nuestro señor Dios, y de la bienaventurada +Madre suya, nuestra Señora la Virgén Maria, y por especial devocion que +le ovieron.” + +Admirable as is the church in its general structure, and in the detail +and execution of its ornamentation, it is garish and ostentatious. There +is a superabundance of light and luxury. Here there is no dim religious +light, no suggestion of mystery or devotion. Prayer would seem +incompatible with the whole character of the edifice. More favourable +was the opinion of Théophile Gautier, who declared that “Gothic art +never produced anything more suave, more elegant, or more fine.” + +Attached to the church is the convent, bestowed on the Franciscans, and +pillaged by the French in 1808. It has been converted into a museum, +which does not contain much of great interest. The most important +exhibits are fragments of Visigothic inscriptions and Moorish tile-work. + +The cloister of San Juan de los Reyes is a gem of florid Gothic, and the +finest part of the whole fabric. There are two galleries, one above the +other, the lower with traceried openings, the upper with large open +arches. As in the church, there is here an excess of decoration, hardly +a square inch on pillar, arch, and vaulting being free from sculptured +ornamentation. There is a bewildering profusion of statues of angels, +men, and animals, of scroll-work and foliage, heraldic devices and +inscriptions. The whole is dazzlingly white--more like a temple of the +Sun than a shrine of “the pale Galilean.” The original effect, perhaps, +was less crude, for the church and cloisters have been recently +restored, and, it must be confessed, not too skilfully. + +A most beautiful specimen of azulejo work has been built into the +north-west wall. It comes from the suppressed monastery of the Calced +Augustines, and is said to have been a part of the ornamentation of the +ancient palace of Don Rodrigo--wherever that may have been situated. + +Before the finishing touches had been put to San Juan de los Reyes, the +last important Gothic work of Toledo, the erection of one of the two +earliest examples of the Renaissance style in Spain had been begun. The +hospital of Santa Cruz was built between the years 1494 and 1514 by +Enrique de Egas, of Brussels, some ten years after he had completed the +college of the same name at Valladolid. The hospital was designed by the +founder, the mighty Cardinal Mendoza, as an asylum for foundlings. He +died in 1495, and left 75,000 ducats to the queen for the completion of +the work. Isabel it was who chose the site overlooking the bridge of +Alcantara, where formerly the palace of the legendary King Galafre is +fabled to have stood. Among other stories connected with the spot is +that of a Leonese princess wedded against her will to a Moorish prince, +her union with whom was prevented by the intervention of an angel. As in +all the early specimens of Spanish Renaissance architecture, the +groundwork of the building approximates to the Gothic, the new ideas +manifesting themselves in the decoration and carving. The portal is +superb. The reliefs represent the Adoration of the Cross by St. Helena, +St. Peter, St. Paul, and the founder, Cardinal Mendoza, two pages also +appearing, bearing mitre and helmet. Other reliefs, exquisitely +chiselled, have for subjects the espousals of St. Joachim and St. Anne, +and Charity. The four cardinal virtues are shown, and everywhere, amidst +a maze of ornamentation, occur Mendoza’s arms and device. The +plateresque windows, with their rejas in the local style, are deserving +of admiration. Entering, we find a vast _patio_, enclosed by a double +arcaded gallery of marble, and, crossing it, ascend a grand staircase +with a fine ceiling of the _artesonado_ kind. The chapel, in the form of +a Maltese cross, has also a fine ceiling, and Gothic pillars, +beautifully carved, that attest the splendid appearance once presented +by this dismantled building. Some of the columns adorning Santa Cruz +were brought from the Visigothic church of Santa Leocadia. + +To the same period belongs the Franciscan convent and church of San Juan +de la Penitencia, begun by order of Cisneros in 1514, and finished by +his secretary, Fray Francisco Ruiz, Bishop of Avila. The semi-Moorish +palace of the Pantojas was utilised in its construction, and the whole +building bears traces of Arabic, or rather Mudejar, workmanship. +Entering the chapel by a porch adorned with the great Cardinal’s arms +and foliations in the Gothic style, we find ourselves in a sombre +edifice of a single nave, revealing a curious medley of styles. The roof +is a fine example of the artesonado. Over the transept, which is divided +from the nave by a plateresque reja, is a cupola with a stalactite roof +of the Moorish pattern. The principal retablo is early Renaissance, and +several of the altars may be classed as Baroque. The most interesting +feature of the church is the tomb of the Bishop of Avila, who died in +1528. It is in the Renaissance style, and was the work of a Lombard +artist. It is wrought in Sicilian marble, and is thus described by Ponz: +“Above a large stone divided by three pilasters to form three pedestals +there are an equal number of statues seated, representing Faith, Hope, +and Charity. Between the pilasters are the arms of the Bishop--five +castles. In a framed recess are the urn, couch, and recumbent figure. In +front of the urn are seen two weeping children, and within the recess +four angels draw aside the curtains. On either side are two Doric +pillars supporting the frieze, which is inscribed, ‘Beati mortui qui in +Domino moriantur.’ On the edge are two antique columns admirably +executed. Between these columns and pilasters are statues, St. James and +St. Andrew, and above, the figures of children. Over all is a bas-relief +of the Annunciation, with the statues of St. John the Divine and St. +John Baptist, one-half the size of the Virtues below.” + +The Emperor-King Charles V. had, as we have seen, small reason to love +Toledo, but he did something for the permanent embellishment of the +city, and the last architectural monuments reared on its craggy +peninsula belong to his era. + +It is difficult to ascribe the Alcazar, to which reference has so often +been made, to any one epoch. It has undergone so many vicissitudes, so +many reconstructions, that the name, as we have employed it, must be +understood to represent a site rather than the actual palace. A +stronghold of some sort has always been here--possibly, in Roman times, +the Arx, where tradition avers the martyr Leocadia suffered death. The +Arabian geographer, Jerif al Edris, writing in 1154, describes Toledo as +“a town great in extent and population, extremely strong, with fine +ramparts, and an Alcazaba, fortified and impregnable.” This citadel was +doubtless the Alcazar, which was strengthened and rebuilt by successive +Castilian kings, and is said to have been the residence of the Cid, the +first Christian Alcaide. Added to, reconstructed, partially demolished +and repeatedly restored, it must have presented an aspect rude and +heterogeneous enough when, in 1538, Charles V. ordered Alonso de +Covarrubias and Luis de Vega to rebuild the palace entirely on the +lines of the new Alcazar of Granada. The Flemish Emperor may, then, +fairly be considered the founder of the present fortress-palace, though +it has since his time undergone radical transformations. It was burnt +down during the War of Succession in 1710, restored sixty years later, +destroyed again by the French in 1810, and devastated by a third +conflagration as late as 1887. Since 1882 it has been the seat of the +Royal Military Academy. + +The northern façade was constructed after the designs of Covarrubias, +and looks on the square created by Ferdinand and Isabel in 1502. The +reconstruction was so complete that probably no stone of the older +façade was left in its place. The façade is severe and majestic, +revealing classical influence, though not without important traces of +the plateresque. It is flanked by towers, and adorned with a handsome +portal--the work of Enrique de Egas, brother-in-law of Covarrubias. Over +the door are the Imperial arms, supported by the figures of two heralds +or mace-bearers. The fortress-like eastern façade is believed to be a +part of the original Alcazar as restored by Alfonso X.; the western side +of the building dates from the reign of the Catholic sovereigns, and the +southern, with massive Doric pillars and square turrets, was built after +designs by Juan de Herrera. + +The inner court, or _patio_, is described by a Spanish writer as +“solemn, grandiose, full of majesty ... constructed for the +dwelling-place of the August Cæsar.” It forms a spacious parallelogram +and is enclosed by an arcade in two storeys with columns of the +Corinthian order. Above the capitals are displayed the escutcheons of +the various kingdoms ruled over by Charles. The modern restorers of the +palace have adorned the court with a statue of the Emperor in the Roman +costume in which he was so fond of being represented. + +The finest feature of the palace must have been the staircase, designed +by Villalpando and Herrera, which has been to some extent restored after +its destruction by Stahremberg in 1710. One of the widest staircases in +the world, “it ends,” says Miss Hannah Lynch “in the void!” In truth, +the Alcazar is not to-day a very interesting building. It is, in +reality, quite impossible to identify the scenes of the romantic and +historical episodes which we know occurred in one or other of the +successive Alcazars. But the room in which Alfonso VI. died and the +window at which the hapless Blanche de Bourbon wept, _pace_ the local +guides, must have disappeared to the last stone and fragment ages ago. +All that can be said of the palace to-day is that it forms an imposing +landmark, and affords from its northern terrace one of the finest views +of Toledo. + +To the age of Charles V. (or Carlos I. as in Spain he would properly be +called) belongs the Hospital de San Juan Bautista, styled the Hospital +de Afuera (outside) in the suburb of Covachuelas. The building was begun +in 1541 by order of Archbishop Juan de Tavera, who died on his return +from the baptism of Prince Carlos at Valladolid. The building was +carried on after Bustamente’s death by the two Vergaras, and completed +about 1600. The façade dates from the eighteenth century and is still +unfinished. The courtyard, spacious and imposing, is divided into two +and enclosed by colonnades. A fine Renaissance portal by Berruguete +leads into the large chapel, which is in the form of a cross and +surmounted by a dome. The pavement is of black and white marble. Before +the altar is the tomb of Archbishop Tavera by Berruguete. This is one of +the finest monuments in Spain. It was finished by Berruguete when he was +over eighty years old, in 1561, his death taking place the same year in +one of the rooms under the great clock. His sons received nearly a +million maravedis for the work. “The Cardinal,” says Théophile Gautier, +“is stretched out upon his tomb in his pontifical habit. Death has +pinched his nose with its strong fingers, and the last contraction of +the muscles, in their endeavour to retain the soul about to leave the +body for ever, puckers up the corners of the mouth and lengthens the +chin; never was there a cast taken after death more horribly true; and +yet the beauty of the work is such, that you forget any amount of +repulsiveness that the subject may possess. Little children in attitudes +of grief support the plinth and the Cardinal’s coat of arms. The most +supple and softest clay could not be more easy or more pliant; it is not +carved, it is kneaded!” + +The hospital contains some of El Greco’s most notable work, which will +be noticed in the chapter on that master. + +To Charles V. Toledo also owes the grand New Gate of Visagra, built in +1550, and restored in 1575. It consists of two separate structures, or +gateways, enclosing a _patio_. On the exterior of the north gate is +shown the double eagle with the Spanish arms and a Latin +inscription--all in sculptured granite. On the inside is a fine statue +of St. Eugenio, variously attributed to Berruguete and Monegro. The +statues of Gothic kings, a life-sized angel with unsheathed sword, +elegant capitals and balconies, combine to make this gateway one of the +finest approaches possessed by any city in the world. + +The Ayuntamiento, or town hall, of Toledo was erected in the time of +Ferdinand and Isabel by the corregidor Gomez Manrique, and enlarged and +restored between 1576 and 1618 by the corregidor Juan Tello, under the +supervision of El Greco. The façade is composed of two storeys, the +first consisting of nine arches with Doric columns which spring from +massive pillars, the second of as many arches with Ionic columns. The +edifice is surmounted by two towers, crowned with steeples and +weather-vanes. On the fine staircase may be read in letters of gold on a +blue ground this admonition to the civic dignitaries of Toledo: + + Nobles, discretes varones, + Que gobernais á Toledo, + En aquellas escalones, + Desechad las aficiones, + Codicio temor, y miedo, + For los comunes provechos, + Dejad los particulares; + Pues vos fizo Dios pilares + De tan riquisimos techos, + Estad firmes y derechos. + +The Summer Council Chamber is handsomely decorated with _azulejos_, and +contains some battle pictures. The portraits of Carlos II. and his wife +are the work of Carreño. + +The celebrated Bridge of Alcantara, of which mention has so often been +made in these pages, belongs indifferently to all the epochs of Toledo’s +history, so no apology is needed for mentioning it here. “It constitutes +to-day as in the past,” writes Amador de los Rios, “the principal +entrance to the city, and, constructed very wisely on one of the +narrowest parts of the river, it is formed of a great central arch of +more than twenty-eight metres in breadth, resting on the right on a +solid pile, often demolished, behind which is a smaller semicircular +arch, which is, in turn, sustained by the bridge head, founded on the +rock and pierced by a still smaller arch or passage, where several +Visigothic remains have been discovered.” At the outer or country end of +the historic bridge formerly stood a fortified tower, which was in 1787 +replaced by the existing structure. This is in a pretentious style, and +is decorated with various inscriptions, among them one commemorating the +building by order of Philip V. The majestic hexagonal tower on the town +side, with its picturesque turrets, dates probably from 1259. Above it +is a statue of St. Ildefonso, by Berruguete. Over the archway are +sculptured the badges of Ferdinand and Isabel (the yoke and bundle of +arrows), commemorating the restoration of the tower, in 1489, by Gomez +Manrique. A noble bridge is this of Alcantara; old--old as the city--the +work of all Toledo’s rulers, and like Toledo, grim, stern, rude, +destined, it would seem, to endure for ever. Romans, Visigoths, Moors +and Castilians have lingered on it, triumphed on it, fled across it, +fought upon it, and across it to-day must walk every traveller entering +with reverence this great temple of the mediæval and bygone. + + + + +EL GRECO + +BY + +ALBERT F. CALVERT AND C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY + + +Domeniko Theotokopuli,[A] known to us to-day as El Greco, was the first +great painter of Spain, and in his strange and fascinating art, the +Spanish School compels for the first time the attention of the world. +And El Greco was not Spanish. He was born in Crete, it would seem about +the year 1548, and died at Toledo in 1614. Learning his art in Venice, +in his early manner he is a pure Venetian, owing much to the work of the +Bassani, and more to the inspiration of Tintoretto, but in Toledo he +became Spanish and himself, developing there a manner in which the +special temper of the race finds an expression passionate enough, not +equalled again, indeed, until the advent of Goya. + +There will always be some men imaginative, entirely personal, who, +like El Greco, seek to express