.^iT^^^i tJNIV* OF CALIF ! 'n-^-Y LOS ANGEtE3 ^^^^^fe Jp^ Caroli \ ^ Mari/e V W Lacait^ w W FILIORVMQVE. M "m Selham. M' vm. OF c. .V ANGEUa FRONTISPIECE SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL. roRTICO DE DA GLORIA SOME ACCOUNT GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE SPAIN. By GEORGE EDMUND STREET, A.R.A. HONORAKV ME.NTP.ER OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS, VIENNA. ^Ko;.; lEi: iiciZAR " Z\)c olt) }]atfjs, irijfre is tfjr gooii toag." Jeremiah vi. i6. SECOND EDITION. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1869. T/ie ris^ht of Translation is rescr^'cd. UNiV.OFCAUF.UBRARV.LOSANGEUa STACK ANNEX MHO '10 THE RIGHT HONOUEABLE WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE, ported by timbers jutting out up- forty-five feet wide, and three tiers of wards from the walls, not being sup- wooden galleries all round its north, ported at all from the floor. Chap. I. SAN SEBASTIAN — MIRANDA DEL EBRO. 9 tween the embouchure of the river on the one side, and a laud- locked bay on the other, connects it with the mainland. We had been seven or eight houi-s en route, and were glad to hear of a halt for breakfast. Whilst it was being prepared I ran oif to the church of San Vicente on the opposite side of the town to the Fonda. I found it to be a building of the sixteenth century — built in 1507 — with a lai-ge western porch, open-arched on each face, a nave and aisles, and eastern apsidal choir. The end of this is filled with an enormous Eetablo of Pagan character, reaching to the roof. The church is groined throughout, and all the light is admitted by very small windows in the clerestory. The aisles have altars in each bay, with Eetablos facing north and south. There is little or no work of much architectural interest here ; but it was almost my first Spanish church, and I had my first very vivid impression of the darkened interiors, lighted up here and there by some brilliant speck of sunshine, which are so characteristic of the country, and as lovely in their effects as they are aggravating to one who wants to be able to make sketches and notes within them. Leaving San Sebastian at mid-dayj we skirted the bay, busy with folk enjoying themselves in the water after the fashion of Biarritz. The country was wild, beautiful, and mountainous all the way to Mondragon. At Vergara there was a fair going on, and the narrow streets Avere crowded with pictm-esquely dressed peasants ; everywhere in these parts fine, lusty, hand- some, and clean, and to my mind the best looking peasantry I have ever seen. In the evening the villages were all alive, the young men and women danciug a Avild, indescribable dance, rather gracefully, and with a good deal of waving about of their arms. The music generally consisted of a tambourine, but once of two drums and a fiute ; and the ball-room was the centre of the road, or the little i^lciza in the middle of the village. At mid- night there was another halt at Vitoria, where an hour was whiled away over chocolate and azucarillos — delicate composi- tions of sugar which melt aAvay rapidly in water, and make a superior kind of eau sucre ; and again at sunrise we stopped at Miranda del Ebro for the examination of luggage before entering Castile. Close to the bridge, on the opposite side of the Ebro to IMiranda, is a church of which I could just see by the dim light of the morning that it was of some value as an example of liomanesque and Early Pointed work. The apse, of five sides, has buttresses with two half-columns in front of each, and an 10 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. I. arch tlirown across from buttress to buttress carries the cornice and gives a great appearance of niassiveness to the window arches with which it is concentric. The south doorway is of very fine Early Pointed style, with three shafts on each jamb, and five orders in the arch. On the road from Miranda to Pancorbo there is a striking defile between massive limestone cliffs and rocks, through which the Madrid RailAvay is being constructed with no little difiSculty, and where the road is carried up, until, at its summit, we found our- selves at the commencement of the arid, treeless, dusty, and emi- nently miserable plain of Castile, whilst we groaned not a little at the slow pace at which the ten or twelve horses and mules that drew us got over the ground. These Sj^auish diligences are cer- tainly most amusing for a time, and thenceforward most wearying. They generally have a team often or twelve animals, mostly mules. The driver has a short whip and reins for the Avheelers only ; a boy, the adalantero, rides the leaders as postilion, and M'itli a power of endurance which deserves record, the same boy having ridden with us all the way from San Sebastian to Burgos — twenty-five hours, with a halt of one hour only at Vitoria, The conductor, or mayoral, sits with the driver, and the two spend half their time in getting down from the box, rushing to the head of one of the mules, belabouring him heartily for two or three minutes till the whole train is in a mad gallop, and then climbing to the box to indulge in a succession of wild shrielcs until the poor beasts have fallen again into their usual walk, when the per- formance is repeated. I believe that for a day and a half our mayoral never slept a wink, and spent something like a fourth of his time running with the mules : though I am bound to say that subsequent experience has convinced me that he was exceptionally lively and wakeful, for elsewhere, in travelling by night, I have generally found that the mules become their own masters after dark, walking or standing stdl as seemeth them best, and seldom getting over much more than half the ground they travel in the same number of hours of daylight. A few miles before our arrival at Bui-gos, we caught the first sight of the three spires of the cathedral ; and presently the whole mass stood out grandly, surmounted by the Castle hill on the right. One or two villages with large churches of little interest were passed, the gi'eat Carthusian Convent of Miraflores was seen on the left, and then, passing a sbort suburb, we stopped at the Fonda de la Rafaela ; and after an hour spent in recovery from du.st, dirt, and horrid hunger, betook ourselves to the Chap. I. DEFILE OF PANCORBO. 11 famous Cathedral, with no little anxiety as to the result of this first clay of ecelesiologiziug in Spain. The railroad, which is now open to Burgos, follows very much the same line as the old road. As far as Miranda the scenery is generally very beautiful, and here there is a jimction with tlie wouderfully-eng-ineered railway to Bilbao, which is con- tinued again on the other side until it joins the Pamplona and Tudela Eailway near the latter city. It is therefore a very good plan to enter Sj^ain by the steamboat from Bayonne to Bilbao, to come thence by railway, join the main line at Miranda, and so on to Burgos, or else by the valley of the Ebro to Tudela and Zaragoza. The passage of the Pancorbo defile by the railway is even finer than by the road ; and for the remainder of the distance to Burgos the traveller's feeling must be in the main one of joy at finding himself skimming along with fair rapidity over the tame countiy, in place of loitering over it in a tiresome dilicjenee. 12 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Ciiai-. II. CHAPTER 11. BUKGOS. There are some views of Burgos Cathedral which are con- stantly met with, and upon which I confess all my ideas of its style and merits had been founded, to their no little detriment. The western steeples, the central lantern, and the lantern-like roof and pinnacles of the chapel of the Constable at the east end, are all very late in date — the first of the latest fifteenth century, and the others of early Kenaissance work ; and their mass is so important, their character so picturesque, and their detail so exuberantly ornate, that they have often been drawn and described to the entire exclusion of all notice of the noble early church, out of Avhich they rise. The general scheme of the ground-plan of the cathedral is drawn with considerable accuracy in the illustration which I give of it.^ The fabric consists of a thirteenth-century church, added to somewhat in the fourteenth century, altered again in the fifteenth, and even more in the sixteenth century. The substratum, so to speak, is throughout of the thirteenth century, but the two western steeples, with their crocketed and perforated spires, the gorgeous and fantastic lantern over the crossing, and the lofty and sumptuous monumental chapel at the east end, are all later additions, and so important in their effect, as at first sight to give an entirely wrong impression both of the age and character of the whole church. The various dates are, as well as the scale will admit, explained by the shading of the plan. The ' Plate I. This (as are all the other plans probably no illustration of the plan of in this book) is made from my own rapid any one of the chinches visited by me .sketches and measurements. It is neces- ever yet published in England. I have sai'ily, therefore, only generally correct, drawn all the i^lans to the same scale, But I believe that it, and all the others, viz., fifty feet to an inch. This is double will be found to be sufficiently accurate the scale to which the plans in Mr. Fer- for all the purposes for which they are gusson's ' History of Architecture ' are required. Without ground-plans it is drawn ; and though it would facilitate impossible to understand any descrip- a comparison of the Spanish with other tions of buildings ; and they are the ground-plans illustrated by him to have more necessary in this case, seeing that, them on the same scale, I found it witli the exception of very small plans impossible to show all that I wanted in of Burgos and Leon Cathedrals, there is so very small a compass. Chap. U. BURGOS CATHEDRAL. 13 early church seems to have consisted of a nave and aisles of six bays, deep transepts, and a choir and aisles, with apses and chapels round it. The transepts probably had chapels on the east, of which one still remains in the north transept ; but this is the only original chapel, none of those round the chevet having been spared. Externally, the two transept fronts are the only consi^icuous portions of the old church, but, on mount- ing to the roof, the flying buttresses, clerestory windows, and some other parts, are found still little damaged or altered. Never was a (.'hurcli more altered for the worse after its first erection than was this. It is now a vast congeries of chapels and excrescences of every shape and every style, which have grown round it at various dates, and, to a great extent, con- cealed the whole of tlie original plan and structure ; and of these, the only valuable Mediaeval portions are the cloisters and sacristies, which are, indeed, but little later in date than the church, and two of the chapels on the north side of the chevet, one of Avhich is original, and the other at any rate not much altered. The rest of the additions are all either of the latest (4othic, or of Renaissance. The principal entrances to this church of " Santa Maria la Mayor " are at the west end and in the north and south transepts — the two last original, the former a modern alteration of the old fabric, made only a few years ago, and of the meanest kind. Tlie Arclibishop's palace occupies the space on the south side of the nave ; and the ground on which the whole group of buildings stands, slopes so rapidly from the south up to the north, that on the south side a steep and picturesque flight of steps leads up to tlie door, whilst on the north, on the contrary, the door is some fifteen feet above the floor, and has to be reached by an elaborate flight of winding steps from the transept. Owing to the rapid rise of the ground, and to the way in which tlie church is surrounded by houses, or by its own dependent buildings, it is very difficult to obtain any good near views of it, with the exception of that of the west end from the Plaza in front of it ; but the views from the Prado, fi'om the opposite side of the river, and from the distant hills and country, are all veiy fine ; and it must be allowed that in them the picturesque richness of the later additions to the fabric produces a very great effect. Having thus given some general idea of the plan of the church, I Avill now describe its parts more in detail. On entering the nave at the west end, the effect of the arcades, triforia, and clerestorv is verv fine, though much 14 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. II. damaged by the arrangement of the choir, which, as in most Spanish churches, is brought down into the nave, enclosed with close walls or screens, and entered only from the transept at its eastern end. An altar is placed against the western entrance of the choir, and the nave being only six bays in length, and equally divided, the view is — it may easily be imagined — very confined and cramped. Otherwise, the architectural features of the nave are thoroughly good. The original scheme evidently included two western steeples, the jiiers which support them — large clusters of engaged shafts — being larger than any of the others, yet of the same date. The nave columns are cu'cular, with eight engaged shafts around them. The bases are circular, finished on squares, with knops of foliage filling in the spandrels. The abaci are all square in plan, and both bases and caps are set at right angles to the direction of the arches they support. One of the smaller columns carries the pier arch, the other three carry the transverse and diagonal groining ribs, ■whilst the wall ribs are carried on shafts on each side of the clerestory window. The pier arches are of ordinary early-pointed character, and well moulded. There is not much variety in the general design of the nave and transepts, though some changes of detail occur. The triforium in both is very peculiar, as will be seen by the illustration which I give of one bay of the nave. The openings vary considerably in number, and the piercings of the tympanum and in the enclosing arch are also sin- gularly arranged. I know nothing like this singular tri- forium elsewhere. It is cer- tainly more curious than really beautiful, but at the same time it is valuable, as seeming to prove this part of the work to be Compartment of Nave. Chap. H. BURGOS CATHEDRAL. 15 from the hand of a native artist. The enclosing label is in all eases a segment of a circle, and filled with sculptured heads at short intervals apart. At first sight this triforium hardly seems to be of early date, having suffered by the addition of pinnacles covered with crockets in front of, and open traceried parapet walls between, the detached sliafts on which tlie early traceries were carried ; the result is, that one of the most striking features in the church is completely spoiled, and a general effect of very poor and tawdry design is felt more or less throughout the whole building.^ The original clerestory still, in great part, remains ; it is simple, but good and vigorous in style, and with but one special pecu- liarity in its detail. The windows are for the most part of two lights, with a quatrefoiled circle in the head ; and the peculiarity referred to here is the omission to carry the chamfer round the extrados of the arched heads to the lights or the circle ; the effect produced is peculiar, the tracery not looking as if it were pro- perly constructed, but as if the wheel had been loosely placed within the arch without having any proper connection with it. I have noticed the same arrangement in a church at Valladolid, and it must, I think, be regarded either as a freak of the workmen, or more probably as the exhibition of some degree of ignorance of the ordinary mode of executing the mouldings in window traceries. But here, with this one exception, as in almost all the details throughout the original work of this cathedral, there is little, if anything, to show that we are not in France, and looking at some of its best and purest thirteenth-century Gothic. There is no trace of Moorish or other foreign influence, the whole work being pure, simple, and good. In the aisles two only of the original windows still remain, and these show that they were lighted originally by a series of well-shaped lancets, with engaged jamb-shafts inside. The vaults are all slightly domical in section ; the diagonal ribs generally semi-circular, as also are the wall-ribs. The masonry of the cells is arranged in lines parallel to the ridge, but considerably distorted near the springing. The transepts, which, as has been said, are similar in their design to the nave, are of considerable size, and the view across ' I have not thought it necessary to eai-ly shafts, as well as by the complete draw these ruinous additions to the difierence in style. The original work early design. That they are additions is foi-tunately intact behind the added is easily proved by the way in which pinnacles, and there is nothing conjec- they are tied with bands of iron to the tural in its restoration. 16 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIX. Chap. II. them is in fact the best internal view in the church. One early chapel alone remains, — on the east side of the north tran- sept, — and its groined roof is remarkable. It is a square in plan, with its vault divided into eight groining cells, forming two bays on each side, and with two lancet windows at the east end, each under a division of the vault. No one who has studied the gToiuing of the churches in Poitou and Anjou — so decided in their local peculiarities — can doubt, on comparison of them with this chapel, that it was the work of men who had studied in the same school, and it is remarkable tliat we find it repro- duced in the lantern of the great church of the Convent of Las Huelgas, near Burgos, of which I shall presently have to speak. In both cases the vaulting is very domical, and the joints of the stone filling-in of the cells are vertical. This chapel suggests, too, the question whether the first idea was not here, as well as at Las Huelgas, to have a series of chapels on the east side of the transepts, though I should decide tliis in the ne:e from the altar to the Coro. Gates in these screens admit of the passage of the people from one transept to the other whenever the services in the Coro are not going on. The Coro is usually fitted with two rows of stalls on its north, south, and west sides, the front row having no desks before them. The only- entrance is usually through the screen on the eastern side, and there are generally two organs placed on either side of the western bay of the Coro, above the stalls. In the centre of the Coro there is always one, and sometimes two or three lecterns, for the great illuminated office-books, M'hich most of the Spanish churches seem still to preserve and use. High metal screens are placed across the nave to the east of the Coro, and across the entrance to the choir, or ^^ capilla mayor,'^ as its eastern part is called. These screens are called 7'ejas. Above the crossing of the choir and transepts there is usually an open raised lantern, called by the Spaniards the ciniborio ; and behind the altar, at the end of the Capilla mayor, is usually a great sculi^tured and painted retablo or reredos. All these arrangements are generally described as if they were invariably found in all Spanish churches, as they certainly are at Burgos and many others now ; and an acute and well-informed writer in the ' Ecclesiologist ' suggests that their origin may perhaps be looked for in the early churches of the Asturias and Galicia, since he had looked in vain, in both Spanish and Mozarabic liturgies, for any peculiar dogma or ritual practice which would have involved arrangements so different from those common in other countries. The grounds for my opinion will appear as I describe other churches in other places ; but I may here at once say that what occurred to me at Burgos Mas to some extent confirmed elsewhere, namely, that most of these arrangements have no very old authority or origin, but are comparatively modern innovations, and that they are never seen in their completeness save where, as here, they are alterations or additions of the sixteenth or subsequent centuries, and they are usually Renaissance in their architectural character. This is particularly the case in regard to the arrangement of the Coro, as well as to its position in the church. At present the bishop is generally placed in a central stall at its Avestern end ; yet of this I have seen only one or two really genuine old examples ; for, wherever the arrangement occurs in a choir where the old stalls remain, it will be found, I believe, that the bishop's stall is an interpolation and addition of the sixteenth, seventeenth, or eighteenth century, and that where the old western screen c 18 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. II. remains, the throne blocks up the old door from the nave into the Coro. 'Jlie word Ciraborio is only the S])anisli term for our lantern. The early Spanish churches were like our own in the adoption of this fine feature, and, with such modifications as might be expected, the central lantern is still an invariable feature in most of them. The term Cimborio, however, seems to have no special significance, and, as I prefer the use of an English terminology wherever it is appropriate, I shall generally use the word lantern, rather than Cimborio. There are some of these terms, however, which it will frequently be convenient to use ; such, for instance, are the words Reja, Coro, Capilla mayor, and Trascoro, all of which describe Spanish features or arrange- ments unknown in our own churches. At Burgos the Coro occupies the three eastern bays of the nave, and the only entrance to it is through a doorway in its eastern screen. The stalls, screens, and fittings are all of early Renaissance Avork, and were the gift of Bishop Pascual de Fuensanta, between a.d, 1497 and a.d. 1512. There are about eighty stalls, in two rows, returned at the ends, and very richly carved, over the lower stalls with subjects from the New, and over the upper stalls with subjects from the Old Testament. In the centre of the choir, concealed by the great desk for the books (which, by the way, are old, though not very fine ^), lies a magnificent effigy of Bishop Maurice, the founder of tlie church. It is of wood, covered with metal plates, and very sumptuously adorned with jewels, enamels, and gilding. He was bishop from A.D. 1213 to A.D. 1238, and his effigy appeared to me to be very little later than the date of his death. A special architectural interest attaches to the life of this pre- late, for the tradition in Burgos has always been that he was an Englishman, who came over in the train of the English Princess Alienor, Queen of Alfonso VIIL, and, having been Archdeacon of Toledo, became in a.d. 1213 Bishop of Burgos. Florez,'-^ liow- ' The Chapter entered into a contract by Mr. Waring in his 'Architectural with one Jusepe Rodriguez for these Studies in Burgos.' books; but Philip II. insisted upon his ^ ' Espaila Sagrada,' vol. xxvi. p. 301. being set free from this contract in order G. G. Davila, ' Teatro Ecclesiastico de that he might work for him on the las Yglesias de Espana,' iii. 65, says books for the Escoi'ial, where he wrought that Maurice was a Frenchman; and from A.D. 1577 to a.d. 1585. — Cean Ber- he mentions the consecration by him mudez, Dice. Hist, de las Bellas Artes en of the Premonstratensian Church of Sta. Espana. Some illustrations of initial Maria la Real de Aguilar de Campo, on letters in the Burgos books are given the 2nd Kal. Nov. 1222. Chap. II. BURGOS CATHEDRAL. 19 ever, doubts tlie tradition, and observes that his parents' names, Rodrigo and Oro Sabia, were those of Spaniards. Two years before the cathedral Mas commenced he went on an embassy through France to Germany, to bring Beatrice, daughter of tlie Duke of Suabia, to marry King Ferdinand ; so that, even if he were not of Engiisli birth, he was at any rate well travelled, and had seen some of tlie noble works in progress and completed in France and Germany at this date. In a.d. 1221 he laid the first stone of his new cathedral: — "Primus lapis ponitur in fundamento novi operis ecclesiae Burgens : xx. die mensis Julii era millesima cj^uinquagesima nona die Sancte Margarite." ' Florez gives two other similar statements, one from the Martyr- ology of Burgos, and the other from the Chronicle of Cardeiia. The King and the Bishop are said to have laid the first stone in the grand column on the epistle side of the choir ; and the work went on so rapidly that in November, a.d. 1230, when he drew up directions as to the precedence of the various members of the chapter, their order of serving at the altars, and of walking in processions, the Bishop was able to write, " Tempore iiostrce translationis ad novam fabricam" ^ Bishop Maurice was buried in the church, and his monument was afterwards moved to the front of the Trascoro (or screen at the west end of the choir) by Bishop Ampudia, before his death, in A.D. 1512. It has never been moved from the spot in Avhich it w^as then placed, and yet, owing to the rearrangement of the stalls, it is now in the very midst of the Coi'O,^ and aftbrds an invaluable piece of evidence of the fact already stated, that of old the stalls did not occupy their present place in the nave.* There is nothing else worthy of note in the Coro. Its floor is boarded, and a long passage about six feet wide, between rails, leads from its door through the choir to a screen in front of the high altar. The people occupy the choir, hemmed in between these rails and the parclose screens under the side arches. The altar has a late and uninteresting Retablo, in Pagan style, carved with ' Esp. Sag., xxvii. 306 ; ' Memoi'ial is constantly used as late as the middle in the Archives at Burgos,' ii. fol. .'-7. of the fourteenth century in all Spanish The era 1259 answers to a.d. 1221. inscriptions and documents. The "era" so frequently occurring in - Esp. Sag., xxvii. 313. Spanish records precedes the year of ^ Esp. Sag., xxvi. 315. our Lord by thirty-eight years, and is, •• Ponz states that Bishop Pascual in fact, the era of the Emperor Csesar de Fuensanta (1497-1512) moved the Augustus. See ' Cronicas de los Reyes stalls from the Capilla mayor (/. c. choir) de Castilla,' vol. i. p. 31, and ' Espana to the middle of the church; and Sagrada,' vol. ii. pp. 23 et seq., for an Florez, Esp. Sag. xxvi. 315 and 413, explanation of tliis computation, which makes the same statement. c 2 20 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. II. large subjects and covered with gold.^ The steps to the altar are of wliite, black, and red marble, counterchanged ; and at the entrance to the choir under tlie lantern are two brass pul[)its or ambons, for the Epistoler and Gospeller, an admirable and primitive arrange- ment almost always preserved in Spanish churches. The columns of the choir arches have been modernized, and there is consequently but little of the old structure visible on the inside, the Ketablo rising to the gi-oining, and concealing the arches of the apse. Between these arches sculptures in stone are introduced, which are said to have been executed by Juan de Borgona, in 1540. They are bold and sj)irited compositions in high relief, and give great richness of effect to the aisle towards which they face. The subjects are — (1) the Agony in the Garden ; (2) our Lord bearing His Cross ; (3) the Crucifixion ; (4) the Descent from the Cross and the Ivesurrection ; (5) the Ascension. Numbers 1 and 5 are not original, or at any rate are inferior to and different in style from the others. When we leave the choir for its aisles, we shall find that every- thing here, too, has been more or less altered. Chapels of all sizes and sliapes have been contrived, either by addition to or alteration of the original ground-plan ; and, picturesque as the tout ensemble is, with dark shadows ci'ossed here and there by bright rays of light from the side windows, with here a domed Renaissance chapel, there one of the fourteenth century, and here, again, one of the fifteenth, it has lost all that simplicity, unity, and harmony which in a perfect building ought to mark this, the most important part of a church. In truth hardly any part of the aisles or chapels of the chevet of Bishop Maurice now remains; for of the two early chapels on the north side (marked a and h on the plan), the former is evidently of later date, being possibly the work of Bishop Juan de Villahoz, who founded a chapel here, dedicated to S. Martin, in A.D. 1268-69.^ The style of this chapel is very good middle- pointed; the abaci of the capitals are square, the tracery is geometrical, the vaulting very domical, and its north-western angle is arched across, and groined with a small tripartite vault, in order to bring the main vault into the required polygonal form. This arrangement occurs at an earlier date, as I shall ' Ponz, 'Viage de Espaua,' xii. 28, native of Madrid), and Gregorio Mar- says that the sculptures of this Retablo tiuez of Valladolid, painted and gilded were executed bj^ Rodrigo de la Aya it for ll,iiOO ducats in three years, and his brother Martin between a.d. finishing in A d. 1593. Ii77 and l.")93 at a cost of 40,000 2 Esp_ ga.g.^ xxvi. 3:51. ducats ; and that Juan de Urbina (a Chap. II. BUKGOS CATHEDRAL. 21 have presently to show, at Las Huelgas (close to Burgos), but ought to be noticed here, as the same feature is seen reproduced, more or less, in many Spanisli works of the fifteenth century, and here we have an intermediate example to illustrate its gradual growth. It is, in fact, the Gothic substitute for a pen- dentive. The other chapel (b) I believe to be the one remaining evidence of the original plan of the clievet ; and, looking at it in connexion with the other portions of the work, and especially with the blank wall between which and the cloister the new sacristy is built, it seems pretty clear that originally there were only three chapels in the chevet, and all of them pentagonal in plan. Between these chapels and the transepts there would then have been two bays of aisle without side chapels, and on the eastern side of each of the transepts a small square chapel, one of which still remains. This plan tallies to some extent with that of the cathedral at Leon (with which the detail of Burgos may Avell be compared), and is in some respects similar to that of the French cathedrals of Amiens, Clermont, and some other places. In fact, the planning of this chevet is one of the proofs that the work was of French, and not of Spanish origin. At the east end of the cathedral is a grand chapel, erected about A.D. 1487, by the Constable D. Pedro Fernandez de Velasco and his wife. This remarkable building was designed by an architect whose work we shall see again, and of whom it may be as well at once to say a few words. Juan de Colouia — a German by birth or origin, as his name shows — is said to have been brought to Burgos by Bishop Alfonso de Cartagena (a.d. 1435 to A.D. 1456) when he returned from the Council of Basle. There is evidence that he built the chapel of the great Carthusian monastery of Miraflores, on the hill just out- side the town ; and there is, I believe, but little doubt that he wrought here too. His work is very peculiar. It is essen- tially German in its endless intricacy and delicacy of detail, but has features which I do not remember to have seen in Germany, and which may fairly be attributed either to the Spaniards who worked under him, or to an attempt on his own part to accom- modate his work to Spanish tastes. The chapel is octagonal at the east, but square at the west end ; and pendentives of exactly the same kind of design as those of the early German and French churches are introduced across the western angles of the chapel, to bring the plan of the central vault to a complete octagon. They are true jjendentives, and 22 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIX. (hap. II. quite unlike those three-sided vaulting bays across the angles of the apse chapels, to which I just now referred, and which answer precisely the same purpose. They are hardly at all Gothic, having semi-circular arches, and the masonry below them being filled in Avith stones radiating as in a fan, from the centre of the base of the })endentive. The groining ribs (the mouldings of which interpenetrate at the springing) form by their intersection a large star of eight points in the centre, and the cells between the ribs of this star are pierced with very elaborate traceries. This is a feature often reproduced in late Spanish works, and it is one which aids largely in giving the intricate and elaborately lacelike effect aimed at by the Spanish architects at this date, to a greater extent even than by any of their contemporaries in other lands ; for though this, which is welluigh the richest example of the Spanish art of the fifteenth century, was designed by a German, we must remember that he was following, to a great extent, Spanish traditions, and was largely aided in all the better portion of tlie detail by national artists, among whom the greatest was, perhaps, Gil de Siloe, whose work in the monuments at Mira- riores I shall presently have to describe. And it is not a little curious, and perhaps not very gratifying to the amour propre of Spanish artists, that in this great church the two periods in which the most artistic vigour Avas shown, and the grandest architectural works undertaken, were marked, the first by the rule of a well-travelled bishop — commonly said to be an English- man — under an English princess, and Avho seems to have employed an Angevine architect; and the second by the rule of another travelled bishop, who, coming home from Germany, brought with him a German architect, into whose hands all the great works in the city seem at once to have been put. I must return, however, to the descrijjtion of the detail of the Constable's chapel. Each bay of the octagonal part of the chapel below the vaulting is divided in this way : below is a recessed arch, under which is an enormous coat-of-arms set aslant on the wall, with coarse foliage round it. These arches have a very ugly fringe of shields and supporters, and finish with ogee canopies. Above are the windows, which are of flamboyant tracery of three lights ; the windows being placed one over the other, the outer mouldings of the upper window going down to the sill of the lower. There are altars in recesses on the east, north, and south sides of the octngon; ^nd the two latter stand upon their old fotit-paces, formed by flights of three steps, the ends of which Chap. II. BURGOS CA'iHEDKAL. 23 towards the chapel are filled with rich tracery. The monument of the Constable Velasco is in the centre of the chapel ; and a velvet pall belonging to it is still presented, adorned with one of tliose grand stamped patterns so constantly seen in medi- seval German paintings. The stalls for the clergy are arranged strangely in an angle of the chapel, fenced round with a low screen, and looking like one of tliose enclosures in some of our own churches sacred to archdeacons and their officials. A quaint little vestry is contrived outside the south-east angle of the octagon, and in it are preserved some pieces of plate of the same age as the chapel. Among these are — A chalice of silver gilt, enamelled in white and red, with its bowl richly set with pearls strung on a wire : the knop is richly enamelled, and its edge set witli alternate emeralds and sapphires ; whilst the sexfoiled foot is in the alternate com- partments engraved with coats-of-arms, and set with sapphires. It is a very gorgeous work, and, though all but Kenaissance in style, still very finely executed. A pax ; the Blessed Virgin Mary holding our Lord, and seated on a throne covered with pearls and other jewels. The figure of the Blessed Virgin Maiy is enamelled with blue, and our Lord is in ivory. The old case for this is preserved, and has a drawer below it which contains papers referring to the gift of it. Another small pax; a flat plate enamelled, with crocketed pin- nacles at the side, but no figure. A fine thurible for incense, in the form of a ship, wdth Adam and Eve on the lid. A very good flagon, richly chased all over, sexfoil in section, and with a particularly good spout and handle. There are many other chapels, as will be seen by reference to the plan, added to various parts of this cathedral, though none of them are of anything like the same importance as that of the Constable, which gives, indeed, much of its character to the exterior of the whole church, so large, lofty, and elaborate is it. On the south side of the south aisle of the nave is one which in the treatment of its groining cells, which are filled with tracery, seems to show the hand of Juan de Colonia; whilst another chapel on the north side of the nave, partly covered with a late Gothic vault, and partly with a dome, may be either a later work of his, or, more probably, of his son Simon de Colonia ; another to the east of this is remarkable for the cusps, which come from the moulded ribs and lie on the surface of the vaulting cells in a way I do 24 UUTlilC AUCUlTECTUllE IN SPAIN. Chap. II. not reiuember to have seeu before. In these chapels ' we see tlie dying out of the old art in every stage of its progress ; and I tliink that both here and elsewhere in Spain the change was much more gradual than it was in most other parts of Europe, many of the early Renaissance masters having availed them- selves largely of the picturesque detail of their predecessors' work. The central lantern was the last great work executed in this cathedral, and its history must be given somewhat at length, as it is of much interest. In the Royal Library at ]\Iadrid ^ there is preserved a MS., from which we learn that the " crossing " of the cathedral fell on the 4th of March, 1539 ; and that Felipe de Borgona, " one of the three ' maestros' who in the time of our Emperor came to our Spain, from Avhom we have learned perfect architecture and sculpture, though in both they say he had the advantage over the others," was intrusted with the execution of the new work erected in its place. This Cimborio or lantern was completed, according to this MS., in December, a.d. 1567, Maestro Vallejo being mentioned as having wrought at the work under Felipe de Borgotia ; Cean Bermudez,^ without giving his authorities, says, that the Bishop (celebrated for the many buildings he had erected, among others San Esteban at Salamanca), on the fall of the "crucero," summoned Felipe de Borgona from Toledo, where he was at work with Berruguete on the stalls, to superintend the cathedral architects Juan de Vallejo and Juan de Castaneda. Maestro Felipe seems to have died in a.d. 1543, so that it is probable that after all most of the work was done after his death by Juan de Vallejo, who was sufficiently distinguished to be consulted with the architects of Toledo, Seville, and Leon about the building of the nesv cathedral at Salamanca in a.d. 1512, and had also, between the years a.d. 1514 — Id'JA, built the very Re- naissance-looking gateway which opens from the east side of the north transept into the Calle de la Pellegi-ia. The whole com- position of this lantern is Gothic and picturesque ; yet there is scarce a portion of it which does not show a most strange mix- ture of Pagan and Gothic detail. The piers which support it are ' The chapel of the Visitation was built time of Enrique II. — Caveda, Ensayo by Bishop Alouso de Cartagena, 1435- Historico, 379-80. 5fJ. The chapel of Sta. Ana was built 2 Cod. M., No. 9. by Bishop Luis Acuiiay Osorio, 1457-95. •* Noticias de los Arquitectos y Arqui- The chapel of Sta. Cataliua in the tectura de Esjmna, vol. i. 206-7. Cloister is said to have been built in the BURGOS CATHEDRAL XORTH-WEST VIEW. Chap. II. BURGOS CATHEDRAL. 25 huge, ungainly cylinders, covered with carving in low relief, and everywhere there is that combination of heaviness of parts and intricacy of detail, which in all ages marks the inferior artist. I cannot help lamenting much, therefore, the fall of the old work inA.D. 1539. There is no evidence, so far as I know, as to what it was that fell,^ but the nearly coeval church of Las Huelgas has a fine simple lantern, and it is probable that some such erection existed in the cathedral, and that Bishop Luis de Acuna y Osorio raised it, and, by increasing its weight, caused its fall. The central lantern is so completely a feature of Englisli build- ings, or of those built in lands over which our kings also ruled, that any evidence of their early existence here would liave been most valuable, seeing how close the connexion was at the time of its erection between the families of the kings of Castile and of England. The groined roofs next to the lantern, on all sides, were of necessity rebuilt at the same time, and with detail quite unlike that of the original vault. The exterior of the cathedral may be described at less length than the interior, presenting, as it does, fewer alterations of the original fabric, and much of what has been said of the one necessarily illustrating the other also. The west fi'ont is Avell known by the many illustrations which have been published of it. The ground on which the church stands slopes up, as I have said, rapidly from south to north, but a level Plaza has been formed in front of the doors, and part of which is enclosed with balustrades and pinnacles of a sort of bastard Gothic, which I see drawn in a view published circa 177U, and which may possibly be of the same age as the latest Gcthic works in the cathech-al. On the rising ground to the north-west stands the little church of San Nicolas, high above the cathedral parvise, and hence it is that the view which I give from Mr. Fergusson's book is taken. Nothing can be more determinately picturesque, though nothing can be less really interesting, than this florid work, which everywhere substituted elaboration for thought, and labour for art. But I need say no more on this point ; for if we now look more closely, we shall see that, underlying all these unsatisfying later excrescences, the ' Florez, Esp. Sag. xxvi. 393, says : middle of the church with eight tm-rets, "A MS. which I have says that Bishop which became a ruin in the middle of Luis Acuna y Osorio (1457-9j) re- the following century." formed the fabric of the transept in the 26 GOTHIC ARCHITECTDKE IN SPAIN. Chap. II. old thirteenth century cathedral is still here, intact to an extent which I had not at first ventured to liope for. The Avestern doors are three in number, but have been com- pletely modernized. Of old the central door, '"del Pardon," had effigies of the Assumption, with angels and saints ; the northern door " the mystery of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin ; " and the southern door her coronation.^ Above the side doorways the two steeples rise, whilst in the centre is a finely- traceried rose-window, which lights the nave ; and above this two lofty traceried openings, each of four lights, with effigies of saints standing one under each light, the whole forming a screen con- necting the steeples, and entirely masking the roof. The steeples, up to this level, are of the original foundation, much altered in parts, and now put to strange uses, their intermediate stages being converted into dwelling-houses, and lively groups of cocks and hens being domesticated on a sort of terrace a hundred feet from the floor. The upper part of the towers and the spires was added in the fifteenth century, by Bishop Alfonso de Cartagena (1435-56), who employed Juan de Colonia (the German of whom I have already spoken) to design them. German peculiarities do not gain in attractiveness by being exported to Spain, and this part of Juan de Colonia's work is certainly not a success. Nothing can be less elegant than the termination of the spires, which, instead of finishing simply and in the usual way, are surrounded near the top by an open gallery, and then terminated with the clumsiest of finials. This work was commenced in A.D. 1442, and when the bishop died in A.D, 1456, one spire was finished, and the other, being well advanced, was soon completed under Bishop Luis Acuiia y Osorio, the founder also of the central lantern.^ Between the two towers is a figure of the Blessed Virgin, with the words " Fulcra es et decora." On the upper part of the towers, " Ecce Agnus Dei," and "Pax vobis ; " and on the spires, " Sancta Maria," and "Jesus." These woi'ds are in large stone letters, with the spaces round them pierced. The detail of the spires is coarse, and the open stonework traceries with which they are covered are held together every- where by ironwork, most of which appeared to me to have been added since the erection. The crockets are enormous, ' A view of the west front in A.D. tween them. — Esp. Sag. xxvi. p. 40-4-. 1771 shows the three western doors in - Ceau Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. their old state ; they had statues on 105, lOH. the duor-jarabs, and ou the piers be- CiiAP. II. BUKGOS CATHEDRAL. 27 projecting two feet from the angles of the spires, curiously scooped out at the top to diminish their weight, and with holes drilled through them to prevent the lodgement of water. The bells are, I think, the most misshapen I ever saw ; and, as if to prove that beauty of all kinds is sympathetic, they are as bad in sound as they are in form ! The fa9ades of the two transepts are quite unaltered, and as tine as those of the best of our French or English churches. I par- ticularly delighted in the entrance to and entourage of the southern transept, presenting as it does all those happy groupings which to the nineteenth-century Eue-de-Eivoli-loving public are of course odious, but to the real lover of art simply most exquisite and quaint.^ The cloister and bishop's palace, built out from the church on the south, leave a narrow lane between tliem, not absolutely in face of the gi-eat door, but twisting its way up to it ; the entrance to this is through a low archway, called the Puerta del Sarmental, above which, on the right, towers one of the enormous and really noble crocheted pinnacles which mark the angles of the cloister, and then, passing by several old mommients built into the walls of the passage, the great doorway is reached by a flight of steps at its end. Above tliis doorway is a fine rose window of twenty ravs of jjeometrical tracerv, and above this is a screen in front of the roof, consisting of fom' traceried openings, each of four lights, and each monial protected, as are the lights at the west front, by figures of angels rather above life- size. The angles of the transepts are flanked by crocketed pinnacles, the crockets here, as elsewhere throughout the early ' It was well that I used the word rac — little indeed as I require to be "delighted" when I wrote this page, satisfied on the point, — and this is, that for this passage no longer delights me in dealing -R-ith old buildings it is as it did. I visited Burgos again last absolutely impossible to be too con- year (1863'', and found the Cathedral servative in everything that one does, undergoing a sort of restoration ; masons Often what seems — as doubtless this cleaning up everything inside, and by thing did to the people of Burgos — the way of a beginning outside they had most plain improvement is just, as this widened the passage to the south door, is, a disastrous change for the worse, so as to make it square with and of the And when we find old work, the reason same width as the doorway ; to do this a for or meaning of which we do not quite slice had been cut oflF the bishop's palace, perceive, we cannot be wrong in letting at some inconvenience to the bishop, no well alone. It is to be hoped that doubt, the result of doing it being simply Spain is not now going to undergo what thatmuchof the beauty and picturesque- England suffered from James Wyatt ness of the old approach to tlie church and others, and what she is still in is utterly lost for ever. Of one thing, many places suffering at the hands of such an unsuccessful alteration satisfies those who follow in their steps ! 28 GOTHIC ARCHlTECrrURE IN SPAIN. Chap. 11. work, being" simple in form and design, but as ])erfect in effect as it is ]iossible for crockets to be. The sculptures of the south door are, in the tympanum, our Lord seated with the evangelistic beasts arouud Him, and the four evangelists, one on either side and two above, seated and writing at desks, whilst below His feet are the twelve apostles, seated and holding open books. Below, there is a bishop in front of the central pier, and statues on either side, of which I made out two on the right to be St. Peter and St. Paul, and the two answering to them on the left jMoses and Aaron. The three orders of the archivolt have — (1) angels with censers, and angels with candles ; (2 and 3) kings seated, and playing musical instruments. Here, as throughout the early sculpture, the character of the work is very French, and the detail of the arcading below the statues in the jambs is very nearly the same as that of the earliest portion of the work in the west front of the Cathedral at Bourges. The north transept differs but little from the other. The doorway — De Los Apostoles — is reached from the transept floor by an internal staircase of no less than thirty-eight steps (the sixteenth-century work of Diego de Siloe), and the whole front is of course much less lofty than that of the south transept, owing to the great slope of the ground up from south to north. Above the doorway is an early triplet, and above this the roof-screen and pinnacles, the same as in the other transept. The door- way has in the tympanum our Lord, seated, with St. Mary and St. John on either side, and angels with the instruments of the Passion above and on either side. Below is St. Michael Aveighing souls, with the good on liis left, and the wicked on his right. The orders of the archivolt have — (1) seraphim, (2) angels, and (3) figures rising from their graves : and the jambs have figures of the twelve apostles. Varieties of Crockets. A. In Tower \Viiidow Jamb. B. Do. do. Arch. C. On Pinnacles of South Transept. lURGOS CATHEDRAL, p. 29 CLERESTORY OF CHOIR. Chap. II. BURGOS CATHEDRAL. 29 The ascent to tlie roofs discloses the remaining early fea- tures. These are the clerestory windows, and the double flying buttresses, of which I give an illustration. The water from the main roofs is carried down in a channel on the flying but- tresses and discharged by gurgoyles. There are some sitting figures of beasts added in front of the buttresses which are not original. The parapet tliroughout is an open trefoiled arcade, with an angel standing guard over each buttress. The detail of the clerestory windows is very good ; they are of two lights, with a cusped circle above, and a well-moulded enclosing arch. The windows in the apse are built on the curve. The capitals of the shafts in and under the flying buttresses are well carved, and there is a good deal of dog-tooth enrichment. At the back of the screen-walls, in front of the roofs of the nave and transepts, is seen the old weather-moulding markincr the line of the verv steep-pitched roof (which was evidently intended to be erected), and the stones forming which are so contrived as to form steps leading up to the ridge, and down again to the opposite gutter. In the transept, pinnacles take the place of the angels over the buttresses, and their design is very piquant and original. The moulded stringcourse at the base of these pinnacles is of a section often seen in French work, and never, I believe, used by any but French workmen. All the steep roofs have long since vanished, and in their place are flat roofs, covered with pantiles laid loosely and roughly, and looking most ruinous. It may well be a question, I think, whether the steep roofs were ever erected. The very fact that they were contemplated in the design and construction of the stonework, appears to me to afford evidence of the design not having been the work of a Spaniard : and it is of com'se possible that, at the first, the native workmen may have put up a roof of the flat jjitch, with which they were familiar, instead of the steep roofs for which the gables were planned. But, assuming that the steep roofs were erected, they must, no doubt, have been damaged by the fall of the lantern in 1539, and as it was reconstructed with reference to roofs of the pitch we now see, the roofs must have been altered at the latest by that time. It is quite worth while to ascend to the roofs, if only to see what is, perhaps, the most charming view in the whole church ; that, namely, which is obtained from the south-east angle of the lantern, looking down into the cloister, above the traceries of which rise the quaint pinnacles and parapets of the old sacristy, and the great angle pinnacles of the cloister itself. 80 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IF. whilst beyond are seen the crowded roofs of the city, the all but dry bed of the Arlanzon dividing it iji two parts, and beyond, on the one side, the steeple of the Convent of Las Huelgas rising among its trees, and on the other the great chapel of Miraflores, crowning a dreary, dusty, and desolate-looking hill in the distance. I have left to the last all notice of the cloisters, which are said to have been built in the time of Enrique II. (1379-90), but I can find no authority for the statement, and believe that they would be more rightly dated between a.d. 1280 and a.d. 1350.^ They are entered from the south transept by the fine doorway, of which a drawing is given by Mr. Waring in his w^ork on Burgos. This would be thought an unusually good example of middle-pointed work even in England, and is as fair an instance as I know of the extreme skill with which the Spanish artists of the same period wrought. The planning of the jambs, with the arrangement of the straight-sided overhanging canopies over the figures which adorn them, are to be noticed as being nearly identical in character with those of the north transept doorway at Leon, and the strange feature of an elliptical three-centred arch to the door opening under the tympanum is common to both. The tympanum is >vell sculptured with the Baptism of our Lord, and the well-accentuated orders of the arch have sitting figures under canopies, and delicately-carved foliage. The flat surfaces here are, wherever possible, carved witli a diaper of castles and lions, which was very popular throughout the kingdom of Castile and Leon in the fourteenth century. The figures on the left jamb of the door are those of the Annunciation, whilst, on the right, are others of David and Isaiah. The wooden doors, though much later in date, are carved with extreme spirit and power, with St. Peter and St. Paul below, and the Entry into Jerusalem and the Descent into Hell above. The ecclesiologist should set these doors open, and then, looking through the archway into the cloister, where the light glances on an angle column clustered round with statues, and upon delicate traceries and vaulting ribs, he will enjoy as charming a picture as is often seen. The arrangement of the masonry round this door shows, as also does its detail, that it is an insertion in the older wall.^ ^ In A.n. 1257 the king gave a piece cloistei-s ? of land opposite his palace (now the - One of the buttresses of the north Episcopal Palace) to the Dean of Burgos, transept is seen in the western alley of AVas not this for the erection of the the cloister. On the face of it still <^ w Pi H In <1 m cc H o C4 O PI u p h m Chap. II. BURGOS OATHEDHAL. 81 The cloisters are full of beauty and interest. They are of two stages in height, the lower plain, the upper very ornate, the M iudows being of four liglits, with a circle of ten cusps in the centre, and a quatrefoiled circle within the enclosing arch over the side lights. The groining ribs are well moulded, and the details throughout carefully designed and executed. At the internal angles of the cloister are groups of saints on corbels and under canopies placed against the groining shafts, and there is generally a figure of a saint under a recessed arch in the wall opposite each of the windows ; ^ besides which there are numerous monuments and doorways. Those on the east are the most noticeable. There is the entrance to the sacristy, with a sculpture of the Descent from the Cross in its tympanum ; the entrance to the room in Avhich the coffer of the Cid is preserved, with our Lord seated between SS. Mary and John and Angels ; and on the south side are in one bay S. Joseph of Arimathea laying our Lord in the sepulchre, in another the Crucifixion ; whilst sculptured high tombs, surrounded by iron grilles, abound. Indeed, I hardly know any cloister in which an architect might be better contented to be confined for a time ; for though there are many wliich are finer and in better style, I know none alto- gether more interesting and more varied, or more redolent of those illustrations of and links with the past, which are of the very essence of all one's interest in such Avorks. One of the doors on the east side of the cloister opens into the old sacristy, a grand room about forty-two feet square, the groining of which is octagonal, Avitli small three-sided vaultino- bays filling in the angles between the square and the octagon. The corbels supporting the groining shafts are very quaintly carved with the story of a knight battling with lions. Here are kept the vestments of the altars and clergy, a right goodly collection in number, and three of them very fine. These are a blue velvet cope with orphreys, fairly wrought on a gold ground, and all the work bound with a twisted cord, which in one part is black and yellow; another cope, also of blue velvet, has a half-figure of our Lord in the centre of the orphrey, and angels on the remainder and on the hood, with wings of green, purple, and blue, exquisitely shaded and lined Avith gold ; another has St. John the Baptist, the Blessed Virgin, our Lord, and three saints, under canopies. In all of them the velvet remains one of the original dedication ' On the east side these recessed crosses — a cross jiatte'e enclosed in a arches have very rich foliage in tlieir circle. suifeits. 32 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. II. ground was covered with a large diaper pattern in gold, done before the embroidery was applique. To the south of this sacristy is another groined chamber, in which is kept the coffer of tlie Cid,^ and where the groining ribs are painted in rich colour for about three feet from the centre boss. A door out of this leads into the Chapter-house, a room with a flat wooden ceiling of JMoresque character. It is made in parqueterie of coloured woods arranged in patterns with gilt pendants, and the cornice is of blue and white majolica, inlaid in the walls : the combination of the whole is certainly very effective. East of these rooms were others, of whicli traces still remain on the outside ; but they have been entirely destroyed, and streets now form, on the east and on the south, the boundaries of the church and its dependent buildings. Advantage was taken of the rise of the ground to make a second cloister below that which I have been describing. In the centre of the enclosure stands a cross, but the arches are built up, and the cloister is now used for workshops, so that there is here none of that air of beauty which the gardened cloisters of Spain usually possess. In the north-west angle of this lower story is a sacristy, reached by a staircase from one of the clioir chapels, and still in use for it. I have now in a general way gone over the whole of this very interesting church, and have said enough, I hope, to prove that popular report has never overrated its real merits, tliough no doubt it has regarded too much those points only of the fabric which to my eye seemed to be least worthy of praise — the late additions to it rather than the old church itself. As to the charm of the whole building from every point of view there cannot be two opinions. It has in a large degree that real picturesqueness which we so seldom see in French Gothic interiors, whilst at the same time it still retains much of that fine Early Pointed work whicli could hardly have been tlie work of any but one who knew well the best French buildings of his day ; whoever he was — and amid the plentiful mention of later artists I have looked in vain for any mention of him — he was no servile reproducer of foreign work. The treatment of the triforium throughout is evidently an original conception ; ' The coffer of the Cid is that which rowed money, and hence, perhaps, the he filled with sand, and then pledged coffer is preserved, the first part of the for a loan from some Jews, who transaction being unquestionably not supposed it to be full of valuables ; verj^ worthy of record, afterwards he honestly repaid the bor- Chap. II. BURGOS CATHEDRAL. 33 and it is to be noted that the dog-tooth enric-limeut is freely used, and that the bells of the capitals throughout are octagonal with concave sides. The crocketing of the pinnacles is, I believe, quite original ; and the general plan- ning and construction \ of the building is worthy of all praise. Nor was ^ the sculptor less worthy of praise than the archi- tect. The carving of foliage in the early worlv is good and very plenti- ful ; the figured sculp- ture is still richer, and whether in the thir- teenth-century transept doors, the fourteenth- century cloisters, or the fifteenth- century Eeta- blos, is amazingly good and spirited. The thirteenth-century figures are just in the style of those Frenchmen who always conveyed so riant and piquant a character both of face and attitude to their work. The later architects all seem to have wrought in a fairly original mode ; and even where archi- tects were brought from Germany, there was some influence evidently used to prevent their Avork being a mere repetition of what was being done in their own land ; and so aided by the admirable skill of the Spanish artists who worked under them, the result is much more happy than might have been expected. Much, no doubt, of the picturesque effect of such a church is owing to the way in which it has been added to from time to time : to the large number, therefore, of personal interests em- bodied in it, the variety of styles and parts each of them full of individuality, and finally to the noble memorials of the dead which abound in it. In France — tlianks to revolutions and whitewash without stint — the noblest churches have a certain air of baldness which tires the eye of an Englishman used to our storied cathedrals : but in Spain this is never the case, and we may go to Burgos, as we may anywhere else in the land, certain that we shall find in each cathedral much that will illustrate every page of the history of the country, if well studied and rightly read. There is one point in which for picturesque ofitect few Conn- ie 34 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IT. tries can vie with Spain — and this is the admission of b'ght. In lier brilliant climate it seems to matter not at all how many of the windows are blocked np or destroyed : all that results is a deejier shadow thrown across an aisle, or a ray of light looking all the brighter by contrast ; and, though it is often a hard matter to see to draw inside a church on the brightest day, it is never too dark for comfort, and one comes in from the scorching sun outside and sits down in the darkest spot of the dark church with the utmost satisfaction. I saw an evidence here one night of the natural aptitude of the people for such effects, in the mode of lighting up the cathedral for an evening service in a large chapel at the east end. There Avas one lantern on the floor of the nave, another in the south transept, and the light burning before the altar : and in the large side chapel was a numerous congregation, some sitting on the floor, some kneeling, some standing, whilst a priest, holding a candle in his hand, read to the people from the pulpit. In this chapel the only other light was from the lighted candles on the altar. The whole church was in this way just enough lighted to enable you to see your way, and to avoid running against the cloaked forms that trod stealthily about ; and the effect would have been inexpressibly solemn, save for the occa- sional intrusion of a dog or a cat, who seem to be always prowling about, and not unfrequently fighting, in Sjiauish churches. Leaving the other churches and buildings of Burgos for the present, let us now cross the Arlanzon by one of its many bridges, and presently striking to the left we shall come upon the well-worn path by tlie side of the convent-stream, Avhich in less than a mile from the city brings us to a postern of Las Huelgas. Santa Maria la Real de las Huelgas was founded by Alfonso VIII., son of J). Sancho el Deseado, at the instance, it is said, of Leonor (or Alienor) his Queen, daughter of Henry II. of England, of whom I have before spoken in referring to Bishop iManrice, the founder of the cathedral. The dates given for the work are as follovv' : — The monastery was commenced in a.d. 1180 ; inhabited on the 1st June, a.d. 1187 ;^ and in a.d. 1199 formally established as a house of Cistercians. The first abbess ruled from a.d. 1187 to a.d. 1203; and the second, Dona Con- stanza, daughter of the founder, from a.d. 1203 to a.d. 1218; and from that time forward a large number of noble persons here took the veil, whilst kings were knighted, crowned, and buried Manriiiup, Anales Cisterciences, iii. 201. BUR(-]OS ^C/imni< Plan iit (jitlinlrHl F Chiiprl cr Ihr Pi : luUih^n U Ch„j,d afi' CtUJiuniii- ri Vmi-^^'or'irchbLshoplllauJiri F (l,,,/,^ on JLju „,„e I Jhinia del FariUn Pubbslied "b^* Jotn Murray, Albemarle S^ 1865 Chap. II. LAS HUELGAS. before its altars. No wonder, therefore, that tlie postern-gate of Las Huelgas — a simple thirteenth-century archway — leads, not at once into the convent, but into the village which has grown up around it, and which, whatever may have been its aspect in old times, is now as dreary, desolate, and forlorn-looking as only a Spanish or an Irish village can be, though still ruled as of yore by the lady abbess, — no doubt with terribly shorn and shrunken revenues. There is a small church in the village here, but it is of no interest : and we may well reserve ourselves for the great church rising from behind the boundary walls which shut in the convent on all sides, and the people's entrance to which is from an open courtyard on its north side through the transept porch. I give an illustration of the ground plan,^ from which it will be seen that the church consists of a nave and aisles of eight bays, transepts, and choir, with two chapels on either side of it opening into the transept, whilst a porch is erected in front of the north transept, and a cloister j)assage along the whole length of the north aisle. A tower is placed on the north-east of the. north transept, and a chapel has been added on its eastern side There is another cloister court, of which a not very trustworthy lithograph is given in M. Villa Amil's work. This is within the convent, from which every one but the inmates is rigorously excluded, but, as far as I can learn, it is on the south side of the nave. The central compartment of the h "«»i"I '^U. - transept is carried up above the rest as a lan- tern, and groined with an eight-sided vault. The choir has one bay of quadripartite and one of sexpartite vaulting, and an apse. The tran- sept chapels are all of them square in plan, but, by the introduction of an arch across thi angle (the space behind which is roofed with a small vault), the vaidt is brought to a half-octagon at the east end. This will be best understood by the illustration which I give of one of these Plate II. I. 2 36 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. II. chapels : and liere, too, it Avill be seen that the masonry of the vaulting cells is all arranged in vertical lines, — parallel, that is, to the centre of the vault, and that the transverse section of the vault is in all cases exceedingly domical. Nothing can be more pecuHar than this description of early vaulting, and it is one which, I beheve, originated in Anjou or Poitou, where num- berless examples may be found all more or less akin to this at Las Huelgas. This fact is most suggestive, for what more probable than that Alienor, Henry II.'s daughter, should, in the abbey which she induced her husband to found, have procured the help of some architect from her father's Angevine domain to assist in the design of her building ? Yet, on the other hand, there are some slight differences of detail between the Avork here and any French example with which I am acquainted, which make it possible that the architect was really a Spaniard, but if so, he must have been well acquainted, not only with the Angevine system of vaulting, but also with some of those English details which, as is well known, were in common use both in Anjou and in England in the latter part of the twelfth, and first half of the thirteenth century. A foreigner naturally gives us an exact reproduction of the work of some foreign school, just as we see at Canterbury in the work of William of Sens, and my own impression is strong that he must have been an Angevine artist who was at work here. If I am correct in attributing this jDeculiar church to the Angevine influence of the Queen, I prove at the same time a most important point in the history of the development of style in Spain. The planning of the church at Las Huelgas influenced largely the architects of Burgos, the capital of Castile and Leon. The groining of the only original chapel in the transept of the cathedi'al is a reproduction of the octopartite vault of the lantei-n at Las Huelgas ; and one may fairly suspect that so, too, was the original lantern of the cathedral. Then, again, in a fourteenth-century chapel, north of the choir of the cathedral, we see the same device {i.e. the arched pendentive across the angle) adopted for obtaining an octagonal vault over a square chamber ; and again in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in a chapel on the south of the nave, in the old sacristy, and finally in the all but Renaissance chapel of the Constable, we have the Spanish octagonal vault, supported on penden- tives, evidently copied by the German architect from the pen- dentives of the Iiomanesque churches on the Rhine. In these Burgalese examples we have a typal vault which is exten- Chap. II. LAS HUELGAS. 37 sively reproduced throughout Spain, and which I last saw at Barcelona, in work of the sixteenth century. It is a type of vault, in its later form, almost peculiar to Spain, and when filled in with tracery in the cell, I believe quite so. And it is undoubtedly more picturesque and generally more scien- tific in construction than our own late vaults, and infinitely more so than the thin, wasted-looking vaults of the French flamboyant style. But to proceed with my notice of the church of Las Huelgas. The nave is groined throughout with a quadripartite vault ; but beyond this I can say but little, as it is screened off from the church for the use of the nuns,^ and the oidy view of it is obtained through the screen. The main arches between the nave and aisles are very simple, of two orders, the inner square, the outer moulded. Above these is a string-course level with the springing of the groining, and then a clerestory of long, simple lancet windows, the whole forming a noble and impressive interior. Above the nuns' stalls on the south I noticed a good fifteenth-century organ, with pipes arranged in a series of stepped compartments, and painted shutters of the same shape ; below the principal range of pipes those of one stop are placed projecting horizontally from the organ. This is an almost universal arrangement in Spanish organs, and is always very picturesque in its effect, and I believe in the case of trumpet-stops very useful, though somewhat costly.^ The detail generally of all the architecture here is very good, and in particular nothing can be more minute and delicate in execution than some of the sculpture of foliage in the eastern chapels, where also, as is frequently the case in early Spanish buildings, the dog-tooth enrichment is freely introduced wherever possible. The design of the interior of the choir is very good ; below are lancet windows, with semi-circular inside arches ; and above, lancets with double internal jamb-shafts, very picturesquely introduced high up in the walls, and close to the groining. I could only get a glimpse of the exterior of the apse, owing to the high walls which completely enclose the convent on the east. It has simple but good buttresses, but otherwise there seems nothing worthy of note. The rest of the exterior is, however, very interesting. The general view Avhich ' The nuns' choir in the nave is, ac- - The organ in All Saints, Margaret cording to Florez, " the most capacious Street, has the pipes of one stop simi- of all that are known in cathedrals and larly placed ; but I know no old monasteries.'' Esp. Sag., xxvi. 582. English example of this arrangement. 38 GOTHIC AllCHlTECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. II. I give shows the extremely simple and somewhat English-look- ing west front ; the gateway and wail, with its Moorish battle- ments, dividing an inner conrt from the great court north of the church ; and the curious rather than beautiful steeple. An arched bell-cot rises out of the western wall of the lantern, and a tall staircase-turret out of the western wall of the north transept. The cloister, which is carried all along the north aisle of the nave of the church, is very simple, having two divisions between eacli buttress, the arches being carried on shafts, coupled in the usual early fashion, one behind the other. A very rich first-pointed doorway opens into the second bay from the west of this cloister, and a much simpler archway, with a circular window over it, into the fifth, and at its east end a most ingenious and picturesque group is produced by the contrivance of a covered passage from the cloister to the projecting transept- porch. The detail here is of the richest first-pointed, very delicate and beautiful, but, apparently, very little cared for now. The cloister is entirely blocked up and converted into a re- ceptacle for lumber, but I was able to see that it is groined. The rose window in the transept-porch, with doubled traceries and shafts, set one behind the other, with fine effect, the elaborate corbel-tables, and the doorway to the smaller porch — rich with chevron and dog-tooth — ought to be specially noticed : their detail being tolerably convincing as to their French origin. There are some curious monuments inside the transept- porch, Avliich I was not able to examine properly, as when I went to Las Huelgas a second time, in order to see tliem, I found the church locked for the day. To see such a church projDerly it is necessary to rise with the lark ; for after ten or eleven in the morning it is always closed. There is a good simple gateway of the thirteenth century leading into the western court of the convent, but otherwise I could see nothing old, though I daresay the fortunate architect who first is able to examine the whole of the buildings will find much to reward his curiosity.^ For there is not only a very ' Mr. Waving and M. Villa Amil very late Transitional work, probably have both published drawings of the not earlier than A. d. 1200. They appear inner cloister. The drawing of the latter to be arranged in arcades of six open is evidently not to be trusted ; but arches between larger piers, and with from Mr. Waring's view I gather that such a construction the cloister could the ai'ches are round, resting on cou- hardly have been intended for gi'oining. pled shafts, with large cai'ved capitals. The famous cloister at Elne, near Per- Mr. Waring calls them Romanesque, pignan, with those of Verona Cathedral, but in his drawing they look more like fc). Troj^hime at Arle.s, Montmajeur, and o n P r^ > ■n R < W ii Is ^-\ trl w R p m o Chap. 11. LAS HUELGAS. 31) tine early cloister, but also, it Madoz is to be trusted, a chapter- house, the vaulting of which is supported on four lofty columns, and which is probably, therefore, a square chamber Avith nine vaulting bays. A long list of royal personages buried here is given by Florez.' In the choir are the founders, Alfonso VIII. and Alienor; in the nave of Sta. Catalina, Alfonso VII., the founder's grand- father, his father, his son Don Henrique I., and twenty more of his kin ; and in the other parts of the church a similarly noble company. The king seems to have founded a hospital for men at the same time as, and in connexion with, the convent; but I saw nothing of this, and I do not know whether it still exists. Here took place many solemnities : Alfonso VII., nephew of the founder, was the first who was made a knight in it (a.d. 1219, Nov. 27) ; and in a.d. 1254 Don Alfonso el Sabio knighted Edward I. of England before the altar ; whilst in later days it seems that in a.d. 1330, in a.d. 1341, and again in a.d. 1366, the kings were here crowned ; - and in 1367 Edward the Black Prince lodged here after the battle of Navarrete, and went hence to the church of Sta. Maria to swear to a treaty with the King Don Pedro before the principal altar.^ The convent seems to have been quite independent of the Bishop,^ save that each abbess after her election went to ask him to bless the house, when he alw^ays answered by protesting that his consent to do so was in no wise to be construed in any sense derogatory to his power, or as binding on his successors. I observe that the abbesses here were elected for life until A.D. 1593, but that from that time they have held office for three years only; though in a few instances they have been re-elected for a second such term. It was a relief, after the picturesque magnificence of the later Burgalese architects, to turn to such a simple severe church as this at Las Huelgas. But I must not detain my readers any longer within its pleasant walls ; and we will imagine ourselves to be there in a.d. 1454, in the midst of a group of the greatest of Moissac, are examples of the class from " Espaiia Sagrada, xxvi. 350, 359. which the design of such a cloister as ■* An interesting account of this meet- this must have been derived, and its ing is given in Cronicas de los Reyes de character is therefore rather more like Castillos, i. p. 481-3. that of Italian work, or work of the ■* That it was "of no diocese" was South of France, than that of Northern expressly recorded among the titles France or England. borne by the Abbess, and given by Ponz, ' Espana Sagrada, xxvii. 011-14. Viage de Espana, xii. 65. 40 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. II. the nobles and clergy of Castile : we should have found the Bishop Alfonso de Cartagena there, and with him Juan de Colonia, his German architect, and jMaestro Gil de Siloe, the sculptor, and Martin Sanchez, tlie wood-carver, all of them invited and ready to take part in a great work just about to be completed. Juan II. had just died at Yalladolid, and forthwith his body was taken towards the Carthusian convent of Miraflores, by Burgos, where of old stood a palace, Avhich in a.d. 1441 he had converted into a convent, and in a.d, 1454, just before his death, had begun to rebuild. The Bishop met his body at Palenzuela — one day's journey from Burgos — and brought it in procession to the "Real Casa de Las Huelgas," where he rested the night, ; and thence he went onward, the coffin borne by ladies and gentlemen, to San Pablo in the city, whei*e the Dominican Fathers sung the funeral office, and the next day — the feast of St. John the Baptist — to 3Iiraflores, where the Bishop himself said the office and preached. Then the body was deposited with much pomp in the sacristy until the church should be finished.^ Let us follow them thither. The walk is dreary enough on this hot September day, and terribly deep in dust ; but yet, as it rises up the slope of the hills on the side of the river opposite to the cathedral and city, good views are obtained of both. It is but a couple of miles to the convent, which stands desolately by itself, and never was there a spot which, in its present state, could less properly be called Miraflores, where not even a blade of grass is to be seen. The chm-ch stands up high above all the other buildings, but its exterior is not attractive; its outline is somewhat like, though very inferior to that of Eton College chapel, and its detail is all rather poor. The windows, placed very high from the floor, are filled with flamboyant tracery, the buttresses are plain, and the pinnacles and parapet quite Renais- sance in their character, and are, no doubt, additions to the original fabric. The west gable is fringed with cusping — a very unliappy scheme for a coping-line against the sky! A court at the west end opens into the chapel by its west door, which is close to the main entrance to the convent ; but we were taken round by several courts and quadrangles, one of them a cloister of vast size, surrounded by the houses of the monks. These are of fair size, each having two or three rooms below, and two above. Their entrance doorways are square-headed, quaintly vnt up into a point in the centre of the lintel, and by the side of ' Sec the ucuouut at length in Esj). Sag., xxvii. 393 aud bo8. Chap. II. CHAFEL OF MIEAFLORES. 41 eacli door is a small hatch for the reception of food. Another smaller cloister, close to the south door of the church, has fair pointed windows, with their sills filled with red tiles, and edged with green tiles. Besides these remains, the only old work I saw was a good flat ceiling, panelled between the joists, and richly- painted in cinqueceuto fashion. A good effect was produced here by the prevalence of white and red alternately in the patterns painted on the joists. The chapel is entered from the convent by a door on the south side, in the third bay from the west. It consists of five bays and a polygonal apse, and is about 135 feet long, 32 wide, and 63 feet in height. The western bay is the people's nave, and is divided from the next by a metal screen. The second bav forms the Coro, and has stalls at the sides, and two altars on the east, one on each side of the doorway in the screen which separates the Coro from the eastern portion of the chapel. This last is fitted with five stalls on each side against the western screen, and witli twenty on either side, all of them extremely rich in their detail : there is a continuous canopy over the whole, and very intricate traceries at the back of each stall. ^ A step at the east end of the stalls divides the sacrarium from the western part of the chapel ; and nearly the whole of the space here is occupied by the sumptuous monument of the founder and his second wife, Isabel or " Elizabeth," as she is called in the inscription. In the north wall is the monument of the Infante Alfonso, their son ; and against the south wall is a sort of throne with very lofty and elaborate canopy, which is said by the cicerone to be for the use of the priest who says mass. Finally, the east wall is entirely filled with an enormous Eetablo. The groining throughout has, as is usually the case in late Spanish work in Burgos, a good many surface ribs, and enormous painted bosses at their intersections. These are so much undercut, so large, and so intricate in their design, that I believe they must be of wood, and not of stone. They are of very common occur- rence, and always have an extravagant effect, being far too large and intricate for their position. The apse is gi'oined in thirteen veiy narrow bays, and its groining ribs are richly foliated on the under side. Pagan cornices of plaster and whitewash liave been freely bestowed everywhere, to the gTeat damage of the walls, and to such an extent as to make the interior look cold ' These stalls are like late Flemish work, but wiought by a Spaniard, Martin Sanchez, circa a.o. l-i8<'', who received 125.000 maravedis for his labour. 42 GOTHIC ARCaiTECTUKE IN SPAIN. Chap. II. and gloomy. The windows' are filled with what looks like poor Flemish glass, though it may perhai)S be native work, as the names of two painters on glass, Juan de Santillana and Juan de Valdivieso, are known as residents in Burgos at the end of tlie fifteenth century,^ about the time at which it must have been executed. The monument of Juan and Isabel is as magnificent a work of its kind as I have ever seen ^ — richly wrought all over. The heraldic achievements are very gorgeous, and the dresses are everywhere covered with very delicate patterns in low relief. The whole detail is of the nature of the very best German third- pointed work rather than of flamboyant, and I think, for beauty of execution, vigour and animation of design, finer than any other work of the age. The plan of the high tomb on which the effigies lie is a square with another laid diagonally on it. At the four cardinal angles are sitting figures of the four evan- gelists, rather loosely placed on the slab, ■with which they seem to have no connexion ; the king holds a sceptre, the queen a book, and both lie under canopies with a very elaborate per- forated stone division between the figures ; round the sides of the tomb are ei3f]gies of kings and saints, figures of the Virtues, sculptured subjects, naked figures, and foliage of mar- vellous delicacy. A railing encloses the tomb. The whole is the work of Maestro Gil de Siloe ; and from the Archives of the Church it appears that, in a.d. 148G, he was paid J 340 maravedis for the design of the work, that he commenced its execution in A.D. 1489, and completed it in a.d. 1493. The monument cost 442,067 maravedis, exclusive of the alabaster, which cost 158,252 maravedis.^ About the same time the same sculptor executed the monu- ment of Alfonso, son of Juan and Isabel, in the north wall of the sacrarium. This, though less ambitious than the other, is a noble work. It consists of a high tomb with a recessed arch over it, and pinnacles at the sides. The high tomb has a great shield held by angels, with men in armour on either side ; under the arch above the Infante kneels at a Prie-Dieu. The arch is three-centred, edged with a rich fringe of foliage and naked figures ; and between it and the ogee gable above it is ^ See Cean Bermudez, Dice. Hist., vi. beauty, and curiousuess." — Ponz, Viage 171. de Esp., xii. Gl. The remark might - A decidedly hjriDerbolical inscription fairly have been made if he had referred is quoted by Ponz, in which the Chapel only to the monuments, of Miraflores is called a Temple, "second •* Quoted by Cean Bermudez, Dice, to none in the world for monuments. Hist., iv. 378. (JiiAP. II. CHAPEL OF MIRAFLORES. 43 II spirited figure of St. George and the Dragon. The side pinna- cles have figures of the twelve apostles, and one in the centre the Annunciation.^ The Retablo is no less worthy of notice. Its colour as well as its sculpture is of the richest kind. Below, on either side of the tabernacle (which has been modernized), are St. John Baptist and S. Mary Magdalene, and subjects on either side of them ; on the left the Annunciation, and S. Mary Magdalene anointing our Lord's feet, and on the right the Adoration of the Magi, and the Betrayal of our Lord ; whilst beyond, Alfonso and Isabel kneel at faldstools, with their coats-of-arms above them. Above the Tabernacle is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, and above this a grand circle entirely formed of clustered angels, in the centre of which is a great crucifix surmounted by the Pelican vulning her breast. Within this circle are four subjects from the Passion, and a King and a Pope on either side holding the arms of the Cross, which is completely detached from the background. On either side are S. John and S. Mary ; and beside all these, a crowd of subjects and figures, pinnacles and canopies, which it is impossible to set down at length. The whole of this work was done by the same Gil de Siloe, assisted by Diego de la Cruz, at a cost of 1,015,613 maravedis, and Avas executed between A.D. 1496 and 1499. Behind the Retablo some of the old pave- ment remains, of encaustic tiles in blue, white, and red. The works at this church seem to have made but slow progress owing to the troubled state of the kingdom after the death of Juan II. His son gave something towards the works in A.D, 1454, but nothing more until a.d. 1465. In a.d. 1474 he died, and was suc(;eeded by Isabel the Catholic, who, in a.d. 1476, confirmed the grants to the monastery, and completed the church in A.D. 1488 ; but it was not, as we have seen, until the end of the century that the whole work was really finished. Juan de Colonia made the plan for the building in a.d. 1454, for which he received b350 maravedis : he directed its construction for twelve years, and after his death, in a.d. 1466, Garci Fer- nandez de Matienzo continued it till he died of the plague in the year 1488, when Simon, son of Juan de Colonia, completed it.^ Having completed my notice of the three great buildings of Burgos and its neighbourhood, and which in their style and history best illustrate the several periods of Christian art, I now ' There is au illustrat.iou of this monu- Cean Bermudez, Dice. Hist. iv. .324, vi. meut in Mr. Wai-ing's book. 285, and Arq. de P^spaiia, i. liX} and - See Espafui Sagrada, xxvii. 559. 121. 44 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. 11. proceed to give some notes of the Conventual and Parish Churches, which are numerous and fairly interesting. In Burgos, ho\yever, as is so often the case on all parts of the Continent, the number of desecrated churches is considerable. The suppression of monasteries involved their desecration as a matter of course ; and Avithout religious orders it is obviously useless to have churches crowded together in the way one sees them here. I remember making a note of the relative position of three of these churches, which stand corner to corner without a single intervening house ; and though this is an extreme case, the churches were no doubt very numerous for the population. Unluckily a desecrated church is generally a sealed book to an ecclesiologist. They are usually turned to account by the military; and soldiers view with proverbially jealous eyes any one who makes notes ! Just above the west front of the Cathedral is the little church of San Nicolas, mainly interesting for its Ketablo, which, however, scarcely needs description, though it is gorgeously sculptured with the story, I think, of the patron. Its date is fixed by an inscription, which I give in a note.^ On either side are monu- ments of a type much favoured in. Spain, and borrowed probably from Italy, of which the main feature is, that the figures lie on a sloping surface, and look painfully insecure. Here too I saw one of the first old western galleries that I met with in my Spanish journeys ; and as I shall constantly have to mention their exist- ence, position, and arrangement in parochial churches, it may be as well to say here, that at about the same date that choirs were moved westward into the naves of cathedrals, western galleries, generally of stone, carried on groining, and fitted up with stalls round three sides, with a great lectern in the centre, and organs on either side, were erected in a great number of parish churches. It cannot be doubted that in those days the mode of worship of the people was exactly what it is now ; no one cared much if at all for anything but the service at the altar, and the choir was banished to where it would be least seen, least heard, and least in the way ! At present it seems to me that one never sees any one taking more than the slightest passing notice of the really finely-performed service even in the cathedral choirs ; whilst in contrast to this, in the large churches, with an almost endless number of altars, all are still used, and all seem to have each ' " Nobilis Vir Gonsalvus Polauco, conquiescuut :" " Obiit ille auuo 1505 atque ejus conjux Eleonora Mirauda hsec vero 1503." hujus sacri altaris auctores hoc tumulo Chap. II. BUEGOS : SAX NICOLAS. 45 tlieir own flock of worshippers ; and thougli it is a constant source of pain and grief to an ever-increasing body of English Churchmen that the use of their own altars should be so lament- ably less than it ever was in primitive days, or than it is now in any other branch of the Catholic Chin-ch, it is some comfort to feel that our people have tried to retain due respect for some of the other daily uses of the Church, inferior though they be. In Spain, though I was in parish churches almost eveiy day during my journey, I do not remember seeing the western gallery in use more than once. Sometimes it has been my fate to meet with men who suppose that the common objection to galleries in churches is, that there is no old " authority " for them. Well, here in Spain there is authority without end ; and I commend to those Anglicans who wish to revive or retain their use in England the curious fact, that the country in Avhich we find it is one distinguished beyond all others by the very decided cha- racter of its Eomanism, and the period in Avhich they were erected there, one in which Eome was probably more hostile to such as they than any other in the whole course of her history.^ The gallery of San Xicolas is less important than most of its class are ; and there is indeed Uttle to detain any one within its walls. Externally there is a low tower rising out of the west end of the south aisle. This has a fine third-pointed south doorway with an ogee crocketed canopy, and a belfry stage of two lancet-lights on each face, roofed with a flat roof of pantiles. The remainder of the church has been much altered ; but a good flying-buttress remains on the south side, and one or two lancet-windows which convey the impression that the fu-st founda- tion of the church must have been in the thirteenth century. The east wall is not square, but built so as to suit the irregular site. The whole church is ungainly and ugly on the exterior, and its planning and proportions neither picturescpie nor scien- tific. It is, in short, one of those churches of which we have so many in England, from which nothing is to be learnt save on ^ I fear I must add that Roman Catho- old iisage, was given to the choii" to lies still seem to be fond of western galle- sing praises to God, seems from the ries; for one of the most recent, and I aspect of the chairs with which it is hope the most hideous of their works, the filled to be reserved for the more new Italian church in Hatton Garden, "respectable" part of the congrega- has, in addition to all its other faults, tion ! Extremes meet, and this Italian the glaring one of a western gallerj- church would be easily convertible, as fitted up like an orchestra, whilst the it would be most suita,ble, to the use of part of the floor which, according to all the baldest form of Dissent ! 46 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. II. some small matter of detail ; and the alterations of its roofs, windows, and walls have in the end left it an nngainly and uncouth outline, which is redeemed only by its pictiu'esque situation on the slope of the hill just above the cathedral pamse, mth which it groups, and from which it is well seen. Following the steep path of the east end of San Nicolas, I soon reached the fine church of San Esteban. It stands just below the castle, the decaying walls of which sm*round the sloi)e of melancholy hill Avhich rises from its doorway ; these, though now^ they look so incapable of mischief, yet effectually thwarted the Duke of Wellington.^ It is quite worth while to ascend the hill, if only for the view. San Esteban, shorn as it is — like all Spanish churches — of more than half its old external features, with pinnacles nipped off, parapets destroyed, windows blocked up, and roofs reduced from their old steep pitch to the uniform rough, ragged, and ruinous-looking flat of pantiles, which is universal here, forms, nevertheless, a good foreground for the fine view of the cathedral below it and the other points of interest in the town beyond. Yet these are fewer than would be exj^ected in such a city, so long the capital of a kingdom and residence of a Hue of kings. There are no steeples worthy of remark save those of the cathedral, the churches are all, like San Esteban, more or less mutilated, and there is — as always in cities which have been great and now are poor — an air of misery and squalor about only too many of the buildings on which the eye first lights in these outskirts of the city. I have not been so lucky as to find any record bearing in any way upon the erection of San Esteban, and I regret this the more, as its place among the churches of Burgos is no doubt next after the cathedral, and in all resj^ects it is full of interest. The ground plan (Plate 11.) will explain the general scheme of the building — a nave and aisles, ended at the east Avith three parallel ajjses, a cloister, and a large hall on the south of and opening into the cloister. The north side of the cloister has been much mutilated by the erection of chapels and a sacristy, whilst the north wall of the church is blocked up by low buildinos built against it. The only good view of the exterior is that from the south-west. Spanish boys did theii' best to make sketching it impossible, yet their amusements were after all legitimate ' Ponz, Viage de Esp., xii. 21, gives and archer to the King (Enrique II.), was an inscription on one of the towers of its Mayordomo during its construction the castle, which states that Pedro in the year r29ri. Sanchez, " Criado y Ballistero," servant 3U flG 05 : -kfliHuflMi Plate I[, Before 1200 Moiiern LiL Estetaii. WWestLutL^ jff SUR.GO.S:-Gntiunb Ffany oF gan GiT: .San G^inian: ani C&nnfiif of ItBf HuffaBii: c- I t 1 ■I i U IL ^ , ^ \,p-aniseV.t? Lan^^nL Tx/nUX/ Chap. II. BURGOS : SAN ESTEBAN. 47 enough for their age, and it is very seldom in Spain that a sketcher is mobbed and annoyed in the way he commonly is in France or Italy when he ventures on a sketch in an at all public place. The erection of this church may, I believe, be dated between A.D. 1280-1350 ; and to the earlier of these two periods the grand west doorway probably belongs. The tympanum contains, in its upper compartment, our Lord seated, Avith St. John the Evangelist, the Blessed Virgin and angels kneeling on either side — a very favourite subject with Burgalese sculptors of the period ; below is the martyrdom of the patron saint, divided into three subjects: (I) St. Stephen before the king; (2) Martyr- dom of St. Stephen, angels taking his soul from his body ; and (3) the devil taking the soul of his persecutor. The jambs have each three figures under canopies, among which are St. Stephen (with stones sticking to his vestments) and St. Laurence. The doorway is built out in a line with the front of the tower but- tresses, and above it a modern balustrade is placed in advance of the west window, Avliich is a fine rose of twenty rays. This window at a little distance has all the etfect of very early work ; but upon close inspection its details and mouldings all belie this impression, and prove it to be certainly not earlier than the middle of the fourteenth century. The whole of the tracery is thoroughly geometrical, and the design very good. Above it is a lancet window on each face, and then the lower part only of a belfry window of two lights, cut off by one of tlie usual flat- pitched tiled roofs. A staircase turret is carried uj) in the south-west angle and finished with a weathering at the base of the belfry stage. The buttresses are all plain, and, as I have said, shorn of the pinnacles with which they were evidently intended to be finished.^ This church seems to be always locked up, and I think it was here that the woman Avho lives in the cloister and shows the church told me that there was service in the church once only in the week ; and certainly it had the air which a church misused in this way usually assumes. AVe were admitted by the cloister, a small and much mutilated work of circa a.d, 1300. It opens by four arches into a large hall on its south side, which is groined at a higher level than the • fn Braun and Hohenburgius' Th^a- Constable is not shown in the cathedral : tre des Villas, a.d. 1574, there is a view San Esteban is repi'esented with a spire of Burgos, which must have been drawn on its tower, somewhat earlier, as the Chapel of the 48 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. II. cloister. The groining of the cloister is good, and tlie ribs well moulded ; but the window tracery is all destroyed, and most of the windows are blocked up. The central court is very small, as indeed is the whole work ; but a cloister may be of any size, and in some of our many collegiate erections of the present day it would be as well to remember this, and emulate really and fairly the beautiful effects always attained by our forefathers in this way.^ In the western wall of the cloister are two arched recesses for monuments, one of which has a coped tomb, with eiglit steps to the foot of the cross, which is carved upon its lid. The eastern side is later tlian the rest, and its groining probably not earlier than A.D. 1500. Entering tlie church from hence we find a very solid, simple, and dignified building, spoilt indeed as much as possible by vellow wash, but still in otlier res})ects very little damaged. It is groined throughout, and the groining has tlie pecidiarity of having ridge ribs longitudinally but not transversely. This is common in Spain ; but it is impossible to see why one ridge should require it and the other not, and the only exj)]anation is that possibly the architect washed to lead the eye on from end to end of the building. In the groining of an apse this ridge-rib in its western part always looks very badly, and jars with the curved lines of all the rest of the ribs. The columns of the nave arcades are circular, with eight smaller engaged shafts around them, those under the western tower being rather more elaborate and larger than the others. Here we see a clear imitation of the very similar planning of the cathedral nave. The planning of tlie east end is more interesting, because, whilst it has no precedent in the cathedral, it is one of the evidences we have of tlie con- nexion of the Spanisli architecture of the middle ages with that of other countries, which we ought not to overlook. I have said something on this in speaking of the plan of Las Huelgas. Here, however, I do not think we can look in the same direction for the original type of plan ; for, numerous as are the varieties of ground-plan which Ave see in France, there is one — the parallel- triapsidal — which we meet so seldom that we may almost say it does not occur at all. In Germany, on the other hand, it is seen 1 I pai-ticulai'ly refer here to our that of the church itself ; and also to colonial cathedrals, in which I wish those large town churches which we that the founders would from the first may hope to see built before long, and contemplate the erection of all the served by a staff of clergy working proper subordinate buildings, as well as together and encouraging each other. SAN ESTEBAN, BURGOS. INTEKIOR, iuOKlNG WEST. p. 49. Chap. IT. BURGOS : SAN ESTEBAN. 49 everywhere, and there, indeed, it is the national plan : in Italy it is also found constantly. In Spain, however, it was quite as much the national ground-plan as it was in Germany ; almost everywhere we see it, and in any case the fact is of value as proving that the Spaniards adopted their own national form of Gothic, and were not indebted solely to their nearest neigh- bours, the French, for their inspiration and education in archi- tecture, though undoubtedly they owed them very much. San Esteban is lighted almost entirely from windows set very high up in the walls. Those in the apses are in the position of clerestory windows, their sills being level M'ith the springing of the groining. The consequence of this arrangement — a very natural one in a country where heat and light are the main things to be excluded from churches — was that a great unbroken space was left between the floor and the windows ; and hence it happened that the enormous Retablos, rising seldom less than twenty feet, and often thirty, forty, or even sixty feet from the floors, naturally grew to be so prominent and popular a feature. In San Esteban the Eetablos are none of them old, but doubt- less take the place of others Avhich were so. The western gallery is so good an example of its class, that I think it is quite worthy of illustration. It is obviously an inser- tion of circa ad. 1450, and is reached by a staircase of still later date at the west end of the south aisle. I cannot deny it the merit of picturesqueness, and the two anibons which project like pulpits at the north and south extremities of the front add much to its effect. The stalls are all arranged in the gallery in the usual fashion of a choir, with return stalls at the west end and a large desk for office books in the centre. The organ is on the north side in the bay east of the gallery, and is reached through the ambon on the Gospel ^ side. This organ, its loft, and the pulpit against it are all very elaborate examples of Plateresque '^ Renaissance work. ' i. c. the north side, which would attained in other lands ; and, indeed, be the side of the Gospel ambon if it it is only a debt of justice due to the faced in the right direction. As I never architects of Spain from the time of saw these galleries used, I do not know Berruguete in 1500 to that of the pon- liow the ambons were really appro- derously Pagan Herrera towards the end priated. of the same century, to say, that what- 2 The work of Berruguete and his ever faults may be found with their school is so called in Spain from its over great exuberance and lavish display plate-like delicacy of work in flat re- of decoration, they nevertheless pos- lief. For Renaissance work it has a sessed rare powers of execution, and a certain air of rich beauty, not often fertility of conception (generally, it E 50 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. ('hap. ir. Of the fittings of the ('hnrcli two only require any notice, and both of them are curious. One is an iron lectern, just not Gothic, but of very fair design/ and of a type that we niiglit with ad- vantage introduce into our own churches. The other is a wooden l)ier and herse belonging to some burial confraternity, and kept in the cloister ; the dimensions are so small (and I saw another be- longing to the confraternity of San Gil of the same size), that it was no doubt made for carrying a corpse without a coffin. One knows how in the middle ages this was the usual if not invariable plan,^ and as these herses are evitlently still in use (that of San Gil having been repainted in 1850), it has possibly never been given up. The main thing, I think, that struck me in the architecture of San Esteban, was the very early look of all its proportions and details compared to what seemed to be their real date, when examined more in detail and with the aid of mouldings, traceries, and the like; and its value consists mainly in the place it occupies among the buildings of Burgos, illustrating a period of which otherwise there would be very little indeed in the city. From San Esteban I found my way first through the decayed- looking and uninteresting streets, and then among the ruined outskirts of the north-eastern part of the city, to the church of San Gil, situated very much in the same kind of locality as San Esteban, on the outskirts of the city. This church is just men- tioned in ' Espana Sagrada ' ^ twice : first as being named, with miist be owned, of very ugly things), fur which tliey may well be envied by their school now, as they were in their own day. Indeed, if the revivers of Renaissance in these days ever think of such a thing as importing a new idea, I wish heartily that they would go to Spain and study some of her 16th century buildings. ' The similar but i-ather earlier iron lectern preserved in the Hotel Cluny, at Paris, is well known. See an illustra- tion of it from a drawing of mine in the second volume of ' lustrumenta Eccle- siastica ' of the Ecclesiological Society. " The curious cemetery at Montma- jeur, near Aries, is full of gi-aves ex- cavated in the rock, and cut out juist so as to receive the body; so too are all our own old stone coffins. See also the illuminations illustrating the burial office so constantly introduced in books of "Hours." ■' Vol. xxvii. p. 67.5. SAN GIL, BURGOS IRON PULPIT. Chai'. II. BURGOS: SAX GIL. ol ten other cliurehes in Burgos, in a Bull of a.d. 11G3 ; and subsequently, as having been built by Pedro de Camargo and Garcia de Burgos, with the approbation of Bishop Villacraces in A.D. 1399; and Don Diego de Soria, and his wife Dona Catalina, are said to have rebuilt the Oapilla mayor in a.d. 1586. I give the plan of this church on Plate II., and am inclined to doubt the exact truth of the statements I have just quoted. I believe the church to be a cruciform structure of the fourteenth century, whose chancel and chancel aisles reproduced the plan of Las Huelgas, but were probably rebuilt in a.d. 1399. The so-called C'apilla mayor is probably the chapel on the north side of the north aisle, a very elaborate semi-Renaissance erection, with an octagon vault, reproducing many of the peculiarities of Spanish groining, supported upon pendentives similar to those of which 1 have spoken in describing the later works in the cathedi-al ; and it is no doubt the work of one of the descendants or pupils of Juan de Colonia. The late chapels on each side of the choir have enormous wooden bosses at the intersection of the groining ribs, carved with tracery, and with a painting of a saint in the centre. This mixture of painting and sculpture is very much the fashion in Spanish wood-carvings, and the altar Eetablos often afford examples of it. In the floor of this church are some curious effigies of black marble, with heads and hands of Avhite.^ Two such remain in the east wall of one of the southern chapels, where they lie north and south. The Eetablos of the two chapels, north and south of the choir, are very sumptuous works. Against the north-west pier of the crossing there stands what is perhaps the most uncommon piece of furniture in the church, an iron pulpit. It is of very late date, but I think quite worthy of illustration. The support is of iron, resting on stone, and the staircase modern. The framework at the angles, top and bottom, is of wood, upon which the ironwork is laid. The traceries are cut out of two plates of iron, laid one over the other, and the ironwork is in part gilded, but I do not think that this is ori- ginal. The canopy is of the same age and character, and the whole effect is very rich, at the same time that it is very novel.^ I saw other iron pulpits, but none so old as this. ^ This is a very common Flemish " Iron pulpits were not unknown in custom ; but whether the Flemings bor- England in the middle ages. There was rowed it from Spain, or vice versa, I one in Durham Cathedral. See ' An- cannot say. cient Kites of Durham,' p. 4n. E 2 52 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. U. I visited two or three otlier parisli cliurehes, but found little in tliein worth notice, San Lesmes is one of the largest, con- sisting of a nave with aisles, transepts, apsidal choir, and chapels added in the usual fashion. The window tracery is flamboyant, and the windows have richly moulded jambs, and are very German in their design. The south door is very large and rich, of the same style, and fills the space between two buttresses, on the angles of which are St. Gabriel and the Blessed Virgin.^ Close to San Lesmes are the church of San Juan, and another, the dedication of which I could not learn, whilst opposite it is the old Convent of San Juan, nov/ converted into a hospital. The entrance is a great doorway, remarkable for the enormous heraldic achieve- ments which were always very popular with the later Castilian architects. J'he church of San Juan is now desecrated : it is cruciform in plan, with a deep apsidal chancel, and seems to have had chapels on the east side of the transepts. The church is groined throughout, and its window tracery poor flamboyant work. San Lucas has a groined nave of three bays, and there is another church near it of the same character. They both appear to have been built at tlie end of the sixteenth century. Of old Convents, the most important appears to have been that of San Pablo. It is now desecrated, and used as a cavalry store ; and though I was allowed to look, I could not obtain permis- sion to go, into it. ITorez'^ gives the date of the original founda- tion of the monastery in a.d. 1219, and says that it was moved to its present site in a.d. 1265, but not completed for more than 150 years after that date. The inscription on the monument of Bishop Pablo de Santa Maria, on the Gospel side of the altar in San Pablo, records him to have been the builder of the church,"^ and his story is so singular as to be worth telling. He was a Jew by birth, a native of Burgos, and married to a Jewess, by whom he had four sons * and one daughter. In a.d. 1390, at the age of forty, he was bajDtized ; and having tried in vain to convert his wife, " he treated her as though she were dead, 1 A drawing of this door is given by b^' Alonso de Burgos, Bishop of Palencia, Mr. Waring, 'Architectural Studies in c'r. 1480-99.— G. G. Ddvila, Teatro Eccl. Burgos,' pi. 39. ii. 174. 2 Espaaa Sagi'ada, vol. xxvi. p. 382- ^ The inscription on the monument 387, and vol. xxvii. p. 540. of Gousalvo, Bishop of Siguenza, con- * "Qui venerandus Pontifex banc tained the foUowhig passage : "Hie eeclesiam cum sacristia et capitulo suis venerandus Pontifex fuit filius, ex lejiti- sumptibussedificavit."^EspaEiaSagrada, mo mitriinonio natus, Reverendi Ponti- xxvi. p. 387. The cloister was rebuilt ficis Dfii Pauli," &c. Chap. II. BURGOS: SAN PABLO— LA MERCED. 53 dissolving his marriage legally, and ascending to the greater perfection of the priestliood." In a.d. 1415 he was made Bisliop of Burgos, and being at Valladolid at the time, all Burgos went out to meet him as he came to take possession of his see. " His venerable mother, Dona ^Maria, and his well-loved wife Joana, waited for him in the Episcopal Palace, from whence he went afterwards to adore God in the cathedral." Doiia Joana was buried near the bisliop in San Pablo, with an inscription in Spani.'>h, ending, "she died (' fallecio ') in the year 1420," and from tlie absence of any religious form in the inscription, I infer that she died unconverted. The bishop died in A.D. 1435. The church of San Pablo consists of a nave and aisles of five bays, transepts and apsidal choir, with many added chapels. The nave groining bays are square, those of the aisle oblong, a mode of planning which marks rather an Italian-Gothic than a French or German origin. The cliurch is vaulted throughout, with very domical vaults, and lighted with lancets in the aisles, circular windows in the clerestory, and traceried windows in the choir. Part of the old western gallery still remains. The vaulting has transverse, diagonal, and ridge ribs. The ajDse is well buttressed, but, like all the churches in Burgos, San Pablo has lost its old roofs, and has been so much spoilt by the additions which have been made to it, that its exterior is very unprepossessing. Xot so the interior, which, both in scale and proportion, is very fine. The architect of San Pablo is said to have been Juan Bodriguez, who commenced it in 1415, and completed it before 1435.^ Another convent, that of La 3Ierced, has been treated in the same way, and is now a military hospital. Its church is on the same plan as that of San Pablo, with the principal doorway in the north wall instead of the west, and this opening under the usual vaulted gallery. There is, too, a small apsidal recess for an altar in the north wall of the north transept. The window tracery and details here are all of very late Pointed, but the buttresses and flying buttresses are good. Flat roofs, destroyed gables, and the entire absence of any steeple or turret to break the mass, make the exterior of little value. This convent was moved to its present site in a.d. 1272, but I doubt whether any part of the exterior now visible is so old as this. I saw no other churches worthy of mention in Burgos ; but • Ceau Bernmdez, Arq. y Arquos. de Espafia, i. 103. 54 GOTHIC ARCHlTKlTLIRE IN SPAIN. Chap. II. there are otliers which ought to be examined in the neighbour- hood, among which one a little beyond Las Huelgas, of large size, surrounded by trees, and apparently belonging to a convent, seemed to be the most important.' There are but few remains of old Domestic Architecture. The Palace has been modernized, but is still approached by a groined passage from tlie south door of the cathedral. The Palace of the Constable Velasco is a bald and ugly erection of the sixteenth century, in the very latest kind of Gothic; its walls finished with a strange parapet of crocketed pinnacles and stones cut out into a sort of rude fork ; its entrance a square- lieaded doorway, witli a large space above it, enclosed with enormous chains carved in stone, within which are armorial bearings. The internal conrtvard is surrounded bv buildinos of three stages in height, Avitli open arcades to each, and traceried balconies. The arcades and windows throughout have debased three-centred arches. The principal town gateway, that of Sta. IMaria, is close to the cathedral ; its rear is a very simple but massive work of the thirteenth century, and rather Italian in its design. Tlie front facing the Prado and the river was so much altered by Charles V. that it is doubtful whether any of the old work remains ; it is now a very picturesque jumble of circular towers and turrets, battlemented and crenellated, and looking rather like one of those medifeval castles which are seen either in an illumination, or in a canopy over a figure in stained glass, than like a real and useful fortified gateway. It will be seen how full of interest to the ecclesiologist Burgos is. My notes are, I have no doubt, not by any means exhaustive ; and I have equally little doubt that one who had more time at his disposal would discover much more than I found ; besides which, I was under the impression, when I was at Burgos, that the iMonastery of San Pedro de Cardena, so intimately connected with the story of the Cid, and where he lay peacefully till the French invasion, had been entirely destroyed, Avhereas, in truth, I believe the church founded in the thirteenth century still remains; and, if so, must certainly reward examination. It is but a few miles from Buro-os. 1 In'L'Univers Pittoresque, Espagne,' a very richly sculptuied aud panelled vol. xxxi. pi. 54, is a view of the ruiu front of the most florid kind of latest of the west end (apparently) of the Pointed, and in a ruinous state, convent of ('armelites at Burgos ; it is Chap. II. BURGOS: PUOMEXADE. 65 The great promenade Iiere is along the river-side, where the houses are all new, bald, and uninteresting; but the back streets are picturesque, and there is a fine irregulnrlv-shaped Plaza, surrounded by arcades in front of the shops, where are to be found capital blankets and mantas, useful even in the hottest weather if any night travelling is to be undertaken, and inva- riably charming in their colour. 56 GOTHIC AUClllTECTUKE IN tSl'xVlN. Chap. 111. CHAPTER III. PALENCIA VALLADOLID. It was after a day of hard work at Miraflores, Las Huelgas, and Burgos, taking last looks and notes, that we drove to the railway station en 7'oute for Palencia. Castile does not improve on acquaintance, and, so far as I could judge in the hurried views obtained from the railway-carriage, Ave missed nothing by mov- ing apace. The railroad follows the broad valley of the Arlanzon, bounded on either side by hills of moderate height, occasionally capped with sharp cones and peaks, but everywhere of an inva- riable whitish-grey colour, which soon w^earies the eye unspeak- ably. The few villages seen from the valley seemed generally to occujiy the slopes of the hills, and to have large, shapeless, and unattractive churches. Indeed, it is not possible to go very far in Spain without feeling either that Spanish architects seldom cared for the external effect of their buildings, or that whatever they did has been ruthlessly spoilt in later days. Even in a city like Burgos this is the case, and of course it is even more so in villages and smaller towns. The Spanish railways are, on the whole, well managed. They are usually only single lines, and there is no attempt made to go very fast. Perhaps, too, any one who has travelled along Spanish roads, deep with a five months' accumulation of dust) and at the pace popular with diligence proprietors, comes to the consideration of the merits and management of a railway in a frame of mind which is not altogether impartial. The luxury even of a second-rate railway is then felt to the utmost, and there. is not much desire, even if there is need, for grumbling. It was dark when we arrived at Palencia, and, getting a boy to carry the baggage, we walked off under his directions in search of the Posada de las Frutas. The title was not promising. But Palencia, a cathedral city, and the principal town between Valladolid and Santander, has nothing in the way of an inn better than a Posada, and it was to the best of its class that we had been recommended. The first look was not encou- raging, but the people welcomed us cheerfully, and going across Chai'. hi. PALEXCIA. 5/ the covered eiiti'auce way, took as up to a room which was fairly clean and furnished with the remains of eight smart chairs, six of them hopelessly smashed, and the other two so weak in their legs and spines that it was necessary to use them in the most wary and cautious manner ! However, the beds were clean, and the bread anci grapes — here as everywhere at this season in Spain — so delicious, that, even had the cookery been worse than it was, we might have managed very well. Later in the even- ing, when I came back from a short ramble through the town, I found the open entrance-court and passage uneven with the bodies of a troop of muleteers, each of whom seemed to have a skinful of wine in his charge and a rough kind of bed laid on the stones ; and if I may judge by the way in which they snored as I picked my way among them to my room, they had no occa- sion to envy me my occupation of the room of state. I spent a day in Palencia, and found it almost more than its architectural treasures required. I went there with some idea that I should iind a very fine cathedral, still retaining all its old furniture of the fourteenth century, and soon discovered that I had been somewhat misinformed. I hoped too, at any rate, if I found no first-rate work, to find something which was peculiar to the district in its artistic character ; but in this also I was doomed to be disappointed. The city is divided into two parts by a very long winding street running entirely across it from north to south. The houses on either side are supported on stone columns (some of them very lofty), so that the general effect is much that of one of the old arcaded Italian cities. The cathecbal, dedicated to S. Antholin, stands in a desolate- looking open space on the edge of the hill which slopes down to the river Carrion on the west side of the city. Cean Ber- mudez says that it was commenced in a.d. 1321,^ and com- pleted in the beginning of the sixteenth century.^ An inscrip- * The first stone of the cathedral was Eccl. ii. 159. laid on the 1st of June, 1321, by Car- " In 1504 the conclusion of the dinal Arnoldo, legate of Juan XXII., cathedral of Palencia was undertaken assisted by Juan II. , Bishop of Palencia, by Martin de Soldrzano, an inhabitant and fcix other bishops, among whom was of Sta. Maria de Haces, under the con- the Bishop of Bayonne ; "and the first dition that he should finish his work prebendary who had charge of the in six years, with stone from the quar- works (' obrero ') in this holy church ries of Paredes del Monte and Fuentes was Juan Perez de Aceves, Canon and de Valdepero. Salorzano, however, died Prior of Usillos, who assisted in laying in 1506, and Juan de Ruesga, a native the first stone with the legate and of Segovia, finished it. — Cean Bermudez, the bishops." — G. G. Ddvila, Teatro Arq. de Espana, vol. i. p. 142. 58 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. 111. tion on the door from tlie cloister to the church lias the date A.D, 1535, and the enclosure of the choir is of a.d. 1534. These dates appear to be fairly correct ; but the work having been so long in progress, it may, I think, be assumed that the ground- plan only is of the earliest date, and that the greater part of the architectural detail belongs more probably to the fifteenth than to the fourteenth century. This is quite consistent with the evidence afforded by the building, for the detail of the design is of very poor character throughout, and the window tracery is generally of inferior and ratlier late flamboyant style. The triforium is well developed, having large traceried openings ; and the church is groined throughout. In the eastei'u i)art of the die vet the window tracery has an early character, but the mouldings belie this effect; and, if I may judge by them, none of it is earlier than circa A.d. 1350-1370. The plan of tlie chevet is probably old, but all its details, save those of the piers between the chapels, have been modernized. The thin spandrels of the vaulting in the apse of the choir are pierced with cusped circles, a device occasionally seen in French churches. It will be seen, therefore, that there is little to praise here, save the grand scale upon which the work has been done. The nave is 36 feet 8 inches from centre to centre of the columns, whilst each aisle is no less than 31 feet 2 inches. The rela- tive proportions are bad, but owing to the arrangement of the Coro in the nave there is not much opportunity of seeing this, and the internal view of the aisles, owing to their width and to the very massive character of the nave columns, is extremely fine. The nave is of five bays in length, the two eastern bays being occupied by the Coro. There is an altar against the western screen of the Coro, in front of which are some steps leading down to a well, said to be that of St. Antholin, the tutelar saint. The whole of the stalls are old, and fine of their kind ; they are mainly the work of El Maestro Centellas, a Valencian, who contracted to execute them about the year 1410,^ but they are not in their old place, for in a.d. 1518-1519 Pedro de Guada- lupe agreed to move them from the old choir into the new choir ' Gil Gonzalez Dtivila, ' Iglesia de Pa- with four acliievements of arms. The lencia,' foL 164, gives a letter from the bishop at the time this letter was Chapter to the Bishop D. Sancho de Ro- writteu was at Valencia, assisting at jas, begging for money for the wovk. The the wedding of Alonso, Prince of Ge- Chapter state that the stalls are to cost rona, and the daughter of King L). 7t3,OUO maravedis, and that they are the Enrique III. — G. G. Davila, Teatro work of " Maestro Centellas," and that Eccl. ii. 16-t. they propose to adorn the Bishop's seat Chap. III. CATHEDRAL OF PALENCIA. 59 for the sum of fifteen hundred niaravedis, and to execute twenty additional stalls for the sum of two thousand maravedis each.^ At the same time the Retablo was moved forward and enlarged to fit its new position by one Pedro Manso, at a cost of two hundred ducats ; whilst Juan de Valmeseda executed the statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. John, and the Crucifixion for it for one hundred ducats.^ These facts are of great interest, proving as they do that the stalls stood from tlie year 1-ilO to 1518 in their proper place in the choir, and were then moved to tlieir present position in the nave precisely in the same way that we have already seen the old arrangement changed at Burgos at about the same period. This peculiar Spanish arrangement of the Coro in the nave, and separated from the altar, we may now, I think, assume was not known or thought of until this comparatively late date in this part of Sj)ain, though now it is universal throughout the country. The design of the stalls is somewhat like that of late Flemish work, but peculiar in many respects : the forward slope of the stall elbows, the rich traceries behind the lower stalls — very varied in their design — and the continuous canopies of the upper stalls, are all worthy of notice. I did not observe any distinction in the style of the work answering to the dates at which Maestro Centellas and Pedro de Guadalupe were employed, and I think, therefore, that the latter must have copied rather closely the work of the former. Probably, how- ever, the Prie-Dieu desk in front of the bishop's stall ^'■'■"^'^"• is of the later date, as also the desks which have been widened in front of the upper row of stalls ; and possibly Pedro de Guadalupe executed the twenty stalls on each side of the choir forming the easternmost block. The eastern part of the church has been worse treated even ' (Jean Bermudez, Dice. Hist., vol. ii. p. 2cHJ. • Ibid., vol. V. p. 121. (50 (lOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. HI. than the nave, all the old arrangements having been ruthlessly altered. The apse, shut in by screens, covered with a low groined gallery, and nsed as a mere chapel,^ is dark, dismal, and undignified. The bay west of the apse is open from north to south, but walled in on the west with the wall behind the high altar. West of this are two bays walled in at the sides, and then we come to the transept, which is open, save the rails marking the passage from the Coro to the choir. The whole arrangement is so confused, unintelligible, and contrary to the obvious intentions of the first designers of the fabric, that it hardly needed documentary evidence to prove that it had no kind of ancient authority. There is no lantern or Cimborio at the crossing. The metal screens^ across the choir are of no special interest, but those round the apse and opening into one or two of the chapels of the chevet are better, and well illus- trate the designs of most of the fifteenth-century iron screens in Spain. They are met with in all directions, for there was no country in the middle ages which made so free a use of iron. They have most of the faults of German ironwork of the same age, the smiths having apparently forgotten the right use of their hammers, and, like Birmingham smiths of the pre- sent day, having tried to do what was necessary with thin plates of iron twisted about fantastically here and there, but very much more easily wrought, and proportionably less effective, than the work of the English smiths of a couple of hundred years earlier. The whole of the floor of the eastern part of the church has been lowered, in some places as much as three feet, in order to obtain a level procession path all round the aisles. On the south side of the nave are the cloisters, which are large, with lofty arched openings, but they have been desjioiled of their traceries. Their style is poor third-pointed, and in their present state they are thoroughly uninteresting.^ To the west 1 Also in his (D. Sancho de Rojas, ^ Cean Bermudez, ' Arq. Esp.' i. 60, A.D. 1397 to A.D. 1411) time was built says the date 1535 exists on the door the Capilla mayor, which is now the from the church to the cloister : "Parroquia" of the chxirch. — G. G. and G. G. Diivila, Teatro Ecc, ii. Ddvila, Teatro EccL, ii. Iii4. p. 171, says that in the time of D. 2 Cristobal Andino made the Reja of Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca (translated the Capilla mayor in A.D. 1520 for 1500 to Burgos in a.d. 1514) the greater ducats, and in 1 530 the screen for 430 part of the chapels from the crossing ducats, and Caspar Rodriguez made downwards were built, as also the that of the Coro in 1555 for the sum of cloister and Chapter-house. The same 3600 gold ducats, paid by the bequest of bishop gave the stairs leading to the Bishop D. Luis Cabeza de Vaca. well of S. Antholin, repaired the dormi- Pviblislied "by Jolm "Mmray, Albemarle S'* 1865. Chap. in. PALENCIA : SAN MIGUEL. 61 of them is the Chapter-house, a large groined room, opening, not, as is usual, from the cloister, but from an outer lobby. The sacristy, on the south side of the choir, contains a few objects of interest, the best being a fine gilt monstrance, covered with crockets and pinnacles, but not earlier than circa a.d. 1500.^ The sacristan thought much more of a great plated temple, six or eight feet in height, raised on a stage, and travelling on wheels worked by a couple of men concealed within the platform and its liangings, which is used for processions througliout the town on Cor})us Christi day. I saw only two Gothic churches out of many which I looked into in Palencia — those of San Miguel and San Francesco. San IMiguel is both the earliest and best church in the city, and deserves most careful study. 