themselves, and in so doing, quite +unwittingly probably, express the life of their age. Having the +interpretative--creative would perhaps be the truer word--genius, their +work becomes, as it were, a mirror, which reflects not the man alone, +but the circumstances that have formed his life. For, after all, what +the artist does is to use up what he has seen. + +This is why El Greco seems to chronicle for us our impressions of +Toledo, and of Spain. + +Surely no other painter has lived in a city in such strong agreement +with his spirit. Think of the place--wind-swept, heat-dried, +extraordinarily austere, yet flushed with colour, ochre-red shading to +unusual greens; heaped upon its rocky throne above the yellow flowing +Tagus, its rugged silhouette straight cut against a sky hard and clear +as enamel; and, beyond, the sierra like a great brown sea in which it +all stands as an island starting from the waves. A suggestion of +strenuousness seems to linger everywhere, a spirit, personal and keen, +cruel almost as the sword-blades the city fashions. The very buildings, +placed upon the crags beneath the great hulk of the Alcazar, repeat this +impression, they rise in sharp upward and downward lines like an +arrangement of swords, and make their appeal by the strange strength of +their aspect. The streets are a tortuous net of steep-rising +passage-ways. A city strongly itself that has suffered no change, +fantastic as a city seen in a dream. + +Yes, to those who know Toledo, the impression of the character of the +city upon El Greco will bring no surprise. His art corresponds perfectly +with its setting. Everywhere his work is around you, for El Greco is one +of those painters who has but a single home. He built churches and other +buildings--the classic façade of the Ayuntamiento, for instance, was +modelled on his design; he carved statues, he painted pictures, there +are canvases of his in the museum, in the cathedral, and in many of the +churches. And in all this mass of work, it is the living force behind it +that is the first impression that you gain; a kind of driving power that +fascinates you, just as Toledo fascinates you, by reason of its power. +El Greco was a painter able to create--that is the secret of it all. +And, be it remembered, the artist does not find his matter straight from +the springs of his brain, what he is able to see he sets down, and that +is all. His art is great in exact measure as it is able to transfer this +vision from him to us. In this way El Greco, to whom vision seems to +have been the whole of life, does in his pictures transfer to us the +entire impression of Toledo, so that it is difficult to speak of his art +without making Toledo the refrain. + +And as we wait with his pictures and note, after the first surprise has +left us, the qualities of the work, throughout they confirm this. The +very form of his composition is moulded upon Toledo. Just as its +buildings cluster around the Alcazar, almost as bees swarming about +their queen, so he groups everything around a central figure. Never, +after he came to Toledo, did El Greco use Italian backgrounds. And in +his long, lithe figures, so fantastic in their hard outlines, sometimes +we catch that suggestion of the sword that haunts Toledo. Then when we +come to more tangible things, we find to-day El Greco’s models in the +dark peasants of Toledo. Nowhere else can we quite believe in the +reality of those coldly fervent, self-absorbed, ecstatic men, who greet +us with such fascination from his canvases, their lean, long profiles +suggesting again that aspect of a sword. + +Then, El Greco’s colour was drawn from the landscape around him. And +colour, if we may credit the truth of the conversation recounted by +Pacheco, was to him the one quality in painting, form, drawing, all +else, being of secondary significance. This, too, was learnt in Toledo, +where colour has an allurement--illusive and insistent. Toledo it was +showed him the existence of cold tones, and the fascination of its greys +and livid greens led him to anticipate modern colour, at a time when +every one else was painting warm tonalities. In the Convent of San Juan +de los Reyes, now the Museo Provincial, is that ‘Bird’s-Eye View of +Toledo,’ the picture in which we have a portrait of George Manuel +Theotokopuli, El Greco’s son. At first you will be astonished, it is the +strangest landscape in the world. But wait with the picture--always the +danger with El Greco is that you will not linger enough. The painter who +sees for himself must be studied, not dismissed as he who but sets down +the common vision of things. And El Greco does give us the real Toledo +in this fantastic landscape. Do you doubt this? Then go when night falls +upon the city to some such vantage-point as the Puerta del Cambón, where +beneath the dome of the evening sky you will see Toledo, heaped roof +against roof, tower against tower. You will forget the strangeness of +the picture’s statement, as you come to see that it is just this effect +that El Greco has caught. Now you will recognise the reality of those +bluish whites, those tones of green that surprised you, and, in +gladness, you will yield to the truth, the beauty--are not the two the +same?--of the painter’s vision, and avow how much he has taught you to +see. + +Always El Greco’s pictures leave an impression of their own upon the +spectator; and this is the test of vital work. It is personality that +counts in art. Whether he paints the visible truth of outward things, as +in his portraits--that wonderful series in the Prado, for instance, in +which he startles us with his revelation of his model--or pure fancies +of the mind, as ‘The Vision of Philip II.,’ in the Escorial, a picture +that would seem to have no conscious reference to things seen, one feels +that he had something definite to express. And although his style at +first may have been formed largely on that of the great Venetian +painters, of Tintoretto especially--a “sort of shorthand of the +Venetian,” Mr. Ricketts calls it--in all his pictures there is but one +personality--that of himself. At the back of his art was a force of +passionate character--unbalanced? Yes! capricious and arbitrary; a +tyrannical need that compelled expression. But in spite of his singular +conventions and, from a theorist’s point of view, the strangeness and +exaggeration of his qualities, he does convey his meaning, splendidly +effective, if not the best. And because of this intensity of vision we +have those pictures of exaggerated statement that give credit to the +fable of the painter’s madness, such as the ‘St. John the Baptist,’ in +the Hospital San Juan Bautista, a picture which many have found ugly, +while the few see in its new conception a striving for personal +utterance, and find many things in its suggestion. + +El Greco stumbled in his methods maybe, never in his purpose, which was, +it would seem to us, the significance of movement. All his strange +skill, the power of his imagination, his new knowledge of colour and +light, are used in this service, to bring home to us the vision of +movement that everywhere he saw. Even in his portraits it is this that +holds us. There is something more in them than the outward likeness; +there is a power of reaching to and showing us the unquiet spirit +within. He makes his portraits live and speak. This quality is present +in all his work. Every picture is built up by its effect; and this +effect is movement--life. By concentrating on a particular passage, by a +contempt for detail and peddling accuracy, he directs our minds to this +principal thing. His interest, as it were, compels ours; he realises his +vision and makes us share in his imagination. + +But it may be said that in many of these pictures the effect is forced; +in the ‘St. Maurice,’ the rejected altar-piece of the Escorial, for +instance, in the ‘Baptism of Christ’ and the ‘Descent of the Holy +Spirit,’ in the Prado, and in many pictures in Toledo, easily +recognised, in which realities are replaced by a series of conventions. +It is not necessary to wait to particularise examples. Certainly one +does not see in the pictures of other painters those greens, those ashen +whites and crimsons, those livid blacks; El Greco’s use of colour is +unusual and his own. Light is not used as he uses it, as a quantity for +emotional appeal; those faces, so elongated or contracted, and with such +extravagant expressions, those figures with hard anatomical outlines, do +not correspond with life as we see it. Yes, this is true. But look +longer at these pictures.... Well, would it be possible to gain their +_effects_ without the _defects_? If things are forced out of harmony it +is for the sake of “telling strongly.” All this search for expression is +done quite consciously. El Greco throughout was strong enough to be true +to himself and to his imagination. He knew that no system of art is +final, that the achievements of artists are, in truth, the stones +wherewith the Temple of Art is built. Imagination does not see +commonplaces. And we recall the statement of Blake--he, too, a painter +of visions of the mind: “He who does not imagine in stronger and better +lineaments, and in stronger and better light, than his perishing mortal +eye can see, does not imagine at all.” + +El Greco might have said these words. + +And the man? There is a portrait Domeniko Theotokopuli has left of +himself now in the Museum of Seville. In it we see the long, striking +profile, with its large, strong nose, restless eyes and straight mouth, +cruel slightly, framed by the great white ruff that forms such fitting +setting to the fine head. The forehead is high, the dark hair scant upon +the temples. We may read in the face, and still more in the perfectly +shaped hands--the left holds a square palette upon which are the five +primary colours, white, black, yellow-ochre, vermilion, and lake, the +colours he used most frequently--the fastidiousness of the artist, the +instinct for beauty; we may read a peculiar suggestion of mysticism and +ardour; self-assertion, too, and impatience--both wait in those long, +nervous fingers. It is a face of genius, but of a kind restless, +unbalanced, decadent perhaps. And we understand the driving energy that +burned to fever, so that at times the balance was lost between the +painter’s aim and the result, and we realise that the work of such a man +must be introspective, experimental, neurotic. + +We know nothing almost of El Greco’s life, and if external happenings +were all, the most original painter of Spain would remain an unexplained +personality. His very name is uncertain, and contemporary writers, +disregarding the Theotokopuli, speak of him as Domeniko Greco. We do not +know the year in which he was born, for the information given by +Palomino in “El Museo” must certainly be questioned, no register of his +birth as yet having been found among the Cretan archives, or in the +parochial books of the Greek colony in Venice, the city in which it +seems certain that he lived--a pupil, we may well think, of Tintoretto, +rather than of Titian; and this in spite of the letter of his friend +and compatriot the miniature-painter, Clovio,[B] in which Clovio speaks +of the young Greek painter’s skill, tells of his coming to Rome, and, +after commending him to the patronage of the Cardinal Nepote Farnese, +refers to his having learnt his art from the greatest Venetian. But the +testimony of his work gives more truth than this statement; his early +pictures, their authorship so long unknown, again and again have been +attributed to Tintoretto, to Bassano, to Veronese even, never to Titian. + +That El Greco was a Cretan we know by his signature, always in Greek, on +many pictures, Λομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος Κρήσεποίει--the ‘San Maurice,’ +in the Escorial, is one. And again, when called, in 1582, by the +Tribunal of the Inquisition to act as interpreter in the case of a +Cretan accused of being a Morisco, he describes himself as “Domeniko +Theotokopuli, native of Candia, painter, resident in Toledo,” as we +learn from a document discovered by Señor Cossio, to whose research, and +to that of Señor Foradada and of Señor de Beruete, we owe the few +discovered facts of El Greco’s life. + +We know that Domeniko Greco came to Toledo some time before 1577, and in +that year he was at work in the convent of Santo Domingo el Antigua, +where the Church was built and its statues carved by him, and where he +painted the screens of the fine retablo; that further, he would seem +never to have left Toledo; that he married there, and had a son, George +Manuel, who was architect and sculptor to the cathedral from 1628 to his +death in 1631, and also a daughter, whose portrait figures in several +pictures--in ‘Christ Despoiled of his Vestments,’ in the cathedral, for +one; that he died in Toledo, and was buried in Santo Domingo el Antigua +on April 7, 1614[C]--and that is about all. We have record of much +work--Toledo still has more than fifty Grecos--and there were pictures +painted for the small town of Illescas, and also for Madrid. We read of +two lawsuits, one undertaken to compel the Cathedral Chapter to pay in +full for the ‘Expolio,’[D] the second to vindicate the painter’s right +to sell his pictures without paying the tax levied upon merchandise. +These lawsuits, his pictures, with their dates and signatures, certain +contracts and receipts, are the few facts to be reported. + +It would seem that this strange, self-contained life wished to be +silent; for it is perhaps not too fanciful to read this meaning into +that answer given by El Greco when asked, in connection with the writ +served on him for the ‘Expolio,’ whether he had been brought to Toledo +to paint the retablo of Santo Domingo: “I am neither bound to say why I +came to this city nor to answer the other questions put to me.” Here we +gain hints of certain very real traits of character. + +And, if the facts of his life are meagre enough, we can find suggestions +of this same temper, silent, yet passionate, in that visit of Pacheco to +the Toledan painter when he was old, in 1611, of which we have spoken +before. Pacheco tells us that El Greco was a student of many things, a +writer on art, a great philosopher given to witty sayings, a sculptor +and architect as well as a painter. He writes of much work that he saw, +and speaks in particular of a cupboard in which were models in clay of +each picture El Greco had finished. The two painters talked on many +subjects, of colour and its supreme quality in painting, of Michael +Angelo and his failure as a colourist. But in all the account of +Pacheco, always so minutely laborious, it is significant to note in one +sentence the impression he formed of Domeniko Greco: “He was in all +things as singular as in his painting.” + +Nor will it do to overlook the testimony of Giuseppe Martinez, whose +“Practical Letters on the Art of Painting,” though not printed until +1866, were written a century before. He too speaks of Domeniko Greco as +of extravagant disposition, and in proof recounts that he engaged +musicians to play to him that he might “enjoy an additional luxury +during meals.” The prudent Aragonese condemns this “too much +ostentation,” but we capture again some fresh clues and hints of this +strangely effective personality--a fanatic of life, a fanatic of +painting. + +But we have not settled the account of genius when we have called it +unusual, fanatic, or decadent. It is the solution of the dull that +genius is extravagant consciously. El Greco can have had no desire, no +power, to repeat the easy, the commonplace. If strange, exaggerated +even, his art is without a trace of affectation. When he painted a +vision he felt it natural to symbolise his idea in the way that he did. +In colour, in form, he painted only what his imagination saw, gaining in +colour fresh harmonies for himself, and a new suggestion of movement in +his imaginative compositions, to which our imagination must find answer. + +El Greco understood all nature as a Living Presence; his art was a +series of experiments to express this. And every one must be struck with +the peculiar development of this special personality in his art from +stage to stage--stages that with sufficient accuracy may be divided into +three periods. + +The first is the pupil’s search for truth; the Venetian stage, in which +we find a consciousness of tradition, showing itself in the +still-fettered design, in the attitudes of the figures, in the use of +warm colour, in a flowing quality in the paint, and, especially perhaps, +in the landscape backgrounds, so Venetian with palaces and marble-paved +piazzas; yet mingled with all this tradition is an emphatic personality, +an ardour of expression, very difficult to define, seen in such early +pictures as ‘The Blind Man,’ in the Parma Gallery, or ‘The Cardinal,’ in +the National Gallery, both painted before 1577. Over the whole Venetian +period the influence of Tintoretto is obvious; while the portraits of +these years recall in their method the work of the Bassani; and of the +pre-Spanish pictures, as, for instance, the ‘Cleansing of the +Temple,’[E] now in the possession of the Countess of Yarborough, and the +replica of the same subject on a small scale, in the Cook collection at +Richmond, Surrey, a picture of real beauty that testifies to El Greco’s +skill in miniature--these, and many other works, were thought until +quite recently to be the work of the Venetians, the first being +attributed to Paul Veronese, the latter to Tintoretto, and this in spite +of their marked character. + +And the Venetian influence remained in the first years in Toledo. It is +seen in the beautiful Virgin in the early ‘Assumption,’ painted for the +central altar-screen of Santo Domingo el Antigua, but now in the +Prado.[F] But the chief work of this period is the ‘Christ Despoiled of +His Vestments,’ still in the sacristy of the cathedral in Toledo, for +which it was painted in 1577. Here, perhaps, in the fine simplicity of +the grouping, in the dignity of the inspired head of the Saviour, in the +rich and strong colour and in the vivid light and shade, we have the +best results of all El Greco learnt in Venice. But even in this +beautiful picture we see the development, or rather the co-existence, of +his two styles: on the one hand carefully and thoroughly worked-out +qualities, a balanced art remembered from Venice, but with it all a +power that was his own, that seized the elements in the picture and gave +them life--his life. And again, we have in the excessive height of the +Christ, in the hands of many of the figures in this picture and in the +‘Assumption,’ first hints of the special conventions with which the name +of El Greco is certainly most associated. + +We come to the second stage, in which the painter, forgetting tradition, +seeks to set down his vision in his own way; it is the period of +experiment, as we see it first in the ‘St. Maurice,’[G] painted in 1581, +that strange picture, rejected, as we may so well believe, by Philip +II., who, misunderstanding, as many have done since, the intensity of +feeling that animates the work, attributed its exaggerated expression to +madness. Here, and in other pictures of this time, in the seizing +‘Vision of Philip II.’ and in the ‘St. John the Baptist’ in particular, +we have splendid examples of imaginative work. Maybe the details are +impossible, perhaps absurd--many have found them so--but for others the +inspiration of the painter triumphs, and the longer they gaze at these +visions the more they are impelled. For, be it remembered, the idea +should be the starting-point in all imaginative pictures, and should +control both the design and its treatment, and these Greco’s are +splendid in this respect. Whether the imagination is exaggerated and +perverted in wilful experiment, whether from an uncertain technical +equipment, or whether it is, as we would think, the natural and true +expression of intense dramatic vision, it is not easy to say. Who shall +decide whether to call these mad pictures or visions that breathe the +sublime? That is a question hard to answer in much of El Greco’s +characteristic work. Perhaps the truth is that we dislike too readily +what we do not easily understand. El Greco goes back to first principles +and speaks in symbols with which we are not familiar. Those spectres of +human kind that surprise us in so many of his pictures in Toledo, in +those in the Prado, as well as in these two in the Escorial, do not +suggest life as we see it; but they are inspired--they do convey his +meaning. This painter’s method is a real enigma; he essayed surprising +effects by separating colour into its original values; he used light as +a means of emotional appeal, giving us sometimes most delicate +harmonies, sometimes discordant contrasts. Domeniko Greco had to teach +his world to see what he saw, and in this way he came, it may seem to +some, to over-emphasise what to him was truth. + +And his third stage was a fevered expression of his imaginative vision. +We have entered a new world of extraordinary restlessness, the +restlessness that must exist when spirit struggles from the bonds of the +flesh. Toledo, the ardent arid city, burnt fiercely in El Greco’s blood, +and, more and more, he seems to have felt that it was not enough to +record facts; to have cared less to give æsthetic pleasure; but that the +object of his art should be to clothe abstract ideas with life. It is +something of all this that we find in his later pictures. In each there +is emphasis--or, if you like, exaggeration--of statement; in the +‘Coronation of the Virgin’ in San José, for instance, a picture that in +a strange, left-handed way carries us forward to the picture by +Velazquez[H] on the same subject. The exaggeration is equally visible in +the ‘Assumption’ in San Vicente, more beautiful, and the most +interesting of these rare visions, a picture in which we have +movement--the very sensation of a figure passing through the air as we +have, perhaps, in no other picture. It is even stronger in the group of +pictures in Madrid, the ‘Baptism,’ the ‘Descent of the Holy Spirit,’ the +‘Resurrection,’ and the ‘Christ Dead in the Arms of God’; it meets us +again in the ‘St. Joseph with the Child Jesus,’ and in the ‘Virgin and +Child with Saints Justa and Gertrude,’[I] both in San José, the church +that is the museum of so much of the master’s work--pictures all similar +in their intense sentiment; while emphasis burns to a white flame of +ardent expression in the famed ‘St. John the Baptist,’ the wonderful +picture of which we have spoken already. It is there, too, in the +‘Christ Crucified,’ one in the Prado, one in San Nicolas, surely the +most terrible realisation possible of that scene of sacrifice, in which +the agony of spirit so outweighs the agony of the flesh, and sky and +earth seem to take their share in the struggle. + +It is impossible to translate the effect of these animated religious +pictures into words. El Greco was not content to embody the old myths in +fresh forms, but he gave fresh forms to the ideas that are, as it were, +the soul of each myth--that which lives when the form of the stories +change. Even in his pictures with few figures, such for instance, as the +‘Mary and Jesus,’ in San Vicente, the ‘St. Francis,’ of which there are +four replicas in Toledo, or that earlier picture, a beautiful rendering +of a difficult theme, ‘La Veronica,’ one of the series painted for the +Santo Domingo el Antigua in 1575-76, we have this exaggeration. Then, +sometimes, exaggeration, which in each picture, after all, only +emphasises the idea, disappears altogether, and we are given figures of +singular beauty, as the ‘San Martin,’ in San José, or the really fine +Madonnas--dark, oval-faced angels that surprise us at times with a +beauty of type we hardly expect from El Greco. But, as a rule, in the +pictures of this period, roughly marked by the painting of that +experimental picture the ‘St. Maurice,’ there is this intensity of +expression; and especially we find a new, and often strange, use of +colour; colour, as well as form, being used as a means of dramatic +statement, with a result that to many is exaggeration. For El Greco +learnt first, perhaps, from the Venetians, and afterwards certainly in +Toledo, many new possibilities of colour--that it has a quality that +speaks, and further that the appeal of a picture depends first of all on +the tone of its colour. It is for this reason he used colour as a means +of emotional appeal; it was another quality by which to convey his idea +to the world. For El Greco held truly that the province of art is to +interpret, not to imitate. Every development of his art seems to have +come from his own mind, hardly at all from the work of other painters; +from the first he was true to his ideals. And always his pictures seem +to be more the work of his soul than of his hand; which, in other words, +is to say that he was greater as an artist than as a painter. + +Domeniko Greco, like so many of the painters of Spain, was great in +portraiture; and some of his portraits, such as those of Antonio +Covarrubias and of Juan de Alava, in the Museo de San Juan de Los Reyes, +that of Cardinal Tavera, in the Hospital de Afuera, the whole series in +the Prado, and many others not possible to name, are as fine portraits +as have ever been done in the world. In his earliest portraits even, in +that of Julio Clovio, in the Museum of Naples, or that of ‘A Student,’ a +portrait, it well may be, of the young painter himself, we have the +qualities of his later work; always it is the spirit of his model that +he seeks. + +And this inward interpretation of life is seen, too, in that picture +which is accounted rightly the most interesting, though not perhaps the +most typical, of his work, ‘The Burial of Gonzalo Ruiz, Count of Orgaz,’ +still in the Church of Santo Tomé, where it was painted in 1584. Look at +this gallery of living portraits, all the life of Toledo--the life of +Spain--is reflected back from those ardent faces. In St. Augustine, +splendid in ecclesiastical robes, is the magnificent opulence of the +Catholic Church; in the livid face of the dead count, in the cowled monk +and two priests is the fervid piety of a people who have felt themselves +in mystical communion with God; in the young, warm beauty of St. Stephen +and the lovely acolyte is the full joy and rich colour of Spain; and +lastly, in the long line of mourners who stand behind the group of the +principal figures, and where the painter’s own nervous face is the sixth +portrait counting from the right side, you have types unchanged in +Castile to-day. And how individual is the rendering of the upper section +of the picture in which Christ awaits in the heavens the spirit of the +dead saint. Yes, this picture is one of the greatest pictures in Spain; +it is always interesting. + +[Illustration: PLATE 1 + +TOLEDO + +_Specially drawn for The Spanish Series_] + +[Illustration: PLATE 2 + +GENERAL VIEW OF TOLEDO FROM THE SOUTH-EAST] + +[Illustration: PLATE 3 + +VIEW OF TOLEDO FROM THE SOUTH-EAST] + +[Illustration: PLATE 4 + +GENERAL VIEW OF TOLEDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 5 + +VIEW OF TOLEDO FROM THE CAMPO DEL REY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 6 + +GENERAL VIEW OF TOLEDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 7 + +STATE OF THE RUINS OF THE CIRCO MAXIMO IN THE YEAR 1848, ACCORDING TO +THE “ALBUM ARTISTICO”] + +[Illustration: PLATE 8 + +THE RIVER TAGUS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 9 + +ALCANTARA BRIDGE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 10 + +PERSPECTIVE OF ST. MARTIN’S BRIDGE AND THE DIRECTION OF THE FORTIFIED +LINES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 11 + +PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE SITE OF THE AQUEDUCT] + +[Illustration: PLATE 12 + +ENVIRONS OF TOLEDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 13 + +PLAZA DE ZOCODOVER] + +[Illustration: PLATE 14 + +THE TOWN HALL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 15 + +THE MARKET-PLACE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 16 + +THE MARKET-PLACE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 17 + +A STREET IN TOLEDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 18 + +A STREET IN TOLEDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 19 + +A STREET IN TOLEDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 20 + +A STREET IN TOLEDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 21 + +A STREET IN TOLEDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 22 + +A STREET IN TOLEDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 23 + +A STREET IN TOLEDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 24 + +A STREET IN TOLEDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 25 + +VISAGRA GATE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 26 + +A STREET IN TOLEDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 27 + +A STREET IN TOLEDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 28 + +BRIDGE OF ALCANTARA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 29 + +ALCANTARA GATE + +ALCANTARA PORTAL AND BRIDGE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 30 + +EXTERIOR OF THE NORTHERN CITY WALLS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 31 + +FORTIFICATIONS OF THE OLD BRIDGE OF BOATS, REPLACED BY THE BRIDGE OF ST. +MARTIN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 32 + +REMAINS OF THE CITY WALLS OF “AL-HIZÉM,” FROM THE GATE OF THE DOCE +CANTOS TO THE “PLAZA DE ARMAS” OF THE BRIDGE OF ALCANTARA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 33 + +REMAINS OF THE CITY WALLS, SOUTH-WEST, REBUILT AT THE TIME OF THE +RECONQUEST] + +[Illustration: PLATE 34 + +REMAINS OF THE ROMAN RAMPARTS OF THE FIRST ENCLOSURE OF THE CITY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 35 + +REMAINS OF THE ROMAN RAMPART OF THE FIRST ENCLOSURE OF THE CITY. (PLAZA +DE ARMAS DEL PUENTE DE ALCANTARA) + +VISIGOTH CAPITAL TRANSFORMED INTO A FOUNTAIN BASIN. (No. 9 CALLEJON DE +LA LAMPARILLA)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 36 + +PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE TO THE HOUSE OF THE BATHS OF ABEN-YA-YIX BAJADA AL +COLEGIO DEL INFANTES + +SEPULCHRAL ARCH OF THE INFANTE DON FERNANDO PEREZ IN THE BELEN CHAPEL IN +THE CONVENT OF THE COMENDADORA DE SANTIAGO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 37 + +RUINS OF POLAN CASTLE. FOURTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 38 + +GUADAMAR CASTLE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 39 + +REMAINS OF THE ROMAN RAMPARTS OF THE FIRST ENCLOSURE OF THE CITY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 40 + +THE EXTERIOR WALLS + +REMAINS OF THE FORTIFICATIONS IN THE JEWISH SUBURB] + +[Illustration: PLATE 41 + +GATE OF THE “ALMOFALA” (BIB-AL-MOJADHA) REBUILT IN THE FOURTEENTH +CENTURY + +“THE ABBOT’S TOWER” IN THE NORTHERN WALLS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 42 + +RUINS OF THE AQUARIA TOWER, COMMONLY CALLED “HORNO DEL VIDRIO”] + +[Illustration: PLATE 43 + +REMAINS OF THE AQUEDUCT (LEFT BANK OF THE RIVER) + +REMAINS OF THE AQUEDUCT (RIGHT BANK OF THE RIVER)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 44 + +REMAINS OF THE ROMAN CONSTRUCTION IN THE TOWER OF THE PLAZA DE ARMAS OF +THE BRIDGE OF ALCANTARA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 45 + +BRIDGE OF ALCANTARA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 46 + +EAST SIDE OF THE BRIDGE OF ALCANTARA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 47 + +POSTERIOR FAÇADE OF THE DEFENSIVE TOWER OF THE BRIDGE OF ALCANTARA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 48 + +DEFENSIVE TOWER OF THE BRIDGE OF ALCANTARA. ANTERIOR FAÇADE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 49 + +ALCANTARA GATE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 50 + +COMMEMORATIVE INSCRIPTION IN THE AVENUE OF THE DEFENSIVE TOWER OF THE +BRIDGE OF ALCANTARA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 51 + +COAT OF ARMS OF THE CATHOLIC SOVEREIGNS IN FRONT OF THE DEFENSIVE TOWER +OF THE BRIDGE OF ALCANTARA + +“THE KHALIF’S CAPITALS” AT No. 13 CALLE DEL COLISEO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 