1 give an illustration of its ground-plan on Plate III. The portion east of the crossing- appeared to me of the end of the twelfth century, and the rest of the church a few years later. The plan is one of a not uncommon type, and suggestive either of Italian or German influence in the mind of its designer. The regular planning of the whole work, the bold dimensions of the groining shafts, and the good character of the mouldings and windows, corbel-tables and buttresses, all deserve special notice. The apse is groined in four compartments, so that a rib and buttress occur in its centre,^ and the ribs here are square and plain in section, whilst those throughout the nave are well moulded. The bosses at the intersection of the gj-oining ribs in the nave are sculptured : that on the east bay having St. Michael and the Dragon, whilst the next bay but one has an Agnus Dei. There is a peculiarity in the finish of the buttresses of the apse, which 1 noticed also at San Juan and San Pablo at Burgos. In aU of them the face of the buttress is carried up to the eaves-cornice, which is returned round them, instead of being carried on to their centre, as is usual : so that at San Miguel, in place of the apse at the cornice-line having four sides only, it has four long and three shorter sides, the latter above the buttresses. All the work in the chancel appears to be of earlier date than that in the nave, and its western arch is segmental, and of poor character. tories, aud gave to the sacristy a rich Diego de Salcedo in lo4-2, at the price set. of altar vestments (teruo) of bro- of lOj maravedis each palm (cada cade, four tapestries of ecclesiastical palmo). — Cean Bermudez, Dice. Hist., historj', aud fmr others of "Salve vol. iv. p. 304. Regina." 2 -j-j^-g ^.^^.^ arrangement is seen in the 1 The stained glass which once church of the Frari at Venice, and in adorned the chvirch was executed by the church of the Capuchins at Lugo. 62 GOTHIC ARCFIITECTUHK IN SPAIN. Chap. III. The windows here are plain, round-arched lancets, but those in the clerestory of the nave are two-light windows, with a plain cinde in the head, and richly moulded. The most striking archi- tectural feature on the outside is the western steeple, which well deserves illustration, being full of peculiarity and vigour. The Steeple of San Miguel. belfry- windows are singularly varied, for they are of three lights on the west, of two very Avide lights on the south, and of two narrow lights on the east side. The tracery in all consists of imcusped circles, packed together in the same fashion as in the clerestory of Burgos Cathedral. The west window is of two lights, with simple piercings in the tympanum, and between it and the west doorway are a number of corbels all across the west fi'ont, which seem to prove that there was a pent-house roof across the whole of it. This must have lai-gely added to the picturesque- CirAP. III. PALEXCIA : SAX FRANCESCO. 68 ness of the building, whilst at the same time it must, in such a climate, Imve been a most wise expedient for sheltering- the doorway from the heat. The west doorway is a really fine work, bnt terribly mutilated. It has six series of subjects, in as many lines of archivolt moulding, the innermost order containing angels only : the second, figures with books or instruments of music : the third, angels again : the fourth, the Resurrection (with the Last Judgment, occupying the centre of tliis and the next order) : the fifth and sixth, subjects from the life of our Lord, beginning with the Annunciation on the left. The out- side moulding consists of a bold bowtell, with another arranged in continuous cusping in front of it, as in some of our own transitional work. The lower stage of tl)e tower has a groined gallery, in which are the stalls, lectern, and organ. It is much to be lamented that the finish of the steeple is not original, for we should then haye had a complete example of a fine parish church, which must have been building from circa A.D. 1190 to circa A.d. 1250 ; but an early building unaltered on the exterior is a treat for which one generally sighs in yain in Spain. San Francesco has been much more mutilated than San Miguel, but seems to be a work of about the same age ; it is said to have been built in a.d. 1246.^ There is a large open market-place, busy with venders of vegetables, in front of the building, and a small enclosed courtyard between the two seemed to be the receptacle for all the market filth. The west front has a small sort of cloister in front of the doors, with a tiled lean-to roof above it. Over this roof rises the west front, a strange combination with a western gable, and a great bell- gable rising out of its southern slope. The west window appears to have been a fine cusped circular opening, under a pointed arch, the spandrel between the two being filled with circles similar to the traceries in the steeple of San j\Iiguel. Entering the church, I found its broad aisleless nave completely Pagan- ized, but still retaining the low fifteenth-century gallery for the Coro over the two western bays. At the east bay of the nave are small transeptal chapels, and the chancel arch, and two smaller arches open into the chancel and two chancel aisles. The whole arrangement is thoroughly Italian,- but the detail of the arches, which are well moulded and adorned with a chevron. ' Madoz, Dice, de Espafla. Padua, and tlie church of San Ferino 2 It should be compared, foi" instance, Maggiore at Verona, with the church of the Eremitani at 64: f;OTHIC AKCHITECTUIJK IN SPAIN. CiiAr. ITI. is iiortliern. Tho chancel is apsidal, but its groining is so late, and its east end so far bidden by a Pagan Eetablo, that it was impossible to discover wlietlier any traces of the original work remained. I saw several other churches, but their old features are in all cases of the very latest Gothic or else Pagan, so as to be hardly worthy of record, Sta. Clara appears to be desecrated : it has windows just like those of San Pablo, Burgos, and buttresses to the apse managed in the same way as at San ]\Iiguel. It has also a large flamboyant door of poor style. Near it is another church, which has an apse with buttresses and pinnacles at the angles, and from the even and undisturbed look of its masoniy I concluded that it never had any windows. This church has a poor tower, but generally the churches here have enormous bell-gable turrets of the most flaunting Ivenaissance device, which are common throughout a great part of Spain. They have generally several bells hung in openings in the wall, and are often nearly the whole width of the front, and finished with cornices and broken pediments in the most approved fjishion of the worst style of lienaissance. Everywhere, save in the long main street, Palencia was as triste a place as I have seen. The streets were emptied, pro- bably by the heat of the day, and, save a curious crowd of boys Avho pursued me relentlessly all round San Miguel, I saw few signs of life. ]\[uch of the old wall round the citv remains, and walking round the north-eastern part of this, 1 came to a j)ic- turesque angle, Avhere is an old walled-up gateway ^ith ])ointed arch, round towers on either side, and deep machicolations above, which may well have been built before the Cid rode into Palencia for his marriage with Dona Ximena. The town walls are lofty and massive, and crested with what is, I believe, a IMoorish battlement. Its peculiarity consists in the battle- ments and spaces between them being equal, aud the former being capped with a stone weathered on all four sides nearly to a point. On the way to the railway station we saw two churches, both having some portions of fair fifteenth-century work ; and then passing the old wall, found ourselves on the melancholy open plain that surrounds the city. Under the hot sun, and after the harvest has all been gathered in, the country looks wretched and arid in the extreme. Not a tree is to be seen, nor a blade of grass ; but first a sandy plain of two or three miles, and then rocky and sandy hills, all bleached to much the Chap. III. VALLADOLID. 65 same colourless tint, rose in long lines against the deep-blue sky. On the other side of the city the river was hardly more attractive ; it was wellnigh dry, though it is true there were some trees near its banks which to some extent redeemed the aridness of the soil out of which they grew. As I neared the station I found the Avhole city assembled to greet the Duke and Duchess of Montpensier, who were to stop for a few minutes to enjoy azucarillos and sweetmeats. Officers of all grades, the bishop and his clergy, and smart people in abundance were there ; and as soon as the train arrived there was lusty cheering, and great firing of rockets. After a fight with the mob for a passage to the train, we secured seats, and were soon ofi". There are some parts of the road which seemed more interesting than most of the country we had been passing. The river runs here and there under steepish bluffs, and occasionally considerable vineyards give — what is so much wanted — some variety of colour to the landscape. I suppose one ought to be cautious in describing such a country after seeing it in September ; for I can well imagine that in the spring, when the whole land is covered with great crops of corn, the impression it produces may be very different. At Valladolid we were delayed a long time Avhilst the Duke and Duchess of Montpensier, saluted again with rockets, and escorted by cavalry, took their departure from the station to pass the night at the Captain-General's. As far as a stranger can see and hear the truth, the Eoyal family seem to be very popular in Spain, and none of them more so than the Duke and Duchess ; and the good people of Valladolid did their best, by illuminations, cheering, and decoration of their houses with coloured cloth, to welcome their coming, and speed their parting the next day.^ In the evening I strolled out into the town, and presently found myself in the Great Plaza, an imposing square surrounded on three sides by houses on arcades, and having on the fourth side the Town-hall. This was brilliantly illuminated by a number of enormous wax-candles in great sconces flaring in the air, whilst a good military band played waltzes, and the people — soldiers and civilians, men, women, and children — danced merrily and vigorously in groups all about. Presently crossing the Plaza from this noisy scene, I stumbled over a bundle on the 1 We put up at the Fonda de Paris, a good deal of trouble for me, and in the Plaza Sta. Ana — a good inn, kept whose hotel may safely be recom- bysome natives of Belliuzona, who took mended. F 6() (iOTIIIC AliCHlTECTUKE IN SPAIN. Chap. III. ground, and found it to be a couple of labourers Avho, having been at work at the pavement, had made a bed of sand, covered themselves over with a blanket, and had gone to sleep by the side of their tools for the night, indifferent to all the noise and excitement of the place ! Valladolid is a city of which I have very pleasant general recollections, but of which nevertheless the ai'chitecture is no- where of very great interest. It has the misfortune to have a cathedral built by Herrera, only one or two early works, several gorgeous examples of the richest late-pointed work, and a multitude of examples of the works of Berruguete, Herrera, and their followers. But the streets are picturesque and busy, and have that unmistakably foreign aspect which is always so pleasant to the traveller. I need say but little of the Cathedral. Its design is said to be the greatest work of Herrera (a.d. 1585) ; but a small portion only of it has been completed. The complete plan is given by Ponz.^ It was to have been cruciform, with four towers at the angles, four bays of nave, and four of choir, with aisles to both. The stalls of the Coro were intended to be in the choir behind the altar. There is a large cloister on the north side of the nave. The nave of four bays, with its aisles and chapels on either side of them, is all that is completed ; and, large as it is, the parts are all so colossal that there is not the impression of size that there ought to be. The piers are some 60 feet from centre to centre north and south, and 45 feet east and west ; they carry bold arches, above which runs a great cornice surmounted by a white (plastered and panelled) groined ceiling, which contrasts violently with the dark sombre grey of the stonework below. These vaults are of red tile ; and if the plaster were altogether taken off, the vault covered with mosaic, and the mouldings of the cornices carefully removed, the interior Avould really be fine and impressive. Nothing, however, could ever cure the hideous unsightliness of the exterior. Herrera's west front was revised by Churriguera in the eighteenth century, and cannot therefore be fairly criticised ; but the side elevation remains as Herrera designed it, and is really valuable as a warning. Flying buttresses were of course an abomination ; so in their place he erected enormous solid buttresses above the aisles to resist the thrust of the nave vault. They are shape- less blocks of masonry projecting about forty feet from the clerestory wall, and finished with a horrid concave line at the ' Vlage de Espaua,' vol. xi. p. 38. Chap. III. YALLADOLID : S. MARIA L'ANTIGUA. 67 top. However, it is only right to give Herrera his due, and to say, that after all he only did what Wren did at St. Paul's, but had the courage and the honesty to let liis deeds be seen, instead of spending a vast sum, like Wren, in concealing them. And again it is plain that he thought much more of the internal effect of liis church than of the external ; — how unlike ourselves, who but too often, if we can attract men to our new churches by a smart spire or a picturesque exterior, seem to forget that we must make the interior noble, winning, solemn, and instructive too, if we would keep them there I A few fragments of the old cathedral remain to the north- east of the present church, but I could not obtain access to them ; and I think nothing now exists but a wall pierced with one or two foiu-teenth-century windows. Sta. Maria 1' Antigua — the most attractive church, to my mind, in Yalladolid — is close to the cathedral. It is so valuable an example, and illustrates so well some peculiarities of Spanish architecture, that I give an illustration of its ground-plan.^ It is of the common parallel-triapsal arrangement, and has a fine western steeple, and a cloister along the north wall. This kind of cloister is of not unfrequent occur- rence : I have already noticed one in the con- vent at Las Huelgas ; and there are two or three churches at Se- govia in which also it is introduced. It would seem to be an arrange- ment expressly adopted to suit a tropical cli- mate, and its effect is always very good. The cloister here is walled up, and consi- derably defaced on the north side ; and on the south, if one ever ex- cloister. LAntigua, Valladolid. isted, it has been entirely destroyed. That on the north 1 Plate III. F 2 68 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. III. side is of three bays in length, the western bay having four arches, and the others five. The arches are semi-circular, Avith labels enriched with dog-tooth ornament, and the shafts which carry them are moulded and wrought in imitation of the coupled columns of early Italian artists. Simple buttresses separate the bays, and there is a corbel-table under the eaves. A bold round-arched doorway opened at the west into this cloister. The interior of this church is fine. It is groined throughout ; and most of the groining has longitudinal (but not transverse) ridge-ribs, considerably arched in each bay, to suit the domi- cal section of the vaults. The western bay has the usual late gallery for the Coro supported on a debased arch, and with open tracery in its front, and the stalls and organ still remain in it. The main columns are cylindrical in plan, and each sur- rounded by eight attached shafts. The transepts are not at all defined in the ground-plan, but are groined at the same level as the nave. The abaci of the capitals are either square or octagonal in plan. The groining has bold and well-moulded transverse arches, and diagonal ribs of an ordinary thirteenth-century section. In the apse of seven bays the vaults, for the greater part of their height, are no thicker than the moulding of their ribs, and are pierced with cusped circles in their spandrels, just above the line of the springing of the windows, in the same manner as at Palencia Cathedral. The clerestory seems to have been lighted with simple lancets, of which one only remains on the south of the nave. Of the old furnitm-e still existing I noticed a good Eetablo, partly carved and partly painted, in a chapel on the south side of the choir, and another in the baptistery opening into the south transept.^ The steeple is the most remarkable feature of the exterior, and from 4ts great height gives, in company with the similar steeple of San JMartin, much effect to many views of the city, which, with these exceptions, has no- thing to break its monotony. It rises three stages above the roof, the lower stage having an arcaded window of two lights on each face, the middle one of three lights, and the upper. 1 The Retablo of the high altar is so violently twisted and distorted, so (except the figure of the Blessed Virgin) affected and unnatural, or coloured a work of Juan de Juni (circa a.d. 1556- decorations so gaudy and contemptible 1583). He had studied under Michael as those in which he indulged. At the Angelo, and was either an Italian or a same time, his works are so charac- Fleming. I am soi'ry to differ from teristic of his period and school as to Mr. Ford as to the merits of this artist ; deserve examination, even if they pro- but I must say that I never saw figures voke contempt. Chap. III. VALLADOLID : S. MARIA L'ANTIGUA. 69 again, one of two lights. The arches are all semi-circular, and are carried upon shafts. There are string-courses under each window, and the abaci are also carried round the steeple as string-courses of inferior scale. There are nook-shafts at the angles, with caps and bases between each of the horizontal string-courses. The upper string-course and the eaves-cornices are carved with a dog-tooth ornament, and the others with a billet mould. The steeple is finished with a low square spire, covered with tiles, some green and some red, and each tile made of a pointed shape, so as to form a series of scallops. This steeple is of the same date as the cloister and lower part of the church — probably circa A.D. 1180-1200; but the east end of the cliurch is evidently a work of later date, being much more advanced in style, and corresponding exactly in some respects Mdth the upper part of the transepts and clerestory of Burgos Cathedral. The windows have three engaged jamb- shafts, with square capitals. The tracery has soffeit-cusping, and there is a peculiarity here which is seen also in the clerestory at Burgos. The arches of the lights and the circle above them are only chamfered on one side, and their fillets do not mitre at the junction ; it looks, consequently, as though the circle were merely put in loosely on the back of the arched heads to the lights, without being in any way connected with them. I need not say that the effect is not good : it has the appearance of being the work of men who did not quite understand what they were about ; and, though I know of no example of the same thing in England or France, it is not uncommonly seen in the thirteenth and fourteenth century works of the Italian architects. It is, however, impossible to charge the architect of this apse with the indifference to, or ignorance of, other examples of the same age which marked the Italians, for in every other respect his work is as good as possible of its kind. The pinnacles marking the junction of the apse with the choir are very fine. They are hexagonal below, but, with admirable effect, are covered with circular stone spires, enriched by delicate crockets of the same fasiiion as those at Burgos, illustrated at p. 28, and the springing of the spirelet is marked by small pinnacles. The external roofs have been altered in accordance with the invariable custom, and at the east end they now partially obscure the old pierced parapets which fill the spaces between the pinnacles of the apse. The south transept had a rose-window, wliicli is now blocked up, and the open parapet of the choir 70 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. ITT. was continued round it. This side of the church is now much built against, and concealed by houses, the north side being quite open. I ought not to forget that there is a good sacristy at the north-east angle of the church, and of the same date as the choir. Sagrador y Vitores' says that this church was founded by Don Pedro Ansurez and Dona Eylo his wife, in the latter part of the eleventh century, and rebuilt by King Don Alonso XI. I confess I cannot reconcile these dates (for which no autho- rities are given) with the existing building. The earlier portions of the work hardly seem to be so early in date as the eleventh century; and the later alterations are so identical in character with work of which we know the age in the thirteenth century, that it is almost impossible they should belong to the time of Alonso XI. (A.D. 1350-1369). The reign of Alonso IX. (a.d. 1230-44) would have been a more likely date. The church of San Martin, near Sta. Maria, has been rebuilt, with the exception only of its steeple, which is a fine example, very similar to that of Sta. Maria, though, no doubt, of rather later date. The arches here are pointed, in place of round, as they are in the other example ; the two upper stages are arranged just as they are there, and the lower stage has a two-light window, with its tracery contrived in a simi- lar way to the apse windows of that church. San Martin is said to have been founded in a.d. 1148,^ and the earliest part of the steeple may probably be of this age, though I do not think it can have been completed earlier than about A.D. 1250. Both these steeples bear unmistakable marks of Lombard influence. The absence of buttresses, the repetition of very nearly similar stages one over the other, and the multitude of horizontal string-courses, are all features of constant occurrence in Italy ; and it will be suf&cient to mention such an example as the steeple of Lucca Cathedral, as, among others, illustrating this similarity very remarkably. There is not, so far as I could see or learn, any other work of early date in Valladolid ; but, on the other hand, the city is rich in Avorks of the latest Gothic, some of which are exceedingly sumptuous, and among the finest of their kind ; and they are so ' Histoi-ia de Valladolid, vol. ii. p. 181. - Sagrador y Vitores, Hist, de Valladolid, vol. ii. p. 18G. Chai'. III. YALLADOLID. 71 characteristic of Spauisli art — albeit they are undoubtedly derived from Germau sources — that it would be unpardonable to pass them by without notice. At the same time it is luxury of ornamentation, profusion of labour, marvellous manual skill and dexterity, rather than real art, which Ave see displayed in all the works of this school; and, attractive as these often are to the uneducated eye, they are almost offensive to one who has learnt ever so little to look for true art first and above all in all works of architecture, and to regard mere excellence of workmanship as of altogether secondary importance. The most remarkable of these works are the churches of San Pablo, San Benito, La ]Magdalena, and the colleges of San Gregorio and Sta. Cruz, which last is now converted into a museum. Their dates are all known very exactly, and the following facts relating to them may as well be recorded. San Pablo was commenced by Cardinal Don Juan Torque- mada, and completed in a.d. l-iSS.^ It is said by some to be the work of Juan and Simon de Colonia, but I can find no proof of this statement, though I think that the elaborate fi^cade may possibly be the work of the artists Gil de Siloe or Diego de la Cruz, wlio AATought under Juan de Colonia and his son at the monuments and Eetablo in the convent at Miraflores. The first stone of the college of San Gregorio was laid in A.D. 1488, and it was finished in a.d. 1-196.- The architect is said to have been Macias Carpiutero of Medina del Campo; but as he cut his own throat in 1490,^ some other architect or sculptor must have completed the work. The monastery of San Benito was founded by King Don Juan, who obtained a Bull from Pope Clement YII., on Dec. 28, 1389, for the purpose. But the existing church was erected more than a century later, by Juan de Arandia (probably a Biscay an architect), who began his work in a.d. 1499. He agreed to execute the nave and one aisle for 1,460,000 mara- vedis, and afterwards the other aisle for 500,000. The Eetablo and the stalls were the w^ork of Berruguete, between a.d, 1526 and 1532, and are now preserved in the museum. The college of Sta. Cruz was founded in a.d. 1480, and ^ Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp. i. dolid, ii. 263-268. Iu9. ^ Cean Bermudez, Aiq. de Esp. i. 2 Sagi'ador y Vitores, Hist, de Valla- 128. 72 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. III. completed in a.d. 1492, and was designed by Enrique de Egas,^ son of Anequin de Egas of Brussels. The oliurcli of La Magdalena appears, by extracts from tlie archives of the IMarquis de Resilla, to have been planned by Rodrigo Gil, of Salamanca. By a contract, dated June 14, 157G, he undertook the erection of the Capilla mayor and sacristy for 4,000,000 maravedis, whilst the "master of the works," Francisco del Rio, by an agreement of October 11, 1570, agreed to build the tower and body of the church accord- ing to Rodrigo Gil's plan, for 6400 ducats. Having given these details of their history, I must now say a few words about the buildings themselves. Going from the great Plaza de la Constitucion down a narrow street to the north, we soon came out on another large irregular open place, frequented chiefly by second-hand clothesmen, whose wares would be deemed bad even in Houndsditch, and M'hose wont it seems to be to induce their customers to make complete changes of their apparel behind scanty screenworks of cloths. At the angle of the further side of this Plaza is the grand church and convent of San Benito. The monks are, of course, all gone, as they are everywhere in Catholic Spain, and the convent is turned into a barrack ; the church is left open, but unused, and the more valuable portions of its furniture, its stalls and Retablos, have been carried away for exhibition in another religious house, now used as a museum ! Valladolid seems to have been a city of religious houses ; and when the revolution, following on civil wars, made so clean a sweep of religious orders, that not only does one see no monks, but even Sisters of Mercy are scarcely ever met,^ there was nothing, I sup- pose, to be done but to convert these buildings to the first miserable purpose that suggested itself ; and we ought perhaps to be thankful when we find a church like San Benito simply desolate and unused, and not converted to some purely secular use. The ground-plan of the church is given on Plate III. At 1 Enrique de Egas built the Hospital work of the same man. of Sta. Cruz, at Toledo, between 1504 ^ Little meets the eye, but still I and 1514. His work at Valladolid is have had several new establishments of still half Gothic ; a few years later, at regular clergy pointed out to me, and Toledo, it is completely Renaissance in the Church in Spain is already, no doubt, style. It is seldom that we can trace regaining something of what she has this radical change of style in the lost in revolutions and wars. Chap. III. VALLADOLID : SAN BENITO. 73 the west end are the remains of a tower, which seems never to have been completed, and which, though of vast size, is so poor, tame, and bald in detail, that it could hardly have produced a successful effect if it had been finished. The whole design of the exterior of the church is extremely uninteresting ; but the interior is much more impressive, being fine, lofty, and groined, and lighted chiefly by large clerestory windows, aided by others high up in the aisle-walls. The groining is all very domical in section, and rather rich in ribs ; and the grand scale of the whole work, and the simplicity of the piers — cylinders with eight engaged shafts round them — contribute to produce something of the effect of a building of earlier date. The bases of the columns are of enormous height from the floor, and their caps are generally carved with stiff foliage. Several altars, monuments, and chapels have been inserted between the buttresses of the north wall ; and there is one old tomb on the north side of the high altar, Avith a sculpture of the Crucifixion. The buttresses on the exterior all rise out of a con- tinuous weathered basement, and there is no variety in their design in any part. The ritual arrangements deserve a few words of description. There are six steps up from the nave to the altar, and there is an ambon on each side of them entered from the altar side. There is a stalled western gallery, with an organ on its south side, of late mediaeval design, but apparently an insertion, and not erected at the same time as the Coro. Beside the gallery Coro, there is a second Coro on the floor, with screens round it on the north, south, and west sides, which are evidently not original, being mere brick walls. A metal screen extends all across the nave and aisles at the east of the Coro ; and there are gates, not only in these, but also in the screen on the west side of the Coro, which, it will be remembered, is an unusual arrangement at this late date. The large organ is on the north side of the Coro, and of the same date as the woodwork of the stalls. The good people of Valladolid, who seem to feel inordinately proud of all that Berruguete did, have carried off the stalls to the museum. They are much praised by Mr. Ford, but for what reason I endeavoured in vain to discover. Their sculpture appeared to me to be contemptible, and mainly noticeable for woolly dumplings in place of draperies, and for the way in which the figures are sculptured, standing insecurely on their feet, dwarfed in stature, altogether inexpressive in their faces. 74 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. 111. out of drawing, and wholly deficient in energy or life. There were also thi-ee great Retablos to the principal altars at the ends of the aisles. The Renaissance frames of tliese are mostly in situ, but the sculptui'es have all been taken, with the stalls, to the museum, where they cumber the little chapel in the most uncouth fashion. I never saw such contemptible w^ork ; yet Mr. Ford calls this work^ " the ehef-cCoeuvre of Berruguete, circa 1526-1532." I can only say that the architecture is bad, the sculpture is bad, and the detail is bad ; that all three are bad of their kind, and that their kind is the worst possible.^ It is in truth the ugliest specimen of the imbecility and conceit which usually characterize inferior Renaissance work that I ever saw'. The whole of the figures are strained and distorted in the most violent way, and fenced in by columns which look like bed- posts, with entablatures planned in all sorts of new and original ways and angles. I have no patience with such work, and it is inconceivable how a man who has once done anything which, from almost every point of view, is so demonstrably bad, can have preserved any reputation whatever, even among his own people. It is a curious illustration, however, of the singular extent to which both Gothic and Renaissance were being- wrought at the same time in Spain ; for at the time he did this work, in Avhicli not a trace of Gothic feeling or skill re- mained, other men at Salamanca, Zaragoza, and elsewhere, were still building in late Gothic, and some buildings were still more than half Gothic which were not erected for at least fifty years later. A short walk from San Benito leads to another Plaza, on one of which is the west front of San Pablo, whilst the great convent of San Gregorio is on its south side. I could not find any means of getting into San Pablo, and am uncertain whether it is in use or desecrated. Its facade is a repetition, on a large scale, of work like that of Juan and Simon de Colonia — who are said to have been the architects employed — in the chapel monuments at Miraflores. Armorial bearings have much more than their due prominence, mouldings are attenuated, every bit of wall is covered with carving or tracery, and such tricks are played with arches of all shapes, that, . 1 Handbook of Spain, vol. ii. p. 572. y Vitores in bis Histoxy of Valladolid, - Berruguete was not dissatisfied vol. ii. ji. 257) be expresses bis own witb bis work. In a letter from bim to extreme satisfaction in tbe most un- Audrcs de Nfigera (given by Sagi-ador reserved way. Chap. III. VALLADOLID : S. PABLO — S. GREGOMO. 75 though they are ingenious, they are hardly worth describing. The western doorway is fringed with kneehng angels for crockets, and there are large and small statues of saints against the wall on either side of it. Above is the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin, with St. John the Baptist on one side, and the kneeling founder on the other, flanked by angels carrying- armorial achievements. Above, in the centre, is our Lord seated, St. Peter and St. Paul on either side, and the four Evangelists seated at desks, and instructed by angels. Every vacant space seems to have a couple of angels holding coats-of-arms, so that it is impossible not to feel that the sculptor and the founder must have had some idea of heaven as peopled by none with less than a proper number of quarterings on their shields, or without claim to the possession of Sangre Azul. I must not forget to say of this work that, though its scheme is displeasing and Eetablo-like, its execution is wonderful, and the merit of the detail of many parts of it very great. The facade of San Gregorio is a long lofty wall, pierced with small ogee-headed windows, and finished with a quaint, carved, and pinnacled parapet ; in the centre is tlie entrance gateway, corresponding pretty much in its detail with the front of San Pablo, but even more extremely heraldic in its decorations. The doorway is a square opening under a segmental arch, with an ogee-trefoiled canopy above. Full-length statues of hairy unclad savages on either side may have a meaning which I failed to discover ; to me they looked simply uncouth and rude. The canopy over the doorway runs up and forms a great heraldic tree, with an enormous coat-of-arms and supporters in the centre. The finish at the toj) is one of those open-work conceits of interlacing pierced cuspiug, which looks like nothing better than a collection of twigs. The sculpture on this doorway is altogether inferior in its character to that of the doorway of San Pablo. The convent is now, I believe, a barrack, and the sentry refused me admission ; but I saAV a picturesque court open in the centre, with the usual galleries round it, supported on columns, the wooden ceiling of the passage being painted. The church of la Magdalena does not look so late in date as the documentary evidence seems to prove that it is ; but it is late enough to be most uninteresting. The west front is the 7ie plus ultra of heraldic absurdity, being entirely occupied with an enormous coat-of^arms and its adjuncts. 76 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. III. Close to the east end of this church is a Moorish archway of brick, a picturesque and rather graceful work. It owes not a little of its effect to the shape of the bricks, which are 7 in. wide by 11 in. long by 1^ in. thick, and to the enormous quantity of mortar used, the joints being not less than an inch wide.^ The rugged- ness and picturesque effect of work done in this way is much greater than that of the smooth, neat walls — badly built of necessity where there is not much mortar used — of our modern buildings. The ]\[useum is housed in the old college of Sta. Cruz, close to the University, and near to the Cathedral. It is a building of a class whose name is legion in these j)arts. It encloses a central court surrounded by cloisters, above which there are open arcades all round on each of the three floors, traceried balustrades occupying the spaces between their columns, and the rooms being all entered from these cloister-like open passages. With good detail such an arrangement might easily be made very attractive ; but I saw no examjole in any but the very latest style of Gothic. The contents of the Museum are most unin- teresting. There are three paintings said to be by Ilubens, but they seemed to me to have been much damaged ; and the rest of the pictures are unmixed rubbish. There is a large collection of figures and subjects from sculptured Eetablos, all of which are extravagant and strained in their attitudes to the most painful degree. I have already referred to some of Berruguete's work preserved here, and the rest is mostly of about the same low degree of merit. The Library, which appeared to have many valuable books, is a large room, w^ell kej)t and well filled, with a librarian very ready to show it to strangers. The University is a cold work of Herrera — the coldest of Spanish architects. Mr. Ford mentions an old gateway in it ; but I could not find it. I spent one day only in Yalladolid ; but this is ample for seeing all its architectural features. It is one of those cities which was too rich and prosperous during an age of much work and little taste, and where, though Berrugiiete and Herrera may be studied by those who think such labour desirable, very little ^ The remarkable brick buildings of not less remarkable works at Lvibeck Toulouse and its neighbourhood are and elsewhere in the north of Germany, similarly constructed ; so, too, are those Chap. HI. VALLADOLID. 77 mediaeval architecture of any real value is to be seen. Yet as a modern city it is in parts gay and attractive, being after Madi-id the most important city of the North of Spain. Its suburbs are less cheerful, for here one lights constantly on some desecrated church or ruined building, which recalls to mind the vast difference between the Valladolid of to-day — a mere provincial town — and the Valladolid of two centuries ago, for a short time the capital of Spain. 78 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IV. CHAPTER IV. SALAMANCA — ZAMOEA — BENAVENTE. The long dreary road which leads over the corn-growing plain from Medina del Campo is at last relieved some two or three miles before Salamanca is reached by the view of its imposing group of steeples and domes, which rise gradually over the low hills on the northern side. The long line of walls round the city still in part remains, but seems daily to be falling more and more to decay, and indeed generally all its grand buildings speak rather of death than of life. Few even of Spanish towns seem to have suffered more at the hands of the French during the Peninsular war than did Salamanca, and we ought not perhaps to be surprised if its old prosperity comes but slowly back again to it. The public buildings here are generally grandiose and im- posing ; but almost all of them are of the period of the Eenais- sance, and there are no very remarkable examples of this bad age. Still when they were perfect there must have been a certain stateliness about them, befitting the importance of a great university. The main objects of attraction to me were the two cathedrals, the one grand and new, of the sixteenth century, by whose side and as it were under whose wing nestles the smaller but most precious old cathedral of the twelfth century, fortunately pre- served almost intact when the new one was erected, and still carefully maintained, though, I believe, very seldom used for service. The remarkable relative positions of these two cathedrals will be readily understood by the accompanying ground-plan,' in which, as will be seen, the vast bulk of the later church quite overwhelms the modest dimensions of the earlier. I know indeed few spots, if any, in which the imiDortance, or the contrary, of mere size in architecture can be better tested than here. Most edu- cated artists would, I dare say, agree with me in rating size as the lowest of all really artistic qualities in architecture ; and here we 1 Plate IV. Chap. IV. SALAMANCA: THE OLD CATHEDEAL. 79 find that the small and insignificant old clmrch produces as good an effect as the large and boastfully ambitious new one, though its dimensions are altogether inferior. This is owing to the subdi- vision of partSj and to the valuable simplicity which so markedly characterizes them. On the other hand, it would be wrong to forget that from another point of view mere size is of the primest importance, for we may well feel, when we compare, for instance, an extremely lofty church with one of very modest height, that in the former there is on the part of the founders an evident act of sacrifice, wliilst m the latter their thoughts have possibly never risen above the merest utilitarianism ; and it would be a spirit entirely dead to all religious impressions that could regard such an act of sacrifice otherwise than with extreme admiration. The foundation of the first of these two cathedrals may be fixed, I think, with a fair aj)proach to certainty, as being some time in the twelfth century. It was at this time, soon after the city had been regained from the Moors, in a.d. 1095, that Bernard, Archbishop of Toledo, himself a Frenchman, brought many other Frenchmen into Spain, and through his great influ- ence procm-ed their appointment to various sees — a fact which I may say, in passing, suggests much in regard to the origin of the churches which they built. Among the French ecclesiastics so promoted was Geronimo Visquio,^ a native of Perigord, wdio was for a long time the great friend and close companion of the Cid Kodrigo Diaz, and confessor to him and Dona Ximena his wife. On the Cid's death he brought his body from Valencia to the monasti3ry of Cardena, near Burgos, and there dwelt till Count Karaon and Dona Urraca made him Bishop of Salamanca. Gil Gonzalez Davila^ says that at this time the church was founded, and Cean Bermudez adds some documentary evidence as to privileges conceded to its chapter for the works about this time by Count Ramon.^ In a.d. 1178 a priest — Don IMiguel of San Juan, Medina del Campo — made a bequest to the Chapter of his property for the work of the cloister, and we may fairly assume, therefore, that before this date the church itself was completed. The new cathedral was not commenced until a.d. 1513, and of this I need not now speak ; but in an inscription on it, which records its consecration in a.d. 1560, the first mass is related to have been said in the old cathedral four hundred 1 It is doubtful whether this sui-uame on his tomb. — Ford, Handbook, p. 521. is correct, and whether it is not old - Teatro Eccl., iii. 236-8. Spanish for " Vixit" in the insci-iption •'' Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. 21. 80 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IV. and sixty years before, i. e. in a.d. 1100.^ This probably was only a tradition ; but it may fairly be taken to point to the twelfth century as that in which tlie cathedral was built. . This early church is, it will be seen,^ cruciform, with three eastern apses, a nave and aisles of five bays, and a dome or lantern over the crossing. There is a deep western porch, and I think it pro- bable that there were originally towers on either side of this. The church has been wonderfully little altered, save that its north wall has been taken down in order to allow of the erection of the new cathedral, and at the same time the arch under the northern part of the central lantern or dome was also underbuilt. In other respects the church is almost untouched, and bears every mark of having been in progress during the greater part of the twelfth century. There is no provision in the plan of the main piers for carrying the diagonal groining ribs, and it may be, therefore, that when they were first planned it was not' intended to groin the nave. The groining-ribs are now carried on corbels, in front of which were statues, only two or three of which, however, now remain in their places.^ The vaulting throughout is quadrii)ai-tite in the arrangement of the ribs ; but the vaults of the three western bays of the nave, of the south transept, and of the aisles are con- structed as domes, with the stones all arranged in concentric lines, but with ribs crossing their undersides ; the two eastern bays of the nave have quadripartite groining, planned in the common way. The apses have semi-domes. The main arches everywhere are pointed, those of the windows semi-circular, and the capitals throughout are elaborately carved, either with foliage or groups of coupled monsters or bu'ds, a very favourite device of the early Spanish sculptors. The most interesting feature in this old cathedral still remains to be mentioned : this is the dome over the crossing. The remainder of the original fabric is bold, vigorous, and massive, well justifying the line in an old saying about the Spanish cathedi-als, " Fortis Salmantina ;" but still it is merely a good example of a class of work, of which other examples on a grander scale are to be met with elsewhere. Not so, however, the dome ; for here we have a rare feature treated with rare success, and, so far as I know, with complete originality. The French domed churches, sjich as S. Front, Perigueux, and others 1 G. G. Davila, Teat. Eccl., iii. 344. tern are of our Lord, the B. V. M., an - Plate IV. angel, and a bishop. 3 The statues at the angles of the Ian- SALAMANCA OLD CATHEDRAL p. 80. INTEEIOR OF LANTERN, LOOKING EAST Chap. TV. SALAMANCA : THE OLD CATHEDRAL. 81 of the same class, Notre Dame clii Port, Clermont, and Notre Dame, le Puy, have, it is true, domes, but these are all com- menced immediately above the pendentives or arches 'svliich carry them. The lack of light in their interiors is consequently a great defect, and those which I have seen have always seemed to me to have something dark, savage, and repulsive in their character. And it was here that the architect of Salamanca Cathedral showed his extreme skill, for, instead of the common low form of dome, he raised his upon a stage arcaded all round inside and out, pierced it with windows, and then, to resist the pressure of his vault, built against the external angles four great circular pinnacles. The effect of his work both inside and out is admirable. It is divided into sixteen compartments by bold shafts, which carry the groining ribs ; and three of these divisions over each of the cardinal sides are pierced as windows. The other four occur where the turrets on the exterior make it impossible to obtain light. These arcades form two stages in height between the pendentives and the vault. The vault is hardly to be called a real dome, having a series of ribs on its under side, nor does the external covering follow the same curve as the internal, but with admirable judgment it is raised so much as to have rather the effect of a veiy low spire, with a considerable entasis, than of a regular dome. The exterior angles have lines of simple and boldly contrived crockets, and the stones with which it is covered seem all to have been cut with scallops on their lower edge. The stonework of the exterior is much decayed, but otherwise the whole work stands well and firmly. My drawings explain better than any written description can, the various details of the design ; but I may well call attention to the admirable treatment of the gables over the windows on the cardinal sides of the dome. No doubt they answer the same purpose as the circular tm-rets at the angles in providing a coun- terpoise to the thrust of the vault, and the change from the circular lines of the angle turrets to the sharp straight lines of these gables is among the happiest efforts of art. So again I ought to notice the contrast between the shafted windows, mth their springing lines definitely and accurately marked by sculp- tured capitals, and the openings in the turrets, with their con- tinuous mouldings. The value of contrast — a treasure in the hands of the real artist — is here consciously and most artistically exhibited ; and it was no mean artist who could venture to make so unsparing a use of architectural ornamentation without G 82 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IV. producing any sense of surfeit on those who look at his work even with the most ci-itical eyes. I have seklom seen any central lantern more thorouglily good and effective from every point of view than this is : it seems indeed to solve, better than the lantern of any church I have yet seen elsewhere, the question of the introduction of the dome to Gothic churches. The lofty pierced tambour, and the exquisite effect of liglit admitted at so great a height from the floor, are features which it is not, I believe, vain to hope we may see emulated ere long in some modern work. But in any such attempt it must be borne well in mind that, thongli the scale of this work is very moderate, its solidity and firmness are excessive, and that thus only is it that it maintains that dignified manliness of architectural character which so very few of our modern architects ever seem even to strive for. From all points, too, this lantern groups admirably with the rest of the church. IMy sketch w as taken from the west end of the nave roof, in order to show the detail of the work to a fair scale ; but the best view on the whole is that from the south- east, where it groups with the fine exterior of the eastern apses, with their eno-ao-ed columns and rich corbel-tables, and with a turret to the east of the transept, which has been carried up and finished rather prettily in the fourteenth century with a short spire, Avith spire-lights on each side of its hexagonal base. The old corbel-tables under the eaves remain throughout the east end ; but the wall has been raised above them with a line of pierced quatrefoils, over which the rough timbers of the roof project. No doubt here, as we shall find in some other examples, the original intention was to have a stone roof of rather flat pitch. The space between the eaves of the chancel and the lower windows of the lantern would admit of noTtaore than this ; and though there is a good deal of piquant effect in the line of dark pierced traceries under the eaves and the rough tiled roof above them, one cannot but regret very much the change from the original design in so important a part of the work. Tlie eaves- cornices are carved with a very rich variety of billet moulding, and carried upon corbels, some of which are carved and some moulded. The walls generally have flat pilasters at short inter- vals, finishing under the eaves-cornices, and the principal apse has the common arrangement of three-quarter engaged shafts dividing it into three bays. The window-arches are boldly moulded and carved, but the lights are narrow, and those in the main apse are remarkable for the delicate intricacy of the con- SALAMANCA OLD CATHEDRAL EXTERIOR UF LANTERN Chap. IV. SALAMANCA : THE OLD CATHEDRAL. 83 temporary iron grilles with which they are guarded — geiuiiue laborious smith's work, utterly unlike the poor modern efforts with which in these days men earn fame without using their hammers ! The effect here of the intricate curved lines, relieved by the dark shadow of the window opening, is charming. It may fairly be doubted, I think, whether these windows were ever meant to be glazed. In the transept pointed relieving arches are built over the windows, and one of them is a good example of the joggling of the joints of stonework, not uncom- monly seen in early flat arches, but the use of which is not very obvious in a high pointed arch. The smaller apses have only one window, and are lower in proportion to the principal apse than is usually the case. There are some fine monuments in the south transept, all of them adorned with elaborate bas-reliefs of scriptural subjects. One, of tlie thirteenth century, has a tomb supported on lions, and a death-bed represented on its side ; a little apsidal recess above is groined with a semi-dome, with ribs. Another has sculptures of the Crucifixion, the Entombment, the Maries going to the Sepulchre, and the " Noli me tangere ; " and a third has anotlier representation of a death-bed. The effigies are all slightly tilted outwards, and those in the east wall have their feet to the nortli. The most remarkable features in the deco- ration of the church are, however, the Retablo and the painting on the semi-dome above it. On the vault the Last Judgment is painted, our Lord being drawn much in the famous attitude of St. Michael in Orcagna's fresco at Pisa, and without drapery. The Retablo is a work of the fourteenth century, of wood, and planned so as exactly to fit the curve of the apse wall. It is divided into five panels in height and eleven in width, so that there are fifty- five subjects, each surrounded by an architectural framework of delicate character. The subjects are all richly painted on a gold ground, and seemed to me to be well drawn. The coloured decoration of the whole is very effective, and owes much to the white ground of its traceries. Generally speaking, a Retablo is placed across the apse and cuts off its eastern portion, which thenceforward becomes a receptacle for all the untidiness of the church ; and when so arranged, if it reaches the height common in Spain, it almost, and in some cases altogether, destroys the internal effect of the apse. Here, however, the exact fitting of the Retablo to the curve of the wall is free from this objection, and its effect is unusually good. The cloister on the south side is almost all modernized^ G 2 84 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap, IV. though one or two old doorways remain. That into the south transept has spiral shafts, with the spiral lines reversed at regular intervals. It has also some very good carving of foliage, with birds and naked figures, and on its jambs are some memorial inscriptions of A.D. 1190, 1 192, and 1 194. On the south side of the cloister is a richly decorated little chapel, which retains in one corner a very curious mediaeval organ, with shutters. On the east side and close to the transept, what was no doubt the original Chapter- house still remains, though it is now called the Mozarabic chapel, and was formerly used for the Mozarabic ritual. At present the boy who had the keys said it was not used; but the proper books were all there. It is a very remarkable chamber, square in plan below, and brought to an octagon above by arches thrown across the angles, and finally roofed with a sort of dome, carried upon moulded and carved ribs of very intricate contrivance. The interlacing of these ribs gives the work somewhat the effect of being Moorish, and there can be little doubt, I think, that it owes its peculiarities in some degree to Moorish influ- ence. It will be seen by reference to the plan, that the groining ribs are arranged in parallel pairs. The ribs go from the angles to the centre of the opposite side instead of from angle to angle, and the sixteen ribs form a star-shaped compartment in the centre. This coujiling of ribs in parallel lines is a feature of Moorish work, and is seen in the curious mosque, the Cristo de la Luz, at Toledo, and in the somewhat Moorish vault of the Templars' church at Segovia. But whether Moorish or not, it is a remarkable room, and deserves careful study. The diameter is but a little over twenty-six feet, and the light is admitted by small windows in the upper stage. I should be inclined to attribute this room and its vault to the architect of the lantern of the church, and I regret that the only part of the outside which I could see was so modernized as to render it impossible to ascertain the original design. I call this the Chapter-house, because I find that it opened originally into the cloister, with three arches, that in the centre a doorvAay, the others windows of two lights — the almost invariable arrangement of all Chapter- houses at this time.^ * A considerable number of masons' marks remain on the ex- terior of the early part of tliis church ; and if they are the marks ^ Don Miguel, priest of San Juan, house is probably of about this date or Medina del Campo, made a donation to a little later. — Cean Bermudez, Arq. de the church in a.d. 1178, to complete Esp., i. 23. the work of the cathedral. The Chapter- Chap. IV. SALAMANCA : THE NEW CATHEDRAL. 85 of the men who erected so complicated a piece of stonework as the vault of the Chapter-house, they well deserve to be pre- served. Throughout this church, indeed, the masonry is un- usually good, and, owing to the rich warm colour of the stone, the eastern apses, though they follow the common design of most of the Eomanesque apses in this part of Spain, are more than usually good in their effect. A flight of eighteen steps leads up from the old cathedral through the north transept into one of the southern chapels of the new cathedral, and I know few changes more remarkable than that from the modest simplicity, yet grandeur, of the early church, to the overbearing magnitude and somewhat flaunting character of the late one. Salamanca seems to have tasted early of that prosperity which in the end ruined art in Spain ; and it was possible, therefore, for the Bishop, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, to propose a scheme for replacing his modest old cathedrol by one of the most sumptuous and ambitious in Spain, without attempting what was absurd or sure to fail. The whole discussion as to the planning of the church is told us in a series of documents published by Cean Bermudez, which are, I think, of sufficient interest to make them quite worth a place in the Appendix to this volume. I shall discuss in another chapter the light which they throw- upon the architectural practice of the day, and here it will only be necessary to refer to such parts of them as affect the architec- tural history of the building. In A.D. 1509 a Royal order was issued to Anton Egas, master of the w^orks at Toledo Cathedral, to go to Salamanca to make a plan for the cathedral there. Egas seems to have delayed so long that it \Aas necessary to send another order to him, and then at last, in May, 1510, he went. The same kind of command had been laid at the same time by the king on Alfonso Rodriguez, the master of the works at Seville, and after these two had con- sidered the matter, they presented a joint plan, drawn on parch- ment, showing the heights and widths of the naves, the thickness of the walls, and so forth ; but they were unable, they said, to agree as to the proportion of length to breadth in the Capilla mayor, and so they settled to meet in ten days at Toledo, and then to appoint an umpire. Nothing more seems to have been done by them, for in a.d. 1513 the Bishop and Chapter resolved to call together a Junta of architects to make another report ; and Kodi-iguez being dead, they summoned Anton Egas of Toledo, Juan Gil de Hontailon, Juan de Badajoz of Leon, Alonso de 86 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SRAIN. Chap. IV. Covanubias of Toledo, Juan Toruero, Juan de Alava, Juan de Orozco, Eodrigo de Saravia, and Juan Campero, who all assembled in September, a.d. 15] 2, at Salamanca, and drew up their report. The detailed character of this report is very curious. It decides the dimensions of every part of the church, the thickness of the walls, the projection of the buttresses, and the exact position that it ought to occupy. The architects not only agreed in all their opinions, but testified to their truth by taking an oath " by God and St. Mary," saying, each one, " So I swear, and amen." The question was, whether the new cathedral should be on the site of the old cathedral, or to the north or to the south of it ; and among other reasons for placing it to the north, where it now is, the existence of the steeple at the west end of the old cathedral was mentioned. In fine, the church has been so placed as not to interfere at all with the steeple, but little with the old t-athedral, and not at all with the cloister. The opinion of the Junta of Architects has been acted upon, in short, in everything save the shape of the head of the church, which they preferred should be octagonal, and which is, in fact, square in plan. Three days after the presentation of this report certain of the Chapter were appointed to select an architect, and their choice fell at once on Juan Gil de Hontanon for the architect, and Juan Campero for clerk of the works.' AYhether Juan Gil really made the plans or not seems very uncertain ; and I confess that to me it seems more probable that the plan made in a.d. 1509 by Egas and Eodriguez was laid before the Junta, and that they drew up their resolutions upon the data it afforded, and left to Hontanon no choice as to the proportions of his church, but only the management of its construction and the designing of its details. If this supposition be correct, I fear I can award but little credit to Hontanon ; for in this cathedral the only point one can lieartily praise is the magnificence of the general idea, and the noble scale and proportion of the whole M'ork. But the detail throughout is of the very poorest kind, fairly Gothic in character inside, but almost Eenaissance outside, and everywhere wanting in vigoiu- and effect. Nothing can be much worse than the treatment of the doorways and windows, and — to take one por- tion — the south transept facade is spotted all over with niches, ' I use the modeiii terms, which seem do canteria para maestro principal, y to express their offices. The original en Juan Campero, cautero, j^ara apare- words are J. G. de Hontanon, " maestro jador.'' Chap. IV. SALAMANCA: THE NEW CATHEDRAL. 87 crockets, and pedestals in the most childish way ; whilst every spandrel has a head looking out of a circle, reminding one forcibly of the old application of a horse-collar, and, in fact, the men were foolish who repeated, usqiie ad nauseam, so stale and unprofitable an idea ! In one respect, however, the design of this church is very im- portant. The Spanish architects seldom troubled themselves to suit their buildings in any respect to the climate ; and this, no doubt, because in very many eases they were merely imitating the works of another country, in which no precautions against heat were necessary. Here we have a church expressly designed, aud Avith great judgment, for the requirements of the climate. The windows are very high up, and very small for the size of the building, so that no sunlight could ever make its way to any unpleasant extent into it. There are galleries in front of all the windows, both in the nave and aisles, but they are of thoroughly Renaissance character. The section of the church gives a main clerestory to the nave, and a second clerestory on one side of each aisle over the arches ojiening into the side chapels. The upper clerestory has two windows of two lights, and a circular window above them in each bay, and the lower clerestory traceried windows generally, I think, of three lights. The traceries are very weak and ill proportioned ; but I noticed in places what seemed to be a recurrence to earlier traditions in the groupings of small windows, with se\eral circles j^ierced in the wall above them. It was, however, just like the imitation of old worlvs we so often see from incorajDetent hands at the present day. You see whence the idea has been taken, though it is so travestied as to be not even tolerable where the original was probably perfect ! The planning of the church is certainly infelicitous. The square east end is bald to a degree externally, and finished as it is inside with chapels corresponding with those of the aisles, wants relief and life. If the square east end is adopted in a great church, no doubt the prolonged Lady Chapels of our own churches are infinitely to be preferred to such a plan as this, which fails to give the great east windows of which we boast, and loses all the effects of light and shade in which the apsidal chevets of the Continent are so rich. • Everywhere here the buttresses are finished with pinnacles, always planned in the same way, each group being planned on a square, counterchanged over the one below : they are 88 GO'l'HlC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IV. of several stages in height, furnished throughout with ci'ocketed finials on all sides, and at last Avith a single tall pinnacle. Nothing can be more wearisome than this kind of pinnacled buttress, but the later Spanish authorities were very fond of it, and repeated it everywhere. The dome, or Cimborio, is altogether Pagan in its design and detail outside, and on tlie inside is so plastered with an olla of pink cherubs, rays of light, and gilt scallopshells of monstrous size, and the like, as to be utterly contemptible in its effect. It is, moreover, too small, and too little separated from the rest of the vaulting, to look really well. The church throughout is finished with hipped roofs in place of gables : but the jjarapets in front of these are all Eenaissance, and marked at intervals by the favourite urns in which Renaissance architects still generally and most unfortunately indulge. The cathedral was first used for service in a.d. 1560, when on all sides Renaissance buildings were being erected, and perhaps it would be more just to Juan Gil de Hontanon to look upon him as striving to the last to maintain the cause of Christian art against the inroads of the enemy, and failing in his detail not for want of will, but because it was simply impossible to resist the tide which had set in before he died. Much, too, of the church must, no doubt, be attributed to other men ; Juan de Alava, Rodrigo Gil de Hontanon, Martin Ruiz, and Juan de Ribero Rada, having been masters of the works after Juan Gil, and the church not having been completed until more than a century after its commencement.' It will have been noticed that the old steeple is spoken of by the Junta of Architects as a work of so much importance as to make it advij^able to change the position of the new cathedral, rather than interfere with it. I do not quite understand this, for the greater part of it is now entirely of late Renaissance detail,^ though some large crocketed pinnacles still exist at the 1 Two inscriptious on stones on the 15G0." — G. G. Davila, Teat. Ecc, iii. 320, church give the dates of its commence- 344. ment and first use. " It will be seen presently that in the " + Hoc Templum inceptum est anno somewhat similar cathedral at Zamora a nativitate Domini millesiino quingen- the Romanesque steeple occupies jjre- tesimo tercio decimo die Jovis duode- cisely the same ^Josition as this. It is eimamensis Mail.' possible that when the Junta sat the " + Pio. IV. Papa, Philippo II. Rege. steeple they spoke of was of the same Francisco Mani-ique de Lara, Episcopo, age as the old church, and that it has ex vetere ad hoc templum facta trans- been subsequently recast in Renais- latio XXV. Martii anno a Cri.sto nato sance. Chap. IV. SALAMANCA : THE NEW CATHEDRAL. 89 angles of the highest stage. The lower part is very plain, but the upper stage of the square tower has a rich balustrade, and windows and pilasters, and above it is an octagonal stage with pinnacles at the angles, and this in its tm-n is surmounted by a dome, with a lantern at the top. The outline is certainly fine, and its great height and mass make it a conspicuous object for a very long distance from Salamanca. The mixed character of the detail in this church is well seen in the great doorway. Its jambs are richly moulded and carved, but the mouldings are all planned on a line receding but little from the face of the wall, so that the general effect is flat, and wanting in shadow. The main arch is a bold simple trefoil, but the label above it is carried on in an ogee line, and the arches below over two sculptured subjects, and over two door-openings under them, are elliptical. So, too, in the sculpture on the bas- reliefs over the door-openings, we have the richest luxuriance of the latest school of Spanish Gothic, wnth its beasts, its crisp foliage, and its wild love of heraldic achievements, and, mixed with all this, naked cherubs, clouds, and representations of Roman architecture. In conclusion, I am bound to say of this gi'eat church that, whilst its exterior fails in almost every single particular, its interior, thanks to compliance with certain broad rules of Gothic building, is beyond question very grand and impressive. To the vast size and height of the columns this is mainly owing, for though they are cut up with endless little mouldings ingeniously " stopped," one does not observe their jDettinesses, and the arches which they carry are bolder and more important than might have been expected. Some of the side ch.apels have altars both at the east and the west ; and where the old altars remain they have carved in stone an imitation of an altar frontal. They represent worked super- frontals with fringes, and frontals mth fringed orphreys at either end : and I saw one altar with a painted imitation of embroidery all over it. A chapel on the south side of the nave has an altar entirely covered with glazed tiles, the walls around it being similarly inlaid. Close to the cathedral is one of the University buildings, with a central dome and two dome-capped towers to the west of it, and near these again is another domed church, and in the distance this group is very remarkable and stately- looking. I wandered all over Salamanca looking for old churches, and 90 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SrAlN. Chap. IV. could find few of any interest' The finest are all but Renais- sance in their character and detail, and seem to have owed much to the influence of Hontanon. The convents and colleges, where not ruined, are grand in scale, yet they produce none of the effect wliich our Oxford buildings do : but, on the other hand, they are built of a much better stone, and of a rich, warm, yellow tint. The good people here are smartening up the entrance to the town with flower-gardens, seats, and acacias, and are cer- tainly putting their best feet forward, though there is nothing else even approaching to smartness in the place. A walk round the old walls is a melancholy amusement. They are, in part, being levelled ; still I saw two or three pointed gateways, which seemed to be of early date, but very simple. I saw also some convents in a dilapidated state, and indeed everywhere the state of these is very bad, and I never saw so many waste places or half- ruiued buildings. A good deal of this is no doubt owing to the operations of the French during tlie Peninsular War, but some- thing certainly to the natives, who are busier in pulling down than building up; or at any rate, when they do the latter, they combine it with the former ; for in some repairs of one of the University buildings I found the men re-using old wrought stones from some fifteenth-century building. A bull-fight had just been celebrated here, and the principal square in the city, the " Plaza Mayor," one of the best I have seen in Spain, had been fitted up for the occasion as an arena, Avith seats sloping up from the ground to the first floor windows of the houses all round it. (There was a regular arena, but it was being demolished, to give place, I presume, to one on a grander scale.) Another Plaza close to it is the principal market-place, and affords good opportunities for the study of the costumes of the peasantry. I was fortunate in happening to light upon one very curious church here — that of San Marcos. The engraving of the plan^ will show how very cleverly its architect managed to combine the scheme of a circular church with the usual Spanish triapsidal arrangement. The apses are vaulted with semi-domes, whilst * Yet I thiuk a moi'e careful search Church of Sta. Maria de los Cabal- would be rewarded, for we know of the leros, consecrated Nov. 1214. consecration of several churches at an Do. San Emilian, do. Nov. 1226. early date, and Mr. Ford speaks of Do. S. Michael, do. Nov. 1238. them as still existing. — G. G. Davila, Teatro Eccl., iii. pp. Church of San Nicholas, couseci'ated 272-4. 11 Kal. Nov. 1192. 2 piate IV. Do. San Pedro, do. Nov. 1202. o p ;.j.'.'i'-«t^_.j;ji:;J ^ CilAP. IV. SALAMANCA : CHURCHES. 91 the rest of the church is covered with wooden roofs, and these all lean towards the central square, which has a hipped roof. The arches are all pointed, and there are rudely carved capitals to the columns. A simple corbel-table is carried along under the eaves, and there are one or two slits — they are not more — for lio-ht. This little church is close to the town walls, and the absence of windows gives it the look of a part of a fortress. The plan seems to me to be admirably suggestive : we are too much in the habit of working perpetually in certain grooves which have been cut for us by our forefathers, and most men now-a-days would be afraid to plan a little church like this, even if the idea of it came into their heads. Yet it struck me as being really an extremely useful and economical construction, and such a scheme might with ease be fitted specially for a cemetery chapel in place of one of the vulgar erections with which we are now everywhere indulged. The church of San Martin has a fine early doorway, in which I first saAV a very peculiar order of decoration, which I saw again at Zamora, and of which no doubt more examples exist in this district. My illustration will explain its design, one member of the archivolt of which is like a succession of curled pieces of wood put side by side and perfectly square in section. The effect of light and shade in such work is rather good, but it is neverthe- less rather too bizarre to be quite pleasing. Another little church — that of San Matteo — has a rather fine, though rude, Romanesque doorway, with a buttress on each side, and a corbel-table above. But besides these I saw no remains of early work in Salamanca. From Salamanca an uninteresting road leads to Zamora: occasionally there are considerable woods, and in other parts of the road the fields were well covered with vines. For two or three hours the domes of Salamanca are in sight, backed, as every view in Spain seems to be, by a fine line of distant mountains. No old cliurches are passed on the road, unless I except a large Archivolt. San Martin. 92 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IV. convent, now desecrated and nearly destroyed, but which seemed by the gh'mpse I caught of it to have old parts. The entrance to Zamora is very striking : the city cro\vns the long back of a rock, falling steeply on the south to the Douro, and on the north to another valley. At the extreme end of this hill is the cathedral, as far away from the bulk of the people as it can be, but, for all that, very picturesquely and finely perched. Below the cathedral is a scarped rock, and to the left the noble river flows round a wooded point, and then out of sight under a long line of green vine-covered hills. All this view is taken in from the end of an old bridge, carried on sixteen or seventeen pointed arches, across which, near the southern end, is built a picturesque and tall gate-tower. The long .line of houses occupies the top of the rock, and then oppo- site the bridge the street descends by a steep-stepped hill, and the houses cluster round the water-side. The want of water in most Spanish landscapes is so great, that I was never tired of the views here, Avhere it is so abundant. One of the best, perhaps, is that from just below the cathedral, looking past the picturesque bridge across the cattle-peopled plains to a long line of hills which bounds the horizon, with the dead-level line with which so many of the Spanish table -lands finish above the banks of their rivers. Of the history of Zamora Cathedral I know but little. Here, as elsewhere at the same time, a Frenchman, Bernardo, a Bene- dictine, was bishop from a.d, 1125 to 1149, having been appointed through the influence of, and consecrated by, his namesake, the French Archbishop of Toledo.^ Davila says that the cathedral was built by a subsequent bishop, Don Estevan, " by order and at the cost of the Emperor Don Alonso VII., as is proved by * G. G. Dilvila, Teatro EccL, ii. 397. when the Moors regained possession after Diivila's statement, supported by the the Cid's death, and that he was then inscription on his tomb, is that Bernardo made Bishop of Salamanca. It is car- was the first Bishop of Zamora ; but tainly not a little curious that two of this does not appear to accord exactly the eleventh-century bishops of Zamora with the result at which Florez arrives, should have come from a district where His statement is that Geronimo was all the vaulting is more or less domical, the first Bishop of Zamora after a long and that we should have in their ca- hiatus, that he was succeeded by Ber- thedral one of the most remarkable nardo, and that both these bishops were examples of a domed church. It will appointed by Bernard of Toledo, and be recollected that nearly the same both were natives of Pe'rigord. The facts have been mentioned in regard fact seems to be that Geronimo was to Salamanca. See Esp. Sag., vol. xiv. Bishop of Valencia, and had to fly thence pp. 3G2-368, and p. 79 ante. ZAMORA CATHEDRAL. INTERIOR OF NAVE. LOOKING EAST Chap. lA^ ZAMORA : CATHEDEAL. 93 some lines which were in this church." Tliese lines give the date of 1174 as that of the completion of the work,^ and it tallies fairly with the general character of much of the building ; for, though it is true that everywhere the main arches are pointed, much of the detail is undoubtedly such as to suggest as early a date as that here given. This cathedral is on a small scale, and the most important portion of tlie ground-plan — the choir — having been rebuilt, it has lost much of its interest. It consists now of a nave and aisles of four bays, shallow transepts, with a dome over the cross- ing, a short choir with an apse of seven sides, and two choir aisles with square east ends. At the west end are chapels added lieyond the church, that in the centre being of considerable length, and groined with the common intersecting ribs.^ At the west end of the north aisle is an unusually large and fine Romanesque steeple — the finest example of the kind I have seen in Spain — and erected, no doubt, during the time of one of the French bishops already referred to. The nave piers are very bold and vigorous in design ; they are planned with triple shafts on each face of a square core, and have square caps and bases. The arches are very simple, but pointed. The massiveness of the piers is very remarkable, for though the clear width of the nave is only about twenty-thi-ee feet, the columns are not less than seven feet across. The nave is groined in square, the aisles in oblong compartments. There are no groining ribs in the aisles, though the vaults are quadri- partite, and in the transepts there are pointed waggon roofs. The central dome is carried on pendentives, similar to those in the old cathedral at Salamanca. It has an arcaded and pierced stage above the pendentives, and then a dome or vault, divided into sixteen compartments by ribs of bold section, the filling in between which is a succession of small cylindrical vaults, so that the construction inside looks ratlier complicated. It is, more- over, so defaced by whitewash and plaster as to produce a much less fine effect than the dome at Salamanca ; but, on the other hand, there can be but little doubt, I think, that it is the earlier Fit domus hista quidem, veluti Salomonica The same historian says that King capridem Fernando I. rebuilt the city of Zamora Hue adhibite ndem : domus hiec successit eidem. . _ , ,,.,.__ .. „_, Sumptibus, et magnis viginti fit tribus annis. ^"th very strong walls m lOoo.— ii. 39o. A quo fundatur, Domino faciente sacratur. ^ This I suppose is the chapel of San Anno millessimo, centessimo, septuagesimo. Ildefonso, founded in 1466 by the Car- Quarto corapletur, Stephanus, qui fecit habetur. ^^^^-y jy j^^^^ ^^ ^jglj^^^ Bishop of Za- Alfonsus imperator, Rex Septimus fundavit. G. G. Davila, Teat. Eccl., ii. 397 8. mora. 94 GOTHIC ARCHTTECTUllE IN SPAIN. Chap. IV of the two by some years. The exterior of the dome, though much decayed and mutihited, is still very noble in its design and effect. It \vill be seen that in many respects it is singularly like that at Salamanca. The circular angle turrets, the dormers on the cardinal sides, are similar in idea, though ruder and heavier here than there: here, too, the outline of the dome is more thoroughly domical. All the courses of stone in the dome seem to have been scalloped at the edges. The arches of the windows and arcades are all semi-circular, and the angles of the dome have a sort of sharp fringe of ornament, in which Ave see the very earliest kind of suggestion of a crocket : it is very simple, and extremely effective. Unfortunately this extremely interest- ing work is not only very much decayed, but also rent throughout with cracks, and I much fear that ere long it may cease to exist. The loss of such an example would be one of the greatest mis- fortunes for the student of Christian art in Spain, and for rarity and peculiarity I am not speaking too strongly when I say that we in England have no monument of the middle ages which is one whit more precious. It is to be hoped that the autho- rities of tlie church will do their best to preserve it from further decay as far as possible, and to repair it in the most tenderly conservative spirit. The aisles have very broad massive buttresses, and the corbel- tables which crown the wall ai-e cari'ied round them also. There were simple round-arched, shafted windows in each bay, and the clerestory was finished like the aisle with a corbel-table. The south transept faqade is, after the lantern, the most inte- resting part of the church. Its general character is extremely peculiar, and unlike any other work I liave seen in Spain. There are plain buttresses at the angles, and the space between them is divided into three compartments by fluted pilasters, which rise as far as the corbel-table (continued at the same level as the eaves- cornice), and carry three pointed arches which are fitted to the original flat-pitched gable, the centre arch being the widest and highest. The centre compartment has a doorway with three shafts in each jamb, and four orders in the arch all alike, and resembling the door in San Martin, at Salamanca, illustrated at p. 91. The effect of light and shade in this orna- mentation is very great ; and, executed as it is with compara- tively little labour, I rather wonder not to have seen more of the same work elsewhere. Two small recessed arches occupy the side compartments of the facade on either side of the door- way : that on the riglit hand has its archivolt carved with lllllllllllllllllll 1^1 ll!19!l!!li!li;:i(',ISIII"(i3[!l Chap. IV. ZAMORA : CATHEDRAL. 95 extreme delicacy with a small leaf repeated frequently ; and both have within their arches sculptures of figures. The bases of all the columns are fluted, and the capitals are all carved rather rudely, and have heavy abaci. Over the side arches are square sunk compartments enclosing circular ornaments carved with a succession of hollow flutings sinking back to the centre. In fact, these strange ornaments — Avhich at first sight look almost like modern insertions — are precisely like models of the dome with its arched groining spaces between the ribs. Above tlie doorway is a row of five arches recessed in the wall,^ and under the central arch in the gable is a blocked-up window- opening. I was imable to gain admission to the interior of the steeple. On the outside it rises in a succession of nearly equal stages, of which the upper three have, in the common Lombard fashion, windows of one, two, and three lights respectively. It remains to say a few words as to the fittings of the church. The Coro here occupies the two eastern bays of the nave, and is fitted with very rich late stalls and canopies, which are quite magnificent in their effect. The backs of the stalls are carved with figures, and those over the lower range of stalls through- out with half-length figures of Old Testament worthies, most of which have inscribed scrolls, with legends referring to our Lord, in their hands. These texts have been printed by Dr. Neale in the ' Ecclesiologist,' and they afford so valuable an example of the right mode of selecting inscriptions, that, with his consent, I give a copy of his account.^ The figures are rather 1 M. Villa-Amil, who gives a view 10. Jeremias. Dominus. of this transept, has converted this ar- 11. Ezekiel. Porta hcec. cade into a i-ow of windows, presented 12. Oseas (with cross botonnee on tlie doorway with a sculptured tym- bi-east). Addam ultra. panum, and entirely altei-ed the cha- !?>. Amos. Super trihus. racter of the archivolt enrichment. 14. Micheas. Percutient maxillam. 2 On the north side, the figures and 1 5. Abacuc. Exidtaho in Deo Jesu inscriptions are as follow : — mco. 1. Abel. Vox sanguinis. 16. Sophouias. Juxta est dies. 2. Abraam. Tres vidit ; unum 17. Zacharias. Jesws erat. adoravit. 1^. Nabuchodonosor. Quartus siinilis 3. Joseph. Melius est ut venundetur. Filio Dei. 4. Melchisedec. Bex Salem proferens 19. Virgilius Bucol. Progenies. panem et vinum. o. Job, De terra surrecturiis sum. 6. Aaron. Invenit germinans. 7. Samson. De {comcdente exivit cibiis). 8. Samuel. Zoquere Domine. 9. David. Dominus dixit ad me, Filius. On the south side: — 1. Moyses. Prophetam excitabit. 2. Isaac. Vox quidem vox. 3. Jacob. Jvda. Non auferetur Sceptrum de 4. Balaam. Orietur stella ex. 5. Gedeon. 96 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IV. in tlie style afterwards so much employed by Berruguete, large scale bas-reliefs of single figures — always an awkward kind of sculpture in the hands even of the very best artist. The traceries and crockets of this stall-work are very elaborate, crisp, and good of their kind. There is a continuous hori- zontal canopy above the upper stalls, each division of which is filled with purely secular sculptures of beasts and animals. The metal Eejas are of the same age as the stalls ; and there is a fine ancient lectern for the choir, of enormous size, in the centre of the Coro, and two others of more modern date. The western screen is old — of the fifteenth century — and has the rare feature of two doorways, leaving the centre unpierced for the altar in the nave, and the bishop's throne on its eastern side, to- wards the Coro. By the time this work Mas done, it was very generally settled that the bishop's place was here, in the centre of the western end of the Coro ; but I have seen no other screen in which the entrance has still been retained at the west in con- nexion with this arrangement of the stalls. There is an old metal screen or Reja under the eastern arch of the crossing, which is of the same age as the choir fittings, and has two iron pulpits projecting from its western face. These pulpits are lined with wood, and stand on stone bases ; the staircases to them are of wood, carved on Choir Lectern, Zamora Callieilral. 5. Gedeon. Si ros solo. 6. Helias. Amhulavit infortitudinc. 7. Helisseus. Vade, et lavare septies. 8. Salomon. Levent sent met. 9. Tobias. Jhenisalem. 10. Isayas. Ecce Virgo concipiet. 11. Baruch. Statuam Testamentiim illis. 12. Daniel. 13. Johel. 14. Jonas. 15. Naum. 16. Ageus. 17. Malacbias. A solis ortu usque ad. 18. Caiaphas. Expedit rohis. 19. Cent uric. Vere Filius. Septuaginta hebdomades. Magnus enim dies Domini. De ventre. Ecce super. Veniet desideratus. Chap. IV. ZAMORA : LA MAGDALENA. 97 the Gospel side with figures of the Evangelists and St. Laurence, and on the Epistle side with St. John, St, Peter, and other Epistolers. Each pulpit has a desk on a little crane projecting from the column by its side. The cloisters on the north side of the cathedral, and the bishop's palace on the south, are all completely modernized ; but just under the old town walls, to the north of the Catliedral Plaza, is the small Pomanesque church of San Isidoro. It has a square-ended chancel of two bays, and a nave of three, the latter liglited by very small windows — mere slits in the masonry — the former by shafted windows with a deep external splay to the openings, which are also very narrow. There are two of these windows at the east end, and there is a corbel-table under the eaves. This church was not intended for groining. The long, narrow, and winding street which leads along the tliin crest of the hill to the centre of the city, passes on the way the very interesting little church of La Magdalena. This is a Eomanesque church, divided into nave, chancel, and apsidal sanctuary, in the way we so often see in works of similar date in England. The chancel has a pointed waggon-vault, the apse is groined with ribs, whilst the nave has now a modern (and probably always had a) flat wooden roof. The south door- way is placed very nearly in the centre of the south wall of tlie nave. It is a very grand example of the most ornate late Romanesque work, witli twisted and moulded shafts, and a pro- fusion of carving in the capitals and archivolts. Over this door is a circular window with dog-tooth in the label, and a quatre- foil piercing in the centre ; and on each side, in the other bays, are round-arched windows of two lights. There is a very con- siderable likeness between the plan of this church and that of San Juan at Lerida.^ In both, the overwhelming size and grandeur of the doorway as compared with that of the building, combined with its central position, produces at first the impres- sion that it is the western, and not the southern, faqade one is looking at. This is a defect; yet perhaps more so to the eyes of an Englishman, who now as of old prefers creejjing through little holes- in tlie wall into his finest churches, than to those of any one used to the noble doorways of the Con- tinent. The interior of La Magdalena is more interesting than the exterior ; for, in addition to the good early detail ' See plan, Plate VIII. Cathedral are emphatically mere "holes - The '.vesteru doorways of Salisbury iu the wall," and very characteristic, too. H 98 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IV. of the arches across the chancel, it lias at the east end of the nave some very fine and very peculiar monuments. Two of these are high tombs, with lofty canopies over them, occupying the space between tlie side walls of the nave and the jambs of the chancel arch. These canopies are square-topped, with round arches on the two disengaged sides, and carried upon large shafts standing detached on the floor. The detail of the canopies is as plain as possible ; but the capitals are carved with very pure and vigorous conventional foliage, and the shafts are twisted ; the moulding on those of the northernmost of the two monu- ments being reversed in mid-height, so as to produce a large and simple chevron. The mouldings of the shaft are carefully stopped below the necking, and above the base. The effect of this monument, filling in as it does the angle at the end of the nave, is extremely good ; its rather large detail and general pro- portions giving it the effect of being an integral part of the fabric rather than, as monuments usually are, a subsequent addition. Monument, la Mugdalena. To the west of the monument already mentioned, against the north wall, is another of about the same age — probably the early part of the thirteenth century — and even more curious in its design. Tt has three shafts in front carrying the canopy ; and this is composed of two divisions of canopy-work, very similar Chap. IV. ZAMOEA: S. MIGUEL — S. VICENTE. 99 to those so often seen in French sculpture over figures and subjects in doorways ; under each are a pair of monsters — wyverns, or some such nondescripts — fighting. The capitals are similarly carved, and the abaci have conventional foliage. The tomb under the canopy has a plain coffin-shaped stone with a cross on it ; but against the wall are, below, a figure lying in a bed carved on a bold block of stone projectiiK»- from the wall ; and, above this, the soul of the departed beino- carried up by angels. The whole design and character of this monument are so unlilce any otlier work that I know, that I oive a native artist the credit of them. Yet the character of the detail seems to me to show an acquaintance with the French and Italian architecture of the day. La JMagdalena is said to have been a church founded by the Knights Templars, but on the suppression of their order in A.D. 1312 to have become the property of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. San Miguel, near the pic- turesque market-place in the centre of the city, has a fine south door. The archivolts are bold, but quite plain, and square in section. Each order is carried on three shafts, and the boldness of the effect i.^ very striking. On the other side of the Plaza the tall tower of San Vicente rises well up against the sky. It has a fine west doorway, and rises above the roof in three stages. lighted respectively by win- dows of one, two, and three lights. It is finished witli a simple corbel-table, above which is a modern roof. The whole of the detail here is fine, simple, early-pointed, very pure and good. The church seems to be almost entirely modernized. H 2 San Vicente. Zamora. 100 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IV. In the loner and eastern part of the city there are also one or two interesting; churches. San Leonardo has a square tower engaged against the nortli side of the west front, very plain below, but with a belfry-stage of two pointed windows, moulded angles, simple corbel-table, and a low square slated spire — tlie slates cut to pattern, like scales. The fine west door of this church is round-arched, and on either side of it are great brackets sculptured with a lion and a bear. Sta. Maria de la Horta is a church of the same class as La IMagdalena. It has a western tower, a nave of three bays of quadripartite groining carried on very bold piers and shafts in the side w^alls, a chancel, and apsidal sanctuary. The apse has a semi-dome, with a pointed archway in front of it. The chancel has a round waggon-vault, and the arch between it and the nave is semi-circular. The vaulting of the nave is ex- tremely domical in its section. The light is admitted by small windows in the upper part of the walls, and above the abaci of the groining shafts, which are continued round the building as a string-course. The west doorway is round-arched, with chevron, and a sort of shell or flower-ornament in its arch-mouklings. The tower is of the prevailing type : in the stage above the roof there is a window of one light ; in the next there are two lights ; and above this the steeple has been destroyed, and a modern roof added. The walls outside are finished with a fine and bold tliirteenth-century eaves-cornice. I think one niay see here the local influence exercised by the fine Eomanesque tower of the cathedral, which, in its division into equal stages, with an increasing number of openings, has been followed in all these other steeples. A walk over the bridge takes one to the ruins of a rather fine church close to its further end. This has an apse of seven sides, with good windows of two lights, with a trefoiled circle in the head ; above this is a string-course with trefoiled arcading under it, and above this a second tier of windows. The whole is of good early middle-pointed character.' ' I add Dr. Neale's notes of two chapel of the Cross, has an excellent chui-ches here which I did not dis- Transitional door. The western facade cover. has a middle-pointed window of five "San Juan delaPuertaNueva. Princi- lights. pally of Flamboyant date, has a square " San Pedro. Has had its originally- east end. The whole breadth of the distinct nave and aisles thrown into one church is here under one vault, the span in Flamboyant times, and vaulted with somewhere about sixty feet. Tlie north an immense span." porch, separated by a parclose from the Chap. IY, ZAMORA : GOTHIC HOUSE. 101 The walls here, as in so many of the Spanish towns, are fairly- perfect, and are thickly studded witli the usual array of round towers throughout their length. The bridge already mentioned is probably a Avork of the thirteenth century. The arches are perfectly plain and pointed, springing from about the water-level. The piers between the arches project boldly ; and over each is a small arch pierced through the bridge, which gives a good deal of additional effect to the desig-n. The ffrand lenoth of this bridge, with its long line of pointed arches reflected in the lazily- flowing Douro, and backed by the towers and walls of the city, is extremely striking. Neither of the gateways on it is really old ; but nevertheless they add much to its pictur- esqueness. The only old domestic building of any note that I saw in Zamora was a very late Gothic house in the Plaza de los Moraos. The entrance doorway has the enormous and exagge- rated arch-stones so common in the later Catalan buildings, but not often seen in this part of Spain. It has above it a label, which is stepped up in the centre to enclose a great coat-of-arms, with its supporters. On either side of this are two windows which, with the coat-of-arms in the centre, make a panel of the same width as the door below. The other principal windows are on a line with these, and all of them of thoroughly debased design. They are of two round-headed lights enclosed within a label-moulding, Avliich finishes in an ogee trefoil ; and this again within another label- moulding, either square or ogee in the head. The vagaries of these later Gothic architects in Spain are certainly far from pleasant ; yet odd as its detail is, tlie plain masses of unbroken wall in the lower part of this front give it a kind of dignity which is seldom seen in modern work. The practice of making- all the living-rooms on the first-floor of course conduces largely to this happy result. I was unable, unfortunately, to spare time when I was at Zamora to go over to Tore to see the fine Collegiata there. M. Villa Amil has given a drawing of the domed lantern over the Crossing. In plan it is similar to the domes at Salamanca and Zamora as to the angle pinnacles, but not as to the gabled windows between them. But it appears to have lost its ancient roof; and I cannot imderstand, from the drawing, how the domical roof, which it was no doubt built to receive, can now possibly exist.^ It seems pretty clear that this example is ' Nevertheless, Dr. Neale describes it ' An Ecclesiological Tour,' Ecclesiolo- Hs existing, and so, no doubt, it does. — gist, vol. xiv. p. 06 1. 102 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IV. of rather later date than that at Salamanca; and we have there- fore in Zamora, Salamanca, and Toro a very good sequence of Gothic domes, all upon much the same plan, and most worthy of careful study. A more complete acquaintance with this part oi:' Spain might be expected to reveal some other examples of the same extremely interesting kind of work. From Zamora, cheered by the recollection of perhaps the most gorgeous sunset and the clearest moonlight that I ever saw, I made my way across country to Benavente. It is a ten hours' drive over fields, through streams and ditches, and nowhere on a road upon which any pains have ever been bestowed ; and when I say that the country is flat and uninte- resting, the paternal benevolence of the government which leaves such a district practically roadless Avill be appreciated. Beyond Benavente the case is still worse, for the broad valley of the Esla, leading straight to Leon, is without a road along which a tartana can drive, though there is scarcely a hillock to sur- mount or a stream to cross in the forty miles between a con- siderable town and the capital of the province ! Soon after leavino^ Zamora some villaores were seen to the right, and one of them seemed to me to have a church with a dome ; but my view of it was very distant, and I cannot speak Avith any certainty. From thence to Benavente no old building was passed. Benavente is the most tumble-down forlorn-looking to\Mi I have seen. Most of the houses are built of mud, rain-worn for want of proper thatching, of only one story in height, and relieved in front by a doorway and usually one very small hole for a window. There is, however, a church — Sta. Maria del Azogue — which made the journey quite worth undertaking. It is cruciform, with five apses projecting from the eastern wall, that in the centre larger than the others.' Ilie apses have semi-domes, the square compartments to the west of them quadripartite vaulting in the three centre, and vv'aggon-vaults in the two outer bays. The transepts and crossing are vaulted with pointed barrel-vaults at the two ends, and three bays of quadripartite vaulting in the space between these two compartments ; and the internal efifect is particularly fine, owing to the long line of arches into the east- ern chapels and the rich character of most of the details. The nave and aisles no doubt retain to some extent their old form and arrangement, but most of the work here is of the fifteenth • See plan, Plate VIII. BENAVENTE. EAST END OF STA. MARIA. Chap. IV. BEN7iVENTE : S. MARIxV — S. JUAN. 103 century, whilst tliat of the eastern part of the church is no doubt of circa a.d. 1170-1220. The west front is quite modernized. Tlie ti-ansept walls are lofty, and there is a simple pointed clere- story above the roofs of the eastern chapels, and a rose window over the arch into the Capilla mayor. The smaller chapels have each one window, the centre chapel three windows with the usual three-quarter engaged shaft between them, finishing in the eaves-cornice. The south transept has a fine round-headed doorway, but all its detail is that of earl3^-pointed work. It has an Agnus Dei surrounded by angels in the tympanum, the four Evangelists with their emblems in one order of the arch, bold foliage in the next, a deep scallop ornament in the third, and delicate foliage in the label. The capitals are Avell carved, and the jambs of the door and one of the members of the archivolt have simple rose ornaments at intervals. The abaci of the capi- tals are square, but notwithstanding this and the other apparently early feature of the round arch 1 am still not disposed to date this work earlier than circa a.d. 1210-20.^ Of the same age and character probably are all the eaves-cornices of the earlier part of the church, and, 1 have little doubt, the whole lower portion of the church itself. There is a fine doorway to the north transept, and a lofty tower of very singular design rises over its northern bay. This is three stages in height above the roof, and is finished with a corbel-table and a modern spire of ogee outline. The masons' marks on the exterior of the walls are here, as is usual in these early churches, very plentiful. The church of San Juan del Mercado seems to be in some respects even more interesting than the other. It has a south doorway of singularly rich character, the tw^o inner orders of the arch being round and the others j)ointed. The shafts are unusually rich and delicate ; they are carved with acanthus-leaves diapered all over their surface, with chevrons and spiral mouldings, and above their bands at mid-height have in front of them figures of saints, three on either side. The tympanum has the Adoration of the Magi, and the order of the arch round it is sculptured with angels. Altogether this is a very refined and noble work, and the combination of the pointed and round arches one over the other is very happy. The west front has also a fine doorway ' There is an inscription on the south- but, unfortunately, though I noticed it, east buttress of the transept which, I I forgot to write it down, believe, refers to the date of the church ; 104 GOTHIC AKCHITECTURE IX SPAIN. Chap. IV. and engaged shafts at intervals in the wall, and the east end is parallel triapsidal of the same character as tliat of San Juan. There are some other churches, but those which I saw seemed to be all late and nninteresting. There are, too, the rapidly wasting ruins of an imposing castle. It is of very late sixteenth century work, and apparently, has no detail of any interest; but the approach to it through a gateway, and up a winding hilly road under the steep castle walls, is very picturesque. By its side an Alameda has been planted, and here is the one agreeable walk in Benavente. Below is the river Esla, winding through a broad plain well wooded hereabouts with poplars and aspens ; in the background are lines of hills, and beyond them bold mountain outlines; and such a view, aided by the transparent loveliness of the atmosphere, was enough to make me half- inclined to forget the squalid misery of everything that met the (^ye Avhen I passed back again to my lodging. SHL7.^f>HX Plate IV Masons 3Iai-ks San Marcos. ^A^ J^ ^.Oiapler Bons,- . \>.Tva7tsef>L. c. CapillfL. Mayor. A-.Liinte.rn . C. Step.ivpfontw Cathedral f . Nave . g". Aisles. V\np\i^ N ^ Kasoiis JHiDk-s on old CatKeclral. Bc-ioi-e 120(1 la'JConln. '^" — JModern. ^^§ .JwRt, & 8aL7-{^ f?HN(I'fl:-Grouii^ Plmi'.-. cif nlii niio nrm CiiHift>mkv. _ an^ oF Snn flRarros:_ Mishel l.y It,. Viuniiv, AllifirtiMie &'■ lUh Chap. V. LEON : CATHEDRAL. 105 CHAPTER V. LEON. It is a ride of some six-aud-tliivty or forty miles from Benavente to Leon. The road follows the com-se of tlie valley of the Esla all the way, and, though it is as nearly as possible level throughout, it is impassable for carriages. This is characteristic of the country ; the Spaniards are content to go on as their fathers have done before them, and until some external friend comes to make a railway for them, the people of Benavente and Leon will probably still remain as practically isolated from each other as they are at present. The valley is full of villages, as many as ten or twelve being in sight at one time on some parts of the road. None of their churches, however, seem to be of the slightest value. They are mostly modern and built of brick, though some have nothing better than badly built cob-walls to boast of; and their onlv unusual feature seems to be the great western bell-gable, which is generally an elevation above the roof of the whole width of the western wall, in which several bells are usually huno- in a series of openings. The villages, too, are all built of cob ; and as the walls are either only half-thatched or not thatched at all, they are gradually being worn away by the rains, and look as forlorn and sad as possible. One almost wonders that the people do not quit their hovels for the wine-caves with which every little hill near the villages is honeycombed, and upon wliicli more care seems to be bestowed than upon the houses. In these parts the peasants adorn the outside of their houses with plenty of whitewash, and then relieve its bareness with rude red and black paintings of sprigs of trees, arranged round the windows and doors. The cathedral of Leon is first seen some three or four hours before the city is reached. It stands up boldly above the well- wooded valley, and is backed by a noble range of mountain- peaks to the north ; so that, though the road was somewhat monotonous and wearying, I rode on picturing to myself the great things I was soon to see. Unfortunately I visited Leon a year 100 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. V. too late, for I came just in time to see the cathedral bereft of its southern transept, which had been pulled down to save it from falling, and was being reconstructed under the care of a ]\[adrilenian architect — Seiior Lavinia. I saw his plans and some of the work which was being put in its place, and the sight made me wish with double earnestness that I had been there before he had commenced his work ! In England or in France such a work would bo full of risk, and might well fill all lovers of our old buildings with alarm ; but in Spain there is absolutely no school for the education of architects, the old national art is little understood and apparently very little studied, and there are no new churches and no minor restorations on which the native architects may try their prentice hands. In England for some years we have lived in the centre of a church-building movement as active and hearty perhaps as any ever yet known ; our advantages, therefore, as compared with those possessed by foreigners generally, are enormous ; whilst perhaps, on the other hand, in no country has so little been done as in Spain during the juesent century. Yet in England few of us would like to think of pulling down and reconstructing one side of a cathe- dral, and few would doubt that art and history would lose much in the process, even in the hands of the most able and conserva- tive architect. The two great architectural features of Leon are the cathedral and the church of San Isidoro ; and to the former, though it is by much the most modern of the two, I must first of all ask my readers to turn their attention. Spaniards are rightly proud of this noble church, and the pro- verbs which assert its pre-eminence seem to be numerous. One, giving the characteristics of several cathedrals, is worth quoting : — " Dives Toletaua, Sancta Ovetensis Pulchra Leonina, fortis Salamantina." And again there is another Leonese couj)let : — " Sevilla en grandeza, Toledo en riqueza, Compostella en fortaleza, esta en sutileza." So again, just as our own people wrote that jubilant verse on the door-jamb of the Chapter-house at York, here on a column in front of the principal door was inscribed — " Sint licet Hispaniis ditissima, pulchraque templa. Hoc tamen egregiis omnibus arte prius." There used to be a eontroNcrsy as to the age of this cathedral, Chap. V. LEON : CATHEDRAL. 107 which must, however, one would think, long since have been settled. It was asserted that it Avas the very church built at the end of the ninth century during the reign of Ordono II. ; and the only proof of this was the inscription upon the fine four- teenth-century monument of the King which still stands in the aisle of the chevet behind the high altar : — " Omnibus exerapkim sit, quod venerabile templum Eex dedit Ordonius, quo jacet ipse pius. Hunc fecit sedem, quam prime fecerat £edem Virginis hortatu, quaj fulget Pontificatu. Pavit earn donis, per eam nitet urbs Legionis Quesumus ergo Dei gratia parcat ei. Amen." Fortunately, however, in addition to the indubitable evidence of the building itself, there is sufficient documentary evidence to give with tolerable exactness the dates of the commencement and completion of the existing church, and I did not see, and believe there is not, a relic of the church which preceded it still remaining. One or two facts of interest in regard to the first cathedral may, however, well be mentioned here. The architect is said by Sandoval to have been an Abbat ; and in Ordono II.'s absence he is said to have converted the old Eoman baths in the palace into a church, the plan being similar to that of churches with three naves.^ It is interesting to find this plan so popular in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, already described as existing in the ninth. ^ Don ]Manrique, Bishop of Leon from a.d. 1181 to a.d. 1205, is said to have been the first founder of the present cathedral. The contemporary chronicler Don Lucas de Tuy speaks most positively on this point, and as he wrote his history in the con- vent of San Isidoro close by, it is difficult to dispute his testi- mony.^ How much he completed nowhere appears, though, 1 See Catologo de los Obispos de bably, one who is thus mentioned in the Leon. Cixila II. Esp. Sag., xxxiv. book of Obits of the cathedral: " Eodem •211. die VII. idus Julii, sub era MCCCXV. - In a deed of the 20th March, a.d. obiit Henricus, magister operis," and 1175, mention is made of Pedro Cebrian, who, dying in the year 1277, may well "Maestro de la Obra de la Catedral," have designed the gi-eater portion of and of Pedro Gallego, " Gobernador de the woi-k. At a later date, in 1513, las ToiTes.'' It is possible, of couree, Juan de Badajoz was architect of the that Cebrian may have been the archi- cathedral, and may probably have tect of the new cathedral if it was com- finished one of the steeples. — Cean Ber- menced between 1181 and 1205, but I mudez, Arq. de Espafia, i. 37, 38. do not believe that this was the case; ■' "Hoc tempore," he says, "ampli- and the real ai-chitect was, more pro- ata est fides Catholica in Hispania, et 108 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. V. judging by the style of the cliurch, I sliould say it could have been but very little. Later than this, in a.d. 1258, during the episcopate of D. JMartin Fernandez, a Junta of all the bishops of the kingdom of Leon was held at ^Madrid, at which the state of the fabric of the cathedral was discussed, and forty days of indulgence offered to those who made offerings towards the further promotion of the works.' Sixteen years later a council was held in Leon, and again the state of the faljric of the church Avas discussed and in- dulgence offered to those who gave alms for it.^ Finally, in a.d. 1303, the Bishop Don Gonzalez gave back to tlie use of the Chapter a property which had been devoted to the work of the church, " because," he says, " the Avork is now done, thanks be to God." Nothing more clear on the face of it than this list of dates can be desired ; yet, as frequently happens, when we come to compare them with the building itself, it is utterly impossible to believe in the most important part of it — the foundation, namely, of any part of the present church in the time of Bishop Manrique before the year 1205. I have elscAvhere in this volume had occasion to show how much the Spaniards borrowed from the French in their architecture. Certain entire buildings, such as Burgos, Toledo, and Santiago, are distinctly derived from French churches, and in all cases are somewhat later in date than the French examples with which they most nearly cor- respond. If we apply this test to Leon it will be impossible to admit that any part of the existing church was built much before A.D. 1250. The church from beginning to end is thoroughly French ; Frencli in its detail, in its plan, and in its gene- ral design. And inasmuch as there is no long and regular licet iniilti Regnutu Legiouense bellis pias eleemosynas rle vestris facultatibus impetei-ent, tamen Ecclesife regalibus tribuatis, ut per hrec, et alia bona opera, muneribus ditatee sunt in tantum, ut quae iuspirante Deo feceritis, ad eterna antique destruerentur Ecclesite, quaj possitis gaudia perveuire."' This indul- maguis sumptibus fueranfc fabricataj, et gence is preserved iu the archives of the multo nobiliores et pulchriores in toto cathedral. — EspariaSagrada,xxxv. p.269. Regno Legionensi fuudareutur. Tune ^ " Cum igitur Ecclesia Beata; Marias reverendus Episcopus Legionensis Man- Legion. Sedis ajdificetur de novo opera ricus ejusdem Sedis Ecclesiam fundavit quamplurimum sumptuoso, et absque opere maguo, sed earn ad perfectionem fidelium adminiculo non possit feliciter uon duxit.'' consummari, universitatem vestram 1 " Cum igitur," they say, " ad fabri- monemus et exhortamur in Domino," cam Ecclesise Sancta; Marise Legio- &c. &c. ;" ut per subventionem vestram, nensis, quse de novo construitiir, et quod ibidem inceptum est, ad effectum magnis indiget sumptibus, proprise nou optatum valeat pers'enire," &c., given in suppetant facultates, universitatem ves- the general Council of Leon, 10 Kal. tram i-ogamus," — ''quateuus de bonis Aug. a.d. 1273. — Espana Sagi-ada, xxxv. vobis a Deo collatis eidem fabrictc i>. 270. LEON CATHEDRAL. INTERIOR OF AISLE ROOND TEE APSE. Chap. V. . LEON : CATHEDRAL. 109 sequence of Spanish buildings leading up step by step to the developed style which it exhibits, it is quite out of the question to give it credit for an earlier existence than the corresponding French churches, in the history of which such steps are not Avanting. The churches Avhich are nearest in style to Leon are, I think, the cathedrals at Amiens and Eheims, and perhaps the later part of S. Denis. Of these, Amiens was in building from a.d. 1220 to A.D. 12G9, and llheims from a.p. 121 1 to a.d. 1241. But both are slightly earlier in their character than Leon. In all three the chapels of the apse are planned in the same way ; that is to say, they are polygonal and not circular in their outlines, and the sections of the columns, the plans of the bases and capitals, and the detail of the arches and groining ribs are as nearly as may be the same ; and in all these points the resemblance between them and Leon Cathedral is close and remarkable. A similar conclusion will be arrived at if Ave pursue tlie inquiry from a difterent point, and compare this cathedi-al with other Spanish works of the date at which it is assumed to have been in progress. I can only suppose that Don Lucas de Tuy, wlien he spoke of Bishop Manrique's work at the cathedral, did so only from hearsay, or else that the work then commenced was subsequently completely removed to make way for tlie pre- sent building. Certainly in a.d. 1180-1200 all Spanish churches seem to have been built on a different plan, in a very much more solid fashion, and so that it would have been very difficult indeed to convert them into anything like the existing building. I venture to assume, therefore, that the scheme of Leon Cathe- dral was first made circa a.d. 1230-1240, and that the work had not progressed very far at the time the Junta of bishops was held in Madrid in a.d. 1258. In plan^ the cathedral consists of a nave and aisles of six bays, transepts, a choir of three bays, and chevet of five sides, with a surrounding aisle and pentagonal chapels beyond. There are two western towers, a large cloister on the north side, sacristies on the south-east, and a large chapel on the east side of the cloisters, with other buildings on their northern and western sides, arranged very much in the usual way ; the chevet pro- jects beyond the line of the old city wall, one of the towers of whicli is still left on the east side of tire cloister. The city was long and narrow ; and whilst the cathedral projects to tlie 1 Plate V. no GOTHIC ARCniTKCTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. V. east of the wall, the cliurch of San Isidoro has its western tower built out beyond the western face of the wall. There is not, however, here, as there is at Avila, any very distinct attempt to fortify the chevet of the cathedral, otherwise than by forming jmssages, passing through the buttresses all round it, and by raising the windows high above the ground on the east. There are doorways in all the three grand fronts, west, north, and south ; but these shall be described further on. The columns throughout are cylindrical, with attached shafts on the cardinal sides, the groining-sliafts towards the nave and choir being, however, triple, instead of single. In the apse the small shafts are not placed regularly round the main shaft, but their position is altered to suit the angles at which the arches are built. The same alteration of plan occurs in the chevet of Amiens, a work which was in progress about a.d. 1240, and to which, as I have said, the plan of this cathedral bears considerable re- semblance. The feature which most struck me in this cathedral was the wonderful lightness which characterizes its construction in every part. The columns of the nave are of moderate size, and the arches which they carry very thin, whilst the large and lofty clere- story, and the triforium below it, were both pierced to such an extent as to leave a pier to receive the groining smaller than I think I ever saw elsewhere in so large a church. There are double flying buttresses, one above the other, and the architect trusted, no doubt, that the weight of the groining would be carried down through them to such an extent as to make it safe to venture on as much as he did. Moreover, he was careful to economize the weight where possible ; and with this view he filled in the whole of his vaults with a very light tufa, obtained from the moun- tains to the north of Leon.^ In short, when this cathedral was planned, its architect must either have resolved that it should exceed all others in the slender airiness of its construction, or he must have been extremely incautious if not reckless. It is not a little curious that in France, at the same time, the same attempt was being made, and with the like result. The architect of Beauvais, unable to surpass the majestic combination of stable loftiness with beauty of form, which characterized the rather ' So, at least, I was assured by the light kind of coucrete. The vaulting superintendent of the works at the of Salisbury Cathedral is similarly con- cathedral. Some of the material I saw structed. I do not know whether at was no doubt tufa; but some of it Beauvais the same expedient was seemed to me to be an exceedingly adopted to lessen tlie weight. Chap. V. LEON : CATHEDRAL. 1 1 1 earlier work at Amiens, tried instead to excel him alike in height, and in lightness of construction, Xo one can pretend that he was an incompetent man, yet his work was so impru- dently daring, that it \\as impossible to avoid a catastrophe ; and we now have it rebuilt, to some extent in the same design after its fall, but with so many additional points of support as very much to sjjoil its symmetry and beauty. Here, then, we have an exactly parallel case : for at Leon, no sooner was the church completed than it became necessary to build up the outer lights, both of the clerestory and triforium, to save the work from the same misfortune. Nor was the precaution altogether successful, for, owing almost entirely to the over-hazardous nature of the whole constructiou, the south transept had recently, it is said, become so dangerously rent with cracks and settle- ments as to render it absolutely necessary to rebuild it ; and the groining throughout the church shows signs of failure every- where, and this of serious, if not of so fatal a character. At the risk of repetition, I cannot help saying how strongly this parallel between Beauvais and Leon tells in favour of the assumption that its origin was rather French than Spanish. For in Spain there were no other churches at the time it was built from which a Spanish architect could have made such a sudden development as tliis design would have been. The steps by which it would have been attained are altogether wanting, and yet in France we have every step, and, finally, results of precisely the same kind. Both at an earlier and at a later date, when Spaniards made use of their own school of arcliitects, they developed for themselves certain classes of churches, unlike, in some respects, to those of any other country. Here, however, we have an exotic, which, like the cathedral at Burgos, is evi- dently the work of some artist who had at least been educated among the architects of the north of France, if he was not himself a Frenchman. The proof of this is to be found more perhaps at S. Denis than anywhere, for there the section of the mouldings of the clerestory windows, as well as their general design, tallies so closely with the same parts of Leon Cathedral that it is almost impossible to doubt their common origin. One other feature not yet insisted upon, affords strong evidence in the same direction. This cathedral is a mere lantern, it has scarcely a yard of plain unpierced wall anywhere, and the main thought of its architect was evidently how he might increase to the utmost extent the size of the windows, and the spaces for the glorious glass with which he contrived to fill the 112 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. V. churcli. No greater fault could be committed in such a climate. This lavish indulgence in windows would have been excessive even in England, and must have always been all but insupportable in Spain. It was the design of French and not Spanish artists, for in their own undoubted works these last always wisely reduced their windows to the smallest possible dimensions. The cathedral at jMilan is a case of the same kind, for there a German architect, called to build a church in a foreign land, built it with as many windows as he would have put had it been in his own country, and with a similar contempt for the customs of the national architects to that which marks the work of the architect of Leon Cathedral. Regarding this cathedral, then, as a French, rather than as a Spanish church, and giving up all attempt to make it illustrate a chapter of the real national artistic history, we shall best be able to do justice to it as a w^ork of art. It is, indeed, in almost every respect worthy to be ranked among the noblest churches of Europe. Its detail is rich and beautiful throughout, its plan very excellent, the sculpture with which it is adorned quite equal in quantity and character to that of any church of the age, and the stained glass with which its windows are everywhere filled, perhaps some of the most brilliant in Europe. There are many features in its construction and design which must be referred to somewhat in detail, and to this part of my subject I must now turn. I have already mentioned that the triforium throughout the church was originally glazed. In order to obtain this the aisles were covered with gabled roofs, whose ridges were parallel with the nave ; and in order to allow of this being done a stone gutter was formed below the sills of the clerestory windows, and below this again corbels were built into the Avail to carry the aisle roofs ; cross gutters also of stone were carried through the roof in each bay from the clerestory gutter to the outer wall of the aisles. I cannot say that the effect of this arrangement is good. The eye seems to require some grave space of wall between the main arches and the glazing of the clerestory ; and it is difficult to say on what ground the triforium is to be treated as a separate architectural division of the fabric, when it is in truth, as it is here, nothing more than a prolongation of the clerestory. The flying buttresses are rather steep in pitch, and each consists of two arches abutting against very broad buttresses rising from between the side chapels ; the lower arch supports Chap. V. LEON: CATHEDRAL. 113 the clerestory just at the level of the springing of tlie groining ; the higher a few feet only below the parapet. Two pinnacles rise out of each of the buttresses, and others form a finisli to them all round the clerestory, and at the angles of the chapels of the apse. The windows throughout have good traceries. The)' are all of pure geometrical character; those in the chapels of the choir being of two lights, with large cusped cir- cles in the head, and those in the clerestory of four lights, subdivided into two divisions, similar to the chapel windows, with another cusped circle above. The heads of the lights throughout the windows are uncusped, the cusping being confined to the traceries. The clerestory windows originally had six lights, but the outer lights were rather clumsy ad- ditions to the original scheme for four -light windows, and have since been walled up, to give the necessary strength to the groining piers. The general arrangement of the traceries in this part of the church will be best understood by reference to the engraving which I give of one bay of the choir. The stone-work of all the window traceries was very carefully ci'amped together with strong toothed iron plugs let into the centre of the stones, and the masons seem, uay of cuou, Leon catiicdiai. in many cases, to have marked the beds and not tlie face of the stones. Indeed, the early masons' marks are but few in number, 114 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. CiiAr. V. jiud most of those that I saw occurred at the base of the eastern walls, and again in the npper portion of the work. On the late, and thoroughly Spanish chapel of Santiago also, a good many occur on the outer face of the stones. Owing to the works which were in progress in tlie south transept, I had an unusually good opportunity of looking for these marks, not only on the iVice of the stones, but also on their beds, and their almost entire absence from the early work was very remarkable. On the other hand, there were markings on some of the other stones which were of much more interest. I found, for in- stance, one of the large stones forming the capital of the pier at the crossing of the nave and transepts, carefully marked, first with an outline of the whole of the jamb mould, then with the lines of the capital, and finally with the whole of the archivolt. It had all the air of being the practical working drawing used for the execution of the work, some little alterations having been made in the arcliivolt. It is easy to conceive that the architect may thus have designed his details, and his mode bears con- siderable analogy to that which M. Verdier describes as having been adopted at Limoges, where the lines of the groining and all the working outlines were scratched on the floor of the triforia ; here the lines are scratched boldly on the surface of the stones. The walls throughout the church were built of rubble, faced with wrought stone inside and out, and some of the failures in the work are attributable, no doubt, to the want of strength and bond of this kind of walling. The dimensions of the various parts are about as follows : — Total internal length 300 feet. ,, width of nave and aisles . . 83 feet. Heiglit to springing of main arches 25 feet 6 inches. „ floor of triforium ... 46 feet. „ centre of groining about 100 feet. These dimensions, though not to be comjiared to those of many of the French churches, are still very noble, and would place this among the finest of our own buildings in respect of height; but, like all Spanish, and most French churches, the length is not very grand. The various views of the exterior are fine, but everywhere the height of the clerestory appears to be rather excessive. This is seen even at the west end, Avhere a little management might easily haVe prevented it. But the two stee2:)les standing beyond the aisles leave a narrow verticnl chasm between their side Chap. V. L?:ON : CATHEDRAL. 115 walls and those of the clerestory, which is brought out, without any break in its outline by means of buttresses, quite to the west front. The lower part of these steeples is perfectly plain ; each has a sort of double belfry stage, and they are both finished with low spires — that on the south pierced with open traceries, and that on the north simply crocketed ; both of tliera are somewhat ungainly, of very late date, and not sufficiently lofty or important for the cliurch to which they are attached. The grand feature of the west front is the beautiful porch which extends all across, forming three grand archways, corre- sponding with the nave and aisles, with smaller and extremely pointed arclies between them. These arches are all supported on clustered shafts, standing away between four and five feet from the main wall, in which the doorways are set. Statues are set on corbels round the detached shafts, and again in the jambs of all the doorways, and the tympana and archivolts of the latter are everywhere crowded with sculpture. An open parapet is earned all across the front above the porch, and above this the west end is pierced with a row^ of four windows corresponding with the triforium, and again, above, by a very large and simple wheel-window. The finish of the west front is completely modernized, with a seventeenth-century gable between two pinnacles. The sculpture of the western doors well deserves description and illustration. It is charming work, of precisely the same character as the best French work of the latter half of the thirteenth century, and there is a profusion of it. The central west door has in the tympanum our Lord seated, with angels, and St. John and the Blessed Virgin worshipping on either side. BeloAV is the Last Judgment, the side of the Blessed being as pretty and interesting as anything I have seen. A youth sits at a small organ playing sweet songs to those who go to Paradise ; and a king, going jauntily, and as if of right, towards St. Peter, is met by a grave person, who evidently tells him that he must depart to the other and sadder side. The three orders of the arch are filled with the resurrection of the dead, angels taking some, and devils others, as they rise from their graves, — the whole mixed very indiscriminately. On the central shaft is a statue of the Blessed Virgin and our Lord, now with wretched taste dressed up and enclosed in a glass case, to the great damage of the whole doorway. The north-west doorway has its tympanum divided in three horizontal lines. The lower compartment has the Salutation, I 2 116 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. V. the Nativity, au Angel, and the Shepherds ; the middle the Magi adoring onr Lord in the Blessed Virgin's arms, and the Flight into Egypt; and the upper, the IMassacre of the Innocents. The arch of this door is elliptic, and the space between it and the tympanum is filled with figures of angels with crowns and censers, playing an organ and other instruments, and singing from books. The meaning of the sculpture in the archivolt was not clear to me, and seemed to refer to some legend. The south-west doorway has the tympanum divided as the last, and in the lower compartment the death of the Blessed Virgin ; next to this our Lord and the Blessed Virgin seated ; and above, angels jxitting a crown on her head. The arcliivolt here is adorned with one order of sitting figures of saints and two of angels. The east end is more striking than the west. It retains almost all its old features intact, save that the roof is now very flat, and covered with pantiles, whereas it is probable that at first it was of a steep pitch. It stands up well above the sort of boulevard which passes under its east end, and when seen from a little furtlier off, the steeples of the western end group well with it, and, to some extent, compensate for the loss of tlie old roofing line. The south transept had been entirely taken down when I was at Leon, and the sculpture of its tln-ee doorways was lying on the floor of the church. It is of the same fine character as that of the western doors ; the central door has a figure of our Lord with the emblems of the Evangelists on either side, and beyond them the Evangelists themselves writing at desks. Below this are the twelve Apostles seated, and the several orders of the archivolt are carved with figures of angels holding candles, sculptures of vine and other leaves, and crowned figures playing on musical instruments. The south-west door of the transept has no sculpture of figures, but the favourite diapers of fleur-de- lys and castles, and lions and castles, and an order of foliage arranged in the French fashion, a crochet. The south-east door has in its tympanum the death of the Blessed Virgin, with angels in the archivolt holding candles. The gable of this transept seems to have been very much altered by some Eenaissance architect before it was taken down. The north transept has two doorways, only one of which is now open. This has a figure of our Lord seated within a vesica, supported by angels, and the archivolt has figures of Chap. V. LEON: CATHEDRAL. 