52 + +PERSPECTIVE OF THE BRIDGE OF ALCANTARA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 53 + +ST. MARTIN’S BRIDGE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 54 + +ST. MARTIN’S BRIDGE + +FAÇADE OF SANTA CRUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 55 + +DEFENSIVE TOWERS AT THE ENTRANCE OF ST. MARTIN’S BRIDGE AND THE TOWN + +RESTORED POSTERIOR FAÇADE OF THE ARCH DE LA SANGRE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 56 + +REMAINS OF THE AQUEDUCT (RIGHT BANK)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 57 + +EAST SIDE OF ST. MARTIN’S BRIDGE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 58 + +DEFENSIVE TOWER OF ST. MARTIN’S BRIDGE. FAÇADE SEEN FROM THE BRIDGE + +DEFENSIVE TOWER OF ST. MARTIN’S BRIDGE. FAÇADE SEEN FROM THE HIGHWAY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 59 + +MALBARDÓN GATE. ELEVENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 60 + +VISAGRA GATE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 61 + +UPPER PART OF THE VISAGRA GATE. BUILT IN 1550] + +[Illustration: PLATE 62 + +TOWER IN THE CITY WALLS OF “THE SUBURB OF SAN ISIDORO,” NEAR THE NEW +BRIDGE OF VISAGRA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 63 + +HYDRAULIC MACHINE AND REMAINS OF THE WALLS IN THE QUARTER OF THE +CURTIDORES, NEAR THE RIVER + +WALLS OF THE SUBURB OF SAN ISIDORO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 64 + +ANCIENT GATE OF VISAGRA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 65 + +ANCIENT GATE OF VISAGRA. THE SIDE WHICH JOINS THE WALL AND THE SIDE +DEFENSIVE TOWER] + +[Illustration: PLATE 66 + +ANCIENT GATE OF VISAGRA. DEFENSIVE AND SIDE TOWER] + +[Illustration: PLATE 67 + +ANCIENT GATE OF VISAGRA. REMAINS OF THE EASTERN FAÇADE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 68 + +DETAIL OF THE PRINCIPAL FAÇADE OF THE OLD GATE OF VISAGRA + +INTERIOR OF THE OLD GATE OF VISAGRA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 69 + +ANCIENT GATE OF VISAGRA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 70 + +THE TOWER CALLED “PUERTA BAJA DE LA HERRERIA,” NOW “GATE OF THE SUN”] + +[Illustration: PLATE 71 + +CASTLE OF SAN SERVANDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 72 + +CASTLE OF SAN SERVANDO. ANCIENT ENTRANCE IN THE WEST FAÇADE + +CASTLE OF SAN SERVANDO. SOUTH-EAST ANGLE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 73 + +DOOR OF THE CASTLE IN SAN SERVANDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 74 + +GATE OF VALMADRON] + +[Illustration: PLATE 75 + +GATE OF CAMBRÓN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 76 + +BAÑO DE LA CAVA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 77 + +ENTRANCE TO CAVA BATHS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 78 + +RUINS OF THE TOWER OF THE OLD BRIDGE OF BOATS, CALLED “BAÑO DE LA +CAVA”] + +[Illustration: PLATE 79 + +DETAILS OF THE CONVENT OF SANTA FE. + +ELEVENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 80 + +WEST PORTAL IN THE OLD HERMITAGE, NOW THE INN OF SANTA ANA, ON THE SISLA +ROAD] + +[Illustration: PLATE 81 + +ALTAR-PIECE OF SAN JUSTO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 82 + +DETAIL OF THE CHURCH OF SAN JUSTO. + +FIFTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 83 + +DETAIL OF THE CHAPEL OF SANTOS JUSTO AND PASTOR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 84 + +EFFIGIES OF JUAN GUAS, ARCHITECT OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES, AND OF HIS +SON. CHAPEL OF CHRIST AT THE COLUMN, IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF SAN JUSTO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 85 + +EFFIGIES OF MARI ALVARES, WIFE OF JUAN GUAS, AND OF HER DAUGHTER. CHAPEL +OF CHRIST AT THE COLUMN, IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF SAN JUSTO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 86 + +MOSQUE OF THE TORNERIAS. EXTERIOR OF THE SOUTH FAÇADE, SOUTH-WEST +ANGLE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 87 + +INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE DE LAS TORNERIAS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 88 + +ARCH OF THE “KIBLÁH” IN THE MOSQUE DE LAS TORNERIAS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 89 + +MOSQUE OF THE TORNERIAS. TREFOIL ARCHED WINDOW + +MOSQUE OF THE TORNERIAS. HORSE-SHOE WINDOW] + +[Illustration: PLATE 90 + +MOSQUE OF THE TORNERIAS. ARCHED WINDOW + +MOSQUE OF THE TORNERIAS. RECTANGULAR WINDOW] + +[Illustration: PLATE 91 + +MOSQUE DE LAS TORNERIAS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 92 + +MOSQUE OF THE TORNERIAS, BUILT OVER ROMAN REMAINS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 93 + +SUPPOSED ELEVATION OF THE MOSQUE OF BIB-AL-MARDÓM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 94 + +SUPPOSED PLAN OF THE MOSQUE OF BIB-AL-MARDÓM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 95 + +ACTUAL SITUATION OF THE NORTH-EAST FAÇADE OF THE ANCIENT MOSQUE OF +BIB-AL-MARDÓM, A TRANSEPT AND _MUDEJAR_ APSIS OF THE HERMITAGE OF SANTO +CRISTO DE LA LUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 96 + +THE MOSQUE OF BIB-AL-MARDÓM, HORSE-SHOE ARCH AND REMAINS OF THE DADO AND +LITTLE ARCHES AND WINDOWS IN THE NORTH-EAST FAÇADE (RIGHT SIDE)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 97 + +THE MOSQUE OF BIB-AL-MARDÓM, HORSE-SHOE ARCH AND REMAINS OF THE DADO OF +LITTLE ARCHES AND WINDOWS IN THE NORTH-EAST FAÇADE (LEFT SIDE)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 98 + +PRINCIPAL NAVE IN THE MOSQUE OF BIB-AL-MARDÓM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 99 + +ARCH IN THE SOUTHERN INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF BIB-AL-MARDÓM + +ACTUAL ENTRANCE TO THE CASTLE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 100 + +MOSQUE OF BIB-AL-MARDÓM. ARCH IN THE INTERIOR WALL, SOUTH-WEST ANGLE + +DETAIL OF THE NORTH-WEST FAÇADE OF THE MOSQUE OF BIB-AL-MARDÓM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 101 + +BIB-AL-MARDÓM. “ARCH OF THE CROSS” + +INTERIOR FAÇADE + +EXTERIOR FAÇADE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 102 + +MOSQUE OF BIB-AL-MARDÓM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 103 + +NORTH-WEST FAÇADE OF THE MOSQUE OF BIB-AL-MARDÓM (HERMITAGE OF SANTO +CRISTO DE LA LUZ), DISCOVERED IN FEBRUARY 1899] + +[Illustration: PLATE 104 + +THE EPIGRAPHIC MEDALLION ON THE NORTH-WEST FAÇADE OF THE MOSQUE OF +BIB-AL-MARDÓM (HERMITAGE OF SANTO CRISTO DE LA LUZ), REBUILT IN THE YEAR +370 AFTER THE HEGIRA (A.D. 980)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 105 + +VISIGOTH CAPITAL IN THE OLD MOORISH PARISH CHURCH OF SAN SEBASTIAN + +VISIGOTH BASE WHICH SERVES AS A CAPITAL IN THE OLD MOORISH PARISH CHURCH +OF SAN SEBASTIAN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 106 + +SANTO CRISTO DE LA LUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 107 + +THE HERMITAGE OF SANTO CRISTO DE LA LUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 108 + +WALL-PAINTINGS OF SANTO CRISTO DE LA LUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 109 + +CHURCH OF SANTO CRISTO DE LA LUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 110 + +WALL-PAINTINGS OF SANTO CRISTO DE LA LUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 111 + +ANCIENT MOSQUE, NOW THE HERMITAGE OF SANTO CRISTO DE LA LUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 112 + +EXTERIOR OF THE HERMITAGE OF SANTO CRISTO DE LA LUZ, AND TOWERS OF +VARIOUS CHURCHES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 113 + +DETAIL OF THE TRANSITO (SYNAGOGUE), BUILT IN 1360 AT THE EXPENSE OF +SAMUEL LEVI] + +[Illustration: PLATE 114 + +DETAILS OF THE INTERIOR DECORATION OF THE CHURCH OF THE TRANSITO +(ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 115 + +DETAILS OF THE INTERIOR DECORATION OE THE CHURCH OF THE TRANSITO +(ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 116 + +DETAILS OF THE TRANSITO (SYNAGOGUE)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 117 + +DETAILS OF THE TRANSITO (SYNAGOGUE)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 118 + +DETAILS OF THE TRANSITO (SYNAGOGUE)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 119 + +ENTRANCE ARCH IN THE BUILDING CALLED TALLER DEL MORO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 120 + +DETAIL OF DECORATION IN THE MOORISH WORKSHOP] + +[Illustration: PLATE 121 + +DETAILS OF THE PALACE OF THE AYALAS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 122 + +DETAILS OF THE PALACE OF THE AYALAS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 123 + +EXTERIOR OF THE CHAPEL OF SANTO CRISTO DE LA VEGA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 124 + +DOOR AND EXTERIOR OF SANTA MARIA LA BLANCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 125 + +SECTIONS AND DETAILS OF THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE, NOW THE CHURCH OF SANTA +MARIA LA BLANCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 126 + +PART OF THE LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE, NOW THE +CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA LA BLANCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 127 + +INTERIOR OF SANTA MARIA LA BLANCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 128 + +INTERIOR OF SANTA MARIA LA BLANCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 129 + +INTERIOR OF SANTA MARIA LA BLANCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 130 + +CÁRCEL DE SANTA HERMANDAD] + +[Illustration: PLATE 131 + +A GOTHIC DOORWAY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 132 + +A DOORWAY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 133 + +ST. MICHAEL’S TOWER. FOURTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 134 + +HOUSE OF THE TOLEDOS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 135 + +DETAILS OF A COURTYARD] + +[Illustration: PLATE 136 + +DETAILS OF A COURTYARD] + +[Illustration: PLATE 137 + +DETAILS OF A COURTYARD] + +[Illustration: PLATE 138 + +DETAILS OF A COURTYARD] + +[Illustration: PLATE 139 + +DETAILS OF A COURTYARD] + +[Illustration: PLATE 140 + +THE FOUNTAIN OF CALERAHIGO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 141 + +ARAB DETAILS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 142 + +VISIGOTH CROWNS AND CROSSES OF GUARRAZAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 143 + +VISIGOTH CROWNS AND CROSSES OF GUARRAZAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 144 + +VISIGOTH CROWNS AND CROSSES FOUND AT TOLEDO AND NOW IN THE ROYAL ARMOURY +AT MADRID] + +[Illustration: PLATE 145 + +SAN PEDRO MARTIN + +CALLE DE SANTO TOMÉ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 146 + +ALCAZAR ROYAL PALACE. REPRODUCTION OF THE ENGRAVING MADE IN 1566 FOR +BRAUN’S “CIVITATES ORBI TERRARUM”] + +[Illustration: PLATE 147 + +PERSPECTIVE OF THE ALCAZAR IN 1845. EAST AND NORTH FAÇADES. REPRODUCTION +OF AN ENGRAVING IN THE WORK “TOLEDO PINTORESCA”] + +[Illustration: PLATE 148 + +THE ALCAZAR. TAKEN FROM THE PLAZA DE ZOCODOVER] + +[Illustration: PLATE 149 + +SOUTH FAÇADE OF THE ALCAZAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 150 + +THE ALCAZAR. WEST FAÇADE AFTER THE LATEST RESTORATION] + +[Illustration: PLATE 151 + +THE ALCAZAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 152 + +ALCAZAR. PRINCIPAL FAÇADE ON THE NORTH] + +[Illustration: PLATE 153 + +THE ALCAZAR. EAST FAÇADE, AFTER THE LATEST RESTORATION] + +[Illustration: PLATE 154 + +GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALCAZAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 155 + +THE ALCAZAR. THE PRINCIPAL STAIRCASE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 156 + +THE ALCAZAR. PRINCIPAL NORTH PORTAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 157 + +THE ALCAZAR. COURT AND PLAN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 158 + +COURT OF THE ALCAZAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 159 + +COURT IN THE ALCAZAR. AFTER THE LATEST RESTORATION] + +[Illustration: PLATE 160 + +THE ALCAZAR. PLAN AND DETAILS. NORTH FAÇADE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 161 + +DETAILS OF THE NORTH FAÇADE OF THE ALCAZAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 162 + +DOOR OF THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF MESA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 163 + +DETAILS OF THE HOUSE OF MESA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 164 + +DETAILS OF THE HOUSE OF MESA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 165 + +DETAILS OF THE HOUSE OF MESA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 166 + +DETAILS OF THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF MESA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 167 + +DETAILS OF THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF MESA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 168 + +DETAILS OF THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF MESA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 169 + +DETAILS OF THE HOUSE OF MESA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 170 + +DOORWAY OF THE COLLEGE OF THE INFANTES. SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 171 + +DOORWAY OF THE PALACE OF THE MARTINEZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 172 + +ROMAN TOWER OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES + +CLOISTERS OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 173 + +EXTERIOR OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 174 + +SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 175 + +PLAN OF THE CHURCH AND PROCESSIONAL CLOISTER OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 176 + +DOORWAY IN SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 177 + +GOTHIC DOORWAY IN SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 178 + +EXTERIOR OF THE ARCH OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 179 + +INTERIOR OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 180 + +INTERIOR OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 181 + +INTERIOR OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 182 + +LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF THE CHURCH OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 183 + +INTERIOR, SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES + +RETABLO, SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 184 + +GALLERY IN SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 185 + +GALLERY IN SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 186 + +DETAILS OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 187 + +DETAILS OF GALLERY IN SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 188 + +DETAILS OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 189 + +SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES. WALL IN THE PRESBYTERY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 190 + +INTERIOR OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 191 + +INTERIOR OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 192 + +INTERIOR OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 193 + +SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES. DECORATION IN THE TRANSVERSE NAVE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 194 + +SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES. DETAILS OF THE ARMS OF ISABELLA THE CATHOLIC] + +[Illustration: PLATE 195 + +DETAILS OF THE TRANSEPT OF THE CHURCH OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 196 + +SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES. INTERIOR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 197 + +A DOME IN SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 198 + +REMAINS OF WINDOWS OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 199 + +DETAILS OF THE CROSS-AISLE IN THE CHURCH OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 200 + +ALTAR OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES + +ALTAR OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 201 + +DETAILS OF THE ALTAR-PIECE IN SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 202 + +COPY OF THE ORIGINAL DRAWING OF THE ARCH AND CROSS-AISLE OF SAN JUAN DE +LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 203 + +LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF THE CLOISTER OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 204 + +CLOISTERS OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 205 + +SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES. THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 206 + +CLOISTERS OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 207 + +CLOISTERS OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 208 + +DETAILS OF THE CLOISTERS OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 209 + +COMPARTMENT OF THE CLOISTERS OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 210 + +SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES. DETAILS OF THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 211 + +DETAILS OF THE CLOISTERS OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 212 + +SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES. DETAILS OF THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 213 + +SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES. DETAILS OF THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 214 + +SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES. DETAILS OF THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 215 + +SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES. DETAILS OF THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 216 + +CHURCH OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES. COURTYARD] + +[Illustration: PLATE 217 + +COURT IN SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 218 + +DOORWAY OF THE MUSEUM OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 219 + +SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES. DETAILS ABOVE DOOR OF MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 220 + +PALACE OF DON PEDRO THE CRUEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 221 + +DETAILS OF THE PALACE OF DON PEDRO THE CRUEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 222 + +FAÇADE OF THE PALACE OF DON PEDRO THE CRUEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 223 + +DOORWAY OF THE PALACE OF DON PEDRO THE CRUEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 224 + +DOORWAY OF THE PALACE OF DON PEDRO THE CRUEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 225 + +THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 226 + +GENERAL VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 227 + +THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 228 + +SECTION OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 229 + +LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 230 + +TRANSVERSE SECTION OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 231 + +PRINCIPAL FAÇADE OF THE CATHEDRAL AND TOWER] + +[Illustration: PLATE 232 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE EXTERIOR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 233 + +THE CATHEDRAL. PORTAL OF THE PRINCIPAL FAÇADE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 234 + +THE CATHEDRAL. PRINCIPAL GATE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 235 + +THE CATHEDRAL. THE GATE OF THE LIONS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 236 + +THE CATHEDRAL. PORCH OF THE PRINCIPAL FAÇADE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 237 + +THE CATHEDRAL + +THE LION DOOR + +THE LION DOOR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 238 + +DOOR OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 239 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DOOR OF THE LOST CHILD] + +[Illustration: PLATE 240 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE PUERTA DE LA FERIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 241 + +CATHEDRAL. GATE OF THE CONCEPTION] + +[Illustration: PLATE 242 + +THE CATHEDRAL. ORNAMENTAL DETAILS OF THE GATES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 243 + +THE CATHEDRAL + +CENTRAL NAVE + +TOMB OF ALONSO DE CARRILLO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 244 + +THE CATHEDRAL. GENERAL VIEW OF THE INTERIOR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 245 + +THE CATHEDRAL. GENERAL VIEW OF THE INTERIOR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 246 + +THE CATHEDRAL. INTERIOR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 247 + +THE CATHEDRAL. INTERIOR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 248 + +WINDOWS IN THE PRINCIPAL NAVE OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 249 + +THE CATHEDRAL. GRATING OF THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL. SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 250 + +THE CATHEDRAL. EXTERIOR OF THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 251 + +THE CATHEDRAL. EXTERIOR OF THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 252 + +THE CATHEDRAL. EXTERIOR OF THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 253 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 254 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 255 + +THE CATHEDRAL. EXTERIOR OF THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 256 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 257 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 258 + +THE CATHEDRAL. ALTAR-PIECE OF THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 259 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE ALTAR-PIECE OF THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 260 + +THE CATHEDRAL. EXTERIOR OF THE HIGH ALTAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 261 + +THE CATHEDRAL. EXTERIOR OF THE HIGH ALTAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 262 + +THE CATHEDRAL. EXTERIOR OF THE HIGH ALTAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 263 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE ALTAR-PIECE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 264 + +THE CATHEDRAL. FRONTAL OF THE HIGH ALTAR. FIFTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 265 + +THE CATHEDRAL. FRONTAL OF THE HIGH ALTAR. FIFTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 266 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE FRONTAL OF THE HIGH ALTAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 267 + +THE CATHEDRAL. EXTERIOR OF THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 268 + +THE CATHEDRAL. SEPULCHRE OF CARDINAL MENDOZA IN THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 269 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DOME OF THE PRINCIPAL CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 270 + +THE CATHEDRAL. EXTERIOR OF THE CHOIR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 271 + +THE CATHEDRAL. EXTERIOR OF THE CHOIR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 272 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE CHOIR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 273 + +THE CATHEDRAL. EXTERIOR OF THE CHOIR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 274 + +THE CATHEDRAL. CHOIR STALLS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 275 + +THE CATHEDRAL. CHOIR STALLS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 276 + +THE CATHEDRAL. CHOIR STALLS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 277 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE CHOIR STALLS, REPRESENTING THE RE-CONQUEST +OF GRANADA BY FERDINAND AND ISABELLA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 278 + +THE CATHEDRAL. INTERIOR OF THE CHOIR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 279 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE CHOIR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 280 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE CHOIR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 281 + +THE CATHEDRAL. THE ARCHBISHOP’S THRONE, REPRESENTING THE +TRANSFIGURATION. BY BERRUGUETE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 282 + +THE CATHEDRAL. VIRGIN OF THE LANEROS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 283 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE CHOIR STALLS. RE-CONQUEST OF GRANADA BY +FERDINAND AND ISABELLA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 284 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE CHOIR STALLS. RE-CONQUEST OF GRANADA BY +FERDINAND AND ISABELLA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 285 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE CHOIR STALLS. RE-CONQUEST OF GRANADA BY +FERDINAND AND ISABELLA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 286 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE CHOIR STALLS. RE-CONQUEST OF GRANADA BY +FERDINAND AND ISABELLA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 287 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF CHOIR STALLS. THE CAPTURE OF ALHAMA BY +FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, 1482. RE-CONQUEST OF GRANADA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 288 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE CHOIR STALLS. RE-CONQUEST OF GRANADA BY +FERDINAND AND ISABELLA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 289 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE CHOIR STALLS. RE-CONQUEST OF GRANADA BY +FERDINAND AND ISABELLA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 290 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE CHOIR STALLS. RE-CONQUEST OF GRANADA BY +FERDINAND AND ISABELLA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 291 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE CHOIR STALLS. RE-CONQUEST OF GRANADA BY +FERDINAND AND ISABELLA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 292 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE CHOIR STALLS. RE-CONQUEST OF GRANADA BY +FERDINAND AND ISABELLA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 293 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE CHOIR STALLS. RE-CONQUEST OF GRANADA BY +FERDINAND AND ISABELLA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 294 + +THE CATHEDRAL. UPPER PART OF THE CHOIR STALLS, CARVED BY BERRUGUETE AND +BORGOÑA. SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 295 + +THE CATHEDRAL. UPPER PART OF THE CHOIR STALLS, CARVED BY BERRUGUETE AND +BORGOÑA. SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 296 + +THE CATHEDRAL. UPPER PART OF THE CHOIR STALLS, CARVED BY BERRUGUETE AND +BORGOÑA. SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 297 + +THE CATHEDRAL. UPPER PART OF THE CHOIR STALLS, CARVED BY BERRUGUETE AND +BORGOÑA. SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 298 + +THE CATHEDRAL. UPPER PART OF THE CHOIR STALLS, CARVED BY BERRUGUETE AND +BORGOÑA. SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 299 + +THE CATHEDRAL. UPPER PART OF THE CHOIR STALLS, CARVED BY BERRUGUETE AND +BORGOÑA. SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 300 + +THE CATHEDRAL. UPPER PART OF THE CHOIR STALLS, CARVED BY BERRUGUETE AND +BORGOÑA. SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 301 + +THE CATHEDRAL. MASONRY IN THE CHOIR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 302 + +THE CATHEDRAL. EXTERIOR OF THE PRESBYTERY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 303 + +THE CATHEDRAL. INTERIOR OF THE CHAPEL OF THE NEW KINGS WITH THE +SEPULCHRES OF DON HENRY THE BASTARD AND HIS WIFE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 304 + +THE CATHEDRAL. SEPULCHRES OF DON HENRY THE BASTARD AND HIS WIFE IN THE +CHAPEL OF THE NEW KINGS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 305 + +THE CATHEDRAL. SEPULCHRE OF CARDINAL TAVERA IN THE CHAPEL OF THE NEW +KINGS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 306 + +THE CATHEDRAL. SEPULCHRE OF DON JUAN I. IN THE CHAPEL OF THE NEW KINGS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 307 + +THE CATHEDRAL. SEPULCHRE OF DOÑA LEONOR, WIFE OF DON JUAN I., IN THE +CHAPEL OF THE NEW KINGS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 308 + +THE CATHEDRAL. CHAPEL OF THE DESCENT OF THE VIRGIN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 309 + +THE CATHEDRAL. MUZARABIC CHAPEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 310 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE CHAPEL OF THE VIRGEN DE LA ANTIGUA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 311 + +THE CATHEDRAL. CHAPEL OF THE VIRGEN DE LA ANTIGUA. FOURTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 312 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DOORWAY OF THE CHAPEL OF THE CANONS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 313 + +ALTAR-PIECE OF SANTA ISABEL + +ALTAR-PIECE OF SANTA CATALINA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 314 + +ALTAR-PIECE OF SANTA CATALINA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 315 + +ALTAR-PIECE OF SANTA CATALINA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 316 + +ALTAR-PIECE OF SANTA CATALINA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 317 + +CHAPEL OF SANTA CATALINA. FOUNDED BY THE COUNTS OF CEDILLO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 318 + +THE CATHEDRAL. CHAPEL OF SANTIAGO, CONTAINING THE SEPULCHRES OF DON +ALVARO DE LUNA AND THAT OF HIS WIFE DOÑA JUANA. FIFTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 319 + +THE CATHEDRAL. SEPULCHRE OF DON JUAN DE ZEREZUELA IN THE CHAPEL OF +SANTIAGO. FIFTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 320 + +CUPOLA OF THE CHAPEL “DE LOS REYES NUEVOS” IN THE CATHEDRAL + +CUPOLA OF THE “CAPILLA DE SANTIAGO,” CALLED “DE DON ALVARO DE LUNA” IN +THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 321 + +THE CATHEDRAL. SEPULCHRE OF DON GIL CARRILLO DE ALBORNOZ IN THE CHAPEL +OF SAN ILDEFONSO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 322 + +THE CATHEDRAL. SEPULCHRE OF GIL DE ALBORNOZ IN THE CHAPEL OF SAN +ILDEFONSO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 323 + +THE CATHEDRAL. ENTRANCE TO THE CHAPTER ROOM. SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 324 + +THE CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER ROOM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 325 + +THE CATHEDRAL. VARIOUS PORTRAITS OF CARDINALS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 326 + +THE CATHEDRAL. VARIOUS PORTRAITS OF CARDINALS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 327 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS IN THE CHAPTER ROOM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 328 + +THE CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER ROOM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 329 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DOORWAY OF THE CHAPTER ROOM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 330 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF A DOORWAY IN THE CHAPTER ROOM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 331 + +THE CATHEDRAL. CUPBOARD MADE BY GREGORIO PARDO (1549-1551), FOR THE +ANTECHAMBER OF THE CHAPTER HOUSE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 332 + +CUPBOARD IN THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 333 + +THE CATHEDRAL. A RICH AND GOSSAMER CARVED CEILING IN THE CHAPTER HALL +SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 334 + +THE CATHEDRAL. CEILING IN THE CHAPTER HALL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 335 + +THE CATHEDRAL. A CEILING IN THE ANTE-ROOM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 336 + +THE CATHEDRAL CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 337 + +THE CATHEDRAL CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 338 + +PRESENTATION PORTAL IN THE CLOISTER OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 339 + +EXTERIOR, BY THE CLOISTERS OF THE CHAPEL, OF THE PLACE OF SEPULTURE +BUILT BY HENRY II. FOR HIS TOMB] + +[Illustration: PLATE 340 + +THE CATHEDRAL. PICTURE BY BAYEU IN THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 341 + +PORTAL OF ST. CATHARINE IN THE CLOISTER OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 342 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE GATE OF THE PRESENTATION IN THE CLOISTER] + +[Illustration: PLATE 343 + +THE CATHEDRAL. RELIQUARY OF SAN SEBASTIAN IN THE OCTAVO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 344 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF THE RELIQUARY OF SAN SEBASTIAN IN THE OCTAVO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 345 + +THE CATHEDRAL. A BYZANTINE RELIQUARY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 346 + +SEPULCHRES IN THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 347 + +SCULPTURE IN THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 348 + +THE CATHEDRAL. BRONZE LECTERN AND BOOKS OF HOLY OFFICE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 349 + +THE CATHEDRAL. A BRONZE PULPIT] + +[Illustration: PLATE 350 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAIL OF A PULPIT] + +[Illustration: PLATE 351 + +PULPIT IN THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 352 + +CATHEDRAL BELLS WHICH RING WHEN THE HOST IS ELEVATED] + +[Illustration: PLATE 353 + +THE CATHEDRAL. STATUE OF DON JUAN II. FIFTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 354 + +THE CATHEDRAL. ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI] + +[Illustration: PLATE 355 + +THE CATHEDRAL. A PICTURE BY BAYEU] + +[Illustration: PLATE 356 + +DETAILS IN THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 357 + +THE CATHEDRAL. COVER OF A MISSAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 358 + +THE CATHEDRAL. SILVER SALVER, “THE ABDUCTION OF THE SABINE WOMEN” BY +BENVENUTO CELLINI] + +[Illustration: PLATE 359 + +THE CATHEDRAL. CHALICE AND PATEN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 360 + +THE CATHEDRAL. A SHIP THAT BELONGED TO QUEEN JUANA LA LOCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 361 + +MONSTRANCE IN THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 362 + +THE CATHEDRAL. SWORD OF ALFONSO VI.] + +[Illustration: PLATE 363 + +THE CATHEDRAL. THE ADORATION OF THE KINGS (SILK)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 364 + +THE CATHEDRAL. THE VEIL OF SANTA LEOCADIA (SILK)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 365 + +THE CATHEDRAL. THE ASSUMPTION (SILK)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 366 + +THE CATHEDRAL. THE BEHEADING OF SAN EUGENIO (SILK)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 367 + +KUFIC ENTABLATURE IN THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 368 + +THE CATHEDRAL. A DALMATIC EMBROIDERED IN GOLD AND SILK. SIXTEENTH +CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 369 + +THE CATHEDRAL. A CHASUBLE EMBROIDERED IN GOLD AND SILK. SIXTEENTH +CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 370 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE PUERTA DEL RELOJ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 371 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE PUERTA DEL RELOJ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 372 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE PUERTA DEL RELOJ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 373 + +THE CATHEDRAL. DETAILS OF THE PUERTA DEL RELOJ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 374 + +EFFIGIES OF JUAN GUAS (ARCHITECT OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES), HIS WIFE, +AND CHILDREN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 375 + +SCULPTURE IN SAN ANDRES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 376 + +BANNER OF THE SALADO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 377 + +ST. PETER NATANO AND ST. THERESA SCULPTURED IN WOOD] + +[Illustration: PLATE 378 + +PLAN OF THE SANTA IGLESIA PRIMADA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 379 + +SANTA ISABEL. SIDE ALTAR-PIECE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 380 + +SANTA ISABEL. DETAIL OF AN ALTAR-PIECE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 381 + +PARISH CHURCH OF SANTIAGO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 382 + +EXTERIOR OF SANTIAGO DEL ARRABAL. THIRTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 383 + +PULPIT IN THE CHURCH OF SANTIAGO DEL ARRABAL, FROM WHICH SAN VICENTE DE +FERRER PREACHED AGAINST THE JEWS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 384 + +PAROCHIAL CHURCH OF SANTIAGO DEL ARRABAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 385 + +CHURCH OF SAN TOMÉ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 386 + +DETAIL OF AN ALTAR-PIECE IN THE CHURCH OF THE TRINITY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 387 + +SEPULCHRES IN THE CHURCH OF ST. PETER THE MARTYR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 388 + +DETAILS OF A SEPULCHRE IN THE CHURCH OF ST. PETER THE MARTYR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 389 + +CHURCH OF ST. PETER THE MARTYR. STATUE OF A KNEELING CANON] + +[Illustration: PLATE 390 + +CHAPEL IN SAN JUAN DE LA PENITENCIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 391 + +CHAPEL IN SAN JUAN DE LA PENITENCIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 392 + +DETAILS OF SAN JUAN DE LA PENITENCIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 393 + +SEPULCHRE IN SAN JUAN DE LA PENITENCIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 394 + +SEPULCHRE IN SAN JUAN DE LA PENITENCIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 395 + +DETAIL OF THE CONVENT OF SAN JUAN DE LA PENITENCIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 396 + +DETAILS OF THE CONVENT OF SAN JUAN DE LA PENITENCIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 397 + +CONVENT OF SANTO DOMINGO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 398 + +CONVENT OF SANTO DOMINGO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 399 + +CONVENT OF SANTO DOMINGO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 400 + +ANCIENT SEPULCHRE IN THE CONVENT OF SANTO DOMINGO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 401 + +SANTO DOMINGO EL REAL, PRINCIPAL ALTAR-PIECE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 402 + +DOORWAY OF THE CONVENT OF SAN ANTONIO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 403 + +PORCH OF THE CHURCH AND CONVENT OF SAN CLEMENTE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 404 + +PORCH OF THE CHURCH AND CONVENT OF SAN CLEMENTE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 405 + +DETAIL OF THE INTERIOR OF THE CONVENT OF SAN CLEMENTE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 406 + +PORTAL OF SANTA CRUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 407 + +PORTAL OF SANTA CRUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 408 + +PORCH OF SANTA CRUZ + +THE HOSPITAL OF SANTA CRUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 409 + +COURT OF SANTA CRUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 410 + +COURTYARD OF THE HOSPITAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 411 + +COURT OF SANTA CRUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 412 + +COURT OF SANTA CRUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 413 + +DETAIL OF THE PORTAL OF THE HOSPITAL OF SANTA CRUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 414 + +DETAILS OF SANTA CRUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 415 + +HOSPITAL OF SANTA CRUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 416 + +PORTALS IN THE VESTIBULE OF THE ANCIENT HOSPITAL OF SANTA CRUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 417 + +HOSPITAL OF SANTA CRUZ. PORTRAIT OF THE FOUNDER, CARDINAL MENDOZA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 418 + +HOSPITAL DE AFUERA. THE COURT] + +[Illustration: PLATE 419 + +HOSPITAL DE AFUERA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 420 + +HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST] + +[Illustration: PLATE 421 + +HOSPITAL DE AFUERA. SEPULCHRE OF CARDINAL TAVERA. 1557. ALONZO +BERRUGUETE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 422 + +THE UNIVERSITY + +THE UNIVERSITY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 423 + +DETAILS OF THE HOUSE OF MUNÁRRIZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 424 + +GATE OF AL MARDÓM + +ALTAR OF THE CHURCH OF SAN JUSTO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 425 + +PORTAL OF THE ARCHBISHOP’S PALACE + +IN THE TOWN HALL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 426 + +CLOISTERS OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES + +VIEW OF ST. MARTIN’S BRIDGE, LOOKING DOWN THE RIVER] + +[Illustration: PLATE 427 + +GALLERY OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES + +A MOORISH WORKSHOP] + +[Illustration: PLATE 428 + +HOTEL CASTILLA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 429 + +DETAIL OF THE COURTYARD OF THE HOTEL CASTILLA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 430 + +VISIGOTH CAPITALS IN THE CHURCH OF SAN SEBASTIAN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 431 + +NATIONAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL MUSEUM + +CAPITAL, FOURTH CENTURY AFTER THE HEGIRA + +CAPITAL OF SANTIAGO DE LOS CABALLEROS NEAR THE ALCAZAR. FOURTH CENTURY +AFTER THE HEGIRA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 432 + +CAPITAL IN THE ARCHÆOLOGICAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 433 + +FRAGMENT OF DADO FOUND NEAR THE BASILICA OF SANTA LEOCADIA + +WINDOW OF SAN GINÉS + +NATIONAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 434 + +NATIONAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL MUSEUM. DECORATIVE TABLE IN WHITE MARBLE, +BELONGING TO THE ALJAMA MOSQUE OF TOLEDO + +NATIONAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL MUSEUM. DECORATIVE FRAGMENT FOUND AT THE +“MIRADERO.” CARVED IN WHITE MARBLE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 435 + +CAPITAL IN THE SOUTH-WEST ANGLE, BELONGING TO THE OLD MOSQUE, NOW THE +HERMITAGE OF SANTO CRISTO DE LA LUZ + +THE FIFTH OF THE VISIGOTH CAPITALS OF THE HOSPITAL OF SANTA CRUZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 436 + +NATIONAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL MUSEUM. SKY-LIGHT OR ORNAMENT FOUND AT TOLEDO + +VISIGOTH CAPITAL IN THE PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 437 + +ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENTS OF THE VISIGOTH PERIOD IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF +SAN ROMÁN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 438 + +ARCHITECTURAL PIECES OF THE VISIGOTH PERIOD EXISTING IN THE CITY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 439 + +ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENTS OF THE VISIGOTH PERIOD] + +[Illustration: PLATE 440 + +CAPITAL OF THE SOUTH-EAST ANGLE BELONGING TO THE ANCIENT MOSQUE, NOW THE +HERMITAGE OF SANTO CRISTO DE LA LUZ + +VISIGOTH CAPITAL OF THE OLD PARISH CHURCH OF SAN SEBASTIAN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 441 + +NATIONAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL MUSEUM. VISIGOTH CAPITALS OF THE CHURCH OF SANTA +EULALIA. FRAGMENT OF THE DADO OF THE BASILICA OF SANTO LEOCADIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 442 + +CAPITALS IN THE ARCHÆOLOGICAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 443 + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM. CAPITAL OF THE FOURTH CENTURY AFTER THE HEGIRA + +NATIONAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL MUSEUM. ARAB ASTROLABE MADE AT TOLEDO IN THE YEAR +459 AFTER THE HEGIRA (A.D. 1067)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 444 + +ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENTS OF THE VISIGOTH PERIOD] + +[Illustration: PLATE 445 + +ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENTS ANTERIOR TO THE MAHOMETAN IRRUPTION, No. 1] + +[Illustration: PLATE 446 + +ARCHITECTURAL PARTS AND DECORATIVE REMAINS ANTERIOR TO THE MAHOMETAN +IRRUPTION, No. 2] + +[Illustration: PLATE 447 + +ARCHITECTURAL PARTS AND DECORATIVE FRAGMENTS ANTERIOR TO THE MAHOMETAN +IRRUPTION, No. 3] + +[Illustration: PLATE 448 + +ARCHES OF VARIOUS CHURCHES OF THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 449 + +DENUDATION OF OUR LORD BEFORE THE CRUCIFIXION + +EL GRECO + +SACRISTY OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 450 + +THE VIRGIN, ST. ANNE, THE CHILD JESUS AND ST. JOHN + +EL GRECO + +CHAPEL OF ST. ANNE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 451 + +OUR LADY OF SORROWS + +EL GRECO + +SACRISTY OF THE NEW KINGS, IN THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 452 + +PENTECOST + +EL GRECO + +CHURCH OF THE TRINITY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 453 + +JESUS AND ST. JOHN + +EL GRECO + +CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST] + +[Illustration: PLATE 454 + +THE ASSUMPTION + +EL GRECO + +CHAPEL OF SAN JOSÉ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 455 + +ST. MARTIN + +EL GRECO + +CHAPEL OE SAN JOSÉ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 456 + +THE HOLY EUCHARIST. BY EL GRECO CHURCH OF SAN JOSÉ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 457 + +SAN JOSÉ AND THE CHILD JESUS + +EL GRECO + +PARISH CHURCH OF THE MAGDALENE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 458 + +THE INTERMENT OF COUNT DE ORGAZ + +EL GRECO + +CHURCH OF SANTO TOMÉ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 459 + +DETAIL OF THE INTERMENT OF COUNT DE ORGAZ + +EL GRECO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 460 + +FRAGMENT OF THE INTERMENT OF THE COUNT DE ORGAZ + +EL GRECO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 461 + +FRAGMENT OF THE INTERMENT OF THE COUNT DE ORGAZ + +EL GRECO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 462 + +FRAGMENT OF THE INTERMENT OF THE COUNT DE ORGAZ + +EL GRECO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 463 + +FRAGMENT OF THE INTERMENT OF THE COUNT DE ORGAZ + +EL GRECO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 464 + +FRAGMENT OF THE INTERMENT OF THE COUNT DE ORGAZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 465 + +FRAGMENT OF THE INTERMENT OF THE COUNT DE ORGAZ + +EL GRECO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 466 + +FRAGMENT OF THE INTERMENT OF THE COUNT DE ORGAZ + +EL GRECO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 467 + +THE ANNUNCIATION + +EL GRECO + +PARISH CHURCH OF SAN NICHOLÁS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 468 + +THE CRUCIFIXION + +EL GRECO + +SAN NICHOLÁS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 469 + +SAN PEDRO NOLASCO + +EL GRECO + +PARISH CHURCH OF SAN NICHOLÁS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 470 + +THE ASSUMPTION + +EL GRECO + +PARISH CHURCH OF SAN VICENTE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 471 + +SAN EUGENIO + +EL GRECO + +PARISH CHURCH OF SAN VICENTE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 472 + +ST. PETER + +EL GRECO + +PARISH CHURCH OF SAN VICENTE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 473 + +JESUS AND THE VIRGIN + +EL GRECO + +PARISH CHURCH OF SAN VICENTE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 474 + +THE ASCENSION + +EL GRECO + +SANTO DOMINGO EL ANTIGUA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 475 + +A SAINT (? SANTO DOMINGO EL ANTIGUA) + +EL GRECO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 476 + +THE BIRTH OF JESUS + +EL GRECO + +SANTO DOMINGO EL ANTIGUA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 477 + +SANTA VERONICA WITH THE SUDARIUM + +EL GRECO + +SANTO DOMINGO EL ANTIGUA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 478 + +ST. JOHN BAPTIST + +EL GRECO + +SANTO DOMINGO EL ANTIGUA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 479 + +ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST + +EL GRECO + +CHURCH OF SANTO DOMINGO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 480 + +ALTAR-PIECE OF THE CONVENT OF SANTO DOMINGO + +EL GRECO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 481 + +ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI + +EL GRECO + +COLLEGE OF NOBLE LADIES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 482 + +THE BAPTISM OF JESUS + +EL GRECO + +HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST] + +[Illustration: PLATE 483 + +PORTRAIT OF CARDINAL TAVERA + +EL GRECO + +HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST] + +[Illustration: PLATE 484 + +VIEW OF THE HIGH ALTAR OF THE TAVERA HOSPITAL + +EL GRECO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 485 + +GENERAL VIEW OF TOLEDO (LEFT HALF) + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 