117 saints with books. The jambs have — like all the other door- jambs — statues under canopies, and below them the common diaper of lions and castles. The closed north-west door of this transept now forms a reredos for an altar ; it has no sculpture of figures. The north transept doorway opens into a groined aisle which occupies the space between the transept and the cloister. This aisle is very dark, and opens at its eastern end into the chapel of Santiago, a fine late building of the age of Ferdinand and Isabella, running north and south, and showing its side elevation in the general view of the east end to the north of the choir. The cloister is so mutilated as to have well-nigh lost all its architectiu-al value. The entrance to the porch in front of the north transept is, however, in its old state ; it is a fine door- way, richly and delicately carved with small subjects enclosed in quatrefoils. The original groining shafts, which still remain, show' that the whole cloister was built early in the fourteenth century ; the traceries, however, have all been destroyed ; and the groining, the outer walls, and buttresses altered with vast trouble and cost, into a very poor and weak kind of Renaissance. But if the cloister has lost much of its architectural interest, it is still full of value from another point of view, containing as it does one of the finest series of illustrations of the New Testa- ment that I have ever seen, remaining in each bay of the cloister all the way round. These subjects begin to the east of the doorway to the north transept, and are continued round in regular order till they finish on its western side. I have not been able to learn anything as to the history of these works. If they are Spanish, they prove the existence of a school of painters of rare excellence here, for they are all more or less admirable in their drawing, in the expression of the faces, and in the honesty and simplicity with which they tell their story. The colours, too, where they are still visible, are pure and good, and the whole looked to me like the work of some good Florentine artist of about the middle of the fifteenth century. It Avould not be a little curious to find the King or Bishop of Leon not only sending to France for his architect, but to Tuscany for his wall-painter, and, if it be the fact, it would show how firm must have been the resolve to make this church as perfect as possible in every respect, and how little dependence was then placed on native talent. The subjects represented are the following, each painting 118 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Cuai-. V- filling the whole of the upper part oi the wall in each bay of the cloister : — 1. The Birth of the Blessed Virgin. 2. Her Marriage. 3. The Annimciation. 4. 5, 6. Destroyed. 7. Massacre- of the Innocents, and Herod giving orders for it. 8, 9. Destroyed. 10. The Blessed Virgin Mary seated with our Lord, angels above, and tliree figures with nimbi sitting and adoring, others with musical instruments. 11. The Baptism of our Lord. 12. Destroyed. 13. An ass and its foal, Jerusalem in the background, and indistinct groups of figures. 14. Our Lord riding into Jerusalem. The city has circular towers all round, and churches with two western octagonal steeples. 15. The Last Supper. 16. Our Lord washing the Disciples' feet ; some figures on the right carrying water-jars are drawn with extreme grace. IT.Des^troyed. 18. The Betrayal. 19. Our Lord bound and stripped, and, 20. Scourged. (These two subjects are very finely treated.) 21. Brought to the Place of Judgment: desks with open books on them in front. 22. Buffeted and spit upon. 23. Judged : Pilate washing his hands. 24. Bearing the Cross. (This subject is painted round and over a monument on which is the date xxiii. October, a.d. MCCCCXL. ; so that it must be of later date than this.) 25. Nailed to the Cross : the Cross on the ground. 26. The Descent from the Cross. 27. 28. The Descent into Helh 29. The Incredulity of St. Thomas, and the appearance of our Lord on the way to Emmaus. 30. The Ascension. 31. The Descent of the Holy Ghost. It will be noticed that the Crucifixion is most remarkably omitted from this series. There is no place on the wall for it, and it occurred to me as possible that there may have been a Chap. \'. LEON: CATHEDRAL. 119 crucifix in the centre of the cloister, round ^vhich all these paintings were, so to speak, grouped.' There are several fine monuments in these cloisters, some of them corbelled out from the wall, and some w^ith recumbent effigies under arches in it. One of the latter is so fine in its way as to deserve special notice. The arch is of two orders, each sculptured with figures of angels worshi})ping and censing our Lord, who is seated in the tympanum of the arch holding a book and giving His blessing. Below, on a high tomb, is the effigy recumbent ; and behind it, below the tympanum, two angels bearing up the soul of the departed. The sculpture is admirable for its breadth and simplicity of treatment; and the monument generally is noticeable for the extent to which sculpture, and sculpture only, has been depended on, the strictly architectural features being few and completely subordinate. The cloister is surrounded l)y buildings, some of which only are ancient. On the north side are the chapel of San Juan de Regla, another chapel, and the Chapter-house. The latter has one of those foolish Spanish conceits, a doorway planned obliquely to the wall in which it is set.- In the church itself there are several very fine monuments. The most elaborate is that of Ordono II,, the original founder of the old cathedral, which occupies the eastern bay of the apse, with its back to the high altar. This is sometimes spoken of as if it were a contemporary work. It is, however, obviously a work of the fourteenth century, and recalls to mind some of the finest monuments in our own churches. The effigy of the king, laid on a sloping stone, so that it looks out from the monumental arch, is singularly noble, very simple, of great size and uncommon dignity. The general design of this fine monument will be seen in my view of the aisle round the choir. Another monument in the north transept has a semicircular arch carved alternately with bosses of foliage and censing angels ; and within this a succession of cusps, the spandrels of which have also augels. The tympanum has a representation of the Crucifixion ;^ and below this, in an oblong panel just over the recumbent figure, is a representation of the service at a funeral. 1 The three crucifixes at the entrance borately than I have elsewhere seen it to the cemetery at Nuremberg will be in a palace near San Isidore, where the remembered by all who have ever seen angle windows ai"e designed and exe- them ; and such a group would have cuted in a sort of perspective, which is made a fitting centre for such a cloister inexpressibly bad in effect, as this at Leon. ^ iVbi a crucifix. ' This conceit is illustrated more ela- 120 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. V. The side of the liigh tomb has also an interesting sculpture representing a figure giving a dole of bread to a crowd of poor and maimed people, whilst others bring him large baskets full of bread on their backs. The date in the inscription on this monu- ment is Era 1280, i.e. a.u. 1242. In a corresponding position in the west wall of the south transept is another monument of a bishop, recessed behind three divisions of the arcade which surrounds the walls of the church. The effigy is rather colossal, and has a lion at the head, and another under the feet. Over the effigy is a group of figures saying the burial office ; and above, in panels within arches, are, (1) St. Martin dividing his Cloak, (2) the Scourging of our Lord, and (3) the Crucifixion. The soffeits of the arcade are diapered, and there were three subjects below the figure of the bishop, but they are now nearly destroyed. The arches round the Capilla mayor were walled up, and those on either side of the monument of Ordono IL, already described, still retain the paintings with which they were all once adorned. They are of the same class as those in the cloister, and one of them, a large Ecce Homo, is certainly a very fine work. Un- fortunately the figure of our Lord in the centre has been very badly repainted, but the troop of soldiers and Jews reviling Him on either side is full of life and expression. The choir occupies the two eastern bays of the nave, and its woodwork is fine, though of late fifteenth-century date. There are large figures in bas-relief, carved in the panels behind the stalls. Tliere is a western door from the nave into the Coro; and in part on this account, and in part from its consider- able scale, the nave has less than usual of the air of uselessness which the Spanish arrangement of the Coro produces. I have already incidentally mentioned that the windows are full of fine stained glass. It is all of the richest possible colour, and most of it of about the same date as the church. Modern critics would, no doubt, object to some of tlie drawing for its rudeness and want of accuracy. Yet to me this work seemed to be a most emphatic proof — if any were needed — that we who talk so much about drawing are altogether wrong in our sense of the office which stained glass has to fulfil in our buildings. We talk glibly about good drawing, and forget altogether the much greater importance of good colour. At Leon the drawing is forgotten altogether, and I defy any one to be otherwise than charmed with the glories of the effect created solely by the colour. At present in England our glass is all but invariably Chap. V. LEON : S. ISIDORO. 121 bad — nay, contemptible — in colour; whilst the so-called good drawing is usually a miserable attempt to reproduce some senti- mentality of a German painter. Two schools might well be studied a little more than they are ; the one should be this early school of rich colourists, and the other the beautiful works of the sixteenth and seventeenth century French glass-painters, where there is good drawing enough for any one, and generally great beauty and simplicity of colour. Finally, two practices might be suggested to our stained-glass painters, — one, that they should only use good, and therefore costly glass ; and the other, that they should limit their palettes to a few pure and simple colours, instead of confusing our eyes with every possible tint of badly- chosen and cheaply-made glass. If we want religious pictures in our churches — as we do most surely — let us go to painters for them, and, with the money now in great part thrown away on stained glass, we might then have some works of art in our churches of which we mio:ht have more chance of feeling proud, and for which our successors would perhaps thank us more than they will for our glass.^ I have detained my readers only too long, I fear, upon this cathedral, but it is too full of interest of all kinds to allow of shorter notice, and is, in its Avay, the finest church of which Spain can boast ; at the same time the work is all so thoroughly French as to destroy, to some degree, the interest which we should otherwise feel in it. The other great architectural attraction of Leon is the church of San Isidoro " el Real." This is altogether earlier than, and has therefore an interest entirely different from, that of the cathedral. Gil Gonzalez Davila says that the church was founded in A.D. 1030,^ by Ferdinand I., the Great. An inscription in the floor of the church gives the name of its architect ;^ and from the mention of Alonso YL, who came to the throne in a.d. 1065, and his mother Sancha, who died in a.d. 1067, the date of his death must have been between these two periods.* In a.d. 1063 King Ferdinand — Alfonso's father — and Queen Sancha had very ' Witness Mr. E. Burne Jones's beau- nentise et multis florebat miraculis, tiful picture over the altar of S. Paul, omnes eum laudibus prsedicabant. Se- Brigbton, and Mr. D. G. Rossetti's at pultus est bic ab Imjaeratore Adefonso LlandafF. et Sancia Regina." Esp. Sag., xxxv. p. • Teatro Ecclesiastico, i. p. 3G5. 356. G. G. Davila, Teatro Eccles. i. p. ^ " Hie requiescit Petrus de Deo, qui 340. Ddvila adds the words "servus superajdificavit Ecclesiam banc. Iste Dei " before the name of the architect, fundavit pontem, qui dicitur de Deus * See Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp.. tambcn: et quia erat vir mirte absti- i. p. 14. 122 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. V. richly endowed the ehurcli, in the presence of various bishops, who had come together to celebrate the translation of the remains of San Isidore.^ Finally Davila, in his History of the Cathedral at Avila, gives the date of the consecration of the church, from a deed in the archives there, as a.d. 1149.^ From these statements it would seem that the church was tit for the reception of the body of San Isidore in a.d. 1065, and had then three altars; and yet that in a.d. 1149 it was conse- crated, though indeed Ponz speaks of an inscription in the cloister which mentions the dedication of the church in a.d. 1063.^ San Isidore was one of the most popularly venerated saints in Spain, and many are the miracles said to have been wrought by him. One of them is not a little suggestive of plans for church- building, not a whit behind the cleverest schemes of the present day. It is said that in a time when much sickness prevailed, the body of the saint was taken out in procession to a village near Leon, Trobajo del Camino, the bearers of the body barefooted, and all singing h}mns, in order to charm away the disease from the people. Suddenly the weight became so great that it was impossible to move or lift the saint, even by the aid of a strong body of men : and many complained not a little of the Canons for bringing the body out on such an errand, whilst the King, who was at Benavente, was so incensed, that he insisted, as the saint would not move, that they should build a church over him for his protection ; and at last came the Queen, grieving bitterly appealing to " her beloved spouse " San Isidore, and saying, "Turn, O blessed confessor! turn again to the monastery of Leon, which my forefathers, out of their devotion, built for you ;" and then the saint, moved by her prayer, allowed himself to be borne back upon the shoulders of four children, who brought him back to Leon amid the rejoicings of the people : and these, moved by the mu-acle, at once built ' The whole of this deed of endow- emnates cum olivitreo, aurea. Tertia uient is interesting. I quote a few lines vero est diadeiua capitis mei," &c. &c. only, which have some interest, as bear- — Esp. Sag., xxxvi., Appendix, p. ing, among other things, on the Gothic clxxxix. crowns found at Guarrazar, and men- - "Sub era millesima centesima oc- tioned at p. 212. "Offerimus igitur " tuagesima septima, pi'idie nonas Martii, " ornamenta altariorum : id est, frontale facta est Ecclesia Sancti Isidori conse- ex auro puro opere digno cum lapidibus crata per manus Raymundi T<->letanse smaragdis, safiris, et omnia geuere pre- Sedis Archiepiscopi, et Joaunis Legion- tiosis et oloviti'eis: alios similiter tres ensis episcopi," &c. &c. — Teatro Eccl., frontales argenteos singulis altaribus: vol. ii., p. 243. See also the similar in- Coronas tres aureas : una ex his cum scriptiou on a stone in San Isidore. — sex alfas in gyro, et corona de Alaules Esp. Sag., vol. xxxv. p. 207. intus in ea pendens: alia est de an- ^ Pouz, Viage de Esjmfia, xi. p. 234. Chap. V. LEON: S. ISIDORO. 123 a chapel on the spot which the saint had marked out for the purpose by his pertinacious refusal to move until the King had ordered ifc to be built, and until the Queen had shown how deep was her interest in the work. But I must not dwell longer on what is merely legendary, but return to this church of San Isidoro at Leon. It is cruciform in plau,^ with apsidal chapels on the eastern side of the transepts. The nave and aisles are of six bays in length, and there is a tower detached to the west. There is a chapel dedicated to Sta. Catalina (now called El Panteon) at the north-west end of the church, and a choir of the sixteentli century takes the place Interior of S. Isidoro. of the original apse. The whole of the nave is vaulted with a waggon-vault, with transverse ribs under it in each bay; and ' Plate VI. 124 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. V. this vault is continued on without break to the chancel arch, there being no lantern at the crossing. The arches into the transej^ts have a fringe of cusping on their under sides, which has a very Moorish air, and the transepts are vaulted with waggon- vaults, but at a lower level than the nave. The chapels to the east of the transept are roofed with semi-domes. The nave has bold columns, with richly sculptured capitals, stilted semi-circular arches, and a clerestory of considerable height, with large windows of rich character. The whole interior of the church has been picked out in white and brown washes to such an extent, that at first sight its effect is positively repulsive : nevertheless, its detail is very fine. The capitals are all richly sculptured, generally with foliage arranged after the model of the Corinthian capital ; but some of them histories with figures of men and beasts ; and I noticed one only with pairs of birds looking at each other. The western part of the church is abominably modernized, but the alterations in the fabric evidently commenced at a very early period, for in the south aisle one of the groining-shafts is carried up exactly in front of what appears to be one of the original aisle windows. I confess myself quite at a loss to account for this, unless it be by the assumption that the church, consecrated in a.d. 1149, was commenced on the same type as S. Sernin, Toulouse — copied, as we shall see further on, at Santiago — and that before the con- secration the original triforium had been altered into a clerestory by the alteration of the aisle-roofs and the introduction of quadri- partite vaulting in them at a lower level, thus necessitating the introduction of the groining- shaft in front of a window. The difficulty did not occur to me forcibly when I was on the spot, and I am unable to say, therefore, how far a thoroughly close examination of the work would clear it up. It might of course be said that such an alteration proves that the church was of two periods ; and such an opinion would be to some extent supported by reference to the certainly early character of the south door, which might have been executed before A.D. 1063. But I am, on the whole, disposed rather to regard the chapel of Sta. Catalina as the original church, and to assume that the remainder of the building was built between a.d. 1063 and a.d. 1149, and that the awkward arrangement to which I have just referred was, in fact, the result of some accident or change of plan. This supposition would reconcile more satisfactorily all the difficulties of the case than any other, and would tally well with what I have been able to learn as to the history of the church. The body of San Isidore was sent for rather suddenly, and brought from Chap. V. LEON : S. ISIDOKO. 125 Seville, and the King had but short time for the preparation of the building for its reception. Two years later the body of San Vicente was brought from Avila, and no doubt the popularity of the two saints soon made it necessary to enlarge the church. Then it might well happen that the old church was left in its integrity, and the new building added to the east, but with its north wall in a line with the north wall of the old one, so as to allow of the cloister being built along their sides, and with- out at all disturbing the early church or its relics. The relative position of the churches makes it probable, in short, that the large church was added to the small one, and not that the latter was a chapel added to the former. The style of the two buildings leads to the same conclusion, for in Sta. Catalina we have a small, low, vaulted church, two bays only in length and three in width. The two detached columns which carry the vaults are cylindrical, with capitals of somewhat the same kind as those in the church, but simpler and ruder. Recessed arches in the side walls contain various tombs of the Royal Family, who for ages, from the time of Fernando I. and Doiia Sancha his queen, have been buried here ; and the very circumstance that this little chapel was selected for the burial of so many royal persons, seems to make it extremely probable that it was the very chapel in which the body of San Isidore had first been laid. The door of communication from the chapel to the church has an arch of the same kind as the transept arches, semi-circular and fringed with several cusps ; and the chapel is now liglited by two open arches on the north side, which communicate with the cloister. The groining is all quadripartite, without ribs, but with plain bold transverse arches between the bays. The exterior of the church has some features which have all the air of being very early and original in their character. Such is the grand south doorAvay of the nave. Its arch is semi- circular, and above it the spandrels are filled with sculpture. Above this is a line of panels containing the signs of the Zodiac ; below are figures with musical instruments ; and below these again, on the west, is a figure of San Isidore, and on the right a figure of a \yoman, I think, book in hand, both of them sup- ported on corbels formed of the heads of oxen. The tympanum itself is divided into two parts, the lower half being surmounted by a flat pediment, and the upper filling up the space from this to the intrados of the arch. The upper half has an Agnus Dei in a circle in tlie centre, and the lower half has Abraham's sacrifice, with figures on horseback on either side. The 126 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. Y. head of the opening of the doorway is finished with a square trefoil, nnder whicli rams' licads are carved. The whole detail of this sculpture is very unlike that of most of the early work I have seen in Spain ; the figures are round and flabby, and badly arranged, and very free from any of the usual conventionality. All this made me feel much inclined to think that the execution of this work was at an early date, and soon after the first con- secration of the church. The elevation of the south transept is rather fine. It lias a doorway, now blocked, with a figure against the wall on either side, standing between the label and a second label bailt into the wall from buttress to buttress. Above this is a rich corbel-table, and then an arcade of three divisions, of which the centre is pierced as a window ; in the gable is another statue standing against the wall. The doorway has its opening finished with a square trefoil, and the tympanum is plain. The design of the apsidal chapel east of the apse is so precisely like the eastern apsidal chapels of many of the Spanish Romanesque churches,^ that its date must, to some extent, be decided by theirs : and it may well be doubted whether it can be much earlier than circa a.d. 1150, though the lower part of the south transept appeared to me to be as early as the south door, or at any rate not later than a.d. 1100. The walls are all carried up high above the clerestory windows, and finished with corbel-tables, carved with a billet-mould on edge, and carried on corbels moulded, not carved. Simple the buttresses divide the bays of the clerestory. The choir, as has been said, was a late addition in place of the original Romanesque apse. It was built in a.d. 1513, or a little after, by Juan de Badajoz, master of the works at the cathedral.^ It is of debased Gothic design and coarse detail, but large and lofty. The groining at the east end is planned as if for an apse, and portions of diagonal buttresses, to resist the thrust of the groining ribs, are built against the east wall, in the way often to be noticed in the later Spanish buildings. The east window was of two lights only, and is now blocked up by the Retablo. In this church there is a perpetual exposition of the Host, and the choir is therefore screened off with more than usual care, none but the clergy being allowed to enter it. At Lugo, where there is also a similar exposition, the choir is left open, but two priests are always sitting or kneeling before faldstools in front of the altar. ' E.g. Segovia, Avila, Salamanca, ^ So, at least, saj's Cean Beniiudez, Benavente, Le'rida. but without giving his authority. SAN ISIDOPvO, LEON SOUTH TRANSEPT^ CiiAP. V. LEON: S. ISIDORO. 127 I conld not gain admission to the cloister on the north side of the church ; it is large and all modernized, and surrounded by the buildings of the monastery, which is now suppressed. A chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity was founded here in a.d. 1191, and a list of the relics preserved at its altar is given on a stone preserved in the convent. The chapel of Sta. Catalina, already described, is specially interesting on account of the remarkable paintings with which the whole of the groining is covered. These all appeared to me to have been certainly executed at the end of the twelfth century, circa a.d. 1180-1200, and they are remarkably rich in their foliage decoration, as well as in painting of figures and subjects. Beginning with the eastern central compartment, over the altar, and going round to the right, the subjects in the six bays of the vault are as follows : — (1.) In this our Lord is seated in a vesica, at the angles of which are four angels, with the heads of the four Evangelists, with their books and names painted beside them. Our Lord's feet are to the east, and He holds an open book and gives His blessing. (2.) The angel speaking to the shepherds, with the inscription, " Angelas a pastores." (3.) The Massacre of the Innocents. (4.) The Last Supper, painted without the slightest regard to the angles formed by the groining, and as if the vault were a flat surface. ;y./^//^,. (5.) a. Herod washing his hands. h. St. Peter denying our Lord. c. Our Lord bearing his Cross. d. The Crucifixion (this is almost destroyed). (6.) Our Lord seated with His feet to the west ; the seven churches around Him, seven candles, and an angel giving the book to St. John. The solfeits of the cross arches between the vaults are painted, some with foliage, others with figures. Of the latter, one has the twelve Apostles, another the Holy Spirit in the centre, with ano-els worshipping on either side, and a third a Hand blessing (inscribed " Dextra Dei ") in centre, and saints on either side. The whole detail of the painted foliage is of thoroughly good conventional character, and just in the transitional style from Komanesque to Pointed. There is a fine steeple detached from the church to the west. It stands on the very edge of the old town wall, several of the round towers of which still exist to the north of it, and below 128 GOTHIC ATICHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. V. the great walls of the convent built within them. Tliis steeph^ is very plain below, but its belfry stage has two fine shafted windows in each face, and nook shafts at its four corners. It is capped with a low square spire with small spire-lights : but as I found the working lines of all this drawn out elaborately on the whitewashed walls of one of the cloisters, and as all the work appears to be new, I cannot say whether or no it is an exact restoration, though I dare say it is. In the sacristy there are some paintings, of which one or two are of great beauty. One is a charming picture of the Blessed Virgin with our Lord, with angels on either side, and otiiers holding a crown above : the faces are sweet and delicate. One of the attendant angels offers an apple to our Lord ; the other plays a guitar : the background is a landscape. The frame, too, is original. It has a gold edge, then a flat of blue covered with delicate gold diaper, and there are two shutters with this inscrip- tion on them : — " ^celiv e sacra virgo Maria et omni laude dig- nissima quia in te ortus est sol justicie Chrus Deus nostery There is also a very little triptych, with a Descent from the Cross, and an inscription on the shutters. Two figures are drawing out the nails, and hold the body of our Lord ; two other figures on ladders support His head and feet, and St. Mary and St. Mary Magdalene weep at the foot of the cross. The inscriptions on the shutters are from Zachariah xii., Plagent eum, &c., and Second Corinthians, " J*ro omnibus mortuus est Christus." There are other paintings which the Sacristan exhibits with more pride, but these two are precious works, of extremely good character, and painted probably about the end of the sixteenth century. Leon is a much smaller city than might be expected for one so famous in Spanisii history ; its streets wind about in the most tortuous fashion ; there are but few buildings of any preten- sion, and I saw no other old churches. There is indeed a great convent of San IMarcos, built from the designs of Juan de I3adajoz, in the sixteenth century, and afterwards added to by Berru- guete, but I forgot to go to see it, and his work at San Isidoro makes me regard the omission as a very venial one. Eound the city, on all sides, are long groves of po])lars which look green and pleasant ; there is a river — or at least in summer, as I saw it, the broad bed of one — and over the low hills which girt the city is a backgi-ound of beautiful mountains. Both for its situation, therefore, and for the artistic treasures it enshrines, Leon well deserves a pilgrimage at the hands of all lovers of art. LSON:- Groum'i Plan p( QflHici^ral 5:r: Fubljahed ty John Muri-ay. AllrTiin.l.- f 1< L€ ON :_^jriimiil = Plfln=nf-(Il]urrl] •• ut'--S0RY?^ibi=u ■■ vu^ vi ^31-^ + X)o B Marts on S.TranBont. J P <' J£^ ^. . ^ . V _, TSpFai. p. W.WeGMitK- PuTDlishedVyJoluiMiirray, Albemarle S'^ 1865 CiiAP. Vr. ASTORGA : CATHEDRAL. 129 CHAPTER VI. ASTORGA,- LUGO, LA CORUNA. The road from Leon to Astorga is bad, and traverses a very uninteresting country. A good part of the old walls of Astorga still remains, with the usual array of lofty round towers at short intervals : they were in process of partial demolition when I saw them, and I noticed that they were in part con- structed with what appeared to be fragments of Koman build- ings. There is a rather picturesque Plaza de la Constitucion here, one end of it being occupied by a quaint towu-liall of the seventeenth century, through an archway in the centre of which one of the streets opens into the Plaza. A number of bells are hung in picturesque slated turrets on the roof, and some of them are struck by figures. The only old church I saw was the cathedral. A stone here is inscribed with the following words in Spanish : " In 1471, on the 16th of iVugust, the first stone of the new work of this holy cliurch was laid ;" and there is no doubt that the church is all of about this date, with some additions, — chiefly, however, of Retablos and other furniture, — in the two following centuries. The character of the whole design is necessarily in the very latest kind of Gothic ; and much of the detail, especially on the exterior, is quite Eeuaissance in its character. The east end is finished with three parallel apses, and the nave is some seven or eight bays in length, with towers projecting beyond the aisles at the west end, and chapels opening into the aisles between the buttresses. The light is admitted by windows in the aisles over the chapel arches, and by a large clerestory. These windows are fortunately filled with a good deal of fine early Eeuaissance glass, which, though not all that might be wished in drawing and general treatment, is still remarkable for its very fine colour. Arches of the same height as the groinii]gof the aisles open into the towers, the interior view across which produces the effect of a sort of western transept, corresponding with a similar transept between the nave and the apsidal choir. The detail is throughout very similar to that of the better known cathedrals K 130 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE TN SPAIN. Chap. YL at Segovia and Salamanca, the section of the cohimns being like a bundle of reeds, with ingeniously planned interpenetrating base mouldings, midtiplied to such an extent tliat they finish at a heiglit of no less that ten feet from the floor. Another evidence of the late character of tlie work is given by the arch mould- ings, which die against and interpenetrate those of the columns, there being no cajntals. Beyond a certain stateliness of height and colour which this small cathedral has in common with most other Spanish Avorks of the same age, there is but little to detain or interest an architect. But stateliness and good effects of light and shade are so very rare in modern works, tliat we can ill afford to regard a building which shows them as being devoid of merit or interest. From Astorga the road soon begins to rise, and the scenery thenceforward for the remainder of the journey to la Coruna becomes always interesting, and sometimes extremely beautiful. The conntry can hardly be said to be monntainous, yet the hills are on a scale far bej^ond what we are accustomed to ; and the grand sweep of the hill sides, covered occasionally with wood, and in- tersected by deep valleys, makes the whole journey most pleasant. One of the prettiest spots on the road, before reaching Villa- franca, is the little village of Torre, where a quaint bridge spans the brawling trout-stream ; and where the thick cluster of squalid cottages atones to the traveller, in some degree, by its pictur- esqueness, for the misery in which the people live. They seem to be terribly ill off, and their chimneyless hovels — pierced only with a door and one very small window or hole in the wall, into which all the light, and out of both of which all the smoke have to find their Avay — are of the worst description. The village churches appear to be, almost without exception, very mean ; and all have the broad western bell-turret, so popular in this part of Spain. In ten hours from Astorga, passing Ponferrada on the way, from the hill above which the view is very fine, Villafranca del Vierzo is reached; and this is the only place of any im- portance on the road. Its situation is charming, on a fine trout- stream, along whose beautiful banks the road runs for a con- siderable distance ; and it is the proper centre for excursions to the convents of the Vierzo, of which Mr. Ford gives an account wdiich made me anxious to examine them, thongh un- fortunately tlie time at my disposal put it completely out of the question. These old towns, of the second or third rank, have a certain amount of picturesque character, though far Chap. Vr. VILLAFRANCA — LUGO : CATHEDRAL. 131 less than might be expected of external evidence of tlieir anti- quity. Here, indeed, the picturesqueness is mainly the result of the long tortuous streets, and the narrow bridges over the beautiful river, which make the passage of a diligence so much of an adventure, as to leave the passengers grateful when they have gained with safety the other side of the town. The Alameda here is pleasantly planted ; and the town boasts of an inn which is just good enough to make it quite possible for an ecclesiologist to use it as headquarters in a visit to the con- vents of the Vierzo, whilst any one who is so fortunate as to be both fisherman and ecclesiologist could scarcely be better placed. Villafranca has one large, uninteresting, and very late Gothic church, into which I could not get admission ; the other churches seemed to be all Renaissance in style. I arrived at Lugo after a journey of more than thirty hours from Leon. Like Astorga it is surrounded with a many-towered wall, which still seems to be perfect throughout its whole ex- tent. The road passes along under it, half round the town, until at last it turns in througb an archway, and reaches the large Plaza of San Domingo, in which is the diligence Fonda. This was so unusually dirty even to the eyes and nose of a tolerably well-seasoned traveller, that I was obliged to look for a lodging, which, after a short search, I discovered ; and if it was not much better, it was still a slight improvement on the inn. In these towns lodgings are generally to be found ; and as they are free from the abominable scent of the mules, which pervades every part of all the inns, they are often to be preferred to them. ^line was in a narrow street leading out of the great arcaded Plaza, which, on the day of my arrival, was full of market-people, sell- ing and buying every kind of commodity ; and on the western side of this Plaza stands the cathedral. This is a church of very considerable architectural value and interest. It was commenced early in the twelfth century, under the direction of a certain Maestro Eaymundo, ofMonforte deLemos. His contract with the bishop and canons was dated a.d. 1129 ; and by this it was agreed that he should be paid an annual salary of two hundred sueldos of the money then current; and if there was any change in its value, then he was to be paid six marks of silver, thirty-six yards of linen, seventeen "cords" of wood, shoes and gaiters as he had need of them ; and each month two sueldos for meat, a measure of salt, and a pound of candles. 3Laster Eaymundo accepted these conditions, and bound himself K 2 132 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. VI. to assist at tlio work all the days of his life ; and if he died before its completion, his son was to finish it,' The church built by Raymundo is said to have been finished in A.D. 1177,- and still in part no doubt remains.^ It consists of a nave and aisles of ten bays in length, transepts, and a short apsidal clioir, with aisle and chaj^els round it. The large central eastern chapel is an addition made in a.d. 1764 ; and the west front is a very poor work of about the same period. There is an open porch in front of the north transept, and a steeple on its eastern side. The design and construction of the nave and aisles is very peculiar, and must be compared with that of the more important cathedral at Santiago. This had been finished, so far as the fabric was concerned, in the previous year, and evidently suggested the mode of construction adopted at Lugo. Here the arches, with few exceptions, are pointed ; but other- wise the design of the two churches is just the same. The nave has a pointed barrel-vault ; the triforium, however, has quadri- partite vaulting throughout, in place of the half barrel-vaults used at Santiago ; and tlie buttresses externally are connected by a series of arclies below the eaves. Tlie triforium consists in each bay of two pointed arches under a round enclosing arch, carried upon coupled shafts, which have rudely sculptured capitals. The five eastern bays of the nave appear at first sight to have no arches opening into the aisles ; but upon closer examination the outline of some low arches will be found behind the stall Avork of the Coro. These arclies are all blocked up ; but if they were originally open they are so low that they could not have made the effect very different from what it now is. It looks, in fact, at first sight, as if the present arrangement of the Coro Avere that for which the church was originally built, and as if the nave proper was always that part only of the church to the west of the present Coro which opens to the aisles with simple pointed arches of the whole height of the aisle. But on further examination we find that the vaulting of the aisles in the four eastern bays is a round waggon-vault, and this, of course, limited the height to which it was possible to raise the arches between the aisle and the nave ; and it is therefore probable that their height is not to be attributed so much to the wish to define a Coro in the nave, as to the fault of the architect, Avho did not at ^ Pallares Gayoso, Hist, de Lugo, from the black book in the archives. 2 Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Espana, i. 25. ^ p]ate VII. LUGO CATHEDRAL. p. 133, IKTEEIOR OF TRANSEPT, LOOKIIsrG NORTH-WEST. LLI<]0:_^rDunii^Plan = pf=tl]p = {CHtliin^FHl = Tiide \Ti. X^ ITasons^ilarlis 12* Century. Beforpl2(10 Modfirn W^i •^11 „„? , «p , 100 isn 1 ¥, . , . p IP 20 jr> Jl ^,. , , r , ,,? ip 20 3.0 -W Vaya 'V/e::;.,l,ih PublisiLed>i)r JohnMra-tiay, Alberaarle S'tISqS. Chap. VI. LUGO : CATHEDRAL. 133 first perceive the advantage of using a quadripartite vault instead of a waggon- vault. The three bays west of these have the former kind of vaulting without ribs, and with windows both larger and higher from the floor than the simple round-arched openings wln'ch light the four eastern bays. The eighth and ninth bays are evidently rather later than the rest; and the western bays, again, are quite subsequent additions. The crossing has a quadripartite vault, and the transepts waggon- vaults like those of the nave. It is pretty clear that the work was commenced upon the scheme which we still see in the bays next the crossing, and carried on gradually with alterations as the work went on, and probably as it went on the architect discovered the mistake he was making in confining himself to waggon-vaulting in the aisles. It is somewhat remarkable that, with the example of Santiago so near, such a scheme should ever have been devised, unless, indeed, the work was commenced earlier than the date assigned, of which I see no evidence. The choir shows the same gradual variation in style ; and I have considerable difficulty in assigning a precise date to it. It is clear, however, that the whole of it is of much later date than the original foundation of the cathedral ; and it is probable, I think, tliat it was reconstructed in the latter half of the thir- teenth century. The windows in the chapels of the clievet are of two lights, Avith a small quatrefoil pierced in the tympanum above the lights. The mouldings of the groining are extremely bold and simple. The aisle-vaulting, too, is very simple and of early-pointed character, whilst the clustered columns round the apse look somewhat later. There is, however, no mark of alter- ations or additions ; and I think, therefore, that the whole of this work must be of the same date, and that the difference visible between the various parts of it may be put down to the long lingering of those forms of art which had been once imported into this distant province, and to the consequent absence of development. The sculpture of the capitals in the chevet is no- where, I think, earlier than about the end of the thirteenth century, though that in the chapels round it, being very simple, looks rather earlier. Unfortunately all the upper part of the choir was rebuilt about the same time that the eastern chapel was added. It has strange thin ogee flying buttresses, large windows, and a painted ceiling. Here, as at San Isidore, Leon, the Host is always exposed, and, 134 tiOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. YI. as I liave mentioned before, two priests are always in attendance at faldstools on each side of the Capilla mayor in front of the altar. The interior, of course, has been much damaged by the de- struction of the old clerestory of the choir. It is, nevertheless, still very impressive, and much of its fine effect is o^ving• to the contrast between the bright light of the nave and the obscure gloom of the long aisles on either side of the Coro. The length of the nave, too, is unusually great in proportion to the size of the church; and though much of the sculj)ture is rude in execution, it is still not without effect on the general character of the building. On the north side of the nave a chapel has been added, which preserves the external arrangement of the windows and but- tresses in the earliest part of the building, as they are now en- closed within and protected by it. The simple and rather rude buttresses are carried up and finished under the eaves' corbel- tables with arches between them, so as to make a continuous arcade the whole length of the building on either side. Tlie north doorway is of the same age as the early part of the church, and has a figure of our Lord within a vesica in the tym- panum, and the Last Supper carved on a pendant below it. The head of the door-opening is very peculiar, having a round arch on either side of this central pendant. The door has some rather good ironwork. The porch in front of it is a work of the fifteenth century, or perhaps later, and is open on three sides. The only good external view of the church is obtained from the north side. Here the tower rises picturesquely above the transept, but the belfry and upper stage are modern^ and very poor. The bells are not only hung in the windows, but one of them is suspended in an open iron framework from the finish the centre of the roof. The cloister and other buildings seem to be all comj)letely modern, and are of very poor style. There are two old churches here — those of the Capuchins and of San Domingo — both of them in or close to the Plaza of San Domingo. The church of the Capuchins is evidently interesting, though I could not gain access to its interior, which appears to be desecrated. It has transepts, a low central lantern, a principal apse of six sides, and two smaller apses opening into the transejits. These apses are remarkable for having an angle in the centre, whilst their windows have a bar of tracery across them, transome > A.D. lo77.— Madoz, Dk-i.-. Chap. VI. LUGO : S. DOMINGO. 135 fashion, at mid-height. It is certainly a very curious coincidence, that in both these particulars it resembles closely the fine church of the Frari at Venice ; and though I am not prepared to say that the imitation is anything more than the merest accident, it is certainly noteworthy. The eaves are all finished with moulded corbel-tables ; and there is a rather fine rose-window in the transept gable. The circles in the head of the ajjse windows are filled in with very delicate traceries, cut out of thin slabs of stone, a device evidently borrowed from Moresque examples ; and it is somewhat strange to meet them here so far from any Moorish buildings or influence. The church of San Domingo is somewhat similar in plan. It has a modernized nave of five bays, a central dome, which looJrs as though it might be old, but which is now all plastered and whitewashed, a princij)al apse of seven sides, transepts covered with waggon- vaults, and small apses to the east of them. The capitals have carvings of beasts and foliage ; but none of these, or of the mouldings, look earlier than the fourteenth century ; yet the capitals are all square in plan, and the arches into the chapels have a bold dog-tooth enrichment. There is a fine south doorway to the nave, in which chevrons, delicate fringes of cusping, and dog-tooth, are all introduced. In such a work the date of the latest portion must be the date of the whole ; and so I do not think it can be earlier than the rest of the church, though at first sight it undoubtedly has the air of being more than a century older. Gil Gonzalez Davila^ says that Bishop Fernando gave per- mission for the foundation of the convent of San Domingo in A.D. 1318, and that circa a.d. 1350-58 the Dominican Fray Pedro Lopez de Aguiar founded it ; and this date appears to me to accord very well with the peculiar character of the work. There is little more to be seen in Lugo. The old walls, though they retain all their towers, have been to some extent altered for the worse to fit them for defence in the last war ; they have been also rendered available as a broad public walk, — very pleasant, inasmuch as it commands good views of the open country beyond the city. The people here and at Santiago all go to the fountains armed with a long tin tube, which they apply to the mouths of the beasts which discharge the water, and so convey the stream straight to their pitchers placed on the edge of the large basins. The crowd of water-carriers round a Spanish fountain is always » Teatro Eccl., iii. 182, 183. 136 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. VI. noisy, talktitivo, and gay ; and many is the fight and furious the clamour for tlie privilege of putting the tube to the fountain in regular order, I travelled between la Coruna and Lugo by night, so that 1 am unable to say anything as to the country or scenery on the road, save that for some distance before reaching Lugo it is cold, bare, and unattractive. Betanzos, the only town of importance on the road, has two or three good churches, which I missed seeing by daylight. They are of early date, with apsidal east ends, and somewhat similar, apparently, to the churches at la Coruiia, though on a larger scale. La Coruiia is charmingly situated, facing a grand landlocked bay, but on the inner side of a narrow ridge, a short walk across which leads to the open sea, which is here very mag- nificent. The views of the coast, and the openings to the grand bays or rios of Ferrol, Betanzos, and la Coruna, are of unusual beauty, and it is rarely indeed that one sees a more attractive country. But there is not very much to detain an arcliitect. The town is divided into the old and the new ; and in the former are two old churclies, which, though small, are interesting ; whilst in the latter there is absolutely nothing to see but shops and cafes. The Collegiata of Sta. Maria del Campo was made a parish church by King Alonso X. in a.d. 1256, and in a.d. 1441 was made collegiate : it has a nave and aisles of five bays, and a short chancel, with an apse covered with a semi-dome vault.' The nave and aisles are all covered with pointed waggon- vaults springing from the same level ; and as the aisles are narrow, their vaults resist the thrust of the main vault, without exerting a violent thrust on the aisle walls The capitals are rudely carved with foliage, and the arches are perfectly plain. The bay of vaulting over the chancel is a pointed waggon-vault, with ribs on its under side, arranged as though in imitation of a sexpartite vault.'^ ' Plate VIII. PAGON : EN : viii. : idus - The following iuscriptiou remains julii : era : Mccc : xl. on one of the columns on the north side From which it appears that this column, of the nave : — with the halves of the two arches spring- SANTA : MARIA : RECE iug from it, was built in a.d. 1302, On An : ESTE : piAR : de : fon another column on the same side is an DO : A TE : ciMA : CON : la inscription recording the erection of the METADE : DOS : AR Chapel of the Visitation in a.d. 1374. cos : CA : quelque : o : ja^nrAfi ar ijt^oRUNai,^^jafiovi^--^^^' Q^^^°^-^^^^^ ^^g^^ Chap. VI. LA CORUNA : S. MARIA. 137 The western doorway has a circular arch, with rudely carved foliage in the outer orders ; and ten angels, with our Lord giving His blessing in the centre, in the inner order. The tympanum has the Adoration of the Magi. The abaci and capitals are carved, but everywhere the carving is overlaid with whitewash so thickly as to be not very intelligible. The south door has storied capitals, and angels under the corbels, which support the tympanum over the door-opening ; this has a figure with a pil- grim's staff, probably Santiago, and there are other figures and foliage in the arch. The abacus is carried round the buttresses, and a bold arch is thrown across between them above the door. An original window near this door is a mere slit in the wall, and not intended for glazing. The north door is somewhat similar to the other, with a sculpture of St. Kathaiine in the tympanum. The apse has a very small east window, engaged columns dividing it into three bays, and a simj^le corbel-table. SUL Maria, la Coruua. The west front is quaint and picturesque. It has a bold porch — now almost built up by modern erections — and two small square towers or turrets at the angles. Of these the south-western has a low, square stone spire, springing from within a traceried parapet, and with some very quaint crockets at the angles. A tall cross, 138 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. Vl. with au original sculpture of tlie Crucifixion, stands in the little Plaza in front of the church. The Coro here is in a large western gallery, but both this and the stalls are Renaissance in style. The other church is that of Santiago. This has a broad nave, forty-four feet wide, into the east wall of which three small apses open.^ The nave is divided into four bays by bold cross arches, which carry the wooden roof; and of the three eastern arches, the central rises high above the others, and has a circular window above it. The west front has a very fine doorway, set in a projecting portion of the wall, finished with a corbel-table and cornice at the top. This has a figure of Santiago in the tym- panum, and statues in the jambs. The north doorway has heads of oxen supporting the lintel, and rude carving of foliage in the arch. One of the original windows remains in the nortli wall. This is roundheaded and very narrow, but has good jamb-shafts and arch-mouldings. The detail of the eastern apse is of bold and simple Eomanesque character, with engaged shafts sup- porting the eaves-cornice. There is not, so far as I know% any evidence as to the exact date of these churches; but I think that the character of all their details proves that they were founded about the middle of the twelfth century. They are evidently later than the cathe- dral at Santiago, and tally more with the work which I have been describing in the nave of Lugo Cathedral. And though the dimensions of both are insignificant, they appear to me to be extremely valuable examples, as showing two evident attempts at development on the part of their architect who, to judge of the strong similarity in some of their details, was probably the same man. Three barrel-vaults on the same level as at Sta. Maria are seldom seen ; and tlie bold cross arches spanning Santiago are a good example of an attempt in the twelfth centuiy to achieve what few have yet attempted to accomphsh in the revival of the present day — the covering of a broad nave in a simple, economical, and yet effective manner. In the church of Santiago there is preserved a fragment of an embroidered blue velvet cope. The sprigs with which it is diapered are so exactly similar in character to those of some of our own old examples — the Ely cope in particular — as to suggest the idea that the work is really English. ' Plate VI II. Chap. VI. LA COEUNA TO SANTIAGO. 139 From La Coruna to Santiago the road is, for tlie first half of the way, extremely pleasant, and passes through a luxuriant country ; gradually, however, as the end of the great pil- grimage is reached, it becomes dreary and the country bare ; still the outlines of the hills are fine, and some of the distant views rather attractive. But Santiago is too important a city, and its cathedral is too gi*and and interesting, to be described at the end of a chapter. 140 (iO'i'HIC AUCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. VII. CHAPTEE VII. SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA. The journey from Lugo to Santiago is pleasant so far as the country is concerned, and there is one advantage in the ex- tremely slow and grave pace of the diligences in this part of the world, tliat it always allows of the scenery being well studied. Moreover, in these long rides there is a pleasure and relief in being able to take a good walk without mnch risk of being left behind, which can hardly be appreciated by the modern English- man who travels only in his own country. The general character of the landscape is somewhat like that of the Yorkshire moors, diversified here and there by beautiful valleys, the sides of which are generally clothed witli chestnut, but sometimes with walnut, oalv, and stone-pines. The heaths were in full flower, and looked brilliant in the extreme, and here and there were patches of gorse. The road is fine, and has only recently been made. The country is very thinly populated, so that we passed uot more than two or three villages on the way, and in none of them did I see signs of old churches of any interest. It is difficult to picture anything more wretched than the state of the Gallegan peasantry as we saw them on this road. They were very dirty, and clothed in the merest nigs : the boys frequently with nothing on but a shirt, and that all in tatters ; and the women with but little more in quantity, and nothing better in quality. The poorest Irish would have some difficulty in showing that their misery is greater than that of these poor Gallegans. My journey to Santiago was quite an experiment. I had been able to learn nothing whatever about the cathedral before going there, and I was uncertain whether I should not find the mere wreck of an old church, overlaid everywhere with additions by architects of the Berruguetesque or Churrugueresque schools, instead of the old church which I knew had once stood there. In all my Spanish journeys there had been somewhat of this pleasant element of uncertainty as to what I was to find ; but here my ignorance was complete, and as the journey was a long one to make on speculation, it was not a little fortunate that my Chap. VII. SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA. 141 faith was rewarded by the discovery of a clnireli of extreme magnificence and interest. The weary day wore on as we toiled on and on upon our pilgrimage, and it was nearly dark before we reached the entrance of the city, and after much delay found ourselves following a porter up the steep streets and alleys which lead up from the diligence Fonda to the principal inn, which happens fortunately to be very near the one interesting s^jot in the city — the cathedral. The next morning showed us not only the extei'ior of the city, but enabled us also to form a good idea of its surroundings. It stands on the slope of a steep hill, with great bare and bleak hills on all sides, rising generally to a great height. From some of them the views are no doubt very fine, and the town with its towers and walls may well look more imposing than it does on a nearer view. For, to say the truth, if the cathedral be left out of considera- tion, Santiago is a disappointing place. There is none of the evidence of the presence of pilgrims which might be expected, and I suspect a genuine pilgi-im is a very rare article indeed. I never saw more than one, and he proclaimed his intentions only by the multitude of his scallop-shells fastened on wherever his rags would allow; but I fear much he was a professional pilgrim ; he was begging lustily at Zaragoza, and seemed to have been many years there on the same errand, without getting very far on his road. And there is not much evidence in the town itself of its history and pretensions to antiquity; for, as is so often tlie case in Spain, so great was the wealth possessed by the Church in the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth century, that all the churches and religious houses were rebuilt about that time, and now, in place of mediaeval churches and convents, there are none but enormous Eenaissance erections on all sides ; and as they are bad examples of their class, little pleasure is to be derived from looking at them, either outside or inside. Perhaps some exception ought to be made from this general de- preciation of the buildings at Santiago in favour of the entourage of the cathedral ; for here there is a sumptuous church opening on all sides to Plazas of grand size, and surrounded by buildings all having more or less architectural pretension. Steep flights of steps lead from one Plaza to another, a fountain plays among quarrelsome water-cai-riers in one, and in another not only "does an old woman retail scallop-shells to those who want them, but a tribe of market people ply their trade, cover the flags with their briglit fruit, make the ear tired with their eternal wrangle, 142 GOTHIC AUCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. ClIAP. VII. and the eye delighted with their gay choice of colours for sashes, headgear, and what not. The whole record of the foundation of this cathedral is a great deal too long to enter upon here; but fortunately enough re- mains of its architectural history to make the story of the present building both intelligible and interesting, and to this I must now ask the attention of my readers. There seems to have been a church founded here in or about the year 868,^ which is said to have been completed in thirty- one years,^ and consecrated in a.d. 899. Of this church nothing now remains ; but the contemporary deed of gift to the church by the King Alfonso III., and the account of the altars and relics existing in it at the time, are of considerable interest.^ I need hardly say how much store was laid by the clergy of Santiago on their possession of the body of the Apostle. Mr. Ford* gives only too amusing, if it is, as I fear, only too true, a version of the story of the Saint's remains. Suffice it here to say, that there no longer seem to be great pilgrimages to his shrine, and that even in Spain the old belief in the miracle-working power of his bones seems now practically to have died out.^ 1 Espana Sagrada, xix. p. 91. 2 Historia del Apostol Sanctiago, by iSIauro Castella Ferrer, p. 4Go. 3 The latter document in particular has much architectural interest, and is worth transcribing in part, on account of its reference to these early buildings, and their materials and furniture. It commences as follows: — ' In nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, edificatum est Templum Sancti Salvatoris, et Sancti Jacobi Apostoli in locum Arcis Marmoricis territorio Gal- lecise per iustitutionem gloriosissimi Principis Adefonsi III. cum conjuge Scemena sub Poutifice loci ejusdem Sisnaudo Episcopo.' (877-903.) "Sup- ples egregii eximii Principis Ordouii proles ego Adefonsus Frincipi cum prsedicto antistite statuimus redificare domum Domini et restaurare Templum ad tumulum sepulchri Apostoli, quod antiquitus construxerat divje memorise Dominus Adefonsus Magnus ex petra et luto opere parvo. Nos quidem inspi- ratione divina adlati cum subditis ac familia nostra adduximus in sanctum locum ex Hispania inter agmina Mau- roruni, quse eligimus de Civitate Ea- becaj petras marmoreas quas avi nostri ratibus per Poutum transvexorunt, et ex eis pulchras domos redificaverunt, quse ab ininiicis destructse manebant. Unde quoque ostium principale Occi- dentalis partis ex ipsis marmoribus est appositum : supei'cilia vero liminaris Sedis invenimus sicut antiqua sessio fuerat miro opei'e sculpta. Ostium de sinistro juxta Oraculum Baptistae et Martyris Joannis quern simili mode fundavimus, et de puris lapidibus con- struximus columnas sex cum basibus todidem posuimus, ubi abbobuta tribu- ualis est constructa, vel alias columnas sculptas supra quas portius imuunefc de oppido Portucalense ratibus depor- tatas adduximus quadras, et calcem unde sunt sedificatae columuee decem et VIII. cum aliis columnelis marmoreis simili modo navigio." — Es2)aua Sagi'ada, xix. p. 344, Appendix. '' Handbook of Sjjain, pp. 600-605. ■' The authors of the ' Manual del Viagero en la Catedral de Saiitiago ' are, however, not quite of this opinion. They say of it, "The monument which we examine belongs not to Santiago, to Galicia, to Spain, but is the patrimony of the Christian religion, of tlie Catholic world ; since in all fervent souls some- Chap. VII. SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA. 143 Nothing could, however, have been stronger than the old faith in their j^atron, and the extreme wealth brought to the church by the pilgTimages made of old to his shrine from all parts of Europe Avould no doubt have involved the entire destruction of all remains of the early church, in order to its reconstruction on a far grander scale, had it not been destroyed, so far as possible, in the century after its erection, by the floors under Almanzor. From the end of the tenth century I find no mention of the cathedral until the episcopate of Diego Gelmirez, in whose time Santiago was made an archbishopric. He was consecrated in the yetir 1100, and died in a.d. 1130, and tlie history of his archi- episcopate is given in great detail in the cnrious contemporary chronicle, the ' Historia Compostellana.' ^ Here it is recorded that, in A.D. 1128, "forty-six years after the commencement of the new churcli of St. James," the bisliop, finding that the subordi- nate buildings were so poor that strangers absolutely '' wandered about looking for where the cloisters and offices might be," called his chapter together, and urged upon them the necessity of remedying so grave a defect, finishing his speech by the offer of a hundred marks of pure silver, thirty at once, and the rest at the end of a year.^ This would put the commencement of the new cathedral in the year 1082, during the episcopate of Diego Pelaez, thougli, as will be seen, the same History elsewhere says that the church was commenced in a.d. 1178, a date which occurs also on the south transept door-jamb; and the works must have been carried on during the time of his successors, Pedro II. and Dalmatius (a monk of Cluny), to its com- pletion under Gelmirez.^ It was in the time of this bishop, thing remains of the ancient and fervent qui juxta principalem ecclesire parietem, faith of our forefathers." This guide- et secus unum de quatuor principalibus book, by the way, is one of the worst I pilaribus existit, in sinistra parte supe- ever met with. riorem partem chori ingredientibus pone ' The twentieth volume of ' Espafla relinquitnr, et juxta fores pontifiealis Siigrada ' is entirely occupied with the Palatii Ecclesiam introeuntibus, recta reprint of this chronicle. fronte opponitur, et in alia parte, id est - Histor. Compost, lib. iii. cap. 1. iu dextera, a pilari opposito supradicto •* " Postquam supradictus Episcopus," pilari usque ad idem altare: latitude "ad Ecclesiam Patroni sui B. Jacobi vero illius eadem qure modo et chori Apostoli rediens, circa earn indefessam est. Destructa ilia Ecclesia in era solicitudiuem exhibuit." " Reversus I. C. L." (a.d. 1112.) " quse quasi itaque asupradicta expeditione, vetustis- obumbraculum totius Ecclesise esse simam Ecclesiolam obrui prsccepit, quje videbatur, Choruni satis competentem intra immensam novfe ecclesire capaci- ibidem composuit, qui usque in hodier- tatem imminente ruina lapsum mina- num diem Dei gratia et B. Jacobi per batur. Hsec in longitudinem ad altai-e industiiara ejusdem Episcopi optimi B. Jacobi protendebatur ab illo pilari Cleri excelleutia egregie decoratur. Ipse 144 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. VII. in the year 1117, it is recorded in the Chronicle, that dnring a violent tumnlt in the city, in wliich both the bishop and qneon hardly escaped alive, the catliedral was set on fire by the mob ; bnt its constrnction is so nearly fireproof, that doubtless it was the furniture only that was really burnt ; for, eleven years later, in A.D. 1128, the bishop, in his speech to the chapter, already mentioned, speaks of the church as being extremely beautiful, and, indeed, renowned for its beauty.^ In a.d. 1 1 21 two canons of Santiago were collecting money for the works at the catliedral, in Sicily and Apulia,^ and the cloister, which was commenced in A.D. 1128, seems to have been still unfinished in a.d. 1134.'^ From this date until a.d. 1168 I find no record of any alteration ; but in this year Ferdinand II. issued a warrant* for the payment of the master of the works — one IMatthew— and twenty years later, the same master of the works put the following inscription on the under side of the lintel of the western door : — "Anno: ab : Incarnatione : Dui : M". C" LXXXVIII^" : Era I« CCXX>'. YI. :" Die K-L. Aprilis : supra linibaria : Priucipalium : portaliuni." " Ecclesise : Beati : Jacobi : sunt collocata : Per : Magistrum : Matliouni : qui : a: fundamentis : ipsorura : portalium : gessit : magisterium." '^ In addition to these evidences, there are two others in the cluuvh itself; one, to which I shall refer again, a date which I take to be a.d. 1078, on the jamb of the south transept doorway ; and the other, an inscription which, with some modifications, is repeated several times round the margins of circles let into the aisle walls, in the centre of Avhich are the dedication crosses. The date on one of these over the west side of the transept, as well as I could read it, appeared to me to be a.d. 1154 ;" but as the inscriptions vary somewhat round the different crosses, it is possible that the dates may vary also with the time of completion of the various parts of the building ; and I regret quoque Episcopus, utpote sapiens archi- ultra portus et citra portiis pro ditis- tectus, in ejusdem chori dexti'O capite sima et nobilissima reputatur." " Quk- fecit superemiuens pidpitum, in quo libet Sedes ultra portus pulcbi-iora et Cantores, atque Subdiacones officii siai valentiora sedificia habet quam nostra," ordineni peragunt. In sinistro vero &c. &c. — Hist. Compost., lib. iii. aliiid, ubi lectiones et Evangelia le- cap. 1. guntur. Est autem B. Jacobi si^ecialis - Histor. Compost., lib. ii. cap. fi4. et praiclara nova ecclesia incacpta Fa-h ^ Ibid., lib. iii. cap. 36. I. C. XVI.— V. idus Jul." (A.D. 1078.) ■< See Appendix. Histor. Compost., lib. i. cap. 78. ^ Before this time, in 1161, Master 1 The Archbishop's words were as Matthew had built the bridge of Cesures follows: — " Fratres, nostra ecclesia non in Gallicia. — Cean Bermudez, Arq. nostris sed Dei gratia et nostri Patnmi de Espaua, i. 33. Beatissimi Apostoli Jacobi meritis ^ " Era : milleua : nova : vicies : duo- maximi et celeberrimi est nominis, et dena."' Chap. VII. SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA. 145 therefore that I did not make accurate copies of all of them. The dedication crosses are all floriated at the ends, and have in the spandrels between the arms of the cross — above, the sun and moon, and below, the letters A and O. Three of these remain on each side of the nave, two in each transept, and two in the choir aisle, twelve in all. I saw none on the exterior ; but so little of the old external walls can now be seen that this is not to be wondered at. It is now time to describe the building itself, the age of its various parts having been pretty accurately defined by the documentary evidence which I have quoted. Tliis cathedral is of singular interest, not only on account of its unusual completeness, and the general unity of style which marks it, but still more because it is both in plan and design a very curiously exact repetition of the church of S. Sernin at Toulouse.^ But S. Sernin is earlier in date by several years, having been commenced by S. Kaymond in a.d. 1060, and consecrated by Pope Urban II. in a.d. 1096 ; and the cathedral at Santiago can only be regarded, therefore, as to a great extent a copy of S. Sernin, the materials being, however, different, since granite was used in its construction in place of the brick and stone with Avhich its prototype was constructed. The dimensions of the two churches do not differ very much ; Santiago has one bay less in its nave, but one bay more in each transept ; it has only one aisle, whilst S. Sernin has two on each side of the nave ; and its two towers are placed north and south of the west front, instead of to the west of it, as they are at S. Sernin. The arrangement of the chevet and of the chapels on the east of the transepts was the same in both churches. Here they still exist in the chevet, but in the transepts traces of them are only to be found after careful examination. Thi-ee of them, indeed are quite destroyed, though slight traces still exist of the arches which opened into them from the aisles, but the fourth has been preserved by a piece of vandalism for which one must be grateful. It has been converted into a passage-way to a small church which once stood detached to the north-east of the cathedral, and the access to which was by a western doorway. The erection of a modem chapel blocked up the access to this doorway, and an opening was then made through the northern ' By a strange coincidence, S. Sernin James; though, of coui'se, this would bo boasts of having, among the bones of sti-ougly denied at Compostella. several of the apostles, those of S. L 146 GOTHIC ARCHITECTDRE IN SPAIN, Chat-. VII. chapel of the north transept, which has thus been saved from the fate which has befallen the others. The position and size of these chapels are indicated in the gronnd-plan. The proportions of the several parts of the plans of the two churches are also nearly identical ; and owing in part to the arrangement of the gi-oining piers of the transepts, in which the aisles are returned round the north and south ends, the transept iVonts in both churches have the very unusual arrangement of two doorways side by side — a central single d"Dorway being impos- sible. The triforium galleries surround the whole church, being carried across the west end and the ends of the transepts, so that a procession might easily ascend from the west end, by the tower staircases — which are unusually broad and spacious — and make the entire circuit of the church. Finally, the sections of both these great churches are as nearly as possible the same ; their naves being covered with barrel-vaults, their aisles with quadripartite vaults, and the triforia over the aisles with quadrant vaults, abutting against and sustainiug as with a continuous flying buttress the great waggon-vaults of their naves.^ The exterior of the cathedral at Santiago — to a more detailed description of which I must now devote myself — is almost com- pletely obscured and overlaid by modern additions. The two old western steeples shown on tlie plan are old only about as high as the side walls of the church, and have been raised to a very considerable height, and finished externally with a lavish display of pilasters, balustrades, vases, and what not, till they ' The chuicli from which the cathe- Vienne) and Bene'vente (Creuse), a.d. dial at Santiago was copied is one of a 1150-1200; S. Saturnin; Volvic; Issoire; considerable number m France, all of S. Nectaire; N. D. du Port, Clermont which have the same general character- Ferraud, circa a.d. 1080-116U; Briotide, istics. I have already given some de- a.d. 1200. There is a chm-ch of similar scription of them in a paper read before construction at Gi'anson, on the lake the Eoyal Institute of British Architects of Xeufchatel. These churches agree in 1861, and published in their Transac- generally in their plans, but especially tions. The following list of some of in those of theii- chevets (which almost the more remarkable examples will show invariably have chapels in the alternate both their date and locale: — Conques, bays only). Their sections are also completed in a.d. 1060 ; S. Etienne, alike, the triforia galleries being always Nevers, commenced in a.d. 10G3, conse- vaulted with a continuous half-barrel or crated a.d. 1097 ; S. Eutrope, Saintes, quach-ant vault, and they have no clere- cousecrated in a.d. 1096 ; S. Genes, a.d. stories. No doubt they were always in- 1016-1120; S. Hilary, Poitiers, a.d. tended to receive stone roofs, without 1049; Moutierneuf, Poitiers, a.d. 1069- any use of timber; and this mode of 1096; S. P-adigonde, Poitiers, A.D. 1099; covering has been carefully restored S. Amable, Riom, a.d. 1077-1120; S. recently at N. D. du Port, Clermont Seruin, Toulouse, a.d. 1060-1096; Ferrand. Cluny, A.D. 1089-ll:Jl; Dorat (Haute JS o r > I T s' SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL INTERIOR OF LOWER CHURCH OiiAP. Vir. SANTIxVGO DE COMPOSTELLA. 147 finish ill a sort of pepper-box fashion with small cupolas. Between them is a lofty niche over the west front, which contains a statue of the tutelar/ Fortunately the whole of the facade between the steeples was built on in front of, and Mdthout destroying-, Master IMatthew's great work, the western porch. The ground falls considerably to the west, and a rather pic- turesque quadruple flight of steps, arranged in a complicated fashion, leads up from the Plaza to the doors. There are two great and two lesser flights of steps, so that a procession going up might be divided into four lines ; a doorway in the centre of the western wall below these steps leads into a chapel constructed below the western porch. This is now called the Chapel of St. Joseph, but seems to have been known of old as Santiago la Yajo. The arrangement of its plan is very peculiar.^ There are two large central piers east and west of a sort of transept ; to the west of this are tAvo old arches, and then the modern passage leading to the doorway at the foot of the steps. To the east of the transept is an apse consisting of an aisle formed round the gi'eat central pier, with small recesses for altars round it. The aisle is covered with a round-arched waggon-vault ; it has five recesses for altars ; the easternmost seems to have a square east end, the next to it on either side have apses, and the others are very shallow recesses hardly large enough for altars. There can be no doubt whatever, I think, that this is the work on which Master Matthew was first employed ; it is exactly under the porch and doorway, on which, as we know by the inscrip- tion on the lintel of the door, he wrought ; and as he was first at work here in a.d. 1168, and finished the doors in A.D. 1188, we may safely put [down this chapel as having been begun and finished circa a.d. 1108-1175. In this the bases are some of them square, some circular in plan ; the sculp- ture of the capitals is elaborate and similar in character to most of the later work in the cathedral. The favourite device of pairs of animals regarding each other is frequently repeated ; and there are moulded and spiral shafts in the jambs of the western arches. My view of the interior of this interesting little chapel will best explain its general character and pecu- liarities, and it will be felt, I think, that it is certainly not earlier than the date I have assigned, and therefore, like the great western door, of later date than the church in connection ' This facade was designed by D. Ventura Rodriguez, in 1764. '^ The ground-plan of this chapel is shown on Plate IX., above the plan of th cachedral. L 2 148 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. VII. with which it was built. Beliind the eastern altar there is an arcade of three arches forniinyo- jecting beyond the face of the walls, and making an additional circular tower larger and bolder than any of the others. 'fcft.^_ "^ I'ueita de San Vicuule. The Avails of A vila were commenced in a.d. 1090, eight hundred men having been employed on them daily in that year ; ^ among them were many directors who came from Leon and Biscay, and all of them wrought under Casandro, a master of geometry and a Roman, and Florin de Pituenga, a French master ; so at least we learn from the contemporary history attributed to D. Pelayo, Bishoj) of Oviedo. The walls were fiuished in 1099. In 1091 the Cathedral of San Salvador was commenced by an architect named Alvar Garcia, a native of Estella, in Navarre ;^ the work was completed in sixteen years, as many as nineteen hundred men, according to the authority already quoted, having been employed on the works. D. P. Risco^ throws considerable doubt on the veracity of D. Pelayo ; and his figures certainly seem to be on too grand a scale to be at all probable. I doubt very much whether any part of the existing Cathedral is of the age of the church whose erection is recorded by Don Pelayo, except perhaps the external walls of the apse. * Ariz, Historia de A vila, part ii. p. 18. Ponz, Viage de Espaua, xii. 308-9. 2 Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Espaua, vol. i. p. 18. 2 Esparia Sagrada, xxxviii. p. 1.'54. M 2 IGI GOTHIC AIICHITECTUIJE IN SPAIN. Chap. Ylll. Its general character is thoroughly that of the end of the twelfth or early part of the thirteenth century, with consider- able alterations and additions at later periods ; and we may safely assume that the chevet, commenced in A.D. 1091, was con- tinued westward very slowly and gradually during the following Imndred years or more. The ground-plan will sliow the very singular disposition of the plan ; in which the chevet, with its double aisle and semi-circular chapels in the thickness of the walls, is, I think, among the most striking works of the kind in Spain.^ The external wall of the apse is a semi-circle divided into bays by buttresses of slight projection alternating with engaged shafts. The chapels do not therefore show^ at all in the external view; and indeed all that does appear here is a projecting tower of vast size pierced with a few very small windows — mere slits in the wall — and flanked on either side by the wall and towers of the town. It is finished at the top by a corbel-table and lofty battlemented parapet ; and behind this again, leaving a passage five feet and a half in width, is a second and higher battlemented wall, from within which one looks down upon the aisle-roof of the chevet, and into the triforium and clerestory windows of the central apse. From below very little of the apse and flying buttresses which support it are seen ; and one is more struck perhaps by the strange unlikeness to any other east-end one has ever seen, than by any real beauty in the work itself ; though at the same time it is pleasant to see that not even so difficult a problem as that of a windowless fortified chevet presented any serious difficulty to these old architects. Assuming as I do that the external wall of the apse is as old as the end of the eleventh century, I think it nevertheless quite impossible that the chapels Avithin it, in their present state, should be of the same early date. In general plan it is true that they are similar to those round the chevet of the abbey at Veruela,^ the eastern chapels in the transepts being apsidal in both cases, and similarly planned in connection with those of the apse. The church of Veruela was completed by about the middle of the twelfth century, and is beyond all question earlier in style than the interior of Avila. The great beauty of the latter arises from the narrow, recessed aisle round the apse, the groining of which is carried on lofty and slender shafts, whilst the columns round the apse itself consist of a bold single column with three detached shafts on the side next the aisle. The See gi-ouud-pl;iii, Plate X. • - See gruunrl-plaii, Plate XXIII. AVTLA CATHEDRAL INTERIOR OF AISLE ROUND THE APSE. Chap. VIII. AYILA: CATHEDRAL. 165 groining throiigliout is extremely good, and, in the chapels, is carried on clustered shafts. A careful examination of the groin- ing of the choir shows clearly how much the design of the church Avas altered during its progress, though it is certainly not an illustration of the advantage of such a course. The lines of the groining on the plan explain that it is planned with hardly any reference to the structure below: some of the groining shafts not being over the piers, and everything having been sacrificed by the architect of the triforium and clerestory in order to make all their bays equal in width both in the apse and in the side walls. East of the Crossing there is a narrow qnadri- East Eiid, Avila Cathedral. partite bay of vaulting, then a sexpartite bay, and then those of the apse, and each of the three bays of the choir is thus made about equal to those of the apse, though the arches below are quite unequal. Externally all of them are sup- ported by regularly arranged flying-buttresses, some of wliich 166 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SRAIN. Chap. VIII. must, I thiuk, be supported on tlie eross-arclies of the aisle hi front of the chapels. The triforium is round-arched, of two horseshoe-headed lights divided by a shafted monial; and the clerestory is of round-headed broadish \vindo\vs, with jamb-sliafts and richly-chevroned arches. The flying-but- tresses are all double, the lower arch abutting against the triforium, and the upper against the wall above the clerestory windows ; and all appear to me to have been added after the original erection of the clerestory. The parapet here, as Avell as in the aisles, is battlemented, the battlements being finished with pyramidal copings of the common Moorish type. I should have observed that the passage round the town walls is con- nected with that round the aisle walls, and that the two levels of battlements in the latter are connected' by occasional flights of stone steps. The transepts have the same triforium in their eastern walls as the choir ; and here, too, the same kind of construction was ventured on, the groining shafts not being over the clustered column which divides the arches of the aisles round the chevet. When this was done the intention was evidently to erect one bay of sexpartite vaulting next the Crossing, and then a quadripartite bay beyond it. At present both bays are similar — quadripartite — and the clerestory is filled with large traceried windows. The remainder of the church was so much altered in the four- teenth century, that its whole character is now of that period. The north transept facade has in its lower stage two windows of two lights, the traceries of which are precisely similar to those of our own early geometrical style, and there is a very fine rose •window above them. This rose is of sixteen divisions, each con- taining two plain pierced circular openings, but the dividing lines between them being marked, give the Avhole tracery that effect of radiation from the centre which is so important a feature in the designs of many wheel-windows. All the windows in this facade are richly moulded, and there are well- developed buttresses at its angles, but, unhappily, the gable has been entirely destroyed, and the present termination of the wall is a straight line of brickwork below the eaves of the hipped roof. The question of the Original pitch of the roof— always so interesting— is therefore left uncertain and undecided. "^The clerestory throughout is filled with enormous six-light traceried windows, with transomes, and the double flying buttresses between them are very large, and are finished at the top with a line of traceries below their copings, and with crocketed pin- Chap. VIII. AVILA: CATHEDRAL. 167 nacles in front. There are two towers at the ends of the aisles, which do not open into them, but only into the nave. The south-west tower has never been completed, but the north- west steeple is a very fine work of the same age as the clerestory of the nave. It has bold buttresses, and a belfry stage lighted by two windows on each side, with tall crocketed pediments above them, and below the battlemented parapet a line of rich sunk tracery. The angles — internal as well as external — are carved with a ball enrichment, which at a distance produces the same effect as our English ball-flower ornament ; and, like it, gives an air of richness to the whole work. The buttresses finish above the parapet with crock- eted pinnacles, and the parapet with a pointed coping, which somcAvhat recalls the outline of the Moorish battlement. The whole effect of the steeple, transept, and nave is certainly very noble, and they are marked by an entire absence of any of those foreign peculiarities which usually strike an English eye. The whole might, in fact, be English work of the fourteenth century. The north door of the nave is of grand dimensions, having six statues in niches in each jamb, and others against the buttresses on either side. The tympanum is sculptured with our Lord in an aureole in the centre, the Betrayal and the Last Supper below, angels censing on either side, and the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin above. The orders of the archivolt are filled with figures, some representing the resurrection of the dead, and others figures of kings and saints worshipping the central figure of our Lord. The door-opening has the peculiarity of having an elliptical or three-centred arch. This feature I noticed also in doors evidently of about the same age at Burgos and at Leon, and it is just one of those evidences which go surely to prove that the several works are all designed by the same archi- tect. The resemblance of the mouldings in the jamb of this doorway to those in the western end of Leon Cathedral is very close, and all these doors have an order of very similar foliage between the several sculptured or storied orders of the archivolt. I do not think the work here is quite as good as that at Leon, though the filling in of the tympanum with a well-marked vesica in the centre, and four rows of subjects divided by well-defined horizontal lines, is uncommonly good. A sort of shallow porch has been formed by some later groining, which occupies the space between the buttresses on either side of the doorway, and this is finished in front with a rich open traceried parapet and pinnacles. 1()S GOTHIC AiiciirrKcrriiK ix spaix. (JiiAP. VITT. It was during- tlie prelacy of Don Sancho III., Bishop of Avila fi-om a.d. 1292 to 1353, that most of the later works of the cathedral were executed, and his arms are sculptured upon the vault of the Crossmg. The character of all the work would agree perfectly with this date, which is given by Gil Gonzalez Davila ' in his account of the church. A staircase in the south-west tower leads up into the roof of the aisles, which now partly blocks up the too large clerestory ; and passing through this, and then over the roofs of the sacris- ties, we reach the exterior of the chevet and the fortified eastern wall. Over the sacristies is some original stone roofing, of an Rnofinp, Aviln. extremely good, and, so far as I know, almost unique kind, with which it seems very probable that the whole of the roofs were originally covered. But it is now, as well as all the others, pro- tected by an additional timber roof covered with tiles, and is not visible from the exterior. This roofing is all laid to a very flat pitch with stones, which are alternately hollowed on the surface for gutters, and placed about eight and a half inches apart, and other square stones, which rest on the edges of the first, so as to cover their joints. The stones are of course all of the same * Teatro Eccl. ii. 258. Diivila, among of his own town so little really original the celebrities of Avila, includes him- matter as to the history or the date of self, "the least of all, Pulvis et umbra." its buildings. One is surprised to find in his account Cmf,DR?TL:OF:S7rN^S7fLValWR:?P;iLff:_r,nnm^FlBn:nf:(fliuiM-li:HniV(riiiiatn'7\r Published by Jo'hn M-array. AlVjcroarlc S*" 1865. Chap. VIIT. AVILA : CATHEDRAL. 169 length — two feet seven inches — and set over each other so as to form a drip. The cornice at the eaves of this roof is very well managed, and looks as if it Avere of the thirteenth century. Its construction reminded me much of the stone guttering so frequently seen in the early Irish buildings, and which, being so much less perishable than lead, has often preserved them, where the common English construction would long ere this have involved the whole building in ruin. The cloister on the south side of the nave is much decayed and mutilated. It was built probably in the early part of the fourteenth century, and has good traceried windows, generally of four lights, but blocked up, and with all their cusping destroyed. On its east side is a fine fifteenth century chapel, with an altar at the south end, and a passage through its other end, screened off by an iron Reja, leading to the priests' rooms, and so round to the sacristies. The windows of this chapel are covered with a rude ball ornament, constantly seen in works of the fifteenth century. I must not forget to notice the furniture of the interior of the cathedral, some of which is very fine. The Retablo of the high altar is very grand, having five sides, which follow the outline of the apse, and it is of three stages in height. The lowest stage has the four evangelists and the four doctors painted on its side panels, and SS. Peter and Paul in tlie centre ; the next has the Transfiguration in the centre, and the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Presentation in the Temple at the sides ; and the upper stage the Crucifixion in the centre, and the Agony, the Scourging, the Resurrection, and the Descent into Hell at the sides. These paintings were executed in a.d. 1508 by Santos Cruz, Pedro Berruguete, and Juan de Borgoiia : and some of them are not only valuable in the history of art, but of great merit. The St. Matthew attended by an angel, who holds his. ink for him, is designed with great grace ; and the Adoration of the Magi, and some of the other subjects, are admirably designed and painted. The drawing is rather sharp and angular, and has more the character of German than of Italian art. The woodwork in which the paintings are framed is richly carved and gilt, but in a jumble of styles ; the canopies over the pictures being Gothic, and the columns which support them thoroughly Renaissance in style.^ 1 Juan de Borgoiia contracted on ceiving 15,000 maravedis for each, and March 23, 1508, to paint five pictures binding himself to finish them by All which were lacking in this Retablo, re- Saints' Day of the same year. 170 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. VIII. The fittings of the Coro are all Renaissance, and there is a screen of the same age across the nave on its western side. To the east is the usual metal Reja, and low rails enclosing the passage from the Coro to the Capilla mayor. A flight of seven steps in front of the altar, the magnificent colour of its Ketablo, and the contrast of the extremely light choir and the almost wiudowless aisles and chapels round it, make the pictorial effects here extremely fine ; and they are heightened by a good deal of stained glass, which, though of late date, has some fine rich colour. It was executed at the end of the fifteenth century. Fine as this cathedi-al is^ I think, on the whole, I derived almost as mucli pleasure from the church of San Vicente, built just outside the walls, a little to the north of the cathedral. This is a very remarkable work in many respects. The church — dedicated to the three martyrs, Vicente, Sabina, and Cristeta, who are said to have suifered on the rock still visible in the crypt below the eastern apse — is cruciform in plan,^ with three eastern apses, a central lantern, a nave and aisles of six bays in length, two western steeples with a lofty porch between them, and a great open cloister along the whole south side of the nave. The south door is in the bay next but one to the transept, and there are staircase turrets in the angles between the aisles and the transepts. The design and detail of the eastern apses recall to mind the Segovian type of apse. Their detail as well as their general design are, in fact, as nearly as jjossible identical, and no doubt they are the work of the same school of late Romanesque architects. They are very lofty, the ground being so much below the floor of the church that the windows of a crypt under the choir are pierced in the wall above the plinth. They have, too, the usual engaged shafts between the windows, dividing each apse into three vertical compartments, each pierced with a round-headed Avindow. These shafts are finished Avith finely carved capitals under the eaves' corbel-tables ; and tlie string- courses which occur below the windows, on a level with their capitals, and again just over their arches, are generally deli- cately carved, but sometimes moulded. The central apse is higher than those on either side, and consequently none of the horizontal lines are continuous round the three apses ; and as the eastern walls of the Iransepts have no openings, and no stringcourses or enrichments of any kind between the ground ' Plate XI. <1 vA M > <1 g B > w P H m ^ pa N W f 1 H « > ^ !zi <1 Chap. VIII. AVILA : SAN VICENTE. 171 and the eaves, there is a certaiu air of disjointedness in the whole design which is not pleasing. The transept facades are very simple : both are pierced with windows of one light high up in the wall, and the northern transept is vigorously treated m ith a grand system of buttressing, used as mediaeval artists alone apparently knew how ! The buttresses are mere pilasters at the top, and the eaves-cornices are carried round them and up the flat-pitched gable-line in the way so commonly seen in Italian Gothic. But at mid-height these pilasters are weathered out boldly, and run down to the natural rock on which the church is built, and which here crops up above the surface of the ground : a central buttress is added between the others, and between the buttresses the whole wall is battered out with a long succession of weatherings to the same thickness at tlie base as the greatest projection of the buttresses. Probably the lower part of this front has been added long after its first erection for the sake of strength ; and undoubtedly the somewhat similar system of buttressing which is carried along the north wall of the nave is long subsequent in date to the early church, to which it has been applied. The south transept, owing to the rapid rise of the ground to the south, is much less lofty than the other, and has between its buttresses three high tombs. The whole south side of the nave is screened, so to speak, by a very singular lofty and open cloister, ^vhich extends from the west wall of the transept to a point in advance of the west front. It is very wide, and is entirely open to the south, having occa- sional piers, with two clustered shafts between each. There is something at first sight about the look of tliese clustered shafts which might lead one to suppose them to be not later tlian the thirteenth century ; and as the lofty arches are semi-circular, tliis idea would be strengthened were it not that a careful com- parison of the detail with other known early detail proves pretty clearly that they cannot be earlier than about the middle of the fourteenth century. The material — granite — favours this view, for here, just as in our own country, the early architects seem to have avoided the use of granite as much as possible, even where, as at Avila, it lies about everywhere ready for use. There is something so novel and singular about this open loggia or cloister, that I could not help liking it much, though it un- doubtedly destroys the proportions, and conceals some of the detail, of the old church in front of which it has been added. The bays of the aisle are divided by pilaster-buttresses, and 172 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE [X SI'AIX. Chap. VHT. lighted with I'onnd-headcd windows which have external janib- shafts. The west end is, perhaps, the noblest portion of this very remarkable church. There are two towers placed at the ends of the aisles. These are buttressed at the angles, and arcaded with sunk panels of very considerable height on the outer sides ; they are groined with quadripartite vaults, and do not open into the church, but only into the bay between them, which, tliough it is a continuation of the full height of the nave, is treated simply as a grand open porch, with a lofty pointed arch in its outer (or western) wall, and a double doorway in its eastern wall opening into the church. This porch is roofed with a vault of eight cells, level with that of the nave, and extremely lofty and impressive, therefore, from the exterior, and over the doorway a window opens into the nave. The western, as well as the side arches, have bold engaged shafts, and the groining is also carried on angle shafts. The W'hole effect is fine, and the light and shade admirable and well contrasted : but the charm of the wliole work seemed to me to lie very much in the contrast between the noble simplicity and solid massiveness of the archi- tecture generally, and the marvellous beauty and delicacy of the enrichments of the western doorway, which is certainly one of the very finest transitional works I have ever seen. It is, as will be seen by the engraving, double, with round arches over each division, and the whole enclosed under a larger round arch. Statues of saints are placed in either jamb, and against the central pier in front of the shafts which carry the archivolt, and the latter and the capitals are carved with the most prodigal luxuriance of design and execution, and with a deli- cacy of detail and a beauty of which an idea cannot be conveyed by words. Sculptured subjects are introduced in the tympana of the smaller arches, and a richly carved stringcourse is carried across under a parapet which is placed over the doorway. The figures and carving are all wrought in a very fine and delicate stone. The tympana are sculptured on the left with the story of Dives and Lazarus, and on the right with a death-bed scene, where angels carry up the soul to Paradise. The detail of the foliage seemed to me to have a very Italianizing character, being mostly founded on the acanthus-leaf. The capitals are very delicate, but copied closely from Classic work, and the figures are dignified in their pose, but their draperies are rather thin and full of lines. Some of the shafts are twisted, and beasts of various kinds are freely introduced with the foliage in the sculpture. SAN VICENTE, AVILA. p. 173. INTERIOR OF WESTERN PORCH. Chap. VIIL AVILA : SAN VICENTE. 173 To me the sight of such work as this is ahyays somewhat dis- heartening. For here in the twelfth century we find men exe- cuting work whicli, both in design and execution, is so immea- surably in advance of anything that we ever see done now, that it seems almost vain to hope for a revival of the old spirit in our own days : vain it might be in any age to hope for better w^ork, but more than vain in this day, if the flimsy conceit and impudent self-assertion Avhich characterize so much modern (so-called) Gothic is still to be tolerated ! for evil as has been the influence of the paralysis of art which affected England in the last century, it often seems to me that the influence of thoughtless compliance with what is popular, without the least study, the least art, or the least love for their work on the part of some of the architects wlio pretend to design Gothic buildings at the present day, may, without our knowing it, land us in a worse result even than that which our immediate ancestors arrived at. Here, howevei*, at Avila, in this porch of San Vicente, let us reverence rightly the art and skill of him who built, not only so delicately and beautifully, but also so solidly and so well ; let us try to follow his example, knowing for cer- tain that in this combination lies the true merit of all the best architecture — Pagan or Christian — that the world has ever seen. The three stages of the western towers are, I think, respec- tively of the twelfth, thirteenth, and fifteenth centuries. The second or intermediate stage is arcaded, and has its angles planned with a shaft set in a broad splay precisely in the mode w^e see so commonly adopted in the Segovian towers.^ The upper stage is finished with gables on each face, the gable being fringed with a line of granite trefoils in not very good taste. Gil Gonzales Davila ^ says that the tower of this church was built by alms in a.d. 1440. He refers, no doubt, to the upper stage, the design of Avhicli agrees with this statement. I was not able to learn how it had originally been roofed ; but my impression is that it probably had two stone gabled roofs inter- secting each other. In addition to the western door there is another fine entrance on the south side of rather earlier date than the other, and now always in use as the ordinary entrance to the church. Descend- ing here by some steps from the cloister, we find ourselves in the impressive interior, and are at once struck by some lea- see the illustratiou of San Esteban, Segovia. - Teatro Eccl. ii. 230. 174 GOTHIC ARCHITECTrjHE IX SrAIX. Chap. VIII. tares which are of rare occurrence iu this part of Spain. The cohimns are of very bold, perhaps heavy, design, and rest on circular bases. Their front portion is carried up on a bold and massive groining pier in front of the main wall ; the arcades are severely simple, the arches semi-circulai-, and the capitals richlv carved. A carved stringcourse is carried round the churcli above the arches, and there is the very uncommon arrangement (in this country) of a well-developed triforium ; each bay here having a round-arched opening, subdivided into two smaller openings, divided by a massive column with sculp- tured capital. Another stringcourse divides the triforium and clerestory, which has also round-arched windows of one light. The vaulting, both in the nave and aisles, is quadripartite, the only remarkable feature in it being the massive size of the ribs. The three eastern apses are vaulted with waggon-vaults over their western compartments, and semi-domes over the apses, and the transepts are roofed with waggon-vaults. All the latter have cross arches or ribs below them carried on engaged shafts, and the side walls of the chancel and chancel-aisles are arcaded below" the vaulting. The central lantern is carried on piers, which have evidently been in great part rebuilt at some time subsequent to the foundation of the church. They carry pointed arches of granite, clumsily moulded, and have rudely-carved capitals. Two piers on the south of the nave next the Crossing, and one on the north, were either partly or altogether rebuilt at the same time, and it looks very much as though the first lantern had partly fallen, and then, two centuries after the original foundation of the church, the existing one had been erected, for over the pointed arches there still seem to be remains of the older round arches. The lantern is rather loftier than is usual ; it is vaulted with an eight-ribbed dome, carried on arched pendentives, and is lighted by small windows of two lights in its upper stage. Davila ^ says that this church was rebuilt in the time of Ferdinand " El Santo " (1252-1284), who endowed it with certain rents for the purpose. But other authorities say, with more show of proba- bility, that the work undertaken in this year was the repair of the church. The rebuilding at this date, which is utterly inconsistent with the Avhole character of the church, agrees, nevertheless, very well indeed with that of the lantern. Subse- 1 Teatro Eccl. ii. 229. Chap. VIII. AYILA : SAN VICENTE. 175 quently, in A.D. 1440, according to Davila/ the tower of the ' church was built, and this statement probably refers to the upper stages of the western steeples. The crypt under the choir, called Nra. Sra. de Soterrana, is important only for its position : it is entered by a long flight of steps from the east end of the north aisle, and extends under the three eastern apses. It is mainly modernized, and the great attraction seems to be the hole in which, as I understood, people who wish to take a solemn oath put their hands whilst they swear. There are no original ritual arrangements remaining here ; but an iron Eeja is carried across the nave and aisles one bay to the west of the crossing, and here probably was the old place for the Coro, as the position of the shrine of San Vicente under one side of the lantern would have made it impossible for the Coro to be placed nearer tlie east. Some features still remain to be noticed, and the most im- portant is the tomb or shrine of the tutelars — San Vicente and his brethren. This is picturesquely placed on one side of the space under the lantern, with entire disregard to that desire for balance everywhere which so painfully aifects almost all of us now-a-days. It is a thirteenth-century erection standing on detached shafts, within which appears to be a tomb which is always kept covered with a silken pall. Over this is a lofty canopy carried on four bold shafts at the angles, and consisting of a deep square tester, above which is a lofty pyramidal cap- ping with its sides slightly concave and crockets at the angles. It is rather difficult to convey an idea of this very remarkable work without large and careful illustrations. The inner tomb or shrine is the really important work, the outer canopy or tester being evidently a much later addition.^ The shrine has all the character of an early pointed Italian Gothic work. Its canopy is cai'ried on clusters of four shafts twisted together, at each of the angles ; between them, on each side, are three coupled columns, and at the east and west ends are single shafts. These carry trefoiled or many-cusped arches, the spandrels of which are sculptured ; and above this is a sort of shrine with a sloping stone scalloped all over on either side, and a steep diapered roof rising out of the centre. A series of subjects is carved in panels all along the sides of the shrine, which seem to have reference ' Teatro Eccl. ii. 230. H. Gallejo, ' Memoria sobre la Basilica - "la 1465 the sepulchre of the mar- de San Vicente,' p. 13. This date cau tjn-s was made by donations from the only refer to the canopy. Catholic kings, prelates," &c. D. Andres 176 GOTHIC ARCHITECTUKE IN SPAIN. Chap. VIII, to three saints and martyrs — probably to San Vicente and his companions. Figures of the Twelve Apostles are introduced, " two and two, at the angles, and other figures sitting and reading between the subjects. A late iron screen between the columns of the outer baldachin makes it rather difficult either to see or to sketch this interesting work carefully. Its detail is all very peculiar, and in the twisted and sculptured shafts, the strange form of some of the cusping, and the iron ties with which it is undisguisedly held together, I thought I saw evident traces of the influence of Italian art. I take the shrine to be a w^ork of the thirteenth century, though the baldachin is no doubt of later date. Near this shrine in the south aisle is some very fine rich and delicate wrought-ironwork in a grille round a side altar. It is possibly part of the old choir-screen, and at any rate does not belong to the place in whicli it is now })reserved. The beauty of this work consists in the delicacy of the thin strips of iron, which are bent into a succession of circular lines ending in roses, and on an excessively small and delicate scale. Some similar work is still to be seen in one of the windows of the apse. The arches on either side of the great western porch are filled in with open trellis-work wood-screens, which show how good occasionally may be the adaptation by Gothic hands of Moorish work. Here the lines of wood cross each other at intervals, leaving, of course, a regular series or diaper of open squares. The edges of all these are simply cut out in a pattern, or notched, in a variety of forms, and the effect is extremely good. The same kind of work is common in Moorish buildings, but I had not seen it before so boldly used by Christians. San Vicente stands outside the walls of Avila, close to one of the principal gates, and near the north-east angle of the city. The church of San Pedro is similarly placed at the south-east angle, and at the end of a large open Plaza called the Mercado Grande. It is not a little remarkable that so soon after the enclosure of the city within enormous walls two of the most important of its churches should have been built deliberately just outside them, and exposed to whatever risks their want of defence entailed. In plan and general design San Pedro is very similar indeed to San Vicente. It has a nave and aisles of five bays, transepts of unusual projection, a central lantern, and three apsidal projections to the east. The doors, too, are in the centre of the west front, and in the next bay but one to the transept on both sides. The detail is almost all of HVIM: 'ftorin; Plate XT. a. LaiLtern.. b. Shrme c. Transepts. d. Hiili Altar. e. Porct f. Steeples. i . Stairs to Ciypt S.AntkoliiL JVLedina del Campo lOOFeet 2p Varus V;-vVe-:^t LitV Before 1200 aaa ]3'^Oiitm-.v ^.^__ U'J't'enftu-v -.-.. „^- 15'hm""C'eiit^" pK ^[odera WMi ff HVIIrfi: ^an Vif^ntf anti MEDINA Pqif qRMyO: ^'lanHjofin: b Slirine . IranseptS- d Bifr AltHT Stairs to I'ljpt San\^iccutr Av\] S.Antholm Metlina del Campo MHdern [. a Chap. Yin. AVILA : SAN PEDRO. 177 a simple and extremely massive kind of Romanesque, round arches being used everywhere and uncarved capitals with square abaci. The nave piers are of the commonly repeated section, but very large in proportion to the weight they have to carry. There is no triforium, and the clerestory windows are of moderate size, whilst those in the aisles are very small, and placed as high as possible from the iloor The groining generally is quadi-i partite, and some of the ribs boldly moulded in a manner which suggests the possibility of this severe Romanesque-looking work being in truth not earlier than circa 1250. The transepts and the western portion of the apses are covered with waggon-vaults, and the apses themselves with semi-domes. The lantei-n over the Crossing- is probably not earlier than a.d. 1350, the mark of the junction with the old work just over the arches into the transepts being- still very plainly visible. The vaulting here is very peculiar. Groined pendentives at the angles are introduced to bring the vault to an octagon in plan, but the eight compartments are variously treated ; those on the cardinal sides having ordinary vaulting cells over the windows, whilst those on the intermediate or diagonal sides are crossed with four segments of a dome with the masonry arranged in horizontal courses. The west front has three circular windows, that in tlie centre having wheel tracery ; the north doorway has a richly-sculp- tured archivolt, w^hich is later in character than the general scheme of the church, having an order of good dog-tooth enrich- ment, and the abacus is carved with rosettes. There are stair- cases in the usual position in the angle between the transepts and the aisles, and the apses are divided into bays by engaged shafts with sculptured capitals. There is, in fact, not very much to be said about this otherwise noble and remarkable church, because it repeats to so great an extent most of the features of its neighbour San Vicente. Yet its scale, character, and anti- quity are all such as would make us class it, if it were in England, among our most remarkable examples of late Romanesque. There are several other churches in Avila,^ but the only one besides those already mentioned of which I made any notes ' The following inscriptions on churches stone in San Bartolomeo, " In honorem in Avila are given by G. G. Davila. On S. Bartholomei Apost. dedicavit banc a stone in San Nicolas, " In honorem B. ecclesiam Petrus Episcopiis, &c. &c., Nicolai dedicavit hauc ecclesiain Jacobus vii. idas Decembris, MCCXLVIII." Abulensis Episcopus, &c. &c., vi. Kal. The same bishop consecrated Sau Do- Novembris, era MCC.XXXVI." On a mingo in 1240. N 178 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. VIll. is that of the Convent of San Tomas, built between a.d. 1482 and 1493.1 j^ .^ charter of Ferdinand the Catholic, dated May 29, 1490, reference is made to this monastery, together with those of Sta. Cruz, Segovia; San Juan de los Eeyes, Toledo; Sta. Engracia, Zaragoza; and other churches in Granada, &c., all of them founded by that King and Queen Isabella. They founded this convent on the petition of Confessor P. W. Tomas de Torqueniada. The convent has been closed for some years, but has just been purchased by the Bishop of Avila, who is now repairing it throughout, with the intention, I believe, of using it as a theo- logical seminary. The detail of the conventual buildings, which surround two cloisters, one of which is of great size, is, as might be expected, of the latest kind of Gothic, and extremely poor and uninteresting, whilst the design of the church, as so often seems to be the case with these very late Spanish churches, is full of interest. It has a nave of five bays with side chapels between the buttresses, short transepts, and a very short square chancel to the east of the Crossing ; but the remarkable feature is, that not only is there a large galleiy filling the two western bays of the nave and fitted up with seventy stalls with richly- carved canopies, the old choir-book desk in the centre, and two ambons projecting from the eastern parapet, but that there is also another gallery at the east end, in which the high altar, with its fine carved and painted Retablo, is placed. This eastern gallery has also gospel and epistle ambons projecting from its front. Strange as the whole arrangement of this interior is, it strikes me as almost more strange that it should not have been one of constant occurrence in a country where at one period the Coro was so constantly elevated in a western gallery. For there is a sort of natural propriety, as it seems to me, in the eleva- tion of an altar, where folk care at all for the mysteries cele- brated at it, to at least as high a level as any part of the church used for service ; and undoubtedly the effect of the altar-service to those in the raised Coro is much, if not altogether, marred where the altar is in its usual place on the floor. Here the effect is certainly very fine, whether the altar is looked at from the Coro or from the floor of the nave below it ; and from the former in particular, the strangeness of looking across the deep- sunk well of the nave to the noble altar raised high above it at the east is in every way most attractive. The detail of all the ' Cean Berimulez, Arq. de Espafia, vol. i. p. 113. This convent is said to have been fovmded by the Catholic monarchs entirely with the confiscated good.? of Jews. Chap. Virr. AVILA : CONVENT OF SAX TOMAS. 179 architecture here is very uninteresting, though the many-ribbed vaulting is certainly good, and the effect of the dark cavernous nave under the western gallery is very fine in light and shade. Rarely as I trouble my reader with any reference to Eenais- sance works, I must here in justice say that the great tomb of Don Juan, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella, which occupies the floor below the altar, is one of the most tender, fine, and graceful works I liave ever seen, and worthy of any school of architectiu-e. The recumbent effigy, in particular, is as dignified, graceful, and religious as it well could be, and in no respect unworthy of a good Gothi(; artist. It was executed by Micer Domenico Alexandre Florentesi, who refers to it in a contract which he entered into with Cardinal Ximenes in 1518 ; but it is said to have been completed as early as a.d. 1498.^ At present it is necessary to get an order to see it froTn the Bishop, who has the key of the church ; doubtless before long this will not be necessary, but it is well to give tlie caution, as the convent is some little distance beyond the town-walls, and the Bishop's palace is in the very centre of the city. It will be felt, I think, that Avila is a city which ought on no account to be left unseen in an architectural tour in Spain. Fortunately it is now as easy of access as it was once difficult, for the railway from Valladolid to Madrid, in order to cross the Sierra de Guadarrama, makes a great detour by Avila, and thence on to the Escorial is carried on through the mountain ranges with considerable exhibition of engineering skill, and with great advantage to the traveller, as the views throughout the whole distance are almost always extremely beautiful. I did not stop on my road to see the Escorial : as far as the building is concerned, it is enough I think to know that Herrera designed it, to be satisfied that it will be cold, insipid, and formal in character. And the glimpses I had of it as I passed amply justified this exjDectation. It is, too, as utterly unsuited to. its position on the mountain-side as it well could be. On the other liand, I no doubt lost much in neglecting to make the excursions to the various points of view which it is the fashion for visitors to go to, though it seemed to me that the country in the neighbourhood of La Granja, which one passes on the road from the Escorial to Segovia, was more interesting than this, the mountains being as high and much more finely wooded. 1 Cean Bermudez, Dice, &c., de los Bellas Artes en Espafla, vol. ii. p. 125. N 2 180 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IX. CHAPTER IX. SEGOVIA. Few journeys can be made by the eeclesiologist in Spain which will be altogether more agreeable or more fruitful of results than one to this time-honoured city ; for not only does it contain within its walls more than the usual number of objects of archi- tectural and ecclesiological interest, but the road by which it is usually approached, across the Sierra de Guadarrama, presents so much fine scenery as to be in itself sufficient to repay the traveller for his work. It was from Madrid that I made my way to Segovia, taking the railway as far as the little station at Villalba, near the Escorial, and travelling thence by a fairly- appointed diligence. The very fine and picturesque granite ranges of the Guadarrama are generally bare and desolate on their southern side, though here and there are small tracts of oak>-copse, or fern, or pine-trees ; but, after a slow ascent of some three or four hours, when the summit of the pass is reached, the character of the scenery changes entirely, and the road winds down through picturesque valleys and dips in the hills, which are here thickly covered everywhere with pine-trees of magnifi- cent growth. It is necessary to travel for a time in the dismal plains of Old Castile, to enjoy to the full the sudden change to the mountain beauties of the Guadarrama ; and it is impossible not to sympathize with the kings of Spain, who at La Granja, on the lower slopes of the northern side of the range, have built themselves a palace within easy reach of Madrid, and — owing to its height above the sea — m a climate utterly different from, and much more endurable than, that of the capital. Of the jDalace they have built I must speak with less respect than I do of their choice of its site, for it is now untidy in its belongings and apparently little cared for. A church forms the centre of it, and the whole group of buildings has slated roofs, diversified by an abundance of toiirelles. The walls are all plastered and covered with decaying paintings of architectural decorations — columns, cornices, and the like — which give a thoroughly pau- perized look to the whole place. But probably the interior of Chap. IX. SEGOVIA. 181 the palace and its famous gardens would correct the impression which I received from a hurried inspection of the exterior only. It is an uninteresting drive of about an hour fi'om La Granja to Segovia. The tower of the cathedral is seen long before reaching the city ; but it is not till one is very near to it that the first complete view is gained, and this, o^\'ing to the way in which the Alcazar and cathedral stand up upon a rocky height above the suburbs, and the streams which gu-t it on either side, is very picturesque. Even finer is it as one drives on through the subm-b and first finds oneself in presence of the grand old Eoman aqueduct, which, still perfect and still in use, spans with its magnificent ranges of arch upon arch the valley which separates the city rock from the hills beyond. Its base is girt closely round by houseSj and the diligence road passes under one of its arches, so that the enormous scale upon which it is built is thoroughly appreciated, and it is quite impossible not to admire the extreme simplicity and grandeur of the work. Nothing here was done that was useless or merely ornamental, and the whole still stands with but little repair — and that little well done — after so many centuries of good service, as useful as at the first. A steep hill leads up from the valley below the aqueduct through a gateway in the Avails into the city, and after threading the nan-ow winding streets we find ourselves in the fine Plaza de la Constitucion, which is surrounded by picturesque balconied houses, save at its north-west angle, where it opens so as to allow a fine view of the east end of the cathedral. The houses have generally extremely picturesque open upper stages of wood arcading, and the Avindows and balconies are all gay with the heavy curtains which protect them from the sun. The situation of the city is in every way striking. On either side of it there is a deep valley, and these at their meeting have between them the great rock on which the Alcazar is built — as admirably secuie a site for a castle as could have been selected. Goino- eastward along the narrow ridge the cathedral is soon reached, and this is the centre of the city, which then widens somewhat, before the edge of the hill is reached which leads down to the suburb below the aqueduct. In the two valleys are some of the best of the buildings : San Millan in one, the Templars' Church and the Convent of El Parral in the other ; but most of the old churches are crowded closely together on the summit of the hill. I shall begin my architectural notes with the cathedral, in deference only to its rank, and not at all to its age or architec- tural merits. It is nevertheless a building of no little value in 182 GOTHIC ARCHITECTUllE IN SPAIN. Chap. IX. the liistory of Spaiiisli art, as being- perhaps the latest Gothic building erected, and one which was yet but little influenced by Renaisi;;ance art. In the Appendix I give a translation of the interesting contemporary account of the church, written by one Juan Kodrigucz, who appears to have been the canon in charge of the work. According to his account, Juan Gil de Hontaiion, the architect of Salamanca Cathedral, Avas appointed in a.d. 1522 to superintend the work, and on the 8th of June in the same year the Bishop ordered a procession, and, going himself to the site of the church, laid its foundation-stone at the western end. Cean Bermudez, in his account of this cathedral, speaks of a compe- tition among several architects for the work, and says that the design of Kodrigo Gil de Hontanon — the son of Juan Gil — was selected.^ But this seems to be clearly contrary to the distinct statement of the Canon Juan Bodriguez. The work was com- menced, as we have seen, in 1522, and Juan Gil seems to have died circa 1531. Bis son Bodrigo was not made Maestro mayor until 1560, and on the 5th of August, 1563, laid the first stone of the Capilla mayor. The inscription on liis tombstone in the cloister'" says that he laid the first stone of the church; but if he did so it was on behalf of his father, who was then undoubtedly the Maestro mayor, and we may assume, I believe, that the greater part of the church, «,s w^e now see it, was finislied before the year 1577, in which he died, though, indeed, Madoz says that the Sacrament was moved to the new cathedral as early as 1558, though the cliapels of the apse were not completed until 1593. The north door, by Juanes de Mugaguren, was added in A.D. 1626, and is thoroughly Pagan. The plan ^ of this church must be compared with that of the new cathedral at Salamanca, built by tlie same man. The details of the two churches are very similar ; but the scale of Segovia is slightly greater than that of Salamanca, and it has the enormous advantage of having a grand clievet in place of a square east end. It will be seen, on reference to my account of Salamanca, that the architects who drew up the scheme for the cathedral there, intended that its end should be circular, but that nevertlieless it has not been so built. It seems probable, there- fore, that Hontanon felt that this alteration was a mistake, or ^ Ceau Bermudez, Arq. de Espaiia, i. 1577. He set the first stoue, which the p. 214. Bishop D. Diego de Ribera hiid on the - Here lies Kodrigo Gil de Houtafioii, 8tli of Juue, 15i.'5, :Master of the Works of this Holy ^ Plate XII. Church. He died the IJlst of May, Chap. IX. SEGOVIA : CATHEDRAL. 183 else that we owe the amended plan of Segovia to the better taste of his son Kodrigo, who was master of the works of the eastern portion of the church. But in any case, whether it is to the father or the son that we owe it, the interual effect is undoubtedly very noble, in spite of all the shortcomings which must be looked for in a work of such a date. The main columns are of grand dimensions, moulded, and rising from lofty bases planned with that ingenious complication of lines which was always so much affected by the later German and Spanish archi- tects. The arches are very lofty, and there is no triforium, but only a traceried balustrade in front of the clerestory, which consists of uncusped triplets filling the wall above the springing of the groining, and very low in proportion to the great height of the church, though at the same time araj)ly sufficient for the admission of all the light necessary in such a climate. The aisle has a somewhat similar clerestory, but without the traceried balustrade which we see in the nave clerestory, and the aisles and chapels are all lighted with windows, each of one broad light. Most of the smaller arches here are semi- circular; but though this is the case, and though so many of the windows are of one light, there is no ajipearance anywhere of any attempt to revive the form or detail of earlier work. On the exterior the general character is just the same as that of Hontaiion's work at Salamanca. There are the same pinnacles and buttresses, the same parapets, and the same concealment of the roofs and roof-lines everywhere — even in the transepts, which have no gables — and there is also a domed lantern over the Crossing and a lofty tower at the west end, finished with an octagonal stage covered with a dome, and rising from between four great pinnacles. So great, in short, are all the points of similarity, that I can well believe tljat portions of the two works may have been executed from the same plans, and this close copying of the earlier work at Salamanca may perhaps have been the true reason of the respectably Gothic detail of the chevet, built as it was so near the end of the sixteenth century. The groining is all of the kind so common in Spain, having ogee lierne ribs in addition to the diagonal, and in place of ridge ribs. Not a little of the grand effect of the interior is owing to the rich stained glass with whieli all, or nearly all, the windows are filled. It is all, of course, of the very latest kind, and poor in much of its design ; yet nevertheless it is often magnificent in colour, and in this respect quite beyond anything that most of our artists in glass seem to me to accomplish nowadays. The Coro is 184 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IX. here — and probably was from tlie first — in the nave ; but there is nothing either in its fittings or in those of the Capilla mayor which struck me as worthy of note. The detail of the central dome is qm'te Pagan, and here and there throughout the work little indications of tlie same spirit peep out, and show how narrow was the escape which the whole church had of being from firsj to last executed in the Renaissance style. "With all its fiiults this church has gi-and points : tins every one w^ill allow Avho has seen it rising in a noble pyramidal mass above the houses of the town from the open sj^ace in front of the Alcazar, from whence all its parts are seen to great advantage. Of the other subordinate buildings I need not say much. The canon, whose account I give in the Appendix, is much more enthu- siastic about them than I was, for in truth they are cold and tame in design and meagre in detail ; and wanting the effect of height and colour of the interior of the cathedral, want all that makes it so striking. I saw no great, if any, difference of style between the cloisters and the church ; but they were the cloisters of the old church, and were removed here by a contract entered into by one Juan do Campero in 1524. Campero was one of the archi- tects consulted as to the rebuilding of Salamanca Cathedral, and was evidently a mason or builder as well as an architect. I was not aware of the history of the cloister when I was at Segovia, and I did not notice any evidence of the work having been rebuilt and added to in the way described. The cathedral is the largest and most important, but at the same time the most modern medioeval building in Segovia; whilst, on the contrary, one of the smallest, the church of the Templars, is also one of the most ancient and curious ; it is situated by the roadside just out of the city, on its north-west side, and below the gi'eat rock which is crowned by the Alcazar. The date of its consecration in a.d. 1208 is given by an inscrip- tion which still remains in the interior, and which has been incorrectly given by Cean Bermudez. It is as follows : — Htec sacra fundantes coelesti sede locentur ; Atque suberrautes in eadem consocientur. Dedicatio ecclesia^ beati Sepulchri Xvti Idus Aprilis Era mccxlvi. -|-. The plan is very peculiar.