486 + +GENERAL VIEW OF TOLEDO (RIGHT HALF) + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 487 + +VIEW OF TOLEDO + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 488 + +PORTRAIT OF ANTONIO COVARRUBIAS + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 489 + +PORTRAIT OF THE SON OF COVARRUBIAS + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 490 + +THE CRUCIFIXION + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 491 + +ALLEGORY OF THE VIRGIN + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 492 + +PORTRAIT OF JUAN DE AVILA + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 493 + +OUR SAVIOUR + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 494 + +ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 495 + +ST. PETER + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 496 + +ST. MATTHIAS + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 497 + +ST. PHILIP + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 498 + +ST. ANDREW + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 499 + +ST. THOMAS + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 500 + +ST. SIMON + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 501 + +ST. MATTHEW + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 502 + +ST. JUDE TADEO + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 503 + +AN APOSTLE + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 504 + +AN APOSTLE + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 505 + +AN APOSTLE + +EL GRECO + +PROVINCIAL MUSEUM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 506 + +THE ANNUNCIATION + +EL GRECO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 507 + +THE DREAM OF PHILIP II. + +EL GRECO + +CHAPTER HALL OF THE ESCORIAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 508 + +ST. MAURICE AND THE THEBAN LEGION + +EL GRECO + +CHAPTER HALL OF THE ESCORIAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 509 + +PORTRAIT OF EL GRECO BY HIMSELF + +SEÑOR A. DE BERUETE, MADRID] + +[Illustration: PLATE 510 + +CHRIST DRIVING THE MONEY-CHANGERS FROM THE TEMPLE + +EL GRECO + +SEÑOR DE BERUETE, MADRID] + +[Illustration: PLATE 511 + +PORTRAIT OF A STUDENT (EL GRECO?) + +EL GRECO + +DON PABLO BOSCH, MADRID] + + * * * * * + +THE + +SPANISH SERIES + +Edited by ALBERT F. CALVERT + + +A new and important series of volumes, dealing with Spain in its various +aspects, its history, its cities and monuments. Each volume will be +complete in itself in a uniform binding, and the number and excellence +of the reproductions from pictures will justify the claim that these +books comprise the most copiously illustrated series that has yet been +issued, some volumes having over 300 pages of reproductions of pictures, +etc. + + +Crown 8vo Price 3/6 net + + 1 GOYA with 600 illustrations + 2 TOLEDO “ 510 “ + 3 MADRID “ 450 “ + 4 SEVILLE “ 300 “ + 5 MURILLO “ 165 “ + 6 CORDOVA “ 160 “ + 7 EL GRECO “ 140 “ + 8 VELAZQUEZ “ 142 “ + 9 THE PRADO “ 223 “ +10 THE ESCORIAL “ 278 “ +11 ROYAL PALACES OF SPAIN “ 200 “ +12 GRANADA AND ALHAMBRA “ 460 “ +13 SPANISH ARMS AND ARMOUR “ 386 “ +14 LEON, BURGOS AND SALAMANCA “ 462 “ +15 VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA } + ZAMORA, AVILA AND ZARAGOZA } “ 390 “ + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +MURILLO + +A BIOGRAPHY AND APPRECIATION. ILLUSTRATED BY OVER 165 REPRODUCTIONS FROM +PHOTOGRAPHS OF HIS MOST CELEBRATED PICTURES + + +While the names of Murillo and Velazquez are inseparably linked in the +history of Art as Spain’s immortal contribution to the small band of +world-painters, the great Court-Painter to Philip IV. has ever received +the lion’s share of public attention. Many learned and critical works +have been written about Murillo, but whereas Velazquez has been +familiarised to the general reader by the aid of small, popular +biographies, the niche is still empty which it is hoped that this book +will fill. + +In this volume the attempt has been made to show the painter’s art in +its relation to the religious feeling of the age in which he lived, and +his own feeling towards his art. Murillo was the product of his +religious era, and of his native province, Andalusia. To Europe in his +lifetime he signified little or nothing. He painted to the order of the +religious houses in his immediate vicinity; his works were immured in +local monasteries and cathedrals, and, passing immediately out of +circulation, were forgotten or never known. + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +SPANISH ARMS AND ARMOUR + +A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE ROYAL ARMOURY AT MADRID. +ILLUSTRATED WITH 386 REPRODUCTIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS. DEDICATED BY +SPECIAL PERMISSION TO H.M. QUEEN MARIA CRISTINA OF SPAIN + + +Although several valuable and voluminous catalogues of the Spanish Royal +Armoury have, from time to time, been compiled, this “finest collection +of armour in the world” has been subjected so often to the disturbing +influences of fire, removal, and re-arrangement, that no hand catalogue +of the Museum is available, and this book has been designed to serve +both as a historical souvenir of the institution and a record of its +treasures. + +The various exhibits with which the writer illustrates his narrative are +reproduced to the number of nearly 400 on art paper, and the selection +of weapons and armour has been made with a view not only to render the +series interesting to the general reader, but to present a useful text +book for the guidance of artists, sculptors, antiquaries, costumiers, +and all who are engaged in the reproduction or representation of +European armoury. + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +THE ESCORIAL + +A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE SPANISH ROYAL PALACE, +MONASTERY AND MAUSOLEUM. ILLUSTRATED WITH PLANS AND 278 REPRODUCTIONS +FROM PICTURES AND PHOTOGRAPHS + + +The Royal Palace, Monastery, and Mausoleum of El Escorial, which rears +its gaunt, grey walls in one of the bleakest but most imposing districts +in the whole of Spain, was erected to commemorate a victory over the +French in 1557. It was occupied and pillaged by the French two and +a-half centuries later, and twice it has been greatly diminished by +fire; but it remains to-day, not only the incarnate expression of the +fanatic religious character and political genius of Philip II., but the +greatest mass of wrought granite which exists on earth, the leviathan of +architecture, the eighth wonder of the world. + +In the text of this book the author has endeavoured to reconstitute the +glories and tragedies of the living past of the Escorial, and to +represent the wonders of the stupendous edifice by reproductions of over +two hundred and seventy of the finest photographs and pictures +obtainable. Both as a review and a pictorial record it is hoped that the +work will make a wide appeal among all who are interested in the +history, the architecture, and the art of Spain. + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +TOLEDO + +A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE “CITY OF GENERATIONS,” WITH +510 ILLUSTRATIONS + + +The origin of Imperial Toledo, “the crown of Spain, the light of the +world, free from the time of the mighty Goths,” is lost in the +impenetrable mists of antiquity. Mighty, unchangeable, invincible, the +city has been described by Wörmann as “a gigantic open-air museum of the +architectural history of early Spain, arranged upon a lofty and +conspicuous table of rock.” + +But while some writers have declared that Toledo is a theatre with the +actors gone and only the scenery left, the author does not share the +opinion. He believes that the power and virility upon which Spain built +up her greatness is reasserting itself. The machinery of the theatre of +Toledo is rusty, the pulleys are jammed from long disuse, but the +curtain is rising steadily if slowly, and already can be heard the +tuning-up of fiddles in its ancient orchestra. + +In this belief the author of this volume has not only set forth the +story of Toledo’s former greatness, but has endeavoured to place before +his readers a panorama of the city as it appears to-day, and to show +cause for his faith in the greatness of the Toledo of the future. + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +SEVILLE + +A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT, WITH 300 ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Seville, which has its place in mythology as the creation of Hercules, +and was more probably founded by the Phœnicians, which became +magnificent under the Roman rule, was made the capital of the Goths, +became the centre of Moslem power and splendour, and fell before the +military prowess of St. Ferdinand, is still the Queen of Andalusia, the +foster-mother of Velazquez and Murillo, the city of poets and pageantry +and love. + +Seville is always gay, and responsive and fascinating to the receptive +visitor, and all sorts of people go there with all sorts of motives. The +artist repairs to the Andalusian city to fill his portfolio; the lover +of art makes the pilgrimage to study Murillo in all his glory. The +seasons of the Church attract thousands from reasons of devotion or +curiosity. And of all these myriad visitors, who go with their minds +full of preconceived notions, not one has yet confessed to being +disappointed in Seville. + +The author has here attempted to convey in the illustrations an +impression of this laughing city where all is gaiety and mirth and +ever-blossoming roses, where the people pursue pleasure as the serious +business of life in an atmosphere of exhilarating enjoyment. + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +THE PRADO + +A GUIDE AND HANDBOOK TO THE ROYAL PICTURE GALLERY OF MADRID. ILLUSTRATED +WITH 221 REPRODUCTIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS OF OLD MASTERS. DEDICATED BY +SPECIAL PERMISSION TO H.R.H. PRINCESS HENRY OF BATTENBERG + + +This volume is an attempt to supplement the accurate but formal notes +contained in the official catalogue of a picture gallery which is +considered the finest in the world. It has been said that the day one +enters the Prado for the first time is an important event like marriage, +the birth of a child, or the coming into an inheritance; an experience +of which one feels the effects to the day of one’s death. + +The excellence of the Madrid gallery is the excellence of exclusion; it +is a collection of magnificent gems. Here one becomes conscious of a +fresh power in Murillo, and is amazed anew by the astonishing apparition +of Velazquez; here is, in truth, a rivalry of miracles of art. + +The task of selecting pictures for reproduction from what is perhaps the +most splendid gallery of old masters in existence, was one of no little +difficulty, but it is believed that the collection is representative, +and that the letterpress will form a serviceable companion to the +visitor to The Prado. + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +GRANADA AND THE ALHAMBRA + +A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MOSLEM RULE IN SPAIN, TOGETHER WITH A PARTICULAR +ACCOUNT OF THE CONSTRUCTION, THE ARCHITECTURE, AND THE DECORATION OF THE +MOORISH PALACE, WITH 460 ILLUSTRATIONS. DEDICATED BY SPECIAL PERMISSION +TO H.I.M. THE EMPRESS EUGÉNIE + + +This volume is the third and abridged edition of a work which the author +was inspired to undertake by the surpassing loveliness of the Alhambra, +and by his disappointment in the discovery that no such thing as an even +moderately adequate illustrated souvenir of “this glorious sanctuary of +Spain” was obtainable. Keenly conscious of the want himself, he essayed +to supply it, and the result is a volume that has been acclaimed with +enthusiasm alike by critics, artists, architects, and archæologists. + +In his preface to the first edition, Mr. Calvert wrote: “The Alhambra +may be likened to an exquisite opera which can only be appreciated to +the full when one is under the spell of its magic influence. But as the +witchery of an inspired score can be recalled by the sound of an air +whistled in the street, so--it is my hope--the pale ghost of the Moorish +fairy-land may live again in the memories of travellers through the +medium of this pictorial epitome.” + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +EL GRECO + +A BIOGRAPHY AND APPRECIATION. ILLUSTRATED BY REPRODUCTIONS OF OVER 140 +OF HIS PICTURES + + +In a Series such as this, which aims at presenting every aspect of +Spain’s eminence in art and in her artists, the work of Domenico +Theotocópuli must be allotted a volume to itself. “El Greco,” as he is +called, who reflects the impulse, and has been said to constitute the +supreme glory of the Venetian era, was a Greek by repute, a Venetian by +training, and a Toledan by adoption. His pictures in the Prado are still +catalogued among those of the Italian School, but foreigner as he was, +in his heart he was more Spanish than the Spaniards. + +El Greco is typically, passionately, extravagantly Spanish, and with his +advent, Spanish painting laid aside every trace of Provincialism, and +stepped forth to compel the interest of the world. Neglected for many +centuries, and still often misjudged, his place in art is an assured +one. It is impossible to present him as a colourist in a work of this +nature, but the author has got together reproductions of no fewer than +140 of his pictures--a greater number than has ever before been +published of El Greco’s works. + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +VELAZQUEZ + +A BIOGRAPHY AND APPRECIATION. ILLUSTRATED WITH 142 REPRODUCTIONS FROM +PHOTOGRAPHS OF HIS MOST CELEBRATED PICTURES + + +Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez--“our Velazquez,” as Palomino +proudly styles him--has been made the subject of innumerable books in +every European language, yet the Editor of this Spanish Series feels +that it would not be complete without the inclusion of yet another +contribution to the broad gallery of Velazquez literature. + +The great Velazquez, the eagle in art--subtle, simple, incomparable--the +supreme painter, is still a guiding influence of the art of to-day. This +greatest of Spanish artists, a master not only in portrait painting, but +in character and animal studies, in landscapes and historical subjects, +impressed the grandeur of his superb personality upon all his work. +Spain, it has been said, the country whose art was largely borrowed, +produced Velazquez, and through him Spanish art became the light of a +new artistic life. + +The author cannot boast that he has new data to offer, but he has put +forward his conclusions with modesty; he has reproduced a great deal +that is most representative of the artist’s work; and he has endeavoured +to keep always in view his object to present a concise, accurate, and +readable life of Velazquez. + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +ROYAL PALACES OF SPAIN + +A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE SEVEN PRINCIPAL PALACES OF +THE SPANISH KINGS. PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED + + +Spain is beyond question the richest country in the world in the number +of its Royal Residences, and while few are without artistic importance, +all are rich in historical memories. Thus, from the Alcazar at Seville, +which is principally associated with Pedro the Cruel, to the Retiro, +built to divert the attention of Philip IV. from his country’s decay; +from the Escorial, in which the gloomy mind of Philip II. is perpetuated +in stone, to La Granja, which speaks of the anguish and humiliation of +Christina before Sergeant Garcia and his rude soldiery; from Aranjuéz to +Rio Frio, and from El Pardo, darkened by the agony of a good king, to +Miramar, to which a widowed Queen retired to mourn: all the history of +Spain, from the splendid days of Charles V. to the present time, is +crystallised in the Palaces that constitute the patrimony of the Crown. + +The Royal Palaces of Spain are open to visitors at stated times, and it +is hoped that this volume, with its wealth of illustrations, will serve +the visitor both as a guide and a souvenir. + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA, ZAMORA, AVILA AND ZARAGOZA + +A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT, WITH 390 ILLUSTRATIONS + + +The glory of Valladolid has departed, but the skeleton remains, and +attached to its ancient stones are the memories that Philip II. was born +here, that here Cervantes lived, and Christopher Columbus died. In this +one-time capital of Spain, in the Plaza Mayor, the fires of the Great +Inquisition were first lighted, and here Charles V. laid the foundation +of the Royal Armoury, which was afterwards transferred to Madrid. + +More than seven hundred years have passed since Oviedo was the proud +capital of the Kingdoms of Las Asturias, Leon, and Castile. Segovia, +though no longer great, has still all the appurtenances of greatness, +and with her granite massiveness and austerity, she remains an +aristocrat even among the aristocracy of Spanish cities. Zamora, which +has a history dating from time almost without date, was the key of Leon +and the centre of the endless wars between the Moors and the Christians, +which raged round it from the eighth to the eleventh centuries. + +In this volume the author has striven to re-create the ancient greatness +of these six cities, and has preserved their memories in a wealth of +excellent and interesting illustrations. + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +LEON, BURGOS AND SALAMANCA + +A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT, WITH 462 ILLUSTRATIONS + + +In Leon, once the capital of the second kingdom in Spain; in Burgos, +which boasts one of the most magnificent cathedrals in Spain, and the +custodianship of the bones of the Cid; and in Salamanca, with its +university, which is one of the oldest in Europe, the author has +selected three of the most interesting relics of ancient grandeur in +this country of departed greatness. + +Leon to-day is nothing but a large agricultural village, torpid, silent, +dilapidated; Burgos, which still retains traces of the Gotho-Castilian +character, is a gloomy and depleting capital: and Salamanca is a city of +magnificent buildings, a broken hulk, spent by the storms that from time +to time have devastated her. + +Yet apart from the historical interest possessed by these cities, they +still make an irresistible appeal to the artist and the antiquary. They +are content with their stories of old-time greatness and their +cathedrals, and these ancient architectural splendours, undisturbed by +the touch of a modernising and renovating spirit, continue to attract +the visitor. + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +MADRID + +A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE SPANISH CAPITAL, WITH 450 +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Madrid is at once one of the most interesting and most maligned cities +in Europe. It stands at an elevation of 2,500 feet above the sea level, +in the centre of an arid, treeless, waterless, and wind-blown plain; but +whatever may be thought of the wisdom of selecting a capital in such a +situation, one cannot but admire the uniqueness of its position, and the +magnificence of its buildings, and one is forced to admit that, having +fairly entered the path of progress, Madrid bids fair to become one of +the handsomest and most prosperous of European cities. + +The splendid promenades, the handsome buildings, and the spacious +theatres combine to make Madrid one of the first cities of the world, +and the author has endeavoured with the aid of the camera, to place +every feature and aspect of the Spanish metropolis before the reader. +Some of the illustrations reproduced here have been made familiar to the +English public by reason of the interesting and stirring events +connected with the Spanish Royal Marriage, but the greater number were +either taken by the author, or are the work of photographers specially +employed to obtain new views for the purpose of this volume. + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +GOYA + +A BIOGRAPHY AND APPRECIATION. ILLUSTRATED BY REPRODUCTIONS OF 600 OF HIS +PICTURES + + +The last of the old masters and the first of the moderns, as he has been +called, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes is not so familiarised to +English readers as his genius deserves. He was born at a time when the +tradition of Velazquez was fading, and the condition of Spanish painting +was debased almost beyond hope of salvation; he broke through the +academic tradition of imitation; “he, next to Velazquez, is to be +accounted as the man whom the Impressionists of our time have to thank +for their most definite stimulus, their most immediate inspiration.” + +The genius of Goya was a robust, imperious, and fulminating genius; his +iron temperament was passionate, dramatic, and revolutionary; he painted +a picture as he would have fought a battle. He was an athletic, warlike, +and indefatigable painter; a naturalist like Velazquez; fantastic like +Hogarth; eccentric like Rembrandt; the last flame-coloured flash of +Spanish genius. + +It is impossible to reproduce his colouring; but in the reproductions of +his works the author has endeavoured to convey to the reader some idea +of Goya’s boldness of style, his mastery of frightful shadows and +mysterious lights, and his genius for expressing all terrible emotions. + + * * * * * + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ + +CORDOVA + +A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT CITY WHICH THE +CARTHAGINIANS STYLED THE “GEM OF THE SOUTH,” WITH 160 ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Gay-looking, vivacious in its beauty, silent, ill-provided, depopulated, +Cordova was once the pearl of the West, the city of cities, Cordova of +the thirty suburbs and three thousand mosques; to-day she is no more +than an overgrown village, but she still remains the most Oriental town +in Spain. + +Cordova, once the centre of European civilisation, under the Moors the +Athens of the West, the successful rival of Baghdad and Damascus, the +seat of learning and the repository of the arts, has shrunk to the +proportions of a third-rate provincial town; but the artist, the +antiquary and the lover of the beautiful, will still find in its streets +and squares and patios a mysterious spell that cannot be resisted. + + * * * * * + +BY ALBERT F. CALVERT + +LIFE OF CERVANTES + +A NEW LIFE OF THE GREAT SPANISH AUTHOR TO COMMEMORATE THE TERCENTENARY +OF THE PUBLICATION OF “DON QUIXOTE,” WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS AND +REPRODUCTIONS FROM EARLY EDITIONS OF “DON QUIXOTE” + +Size Crown 8 vo. 150 pp. Price 3/6 net + + +PRESS NOTICES + +“A popular and accessible account of the career of Cervantes.”--_Daily +Chronicle._ + +“A very readable and pleasant account of one of the great writers of all +time.”--_Morning Leader._ + +“Mr. CALVERT is entitled to the gratitude of book-lovers for +his industrious devotion at one of our greatest literary +shrines.”--_Birmingham Post._ + +“It is made trebly interesting by the very complete set of Cervantes’ +portraits it contains, and by the inclusion of a valuable +bibliography.”--_Black and White._ + +“We recommend the book to all those to whom Cervantes is more than a +mere name.”--_Westminster Gazette._ + +“A most interesting résumé of all facts up to the present time +known.”--_El Nervion de Bilbao, Spain._ + +“The most notable work dedicated to the immortal author of _Don Quixote_ +that has been published in England.”--_El Graduador, Spain._ + +“Although the book is written in English no Spaniard could have written +it with more conscientiousness and enthusiasm.”--_El Defensor de +Granada, Spain._ + + * * * * * + +BY ALBERT F. CALVERT + +THE ALHAMBRA + +OF GRANADA, BEING A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MOSLEM RULE IN SPAIN FROM THE +REIGN OF MOHAMMED THE FIRST TO THE FINAL EXPULSION OF THE MOORS, +TOGETHER WITH A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE CONSTRUCTION, THE ARCHITECTURE +AND THE DECORATION OF THE MOORISH PALACE, WITH 80 COLOURED PLATES AND +NEARLY 300 BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS (NEW EDITION). DEDICATED BY +PERMISSION TO H.M. KING ALFONSO XIII. + +Size 10 x 7½. Price £2 2s. net + + +PRESS NOTICES + +“It is hardly too much to say that this is one of the most magnificent +books ever issued from the English Press.”--_Building World._ + +“One is really puzzled where to begin and when to stop in praising the +illustrations.”--_Bookseller._ + +“The most complete record of this wonder of architecture which has ever +been contemplated, much less attempted.”--_British Architect._ + +“A treasure to the student of decorative art.”--_Morning Advertiser._ + +“Mr. CALVERT has given us a Book Beautiful.”--_Western Daily Press._ + +“It is the last word on the subject, no praise is too +high.”--_Nottingham Express._ + +“May be counted among the more important art books which have been +published during recent years.”--_The Globe._ + +“Has a pride of place that is all its own among the books of the +month.”--_Review of Reviews._ + +“Has in many respects surpassed any books on the Alhambra which up to +the present have appeared in our own country or abroad.”--_El Graduador, +Spain._ + +“It is one of the most beautiful books of modern times.”--_Ely Gazette._ + +“One of the most artistic productions of the year.”--_Publishers’ +Circular._ + +“The most beautiful book on the Alhambra issued in England.”--_Sphere._ + +“The standard work on a splendid subject.”--_Daily Telegraph._ + +“A remarkable masterpiece of book production.”--_Eastern Daily Press._ + +“A perfect treasure of beauty and delight.”--_Keighley News._ + +“A magnificent work.”--_Melbourne Age, Australia._ + +“Immense collection of fine plates.”--_The Times._ + +“A standard work, the compilation of which would credit a life’s +labour.”--_Hull Daily Mail._ + + * * * * * + +BY ALBERT F. CALVERT + +MOORISH REMAINS IN SPAIN + +BEING A BRIEF RECORD OF THE ARABIAN CONQUEST AND OCCUPATION OF THE +PENINSULA, WITH A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE MOHAMMEDAN ARCHITECTURE AND +DECORATION IN THE CITIES OF CORDOVA, SEVILLE AND TOLEDO, WITH MANY +COLOURED PLATES, AND OVER 400 BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS, DIAGRAMS, +ETC., DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO H.M. KING ALFONSO XIII. + +Crown 4to. (7½ × 10 ins.) Price £2 2s. net + + +PRESS NOTICES + +“The making of this book must surely have been a veritable labour of +love; and love’s labour has certainly not been lost.”--_Pall Mall +Gazette._ + +“The best age of Moorish architecture in Spain is shown with remarkable +vividness and vitality.”--_The Scotsman._ + +“A most gorgeous book.... We cheerfully admit Mr. CALVERT into the ranks +of those whom posterity will applaud for delightful yet unprofitable +work.”--_Outlook._ + +“A large and sumptuous volume.”--_Tribune._ + +“The illustrations are simply marvels of reproduction.”--_Dundee +Advertiser._ + +“One of the books to which a simple literary review cannot pretend to do +justice.”--_Spectator._ + +“A special feature of a work of peculiar interest and value are the +illustrations.”--_Newcastle Chronicle._ + +“The illustrations are given with a minuteness and faithfulness of +detail, and colour, which will be particularly appreciated and +acknowledged by those who are most acquainted with the subject +themselves.”--_Liverpool Post._ + +“It is impossible to praise too highly the care with which the +illustrations have been prepared.”--_Birmingham Daily Post._ + +“It is illustrated with so lavish a richness of colour that to turn its +pages gives one at first almost the same impression of splendour as one +receives in wandering from hall to hall of the Alcazar of Seville; and +this is probably the highest compliment we could pay to the book or its +author.”--_Academy._ + +“It is certainly one of the most interesting books of the +year.”--_Crown._ + +“The occasional delicacy of design and harmony of colour can scarcely be +surpassed ... a valuable and profusely illustrated volume.”--_Guardian._ + +“An excellent piece of work.”--_The Times._ + +“Mr. CALVERT has performed a useful work.”--_Daily Telegraph._ + +“A truly sumptuous volume.”--_The Speaker._ + +“Mr. CALVERT has given a very complete account of the evolution of +Moresco art.”--_The Connoisseur._ + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] This spelling of his name resembles most that used by himself. + +[B] The exact contents are as follows: + +“AL CARD. FARNESE--Viterbo. + + “A’ di 16 di Nouembre, 1570. + +“E’ capitato in Roma un giouane Candiotto discepolo di Titiano, che +á mio giuditio parmi raro nella pittura; e fra l’altre cose egli ha +fatto un ritratto da se stesso, che fa stupire tutti questi Pittori di +Roma. Io vorrei tratenerlo sotto l’ombra de V.S. Illma. et Revma. senza +spesa altra del vivere, ma solo de una stanza nell Palazzo Farnese per +qualche poco di tempo, cioé per fin che egli si venghi ad accomodare +meglio. Pero La prego et supplico sia contenta di scrivere al Conte +Lodovico suo Maiordomo, che lo provegghi nel detto Palazzo di qualche +stanza ad alto; che V.S. Illma. fará un’ opera virtuosa degna di Lei, e +io gliene terro obligo. Et le bascio con reverenza le mani. + +“Di V.S. Illma. et Revma. humilissimo servitore. + + “JULIO CLOVIO.” + + +[C] The record of his burial, discovered by Señor de Beruete in the +register of the parish church of Santo Tomé, is brief: “Libro de +entierros de Santo Tomé de 1601-1614, en siete del Abril del 1614 +falescio Domeniko Greco. No hizo testamento, recibo los sacramentos, en +teroso en Santo Domingo el Antigua.” + +[D] Two judges were appointed to settle the dispute, which arose from +the introduction of the three Marys into the picture. The Chapter +objected to their presence. El Greco’s defence was characteristic +enough--What did it matter? and, besides, the women were a long way +off. The judges disagreed; whereupon the dispute was settled by Alezo +de Montoyo as follows: + +“Having seen the said painting which has been executed by the said +Domeniko, and the appraisements of the judge appointed by both parties, +and other persons who understand the said painting, its execution and +admirable finish; and the reasons which the said judges have given; +and seeing that the said painting is one of the best that I have seen; +and that, if it were to be estimated for all its valuable qualities, +it would be valued at a much higher sum, which but few would care to +pay for it; but, in view of the nature of the times and the price paid +generally for the paintings of great artists in Castile; and in view +of, and taking into consideration all the above and all other points +that were necessary, I find that I must order, and I do order, that for +the said painting the said Garcia de Loaysa, in the name of the said +Holy Church, shall give and pay to the said Domeniko Theotokopuli three +thousand and five hundred reals: and above this sum the said Domeniko +Theotokopuli cannot ask, nor must he ask, for anything more for the +said painting; and as regards the judges for the said workers, they +say that it is improper for the Marys to be introduced into the story; +as regards this I am sending the declaration of it to some theologians +versed in such matters, that they may decide upon it.” + +[E] This is another rendering of the same picture; and still another is +in the collection of Señor de Beruete, Madrid. + +[F] This picture passed into the collection of the Infanta Doña Isabel +Farnese, and is now in the Museo del Prado. The ‘Assumption’ in the +Church of Santo Domingo el Antigua is a poor copy of the original +picture. + +[G] The picture was painted for the altar of St. Maurice, but it was +rejected by Philip II., and the commission given to a third-rate +Italian. To-day the picture hangs in the Sala Capitulare. + +[H] This likeness is more striking even in another ‘Coronation of the +Virgin,’ by El Greco, in the collection of Colonel P. Bosch, Madrid. + +[I] Some authorities name these saints Sta. Inez and Sta. Feda. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 64900 *** |