^ The nave is dodecagonal, and has a small central chamber enclosed with solid walls, round which the ' See gi-ound-plan, Plate VIII. SEGOVIA p. IM, INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLARS CHDRCH rOOKING N E. Chap. IX. SEGOVIA : CONVENT OF EL PAREAL. 185 vaulted nave forms a kind of aisle. This central chamber is of two storeys in height, the lower entered by archways in the car- dinal sides, and the upper by a double flight of steps leading to a door in its western side. The upper room is vaulted with a domical roof which has below it four ribs, two parallel north and south, and two parallel east and west, and it retains the original stone altar, arcaded on its sides with a delicately wrought chevron enrichment and chevroned shafts. The uj)per chapel is lighted by seven little windows opening into the aisle around it. The room below the chapel has also a dome, with ribs on its under side. On the east side of the building are the chancel and two chapels, forming parallel apses, to the south of which is a low steeple, the bottom stage of which is also converted into a chapel. The chapel in the centre of the nave is carried up and finished externally witli a pointed roof, wliilst the aisle is roofed with a lean-to abutting against its walls. There are pilasters at the angles outside, small windows high up in the walls, and a fine round-arched doorway on the western side. The character of the whole of this interesting church is late Eoman- esque, and its value is considerable, as being an accurately dated example. It is not noAV used, the Templars having been supjjressed in a.d. 1312. Within a few minutes' walk of this church of La Vera Cruz (for this is its dedication) is tlie convent of El Parral, founded in the fifteenth century,^ by a Marquis de Villena, on a spot once so beautiful as to give rise to the saying, " Los huertos del Parral, Paraiso terrenal," but now so dreary, desolate, decaying, and desecrated, that the eye refuses to rest on it, and seeks relief by lookmg rather at the grand view of the town on the rocky heights on the other side of the little valley. Juan Gallego, a native of Segovia, was the master of the works here in 1-159, and it is recorded that before bemmiinjr to construct the convent he collected all the waters from the liill above its site, and distributed them by aqueducts for the service of the convent. The Capilla mayor was not commenced until A.D. 1472, in which year a contract was drawn up with Boni- facio and Juan de Guas, of Segovia, and Pedro Polido, of Toledo, binding them to complete tlje work within three years, for the sum of 400,000 maravedis. Then the tribune of the Coro was ' Colmenares (Historia de la insigiie been begixn before 1474, and the vault- Ciudad de Segovia ; Segovia. 1637) gives iug was finished in 1185. — C'ean Ber- the date of the first foundation 1-147, mudez, Arq. de Espaua, i. j). 111. but the buildings do not seem to have 186 GOTHIC AKCHITECTURE IN SrAIN. Chap. IX. Ibinid to be too low for the taste of the monks, and it was taken down and rebuilt by Juan de lluesga, of Segovia, for 125,000 niaravedis ; and by a contract signed in July, 1494, he bound himself to com|)lete the work before the end of the same year. After this, in 1529, Juan Campero, whose name has already been mentioned in connexion with the rebuilding of the cloister of the cathedral, undertook to raise the tower twenty-nine feet.^ The ground-plan and general design of this church are very peculiar. The accompanying sketch-plan- will explain them better than any words; and, strange as the planning of the transepts looks, it is, nevertheless, very fine in effect. This is mainly the result of the very remarkable distribution of light. The western part of the church is almost without windows, and the great western gallery coming forward just half the length of the nave, adds much to the impression of gloom at this end of the building. The eastern end seems to be by contrast all window, being lighted by twelve large three-light windows, with statues of the Apostles in their jambs. The effect of the brilliant light at the east end, and the deep gloom of the west, is most impressive, and shows how much architects may do by the careful distribution of light. Few old buildings are alto- gether without some sign of attention to this important element of beauty in building, whilst few modern buildings seem to me ever to have been devised with even any thought of the existence of such a phenomenon as a shadow ! The front of the gallery is elaborately panelled, and returned eastward on the north side, to form a gallery in front of the organ ; and on the south, to make a passageway to the staircase by Avhich the monks reached the Coro. The arch under the gallery is struck from three centres and richly cusped, and the whole is carried on a stone vault, A very richly carved and cusped doorway leads from the south transept to the cloisters, and to an elaborately painted chapel, which has been added on the south-east of the choir. The exterior of the church and convent is poor and uninteresting, though there is a rather fine double west door, with a statue of the Blessed Virgin in the centre, and saints on either side in the jambs. The conventual buildings deserve but little notice. In the modern cloister — fast falling to ruin — are retained the traceried balustrades which probably adorned the cloister built at the time of the foundation of the convent. ' These pai'ticLilars are all given in Cean Beriaudez, Arq. de Espaiia, i. pp. Ill, I'-iO, 146. •' See Plate YIII. SAN ESTEBAN, SEGOVIA. r IK. SOUTHEAST VIEW op CHURCH AN'D STEEPLE Chap. IX. SEGOVIA : THE ALCAZAR. 187 A very picturesque path leads up from El Parral iuto the city. The eftect of the Alcazar from hence is very imposing, the enormous keep-tower which rises out of its western face being very prominent, with its outline marked by round corner turrets pro- jecting from the angles so often seen in the old castles of Castile. Its walls, as well as many others in the Alcazar, are covered with diapers in plaster, with the pattern left slightly in relief, a mode of decoration which seems to have been extremely popular in Segovia in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Until very lately this Alcazar was covered with picturesque tall slated roofs, but, unfortunately, a fire has completely gutted the whole build- ing, and left nothing but the outside walls, whicli still, however, are most imposing in their eftect. The old town walls diverge slightly from the Alcazar, and enclose the w^hole city ; their outline is broken picturesquely with towers, sometimes round and sometimes square, and they wind about to suit the uneven and rugged surface of the rock on which they are built. The gateways are not very remarkable, though always effective. One of them is passed in coming from El Parral, and, as soon as the town is reached, the noble steeple of San Esteban — one of its finest architectural features — is seen in front. I have seldom seen a better w^ork than this. It is evidently one of a large class, most of the other steeples here reproducing the unusual arrangement of the angles. They are boldly splayed off, and in the middle of the splay is set a shaft, which finishes with a sculptured capital. The effect of this design is to give great softness of contour to the whole steeple, and yet to mark boldly and broadly the importance of the angles. The arcading of the various stages is richly and admirably managed, and the details tliroughout are very pure and good. I have found no evidence of its exact date, though it is evidently a work of the first half of the thirteenth century. The church to M'hich this steeple belongs is remarkable for the remains of an external cloister against the walls of the nave. There are several churches here which have the same feature, and in other parts of this book I have mentioned similar cases at Las Huelgas, Burgos, and at La Antigua, Yalladolid. It looks like an arrangement for keeping the building cool, and is as good in its eftect, as in so hot a climate it must be convenient. Of the early churches here none is altogether so fine as that of San Millan. It stands in the southern valley, not far from the aqueduct, and exactly on tlie opposite side of the town to the Templars' Church. Like that, too, it is outside the walls, and in 188 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IX. a scantily-peopled suburb. It consists of a nave nnd aisles,' all linishod at the east end with apses, and protected on both sides by cloisters similar to those of San Esteban, save that they are confined to the sides, and do not return across the west front. There is a low square lantern at the Crossing, and transepts wdiich do not project beyond the aisles, and hardly show them- selves, therefore, on the ground-plan. The central lantern is finished with a corbel-table, roofed with a low tiled roof, and lighted by a small window in each face. The apses are similar in style and detail to most of the early Spanish apses, having engaged shafts at intervals, richly wrought corbel-tables, and round-arched shafted windows. Both the transepts probably had flat gables, with single windows, like those in the aj^se, but the north transept has been destroyed for the erection of a steeple, which seems to have formed no part of the original jjlan. The most striking view of the church is from the north-west. The west front is cpiite unaltered, save by the addition of three little windows over the west door, and is a capital example of simple Romanesque. The gables are all of the same pitch, and the aisle walls are arcaded and pierced with windows above the cloister roofs. The cloister is a very rich composition, the shafts being coupled, with finely sculptured capitals, and the arches enriched with billet mouldings. The corbel-tables and cornices to these cloisters have evidently been carved at a date long after the original foundation of the church, the edge of the eaves- cornice being cut in a rich interlacing pattern of ivy-leaves, which cannot, I think, be earlier than from a.d. 12.50 to 1270, and the heads, figures, and foliage on the corbels under it are all of the same character. There are fine north and south doors here, and there is a local peculiarity in their design which deserves notice. Their jambs consist of shafts set within very bold square recesses; and the number of orders in the arch is double that of those in the jamb, they being alternately carried on the capitals of the shafts, and upon the square order of the jambs. The effect is good, the bold spacing of the shafts, and the massiveness of the intennediate square jambs, tending to give that effect of solidity which these early Spanish architects never tired in then- attempts to attain. The interior of the church has been much modernized, but still enough remains to render the whole scheme intelligible. The arcades between the nave and aisles are all perfect ; they are very plain, but spring from carved capitals of large size. The ^ See grouud-plan, Plate VIII. IK Chap. IX. SEGOVIA : SAN MILLAN. 189 capitals of the nave arcades have their abaci planned with re-en- tering angles, so as exactly to fit the plan of the two sqnare orders of the archivolt. Some of the caps are of foliage only, others are liistorUs ; one I remember having all round it the Adoration of the Magi, who are represented as large figures on horseback, and produce a most strange effect in such a place. The cross arches under the lantern are old, as also are those across the aisles, but the roof of the nave is now all under-drawn with plaster, and there are no means of telling precisely how it was originally covered; but, on the whole, I incline to the belief that it must have had a cylindrical vault, with quadrant vaults in the aisles, though it is possible, of course, that it had a flat wooden ceiling. The square piers in the nave favour this alternative, inasmuch as they seem to rise higher than they would have done had the roof been a stone vault. The pilasters against the aisle Avails also run up to the level of the plate inside, and this (though it is modern) is higher than the springing of the nave arcades, and seems to prove that there have never been cross arches in the aisles. The external walls of the aisles above the cloister roofs are arcaded with plain arches between the pilasters, by which it is divided into bays, and the aisle windows are set within these arches. The lantern is modernized, but there still remain coupled cross ribs on its under side, and these, though they are plastered, being similar to those under the central vault of the Templars' Church, are probably original. I wish much that I could put my hands on some documentary evidence which would fix the exact date of this very fine and interesting church, for, from its importance, it may be con- sidered to be a leading example ; and there is no doubt that it very largely influenced the other churches of this important city. It is possible, however, from the character of some of the detail, that part of it is older than the Templars' Church, consecrated, as we have seen, in a.d. 1208 ; though other parts of the detail — as, for instance, that of the external cornices — cannot be earlier than A.D. 1250-1270. Before the last of these dates, therefore, I have no doubt the church was erected, though, as the arches are all, or nearly all, semi-circular, the greater part of the work was pro- bably finished early in the century, if not in the twelfth century, and the decorations may have been completed afterwards.' ^ San Millan i.s said to have been San Esteban: none of them, I believe, founded in a.d. i'23, and similar early retain any features of so great an anti- dates ai"e given for Sta. Columba and q'lity. 190 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. (!hap. IX. The non-introduction of pointed arches is certainly in favour of the earlier date, seeing that in the Templars' Church most of the main arches, rude as they are, are pointed; and Avere it not for the late character of some parts of San Millan, and looking only to the character of the plan and general design, I miglit have assumed its date to be about a.d. 1150. It is possible that the cloisters were added after the erection of the church. The object of these external cloisters has been, I believe, matter of considerable discussion, yet I confess that tlicy always seemed to me to be adopted mainly, if not solely, on account of the excessive heat in Spain in summer, and to be well worth our imitation when we have to erect churches in tropical climates. That they were confined very much to certain localities is perfectly true, but this is constantly tiie case, with local developments, in all parts of Europe; and here, no doubt, the idea once suggested by some early architect was frequently repeated by him, without taking the fancy of his brethren generally enough to make them repeat it elsewhere. Another example of the same class, which in its original state must have been finer than San ]\lillan, is to be seen in the church of San jMartin. Here the cloister was carried not only along the sides, but across the west front also, with a. bold pro- jecting west porch, breaking its lines, and giving great character and dignity to the whole scheme. The west doorway of the porch has statues in its jambs, and the detail seems to me to be all genuine thirteenth century work. The illustration of one of the cloister capitals will, I think, prove this; for though the old favourite device of couples of birds is repeated here, the lines are all extreinely fine and graceful, and the carving of the abacus of an advanced kind. This church is, unfortunately, very much modernized throughout. It seems to have had three parallel apses at the Caiiital in Cloister, Sun iliiitiii, Sopovia. Chap. TX. SEGOVIA : CHUKCHES. 191 east end, and transepts, against whieli the side cloisters of the nave were stopped. There is a modern lantern over the old crossing, and a tower to the west of it rising from out of the centre of the nave, which seems to be in part old. There were northern and southern as well as western doors, and openings in the cloister opposite each of them. San Roman, a desecrated church near the palace of the civil governor, has a short nave, chancel, and apse, with a tower on tlie south side of the chancel. The walls are very lofty, and are all finished with corbel-tables at the eaves. The apse has three round-headed windows, and there is a noble north door, similar in design to those of San j\Iillan, and with the abaci and labels richly carved. The west end has a small doorway, and a circular window over it, the former certainly, and the latter pro- bably, not original. The lower stage only of the tower remains. This church must be of about the same age as San Millan. San Facundo is similar in plan to San Roman, and of the same date. The detail of the a])se is precisely the same as that of San Millan. There is a large west door, modernized, and an open cloister seems to have been added at a later date to the side of the church, and is now walled up. This church is dese- crated, and conveiied into a Museum of Paintings. Santa Trinidad has a fine aj^se, and this is again of the San Millan pattern. It has carved stringcourses at the sjDringing of the windows, and again just over their arches, and tliere are three-cjuarter engaged wall-shafts between the windows, and a richly sculptured eaves-cornice and corbel-table. San Nicolas, close to Santa Trinidad, has two apses, each lighted with a single window, engaged wall-shafts, and the usual carved labels, abaci, and corbel-tables. The tower is on tlie north side, rises one stage above the roof, and is lighted with two round-arched belfry windows. A small apse was added rather later than the original fabric to the east of this tower, and before its erection the plan must have been almost the same as that of San Roman, but reversed. About a hundred yards from San Nicolas is another church which is almost an exact repetition of San Roman. San Luine (?), in the Plazuela de Capuchinos, is of just the same class as the rest, with nave, chancel, and apse, and a second apse east of the tower on the south side. There are no side windows here, and only a single light at the east end. Another church, in the Plaza de Isabel IL, is of the same plan as the last, with a modernized tow er. The carving on the string- 192 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. IX. courses here is of the same kind of natural foliage that I have described at San JMillan. Kear the aqueduct are two churches. One of them, S. An- tholin (I think), has a tower at the north-east of the nave ; its two upper stages have on each face two round-arclied shafted windows, and the angles are treated in a precisely similar w^ay to those of San Esteban, having bold splays witli engaged shafts in their centres. Another church close to this is modernized, but retauis its old tower, with the angles treated in the same way. The church of San Juan has remains of an external cloister on one side. The last church of this long, and I fear very dry, catalogue, is that of San Miguel, which stands in the Plaza near the cathedral. It has four bays of nave, shallow transepts, and a very short choir, which is, I think, apsidal, but almost concealed by a pagan Ketablo. The whole is of late fifteenth-century date, and must, I think, be the work of the same hand as the cathedral. Some figures at the west end, representing St. jMichael and the Annunciation, have evidently been taken from some older building, and built into the walls here. There is a very beautiful triptych in the north transept, with a Descent from the Cross in the centre, which ought to be looked at. It is a fine work of, I suppose, the latter part of the sixteenth century. ' I have already mentioned the great Alcazar, and the old town walls and gateways. They are magnificent in their scale, and very picturesque. The Alcazar was burnt some two or three years ago, and is now roofless, and I was told that its interior had been completely destroyed. I foolishly omitted to verify this statement by personal inspection, and contented myself wdth the sight of the exterior. The walls of the front towards the city are all diapered in plaster, and here and there about the town several other examples of the same kind of work are to be seen. The patterns are generally tracery patterns of the latest Grothic, repeated over and over again, so as to produce a regular diaper throughout. I presume that it was executed with a frame cut out to the required pattern, so as to allow of the ground being cut back slightly, leaving the pattern lines formed 1 I did not see the church of San Lo- all of the same kind as in other examples reuzo. It has three eastern apses, and here, with much delicate imitation of an arcaded cloister on the western and natural foliage. — See Illustration in southern sides, some of the arches being Monos. Arqos. de Espana. round and some pointed. The detail is Chap. IX. SEGOVIA : MORESQUE TOWER. 193 in the original face of the plaster. This kind of decoration seems to be perfectly legitimate, and here, owing to the care with which the plaster has been made and used, it has stood re- markably well, though most of the patterns that I saw had evi- dently been executed in the fifteenth century. In the front of the Alcazar these plaster patterns are carried not only all over the plain face of the walls, but also round the towers and turrets at the angles, so that the very smallest pos- sible amount of wrought stone is introduced. The great tower or keep standing back a few feet only from the front is similarly ornamented, but has stone quoins bonded irregularly into the walls ; in its upper stage it has windows surmounted by quaint stone canopies, and then a series of great circular turrets, cor- belled boldly out from the face of the wall, and carried up a considerable height, give its extremely marked and Spanish air to this grand tower. " These turrets are of stone, and between them is a parapet boldly corbelled out on machicoulis from the walls. With that contempt for uniformity which marks mediaeval artists, the keep is more than twee as broad on one side as on the other, and the great mass of wall and turret, roofs and spirelets, which crowned the whole building before the fire, well sustained its picturesque nregularity of shape. The front of a private house near the walls, not far from San Esteban, is another capital example of the same kind of plaster- work. Here the fagade is a perfectly smooth and unbroken surface, pierced for doors and windows, which are set in square panels of stone, and with a regular and straight line of stone quoining at the angles. At one end a low tower is carried up a few feet above the general line of the building. The windows are generally mere plain square openings ; but two set side by side in the principal stage have delicate ajimez windows of two lights, with elaborately traceried heads. The patterns in the plaster are three in number: the first carried from the stone phnth up to the sills of the principal windows, where it is cut by a narrow band of ornament, acting as a stringcourse to divide it from the second pattern, which is carried up to the eaves, the tower being covered with a third diaper, rather less intricate than the others. Near this house is a tower in the walls even more worthy of notice. It is of very considerable height, quite plain in outline, and pierced with only one or two square-headed windows, but surmounted by a fine parapet supported on machicoulis. The whole tower is built with bold stone quoins and horizontal bands o 194 GOTIITC AT^CHITECTURE TN SrATN. Chap. IX. of brickwork, each band two courses in height, at intervals of about three feet. Between these bands tlie walls are plastered and diapered. Here, as in the other house, only two or three patterns are used, but I think great judgment is shown in the repetition for the greater part of the height of the same pattern, which is changed at last near the top, where it was desirable to emphasize the work. Most men having three patterns to use would have divided them equally, but the real artist gives all their value to his simple materials by not doing so. The construction of this tower led naturally to its decoration. The wrought stone at the angles, the rough stonework of the walls, and the occasional bonding- courses of brick, were all used simply as the best materials for their respective parts ; and the rough stonework being plas- tered and diapered, gave a richness and polish to the whole work which it would otherwise have Avanted, whilst it in no degree destroyed the air of stability of the wall, which is secured by the obviously constructional arrangement of the stone and bri(.'k. The IMoors were always distinguished by the beautiful use they made of plaster ; and whether or no these Segovian buildings were executed by Moorish architects, it is quite certain that at any rate we owe them to their influence and example. The patterns used are generally such as in stone-work would be un- hesitatingly attributed to the end of the fifteenth or first half of the sixteenth century, and to this period no doubt the works I have been describing belong. They deserve a detailed notice because they prove, as do most Moorish works, that plaster may be used truthfully and artistically, and that without any approach to the contemptible effect which the imbecility and dishonesty of the nineteenth-century designers of plaster-work have con- trived to impress on almost all their productions. My last work in Segovia was to go to the Alcazar to get a sketch of the town, with the cathedral rising in a noble mass in its very centre, backed by the line of the Guadarrama moun- tains, looking black and angry with the storm-clouds which swept over the sky and around their summits at sunset ; and then strolling quietly back into the town, I went into the cathedral, to be impressed, as one always must be in such a place, by the aweful solemnity which even the latest Gothic architects in Spain knew how to imj)art to their buildings. S€ Plate Ydl. |>/K"i?f i>«yA4D< Masons Marks on Exterior. Before 1200 I5*il(')'tCenl>-| Model n t -^z,^. fi SeGOV ia: -Grounii Plan of fe €atbcbral: i>wyA4tx Mii»ina ILu'ka ,iji Kslri'iiii'. ff. Chap. X. MADRID. 1^-^ CHAPTER X. MADRID — ALCALA — GUADALAJARA — SIGUENZA. On my first journey to Madrid I travelled most of the way from Valladolid by diligence, and though the way was long and weary, the passage of the Sierra de Guadarrama was very fine, and I remember few pictures more lovely than that which we saw at sunrise, as we climbed the northern side of the mountains amid groups of stone-pines ; whilst the steep descent to the village of Guadarrama, on the south, with a slight distant view of Madrid, and a near view of the Escorial, was quite a thing to be remembered with pleasure. Now, however, instead of arriving at Madrid hot, dusty, and sore with a diligence journey, the railway is completed, and the line of country it takes is so beau- tiful between Avila and Madrid as to leave no room for regrets for the old passage of the mountains by road. The entrance to Madrid is not very striking. For the last three or four miles the road passes by a fair amount of planted woods, but the river by its side is dry and dreary, and every one in the hot season at which I arrived seemed to be gasping for breath. A very small suburb only is passed before the Queen's palace is reached : this is built on the edge of a steep hill overhanging the river, and commands a grand view of the Sierra de Guadarrama. This is indeed the one and only glory of such a site as that of Madrid, for were it not for this distant view, I know nothing more dreary and unhappy than the country with which it is surrounded. At the same time, partly owing to the great heiglit above the sea, and partly, probably, to the neigh- bourhood of this mountain range, the climate here is most treacherous, changing rapidly from the most violent heat in the daytime, to what seems by contrast to be icy chilliness at night. A garden with statues is laid out in front of the palace, and beyond this, passing some narrow streets, one soon reaches the Puerta del Sol, a fine irregular space in the centre of the city, with a fountain in the centre which is always playing pleasantly, and on great occasions sends up a jet to an unusual height. The o 2 196 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. X. Puerta del Sol is very irregular, and on sloijiug- ground, and hence it lias a certain jjleasing picturesqueness, -which probably accounts for the reputation it has achieved. There is one great attraction to me in Madrid, and only one — the Picture Gallery. And it is as well for travellers to take up their quarters in one of the hotels near the Puerta del Sol, where they are within a walk of it, rather than in the respectable Fonda de Ynglaterra, where I found myself quite too far from everything that I wanted to see. I discovered no old churches here. Madrid is, in fact, a thoroughly modern city, and is remarkable as not being the see of a bishop, the Archbishops of Toledo having succeeded in re- tainiug it in their diocese. I found, therefore, nothing whatever to do in the way of ecclesiologizing ; and yet, on the whole, having formed a very low estimate of the place beforehand, I was rather agreeably disa])pointed. The situation is unquestionably fine, the views of tlie mountains beautiful, the streets busy and smart, and the fountains, Avhich seem to be innumerable, are on a scale which would astonish our London authorities. The evenings are always deliciously cool, and then all IMadrid is on the move ; the very well laid out and j^lanted Prado is thronged with smart people on foot, and smarter people in carriages ; and until one has suffered as one does from the extreme heat of the day, it is hardly possible to imagine the luxurious freshness of the cool night. It is said, however, to be a dangerous pleasure, pul- monary complaints being very common. The two great sights are the Museo and the Armeria ; the latter is said to be the best collection of arms in Euroj^e, but somehow I always managed to want to go there too early or too late, and, after divers mistakes, in the end did not see it at all. Of the J\luseo it is difficult to speak with too much enthusiasm : the number of pictures is enormous, and it seemed to me that there was a larger proportion than is usual of very first-rate works. Its deficiency is mainly in early pictures — Italian, German, and Spanish. The early Italian scJiools are represented by one Angelico da Fiesole only : this is a beautiful example ; an Annunciation, with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden on the left of the picture, and five subjects from the life of the Blessed Yirgin in the predella. Among these, the 3Iar- riage of the Blessed Virgin has a close resemblance to Perugino's and Baffaelle's celebi-ated pictures. I could see no examples of Francia or Perugino, not to speak of earlier men; whilst the Qhap. X. MADRID: PICTURES. 197 few early German works were none of tlieni of any great interest. On the other hand, the pictures by Titian, Velasquez, Eaftaelle, Veronese, Tintoret, IMurillo, and others of tlie great masters of their age, are numerous and magnificent beyond description. Velasquez and Titian are both so grand that I hardly knew which to admire the most ; of the former, perhaps on the whole the most charming woi-k is the portrait of Prince Balthazar, a noble boy, galloping forward gallantly on his pony ; whilst of the Titians, I tliink the most striking was a weird-looking por- trait of Charles V. in armour on horseback. Mnrillo of course is in great force ; he has frequent representations of the Assump- tion, always treated in the same way : his work has a religious spirit wanting in the manlier work of Titian and Veronese, but yet not the true religious spirit so much as a sentimental affectation of it. Of Ribera — better known in England as Spagnoletto — there are a great many examples, generally dis- agreeable portraits of emaciated saints in distorted attitudes, and a horrible elaboration of ghastliness. Juan Juanes, an earlier Spanish painter, is much more agreeable, and he seems to have been largely inspired by Perugino and his school ; a series of five subjects from the life of St. Stephen are perhaps tlie most interesting of his works here. The room in which the greatest treasures of the Gallery are collected is called the Salon de la Eeyna Isabel. Unfortunately a large opening in the floor, to give light to a gallery of sculpture below, makes it a little difficult to see some of the pictures at all well. At its upper end is the famous Spasimo de Sicilia, a noble work, but spoilt by the awkward and distorted drawing of tlie soldiers on the left. Near it is a very fine Giovanni Bellini, the Delivery of the Keys to St. Peter ; and by its side a Giorgione, with a man in armour, as fine as anything I know, — the subject, the Virgin and Saints. By Bronzino there is a violin-player, a lad with a face beyond measure loveable. But it were endless to go on through a list even of the chefs-d'oeuvre in such a collec- tion ; and it is the less necessary to say much more than gene- rally to praise the whole Gallery as one of the first, if not the first, in Europe, because, now that railways make the journey thither so much more easy, some, no doubt, of our thousands of annual travellers will make their way to Madrid, to make lists for tliemselves of the best of its pictures. There is as little interest in modern as in earlier architecture here ; the only development that struck me being a fashion the 198 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. CiiAP X. people have of diapering houses all over with a kind of thir- teenth-century painting on plaster ; but I was not struck with the beaiitv of the develo}iinent. The best street is the Calle de Aleala, leading from the Puerta del Sol to the Prado. It is of great width, rising from the Puerta del Sol and falling to the Prado, and not straight, all which points are much in its favour : but the houses on either side are not generally so fine as they should be, and there is consequently a slightly faded look about it, which is not otherwise characteristic of Madrid. To see the Calle de Aleala to advantage, the day of a bull-fight should be selected. Then from half-past three to four all the world streams along it to the arena, excited, running, juishing, buying red and yellow paper fans for the seats in the sun, and as noisy, boisterous, and enthusiastic as all the world at any of our own national gatherings. The picadors in their quaint dresses come galloping along on their sorry steeds, each attended by a man in a blouse riding on the same horse, and whose office it is afterwards to make the poor wretch face the bull by beating hiui with a long stick. Omnibuses and vehicles of all kinds bring their share of the mob ; and when I took my seat, I believe there were not less than twelve thousand people assembled, every seat in the rather shabby but vast arena being full. Women formed a very small proportion only of the whole number, and I noticed that a lady who sat near me seemed as much shocked as I was at the brutal parts of the exhibition ; for all parts of it are by no means brutal, and, indeed, I should be inclined to limit the term to those parts in which horses are introduced. It would be quite as pleasant to indulge oneself by an occasional visit to a knacker's yard, as to sit quietly looking on whilst a furious bull rips up a miserable beast, usually blind- folded, in order that it may not move from the spot at which the picador chooses to receive the attack ; but this part of the per- formance over, there is little that is disgusting, and a great deal that is singularly exciting and skilful. The men seldom seem to be in any real danger of being caught by the bull, and nothing- can be cleverer than the way in which one of the dados will dance before him half across the arena, always avoiding his charge by a hair's-breadth only, or in which one of the handerilleros, seated in a chair, will plant his two arrows exactly on each side of the bull just as he stoops to toss him, and the next instant jump out of his seat, whilst the chair is dashed to atoms by the furious beast. I felt, however, that one bull-fight was enough for me ; the treatment of each bull is of necessity the same, and the mules Chap. X. ALCALA : EL MAGISTRAL. 199 have no sooner galloped out of one door trailing the dead bull and his victims out of the arena, than another dashes in from the opposite side, only to meet the same fate. The way in which the bulls come in is very striking : they rush in madly like wild beasts, and generally charge rapidly at one of the picadors or clmlos. I asked a Spaniard how this was managed, and he explained that in tlie den from which they emerge they are goaded with sharp-pointed spears just before the doors are opened, and of course come into the arena mad with rage ! The object of bull-fights seems to be generally charitable — in the sense that charity bazaars are so. At Valencia, where they have recently erected an arena which almost rivals in size the Roman amphitheatres, the work has been done by the trustees of the hospitals, and this seemed to be usually the destination of the receipts whenever I saw them advertized. That it is possible to have a bull-fight of even a worse kind than the Spanish I learnt at Nimes, where the cicerone showing me the amphi- theatre explained that they had a bull-fight every Sunday, but never killed their bulls — only goaded them week after week ! Whilst I was at Madrid I made an excursion to Alcala de Henares, the seat of Cardinal Ximenes' famous university, under the impression that I should find a good deal to reward me. In this, however, I was disappointed, as the churches are mostly works of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the whole place is decayed, unprosperous, and uncared for, without being picturesque and venerable. The principal church, " El ]\Eagistral," of SS. Just y Pastor — the tutelars of the city — is a large, late church of poor style. It has a nave and aisles of five bays, transepts and choir of one bay, and an apse of three sides. The aisle round the apse is con- trived with three square bays and four triangular, and is evidently founded on the beautiful plan of the chevet of Toledo cathedral ; but I must say that Pedro Gumiel " el Honrado," Eegidor of Alcala, and architect of this church, has perfectly succeeded in avoiding any repetition of the beauties of Toledo ; his work being thoroughly uninteresting and poor. The three western bays of the nave are open ; the two eastern enclosed with screens and stalled for the Coro. A bronze railing under the Crossing con- nects the Coro with the Capilla mayor. There are no less than six pulpits here ! two at the entrance to the choir for the Epistoler and Gospeller, two on the west of the Crossing, and two more opposite each other against the second column from the west in 200 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. X. the nave. It looks just as though they had ordered a pair of pulpits as they did a pair of organs ; and as preaching does not seem to be mueh the fashion now in Spain, I had no opportunity of learning how these many pulpits were to he used. There are two organs, one on each side over the Coro ; that on the south so picturesque as to bo worthy of illustration. Oi'gau, Alcala. Two great monuments — one in the nave, and one under the Crossing — are remarkable for the position of the effigies with their feet to the west. On the south side of the south transept is a small chapel roofed with a most rich and delicate Moorish plaster ceiling ; the whole was richly coloured. It did not appear to be earlier than the church, which is said to have been constructed between the years 1497 and 1509. Chap. X. ALCALA : UNIVERSITY— BISHOP'S PALACE. 201 The University founded by Ximenes is in a wretched state of dilapidation ; it is said to have been designed by the same Pedro Gumiel who built SS. Just y Pastor, but the work, so far as I saw it, was all Eenaissance. The faqade and court behind it were the work of Kodrigo Gil de Hontanon, between a.d. 1550 and ] 553, and he destroyed Pedro Gumiel's work in order to erect it. By the side of the college stands the church of San Ildefonso, which I suppose must be the chapel built by Pedro Gumiel. It is, I believe, desecrated, and no one could tell me where the key was to be found, so that I was unable to do more than get a note of the curious Cimborio from the exterior. It is not a lantern, but rather a raising of the whole centre of the church above the remainder. It is constructed of brick and stone, and is evidently of late date. Under this Cimborio, I believe, is the monument of the great Cardinal. There are consider- able remains of the old walls, with circular towers rather closely set around them. The bishop's palace retain^ a fine tower, which seems to have been con- nected with the town walls. It is plain below, but has turrets pictu- resquely corbelled out on machicoulis over the centre of each side and at each angle. A wing of the palace which joins this tower has some very remarkable domestic windows, which deserve illustra- tion. The shafts are of marble, the tracery and the wall below the sill of stone, but the wall of brick. The shafts are set behind each other, there is a good ball-flower enrichment in the label, and the mouldings are rich and good of their kind. Such a window seems to unite the characteristics of two or three countries, and is, indeed, in this, an epitome of Spanish art. Domestic Window, Alailit. 202 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. X- which borrowed freely from other lands, and often imported foreign architects, yet, in spite of all this, is still almost always national in its character. It is an easy journey from Alcala to Guadalajara ; and though the latter place disappointed me much, it is still worthy of a few hours' delay to those who pass by it on the Madrid and Zaragoza railway. Seen from the distance it is an imposing city, and if it be seen as I saw it during fair time, full of peasants in gay costume, the general impression may be not unpleasant ; but unfortunately, the early architectural remains are few and gene- rally insignificant. The church of Sta. Maria is the subject of a picturesque view in Villa Amil's book, and he deserves great praise for the skill with which he has created something out of nothing. I could find no feature worth recording save its two Moresque doorways, in one of which — that at the west end — the arch is of the pointed horseshoe form, and the archivolt is built of bricks, some of which are set forward from the face of the wall in the fashion of the rustic work in the execution of which certain schools of architects everywhere seem to take a grave pleasure, of which, perhaps, it would be unkind to wish to deprive them. The church of San Miguel has a portion of the exterior built in a rich nondescript style — debased IMoresque is, perhaps, the right term for it — in the year 1540, as an inscription on the church records. The lower part of the only original portion remaining is built of rough stone, the upper of brick ; and it is argued by some, I believe, that the use of the two materials proves that the work was executed at different epochs. To me it seemed that the whole was uniform in style, and evidently the work of sixteenth-century builders. It has large circular pro- jections at the angles, which are finished with fantastic cappings, and sham machicoulis below the ponderous overhanging cornices which ornament the walls both at the end and sides. These cornices have deep brick consoles at intervals, the spaces be- tween them filled with crosses on panels of terracotta. The rest of the church seems to be modernized. Both here and at Sta. IMaria there are external cloister passages outside the church walls, modern in style and date, but similar in object to those of Segovia and Yalladolid already described. Another little church, called La Antigua, has an eastern apse of brick and stone, with window openings of many cusps formed very simply with bricks of various lengths. This work is similar to much of the Moresque work at Toledo, and it is rather remarkable how GUADALAJARA. FALACE OF THE DDKE DEL INFANTADO, Chap. X. GUADALAJARA: PALACE DEL INFANTADO. 203 continuous the line of Moresque buildings from Toledo to Zara- goza seems to be. I saw no other old churcli here ; but the very fine late Gothic palace del Infantado is well worth a visit. It is like so much Spanish work, a strange jumble of Gothic and Pagan, slightly- dashed perhaps with Moorish sentiment, and with the some- what strange feature that the most Gothic portion is above, and the most Pagan below. The facade has a rich late Gothic doorway, and the face of the wall is diapered all over with what look like pointed nail-heads. The two lower stages have windoAvs of the commonest type, with pediments, whilst the upper stage has a rich open arcade, every third division of which has a picturesque projecting oriel, boldly corbelled forward from the face of the wall. Some Pagan windows have evidently been inserted here ; and it is possible that some of the other details have been, but if so the work has been done so neatly that it is difficult to detect the alteration. The courtyard or patio has seven open divisions on two sides, and five divisions on the others, and is of two stages in height. The lower range of columns has evidently been modernized, but in the upper they are very richly carved and twisted. The arches are ogee trefoils cusped, and their spandrels are clumsily filled with enormous lions cut in deep relief, and boldly standing on nothing, whilst they manage to hold up a diminutive coat of arms as a sort of finial to the arch. In the upper arcades griffins take the place of the lions, and the arches are again richly cusped. I noticed the date of a.d. 1570 on the capital of one of the columns, but this I have no doubt was the date of the Pagan alterations, and not that of tlie original fabric, which is said to have been erected in the year 1461.^ The Dukes del Infantado had a grand palace in this building, and though it has long been neglected and disused, it seems as if it were again about to be occupied, as I found workmen busily engaged in a sort of restoration of the sculptures in the patio, which they were repairing, if I remember right, with plaster. The sight of a river is always pleasant in this part of Spain, and so, though there is not much water in the Henares, I looked gratefully at it, and at the trees growing by its banks, as I sauntered down to the railway station after a rather weary day spent in vainly trying to find enough to occupy my time and my pencil. A railway journey of two or three hours carries one hence to ^ The illustration of this cuiu-tyard is engraved from a photograph. 204 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. X. a fitr pleasanter and more profitable city, Siguenza, whose cathe- dral is of first-rate interest, and, generally speaking, well pre- served. It is, like so many of the Spanish churches, unusually complete in its dependent buildings ; and though tliese some- times obscure parts of the building which one would like to examine, they always add greatly to the general interest. The plan ^ here consists of a nave and aisles of only four bays in length, but the dimensions are so considerable that the interior does not look short. Two western towers are placed at the angles, touching the main walls only at one corner, and giving con- sequently great breadth to the faqade. There are transepts and an apsidal choir, with an aisle, or procession-path — and no chapels — all round it. The choir is old, the procession-path of Kenais- sance character, and it is clear that when first built this church had no choir-aisle with surrounding chapels, and it was, I have no doubt, terminated in the usual early Spanish fashion, with three eastern apsidal chapels. I have not met with any notice of the foundation of this church, save that given by Gil Gonzalez Davila.^ He says that the king Don Alonso, after having gained Toledo from tlie Moors, and appointed Bernardo archbishop, took Sigiienza, Al- magan, J\Iedina Celi, and other places of importance. He then restored the cathedral here, which was dedicated on June 19th, 1102, and appointed as first bishop Don Bernardo, a Benedictine monk, who had taken the habit at Cluny, and who was a native of France. The Archbishop of Toledo was his patron, and he was one of the many French bishops appointed at this time to Spanish sees through his great influence. The epitaph of D. Bernardo, given by Davila, records that he rebuilt this church, and consecrated it on the day of St. Stephen in the year 1123. This inscription, however, is not of much value, as it was written after the translation of the bishop's body in 1598. The second bishop was also a Frenchman, and a native of Poitiers. A very small portion — if indeed any — of the Avork of the first bishop now remains. There is one fragment of early Roman- esque work to the east of the cloister, which no doubt formed part of it; and it is just possible that the three enormous cylin- drical columns, which still remain in the nave, are of tlie same age. If this be so, I should be inclined to assume that the choir only was consecrated in a.d. 1123, and that the nave was com- menced and carried on very slowly, until, as the style developed, ' See grouudplan, Plate XITI. - Teatro Eccl., vol. i. pp. 131-148. SIGUE>;ZA CATHEDRAL p. -JtM. INTERIOK OF NAVE AND AISLES, LO'^KING NORTH EArfl Chap. X. SIGUENZA : CATHEDRAL. 205 the simple cylindrical columns were abandoned for the fine groups of clustered shafts which are else\yliere used. The general style of the church is a very gi-and and vigorous first-pointed, early in the style, but still not at all Komanesque in character ; and I know few interiors which have impressed me more with their extreme grandeur and stability than this. The truth is, that the somewhat excessive solichty of the work — as heavy and ponder- ous in substance as the grandest Romanesque — is singularly noble when combined as it is here with very considerable height in the columns and walls, and with fine pointed arches, early traceried windows, and good sculpture. Unfortunately this massive grandeur is only a matter of envy to a wretched architect in the nineteenth century, whose main triumph, if he would prosper, must be to use as few bricks and as small fragments of stone as he can, to the intent that his work should certainly be cheap, and in forgetfulness, if possible, that it will also certainly be bad ! Here, however, the architect wrought for eternity as far as Avas possible, and with a success which admits of no doubt and no cavil. He has been singularly fortunate, too, in the comparative freedom from subsequent alterations Avhich his work has enjoyed. The Renaissance procession-path round the choir, which is the most important addition, certainly spoils the external effect ; but it is hardly noticed in the interior, until you find yourself under its heavy and tame panelled roof, and outside the solid wall which still encircles the ancient apse. The groining of the choir and transepts is sexpartite, but everywhere else it is quadripartite ; and the ribs, which are veiy bold in their dimensions, are generally moulded, but over the crossing are enriched with the dog-tooth ornament. The same decoration is also carved on the clerestory Avindows of the choir and transepts. The original windows generally still remain. Those in the aisles are single round-headed lights of grand size, with double engaged shafts, both inside and outside : those in the clerestory are of more advanced character, some being of two and some of four lights, of the best early plate tracery, with pointed enclosing arches. The western bay of the choir has lancet clerestory windows, and the apse of seven sides has also a lancet in each face, with a sort of triforium below, which is now closed, but which before the addition of the procession-path was probably pierced. Below this quasi-triforium the wall of the apse is circular in plan, whilst above it is polygonal, and the difference shows the very gradual way in Avliich the building was erected, 206 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. X. one of the most usual points of distinction between the Roman- esque and the early-pointed planning of an apse being that in the former it is circular, and in tlie latter polygonal. In speaking of the windows, I have omitted to mention tlie finest, which are undoubtedly the roses in the principal gables. That in tlie south transept is one of the finest I know ; ' and whilst it is remarkable for the vigorous character of its design it is also to be noted for a peculiarity which I have before observed in early Spanish traceries. This is the mode in which the traceries are, as it were, packed against each other. It is espe- cially noticeable in the outer line of circles which are inserted like so many wheels abutting against each other, and Avithout the continuous central moulding to which we are generally accustomed. Here, as well as in the interior, the dog-tooth ornament is freely used ; and the outer mouldings of the circle are of good character. The exterior of this church is of as great interest as the interior. The two western steeples are of the very plainest possible cha- racter, pierced merely with narrow slits, which light the small chambers in the interior of the tower. The buttresses are of enormous size ; and in the angles between them and the walls are set engaged shafts, which run up to and finish under the arcaded eaves-cornices M'itli which the walls are finished under the roof. At the west end these shafts are carried up to a greater heiglit, and support three bold arclies, one in each division of the facade, corresponding in heiglit pretty nearly with the groining inside. I find, on looking at my notes on this church, that I observed upon this as a feature which I recollected at Notre Dame, Poitiers ; and there is some signi- ficance, therefore, in the record of the fact that the second bishop, in whose time probably this part of the church was built, was a native of that city. The western door is round-arched, but the cornice over it has been destroyed ; and the finish of the buttresses and whole upper part of the west front have been modernized. The transept doors are not old, but seem to be in their old places, placed close to the western side, so as not to interfere with the placing of an altar against the eastern wall. At Tudela cathedral the old doorways still remain just in the same place; and viewed in re- gard to convenience, and not with a view to making the most ^ See an illustration of tliis windov.- on tlie gi-ound-plan of Sigiienza Ca- thedral, Plate XIII. Chap. X. SIGUENZA : CATHEDRAL. 207 important and regular architectural elevation, there is no doubt as to the advantage of the plan. In addition to the two western steeples there is also one of more modern erection and smaller dimensions on the east side of the south transept. The other late additions to the church are some chapels on the south side of the choir, a grand sacristy on its north side, some small chapels between the buttresses on the north side, and the Parroquia of San Pedro, running north and south, near the west end. This and the cliapel on the south side of the choir are of late Gothic date, and of very uninteresting character. Indeed it is remarkable how little the work of the later Spanish architects ordinarily has in it that is of much real value. The early works always have something of that air of mystery and sublimity which is the true mark of all good arcln- tecture, whilst the later have generally too much evidence of being mere professional cut-and-dried works, lifeless and tame, like the large majority of the works to which a vicious system of practice has reduced us at the present day. The cloister, to which also the same remark will apply, was finished in a.d. 1507 by Cardinal Mendoza, as we learn from an in- scription in Roman letters with a Eenaissance frame round them, which is let into the wall on the south side ; ^ and I noticed that the very florid early Eenaissance altar-tomb and door to the cloister, which fills a great part of the inside of the nortli tran- sept, is inscribed to the memory of the same cardinal.^ The buildings round the cloister are not remarkable. The summer Chapter-house is of grand size, with a rather good flat painted ceiling, and pictures of the Sibyls against the walls. At the south end is a chapel with an altar, divided by an iron Eeja from the Chapter-room. A Eenaissance doorway to another room on the east side of the cloister has the inscription, Mxisis . sacra . domus . hcc, and leads to the practising-room for the choir. The ritual arrangements here are of the usual kind. The bishop's stall is in the centre of the west end, and was made for its place ; but the whole of the woodwork is of the latest Gothic, and proves nothing as to the primitive arrangement. Gil Gon- ' Hoc. claustrum. a. fundamentis. vembris. anno. Salutis. M.C.C.C.c.C.v.ii. fieii. maudavit. Reverendissimus. Domi- procurante. D. Serrano. Abbate. S. nus. B. Carvaial. Car. S. +■ in. Jerusalem. Columbe. ejusdem. ecclesiffi. operario. patriarcha. lerosolimitan. episcopus. - B : Carvaial : Car : S: 4-: eps:Sagim- Tusculan. Antistes. hujus. alme. basilice. tin : quod, ccmpletum. fuit. de. mense. No- 208 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. X. zalez Davila^ gives an inscription from the tomb of Simon do Cisneros, who died in 132G, and who is tliero said to be the bishop : " Qui hanc ecclesiam authoritate apostolica ex reguhu-i in secuhirem reduxit ac multis sedificiis exornavit." I hardly know what buildings still remaining can be exactly of this date ; but it is evident that the statement refers to subordinate build- ings, and not to the main fabric of the church. The peoi)le of Siguenza seem to be more successful than is usual in Spain in the cultivation of green things. The cloister garden is prettily planted, and has the usual fountain in the centre. There is a grove of trees in the Plaza, on the south side of the church ; and a public garden to the north is really kept in very fair order, and looks pleasantly shady. I saw no other old building here except a castle on the hill above the town, with square towers projecting at intervals from the outer wall ; but it seemed to have been much modernized, and I did not go into it. 1 Teatro EccL, i Hil. Before 1200 ll^Centan Moderti SIOUQNZA -Grounti Plan oF fhf qftMiP&rar Sc' J\ih\i&h.eS. by John Murray. Albemarle Street 1865 Chap. XL TOLEDO. 209 CHAPTER XL TOLEDO. Toledo is now extremely easy of access from Madrid, a branch from the main line of the Alicante railway turning off at Cas- tellejon, and reducing the journey to one of about two or three hours only, from the capital. Of old the road passed through Illescas, and the picturesque church there, ilhistrated by Villa Amil, made me regret that the less interestino: raih'oad ren- dered the jom-ney by road out of the question. The country traversed by the railway is very uninteresting, and generally looks parched and arid to a degree. Near Aranjuez the waters of the Tagus have been so assiduously and profitably used, that a great change comes over the scene, and the train passes through woods where elms and other forest trees seem to thrive almost as well as they do in damp England ; and one can easily understand how this artificial verdure in the plain must delight the Castilian, who otherwise, if he wishes to enjoy such sights, must leave the heat of the plain for the cold winds of the mountain ranges of the Guadarrama. Aranjuez is, liowever, but an oasis in this Castilian desert, and the railway, soon leaving it behind, wends its way along the treeless, leafless plain to the ecclesiastical capital of the kingdom. On the opposite or right bank of the Tagus, the hills rise to a consider- able height, and here and there their dull brown outlines are marked, though hardly reheved, by large clusters of houses surrounding the lofty and apparently uninteresting churches which mark the villages, whose tout ensemble seems everpvliere on nearer inspection most uninviting to the eye. The banks of the Tagus are more refreshing, for here the water-wheels for raising water, which line the margin of the stream, suggest some desire on the part of the people to make the most of their opportunities, and they are rewarded by the luxuriant growth which always attends irrigation in Spain. I looked out long and anxiously for the first view of Toledo, Jbut the hills, which nearly surround it, conceal it altogether until one has arrived within about two or tlu-ee miles dis- tance ; and here, with the Tagus meandering through its vega p 210 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN Sl'AlX. Chap. XI. in the foreground, the great mass of the liospital outside and below the city to the right hand, and the wall-encircled rock on which the city is perched, crowned by the vast mass of the Alcazar to the left, the view is certainly fine and impressive. From most points of view, botli within and without the city, the cathedral is seldom well, and sometimes not at all, seen, standing as it does on much lower ground on the side of the rock whicli slopes towards the least accessible part of the river gorge, and much surrounded by other buildings, whilst the Alcazar, which occupies the highest ground in the whole city, is so vast and square a block of prodigiously lofty walls (old in plan, but modern in most of their details), as to command atten- tion everywhere. The other side of the river is edged by bold hills, and all along its banks are to be seen water-wheels so placed as to raise the water for the irrigation of the land on either side. It is not, however, until after more intimate knowledge of the city has been gained, that its extreme picturesqueness and interest are discovered. The situation is, indeed, most wild and striking. The Tagus, winding almost all round the city, confines it much in the fashion in which the Wear surrounds Durham, But here the town is far larger, the river banks are more rocky, precipitous, and wild than at Durham ; whilst the space enclosed within them is a confused heap of rough and uneven ground, well covered with houses, churches, and monasteries, and intersected everywhere by narrow. Eastern, and 3Ioorish-looking streets and alleys, most of which afford no passage-room for any kind of carriage, and but scanty room for foot passengers. It is, consequently, without exception, the most difficult city to find one's way in that I have ever seen, and the only one in which I have ever found myself obliged to confess a commissionaire ^ or guide of some sort to be an absolute necessity, if one would not waste half one's time in trying to find the way from one place to another. Tlie railway station is outside the city, which is entered from it by the famous bridge of Alcantara, which has a single wide and lofty arch above the stream, guarded on the further side by a gateway of the time of Charles \ ., and on the town side by one of semi-Moorish character. Above it are seen, as one enters, the picturesque apses of the old church of Santiago, and the tolerably perfect remains of the double enceinte of the city ^ Seuor Cabezas, a commissionaire, the Moorish remains ; and to see these to be heard of at the Fonda de Lino, last it is indispensable to have some may be recommended. He knows all conductor who knows both them and the most interesting churches, as well as their owners. Chap. XL TOLEDO : THE ALCAZAR. 21 walls ; whilst ou the opposite side of the river, as a further guard to the well-protected city, was the Castle of San Cervantes^ (properly San Servando), of which nothing now remains but a few rugged towers and walls crowning the equally rugged rocks.^ The road from the bridge, passing under the gateway which guards it into a small walled courtyard, turns sharply to the right under another archway, and then rises slowly below the walls until, with another sharp turn, it passes under the magnificent Moorish Puerta del Sol, and so on into the heart of the city. The Alcazar is the only important building seen in entering on this side ; but from the other side of the city where the bridge of San Martin crosses the Tagus, the cathedral is a feature in the view, though it never seems to be so prominent as might be expected with a church of its grand scale. From both these points of view, indeed, it must be remembered that the effect is not produced by the beauty or grandeur of any one building ; it is the desolate sublimity of the dark rocks that bound the river; the serried phalanx of wall, and town, and house, that line the cliffs ; the tropical colour of sky, and earth, and masonry ; and, finally, the forlorn decaying and deserted aspect of the whole, that makes the views so impressive and so unusual. Looking away fi'om the city walls towards the north, the view is much more riant, for there the Tagus, escaping from its rocky defile, meanders across a fertile vega, and long lines of trees, with here a ruined castle, and there the apse of the curious 1 This castle is said by Ponz to have most lands, and did gi'eat damage in been built by Archbishop Tenorio, many places, and especially in Spain, circa 13-10. — Viage de Espafia, i. 1(53. where most of the bridges fell ; and 2 It seems that the bridge of A lean- among all the others was demolished a tara fell down in the year 1211, and great part of that bridge of Toledo, when it was repaired Enrique I. built a which Halaf, son of Mahomet Alameri, tower for the better defence of the city. Alcalde of Toledo, had made by com- as is recorded in an insci'iption given by mand of Almansor Aboaamir Mahomet, Estevau de Garibay as follows : " Henr- son of Abihamir, Alquazil of Amir rik, .son of the king Alfonso, ordered Almomenin Hixem ; and it was finished this tower and gate to be made, to the in the time of the Moor.s, 387 years honour of God, by the hand of Matheo before this time ; and tlie king, D. Paradiso in the era 12.55" (a.d. 1217). Alonso, son of the noble king D. Fer- In A.D. 1258 the king D. Alonso "el rando, and of the queen Uoua Beatriz, Sabio " rebuilt the bridge, and put the who reigned in Castile, had it repaired following inscription on a piece of and renovated ; and it was finished in marble over the point of the arch : " In the eighth year of his reign, in the year the year 1258 from the incai-nation of of the Incarnation 1258." Cean Ber- our Lord Jesus Christ, was the grand mudez, Arq. de Esp., i. p. 254-255, deluge of water, which commenced The bridge was restored again by Arch- before the month of August, and lasted bishop Tenorio in 1380, and fortified in until Thursday the 20th of December ; 1484 by Andres Mnnrique. — Ford, and the fall of I'ain wa.s very great in Handbook of Spain, p. 783. p 2 212 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI. church of the Cristo cle la Vega, and there again the famous factory of arms, give colour and incident to a view which would anywhere be thought beautiful, but is doubly grateful by com- parison with the sad dignity of the forlorn old city. The buildings to be studied here are of singular interest, inasmuch as they reflect in a great degree the striking histoiy of the city itself, as well as of the kingdom of which it was so long the capital. There is no doubt that there was a cathedral, as well as some churches,^ here before the conquest of this part of 1 I must mention in this place one very curious collection of relics of the age of the Cxothic kings of Spain. This is the mar\'el!ous group of votive crowns discovered in 1858 in a place called La Fuente de Guarrazar, in the environs of Toledo, and which were immediately jiurchased by the Emperor of the French for tlie Museum of the Hotel de Cluny. They consist of five or sis crowns, with crosses suspended from them, and three smaller crowns without crosses. They are of gold, and made with thin plates of gold stamped witli a pattern, and tliey have gold chains for hanging them up by, and are adorned with an infinity of stones. They have been illustrated in a volume published by M. F. de Las- teyrie, with explanatory text. I cannot do better than quote the conclusions at which he an-ives : "(1) The crowns found at Guarrazar are eminently votive crowns. (2) They have never been worn. (3) Their construction belongs probably to the age of Reccesvinthus and the episcopate of S. Ildefonso, who excited so great a devotion to the Blessed Virgin in Spain. (4) One of the crowns was offered by Reccesvin- thus (whose name, formed in letters susjiended from its edge, occurs on it) ; possibly the next in size may have been given by the queen, and the rest by their officers. (5) The place from ■which they came was a chapel called X. Dame des Cormiers. (6) All of the crowns, though found in Spain, appear to belong to an art of the same northern origin as the conquering dynasty which then occu{)ied the throne. They certainly give the idea of an extraordinary skill in the gold- smiths' art at this early period (circa 050-672), and it is probable that they had been buried where they were found at the time that the Moors entei'ed Toledo as conquerors in A.D. 711." — See Description du Tr^sor de Guarrazar, &c., par Ferdinand de Lasteyrie, Paris, 1 860. Since this discovex-y some other crowns have been found in the same neighbour- hood, and these are, I believe, preserved at Madrid. They have been described in a short jiaper in the Proceedings of the Societj' of Antiquaries, to which I must refer my readers. Tiie crowns preserved at the Hotel Cluny certainly form one of the greatest attractions in that attractive collection. They are in a singularly pei-fect state of preservation. Their workmanship is rather rude, and they all appear to be of as nearly as possible the same age and manufacture. 'Inhere can be no question that 51. F. de Lasteyrie is right in saying that they were never worn as crowns : they wei-e designed for suspension before an altar, and most of them have crosses hanging from them. The largest crown — that of Reccesvinthus, is formed of two plates of gold, the inner plate plain, the outer pierced, beaten up, and set ■with very large stones. The plates of gold in many cases are stamped with a pattern. At the top and bottom of the plate which forms the coronet is a narrow band of cloisonn^e gold, the spaces in which seem to have been filled with glass or red-coloured enamel. The largest crowTi is eight-and-a-half inciies in diametei", and has a splendid jewelled cross .suspended from its centre, and the name of the king in large Roman letters hung by chains from its lower edge, and formed of cloisonnee gold. When I see such work done in the seventh century, and then look at modern jeweller's work, I am tempted to think that the much vaunted progress of the world is not Chap. XI. TOLEDO : MOORISH STRUCTURES. 213 Spain, in a.d. 71 1, by the Moors ; and in the course of the long period of nearly four centuries during which the Mahomedan rule lasted, many buildings were erected, and a IMoorish popula- tion was firmly planted, which, when Alonso VI. regained the city in 1085, was still protected, and continued to live in it as before. The Moors had, indeed, set an example of toleration ^ worthy of imitation by their Christian conquerors ; for though it is true that they converted the old cathedral into their princi- pal mosque, they still allowed the Christians to celebrate their services in some other churches ^ which existed at the time of the Conquest; and during the greater part of the Christian rule, their tolerant example was so far followed, that the ]\Ioors seem to have enjoyed the same freedom, and to have lived there unmolested, whilst they built everywhere, and acted, in fact, as architects, in the old city, not only for themselves, but also for the Christians and the Jews, down to the establishment of the Inquisition. It is a very remarkable- fact, indeed, that with one grand exception nearly all the buildings of the twelfth, thir- teenth, and fourteenth centuries, which are to be seen here, are more or less IMoorish in their character ; ^ and though the cathe- dral, which is the one exception, is an example of thoroughly always in the right direction. Gold and silver ornaments were exported from Spain to so considerable an extent, that the tiara of the Pope, being richly wrought with precious metal, was called Spanoclista. — Masdeu, Hist. Critica. * " The Christians, in all matters ex- clusively relating to themselves, were governed by their own laws, adminis- tered by their own judges. Their churches and monasteries (rosEC inter spinas) were scattered over the principal towns, and their clergy were allowed to display the costume and celebrate the pompous ceremonial of the Romish religion." — Prescott, Hist, of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. i. p. 5. - Sta. Justa (founded in 554), Sta. Eulalia (559), San Sebastian (601), San Marcos (G34), San Lucas (641), San Torcuato (700), and Nuestra Senora del Arribal were the churches so granted for the use of the Mozarabic Liturgy. See D. Manuel de Assas, ' Album Art. de Toledo,' Art. ii., and D. Sisto Ramon Parro, 'Toledo en la Mano,' p. 167 et seq. ^ "The most remarkable buildings which illustrate the Mahomedan archi- tectiu'e in Toledo are the following : — The Mosque, now church of Cristo de la Luz, the Synagogues Sta. Maria la Blanca and El Transito, the church of San Roman — probably once a Mosque or Synagogue — the gateways De Visa- gra and Del Sol, and one on the Bridge of Alcantara, the Alcazar, the Palace of D. Diego, the Casa de Mesa, the Taller del Moro, the Temple (No. 10, Calle de San Miguel), the College of Saint Catherine, the house No. 17, Calle de las Tornerias, the ruins of the Palace of Villena, those of St. Augus- tine, of San Gine's, the Baths de la Cava, the Castle of San Servando (or Cer- vantes), the Palace of Galiena, and finally the Chui-ches of SS. Ursula, Torcuato, Isabel, Marcos, Justo, Juan de la Penitencia, Miguel, Magdalena, Coucepcion, Sta. Fe, Santiago, Cristo de la Vega (or Sta. Leocadia), SS. Tome and Bartolome." — D. Manuel de Assas, Album Ai'tist. de Toledo, and Toledo Pintoresca, Don J. Amador de los Rios. There are other remains, and among them a very fine room behind the house. No. 6, Calle la Plata. 214 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XT. pure Gothic work almost from first to last, there never seems to have been any other attempt to imitate the Christian archi- tectural idea of which it was so grand an exponent, I have purposely avoided going to those parts of Spain in which the Moors were undisputed masters during the middle ages; but here it is impossible to dismiss what they did without proper notice, seeing that, after Granada and Cordoba, perhaps nowhere is there so much to be seen of their work as in Toledo. The buildings to be examined will be best described under certain heads, reserving the cathedral for the last, because some of the Moorish buildings are the oldest in the city, and these lead naturally on to the later works of the same class. The order in which I shall attempt to take them will be tli(M'efore as follows : — I. The Moorish mosque ; II. The Jewish synagogues ; III. The Moorish houses ; lY. The Moorish work in churches; Y. The gateways, walls, and bridges ; VI. The cathedral and other examples of Christian art. There are, indeed, some works anterior to the rule of tlie Moors, for below the walls, in the vega, are said to be some slight remains of a Roman amphitheatre ;^ in addition to which there are still some fragments of work j'j^ossiJ^y Visigoth ic, and anterior therefore to the Moorish Conquest of 711. These are confined to a few capitals which have some appearance of having been re-used by the Moors in their own constructions, such e.g. as the capitals of the Mosque now called the " Cristo de la Luz," and those of the arcades on. either side of the church of 8an Koman, together with some fragments preserved in the court of the hospital of Sta. Cruz. They are very rudely sculptured, and bear so slight a resemblance to the early Komanesque work of the same period, that it is difficult, I think, to decide posi- tively as to their age. It is certain, however, that the earliest distinctly jMoorisli capitals are entirely unlike them in their character, and quite original in their conception ; and it is, of course, very possible that the Moors, pressed by the necessity of the case, would, after their conquest, not only have retained some of the existing buildings, but also have re-used the best of their materials in their new works. The earliest of the distinctly Moorish buildings is a little mosque ' Ponz, Viage de Espana, vol. i. j^. 210, gives a view of the considerable remains of a Rcjinau aqueduct. I believe these have now entirely disappeared. Chap. XI. TOLEDO : S. CRISTO DE LA LUZ. 215 — now called the church of " Cristo de la Luz " — which was standing at the time of the entrance of Don Alonso YI. into the city, on Sunday, May 25, 1085. He entered by the old Puerta de Yisa- gra, and, turnhig into this the first mosque on his road, ordered mass to be said, and hung up his shield there before he went further. No doubt the nave of the build- ing is still very much in the state in which he found it ; it is very small, only 21 ft. 7 J in. by 20 ft. 2 in., and this ' space is subdivided into nine compartments by four very low circular columns, which are about a foot in diameter. Their capitals are some of those of which I have just spoken; they are all different, and, it seemed to me, more like Moorish work than the other capitals of the same class at San Eoman and Sta. Cruz. The arches, of which four spring from each capital, are all of the round horseshoe form ; above them is a string-course, and all the intermethate 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 diiScult, 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 in2:enious intricacv which has made their work look so much largrer and more important tlian it really is.^ It is, indeed, an admir- ' There is a view in Villa Amil's the figures introduced is so much too work of this interior, but the scale of small as to increase largely the apparent S. Cristo de la l.uz, Toledo. 21G GOTHIC ARCHITECTUEE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI. able instance of tlie skill and dexterity in design which seem to have marked the jMoors so honourably from the first, and which must have made them, as far as one can judge, in every respect but their faith so much the superiors of their Christian contem- poraries. An apse has been added for the altar, but this is evidently a much later addition to the old mosque. The exte- rior face of the walls is built of brick and rough stone. The lower part of the side wall being arcaded with three round arches, within the centre of which is a round horseshoe arch for a doorway ; above is a continuous sunk arcade of cusped arches, within which are window openings with round horseshoe heads. The lower part of the walls is built with single courses of brick, alternating with rough stonework ; the piers and arches of brick, with projecting labels and striilgs also of unmoulded brick. The arches of the upper windows are built with red aud green bricks alternated. The horseshoe arches here are built in the usual Moorish fashion, the lower part of the arch being con- structed with bricks laid horizontally, and cut at the edge to the required curve ; and about halfway round the arch they are cut back to receive the arcli, which is there commenced. In the same way the cinquefoiled arches of the upper arcade have their lowest cusps formed by the stone abacus, the intermediate cusps by bricks laid horizontally and cut at the edge, and the upper central cusj) alone has any of its masonry constructed as an arch. The upper stage of the mosque called De las Tornerias is Moorish work of the same plan as the Cristo de la Luz ; but I am much inclined to doubt whether it is equally ancient. The rosettes cut in the vaults, and the cusped openings, give this impression, and the vaults are quadripartite and domical in sec- tion, the centres of the nine small bays of vaulting being raised higher than the others, and having two parallel ribs crossing each other both ways, in the way I have already noticed in the Chap- ter-house at Salamanca, and the Templars' Church at Segovia. There is, so far as I know, no other mosque in the city so little altered as these ; but among the churches some are said to have been first of all built for mosques. San Eoman is one of these. It was converted into a parish church at the end of the eleventh century,^ and the column aud arches between the size of the building; otherwise the ture,' and is from a drawing by M. drawing is fairly correct. The illustra- Girault de Praugey. tion wliich I give is borrowed from Mr. ' I find that Archbishop Rodrigo Fergusson's ' Handbook of Architec- consecrated the church of San Roman Chap. XI. TOLEDO : S. MARIA LA BLANCA. 217 nave and aisles are probably of tbis date. The arches are of the horseshoe form, and the capitals are, 1 think, commonly- quoted as some of the earlier works re-used by the Moors. But I very much doubt whether their style justifies my attributing to them any date earlier tlian the eleventh century. The church was not consecrated until June 20th, 1221, but there can be no doubt that it was built before this date. The noble steeple is one of the Avorks built by Moorish architects for Christian use, and it will be better, perhaps, to reserve it for description with other works of the same class. Of the two synagogues the older is that which was founded in the twelfth century, but seized in a.d. 1405 by the Toledans — instigated by the preaching of San Vicente Ferrer — and dedi- cated as a church under the name of Sta. Maria la Blanca.^ The modernized exterior is of no interest, but the interior is fairly preserved by the zeal, I believe, of some Spanish antiquaries, having long been disused as a church. In plan it consists of a nave, with two aisles on either side. A quasi-chancel was formed at the east end (in the sixteenth century apparently) by the pro- longation of the central compartment or nave beyond the aisles, and the intermediate aisles were also lengthened to a less extent at the same time. There are eight horseshoe arches rising from octagonal columns in each of the arcades, and the whole of them, as well as their capitals, are executed in brick, covered with plaster. The capitals are exceedingly elaborate, but very slightly varied in pattern : they have but little connexion with any of the usual types of Byzantine or Eomanesque capitals, though they have rather more, perhaps, of the delicate intricacy of the former than of any of the features of the latter, and they are, I imagine, very much later than the original capitals which they overlay. All the Moorish decorative work seems to have been executed in the same way in plaster. This was of very fine quality, and was evidently on the 20th of June, 1221, See his the kingdom if they would not be Historia de Rebus Hispaniae, in Espana baptized. The establishment of the Sagrada, vol. ii. p. 23. Inquisition was the necessary eon- ' San Vicente Ferrer is said to have sequence of such an edict. See Don J. converted more than 4000 Toledan Jews Amador de los Rios, Estudics sobre in one day in the year 1407; and in 1413 a los Judios de Espaua, pp. 84, 106, 156. vast number were converted in Zaragoza, The illustration which I give of the Calatayud, and elsewhere in the north interior of this synagogue is borrowed of Spain. One cannot but fear that from Mr. Fergusson's ' Handbook of coming events in this case cast their Architecture.' The original view is in shadows before them, and that the Jews M. Villa-Amil's work, and gives a fairly had a shrewd suspicion of the coming correct representation of the general of the edict of 1492, by which 170,000 effect of the building. Jewish families were ordered to leave 218 GOTHIC AECHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI. cut and carved as if it had been stone, and seldom, if ever, I tliink, stamped or moulded, according to the mistaken practice of the present day. The consequence is that there is endless variety of design everywhere, and — wherever it was desired — any amount of undercutting. The spandrels above the arches are filled in with arabesque patterns, and there is a cusped wall arcade below the roof; but almo.st all of this is evidently of much later date than the original foundation, as the patterns are all of that large class of Moorish devices which, though they retain many of their old peculiarities, borrow largely at the same time from the traceries and cusping of late Gothic work. Unfortunately in such Avork the material affords so small an assistance in the detection of alter- ations, that it requires the exercise of considerable caution to ascer- tain their exact limits ; and in Toledo, as in most places, people seem always disposed to claim the highest possible antiquity in all cases, seldom allowing anything to have been done by the Moors after the restoration of the Christian rule, though, in fact, the exact converse of this would be nearer the truth. The roof has coupled tie beams — placed a very slight distance apart — an ar- rangement of which the Moorish carpenters seem to have been always very fond. The pavement is very good, but must, I imagine, be of about the date of the conversion of the synagogue into a church. It is divided into compartments by border tiles, laid down the length of the church on either side of the columns. The spaces between these are filled in with a rich diaper of encaustic and plain red tiles, w'hilst the general area between these richer bands is paved with large red, relieved by an occa- sional encaustic tile. The latter have patterns in white, dark blue, and yellow, and in all cases they are remarkable for the beautiful inequality both of the colours and of the surface of tlie tiles. Both colour and material are in themselves better than the work of our tile-manufacturers at the present day, and illus- trate very w^ell the difference between hand-work and machine- work, which I have already noticed in comparing the old and new modes of dealing with plaster. The Moorish tiles are very commonly seen in Toledo, and were used both for flooring and inlaying walls, and in some cases for the covering of roofs. This synagogue of Sta. Maria la Blanca is on the whole disappoint- ing. I went to it expecting to see a building of the ninth or tenth century, and found instead a fabric possibly of this age, but in which — thanks to the plasterers of the foui'teenth or fifteenth centuries — nothing of the original building but the octagonal columns and the simple form of the round horseshoe arches is still visible. Nevertheless it well deserves examina- STA. MARIA LA BLANCA, TOLEDO. INTERIOR. LOOKING EAST. Chap. XI. TOLEDO : THE CHURCH DEL TRANSITO. 219 tion, and a more accurate knowledge of the detail of Moorish work would, I dare say, have enabled nie to separate more clearly the work of the original church from the additions with which it has been overlaid. The other synagogue is now converted into the church called " del Transito," ^ and about the date of this there is no doubt. It was erected by Samuel Levi,^ a rich Jew, who held the office of treasurer to Pedro the Cruel, and was completed in a.d. 1366 ; but it did not long retain its first purpose, the Jews having been expelled the kingdom in 1492,^ and this synagogue having then been given by Ferdinand and Isabella to the order of Calatrava. The building is a simple parallelogram, 31 feet 5 inches wide, by 76 feet in length. The lower portion of the side walls is quite unornamented for 20 or 25 feet in height ; but above this is very richly adorned with plaster-work. There is, first, a broad band of foliage, with Hebrew inscriptions above and below it, and above this on each side an arcade of nineteen arches, springing from coupled shafts, eight of its divisions being pierced and filled with very elaborate lattice-work. The end wall (now the altar end) has a very slight recess in the centre, and the whole of it to within some seven feet of the floor is covered with rich patterns, inscriptions, and coats of arms, whilst above the arcade is continued on from the side walls in eight divisions. The arcades are all cusped in the usual Moorish fashion, the outline of the cusps being horseshoe, but without an enclosing arch. The end opposite to the altar has two windows pierced in the upper arcade, and three windows below ^ Said to have been so called on ac- the end of July in the same year, were count of the passing-bell rung at the jointly recorded over the door "del death of any of the Knights of Gala- Escribanos " at the west end of the trava, to which it belonged after cathedral ; and at the same time so A.D. 1492; but more probably owing great was the zeal for the Christian faith to its possession of a picture of the that nothing else was tolerated anywhere Assumption, the church having some- in Spain, and least of all hei'e vmder times been called Nuestra Senoi'a del the eye of the Primate. Yet it is more Transito. It is also called San Benito, than doubtful whether the country See D. Man. de Assas, Alb. Art. de gained in any way— moral or material Toledo. — by such a measure; it lost its most 2 For some notice of Samuel Levi, skilled workmen, its most skilled agri- and the insci-iptions in the Synagogue, culturists; and the gloom-inspiring efifect see Don Jose Amador de los Rios, Estu- of the necessary Inquisition, seems diossobrelos Judios deEspaha, pp. .52-7. permanently to have fixed itself on Translations of these long and curious Spanish art and manners. 170,000 Hebrew inscriptions are given by D. F. families of Jews, at the time of their de Rades y Andrada in his Chronicle of expulsion, were compelled to leave the Calatrava, pp. 24, 25. kingdom in four months, or be baptized. ^ The capture of Granada, on Jan. 2nd, ^Don J. A. de los Rios, Estudios s. 1. 1492, and the expulsion of the Jews at Judios, p. 150. 220 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI. breaking up into the band of foliage and inscriptions. The whole is now whitewashed, and though the detail is all fantastic and overdone, the eifect is nevertheless fine, owing to the great heiirht of the walls and to the contrast between the excessive en- richment of tlieir upper and the plainness of their lower part. The Eetablo over the principal altar is a w^ork of the end of the fifteenth century, but not of remarkable merit, having paintings of Scripture subjects under carved canopies ; there is another of the same class against the north wall. The roof is a grand example of the Moorish " artesinado " ^ work. It has coupled tie-beams, and a deep cornice, which is carried boldly across the angles, so as to give polygonal ends to the roof, which is hipped at the ends, the rafters sloping equally on all four sides. These rafters are only introduced to improve the appearance of, and — it may be — the possibility of hearing what was read in, the syna- gogue. The pitch of the real roof is very flat, and where a flat roof is absolutely necessary, this kind of ceiling is undoubtedly very effective. At some height above the plate the sloping rafters are stopped by a flat ceiling below the collar rafters, panelled all over in the ingeniously intricate geometrical figures of which the Moorish architects were so fond, and in the device of which they were always only too ingenious. The rafters as well as the tie-beams are used in pairs placed close to each other, and the space between them is divided into panels by horizontal pieces at short intervals, with patterns sunk in the panels. There is a western gallery, and some seats made of glazed encaustic tiles on each side of the sanctuary. The exterior has arcades answering to those of the interior : it is built mainly of brick, with occasional bands of rough stone- work. The bricks are 11 in. by 7| in. by 1;^ in. in size, and are used with a mortar joint 1^ in, in thickness. It is impossible to deny the grandeur of the internal effect of this room. The details are entirely unlike what I should wish to see repeated ; but the proportions, the contrasted simplicity and intricacy of the lower and upper part of the walls, the admis- sion of all the light from above, and the magnificence of the roof, might all be emulated in a Gothic building, and I have seen few rooms which have appeared to me to be more suggestive of the right form and treatment for a picture gallery or saloon for any state purpose. ' From artesa, a kneading-trough ; a of roof, and I follow Mr. Ford's example carved ceiling, made in the shape of an in adopting it, as we have no term inverted trough. This term is usually which exactly represents it. applied by Spanish writers to this class Chap. XI. TOLEDO : MOOEISH HOUSES. 221 The two synagogues I have described stand now in the most deserted and melancholy part of Toledo. The old Juderia, or Jews' quarter, is decayed and abandoned. The Jews, of course, are all expelled from it, and the Christians seem to have avoided their quarter as though there were a curse on it. Samuel Levi, the founder of El Transito, built for himself a magnilicent palace near it, of which, I believe, some part still exists, though I did not see it The Moorish houses, which I must now shortly describe, appear to be very numerous and of all dates, from the twelfth century do'wn to the conquest of Granada; and it seemed to me that up to tliis time almost all the houses must have been the work of Moorish architects. Tlie Jews and Moors were both very numerous bodies — so much so that Toledo is charged by an old writer with having had in it none others, — and there is notlring to show tliat the Christians ever employed any other architects. The common type of house is one which is completely Moorish in plan, even when the details are not so. It almost always had a long dark entrance passage, with an outer door to the street, studded thickly with nails of the most exaggerated size, and furnished with great knockers. The outer room or passage — ceiled with open timbers, boarded or panelled between — opens into the loatio or central court, over which in hot weather an awning or curtain could be hung. This i^atio is surrounded by open passages on all sides, supported by wooden posts, or some- times on granite columns, and the staircase to the upper floors rises from one angle of it. The woodwork is generally well wrought with moulded ends to the joists and moulded plates. Here are usually one or two wells, the court having been the impluvium where all the water from the roof was collected in a large cistern below the pavement. Toledo is still a clean city, and Ponz,^ defending its credit from an attack by an Italian writer, maintains that the women are so clean that they wash the brick-floors of their houses as often as they do their dislies ! This is the type of house to be seen probably in every street in the city ; but here and there are still left other houses of distinctly Moorish architecture, and of extreme magnificence in their adornment. Looking to the frail material of all these enrichments, the wonder is, not that so few houses remain, but rather that anything at all exists; and even in their present forlorn state there is sometliing very interesting in these houses ' Viage de Espana, vol. i. p. 41. 222 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI. and rooms and decorations, so utterly unlike anything to which a northern eye is ever accustomed at home. The examples of ' 1 11 I !;*.;\ Knoclter and Nails on Door, Toledo. this class which I saw seemed to be all of the same date — either of the fourteenth or fifteenth century — and though full of variety in their detail, extremely similar in their general effect. A room in the Casa de Mesa is the finest I saw, and I suppose that even in the South of Spain there are few better examples of its class. Its dimensions are 20 ft. 3 in. in width, by about 55 ft. in length and 34 ft. in height. The walls are lined at the base with very good encaustic tiles, rising nearly 4 ft. from the floor ; above this line they are plain up to the cornice, save where the elaborately-decorated entrance archway — an uncusped arch, set in a frame, as it were, of the most fantastic and luxuriant foliage, arcading, and tracery — occupies a considerable part of one of the side walls. A very deep cornice of but slight projection, with a band of enrichment below it, surrounds the room, and this is interrupted by the doorway at the side, and by a small two-light window at one end. This window of two lights, with a cusped round-arched head to each light and some delicate tracery above, is framed in a broad border of tracery work, copied from the latest Gothic panelling, so that the whole design is a com- plete mixture of Gothic and Moorish detail. The ceiling is in Chap. XI. TOLEDO : MOORISH HOUSES. 223 its old state and of the usual artesinado description. Its section is that of a lofty-pointed arch, truncated at the top, so as to give one panel in width flat, the rest being all on the curve. The roof is hipped at both ends and panelled throughout, each panel being filled in with a most ingenious star-like pattern, of the kind which one so commonly sees in Moorish work. The patterns are formed by ribs (square in section) of dark wood, with a white line along the centre of the soffeit of each. The sides of the ribs are painted red, and the recessed panels have lines of white beads painted at their edges, and in the centre an arabesque on a dark blue ground. The colours are so arranged as to mark out as dis- tinctly as possible the squares and patterns into which it is divided, and the sinking of some panels below the others allows the same pattern to be used for borders and grounds with very varied effect. The reds are rather crimson in tone, and the blues very dark. The plaster enrichments on the walls seemed, as far as I could make out, to have been originally left white, with the square edges of the plaster painted red ; but I cannot speak quite ])ositively on this point. A room in a garden behind the house No. 6, in the Calle la Plata, is an almost equally good example, though on a smaller scale, and with a flat ceihng. The great entrance archway in the middle of one side is fringed with a crowd of small cusps, but otherwise it is treated very much in the same way as the door in the Casa de Mesa. The cornice here also is very deep, and the band of plaster enrichment below it is filled with Gothic geometrical tracery patterns. The ceiling is particularly good, being diapered at regular intervals with figures formed by two squares set across each other, with an octagonal cell sunk in the centre of each. This room is about 86 ft. long by 1 1 ft. 8 in. wide, and 11 ft. 5 in. high to tlie band below the cornice, and a little over 16 ft. in total height. The " Taller del Moro," so called because it was turned into a workshop for the cathedral, and is in the Calle del IMoro, is a more important work, consisting of three apartments, lavishly deco- rated. Don Patricio de la Escosura, in the letterpress to ' Espaiia Artistica y Monumental,' considers the date of this building to be between the ninth and tenth centuries ; ^ but I see no reason whatever for believing that its plaster decorations are earlier than 1350, or thereabouts. The list which I have already given of Moorish works will show how many I have to leave undescribed ; but I had not ' Esjjiifia Art. y Mou., vol. i. p. 78. 224 GOTHIC AECHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI. time to see all, and it is not worth while to describe with any more detail those that I did manage to see, for they are all extremely similar in the character of their decorations. The work of the same kind in the churches of Toledo is of more interest, because here it is of that partly IMoorish and partly Christian character, which shows that the Mahomedan architects, to whom no doubt we owe mostof it, wrought under the direction to a considerable extent of their Christian masters, and in some respects with very happy results. In most of the general views of Toledo, some steeples which are attached to churches of this class are to be seen, and they give much of its character to the city. I saw six of these, namely, those of San Tome, San Miguel, San Pedro Martyr, Sta. Leocadia, San Roman, and La Concep- cion ; whilst among the churches in the same style are parts of Sta. Isabel, San Engenio, San Bartolome, Sta. Ursula, Sta. Fe, Santiago, and San Vicente. The whole of these works are very similar in their general character, being built rather roughly of brick, with consider- able use of cusped arcades in a succession of orders one over the other, the churches generally being finished with apses at the east end, and the towers being built without buttresses, and roofed with tiled roofs of moderate pitch. The steeple of San Roman is the finest example of its class to be seen here. For half its height it is perfectly plain, built of rough stone, with occasional courses of brick, and quoined with brick. The string-courses are all of brick, un- moulded. The character of the three upper stages will be best understood by the illustration which I give. The cusped arch of the lower of these stages is certainly very pretty, but the common form of trefoiled Moorish arch enclosed within it seems to me to be the most frightful of aU possible forms. It is neither graceful in itself, nor does it convey the idea of repose or strength ; and it is so completely non-constructional, that the lower portion of the apparent arch is never built as an arch, biit always with horizontal courses. In the belfry stage the bold variation of the openings is vporthy of notice; and throughout the whole the utmost praise is due to the architect who, with none but the commonest materials, and at the least possible expense in every way, has, nevertheless, left us a work much more w^orthy of critical examination than most of the costly works in brick erected by ourselves at the present day. It is amazing how much force is given by the abandonment of mouldings and chamfers, and the trust in broad, bold, square sotfeits to all the openings. I must not omit to mention that the small red Chap. XI. TOLEDO : CHURCH OF SAN ROMAN. 225 sliafts in the arcade below the belfry seem to be made of terra- cotta. The construction of the steeple is very peculiar. In the lowest stage it is divided by two arches springing from a central San Roman. Toledo. pier, and the two compartments thus formed are roofed with waggon-vaults. In the next stage the central pier is carried up, and has four arches springing from it to the walls. The four spaces left between these arches are vaulted with barrel-vaults at right angles to each other. The steps of the ascent to tliis tower are carried on arches against the side walls, with occa- sional openings in the vaults when necessary for passing. San Koraan has a nave and aisles, with arcades of two arches between them; a chancel, mainly of Renaissance style, covered with a dome, but with some late Gothic groining to its apse ; and 22() GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI. a south chancel aisle ending witliout an apse. The tower is on the north side of the chancel. The whole church is plastered and whitewashed most painfully, but still retains one or two interest- ing features. The footpace in front of the altar has a good pave- ment of large plain red tiles, laid diagonally, with small encaustic blue and white glazed tiles at intervals. The whole pavement is divided into a number of strips by rectangular bands of blue stone. The altar at the east end of the south choir aisle also deserves a note, being built with a solid black stone front, carved in imita- tion of embroidery and fringes, with an inscription on the super- frontal, and a shield suspended in the centre of the frontal. This strange device for economizing altar vestments w^as not common, I think, here, but several examples remain in the new cathedral at Salamanca. The reredos over this altar has a very sweet painting of the Last Supper, the figure of our Lord being \i _. &. Santa Magdalena. Toledo. much raised above those of the apostles, and the table at which He sits being polygonal. Sta. Magdalena has a smaller and simpler tower of the same Chap. XL TOLEDO: STEEPLES OF SAN TOME, ETC. 227 class ; it is perfectly plain below the belfry stage, which lias two windows in each face. The bells hang here, as is so often the case in Southern buildings, in the window; and in all tliese buildings, as in most otlier old examples of brickwork, the putlog-holes (or holes for the insertion of the scaffold-poles) are left open. The bricks, too, are used very roughly and pictu- resquely with a very thick niortar-joint, and the consequence is that every part of this work has a value in texture and light and shade undreamt of by those who have never seen anything but our own smooth, smart, and spiritless modern brick walls, built with bad bricks and no mortar.^ The steeple of San Tome is so absolutely identical in its details — save that its shafts of glazed earthenware are alternately green and yellow — with that of San Roman, that it is unneces- sary to describe it.^ San Pedro 3[artyr has a steeple which is much wider on one side than on the other, but is otherwise similar to that of San Roman in its general design. San Miguel, and Sta. Leocadia, and La Concepcion, have steeples more like that of La ]\[agdalena, the towers being small, and with only one arcaded stage below the belfry. The masonry and brickwork is the same in all these examples, but their scale differs considerably, the steeple of San Roman being by far the largest and loftiest, that of San Tome the next, and the others a good deal smaller. All these steeples seem to me to illustrate not only the proper use of brick, already mentioned, but also the great difference between old and new works in the degree of simplicity and amount of cost with which their authors appear to be satisfied. It is seldom, indeed, at the present day, that we see a steeple erected which has not cost twice as much, in proportion to its size and solidity, as either of these old Toledan examples ; and it is to be feared that few of us now have the courase 1 I am aware that in saying this I thought, or over- labour about the blame myself as much as any one else, execution of every detail, we may The truth is, that so violent is the still do whab every one will agree is popular prejudice on some points that right and proper, because it has been he must be a bold architect who veu- done five hundred times before ; but if tures to run counter to it ; and I am we only give a fair amount of all three quite sure that the first brick building we are sure to meet with plenty of I erect with the brickwork executed in critics who never give any of either, the proper way will be met by a storm and who hate our work in proportion of abuse fi"om all sides. This is a great to their own incapacity to criticize it snare to most of us. Nothing is more from their old standpoint, easy than to secui'e popular applause in ^ A good illustration of San Tome' is architecture. If we abstain from study, given in Villa Amil, vol. ii. Q 2 228 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI. to trust entirely in the virtue of doing only what the money given to us to spend M'ill properly allow, without raising that silly and too-freqnently-heard wail about our work having been spoilt for want of money, which no mediasval work, however poor, ever was ! I have been unable to satisfy myself, by any documentary evi- dence, as to the age of these buildings. There is some record of extensive works in the cliurch of Sun Tomd, in the beginning of the fourteenth century,' but, as we see that the church has since been paganized without damage to the town, it is possible that they may also have escaped the previous Avorks. On the other hand, the king Don Alonso VIII. is said to have been pro- claimed from the steeple window of San Roman, in 1166; and, looking to the character of the Puerta Visagra — an un- doubted work of the commencement of the twelfth century — I do not know whether we should be justified in refusing to give the steeple of San lioman the date claimed for it, though my impression when I was looking at it, without consulting any authorities, was, that this work was none of it older than the end of the thirteenth century. The first impressions of an English eye in looking at this Moorish work are not, however, much to be depended on, the profusion of cusped arches, in which the Moorish architects so early indulged, always giving their work a rather late effect. Among the churches of IMoresque character tliat I saw, I may specially mention those of Santiago and Sta. Leocadia. The former appeared to me to be a work mainly of the fourteenth century. It is a parallel-triapsidal church, and has some old brick arcading on the exterior of the chancel aisle, but is generally so bedaubed with plaster and whitewash as to be uninteresting. It is said to have an artesinado ceiling, but I do not recollect this, and I believe it has a plaster ceiling below the old one. The })ulpit is a rather strilving work of that mixed IMoorish and Gothic detail which prevailed in the fifteenth century. One fact I noticed here, and again at Valencia Cathe- dral, was, that the pulpit had no door, and the only access seemed to be over the side, by aid of a ladder ! When pulpits were erected, it is fair to suppose that they were meant to be used ; but in the Spain of the present day it is, perhaps, not of much consequence if they are unusable, as sermons do not seem to be very much in vogue. ' Toledo en La Mano, pp. 249 et seq. Escosui*a in Villa Ami!, vol. ii. p. 51. Chap. XI. TOLEDO : WALLS, GATEWAYS, BRIDGES. 229 Of the other churches in the city Sta. Isabel has a polygonal apse, with each side arcaded with a Moorish trefoil arch. San Eugenio has a similar apse, with a second stage, with mul- tifoil arcading all along it ; and San Bartolome has three of these cusped and arcaded stages in its apse. Sta. Ursula has a stone apse, circular in plan, coursed with brick, and pierced with three Moorish windows. La Concepcion has a polygonal apse of rude stonework below, and is coursed with bricks from mid- height upwards, with three Moresque windows set within square recessed panels ; whilst Sta. Fe presents the unusual feature of buttresses to the apse, and has an interlacing arcade below the eaves, and long lancet windows set within IMoresque cusped panels. Sta. Leocadia (commonly called Cristo de la Yega), just outside the city, and in the valley below its walls, also retains the apse of its church, erected on a site which is said to have been first built upon as early as the fourth century. This is entirely covered Avith arcading from the ground to the eaves, arranged in three equal orders, the lower cusped, the next having the common Moorish trefoil, and the upper being round- arched. Some of the panels of these arcades are pierced for light. The existing building is probably in no part earlier than the twelfth century ; it consists of a small modern nave, a sanctuary of two bays with round transverse arches, and cusped Moresque arches in the side walls. The apse at the east end is roofed with a semi-dome. At the west end is a small modern cemetery, full of gravestones, inscribed at least as fully, fondly, . and foolishly, as those we indulge in in our own cemeteries. In addition to these more important works there are, in the cathedral, a door leading into the chapter-room, and a recessed arch in one of the chapels on the south side of the nave, executed by Moorish artists probably in the fifteenth or six- teenth century. It has been absurdly enough suggested that these are parts of the ancient mosque which stood on the same site ; but there is no ground whatever fur the idea, the Avork being evidently of much later date, and it being at the time a common fashion to introduce some Avork of this kind into buildings which otherwise are purely Gothic. The last head under which I have to describe Moorish Avork, is, perhaps, also the most interesting. The Avails, gateways, and bridges of Toledo are, I think, the finest I have anyAvhei'e seen ; in part, at least, of extreme age, very perfectly preserved, and on a grand scale. There is a double line of AA^all on the unprotected side of the city towards the Vega, the inner line said to be the 230 GOTHIC AECHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. Xf. work of the Visigoths, before the INIoorish conquest, in 711,^ and the outer built in 1109, by Alonso VI. Both walls seem to go from the Bridge of Alcantara on one side of the city, to the Bridire of St. Martin on tlie other. Outside the wall the lulls and walls slope down rapidly to the valley ; whilst within them the uneven surface is covered thickly with houses everywhere, until the Tagus, Avinding round three parts of the city in its deep, savage, and solitary defile — a solitariness all the more impressive from being so near to the busy hive of men — encloses it, and makes defensive erections almost unnecessary. I have already given some account of the Bridge of Alcan- tara.^ It is of two lofty arches, with a bold projecting pier Pucrta del Sol. 'J'okdo. between them. Here is one of the best points of view of the two lines of wall, which are broken constantly by round or square ' Ford's Handbook, p. 777. See ante, jj. 210. Chap. XI. TOLEDO : PUERTA DE VISAGRA. 231 projecting towers, and ascend and descend in the most pictu- resque fashion, to suit the rugged inequality of the rocks on which they are built. I know no view more picturesque and magnificent. The first gateway reached is the Puerta del Sol, which is so admirable an example of the picturesqueness of which the style is capable, that 1 cannot resist giving an illustration of it. It is, indeed, not only picturesque, but in all respects a dignified and noble work of art. The variety of arches, one behind the other, which is seen here, was a very favourite device with the Moorish architects. Here, I think, there are four, two pointed and two round, but all horseshoe in their outline. The outer gateway on the old Bridge of St. Martin has five such arches, two of them being round and one pointed horseshoe, one a plain round, and one a plain pointed arch. In the Puerta del Sol the intersecting arcades in brick- work over the arch, and the j^rojecting turrets on a level with them, are extremely picturesque. The materials used are wrought stone, rough walling stones, and brick. The battle- ments are of a type which was repeated by the Christians in most parts of Spain, but was, no doubt, derived first of all from the Moors. The situation of the gateway is charming ; with due regard to military requirements it turns its side to the enemy, and is reached by a winding road, which bends round at a sharp angle just before reaching it. To the left is seen the sweet view over the Vega, watered and made green by the kind river ; a view which gains immensely on one's liking, compared, as it always is, with the dreary arid hills beyond, and with recollections of the weary waste over which so much of the traveller's road to Toledo must needs lie. The age of this gateway is not known, but it dates probably from the end of the twelfth, or beginning of the thirteenth century. So, at least, I judge by comparing it mth the next gateway, that called the Puerta de Visagra, the finest gateway in the outer wall (which was erected circa 1108-20), and which cannot, therefore, be earlier than the beginning of the twelfth century. The design of this Puerta de Visagra is clearly due to a Moorish architect, and it is extremely interesting to find the Christian king, so soon after his conquest of the city, making use of the Moors for his work, and to find them doing their best, apparently in their capacity as builders, to second his endea- vours to make the recapture of the city by the Infidels impos- sible. The materials of this gate are the same as those of the other, but its character is much heavier and ruder. The 232 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Cuap. XT. contrast between the grand outer arch and the extremely small inner arch is very curious ; the ground has, however, risen considerably in front of it, so that its real proportions are very much concealed. The wall is carried out in advance of this gateway, and has an angle-tower, which was schemed, no doubt, to secure the proper defence of the entrance. Further along, beyond the point at which the two walls unite, we reach the Brido-e of St. Martin — a noble arch of even grander scale tlian that of Alcantara, and, like it, guarded at either end by gate- ways, of which that on the further side has the remaius of I\[oorish work in the arches which span it, and which have been already mentioned ; it is finished with the Moorish battlement. This bridge has five arches, of which the largest is magnificent in scale, — no less than 140 (Spanish) feet wide by 95 high. The arches are very light and lofty, and spring from grand piers, behind which the rocky defile is seen in its greatest grandeur. It seems to have been built in 1212, and repaired, the central arch being rebuilt,' by Archbishop Tenorio, circa 1339. My notice of these various works has been, as it were, only the preface to the real glory of Toledo ; for interesting and unique as some of them, and strange and novel as all of them are, there is a higher value and a greater charm about the noble metropolitan church of Spain than about any of them: a charm not due only to its religious and historical associations, but resulting just as much from its own intrinsic beauty as an example of the pure vigorous Gothic of the thir- teenth century, such as when I left France on my first Spanish journey I supposed I should not see again till my eyes rested once more on Chartres, Notre Dame, Paris, or Amiens ! Here, however, we have a church which is the equal in some respects ' An inscription was piit tip in tlie the work was going on perceived that time of Philip II. giving the history of as soon as the centi'es were removed the bridge, and stating that it had been the arches would fall, and confided his rebuilt by Pedi-o Tenorio, the arch- grief to his wife. She with woman's bishop: " Pontem cujus ruiuaj in de- wit forthwith set fire to the centring, clivis alveo proxime visuntur, flumiuis and when the whole fell together all inundatione, quEe anno Domini mcciii. the world attributed the calamity to super i^jsum excrevit, diruptum Tole- the accident of the fire. When the tani in hoc loco sedificavertint. Im- bridge had been rebuilt again she becilla hominum consilia, quern jam avowed her proceeding, but Archbishop amnis Itedere non poterat, Petro et Hen- Tenorio, instead of making her husband rico fratribus pro regno contendentibus pay the expenses, seems to have con- interruptum, Petrus Tenorius archiepis- fined himself to complimenting him on copus Toletan. reparadum curavit." the treasure he possessed in his wife. — A quaint story is told of the building Cean Bermudez, Not. de los Arquos., of this bridge. The architect whilst &c., vol. i. p. 79. Chap. XL TOLEDO: CATHEDRAL. 233 of any of the great French churches ; and I liardly know how to express my astonishment that such a building should be so little known, and that it should have been so insufficiently if not wrongly described Avhenever any attempt at a description has been made by English trav^ellers who have visited it. The cathedral is said to have occupied the present site before the capture of the city by the Moors. ^ They converted it into a mosque, and in course of time enlarged and adorned it greatly. •At the capitulation to Alonso VI., in 1085, it was agreed that the Moors should still retain it; but this agreement was re- spected for a few months only, when the Christians, without the consent of the king, took it forcibly from them and had it consecrated as their cathedral.^ Of this building nothing remains. The first stone of the new cathedral was laid with great ceremony by the king Don Fernando III., assisted by the Archbishop, on the 14th of August, a.d. 1227 ; ^ and from that 1 A stone was found in the IGtli cen- tury with this insci'iption on it: — IN NOMIXE DNI CONSECRA TA ECCLESIA SCTE JIAKIE IN CATHOLICO DIE PRDIO IDUS APRILIS ANNO FELI CITER PRniO REGNI DNI N03TRI GLORIOSISSIMI H RECCAREDI REGK ERA DCXXV This stone is still preserved, and is interesting as a proof that a chiu'ch was standing here in the year 587. - Bernard, the first bishop, after the expulsion of the Moors was sent from France, at the request of the king, by Hugo, Abbot of Cluuy. The story of this seizure of the mosque is as follows : "Regina Constantia hortante de revete adscitis militibus Christianis, majorem Mezquilam ingressus est Toletauam, et eliminata spurcitia Mahometi, erexit altaria fidei Christiana?, et in majori turn campanas ad convocationem fide- lium collocavit." The king came back foi-thwith in great wrath, determined to burn both queen and archbishop, and riding into the city was met by a crowd of Moors, to whom he cried out that no injury had been done to them, but only to him who had solemnly given his oath that theii- mosque should be preserved to them. They, however, prudently begged him to let them release him from his oath, whereat he had gi-eat joy, and riding on into the city the matter ended peacefully. — ^Archbishop Rodrigo, De Rebus Hispanise, lib. vi. cap. xxiii. 3 " In the era 1 264 (a.d. 1226) the king D. Fernando, and the archbishop Don Rodrigo, laid the first stones in the foun- dation of the church of Toledo."— Anales Toledanos III. Salazar de Men- doza, in the prologue to the Chronicle of Cardinal D. Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, says that the function took place on the 14th Aug. 1227, the eve of the Assump- tion. The archbishlum : construxit ; Et hie quiescit : quod : quia : tan : mire : Fecit : vili : sentiat : ire : ante • Dei : Vultum : pro : quo : nil : restat : inxiltum : Et sibi : sis : merce : qui solus : cuucta : Colierce : obiit : x dias de Novembris : Era : de M : et cccxxviii (a.d. 1290)." I did not see this inscription, and am unable to say, tlierefore, whether it is original ; but I believe there is little doubt of this.^ I should have much more doubt as to the nationality of the arcliitect. The Spanish writers all talk of him as ^^ Fedro Perez ;" but as tlie Latin inscription is the only authority for his name, he may as fairly be called Pierre le Pierre, and so become a Frenchman ; and I cannot help thinking that this is, on the whole, very much more likely than that he should have been a Spaniard. This, at any rate, is certain : the first rather insignificant, and what thanks Coll. Patrum Ecc. Toletanaj, Madrid, would we not have given him for any in- 1 795. formation as to the building of one of the ^ It is preserved in the Chapel of St. grandest churches of the age ! — See his Catherine.^ — See Bias Ortiz, Summi History — finished in r24o — in vol. iii. of Templi Toletani graphica Descriptio. Chap. XI. TOLEDO : CATHEDRAL. 235 architect of Toledo, whether he were French or Spanish, was thoroughly well acquainted with the best Frencli churches, and could not otherwise have done what he did. In Spain itself there was, as I have said before, nothing to lead gradually to the full development of the pointed style. We find, on the contrary, buildings, planned evidently by foreign hands, rising suddenly, without any connexion with other buildings in their own district, and yet with most obvious features of similarity to works in other countries erected just before them. Such, I have shown, is the case with the cathedrals at Burgos, at Leon, and at Santiago, and such even more decidedly is the case here. Moreover, in Toledo, if anywhere, was such a circumstance as this to be expected. In this part of Spain there was in the thirteenth centmy no trained school of native artists. Even after the conquest the Moors continued, as has been said before, to act as architects for Christian buildings whether secular or ecclesiastical, and, indeed, to monopolize all the science and art of the country which they no longer ruled. In such a state of things, I can imagine nothing more natural than that, though the Toledans may have been well content to employ Mahomedau art in their ordinary works, yet, when it came to be a question of rebuilding their cathedral on a scale vaster than anything which had as yet been attempted, they would be anxious to adopt some distinctly Christian form of art ; and, lacking entirely any school of their own, would be more likely to secure the services of a Frenchman than of any one else ; whilst the French archbishop, who at the time occupied the see, would be of all men the least likely to sympathise with Moresque work, and the most anxious to employ a French artist. But, however this may have been, the church is thoroughly French in its ground-plan and equally French in all its details ^ 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 ' I venture to speak with great positive- which pi'oduced them. Such, e.g., are uess about some features of detail. It the delicate diflferences between the is possible enough that architects in French and English bases of the thir- various countries may develop from teenth century, nay even between the one original — say from a Lombard bases in various parts of the present original — groups of buildings which French empire. These differences are shall have a general similarity. They so delicate that it is all but impossible to may increase this similarity by travel, explain them; yet no one who has care- But in each country certain convention- fully studied them will doubt, when he alities have been introduced in the sees a French moulding used throughout designing of details which it is most a building, that French artists had much rare to see anywhere out of the country to do with its design. 236 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI. even here the work is French work, only slightly modified by some acquaintance with IMoorish art, and not to such an extent as to be recognized as Moresque anywhere else but here in the close neiglibourhood of so much which suggests the probability of its being so. The whole work is, indeed, a grand protest a'l-ainst Mahomedan arcliitecture, and I doubt whether any city in the middle ages can show anything so distinctly intended and so positive in its opposition to what was being done at the same time by other architects as this. It is just what we see at the present day, and we owe an incidental debt of gratitude to this old architect for showing us that in the thirteenth cen- tury, just as much as in the nineteenth, it was jiossible for an artist to believe in the fitness and religiousness of one style as contrasted with another, and steadily to ignore the fantastic conceits of the vernacular architecture of the day and place in favour of that which he knew to be purer and truer, more lovely and more symbolical. From A.D. 1290, the date of the death of the first architect, to A.D. 1425, 1 have not met with the name of any architect of this cathedral ; but from that year to the end of the last century the complete list is known and published,^ and contains of course many well-known names. The plan of the cathedral is set out on an enormous scale, as will be seen by the table of comparative dimensions which I give below, as well as by comparison with the other plans in this volume.- In width it is scarcely exceeded by any church of its 1 Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., &c., vol. i. pp. 253-4 ; and Bellas Artes en Espaiia, passim. Toledo * . . Mi hint CologDe f . . Paris* Bourges * . . Tioyes * Chaitres § . . AmiensJ .. Reims § Lincoln § . . Yoi-k § Westminster § Width in clear of WaUs. feet. in. 178 186 130 HO 128 124 100 100 95 80 106 75 Length in clear. feet. 395 475 405 400 370 395 430 435 430 468 486 505 Width of Nave from c to of Columns. feet. in. 50 6 63 44 48 49 50 50 49 48 45 52 38 * Five aisles, exclusive of chapels between buttresses. J Three aisles, exclusive of chapels between buttresses. f Five aisles. ^ Three aisles. Chap. XT. TOLEDO : CATHEDRAL. 237 age, Milan and Seville cathedrals— neither of them possessing any other great claim to respect — being, I think, the only larger chnrches in Christendom ; and the area covered by the cloisters, chapels, and dependencies of Toledo, being on the same large scale, is of course in excess altogether of Milan, which has none. The original plan consisted of a nave with double aisles on either side, seven bays in length ; transepts of the same projection as the aisles ; a choir of one bay ; and the chevet formed by an apse to the choir of five bays, with the double aisles continued roimd it, and small chapels — alternately square and circular in plan — between the buttresses in its outer wall. Two western towers were to have been erected beyond the west ends of the outer aisles ; ' and there were gi-aud entrances in each transept, and three doorways at the west end. The great cloister on tlie north side, and all the chapels throughout (save two or three of the small chapels already mentioned, which still remain in the apse), are later additions. Scarcely a fragment of the lower and visible part of the exterior of the cathedral has been left un- touched by the destructive hands of the architects of the last three centuries ; and the consequence is, that it is after all only the interior of this noble church that is so magnificent, there being very little indeed that is either attractive or interest- ing on the exterior. There is absolutely no good general view to be had of it ; for a network of narrow winding lanes encom- passes the building on all sides, leaving no open space anywhere, save at the west end ; and here the exterior has been so much altered as to deprive the view of its value. I had some difficulty in mounting to the roof, the canon in authority sternly and rudely refusing me permission ; but as the sacristan considered that I had done mv dutv in asking, and that the canon had 1 The north-west tower only was ture from absolute accuracy in every built, and this long after the original part, -when they consider how much foundation of the church {i.e. circa 1380- useless labour the representation of 1440). Bias Ortiz, speaking of the every detail entails in such a work, and foundation of the Mozarabic chapel at how impossible it would be for any the west end of the opposite (south/ aisle, one without a great deal of time at says it was placed "in extrema Templi his disposal to do more than I have parte, ubi cceptae turris fundamenta sur- done. I am not aware that any plan of gebant." The four western bays of the this cathedral has ever before been nave are no doubt rather later in date published. I omitted to examine a than the rest of the church, but they detached chapel— that I believe of the follow the same general design, and are " Reyes Nuevos" — but with this excep- not distinguishable on the ground-plan, tion, I think my plan shows the whole My gi-ound-plan of this enormous of the old portion of the work (juite cathedral is deficient in some details ; accurately. but my reader.? will pardon any depar- 238 GOTHIC AT^CHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XT. exceeded his in refusing, in the end he took me everywliere. We ascended by a staircase in the archbishop's palace, Avliieh leads by a gallery thrown over the road to the upper cloister. This extends above the whole of the great cloister, and has a timber roof carried on stone shafts, which appear by their mould- ings to be of the fifteenth century. This upper cloister is entirely surrounded by houses occupied, some by clergy, and some by the servants of the church, and where little choristers in red capotes and white laced albs run about playing in their spare moments. Nothing that I have met with in Spain exceeds the intolerable stench which everywhere pervades these eccle- siastical tenements ! Bat the look-out is rather pleasant, for the cloister court is planted thickly mth fine shrubs and trees which shoot up as high as the top of the walls. The exterior of the church, seen from this point, is altogether in a great mess — no other word so well describes its state ! So far as I could make it out, I think the original mode of roofing the church was as follows : the aisle next the nave was covered with a timber roof sloping down from the clerestory windows ; whilst the outer aisle and the chapels beyond it were roofed with stone roofs laid to a flat pitch, and sloping down to a stone gutter between the two, which again carried the water east and west till it discharged in a pipe through each buttress. In place of this, a gabled roof now covers both aisles with a gutter against the clerestory and overhanging eaves on the outside. The main roofs were probably steep and tiled ; that of the choir appears to have been carried on stone columns or piers, in front of which was the parapet, so that there was a current of air throughout. In the apse I was able to see my way a little more clearly ; for here the stone roofs of the chapels and outer aisle are still perfect, and most ingeniously contrived, as the accompanying diagram will explain. Here again I was unable to find out what Avas the ori- ginal roof of the inner aisle ; but it was possibly of stone like the others, though my impression on the spot was that it must have been of wood, and covered with tiles. The diagram shows the roof over one of the circular and two of the square chapels of the apse, and the three corresponding bays of the outer choir aisle. The triangular bays and square chapels have stone roofs sloping- down to a gutter between them ; whilst the bay between them had a square roof sloping slightly all Avays, and over the outer chapel a roof sloping back to the same gutter. The water is all carried aAvay by stone channel-di-ains to the outside of the walls. The whole of this contrivance is now obscured by an extraor- Chap. XI. TOLEDO: CATHEDRAL. 239 diuary jumble of tiled roofs one over the other, added, I suppose, from time to time as the original roof required repair.^ There are double flying-buttresses wherever there are transverse arches Stoae Roof of Cater Aisle and Chapels, Toledo. in the groining. These were altered in the iifteentn century by the addition of a fringe of cusping on the edge of their copings, which of course spoilt their effect, though this is not of much consequence now, as they are never seen. The nave also has double flying-buttresses; and its clerestory and tri- forium were thrown into one, and large windows inserted, in the fourteenth century in place of the original work. The only portion of the original external walls of the aisle that I could see was on the south side of the choir. Here in the apse chapels there are good and rather wide lancet -windows with engaged shafts in the jambs, w-ell moulded, and labels adorned with dog-tooth. The old termination of the buttresses seems to be evervwhere de- 1 The account given by Bias Ortiz (who wrote his description of the cathe- dral in the time of Philip II.) ought to be given here, because it seems to show that in his time the roofs were not entirely covered with stone, but, as at present, with tile roofs in some parts above the stone. " Ecclesite testudines," he says, "candidse sunt, muniunt eas, et ab iuibribus aliisque incommodis pi-ote- gunt tabulata magna (sive coutigna- tiones) artificiose composita, fulcris statura hominis altioribus suffulta, tec- taque partim tegulis, partim lateribus ac plauis lapidibus. Turriculse lapidefe in modum pyramidum erectse, e singulis (inquam^ pilis per totum sedificium exeunt, quae sacram Basilicam extrin- secus pulcheirimam faciimt." — -Descrip. Temp. Toletani, cap. xxi. 240 GOTHIC ARCHTTECTUKE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI. stroyed. The flying-buttresses in the apse were finely managed. Owing to the arrangement of the plan two flying-buttresses support each of the main piers, and they are double in heiglit. Their arches are moulded with a very bold roll-moulding, with a smaller one on either side, and the piers which receive them are faced with coupled shafts Avith carved capitals. The arrange- ment of the buttresses follows exactly (and of necessity) the ])lanniug of the principal transverse arches of the groining. From each angle of the apse there are two flying-buttresses ; these each abut against a pinnacle, which is again supported by two diverging flying-buttresses. It might be expected that the effect would be confused, as it is in the somewhat similar plan of the chevet of Le ]\[ans ; but here the buttresses and pinnacles seem to have been less prominent, and therefore to have inter- fered less with the general outline of the church which they support. The pinnacles to the buttresses of the central apse are tolerably perfect, but they appear to be not earlier than the fifteenth century. Those of the intermediate aisle are all destroyed, but many of those in the outer aisle still remain. The chapel of San Ildefonso, too, beyond the chevet, retains its pinnacles and parapets ; and behind these rises a flat-pitched tiled roof, which, as everywhere else throughout the cathedral, has the air of being a modern substitute for the old roof: un- doubtedly tlie whole work Avants steep roofs to make it equal in effect to the French churches from which it was derived, and in Avhich this feature is usually so marked. The external mouldings of the Avindows in this part of tlie church are very good, and of the best early-pointed Avork ; among others I saw that the external label of the rose-AvindoAV in the north transept is filled Avith quaint crockets formed of dogs' heads projecting from the hollow member of the moulding. All these remains of the original design of the early church can only be seen by ascending to the roofs ; and as they illustrate the most interesting portion of the Avhole work, I have taken them first in order. It is now time to take the rest of the fabric in hand ; and for this purpose it Avill be necessary to confine myself hence- forth almost entirely to the interior. The doorAvays Avill be mentioned further on, because they are all additions to, and not coeval Avith, the oi'iginal fabric ; and, similarly, the window- traceries — except in the case of one or tAvo of the apse AvindoAvs, and the openings of the triforium and clerestory of the choir — are none of them oriirinal. TOLEDO CATHEDRAL lUTEEIOR OF TEAN3EPT, ic. LOOKING NORTH-WEST. Chap. XI. TOLEDO : CATHEDRAL. 241 The first view of the interior is very impressive. The entrance most used is that to which the narrow, picturesque, and steep Calle de la Chapineria leads — that of the north transept. The buildings on the east side of the cloister rise on the right hand, and chief among them the fine fifteenth-century chapel of 8an Pedro, which, in entire contempt of all rules as to orienta- tion, runs north and south, and opens into the aisle of the churcli by a sumptuous archway. Near the end of this chapel an old and very lofty iron grille crosses the road ; and passing through this, and by the group of beggars ever clustered round it, the fine fourteenth-century north doorway, rich in sculpture, is passed, and the transept is reached. The view across this, as is usually the case in Spain, is the great view of the church ; for here only is there any really grand expanse of unoccupied floor, and without such a space real magnificence of effect can never be secured. The view hence into the double aisles round the choir, across the gorgeously decorated Capilla mayor, and down the side aisles of the nave, is truly noble, and open, I think, to but one criticism, viz., that it is somewhat wanting in height. Judged by English examples, its height is unusually great ; but all the other dimen- sions are so enormous that one requires more than ordinary height, and the vast size of the columns throughout the church, as well as the fact that most of the perspectives are those of the side aisles, which are of necessity low, gives perhaps an impres- sion of lowness to the whole which is certainly not justified by the measurement in feet and inches of the central vault. If my readers will refer to the engraving of the ground-plan, they will be struck by the extreme simplicity and uniformity of the original outline of the cathedral, and the entire absence of all excrescences, whether of transepts or chapels. In this respect it is not a little like some of the finest French examples, such as Notre Dame, Paris, and Bourges, and extremely unlike the ordinary early Spanish plan, in which the transepts, the lantern, and the three eastern apses, are always distinctly and emphatically marked. Here the excrescences are all later addi- tions. The chapels of the chevet were very small, and almost contained within the semi-circle which forms its outline. There is no lantern, and the transepts are hardly recognized on the ground-plan. The aim of the great French architects of the period was to reduce their work to an almost classic simplicity and uniformity ; and their ambition was evidently shared by the architect who presided over the erection of this Cathedral at Toledo. 242 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI. Let us now examine with some minuteness the arrangement of the i)hin of the chevot. This is rightly the first point to be considered ; for this is always the keynote, so to speak, of the whole scheme of such a church ; and it is here that the surest evidence is afforded of what I believe to be the foreign origin of the design ; for not even in details is there anything by which it is more easy in some cases to trace the origin of an old church than in the general scheme of the ground-plan ; and in large churches the plan of the chevet is that which regulates every other part. To this part therefore I must now address myself. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the ingenuity of the greatest French architects — the greatest school perhaps the world has ever seen — was taxed to the utmost to devise means for obviating all the difficulties attendant on the plan of an apse with an aisle or aisles continued round it.^ The arrangement of the central vault is easy enough ; but the great flying- buttresses which support this have to be carried in part on the columns which form ihe divisions of the aisles surrounding the apse. From the centre of the apse, therefore, a number of lines drawn through its angles represent the lines of the flying-buttresses, and mark the position for the outer orders of columns. These lines diverge so rapidly from each other that the compartments enclosed witliin them become extremely irre- gular in their outline ; and this renders it very difficult to cover them with vaults which shall look thoroughly well, and in which the arched ribs shall not be crippled or irregular in their lines. The French architects had from the first realized the necessity for making the diagonal vaulting rib a semi-circle. They saw that the line thus obtained was a continuous line of the utmost value, leading the eye on in succession from one bay of vaulting to another without any interruption — gradually from one end of the vastest vault to the other. Whenever this form is given up the effect of vaulting is half destroyed ; and it matters not whether we turn to the domical pointed vaults of the Angeviue architects, or the vaults of some of our own cathedrals, with their pointed diagonal ribs, we shall at once see how inferior they are ' M. VioUet le Due's articles in the thus given me in the consideration of Dictionnaire de 1' Architecture FraD§aise this question, to express the gratitude on the planning of French churches are which I suppose every student of extremely valuable, as indeed is all that Christian art feels for what he has he writes ; and I take the opportunity done towards promoting its right study, afforded me by the aid which he has Chap. XL TOLEDO : CATHEDRAL. 243 to the old French mode.^ In these unequal vaulting bays in the apse it was impossible to make a straight diagonal ril) a semi- circle, for then (I) the highest part of the vault would be higher than the intei*section of the ribs, and the connexion of the Iiiasrams of VaultitiG:. intersection with tlie highest part of the transverse arch would be extremely bad, and all but unmanageable. To get over this difficulty, we find the architect of Bourges (a.d. 1230) planning his diagonal ribs on a curve (II) ; whilst at Chartres (a.d. 1220) the architect planned this rib on a broken line (III). The architect of the choir of Le Mans (just later in date than Chartres — circa A.D. 1230) improved enormously upon what his brethren had done by the introduction of a triangular compartment in the outer aisle, which enabled him to make the vaulting bays between them nearly square, and to obtain a light between each of the chapels of the apse, which vastly increased its beauty. The architect of Bourges had indeed introduced triangular-vaulting compart- ments in his outer aisle, but so clumsily, that he had increased rather than diminished the difficulty with which he was dealing ; and the earlier architect of Notre Dame, Paris (a.d. 1170), had ingeniously planned almost all the vaults of his apse in triangular compartments, with great gain over the systems of those who had preceded him ; but his plan had the grave defect of placing 1 That ingenious form of vault in- vented by modern ^plasterers, in which the transverse arch gives all the data for the shape of the diagonal rib, which is consequently neither a true pointed arch, nor a true curve of any kind, is, of course, the worst of all foi-ms ; and it might be thought unnecessary to utter a protest against it, were it not that we see some of our best modern buildings disfigured beyond measure by its introduction. Nothing is simjjler than a good vault. The best rule for it is to make a good diagonal arch and a good transverse arch, and the filling in of the cells is pretty sure to take cai'e of itself. R 2 244 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI. X- 1 i. J J Kut for tlieir whole history see Bellas of Pablo Ortiz was selected, and a con- . , _. ^ ,^ -r. i J . , r. ., ,. Artes en Espafia, V. 2;}0. Borgoua carvetl tract entered into tor its erection on ,, „ ,, V, i • i V. T rTi.1 , Acn r. 11 A 1. the stalls on the (jrospel side, Ijerruguete January 7th, 1489.— Bellas Artes en ,, ., t^ • ., • n i-\, ■, ■ T-, ^ ... .,o< those on the iiipistle side or the choir. — Espaiia, 111. 284. i t7 - ■ -n m • .' rn. 1 i i. 11 I ii /■ 11 • ronz, viage de Ji^spaim, i. o9. llns - These later stalls have the following \^ ■,■ ■, ^ . , -l ^ i- . ,. same telipe de Borgoiia was architect of inscription : — i.i i . r « xi j i „. , . ,. , the lantern of Burgos cathedral. " Signa, turn niarmorea, turn ligna coelavere : ° liinc Pliilippus Burgundio Chap. XL TOLEDO : CATHEDRAL. '253 ill them must liave been fresh in tlie minds of the people ; and they are full of picturesque vigour and character. The names of the fortresses are often inscribed upon the walls : in some we liave the siege, in others the surrender of the keys, and in others the Catholic monarchs, accompanied by Cardinal Ximenes, rid- ing in, in triumph, through the gates. It may be a fair complaint that the subjects are rather too much alike ; but in subjects all of which were so similar in their story, it was, of course, difficult to avoid this. Their effect is in marked contrast to the heavy dull Paganism of the sculptures by Berruguete, whose work took the place, no doubt, of some more ancient stalls. The cano- pies in his work rest on columns of jasper, a material which seems to be very abundant here. In the centre of the Coro stands the great Eagle, a magnificent work in brass. The enormous bird, with outstretched wings, is fighting a dragon which struggles between its feet : its eyes are large red stones, and it stands upon a canopied, buttressed, and pinnacled pedestal, crowded with statues, among which are those of the twelve apostles. Six lions couchant carry the whole on their backs, and serve to complete the family likeness to other brass eagles, of which, however, this is, I think, by far the most grandiose I have ever seen. Here as elsewhere throughout Spain the iron and brass screens are very numerous. The two liejas, east of the Coro and west of the Cajjilla mayor, were finished in a.d. 1548. There is little to admire in their detail ; but they are massive and bold pieces of metal-work, for the dignified simplicity of which there is much, no doubt, to be said, when we think of the terribly over-orna- mented work — semi-renaissance in its feeling — which is so un- fortunately fashionable among some of our own church restorers now-a-days.^ The great iron screen outside the north transept door is an earlier work, and fine in its way. The detail of this is very much like the screens already described at Palencia. There are also many Retablos, and some of them ancient. I'liat behind the high altar is a grand work, of so great height that it rises cpiite from the floor to the roof, being filled with subjects from our Lord's life, arranged with the most complete disregard to their chronology, and, so far as I could see, without any other better system of arrangement. The whole, however, ' The Reja east of the Coro was de- a model made in wood by Martinez, a signed by Domingo Cespides, by order carpenter. — Toledo Piutoresca, p. 40. of the Chajjter, to wlioiu he presented 254 GOTHIC AECHITECTUEE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI. is most effective, the subjects being richly painted and gikled, and the wliole of the canopies and niches covered with gold, so that the effect is one of extreme richness and perfect quietness combined, the usual result of the ample use of gold. Many other small Ketablos exist elsewhere, and many have been destroyed. ^ The difficulty in the way of seeing to sketch anytliing inside the cathedi'al is as great as it usually is in Spain, but not at all in consequence of the absence of windows ; for, as will have been seen from my description, the windows are both many and large : all of them, however, are filled with stained glass, and hence, in addition to the wonderful charm of contrasted lights and shades, which we have here in marvellous perfection, we have also the charm of seeing none but coloured rays of light whoi'e any fall through tlie windows on the floor or walls. Most of the glass appeared to me to be of the fifteenth cen- tury, and later. The rose of the north transept, which is earlier, has already been described ; and the glass in the eastern windows of the transept clerestory (single figures under canopies) looked as if it were of the same date, or at any rate earlier than a.d. 1350. The rest of the church is glazed rather uniformly with cinque- cento glass of extreme brilliancy and unusual depth of colour, the upper windows having generally single figures, the others subjects in medallions. I had not time to make out the scheme of their arrangement ; but I observed that the medallions of the clerestory of the intermediate aisle began at the west end, with the Expulsion from Paradise, and went on witli subjects from the Old Testament. Of colour on the walls, little, alas ! remains. They have been whitewashed throughout, and in the choir coarsely dia- pered Avith broad gilt masonry lines, edged with black. The internal tympanum of the south transept door has a tree of Jesse, and close to it is an enormous painting of S. Christopher ; and the cloister walls had remains of paintings which used to be attributed (but without the slightest foundation, I believe) to Giotto, but these have now given way to new wall-paintings of poor design and no value of any kind. The stateliness of the services here answers in some degree to 1 Alonso de Covarrubias, Maestro the names of the men who executed it, Mayor froml 534 tol53B, mentions among see Pouz, Viage de Espaua, i. 65. It was his works the removal of most of the designed in 1 500. See also the Life of Retablos, which, he says, produced a Juan de Borgofia, in Diccin., &c., de las " detestable effect." For an account of Bellas Artes en Espana, vol. i. p. 163. the Retablo of the principal altar, and Chap. XT. TOLEDO : CATHEDRAL. 255 the grandeur of the fabric in which they are celebrated. At eight o'clock every morning there appears to be mass at the high altar, at which the Epistle and Gospel are read from ambons in the screen in front of it, the gospeller having two lighted candles ; whilst the silvery-sounding wheels of bells are rung with all their force at the elevation of the Host, in place of the single tinkling bell to which our ears are so used on the Continent.' The Kevolution in Spain, among other odd things, has enabled the clergy here to sing the Lauds at about four o'clock in the afternoon instead of at tlie right time. The service at the Mozarabic Chapel at the west end of the aisle goes on at the same time as that in the Coro, and anything more puzzling than the two organs and two choirs singing as it were against each other can scarcely be conceived. There are neither seats nor chairs for the people ; the worshippers, in so vast a place, seem to be few, though no doubt we should count them as many in one of our English cathedrals. I always wish, when I see a church so used, that we could revive the same custom here, and let a fair proportion, at any rate, of the people stand and kneel at large on tlie floor. Our chairs, benches, and pews are at least as often a nuisance to their occupiers as the contrary ; and for all parts of our services, save the sermon, all but superfluous. Some day, perhaps, when we have discovered that it is not given to every one to be a good preacher, we may separate our sermons from our other services, and may live in hopes of then seeing the floors of our churches restored to the free and common use of the people, whilst some chance will be given, at the same time, to our architects of exhibiting their powers to the greatest advantage. It would be easy to elaborate the account which I have given of this cathedral, to very much greater length ; for there are ' I find the following interesting Saffron, or light Yellow. — On Feasts of account of the colours used during the Confessors, Doctors, and Abbots, different seasons of the ecclesiastical Blue. — Trinity Sunday, and many year given by Bias Ortiz, Descriptio other Sundays. Teiiipli Toletani, pp. 387, 388 : — Ash-colour. — Ash- Wednesday. White. — The Nativity and Resurrec- Violet. — Advent and Lent, wars, and tion of our Lord, and the feasts of the troubles. Blessed Virgin Mary and Virgins. Black. — For the Passion of our Lord, i.W.— Epiphany, Pentecost, Festivity and for funerals- And besides these all of Holy Cross, Apostles, Evangelists, sorts of colours mixed with gold on the and Martyrs," and the Victory of Bena- festival of All Saints, on account of mariu. their diversity of character, and on the Green. — In the procession on Palm coming of the king or archbishojis of Sunday, and the Solemnity of S. John Toledo, or of legates from the Pope. Baptist. 256 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XL other erections in connexion with it besides all those that I have noticed, of a grand and costly kind, owing their foundation to the builders of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and every- where affording the same exhibition of magnificence and wealth ; but these works are all wortliless from the point of view which I have taken for my notes of Spanish architecture, and if I were to chronicle them I should be bound to chronicle all the works of Berruguete, Herrera, and Churriguera elsewhere, for which sad task I have neither space nor inclination. I cannot, indeed, forgive these men, when I remember that to them it is due that what remained before their time of the original design of the exterior of this church was completely modernized or concealed everywhere by their additions. The only other great Gothic work in the city, after the cathe- dral, seems to be the church of San Juan de los lleyes,' which was erected by order of Ferdinand and Isabella, in a.d. 1476, to commemorate their victory in the battle of Toro over the Kin2; of Portugal. Nothiuij' can be much more elaborate thnn much of the detail of this church, yet I have seen few buildings less pleasing or harmonious. It was erected in the age of heraldic achievements, and angels with coats of arms are crowded over the walls. There is a nave of four bays, a Cimborio or raised lantern at the Crossing, roofed with an octagonal vault with groined pendentives, quasi-transepts (they are in fact mere shallow square recesses), and a very short apsidal choir of five unequal sides. The western bay of the nave has a deejj groined gallery, of the same age as the church, and in which are the stalls and organs, Avitli two small ambons in its western balus- trade : chapels are formed between the nave buttresses. Other ambons are placed at some height from the floor against the north-west and south-west piers of the Cimborio. The lantern on the outside is octagonal with pinnacles at the angles and a pierced parapet. The bald panelling of the external wall of the south transept is furnished with a ghastly kind of adornment in the chains with which Christians are said to have been confined by the Moors in Granada. ' Hernando del Pulgar, in the ' Cronica ' Descripciou de la Imperial Ciudad,' de los muy Altos y Esclarecidos Reyes says that Ferdinand and Isabella in- Catolieos ' (part ii. cap. 6-3), records the tended to be buried here. They changed erection of the church in .iccoinplish- their intention in favour of the chai^el meut of a vow made after the battle of tliey built at Granada after the con- Toro ; and D. Francisco de Pisa, in his quest, ' Chap. XT. TOLEDO: S. JUAN DE LOS REYES. 257 The ruling idea of the interior of this church is evidently that which, unfortunately I think, is somewhat fashionable at the present day — the bringing of the altar forward among the people without reserve or protection. The removal of the Coro to the western gallery, the shallow recess in which the altar is placed, and the broad, unbroken area of the nave, are all evidences of this, and could only have been adopted when all desire to interest the people in any but the altar services had been given up, and with it that wholesome reverence which, in earlier days, had jealously guarded, fenced around, and screened these the holiest parts of holy buildings. A blue velvet canopy still hangs above the altar ; it is a square tester, with hangings at the back and on either side. The velvet is marked with vertical lines of gokl lace, and the eagle of St. John — the crest of Ferdinand and Isabella — is introduced in the embroidery. The pulpit Avas against one of the piers on the south side of the nave ; the door into it is now stopped up, and another pulpit has been erected below the Gospel ambon. There is a gallery corbelled out from the clerestory, in front of one of the south windows, the use of which did not seem to be at all clear, unless, indeed, it was similar in object to such an example as the minstrels' gallery at Exeter Cathedral. The old cloister, though falling down through neglect and bad usage, is, on the whole, the finest portion of the whole work ; it is groined throughout, and covered with rich sculpture of foliage and animals, and saints in niches. It has been much damaged, mainly, I believe, by French soldiers during the war, and is now used in part as a j)icture gallery, and in part as a museum of an- tiquities. The pictures, like those in most of the inferior Spanish collections, are very sad, ghastly, and gloomy ; but among the antiquities are many of value, including a good deal of JMoorish work of various ages. The cloister is of two stages in height, the lower having traceried openings, the upper large open arches in each bay. The refectory also remains, with ogee lierne ribs on its groining : over the entrance to it is a great cross, recessed within an arch, with a pelican at the top, and statues of St. Mary and St. John' on either side, but without the figure of our Lord. And now I bid farewell to Toledo. Few cities that I have ever seen can compete in artistic interest with it ; and none perhaps ' Said to be i^oi'traits of Ferdinand and Isabella. — Toledo en la Mano, p. I'M. S 258 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chat. XT. como up to it in the singular magnificence of its situation, and the endless novelty and pieturesqueness of its every corner. It epitomizes the wliole strange history of Spain in a manner so vivid, tliat lie who visits its old nooks and corners carefully and thoughtfully, can work ont, almost unassisted, tlie strange variety which that history affords. For liere, Eomans, Visigoths, Sara- cens, and again Christians, have in turn held sway, and here all liave left their mark ; here, moreover, the Christians, since the thirteenth century, have shown two opposite examples, — one of toleration of Jews and IMoors, which it would be hard to find a parallel for among ourselves, and the other of intolerance, sucli as has no parallel out of Spain elsewhere in Europe. I need hardly say that in such a city the post-Gothic builders have also left their mark. They have built many and imposing houses of various kinds, chief among which are the altered Alcazar, now destroyed and ruined, and the Convent of Sta. Cruz. But there was nothing in these works specially appro^jriate to the locality, and nothing, therefore, which takes them out of the j)Osition which their class holds elsewhere in Spain. I believe that Toledo, in addition to all its other charms, is a good starting-point for visits to several of the best examples of mediaeval Castilian castles. I have not been able to afford the time necessary for this work, and was unluckily obliged, therefore, to neglect it altogether ; but the Spanish castles are so important that they deserve a volume to themselves ; and it is to be hoped that ere long some one will undertake the pleasant task of examining and illustrating them. 4 Chm'. XII. ARANJUEZ— VALENCIA. 259 CHAPTER XII. VALENCIA. From Toledo I took the railway to Valencia. But as the junc- tion of the Toledo branch with the main line is a small station of the meanest description, and as there were three or four hours to dispose of before the mail-train passed, I went back as far as Aranjuez, intending to dine there. The station is close to the palace, a large, bald, and uninteresting pile. The principal inn is kept by an Euglishman with a French wife, and as it was not the right season for Aranjuez we had great difficulty in getting anything. In truth the French wife was a tartar, and advised us to go back again ; but finally, the husband having inter- ceded, she relented so far as to produce some eggs and bacon. Aranjuez seemed to consist mainly of the palace and its stables, and to be afflicted Avitli even more than the usual plague of dust : but in the spring no doubt it is in a more pleasant state, and may, I hope, justify the landlord's assertion that there is nothing in the world to compare with it ! Late in the evening we started for Valencia : it was a bright moonlight night, so that I was able, when I woke and looked out, to see that the country we traversed was an endless jjlain of extremely uninteresting character, and that we lost little by not seeing it. I should have preferred leaving the raihvay altogether, and going by Cuenja on my way to Valencia; but time was altogether wanting for this detour, though I have no doubt that Cuenja would well repay a visit. At Almanza, where the lines for Alicante and Valencia sepa- rate, there is a very picturesque castle perched upon a rock above the town, and here the dreary, uninteresting country, which extends with but short intervals all the way from Vitoria, is changed for the somewhat mountainous Valencian district, which everywhere shows signs of the highest luxm-iauce and cultivation, resulting almost entirely from the extreme care and industry with which the artificial irrigation is managed. The villages are numerous, and around them are beautiful vineyards, groves of orange-trees, and rice-fields ; whilst hero and there s 2 2t)() GOTHIC AKCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XTF. clumps of tall palm-trees give a very Eastern aspect to the landscape. Tlie chnrclies seemed, as far as I could judge, to be all modern and most uninteresting. After passing the liilly country, a broad plain is crossed to Valencia. Here the system of irrigation, said to be an inheritance from the Moors, is evi- dently most complete. Every field has its stream of water running rapidly along, and the main drawback to such a system, so completely carried out, is that the beds of the rivers are generally all but dry, their water being all diverted into other and more useful channels. The Valencian farm-labourers' dress is quite worth looking at. They wear short, loose, white linen trousers and jackets, brilliantly coloured manias — generally scarlet — thrown over their shoulders, coloured handkerchiefs over their heads, and violet scarfs round their waists. They have a quaint way of sitting at work in the fields, Avith their knees up to their ears, like so many grasshoppers ; and their skin is so well bronzed that one can hardly believe them to be of European blood. They, are said to be vindictive and passionate, but they are also, so far as I saw them, very lively, merry, and talkative. The farms appear to be very large, and when I passed the farmer* were hard at work threshing their rice. This is all done by horses and mules on circular threshing-floors. In many of the farms eight or ten pair of horses may be seen at work at the same time on as many threshing-floors, and the effect of such a scene is striking and novel. As we went into Valencia we passed on the right the enor- mous new Plaza de Toros, said to be the finest in Spain. Hail- roads will, I suppose, rather tend to develop the national love for this institution, and this theatre must have been built with some such imjjression, for otherwise it is difficult to believe that a city of a hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants could build a theatre capable of containing about a tenth of the whole population ! The national vehicle of Valencia is the tartana, a covered cart on two wheels, with a slight attempt only at springs, and ren- dered gay by the crimson curtains which are hung across the front. Jumping into one of these, we soon found ourselves at the excellent Fonda del Cid, whose title reminds us that we are on classic ground in this city of Valencia del Cid. The Cid took the city from the Moors after a siege of twenty months, in A.D. 1094, estabhshed himself here, and ruled till his death, in a.d. 1099. The Moors then regained possession for a short time, but in a.d. 1238 or 1239 it was finally re-taken from them by the Spaniards. Chap. XII. VALENCIA: CATHEUKAL. 261 It is hardly to be expected that anything would remain of Christian work earlier than a.d. 1095, or, more probably, than A.D. 1239, and this I found to be the case. The cathedral, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, is a church of only moderate interest, its interior having been overlaid everywhere Avith columns, pilasters, and cornices of plaster, and the greater part of the exterior being surrounded so completely Avith houses, that no good view can be obtained of it. The ground-plan is, however, still so far untouched as to be perfectly intelligible. It has a nave and aisles of four bays, transepts projecting one bay beyond the aisles, and a lofty lan- tern or Cimborio over the Crossing. The choir is one bay only in length, and has a three-sided apse. An aisle of the same width as that of the nave is continued round the choir, and has the rare arrangement of two polygonal chapels opening in each of its bays. The vaulting compartments in the aisle are there- fore cincopartite, those throughout the rest of the church being quadripartite. A grand Chapter-house stands detached to the south of the west bay of the nave, and an octagonal steeple, called " El Micalete," abuts against the north-west angle of the west front. The ritual arrangements are all modern, and on the usual plan. The western bay of the church is open ; the stalls of the Coro occupy the second and third bays ; and metal rails across the fourth bay of the nave and the Crossing connect the Coro with the Capilla mayor. The evidence as to the age of the various portions of the building is sufificient to enable us to date most of the work rather accurately. The foundation of the church is recorded by an inscrii^tion over the south-transept door to have been laid in 1262 : ' and some portion of the exterior is, I have no doubt, of this date. The whole south-transept front, a portion of the sacristy on the east side, and the exterior of the apse, are all of fine early-pointed style, and, in the absence of any specific statement of their date, might well liave been thought to belong to quite the commencement of the century. But I think a careful examination of the detail will show that the Avork is possibly not so early as it looks : and it has so much 1 Anno Domini m.cc.lxii. x. Kal. Jil. fvit Posrrrs Pkdii's lapis in Ecclesia Beat/E IMari.e sedis Valentixj^ per veneuabilem I'atreji Domini m Fratrem Andream Tertii ji Valentine civitatis Episcopijm. 262 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XII. in common with Italian work of the same age, that we need not bo surprised to find in it features which woukl nevertheless be inconsistent with its execution in the middle of tlie tliirteenth century in any work in the North of Europe. The south tran- sept faqade consists of a round-arched doorway, with a horizontal cornice over it, and a large and fine lancet-window above. The door and window have respectively six and three jamb-shafts, and the abaci throughout are square in plan. The archivolt of the doorway is very rich : it includes five orders of enriched dog-tooth moulding, one order of seraphs in niches, one of chevron, one of scalloping, and two of foliage : good thirteenth century mouldings are also freely used. The shafts are de- tached, and there is foliage on the jamb between them. The abaci are very richly carved with animals and foliage, and the capitals are all sculptured with subjects under canopies. The detail of the whole of the work is certainly very exquisite. Undoubtedly in the north of France such work would be assumed to have belonged to the twelfth rather than the thir- teenth century; but the quatrefoil diapering on the capitals, the canopy work over the subjects in them, and the pronounced cliaracter of the mouldings and dog-tooth enrichment, make it pretty clear that the recorded date applies to this work. Indeed I do not know liow w^e can assume any other date for it without altogether throwing over the extremely definite old inscription : for as it is evident that the south transept and choir are of the same date, it is difficult to see how it could have been possible to speak of the first stone, if all this important part of the fabric w^ere already in existence.^ Close to the transept on the east, in the wall of what is now a sacristy, is another lancet window, of equally good, though simpler detail. Enough, too, remains of the original work in the exterior of the apse to show that it is of the same age as the south transept. The clerestory windows seem to have been simple broad lancets ; there are corbel-tables under the eaves ; and the buttresses are very solid aud simple. On the interior nothing but the groining has been left untouched by the pagan plasterers of a later day. I have found no evidence as to the date of the next portion of the fabric, which is the more to be regretted as it is altogether very important and interesting in its character. It includes the whole faqade of the north transept, a noble lantern at the ■ 1 This doorway ought to be compared so extremely similar to it that it is im- with the south door of the uave of possible, I think, to doubt that they Lerida cathedral, the detail of which is were the work of the same meu. VALENCIA CATHEDRAL XORTH TRANSEPT ANT CIMBORIO. Chap. XII. VALENCIA : CATHEDRAL. 263 Crossiuj^, and a small pulpit, and the whole of this is a good example of probably the latter half of the fourteenth century. The north transept elevation is extremely rich in detail. The great doorway in the centre of the lowest stage — De los Aposteles — has figures under canopies in its jambs, and corresponding figures on either side beyond the jambs. The arch is moulded, and sculptured with four rows of figiu-es and canopies, divided by orders of mouldings. The tympanum of the door is adorned with sculptures of the Blessed Virgin with our Lord and angels. Over the arch is a gabled canopy, the spandrels of which are filled with tracery and figures. Above, and set back rather from the face of the doorway, is a rose window, the very rich traceries of which are arranged in intersecting equilateral triangles ; over it is a crocketed pediment, with tracery in the spandrels and on either side, and flanked by pinnacles. Ever}^ portion of the wall is panelled or carved. This front affords an admirable example of that class of middle-pointed work which was common in Ger- many and France at the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries. The style prevailed for some time, and it was probably about the middle of the fourteenth century that this building was executed. The pulpit is placed against the north-east pier of the Cross- ing; it has evidently been taken to pieces and reconstructed, and it is not certain, I think, that it was originally a pulpit. Many of the members of the base and capital of its stem, and the angles of the octagonal upper stage, are modern, and of bronze ; the rest is mainly of marble. The stem is slender, and the upper part is pierced with richly-moulded geometrical traceries, behind which the panels are filled in with boards, gilt and diapered with extremely good effect. A curious feature in this pulpit is that there is now no entrance to it, and if it is ever used for preaching, the preacher must get into it by climbing over the sides ! The lantern or Cimborio, though in some respects similar to, is no donbt later than the transept ; it is one of the finest examples of its class in Spain. Mr. Ford says that it was built in a.d. 1404, but I have been unable to find his authority for the statement,^ and though he may be right, I should have been inclined to date it somewhat earlier. It is an octagon of two rather similar staefes in height above tlie roof. Crocketed pinnacles are aiTanged at each angle, and large six-light windows with very rich and Madoz gives the same date. — Dice. Geo. Esp. Histuiico. 264 GOTHIC ARCHITECTUKE IN SPAIN. (Jhap. XI J. A varied geometrical tracery fill the whole of each of the sides. The lower windows have crocketed labels, and the upper crocketed canopies, and the string-courses are enriched with fohage. From the very transparent character of this lantern, it is clear that it was never intended to be carried higlier. It is a lantern and nothing more, and really very noble, in spite of its somewhat too ornate and frittered character.^ The portion of the work next in date to this seems to have been the tower. This, like the lantern, is octagonal in plan, and it is placed at the north- west corner of the aisle, against which one of its angles is set. A more Gothic contempt for re- gularity it would be impossible to imagine, yet the eftect is cer- tainly good. The circumference of this steeple is said to be equal to its height, but I had not an opportunity of testing this. Each side is 20 ft. 8 in. from angle to angle of the buttresses, so that the height, if the statement is true, would be about 105 feet. It is of four stages in height ; the three lower stages quite plain, and the belfry rather rich, with a window in each face, panelling all over the wall above, and crocketed pediments over the windows. The buttresses or pilasters — lor they are of simi- lar projection throughout their height — are finished at the top with crocketed jjinnacles. The parapet has been destroyed, and there is a modern structure on the roof at the top. The evi- dence as to the age of this work is ample. It is called " El Micalete " or " Miguelete," its bells having been first hung on tlie feast of St. Michael. The ]\Iicalete. ' The illiistratiou wliicli I give of this lantern is borrowed from Mr. Fergusson's ' Haudbook of Architecture.' Chaf. Xn. VALENCIA : CATHEDRAL. 265 Some documents referring to it are given by Cean Bermutlez/ and are as follows : — I. A deed executed in Valencia before Jayme Rovira, notary, on the 2Uth June, 1380, by which it appears that Michael Palomar, citizen, Bernardo Boix and Bartolome Valent, master masons, estimated what they considered necessary for the fabric of the tower or campanile at 853 scudi. II. From the MS. diary of the chaplain of King D. Alouso V. of Aragon, it appears that on the 1st January, a.d. 1381, there was a solemn procession of the bishop, clergy, and regidors of the city to the church, to lay the first stone of the Micalete.^ III. By a deed made in Valencia, May 18th, a.d. 1414, before Jayme Pastor, notary or clerk of the chapter, it is settled that Pedro Balaguer, an "able architect," shall receive 50 florins from the fabric fund of the new campanile or Micalete, " in payment of his expenses on the journey which he made to Lerida, Narbonne, and other cities, in order to see and examine their towers and campaniles, so as to imitate from them the most elegant and fit form for the cathedral of Valencia," IV. By another deed, made before the same Jayme Pastor, September 18th, a.d. 1424, it is agreed that Martin Llobet, stone-cutter, agrees to do the work which is wanting and ought to be done in the Micalete, to wit, to finish the last course with its gurgoyles, to make the " harhacano" and bench round about, for the sum of 2000 florins of common money of Aragon,^ the administration of the fabric finding the wheels, ropes, baskets, &c. An inscri|)tion on the tower itself, referred to by Mr. Ford (but which I did not see), states that it was raised between a.d. 1381 and a.d. 1418, by Juan Franck, and it is said to have been intended to be 350 feet high.^ It is evident, therefore, that several architects were employed upon the work, and I know few facts in the history of mediaeval ' Noticias de los Arquitectos, &c., vol. Lerida s'y jetterent les premiers, et i. p. 25(5. prirent la ville. Cast pourquoi, loi-s- ■^ Viage Lit. a las Iglesias de Espana, qu'on repeuijla Valeuce, ils y envoyerent vol. i. p. 81. vuie colonie, leurs mesures, et leur 3 L'au 12:;8, lorsque Jaques I. Moi mounaye, dont ou s'y seit encore d'Arragon as.siegoit Valeuce, qui etait au aujourd'liui ; et la ville de Valence pouvoir des Mores, il de'clara que les recouuoit celle de Lerida pour sa mfere. pi'emiers qui I'emporteroient auroient — Les Delices de I'Espague, iv. G13. rhonneur de donner les poidS;, les Leyden, a.d. 1715. mesures, et la mounaye de leur ville ii ^ Pouz, Viage de Espaua, iv. -1, 22. ceux de Valence ; la dessus ceux de 266 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XII. art more interesting tlian the account we have here of the pay- ment of an architect whilst he travelled to find some good work to copy for the city of Valencia. The steeple of Lerida cathedral will be mentioned in its place, and it is sufficient now to say that it is also octagonal, of great height, and dates from the commencement of the fourteenth century. I know nothing at Narbonne which could have been suggestive to Pedro Balaguer, but the city was Spanish in those days, and is probably only men- tioned as one of the most important places to which he went. ^yhen the Micalete was built the nave of the church seems to have been still unfinished, the choir and transepts and part of the nave only having been built. In 1459, under the direction of an architect named Valdomar, a native of Valencia, the work was continued, and the church was joined to the tower. The authority for this statement is a MS. in the library of the con- vent of San Domingo, Valencia, which says : " In the year of our Lord 1459, on Monday, the 10th of September, they com- menced digging to make the doorway and arcade of the cathedral ; Master Valdomar was the master of the works, a native of the said city of Valencia." ^ Of Valdomar's work in this part of the church nothing remains, the whole has been altered in the most cruel way, and the most contemptible work erected in its place. Valdomar appears to have died whilst his work was in progress, and to have been succeeded by Pedro Compte, who concluded the work in 1482. The manuscript already quoted from the library of San Domingo is the authority for this statement, and describes Pedro Compte as " Molt sabut en I'art de la pedra."^ On the south side of the nave there is a Chapter-house, which is said by Ponz^ to be the work of Pedro Compte, and to have been built at the cost of Bishop D. Vidal Blanes, in a.d. 1358. If this statement is correct, it follows that there were two archi- tects of this name, the second having erected the Louja de la Sedia, to which I shall have presently to refer, in a.d. 1482. The tracery of the windows, and the details generally of the Chapter- house, is so geometrical and good, that it is probable that the date given by Ponz may be depended upon. It is a square room ' Valdomar also built the chapel "de " Pedro Compte is mentioned as los Reyes," in the convent of San Do- having been invited by the Arclibishop mingo, commenced 18th June, 1439, of Zaragoza to a conference with four and completed 24th June, 1476. This other architects as to the rebuilding of convent is now desecrated, and I did the Cimborio of his cathedral, which had not see it, but it is said still to contain fallen down in 152u. a good Gothic cloister. 3 Viage de Esp., vol. iv. pp. 29, 30. Chap. XII. VALENCIA : CATHEDRAL. 267 nearly sixty feet in diameter, and groined in stone. The vault is similar to those which I first saw at Burgos, having arches thrown across the angles to bring it to an octagon, and the tri- angular compartments in the angles having their vaults below the main vault. It is lighted by small windows very high up in the walls on the cardinal sides, and these are circular and sjjherical triangles in outline, filled with geometrical tracery. On the south side is a very elaborate arcaded reredos and altar, and on the west a pulpit corbelled out from the wall. The design and detail of the whole are extremely fine, and I regret that I was able to make but a very hurried examination of it, and no sketches ; meeting here, almost for the first time in Spain, with a sacristan who refused to allow me to do more than look, the fact being that it was his time for dinner and siesta ! In the old sacristy to the east of this room are still preserved two embroidered altar frontals, said to have been brought from our own old St. Paul's by two merchants, Andres and Pedro de Medina, just about the time of the Eeformation.' They are therefore of especial interest to an Englishman. They are very large works, strained on frames, and were, I believe, hangings rather than altar frontals, as they are evidently continuations one of the other. The field is of gold, diapered, and upon this a succession of subjects is embroidered. On one cloth are (beginning at the left) (1) our Lord bearing his Cross ; (2) being nailed to the "Cross; (3) crucified, with the thieves on either side ; (4) descending from the Cross ; (5) entombed. The next cloth has (1) the descent into Hell ; (2) the Maries going to the sepulchre ; (3) the Maries at the tomb, the angel, and (4) the Eesurrection. The effect of tlie whole work is like that of a brilliant CTcrman painting, and the figures are full of action and spirit, and have a great deal of expression in their faces. The diapered ground is made with gold thread, laid down in vertical lines, and then diapered with diagonal lines of fine bullion stitched down over it to form the diaper. The gold is generally manufactured in a double twist, and borders and edgings are all done with a very bold twisted gold cord. The faces are all wrought in silk, and some of the dresses are of silk, lined all over with gold. The old border at the edge exists on one only of the frontals. The size of each is 3 ft. 1 in. by 10 ft. 2 in., and the date, as nearly as I can judge, must be about a.d. 1450. There ' Spain boasts other like treasures, Yuglesa," because brought from St, e.ij. — a figure still preserved at Mon- Paul's. — See Pouz, Viage de Espana, douedo, and which is still called "la vol. iv. p. 43. 268 GOTHIC AHCtlJTECTUKE IN SPAIN. Chai>. XII. is also preserved here a missal wliicli ouee belouged to West- minster Abbey. I could lind no other church of any interest. There are several which have some old remains, but they are generally so damaged and decayed, tliat it is impossible to make anything of them. One I saw desecrated and occupied by the military, and was unable to enter; and there is another in a street leading out of the Calle de Caballeros, which has a very fine round-arched doorway, with three shafts in the jambs, and good thirteenth-century mould- ings in the arch, and which is evidently of the same age as the south door of the cathedral. The capitals have each two wyverns ,1 ■^^pfiri Puert I de Scmiio'! ^ ilei ci i fighting, and the abaci are Avell carved. The church, however, was desecrated, and no one knew how I could gain admission to it. The walls and gates are of more interest. They are lofty, Chap. XII. VALENCIA : DOMESTIC REMAINS. 269 and generally well preserved. The two finest gates are the Puerta de Serranos, and that del Cuarte. The former, said by Ford ' to have been bnilt in a.d. 1349, is a noble erection. Two grand polygonal towers flank the entrance archway, which is recessed in the centre. Above this the wall is covered with tracery panelling, and then a great projecting gallery or plat- form, supported on enormous corbels, is carried all round the three exposed sides of the gateway. The towers are carried up a considerable height above this gallery, and it is probable that there was originally a wooden construction over it, of the hind which M. Viollet le Due, in his treatise on military architec- ture, has shown to have been commonly adopted in fortifications of this age. The Puerta del Cuarte is of the same description, and has two circular flanking towers, but is less imposing, and is said to have been built in a.d. 1444, Both gateways are completely open at the back, enormous open arches, one above the other, rendering them useless for attack against the city ; and the cor- belled-out j)assages at the top are not continued across the back. The domestic remains here are of some importance. One feature of rather frequent occurrence is the window of two or three lights, divided by detached shafts. The earlier examples have simple trefoil heads, and sculptured capitals to the columns. In the later examples there are mouldings round the cusped head, and the abaci and capitals are carved : but it is a very curious fact, that wherever I saw any old towns on the coast of the Mediterranean, there I always saw some specimens of this later kind of wuudow, with detail and carving so identical in cha- racter, that I was almost driven to the conclusion that they were all executed in the same place, and sent about the country to be fixed ! Nevertheless, they are always very pretty, so that one ought not to grumble if they do occur a little too often. The shafts are generally of marble, and often coupled one behind the other. The Arabs had a name for this class of windows, and as we have not, and want one, it may be as well to mention it. They are called ajimez, literally windows by which the sun enters. Tlie Arabs seem to have supplied many of the architectural terms in use in Spain, and probably we owe them in this case not only the name, but the design also. Among other Arab words still in common use, I may mention Alcazar, Alcala, Tapia, and many more are given in vocabularies. Handbook of Spain, i. .'567. 270 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPATX. Chap. XIT, One of tlie earliest of these ajimez windows is in a honse on the east side of the catliedral ; and a fine example of later date is in an old honse in the Callo de Caballeros, the internal conrt and staircase of wliich are also picturesque, though hardly nic- difeval. All the houses here seem to be built on the same phxn, with the stables and offices on the ground floor, arranged round an internal court, an open stone staircase to the first floor. Ajilllrz Wlll.l.iV.-. \-, and the living-rooms above. The fronts towards the streets are generally rather gloomy and forbidding-looking, but the courts are always picturesc[ue. The finest domestic building in the city is the Casa Lonja, or Exchange, Avhich was commenced on the 7th November, 1482, the year in which the works at the cathedral were completed by Pedro Compte. There is no doubt, I believe, that he Avasthe architect; and on March 19, 1498, he was appointed perpetual Alcaide of the Lonja, witli a salary of thirty pounds ("libras") a year. He was also " Maestro Mayor " of the city, and was employed in several works of engmeering on the rivers and streams of the district.^ The main front of the Lonja is still very nearly as he left it, a fine specimen of late Spanish pointed work. The detail is of the same kind as, but simpler than, the contemporary works at Valiadolid and Burgos, and there is a less determined display of heraldic achievements ; though the great doorway, and the window on either side of it which open into the great hall, and which are so curiously grouped together by means of labels and string-courses, have some coats of arms and supporters rather irregularly placed in their side panels. The great parapet of the end, and the singu- ' Ceau Bermudez, Arqua, y Aquos. de Espafia, vol. i. p. 139. '-' 3 Cfiap. Xn. DESCRIPTION OF VALENCIA. 271 lar finisli of the battlements, are very wortliy of note, and give gi-eat richness to the whole bnilding. The princijial doorway leads into a fine gi-oined hall, 130 feet long by 75 feet wide, divided into a quasi nave and aisles of five bays by eight columns, sculptured and spirally twisted. The portion of the building to the left of the centre is divided into three chambers in height, the upper and lower rooms being low, the central room lofty and well proportioned. The lower rooms have plain square windows ; the next stage, windows of much loftier propor- tions, and with their square heads ornamented with a rich fringe of cusping. There are pointed discharging arches over them. The upper stage of this wing is extremely rich, the window- openings being pierced in a sort of continuous arcading, the pinnacles of which run up to and finisli in the parapet. This parapet is enriched with circular medallions enclosing heads, a common Italian device, betokening here the hand of a man whose work was verging upon that of the Eenaissance school. At the back is a garden, the windows and archways opening on which are of the same age as the front. Valencia, though not containing any building of remarkable interest, is nevertheless M^ell worth a visit : it is a busy city, full of picturesque colour and people. The manta or rug worn by the peasants throughout Spain is here seen in perfection : it is of rich and very oriental colour, and charms the eye at every turn. I went into a shop and looked at a number of them, and there Mere none which were not thoroughly good in their colour ; and, worn as they are by the sunbm-nt peasants, hanging loosely on one shoulder, they contrast splendidly with their white linen jackets and trousers, and swarthy skins. The river is, at any rate in the autumn, the broad dry bed only of a river, with here and there a puddle just deep enough for washerwomen. The water is all carried off to irrigate the fertile country around, and troops of cavalry and artillery, with their guns all drawn by fine mules, were hard at work exercising where it ought to have been. On the side of the river opposite to the city are some rather nice public gardens, with fine walks and drives planted with noble trees. A drive which begins here extends all the way to Grao, the port of Valencia, some two or three miles off. In the after- noon it seems to be always thronged with tartanas, carriages, and equestrians on their way to and from the sea : and each tar- tana is full generally of a lively cargo of priests and peasants, men, women, and cliildren, all laughing, cheerful, and picturesque. I went to Grao to embark on the steamer for Barcelona. There is 272 . GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SrAIN. Chap. XII. nothing to see there save the usual accompaniments of a sea- port, and the provision for a large and fashionable population of bathers from Madrid during the summer months. For their convenience small and very rude huts are put up on the beach, and left tliere to be destroyed by the winter storms. Not much is sacrificed, as they are of the very rudest desci-iption, and evi- dently devised for the use of people who go to Grao to be amused and to batlie, and not merely to show themselves off as fine ladies and gentlemen. At Valencia tlie national love for the mantilla, which in courtly IMadrid seems to be now half out of fjisliion, finds vent in the positive prohibition at one of the churches for any woman to enter who wears a bonnet in place of it ! CiiAP. XIII. OLD CITY OF TARRAGONA. 273 CHAPTER XIII. TARRAGONA. No one should go from Valencia to Barcelona without paying a visit to Tarragona. It is even now easy of" access, and before long will be still more accessible by means of the railway which is being made between the two towns. I travelled from Bar- celona to Tarragona and back again by diligence, and both journeys, unfortunately, were made for the most part by night, so that I am unable to speak very positively about the scenery u2:»on the road. But both on leaving Barcelona and again before 1 reached Tarragona the road was very beautiful, and I have no doubt it would reward any one who could contrive to give up more time and daylight to it than I could. There is but one town of any importance on the road — Villafranca de Panades, — and here I caught a glimpse of an old church, which seemed to be of the fourteenth-century Catalan type, and fully to deserve examination. The approach to Tarragona is very lovely. The old city stands on the steep slope of a hill, crowned by the stately mediaeval cathedral, and surrounded on all sides by walls, which are still very perfect and in some parts unusually lofty and imposing. Below and beyond the walls to the left, as you approach, is the mean and modern town which covers a low promontory, and is now the centre of all the trade and business of the city. A broad street, in which are the principal inns, divides the two lialves of the city, on the upper side of which the whole archi- tectural interest is centred. The views on all sides are beautiful. Looking back to the east one sees hill after hill, ending in point after point, whicli jut out into the sea one beyond the other, and, combining with the deep blue waters of the Mediteiranean, produce the most charming picture. To the south, looking over the modern town, mole, and harbour, is the sea ; whilst to the west the eye wanders, well content, over a rich green expanse of level land, studded all along its breadth with rich growth of trees, till the view is bounded by the hills which rise beyond the old town of Kens, now an active and enterprising centre of manu- facturing industry. T 274 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IX SPAIN. Chap. XIII. I ought, no doubt, to iill many pages here with an account of the Roman antiquities, whicli are numerous and importaut, Tar- ragona having been one of the most important lioman stations in Spain. Ihit they have been often described, and the time at my disposal allowed only of a hurried glance at them, unless I chose to neglect in their favour the — to me — much more inte- resting Christian remains, which I need hardly say I was not j)repared to do. Tlie city walls are, I believe, to a considerable extent Roman. There are remains— tliough but slight — of an amphitheatre ; the magnificent aqueduct, some little distance from the city, is one of the finest in Europe ; and, finally, there is a museum full of Roman antiquities, which seem well to deserve due examination. But I was obliged to neglect all these, giving them the most cursory inspection, as I found in the cathedral ample occupation for every minute of my time. This is certainly one of the most noble and interesting churches I have seen in Spain. It is one of a class of which I have seen others upon a somewhat smaller scale (as e.g. the cathedrals at Lerida and "i'udela), and which appears to me, after much study of old buildings in most parts of Europe, to aftbrd one of the finest types, from every point of view, that it is pos- sible to find. It produces in a very marked degree an extremely impressive internal effect, without being on an exaggerated scale, and combines in the happiest fashion the greatest solidity of construction with a lavish display of ornament in some parts, to which it is hard to find a parallel. Unfortunately the docu- mentary evidence that I have been able to find as to the age of the various portions of this church is not so complete as I could wish. A very elaborate and painstaking history of the city is in course of publication ; but when I was there ^ the fii'st volume only of this had been published, and this was confined entirely to the Roman antiquities contained in the IMuseum and other collections. The volume of Espana Sagrada, which relates to Tarragona, contains but few documents of any value, and I have been unable to put my hands upon any other which contains any at all. Yet there cannot be much doubt that a see whose history is so important, and whose rank is so high,- must have in 1 In May, 18G2. his dignity so far that I noticed a Man- ^ Tarragona is the see of an arch- damos of the Cardinal Archbisho]) of bishop, who claims to be equal, if not Toledo hung up in the Coro, in which his superior, to the Archbishop of Toledo, title "Priiuada de las Espanas,' and the Practically, of course, he is nothing of same word in " Santa Iglesia Primada," the kind, yet he carries the assertion of were cai-efully scratched through in ink. Chap. XIII. TARRAGONA : CATHEDRAL. 275 its archives a vast store -of information, out of which might be irathered all the material facts as to the foundation of, and addi- tions to, the church. A few notices of the building of the cathedral have, however, come under my eye, and of tliese the most important are the following : — In a.d. 1089 ^ Pope Urban II. addressed an epistle to the faithful, recommending them to aid in ever)"^ way in the restoration of the church, which had then just been recovered from the hands of the Moors. Not long after this, in a.d. 1131, Pope Innocent 11. issued a Bull, wherein he recommended the suffragan churches to contribute to the cost of rebuilding the cathedral.- More than a century after this, works were again in progress, for in the necrology of the cathedral, on 11th March, 1256, mention is made of "Prater Bernardus, magister open's hujus ecclesiae;" wdiilst again, in 1298, Maestro Bartolome is mentioned as the sculptor who wrought nine statues of the ajjostles for the western focade, the remainder having been executed by Maestro Jayme Castayls in 1375. Comparing this cathedral with that of Lerida, of which the date is tolerably well ascertained, it is difficult to pronounce decidedly which is the oldest, except that the eastern apse here, which is very peculiar in its character, has every appearance of being a work of the middle of the twelfth century, at tlie latest, and earlier by far, therefore, than the foundation of the church of Lerida, which was not commenced until a.d. 1203, and which was finished and consecrated in a.d. 1278. I believe, indeed, that the eastern part of this cathedral may most probably have been commenced about a.d. 1131, in consequence of the Bull of Inno- cent II., though the greater portion of the fabric (including the nave and its aisles and the cloister) seems to me to have been executed at the end of the twelfth and during the first half of the thirteenth century ; and it is very possible, therefore, that the Brother Bernardus, who died in 1256, may have been the architect of the larger part of the existing fabric, both of the church and its cloister. The original plan of the cathedral was very simple. It had a nave and aisles, transepts, with apsidal chapels to the east of them, a raised lantei-n or Cimborio over the Crossing, and three parallel apses east of it. On the north-east side of the church — an unusual position, selected probably in obedience to some ' Esjiana Sagrada, vol. xxv. p. 214. * Historia de los Condes de Bai'celona, p. 183, T 2 27G GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XIII. local necessity — is a large cloister of the same age as the church, with a Chapter-house on its southern side. The piers throughout arc clustered in a very fine and massive style, and of a section which is often repeated in early Spanish Gothic ; each arch being carried on two coupled half-columns, and the groin- ing-shafts being placed in a nook in the angle between each of these jmirs of columns. The nave piers are no less than 1 1 ft. 9 in. in diameter, the clear widtli of the nave being about 40 ft, <\ \n»»'i t < same man were marked indifferently with perpen- dicular and diagonal tool- ing lines. On the south side of the choir, just at its junction with the principal apse, is a staircase which leads to the roof: this is carried up in a large square turret, and is of remarkable construction. The newel is 1 ft. C) in. in diameter, and worked in stones, each of about 2 ft. 3 in. in height. Each of these has three corbels, with sockets for the steps, which are thus supported by the newel and yet indepen- dent of it. The aisles on either side of the choir form the lower stage of On the south side the Romanesque tower seems Nowel Staircase. seem to steeples. have been intended to ' The Chapter-house at Fountains skilled m«isons emploj'ed on this one Abbey has one of the largest collections small building at the same time. At of masons' marks I have ever seen, and Tarragona I saw nothing like the same in this case they are of much value, as variety of marks, proving how large was the number of Chap. XITT. TARRAGONA : CATHEDRAL. 279 to have been built no liiglier than the height of the side walls of the church; but subsequently — circa a.d. 1300-1350 — it was carried up as an octagonal steeple, Avith buttresses against the canted sides of the lower stage over the angles of the square base, finished with crocketed pinnacles. This tower occupies the angle between the choir and transept, and I suppose that traces would be found of a corresponding tower on the opposite side, somewhat in the way so commonly met with in all the German Eomanesque churches. Unfortunately the north choir aisle was altered if not rebuilt in the fourteenth century, and I was unable to examine the walls above it, where the evidence of the existence of a second tower would have to be sought. The roof of the apse on the east side of the south transept presents an admirable example of a semi-dome, with the masonry arranged in the usual fashion in regular horizontal courses, and the moulding of the abacus of the arch in front of it carried round it as a string-course at its spriuging. The rest of the church is of rather later date than the east end. It is all just of that transitional period in which, whilst the pointed arch was used where great strength was required, the round arch was nevertheless retained for the smaller openings in the walls. But the capitals throughout the church are sculptured so magni- ficently, and in so well-developed a style, that it is impossible to regard the work anywhere, except at the extreme eastern end, as one in which a Romanesque influence was paramount. We have, indeed, here one of those cases in which almost all the character of tlie work has been stamped on it by the hands of the sculptor ra,ther than of the architect ; for I believe that, had it presented us with a series of plain Eomanesque capitals, we should have felt no difficulty aliout classing the whole w^ork as essentially Eomanesque in style, whereas now the effect is rather that of a glorious Pointed church, the exuberance of whose scul[)ture is kept in subordination by the stern simplicity of the bold unmoulded arches, the massive section of the piers, and the regularity of the outline and firmness of shadow which the deep square abacus everywhere enforces. Here, then, I thought I saw one of those openings which are now and then almost acci- dentally given us for the infusion of new vigour and greater spirit into our own works. It is no copying of a Spanish work that I should wish to see attempted, but only a deliberate deter- mination on the part of the builder of some one building in England to emulate the grand solidity of this old Spanish church ; and if he feels that this is by itself too rude and unpolished for 280 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. Xlll. an overcivilized as^e like ours, then let liim take a lesson from the same old Spanish work, and show the extent of his refine- ment in the subtle delieaey of the sculjtture with which he adorns it. We have few if any such churches in England. Our transi- tional examples are neither very numerous nor very fine ; and it is in Germany and in Spain — so far as my experience goes — that wo find the finest examples of this noble period. In neither of these countries was the progress of architectural development so rapid as it was in England and in the north of France, and consequently such churches as the cathedrals of Tarragona, Lerida, and Tudela were rising in Spain at the same time as the more advanced and scientific, but perhaps less forcible and solemnly grand cathedrals of Salisbury, Lint.'oln, and AVells were being built in England. I hardly know when I have been much more struck than 1 was with the view of the interior of the transept, of which I give an engraving. For though the picturesque furniture of later times, the screens and pulpits, the organs aud other furniture, are in great contrast with the glorious solidity of the old work, the combination of this with them makes a singularly beautiful picture. The nave of the cathedral at Tarragona has been a good deal altered by the introduction of large fourteenth-century clerestory windoAVs of three lights. There is not and there never was a triforium, and the clerestory throughout was, I have no doubt, the same in design that it still is in the transepts, lighted by a simple round-headed window in each bay. The groining has transverse arches or ribs of very large size, diagonal ribs formed with a bold roll moulding only, and no wall ribs. The lantern over the Crossing still remains to be described. It is octagonal in plan, segmental arches being thrown across the angles of the square base to support its diagonal sides. The groining springs from immediately above the apex of the main arches, and the light is admitted by windows alternately of three and four lights. Its interior is very fine. The ribs of its eight-celled vault are very bold, and the dog-tooth enrichment is freely used round all the arches and along the string-courses. The diagonal or canted sides of the lantern are carried on pointed arches, the space below which is filled in with pendent ives, with the stones arranged in courses radiating from the centre. Such a form of pendentive is rarely seen in works of this age. The details of this lantern are all rather rude, and its height is not great, as it rises only some tuenty-five feet above TARKA.GONA CATHEDRAL. VIEW ACROSS TRANSEPTS. Chap. XIII. TAREAGONA : CATHEDRAL. 281 the roofs. Tlie outside has at eaeli angle a buttress, with an enfiraired shaft in front of it, and the windows are all set within simple enclosing arches. Their tracery is that of ordinary first-pointed windows, the three-light windows having lancet lights, with the centre light longer than the others, and the four-light windows having the two centre lights longest. The old outside roof is destroyed ; but the finish of the lanterns of Lerida and of the old cathedral of Salamanca seems to make it pretty certain that it was intended to have a pyramidal or domical stone roof. Access is now gained to the top of the lantern by means of a passage boldly carried on an arch which is thrown from the belfry window of the south-east steeple to the side of the lantern. I ought to have mentioned that the upper stage of this steeple is groined, and that the bells are hung in the window openings ; but this is not their original place, the jambs having been cut away to make room for them. Its upper stage seems to have been finished Avith a pinnacle at each angle, and a gable over each window^ rising through the parapet — a some- what similar design to that of the great tower at Lerida, and to that of the Micalete at Valencia, both of which ought, thei-efore, to be compared with this, and with which it is probably contem- porary. The roofs are covered throughout with pantiles ; but these are evidently not the old covering, being put on very carelessly and interfering with the design of the stonework. The position of the windows in the central lantern proves that in the beginning of the thirteenth century the roofs must have been very flat, and the probability is, therefore, that they were all covered with flat- pitched stone roofs, similar to those of Toledo and Avila. Few of the original windows remain save those already noticed in the eastern apses. At the west end of the aisles there are circular windows, without tracery and with very bold mouldings enriched with two or three orders of dog-tooth ornament. The windows in the aisles of the nave have all been destroyed by the addition of chapels against the side-walls, whilst the clerestory has been filled for the most part Avith early geometrical tracery windows in place of the lancets, wdth which it was, no doubt, originally lighted. The doorways are numerous and somewhat remarkable for their position. There are three at the west end, wliereof those to the aisles are of the date of the earliest part of the fabric, whilst the great central western dooi-way, being an addition of the fourteenth century, will be described further on. The tym- 282 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE TX SPAIN. Chap. XTTl, panmn of the western door of tlie iiortli aisle is sculptured with the Adoration of the Magi, tlie figures all in niches and carved in small and very delicate style. The door of the south aisle is similar in style, but simpler and without sculpture. The other doors are, as will bo seen on reference to the plan, placed in a most unusual position in the north and south choir aisles. It is rare in churches of this plan to find any doorway east of the transept, and where the aisles or cliaj)els are so short this seems to be a very good rule. Here the access to the church is so near the altars of these aisles as to produce a bad effect. The north door was evidently so placed because it was necessary to put the cloisters in a most unusual position, tr» the north-east of the church, and I suppose we must assume that the south door was put in a corresponding position for no better reason than that it might match the other. The door from the cloister into the church is the finest in the church. It is a round-arched doorway, with four engaged shafts in each jamb, and a central shaft, which is remarkable for the grand de})th and size of its sculptured capital and base. All the capitals are very delicately wrought, and with an evident knowledge of Byzantine art ; and that of the centre shaft has a subject sculptured on each face, of Avhich the three which are visible are: (1) The Procession of the Kings ; (2) their Worship of our Lord ; and (3) the Nativity. The fourth side is concealed by the modern door-frame, the doorway not having had a door at all originally. A deep plain lintel forms tlie head of tlie door, and above this the tympanum is filled with that often-repeated scheme, our Lord in a vesica-shaped aureole, surrounded by the emblems of the Evangelists, each of which has a book, as also has our Lord, who holds His in the left hand, whilst He gives His ble>sing with the right hand. The small spandrel between the round arch of this door and the pointed arch of the vault above, is filled w^ith a circle containing the monogram, supported by two angels. On the same (south) side of the cloister is the entrance to the Chapter-house, which follows the invariable type of Chapter doorways, having a central doorway with a window on either side of it. One of the groining-ril)S is brought boldly down between the doorway and one of the window openings, a peculiai'ity which should be compared with the similar arrangement of the Chapter-house at Veruela.' The detail is precisely the same as that of the rest of the cloister, 1 See p. 388. TARRAGONA. INTERIOR OF CLOISTER Chap. XIIT. TARRAGONA : CATHEDRAL. 283 the arches all being semi-circular, and tlie side openings being of two lights, with conpled shafts in place of monials. In the east wall of the cloister, and close to the Chapter-house, is another fine doorway of the same early style. Its door was painted very richly A^ith angels holding coats-of-arms ; but this delicate work is now almost all defaced. This spacious cloister is one of the most conspicuous of the earlier portions of the cathedral. A public thoronghfare does now, and probably did always, bound the cathedral close to its southern wall, so that there was no room for the cloister in the nsual position to the south of the church. But it is very rare, I think, to find the Chapter-house built as it is here, opening out of the southern alley of the cloister, in place of the eastern. Its character is unusually good, even in this country of fine cloisters. Each bay has three round-arched openings divided by coupled shafts, and above these two large circles pierced in the wall. The arches and circular windows are richly moulded, and adorned largely with delicate dog-tooth enrichments. Some of the circular windows above the arcades still retain — what all, I suppose, once had — their filling in, which was of very delicate inter- lacing work, pierced in a thin slab of stone, and evidently Moorish in its origin, though, at the same time, the work pro- bably of Christian hands, as in some of them the figure of the Cross is very beautifully introduced.^ It is so rare to find any such influence as this exerted, that these traceries have an artificial interest. Yet they are in them- selves very charmingly designed, and serve admhably to break the too-powerful rays of the sun. Indeed, nothing in its way can be much prettier than the effect of the shadows of these delicate piercings thrown sharply on the pavement by the bril- liant sunlight. The gi-oining is carried by triple engaged shafts, and its thrust resisted by buttresses, with an engaged shaft on their outer face. The groining is simple quadripartite, and the ribs are well moulded ; many of the capitals are carved with great vigour, and some of their abaci are covered also with stories admiral)ly rendered. Take, for instance, this story of the Cat and the Rats, which I sketched on one of the abaci of the southern walk of the cloister. It is full of a spirit and humour which are thoroughly foreign to the conventional traditions of our present school of workmen. Give one, now-a- 1 See illustrations of these on the ground-plan of Tarragona Cathedral, Plate XV. 284 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XITI. days, such a story to illustrate, and tlie result would probably be simply absurd, whilst in the hands of this natural Tarragouese artist the whole thing is instinct with life and humour, to as ^"m^^-^f^ Sculptured Abacus in Cloister. great an extent now as it was when his brother workmen first gathered round him and laughed their approval of the speedy retribution which met the silly rats when they forgot to tie the limbs of their enemy. I ought to have sketched the capitals which were under this abacus, for they were sculptured with cocks fighting, with their wings and heads so ingeniously arranged as to conform to the ordinary outlines of the early thirteenth-century foliage capital. It is rarely that so much fine and original sculpture of various kinds is to be found in one such church as this ; and I recommend those who follow my footsteps here to go prepared to devote some little time to the accurate delineation and careful study of it. Much of the flooring of the cloister appears to be coeval with it ; ^ and though composed of the very simplest materials, it is most effective. Most of the patterns are formed with red tiles of different sizes, fitted together so as to make very simple diapers, and with the addition here and there of small squares of white marble, which are used with the tiles. Some of these 1 See detail of this pavement ou Plate XV. t'HAr. Xlir, TAERAGONA : CATHEDRAL. 285 have an incised pattern on their face, sunk about a quarter of an inch ; and in one case I found that this pattern had been tilled in with red marble. The pattern is arranged with a broad stripe down the centre of the cloister, and on either side of this a succession of varying arrangements of tiles is contrived, each pattern being continued for but a short distance. Here, with tlie simplest materials, very great variety of effect is obtained, whilst, with the much smarter and very elaborate materials of the present day, we seem to run every day more risk than before of sinking into the tamest monotony. In the west wall of this cloister there is a monumental recess of completely JMoorish character, very delicately adorned ; and on one of the doors I noticed that the wood had been covered with thin iron plates, stamped with a pattern, gilded, and fastened down with copper nails. The Chapter-house, of whose entrance archways I have spoken, is a square room, roofed with a stone waggon-vault of pointed section ; and at the south end of this is a seven- sided apse, which seems to have been added to the original fabric circa a.d. 1350. On the eastern side of it are some large sacristies, but they did not appear to be old. So far the work I have had to describe has been all, with the exception of part of the steeple and Cimborio, not later than the end of the thirteenth century. It is evident, however, that con- siderable works were undertaken in various parts of the fabric at a later date. IMost of the nave windows were taken out, in order to insert others with very fair geometrical traceries ; the upper part of the steeple was, as we have seen, erected ; and hnally the west front was, in great part, reconstructed. The original west front of the aisles still remains, with a simple doorway, and richly moulded and carved circular windows, without tracery. Pilaster buttresses are j)laced at their north- west and south-west angles, and these have shafts at their angles, but have lost their old finish at the top. Probably another door and circular window of large size occupied the end of the nave in the original design ; but these have been entirely removed, to make way for a work which, though it seems to have been commenced in a.d. 1278,' has all the air of com- ' In 1278 M.BartQlome wrought nine Chapter, and father probably of the figures of the Apostles for the fa9ade ; man of the same name who was con- and in 1375 M. Jayme Castayls agreed suited about Gerona cathetU-al, and who to execute the remainder. Hisconti-act executed the reredos of the high altar is made under the direction of Bernardo at Tarragona in a.d. 14-26, and died in de Vallfogona, acting as architect to the a.d. 1436. 286 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XIII. plete middle-pointed work, and was evidently not completed until late in the fourteentli century. The existing central doorway is of grand dimensions, with figures under canopies on either side, and round the buttresses which flank it. In the centre is a statue of the Blessed Virgin with our Lord, and above, on the lintel, the Resurrection ; and the tympanum is pierced with rich geometrical tracery. The pedestal under the statue of the Blessed Virgin has sculptured on its several sides — (1) the Creation of Adam; (2) of Eve; (3) the Fall; (4) Adam and Eve hiding themselves ; and (5) the Expulsion from Paradise. These subjects are very fitly placed here, the Fall in the centre coming just under the feet of her who bears our Lord in her arms, and thus restores the balance to the world. The arch is lofty, but only moulded ; and above it is a pediment of extremely flat pitch. Above this, again, is a large and finely-traceried cir- cular window. The lower part only of the gable remains, and this is of very steep pitch, and must always have been intended to be a mere sham. Whenever this sort of thing is done, there is always some ground for suspicion that the architect may have been a foreigner, unused to the requirements of a southern climate ; and, at any rate, most of the work in this faqade might very well have been executed by a German architect, for its character is all that of German, rather than of Spanish art. It recalls, to some extent, the faqade of the north transept of Valencia Cathedral, though scarcely so much as to appear to be the work of the same hands. It is to be regretted that the great west- ern gable is incomplete, for, unreal as it is, its outline must luive been fine; and even now, seen as it is in its small Flaza from the steep, narrow, dark and shady street, sur- mounting the flights of steps which lead up to it, the effect is very striking. The traceries, both of the tympanum of the doorway, and of the circular window above, are sharp geome- trical works, very delicately executed. The upper part of the western gable above the circular window seems to have had three windows, but these are now partially destroyed. The hinges and knockers of the western doorway are elaborately designed, covered with pierced traceries, made with several thicknesses of metal. The doors are diapered all over with iron plates, nailed on with copper nails, and with copper ornaments in the centre of each plate. The buttresses are bold, but rather clumsily designed. The statues of the door-jamb are carried round their lower parts, and the stage above is occuiaed with tra- ceried panels. A great crocketed pinnacle conceals the set- Chap. Xlll. TARRAGONA : CATHEDRAL. 287 oft*, and forras^ with the flat pedimeut of the doorway, a group in advance of the real face of the western wall. Other crocketed pinnacles probably finished the angle buttresses on each side of the main gable, but they are now destroyed. The north side of the nave is not easily seen, being enclosed within walls and behind houses ; but the south side is fairly open to view. Here, however, much of the original design is now com- pletely concealed by modern additions. The two western bays have chapels, added in the fifteenth century ; the third bay a domed chapel of the seventeenth century ; and there are two other late Gothic chapels in the two bays nearest the south transept. On the north, side chapels have been added in the same fashion, tliose in the two western bays alone being mediaeval. From the west side of the south transept a fair view is obtained of the best portion of the old exterior. The transept gable is extremely flat in pitch ; the buttresses are all carried up straight to the eaves, and the trefoiled eaves-arcading, which recalls the favourite brick eaves-cornices of the Italian churches, is returned round them at the top, and a deep mouldiug, covered with billets, is carried along over the eaves-arcading. The original semi-Eomanesque window, with its very broad external splay, still remains in the bay of the transept next to the Crossing ; but the other windows have been altered ; and there is a rich traceried rose window in the southern facade. The exterior of the lantern is certainly not very attractive. The entire absence from view of its roof is a fault of the most grievous kind ; though, otherwise, its windows, recalling as they do the traceries of our own first-pointed, are not at all to be condemned. I doubt very much whether this lantern was ever a fine work on the exterior ; but we may well be content to have anything so fine as the interior, and may fairly pardon its architect for his failure to achieve a more complete success. The internal arrangements here do not present much subject for notice. The Coro is in the nave, and in the screen on its western side the entrance-doorway still remains. It is of marble, of two well-moulded orders, and the outer order of the arch has voussoirs of grey and white marble counterchanged. The steps are of dark marble, with three shields in low relief on the riser 'of each, and the bearings wliich occur here are seen also in the keystone of the tower vaulting — both being works of the fourteenth century. The choir stalls and the I'auelling behind them are of the very richest and most delicate fifteenth- century work ; and the great desk for books, in the centre 288 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XI 1 1. of the Coro, is of the same age} The stall-ends are covered with delicate tracery, put on in a separate itiece against the end, and not carved out of the solid. The divisions between the panelling at the back of the stalls are wrought with foliage and animals of really marvellous execution, and a band of inlaid work with coats-of-arms goes all round just above the stalls. There is a throne on the right hand of the entrance to the choir, and another at the east end of the south side ; but both of these are of Renaissance character. J\[any of the choir books are mediaeval, with large knops at their angles, and a piece of fringed leather under each knop. At the east end of the Coro, and in a line with the west Avail of the transepts, is the iron l\eja, and on each side of it a pulpit facing east. These have all tlie appearance of having been i-ebuilt. They have the same armorial bearings as tlie doorway to the Coro ; and as the screen in which the latter is now built is not old, it is })robable tliat they all form part of the same old choir screen, and that the two pulpits were the ambons. I saw nothing to prove decidedly whether the Coro was in its original place, or whether it has been moved down i]ito tlie nave as at Burgos. The great organ is on the north side of the Coro ; it is not very old, but its pipes are picturesquely arranged, and it has enormous painted wings or shutters. Much of the pavement is old ; that in the choir proper — the Capilla mayor — is of marble in various stripes of patterns extending across the church.^ The nave is also paved with marble, arranged in lines and patterns divided to suit the posi- tion of the columns. The Coro alone is paved with tiles, and this seems to some extent to prove that this part of the floor has been altered, which would be the case if the stalls were moved down from their original position. The liigh altar has a very rich reredos executed for the most part in marble, and rich in sculp- tured subjects. There is a doorway on each side of the altar, opening into the part of the a})se shut off by this lietablo. Here the pavement has a large oblong compartment, which seemed to me to suggest the original position of the altar to have been much nearer the east wall than it now is. This space is indicated in my ground-plan, and though it is more than usually set back ' The stalls of the Coro were executed - See the illustration of this marble between a.d. 1479 and 1493, by Frau- pavement on Plate XV. cisco Gomar of Zaragoza. CiiAP. Xlir. OTHER INTERESTING CHURCHES. 289 towards tlie wall, it was no doubt a more convenient position in so short a choir than that which tlie present altar occupies. There is a richly-sculptured monument of a bishop on the southern side of the sacrarium. It will be seen that here, as is the case with so many other Spanish cathedrals, though the scale is not very great, the dignity and grandeur of the whole conception is extreme. The cloister, indeed, yields the palm to few that I have seen, and it is in scale only, and not in real dignity and nobility, that the interior of the church does so. I did not discover any other old church in Tarragona, yet I should suppose there must be some in so large a city. There is a four-light ajimez window, of the type so common on this coast, in the Plaza in front of the cathedral ; and in the Plaza della Pallet is an early round-arched gateway, with a coeval two- light opening above. In the wall of a chapel to the east of the cathedral I found a fairly good example of an early headstone, perfectly plain in outline, and finished with a flat gable, in which is incised a cross under an arch, the inscription being carried across the stone in the common mode, just below the pediment. I had not time to make excursions to any of the other churches in this district, but there are some which appear, from what I have learnt, to be so fine, that it is to be hoped others will contrive to inspect them. The monasteries of Vallbona and Poblet, and the church of Sta. Creus,^ not far from Poblet, seem to be all of great interest. Poblet and Sta. Creus seem both to have cloisters with projecting chapels somewhat similar to that shown on my ground-plan of the monastery at Veruela. The church at liens, too, is interesting, from the fact that the contract for its erection is preserved, and has been published by Cean Bermudez. It dates from a.d. 1510. This town is a few miles only from Tarragona, and after seeing Poblet and Vallbona, the ecclesiologist Avould do well, I think, to make his way across to Ldi-ida, instead of returning to Barcelona, as I did. But I wished much to examine the CoUegiata at Manresa on my way • Vallboua has a very fine Roman- age ; aud Sta. Creus is an early church esque cruciform church with eastern with a fourteenth- century cloister, apses and a low central octagonal which has a projecting chapel with a lantern ; Poblet was an eai-ly cross fountain in it on one side similar to church with a fourteenth-centuiy cen- that at Veruela. — Parcerisa, Recuerdos, tral lantern, and a cloister of the same &c. U 290 GOTHIC ARCHITECTUEE IN SPAIN. Chap. XIII. to Leridii, and for this purpose the line I took was on the whole the best. I bade farewell to Tarragona with a heavy heart, and with a determination to avail myself of the first chance I may have of returnin:a cathep'Ral VIEW OF THE STEEPLES FROM TEE CLOISTER. Chap. XIV. BARCELONA : CATHEDRAL. 305 excellence of the smiths' work in the Spanish churches. Yet though their work is of the latest age of Gothic, it is never marked by that nauseous redundance of ornament in which so many of the most active metal-workers of the present day seem to revel. Hence it is always worthy of study. The doors in these screens are generally double, and shut behind some sort of ogee-arched crocketed head, and sometimes there are crocketed pinnacles and buttresses on either side. The locks are often, of course, specially elaborate ; and the illustration which I give of one of them will serve to show their general character. In all the screens here the lower part is very simple, consisting generally of no- thing but vertical bars, through which one can see witliout diflSculty to the altars which they guard. The ornament is reserved for open traceried crestings, with bent and sharply -cut crockets, for traceried rails, and for the locks and fastenings. The woodwork of the choir-fittings is of very late date,^ but good.of its kind. The stall - divisions are richly traceried under the elbow, and the misereres carved with foliage. Be- hind the stalls, and under the old canopies, is a series of Renaissance panels, covered Avith paintings of the arms of tlie Knights of the Crolden Fleece.^ The canopies above are very delicate, and of the same cliaracter Ix)ck on Screen in Cloistei-. 1 The lower i-ange of stalls was made iu 1457, by Matias Bouife, for fifteen florius for labour for each. Iu his con- tract with the Chapter he agrees to carve all the seats, but "in no wise any beasts or subjects." In 1483 Miguel Loquer made the pinnacles of the upper stalls. The Chapter disputed the good- ness of his work, and he died — partly of disgust, apparently — during tlie lengthy dispute. The Cliapter then named arbiters, who, after a formal examination, pronounced them to con- tain gi'ave defects. — Parcerisa, Recu- erdos, &c., Cataluua, i. p. 59. - Here, in 1519, Chai-les V. celebi-ated an installation of the Golden Fleece — the only one ever held in Spain. — Ford's Handbook, p. 413. X 30() GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XIY. as the stalls. The carved oak pulpit is corbelled out at the east end of the north range of stalls, and is approached by a stair- case outside the arcaded stone parclose, which still remains north and south of the choir. This staircase, with its arched doorway between pinnacles at the bottom, its traceried handrail fringed at the top with fantastic ironwork, and its door cunningly and beau- tifully made of open ironwork, is quite worth notice. The Bishop's throne, second only in height and elaboration to that of Exeter, occupies its proper place at the east end of the southern side of the choir, with one stall for a chaplain beyond it. It will be remembered that in most Spanish cathedrals it is placed where the door from the nave into the choir ought to be : here, however, the old arrangement has never been altered. The principal altar has a very Gothic Eetablo, covered \vith gilding till it looks like gingerbread. I imagine it to be modern. It has curtains on either side, with angels standing on tlie columns which carry the rods. The iron screen across, in front of the altar, and round the apse, is none of it old. Near the door to the sacristies a hexagonal box for the wheel of bells is fixed against the wall ; and just below it a fine large square box arcaded at the sides, and painted, appears to contain a couple of larger bells. The sculpture here is not very remarkable. Over the east door of the cloister is a Pieta in the tympanum, whilst the finial of the canopy is a crucifix. The bosses at the intersection of the ribs in the nave are of enormous size, and each has a figure or subject. The boss in the chapel over the font in the north side of west door has the Baptism of our Lord, and another in the large chapel in the north-west of the cloister has the Descent of the Holy Ghost, and the eight bosses around it the Evangelists and Doctors. Some of the monuments are peculiar. The effigy is generally laid on a sloping stone, so as to suggest the greatest possible insecurity. There are sculptures on the tombs and inside the enclosing arch ; a favourite and odious device in this last feature is to make the radius of the label much longer than that of the arch below it ; and the space between the two is then filled with tracery. The nave groining was once painted. There seems to have been cinquecento foliage extendiug from the centre, about half-way across each vaulting cell ; and the ribs were painted to the same extent. In the aisles there seems to have been no painting anywhere but on the ribs. The old organ occupies the north tower, and is corbelled Before UOO ll'.h'.-iihuy. |lS«lG%Cent7- Iffodera. f^^ V;"/l/est,LitW RHR([€LONX:_ (}riiuiii> : PlHn-iif(i:iitlu'iii'Hl,= (tliiistpiv-Xr. ll./VT<-tic-.- to ?1; P, Pabhahfed >)y Jolm Ivlvirray. Arbcmarls ;" In Chap. XIV. BARCELONA : S. MARIA DEL MAR. 307 out boldly from the wall. Below it is a pendant, the finish of wliich is a Saracen's head, which, for some reason unknown to me, is held by Catalans to be appropriate to the position. There are enormous painted shutters, and a projecting row of trumpet-pipes. The organ was first of all built in the fourteenth century ; Martin Ferrandis, organ-builder of Toledo, having bound liimself, by a contract dated July 25, 1345, to construct it for 80 libras' (pounds). The sacristies are old and vaulted. The sacristan knew of no old vestments or vessels to be seen there ; and as they were always occupied by clergy I had to satisfy myself with his ignorance. The bishop's palace is on the soutli side of the cloister: its quadrangle still retains some remains of good late Eomanesque arcading, ornamented with dog-tooth, nail-head, and billet mould ; and probably there is more to be seen if access were gained to the inside. On the opposite side of the cathedral is a vast barrack, dating from the fifteenth century, and wliich, first of all a palace, was given in a.d. 1487 by Ferdinand to the Inquisi- tion, It seems now to be a mixture of school, convent, and prison, and is apparently without any arcliitectural interest. The grandest church, after the cathedral, is that of Sta. Maria del Mar, a vast building, of very simple plan, and exceedingly characteristic of the work of Catalan architects.^ An inscription written in Limosin (Catalan) on one side, and in Latin on the other,^ gives the date of the commencement of the work as A.D. 1328 ; and it is said by Cean Bermudez not to have been finished until A.D. 1483 ;* but Parcerisa^ says that the last stone was placed on November 9th, 1383, and the first mass said on August 15th, 1384 ; and I am inclined to think that the latter dates are the more likely to be correct. I liave found no evidence as to the architect of this church : he was one of a school who built many and exceedingly similar churches throughout this district. My impression is that he was most probably Jayme Fabre, the first architect of the cathedral. Fabre had constructed a church for the Dominicans at Palma, in Mallorca, between the years 1296 and 1339. Of this church I can only learn the dimensions ; but these point to a church of the same class as those in Bar- ^ Viage Lit., xviii. p. 142. ejusdem, viii. Kal. Aprilis Anno Domini 2 Plate XVIL jicccxxviii. ' In nomine Dfli nostri Jesu Christi ■• Cean Bei-mudez, Arq. de Espaua, ad honorem sanctae Mariae fuit in- i. p 61. ceptum opus fabricae ecclesite Beatae * Recuei'dos, &c., Cataluna, i. p. 66. Mariae de Mari die Annuntiationi.s X 2 308 GOTHIC AECHITECTURF] IN SPAIN. Ciiap. XIV. celona. It bad no aisles, and was 280 palms long l)y 138 broad. Tbe catbedral in tbe same city is figured in Parcerisa, and is similar in plan to Sta. Maria del Mar, but of far larger dimensions, tbe widtb from centre to centre of tbe nave columns being 71 feet, and tlie wbole cburcb 140 feet wide in tbe clear, and witb tbe cbapels 190 feet. Tbere are nortb and soutb doors, and octagonal pinnacles at tbe west end, and, as Avill be noticed, its dimensions are proportioned just as at Sta. ]\[aria del JMar. I do not tbink tbat Fabre's name occurs in connexion witb tbe catbedral at Palma ; but bis fame must bave been great, as he was specially summoned to Barcelona by tbe king and bisbop ; and notbing is more likely tban tbat be would tbeu bave been consulted about tbis otber great work going on at the same time, and in which, tbongb tbe general design is different, tbere are so many points of similarity. Tbe church at Manresa is said to have been com- menced in tbe same year, 1328 ; and it is extremely similar in all respects to Sta. Maria del Mar, as I shall bave further on to show when I have to describe it. But whether these churches are to b(i attributed to the influ- ence of one man suddenly inventing an innovation, or of a school of architects working on tbe same old traditions — and I have been unable to find any kind of evidence of tbis — it is certain that they are very similar. They are marked by extreme sim- plicity, great width, and great height. Usually they have no ar- cades and consist of broad unbroken naves, always groined in stone, and sparely lighted from small windows high up in the walls. Tbe two examples, so far as I know, which surpass all others, are the single nave of Gerona, seventy-three feet wide in the clear, and the nave and aisles of the Collegiata at Manresa, sixty feet wide from centre to centre of the columns, and a hundred and ten between the walls of tbe aisles. The Barcelonese examples do not equal the extraordinary dimensions of these two churches, but they are still on a fine scale. Sta. Maria del ]\rar is tbe only Barcelonese example with aisles. It has — as will be seen by tbe plan^ — an aisle round the apse, and small cbapels between the buttresses. Tliese apses are all internal only, so that the side elevation of the church shows a plain straight wall pierced witb windows. This is a very favourite device of tbis school, and has been already noticed in the nortb wall of the catbedral, and in tbe wall all round the cloisters. The interior of Sta. Maria del Mar is very simple. Enormous octagonal columns carry the main 1 Plate XVII. STA. MARIA DEL MAR, BARCELONA SODTH-WESr VIEW. Chap. XIV. BARCELONA : S. MARIA DEL MAR. 309 arches and the groining ribs, which all spring from their capitals. The wall rib towards the nave is carried up higher than the main arches so as to allow space between them for a small circular and traceried clerestory window in each bay. The arches of the apse are very narrow, and enormously stilted. There are small windows above them, but they are modernized. The aisles are groined on the same level as the main arches, a few feet, tliere- fore, below the vaidt of the nave, and they are lighted by a four- light traceried window in each bay, the sill of which is above a string-course formed by continuing the abacus of the capitals of tlie groining shafts. Below this there are three arches in each bay, opening into side chapels between the main buttresses. Each of these chapels is lighted by a traceried window of two lights ; and the outer wall presents, as will be seen, a long un- broken line, until above the cliapels, when the buttresses rise boldly up to support the great vaults of the nave and aisles. The Barcelonese architects of this period were extremely fond of these long unbroken lines of wall ; and there is a simplicity and dignity about their work which is especially commendable. Long rows of little sheds for shops which have managed to gain a footing all along the base of the walls rather disturb the effect, though they and their occupants, and the busy dealers in fruit who ply their trade all about 8ta. Maria del Mar, make it a good spot for the study of the people. The altar is a horrible erection of about a.u. 1730, and all the internal fittings are modern and in the worst possible taste. The view which I give of the west front will explain the whole design of the exterior. Unquestionably it is a grand work of its kind, with good detail tln-oughout. The great octagonal pin- nacles at the angles are, however, awkwardly designed, and quite insufficient in scale for the vast mass of building to which they are attached. They are reproduced in all the churches of the same class in Barcelona ; and indeed most of the features of one of these churches are common to the others. The tracery in the circular window at the west end certainly looks later in date than that of the others in this church, and than that in the west front of Sta. Maria del Pi, whicli was commenced in a.t>. 1329, but not completed until much later. It is worth mention that the western doors of this church are covered with iron, cut ont into the form of cusped circles, with rather good effect. The church of SS. Just y Pastor is of the same class as Sta. jMaria del Mar, but its foundation is slightly later, as it seems to have been commenced circa a.d. 1315. It consists of a nave :J10 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XIV. without aisles, but with chapels between the buttresses — one chapel in each bay. There are five bays, and an apse of five sides. The altar stands forward from the wall, and stalls are ranged round the apse. The nave is 43 feet 6 inches in width in the clear by about 130 feet in length. The vaulting is quadripartite throughout, with large bosses at the intersection of the ribs, on which are carved — 1, the Annunciation ; 2, the Nativity ; 3, the Presentation ; 4, the Adoration of the IMagi ; 5, the Resurrection ; 6, the Coronation of the B.V.M. The whole church has lately been covered with painting and gilding, in the most approved French style, and to the destruction of till appearance of age. The light is admitted by three-light windows with good geometrical traceries, very high up above the arches, into the side chapels, and by two-light windows in the chapels themselves. At the west end are remains of the usual octagonal flanking tun-ets ; but the whole front is modernized. The side elevation is a repetition of those already described, presenting a long unbroken wall below, out of ^^■hich the buttresses for the clerestory rise. Santa ]\Iaria del Pino is a still grander church, but on the same plan, with the addition of a lofty octagonal tower detached at the noith-east of the church.' 'Jliis is four stages in height, and the belfry-stage has windows on each face. The traceried corbel-table under the parapet remains, but the parapet and roof are destroyed. The nave here consists of seven bays, is fifty-four feet wide in the clear, and has an eastern apse of seven sides. The chapels between the buttresses are not carried round the apse, but an overhanging passage-way is formed all round outside, upon arches between, and corresponding openings through, the buttresses just below the windows. The north door here is a very fine early work of jiist the same character as those already described in the earliest portions of the cathedral. It appears to be a work of the end of the twelfth century, and much older than any other portion of the church. The west front has a doorway with a figure in a niche in the tympanum, and a system of niches round and above it, enclosing it within a sort of square projecting from the face of the wall. The whole scheme is so exceedingly similar both in design and detail to that of the noiili transept door of the cathedral, that we may fairly conclude them to be the works of the same man. Above the door is a large circular window filled with good and very 1 Plate XVII. Published hy ^oha Murray, Albemarle 5^ 1366 Chap. XIV. BARCELONA : S. JAYSIE. 311 rich geometrical tracery. A church existed here as early as 1 070 ; ^ and Cean Bermudez says that the first stone of the present church was laid in 1 380, and that it was concluded in 1414.^ Parcerisa,^ on the other hand, says that materials were granted for the work in 1329, that it was nearly finished in 1413, and consecrated in 1453;* whilst in a.d. 1416 we have Guillermo Abiell describing himself as master of the works of Sta. 3Iaria del Pi, and of St. Jayme, in Barcelona, when he was called as one of the Junta of architects to advise about the build- ing of the nave of Gerona cathedral.-^ St. Jayme, of which Abiell was the architect, is a small church in the principal sti-eet of the city, with an ogee-headed door with a crocketed label between two pinnacles. Above are some small windosvs ; and the whole detail is poor in character, and exactly consistent with what might be expected from an architect at Abiell's time. I believe, therefore, that either Abiell was only the surveyor to an already existing fabric, who wished to make the most of his official position among his brethren at Gerona, or that if lie really executed any works at Sta. Maria del Pi they w^ere confined to the steeple, which is of later character than the church. I believe that the real meaning of the dates given by the authorities just quoted is as follows : — In a.d. 1329 stone was granted for the work which was then no doubt just commenced at the same time as the similar work in the transept of the cathedral; and the consecration probably took place in a.d. 1353, a date which occurs in an inscription in the cliurch, and has been, I suspect, read by Parcerisa by mistake, 1453 ; and the work commenced in a.d. 1380 was probably the steeple, which was com- pleted in A.D. 1414. To decide otherwise wonld be to ignore alto- gether all the information to be derived from the character of the architectural detail, which, after all, is to a practised eye a safer guide than any documentary evidence. I should assume, too, from the identity of the character of the two works, that Jayme Fabre was the architect who designed the church, and that Guillermo Abiell probably built the tower some time after his death. I must now take my readers back somewhat to an earlier church, which is full of interest, but very different from those ' Viage Literario ii las Iglesias de nueva, Viage Literai-io, xviii. 102, said to Espaiia, xviii. 161. be cut ou the jamb of the side doorway, 2 Arq. de Espaaa. which recoi'ds the cousecration of this ' Recuerdos, &'c., deEspana, Cataliiiia, church on June 17th. 1453. vol. i. * See Appendix. * An inscription is given by Villa- 312 GOTHIC AIICHITECTUIIE IN SPAIN. CiiAr. XIV. which I have been describing, and of ditferent style. This is the church of Sta. Agata, situated just to the north of the catliedral. I have been unable to learn anything as to its history. It has a nave of four bays, spanned by pointed arches, which carry the wooden roof, and a groined apse of five sides. East of the apse is a waggon-vaulted chamber, whose axis is at right angles to that of the church, and out of it rises a delicate octa- Interior of Santa Agata. gonal steeple, the belfry-stage of which has two-light windows on four sides, and gables on each face. These gables run back till they intersect the base of a low stone spire, which is now nearly destroyed, but the lower part of which can be clearly made out from the neighbouring steeple of the cathedral. A Chap. XIV. BARCELONA : S. AGATA— N. S. DEL CARMEN. 313 staircase, ingeniously constnicted in the thickness of the south wall, leads up from the nave to the pulpit (now destroyed), and thence on again to a western gallery. Some of the windows are like domestic windows in design, having a slender shaft-monial with the capital of foliage so often repeated in all the towns from Perpinan to Valencia. The great height of the windows from the floor — about twenty-six feet — secures an admirable effect of light, and their detail is thoroughly good early middle- pointed. The southern facade has a great deal of that pictur- esque irregularity which is always so charming when it is natural. The door is in the western angle of the south front, partly built under a great overhanging arch, which carries the wall of a building which abuts on the west end of Sta. Agata. The lower half of the walls has small windows irregularly placed, lighting the eastern chapel, the pulpit, and the passage to the gallery ; and then above them the wall is set back a couple of feet between buttresses, and each bay has an extremely well designed and moulded window of two lights, with geometrical tracery. The finish of the walls at the top is modernized. The construction of the roof is very effective, and at the same time of a most unusual character ; it consists of a series of purlines resting on corbels in the walls over the arches across the nave ; and though it is of flat pitch, this is but little noticed, owing to the good proportions of these arches, which are so marked a feature in the design. The same kind of roof exists still in the great hall of the Casa Consistorial, and evidently once existed also in the church which I shall presently mention in the Calle del Carmen. In England we have somewhat parallel examples at Mayfield and the Mote House, Ightham ; but these Barcelonese examples are useful, as showing how, when a flat-pitched roof is of neces- sity adopted, a very good internal effect may nevertheless be secured. This cliurch is now desecrated, and used as a sculptor's workshop. Another church, of which only the ruins now remain, in the Calle del Carmen, must, I presume, be Nuestra Senora del Carmen, founded in 1287.' This building Avas evidently greatly altered in the fourteenth century. It was first of all roofed with a flat roof, carried on arches across the nave, as at Sta. Agata, and subsequently the walls were raised and the church ' Ceau Bermudez, Arq. de Esp.iua, i. 55. But Diego, ' Histoiia de los Condes de Hiiiceloiia,' p. 316, puts the Ibuudation in a.d. l29o. 314 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XIV. was groined. The groining is now destroyed, and beliind it are seen the corbels in the cross wall marking the rake of the first roof. The aisles had roofs gabled north and south, and their windows good fourteenth-century tracery. Tliis church of seven bays in length is 43 feet wide between the columns of the nave, and nearly 80 feet wide from north to south. Compared with Sta. Agata, it seems to prove that this class of timber-roofed church was introduced here between the early waggon-vaulting of the chapel of Sta. Lucia and of Sta. Ana, and the great quadri- partite vaults of the cathedral and the other churches of its class. The other churches here are not of much interest. The front of San Jayme has already been incidentally mentioned : its in- terior is modernized. San Miguel is probably a very early church, having a Roman mosaic pavement preserved in the floor. It has a pointed waggon-vault, and a sixteenth-century stone gallery at the west end. The western front has a rich west door, half Gothic and half Renaissance, with St. Michael and the dragon in the tympanum, and the iVnnunciation in the jambs. The flat gable has its old crocketed coping and cross, and two very small windows. The best feature is the tower, a simple structure, square in plan, from within the parapet of which, over the centre, rises a small square turret, open at the sides and roofed with four intersecting gables. It is a pretty arrangement for carrying a fifth bell, the other bells hanging in the belfry windows, in the Italian fashion. The church of San Anton has a groined narthex or porch all across the west front, with three open arches in front. The nave cannot be wide, and has chapels between the buttresses, but I did not see the interior. Another church, that of San Geronimo, is on the same plan, but of later date.^ The churches of the Renaissance class are numerous and ugly ; but Berruguete and his followers hardly perpetrated so many freaks in art here as they did in the centre of Spain ; had they been more popular, there bad been much less for me to describe. But in truth, rich as this old city still is, it was much richer, two or three noble churches having disappeared at a comparatively late period, either during the war or in subsequent popular disturbances. The civic buildings are quite worthy of the ancient dignity of the city. The Casa Consistorial, and the Casa de la Disputacion, face each other on opposite sides of the principal square, not far from the cathedral. The former has a modern Pagan front, but * Villanueva, Viage Literario, xviii. 165, mentions the convent of San Francisco as still existing (in 1851). BARCELONA. CASA CONSISIOEIAL, Chap. XIV. BARCELONA : CASA CONSISTORIAL. 815 on the uortb side the old work remains. This building is said to have been commenced in a.d. 1369, and finished in a.d. 1378 ;^ and inside the great hall I noticed an inscription (which unfor- tunately I neglected to copy) with the date of 1373. The old front to the north of this building seems worthy of ilhistration. The enormous arch-stones of the principal doorway are very common throughout Cataluna, and are seen indeed as far east even as Perpinan. The figure of St. Michael has metal wings ; and as the little church dedicated in honour of the same archangel is just on the other side of the Casa, it seems as if there was some special connection between the two buildings. The patio or Ajimez Window. quadrangle is oblong in plan, and on the first-floor the passage is open to the air, with delicate arches all round. On the east side of this passage a door opens into a noble hall, with ' Parcerisa, Recuerdos, &c., Cataluna, i. p. 107. 31G GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SrAIN. Chap. XIV. a dais for the throne at the upper end, and doorways on each side of the dais. This liall is spanned by four moulded semi- circular arches rising from corbels formed of a cluster of shafts. These arches support a flat ceiling of rafters, with boarding between them, resting on corbels in the cross walls. The light is admitted by hirge cusped circles high up in the side walls, and by good ajimez windows of three lights at the dais end. The rafters of the roof are all painted with coats of arms enclosed within quatrefoils, with a very rich effect. The dimensions of this room are about 40 feet wide by 90 feet long, and 45 feet in height. In a passage near it is an admirable ajimez window, which, as it illustrates this common type very well, is worth preserving a record of. The marble shafts here are only three inches in diameter.^ The Casa de la Disputacion ivas still more interesting ; but on my last visit the delicate arcades of its beautiful |)rt?'w were all being walled up with common brick, leaving narrow slits of windows, which I suppose are to be glazed, to save the degenerate lawyers for the future from any of the chance squalls of wind or rain w'hich their predecessors have endured since the fifteenth century, when Master Pedro Blay, the architect, superintended its erection. This patio is of three stages in height, with a pic- turesque external staircase to the first floor. The lofty corridor round the fii'st floor leads to the various courts and offices, and in one angle of it is the entrance to the chapel, consisting of three small arches, forming a door and two windows, with the wall above them covered with an elaborate reticulation of tracery. The arches have ogee crocketed canopies, and the side arches iron grilles. This chapel is dedicated to St. George, the tutelar saint of CataluTia, and a figure of the saint rivals that of St. Michael in the Sala Consistorial. There are here some extremely well-managed overhanging passage-ways corbelled out from the walls, and various excellent features of detail. The parapets generally to the various passages are of plain stone slabs, pierced here and there only with a richly traceried circle. Another old building — the Lonja or Exchange — was built near the sea in a.d. 1383.^ But everything old has been completely destroyed, with the one exception of its grand hall, which still does service as of old. This consists of three naves, divided by lofty and slender columns, Mhicli carry stilted semi-circular arches. ' See previous page. -' Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. 70. Chap. XIV. BARCEI.ONA : OLD BUILDINGS. olT The ceiling- is flat, of the same description as that of the Sala Consistoriah The dimensions are about 100 feet in length by 75 feet in width. Another great building, founded soon after, circa 1444, was intended for a cloth-hall:^ in 1514 it was converted into an armoury, and subsequently into a residence for the Captains- General of CataluTia ; it has been completely modernized throuo-hont the exterior, and I did not see the interior. Cean Bermudez mentions an interesting fact about the con- struction of the old Mole. It was built, he says, by Estacio, a famous hydraulic architect of Alexandria, in a.d. 1177 ; and the city authorities took counsel about it with the most learned pro- fessors of Syracuse, Rhodes, and Candia. • Hala de pafios. 318 GOTHIC AT^CHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XV. CHAPTER XV. GERONA — PEEPINAN — S. ELNE. There are few Spanish towns wliicli are altogether more interesting than the now insignificant and little-known city of Gerona. It not only contains several buildings of rare architec- tural interest, but it has, moreover, the advantage of being picturesquely placed on the banks of the rapid river Ona, and on the steep slope of the hills which bound it. The Cathedral is the first object of attraction, and its history is so curious, that I need make no apology for proceeding without further preface to say the substance of what I have been able to learn about it. There was a cathedi-al here at a very early period ; and when Gerona was taken by the IMoors, they converted it into a mosque, but, with their usual liberality, allowed the services of the Church still to be carried on in the neighbouring church of San Feliu, which for a time, accordingly, was the cathedral church. In A.D. 1015 this state of affairs had ceased, owing to the ex[)ulsion of the Moors, and the cathedral was again recovered to the use of the Church. Considerable works were at this time executed,' if, indeed, the cathedral was not entirely rebuilt, as the old docu- ments declare, and the altered church was re-consecrated in A.D. 1 038,^ by the Archbishop of Narbonne, assisted by the Bishops of Vique, Urgel, Elne, Barcelona, Carcassonne, and others. In A.D. 1310 works seem to have been again in progress,^ and in A.D. 1312 a Chapter was held, at which it was resolved to rebuild the head or chevet of the church with nine chapels,^ for ' See Espana Sagrada, xlv. pp. 2-3. •* " Capitulum Gerundense in cerca See also the deed executed by Bishop nova ecclesiso Geruudeusis more solito Roger in 1015. "Nostra necessitate congregatum, statuit,voluit etordinavit, coacti causa sedificationis pi-ajdicta} eccle- quod caput ipsius ecclesia; de novo con- siffi, quaj satis cognitum cunctis est strueretur et edificaretur, et circumcirca esse destructa, &c."— Esp. Sag., xliii. ipsum novem cappelkc fierent, et in p. 423. dormitorio veteri fieret sacristia. Et 2 See the act of consecration, Espana cura ipsius operis fuit commissa per Sagi-ada, xliii. pp. 432-437, which de- dictum capitulum, venerabilibus llai- clares the church to have been rebuilt mundo de Vilarico, archidiacouo, et "a fundamentis." Amaldo de Mouterotundo, canonico." — 2 Esp. Sag., vol. xliv. p. 43. Espaua Sagrada, xlv. p. 3. Chap. XV. GERONA : CATHEDRAL. 319 which, in a.d. 1202, Guillerrao Gaufredo, the treasurer, made a bequest in favour of the work.^ In a.d. 1325 I find that an indulgence was granted by the Bisliop Petrus de Urrea in favour of donors to the work of the cathedral;^ and the work, so far westward as the end of the choir, was probably complete before A.D. 134(5, inasmuch as in this year the silver altar, with its Retablo and baldachin, were placed where they now stand.^ We knovv something of the architects employed during the fourteenth century upon the works just mentioned. In 1312 the Chapter appointed the Archdeacon Ramon de Vilarico and tlie Canon Arnaldo de Montredon to be the ohreros or general clerical superintendents of the progress of the works. In a.d. 1316, or, according to some authorities, in February, 1320, an architect — Enrique of Narbonne — is first mentioned ; and soon after this, on his death, another architect of the same city, Jacobo de Favariis by name, was appointed with a salary of two hundred and fifty libras^ a quarter, and upon the condition that he should come from Narbonne six times a year^ to examine the progress of the works. In a.d. 1325 Bart. Argenta was the master of the works, and he probably carried them on until the completion of the choir in 1346.^ 1 " Dimitto etiam ad caput praedictae ecclesise, vel ad cimborium argenteum faciendum desnper altare Beataj Maria? ilia decern millia solidorum Barchinou: qufe ad illud dare promisseram jam est diu." — Will of Giiillei-mo Gaufredo, Viage Lit. a las Iglesias de Espaua, vol. xii. p. 184. 2 Esp. Sag., vol. xliv. pp. 51, 320, 322. 3 " Pateat universis," ' quod die Lunse 4 Idus Marti intitulata anno Domini 1.346. Reverendus in Christo Pater" " S. Tarrachonensis ecclesiae arcbiepis- copus, altare majus Beatissimse Virginis Marise catbedralis Gerundensis ecclesiaj a loco antique ipsius ecclesiae in quo construtum erat in capite novo operis ejusdem ut decuit translatum est," &c. ' ' De quibus omnibus ad perpetuam rei memoriam venerabilis vir Dominus Petrus Stepbani Presbiter de capitulo et operarius memoratac ecclesiae mandavit unum et plura fieri instrumenta per me Notarium infrascriptum proBsentibus ad hoc vocatis te.stibus," &c. &c. — Espana Sagrada, xlv. pp. 37;!, 374. ■* Or "sueldos," Parcerisa. "Sous," V. le Due. = 1500 francs at tbe present daj'. * Register entitled Curia del Vicariate de Gerona, Liber notulorum ab anno 13-20, ad 1322, fol. 48, quoted in Esp. Sag. xlv. p. 373. See also Viollet le Due, Dictionnaire Raisonne, i. p. 112. F. J. Parcerisa, 'Recuerdos y Bellezas de Espana,' Catalafia, i. 14'3, says that the work was commenced in 1316, and that Enrique of Narbonne died in 1320. ^ The list of architects given by D. J. Villanueva (Viage Lit. a las Iglesias de Espana, xii. p. 172 et seq.) does not agi-ee with this. The first he mentions is Jayme de Taverant, a Frenchman from Narbonne (and no doubt identical with Jaques de Favariis), in 1320. Fran- cisco de Plana, a Catalan, held the po.st after him, and was removed in 1 368 in favour of Pedro Coma (de Cumba), who was employed also at San Feliu, Gerona; and in 1397 Pedro de San Juan, " de uatione Picardiae," was employed. Guil- lermo Boffiy succeeded liim ; in 1427 Rollinus Vautier, "diocesi Biterrensis," was master of the works, and in 14.30 Pedro Cipres succeeded him. 320 GOTHIC AT^CHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XV. In A.D. 1895 it was proposed to erect a Chapter-house, and the canons in charge of the fabric ("canonigos fabriqneros ") presented in writing their reasons for not erecting it where pro- posed by the Chapter — at the south end of the refectory. They said that the works of the cliurch itself ought first of all to be gone on witli, and that the proposed work would destroy a good and convenient refectory, and make it obscure and ridiculous : and it seems that their report had the effect of staying the work. In A.D. 1416 Guillermo Bofifiy, master of the works of the cathedral, proposed a plan for its completion by the erection of a nave ; and though the die vet had an aisle and chapels round it, he proposed to build his nave of the same width as the choir and its aisles, but as a single nave without aisles. This pro- position was deemed so hazardous, and created so great a discus- sion, that the Chapter, before deciding what plan should be adopted, called together a Junta of architects, and projiounded to each of them separately certain questions, to each of whicli tliey all returned their answers upon oath. In the Sej)tember fol- lowing, these answers were read before the Chajjter by a notary, and it may be supposed carefully digested, for it was not mitil March 8th, 1417, that Guillermo Boffiy, the master of the works, was called in and in his turn interrogated with the same questions. Immediately after this, on the 15th of the same month, at a Chapter-meeting presided over by the Bishop, it was decided to carry on the work as proposed, with a single nave. The story is so well worth telling in full, that I have given in the Appendix a translation of the entire document, whicli equals in interest any with which I am acquainted, bearing on the profession of architect in the middle ages.^ It is valuable also, incidentally, as giving us the names of the architects of several other buildings, most of those who were examined having described themselves in a formal style as masters of the works of some particular church or churches. It is difficult to say exactly when the nave was completed, but the great south door was not executed until a.d. 1458, and the key-stone of the last division of the vault seems to have been placed in the time of Bishop Benito, so late as circa 1579.^ In a.d. 1581 the same bishop laid the first 1 The original is in the Liber Notu- appendix to vol. xii. of the Viage Lit. a larum. It is i-ejirinted in Espana Sa- las Iglesias de Espafia, prints it in tlie grada, vol. xlv., appendix, pp. 227 to original Catalan dialect. 244. Ceau Bermudez has again reprinted - This keystone has a sculpture of it in Arq. de Espaiia, vol. i. pp. 261 San IJenito. — Espana Sagrada, vol. xliv. to '275 ; and D. J. Vilhuuieva in the p. 42i). Chap. XV. GEROXA : CATHEDRAL. 321 stone of the bell-tower, aud in 1607 the we.st front and tlie areat flight of steps leading up to it seem to have been commenced. We have thus the story of the periods at which the chm'ch was founded, altered, and enlarged very fully told, and it now only remains to apply it to what is still to be seen in the existing building. A reference to my ground-plan ^ will show that the church remains very much in the state which the documentary evidence describes. The chou- has nine chapels round its chevet, as described, and has lofty arches, a series of very small openings in lieu of triforium, and a clerestory of two-light windows, of decidedly late but still good Middle-pointed character. The columns, in the usual Catalan fashion of this age, are clusters of rather reedy mouldings, with no proper division or subordination of parts, and consequently of poor effect, and there is no division by way of stringcourses above or below the triforium. On the exterior the east end is not seen to much advantage, as it is built into and against a steep hill, so that at a distance of a few feet only the eye is on a level with the top of the walls of the chapels round the apse. The roofs, too, have all been mo- dernized and lowered. The only peculiarities here are a series of trefoiled openings, just under the eaves of the roof, into the space over the vaulting, and perhaps devised for the purpose of ventilation : and the gurgoyles projecting from the buttresses, which are carved and moulded stones finished at the end with an octagonal capital, through the bottom of which the water falls, and which almost looks as if it were meant for the stone head of a metal down-pipe. When the choir was built, some considerable portions of the church consecrated in a.d. 1038 were left standing. The nave Avas probably entirely of this age ; and a portion of what was no doubt one of the original towers still remnins on the north side, between the cloister and the nave. This tower has pilasters at the angles and in the centre, and is divided into equal stoges in height by horizontal corbel-tables. An apse of the same age remains on the east side of what seems to have been the south transept of the early chm-ch : and from its position we may, I think, assume with safety that the church was then finished with three or five apses at the east, very umch as in the church of l?an Pedro, close by, which I shall have presently to describe. In addition to these early remains there is also a magnificent and all but unaltered ' Plate XVIII. 322 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XV. cloister. I cannot find any certain evidence of its exact date, though it seems to have existed inA.D. 1117, when an act of the Bishop Raymond Berenger was issued in the " cloister of tlie cathedral." ^ The character of the work confirms, I think, this date. The plan is very peculiar, forming a very irregular trapezium, no two of the sides being equal in length. It has on all four sides severely simple round arches carried on coupled shafts : these are of marble, and set as much as 20 inches apart, so as to enable them to carry a wall 3 feet IJ inches thick. This tliickness of wall was quite necessary, as the cloister is all roofed with stone, the section of the vaults on the east, west, and south sides being half of a barrel, and on the north a complete barrel vault. The detail of the capitals is of the extremely elaborate and delicate imitation of classical carving, so frequently seen throughout the south of France. The abaci are in one stone, but the bases of the shafts are separate and rest upon a low dwarf- w^all, and square piers are carried up at intervals to strengthen the arcade. The columns have a very slight entasis. This cloister deserves careful study, as it seems to show one of the main branches of the stream by which Romanesque art was introduced into Spain. It is impossible not to reco{2:nize the extreme similarity between such work as we see here, and that which we see in the cloister at Elne, near Perpiiian, and, to go still farther afield, at S. Trophime at Aries. And if any Spanish readers of these pages object to my assumption that the stream flow^ed from France westward, they must prove the exact converse, and assume that this Romanesque work was developed from Roman work in Spain, and thence spread to Elne and Aries, a position which none, I suppose, will be bold enough to take. The nave remains to be described ; and to do this well and adequately, it is necessary to use, not indeed many, but certainly strong, words. Guillermo Boffiy, master of the works, might well cling fondly to his grand scheme, for his proposal was not less, I believe, than the erection of the widest pointed vault in Christendom. Such a scheme might be expected to meet then in Spain, as it most certainly w'ould now in this country,^ a good deal of criticism, and many objections, on the score of its iraprac- 1 Espana Sagrada, xliii. p. 200, and eight feet in clear span, and this was Appendix, p. 453. objected to by a really accomplished - In my first design for the Crimean critic as too bold and hazardous an ex- Memorial church wliich I am building periment ! What would have been at Constantinople, I had a vault thirty- said then of a vault twice as wide ? GERONA CATHEDRAL p. 332. INTERIOR LOOKING EAST Chap. XV. GERONA : CATHED1?AL. 323 ticability ; and it is to the honour of the Chapter that they had the good sense to consult experts and not amateurs as to the steps to be taken, and then, having satisfied tliemselves that their architect was competent to his work, that tliey left it entirely in his hands. The clear width of tliis nave is 73 feet, and its height is admirably proportioned to this vast dimension.^ It is only four bays in length ; each bay has chapels opening into it on either side, and filling up the space between the enormous buttresses, whose depth from the front of the groining shaft to their face is no less than 20 feet. Above the arches which open into the side chapels is a row of small cusped openings, corresponding with those which form the triforium of the choir ; and above these are lofty traceried clerestory windows. The groining-ribs are very large and well moulded. At the east end of the nave three arches open into the choir and its aisles; and above these are three circular windows, the largest of which has lost its tracery. And here it is that the magnificence of the scheme is most fully realized, A single nave and choir, all of the same enormous size, would have been immeasurable by the eye, and would have been, to a gi-eat extent, thrown away ; here, however, the lofty choir and aisles, with their many subdivisions, give an extraordinary impression of size to the vast vault of the nave, and make it look even larger than it really is. In short, had this nave been longer by one bay, I believe that scarcely any interior in Europe could have surpassed it in effect. Unfortunately, as is so often the case among those who possess the most precious works of art, there is now but little feeling in Gerona for the treasure it possesses in this wondrous nave, for the stalls and Coro have been moved down from their proper place into the middle of its length, where they are shut in and surrounded by a high blank screen, painted in the vulgarest ^ I subjoin the dimensions of some of the largest French and other churches, m order that the dimensions of the nave of Gerona may be really appreciated. Albi 58 feet between the walls. Toulouse Cathedral . . . . 63 do. S. Jean Perpiuan . . . . GO do. Amiens 49 centre to centre of column of nave. Palis 48 do. Bourges 49 do. Chartres 50 do. Cologne 44 do. Narbonne 54 do. t'anteibury 43 Jo. do. ofehoii'. York 52 do. do. of nave. Westminster Abbey . . . . 38 do. Y 2 324 GOTHIC AliCHITECTUKE IN SPAIN. Oiap. XV. imitation of Gothic traceries, to tli(,' utter ruin, of course, of the whole internal persjiective. It would be a orand and simple work of restoration to give up here, for once, the Spanish usage, and to restore the stalls to the proper choir. I say "restore," because it is pretty clear that they could not have been in the nave when they were first made, inasmuch as this was in A.D. 1351, sixty-six years before its commencement. A deed still remains in the archives of the cathedral, by wliich w^e ascer- tain this fact, for by it a sculptor from Barcelona agreed, on June 7th, 1351, to make the stalls at the rate of 45 libras of Barcelona for each.^ The detail of some parts of the woodwork is exceedingly good, and evidently of the middle of the fourteenth centurv, so that it is clear they are the very stalls referred to in the agreement. There is amj)le length in the proper choir for them, and they must have been moved into the nave in unwdse obedience to the common modern Spanish arrangement, which w^as certainly never more entirely unfortunate and destructive of eifect than it is here. It will be seen, by reference to the iVppendix, that though the architects consulted were fairly unanimous as to the possibility of building the single nave, they were by no means so in their recommendation of it as the best plan. The general feeling- seems to have been decidedly adverse to it; and we may assume that the Chapter decided on it partly because it was already commenced, and partly because it promised to be a cheaper plan than the other. There seems also to have been great dread on the part of the Chapter of interfering in any way with the wall which now forms the east end of the nave, for fear lest, when it was cut into for the introduction of the respond of the nave arcade, the whole should give way. Paschasius de Xulbe, one of the architects questioned, gives the valuable answer, that if the nave is of triple division in width, the groining of tlie choir must be raised in order that it may correspond in its measurements to its third ; from which it is pretty clear that he spoke of a then recognized system of proportioning the height to the width of a building. Gnillermo Sagrera, master of the works at St. John Per- piiian, tells us, in his answer, that the choir was originally built with the intention of having a single nave; and this will account for the otherwise unintelligible finish of its western wall, which it is clear, from the ten our of all the answers, was ' Liber Notularuiii, fol. 31. Chap. XV. GERONA : CATHEDRAL. 253 not prepared for any arches in the nave. I am not certain indeed whether we are not to assume, in reading the questions asked by the Chapter, that the Eomanesque nave was itself of the same plan and dimensions ; and the vast width of the old nave of Toulouse Cathedral — sixty-three feet — affords an example, at no great distance from Gerona, of the fact that architects, even so early as the beginning of the thirteenth century, were not afraid to propose and execute works on so unusual a scale. I will not quote farther from the answers of the architects, because they well deserve to be read in detail ; but it is a satis- faction to be able to say that their conviction of the practica- bility of the work has been amply justified, inasmuch as, even to the present day, there is scarcely a sign of a settlement or crack throughout the entire building. It is difficult to express a positive opinion as to the original intention of the architect in regard to the design and finish of the exterior of this part of the church. The gable walls have been altered, the roofs renewed, and the original termination of the buttresses destroyed. At no time however, I think, can it have looked well. The position is charming, on the edge of a steep, rocky hill falling down to the river, and girt on its north side by the old many-towered city wall ; yet with all these advantages it is now a decidedly ugly work, and the nave looks bald, and large out of all proportion to the subdivided, lower, and over-delicately-treated choir. On the west side the whole character of the church is Pagan ; ' and I well remember the astonishment with which, when I had climbed the long flight of broad steps which leads to the western door, I looked down the stupendous interior, for which I had been so littljSvprepared ! The effect is not a little enhanced by the dark cjoliaur of the stone, which has never been polluted by whitewash ; but there are some defects. The want of length has already been noticed ; the entire absence of stringcourses inside is not pleasant; and the lowering of the arches into the chapels in the second bay from the west wall, where there are three in jilace of the two in each of the other bays, breaks the main lines of the design very awk- wardly. The mouldings too, as might be expected in work of so late a date, are nowhere very first-rate, though they certainly retain generally the character of late fourteenth-century work. The doorway on the south side of the nave is remarkable in ' The church was originally intended west tower has been built uj) in Pagau to have octagonal towers at the angles style, and the north-west has never of the west front. Of these the south- been built. 320 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XV. one res2)ect. It has in its jambs a series of statues of tlie Apostles, executed in terra-cotta ; and the agreement for their execution, made, in a.d. 1458, with the artist Berenguer Cervia, binds him to execute tliem for six hundred florins, and " of the same earth as the statue of Sta. Eulalia and the cross of the new doorway at Barcelona." ' This doorway is very large, but bald and poor in detail ; the statues to which the contract refers still remain, and are in good preservation. There is nothing more specially worth noticing; in the fabric ; but fortunately the choir still retains precious relics in the lie- tablo behind, and the baldachin above, the high-altar. There are also said to be some frontals of the altar still preserved, which are of silver, and which were originally adorned with precious stones, and with an inscription wdiich proves them to have been made before the consecration of the church, in a.d. 1038. Un- fortunately they were not in their place when I w^as at Gerona, and so I missed seeing them.^ The lletablo is of wood entirely covered with silver plates, and divided vertically into three series of niches and canopies ; each division has a subject, and a good deal of enamelling is inti'oduced in various parts of the canopies and grouiids of the panels. Each panel has a cinquefoiled arch with a crocketed gablet and pinnacles on either side. The straight line of the top is broken by three niches, which rise in the centre and at either end. In the centre is the Blessed Virgin with our Lord ; on the right, San Narcisso ; and on the left, San Feliu. The three tiers of subjects contain (a) figures of saints, [h) subjects from the life of the Blessed Virgin, and {c) subjects from the life of our Lord. A monument in one of the chapels gives some account of this precious work ; for though it is called a ciborium, it is also spoken of as being of silver, which, I believe, the actual ciborium is not.^ The date of this monu- ^ Espafia Sagrada, vol. xlv. p. 8. Vil- Dei et Matris Ecclesicc ti'e.?centas auri lauueva, Viage Lit., xii. 175, gives the contiilit uucias ad auream construendam name of this artist as Antonio Claperos tabulam;" and in a necrologium, from " obrer de ymagens." 1102 to 1313, occur the following 2 See tlie description of this silver entries: "1254-. Pridie Kalendas Feb- frontal in Espaua Sagrada, vol. xlv. p. 8. ruarii obiit Guillelmns de Terradis, The Historia de S. Narciso y de Gerona, sacrista major, qui tabulam argeuteam by P. M.. Roig y Yalpi, is quoted as altari Beatte Marite Cathedralis fieri authority for the statements given. See fecit." "1229. Kalendis Martii obiit also the act of consecration of the cathe- Ermesendis Comitissa quae hanc sedem dral in A.D. 1038 (Espaua Sagrada, xliii. ditavit et tabulam auream ac crucem p. 437), in which among the list of Deo et Beatrc Marise obtulit, et eccle- signatures at the end occurs the siam miiltis ornamentis ornavit." following passage: — " S. Ermessendis ^ "Hicjacet Amaldus de Solerio,Archi- comitissa3 quse eadem die ad honorem diaconus Bisalduenensis qui etiam siiis Chap. XV. GERONA : CATHEDRAL. 327 ment is 1362 ; but in the 'Liber Notularum' for a.d. 1320, 21, and 22, it seems that the Chapter devoted 3000 libras for the reparation of the Retablo, though it was not till a.d. 1346 that the work was finished, and the altar finally fixed in its present position.^ The whole of the work is therefore before this date ; and probably the Retablo and the baldachin date from the period between the two dates last given, viz. a.d. 1320 and a.d. 1348. The baldachin is, like the Retablo, of wood covered Avith thin plates of metal. It stands upon four shafts, the lower portions of which are of dark marble resting on the moulded footpace round the altar. These four shafts have capitals and bands, the latter being set round with enamelled coats-of-arms. The canopy is a sort of very flat quadripartite vault covered with small figures ; but on both ray visits to Gerona it has been so dark in the choir as to render it impossible to make out the subjects. The central subject seems to be the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin, and in the eastern division is a sitting figure of expensis propriis fecit fieri ciinborium autem anno Dni. M.CCCXX. sexto, viii. seu coopertam argenteam super altaro Kal. Augusti." majori ecclesiaJ Gerundeusis. Obiit ' See note ^, p. 319. 828 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XV. our Lord ^vith saints on eitlier side. In order to show tlie figures on the roof of the baklaehin as much as possible, the two eastern cohirans are ranch lower than the western, the whole roof having thus a slope np towards the west. A singnlar arrangement was contrived behind tlie altar — a white marble seat for the bishop raised by several steps on either side to the level of the altar, and placed under the central arcli of the apse. Here, when the bishop celebrated pontiiically, he sat till the oblation, and returned to it again to give the benediction to tlie people.^ The church is full of other ol)jects of interest. Against the north wall is a very pretty example of a wheel of bells : this is all of wood, corbelled out from the wall, and is rnng with a noisy jingle of silver bells at the elevation of the Host. Near it is a doorway leading into the sacristy, I think, which is very inge- niously converted into a mo- numeut. It has a square lintel and a pointed arcli above : bold corbels on either side carry a high tomb, the base of which is just over the lintel ; this is arcaded at the side and ends, and on its sloping top is a fignre of a knight. The favourite tyjje of monument in this part of Spain is gene- rally a coped tomb carried on corbels, which are usually lions or other beasts : there are good examples of this kind both in the church and cloister ; and in the latter there is also preserved a great wooden cross, which looks as though it had originally decorated a rood-loft. The windows have a good deal of very late stained-glass, which consists generally of single figures under canopies. I have already mentioned the fine early wood-work in the Coro. In the fifteenth century this was altered and added to : and a seat was then made for the bishop in the centre of the western side of the Coro, which has enormous pieces of carved open- work on either side executed with uncommon vigour and skill. These, again, were added to afterwards by a Renaissance artist. Wheel of B^lls, Gerona. ' See Martene de Antiq. Eccl. Rit., lib. i. cap. iv. art. 3. Chap. XV. GERONA : SAN PEDEO. 320 so that it is now necessary to discriminate carefully between the work of various ages. If, when the cathedral has been thoroughly studied, one goes out through the cloister, an external door at its north-western angle leads out to the top of a steep path from which an extremely picturesque view is obtained. The old town walls girt the cathedral on the north side ; but in the eleventh century it was thought well to add to them, and a second wall descends, crosses the valley below, and rises against the opposite hill in a very picturesque fashion. This wall has the passage-way perfect all round, and occasional circular towers project from it. The eve is at once caug^ht in looking at this view bv a fine Roman- esque church with a half-ruined cloister and lofty octagonal steeple, which seems to be absolutely built across and through the walls. This is the Benedictine church of San Pedro de los Galligans ; ^ and a closer inspection shows that what at first looks like the round-tower of the town walls, against which the church has been built, is really the very apse of the church, which when the new walls were built was raised and converted above into a purely military work. The earliest reference to this church that I have found is a statement that it existed in the tenth century, and tliat, in a.d, 1117, the Count Ramon of Barcelona gave it to the Benedictine convent of Sta. Maria de la Crassa, in the bishopric of Carcassonne, of which his brother was Abbat ; and I think we may safely assume that the whole of the existing church was built within a short time of its transfer from the hands of the Secular to those of the Regular Clergy. The church^ consists of a nave and aisles of four bays, the arches being very rude, and the piers plain and square. There are north and south transepts, the former having one, and the latter two eastern apsidal chapels ; and the choir is also finished with an apse. There is another apse at the north end of the north transept. The nave is roofed with a round waggon-vault with plain cross-ribs carried on engaged shafts ; and there is a clerestory of single-light windows which, on the inside, break up partly into the vault of the roof. The aisles are roofed with half-waggon or quadrant vaults, and the apses with semi-domes. The octagonal steeple is built above the north transept, and has in the eastern wall of its first stage two apsidal recesses, which seem to have been intended for altars, and are roofed with semi- * "Galligans; in the old Latin, Galli into the Oaa." — Don J. Villanueva, Cautio. The name is taken from a little Viage Lit., &c., xiv. 146. stream whicli wa.she3 its walls and falls - See ground-plan on Plate XVllI. 330 GOTHIC AECHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XV. domes. The detail of some of the work at the east end is of an unusual kind: it is built in stone and black volcanic scorire, and its rude character is evidence of its early date. Any one wlio is acquainted with the noble church at Elne, near Per piiian, will re- member the similar use of volcanic scoriae there, and will be led to class the two monuments together as works of the same hand and period. The view of the exterior of the church from the north- west is very striking. I'here is a fine western door with a good deal of carving very delicately and elaborately wrought, one of the capitals having a very careful imitation of a fern-leaf on it ; above the doorway a horizontal cornice is carried all across the front, and over this is a fine rose window. The side walls are finished with dentil-courses ; and the clerestory — which is carried up very high above the springing of the vault inside — is finished with an eaves-arcading also. There were no windows in the side walls of the aisle ; and the clerestory windows, and a window at the west end of the north aisle, have bold splays on the outside as well as inside. I'he steeple has been much altered ; but the original design of the two upper (and octagonal) stages seems to have had a two-light window with a bokl central shaft, angle-pilasters, and stringcourses, with shallow arcading below them. On the south side are the cloisters. They are locked up and in ruins ; and though I tried two or three times, I was never able to gain admission to them ; but I saw them from the hill above, and they looked at this distance as if they were designed very much after the pattern of those attached to the cathedral. The arches are round, and carried on coupled detached shafts, with piers in the centre of each side of the cloister. The roof seems to have been a barrel-vault, but great part of it has now fallen in. All this havoc and ruin is owing, like so much that one sees in Spain, to the action of the Fi ench troops during the Peninsular war.^ The whole character of this church is very interesting. The west front reminded me much of the best Italian Homanesque ; and the rude simplicity of the interior — so similar in its mode of construction to the great church at Santiago in the opposite corner of the Peninsula — suggests the probability of its being one of the earliest examples of which Spain can boast. ^ Don J. Villanueva, Viage Literario, tury, though I notice that some of the xiv. p. 150, asserts that these cloisters inscriptions whicli he gives from them are not earlier tlian the fourteenth ceu- are of earlier date. wiimi^'u ')[, '\.y-^/;::m Chap. XV. GEEONA : CHURCHES. 331 Close to San Pedro, to the north-west, stands another church, which, though it is very small, is fully as curious. This is now desecrated and converted into workshops and dwelling-houses. It is transverse triapsal in plan (i. e., the transepts and the chancel are all finished with apses). The Crossing is surmounted by a low tower or lantern, square below, but octagonal above, and with some remains of an apparently old tiled roof. The transej)ts are ceiled with semi-domes, and the chancel was simi- larly covered, but its vault has now been removed in order to facilitate access to the steeple, in which a peasant and his family live. Tlie nave is roofed with a waggon-vault, at the springing of which from the wall is a small moulding ; and its walls are siij)ported by buttresses, which do not seem to be earlier than the thirteenth century, though the rest of the church must date no doubt from the early part of the twelfth. The exterior is very plain ; but the chancel apse is divided by pilasters which run up to and finish in a corbel-table at the eaves ; and the tower has also an eaves' corbel-table. All the dimensions of this churcli are very small, but it is interesting, as being almost the only example I have seen in Spain of a transverse triapsal plan; and the central lantern is one of the earliest examples of what became in later days one of the most common features of Spanish buildings.' We came down the hill north of the cathedral to see this churcli and San Pedro ; and if we retrace our steps, and go out by the western door on to the platform at the top of the vast flight of steps which leads u]) to the cathedral, we shall be at once struck by the beautiful, though truncated, spire of San Feliu, which stands below, and to the west of the cathedral. Indeed, in nearly all views of the old city, this steeple claims the first place in our regard ; and perhaps it is seen best of all in crossing the ^ Parcerisa describes this little church Count, endowed the church, and the as that of S. Daniel, but I was unable deed still preserved recounts how that on the spot to learn its dedication. I " Ego Ermesendis inchoavi prajdictam believe, however, that its dedication is ecclesiam edificare et Deo auxiliante volo to S. Kicolas, and that S. Daniel is a perficere." An architectural descrip- larger chui'ch of later date. In Espaua tion of the present church is given by Sagrada, xlv. p. 185 et seq., some Villanueva,ViageLiterario, xiv. 158, from account is given of the foundation of U'hich it seems that it is a Greek cross S. Daniel. This took place in 1017, in plan, and mainly of the fourteenth Bishop Roger having sold the church to century, with an altar in a crypt below Count Ramon, and Ermesendis his wife, the high altar, constructed in 1343 : and for 100 ounces of gold, which were to if this account is correct, this small be spent on the fabric of the cathedral, twelfth-century church cannot be S. The Countess, after the death of the Daniel. 332 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XV. river at tlie other end of tlie town, where it stands at tlie end of the vista np the stream, which is edged on eitlier side by the backs of the tall, picturesque, and crowded houses. San Feliu^ is one of the oldest collegiate foundations in the diocese of Gerona ; and when, in the eighth century, the Moors converted the cathedral into a mosque, here it was that the Christian rites were celebrated. No doubt, therefore, a church stood here long before the first recorded notices of the fabric, for these do not occur before the early part of the fourteenth century, save such indications of work in progress as the be- quest often solidos to the work by Bishop William in a.d. 1245, and such evidence of its damage or destruction as is the tiict that the French, attacking the city in a.d. 1285, obtained posses- sion of the church and did it much damage. In a.d. 1313, when the Chapter of the cathedral were obtaining royal concessions towards the work of their own church, they granted an exemption to San Feliu, giving to its clergy the first-fruits of their benefices to spend on the work of their own church.^ In a.d. 1318 there is evidence that the choir was completed, but other works were going on during the rest of the century. In a.d. 1340 the Chapter determined to erect cloisters, under the direction of an architect named Sancii, and bougiit a site for them to the north of the church ; and the operarius or canon in charge of the w^ork seems to have raised alms for them even so far off as at Valencia and in the Balearic Isles. The work was begun in a.d. 1 357 and finished in 13t^8, in which year the Chapter entered into a contract^ with ^ S. Felix. nostro opere: in premissis fuit exceptum ^ Espaua Sagrada, xlv. p. 41. opus Poutis majoris in quo jam prius ^ Extract from tlie book entitled extitit obligatus et convenit quando " Obra = Recepte et Expense, ab anno ipso fuerit in ipso opere Pontis vel in alio l:5'J5:" It.: Solvi disc". R. Egidii Not. quod una liora diei sine lexiare — videat Gerunde v die Septembris, anno illos qui operabuntur vel parabunt M.ccc.i.x.viii., pro instrumento facto lapides desbrocar in ipso opere. Et est inter Capitulum hujus Eccle. et P. Za- sibi coucessum dare pro qualibet die comamagistriim operis Cloquerii noviter faoner quod fuerit in opere jiredicto iiii incepti et est certum quod in isto in- SS. et uni ejus famulo i vel ii secundum strumento continentur in efectu ista. — ministeria ipsorum.— It. : Ulterius aiu- P". Quod ille proficue procuret ipsum matim dare sibi de gratia cxl SS. (sncl- opus dictum evitando expensas inor- dos), segons lo temps empero que ob- dinatas quantum in ipso fuerit, et hoc raran. Car per lo temps que no obraran juravit. It.: Quod aliud opus accipere eu lo Cloquer ne en padrera no deu res non valeat sine licencia operarii. It. : pendrer mes deu esser dedecet dels dets Quod quotiescumque fuerit in ipso opere cxl SS. pro rata temporis, et quanti- factus apparatus oj^erandi quod vocatus tatis." — Espana Sagrada, AjDp., xlv. quocumque opere dimisso operetur in p. 2-18. See Spanish translation do.. Chap. XV. GERONA : CHUECH OF S. FELIU. 333 an architect, one Pedro Zaconia, for the erection of the campa- nile. In A.D. 1363, however, it was deemed necessary, on account of the position of the church just outside the old walls, and on the north of the town, that it should be fortified ; and to ac- complish this work, and others of the same kind ordered in a.d. 1374 and 1385, the cloisters so recently built were destroyed. The steeple is said to have been finished in 1392,^ Pedro Zacoma having acted as architect as late as a.d. 1376. The church bears evident marks of many alterations and additions. It consists of nave and aisles, transepts, central apse, and two apsidal chapels on the east side of the south, and one on the east of the north transept. The piers are plain square masses of masonry, and the main arches are semi-circular, unmoulded, and springing from a very plain abacus. There is a kind of triforium, an arcade of three divisions in each bay, and a fair pointed vault of ten bays — two to each bay of the nave arcade — carried on groining-shafts corbelled out from the wall. The north transept retains a Avaggon- vault, the axis of which is north and south, whilst the south transept has two bays of cross vaulting. The eastern apse is circular in plan, but divided into seven groining bays, and lighted by three windows of three lights. The apses of the south tran- sept are also circular, lighted by lancets, and groined with semi-domes, though the arches into the transept are pointed. The general character of the later part of this church is, I should say, that of late first-pointed work; yet it is pretty clear that it is almost all a work of the fourteenth century. There is a fine fourteenth-century south porch, with some good arcading in its side walls, in which the tracery is all executed with soifeit-cusping. Of the western steeple I need not say very much, as my sketch shows the nature of its design, arid the evidence as to its date is evidently very accurate. The character of the architec- p. 73. In an old Kalendar, of G!e- in pi-ogress, and mentions "P. Comas, rona, printed in Espana Sagrada, s.liv. maestro mayor," Espafia Sagrada, xlv. p. 309, is the following paragraph, p. 45. Parcerisa, Recuerdos y Bellezas which refers to the works of Pedro de Espaila, Cataluua, says that the spire Zacoma: — "An. 1368 fuit inceptus lo was finished in 1581. But I think he Pont nou de mense Madii; a 9 Aug. has been misled by some rejiairs of ejusdem anni fuit inceptus lo Cloquer the steeple rendered necessary after the de Sant Feliu. destruction of the upper part of the 1 A memorandum in the book of the spire in this j^ear by lightning, and 'Obra,' under date 1385, desci'ibes the mentioned in the Actas Ca^jitulares. various works in the fortification then 334 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XY. tural detail is quite that of flamboyant-work, and the outline is bold, original, and good. It is seldom indeed that the junction of the tower and spire is more happily managed than it is here ; and before the destruc- tion of the upper j)art of the spire, the whole effect must have been singularly graceful. This is the more remarkable in a country where a genuine spire is so rare a feature ; but the architect was fortunate in following the customs of the country when he made his steeple octagonal in plan, for it is extremely difficult — one may almost say imjjossible — to put a spire upon an octagonal tower the outline of which shall not be graceful. In an arch against the wall of this tower is a tomb resting on lions jutting out from the wall, and with the date 1387 in the inscrij^tion. It is a good example of the late date to which this early- looking type of monument con- tinued to be used in Spain. This church has a rather elaborate wooden Eetablo, carved and gilt with subjects painted on its panels. The pulpit is also old, and has rich, late flamboyant tracery panels : it is placed against a pier on the south side of the nave, and a second modern pulpit faces it on the north. The old metal screen also remains : it is rather rude, and has prickets for candles along it, each of which has a sort of frame which looks as though it were meant to hold a glass. There are also a few remains of old domestic buildings. A house near the cathedral has the usual Catalan features of trefoiled ajiniez windows, and a doorway with a prodigiously deep archivolt. Another house near San Feliu has a broad window with a square-headed opening ; the head is an ogee arch, with tracery in the tympanum, and over all is a square-headed label- moulding. It is not an elegant window, yet it has some value Spire of San Feliu. CiiAP. XV. CHURCH AT GRANOLLERS. 335 as an example of an opening as large as we usually adopt now-a- days, and with a square head. The most interesting house, however, is the Fonda de la Estrella, the principal inn in the town. The windows here are capital examples of shafted win- dows of the end of the twelfth century. The shafts are very delicate (4|- inches by 6 ft. 1 inch) ; the capitals are well carved with men and animals, and the carved abacus is carried from window to window. The windows are of three lights, and with only a narrow space of wall between them. The back of this house is less altered than the front : on the ground it has an arcade of four round arches, on the first floor five windows of the same sort as these just described, but simpler, and above this a series of pilasters, which uow carry the roof. There must have been arcnes I think to this open upper stage. There is another house in the same street, and just opposite the inn, of rather later date, but also with early ajimez win- dows, and this had also an open stage below the roof. The whole city looks picturesque and old, and I daresay a more careful search than I had time for would be rewarded with further discoveries of old remains. Most of the houses are arcaded below, and their loAver stories are groined, the cells of the vaults being filled in with bricks laid in herring-bone patterns. From Gerona to Barcelona there are two railways branching from the station at Empalme. That which follows the coast passes by several small towns facing the sea, in which there are many remains of old walls and castles, and not a few ajimez windows. It is, in short, a charming ride in every way. The other line going inland also passes a very striking country, and some old towns. Hostalrich is a very picturesque old walled town, with its walls and towers all fairly perfect. Fornelles has a good church, Avith a low crocketed spire on an octagonal steeple, brought to a square just below the belfry-stage. Granollers has a rather good fourteenth-century church, of the same general character as the Barcelona churches of the same date. It has a nave of five bays, and an apse of seven sides, with a tower at the north-west angle. Some trace of an earlier church remains in a round-arched western door. The western bay is occupied by a late fifteenth-century groined gallery carried on an elliptic arch, with a parapet pierced with richly-cusped circles. The staircase to this gallery is in a sort of aisle or side chapel, and has an extremely well managed iron hand-railing, supported by occasional uprights, and quite worthy of imitation. The tower 336 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XV. lias a delicate newel staircase in its angle : the newel has a spiral monlding, and the nnder side of the steps is very care- fully wrouglit. The upper part of the steeple is like those of Barcelona cathedral — an irregular octagon, and has a traceried parapet and low spire. There is a very rich late wooden jjulpit, corbelled out from the wall, through which a door is pierced, and some rich woodwork is placed at the head of the steps lead- ing to it. The apse has two-light and single-light windows in the alternate sides, and the nave the latter only. Small chapels are formed between the buttresses, and these are also lighted with small wiudows. On the whole this church has a good many features of interest, and its very considerable height gives it greater dignity than our own churches of the same class have. On the road from Gerona into France I have seen only one or two churches. At Figueras the cathedral has a steeple extremely similar to that just described at Granollers, and evi- dently of the same date. The sides of the octagon are not equal, and bells are hung in the windows, and one in an arched frame at the top. This tower is on the north side of the nave, which has four bays, transepts, and a Renaissance central dome covered with glazed tiles. The fabric of the nave seems to be of the thirteenth century, having lancet Avindows and buttresses of great projection rather well designed, chapels occupying the space between them. The west door label runs up to, and is termiuated by, a long cross. At la Junquera, between Figueras and the frontier, the little Parroquia has the date of a.d. 1413 on the door. Its only feature of interest is the tower, which has a staircase carried on arches thrown from side to side of the tower, and having a square opening or well-hole in the centre. The same kind of staircase has been described in the church of San Eoman at Toledo. From hence a pleasant road among the mountains, beauti- fully clothed here with cork-trees, and disclosing charming views at every turn, leads by the frontier fortress of Bellegarde, over the Col de Pertiis, and so on down the eastern side of the Pyrenees to PerpiSan. Here, if we look only at the map of modern France, my notes ought to stop. But Perpiiiau was of old a Spanish city, and its buildings are sO thoroughly Spanish in their character that I may venture to say a very few words about them.' ' Roussillon belonged to the Kings by Louis XI. in 1474, restored to Spain, of Aragou from A.u. 1178. Perpiiiau and finally taken by the French in a. u. was taken, after a vigorous resistance, 1642. Chap. XV. PERPINAN — ELNE. 337 The church of San Juan is of very remarkable dimensions. The clear width of the nave is sixty feet, but in the easternmost bay this is gathered in to fifty-four feet, which is the diameter of the seven-sided apse. Guillermo Sagrera, master of the works of this cathedral, was one of the architects summoned to advise about the erection of the nave at Gerona, and I think there can be but little doubt that the plan of this church was his handiwork, and that it was erected, therefore, at the beginning of the fifteenth century. It will be seen that he was one of the architects who spoke most strongly in favour of the erection of a broad un- broken nave. The vault he erected here is of brick with stone ribs, and the brickwork is rather rough, with very wide mortar joints, and looks as if from the first it were intended to plaster and paint it. The roofs of the chapels which are built between the large buttresses have flat gables north and south, and the same arrangement is carried round the apse. The most striking feature in this cathedral is that very rare thing — a very fine mediajval oro-an. It is corbelled out from the north wall of the nave, and is of great size and height. The pipes are arranged in traceried compartments at five different levels. This compli- cates the machinery for the supply of wind, but adds greatly to the picturesque character of the instrument. Originally this organ had great painted shutters, which are now nailed up against the wall close to the south porch. The width of its front is about twenty-five feet, its projection from the wall three feet six inches, and the organist sits in a gallery at its base.' There are several good old houses here : but I must content myself with the mention of one only in the Kue de la Barre. Here we have the peculiarities of the Spanish houses, as they are seen along the coast from Gerona to Valencia, very decidedly developed : the windows are all ajimez, with the usual delicate trefoiled head to the lights, and slender shafts between them, and the arch-stones of the doorway are more than usually enormous, being little less than six feet in length. A drive of a few miles from Perpiiian leads to the extremely interesting church at Elne, consecrated in a.d. 1058.'' Here, as in San Pedro, Gerona, and to the east of it in the cathedral at Affde, there are occasional lines of black volcanic scorioe used in the Eomanesque steeple and west front, and with good effect. The nave of the church has a pointed barrel vault, and the aisles 1 An illustration of this organ is '^ Viage Literario a las Iglesias de given in M. Viollet le Due's Dictionary Espana, vol. xiv. p. 100. of French Architecture. Z 838 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XV. half- barrel vaults, but all the cross arches are semi-cireular. At the west end is a sort of thirteenth-century narthex, and the three apses at the east have semi-domes. On the north side of the cliurch is a noble cloister, planned just like that in the cathedral at Gerona Avith the most complete disregard to sym- metry. It is extremely similar to it also in general design : but it is very remarkable as having its east and north sides erected about the end of the thirteenth century in evident and very close imitation of tlie earlier M'ork on the other two sides. The vault- ing throughout the cloister is of the later date, and raised con- siderably above the level of the old vault. The whole of this cloister is wrought in a veined white marble, and a door from It into the church is built in alternated courses of red and \Ahite marble. On the whole S. Elne well deserves a visit, not only on ac- count of the extreme interest of its churcli and cloister, but, to the student of Spanish architecture, on account of the very important link which it supplies in the chain which connects the early Spanish with the early French buildings of the middle ages. The history of Cataluiia shows how intimate was the con- nection of the people and towns on both sides of the moun- tains, and it is here and elsewhere in the south of France that we see the germ of almost all the mediaeval Spanish art. Ger^ONA: Gnoun!! Plan oF dat^ttSKal S: Chap. XVI. MANRESA : RAILWAY. ^^^ CHAPTER XVI. MANRESA — L^RTDA. The railway which connects Barcelona with Zaragoza enables the ecclesiologist to see some of the best buildings in this part of Spain with great ease. As far as Manresa its course is extremely picturesque, as it winds about among the Catalan hills, in sight, for a considerable part of the way, of that wonderful jagged mountain-range of Montserrat, wdiich, after much experi- ence of mountains, strikes me more each time that I see it as among the very noblest of rocks. I know not its height above the sea, but its vast precipitous mass, rising suddenly from among the ordinary features of a landscape, and entirely uncon- nected with any other mountain range, produces an impression of size which may possibly be vastly in excess of the reality. Its sky-line is everywhere formed by grand pointed pinnacles, or aiguilles of rock, and the whole mass is of a pale grey colour which adds very much to its effect. The convent is a con- siderable distance below the summit ; but as there appears, so far as I can learn, to be nothing left of any of its mediaeval buildings, I was obliged to deny myself the pleasure of the climb to the summit of the rock, which a visit to the monastery would have excused, and in part, indeed, entailed. To the north of the line of the railway the hills rise gradually almost to the dignity of mountains, and suggest a beautiful situation for that old episcopal city — Vique — whose fine cathedral seems to have been destroyed and rebuilt, but where there is still to be seen a very rich late middle-pointed cloister. Everywhere the richly- coloured soil teems with produce ; here vineyards and there corn-fields, all of them divided by long parallel lines of olives and standard peaches ; whilst the deep river dells, clothed with cork-trees, stone pines, or underwood, add immensely to the interest of the road, which constantly crosses them. Beyond Manresa the character of the country changes com- pletely ; and when he has once reached the frontier of Aragon, the traveller has his only pleasure in the fine distant views of the Pyrenees ; and if his journey be made in the spring — in the sight of a vast extent of corn-fields, stretching on all sides z 2 310 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XVI. far as the eye can see. In the summer nothing can be more saddening tlian the change which comes over this country ; the corn is all cut before the end of IMay, and then the universal light-brown colour of the soil makes the landscape all but in- tolerably tame and uninteresting. Two or three old buildings are seen from tlie railway. Be- tween Sardanola and Sabadell is a house with a tower, in which is a very good round-arched ajimez window. At Tarrasa the churches evidently deserve examination. There is one with a lofty central lantern, and of transverse triapsal plan, which seems to be entirely Romanesque in character; and there ?«" another of the usual later Catalan type, seven bays in length, with an apse of five sides, a tower on the south side of the choir, and a large rose-window at the west end. Near the same town, to the north, is a Romanesque village church with a lofty belfry, which, like that of the early church in the town itself, has belfry- windows of two lights, with a dividing shaft, and a low^ square spire-roof A church of the same type is seen near Monistrol — the station for Montserrat, — and from this point there is nothing to be noticed until Manresa is reached, picturesquely situated on the steep hill above the river Gardener, with two or three churches and convents, and a great Collegiata — or colle- giate church — towering up imposingly above everything else. But if the situation of this church is noble, the building itself is even more so ; and having passed it in my first journey, I was so much struck by its size and character that I made a point of going again to the same district, in order to examine it at my leisure. The town is poor and decayed ; but I was there on a fe^ta, and have seldom had a better opportunity of seeing the Catalan peasantry, who thronged the streets, the Plazas, and the churches, and made them lively with bright colours and noisy tono-ues. There was a church consecrated on the same site in A.D. 1020, and it is of this probably that a fragment still remains on the north side. The rest has been destroyed, and Fr. J. Villanueva ' says that the existing church was commenced in A.D. 1328, — a date which accords very well with the detail of the earlier portion of the work, — but he does not give his authority for the statement. I have not been able to find any other evi- dence which would fix the date of the dedication or completion of the building ; but as Arnaldo de Valleras, one of the archi- tects consulted in 1416 as to the design for Gerona cathedral. ' Viage Lib. a las Iglesias de Espaua, vii. 179. M:?NR€S;r=(:OLL€€j];{T€-- (aiUR{:R=_(.;nnunii = Plan: ?i. XLX t /> -7 X Y V M:LS()ns Jfarks on StTotn round Coro. 1'. ff ^ 'vn-e:i,i..ff: Priblisliea "by JoTrm Murray AlViemarlp S^ 1865 Chai'. XVI. MANRESA : THE COLLEGIATA. 34 1 speaks of himself as then engaged on the construction of the church of Manresa, there can be but little doubt that at this time the Collegiata was still unfinished, having, as the detail of the design suggests, been a long time in progress. It is of the common Catalan type of the fourteenth century, and though it is one of the most important examples of its class, it presents so few new or unusual features that it hardly seems to require a very lengthy description. Its design is in nearly all respects of the same kind as those of the Barcelonese churches of the same age ; but its plan ^ is very remarkable, as giving, perhaps, the widest span of nave anywhere to be seen in a church with aisles and a clerestory. Or j)erhaps I ought to limit myself to examples on the mainland, for at Palma in Mallorca the Avidth of the nave of the cathedral seems to be even greater, and the plan is almost exactly the same. The scheme is very similar to that of Sta. Maria del Mar, Barcelona, but the width of the nave here is con- siderably greater, and the general effect of the interior is even finer. The buttresses are necessarily of v^,st size, and are formed partly inside and partly outside the church. A lofty tower is erected over one of the bays of the north aisle, and the two nave columns which carry it are in consequence built of larger dimensions tlian any of the others. A fine Romanesque door- way still remains in the wall, just outside this tower, and leads now into the modern cloister court ; but the principal entrances to the church are by grand doorways of the same age as the church, whose jambs and arches have rich continuous mouldings. These doorways are opposite each other, and just to the west of the apse, a position of much importance in regard to the ritual airangements of the church. There is also a western doorway, but this, together with the rest of the west front, has all been modernized, whilst the cloister and its chapels appear to be entirely modern. The magnificent scale of the plan is perhaps hardly supjDorted as it should be by the beauty of the design in detail. In its present state it is hardly fair to judge of the original effect of the exterior, but inside one is struck by the enormous width and height, and not at all by the beauty of the details. The columns are of vast height and size : but plain piers, with poor bases and capitals, and poverty-stricken arches, seem out of place in such a church, and, owing to the enormous size of the vault, the clerestory windows are but little seen in the general view of the interior. • See Plate XIX. 342 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XVI. The columns are simple octagons in plan, and of great size : they have poor, shallow, carved capitals, whicli support the very thin-looking main arches, and the large moulded piers which carry the gi-oining. This is quadripartite throughout, and has very bold ribs, with carved bosses at the meeting of the diagonal ribs. The window traceries throughout are of rich geometrical cha- racter, and savour rather of German influence than of French. Those in the aisles are generally of two lights, and in the cleres- tory of three and four lights — tlie window in the eastern bay of the apse being of four lights, wliilst those in the other bays are only of three. The wliole roof of the aisles is paved with stone laid on the back of the vault, as at Toledo cathedral, with gutters fol- lowing the lines of the vaulting ribs, and the water is carried down into the pockets of the vaults, and thence through the but- tresses into gurgoyles. Over this roof — which seemed to me to be undoubtedly the old one — a modern Avooden roof covered with pantiles has been erected, which blocks up all the lower part of the clerestory Avindows, and is carried in a very clumsy fashion on arches thrown across between the flying buttresses. The nave roof is now all covered with pantiles laid on the vault itself, so that from below the church has the effect, already noticed at Barcelona, of being roofless. This is certainly not the old arrangement, but whether of old there was any visible roof to any of these late Catalan churches I am wholly unable to say. The flying buttresses are double in height, the lower arches abutting against the wall a few feet above the sills of the cleres- tory windows, and the upper somewhat above their springing. It is possible that this upper flying buttress is an addition to the original design, provided to meet some settlement in the fabric, for many of the buttresses have only the lower arch, which would hardly be the case if they had all been executed at the same time. The buttresses generally are finished with crocketed pediments, but there are now no traces to be seen of their pin- nacles, or of the parapets between them. A lofty octagonal staircase turret is cariied up to tlie height of the clerestory against one of the outer angles of the aisle wall, and a passage- way from it to the clerestory roof is boldly carried upon an arch, w'hich takes the place of a flying buttress. The steeple is lofty : it is entered by old doorways opening on to the paved roof of the aisles, and is groined both under and above the bells. An old newel staircase in one angle has been destroyed, and steps projecting from the side walls have been LIANRERA. I.NTERIOK OF THE COLLEGIATE CErECH. Chap. XVI. MANRESA: THE COLLEGIATA. 34o ingeniously introduced instead. On the top of tlie tower a large bell is suspended from the intersection of four arched stone ribs ; these ribs rise about twenty-five feet from the roof, are about one foot six inches thick, and abut against piers or dwarf pin- nacles at the base, about four feet deep by one foot eleven inches thick. Two architects, said to be French — though their names seem to me to be those of Catalans — Juan Font and Giralt Can- tarell, are said to have worked at this steeple from 1572 to 1590,^ and no doubt it was this upper portion on which they wrought. The sacristies on the south-east side of the apse are old, but not interesting. The only antiquities I saw in them were four fine processional staves, with tops of silver richly wrought with tracery in the sides, and crocheted gables over the traceries. Behind the openings of tracery the plate is gilt, the rest being- all silver. The arrangement of the interior of the church for sen'ice follows that usually seen in tliese enormously wide buildings. Within the apse the choir is formed by means of iron grilles, leaving a passage some ten feet wide all round it, and under the choir is a crypt as at Barcelona cathedral, approached in the same way, by a flight of steps from the nave. The Coro is placed, according to the common fashion, in the nave, occupying about two of its bays in length, and there is an equal space to the west of it, between its eastern screen and the steps to the Caj)illa mayor. The width of the Coro is much less than that of the nave, and its enclosing walls are mainly old. At first sight, therefore, it seems to be a good example of an early introduction of this common Spanish arrangement : but on closer view it appears to have been taken down and rebuilt, and may not, possibly, retain its old position. But, on the other hand, the two great doors in the side walls would never have been placed where they are if the Coro had occupied its usual English position to the west of tlie altar enclosure. The plan of Barcelona cathedral has just the same arrangement of great doorways north and south between tlie Coro and the altar, and there, beyond any doubt, the Coro is in its old place ; and seeing how close the points of similarity are in both churches, it must, I think, be assumed that even if this screen at Manresa has been rebuilt it still occupies its old place. It is a work of the fifteenth century, of stone, arcaded on either side of a central western door- way. The divisions of the arcade have figures painted within Viage Lit. a las Iglesias de Espafia, vii. 180. 344 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XYT. them of the apostles and other saints. The stalls and fittings of the Coro are all of lienaissance character. On either side of tlie altar there still remain three octagonal shafts with carved capitals, to which, no doubt, were originally huug the curtains or veils which protected the altar. They are of the same date as the church, and about ten feet six inches in lieight. The footpace is also old, and placed exactly in the centre of the apse. The richest treasure here is, however, still to be described. Among a number of altar-frontals, neither better nor worse than are usually seen, there is still preserved one which, after much study of embroidery in all parts of Europe, I may, I believe, safely pronounce to be the most beautiful work of its age. It is 10 feet long, by 2 feet lOf inches in height, divided into three compartments in width, the centre division having the Crucifixion, and the sides being each subdivided into nine divisions, each containing a subject from the life of our Lord.^ An inscription at the loAver edge of the frontal preserves the name of the artist to whom this great work is owing. It is in Lombardic capitals, and as follows : — GEEI: LAPI: RACHAMATORE: MEFECIT: INFLORENTIA. The work is all done on fine linen doubled. The faces, hands, and many other parts — as, e.g., the masonry of a wall — are drawn with brown ink on the linen, and very delicately shaded with a brush. The use of ink for the faces is very common in early embroidery, but I have never before seen work so elabo- rately finished with all the art of the painter. The faces are full of beauty and expression, and have much of the tender religious sentiment one sees in the work of Era Augelico. The drawing is extremely good, the horses like those Benozzo Gozzoli painted, and the men dressed in Florentine dresses of the early part of the fifteenth century. The subjects are full of intricacy, ' The aubjects are as follows: — 12. The Last Supper. I. The Marriage of the Blessed Virgiu. 1'5. The Agony in the Garden. '-'. The Annunciation. 1+. The Betrayal. o. The Salutation. 15. Our Lord before Pilate. 4. The Nativity. 16. The Scourging. 5. The Adoration of the Magi. 17. Our Lord bearing His Cross. 6. The Flight into Egypt. 18. The Resurrection. 7. The Presentation in the Temple. 19- The Descent into Hell. 8. The Dispute with the Doctors. The subjects begin at the ujjper left- 9. The Money-changers driven out of hand corner, and are continued from the Temple. left to right, the subjects 1 to 9 being lu. The Crucifixion. on the left, and 11 to 19 on the right of I I. The Entry into Jerusalem. the Crucifixion. Chap. XVI. MANRESA: THE COLLEGIATA. 345 the Crucifixion having the whole subject, with the crucifixion of the thieves, and all the crowd of figures so often represented. The work is marvellously delicate — so much so that, passing the hand over it, it is difficult to tell exactly when it ends and the painting begins. The colours are generally very fresh and beautiful; but the gold backgrounds being very lightly stitched down are a good deal frayed. There are borders be- tween and around all the subjects. Such a piece of embroidery makes one almost despair. English ladies who devotedly apply themselves to this kind of work have as yet no conception of the delicacy of the earlier works, and reproduce only too often the coarse patterns of the latest English school.^ In the choir-aisle is a wheel of bells in its old case, and under the organ is the favourite Catalan device of a Saracen's head. A picturesque effect was produced in the church here by the large white flannel hoods which all the women wore at mass. The church was crowded with people, and these white hoods contrasted well with the many-coloured bags or sacks — red and violet predominating — which the men always wear on their heads. I saw two other old churches here. That " del Carmen " is of the same age as the Collegiata, with a nave of six bays and an apse of seven sides. It is forty-seven feet wide in the clear, with- out aisles, has chapels between the buttresses, and is lighted by large clerestory-windows. Here, as at the cathedral, almost all the windows are blocked, and sufficient light seems to be obtained for the whole church by some ten or twelve holes about two feet square pierced here and there. The other church is of the same description, but less important. Wheel of Bells. • To those who kuow them I need hardly say that the remains of the Anglo- Saxon vestments found in S. Cuthbert's tomb, and preserved at Durham, are perhaps the most exqixisitely delicate works in existence — so delicate that a magnifying glass is necessary in order to understand at all the way in which the work has been done. This Florentine work, of a later age, quite makes up in art for what it lacks in minute delicacy of execution when comimred with S. Cuthbert's vestments. 346 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SrAIX. Chap. XYI. Between Manresa and Lerida, the only town of any import- ance is Cervera. Here there is a vast and hideous university building going to ruin ; and two churches, one of which, with a square steeple, seems to be early in date, and the other — that of Sta. Maria, I believe — of the usual Catalan fourteenth-century type. This steeple was completed, in a.d. 143] , by an architect of Cervera, Pedro de Vall-llebrera ; but it must have been long in progress, inasmuch as the principal bell — which was never to be tolled save for the funeral of a peer, a royal officer, or a bishop — was put in its place in a.d. 1377.^ This bell has disappeared. On another, however, is this inscription : — " I.H.S. . Mateus . de . Ulmo . magister . cimbalorum . ville . Cervarise . me . fecit . anno . a . nativitate . Domini . millesimo . quadringentesimo , vigesimo . quarto . Si . ergo . me . queritis . sinite . os . habu*e." And on another — " -f Barbara . nos . serva . Christi . sanctis- sima . serva." Between Cervera and Lerida the couutiy is very uninte- resting until near the end of the journey, when a good view of Lerida, and the cliff above the river, is obtained. I have twice visited this interesting old city. In the autumn of 1861 I passed a day there, when the greater part of my time was sj^ent in endeavouring to get admission into the cathedral, so that I only saw enough to make me wish to repeat my visit ; and this I was fortunately able to accompHsh in the spring of 1862. My readers will agree with me, when they have realized to them- selves what is to be seen, that such a cathedral as that of Lerida is in itself worth the journey from England. Unfortunately its examination will always be beset with difficulties — if indeed it is allowed at all when visitors become more numerous than they have been hitherto. The town consists mainly of one very long, tortuous street parallel with the river Segre, a broad, rapid stream, carrying the waters of a large part of the southern slopes of the Pyrenees into the Ebro at Mequinenza. There is an Alameda all along the river-bank, and at about midway in its length a large stone bridge across the river. Behind the toAvn a hill rises rapidly — in some parts abruptly — to an elevation of, I sup- pose, about three hundred feet above the river; and on the summit of this stand the old cathedral, and some remains of other coeval buildings, now the centre of a formidable-looking, though really neglected, system of fortifications. Two other ' Viage Lit. li las Iglesias de E.^jiaiia, is. p. 17. Chap. XVI. LERIDA : CATHEDRAL. 347 old churches — Sau Lorenzo and San Juan — remain, one in the upper part of the city, and the other on the Plaza, near the bridge. A modern cathedral, of the baldest and coldest Pagan type, but of great size, was built in the main street, near the river, when the old cathedral was converted into a fortress ; and I cannot do better than quote 3Ir. Ford's rather ironical statement of its history : — " The ruin," he says, " of the old cathedral dates from 1707, Avhen the French made it a fortress : nor has it ever been restored to pious uses ; for in the piping times of peace the steep walk proved too much for the pm-sy canons, who, aban- doning their lofty church, employed General Sabatani ! to build them a new cathedral below, in the convenient and Corinthian style." From the date of its desecration nothing whatever has been cared for ; and it goes to one's heart to see so noble a work, and one so sacred, put to such vile uses, and to so little purpose : for even now wlien Spain bristles with soldiers, and the whole nation is bitten with the love of military sights and sounds, the desecration of a sacred building is all that has been accomplished ; for I believe that the Spaniards have seldom managed to hold possession of it against the French, and in its present dilapi- dated state are less than ever likely to do so.^ The position is, however, a veiy strong one ; and another hill to the west of the city is crowned with a second fort connected with it. Admission is only to be obtained by an order from the commandant of the district, who resides in the city below ; and he very kindly sent a sub-officer to remain with me whilst I was in the fort, and with true Spanish courtesy came up himself to see that I gained admission to every part, and took great trouble to open doors some of which seemed hardly to have been opened since the Peninsular war ! The buildings now remaining consist of a church with an enormous cloister on its western side, and a lofty steeple at the south-west angle of the cloister. On the north side of the cloister is a large stone-roofed hall, and north of this again, and detached from the cathedral, are considerable fragments of what is called a castle, and these include another noble gi-oined hall. My ground-plan of the cathedral and its dependences will show at a glance how unusual and remarkable the whole scheme is. The south side of the church is built on the very edge of the precipitous cliff above the town and river, and the lofty tower ' I do uot forget the successful de- one of which the people may well be fence of Lerida, in the sixteenth cen- proud: but this was before the desecra- tury, against the Prince de Conde ; it is tion of the cathedral. 348 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XVI. is daringly balanced as it were on the most dangerous point of tlie whole ground. The mass of the whole group seen from below, and the vast height of the tower, ai-e therefore singularly imposing, whilst the view obtained from the summit is one of rare magaificenee. It is true that here the immediate neighbour- hood is not lovely, but still the river does much towards con- verting to fruitfulness the usually arid-looking Aragonese soil of the district by clothing it with trees and verdure, and when last I saw it not only was the Segre a torrent of rushing waters, but on all sides the hills were covered with a wide expanse of vineyards and corn-fields; and beyond these were to be seen towering up in the far distance the grand range of the Pyi'enees, touched here and tliere — on the Maladetta and some of the other high peaks — with lines of snow ; whilst on tlie other side the lower mountain ranges of Aragon completed one of the most beautiful panoramas I have ever seen from churcli tower. The site of the cathedral has long been occupied. It was an important stronghold in the time of the Romans, and the first cathedral was erected as early as in the sixth century. The Moors in course of time gained possession of the city, and it was not until a.d. 1149 that the Christians, under Ramon Berenguer, finally drove them out and regained possession. The documentary evidence as to the age of the existing build- ings is fairly clear, and may as well be given at once. I derive all my facts from the papers printed in 'Espana Sagrada;'^ and besides those which more particularly interest me as an archi- tect, there are in the volume which relates to Lerida some most interesting extracts from the proceedings of councils held there from A.D. 1175 to 1418, and of diocesan synods from the year 1240. These are full of information as to the customs of the church, and the rules affecting the clergy.^ The first stone of the new cathedral was laid in the time of the third bishop after the restoration, and in the presence of the • Vol. xlvii. De la Sauta Iglesia their god-parents of baptism or con- (le Lerida en su eetado moderno. Su firmation. Mendicants are forbidden to autor el Doctor Don Pedro Sainz de celebrate on portable altars (^s;(;). omnes octavas et constituit ut festum •• Esp. Sag., xlvii. p. 46. dedicationis celebrai'etur semper in '' Ibid., p. 47. Dominica prima post festum S. Luce." — 350 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XVI. century. The fabric-rolls for 1397 contain an item of 350 feet of stone from the river Daspe " for the work of the tower." Other similar notices occur, and among them the names of two masters of the works, Guillelmo Colivella and Carlos Galtes de Euan. It was ])robably completed before 1416; for in this year Juan Adam, " de burgo Sanctse Marias, Turlensis diocesis, regni Franciae," contracted for the making of the great bell, which was finished in 1418, and commended by the chapter in these words — "Cujus sonitu et mentis vulnera sanari, et divinitatis singularis gratia possit conquiri."^ There are no other notices of the main portion of the fabric ; but we know that, in a.d. 1414, Pedro Balaguer was sent from Valencia to examine the tower at Lorida before he built the toAver called the Micalete in his own city ; and we may conclude therefore that before this date the work at Lerida had been completely finished. It is easy to distinguish the works referred to in these notices. The church, of which the first stone was laid in a.d. 1203, and which was consecrated in a.d. 1278, still remains almost as it was built ; and there can be but little doubt that the greater part of the cloister is of the same date. The works for which stone was given, in a.d. 1310, were probably those in its western half, and possibly the lower part of the steeple; and the chapel, founded in a.d. 1320, must be one of those added on either side of the great south door, or on the east side of the south transept. It is impossible not to feel greatly more interest in a church whose scheme is unusual, than in one of a common type, even when its detail is not of so high a value, or its scale less im- posing. Here, however, we have both extreme novelty in the general scheme,^ and extreme merit in all the detail. As one climbs the steep street which leads to the cathedral, where the open space around the fortifications is reached, the first general view of the buildings is most puzzling. The low outer wall of the cloister, with an enormous western door- way, the point of whose archway reaches to the top of the wall, the steeple on the extreme right, and the central lantern appearing to rise only just above the cloister wall, make a most unintelligible group. Making my way to the great doorway, I was astonished to find it to be the entrance, not of the ' The inscription on this bell was as magistrum. Joannem. Adam. anno. Diii. follows: — "Christus. Rex. venit. in. 1418 in mense. Aprili. — Viage Lit. a las pace, et. Deus. homo, factus. est. Chtus. Iglesias de Espafia, xvi. 89. vincit. Chtus. regnat. Chtus. ab. omn. " See plan, Plate XX. mal. DOS. defendat. Fuit. factum. 2:)er Chap. XVI. LERIDA : CATHEDRAL. 851 fhurch, as I at first assumed it to be, but only of the cloister ; and not less disgusted to find that three sides of this cloister had been turned into barracks, a floor having been inserted all round at the level of the springing of the vault, so as to afford ample accommodation for some hundi-eds of soldiers, who sleep, cook, and live within its walls ; whilst the eastern side is now a store- house for arms and accoutrements, similarly divided by a floor, and without any visible trace of the doors of communication between church and cloister, which are said to be on this side. Yet this cloister is certainly, even in its present desecrated state, the grandest I have ever seen. Its scale is enormous, and much of its detail very fine. I have no doubt that it was a long time in progress, and this would account to some extent for the extreme irregularity of some of its parts. The bays, for instance, vary in width : the buttresses are variously treated ; and the sculpture, which on the eastern side seems to be coeval with the earliest portion of the church, is evidently on the other sides of much later date — probably not earlier than a.d. 1300. The buttresses on the eastern side are carried on bold engaged columns with sculptured capitals, whilst most of the others are square in outline, with small engaged shafts in recesses at their angles. The arches are now all built up and plastered ; but in two of those on the eastern side it is just possible to detect the commencement of traceries, from which it would seem that each arch had tracery above an arcade of three or four divisions. In its present state it is impossible to say more than this, or whether these traceries were original, though they seem to liave been geo- metrical in style, and therefore probably later in date than the enclosing arches. The eastern half of the cloister has tlie outer arches richly adorned with complicated chevron and cable orna- ment, and the remainder of the arches are finely moulded. The interior is more uniform in character, the vault being quadri- partite throughout, witli very boldly moulded ribs ; and the main piers, and the piers at the angles, being very exquisitely planned, with a number of detached shafts with well moulded bases, bands, and capitals, the latter carved with foliage and heads. The capitals and bases are square throughout the cloister. On the south side this cloister lias openings in the outer wall cor- responding with those opening into the inner court ; and these, I think, also had traceries. Owing to the fall of the ground towards the edge of the cliff", these windows are high above the terrace outside, and very bold buttresses are placed between each of them. The effect of the cloister on the south side is that of o52 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XVI. an enormous hall : and this, in truth, is what it is. Its clear internal width varies from 26 ft. 6 in. to 27 ft. 6 in., and the height is quite in proportion. Occupied as it now is by hundreds of soldiers, one is tempted to ask, whether a building so far larger than could be required for a mere cloister may not liave been built in the first instance to serve some double purpose ; being, for instance, not only an ambulatory, but a refectory, and dormitory also. The \vay in which some of our own old build- ings were fitted, with a chapel at the end of a series of cubicles on either side under tlie open roof of a great hall (as, e.g., St. Mary's Hospital at Chichester, Chichele's College Higham Ferrers, and a hospital at Leicester), seems to point to the possi- bility of some such utilizing of the vast space which these cloisters afford ; and the more as it seemed to me that there were not the evidences that might have been expected of the existence at any time of the other dependent buildings required by a cathedral body in all cases, and more than usually here where the church was so far above and away from the city. I men- tioned the western entrance of the cloister as being verv laroe : it is a double doorway with niches for six statues in either jamli, and the orders of the archivolt are alternately of mouldings and niches for figures. The outer arch is crocketed between two great pinnacles. The carving has mostly been destroyed ; but there is a poor sculpture of the Last Judgment in the tym- panum. The doorway has evidently been added between two of the earlier buttresses of the cloister at about the end of the fourteenth century ; its detail is extremely delicate and rich, and somewhat similar to that of the west doorway of Tarra- gona cathedral ; and both are quite like very good French fourteenth-century work. Unfortunately the doorways from the cloister to the church are now quite invisible, the Avail being completely hidden by military packing-cases and arms.^ This is the more to be regretted as the grandeur of the other doors leads me to sup- pose that the western doorway would be very fine. It will be seen by reference to the plan that there is a steeple abutting against the south-west angle of the cloister ; it is set against it in the most irregular fashion; and it is worth mention that the architect of the Micalete, at Valencia, who was directed to study this tower, imitated it even in this 1 There are said to be three doorways from the cloister to the church. — Viage Lit., xvi. 80. ^g Vim i\^ 5 -^ \l il\ ',#/7"7l Chap. XVr. LERIDA : CATHEDRAL. 353 peculiarity. Here there seems, so far as I can see, to be r.o reason for the irreguhirity ; and I can only conjecture that it may have been the consequence of some variation in the rock on which it stands. The entrance is by a staircase through a house, and thence by a newel staircase in the thickness of the wall. The steeple is octagonal in plan, and of five stages in height ; the two lowest lighted .jby windows of one light ; the third with windows of two ; and the fourth with others of thi*ee lights, one in each face of the octagon. There is a rich parapet of oj^en tracery, supported on corbels, to this stage, and a great pinnacle at each angle. The pinnacles are carried up from the ground, and are at present partly destroyed, and made to carry iron beacons instead of theii- old finish. The fifth stage stands entirely Avithin the other ; and its plan, as being the most interesting, is shown on my ground- plan of the whole building. Here each face of the octagon had a bold opening with a crocketed and traceried gable over it, 'and jiinnacles at the angles, and probably a traceried parapet which no longer exists. The various stages are groined with stone vaults, and the whole construction is of the most dignified and solid description. The height from the terrace on the west side of the cloister to the top of the parapet is about 170 feet. The steeple looks much higher than this : but this is no doubt in great part owing to the enormous height above the city of the cliff on the edge of which it stands. The view of the church from the summit is so striking, and gives so clear an idea of its whole scheme, that I have engraved it. My drawing shows the cloister in the foreground, and the south-west view of the church beyond it. Here almost every part that is seen is of the earliest portion of the fabric, which seems to have been carried out on a regular plan from first to last. The chiu'ch is cruciform, with a nave and aisles only three bays in length, and an octagonal lantern over the crossing. The choir and its aisles had three parallel apses east of the transept, and a fourth chapel was added in the fourteenth century, as were also two chajoels on the south side of the nave. Two staircase-turrets on the west sides of the transepts (a favourite position for them in early Spanish churches) added much to the picturesqueness of the outline ; but the upper part of one of these has unfortunately been destroyed, and the other was either carried up or altered at a later date — probably in the fourteenth century. It will be seen that most of the windows are round-headed. Everywhere, however, the main arches are pointed ; and this is, 2 A 3'A GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XVI. as 1 need hardly say, always characteristic of transitional build- ings. The strange thing is, that in a church which was in building between a.d. 1203 and 1278 we should find such strong evidences of knowledge of nothing but twelfth-century art ; and assuming the dates to be correct — as I think we must — it affords good evidence of the slow progress in this part of Spain of the developments which had at this time produced so great a change in the nortli of Europe. Either the whole building was built on the plan at first laid down, or else, having been commenced vigorously, and in great part finished, some delay must have been caused in its completion for consecration. The latter is no doubt the more probable supposition, because, whilst the whole of the walls up to the top of the clerestory seem to be of perfectly uniform character inside and out, the central lantern is evidently a work of circa a.d. 1260-1278, and one which could not have been designed so early as 1203. The sculpture of all the capitals throughout the interior, as well as that of the door- ways, must also be set down to the commencement of the century; and the date of a.d. 1215, wliich occurs on the south transept front, seems to make it probable that at that time the work in this part of the church was well advanced. Here I may notice one of the remarkable features of this building — that the external roofs are all of stone. Most of them indeed are modern ; but those of the choir and lantern are undoubtedly original, and there can be little doubt that the whole church was covered in the same way. They are formed entirely of stones chamfered and weathered to a flat pitch, and lapping slightly over each other. Their effect is good, and they were evidently built by men who hoped their work would last for ever : yet this has not quite been the result of what they did ; for, as I have said, most of the roofs have been relaid with slabs of stone carefully fitted together like pavement, and less likely therefore to withstand the weather than the old roofs were. The entrances to the cathedral are at present three in number, — a door in each transept and one in the south wall — in addition to the western doorwa)^ which, if it exists, is now blocked up. These doors are all fine. That in the north transept is simple but effective : it has a simply-moulded semi- circular arch, above which is a pointed arch with a stone in the enclosed space carved with A and 12 ; and above it a very finely-sculptured horizontal cornice. The doorway is set forward a few inches from the wall, in the Lombard fashion. In the gable of the transept over it is a large moulded but uutraceried cuw. xvr. LERIDA : CATHEDRAL. 355 circular window, and enough of an original stepped corbel-table under the eaves to show that the old pitch of the roofs was very flat, though somewhat steeper than at present. The south transept doorway is much finer : it has a richly-sculptured round arch ; and on each side of the arch are niches — one con- taining a statue of St. Gabriel, and the otlier one of the Blessed Virgin. Under the exquisitely sculptured cornice which sur- mounts the door is inscribed, in large incised letters, the angelic Cornice of South Transept Doorway. salutation ; whilst on the right jamb of the door is the inscrip- tion of the year 1215, given at p. 349. Above the doorway is, as in the other gables, a circular window ; and here the fine early tracery with which it was filled in still remains. The whole detail of this front is of the finest kind, and must have been executed by men who knew something of the best Italian Romanesque work. Nothing can exceed the delicacy and care with which the whole was executed. The wheel is divided by eight octa- gonal shafts radiating from the centre, and these cany an order of sixteen semi-circular cusps, two to each division. These cusps are covered with the billet ornament, and their spandrels have sunk carved circles. The mouldings which enclose the window are rich and delicate in character ; and though it is unfortunately now Availed up, it is well preserved, and still extremely effective. The last and gi-andest of the doors — the " Puerta dels Fillols " 2 A 2 35(5 GOTHIC AT^CHITECTURE IN RrATN. riiA'\ XVT. or of the Inftintes — is in the centre bay of the south aisle, Tliis is an example of singularly rieli transitional work, Avith an archi- volt enriched with mouldiuf^s, chevrons, dog-tooth, intersecting arches, and elaborate foliage. There is the usual liorizontal cornice over the arch, and above this a fourteenth-century statue of the Blessed Virgin ]\Iary and our Lord. The hori- zontal cornice is carried on moulded corbels, between which and the wall are carvings of wyverns and other animals : whilst the sofifeit of the cornice in each compartment is carved with delicate tracery panels, in some of Avhich I thought I detected some trace of Moorish influence. The cornice has a delicate, trailing branch of foliage ; and the label and two or three orders of the arch, in which sculpture of foliage is intro- duced, are remarkable for the singular delicacy and refinement of the lines of the foliage, and "for the exceeding skill with which they have been wrought. There is none of that reckless dash which marks our carvers now-a-days, but in its place a patient elaboration of lovely forms, which cannot too much be praised. The mouldings here are all decidedly characteristic of the thirteenth century. The whole is now protected by a later — probably fifteenth century — vaulted porch, which occupies the space between two added chapels.^ The effect is very good and picturesque, as will be seen by the illustration which I give ; but as this porch is the storehouse for rockets and shells, I fear its beauties are likely to be a sealed book to most travellers, though, owing to the extreme courtesy of the commandant, I Avas so fortunate as to be allowed to see and sketch it at my leisure. The original windows are all simple round-arched, with moulded arches, and shafts, with caps and bases in the jambs ; those in the lantern and at the west ends of the aisles are of later date, and pointed The west window is circular and very large, but Avithout tracery ; and there is a small lancet beloAv it Avhich is noAV blocked up by the roof of the cloister. No doubt this roof Avas originally a gabled stone roof Avith a gutter against the Avail, so as to leave this Avindow open. The lantern is octagonal above the roof, Avitli a window in each side, pilasters at the angles, and an arcaded corbel-table at the eaves. The staircase-turret on its north- AA^est side is also octagonal, and rises above the eaves. The roof is original, and of stone. The chapels Avhicli have been added seem all to have been built in the fourteenth century, and are much mutilated : they are good Avorks of their age, but rather mar the general effect 1 See reference to this porch at p. 349. LERIDA OLD CATHEDRAL SODTH PORCH. Chap. XVI. LERIDA : CATHEDRAL. 357 of the church, and do not call for much notice ; two of them were closed, and I was unable to obtain admission to them. Tlie interior of the church has been as completely encumbered with arrangements for soldiers' convenience as has that of the cloister. A floor has been erected all over the nave at mid- height of the columns, and in the south transept at the level of tlieir capitals. The choir is boarded off, and not actively dese- crated. The real floor of the church is now an artillery store- house ; on the raised floor of the nave a regiment of soldiers sleep and live ; and in the south transept the bandsmen spend all their time making the most hideous and deafening discord. It is indeed a shameful use for a church, and there is only one small crumb of consolation in the fact that, soldiers notwith- standing, there has hitherto been no great amount of wilful damage done to any of the old work. The capitals throughout are extremely rich in sculpture, and are still perfect though obscured by whitewash, and the groin- ing has nowhere been damaged. I know no style more full of vigour and true majesty than the earliest pointed, of which this interior is so fine an example. The lavish enrichment of the capitals, the fine section of the great clustered columns, the severe simplicity of the unmoulded arches, and the extreme boldness of the groining-ribs, all combine to produce this result. Almost all the principal shafts are coupled, and the groiuing- bays are kept very distinct from one another by very bold transverse arches ; these, and indeed all the main arches, are pointed. There is no triforium, and but a small space between the arches into the aisles and" the clerestory Pendentlve, &c., under Lautem, Lerida windows. The canted sides of the central lantern are supported on pendentives similar to those which occur under the angles of some of the early French domes.' Above these is an arcaded string-course, and then ' As, c.ij., at S. Etieuue, Nevei'S. 358 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XYI. the windows : these are all double, and of varied tracery. There are menials and traceries nearly flush with both the internal and external face of the wall: this was a necessary arrangement for a work which was to be seen so entirely from below, where the external traceries would all have been lost to the view. There are groiniug-shafts in the angles of the octagon, and an octagonal dome or vault, with ribs at the angles. The choir is not used at all : it has a quadripartite vault over its western half, and a pointed arch in front of the apse, which is covered with a semi-dome. The western bay is lighted by clerestory windows like those in the nave, and the apse by three windows, wliich on the outside have flat buttresses between them. None of t!ie old ritual arrangements remain ; but there is nothing here to suggest anything at all different from what might be met with in a similar church elsewhere.' The lantern does not prove anything more than our own lanterns do as to the arrangement of the choir for Avorship : in short, here as else- where the central lantern was introduced partly because it was a custom of the Lombard churches, from which this class of Spanish church borrowed so much, and in the next place because it was especially suitable for a climate like that of Spain, where it afibrded the chance not only of lighting the church in the most agreeable way, but also of ventilating it most efficaciously. No doubt the external eff'ect of this chm-cli was improved much by the addition of the great western steeple, tliougli at the same time it is plain that its somewhat eccentric position has removed it so far from the main fabric of the church as to render the whole group of buildings less compact in its outline than it would have been had it been attached, like most of our own steeples, to the body of the church itself. On the other hand, nothing is more difli- cult, usually, than to build a steeple to a church which already has a central lantern, without entirely destroying the importance of this, which ought always, where it exists, to be a main feature ; and here, as is generally the ease in examples derived in any way from Italian examples, the central lantern is not very im- portant in its dimensions, and required therefore more than usual caution on the part of the artist who ventured to add to it. Here, as happens often with detached campaniles, the group- ing of the steeple with the church from various points of view 1 " During the episcopate of Romeo eluded, aud it was fofbidden to say mrtss de Cescomes, 1361-80, the work of the there from All Saints' day till the fol- priucipal altar was ordered to be cou- lowing mouth of May, lb7(i." LGRIDA:- PlateXX. asons Marks on outer Wall of Cloister , 13*^ Century Before 1200 13^Centirrv i4.*cviinm- WMik llrlodprn. LflRIDA:— Grounii Ffan of Qatiiftirflf &r Chap. XVf. LERIDA : CATHEDRAL — S. I-ORENZO. 359 is very diversified, and often very strilviug. From its great height above the valley, it is seen on all sides, and generally at some distance. From the south, the grand size of the cloister, which connects the steeple with the church, gives it somewhat the effect of being in fact at the west end of an enormous building, of which the cloister may be the nave ; whilst from the west, as the ground falls considerably, nothing of the chm-ch is seen but the central lantern rising slightly over the cloisters, whilst the steeple rears its whole height boldly to the right, and makes the whole scheme of the work utterly unintelli- gible until after a thorough investigation. Again, in the views of the cathedral from the east side the steeple has the effect of being, like that of Ely, at the west end of the nave, and here it groups finely with the central lantern. The same results will be found in some of our English examples, and the parish church of West Walton, near Wisbeach, illustrates, as well as any that I Imow, the extraordinary variety of effect which a detached tower, at some distance from the main building, produces. The only portion of the building not yet described is a long hall on the north side of the cloister: this is vaulted with a pointed stone barrel- vault, and is gloomy-looking in the extreme, being lighted entirely from one end. A newel staircase has been taken away from the other end. Near the north side of the cathedral, on slightly higher' ground, is another fine fragment of a building of the same age, which looks as if it had always been built as a defensive work. It contains a magnificent hall, groined in four bays of quadri- partite vaulting, and measuring about 24 feet by 96 feet. A smaller room next to this has a waggon-vault. The north and east walls of this hall, and of a building at right angles to it, are very boldly arcaded on the outside, and have a simple trefoiled corbel-table under the eaves : the hall windows are set within the wall-arcade. The bosses at the intersection of the ribs on the vault of the hall liave interlacing patterns of Moorish cha- racter carved upon them, and afford the only distinct evidence of anything like Moorish influence that I noticed in any of the buildings here. There are two other old churches in Lerida, San Lorenzo and San Juan. San Lorenzo is on the hill, not very ftir from the cathedral. It is a parallel triapsidal church, the nave vaulted with a pointed waggon-vault, divided into three bays by arches springing from coupled shafts in the side walls. The 360 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XVI. apse has a semi-dome, and is lighted by three round-headed windows, five inches wide in the clear, and has a corbel-table under the eaves outside. The side walls of the nave are eight feet thick (the nave being thirty-three feet wide), and through them very simple pointed arches are pierced, opening into the aisles. I have no doubt that these were additions to the oriuinal fabric. They have polygonal apses at their east end, with very good window-tracery of circa a.d. 1270-1300. On the south side an octagonal steeple was added in the fifteenth centuiy, projecting from the aisle walls. This has a two-light window on each side of the belfry, a pierced parapet, and a simple octagonal spire. There is a fine fourteenth-century Ketablo to the high altar. It has a niche in the centre with a figure of St. Laurence under a canopy, and a number of subjects and statues on either side. There is also one of the usual fifteenth-century galleries at the w^est end. The interiors both of this church and of San Juan were so dark that I found it almost impossible to make even the roughest notes of their contents or dimensions. San Juan is another fine early church, perhaps a little later than San liOrenzo, and of about the same age as the cathedral ; neither of them, however, show any signs of having been, as is the tradition, built as mosques, and converted into churches after the taking of Lerida from the Moors in a.d. 1 149. The plan here is but little altered, and exhibits three bays of cross-vaulting, and an apse.^ On the north side an aisle has been added ; but on the south the fagade is nearly unaltered, and the interior is similarly very perfect. The mode of lighting with windows very high up is similar to that of the cathedral clerestory, and is worth the attention of those who wish to adapt the Pointed style for tropical climates. The rose window and great south door are both very fine examples, and extremely peculiar in their arrange- ment. The door, which is very large and imposing, occui)ies the whole of the central bay, and there are fine windows in the bays on either side of it : the impression produced at first sight is consequently that one is looking at the west end of a large church, upon one side of which an a})sidal chancel has been added. The door is in fact out of all proportion to the size of the church, though this very fact gives perhaps somewhat of that monumental character to the whole work which is so rare in small buildings. It is worthy of notice that tlie veiy same See i-laa, Plate Vlll. Chap. XVr. LER IDA : ROMANESQUE HOUSE. 361 design is to be seen in the church of la Magdalena at Zamora — already described ; and there is indeed so much identity of eliaracter between tlie two churches as to make it more than probable that the same architect erected both. In the street near San Juan is a very fine old Komanesque house of unusually good style. It is of three stories in height, the lower story much modernized. The intermediate stage has a very fine row of three-light ajimez windows with slender shafts and capitals very delicately sculptured. The string under these Avindows is also elaborately carved : above is an eaves-cornice, resting on corbels, and above this a modern upper stage. A stone with a Eenaissance border to it, in the lower part of the wall, describes this building as the Exchange of Lerida, " built in 1589." A more impudent forgery I do not know ; but probably the architect of that day thought his ugly ujDper stage the only part worthy of notice, and meant only to record its erection. The patio or court-yard behind is small, but has the same kind of windows as the fi'ont — though without any carving — and some good corbel-tables and archways. I saw nothing else of architectural interest in Lerida ; but I confidently recommend other ecclesiologists to examine its build- ings for themselves. They form an important link between the noble cathedral at Tarragona and the smaller but beautiful church of Tudela ; and belonging as they do to the most inter- esting period of our art, the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth century, they aiford examples for our emulation and study of even more value than the later works at Barcelona and Manresa, which I have before had to describe.^ ^ There is a very fair iim at Lerida, the riulway from Barcelona to Zaragoza, tlie Parador de Sau Luis, pleasantly passing by Lerida, makes it easy of situated on the bank of the Segre ; and access. 3G2 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XVII. CHAPTER XVII. H U ESC A — Z AE AGOZ A. To the north of the railway between Lerida and Zaragoza, and within easy distance of the stations of Monzon and Tardienta, are the two old Aragonese cities of Barbastro and Huesca Monzon — a possession of the Knights Templars since a.d. 1143 — is still dignified by a castle on the hill, which rises steeply above the town, and in which there are said to be some remains of the residence of their superior in Aragon. The accounts I obtained of Barbastro made me think it hardly worthy of a visit. The cathedral was built between 1500 and 1533 ; and it is a small church (about 140 feet in length), without either triforium or clerestory, the groining springing from the capitals of the columns, and being covered M'ith ogee lierne ribs.^ Huesca seemed to promise more, so leaving the railway at Almudevar^ I made an excursion thither. It is a drive of three or four hours from the railway ; and the distant views of the old city are striking, backed as it is by a fine mountain-range, on one of w4iose lower spurs it is built. The cathedral stands on the highest gi'ound in the city ; and the rocky bluffs of the mountain behind it look like enormous castles guarding its enceinte. These picturesque views are the more refreshing by the contrast they offer to the broad corn-covered plain at their feet. Two or three miles from Huesca, on another hill, are the remains of the great monastery of Monte Aragon, which was, however, rebuilt in 1777, and is not very likely therefore now to reward examination. The Plaza in front of the cathedral is surrounded by an im- portant group of buildings — the palace of the kings of Aragon, the college of Santiago, and others belonging to the old uni- versity. They are mostly Renaissance in their design ; but in the old palace is a crypt called " la Campana del Rey Monje," which seems to date from the end of the twelfth century. It has an apse covered with a semi-dome ; and a quadripartite ' Parcerisa, Eecuerdos y Bellezas de with a chapel on its eaitern side, but I Espaua, Aragon, p. 120. was unable to examine it. - Almudevar hai> a picturesque castle, Cha-. XYIT. HUESCA : CATHEDRAL. 3G3 vault of good character covers the buildings west of the apse. The arches are all semi-circular. The cathedral was almost entirely rebuilt in the fifteenth century, from the designs of a Biscayan architect, Juan de Olot- zaga.^ The cloister on the north side is the principal remaining portion of the older church, and this is so damaged and decayed as to present hardly a single featiu:e of interest save two or three of the picturesque tombs corbelled out from the walls, which are so frequently seen in the north of Spain. The plan^ of the cathedral consists of a nave and aisles of four bays in length, ^vith chapels between the buttresses. The Coro is formed by screens which cut off the two eastern bays of the nave ; it opens at the east into the rather grand transept, which, as is so invariably the case in the later Spanish churches, completely usm-ps the fimctions of the nave as the place of gathering for worshippers. To the east of the transept are five apsidal chapels opening out of it ; that in the centre larger than the others, and containing the High Altar. Three broad steps are carried all across the church from north to south, in front of these chapels. It struck me that the plan of this east end was so very similar to that of some of the earlier Spanish churches^ as to render it probable at any rate that Olotzaga raised his chm-ch upon the foundations of that wliich was removed to make way for his work. The steeple which takes the place of the west- ernmost chapel on the north side of the nave is octagonal in plan, but is much modernized, and finished with a brick belfry- stage : it is evidently of older foundation than the church. The columns between the nave and aisles are all clustered, and the main arches are boldly moulded. There is no triforium, the wall above the arcade being perfectly plain up to a carved string- course which is carried round the church below the clerestory ; the windows in which are filled with flamboyant tracery. The groining is generally rather intricate, and has bosses at all the intersections of the ribs. There is no lantern at the intersection of the nave and transepts. It has been ah-eady said that the Coro occupies the usual place in the nave ; and it is clear that it has never been moved, as there are small groined chapels formed between the columns on either side of it. The Eeja at 1 Cean Bermudez (Arq. i. 83) says exactly the same as that of the church that the work was commenced in a.d. of Las Huelgas, Burgos (see Plate II.), 1400, and not finished until A. D. 1515. and the cathedi-al at Tudela (Plate 2 See plan, Plate XXI. XXIV.). ' It will be seen that the plan is 3G4 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. CiiAr. XVII. the west end of choir is not old ; tlie usual brass rails are placed to form a jiassage from the Coro to the Capilla mayor, across the transept. The reredos behind the high altar is carved in alabaster : it is of the latest Gothic, but certainly very fine. Damian For- ment, a Valencian sculptor, executed it between a.d. 1520 and 1533.^ It is divided into three groat compartments, the centre rising higher than the others. Each compartment has a subject, crowded lavishly with figures in high relief ; whilst a broad band of carving is carried round the whole, and many figures in niches are introduced. The subjects are : 1, The Procession to Calvary ; 2, the Crucifixion, with the First Person of the Holy Trinity surrounded by angels in the sky ; and, 3, the Descent from the Cross. Between these subjects and the altar are statues of the twelve Apostles and our Lord, and a door on either side of the altar opens into the space behind the reredos. The west doorway is said by Cean Bermudez to be the work of Olotzaga. My own impression is that it is a work of circa A.D. 1350. It is a fine middle-pointed doorway of rich character. The arch is of seven orders ; three enriched with foliage, and the remainder with figures under canopies, of — 1, figures with scrolls ; 2, angels ; 3, holy women ; 4, apostles and saints. The tympanum has the B. V. Mary and our Lord under a canopy ; she is standing on a corbel, on which is carved a woman with asps at her bosom ; on either side of the canopy is an angel censing ; below, on the left, are three kings, and on the right the Noli me tangere. The lintel has some coats of arms ; and there are seven statues of saints in each jamb ; and below them were subjects enclosed within quatrefoils, all of which have been de- stroyed.^ The gable over the doorway arch is crocheted, and pierced with tracery, and has pinnacles on either side. The horn-shaped leaf so often seen in English Avork is profusely used here, and in the arches is generally arranged in the French fashion, a crochet. The wooden doors are covered with iron plates beaten up into a pattern, and nailed on with great brass nails. The west end is finished at the top with a straight cornice. ' This reredos cost .'S500 crowns fes- monument in the cloister here described cudos) or libi'as jaquesas. — Cean Bar- him as "arte statuaria Phidiaj, Praxi- mudez, Arq. de Espaua, i. 218. — Da- telisque ^mulus," a statement which mian Forment is said to have studied must be accepted with the reserve usual under Donatello^ which seems, howevei', in such cases. — Bellas Ai-tes en Espaiia, on a comi)arison of dates, to have been ii. p. l.'i'i. all but impossible. The ej)itapli on his - See Ainsa, Historiadu Huusca, lib.4. Chap. XVII. HUESCA : SAN PEDRO. 365 with circular tuiTets at the angles, and pinnacles between, divid- ing it into three compartments. Tlie detail of all this upper part is very poor and late in style, and altogether inferior to that of the west doorway. The clerestory is supported by simple flying buttresses, finished with rich pinnacles. There are two other old doorways. That from the cloister on the north side is round-arched, with dog-tooth, chevron, and roses carved on it ; yet the detail seems to prove that it cannot be earlier than a.d. 1.300, whilst some of the carving looks as if it were even later than this. The other door is in the south transept, and certainly deserves examination. It has a small groined porch formed between two buttresses in front of it ; over the arch is the Crucifix, S. Mary, and S. -John ; whilst on the Avest wall are the three Maries coming with spices, &c., to the grave of our Lord, which is represented on the east wall of the porch, with the angel seated on it. The church of San Pedro el Viejo, which I now have to men- tion, is by far the most interesting in the city, being of much earlier date than any part of the cathedial.^ It has a nave and aisles of four bays, a transept with a raised lantern over the cross- ing, and three parallel apses at the east end. A hexagonal tower is placed against the north wall of the north transept, and a cloister occupies the whole south side of the church ; whilst on the east of the cloister is a series of chapels or rooms of early date. There is, so far as I know, no evidence of the date of this work ; but judging by its style, it can hardly be later than the middle of the t\\elftli century, with the exception of the raised vault of the lantern, which was finished, however, before the consecration of the church, Avhich is said to have taken place in A.D. 1241.2 The nave and aisles are vaulted with continuous waggon- vaults, the chapels at the east end with semi-domes, and the lan- tern with a quadripartite vault, the ribs of which are enriched with the dog-tooth ornament. The waggon-vault of the nave is divided into bays by cross arches corresiDonding with the piers of the arcades. The vaulting of the lantern springs from a higher level than the other vaults, and has ridge ribs as well as diagonal and wall ribs. The lantern is lighted by four circular windows, which have rich early thirteenth-century mouldings, and are filled in with tracery which is evidently of Moorish origin. A fine round-arched doorway, with three engaged shafts in each 1 See groiuid-plan on Plate XXI. - Parcerisa, Aragon, p. 157. 80G GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XVTI. jamb, leads from the transepts into the tower, which has groin- ing shafts in each angle. The Coro here now occupies tiie Interior of San Pedro, Huesca. western bay of the nave, and is fitted up with fair fifteenth- century stalls, which, being carried across the end, block up the old western doorway. The whole church is built of red sandstone, but is whitewashed throughout, and the exterior is much modernized, though the old work is still in part visible. The west front has a bold arch under the roof, which corresponds with the waggon-vault inside. The abacus from Avhich this springs is carried across as a string- course, and in the space enclosed between it and the arch is a round-headed window, with a broad external splay and plain label moulding. A very plain western doorway is now (as also is this window) blocked up. The aisles have also small windows high up in the walls, and the whole church is covered with a roof of very flat pitch laid immediately on the stone vaults. HU€S0:7{:_(:pil!!ll^Plrtn^ = l]f^{':HtllP^:!-^!:HII^Mlf:SHIl^PFbn: Pkite 3X1. f-ra-ascptX Cloister IVlnii'l^Oni l!''(',Milin [ n"'iMii,u\ w . . . . V , , , . ? •f ■AO •i" -<( •9. ,, ,• 10 20 .so ■)p Varas. -ipMi^r £ 1 WWest.Wa'- Published \5y John Muir ay, Alleiiiaiie S*: 1865. Chap. XVII. HUESCA : SAN PEDEO. 367 The lowest stajre of the tower had windows in each of its dis- engaged sides : it rises in four stages of equal height, divided by stringcourses, but is capped with a modern belfry stage. The lantern is carried up to the level of the top of its vault, and then covered like the rest of the church with a Hat tiled roof. A stringcourse, riclily worked with a billet moulding, is carried round the outer walls of the aisles, and round their pilaster buttresses. The cloister, though in a very sad state of dilapidation, is still very interesting. It is covered with a lean-to roof, and has round arches throughout springing from capitals, some of which are carved with figures, and some with foliage only, but all of rude cliaracter. Several arched recesses for monuments are formed in the outer walls, but none of the inscriptions that I observed were earlier than a.d. 1200. In the south wall six of these arches hav^e enormous stone coffins, each supported on three corbels on the backs of three lions. These coffins are about two feet deep, by seven feet in length, and covered with a gabled stone cover. The columns in the arcades of this cloister are curiously varied, some being coupled shafts, some quatrefoil in section, some square, and some octagonal. Against the east wall are four chambers opening into the cloister. That nearest the church is the Chapel of San Bartolome, and of the same style as tlie nave, covered ^\ ith a low waggon-vault, and with the original stone altar still remaining against the square east end. The chapel next to this has a very late vault ; the next, a quadripartite vault ; and the southernmost has a pointed waggon- vault, with three plain, pointed-arched recesses in each of the side walls. Over the modern doorway from the cloister into the church is the tympanum of the original doorway, rudely sculptured with the Adoration of the Magi, above which two angels hold a circle, on which are inscribed the monogram of our Lord, and the letters A and 12. I could find nothing else of much architectui-al interest in Huesca. The Church of San Martin has a plain thirteenth-cen- tury west doorway, and that of San Juan — said to have been consecrated in a.d. 1201 — seemed to have an apse of about that date, with a central lantern-tower carried on pointed arches. There are remains also of two of the toAvn gateways, but they are of no interest. In the distance, as I approached Huesca, I had noticed what looked like an old church at Salas, and, having time to spare, I 368 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPATN. Chap. XV If. walked there. The way lay along fields and by the muddiest of roads, wliere rnts were being levelled, and the whole made uni- formly muddy, in order to accommodate the Bishop of llucsca, who was coming out in procession to have a service in the church there. I found the east and west ends of the church to be old, but the rest, inside and out, had been hopelessly modernized. The east end retains nothing beyond three very long slits for windoAvs, about six inches wide, and not intended for glazing. The west end is very fine, and almost untouched. It has a noble doorway of six orders, very richly sculptured with chevrons, dog-tooth, mouldings of first-pointed character, and rich transitional foliage. The capitals have similar foliage, but the shafts and their bases have been destroyed, and a modei-n head to the door has been inserted within the arch. This door is set forward from the face of the wall nearly four feet, and has engaged shafts in the angles, and a richly-carved cornice. The gable (which is of flat pitch) is filled with a large circular window, the tracery of which has been destroyed. It has three orders of moulding round it, one moulded only, the others carved with a very bold dog-tooth enrichment. The label has rather ingeniously contrived crockets of very conventional design. The whole of this front is of very much the same character as the early work in the cathedral at Lerida. It is only about a mile and a half out of Huesca, and ought to be visited, as, with the exception of San Pedro el Yiejo, it is certainly the most inte- resting work to be seen. Travellers will find accommodation which is just tolerable in the Posada at Huesca. They should not return, as I was obliged to do, to Zaragoza, but should extend the journey to Jaca, where there seems to be a fair Romanesque cathedral. Near Jaca, too, Sta. Cruz de los Seros has a fine Romanesque church, with an octagonal raised central lantern, and a steeple of several stages in height on its north side. San Juan de la Pena, a monastery in the same district, has a fine Eomanesque cloister, of the same character as that of San Pedro at Huesca : but the church is, I think, modern.^ I returned from Huesca to the railway, and thence to Zara- goza, hoping that, notwithstanding all it had suffered from wars and sieges, something might still be found to reward examina- tion. I have seen no city in Spain which is more imposing in * Views of Jaca and Sau Juan de la Pefia are given by F. J. Parcerisa, ' Re- cuerdos y Bellezas de Espana,' Aragon. SALAS, NEAR HUESCA. WEST FRON'T OF THE CHURCH. Chap. XVII. ZARAGOZA : THE SEU. 369 the distance, and yet less interesting on near acquaintance. A great gronp of towers and steeples stands up so grandly, that it is natural to suppose there will be much to see. But whether the French in their sieges destroyed everything, or whether it is that the city is too prosperous to allow old things to stand in the way, it is certainly the fact that but few old buildings do stand, and that none of them are of first-rate interest. The river here is rapid and broad, and the view of the distant mountains fine, whilst, partly owing to its being a centre for several railways, it is a fairly gay and lively city, and is year by year in process of improvement, in the modern sense of the word. There are here two cathedrals, in which I believe the services are celebrated alternately for six months at a time, the same staff serving both churches. On the two occasions on which I have stopped in Zaragoza, it has fortunately happened that the old cathedral was open, and the exterior of the other promises so little gratification in the interior, that I never even made the attempt to penetrate into it. The old cathech-al is called the " Seu," par excellence, the other being the Cathedral " del Pilar." The Seu ^ is the usual term for the principal church, and the name of the second is derived from a miracle-AVorking figure of the Blessed Virgin on a pillar, which it seems that the people care only to worship half the year. The Seu is in some respects a remarkable church, but it is so much modernized outside as to be, with tlie exception of one portion, quite uninteresting, and the interior, though it is gorgeous and grand in its general effect, is of very late style and date, and does not bear very much examination in detail. It is very broad in proportion to its lengtli, having two aisles on each side of the nave, and chapels beyond them between the but- tresses ; and there are but five bays west of the Crossing, and of these the Coro occupies two. There is a lantern at the Crossing, and a very short apsidal choir. The nave and aisles are all roofed at the same level, the vaulting springing from the capitals of the main columns, and the whole of the light is admitted by windows in the end walls, and high up in the outer walls of the aisles. In this respect Spanish churches of late date almost always exhibit an attention to the requirements of the climate, which is scarcely ever seen in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and tliis church owes almost all its good effect to this circumstance, for it is in light and shade only, and neither in 1 Seu, Sedes, See. 2 b 870 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XVII. general design nor in detail, that it is a success. The detail, indeed, is almost as mneh Pagan as Gothic. The capitals of the columns, for instance, have carvings of fat nude cherubs, supporting coats of arms, and the groining, which is covered with ouee lierne ribs, has enormous bosses and pendants cut out of wood and gaudily gilded. There is some interesting matter in the history of the Cim- borio over the Crossing. It seems that in the year 1500 there was supposed to be some danger of the old Cimborio falling, and the Archbishop, D. Alonso de Aragon, and his Chapter, there- upon invited several artificers and skilled engineers to examine the works, and advise as to its repair. At this Junta there were present two maestros from Toledo — one of them Henrique de Eoas; Maestro Font, from Barcelona; Carlos, from Montearagon (Huesca) ; and Compte, from Valencia ; and they, having delibe- rated with the artificers attached to the cathedral, reported that it would be necessary to take down the Cimborio and rebuild it, and do other repairs to the rest of the church. This report having been presented, the archbishop some time afterwards, in January, 1505, makes an appeal to the King on the subject, in order that he may obtain the services of Henrique de Eo'as as architect for the work. He says that he has had the advice of the most experienced and able architects of the day, and among them of Egas, and that they were all agreed that the Cimborio must be taken down, which had been done. And then he says that, inasmuch as the rest of the church seems to be much in want of repair, and as Egas seemed to be a man of great ability and experience, he was very anxious to procure his aid, but that Egas had excused himself on the plea that he had a certain hospital to build at Santiago in Galicia for the King, who required him to go there. Wliereupon the archbishop begs the King, for the love of God our Lord, that he will have pity on him ; and since there is no great necessity at Santiago, and a very great one at Zaragoza, that he Mill com- mg-nd Egas to undertake the work. It is said that Egas did execute the work after all. Ihit it is impossible not to be amused at the enormous contrast between those times and our own, if then it was necessary for an arcli- bishop to appeal to tlie King to make an architect undertake such a work ! ^ 1 I am remiuded by this of a curious which is to be gathered out of the entiies passage of somewhat similar character in the old parish books of St. Dionis iu tlie life of Sir Christopher Wreu, Backchurch, Fenchurch-street. Here Chap. XVII. ZAEAGOZA : THE SEU. od The detail of tlie Cimborio is, as might be expected from its date, most inipm-e. It is octagonal in plan, the canted sides being carried on semi-circular arches thrown across the angles. It is of two stages in height, the lower having square recesses for statues, and the upper traceried Avindows. The general scheme is Gothic, but the detail is all very Eenaissance in character.^ The choir is apsidal, but the apse is concealed by an enormous sculptured Ketablo, which, in spite of its very late date, is cer- tainly dignified in its effect. Externally there are evidences of tlie existence of an earlier church, the lower part of the apse being evidently Eomanesque, a portion of the buttresses and one of the windows retaining their old character. The new work is of brick, the windows generally of four lights, with flamboyant tracery, and the walls crowned with lich cornices. The exterior of the Cimborio, as well as of the church, owes much of the picturesqueness which marks it to the fact that the brickwork is everywhere very roughly and irregularly executed. One portion of the exterior of the church is, however, most in- teresting ; for on the face of the wall, at the north-east angle, is a very remarkable example of brickwork, inlaid with coloured tiles, the character of which proves that it is, no doubt, part of the cathe- dral which was approaching completion in the middle of the four- teenth centia-y, and earlier in date therefore than the greater part of the existing fabric. This wall is a lofty unbroken surface, about sixty-four feet in length from north to south, and is erected in front of a building of two stages in lieight, and pierced with pointed windows in each stage. It is built with bricks of, I Sir Christopher built a steeple, and gone out for an early walk and forgotten when it was nigh completion the grave all about it; and finally, the Bishop of question arose whether they should London, having waited an hour for the have an anchor for a weathei--cock. great man, retired in despair, but Sii' Chi'istoplier preferi'ed it, and some ordered Sir Christopher's weathercock of the parishioners, of course, opposed to be adopted. it. They appealed to the bishop, and ^ The following inscription on the after many interviews it was at last Cimborio fixes the date of its comple- decided that the bishop should meet tion : " Cimborium quo hoc in loco them at Sir Christopher's at 8 o'clock Benedictus Papa XIII. Hispanus, patria a.m. to settle the matter, Sir Christo- Arago, geute nobili Luna exstruxerat, pher's "gentleman" (who was always vetustate collapsum, majori impensa treated to something to drink by the erexit araplissimus, illustrisque Al- churchwarden when he came to the phonsus Catholici Ferdiuandi, Castellse, church) having made the engagement. Arago, utriusque Sicilite regis filius, q. The bishop was punctual to his appoint- gloria finatur, anuo 1520." ment, but Sir Christopher seems to have 2 B 2 'M-2 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SRATN. Chap. XVIT. tliink, ji reddish colour (though I am a little uncertain, owing to tlieir being now very dirty), which are all arranged in patterns in the wall, by setting those which are to form the outlines forward from one-and-a-half to two inches in advance of the general face of the wall. The spaces so left are then filled in with small tiles set in patterns or diapers, the faces of which are generally about three quarters of an inch behind those of tlie brick outlines. The tiles are of various shapes, sizes, and colours, red, blue, green, white, and buff on Avhite. The blue is very deep and dark in tone, the green liglit and bright. The patterns are generally of very IMoorish character ; and there can be no doubt, I think, that the whole work was done by Moorish workmen. The general character of this very remarkable work is certainly most effective ; and though I should not like to see the Moresque character of the design reproduced, it undoubtedly afibrds some most valuable suggestions for those who at the present day are attempting to develop a ceramic decoration for the exteriors of buildings. Here I was certainly struck by the grave quiet of the whole decoration, and was converted to some extent from a belief which I had previously entertained rather too strongly, that the use of tiles for inlaying would be likely to lead to a very gay and garish style of decoration, foreign to all dignity and repose in its effect. There is an intersecting arcade under the lowest windows, in which, as also in some other parts, the ground of the panels is plastered ; and in this plaster panels of tiles and single sunk disks of tile are inserted on the white ground. The windows are pointed, and all of them have rich borders to their jambs, Avhich are continued round the arches. Within their borders there appears to have been an order of moulded brickwork, and then the window opening, which is now blocked, but which may possibly have had stone menials and tracery. The bricks used here are of the usual old shape, about 1 ft. 1^ in. long by G| in. wide. They are generally built alternately long and short, but not by any means with any great attempt to break the bond. The mortar-joints are also not less than half an inch in thickness, and this, it must be remembered, in a work the whole characteristic of which is the extreme delicacy and refinement of the decoration. The tiles are five-eighths of an inch thick ; some of them are encaustic, of two coloui's ; and all are, as is usual with Moorish tiles, glazed all over. This tile and brick decoration begins at a height of about eight feet from the ground, and is carried up from that jioint to the top of the wall. Such w(jrk seems to be obviously unfitted to be close to CiiAi'. XVII. ZARAGOZA : S. PABLO. 373 the ground ; and the lower part of the wall is therefore judi- ciously built with perfectly plain brickwork. I'lie most important church in Zaragoza after the cathedral is that of San Pablo. This is an early thirteenth -century church, of the same class as that of San Lorenzo at Ldrida, haA'ing a nave of four bays, and an apse of five sides with a groined aisle round it. The side walls of the nave, which are of enormous thickness, are jiierced with pointed arches opening into the aisles, which seem to be of the same date, though from the enormous size of the piers they are very much cut off from the nave. The groining ribs are of great size, and moulded with a triple roll in both nave and aisles. Some trace of the original lancet windows is still to be seen in the apse ; but most of them are blocked up or destroyed. The aisle is returned across the west end of the nave ; and there is a western door and porch, with a descent of some eleven or twelve steps into the church. The Coro is at the west end of the nave, and is fitted with stalls executed circa a.d. 1500-1520, with a Renaissance Eeja to the east of them. There is a good reredos, rich in coloured and sculp- tured subjects, which is said to be a work of the beginning of the sixteenth century, by Damian Ferment, of Valencia, who, as will be recollected, carved the reredos in the cathedral at Huesca. The fine octagonal brick steeple is evidently a later addition to the church, and rises from the north-west angle of the nave. It is very much covered with work of the same kind as the wall veil at the cathedral, which I have just been describing, though on a bolder and coarser scale ; and it belongs, as far as I can judge by its style, to somewhere about the same period.^ The brick patterns here, as there, are in parts filled in with glazed tiles ; and the general eifect of the steeple is very graceful, rising as it does with richly ornamented upper stages, upon a plain base, out of the low and strange jumble of irregular roofs with which the church is now covered. The great steeple, called the Torre Nueva, in the Plaza San Felipe, is finer and loftier than that of San Pablo, and is, I suppose, on the whole, the finest example of its kind anywhere to be seen. It is octagonal, in plan, and the sections of the various stages differ considerably in outline, owing to the inge- I Dou p. de la Escosiu-a (Espaua Art. but, I feel confideut, without good y Mon.), iii. 93, attributes this tower ground for doiug so, as far as the former and the church to the twelfth century,, is concerned. 374 (iOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IX SPAIN. Chap. XVIf. nions manner in whicli the face of the walls is set at various angles. The face of most of the work is diapered with patterns in brickwork as in the other Zaragozan examples ; but the most remarkable feature is, perhaps, the extraordinary extent to Avhich the whole fabric falls out from the perpendicular. This, which is so common a fault with the Italian campaniles, arises here evidently from the same causes, the badness of the foundations, and the absence of buttresses. A great mass of brickwork has been built up on one side, in order to prevent the further settle- ment of this steeple ; and it is to be hoped that the remedy may be effectual ; for Zaragoza can ill afford to lose so remarkable a feature out of the scanty number still left ; and it is valuable also as one of the grandest examples of a very remarkable class. It is said to have been built in a.d. 1c04. Another parish church in the principal street has a very small brick steeple of the same class, but very simple, and with it I think I must close my list of really Gothic erections here. The Renaissance buildings have often a certain amount of Gothic detail, and some Gothic arrangements of plan, but of so late and debased a kind as to make them little worthy of much study. Their real merit is their great size, and the rude grandeur of their treatment. They are usually built of rough brickwork, boldly and massively treated. They have always an arcaded stage, just below the eaves, which are very boldly corbelled out from the walls, and generally supported on moulded wood cor- bels, carrying a plate which projects some three or four feet from the face of the wall, and throws, of course, a very fine shadow over it. The patios, or court-yards, are lofty, and surrounded by columns which carry the open stages of the first and second floors. There is here no attempt at covering the brickwork with plaster or cement ; and accordingly, though the detail is poor and uninteresting, the general effect is infinitely more noble than that of any of our compocovered, smooth-faced modern London houses. The picturesque roughness of the work which Avas always indulged in by the mediaeval architects was no sin, it seems, in the eyes of the early lienaissance architects ; and it is, indeed, reserved for our own times to realize the full iniquity of any honest exhibition of facts in our ordinary buildings ! Among the buildings here which illustrate the transition from Gothic to Renaissance the cloister of the church of Sta. En- gracia seems to be one of the most remarkable. It is said to Chap. XVII. ZAKAGOZA : y. ENGRACIA. 375 liave been coustrueted iu 15313 by one Tudelilla of Tarazona, and an illustration is given of it in Villa Amil.^ The Gothic element seems here to have been as much Moresque as Gothic, and hence the combination of these with Eenaissance makes a whole which is as strange and heterogeneous as anything ever erected. It will be seen that Zaragoza has not very much to interest an architect or ecclesiologist. Travellers in Spain who find it necessary to recruit after roughing it in country towns may no doubt feel grateful for the creature comforts they will be able to enjoy there, and it is now rather a centre of railway com- munication, being on the line of railway which runs from Bilbao to Barcelona, and at the point where the line from Madrid joins it. ^ Vol. ii., plate 45. ''7n (iO'JMllC ARCHITECTUEE IN SPAIN. ("iiai>. XVI II. CHAPTER XVI 1 1. T.\1{AZ( )NA — VERUELA. 1 FOUND it a pleasant drive of two and a half hours, tlirongli vineyards and olive-grounds, from Tudela to Tarazona. In front all the way was the noble Sierra de Moncayo, which, according to one of my Spanish fellow-travellers, is the highest mountain in Spain, from which view however I humbly, and somewhat to his annoyance, dissented. But whether he were right or not, it is still of very grand height, and the more impressive in that it rises by itself in the midst of a comparatively flat country. Behind us Avas an admirable view of Tudela, backed by the brown and arid hills which skirt the Ebro ; beyond them, in the far distance, the Pyrenees ; whilst in the immediate foreground we had a rich green mass of olives and vines spread in a glorious expanse over the country. The villages on the road have nothing to boast of if I except a pilgrimage church at Cascante, approached by a long covered gallery from beloAV, and a brick tower at Monteacadeo, of the Zaragozan type. We jmssed, too, a newly-established convent for monks, who are already beginning to build, in spite of the ruin with which they have so lately been visited. But long before the end of our journey was reached, the towers and steeples of Tarazona rose attractively in front over the low hill which conceals the complete view of the city until you are almost close upon it. Attractive as this general view undoubtedly is, this old city does not lose when it is examined more closely and carefully. It is not only in itself picturesque, but its situation on either side of the stream which a few miles below falls into the Ebro is emi- nently fine, and has been made the most of by the hapj^y and probably unconscious skill of the men who have reared on the cliff above the water a tall pile of buildings on buildings, carried on grand arches, corbelled here and buttressed there, and with a sky-line charming in itself, and rendered doubly beautiful by the Chap. XVIII. TARAZONA : CATHEDRAL. 'S ( t .sudden break in its outline caused by the lofty brick steeple of la Magdalena— one of the finest of its class — which rears itself, with admirable hardihood, on the very edge of the clift'. The streets and Plazas, too, of the old city are all picturesquely irregnlai-, full of colour and evidences of national peculiarities, and climb the steep sides of the hills from the river-side to the high ground at the northern end of the city, which is crowned by the church of San IMiguel. I call such skill as this " unconscious," because it is so much a characteristic of old works of this kind that their authors never exhibit any of that pert conceit which so dis- tinctly marks the efforts of so many of us nowadays. Old archi- tects fortunately lived in days when society was moderate in its demands, and had not ceased to care for that wdiich is true and natural : sad for us that we live when every man wishes only to excel his neighbour, and that without regard to what is true or useful ; so that, instead of obtaining those happy results which alwavs reward the artist who does exactly what is needed in the most natural and uuartificial manner, we, by our attempts to show our oAvn cleverness, constantly end in substituting a petty personal conceit, where otherwise we might have had an enduring and artistic success. . The cathedral stands very much alone, and away from the busier part of the city, at the upper end of a grass-groAvn and irregular Plaza, on the opposite side of the river fi'om the Alcazar, and indeed fi-om the bulk of the houses. This Plaza, wlien I first saw it, on a Sunday afternoon, was thorouglily beautiful and characteristic as a picture of Spanish life. There was a foun- tain in the centre, around which hundreds of peasants v.^ere congregated in lively groups, talking at the top of their voices, and all gay wath whitest shirt-sleeves, bright-coloured sashes, and velvet breeches, slashed daintily at the knees, to show the Avhiteness of the linen drawers ; and w'hen I went on into the church, I found in the Lady Chapel another group of them kneeling before the altar, and following one of their own class in a litany to the Blessed Virgin, the effect of which was striking even to one unable to join in the bvn-then of the prayer. The cathedral here is said to have been restored by iVlonso the First of Aragon, in the year 1110; but an old Breviary, cited by Argaiz, fixes the foundation of the present cathedral in 1235,' ' Madoz, xiv. pp. 595 -099. 378 GOTHIC ARCHITECTUHE IN, SPAIN. Chap. XVIII. and witli tliis date the earliest part of the existmg church agrees very closely. The plan ' is very good, consisting of a nave of six bays, ^Yith aisles and chapels between their buttresses, tran- septs, a lofty Cimborio over the Crossing, and a choir of two bays, ended with a five-sided apse. The chapels in the chcvet have mostly been altered, though the first on the north side appears to be original, and proves that the outline of the plan of the chevet could never have been very good. This chapel is four-sided in plan, but much wider at one end than the other, and we must, 1 fear, give but scant credit to the architect who jjlanned it. The Lady Chapel is a late and poor addition of a very inferior kind, and completely modernized — as indeed is the greater part of the church — on the exterior. On the south side of the cathedral there are old sacristies and a large cloister, of which more presently. The west end seemed to me to have been intended for two steeples, but one only has been com- pleted, and this is on the north side of the north aisle. The remaining portions of the thirteenth-century church Iiave been so much altered that the general effect of the early work is almost entirely destroyed. The columns and arches generally are original ; the former have carved capitals ; many of the latter are slightly horseshoe in shape, and have labels enriched with the dog-tooth ornament. The choir and transepts retain a good simple arcaded triforiura, carried on detached shafts, and this returns across the gable-walls of the latter ; it is of the simplest early pointed character ; so too are the choir windows, which before their alteration appear to have been lancets, with engaged shafts in their jambs, whilst in the eastern wall of the transepts are windows of two lancet lights, with a circle above within an enclosing arch. Most of the arches of the nave are adorned with carved flowers on the chamfers, the effect of which is not good ; indeed I half doubted whether they were not plaster additions, though they seemed to be just too good for this. The choir has two (and only two) flying buttresses ; and as they are evidently of early date, with pinnacles of the very simplest pyramidal outline, they were probably erected to coun- teract a settlement which showed itself immediately after the erection of the church, for there is no evidence of any others having existed. The walls of the apse had originally a richly carved cornice, filled with heads and foliage. The groining of > See Plate XXII. TXiaZQNX-_Cji'imu^ - PIhu- iifdHtliPiir-Hh Piaie x\ii. Ti^'^Tisept Xantnii TlPAnse^t ]p ,.,p ^0 IQO . 150 ) ^1 , , e 10 20 30 4C ip, . , c IP 2,0 3" _U> 1«7V,.V. E Published V 3 ohti Murray, Albemarle S^-lSitiS. Chap. XVIir. TARAZONA : CATHEDRAL. 379 the aisles is generally simple and early in date, and quadri- partite in plan : that of the whole of the rest of the choir and nave is of the richest description, and of the latest kind of Gothic. Here, as is so frequently the case all over the world, the builders of one period used an entirely different material from that used by those of earlier times ; ^ so that you may tell with tolerable accuracy the date of the work by the material of which it is built. Here the early church was entirely built of stone, but ill all the later additions brick is the prevailing material ; and at first sight it is in these later additions that we seem to find almost all the most characteristic work in the church. Many of these additions, as for instance the Churrigueresque alterations of the clerestory, are thoroughly bad and con- temptible ; but some of them, though they damage the unity of effect of the building, and have taken the place of work which one would much rather have seen still intact, are nevertheless striking in themselves. Such is the singular and picturesque Cimborio erected by Canon Juan IMunoz ^ in the sixteenth cen- tury ; it is certainly most picturesque, but such a curious and complex combination of pinnacles and turrets built of brick, and largely inlaid with green, blue, and wliite tiles, is perhaps nowhere else to be seen. It is octagonal in plan, and of three stages in height, the angles of the octagons in the several stages being all counterchanged. Enormous coats of arms decorate the fronts of the buttresses. The whole work is of the very latest possible Gothic, utterly against all rules both in design and decoration, and yet, notwithstanding all this, it is unquestion- ably striking in its effect. The mixture of glazed tiles with brickwork has here been carried to a very great extent, and the result does not, I think, encourage any one to hope for much from this kind of development. This work is not to be com- pared to that at the east end of Zaragoza Cathedral, where a plain piece of wall is carefully covered all over with a rich coloured diaper of brickwork and tiles, which are all harmonious and uniform in character, and — which is equally important — in 1 The fact is worthy of record, from old precedents; yet, if our fore- because iu these days, though it is often fathers' example is to be followed, we manifestly convenient to use a different ought to do as they would have done in material from that which was used by our circumstances. our ancestors, there are many well-dis- ^ His name occurs in an inscription posed people who object to such a course, on it. as being an unwarrantable departure 380 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IX SPAIN. Chap. XYIII. texture, aiid it lias, on the contrary, great similarity to some attempts to combine bricks and tiles which we see made in the ])resent day, and seems to show that these attempts are not to be carelessly encouraged. For even when such work is first exe- cuted, and the brickwork is fresh and neat, I think we always feel that the smooth hard surface of the tile offers rather too great a contrast to the rougher texture of the bricks ; and whilst the former is likely to remain almost unchanged for ever, the latter is certain gradually to grow rougher and ruder in its aspect, until, in the end, we shall have walls showing everywhere pic- turesque marks of age, and yet with their decorations as fresh as if they had but just been introduced. Nothing can well be worse than this ; for if the appearance of age is to be venerated at all, it must be somewhat uniformly evident ; and it no more answers to permit the decorations on an old and rugged wall to be always new and fresh-looking, than it does to allow a juvenile Avig to be put on the venerable head of an old man ! The brick steeple of the cathedral is an inferior exanq^le of the same kind as that of la Magdalena, which I shall have pre- sently to describe ; its upper half is modern, and the lowest stage of stone. The west front is all modernized, and the north transept is conspicuous for a large porch of base design, erected probably in the sixteenth century, and exhibiting a curious though very unsuccessful attempt to cojoy — or perhaps I ought to say caricature — early work. The whole of the clerestory walls have been raised Avith a stage of brickwork above the windows, which was added pro- bably in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. The cloister, built in the beginning of the sixteenth century, by D. Guillen Eamon de Moncada, is a remarkable example of very rich brickwork. It desenes illustration as being of an extremely -uncommon style, and withal veiy effective. All the arches and jambs of the openings are of moulded brick, and there are brick enclosing arches, and a very simple brick cornice outside ; but the delicate traceries which give so much character to the work are all cut in thin slabs of stone let into the brick- Avork. Of com-se such a work was not intended for glazing, and was an ingenious arrangement for rendering the cloister cool and unaffected by the sun, even when at its hottest. The forms of the openings here are certainly not good, and look much more like domestic than ecclesiastical Avork ; but in spite of this one cannot but be thankful for noveltv, whenever it is, as here, Chap. XYITT. TARAZONA : CATHEDRAL. 381 lefiitimately obtained. The bricks are of a very pale red tint, 12.2 inches long, 6J inches wide, and from IJ to If thick, and the mortar-joint, as usual, is very thick — generally about f of an inch. The cloister is groined, and probably in brick, but is now plastered or whitewashed unsparingly, and its effect is in irreat degree ruined. Cloister, Tarazona. The sacristies are rather peculiar in their arrangement : they are all groined, and one of them has a small recess in one angle with a chair in it facing a crucifix, of which I could not learn the use. Another of this group of buildings contains a fountain under a small dome, the plashing of whose waters seemed to make it a very j)0})ular rendezvous of the people, and made itself heard everywhere throughout the sacristies and their j^assages. The stalls in the Coro are of very late Gothic, the bishop's stall, with one on either side of it in the centre of the west end. 382 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XVITI. having lofty canopies. The Coro is more than usually separated from the Capilla mayor, and there can be little doubt that it does not occupy its original position. The men who built so long a nave would never have done so simply to render its length use- less by so perverse an arrangement of the choir. Here, in fact, the Coro occupies the same kind of position to which one so often sees it reduced in parish churches in Spain, where it is usually either in a western gallery, or at any rate at the extreme western end of the nave, behind everybody's backs, and apparently out of their minds! A chapel on the north side of the nave, dedicated to Santiago, has a richly cusped arch opening from it to the aisle, and its vauli springs from large corbels, carved with figures of the four evangelists, rudely but richly sculptured. It is mainly worthy of notice now on account of the beauty of a panel-painting still preserved over the altar : this is painted on a gold back- ground, richly diapered, and the nimbi and borders to the vestments all elaborately raised in gold in high relief. The frame is richly carved with figures of saints, and gilt. The pre- della has on either side of the centre St. John and the Blessed Virgin, and four other holy women ; in the centre a sculpture of our Lord and four saints which serves as a pedestal for a well- posed figure of Santiago ; and on either side of the saint are two pictures with subjects illustrating his life. It is, on the whole, a very fine example of the combination of painting and sculjiture, of which the Spaniards in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were so fond. The paintings are less realistic than German work of the same age, and, if not so delicately lovely as early Italian works, are yet of great interest and merit. Returning from the cathedral to the town, and before one crosses to the opposite side of the river, a noble view of the build- inos on the cliff above it is obtained from the bridge. The grandest of these is an enormous bishop's jjalace, once I believe the Alcazar ; and close to it is the church of la Magdelena. The interior of this is entirely modernized, but the east end outside is a valuable example of untouched Romanesque. The eastern apse is divided into three by engaged shafts, stopping with capitals at the eaves-cornice, which is carried on a very simple corbel- table. To the west of this church is the steeple to whicli I have already alluded as giving so much of its character to Tarazona. It is a very lofty brick tower, without buttresses, with a solid simple base battering out boldly and effectively, and diapered in its upper stages with the patterns formed by projecting bricks, I'ARAZONA. CAMPANILE OF LA MAGDALEKA. Chap. XVIII. TARAZONA : S. MIGUEL. 383 of which tlie builders of the brick buildings throughout this dis- trict were so fond. At a very slight expense a great efit'ect of em-iehraent is obtained ; the dark shadows of the bricks under the bright Spanish sunlight define all the lines clearly ; and the uniformity of colour and the absence of buttresses make the general effect simple and quiet, notwithstanding the intricacy of the detail. The upper stage of this steeple is, as I need hardly say, a comparatively modern addition, but it no doubt adds to its effect by adding so much to the height, and in colour and design it harmonizes fairly with the earlier work below. The church of La Concepcion, not far from this, is a very late Gothic building, Avith a western gallery whose occupants are quite concealed by stone traceries of the same kind as those in the cloisters of the catliedral. The sanctuary walls here are lined with glazed tiles, and the floor is laid with blue, green, and white tiles, the colour of each of which being half wliite and half blue or green allows of the whole floor being covered A^-ith a diaper of chequer-Avork, which is very effective and very easily arranged. At the farther end of the city, and on the top of the long hill on which it is built, is a church dedicated to San Miguel. This has a simple nave with a seven-sided apse. The groining is all of very late date, the ribs curling down at their intersection as pendants, the imder sides of which are cut off to receive bosses which Avere probably large and of AAOod. Tliis groining is pro- bably not earlier than the end of the sixteenth century, though the church itself is of the thirteenth or fourteenth century, having two doors of one of these dates : that on the north side has, in most respects, the air of being a work of the thirteenth, but its sculpture seems to prove that it cannot be earlier than the fourteenth century. It has the Judgment of Solomon carved on one of the capitals, angels in the label, and a figure of St. 3Iichael above. The south doorway is executed in brick and stone, and is of the same date as the other. A brick belfry on the north side is enriched in the same fashion as that of la IMagdalena, and, like it, batters out considerably at the base, but it is altogether inferior both in size and design. From Tarazona I made a delightful excursion to the Abbey of Veruela. It is a two hours' ride, and tlie path takes one OA^er a hill which conceals the Sierra de ^loncayo from sight in most parts of Tarazona. The scenery on the road was beautiful. 384 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN RRAIX. Chap. XVIIT. Tlie town itself is always very strikin<>- ; and as we ascended, the views of the distant hills and mountains beyond the Ebro were finer and finer. After riding for an hour and a half, a grand view of the whole height of Moncayo is obtained ; below it to tlie right is a little village guarded by a picturesque castle keep, and on beyond and to the left a long line of roof, and towers, and walls girt around with trees, which seems to promise much to reward examination : and this is the old abbey of Yeruela. At last the avenue is reached, which leads to the abbey gateway, in front of which stands a tall but mutilated cross, which forms the centre from which five paths — each planted with an avenue of trees — diverge. The history of this abbey is interesting. It was the first Cis- tercian house in Spain, and was' founded by a certain Don Pedro de Atares, and his mother Teresa de Cajal, who commenced it in A.D. 1146, completed it in 1151, and obtained its formal incorporation in the Cistercian order on the 1st of September of the same year. There was a foundation for twelve monks, who were the first of their order to cross the Pyrenees, and who established themselves definitively here on the 10th August, 1171, under the direction of Bernard, Abbat of Scala Dei.' 1 suppose the desolate situation of Veruela led to its being carefully fortified, though, indeed, at the date of its foundation, most religious houses were enclosed within fortified walls, and the severe rule of the early Cistercians will account fully for the remote and solitary situation chosen by the brethren who planted this house where we see it : at any rate, whatever the cause, it is now completely surrounded by walls, from which round towers project at intervals. The walls and towers are all perfectly jjlain, and surmounted with the pointed battlement so often seen in early Spanish buildings. A walled courtyard protects the entrance to the main gateway, and it is in front of this that the avenues mentioned just now all unite. The view here is very peculiar. In front are the low walls of the outer court, with a raised archway in the centre; behind these the higher walls and towers, with a lofty and very plain central gateway, finished with an octagonal stage and low crocketed spire of late date, but pierced at the base with very simple thirteenth-century archways, leading into the inner court. Beyond this, again, is seen the upper part of the walls and the ' Mailoz, vol. XV. p. 085. 05 ^ -^ :-, > ji1i;"'fpn(v. r-— I JIodpTn. F-f 'Vi . , , ,,,? , ■1» , f" , /.soft 'p 1 , , , , ? 'r' TC .ip •^ 'Pi , , f , , 1 ,'? 'P r ■

I believe a portion of the old cloister unfortunately, that there was nothing remains. I was not aware of this, and else to be seen, seeing the fine late cloister, assumed, ^ Plate XX.V. ^l < : features remained ' Both tbese churches are planned vault of the nave is struck ; and all the upon precisely the same system of pro- subordinate divisions are also so exactly portions founded upon the equilateral marked that there is hardly room for triangle. Taking the width of the nave doubt that the .system was distinctly and aisles as the base, the apex of the recognised, and intentionally acted on. triangle gives the centre from which the Chap. XX. COPIES OF FRENCH CHURCHES. 417 generally unaltered until about the end of tlie twelfth, if not far into the succeeding century. Indeed it is remarkable in Spain, just as it is in Germany, that the late Eomanesque style, having once been introduced, retained its position and prestige longer than it did in France, and was only supplanted finally by designs brought again from France in a later style, instead of developing into it through the features of first-pointed, as was the case in England and France. In this general similarity there are several subordinate varia- tions to be observed. At Santiago, for instance, we see an almost absolute copy of the great church of S. Sernin, Tou- louse, erected soon after its original had been completed. At Lugo it is clear, I think, that the architect of the cathedral copied, not from any foreign >vork, but from that at Santiago : he was probably neither acquainted with the church at Toulouse, nor any of its class. At San Vicente, Avila, again, though we see the Segovian eastern apses repeated with absolute accuracy, the design of the church is modified in a most important manner by the introduction of quadripartite vaulting in place of the waggon-vault, and the piercing the wall above the nave arcades with a regular triforiura and clerestory. The same design was repeated with little alteration at San Pedro, in the same city ; and in both it seems to me that we may detect some foreign influence, so rare was the introduction of the clerestory in Spanish build- ings of the same age. Sta. Maria, la Coruiia, again, though it evidently belongs to the same class as the cathedral at Santiago, has certain peculiarities which identify it absolutely with that variation which we see at Carcassonne and Monistrol : ^ for here there are narrow aisles; and the three divisions of the church are all covered with waggon-vaults, those at the sides resisting the thrust from the centre, and, owing to their slight width, exerting but slight pressure on the outer walls. The distinction between this design and one in which the aisles are covered with quadrant- vaults is very marked ; and the erection of the cathedral at Santiago would not have been very likely to lead to the design of such a church as this. In all these churches the proportion of the length of the choir to that of the nave is very small. Usually the apses are either simply added against the eastern wall of the transept, or else, whilst the side apses are built on this plan, the central 1 The Monistrol I refer to is the village between S. Etienne and Le Puy, and not the place of the same name at the foot of Monserrat, in Cataluua. 2 E 418 GOTHIC AI^CHITFXTUEE ]X SPAIN. Chap. XX. apse is lengthened by the addition of one bay between the Cross- ing and the apse. It is very important to mark this phan, be- cause, however it was introduced — whetlier in such churclies as tliat of the abbey of Yeruela, where the conventual arrangement of Citeaux was imported, or in those earlier churches of which San Pedro, Gerona, may be taken as an example, in which from the first no doubt the choir was transferred to the nave, and the central apse treated only as a sanctuary — the result was the same on Spanish architecture and Spanisli ritual. The Church found herself in possession of churches Avith short eastern aj)ses and no choirs ; and instead of retaining the old arrangement of the choir, close to and in face of the altar, she admitted her laity to the transept, divorced the choir from the altar, and invented those church arrangements whicli puzzle ecclesiologists so much. In our own country the same system to some extent at first prevailed ; but our architects took a different course ; they re- tained their choirs, prolonged them into the nave, and so con- trived without suffering the separation of the clergy from the altar they serve, which we see in Spain.^ In one great English church only has the Spanish system been adopted, and this, strangely enough, in the most complete fashion. Westminster Abbey, in fact, will enable any one to understand exactly what the arrangement of a Spanish church is. Its short choir, just large enough for a sumptuous and glorious altar, its Crossing exactly fitted for the stalls of the clergy and choir, its nave and transepts large enough to hold a magnificent crowd of wor- shippers, are all mis-used just as they would be in Spain ; whilst the modern arrangements for the people — much more mistaken than they are there — involve the possession of the greater part of the choir by the laity, and the entire cutting off by very solid metal fences of all the w-orshippers in the transepts from the altar before which they are supposed to kneel, and the placing of the entire congregation between the priest and the altar.^ This digression will be excused Avhen it is remembered how universally this tradition settled itself upon Spain, and how com- pletely the perseverance in Eomanesque traditions has affected 1 E.q., St. Albans, 'Winchester Cathe- think it would be a great gain if the tlral, St. Cross Chapel. metal screens across the transepts were - The parallel holds good in very moved so as to form the narrow central small matters. At Westminster the passage from the choir to the altar, so clergy and choir assemble in the choir, common in Spain. They would then and begin the service so soon a.s have some meaning and use, which they the clock strikes. In several Spanish certainly have not now. churches the same custom obtains. 1 Chap. XX. ABBEY CHURCH AT VERUELA. 419 her ritual arrangements, and with them her church arcliitecture from the twelfth century until the present day. The long clioirs which were naturnlly developed in England and France were never tliought of there ; the choir was merely the " Capilla mayor" — the chapel for the high altar; and the use of the nave as the people's church was ignored or forgotten as much as it was — very rightly — in some of our own old conventual churches, where tlie choir was prolonged far down into the nave, and the space for the people reduced to a bay or two only at its western end. I must now bring this discussion to a close, and proceed with my chronological summary; and here the Abbey Church at Veruela ought to be mentioned, if regard be had to the date of its erection — circa a.d. 1146-1171 — though I must say that I have not been able to discover that it exercised any distinct influence upon Spanish buildings. It is in truth a very close copy of a Biirgundian church of the period, built by French monks for an order only just established in Spain, under the direction probably of a French architect, and in close com- pliance with the rather strict architectural rules and restric- tions which the Cistercians imposed on all their branches and members.^ The character of the interior of this church is grand and simple, but at the same time rather rude and austere ; but the detail of much of the exterior is full of delicacy ; and the design of the chevet, with its central clerestory, and the sm-- rounding aisle roofed with a separate lean-to roof, and the chapels projecting from it so subordinated as to finish below its eaves, recalls to memory some of the best examples of French Romanesque work.^ Tlie beauty and refinement of the little Chapter-house here lead me to suppose that it cannot be earlier than the end of the century. There are some of these churches which require more detailed notice as being derived to some extent from the same models, but erected on a grander scale, and if documentary evidence can be trusted, whose erection was spread over so long a time as to illustrate very well indeed the slow progress of the deve- lopment in art which we so often see in these Spanish build- ings. The old cathedral at Salamanca was building from a.d. 1120 to 1178; Tarragona Cathedral was begun in 1131; 1 See pp. 385-6. have been commenced as early as a.p. 2 The design of this chevet is almost 1040, though most of it is ceitainly a repetition of that of the church at later by a century than this. Aveni6res, near Laval, which is said to 2 E 2 420 GOTHIC ARCH1TECTU1?R IN SPAIN. Chap. XX. Tiulela, commenced at about the same time, was completed in 1188 ; Lerida, whose style is so similar to that of the others as to make me class them all together, was not commenced until 1203, nor consecrated until 1278 ; and Valencia Cathedral, of which the south transept of the original foundation still remains, was not commenced until a.d. 12G2, Yet if I except the early and Italian-looking eastern apse at Tarragona, most of the features of these churches look as though they were the design of the same man, and very nearly the same period ; and it is altogether unintelligible how sucl> a work, for instance, as Lerida Cathedral could be in progress at the same time as Toledo and Burgos, save upon the assumption that the thirteenth century churches in an advanced Pointed style, such as these last, were erected by French workmen and artists imported for the occasion, and in a style far in advance of that at which the native artists had arrived. Yet I think fcAV churches deserve more careful study than these. I know none whose interiors are more solid, truly noble, or impressive ; and these qualities are all secured not by any vast scale of dimensions — for, as will be seen by the plans, they are all churches of very moderate size — but by the boldness of their design, the simplicity of their sections, the extreme solidity of their construction, and the remarkable contrast between these characteristics and the delicacy of their sculptured decorations ; they seem to me to be among the most valuable examples for study on artistic grounds that I have ever seen anywhere, and to teach us as much as to the power of Pointed art as do any churches in Christendom. In all there is a very remarkable likeness in the section of the main clustered piers. They are composed usually of four pairs of clustered columns, two of them carrying the main arches, and two others supporting bold cross arches between the vaulting bays, whilst four shafts placed in the re-entering angles carry the diagonal groining ribs both of the nave and aisle. The arches are usually quite plain and square in section, the groining ribs are very bold and simple, and the whole decorative sculpture is reserved for the doorways and the capitals and bases of the columns. The windows have usually jamb-shafts inside and out ; and the eastern apses are always covered Avith semi-dome vaults. Permanence being the one great object their builders set before them, they determined to dispense as far as possible with wood in their construc- tion, and they seem to have laid stone roofs of rather flat Chap. XX. OBJECTS OF OLD SPANISH ARCHITECTS. 421 pitch above the vaulting, and in some cases very ingeniously contrived with a view to preventing any possible lodgment of wet, and so any danger of decay. It may be said, perhaps, that fragments only of these roofs remain, so that after all timber roofs covered with tiles would have been equally good ; but this is not so. The very attempt to build for everlasting is in itself an indication of the highest virtue on the part of the artist. The man who builds for to-day builds only to suit the miserable caprice of his patron, whilst he who builds for all time does so with a wholesome dread of exciting hostile criticism from those grave unprejudiced men who will come after him, and who will judge, not consciously perhaps, but infallibly, as to the honesty of his work. In England we have hardly a single attempt at anything of the kind, though in Ireland, in St. Cormack's Chapel at Cashel, we not only have an example, but one also that proves to us that we may build in this solid fashion, so that our work may endure in extraordinary perfection come what may — as it has there — of neglect, of desolation, and of desecra- tion I Yet of all the virtues of good architecture none are greater than solidity and permanence, and we in England cannot therefore afford to affect any of our Insular airs of superiority over these old Spanish artists ! Look also at the thorough way in which their work was done. The Chapter-houses, the cloisters, the subordinate erections of these old buildings, are always equal in merit to the churches themselves, and I really know not where — save in some of the English abbeys which we have wickedly ruined and destroyed — we are to find their equals. Nothing can be more lovely than such cloisters as those of Gerona or Tarragona, few things grander than that desecrated one at Lerida, whilst the Chapter- house at Veruela, and the doorways at Valencia, Lerida, and Tudela, deserve to rank among the very best examples of mediaeval art. There are yet two other grand early churches to be men- tioned which do not seem to range themselves under either of the divisions already noticed, and which yet do not at all belong to the list of churches of French design with which my notice of thirteenth-century Spanish Avork must of necessity conchide. These are the cathedrals of Sigiienza and Avila.' L'oth of these are, so far as I can see, but to a slight extent founded upon other examples. Sigiienza Cathedral seems to have had origin- ' I uiiglit pciliaps ;ul(l Tiirazoiia Catliedral to this li.st. 422 GOTBIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XX. ally three eastern apses: the plan is simple and grand, and its scale, either really, or at any rate in effect, very magnificent. The great size of the clustered columns, their well-devised sections, the massive solidity of the arches, the buttresses, and all the details, make this church rank, so far at least as the interior is concerned, among the finest Spanish examples of its age. At Avila, on the other hand, we see a remarkable attempt to intro- duce somewhat more of the delicacy and refinement of the first- pointed style ; and just as if the architect had been exasperated by the obligation under which he lay to end his chevet within the plain, bald, windowless circular wall projecting from the city ramparts which was traced out for him, we find him indulging in delicate detached shafts, a double aisle round the chevet, and subsequently in such strange as well as daring expedients in the way of the support of the groining and the flying buttresses, as could hardly have been ventured on by any one really accus- tomed to deal with the various problems which the constructors of groined roofs ordinarily had before them. I venture therefore to place these two churches at SigUenza and Avila among the most decidedly Spanish w'orks of their day ; I see no distinct evidence of foreign influence in any part of their design, and they seem to me to be fairly independent on the one hand of the early Spanish style of Tarragona, Lerida, Salamanca, and Segovia, and on the other of the imported French style of Toledo, Burgos, and Leon. And now I must say a few words on the three last-named churches. I have already expressed my opinion as to their origin, which seems to me to be most distinctly and undoubtedly French. The history of the Spanish Church at the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth century, points with remarkable force to such a development as we see here. What more natural than that the country which looked, on the re- covery from its troubles — on the expulsion of the Saracen — to its neighbour the French Church to supj^ly it with bishops for its metropolitan and other sees — should look also to it for a supply of tliat instruction in art which had grown and flourished there, whilst men were fighting and striving with all their might and main here ? And what is there more natural than that French architects, sent over for such works, should first of all plan their buildings on the most distinctly French plan, with French mouldings and French sculpture ; and then — as we see both at Burgos and Toledo, in the singular treatment of the triforia — should have gradually succum])ed to the national and Chap. XX. TOLEDO CATHEDRAL. 423 in part Moresque influences by Avhich they were surrounded? At Leon the evidences of imitation of French work are so remarkable, that no one capable of forming a judgment can doubt the fact ; and if at Burgos and Toledo they are not quite so strong, the difference is slight, and one only of degree. I have already si^oken upon these points in describing the chuT-ches in question ; and here I will only repeat that, as the features of Avhich I speak are exceptional and not gradually developed, it is as certain as anything can be that their style was not invented at all in Spain. We have only to re- member the fact, that at the same time that Lerida Cathedral was being built, those of Toledo and Burgos were also in progress, whilst that of Valencia was not commenced until much later, to realize how fitful and irregular was the progress of art in Spain. It is, in fact, precisely what Ave see in the history of German art. There, just as in Spam, the Romanesque and semi-Romanesque styles remained long time in c^uiet possession of the field, and it was not until the marvellous power and success of the architects of Amiens and Beauvais excited the German architects to emulation in Cologne Cathedral, that they moved from tlieii* Romanesque style into the most decided and well-developed geometrical Gothic. And just as Cologne Cathe- dral is an exotic in Germany, so are those of Burgos, Leon, and Toledo in Spain ; so that, whilst Spaniards may fairly be proud of the glory of possessing such magnificent Avorks of art, their pride ouglit to be confined to that of ownership, and should not extend to any claim of authorship. The demands of these three great churches upon our admira- tion are very different. The palm must be awarded to Toledo, Avhich, as 1 have shown, equals, if it do not surpass, all other churches in Christendom in the beauty and scale of its plan. Undoubtedly, however, it lacks something of height, AA-hilst later alterations have shorn it also of some of its attractiA'eness in design, the original triforium and clerestory remaining only in the choir. Nevertheless, as it stands, Avith all its alterations for the Avorse, it is still one of the most impressive churches I have ever seen, and one in Avhich the heart must be cold indeed that is not at once moved to Avorship by the aAvefulness of the place. I have already, in my account of this great church, entered somewhat fully into a description of the [)eculiarities of its plan, and the evidence which they afford of its foreign origin. The unusual arrangement of the chevet, in which the vaulting bays 424 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XX. in both the surrounding aisles of the presbytery are made of nearly the same size,' by the introduction of triangular vaultiug com})artiuents, and in whicli the chapels of the outer aisle are alternately square and circular in plan, renders it, however, not merely an example of a French school, but one of the very highest interest and peculiarity. There is no church, so far as I know, similarly planned, though some are extremely suggestive as to the school in which its architect had studied. The cathedral at Le Mans has triangular vaulting compartments in the outer of its two aisles, arranged somewhat as they are at Toledo, but with inferior skill, the aisle next the central apse having the unequal vaulting compartments, which have been avoided here ; but the surrounding chapels in these two examples are utterly unlike. Notre Dame, Paris, also has tri- angular vaulting compartments, but they are utterly different in their arrangement from those in Toledo Cathedral.' Neither of these examples, in short, proves much as to the authorship of the latter. A far more interesting comparison may, however, be instituted between the plan of this chevet and that rare example of a Mediaeval architect's own handiwork, which has been handed down to us in the design for a church made by Wilars de Honecort, under which he wrote the inscrip- tion, " Deseure est une giize a double charole. K vilars de h(mecort trova & pieres de corbie." In English : " x\bove is (the presbytery of) a church with a double circumscribing aisle, which Wilars de Honecort and Peter de Corbie contrived together." ^ In this plan we find these two old architects, not only introducing alternate square and circular chapels round their apse, but also an arrangement of the groining which looks almost as though they were acquainted with some such arrange- ment as that of the triangular vaulting compartments of Le IVIans and Toledo. The diligent and able editors of Wilars de Honecort — M. Lassus and Professor AMllis — say that no such plan as this is anywhere known to exist ; and I believe they were nearly, though not, as I have sliown, absolutely correct in this assertion. At Toledo they still exist in part, and once, no doubt, existed all round the chevet ; and it may well, I think, be a question whether Peter, the architect of Toledo, had ' See grouud-plan, Plate XIV. aud are constructed differently from - The I'ound porbiou of the Temple those at Toledo. Church, London, has its aisle groined ■* Facsimile of the Sketch-book of with alternate bays of square and trian- Wilars do Honecort. Eng. edit. Edited gular outline. The latter have no ribs, by Professor Willis. Plate XXVIII. Chap. XX. TOLEDO CATHEDRAL. 425 not studied in the French school, and Avitli these very men — Wilars de Honecort and Peter de Corbie — who, "' inter se dis- putando," as they wrote on this plan, struck out this original scheme. At the same time it will be seen, on comparison of the two plans, that if he derived his idea from his brethren, he developed it into a much more scientific and perfect form. It will be recollected that though I claim a French origin for Toledo Cathedral, I allow that it is not only possible, but pro- bable, that, as the work went on, either Spaniards only were employed on it, or (which is more likely) that the French architect forgot somewhat of his own early practice, and was affected by the work of other kind being done by native artists around him. The evidence of this change is mainly to be seen in the triforium and clerestory of the choir and transepts. The religious gloom of the cathedral at Toledo is strangely different from the religious brightness of that of Leon ; for in the latter, where the sole end of the architect seems to have been the multiplication of openings and the diminution of solid points of sup- port, the artist in stained glass has fortunately come to the rescue, and filled the ^^'indows with some of the most gorgeous colouring ever seen, so as to redeem it from its otherwise utter unfitness for its work in such a climate as that even of Northern Spain. I have already said that this church has not stood well. It was, in truth, too daring, and has in consequence failed to some extent. Yet, in spite of this, I cannot but admire immensely the hardihood and the skill of the man who could venture — knowing as much as he did — upon such a daring work as this ; and I know not to whom to liken him so well as to the first architect of Beauvais Cathedral, though certainly the work at Leon has not failed so conspicuouslv as it did there. In both these churches the arrangement of the ground-plan of the clievet is so nearly similar as to allow of their being classed together as at any rate works of the same stvle, if they are not indeed both works of the same school. Both have pentagonal chapels round the apse, and square chapels to the west of them, and they were built within a few j^eai'S of each other.' The detail at Leon is almost all very Frer^ch, and the windows of its clerestory are, in their general design as well jis in their detail, almost reproductions of those at Saint Denis, in the peculiar mode adopted there of strengtiiening the princi^ial monials by doubling the smaller menials in width, without any chanofe in their thickness. ' Beauvais cathedral was cuiiiiuencuil in A.n. 1225. 4*2() GOTHIC AKCHITECTUIIE IN SPAIN. Chap. XX. The cathedral at Burgos is certainly in most respects a some- what inferior work to that at I-eon. It, too, is French ; but its architect was familiar not witli the best examples of French art in the He de France and Champagne, but only, I tliink, witli those of the somewliat inferior Angevine school. The plan of this clievet' was probably never so fine as that of Leon, though it was very similar to it. Here, too, I think, we see some local influence exerting itself in tlie design of the triforia throughout the church, whereas at Leon the original scheme seems from first to last to have been faitlifnlly adhered to. But if 13urgos Cathedral is far inferior in scale to that of Toledo, and somewhat so to that of Leon in skilfulness of design, it is in all other respects equally deserving of study, and is in its general effect at present far more Spanish than either of them. The many additions have to a great extent, it is true, obscured the original design ; but the result is so picturesque, and so far more interesting than an unaltered church usually is, that one cannot well find fault. The main failure of tlie design is the smallness of the scale, and the loss of internal effect owing to the alteration of the primitive arrangements by the placing of the Coro in the nave, and tlie leaving of the ample choir unoccupied save by the altar at its eastern end. The succeeding great division of Gothic art is much more distinctly marked and more uniform throughout Sj^aiu, wliilst at the same time it is even less national and peculiar. There are in truth very considerable remains of fourteenth-century works, though, perhaps, no one grand and entire example of a fourteenth-century building. All these examples are extremely similar in style ; and I think, on the whole, more akin in feeling and detail to German middle-pointed than to French. The west front of Tarragona Cathedral, the lanteni and north tran- sept of Valencia Cathedral, the chapel of San Ildefonso, the Puerta of Sta. Catalina, and the screen round the Coro at Toledo, Sta. Maria del Mar and the cathedral at Barcelona, the chevet of Gerona Cathedral, the north doorway and nave clerestory of Avila Cathedral, and the cloisters of Burgos and Veruela, afford, with many others, fair examples of the design and details of churches of this period. The traceries are generally elaborately geometrical and rather rigid and ironlike in their character, the 1 See the plau, Plate I. The chapel probably give the exact plan of the marked B is, I think, the only original original chevet. one ; and this repeated tive times will Chap. XX. FOURTEENTH CENTURY ART. 427 carving fair but not especially interesting — dealing usque ad nauseam in diapers of lions and castles — and the whole system of design one of line and rule rather than of heart and mind. Yet, in this, Spain reflected much more truly than before what was passing elsewhere in the fourteenth century ; and exhibited, just as did Germany, France, and England ^ at the same moment, the fatal results of the descent from poetry and feeling in architecture to that skill and dexterity which are still in the nineteenth century, as they were in the fourteenth, regarded — and most wrongly regarded — as the elements of art most to be striven after and most taught. Art, in truth, was ceasing to be vigorous and natural, and becoming rapidly tame and academical ! Yet if tliese works are not very national, they are at any rate most interesting and deserve most careful study. He was no mean artist who made the first design for Barcelona Cathedral, who completed the chevet of Gerona, or who designed the steeple at Lerida, or the cloisters of Burgos, Ijcou, or Yeruela. At this time indeed art was cosmopolitan, and all Europe seems to have been possessed with the same love for geometrical traceries, for crockets, for thin delicate mouldings, and for sharp naturalesque foliage, so that no country presents anything which is absolutely new, or unlike what may be seen to some extent elsewhere. There are perhaps only two features of this period which I need record here, and these are, first, the reproduction of the octagonal steeple, which, as we have seen, was a most favourite type of the Romanesque builders; and, secondly, the introduction of that grand innovation upon old precedents, the great unbroken naves, groined in stone, lighted from windows high up in the walls, and inviting each of them its thousands to worship God or to hear His word in such fashion as ^\•e, who are used to our little English town churches, can scarcely realize to ourselves.^ But on this point I will say no more because its consideration more naturally arises in the succeeding period, in which the problem was more distinctly met and more satisfactorily settled. The survey of Spanish art in the fifteenth centmy is, I think. ^ The commerce of the south of Spain i. 502, &c. with England was considerable; and it - I speak only of town churches here: is just possible that some of the middle- our little English village churches are the pointed work in Valencia may have an most perfect in the world, so thoroughly English origin. The English sovereigns characteristic, and at the same time so encouraged the Catalan traders by con- suitable for their work, that we may siderable immunities to frequent their always study them with greater gain ports during the foiuteenth century, than any others elsewhere in Europe, — Macpherson, 'Annals of Commerce,' 428 GOTHIC ARCHITECT Ur^E IN SPAIN. Chap. XX. on the whole, more gratifying than it is in the fourteenth. In the earliest churches, as the models from which they were de- rived were first of all built in hut climates, tlie windows were small and few, the walls thick, the roofs flat-pitched, and the whole construction eminently suited to the physical circmn- stances of the country. But these models, having been taken to the north of Europe, and there largely and perhaps thought- lessly copied, in spite of the vast difference of climate, were soon found to be unfitted for their purpose, and were consequently, in due course of time, developed into that advanced style of Gothic of which the main characteristic is the size and beauty of its windows. Of course this development was just that of all others which ought not to have been tolerated at all under a southern sun ; and we must allow the fifteenth-century architects the credit of having discovered this, and of having returned very much to the same kind of design as that in which their thirteenth- century predecessors had indulged. The examples of this age which I have described will have given a fair idea of their main characteristics. The magnificent size, the solid construction, and the solemn internal effect of such churches as those of Segovia, Salamanca, Astorga, Huesca, Gerona, Pamplona, and Manresa, would be sufficient to mark the period which produced them as one of the most fertile and artistic the world has ever seen. We may approach such build- ings full of prejudice in favour of an earlier style of architecture, of a purer form of art ; but we cannot leave them without acknowledging that at least they are admirable in their general effect, and if not conceived in the very purest art, still conceived in what is at any rate a true form of art. By the time in which they were erected, Spain had become far more powerful than ever before; she was quite free from all fear of the Moors, and was so rich as to be able to expend vast sums of money in works of art and luxury. She had also more trade and communication with her neighbours; and no doubt their customs and their schools of art had become so familiar to Spanish architects as to lead naturally to some imitation of them in their works. In their later works we find, at any rate, a development beyond that point at which Spaniards had before arrived, and noticeablv an affection for the French chevet or apsidal choir surrounded by a procession-path and group of chapels. This arrangement, which, when it was adopted at Veruela, Santiago, Burgos, Leon, and Toledo, was evidently only adopted because the architects of these churches were French, was a favourite one of the artists Chap. XX. FIFTEENTH CENTURY AR1\ 429 of the fifteenth century. Huesca and Astorga alone of the great churches mentioned just now are founded upon the old Spanish type of parallel apses at the east end : the others are all founded upon that of the French chevet with some modifications in the details of their design. Of these, few are more interesting than that which we see in the cathedral at Pamplona, the chevet of which is, to the best of my belief, unique in its curious use of the equilateral triangle in the plan. This is perhaps the most novel modification of the French plan ; but among all of them it is impossible not to award the palm, most decidedly, to the really magnificent works of the Catalan School. In other parts of Spain the great churches of this period had no very special or marked character ; nothing Mhich clearly showed them to be real developments in advance of what had been done before or elsewhere. In Cataluna, on the other hand, there was a most marked impulse given by a IMallorcan artist at the latter part of the fourteenth century ; and to the influence of his school we owe some of, I suppose, the most important mediaeval churches to be seen in any part of Europe. Tlieir value consists mainly in the success Avith which they meet the problem of placing an enormous congregation on the floor in front of one altar, and within sight and hearing of the preacher. The vastest attempt which we have made in this direction sinks into some- thing quite below insignificance when compared with such churches as Gerona Cathedral, Sta. Maria del Mar, Barcelona, or the Collegiata at Manresa. The nave of the former would hold some two thousand three hundred worshippers, that of the next hard upon three thousand, and that of the tliird about two thousand. Their internal effect is magnificent in the extreme ; and if, in their present state, their external effect is not so fine, it must be remembered, first of all, that they have all been much mutilated, and, in the next place, that their architects had evi- dently mastered the first great necessity in church-building — the successful treatment of the interior. In these days it is impossible to say this too strongly : men build churches everywhere in England, as though they were only to be looked at, not worshipped in ; and forget, in fact, that the sole use of art in connexion witli religion is the exaltation of the solemnity of the ritual, and the oblation of om- best before the altar, and not the mere pleasing of men's eyes with the sweet sights of spires rising among trees, or gables and traceried windows standing out amid the unin- teresting fabrics of nineteenth-century streets ! In our large towns in England there is nothing we now want 4'S() GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XX. more than sometliing which sliall emulate the magnificent scale of these Catalan cliurches. They ^vere built in the middle ages for a large manufacturing or seafaring population ; and we have everywhere just such masses of souls to be dealt with as they were provided for. But then, of course, it is useless to recommend such models if they are only to be used as we use our churches, for four or five hours on Sundays, instead of, as these Spanish churches were and still are, for worship at all sorts of hours, not only on Sundays, but on every day of the week also. When English Churchmen are accustomed to see churches thoroughly well used ; when no church is without its weekly, no great church without its daily Eucharist ; and when they see none, gi-eat or small, without their doors open daily both for public and private prayer, — then, and not till then, can we expect that they will allow architects any chance of emulating the glories achieved by these old men. Till then we shall \uAd fast to our insular tra- ditions of little town churches and subdivided parishes, and shall doubt the advantages of enormous naves, of colleges of clergy working together, aud of those other old Catholic appliances, which must be tried fully and fairly before we give up in despair the attempt to Christianize the working population of our large cities. The general idea of these great fifteenth-century churches has no doubt already been grasped by my readers. Worship at the altar appears to me to be the key to the design and arrange- ment of many of them, for nowhere else in Europe, I suppose, can we find a church on so very moderate a scale as the Cathedral at Barcelona crowded in the way it is with altars, and so planned and fitted up as to make it absolutely useless as a place of gathering for a laige number of persons at one service. But if this multiplication of side altars was here carried to excess, one of the most remarkable examples of an attempt to glorify the high altar, and at the same time to provide i'or one enormous and united congregation, is unquestionably that which is presented by Sta. Maria del Mar in the same city. This church has its prototype at Pal ma in Mallorca, and I much regret that I have never yet been able to visit that island, for, so far as I can learn, it seems that the mainland owed much to it in the way of archi- tectural development, and that some of the finest examples of the Catalan style in this age are still to be seen there. The special devotion to the altar service which is exemplified in Barcelona Cathedral led naturally to other architectural deve- lopments. Such are the remarkable church of San Tonias at Chai'. XX. SEGOVIA AND SALAMANCA CATHEDRALS. 431 Avila, with its western choir and eastern altar both raised in galleries, and its arrangement for the congregation of worshippers below. Such again is the church of El Parral, Segovia, with its deep western gallery for the choir, its dark, gloomy, and austere nave, and the concentration of light and window round the altar. Indeed, the institution of the western gallery, so common — I might almost say so universal — in small churches at this period in Spain, arose from the same feeling as did the removal of the choir into tlie nave in the larger churches. Tlie object of all these changes was to give the people access to the altar, and usually they seem to have been made upon the assumption that no one would care to assist at the services in the choir itself. I am very much inclined to think that the rise of this feeling was to a great extent an accident, and the result of the fact that almost all the early Spanish churches were founded on models in which the eastern limb of the Cross was so very short that the choir or Chorus Cantorum must almost always have occupied the eastern part of the nave, or the Crossing under the central lantern. This must have been almost a necessity in such cathe- drals as those of Lerida, Tudela, and Sigiienza : whilst in others, as those of Tarragona, Tarazona, and Avila, the space must always have been cramped, though a choir might have been accommodated. Of the larger churches Burgos alone has a really large constructional choir. In Toledo it is very short, and in Leon certainly below what we usually find in a French church of the same age and pretensions. The cathedi-als of Segovia and Salamanca are the two latest great Gothic churches in Spain, and in some respects among the grandest ; and here, as might be expected, the Spanish custom as to the position of the Coro had become so thoroughly fixed and invariable, that the choir proper is very short, and built only for the altar. The plan of Segovia Cathedral is very fine and well proportioned ; whilst that of Salamanca has been unhappily ruined by the erection of a square east end, in place of the apse Avhich was first of all intended : and this, in place of emulating at all the noble design of any of our English eastern ends, is contrived with but little skill, the aisle returning across behind the altar, whilst beyond it to the east there is a line of chapels similar to those beyond the aisles. Of the later styles I need say but little. They are not Gothic, and this is a summary of Gothic architecture only ; yet it is interesting to look into their history if only to notice how curious the fact is that at the same time that men like Ber- 432 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XX. ruguete were designing in the most thoroughly Renaissance style, Juan Gil de Hontanon was still painfully superintending the erection of a great Gothic cathedral. The remarkably Gothic staircase to the Hall at Christ Church, Oxford (a.d. 1G40) ; the Gothic window traceries of Stone Church, Kent, of the same date ; the rebuilding of Higham Ferrers steeple by the gi-eat Arch- bishop Laud, and of the spire of Lichfield Cathedral by good Bishop Hacket in 16G9, are well-known instances of the remark- able love for Christian art which Englishmen retained long after the fashion for Pagan and Kenaissance art had set in. And it is not a little interesting to find the same contest going on in Spain, and the same love for the old and hallowed form of art exhibited. I cannot see much — I might almost say I can -see nothing — to admire in the works of the Renaissance school in Spain. It was in their time that the discovery of America raised the country to the very summit of her prosperity, and right nobly did she acknowledge her duty by the offerings she made of her wealth. Few Spanish churches are witliout some token of the magnificent liberality of the people at this time, and one is obliged to acknowledge it in spite of the horror with which one regards the works they did, and the damage which their erection did to the older buildings to which they w^ere added. It would be dreary work to follow the stream of Spanish art dow'n by Berruguete and Herrera to Churriguera and so on to our own time ; and the only fact of interest that I know is that the old scheme of cruciform church with a central lantern is still the most popular, and that down to the present time almost every modern church has been so planned, with a lantern dome rising from above the intersection of the nave and transepts. Fortunately, down to this time the tide of " Restoration " has hardly reached Spain, and one is able therefore to study the genuine old records in their old state. There are no Salisbury Chapter-houses or Worcester Cathedrals to puzzle us as to whether anything about them is old, or whether all may be dis- missed or discussed as if it were perfectly new ; and so it affords a field for study the value of which cannot be overrated, and which ought not to be neglected. It must not be supposed that this field of study is limited to the general scheme of the churches. On the contrary, their fittings and furniture, their appendages and dependent buildings, are unsurpassed in interest by those of any other land, and in addition to these there are several other heads under which my subject naturally presents itself. Chap. XX. CHURCH FURNITURE. 433 First among them is that of church furniture. No country is perhaps now so rich in this respect as Spain. Few of coiu'se — if any — of her cliurches retain their okl furniture in its original place earlier in date than the fifteenth century. It is true that the magnificent baldachin and Eetablo at Gerona, the screens round the Coro at Toledo, and the beautiful painted Eetablo in the old cathedral at Salamanca, are earlier than this ; but these are exceptions to the rule. The great glory of the country in this respect are such Retablos — rich in sculpture, covered Anth gold and colour, and in paintings of no mean merit, and lofty and imposing beyond anything of the kind ever seen elsewhere — as those of Toledo Cathedral or the Carthusian Church of Mira- flores. In these one hardly knows whether to admire most the noble munificence of the founders, or the marvellous skill and dexterity of the men who executed them. It is not only that they are rich and costly, but much more, that all the work in tliem is usually good of its kind, and far finer than the work of the same age and style which we see in the Netherlands and Germany. The choir stalls, again, are often magnificent. Nothing can be more interesting than the contemporary chronicle of the capture of Granada which we see in the lower range of stalls at Toledo ; they are full of character and spirit, and represent what was no doubt felt to be a truly religious enterprize, with at least as much fidelity as any view of our own military operations at the present day ever attains to. Other churches have choir fittings, like those of Zamora, full of curious interest to the student of Chi-istian iconography ; like those at Palencia, remarkable for the exceedingly elaborate character of their traceries and panelling ; and like those of Gerona, valuable for the fine character of the rare fourteenth-century woodwork which has been re-arranged in the modern Coro. Turn again from the choir stalls to the other fittings of the choir. Seldom elsewhere shall we see the old columns for the curtains at the side of the altar still standing as they do at Manresa. Nowhere shall we see such magnificent choir lecterns, in brass as that of Toledo, or in wood as that of Zamora ; nowhere else such pretty and sweet-sounding wheels of bells for use at the elevation of the Host ; nowhere, perhaps, so many old organs, many of which, if not Mediaeval, are at any rate not far from being so ; nowhere else so many or such magnificent Eejas or metal screens and parcloses, as in this country. In every one of these works Spanish workmen excelled, because they devoted themselves to them. We have lists of men who made screens, of others who carved the choir 2 F 434 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XX. stalls, of otliers who made Retablos, and of others, again, who painted and gilded them. Each class of men is named after the furniture to the execution of which they devoted themselves, and occasional!}' individuals rose to rare eminence from this kind of work. The time was late, indeed, when it happened, but see how Borgofia and Berruguete strove for mastery over their work on the up[)er stalls at Toledo, or how the poor Matias Bonifc, at Barcelona, "vvas bound to carve no beasts or subjects on his stalls, to which we may suppose he was addicted ; and how his successor died of distress because the Chapter did not like the pinnacles he added to the canopies ; and consider how people interested themselves in the matter, how they were excited in the contest between Borgoua and Berruguete, and no doubt in the others also, and we see at once how different was the position which these men occupied from that which, so far as we know, their contemporaries in England held. The monuments in the Spanish churches are not the least of their glories. Erom one of the earliest and finest, that of Bishop Maurice at Burgos, there is a sequence illustrating almost every variety of Gothic down to that exquisite llenaissance monument of the son of Ferdinand and Isabella at Avila, in which — in spite of the date and style — the old spirit still breathes an air of grace, refinement, and purity over the whole work. Such chapels as those which enshrine these monuments, — that of the Constable at Burgos, of Santiago at Toledo, of Miraflores near Burgos, — are well fitted to hold the most magnificent of me- morials ; for were it not that such a work as the tomb of Juan II. and Elizabeth is almost unmatched anywhere for the skill and delicacy of its workmanship, and that some of the others are almost equally sumptuous, the chapels ^^ithin which they are erected would appear to be in themselves the noblest remem- brances of the dead. Of the dependent buildings of these great churches I have had to speak over and over again. The ground-plans which I have given will show how complete they usually are. Their arrangement varies very much. The cloister, for instance, is on the north-east at Tarragona ; the north at Sigiienza, Toledo, and Leon ; the west at Ldrida and Olite ; the south at Santiago, Palencia, Tudela, and Veruela; and the south-east at Burgos. The Chapter-houses by no means always stand on the east of the cloister, though they usually retain the old tri])le entrance, and the remaining buildings seem to vary very much in the positions assigned to them. Chap. XX. CHURCH ROOFING. 435 Tlie roofing- of Spanish churclies has been mcidentally noticed in various places throughout this vokime. It was ahnost always of stone. So far as the interior roofing is concerned, the changes that are seen are of course very mucli the same as those which marked the vaults of most other parts of Europe at the same period. At first the cylindrical Roman vault, then the same vault supported by quadrant vaults over the aisles, then simple quadripartite vaults, and finally vaults supported on very elaborate systems of lierue ribs. But there are some minor pecu- liarities in these A'aults which deserve record. The wao-jron vaults generally have transverse ribs on their under side, and occur usually in buildings in which all the apsidal terminations are roofed with semi-domes — and tliey are sometimes (as in Lugo Cathedral, and Sta. Maria, la Coruiia) pointed. The early qua- dripartite vaulting is generally remarlvable for the large size of the vaulting-ribs, and for the very bold transverse arches which divide the bays. Ridge-ribs are hardly ever introduced, and the ridge is generally very little out of the level. The vaults of Leon Cathedral are filled in with tufa in order to diminish the weight, but I have not noticed any similar contrivance elsewhere. Down to the end of the fourteenth century the vaulting seldom if ever had any but diagonal, transverse, and wall-ribs; and even in many of the works of the succeeding century the same judi- cious simplicity is seen. But usually at this time it became the fashion to introduce a most complicated system of lierne ribs, covering the whole surface of the vault., dividing it up into an endless number of small and irregularly shaped compartments, and very much damaging its effect. My ground-plans of Segovia and (new) Salamanca Cathedrals show how extremely elaborate these later vaults very frequently were. There is another form of vault which is not un frequently met with : this occurs where a square vaulting bay is groined with an octagonal vault. In these examples a pendentive is formed at each angle of the square, and thus the octagonal base is formed for the vault. Examples of this are to be seen in the Chapels of San Ildefonso and Santiago at Toledo Cathedral, in three of the late Chapels at Burgos Cathedral, and in the Chapter-house of Pamplona Cathedral. The fashion for this vault arose probably from the custom which had obtained of building central lanterns, which were frequently finished with octagonal stages, and consequently vaulted Avith octagonal vaults. So far as to the internal roofing. The evidence I have found of the old external roofing in some cases is even more interesting. It is clear that many of the 2 F 2 " 436 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIX. Chap. XX. early churches were intended fi-om the first to be built entirely of stone in the roof as well as in tlie walls. Avila, Toledo, and Lerida Cathedrals, and the Collegiata at Manresa, still retain some of their old stone covering; and though it is true that in none of these cases has the attempt to construct an absolutely imperishable building been perfectly successful, it appears to me that the workmen and architects who attempted to carry such plans into execution deserve all our admiration. I have de- scribed these roofs in the course of my notes upon the churches in Mhich they occur, and here I need only refer to my descrip- tions and illustrations. In sculpture Spain is not so rich as France, but on the whole probably more so than England. The best complete Gothic work that I have seen is at Leon ; but it offers no variety whatever from the best of the same age in France. I have given the various iconographical schemes, so far as I could manage to do so, in describing the several works, and here I will only repeat that, to my mind, the triple western doors at Santiago^ — completed in a.d. 1 188 — are among the finest works of their age, and deserving of the greatest care and tenderness on the part of their gniardians. Most of us are conscious how much good sculpture adds to the interest of good architecture. Usually, however, we spread our modern sculpture too lavishly in all directions if we have the money to spend. But even in this there may be too much of a good thing ; the mind and eye become satiated, and sicken ; and not half the real pleasiu*e is felt in seeing some modern works that would be if the work had been somewhat less lavishly applied, somewhat more thought- fully, or as at Santiago, in one spot, leaving the whole of the rest of the church in its stern, rude simplicity. The domestic architecture of Spain in the middle ages is, as might be expected, very much less important than the religious architecture. Probably the wealth of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was even more damaging to the former than it was to the latter. At any rate, no country — Italy excepted — con- tains a greater number of showy Eenaissance palaces in all its principal towns than Spain does ; and there can be little doubt that they took the place of Gothic houses to a very considerable 1 See frontispiece. In so small an to such a work ; and I must ask my engraving — putting out of view the ex- readers rather to accept my statement trerae difficulty of getting a faithful than to j^ass judgment by aid only of transcript of a cai-eful sketch of sculp- the illustration. ture — it is impossible to do justice Cjiap. XX. DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE — CASTLES. 437 extent. Either I was very unlucky, or, if I saw what is to be seen, I must pronounce Spain to be unusually barren of old ex- amples of domestic buildings. Of the tweKth and thirteenth cen- turies I have hardly seen a single example, save the house which I have described at Lerida ; whilst of the two following centuries, the best examples seem to be confined very much to the Mediter- ranean sea-board. In this part of Spain are the simple houses lighted by ajlmez windows, which I have described and illustrated ; they extend all along the coast from'iPerj^iuan to Valencia, and are usually so much alike as to produce the impression that they are all made from the same desigTi. Later than this, the public buildings at Barcelona and Valencia, the palace of the Dukes del Infantado at Guadalajara, the museum and other convents at Valladolid, the house of the Constable Velasco at Burgos, and the great hospital at Santiago, are no doubt mag- nificent examples of their class. In these the buildings are generally arranged round courtyards, which are ^surrounded by passages opening to the court, and lighted either with open arches or with traceried windows. Eich and noble as some' of these buildings arc, there is little that is interesting or picturesque in them, and they seldom attain the degree of importance of which one would suppose such an architectural scheme skilfully treated would admit. Their date is rarely earlier than circa a.d. 1450, and the detail of their mouldings and sculpture is consequently of the latast kind of Gothic. There is, however, a rude bar- baric splendour in some of the courts or patios at Valladolid, where this kind of building is seen to perhaps greater advantage than anywhere else. The castles of Spain deserve, apparently, much more attention, and are in every way more important, than the other domestic buildings. Those at Olite, Segovia, and Medina del Campo have been abeady described ; and there is, -no doubt, a vast number of buildings of somewhat similar character to be seen, especially in those parts of the comitry which formed for a time the frontier land bet\^'een the Moorish and Christian kingdoms. Generally, they are remarkable for the unbroken surface of their lofty walls, crowned with picturesque and complicated projecting turrets at the angles. The scale on which they are built is magnificent, and their walls still stand almost untouched by the ages of neglect from which they have suffered. In the same way the walls which encircle the Spanish cities are often still so perfect throughout their circuit that it is almost possible to persuade oneself that they have been untouched for three 438 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XX. hundred years. Avila, Lugo, Segovia, Toledo, Pamplona, As- torira, Gerona, Tarragona, and many other towns are girt round with so close an array of tower and wall as to make them still look fit for defence. The age of these walls varies much ; but most are probably of early foundation, owing their first erection to the days when the Moors still from time to time rode raiding across the land. They are always of extraordinary solidity, and consist usually of plain walls with circular projecting lowers at short intervals. The materials used by Spanish architects and builders seem to have been granite, stone, and brick. Granite was used in some of the very earliest constructions ; but after the intro- duction of Christian art into the country, nothing but stone was used for tW'O or three centuries, when granite was again made use of. We see the same thing in England ; and no doubt the admirable masons who played so important a part in the de- velopment of Christian architecture must have detested the hard, coarse, and unyielding material, when they compared it with the more easily-wrought free-stones which lent themselves so kindly to their work. The Spanish masons were always, I think, skilful ; and in the fifteenth century, when Gothic art was glowing forth in all the glory of decay, pre-eminently so. I know no mere execution of details more admirable in every way than that which we see, for instance, in the work of Diego de Siloe. It reaches the very utmost limit of skilful handiwork. It is not very artistic, but it is so clever that we cannot but admire it ; and I doubt much whether the best of our own works of the same age can at all be put in comparison with it. It is generally marked by the extraordinary love of hei'aldic achievements which is so characteristic of the Spaniards. There are some of the fapades of the later churches which are adorned with absolutely nothing but coats of arms and their supporters ; and I know no work which is less interesting in spite of its extraordinary ela- borateness. The decorations of parts of our Houses of Parlia- ment give some idea of this sort of work, though they are by no means so painfully elaborate. The masons seem to have worked together in large bodies, and the walls are marked in all directions with the signs which, then as now, distinguished the work of each mason from that of his neighbour, but I have been unable (save in one or two cases) to detect the mark of the same mason in more than one work ; and from this it would seem to be probable that the masons were stationary rather than nomadic in their habits, Chap. XX. MASONS — BRICKWOHK. 439 a deduction which is fortified by the difterenee of general cha- racter which may, I think, be detected between the groups of marks in different buildings. Occasionally the number of men employed on one building seems to have been unusually large, and it is clear therefore that there were great numbers of masons in tlie country. In the small church of Sta. Maria, Benavente, there are the marks of at least thirty-cne masons on the eastern wall ; as many as thirty-five were at work on the lower part of the steeple at Lerida ; whilst in one portion of Santiago Cathedral there appears to have been as many as sixty. These numbers would be large at the present day ; and are very considerable even if compared with such a building as Westminster Abbey, where, in a.d. 1253, when the works were in full 2)rogress, the number of stone-cutters varied from thirty-five to seventy- eight. The use of bricks was not, so far as I have seen, very great. They were used either in combination with stone, plaster, or tiles, or by themselves. Examples of tlieir use in combination with stone may be seen at Toledo. Here, in all the Moorish or Moresque examples, the walls are built of rubble stone, with occasional bonding-courses of brick, and brick quoins. This kind of construction, which has been sometimes adopted of late years in England, is obviously good and convenient, but wanted, to some minds, the authority of ancient precedent ; and here at Toledo we are able to show it from a very early period. In the very early Puerta de Visagra (circa a.d. 1108-1136) single bonding-courses of brick are used at a very short distance apart, whilst in the later works, such as the steeples of San Eoman and La Magdalena, the bands are farther apart, and consist frequently of two or thi-ee courses of brick, whilst the stringcourses and corbel-tables are formed of projectmg bricks, which are seldom, if ever, moulded. This, indeed, may almost be said to be the special peculiarity of Spanish brickwork ; for in every other part of Europe, so far as I have seen, where bricks are much used, they were always more or less moulded. These examples are useful, however, as showing how very much richness of effect can be obtained by the use of the simple rough material in the simplest way. At Zaragoza, at Tarazona, at Calatayud, and elsewhere, the build- ings and their steeples are covered with panels and arcades, formed by setting forward some of the bricks a few inches in advance of the face of the wall. In some cases, as in the Cim- borio of Tarazona Cathedral, and the east wall of Zaragoza, the 4-iO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Crap. XX. spaces so left are filled in with extremely rieli work in coloured tiles, the effect of which is far less garish and strange than might have been expected. The most curious feature that I have noticed about Spauish brickwork is, that it always, or almost always, appears to have been the work of Moorish workmen, and not of the Christian workmen by whom the great churches throughout the country \vere erected. The Moors continued to live and work in many towns long after the Christians had recovered them ; and wher- ever they did so, they seem to liave retained, to a great extent, all their old architectural and constructive traditions. We see this most distinr-tly in the markedly different character of the old Spanish brickwork both from the other Spanish architectural developments of the day, and also fi'om any brickwork of the same period that is seen in other parts of Europe. If after leaving Zaragoza the traveller were to cross the Pyrenees, and then make his way to Toulouse, he would find himself again in the midst of brick buildings, erected at various times from the twelfth to the sixteenth century ; but he would find tliem utterly different in style from the brick buildings of the Zaragozan district, and thoroughly in harmony with the stone buildings which were being erected at the same time in the same neighbourhood. And this brings us in face of one of the most curious evidences of the extremely exotic character of most Spanish art. Spain was the only country in Europe, probably, in which at the same time, during the whole period from a.d. 1200 to a.d. 1500, various schools of architecture existed much as they do in England at the present day. There were the genuine Spanish Gothic churches (derived, of course, from Eoman and Roman- esque), the northern Gothic buildings executed by architects imported from France, and in later days from Germany, and the JMoresque buildings executed by Moorish architects for their Christian masters. Of these schools I have already dis- cussed two in this chapter, and I must now say a few words about the third. I do not propose to speak here of Moorish art, properly and strictly so called, but only of that variety of it which we see made use of by the Christians, and which throughout this volume I have called " Moresque." Of these, the most remark- able that I have seen are in that most interesting city of Toledo, which, so far as I can learn, seems to surpass Seville in work of this kind, almost as much as it does in its treasures of Christian art. Here it is plain that, though Christians Chap. XX. MOORISH INFLUENCE. 441 ruled the city, Moors inhabited it. The very planning of the town, with its long, narrow, winding lanes ; the arrangement of the honses, Avitli their closed enter walls, their pa^w-s or courts, and their large and magnificent halls, speak strongly and decidedly in favour of the Moorish origin of the whole. And when we come to look into the matter in detail, this presumption is most fully supported ; for everywhere the design of the internal finishing and decorations of the houses and rooms is thoroughly JMoorish, executed with the remarkable skill in plaster for which the 3Ioors were noted, and with curious exhibitions here and there of a knowledge, on the part of the merf who did them, of the Gothic details which were most in vogue at the time. It may well be supposed that if the Moors were thus influenced by the sight of Ckristian art, the Christians would be not less so by the sight of theirs. I fully expected w'hen I went first to Spain that I should find evidences of tliis more or less every- where ; I soon found that I was entirely mistaken, and that, though they do exist, they are comparatively rare and veiy unimportant. This will be seen if I notice some of the most remarkable of the examples. (1.) In Toledo Cathecbal the triforium of the choir is decidedly Moresque in its design, though it is Gothic in all its details, and has carvings of heads, and of the ordinary dog-tooth enrichment. It consists of a trefoiled arcade ; in the spandrels between the arches of this there are circles with heads in them ; and above these, triangular openings pierced through the wall ; the mould- ings of all these openings interpenetrate, and the whole arcade has the air of intricate ingenuity so usual in Moorish work. It might not be called ^Moresque in England, but in Toledo there can, I think, be no question that it is the result of Moorish influence on the Christian artist. So also in the triforium of the inner aisle of the same Cathedral the cusping of the arcades begins with the point of the cusp on the capital, so as to produce the effect of a horseshoe arch : and though it is true that this form of cusping is found extensively in French buildings in the country between Le Puy and Bourges, here, in the neighbour- hood of the universal horseshoe cusping of the IMoorish arches, it is difficult to suppose that the origin of this work is not jMoorish also. The same may be saidAvith equal truth of the triforium at the east end of Avila Cathedral. (2.) The towers of the Christian churches in Toledo, at Illescas, at Calatayud, at Zaragoza, and at Tarazona, all appear to me to be completely Moresque. Those in Toledo make no 442 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XX. disguise about it, the pointed arches of their window open- ings not even affecting to be Gothic in their mode of con- struction. So also in some of the churches of Toledo much of the work is completely Moresque. The church of Sta. Leocadia is a remarkable example of the mixture of Romanesque and Moresque ideas in the same building. (3.) In many buildings some small portion of Moorish orna- ment is introduced by the Christian workman evidently as a curiosity, and as it were to show that he knew how to do it, but did not choose to do much of it. Among these are, (a) the traceries in the thirteenth-century cloister at Tarragona,^ where the Moresque character is combined with the Christian symbol ; (b) the interlacing traceries of the circular windows in the lantern of San Pedro, Huesca;^ (c) the carving of a Moorish interlacing pattern on the keystone of a vault at Ldrida ; (<^) the filling in of the windows of the Cloister at Tarazona with the most elaborate pierced traceries;^ (e) the traceries of the cleres- tory of the aisle of the chevet of Toledo Cathedral ; (/) and similar semi-Moresque traceries inserted in Gothic windows at Lugo, and many other places, where everything else is purely Gothic. (4.) The introduction of coupled groining ribs, as in the vault of the Templars' Church at Segovia, and in that of the Chapter- house at Salamanca. The IMoorish architects seem always to have been extremely fond of coupled ribs. We see them in several of the vaults in the church or mosque called Cristo de la Luz ; * and the principal timbers of the Avooden roofs of the synagogue " del Transito " are similarly coupled. It is an arrangement utterly unknown, so far as I remember, in Gothic work, and there can be no doubt that in these examples it is IMoresque. The vault of the Chapter-house at Salamanca, which also has parallel vaulting ribs, produces, as will be seen* in the centre, the sort of star-shaped compartment of which the IMoorish architects were always so fond. (5.) The Moorish battlement is used extensively on w-alls tlu-oughout Spain. It is weathered on all sides to a jioint, and covers only the battlements, and not the spaces between them.^ (6.) The Moorish system of plastering was considerably used, ' See p. 283, and illustrations on ' See ground-plan, Plate IV. :;round-plan, Plate XV. •• See illustration of this battlement - See p. 36(3. ;it Las Huelgas, No. 4, page 38, and on •* See p. 881. the walls at Veruela, No. 48, page 384. * Seep. 21."). Ch.ai>. XX. MOORISH INFLUENCE. 443 not only at Toledo, but also to a late period on the Alcazar and on bouses and towers at Segovia. Here, hoAvever, though the system of design and the mode of execution are altoo-ether Moorish, the details of the patterns cut in the plaster are gene- rally Christian. (7.) The Moorish carpentry is very peculiar, and is con- stantly introduced in late Gothic work. Most of my readers have probably seen the ingenious puzzles wliich the Moors con- trived with interlacing ribs in their ceilings at the Alhambra, illustrated with so much completeness by Mr. Owen Jones; these patterns are constantly used in Gothic buildings for door- framing ; and examples of this kind of work may be seen fre- quently, and especially in towns — like Valencia and Barcelona — on the eastern coast. These evidences of Moorish influence upon Christian art in Spain are, it will at once be seen, rather insignificant, and serve on the whole to prove the feet, that Christian art was nearly as pure here as it was anywhere. This is precisely, I think, what might have been expected. For where a semi-religious war was for ages going on between two nations, and where art was, as it almost always is — God be praised — more or less religious in its origin and object, nothing can be imagined less probable than that their national styles of art should be much mixed one with the other. It is probable, on the contrary, that each would have a certain amount of pride in this practical way of protesting against his enemy's heresies, so that art was likely to assume a religious air even greater and deeper than it did else- where. The mention of the religious element in art leads naturally to the consideration of that art which most objectively ministered to the teaching of religious truths and history — the art of Paint- ing. The admirable and interesting work of Mr. Stirling ' begins just where I leave off, and almost treats the painters before Velasquez, Murillo, and Joanes as though they had never existed. But in truth I suppose it is necessary that the whole subject should be studied from the beginning ; and though we can never hope for such a mine of information about mediaeval Spanish painters as Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle have given us about their Italian contemporaries, it is not, I think, unreasonable to suppose that a good deal of information might still be obtained. I regret very much that in all my Sptinish journeys my time ■ AnuuLs of the Artists? of Spain,' 1848. 414 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN STAIX. Chap. XX. has been so fully occupied with purely architectural work tliat I have never been able to pay .so much attention as they seemed to deserve to the early paintings that I saAv. Yet the works of Borgona at Avila, the paintings round the cloister and choir- screen at Leon, the painted Retablos at Barcelona, Toledo, and elsewhere, seemed to me to be often very full of beauty both of drawing and colour. Their number is very great, and most of them are still in the very places for which they were orioiually painted. Their character appears to me to be utterly different from that to which we are accustomed as marking Spanish painting. Almost all our ideas are formed, as it seems to me, on the work of a school of painters who, adopting religious art as their sjiecial vocation, and shutting themselves out almost entirely from any representation of any other kind of subject, contrived unfortunately to take the gloomy side of religion, and to paint as though an officer of the Holy Office was ever at their elbow. How contrary this spirit to that of the earlier men, who, so far as I have seen, painted just as naturally religious men, cheerful, hearty, and unaffected by the souring influence of the Inquisition, might be expected to paint ! Their work appears to me to give them an intermediate place between the tenderly delicate treatment of the early Italian masters, and the intensely realistic and consequently very mundane style of the early Ger- man painters ; but it is always bright, cheerful, and agreeable both in manner and choice of subject. The names of but a few of these early men are preserved, and unfortunately next to nothing beyond their names. Among them are Eamon Torrente of Zaragoza, who died in 1323 ; Guillem Fort, his pupil ; Juan Cesilles of Barcelona, who at the end of the fourteenth century contracted for the painting of the Eeredos at Ecus, and some of whose handiwork may not impossibly remain among the Eetablos still preserved in the cloister chapels of Barcelona Cathedral ; Gherardo d'Jacobo Starna (or Stamina), born at Florence in 1354, who before the end of the fourteenth century spent several years painting in Spain ; Dello, also of Florence, and a friend of Paolo Uccello, who died somewhere about 1466-70 ; ^ Eogel, a Fleming, who painted a chapel at Miraflores in a.d. 1445 : Jorge Ingles (probably an Englishman), who was painting in Spain 1 The paintings at Leon seem to me during the many years that he spent in to be such as one might expect at the Spain. But tlie period of his abode there hands of Dello Delli. He is said tc is just that during which the paintings have made Seville his place of residence at Leon were executed. Chap. XX. SPANISH PAINTERS. 445 circa a.d. 1450; Antonio Rincon,^ who was born at Guadalajara in 1446, studied under Gliirlandaio for a time, and, subsequently residing at Toledo, painted in a.d. 1483 tlie walls of the old sacristy, and died circa 1500, with the reputation of being the painter who had most contributed to the overthrow of the me- diaeval style ; finally, Juan de Borgoiia, who may be mentioned as one of the latest and greatest of the earlier school, and almost the only one of them whose known works are still to be seen. His great work appears to have been a series of paintings round the cloister of Toledo Cathedral, Avhich have all been destroyed ; besides which he executed other works in the sacristy, chapter- house, and Mozarabic chapel there, and in the Cathedral at Avila. The feature which strikes one the most in these early works is the strange way in which sculpture and painting are combined in the same work. The great Ketablos which give so grand an effect to Spanish altars are frequently adorned with paintings in some parts and sculptured subjects in others. The frames to the pictures are generally elaborate architectural com- positions of pinnacles and canopies, and consequently the art is altogether rather decorative than pictorial in its effect. Some- times, when the altar is small, and the Re table close to the eye, this is not so much the case, and I have seen many of the pic- tures in these positions look so thoroughly well as to give a very high impression of the men who produced them. They are almost all painted on panel, and, as might be expected, on gold grounds. Old wall-paintings are comparatively rare : I have seen no important series save that which I have described at Leon, and of the later of these some at least appeared to me to be extremely Florentine in their character. This general review of the whole course and history of Spanish art seemed to be necessary in order to give point and intelligible order to the various descriptive notices which have been given in the previous chapters of this book. It is probable that some of my readers may after all think that I have had but little that was new to tell them. Possibly this may be so. The history of art repeats itself everywhere in obedience to some general law of progress ; and it might have been assumed before- hand that we should find the same story in Spain as in France, Germany, or England. But the real novelty of my account is, I take it, this, — that whereas generally men credited Spain with ' See the shoit account of these painters in Mr. Stirling's 'Anuals of the Artists of Spain,' vol. i. chap. ii. 446 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XX. forming an exception to a general rule, my business has been to sliow that, on the whole, she did nothing of the sort. Just as we obtained a Frencli architect for our Canterbury, as the people of Milan obtained one from Germany for their cathedral, as the architect of St. Mark at Venice borrowed from the East, as he of Perigueux from St, ]\Iark, as he of Cologne from Amiens or Beauvais, so Spain profited, no doubt, from time to time, by the example of her French- neighbours. But at the same time she formed a true branch of art for herself, and one so vigorous, so noble, and so worthy of study, tliat I shall be disappointed indeed if lier buildings are not ere long far more familiar than they now are to English Ecclesiologists. I think, too, that the occasional study of any ancient school of architecture is always attended with the best possible results to those who are themselves attempting to practise the same art. It recalls us, when necessary, to the consideration of the points of difference between their work and ours ; and thus, by obliging us to reconsider our position, may enable us to see where it is defective, and where the course we are pursuing is evidently erroneous. I have already noticed incidentally, in more than one place in this work, the noble air of solidity which so often marks the early Spanish buildings ; I need hardly say that in these days none of us err on this side, and that in truth our buildings only too often lack even that amount of solidity which is necessary to their stability. And this leads me natu- rally to another questionable feature in modern work, which is to a great extent the cause of our failing in the matter of solidity. These noble Spanish buildings were usually solid and simjile ; their mouldings were not very many, and their scul^Dtures were few, precious, and delicate. There was little in them of mere ornament, and never any lavish display of it. Sculpture of the human figure was but rarely introduced, and whatever sculpture there was, was thoroughly architectural in its character. How different is the case now ! Hardly a church or public building of any kind is built, which — whatever its poverty elsewhere — has not sculpture of foliage and flowers, birds and beasts, scat- tered broadcast and with profusion all over it. However bad the work, it is sure to be admired, and as it is evidently almost always done without any, or with but little interference of the architect, he is often tempted to secure popularity for his work in this easiest of ways. I know buildings of great cost which have been absolutely ruined in effect by this miserable practice ; and I know none in the middle ases in which so much carved Chap. XX. SCULPTURE IN MODERN BUILDINGS. 447 work has been introduced, as has been in some of those which have recently been erected. I believe it to be a foct that more carving — if the vulgar hacking and hewing of stone we see is to be called carving — has been done m England within the last twenty years than our forefathers accomplished in any fifty years between a.d. 1100 and 1500 ! And I believe equally that, if we limited ourselves to one-tenth of the amount, there would be more chance of om- having time to think about it and. to design it ourselves. The same misfortune that has befallen us with foliage will soon befal us with figures. It has suddenly been discovered that every architect ought to be able to draw the human figure, and soon, I fear, we shall see it become the fashion to introduce figures witliout thought or value everywhere. If men would but look at some of our own old buildings, tliey would see how great is still the work which has to be done before we understand, how to emulate the merits of those even among them which have no sculpture of any kind in their composition, and how great the architect may be who despises and rejects this cheap kind of popularity.' And they ought to take warning, by the comparison of old work and old ways of working with new, of those too attractive but most dangerous schemes for seducing them from tlie real study of their art into other paths, certain, it is true, of popularity, but full of snares and pitfalls, which, as we see on all sides, entrap some of those even who ought to have been aware of their danger. Sculpture in moderation is above everything beautiful. Sculp- ture in excess is very oifeusive. These Spanish churches teach iLs this most unmistakably if they teach us anything at all ; and as the main object of the study of ancient art — the main object of those who Avish to "stand in tlie old ways wliere is the truth " — is to derive lessons for the present and future from the practice of the past, I am sure that, in applying the results of my study of Spanish art in tlie warning which I here very gravely give, I am only doing that which as an artist I am bound to do, if I care at all for ray art. 1 I venture to I'egard the stern sim- church is from first to last the work of plicity of Mr. Butterfield's noble church a great master of his art, and one for of St. Alban as his silent protest against which his brother artists owe him a the vulgarity in art to which I here great debt of gratitude, refer. Without any sculpture, this 448 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XXI, CHAPTER XXI. THE SPANISH ARCHITECTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. The history of the architects of the middle ages has never been written, and so few are the facts which we really know about them, that it may well be doubted whether it ever can be. Yet were it jiossible to do so, few subjects would be more interesting. To me it always seems that the most precious property of all good art is its human and personal character. ' I have always had an especial pleasure in tracing out wliat appear to be such similarities between different buildings as seem to prove, or at least to suggest, that they were designed by the same artist ; for, just as in painting, a work becomes far more precious if we know it to be really the handiwork of a Giotto or a Simone Memmi, so in the sister art a building, is far more precious when wo know it to be the work of an Elias of Dereham, an Alan of Walsingham, or an Eudes de Montreuil ; and if we are able, as in their case, to start with the knowledge that certain men did certain works, the interest of such investigations is at once manyfold enhanced. This is precisely the point at which \v*e have now arrived in regard to Spanish buildings ; for the notices of their architects which I have given in various parts of this book are so numerous that I think I shall do well to collect them togetlier iu their order ; and to sum up, as much as one can learn from the docu- ments relating to them, as to the terms on which tliey cari-ied on their work, and generally, indeed, as to the position which they held. In the earliest period, and just when any information would have been more than usually interesting to us, I have been able to learn next to nothing of any real value as to the superin- tendents of Spanish buildings. One of the first notices of an architect is that contained in an inscription in San Isidore, Leon, to the memory of Petrus de Deo, of whom it was said, " Erat vir mirae abstinentise, et multis Chap. XXL ARCHITECTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 449 florebat miraculis ;" and, Avbat is even more to our purpose, he is said to have built a bridge. He " supertedificavit " the churoli of San Isidoro, and, from the reference to his saintly life, one is inclined to suspect that he must have been a priest and pro- bably a monk ; if so, it is important to note the fact, inasmuch as almost all the other architects or masters of the works referred to in all books I have examined, seem to have been laymen, and just as much a distinct class as architects at the present day are. The expression " superaediticavit " does not tell us much as to tlie exact office of Petrus de Deo ; but the nest notice of an architect is not only one of the earliest, but also one of the most curious ; this is in the contract entered into by the Chapter of Lugo with their architect Eaymundo of Monforte de Lemos, in A.D. 1129 ; and from the terms of his payment, which was to be either in money or in kind, it is clear that, whatever his position was, he could not leave Lugo, but was retained solelv for the work there. Tlie terms of the contract are very worthy of notice, and may be compared with some of the similar agree- ments with the superintendents of English works, who frequentlv stipulated for a cloak of office and other payments in kind, thougli I doubt whether we know of any English contract of so early a date. It is clear from the payment of an annual salary, and an engagement for the term of his life, that Maestro Eay- mundo was distinctly an architect, not a mere builder or con- tractor ; it seems that he was a layman, and that his son followed the same profession. The title given him in the contract, " ^Master of the works," is, as we shall find, that which in course of time was usually given to the architect ; thougli I am not inclined to think that it makes it impossible that he should also have wrought with his own hands. Indeed, the very next notice of an architect is of one who certainly did act as sculptor on his o^\^l works. This was Mattheus, master of the works at Santiago Cathedral. The warrant issued by the king Ferdinand II., in A.D. 1168, granted him a pension of a hundred maravedis annu- ally for the rest of his life,' and, though the amount seems to be insignificant, the fact of any royal grant being made proves, I think, not only the king's sense of the value of a fine chm-ch, but also somewhat as to the degree of importance which its designer may have attained to, when he was recognized at all 1 See Appendix. The maravedi was, say what amount of money at the pre- I believe, a more valuable coin then sent day this grant really represents, than it is now, so that it is difficult to 2 G 450 GOTHIC AKCHITECTUKE IN SrAlN. Chap. XX r. bv the kiug. On tlie other hand, uhen twenty years later the same man (no doubt) wrote his name exultingly on the lintels of the church doorway, which was only then at last Ihii^hed,' there can be no doubt that he had been acting there both as sculptor and architect : and if, from a modern point of view, he lost caste as an architect, he no doubt gained it as an artist ; and even now, if one had to make the choice, one would far rather have been able honestly to put up one's name as the author of those doorways, than as the builder of the church to which they are attached. It will be noticed that here, just as at Lugo, the master of the works was appointed at a salary for his life- time, and held his office precisely in the same way as do the surveyors of our own cathedrals at the present day. Much about the same time, in a.d. 1175, a most interesting document was drawn out, binding one Kaymmido, a " Lam- bardo,"- to execute certain works in the cathedral at Urgel, in Catalima. It is very difficult to say whether this Eaynumdo was the architect and builder, or only the builder, of the church, though I incline to believe he Avas both. He was to complete his work in seven years, employing four "Lambardos," and, if necessary, " Cemeutarios," or wallers, in addition ; and in return he was to be paid with a Canon's portion for the rest of his life. The mode of payment, the engagement for life, and the fact that there is no mention whatever of any materials to be provided bv Kaymundo, as well as the absence from the contract of any reference to a master of the w^orks, lead, I think, to the conclu- sion that he was in truth the architect, but that he also super- intended the execution of the works, and contracted for the labour.^ 1 This inscription is referred to at absolutely necessary, there must have p J 44, been some distinction between them, 2 I do not know the meaning of this which was more probably of grade or term : it is evidently the name of a trade degree than of profession. Possibly the or calling, and probably corresponds "Lambardos" may have been mem- with "masons," as distinguished from bers of a guild, '-Ceinentarios'" common '•wallers;" the two terms, "Lam- masons. bardos" and "Cemeutarios," being used ^ This contract is given by Don J. Vil- somewhat in opposition to each other. lanueva, Viage Literario a las Iglesias Cementarius is one of the earliest de Espaua, vol. ix. pp. 298-300. I extract terms used iu documents referring to from it the parts which are especially English buildings, and no doubt would interesting: — be properly translated by the word " Ego A. Dei Gratia Urgellensis "mason ;" but in the case of the Ui-gel episcopus, cum consilio et comuni contract, it seems there were to be voluntate omnium cauonicorum Ur- several "Lambardos," and, as "Cemen- gellensis eccle.siae, commando tibi tarios"' were only to be employed if llaymundo Lambardo opus Ijoatae Chap. XXF. ARCHITECTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 451 The next notice I find of an architect is in a.d. 1203, when the architect of Lerida Cathedral, one Pedro de Cuiuba, is described as " Magister et fabricator," and there can be no doubt, therefore, that he not only designed but executed the work, which, as we go on, we shall find to have been a not very uncommon custom ; but it is rare, nevertheless, to see this title of " Fabri- cator " given to the architect, who is usually " Magister operis," and no more ;^ as, indeed, we see in the case of the successor Mariae, cum omnibus rebus tarn mobilibusquam immobilibus, scilicet, mansos, alodia, vineas, ceusus, et cum oblatiouibus oppressionum et peniten- tialium, et cum elemosiuis fidelium, et cum uumis cleiicorum, et cum omnibus illis, quae hucusque vel in antea aliquo titulo videutiir sj)ectasse sive spectare ad prepLatum opus beatae Mariae. Et preterea damns tibi cibum cauonicalem iu omni vita tua, tali videlicet pacto, ut tu fideliter et sine omni enganuo clan das nobis ecclesiam totam, et leves coclearia sive campanilia, nnum filum super omnes voltas, et facias ipsum cugul bene et decenter cum omnibus sibi per- tinentibus. Et Ego E. Lambardus convenio Domino Deo, et beatae Mariae, et domino episcopo, et omnibus clericis Urgellensis ecclesiae, qui modo ibi sunt, vel in antea erunt, quod hoc totum, sicut superius scriptum est, vita comite, perficiam ab hoc presenti Pascha, quod celebratur anno domiuicae incai-uationis M.° C." LXXV.", usque ad VII. annos fideliter, et sine omni engarmo. Ita quod singulis annis habeam et teneam ad servitium beatae Mariae, me quinto, de Lambardis idest IIII. lambardos et me, et hoc in yeme et in estate iudesinenter. Et si cum istis potero perficere, faciain, et si non potero addam tot cemeutarios, quod supra dictum opus consume- tur in pi'ephato termino. Post VII. vero annos, cum iam dictum opus, divina misercordia opitulante, comple- vero, habeam libere et quiete cibum meuui dum vixero, et de honore operis et avere stem in voluntate et manda- mento capituli postea. Preterea nns, tam episcopus, quam canonici, omnLno prohibemus tibi Raj'mundo Lambardo, quod per te, vel per submisam per- sonam, non alienes vel obliges aliqua occasioiie quicquam de honore operis, quae modo habet, vel in antea habebit. De tuo itaque honore, quern nomine tuo adqiiisisti, et de avere, fac in vita et in morte quod tibi placuerit post illud septennium. Si forte, quod absit, tanta esterilitas terrae incubuerit, quod te nimium videamus gravari, liceat nobis prepbato termino addere se- cundum arbitrium nostrum, ne notam periurii iucurras. Sed aliquis vel aliqui nostrum praedictam relaxationem sacra- menti facei-e tibi non possit, nisi in pleno capitulo, comuni deliberatioue et consensu omniiim. Et quicquid melio- raveris in honore opeiis, remaneat ad ipsum opus. Si vero pro melioracione honoris oi^eris oporteret te aliquid im- 2>ignorare vel comutare, non possis hoc facere sine cousilio et conveniencia capituli. Jui'o ego K. Lambardus, quod hoc totum, sicut superius est scriptum, perficiam, et fidelitatem et iudempnita- tem canouicae beatae Mariae Urgellensis ecclesiae pro posse meo, per Deum, et haec sancta evangelia = Sig + num R. Lambardi, qui hoc iuro, claudo et con- firmo = Sig + num domni Arnalli Ur- gellensis episcopi," &c. &c. 1 E.g. at San Cristobal de Ibeas — EiaM. C. LXX. Fiiit hoc opus fundatum Maitino Abbate legente Petrus Christophorus Magister hiij'as operis fuit. Or another at Ciudad Eodrigo — Aqui yace Benito Sanchez, Maestro que fue de esta obra, e Dios li' peidoue. Amen. So too the inscription given at p. 234 of the architect of Toledo. The same term was used extensively at the same time over the greater part of Europe. In France we have these among 2 G 2 452 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XXI. of Pedro do Cnmba, one Pedro de Peiiafreyta, who is described on his monument by this title only. In the thirteenth century we have the names of several architects, but nothing more than their names ; and the only point which seems Avorthy of special note is that, so far as I can learn, none of them were ecclesiastics ; whilst, from first to last, I have found no reference to anything like freemasonry. Indeed, on both these points, the history of Spanish architects seems to be singularly conclusive ; and there can be little doubt that they carried on their work entirely as a business, and always under very distinct and formal engagements as to the way in which it was to be done. In the fourteenth century the earliest notice is that contained in an order of the king, in 1303, dated at Perpinan, and directed to his lieutenant in Mallorca, requiring him to go at once " cum Magistro Poncio " to ^Minorca, to arrange about the building a town wall, which the king wishes to have built with round towers, " sicut in miu'o Perijiniani ;" and two years later the king writes again, " Item audivimus turrim nostram Majoricarum, ubi stat angelus ictu fulgens fuissepereussam et aliquantulum dcfor- matam. Volumus quod celeriter sicut magister Poncins et alii viderint faciendum celeriter restauretur." ^ Here it is, to say the least, doubtful whether Master Ponce was arcliitect and adviser only, or also the mason who was to do the work. But this could not have been the case Avith the two architects of Narbonne, employed in the rebuilding of the cathedral at Gerona, one of whom was appointed in a.d. 1320-22 at a salary of two hundred and fifty sueldos a quarter, and under agreement to come from Narbonne six times a year. Here, whilst the old plan of making the architect enter into a kind of contract is adhered to, we seem to have a distinct recognition of a class of men who were not workmen, but really and only superintendents of buildings — in fact, architects in the modern sense of the word. others: " Ci git Robert de Coucy, the inscription, " Deotisalvi magister Maitre de Notre Dame et de Saint hnjus operis ;" and again in the church Nicaise, qui trepassa I'an 1311." In at Mensano near Siena, which has " Opus A.D. 1251, at Rouen, "Walter de St. quod videtis Bouusamicus magister Hilaire, Cementarius, magister operis," fecit." But in England, according to Mr. ia mentioned; and in a.d. 1440, in the Wyatt Papworth, who lias devoted much same city, we have this insci-iption : "Ci pains to the elucidation of the subject, git M. Alexandre de Berneval, MaisLre the term "Master of the works " appears des CEuvres de Massonerie au Baillage to be very seldom employed, and some- de Rouen et de cette eglise." In Italy times of the officer called the" operarius' the same term was commonly used, nf, in Spain, rather than of the ai'chitect. e. q., in the Baptistery at Pisa, which has ' Villanueva, Viage Lit. xxi. 106. Chap. XXI. ARCHITECTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 453 About the same time, Jayme Fabre (or Fabra), a Mallorcaii, seems to have been one of the greatest architects of his day, and to have given a very important impulse to the principal pro- vincial development of architecture of which we see any evidence in Spain — that of Cataluiia. From a contract entered into in A.D. 1318, between him and the Superior and brethren of the convent of San Domingo at Palma, in Mallorca, it seems that he was bound by an older agreement to execute the works of their church ; and that he then promised to come back whenever recpiired to Palma, from Barcelona, whither he was going to undertake another work at the desire of the king and the bishop. This "other work" was the cathedral, and here we know that Fabre was employed till A.D. 1339, when he and the workmen ' of the church put the covering on the shrine which contained the relics of Sta. Eulalia, in the crypt. It is impossible to read the account of the completion of the shrine of Sta. Eulalia at Barcelona, Avithout feeling that Fabre superintended a number of masons, and acted in fact as their foreman, though this is no reason whatever why he should not also have designed the work tliey executed. He seems to have carried on the two works at Barcelona and Palma at the same time ; for, on the 23rd June, A.D. 1317, a year only after his agreement with the convent of San Domingo at Palma, he was appointed master of the works of Barcelona Cathedral, with a salary of eighteen sueldos each week, and payment of his expenses on his voyages to and from 3Iallorca. Soon after this time, in a.d. 1368, the fabric rolls of the cathedral at Palma, in Mallorca, record the name of Jayme Mates, who was " 3Iaestro Mayor " of the work at Palma, and had a salary of twenty pounds a year, besides six sueldos a day for the working days, and two for festivals.^ In the same year we have the very interesting contract between the Chapter of San Feliu, Gerona, and Pedro Zacoma, tlie master of the works of the steeple ; by this, it seems, he did not contract for the work, but had permission to employ an apprentice on it, and he was not to undertake any other work without the consent of the " Operarius," or Canon in charge of the works, save a bridge on which he was already engaged. He was to be paid by the day, with a yearly salary in addition. I have given the contract at p. 332 of this volume. Zacoma is ' Fabre is spoken of in the inscrip- of Martin Jlavol, G. Scardon, Bernardo tion on the shrine as Jacobus "Majori- Desdons, and Jayme Pelicer, as painters caruiu, cuin suis consoi'tibus." of pictures between a.d. 1327 and - Ther^e fabric rolls contain the names 133'J. 454 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XXI. called ill it the "Master of the work of the belfry." He must have been employed constantly at the church, or it would not have been necessary to prevent his undertaking other works,; and in such a building a man could hardly have been constantly employed, A\ithout absolutely working as a mason. It may be thought that the " Operarius " was the real archi- tect ; but I find, at this time, that most collegiate and cathedral churches had a Canon whose special duty it was to make arrange- ments with the master of the works. Sometimes they are called " Canonigos fabriqueros," at others " Obreros," or else, as in this case, " Operarii." Some examples of the application of these terras may be given to prove what I say : — In a.d. 1312, for instance, the ChaiDter of Gerona appointed two of their own body — one an archdeacon, the other a Canon — to be the obreros of their works.^ In a.d. 1 340 the " Operarius " was gathering- alms in Valencia and the Balearic Isles for the works at Gerona Cathedral." In an inscription of a.d. 1183, at S. Trophime at Aries, Poncius ReboUi is called " Sacerdos et operarius ;" at Paleneia, in a.d. 1321, there was an " Obrero," or Canon in charge of the works, as he is described by Davila.^ In the inscription on a stone in the choir of Lerida Cathedral,* the two offices of the " operarius" and the " magister et fabricator" are contrasted, and the double office of the latter seems to make it impossible that the former can have been the architect. The fabric rolls of Exeter Cathedral contain, in a.d. 1318, a payment to the " Custos operis " for the adornment of the high altar : and, no doubt, he held the same post as the Operarius in Spain. At the end of this century Juan Garcia de Laguardia was named " Master-mason " of the kingdom of Navarre, by a royal writ, at the wage of three sueldos a day. His title adds another to those already mentioned. In A.D. 1391 Guillermo ^olivella undertook to make twelve statues of the apostles, at Lerida, at the price of 240 sueldos for each statue ; and subsequently, in a.d. 1392, he is styled " Magister operis " of the see of Lerida, and " Lapicida," and he had the superintendence of the stained glass windows which J uan de San Amat was making for the apses of the cliurch, with the stories of the apostles.^ He was evidently, I tiiink, a builder, 1 See p. 319, de Espaua, xvi. 99, says that " Lapi- - See p. 332. cida " does not really mean a cutter of ^ See p. 57. stones, which would be described a.s '' See p. 349, note 1. "pica petras." In vol. xsi. p. 107, ■' Villanueva, Viage Lit. alas Iglesias however, he speaks of "Lapicida" a.s Chai'. XXr. ARCHITECTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES, 455 Olid yet lield very much the office of a modern architect as super- intendent of the whole work, Jayme Fabre describes himself as " Lapicida," but was also the " Master of the fabric " at Barce- lona ; whilst Koque, who succeeded Fabre at Barcelona, was also called master of the works only, and received three sueldos and four diueros a day, besides a hundred sueldos a year for clothing. Just about this period we have what appears to me to be a rather important reference to the separate offices of the archi- tect and builder in the same work; for it seems that during the construction of the tower of the cathedral at Valencia, one Juan Franck acted as architect, with a succession of men as builders and contractors under him.^ I confess I do not adduce this example with much confidence, inasmuch as one of them was Balaguer, whose mission to Lerida has already been mentioned, and who is moreover termed, in a contemporary document, an " accomplished architect," In the fifteenth century the notices of architects are more numerous, and their position becomes much more clearlv defined. In A,D, 1410 a contract was entered into by one Lucas Ber- naldo de Quintana — master mason, as he is called in it — for the rebuilding of the church at Gijon in the Asturias. In this contract ^ there is no reference of any kind to plans, or to a directing architect or superintendent of any kind ; but the dimensions and form of the building are all carefully described in such a way as to lead to the conclusion tliat the notary Avho drew up the contract had some sort of plan before him. It is said, for instance, " that the church is to be twenty-five yards long by twelve and a half wide, with three columns on each side, three vaults each with three ribs crossing them, and all the arches, pilasters, &c., as well as the door (wliicli is to be twelve and a half feet high by eight wide), to be of wrought stone. There is to be a turret for two bells over the door, &c," " Item, the ' master ' is to be allowed to use the materials of the old church." The contract was entered into on IVIarch 10, 1410, and the key of the building was to be delivered up on the 1st of May, 1411, and finally two sureties were bound Avith the con- tractor. The whole deed is so very formal and careful in its the Latin term corresponding to "pica- ^ .See jj. '^65. >>edres" in tlie vulgar tongue; and lie - The contract is given at length by says sculptors of figures called thetn- Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Espaiia, i. L',")7- selves " Imaginayres.'' '^L ^o6 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XXI. terms, that there can be no doubt that Quintana acted as archi- tect as well as builder, for otherwise the name of the architect would necessarily have been mentioned. It was in a.d, 1415 that the Valencian authorities sent their architect on a lOur of inspection among church steeples in Cata- luiia, and as far as Narbonne, on the other side of the Pyrenees, in order that they might be sure of a good design for their own ; but this is a very rare, if not an nnicpie, instance of such a proceeding. In the year following the Junta of Architects was assembled at Gerona, and we have in it the first example of that habit so common in this day, of consulting bodies of men, instead of trusting in one skilled man, which from this time forth seems to have been extraordinarily poi)ular in Spain. Incidentally, the records of the proceedings of this Junta are valuable, as giving the names of many architects and the works on which they were then engaged ; but they are still more valuable as showing how decided and independent of each other in their opinions these men were. All of them probably were archi- tects ; but it is observable that all but two call themselves " Lapicida) ;" that two of them held somewhat inferior offices — one being the " Socius " of the magister operis, and the other, " Eegens," in the place of the master. Another is " Magister sive sculptor imaginum ;" and two only — Autonino Antigoni and Guillermo Sagrera — call themselves masters of the works. Their answers seem to prove that they were all men of consider- able intelligence, but at the same time generally disposed, just as a similar body would be now, to declare rather for the usual than the novel course. It is to their credit that they all maintained the perfect practicability of the work proposed, and the judgment of the Chapter seems to have been as much influenced by economical considerations as by artistic, seeing that a majority of the architects decided against the proposed plan on artistic grounds, Avhilst some of them said that it would certaiidy be the least costly. It was intended at first that two of the architects consulted should be asked to prepare a plan for the work ; but this does not seem to have been done after all, the plan of the master of the woi-ks at the cathedral having been agreed to and carried into execution. There cannot be a shadow of doubt that at the beginning of the fifteenth century most of the superintendents of buildings, in CataluTia at any rate, were sculptors or masons also. Their own description of themselves is conclusive on this point ; at the same time their answers are all given in the tone and style of Chap. XXI. ARCHITECTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 457 architects, and it is quite cei-tain that, had there been a superior class of men — arcliitects only in the modern sense of the word — the Dean and Chajiter Mould have applied first of all to them. The answers Avhich these men gave ought to be carefully read, as they are valuable from several points of view. Several of them seem to speak of some recognized system of proportioning the height of a building to its width ; one of them suggests using light stone for the vaulting ; and another, Arnaldo de Yalleras, was evidently anxious to supplant the existing master of the works, and announced what he Avould do if the works were intrusted to him, I cannot help thinking that they had before them the plans of Guillermo de Boffiy, and that the similarity of the suggestions made by some of them as to the position of the windows and the proportions of the work are to be taken as an evidence of their desire to affirm vvhat he had proposed. In the same year in which this Junta of architects assembled at Gerona, one of their number — Guillermo Sagrera — was actinw as the architect of the church of S. John, Perpinan, a building which is still remarkable for the enormous width of its nave. Ten years later he contracted for the execution of the Exchange at Palma, in Mallorca, according to plans which he presented, and upon certain specified conditions, from which it appears very clearly that Sagrera was both builder and architect, beiug bound to find scaffolding and all materials. The only difference one can see between Sagi-era and an ordinary builder or con- tractor of the present day is, that he presented the plans himself, and that there is no trace Avhatever of any architect or superin- tendent over him. It is doubted by some whether this mixture of the two oflSces of builder and architect was ever allowed in the middle ages ; but this agreement (of which I give a translation in the Appendix) is conclusive as regards this particular case, and we may be tolerably sure that such a practice must have been a usual one, or it would hardly have been adopted in the case of so important a building. Sagrera seems to have remained a long time at Palma, but having quarrelled with his employers there, and his dispute having been carried before the King of Aragon, at Naples, for settlement, the completion of the Mork was intrusted to one Guillermo Vilasolar, " lapicida et magister fabricse," ^ho bound himself on March 19th, a.d. 1451, to complete the works which had been commenced. Two of the clauses ia this agreement are w urth quoting ; tliey are as follow : — 458 GOTHIC ARCHITECTUIJE IN SPAIN. Chap. XXt. 1st. " That I, the said Guillermo Vilasolar, am bound to execute witliin the next coming year all tlie traceries and terminations or cornices which I l)ave to make in the six windows of the said Exchange of Felanix stone, in the following form : — The traceries of two of the said windows according to the design which I have delivered to you, and the traceries and the cornices of the remaining four windows just as they were commenced by Master Guillermo Sagrera, formerly master of the fabric of the said Exchange ; which traceries and cornices of all the said six windows I am bound to make entirely at my own cost, with all necessary scaftblding, stone, lime, gravel, and wages for the complete finisliing of the said traceries and cornices. " Item. — That for making all the said traceries and cornices as described, in the said six windows, you, the said honourable guardians, shall be bound to give and pay of the goods of the college to me, the said Guillermo Yilasolar, two hundred and eighty pounds of Mallorcan money in the following way, viz. : fifty pounds down, and the remainder of the said two liundred and eighty pounds when the said traceries and cornices to the said six windows shall have been executed." So that here again, just as in the case of Guillermo Sagrera, we have a mason contracting for his Avork, and himself making the drawing according to which it is to be done. After his quarrel with the authorities at Palma, Sagrera seems to have undertaken work for the King in the Castel Nuevo at Naples, for which he used stone from Mallorca. and where he was styled " Proto-Magister Castri Novi." His work at Palma seems, fi'om the accounts I have been able to obtain, to have much resembled that of the Lonja at Valencia, which I have described and illustrated in this volume. In A.D. 1485, when Calahorra cathedral was rebuilt, an archi- tect seems to have been so formally appointed, that tiie words used appear to me to be quite worth transcribing here : " jMiercoles a echo dias del mes de junio, ano a nativitate Domini, millessimo quatorcentessimo octuagessimo quinto coepit ffidificari Capella mayor S. Mariae de Calahorra. Composuerunt primum lapidem Johannes Ximenes de Enciso decanus, et Petrus Ximenes archidiaconus de Verberiego, et ego Podericus IMartini Vaco de Enciso, canonicus ejusdem ecclesice, et artium et theo- logiae magister, dedi duplam uiiam auri in auro, dicens haec verba magistro Johanni a^dificatori principali priedictao capellae ; acci- pite in signum vestri laburis, eten protestationem, quodDominus Dens ad cujus gloriam et honorem ecclesia et capella ista Chap. XXI. ARCHITECTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 459 fnndari incipit, implebit residuum ad preces gloriosae Virginis IMariae niatris suae, et Sauctornm martirura Hemeterij et Cale- donij, in quorum honore fundata est ecclesia. In quorum testimonium supradicta manu propria subscripsi. Rodericus artium et theologize magister." It is remarkable that in the ease of so important a city as Seville there is no mention of an architect to the cathedral before A.D. 1-1G2, in which year Juan Xorman was appointed, with Pedro de Toledo as assistant (" aparejador ") till a.d. 1472, when the Chapter appointed three " Maestros 3Iayores " or principal masters, to the end that the work might go on faster : but it seems, as might be expected, tliat these men were none of them architects, for in A.D, 1496 the archbishop, being at Guadalajara, was persuaded that it was not well to trust such ill-informed persons, as their employment would end in loss to the fabric, and so he called in one ^Maestro Jimon, who went to Seville and was made 3Iaestro ^layor until a.d. 1502. The works at the Parral, Segovia, a.d. 1472-94, afford another example of an architect acting also as contractor for the work ; and about the same time a monk of this convent, Juan de Escobedo, superintended the repair of the aqueduct, and was afterwards sent to the Queen (Isabella) to report to her on the state of various buildings in Segovia. In 1482 Pedro Compte, of Valencia, said to be '-'Molt sabut en I'ait de la pedra," was the architect of the Exchange at Valencia — a building evidently copied to some extent from Sagrera's Ex- change at Palma ; and at a later date he was employed upon some water-works for the keeping up the waters in the Cxuadalaviar at Valencia. He held the post of Maestro Mayor of tlie city, with an annual salary. In him we seem to have not only an architect and engineer, but one of so much character and influence as to hold important posts, being " alcaide perpetuo " as well as Maestro Mayor of the city. In the beginning of the sixteenth century the new cathedral at Salamanca was commenced, but only after a vast amount of con- sultation among architects. The king had to order Anton Egas of Toledo, and Alfonso Kodrigiiez of Seville, to go to Salamanca and decide upon the plan for the church, and these two men drew up a joint plan which they presented to the Chapter ; two or three years later, nothing having been done in the mean time, a Junta of nine architects was assembled, who jointly agreed on a very elabo- rate report, detailing all the parts and proportions of the church ; and their report having been presented, the Chapter forthwith 4G0 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IX SPAIN. Chap. XXI. proceeded to elect a master of the Avorks.' Eodrigo Gil de Hou- tanon was appointed ; and by his will, dated in May, a.d. 1577, it appears that he had a house rent-free, as well as his salary of 30,000 maravedis a year.^ He had also liberty to nndertake other works ; for, a few years later, he designed the cathedral at Segovia, and by his will it seems that he had several other churches in hand, in some of which it is evident that he acted as contractor, as he complains bitterly of the difficulties he had been put to by the large sums he had paid for tlie Avork at tlie church of San Julian at Toro, without being repaid by the autho- rities. It is remarkable that the works at Salamanca were examined from time to time by two architects, who reported whether Hontaiion was following the instructions laid down for his guidance by the Junta, and this supervision rather leads to the inference that the design was not made by Hontanon, but prepared for him ; and that it was necessary, as it is nowadays, to employ some one to see that he executed his work properly. The curiously exact terms of the report of the Junta, which specifies the height, thickness, and proportions of all the walls in the church, could not have been adojited as they are unless the Junta had some plans before them Avhen they drew up their report, and on the whole I think it probable that the plan which Egas and Rodriguez prepared formed the basis on which they proceeded. This plan is still said to be preserved in the archives, and it would be very interesting to see how far it agrees with the church which has been erected.^ But, on the other hand, there is a report upon the state of the works in a.d. 1523, given by Cean Bermudez, which tends to confirm Hontailon's position as a real architect.^ It is signed by three architects, Juan de Rasinas, Henrique de Egas, and Vasco de la Zarza. They go into the question of the height to which the vaults ought to be carried, they say the walls are built })roperly, and, finally, that they were shown a plan of Juan Gil de Hon- tailon's for some alteration of the work, and that in their opinion it is good, and they have, therefore, signed it with their names. There are other instances at this time of the assemblage of Juntas of architects, of which one or two may properly be men- ^ See the translation of these docu- are, the original design for the church meuts in the Appendix. of San Juan de los Reyes, Toledo, and 2 This sum would probably be equal that for the west front of Barcelona to about 9uZ. or lOOl. per annum at the Cathedral. I have tried iu vain to ob- present day. tain copies of these plans. 3 Other plans still preserved in Spain ^ Arq. de Espaha, i. 282-1. Chap. XXI. AECHITECTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 461 tioned here ; one of these was in reference to tlie Cimborio of the cathedral at Zaragoza which fell in a.d. 1520, when a num- ber of architects were at once called together to advise as to its reconstrnction ; and again, in the same way, when the Cimborio at Seville fell, in a.d. 1511, several architects were consulted, and after they had reported, one of them — Hontanon, the fashionable architect of the dav — was selected to manaa-e the execution of the work.' At this late date we have, I believe for the first time, the singular description of a man as " master maker of churches." This occurs in the contract entered into bv Benedicto Osrer, of Alio, for the erection of a church at Ecus. From the terms of the contract Oger seems to have been a mason : he was to have three others watli him, and was bound not to undertake any other work. And if the authorities desired it they were to have his work examined by another " master," though whether bv one of his own grade, or a superior man, does not appear. Anotlier contract of a somewhat similar kind was entered into in A.D. 1518 by Domingo Urteaga for the erection of the church of Sta. Maria de Cocentaina, in Valencia. He bound himself to go with his wife and family to Cocentaina, where the town was to give him a house rent free. He was to do all that a " master " ought in the management of such a work, without attending to other works, and was to receive each day for himself five sueldos, and was to provide two assistants and two apprentices, the former to have three sueldos each, and the latter one and a half. He was to be every day at the work, having half an hour for break- fast, and an hour for dinner in winter, and an hour and a lialf in summer. Here again, though Urteaga was evidently only a foreman of the works, there is no reference to any superintendent 1 We have accidental evidence of the Somewhat in the same way, we know fact that Hontanon was an ai'chitect, for that when the lantern of Burgos Cathe- the "Master of the Works" of La dral fell, in a.d. 1589, Felipe de Bor- Magdalena, Valladolid, contracted in goiia was summoned from Toledo to A.D. 1570 to build the tower and body superintend the two cathedral masters of the chui'ch according to his plan for of the works : from which it seems a specified sum. But it will be observed probable that they executed the work that the date of this agreement is very which Borgoiia designed. So again at late, and that, whilst the maker of a an earlier date, in a.d. 1.375, Jayme plan had become an architect in the Castayls executed some statues for the modern sense of the word, the Maestro westfront of Tarragona cathedral, under Mayor had descended to be, in fact, the direction of Bernardo de Vallfogona, nothing more than the contractor for the Maestro Mayor, tlie work, also in the modern sense. 462 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Cjiai-. XXI, or arcliitect, and iiotliiug is said about any plans which are to be followed. I conclude, therefore, that in this case too the foreman of the masons was really the architect. In adtlition to the men I have here rapidly mentioned, there were many others whose work was confined to the design and execution of certain portions of buildings ; such a one was Berengario Portell, "lapicida" of Gerona, who in a.d. 1325 entered into a contract for the execution of the columns of the cloister of Yique cathedral, and who is commonly said to have executed the columns and capitals for the cloister at Ivipoll also. Such, in later days, was Gil de Siloe, who both de- signed and executed the monuments at jMiraflores ; and such, though in a less eminent position, were the various wood- carvers, decorators, painters on glass, makers of metal screens, and the like, the names of a great number of whom are still preserved in the volumes of Cean Bermudez.' There is also another officer who ought not to be forgotten here — the " aparejador " or assistant of the architect — clei'k of the works as we should call him. About his office there is no doubt, but it will have been observed that some men who held it — as e.g. Juan Campero — have at other times acted as architects or contractors, which is precisely what might be expected. There are a few Ijut not very important cases of competition among artists recorded in the work of Cean Bermudez ; but gene- rally they seem to me to have been rather competitions for the execution of work than for its design. Such, for instance, Avas the competition for the execution of the monument of D. Alvaro de Luna and his wife in Toledo cathedral, when the design of Pablo Ortiz was selected.^ Cristobal Andino is said to have competed unsuccessfully with other men, in a.d. 1540, for the execution of the iron screens of Toledo cathedral. Cean Ber- mudez speaks also of a competition among architects as to the rebuilding of Segovia cathedral ; ^ but I doubt whether his statement can be depended on. The result at which we arrive after this resume of the practice of Spanish architects is certainly that it was utterly unlike the practice of our own day. Whether it was either better or worse ' Bellas Artes eu Esparia. This cata- smiths, workers iu stained gUiss, and logue of artists includes those who lived others. before the year 1500, the names of fifty - See p. 252. sculjators, thirty painters, several silver- ^ gee p. 182. Chap. XXI. PRACTICE OF SPANISH ARCHITECTS. 463 I cau hardly venture to say ; it seeuis to me, indeed, to be of comparatively little importance whetlier an architect is paid as of old by tlie year, or as now by a commission on the cost of the works ; probably the difference in amoiuit is seldom serious ; but on the other hand it is possible that where special contracts are made the sums paid are not always tlie same, and so the absurd rule by which at present the best and the worst architect both get the same amount of pay for their work is avoided ; one result of this rule is, that the architect of the highest reputation, in order to reap the pecuniary reward to \\hich lie is entitled, is temj^ted to undertake so much work that it is im- possible for him to attend to half of it, and so in time, unless he have an extraordinary capacity for rapid work, his work dete- riorates, and his reputation is likely to suffer. The other old custom common in Spain — of arcliitects con- tracting for the execution of their own works — does not seem to deserve much respect; yet one cannot but see that it was a natural result of the universal feeling and taste for art which seems to have obtained in the middle ages ; and though it would now certainly be mere madness to ask any chance builder to execute an architectural work, there are undoubtedly many builders who are at least as well fitted to do so as are a large number of those who, without study or proper education, are nevertheless able, unchallenged by any one, to call themselves architects. On the Avhole, then, it is vain to regret the passing away of a system which is foreign to the nature and ideas of an artistic profession such as that of the architects of England now; though if these old men, whose art and whose interests pulled opposite ways — seeing they were architects and contractors — did their work so honestly that it still stands unharmed by time, we may well take great shame to ourselves if the rules for our personal respectability, about which we are all so jealous, are yet in practice so often compatible, apparently, with a system of shams and makeshifts, of false construction and bad execution, of whi(di these old architect-builders were almost wholly guiltless. The questions between ourselves and them, when simply stated, are these — Whose work is best in itself, and whose work will last the longest ? If these questions cannot be answered in our favour, then it is absurd to protest vigorously against the practice which we see pursued by such men as Juan Campero, Martin Llobet, Juan de lluesga, Guillermo Sagrera, or Pedro de Cumba, 464 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Chap. XXI. and we shall do well to admit, whenever necessary, that he is the best art'liitect who designs the best bnilding, whatever his education ; thougli it is undoubtedly true that he is most likely to be the best architect who is the best taught, the most refined, and the most regularly educated in his art. It is often, and generally thoughtlessly, assumed, that most of the churches of the middle ages were designed by monks or clerical architects. So far as Spain is concerned, the result at which we arrive is quite hostile to this assumption, for in all the names of architects that I have noticed there are but one or two who were clerics. The abbat Avho in the eighth or ninth century rebuilt Leon cathedral is one ; Frater Bernardus of Tarragona, in A.D. 1256, another ; and the monk of El Parral, wlio restored the Roman aqueduct at Segovia, is the third ; aud the occur- rence of these three exceptions to the otherwise general rule, proves clearly, I thiuk, that in Spain the distinct position of the architect was understood and accepted a good deal earlier than it was, perhaps, in England. In our own country it is in- deed commonly asserted that the bishops and abbats were them- selves the architects of the great churches built under their rule. Gundulph, Flambard, Walsingham, and Wykeham, have all been so described, but I susj^ect upon insufficient evidence ; and those who have devoted the most study and time to the subject seem to be the least disposed to allow the truth of the claim made for them. The contrary evidence which I am able to adduce from Spain certainly serves to confirm these doubts. I was myself strongly disposed once to regard the attempt to deprive us of our great clerical arcliitects as a little sacrilegious ; but I am bound to say that I have now changed my mind, and believe that the attempt was only too well warranted by the facts. In short, the common belief in a j-ace of clerical architects and in ubiquitous bodies of freemasons, seems to me to be altogether erroneous. The more careful the inquiry is that we make into the customs of the architects of the middle ages, the more clear does it appear that neither of these classes had any general existence ; and in Spain, so far as I have examined, I have met with not a single trace of either. I am glad that it is so ; for in these days of doubt and perplexity as to wliat is true in art, it is at least a comfort to find that one may go on heartily with one's work, with the honest conviction that the position one occu2:)ies may be, if one chooses to make it so, as nearly as possible the same as that occupied by the artists of the middle ages. So that, Chap. XXI. TOSITION OF ARCHITECTS. 465 as it was open to them — often witli small means and in spite of many diflficnlties — to achieve very great works of lasting archi- tectural merit, the time may come when, if we do onr work ^vith equal zeal, equal artistic feeling, and equal honesty, our own names will be added to the list, Avhich already includes theirs, of artists who have earned the respect and affection of all those whose everyday life is blessed with the sight of the true and beautiful works wliich in age after age they have left beliind tliem as enduring monuments of their artistic skill. 2 H APPENDIX. (A.) • CATALOGUE OF DATED EXAMPLES OP SPANISH BUILDINGS, FROM THE TENTH TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY INCLUSIVE. Note. — The dates of those Examples which are printed in Italics appear to me to he very uncertain, or are those of buildings ichich I Imve not visited. Date. Plack. Remarks. 914 .... Barcelona Church of San Pablo del Campo, said to have been built. i)83 .... Barcelona San Pedro de las Puellas consecruted. 1017 .... Gerona Church of Saint Daniel commenced. 1038 .... Geroka Consecration of first Cathedral, of which re- mains exist. 1058 .... Elne Consecration of Church. 1063 .... Leon The Panteon, San Isidore, appears to have been finished in this j'ear. 1078 .... Santiago Cathedral commenced. 1078 .... Santiago South transept doorways erected. 1085 .... Toledo The Church " Cristo de la Luz " existed before this date. 1090 .. .. AviLA Town walls commenced. 1091 .... AviLA Cathedral commenced. 1109 .... Toledo Outer circuit of walls. 1117 .. .. Gerona Church of San Pedro de los Galligans com- menced. 1117 .. .. Gerona Cloisters of Cathedral erected. llOSj to >.. .. Toledo Puerta de Visagra erected. 1126) 1120 .... Salamanca Old Cathedral commenced. 1128 .. .. Santiago Fabric of Cathedral so far finished as to be used. 1129 .... Lugo Cathedral commenced. 1131 .... Tarragona Cathedral commenced. 1136 .... Salamanca San Tome de los Caballeros consecrated. 1146 .... Barcelona CoUegiata of Sta. Ana founded. 1146 .... Veruela Abbc}^ commenced, 1149 .... Leon Churchof San Isidoro consecrated in this year. 1156 .. .. Salamanca Church of Sa7i Adrian consecrated. 1171 .. .. Veruela Abbey first occupied, and probably com- pleted in this jear. 1173 .... Barcelona Boyal Chapel of Sta. A'jueda, attached to the 2)alace of the Counts of Barcelona, com- pleted. 2 H 2 468 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. App. A. Date. I'lacs. Remarks. 1173 .... Salamanca Church of San Martin consecrated. 1174 .... Zamora Cathedral completed. 1175 .... Santiago Chapel Leneatli west front of Cathedial finished about this year. 1177 .... LxJGO Cathedral finished. 1178 .... Salamanca Cloister of old Cathedral in course of erection ; Chapter-house probably erected at same time. 1179 .. .. Salamanca Chin-ch nf S. Tltomas of Canterbury conse- crated. 1180 .... BuROOs Convent of Las Huelgas commenced; in- habited in 1187 ; formally established as a Cistercian Convent in 1199. 1180 .... PoBLET Benedictine Monastery founded. 1188 .. .. Santiago Western doors of Cathedral finished. 1188 .... TuDELA Cathedral consecrated. 1203 .. .. Lerida First stone of Cathedral laid. 1208 .... Segovia Templars' Church consecrated. 1212 .. .. Toledo Bridge of San Martin erected. 1219 .. .. MoNDONEDO Cathedral commenced. 1221 .... Burgos First stone of Cathedral laid. 1221 .... Toledo Church of San Roman consecrated. 1227 .. .. Toledo First stone of Cathedral laid. 1230 .... Burgos Cathedral first used in this year. 1235 .... Tarazona Cathedral founded. 1239 .... Barcelona Chapel of Sta. Lucia, and doorway from cloister into south transept of Cathedral. 1252-84.. AviLA Central Lantern of San Vicente built. 1258 .... Toledo Bridge of Alcantara rebuilt. 1262 .... Valencia First stone of Cathedral laid. South transept and apse of this date. 1273 .... Leon Cathedral in progress. 1278 .... L:fiRiDA Cathedral consecrated. 1278 .... Tarragona Nine of the statues of the Apostles in west front of Cathedral executed. 1287 .... Barcelona Nuestra Senora del Carmen founded. 1292 .... Atila Considerable works in the Cathedral under Sancho II., Bishop of Avila, 1292-1353. 1298 .... Barcelona New Cathedral commenced. 1303 .... Leon Cathedral finished (save the towers) before this date. 1310-27.. Lerida "Western side and entrance to cloister of Ca- thedral, and tower at S.W. angle of cloister, erected between these years. 1316-46.. Gerona Chevet of Cathedral in course of building. 1318 .... Gerona Choir of San Feliu completed before this date. 1321 .... Palencia First stone of Cathedial laid. 1.328 .... Barcelona Sta. Maria del Mar commenced, and com- pleted in 1383. 1329 .... Barcelona North transept of Cathedral. 1329 .... Barcelona Sta. Maria del Pi commenced, and conse- crated in 1353. A pp. A. DATED SPANISH BUILDINGS. 469 Date. Place. Remarks. 1332 .... GUADALAJAKA .... Chapel of Holy Trinity in the Church of Santiago. 1339 .... Bakceloxa Crypt and Chapel of Sta. Enlalia in the Ca- thedral completed. 1345 .... Barcelona SS. Just y Pastor commenced. 1346 .... Gebona Ketablo of Altar and Baldachin erected. 1349 .... Valencia Puertade Serranos erected. 1350 .... Lugo Church of San Domingo consecrated. 1350 .... Zaragoz.\. East wall decoration executed. 1351 .... Gerona Stalls in Choir of Cathedral executed. 1366 .... Toledo Synagogue (now Church "del Transito") completed. 1368-92.. Geroxa Steeple of San Feliu in course of building. 1369 .... Barcelona CasaConsistorial commenced; finished in 1378. 1374 .... La Coruna Chapel of the Visitation in Church of Sta. Maria. 1375 .... Tarragona Completion of Statues in west front of Ca- thedral. 1380 .... Toledo Bridge of Alcantara repaired. 1381 .... Valencia First stone of the Micalete (tower of the Ca- thedral) laid. 1383 .... Barcelona Sta. Maria del Mar completed. 1383 .... Barcelona The Casa Lonja, or Exchange, founded. 1388 .... Barcelona West doorway of San Jay me. 1389 .... Alcalade Henares Tower of Archbishop's Palace. 1389 .... Toledo Cloister and Chapel of San Bias completed. 1389 .... Toledo Bridge of San Martin built. 1391 .... Lerida West doorway of Cloister completed. 1397 .... L^RiDA Steeple of Cathedral in course of erection. 1397 .... Pamplona Cathedral commenced. 1399 .... Burgos Chancel and Aisles of San OU founded. 1400 .... HuESCA Cathedral commenced. 1404 .... Valencia Lantern or Cimborio of Cathedral completed. 1405 .... Toledo Synagogue (now Church of Sta. Maria la Blanca) converted into a Church, and much altered. 1410 .... Palencia Stalls in Choir of Cathedral executed. 1415 .... Burgos Church of Convent of San Pablo erected. 1416 .... Barcelona San Jayme in progress. 1416 .... Lerida Steeple of Cathedral completed. 1416 .... Manresa The Collegiata in progress at this date. 1416 .... Perpinan Cathedral in progress. 1416 .... Tarragona Reredos of High Altar. 1417 .... Gerona Nave of Cathedral commenced. 1418 .... Toledo West front of Cathedral commenced. 1424 .... Valencia Tower of Cathedral completed. 1425 .. .. Toledo The N.W. Steeple of Cathedral commenced. 1431 .... Cervera Steeple of Sta. Maria. 1435 .... Burgos Convent of San Pablo commenced. 1436 .... Barcelona Casa de la J^isputacion erected. 1438 .... Oj,ite Considerable works in progress. 470 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Ai-i-. A. Datk. Placi:. Uemarks. 14.40 .... AviLA Tower of San Vicente comtilotcil. 1440 .... Medina DEL Cami'd Castle "de la Mota." 1442 .... Burgos Spires of Cathedral commenced. 1442 .... Toledo Chapel of Santia;^o (built by D. Ahuro dc Luna) erected. 1442 .. .. Valladolid San Pablo commenced. 1444 .... Barcelona The Hala de Panos completed. 1444 .... Valencia . . Puerta de Cuarte. 1448 .... Barcelona Cloister of Cathedral completed. 1453 .... Barcelona Sta. Maria del Pi consecrated. 1454 .... Burgos Convent of la Cartucca, Miraflorcs, com- menced. 1458 .. .. Cerona South door of nave of Cathedral. 1459 .... Toledo Facade "de los Leonea" (South transept). 1.. .. Valencia West end of nave of the Cathedral erected, .^(J •'""^ (probably) the Chapter-house 1461 .... Guadalajara.... Palace del In fantado. 1463 .... Valladolid San Pablo completed. 14(55 .. .. AviLA Canopy over the Shrine of San Vicente. 1471 .... AsTORGA First stone of Cathedral laid. 1472 .... Segovia Capilla Mayor of El Parral commenced. 1470 .... Toledo San Juan de los Reyes, Toledo, commenced. 1480 .... BcRGOS Stalls in the Coro of Chapel at Miratlores. 1480-92.. Valladolid College of Sta. Cruz. 1482 .. .. Valencia The Casa Lonja commenced. J 482-93.. AviLA Convent of San Tomas. 1483 .... Toledo Doorway of old Sacristy. 1484 .... Toledo Bridge of Alcantara fortified. 1485 .. .. Segovia Vaulting of El Parral finished. 1487 .... Burgos Chapel of the Constable. 1488-96.. Valladolid College of San Gregorio. 1489 .... Toledo Monument of Alvaro de Luna in Chapel of Santiago in Cathedral. 14g9_93.. Burgos Monument of Juan and Isabel in the Church at Miraflorcs. 1490 .... L:6iiiDA South Porch. 1494 .... Segovia Tribune in Church of El Parral rebuilt. 1495 .... Toledo Lower range of Stalls in Coro of Cathedral. 1497 .... Alcala de Henares Chu ch of SS. Just y Pastor commenced. 1497-1512 Burgos Stalls in Coro of Cathedral. 1498 .... Alcala DE Henares College of San Ildefonso commenced. 1499 .... Valladolid Church of San Benito. 1500 .... Toledo Retablo of High Altnr. 1503 .. .. Medina del Campo Capilla Mayor of Church of S. Antholin. 1504 .... Santiago Hospital of Santiago. 1504 .. .. Toledo Entrance to Winter Chapter-Room. 1504 .. .. Zaragoza The Torre Xueva in course of construction. 1504-10.. Palencia Cathedral completed. 1505 .... Zaragoza Cimborio, or Lantern, of the Sen, commenced. 1507 .... San Sebastian ... . Cliurch of San Vicente commenced. An-. A. DATED SPANISH BUILDINGS. 471 Date. 1507 1508 1509 1513 1513 1514 1515 1518 1520 1520 1520 1525 1531 1533 1536 1543 1548 1550 1553 15G7 1572-90 1576 1579 1586 Place, Remakks. SiGUENZA Cloister of Cathedral completed. Irun Church commenced. Alcala DE Henares Church of SS. Just y Tastor completed. Leon San Isidore, new Choir erected. Salamanca First stone of new Cathedral laid. Palenxia Cathedral Chapter-house and Cloister. Huesca .. Cathedral completed. A VILA Monument of Don Juan in the Church of San Tom as. HuESCA The Retahlo of the Principal Altar commenced. Taeazona Cathedral Cloister. Zaragoza Cimborio of the Seu completed. Segovia Cathedral commenced. Toledo Chapel de los Eeyes Nucvas. Santiago Cloisters. Zaragoza Sta. Engracia, Cloister erected. Toledo Upper range of Stalls in Coro of Cathedral. Toledo Piejas of Capilla Mayor and Coro of Ca- thedral. Tarazona Cimborio of Cathedral. Alcala de Henakes Patio of University. Burgos Lantern or Cimborio completed. Maxresa Steeple of the Seu or Collegiata completed. Valladolid Church of La Magdalena. Gerona Tault of Cathedral finished. Burgos Capilla Mayor in the Church of San Gil. (B.) CATALOGUE OF ARCHITECTS, SCULPTORS, AND BUILDERS OF THE CHURCHES, ETC., MENTIONED IN THIS VOLUME. Abiell [Guillermo]. Alava [Juan de]. Aleman Alfonso Alfonso [Juan]. [Juan]. [RODRTGO]. One of the Jimta of Architects consulted at Gerona in AD. 1416. At this time he was Master of the Works at Sta. Maria del Pi, San Jayme, and the Hospital of Santa Cruz in Barcelona. One of the Architects summoned to the Junta at Salamanca in a.d. 1513. He was a native of Vitoria, and master of the works of the Cathedral at Placencia. Sculptor. Wrought at the western and southern doorways of Toledo Cathedral, a.d. 1462-66. Sculptor. Wrought on the facade of Toledo Cathedral in A.D. 1418. Maestro Mayor of Toledo Cathedral, probably the Architect of the Cloister and Chapel of Sun Bias, the first stone of which was laid August 14, 1389. He designed the Carthusian Convent of Paidar, near Segovia, in a.d. 1390. 472 GOTHIC ARCHITECTUEE IN SPAIN. App. B. Andino [Cristobal de]. Made the iron Screen of the Cajiilla Mayor in Palencia Cathedral in a.d. 1520 ; the screen of the Chapel of the Constable at Burgos in 1523 ; and in 1540 he competed unsuccessfully with other men for the erec- tion of the Screens and Pulpits of Toledo Cathedral. Antigoni [Antonio]. Master of the Works in the town of Castellon de Em- purias, and one of the Junta of Architects consulted at Gerona in a.d. 14] 6, Abandia [Juan de]. Abfe [Antonio de]. AuFE [Enrique de]. Argenta [Bartolome] Badajoz [Juan de]. Balagueu [Peduo]. Bartolome. Bartolome. Benes [Pedro]. Bernakdus [Frater]. Berruguete[Alonso]. Probably a native of Biscay. Architect (?) and Builder of the Church of San Benito at ValladoUd, which was commenced in a.d. 1499. He contracted for the first part of the work for 1,460,000 maravedis, and for the remainder for 500,000. Silversmith ; a native of Leon. His work is thoroughly Renaissance, and, though much praised, really very iminteresting. Circa 1520-1577. A German ; father of Antonio, born in 1470-80 ; dec. circa 1550. A famous Silversmith. Worlied at Lean, Toledo, &c. Master of the works, Gerona Cathedral, 1325 to 1346. He seems to have superintended the erection of most of the Choir now standing. Sculptor and Master of the Works of Leon Cathedral. Architect of Choir of San Isidoro, Leon. In a.d. 1512 he was one of the Junta of Architects consulted as to rebuilding Salamanca Cathedral. In 1513 he went to Seville to examine the fabric of the Cathedral, for which he received a fee of 100 ducats. In 1522 he went to Salamanca to see that the works at the Cathedral were being properly executed. In 1545 he was Architect of tlie Monastery at Exlonza near Leon, and calls himself " Architector " in an inscription on its wall. Architect of the Tower of Valencia Cathedral in a.d, 1414. He is called an " Arquitecto perito " in a con- temporary document, and was paid for going to Lerida, Narlonne, and elsewhere, to examine their steeples with a view to his own work. Sculptor, Tarragona, Executed in a.d. 1278 nine of the Statues of the Western Doorway. Silversmith, who executed jiart of the Iletablo of Gerona Cathedral in a.d. 1325, ]\Tade the Canopy over the Altar at Gerona Cathedral before a.d. 1340, Magister Operis of Tarragona Cathedral in a.d. 1256. Architect, Sculptor, and Painter. Went to Italy in A.D. 1504, and studied at Rome and Florence : after- wards, in A.D. 1520, returned to Spain, and held the ajipoiutment of Maestro Ma^'or to Charles V. Exe- cuted the Stalls and Retablob of San Benilo, Valla- app. b. architects, sculptors, and builders. 473 dolid, in 1526-32, and the upper range of Stalls on the Epistle side of Toledo Cathedral iu 1543. His works are numerous, and he was the great reviver of Pagan architecture in Spain. Blay [Pedro]. Architect of the Casa de la Disputacion, Barcelona, iu 1-136 according to Cean Bermudez. But this seems impossible, unless there were two of the same name, as one was Maestro Maj-or of the Cathedral in 1584. BoFFiY [Gdillekmo]. Architect of Nave of Gerona Cathedral iu a.d. 1416. It was to discuss and advise upon his plan that a Junta of twelve Architects was summoned ; their oiiinions are given in the Appendix [H], and in the end his plan was carried into execution. BoxcKS [Aesau]. a native of Ax (in the county of Foix). Directed the works at the Mole of Tarragona, for which he was also the contractor, in a.d. 1507. I'oNiFACio [Martin Sanchez], Maestro Mayor of Toledo Cathedral from 1481 to 1494. He executed the doorway of the old Sacristy, circa 1484. Bo"NiFACio TPedro]. Painter on Glass. Executed some of the windows in the nave of Toledo Cathedral in a.d. 1439. BoxiFE 1 Matias]. BoRGONA [Felipe de]. BoRGONA [Juan de]. Bruxelas [Juan de]. Campero [Juan]. Canet [Antonxusj. Cantarell [Giralt]. Made the lower range of Stalls in the Coro of Barcelona Cathedral in a.d. 1457. Sculptor of the upper range of Stalls on the Gospel side of Toledo Cathedral. He was consulted as to the design for the Cimborio or lantern of Burgos Cathedral, and executed the Sculptures under the arches of the apse in the same church. He is said to have been Maesti'o Maj^or of Seville Cathedral (?), and was one of the Architects consulted as to Salamanca new Cathedral in a.d. 1512. He died in 1543. Painted in a.d. 1495 the Cloister of Toledo Cathedral. In 1508 painted five subjects for Avila Cathedral. He dec. circa 1533. Executed the Retablo of the Chapel of San Tldefonso, Toledo, in a,d. 1500. One of the Junta of Architects consulted at Sala- manca in A.D. 1512, and afterwards appointed assist- ant to the Architect there. In 1529 he was engaged as builder at El Parral, Segovia. In 1530 he contracted with the Cliapter of Segovia for the removal and re- erection of the old Cloisters. He had been employed by Cardinal Ximenes as Architect and Builder at Tor}'elunga. Sculptor of Barcelona. One of the Junta at Oerona in 1416, and Master of the Fabric of the Cathedral at Vrgel. Architect engaged on Steeple at Manresa from a.d. 1572 to 1590. 474 GOTHIC AllCHITECTUBE IN SPAIN. App. B. Carpintero[Macias]. A native of Medina elel Cainiio, and Arcliitect and Sculptor of the College of San Greyorio, Valladolid, in A.D. 1488. He is said to have committed suicide in A.D. 1490. Carueno [B^'ernaxdo de]. Master of the Works at the Castle, Medina del Campo, 1440. CastaSeda[Juan de]. Architect at Burgos a.d. 1539. He was one of the Cathedral architects, and Avrought luider Felipe de Borgofia in the rebuilding of the Cimborio, which he completed in a.d. 1567. He is said to have designed the Gateivay of Sta. Maria at Burgos. Castayls [Maestro Jaymi;]. Sculptor, Tarragona, in J 375. Executed by contract some of the Statues in the Western Doorway of the Cathedral, imder the direction of Bernardo de Vallfogona, the Master of tlie Works. He executed three of the Apostles and all the Prophets, and bound himself to make them all life-size. Ckbrian [Pedro]. Master of the Works, Leon Cathedral, a.d. 1175. Centellas [el Maestro]. Made the Stalls for the Choir of Falencia Cathedral in a.d. 1410. A native of Valencia. C'euvia [Berengues]. Made the terra-cotta Statues in the South Door of Gerona Cathedral in a.d. 1458, He also made a Statue of Sta. Eulalia and a Cross of terra-cotta for a doorwaj' in Barcelona Cathedral. Ckspides [Domingo]. Maker of the iron Reja, east of the Coro, Toledo Cathedral, in a.d. 1548. CiPKEs [Pedro]. Maestro Mayor of Gerona Cathedral in a.d. 1430. CoLiVELPA [Guillermo]. Master of the Works at Lerida Cathedral, a.d. 1397. He had contracted in a.d. 1391 for the exe- cution of some Statues for a doorway, and was evi- dently therefore a working Sculptor. CoLoNiA [Francisco de]. Said to have been related to Juan and Simon de Colonia. He was an Architect of Burgos, and was employed in a.d. 1515, and again in 1522, by the Chapter of Salamanca Cathedral, to go there and examine the works to see that J. G. de Hontanon was executing them according to the plan. Colonia [Juan de]. Designed the upper part of the Western Steeples of Burgos Cathedral. They were commenced in a.d. 1442, and in 1456 one Spire was completed, and the other nearly so. San Pablo, Valladolid, is also said by some to be liis work in 1463. He was Architect of the Chapel of the Constable at Burgos in 1487, and made the design for the Church at Miraflores, for which he was ])aid 3350 maravedis. He is said to have been a Germar. by birth, and to have been brought to Spain by Bishop Aloiiso de Cartagena when he returned from the Council of Basel. Coloxia [Simon de]. Completed the Church at Miraflores from a.d. 1488 to 1500. He was son of Juan de Colonia, and died before a.d. 1512. app. b. architects, sculptoes, and builders. 475 CuMPTE [Pedko]. Comas [Pedro]. Maestro Maj-or, .S«/i i^eZ/«, (reronrt, in a. d. 1385. He seems to have been Maestro Mayor of Oerona Cathe- dral from A.D. 1368 to 1397. Architect at Valencia, employed on the Cathedral, and one of the Architects consulted as to the rebuilding of the Cimborio of Zarufjoza, and the Architect of the Lonja at Valencia. In 1486 he superintended the laying of a marble pavement in the Cathedral there. He is described in a contemporary MS. as being " Molt sabut en Part de la pedra." He ^\•as made perpetual "Alcaide" of the Lonja, or Exchange, in 1498, with a salary of 30 sueldos a year. He was "Maestro Mayor " of the city, and was emploj'ed on some engineering works for it : one of them was the bringing the waters of the river Cabriel to augment those of the Guadalaviar, and in a.d. 1500 lie was engaged on another similar work. CovARUUBiAsf^ Alonso de]. A native of Burgos. He was one of the Architects consulted as to the erection of Salamanca Cathedral in 1513. He competed with Diego de Siloe for the erection of the Chapel " de los Reyes Nuevos," Toledo Cathedral, and succeeded, 1531-4. Was Maestro Mayor of Toledo from 1534 to 1566. Employed on the Archbishoi)'s Palace at Alculd. Employed by the King on the Alcazars at Madrid and Toledo in 1537. He was paid 25,000 maravedis a year, and compelled to attend his work six months in the year, during which time he received four reals a day for mainte- nance. He married Maria de Egas, a daughter, it is thought, of Anequin de Egas ; and his son was after- wards Bishop of Segovia. Various Royal writs in reference to his work and payment are given by Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. 304-7. Assisted Gil de Siloe in his works in the church at Miraflores, Burgos, a.d. 1496 to 1499. [Pedro dr] " Magister et fabricator " of the Cathedral at Lerida in A.D. 1203. [Petrus de]. Master of the Works at tian Isidoro, Leon, in a.d. 1065. He also built a bridge called " de Deo tambcn," and seems to have had a great repute for sanctit}-. Painter on Glass. Commenced painting the windows of Toledo Cathedral in a.d. 1418. Of Brussels. IMacstro Mayor of Toledo Cathedral in 1459, and erected the facade " de los Leones " about that year. He had an " aparejador " (or clerk of the works), Juan (or Alfonso ?) Fernandez de Llena. EiiAS [Anton]. In 1509 was engaged at Toledo Cathedral, and re- ceived two writs from the King ordering him to go to Salamanca to assist other Architects in deciding on the plan of the new Cathedral. In a.d. 1510, conjointly with Alonso Rodriguez, he drew a plau for the Cathedral. Ckuz [Diego de la] Cumba Deo lioLEiN [el Maestro]. K(iAS [Anequik de]. 476 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Apr. B. KoAs [Enrique de]. Succeeded his father as Maestro Mayor of TofecZo in a.d. 1494, and held the office until his death in a.d. 1534. He was summoned with other Architects to decide what should bo done after the fall of the Cimborio at Seville. He built the Hospital " de los Espiritos," at Toledo, in •1504-1514, and the Royal Hospital at Santiago in 1519. Altered the Mozarabic Chapel at Toledo, and built the Hospital of Sta. Cruz, Valladolid ; went in 1515 with two other Architects to examine J. Gr. de Hontafion's work at Seville, for which he was paid 120 ducats of gold. He and Juan de Alava then made plans together for the Cupula Mayor at Seville. He was ordered by the King to go to Zaragoza to examine the Cathedral, but endeavoured to excuse himself on the ground that he had the Royal Hospital at Santiago in hand. In 1529 he apjjears to have gone again to Salamanca to see whether the work at the Cathedral was being done perfectly by J. G. de Hontafion. He went to Malaga on another occasion with the same object. In a Royal writ issued in his favour, in a.d. 1552, he is called " Maestro de Canteria " — Master of Masonry. EscoBEDO [Fr. Juan de]. A monk of the Convent of El Parral, Segovia. He repaired the Roman Aqueduct at Segovia in a.d. 1481. EsTACio. Native of Alexandria, Engineer, constructed the Mole at Barcelona, 1477. Fabre, or Fabra [Jayme], Was Architect of the Dominican Convent at Palma, Mallorca, in a.d. 1317. This seems to have had a single nave of enormous width. He was ordered in 1307 to go to Barcelona to act as Architect at the Cathedral. In 1339 he assisted at the transla- tion of the remains of Sta. Eulalia to the crypt under the high altar. He is said to have died circa 1388. He seems to have been the architect from whose work most of the later Catalan buildings were derived. [Jacobo dej. a native of Narbonne, and Architect of the Chevet of Gerona Cathedral in a.d. 1320. Favariis Font Font Form EN T Frances Franck [Carlos]. Of Montearagon. Was consulted with others as to the rebuilding of the Cimborio of Zaragoza Cathedral in a.d. 1500. [Juan]. Architect engaged on Steeple at Manresa in a.d. 1572-90. [Damian]. Executed the alabaster Reredos of Ilvesca Cathedral in 1520-1533. [Pedro]. Painter on Glass. Executed some of the windows of Toledo Cathedral, cii'ca 1459, in company with two Germans, Pablo and Cristobal. [Juan J. One of the Architects employed on the Tower uf Valencia Cathedral, between A D. 1381 i'.nd 1418. app. b. architects, sculptors, and builders. 477 Gallego Gallego Garcia GOMAR Gomez [Juan]. [Pedro]. [Alvar]. [Francisco]. [Alvar]. GuAL [Bartolome]. He was employed in 1389 at the Monastery of Ouadalupe, Master of the Works at El Pan'al, Segovia, in a.d. 1459-1472. " Gobernador de los Torres " at Leon Cathedral in a.d. 1175. Architect of Avila Cathedral in a.d. 1091, a native of Navarre. Executed the Porch in front of the South doorway of Lerida Cathedral, in a.d. 1490. Maestro Mayor of Toledo Cathedral ; in a.d. 1418 he designed the West Front and Tower of the Cathedral. The papers in the archives of the Cathedral speak of him as "aparejador de las canteras," which seems to imply that he was a superintendent of masons. He was appjointed to this office in a.d. 1425, and is the first recorded to have held it ; from his time the names of the architects of Toledo Cathedral are all known. Guadalupe [Pedro de]. Made additional Stalls for Palenda Cathedral, and moved the old stalls from the choir into the nave, in A.D. 1518. One of the Architects summoned to the Junta at Oerona in a.d. 1416. At this date he was Maestro Mayor of Barcelona Cathedral, and calls himself " lapicida et magister operis." Architect of the Convent of San Juan de los Reyes, Toledo, commenced in a.d. 1476. His portrait (together with those of his wife and children) is preserved in a mural painting in the Convent. GuiNGUAMPS [Joannes de]. "Lapicida" of the town o? Narhonve, and one of the Junta of Architects at Oerona in a.d. 1416. Architect of SS. Just y Pastor, at Alcald de Henares, in A.D. 1497-1509. He was " Regidor " of the city in 1492, and Architect to Cardinal Ximenes, and both their names were inscribed on the first stone of the College of San lldefonso at Alcald, which was laid in 1497. He died circa 1516. Executed the Entrance to the Summer Chapter- house, Toledo Cathedral, in a.d. 1504. " Magister operis " of Leon Cathedral ; he deceased in A.D. 1277. Holanda [Alberto de]. Painter on Glass, of Burgos. Executed several windows in a.d. 1520 for Avila Cathedral at a charge of 82 maravedis the foot. HoNTAjioN [Juan Gil de]. Was Maestro Mayor of .S'a^awiajica Cathedral when it was resolved to rebuild it. He made plans, which are still (it is said) preserved, with the signatures of four Architects who were called in to advise upon them. He seems, however, to have followed some GUAS [Juan]. GUMIEL [Pedro" Gutierrez [Antonio]. Henricus. 478 GOTHIC AKCHITECTUKE IN SPAIN. App. ]'.. l)laiis prepared in a.b. 1510 by Alonso Rodriguez and Anton Egas, and to liave been apix)inted Archi- tect in 1513, after having given a joint report with nine other Architects on the mode of construction of the Cathedral. Subsequently other Architects, Martin de Palencia, Francisco de Colonia, Juan de Badajoz, and others, were summoned to Salamanca by the Chapter to certify that he was adhering to the plan originally agreed to. In one of their reports they speak of a plan made by Juan Gil, of which they approve. In 1513, after the fall of the Cimborio at Seville, he was summoned (after a Junta of four Architects had reported) to superintend the work, and before 1522 he made plans for the new Cathedral at Segovia, which was commenced in that year. He deceased in 1531. HoNTANON [Juan Gil de]. Son of Juan Gil. Assisted his father in his work at Salamanca.. HoKTANON [KoDRiGo GiL de], Sccond son of Juan Gil. Continued his father's works at Salamanca (with a salary of 30,000 maravedis and a house) and Segovia ; he erecteti the Pagan facade of the College at Alcald de Ilenares, and churches in various towns. In the paper appoint- ing him "Maestro Mayor " of SaZamanca Cathedral, lie is called " Master of Masonry." His will proves that he contracted for as well as designed some buildings, as he complains bitterly of the losses he has sustained in this way, especially in the Church of San Julian at Toro, for which he could not get paid. This will is dated May 27, 1577. JuAK [Pedro]. Sculptor. Executed the Reredos of Tarragona Cathe- dral in 1426-36. Lapi [Geri] Embroiderer, of Florence. He made an Altar-cloth for the Collegiate Church at Manresa, which still exists, and is inscribed with his name. Llena [Juan Fernandez de], " Aparejador " or assistant to Anequin de Egas, Architect of Toledo Cathedral in a.d. 1459. Llobet [Martin]. Completed the Micalete at Valencia in a.d. 1424. He seems to have been a mason, and contracted for the execution of the work. Loquer [Miguel]. Made the Canopies of the Upper Stalls in the Coro of Barcelona Cathedral in a.d. 1483. Luna [Hurtado de]. Maestro Mayor of the Church at Irun in a.d. 1508. Maeda [Juan de] Assistant to Diego de Siloe, who by his will, in a.d. 1563, left him all his plans and designs. Manso [Pedro]. Enlarged the Reredos in Palencia in a.d. 1518. !Matheus. Master of the Works of Santiago Cathedral, from A.D. 1168 to 1188. Matienzo [G. Fernandez de]. Architect of Church at Mirajlores, from app. b. architects, sculptors, and builders. 470 Navarro [Miguel]. NiETO [Ai.onso]. Olotzaga [Juan de]. Orozco Ortiz [Juan de]. [Pablo]. Pakadiso [Mateo]. a.d. 146G to 1-188, after the death of Juau de Colonia. Mota [Guillermus de la]. " Socius magistri " of Tarragona Cathedral, and one of the Junta of Architects at Gerona in a.d. 1416. He completed the Retablo of Tarragona Cathedral (commenced by Pedro Juan in 1426). Narbonne [Enrique of]. Architect of Chevet of Gerona Cathedral in A.D. 1316. Contracted for the erection of the Cloisters of Sun Francesco el Grande, Valencia, in a.d. 1421. Appointed " Obrero Mayor" of the Works at the Castle "de la Mota," Medina del Canipo, in a.d. 1479. Designed and commenced the Cathedral at Huesca in A.D. 1400, He is said to have carved the statues for the fafade. One of the Junta of Architects assembled at Sala- manca in A.D. 1512. Executed the Monuments of the Constable Alvaro de Luna and his wife, in the Chapel of Santiago in Toledo Cathedral. He obtained this woxk in a competition, and contracted for its execution in a.d. 1489. Architect of the 'J'ower on the Bridge of Alcantara, Toledo, in a.d. 1217. Pknafreyta [Pedro de]. Master of the Works of Lerida Cathedral, de- ceased in A.D. 1286. Perez [Pedro] or " Petrus Petri." Master of the Works of Toledo Ca- thedral. He deceased in a.d. 1290. PiTUENGA [Florin de]. Superintendent of Works in building the Walls ut Avila in a.d, 1090. He is said to have been a Frenchman. Plana [Francisco de]. A Catalan, Maestro Mayor of Gerona Cathedral circa A.D. 1346-1368. Master of the Works of Lugo Cathedral, which was commenced in a.d. 1129. The agreement for his pay- ment is given at p. 131, He was evidently the Ai'- chitect, and not the builder, of the Cathedral. Built the Steeple of La Magdalena, Valladolid, under contract, and according to the plans of Rodrigo Gil de Hontauon, in 1570. Maestro Mayor of Leon Cathedral ; he deceased in a.d, 1431, and on his monument he is called " Maestro "of Leon and " aparejador " of a chapel at Tordesillas, in which he was buried. Sculptor of the lower range of Stalls in the Coro of Toledo Cathedral in a.d. 1495. Maestro Mayor of Seville Cathedral in a.d. 1503. In 1510, at the command of the King, he went to Sala- manca with Anton Egas, and prepared a plan for rebuilding the Cathedral, and afterwards went to the island of San Domingo to build a Church at Sanhicar. Raymundo. Rio [Francisco del]. Roan [Guillen de]. Rodrigo. Rodriguez [Alonso]. 480 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. A pp. B. Rodriguez [Caspar.] Rodriguez [Juan]. Romano [Casandro]. RoQUE [el Maestro]. RuESGA [Juan de]. Made the Iron Screen across the Coro of Palencia Cathedral in a.b. 1555. Built the Church of San Pablo, Burgos, between a.d. 1415 and 1435. Superintendent of Works in building the Walls of Avila in a.d. 1090. Built the Cloister of Barcelona Cathedral, which was completed in a.d. 1448. He was appointed Master of the Works in a.d. 1388, RuAN [Carlos Galtes de]. Master of the Works at Lt'rida Cathedral a.d. 1397 to 1416. He was employed on the Campanile. An inhabitant of Segovia. Was employed by the monks of El Parral to reconstruct the Gallery for the Coro in their Church in a.d. 1494 ; he also completed Palencia Cathedral A.D. 1506-1510, and seems to have been a builder rather than an architect. Sagrera [Guillermo]. Master of the Works of S. John, Perpifian, in a-d. 1416. In the same year he served on the Junta of Architects at Gerona. In 1426 commenced the Ijonja or Exchange at Palma in Mallorca, for which he was both Architect and Contractor, and carried it on until a.d. 1448 or 1450, when he quarrelled and went to law with his employers. He then went to Naples, and commenced the Castel Nuovo there in 1450, of which he is described as " Protomagister" in a Royal writ of that year. Salorzano [Martin de]. Contracted to complete Palencia Cathedral in a.d. 1504, and deceased in 1506. Was Maestro Mayor of ToZec^o Cathedral in a.d. 1481- 94, and designed the Entrance to the old Sacristy. Executed the Stalls in the Coro of the Church at Miraflores, near Burgos, in a.d. 1480. " Mayordomo " of the Castle at Burgos during its construction in a.d. 1295. A native of Picardy, and Maestro Mayor of Gerona Cathedral in a.d. 1397. Santa Celay [TVIiguel deI. Architect of the Church of San Vicente, San Sebastian, in a.d. 1507. Santillana [Juan de]. Executed the painted glass at Miraflores, Burgos, circa 1480. SARAViA[RonRiGO de]. One of the Junta of Architects assembled at Sala- manca in A.D. 1512. Son of Gil de Siloe the Sculptor. One of the revivers of Pagan art in Spain, He executed various works in Granada, Seville, and Malaga, and deceased in A.D. 1563, Sculptor of the Monuments of Juan and Isabel, and of Alfonso their son, in the Church at Miraflores, Burgos, and of the Retablo in the same Church, between a,d. 1486 and 1499. Sanchez [Bonifacio]. Sanchez [Martin]. Sanchez [Pedro]. San Juan [Pedro de]. Siloe [Diego de]. Siloe [Gil de]. app. b. architects, sculptors, and builders. 481 ToRNERO [Juan]. One of the Junta of Architects at Salamanca in a.d. 1512. TuDELiLLA. Of Turazona. Architect of the Cloister of Sta. Enciracia, Zaragoza, in a.d. 1536. L^RRUTiA [JtjAN de]. Architect of ttie Church of San Vicente, San Sebas- tian, A.D. 1507. Valdevieso[Juande.] Executed Stained-glass in the Church at Mirajiores in A.D. 1480. Valdomar. Architect of West end of Nave of Valencia Cathedral in A.D. 1459. Vallejo [Juan de]. One of the Architects of Burgos Cathedral. He was consulted as to the rebuilding of Salamanca Cathedral in 1512, and wrought under Felipe de Borgoiia in re- building the Cimborio of Burgos Cathedral, between a.d. 1539 and 1567, He built the Renaissance Gate- way on the East side of the South Transept between 1514 and 1524. Vall-llebrera [Pedro de]. Architect of the Steeple of Sta. Maria Cervera, A.D. 1431. Valleras [Arnaldus de]. "Lapicida" and " Magister operis " of the Col- legiata at Manresa. One of the Junta of Architects consulted at Gerona in a.d. 1416. Vallfogona [Bernardo de]. Maestro Mayor of Tarragona Cathedral in A.D. 1375. Yallfogona [Pedro de]. Executed Eeredos of High Altar, Tarragona, and was one of the Junta of Architects at Gerona in A.D. 1416. Valmeseda [Juan de]. Executed the Statues in the Eeredos, Palencia Cathedral, in a.d. 1518. Maestro Mayor of Gerona Cathedral in a.d. 1427. One of the Junta of Architects assembled at Gerona in A.D. 1416. He describes himself as son of Paschasius de Xulbe and " Lapicida." XuLBE [Paschasius de]. Master of the Works of Church at Tortosa, and one of the Junta of Architects at Gerona in a.d. 1416. Zacoma [Pedro]. Architect of the Tower of San Feliu, Gerona, in a.d. 1368. Vantier [Rollinus]. Xulbe [Johannes de]. 2 I 482 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. App. C. (C.) DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW CATHEDRAL AT SALAMANCA. Royal Order of Ferdinand the Catholic, requiring Alfonso Rodriguez to go to Salamanca to choose the site and to make a design for the Construction of the Cathedral. The King to the Master Major of the Works of the Church of Seville. Since it has now to be decided liow the Church of Salamanca may be made, in order that the building and its design may be made as it ought, I agree that you may be present there. I charge and com- mand you that, instantly leaving all other things, you may come to the said city of Salamanca, and, jointly with the other persons who are there, yovi may see the site where the said church has to be built, and may make a drawing for it, and in all things may give your judgment how it may be the most suited to the Divine worship and to the omature of the said church ; which, having come to pass, then your salary shall be paid ; which I shall receive return for in this service. Done in Yalladolid, the 23rd day of the month of November, J 509, &c.' Order of the Queen Dona Juana to the same. Eecites that the King, her Lord and Father, had given an order, which she repeats, quoting the document above given, and then proceeds : — *' And now, on the part of the Church of the said city of Salamanca, relation has been made me, that, although the said order was notified to you, until now you have not come to do anything in the business of which mention is made therein, making various excuses and delays ; and it has been demanded of me, as for this cause of your not having come there is much delay in the work of the said church, to order you at once to come to the said city of Salamanca to make yourself acquainted with the affairs contained in the said order, as was by it commanded, or as my will might be; which, being seen by those of my council, it was agreed that I should order this my letter to be given for the said reason ; and I find it good, as I command you, that immediately that this my letter shall be made known to you, without making any excuse or delay, you shall go to the said city of Salamanca, according and as by the said order was commanded, in order that, conjointly with the other persons who have to make themselves acquainted with the before-said matter, thou mayest give a plan how the said church may be made, which done, the salary will be paid you for ' Cean Beruiudez, Arq. de Esp., vol. i. p. 285. App. C. new cathedral at SALAMANCA. 483 the said church, which you are entitled to have for the coming, and staying, and retuining to your house ; and thou mayest not fail in this, under pain of my displeasure, and of 50,000 maravedis for my treasury". " Given in the most noble city of Yalladolid, 2Gth day of the month of January, from the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ 1510 yeais." ' Writ of Ferdinand the Catholic to Anton Egos, ordering him to go to Sala- manca to choose the site and mahe the plan for the Cathedral, November 23rd, 1509. Anton Egas is ordered to go at once, and, jointly with the other architects thei-e assembled, make a plan, &c. ; which done, his salary, which he receives on service, shall be paid him there. This writ is endorsed as having been served on his two maids, Maria and Catalina, he and his wife being both away. Declaration or Information which Alonso Rodrigmz and Anton Egas made before the Chapter of Salamanca on the mode of constructing the Cathedral. In Salamanca, the second day of the month of May, 1510, Senor Gonzalo de San Vicente, representative of S, A., being with the Chapter, present the Eeverend Senors D. Alfonso Pereira, Dean of Salamanca, and other persons, dignitaries and beneficiaries, who were in Chapter, in order to acquaint themselves touching the order and plan of their church, oath being taken in the due form bv the Seiiors Alonso Eodrigaez, Maestro of Seville, and Anton Egas, Maestro of Toledo, persons deputed by his Highness for the ordering and planning of the said church, that all affection and passion, partiality and interest, or any other cause, being well and faithfully postponed, they determine and declare, according to God and their conscience, the most commodious plan and site that may be fitting for the adorn- ment of the said church, and for the utility of it and of this city, without prejudice and wrong to the Schools of this University of Salamanca ; both of whom made the said oath, and replied to its confession, and said, " So I swear, and Amen." And under the said oath they presented a plan and outline of the said church, drawn on parchment to the lieights and widths of the naves, and thicknesses of the walls, and projections of the buttresses, the whole taken in writing by me the said notary ; the which they affirmed by their names in my presence, and said that the site marked out by them for where the said church — our Lord per- mitting — ought to be, would not do any wrong or prejudice to the said Schools, rather they would be benefited and adonied, because the site of the said church commences ten feet further from the gate ' Cean Bermudez. Arq. de Esp., vol. i. p. -'Sii. 2 I 2 484 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. App. C. " del Apeadero " of the Schools, being set hack from the street by the said Schools fifty feet, in front of the said church, fi-om the line of the church as it now is. And because there was a diversity in the opinion of these Masters as to the proportion of length to breadth in the Capilla maj'or, they agreed to meet in Toledo in ten days, and to select an umpire between them if it were necessary, so that the decision should be arrived at with more circumspection, and sent within fifteen days to the said Senor San Vicente, or to this Chapter.' Declaration or Judgment which was pronounced in Salamanca in a Junta iphich icas held Sept. 3rd, 1512, bi/ the Masters of Architecture Anton Ugas, Juan Gil de Hontanon, Juan de Badajos, Juan de Alava, Juan de Orozco, Alonzo de Covarruhias, Juan Tomer o, Rodrigo de Saravia, and Juan Campero, as to the mode of constructing the Cathedral. That which appears to the Masters who were called and assembled by the most reverend and most magnificent in Christ, Father and Lord Don Fi'ancisco de Bobadilla, by the grace of God, and of the Holy Church of Eome, Bishop of Salamanca, and of the Council of the Queen our Lad}', and by the Reverend the Dean and Chapter of the Church of Salamanca, to give the plan of the site and building of this holy church and temple, which it has been unanimousl}'^ decided by the said Lord Bishop and Chapter — our Lord helping — to make and begin, is as follows : — Firstly, the said Masters decided that the site of the church should be in length as fiir as the church of San Cebrian, and in width as far as the Schools. Item. — That the three clear naves should begin from the line of the tower unto the place of the Schools, so that all the three doors of the front may show themselves and be clear of the tower. Jte7n. — They determine that the church should be directed and turned as much as possible to the east ; and it appears to them that it can turn directly to the said east. Item. — They determine that the principal nave may have fifty feet in width in the clear, and a hundred and ten in height. Item. — That the side naves shall have thirty-seven feet in clear width, and seventy feet in height, or seventy-five, not being of the height of the other. Item. — They determine that the chapels opened in the side walls may have twenty-seven feet in clear width, and forty-three or forty- five in height. Item. — That the three gable walls of the west front may have all three seven feet of thickness, and the side walls throughout Ceati Bennndez, Arq. de Esp., vol. i. p. 287. App. C. new cathedral at SALAMANCA. 485 the church six feet; but to some of the said Masters it appeared that the end walls should be eight feet in thickness. Item. — That the buttresses of the end walls may project beyond the wall twelve feet, and in thickness may have seven feet in front. Item. — That the buttresses of all the side walls of the church may be five feet thick in front, and project six feet beyond the wall outside. Item. — That the divisions of the chapels in the walls may be seven feet thick. Item. — That the four principal columns of the Cimborio may be eleven-and-a-half feet thick. Item. — They determine that the head of the Trascoro may be octagonal.' Item. — They determine that the Capilla mayor may have in length and breadth two chapels of the sides. Item. — That the chapels in the walls of the Trascoro may be twenty -seven feet in depth from wall to wall, and that in the spaces of the walls and buttresses in the angles of the octagons, which are formed between the chapels on the outside, sacristies for each chapel may be made. Item. — They declare that the feet of which in this their declara- tion and determination mention is made, are to be taken as the third of a yard ; and (marking out the form of the said church) the said Masters declare that from the mark towards the door of the Schools to the first step there may be seven yards and a third, which is twenty-two feet. Jtem. — They declare that the wall of the west front within the tower has to be begun forty-nine feet from the corner of the said tower on the inside, and should be in thickness from there forward so much as to leave forty-nine feet of the tower visible. Item. — They declare that the wall of the side nave, from towards the old church, has to come with the side of the tower, and has to contract itself the thickness of the said wall in the said tower. And inasmuch as some persons, as well members of the Chapter as out of it, have held certain opinions in regard to the site of the said building, and where it ought to stand, the said Lord Bishop and Chapter, desiring to avoid and escape such opinions as at present and in future may impede the order and form of the said building, command the said Masters to give the reasons and motives that may have moved them to direct and propose the site and position determined on by them, and not the other places, lines, or ' In the margin of this paragraph is square." The word ' Trascoro ' seems to written, in the hand of Maestro Juan be used here of the east end of the del Ribero Kada,— " It has been built church. 48(5 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. App. C. sites suggested; and that they should say specifically for their satisfaction why, with all quietness and willingness, the order, form, and site laid down by them may be followed. The which said Masters, in order to satisfy the persons who either held or might hold opinions contrary to their own, gave the following reasons : — rirsth\ That making or putting the church in another part or site than that determined on by them, it and its cloister would be separated from the view of the city, and would be concealed ; that it could not be seen round about, only the end wall by itself, and the Chevet by itself, and there would be no entire view. The second reason is, that the said church would be put behind the schools from the Crossing almost to the end, where the best view and the most frequented part of the church ought to be, because there the doors have to be placed. The third reason is, that of the cloister — which already exists — the two parts are so placed that it would leave a narrow passage be- tween the church and the Archbishop's chapel, and the library and Chapter-house, and the said chapels would remain separated, and one would enter them from the narrow passage, and in a roundabout way ; for though it might be desired to make a door from the Chevet, it could not be done, because the sacristy would pre- vent it. The fourth reason which they give is, that if the said church has to be moved to another site opposed to that declared and determined on by them, the tower would have to be destroyed, which is a good and singular work, and could not be rebuilt without a great sum of maravedis, and the church could not be without a tower. The fifth reason is, that if the said church has to be moved to another site, it will be necessary to take down the house of the said Lord Bishoji, and to restore it opposite the front of the church ; and in order to restore it, besides the great sum of maravedis it would cost, it would be necessary to destroy fourteen houses, the rent of which is of much value, and this would be costly to the church, and involve loss to the treasury of the Chapter. The sixth reason is, that in order to make the cloister on another site contrary to their determination, many houses must be taken ; and in order to make it on the south, it would be necessaiy to go into it by what is called the Eiver-door, and afterwards to be more away from the city, and out of view ; and it would be very costly to make the foundations of such great depth, and to raise the walls to the level of the church. The seventh reason which they give is, that the Chevet of the church would cover the door of the chapel of the Archbishop and the librarj^ in order to join them. U'he eighth reason which they give is, that the Crossing would not come in the line of any street, and there would be no way out by App. C. new cathedral at SALAMANCA. 487 way of the cloister, because the new and old cloister would stop it ; and supposing a remedy to be sought, by separating the new cloister, it would be so high when they had to go out, that it would have at least more than fifteen steps, and the entrance would be by a narrow passage ; because on one part would be the new cloister, and on the other part of the old cloister the chapel of the Arch- bishop. The ninth reason which they give is, that the chuich would encroach upon the principal street of the schools, which comes before the house of his Lordship, and the other street, '' del Desa- fiadero ;" so that if there was none at the apse of the church there would be no way out ; and the height of the church, putting it so much between the sun and the schools on the south, would take away much of their light, and darken them much. The which reasons they give against the opinions of them who say or desire to say that the site of the said church should be towards the house of the Lord Bishop, and towards the street ^'■del Desafiadero ;" and in order to answer the other opinion of some who argue that the site of the said church could go through the cloister, which is already built to the Eiver bridge, because this would not be a con- venient site for the church ; and in order to oppose the opinion for it, they give the following reasons : — Firstly. That it would be more separated from the city, and would not go well with the schools, and would lack the appearance which it would have going, as is agreed, towards the schools. The second reason which they give is, that it would stand at an angle with the schools, and would be an ugly thing, and the fagades of the church and the schools would not be harmonized together by the said arrangement of the plan. The third reason which they give is, that the Plaza of the Lord Bishop's house would be narrowed in great part, so that the Plaza would be a street ; and the height of the church would shut out the sun from the said house of his Lordship, and would stifle it very much ; and the doors of the church would be behind the tower in the view as one comes from the city through the Street of the Schools. The fourth reason which they give is, that the west front of the church would have to join the wall of the Archbishop's chapel, and through its inequality and depth it would be necessary to have many steps through that part, and towards the town not any, and this would be a defective and ugly thing. The fifth reason which they give is, that, making the cloister towards the Schools, all the view of the church would be shut out, and the cloister would be gloomy, and it would be without the harmony and order of good churches, and withoiit grace. The sixth reason which they give is, that the church standing 488 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. App. C. close to the chapel of the Archbishop and the library, iis height would shut out the light from the small chapels in the walls, and there would be no exit for the water from the roof of the middle of the church at that part. The seventh reason which they give is, that in order to make the new church it would be necessary to clear out immediately all the church and the cloister, and the chapel of the Doctor of 'J'alaveia, and of Sta. Barbara, and the Chapter-house ; and in their opinion it would be a grand inconvenience to be so many years without having where to celebrate the Divine offices. The eighth reason which they give is, that if the church is separated from above, and put as in a corner, part in the shade through the one part of the tower and the cloister, and through the other of the library and the chapel of the Archbishop, it could not have as much of its walls in light as is convenient. The ninth reason which they give is, that the door of the transept would come out so high from the street, in their ojoinion, as more than ten or twelve steps, and would cut across the street " del Chantre" and would be bad in its arrangement, and a place where nuisance would be caused. This opinion having been given, it is then pronounced by the deputies appointed by the Chapter to confer with the architects, that as they were all agreed both as to the site and as to the general form of the church, and as they are such learned and skilful men, and experienced in their art, their opinion ought certainly to be acted on. But for the more certainty it was thought well to make every one of the architects take an oath, " by God and St. Mary, under whose invocation the church is, and upon the sign of the cross, upon which they and each of them put their right hands bodily," that they had spoken the entire truth, which each of them did, saying " So I swear, and amen."^ The report of the architects having been received, the Chapter then say that the many singular and great Masters of the Art of Masonry (canteria) who had been consulted had agreed on a plan, but that it will be necessary to choose and elect a Master (Maestro) and an overseer (aparejador).^ On the same day, Sept. 3rd, 1512, Juan Gil de Hontafion, " Master of Masonry," was appointed prin- cipal master of the works (IMaestro principal), and Juan Carapero, mason, overseer, with a salary to the former of 40,000 inaravedis a year, and 100 maravedis more for each day that he assisted at the works ; and to the latter of 20,000 maravedis a year, and 2 3 reals ' From Cean Bermudez, Not. de los " the substitute of the chief architect of Arq. y Arquos de Espana, vol. i. p. 293- the building, who places the workmen 299. and distributes the materials according " The sense of this word is given in to the arrangements of the plan." Connelly and Higgins's Dictionary, as Ai>p. D. SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL. 489 per day,* And on the 10th May, 1538, Koderigo Gil de ITontaaon was appointed principal master of the works, with the salary of 30,000 maravedis a year. Alonso de Covarrubias seems to have been joined with Eodrigo Gil de Hontauon as master.^ By K. G. de Hontaiion's will it seems that he also had a house rent free from the Chapter.* (R) SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL, Warrant of King Ferdinand II., issued in 1168, in favour of Mattheus, Master of the Works of Santiago Cathedral, copied from the Archives. In nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Amen. Majestati regios convenit eis melius providere, qui sibi noscuntur fidele obsequium exhibere, et illis preecipue, qui Dei sanctuariis et locis indesinenter obsequium probantur impendere. Ea propter ego Fernandus Dei gratia Hispaniarum Eex ex amore Omnipotentis Dei, per quem reg- nant reges, et ob reverentiam sanctissimi Jacobi patroni nostri piissimi, pro munere dono, et concedo tibi magistro Matheo, qui operis pia^fati Apostoli primatum obtines et magisterium, in uno- quoque anno in medietate mea de moneta Sancti Jacobi refectionem duarum marcharum singulis hebdomadibus, et quod defuerit in una hebdomada suppleatur in alia, ita quod hsec refectio valeat tibi cen- tum maravotinos per uniimquemque annum. Hoc munus, hoc donum do tibi omni tempore vit^e tuas semper habendum quatenus et operi Sancti Jacobi, et tuse inde personae melius sit, et qui viderint prsefato operi studiosius invigilent et insistant. Si quis vero contra hoc meum spontaneum donativum venerit, aut illud quoque modo tentaverit infringere, iram incurrat decunti pertinentis, et iram regiam, et mille aureos parti tute tamquam excomunicatus cogatur exolvere. Facta carta apud Sanctum Jacobura, viii. kalendas Marti, Era M. cc. vi. Eegnante rege Diio Fernando Legione, Extremadura, Gallecia in Asturiis, Ego Dns F. Dei gratia Hispaniarum Eex hoc scriptum quod fieri jussi proprio robore confirmo. [Signed also by various Bishops and Grandees.] 1 Cean Bermudez, vol.i. p. 300. " Ibid., vol. i. p. 315. 3 Ibid., vol. i. p. 317. 490 GOTHIC AKCHJTECTUKE IN SPAIN. Apr. E. (K.) SEGOVIA CATHEDRAL. Memoir of the Canon of Segovia Juan Rodriguez, in which is related all that happened as to the Construction of the Cathedral from the year 1522, in ichich he began to exercise the government and administration of the fabric, until the year 1502, in which, through infirmity, he gave it up. — From the Archives of the Cathedral. After reciting his pious reasons for his undertaking, he continues his Memoir as follows ; entering first of all into various particulars in reference to the subscriptions for the work and so forth, he then goes on : — " We commence, in the name of God, to give an account of the form and order which prevailed in the work of the said church and cloister. Chapter-house, libraries, tower, sacristy, and place for relics,' and all the other necessary offices, which until this time have been paid for, and now belong to the said holy church, free from all interest or tax. " Commencing at the beginning, which was in the said year of 1520, when the Chapter was driven out of the other church by reason of the alterations already mentioned, they had the divine offices in the Church of Sta. Clara, which the monks of the order of Sta. Clara had. left, who at present reside in the monastery of San Antonio el Eeal ; and beginning by having the divine office on the floor of the church on some benches or logs of wood, which were placed for it from the door of the church as far as the rooms of the keepers of the wardrobe of the convent which were there, afterwards they made a tribune on some pieces of timber or posts for the Coro, in order to have the holy office ; and afterwards they put the altars right with Eetablos and images, which they brought from the old church ; and they piit right the old cloister, which had some high battlements ; and. they overcame difficulties and put everything in order to be able to make use of it, and set right the chapel where the Crucifix and Sacrament were, and where the chaplains said their office. Then, likewise, was made a hall of the old corridors, in which the Chapter was held, where it was for some years, until that one was made below close to the chapel of the Crucifix. And then the tower was raised, and there they placed some of the bells of the other old church, and others they made new in the town of Olmedo ; and they got a new clock from Medina del Campo, and put the whole in the old tower. " Then, in consequence of the narrowness of the church, they took ' Sagrario. — This, I think, sometimes means the chajDel, commonly called the Pmroqula, or Chapel of the Cathedral Parish. Avp. E. CONSTRUCTION OF SEGOVIA CATHEDRAL. 491 some houses in which lived the wardrobe-keepers, and pulled them down, and made a wall of lime and stone in front, and placed there the Coro of the old church, and repaired it in the said place where the divine office was said, and placed the iron screens of the two Coros ; the Avhole of w^hich was done between the said year of 1520 and June 8th. 1522, when, by the consent and resolution of the Lord Bishop D. Diego de Eivera, and of the Dean and Chapter of the said church, it was agreed to commence the new work of the said clrarch, to the glory of God, and in honour of the Virgin Mary and the glorious San Frutos and All Saints, taking for master of the ?aid work Juan Gil de Hontaiion, and for his clerk of the wo]ks (aparejador)- Garcia de Cubillas. "Thursday, the 8th of June, 1522, the Bishop ordered a general procession wdth the Dean and Chapter, and clergy, and all the religious orders. Solemn mass was said in the Plaza of San Miguel, before the doors of the said Church of Sta. Clara, and there was a sermon, and absolution, and general pardon to all who had erred ; and they demolished the other church, and gave absolution for all the faults and sacrileges which might be committed in it, as is the case in all general pardon of sins. From there the Bishop, Dean and Chapter, clergy and religious, went in procession to the part where was the foundation of the principal wall of the foot of the holy church, and in that place where the principal door was to be, which is now called ' del Pardon ;' and the Master of the works and the officials being there with stone and mortar, the Lord Bishop placed the foundation in the middle where the said door had to come, which is called ' del Pardon.' Giving first his benediction on the commencement of the work, he put a piece of silver with his face on it, and others of metal with certain letters, and upon them placed the stone and mortar. The workmen then raised the building. "All this solemnity, as I have told, began to the glory of God our Lord, the Virgin Mar)', and All Saints, for the piomotion of the said work. This was settled and ananged between the Lord Bishop, the Dean and Chapter, to be executed in masonry of a rough description, by reason of the great poverty of the said church. And I then, feeling this, conferred on this matter with the said Juan Gil de TTontanon and Garcia de Cubillas, and it seemed to them to be a great pity to execute the work in such a way in so cele- brated a city. And the Lord Bishop, the Dean and Chapter, having considered this, thought it well to give leave, confiding in the pro- vidence of our liord, that it should be done as I had petitioned, for which many thanks be given to our Lord." " The building being commenced, as I have said, on Thursday, July 8th, 1622, was carried on according to the plan first of all given, beginning from the principal door at the foot of the church. 492 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Ain\ E. whicli is called ' del Pardon,' corresponding to the principal nave, and going on in order, taking the chapel and the chapels in the walls, of which there are five on either side, ten in all, where at present the private masses and endowments which the said church has are said. " After the same manner the principal pillars in the said chnrch were built, which divide, and on which is raised the principal nave, and on either side one, in all five collateral naves ; the principal, of 115 to 120 feet in height, and 54 in width, from line to line; the collaterals, 80 feet in height each one of them, and o8 in width, and the chapels between the buttresses, of which there are ten, 50 feet of height, and 2G in width, as, thanks to God, they have all been made and finished to perfection, as may be seen. " The building, so far ei'ected, reached only to the two principal pillars of the Crossing, which are twelve feet in width, because they are the two upon which the Cimborio will have to be built, and the other two jiillars will embellish the Avork which has to be done presently, when the Capilla mayor and the Crossing are erected. The other round pillars of the body of the said church are ten feet in thickness, and are ten in all, and upon them were built the main nave and its collaterals. " LikcAvise 1 may mention that these principal pillars, for fear there should be any misfortune or bursting in the work, were all compacted throughout their body, with shaped stones, in pieces of the same thickness as those which are in the face of the work ; so that there is not the least thing omitted which could give strength. " Likewise the walls were made, three extending past the said three principal pillars, which were made for the Cimborio and Crossing, where the high altar was placed, and the Blessed Sacra- ment kept, and the conventual masses said ; and on one side, towards the Alumzara, a little sacristy was made, or a vestry for the ministers of the high altar, where they kept their boxes for the things necessary for the altar and choir. " Likewise the walls were built, where the stalls of the Coro are placed for the divine offices, ornamented and made up with such additional seats as were required, in order that they might occupy the width of the principal nave ; and at the sides they made offices with their furniture for holding the singing and reading books for the divine offices of the said church, with doors at the sides for going out by at the sermon-time. " Likewise they made high galleries on either side of the Coro, in which they placed the organs, finished and adorned, as, at present appears, for the service of our Lord. " Likewise the cloister was founded, which was that which stood in the old church, whicli Juan Campero, master of masonry, App. E. construction of SEGOVIA CATHEDRAL. 493 undertook by contract for the sum of 4000 ducats, according to the contract with which he took it ; and in the said buiklings it was impossible to foresee, at the first, every necessary thing, because time and the work itself showed many things which at first were not known ; and so, beginning to feel the said cloister would be low, by agreement with the said John Campero, they gave him 400 ducats, in order that he shoiild raise it a yard, which gave him grace enough ; and 70,000 maravedis, in order that he should do the door of the said cloister, which was not in his contract ; and likewise he made a condition that he should not be obliged to go more than five feet below the ground. " In the same manner they made many other adornments in the said cloister beyond what was in the contract with the said Juan Campero, such as making many things of granite, and others of carpentry, which were to have been of common masonry ; which was all of much cost, so that the expenses mounted beyond the contract of the said Juan Campero another 4000 ducats, which was in all 8000, a little more or less, as appears by the account-book which the said Juan Campero kept. " Itev\. — To the glory of God and the honour of His Blessed Mother the building of the tower was commenced, which is at the lower end of the said church, and which is a very solemn edifice. Its bulk without the walls is thirtj'-three feet, and it is square. The walls are four from base to summit, and each one ten feet thick ; and one of them which goes from the church is fifteen feet at the bottom. " Item. — This tower is more lofty than that of the cathedral at Seville, measured by a line, more than once brought from thence. It is wider than that of Toledo by one-thiid part, as will be seen by those who like to measure it. This measures, as I say, 33 feet inside, and that of Toledo 22 feet. I say this in order that the goodness of this tower may be known. Outside the chapel and above it is another very good chapel for the service of the church, in which necessary things can be kept; and over this chapel, and in the said tower, is another chamber, where is placed the man who attends to the bells, with all his family, and with all the offices necessary for his living; and above this, in the said tower, is another chamber, which is where the bells are hung in their frames in their order. And above this chamber, at the four sides or corners of the said tower, there are four pillars, from which rise four flying buttresses, which support another building, after the fashion of a censer with its windows. The clock is here, &c." " I hold this building of the tower to be noble and important, just as I hold it to be certain that it would be difficult to build it now for 50,000 ducats." " Likewise there are three principal chambers which abut against one wall of the tower, and go as far as the Calle Mayor of Barrio- 494 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SI'AIN. App. E. nuevo, whicli measure 80 feet or more. One of them below is all made with a vault of good mason's work for the workmen's tools, timber, scaffolding, ropes, and other instruments required for the prosecution of the works ; and when the said church is finished it will be kept for precious things of various kinds of which the church has need, for antos, &c., which take place in such churches, so as not to have to make them anew each time. This chamber has a very good door for entrance, and sufficient lights to enable them to keep everything that is required to be put there. " Over this room, on the level of the cloist<;r, is the cloister Chapter-room, which is 53 feet long, a little more or less, and 33 wide, with xarj good windows, and glazing, and wooden ceiling made with fretwork, admirably executed by the hands of good workmen ; quite an important room. It is of the height proper for a good room. There is no other painting in it than an inscription all round. The pavement is of white and black stone, the black from Aillon, and the white Otero de Herreros. The seats are tem- porary ; but a large quantity of walnut has been bought for them. The doors of the Chapter-room are all of walnut, made by very good workmen, and with frames of black elm. " Before entering into the Chapter-house there is a staircase which has three landings for going to the library, with its steps of hard stone, and its breast-wall with the four Evangelists placed against the columns ; and in the four windows which light the staircase are the four principal doctors of thfe Church; and below the said staircase is a room in a vacant space, whose windows look into the Calle de Barrionuevo, Avhich is for the Secretary of the church to keep all the writings, and books, and bills of the said church, and is placed close to the Chapter-house, of which the said Secretary keeps the keys. This room is of the width of the stair- case, and its size from the wall of the Chapter-house is 27 feet, which are what remain of the 80 over and above the 53 which the Chapter- house measures. The third part, and last in order of the above- mentioned rooms, which is called the libraiy, is the same width and length. It has four windows, two towards the street, and two towards the cloister, and in Ihem medallions of SS. Peter and Paul, John Baptist, and John the Evangelist. " And in order to answer satisfactorily an3' complaints of the Senores of the city, we may make a comparison with the Church of Salamanca, which is the same kind as this church, and commenced by the same Master, though this church is 100 feet broader than Salamanca, which was begun by the same Master a long time before that of Segovia was commenced anew. The said work at Salamanca had all the ground on which it was built, so that the site cost nothing, whereas af; Segovia the whole site required was bought, and redeemed of rents which were heavy," &c. &c. App. F. CAEVED screens in TOLEDO CATHEDRAL. 495 (F.) LIST OF SUBJECTS CARVED ON THE SCREENS ROUND THE CORO OF TOLEDO CATHEDRAL. These screens extend across the west end of the Core and along its northern and sonthern sides. The central subject over the western doorway, and two subjects on either side of it, have been destroyed in order to make space for a more modern sculpture. The side screens appear to have been cut off abruptly at the eastern end, so that possibly some subjects may have been removed from this part. The subjects are arranged as follows : Xos. 1 to 9, counting from the north-west angle of the screen to the western doorway; Nos, 12 to 19, from the central doorway to the south- west angle of the screen; Kos. 20 to 40 along the southern screen, going from west to east; and Xos. 41 to 61 along the northern screen, going from east to west. Some of the subjects are doubtful, and some unintelligible to me ; and I have marked all siich in this list with a note of interrogation. The whole of the subjects illustrate the earlier passages in the Old Testament in chronological order. 1. Chaos. God looking at a broken ark, and fragments of rock on llie ground. 2. Creation of the firmament. God standing with sea behind, and supporting an arc over His head. 3. Creation of fowls and fishes. Central figure of God, birds flying above, fishes and birds swimming below. 4. The creation of sun, moon, and stars. God with His hands extended. In the two upper corners (dexter side) the sun and four stars ; (sinister side) the moon and four other stars. There are clouds round the feet of God. 5. God reverenced by angels. A standing figure of much majesty, with four angels on either side, some kneeling, some standing.^ 6. Fall of Lucifer.* In the centre God, and on either side, above, angels ; and below, figures falling headlong. 7. The Creation of Adam. God moulding a figure into the shape of a man. Nos. 8 and 9, the central subject over the doorway into the Coro, and 10 and 11 are destroyed. 1 This subject occurs iu the well- - This subject occurs in the 'Biblia known illustrations of Queen Mary's Pauperum/ with the following inscrip- Psalter, 2 B. VII., at the British Mu- tiou : — " Legitur in Apocalypsi xii" Cap" seum library. It is described as " Here et in iii° Ysaya xiiii Cap" quod lucifer God reposes on His throne with His cecidit per superbiam decelocumomni- angels." bus suis adherentibus." 490 GOTHIC AKCHITECTTTRE IN SPAIN. A pp. F. Nos. 12 and 13 are transposed. 13. God meeting Adam and Eve, and showing them the tree in the garden. 12. God meeting Adam and Eve in the garden after the Fall. They hold leaves in their hands. 14. The expulsion of Adam and Eve. On the left a tree, in front of it a battlemented tower or gate, before which is an angel. Adam and Eve going away. 15. Adam tilling the ground. Eve with a child in her arms looking at him. 16. Cain killing Abel (?), or Adam finding the dead body of Abel. (?) A man half supporting a dead body of a younger man. 17. Adam digging a grave for Abel. A man digging in the ground. 18. God meeting Cain. 19. Two figures in a niche at the angle of the western and southern screens, both looking up as if in prayer. " Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." South side. 20. (?) A figure speaking to a boy ; behind, and half-concealed among trees, another figure of a man naked. 21. (?) A man with an axe which he has let fall. He has been cutting branches from a tree, and lifts up his hands in prayer : behind him stands a woman. 22. (?) A man with a long axe resting from his labour ; a woman stands behind him, and they both look towards a young man who speaks to them. 23. (?) The end of a building. On the left of it an angel and a young man who looks out from it to the right, where are trees, and below them the mouth of a whale swallowing a man. 24. The burial of Methuselah. (?) Five figures surrounding a tomb in which they bury a sixth. 25. Noah finds grace in the sight of the Lord. (?) Two figures in supplication, apparently, before the third. 26. N oah and one of his sons before the ark. Noah turns his head towards God, who speaks from a cloud and desires him to go into the ark. 27. The ark on the waters. On one side of the roof a dove, and on the other one with a twig of a tree. The ark has three tiers of openings : beasts look out of the lowest, men and women from the next, and birds from the highest. App. F. carved SCUEENS in TOLEDO CATHEDliAL. 497 28. The ark restiug on the land, and the drunkenness of Noah. Above, Noah prays by a tree. Below, Ham lifts up the garment of Noah, who is lying on the ground, and Shem and Japheth, kneeling, cover their faces with their hands. 29. Probably the promise to Abraham that he should be the father of many nations. (?) On the left, two figures conversing; on the right, three tiers of figures. Dead bodies below, two seated figures above them, and one seated figure above again. 30. Lot and the Angels. Lot kneels before two angels. 31. Abraham's sacrifice. Isaac bound and lying on the ground. Abraham behind him looks back to an angel, who speaks and points to the ram in a thicket. 32. Abraham and Isaac. Abraham binding the ram, Isaac standing looking on, with his hands in prayer. 33. Eebekah and Jacob. Eebekah speaking to Jacob, who shows her that his arms have no hair on them. 34. Isaac blessing Jacob. Isaac sits up in bed, turns his face away from Jacob, and feels his arms. The expression of blindness is extremely well conveyed. 35. Esau's distress. Isaac supports himself on one arm on his coi:ch ; with the other he gesticulates to Esau, who stands before him with his hand before his face, and evidently in grief. 36. Jacob's dream. (?) A man seated before a tree with his hand up to his face. 37. Jacob wrestling with the Angel. 38. Joseph sold to the Tshmaelites. 39. Joseph's brethren retui-n to Jacob with his coat. 40. Joseph's brethren bowing down before him. This is the last subject on the south side of the Coro. It is possible that it may have been returned on the eastern side of the columns at this point, so as to allow of two more subjects being introduced on either side ; but if so, these subjects have been destroyed. The first six subjects on the screen on the north side, Nos. 41 to 46, are all very similar — a king seated, with generally many persons in various attitudes around him; possibly these subjects, with the four which may have been destroyed, represented the ten plagues of Egypt. I cannot discover any other explanation for them. 47. The institution of the Passover. Figures marking the lintels and side posts of a house. 2 K 498 GOTHIC AECHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Afp. F. 48. The institution of the Passover. The sacrifice of the lamb, several figures standing round an altar. 49. The smiting of the first-bom of the Egyptians. (?) Two subjects, one above the other; in each a dead body laid on(, and people looking on. 50. The passage of the Eed Sea. The people are walking on the water. 51. The drowning of the Egyptians. 52. Moses stretching his hand out over the water. Moses stoops down and touches the water witli his hand. 53. Exodus xvi. 10-12. " The glory of the Lord in the cloud." God speaking to a crowd of kneeling figures. 54. Exodus xvii. 45-6. Moses at the rock in Horeb. (?) God (with a cmciform nimbus) speaking out of the clouds to Moses, who speaks to a groui:) seated before him (probably the elders of Israel, v. 6). 55. Jethro, Zipporah, Gershom, and Eliezer coming to Moses. (?) Exodus xviii. ■Moses kneeling on the right, three figures seated on the left, and another speaking from out of foliage above. I can think of no other subject which this sculj)ture can represent. 5(5. (?) The people giving their ear-rings to Aaron to make the molten calf. Exodus xxxii. 24. Three figin-es on either side of one who stands in the centre. They seem to be throwing things into the flames, in the midst of which is a serpent. 57. Moses' hands stayed up. Exodus xvii. 12. (?) Three figures, two holding a book (apparently) under the hands of the fourth, who appears to be much fatigued. There are flames in the foreground, in the midst of which is a small head. 58. Exodus xix. 10. (?) The people washing their clothes at Moses' order. A central figure pointing to a sort of well in the centre. 59. Massacre of the worshippers of the molten calf. 60. Exodus xxiv. 29. Moses holds the two tables of the Law, and is surrounded by other figures all touching the tables. 61. Exodus xxiv. 32, 33. The two tables held by two figures above a draped altar ; four figures kneeling before them. "With this subject the series concludes. I have thought it quite worth while to give this short account of the work because it is rather rare to find so large a number of Old Testament subjects treated in this way. On the whole, too, I think App. F. carved screens in TOLEDO CATHEDRAL. 499 that this is the most important work of the age in Spain. The sculptured works of this period (the fourteenth century) are com- paratively rare. The most important of those which 1 have men- tioned in this book are the north doorway of Toledo, which has a series of subjects in all of which the Blessed Virgin appears ; at Burgos the three western doors, which have — (1) the birth of the Blessed Virgin, (2) the Assumption, and (3) the Coronation; in the south door, our Lord with the evangelists, saints, and prophets ; and in the north door, the Last Judgment. At Leon, the three western doors, which have — (1) subjects from our Lord's life, introducing the Blessed Virgin, (2) the Last Judgment, and (3) the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary ; the south transept, on one door our Lord, the evangelists and apostles, and on another the death of the Blessed Virgin Mary ; the north transept, our Lord surrounded by saints. Avila cathedral has, over its north door, our Lord in the centre, the Betrayal, Last Supper, and Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary ; and the Eesurrection of the Dead in the archivolt; and there aie various other smaller works, which will be found by reference to the Catalogue of Sculptures in the index to this volume. I know no other example of the introduction of Old Testament subjects. In all these examples the character of the sculpture is veiy similar; the architectural framing of niches and canopies is of the best kind of Middle Pointed ; and the draperies, faces, and pose of the figures are very much the same as one sees in work of the first half of the fourteenth century at Bourges and elsewhere in France. The subjects round the Coro at Toledo are superior to the others in the facility which the regularity of the openings gave for the free treatment of the sculptures, and in the variety of treatment which the subjects naturally involve. But on the other hand, the artistic skill of the sculptors who were employed at Leon cathedral seems to me to have been greater than that of the sculptors of any other Spanish work of the same age. And though the character, mode of design, and manner of execution are all extremely French, I do not know why we should have any doubt about the ability of Spaniards to execute such work, when we consider how exceedingly skilfid they were in the succeeding age, when they perhaps excelled any other sculptors of the same period. The French work to which this Spanish sculpture has most similarity, appears to me to be that of the three western doors of Bourges cathedral. In some respects, indeed, there is so much like- ness between the two that one can hardly avoid supposing that the sculptor at Leon had himself been at Bourges. And it is interesting therefore to obsei"v'e that one of the most remarkable series of sculp- tures illustrating the early portion of the Old Testament is that which is carved in the spandrels of the arcade which is cairied all round the lower part of the jambs of the Bourges doorways. I have, 2 ]v 2 500 GOTHIC AKCHITPXTURE IN SPAIN. App. G. in the earlier part of this work, observed that there is evidence of the same men having wrought at Burgos, Leon, Avila, and Toledo. (G.) AGREEMENT BETWEEN JAYME FABRE AND THE SUB-PRIOR AND BRETHREN OF THE CONVENT OF SAN DOMINGO, AT PALMA IN MALLORCA. Sit omnibus notum, quod ego magister Jacobus Fabre lapicida, civis Majoricarum, prtesenti stipulatione eonvenio vobis fratri Petro Alegre, gerenti Yices-Prioris conventus fratrum Pracdicatorum Ma- joricarum antedicti etXotarij infra scripti stipulantis, vice et nomine dicti conventus ; quod quando Prior dictae domus fiatrum Prfedica- torum Majoricarum, vel ejus locum tenens, voluerit, et requisiverit me, quod redeam ad banc civitatem Majoricarum ex Barchinona, quo iturus sum in preesenti, causa faciendi illuc aliqua opera, vel ea dirigendi cum licencia vestra, et fratrum dictas clomus, ad prceces lllustrissimi Domini Eegis Aragonum, et venera- bilis Domini Barchinonensis Episcopi : ego illico recepta moni- tione vel requisitione vestra vel Prioris dictae domus, seu ejus locum tenentis, omnibus operibus et negotiis postpositis, redeam ad banc civitatem Majoricarum, salvo justo irapedimento et quod vobis et fratri bus vestri conventus fociam, et consumabo opera vestri monasterij, et alia opera faciam prout pactus sum, et facere teneor, ut continetur in quodam publico instrumento, facto inter me et venerabilem Fr. Amaldum Burgeti, dudum Priorem dictae domus ; quod instrumentum sit validum, et nihil pro prsedictis ille videatur innovatum, aut mutati;in. Quod si per me steteritquod non redeam, cum citatus fuero, et non compleverim praedicta cum ea complere possim, tenear dare, et per validam, et solemnem stipjulationem dare promitto operi vestri dicti monasterij in manu et posse Notaiij infrascripti, vice et norhine dicti operis stipulantis, pro pena, et nomine penje, quinquaginta libras regalium Majoricensium monetfe perpetaj minutorum, quee pro damnis, et interesse computtantur, qua pena soluta, vel non, nihilominus rata maneant haec praedicta, et cetera contentain instrumento inter me et dictum fratrem Arnaldum Burgeti facto, et pro praedictis attendendis, et non contraveniendis, obligo vobis, et vestro conventui supradicto, et nomine infrascripti stipulantis, vice et nomine ejusdem monasterij me, et omnia bona mea, ubique habita, et habenda. Ad haec ego Maymonus Peris civis Majoricarum," &c. &c. "' Actum est hoc Majoricis octavo idus Junii, anno Domini millessimo trecentessimo septimo decimo sig^num Magistri Jacobi Fabre," &c. &c. Am H. NAVE OF GEllONA (.'ATHEDHAI.. 501 (H.) EEPORTS OF ARCHITECTS ON THE PLAN FOR THE COMPLE- TION OF THE CATHEDRAL AT GERONA— A.D. 1417. Junta of Twehe Architects, upon the mode which ought to he fvlhwed in the construction of the Cathedral of Gerona, icith the Reports of each of them, as they appear in the archives of the said Church. In nomine Sanctre ac individua3 Trinitatis, Patiis, et Filii, et Spiritiis Saucti. Amen. Etsi maBsiunciilas et domos profanas mnndanonim nsibtis dicatas fideles Domini erigunt et fabricant opere polimento, quanto inagis ipsi fideles verique zelatores fidei oitliodoxae circa templi Domini fabricam construendam devotius acceleiare deberent? Numquid prisci patres pro arcba Domini tabernaciilnm opere deaurato miri- fice fabricaverunt ? Hodie namqtie archa ilia veris.sima, et sanctissi- mnm illud Mamua in templo Domini a catliolicis prasservantur. Dignum quin imo et congriium potest et debet a quolibet reputari ut domns ilia quam orationis Veritas nominavit, in qua etiam illud sacrum Christi fidelibus pignus datum reconditur et tenetur, arti- ficioso ex politis lapidibus opere construatur. Haac enim domus rite noscitur pastori verissime dedicata, in ilia nempe populus Domini et oves ejus PaschuEe cibum dulzoris assumunt. Sane in domo ista latices sacrosancti noxas perimunt, culpas diluunt et Yeternas cuilibet occurrenti. Heu igitur, quam dolendum sacrum Domini templum ecclesiam Sedis clarissimae Gerundensis imper- fectum opere minorari ! Idcirco cunctis pateat, quod reverendus in Cbristo Pater et dominus dominus Dalmacius, Dei gratia episcopus Gerundensis, ipsius ecclesife tunc electus, et lionorabile capitulum ecclesise Gerundensis prsedictae prsemissa omnia pio sidere aspec- tantes, considerantesque a quantis citra temporibus fabrica dictse Sedis cessavit ex diversorum controversia juxta opiniones varias artificum subsequentes, nonnulli enim asserebant opus dictae fabricse sub navi una debere congruentius consummari, afSrmantes illud fore nobilius, quam si sub tribus navibus opus hujusmodi subsequatur. Alii autem a contraiio asserebant dictum opus sub prosecixtione trium navium continuari debere, dicentesque, quod firmius et pro- portionabilius esset capiti jamque coepto, quam si cum navi una ipsa fabrica prosequatur, quoniam opus navis unius mullum reddunt debile distantia parietum, ac etiain testudinis altitudo ; et quod terraemotus, tonitrua, ventosque vagantes timebit apetentes etiam circa directionem operis dictae fabric© consummanda3 solertius vacare, ac de opinione praedictorum veridiea informari ; et adeo ut controveisia et opiniones hujusmodi claiius tollerentur, convocavc- 502 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. App. H. I'unt artifices peritissimos, lapiscidas de diversis partibus regni hnjus, et etiara aliunde ad hanc civitatem Gevunda3, qiionim nomina iufei'ius annotantur, indeque liabitis collationibtis plurimis, tarn coram dictis reverendo domino Episcopo, tunc electo, et honoraLili capitulo dictai ecclesias Geriindensis, qnam alias inter ipsos artifices opere praemisso subjecto primitns ocnlis cujuslibet eorundem cer- nentium opus, quod coeptum fuerat, et qualiter liucusque fuerat ; prosecutum in illo, et forraatis super hiijusmodi opere prosequendo articulis infrascriptis. II. Inquiry} In the name of God. Our Lord, and tlie Virgin our Lady Saint Mary, the " Maestros " Superintendents and masons summoned for the direction of the works of the cathedral of Gerona, must be asked the following questions :— 1. If the Avork of one nave of the said cathedral chui'ch, com- menced of old, could be continued, with the certainty of remaining secure and without risk. 2. Supposing that it is not possible to continue the said work of one nave with safety, or that it will not be lasting, whether the work of three naves, continued on, would be congruous, sufficient, and such as would deserve to be prosecuted; or, on the contrary, if it ought to be given up or changed ; and in that case unto what height it would be right to continue what is begun, and to specify the whole, in such sort as to prevent mistake ? 3. ^Vhat foi'm or continuation of the said works will be the most compatible and the best proportioned to the Chevet of the said church which is already begun, made, and finished? 'i'he " maestros " and masons, before being asked these questions, must take their oath ; and after having given their declarations, the Lord Bishop of Gerona and the honourable Chapter shall elect two of the said masters, in order that they may form a plan or design, by which the work will have to be continued. All which the secretary of the Chapter will put in due form in a public writing. III. Successive dicti artifices, lapiscidas sigillatim, ad partem medio a se corporaliter prsestito juramento deposuerunt, et suam intentionem dixerunt in et super opere prelibato diebus, mensibus et annis inferius dosignatis et sub fomia sequenti. Die jovis vicessima tertia ^ This iuteiTogatory, and the declara- la Canal, Esp. Sag. xiv. pp. '227-24-4. I tious of the twelve architects, ai'e in the have thought it best to give an English Catalan idiom in the original, and are translation, translated into Castilian by Fr. Jose' de Ai'P. H. NAVE OF GERONA CATHEDRAL. 5U3 luensis Januarii anno nativitatis Domini millesimo ccoc. sexto decimo niagi&tri et lapiscida^ seqiientes juraverunt et deposuerunt apud civitatem Gerundai infrascripti, prajsentibus et interroganti- bus venerabilibus viris dominis Arnaldo de Gurbo, et Joanne de Pon- tonibus canonicis, et Petro de Bosclio prsesbitero de capitulo dictse ecclesise Gerundensis ad hoc per dictos leverendum dorainiim elec- tum in Episcopum et capitulnm Gerundensc deputatis super arti- culis prceinsertis et contentis in eisdem nt sequitur, IV. Paschasius de Xuj.be lapiscida et magister operis sive fahricce ecclesice sedis Dertusensis super prima dictorum artictdorum sibi lecto medio juramento iiiterrogatiis, dixit : — 1. That according to his knowledge and belief it is certain that the work of one nave of the catliedral of Gerona already commenced is secure, good, and firm ; and that the foundations or bases of the old work already made are also so, and that the rest will be so if the}'' are constructed in the same manner, and that they will be sufficient to sustain the vault of the said work of one nave. 2. Supposing that the work of one nave is not carried out, it is certain that the one of three naves, already commenced in the said church, is good and firm. But in the event of the plan of three naves being adopted, he says, that it would be necessary that the vault which is over the Coro, towards the altar of the same church, should be pulled down, and that it should be unroofed, in order that it may be raised eight palms — a little more or less — above what it is now, so that it may correspond to its third in its mea- surements. 3. That the plan of three naves is more compatible and better proportioned to the Chevet of the church than that of one nave. Inter rogatus. — Whether, in joining the lower voussoirs on the capital of the pillar over the pulpit, which corresponds to the other of the Coro, in case the work of three naves is carried out, there will be any risk of causing a settlement in the said pillar? — I answer, that there will be none, and that it can be done with safety. V. Joannes de Xulbe, lapiscida, filius dicti Paschasij de Xulbe, regens pv dictopatre suo fabricam prcedictam, sive opus dictoe EcclesicB Dertusensis, simili juramento a se corporaliter prcescripto, interrogatus super prandictis articulis deposuit ut infra. Et primo super prima articulo interrogatus, dixit : — 1. That the work of the nave already commenced can be con- tinued, and that it will be good, firm, and without danger; but 504 GOTHIC AHCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. App. H. that the arches must be made to the tierce point, and that the prin- cipal arch miist be shored up. That the first abutments of the old work, situated on the south, are good and firm, and that, making the others like them, they will be so also, and sufficient to sustain the vault which has to be executed in the said church. 2. That if the plan of one nave is not to be followed, it is possible to continue that of three ; and that it will be more beautiful, stronger, and better than the other. But that the three naves ought to be carried on according to those in the choir of the church ; and then it will be more beautiful and admirable. And that the new vault which is contiguous to the Chevet ought to be taken down, because it is bastard, and because it does not correspond with the said Chevet. 3. That the work of three naves in the form which has just been explained is the most compatible and the best proportioned to the Chevet of the church. Ihterrogatus. — Whether in joining the lower voussoirs of the arch above the capital of the pillar which is above the pulpit, cori-e- sponding to the other of the choir, in case the Avork of three naves is carried out, there will be any risk of causing a settlement in the said pillar ? — I say no, provided that the arches are well shored, so that they can have no thrust. vr. Petrds de Vallfogoxa, lapiscida et magister fahricoc Ecdesice Terra- conensis jurameiito proedicto medio super didis articuUs interrogatus deposidt. Et primo super primo orticulo interrogatus dixit : — 1. That the work of the said church, already commenced, of one nave can be continued, and that it will be good, safe, firm, and without risk. That the abutments and foundations of the old work are so, and that those which have to be made will be so if con- structed in the same way, and that they are sufficient to support the vault which such a work ought to have. But that the abut- ments made towards the campanile require to be strengthened more than those constructed on the south side. 2. That if the plan of one nave is not carried out, that of three is congruous and worthy to be continued, provided that the second bay of vaulting, as far as the capitals and lowest voussoirs inclusive, is taken down ; yet if above the principal arch a discharging arch is erected, it will not be necessary to move the lower voussoirs or the capitals, and it would be possible to raise the Crossing of that vault all its width as much as is required ; and it could have a light in the gable, which could have a clear opening of fifteen or sixteen palms, which would be a notable work. He says further : that the lower voussoiis which are in the northern and southern angles ought to app. h. nave of gerona cathedral. 505 be altered, and that they ought to be reconstructed in accordance with the plan of three naves. 3. That without comparison the plan of three naves, in the form which has just been explained, is more compatible and more pro- portioned to the Chevet of the church than the plan of one nave. ' liiterrogatus. — Whether, in case the plan of three naves is carried out, there will be any danger in opening a hole in the pillar over the pulpit coiTesponding to the other of the Coro at the time of joining the voussoirs above the capital ? — He said, that there would not; and that it could be done with safety. VII. Postmodnm die veneris vicessima quarta dictorum mensis et anni in manu et posse mei ejusdem Bemardi de Solerio, notariisubscripti, praisentibus et interrogantibus dictis dominis Arnaldo de Gurbo, Joanne de Pontonibus, et Petro de Boscho, magistri et lapiscidae sequentes super praedictis, medio simili juramento, deposuerunt ut sequitur. viir. GuiLLHRMUS DE LA MoTA, lajnscicla, sociiis magistri in opere fabriccB Ecclesice Terraconce super proedictis articidis, medio juramento, ut supra interrogatus deposuit. Et primo super primo articulo interrogatus, dixit : — 1. That he considers that the plan of the church commenced with one nave could be well executed, and that the Crossing will be firm ; but that it is observed in old works, that bulky buildings, as that of one nave would be, sink with earthquakes or with great hurricanes, and for these causes he fears that the work of one nave might not be permanent. 2. That the plan of three naves is good, congruous, and one that deserves to be followed, provided that the second Crossing ma}' be new to the lowest voussoirs ; and that its principals be demolished as far as the capitals, and that horizontal courses of stones be carried up to the height of fourteen or fifteen palms. That the springers which are towards the north and the south ought also to be taken down, and that they ought to be reconstructed in proper proportion to the plan of three naves. 3. That without comparison the plan of three naves is more com- patible and more proportioned to the Chevet of the church than that of one nave. Interrogatus.— \i there will be danger in opening a hole in the pillar near the pulpit, to place the springers? — He said that there would not be anv risk. 506 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. App. H. IX. Bartolom.eus Gltal, lapiscida et magister operis sedis Barchinonensis super prcEdictis articulis, ut supra dicitur, interrogatus, medio juramento proedicto deposuit. Et primo super primo articuh interrogatus dixit : — 1. That the bases and abutments of tlie old work of one nave are sufficiently strong, making a wall over the capitals between the abutments, which may rise a "cana"' from the windows, and that from that wall a vault may spring, which Avill abut against each of the abutments, and in this way they would remain safe. Ko doiibt the vault may remain firm over one nave, so that it may resist earthquakes, violent winds, and other mishaps which may occur. 2. That the plan of three naves is good, congruous, and such as deserves to be carried out ; but that the new vault of the second arch, the last done, ought to be taken down to the springing, and ought to be raised until there is room in that place for a circle ("una 0") of fourteen palms of opening; and in that way there will be beautiful and notable work, and it will not be necessary to undo the whole to the springing line. 3. That the plan of three naves is beyond comparison much better proportioned and more compatible to the Chevet of the church than that of one nave. Interrogatus. — Whether there will be any risk in making an opening in the jiillars in order to join the springers of the arches ? — He said that there would not be ; but he counsels that, when the said arch is taken out, the foot of the arch voussoir in the pillar which has to be altered should be larger than the other, because that has not so much weight on it. X. Antonius Caxet, lapiscida, magister sive sculptor iinaginum civitatis Barchinonce, magister que fahricoe sedis UrgeUensis super prcedictis articulis ut pi'cedicitur, interrogatus medio dicto juramento deposuit. Et primo super primo articuh interrogatus, dixit: — 1. That according to his knowledge and conscience the plan of one nave, already commenced, can be continued with the certainty that it will be good, firm, and secure : and that the abutments which the said work has are good and firm for the support of the vault, and all that is necessary in order to carry on the said work. 2. That the work already begun of three naves is good and well- proportioned, but that it is not so noble as that of one nave ; and that if the work of three naves is continued it would be necessary that the vault of the second bay of the middle nave should be taken '•Cann," a measure of two ells Flemish. app. h nave of geeona cathedral. 507 down to the capitals ; and that the capitals as well should be taken down eight or ten courses of stone, and so that the first pillar may be joined, which was constructed in the head of the gi-and nave, con- tiguous to the Chevet of the church, and that the opening shall not be made so low in the pillar, and the springing of the arch stones may be introduced in it better. And though it is true that in this way the (triforium) gallery may be lost, it is worth more to lose it than the bright effect of light in the temple, which could be secured by a round window in the said grand nave. But that, if the second nave is followed out as it was commenced, it will be most gloomy. For which reason he is sure that if the plan of three naves is to be good, it is necessary for it to be earned out w^orking in the way he has described. 3. That the plan of one nave would be much more compatible and better proportioned to the Chevet of the church as it is already commenced and completed, than that of three naves, because the said Chevet was commenced low ; and that the plan of one nave will be executed with a third at least of the cost of three naves. That if the plan of one nave is followed, the galleries, Avhich are beautiful, will not be lost, and the church will be beyond compari- son much more light. XI. GuiLLEKMUS Abiell, lapiscidaet magisteroperumseufabricarum ecclesiarum Beatce Marice de Finn et Beatoe Marioe de Monte Caimelo, et de Monte Sion, et Sancti Jacobi BarchinoncB, et hospitalis Sanctoe Criicis, civitatis ejusdem, sic etiam super prcedictis, dicto juramento medio, interrogatus, dixit : — 1. That according to his understanding and good conscience the work already commenced of one nave can be continued, and will be good, firm, and secure ; and that the foundations Avhich it has, the rest being made in the same way, are good and firm to support the work of one nave without danger. 2. That the plan of three naves is good, beautiful, and more secure than the other, wherefore it deserves to be continued. But that the vault of the second bay of the middle nave ought to be taken down to the springers, and be raised afterwards by its third, so that a tine round window may be had there, and to make an upper vault above the principal : and in this way the plan of three naves will be very beautiful. 3. That without any doubt the plan of three naves is more com- patible and adequate to the choir of the church as it is now, than that of one nave, because that of one nave would be so wide that it would have great deformity when compared with the Chevet of the church. 508 CtOTHIO architecture in SPAIN. Am H. XIJ. Arn ALDUS DE Valleras, lapiscida et magister operis sedis Minorisce super dictis articulis, prout alii, interrogatus deposuit medio dicto juramento ut seqaitur. Et primo super primo articulo interrogatus dixit : — - 1. That the work of one nave, already commenced, can very well be continued, and will be good, firm, secure, and without risk ; and that the foundations which the said work has, and the rest which may be made like them, are good, and sufficient to sustain the Avork of a single nave ; and that, though they might not be so strong, they woiild be firm and secure. He says further, that the work of the Church of JManresa is now being constructed, which is higher than this, which has not such great or strong foundations, and is not of so strong a stone. It is true, he says, that the Manresa stone is lighter, and combines better with the mortar than that of Gerona ; and that, if he could have to construct the latter church, he would make the vault of other stone which was lighter, and which combined better with the mortar, but that the vaulting ribs, the loAver part of the walls, the abutments, and the rest of such work could be executed in Gerona stone. 2. That the plan of three naves is good, congruous, and deserves to be carried out, provided that the vault of the second arch of the middle nave is taken down to the springers, and that they also are taken down, so that the work may be raised by its dimensions ; so that it will be possible to have over the principal of the first arch a round window of twenty palms opening, with which it will look very well and not be disfigured. 3. That the plan of three naves in the manner which has been described is, without comparison, more fitting and better propor- tioned to the existing Chevet of this church than that of one nave ; because that of one nave would make the choir appear to be so small and mis-shapen, that it would always demand that it should be raised or made larger. Interrogatus. — Whether there would be any danger in opening a hole in the pillars in order to insert the abutments ? — He said that there would not ; and that if he, the deponent, should do the work, he would commence first by opening a hole in the pillars in order to join the abutments, since in that way they could not settle or give way, as certainly and without doubt might happen. That he was ready to come and continue this work in the manner which he had described ; obtaining the licence of the city of Manresa, with which he had contracted to construct the church there. App. h. nave of gerona cathedral. 509 XIII. Antoxius Antigoxi, magister major operis ecdesice villoe Castilionis Jm- puriarum super prcedictis interrogatus, dicfo jaramento medio deposuit. M primo super primo articulo interrogatus dixit : — 1. That the plan of one nave, formerly commenced, could be con- tinued well and firml>' Avithout any risk ; and the foundations that it has, and the rest which have to he made like them, are suflicient to sustain with all firmness the said work of one nave. Interrogatus. — Whether the work of one nave, in case it were made, would'run any risk of falling with hurricanes and earthquakes ? — He said that there was no cause for fear. 2. That the work of three naves continued of late is not con- gruous, nor of such sort as that its plan could be followed, because in no way could it be constructed with the same dimensions. But it is true that if the vault of the bay last done is taken down to the springers, and raised afterwards fourteen or fifteen palms in its measurements, the plan of three naves would be more tolerable, though it could never be called beautiful or very complete. 3. That he has no doubt that the work of one nave would be for all time without comparison the most beautiful, more compatible and better proportioned to the Chevet of the church than that of three naves, since it will be always clear that the latter was not done carefully and with good taste. Interrogatus. — Whether in case the work of three naves is carried out, there will be any aisk in opening a hole in the pillars in order to join the abutments ? — He said that it could be done, but not without danger. XIV. Gdilleumus Sagkera, magister operis sive fabricce ecclesioe Sancti Joannis Perpigniani ut supra interrogatus dicto jaramento medio deposuit. Et pjrimo super pjrimo articulo interrogatus dixit : — 1, That the plan of one nave, formeily commenced, can be con- tinued, and that it will be good, firm, and secure ; and that the foundations which it has, with the rest which must be made in the same way, are sufficient to sustain it. Interrogatus. — ^Vhether if the one nave is adopted there will be risk by reason of earthquakes and violent winds ? — He said that with the earthquakes which he has seen, and the winds which naturally prevail, there would be no danger that the said work should fall or become decayed. 2. That the work of three naves lately commenced is not con- gruous, and does not deserve to be carried on ; and in case it is continued, in the first place the vault of the second bay ought to 510 GOTHIC ARCHITPXTURE IN SPAIX. App. H. be taken down from the springers to the capitals ; in the second, also, the other pillars which were made afterwards ought to he taken down, in order that they may be raised fifteen palms or there- abouts ; and that with all this the work will not be completed well, biit on the contrary will be mesquin and miserable. That the gallery, which would be lost, could not remain there ; that it would not be possible to place the series of windows due to the work between the chapels higher than they w^ould be in a single nave, owing to the thrust or pressure of the arches, which would be to- wards the gallery, corresponding to the new pillars of the enclo- sure of the choir, and would come against the void of the gallery, wherefore the work would not have the firmness it ought to have. The deponent concludes, saying, that for these and other reasons the said work of three naves would not be good or advantageous. 3. That the plan of one nave would be beyond comparison more compatible and more proportioned to the Chevet of the church already built, commenced, and completed, than would one of three naves ; and he says it is the fact that the said choir of the church was made and completed with the intention that the remainder of the woik should be made and carried out with a single nave. XV. Joannes de Guinguamps, lapiscida, hahitator civitatis Narhonos super j)rcBdictis articulis, sicut alii prcedicti interrogatus medio dicto juramento deposuit ut sequitur. Et prima super primo articulo interrogaUis dixit : — • 1 . That the work already commenced of one nave could very well be made and continued ; and that when it is done it will be very good, firm, and secure, without any dispute ; and that the founda- tions which are already made in the old woik, and the others which will be made in the same way, are good, and have sufficient strengtli to maintain the work of a single nave. 2. That the plan of three naves latterly continued is not con- gruous or sufficient, and should not in an}^ way be made or followed, because it never will have reasonable conformity with the Chevet. 3. That the plan of a single nave is beyond comj^arison more fit and proportioned to the choir of the said church, than would be that of three naves, for several reasons. 1st. That the deponent knows that the plan of a single nave with the said choir would be more reasonable, more brilliant, better proj)ortioned, and less costlj'. 2nd. Because, if the work is carried on with one nave, there would not be the deformity or diflerence that disgusts. And though some may say that the plan of a single nave would make the choir look low and small, the more on that account would no deformity be produced, rather it would be more beautiful; and the reason is, that Ai'p. H. NAVE OF GERONA CATHEDRAL. 511 in the space which would be left between the top of the choir and the centre of the great vault, there would be so large a space that it would be possible to have there three rose windows : the first and principal in the middle, and another small one on each side : and these three roses would do away with all deformity, would give a grand light to the church, and would endow the work with gi-eat perfection. Interrogatus. — Whether, if the plan of three naves is adopted, it would be dangerous to open the pillars in order to join in them the springers corresponding to it ? — He said that he would not do it or consent to it on any account, because great danger, great wrong, and great damage would result, since in no part could the work be brought to perfection, and such a fissure could not be made without great risk. XVI. Postmodum die Lunse, quae fuit vicesima octava mensis Septem- bris, anno jam dicto a Nativitate Domini millessimo cncc. sexto decimo, ad instantiam dicti domini Petri de Boscho operarii hoc anno dictas ecclesiae Gerundensis, super ipsius regimine operis una et in solidum cum honorabili viro domino Francisco Sacalani canonico dictae ecclesiee electi et deputati apud domes Thesaurarite dictas ecclesise Gerundensis coram dictis reverendo in Christo patre et domino domino Dalmacio Dei gratia episcopo et honorabili capi- tulo ejusdem ecclesiae Gerundensis ad tactum cimbali, ut moris est, ibidem, convocatis et congregatis ; iibi fuerunt pra^sentes dictus reve- rendus domimis dominus Dalmacius, episcopus, et honorabiles viri Dalmacius de Roseto, decretorum doctor, archidiaconus de Silva in dicta ecclesia Gerundensi, Arnaldus de Gurbo, Joannes de Pon- tonibus, Guillermus de Brongarolis, sacrista secundus, Joannes de Boscho Thesaurarius, Joannes Gabriel Pavia, Petrus de Boscho prag- dictus, Guillermus Marinerii, Petrus Sala, Franciscus Mathei, et Bartholomeus Vives, presbiteri capitulares et de capitulo ante dicto, capitulum ejusdem ecclesiae Gerundensis facientes, representantes et more solito celebrantes : dicti articuli et dictee depositiones, et dicta a dictis artificibus super eisdem in scriptis redacta et continuata in dicto capitulo publice, alta et intelligibilli voce de verbo ad verbum lecta fuerunt, et publicata per me eundem Bernardum de Solerio, notarium, supra et infra scriptum. Et eis sic lectis et publicatis, illico dicti reverendus dominus episcopus et honorabile capitulum super concludendo et determinando per quem modum juxta opi- niones, depositiones et dicta dictorum artificum melius pulchrius et efficacivis dictum opus preefatte ecclesiae Gerundensis stab prosecu- tione videlicet unins aut trium navium prosequatur et consumetur, retinuerunt sibi deliberationem et ad hujusmodi fuerunt pro testibus presentes et evocati discreti viri Franciscus Tabernerii et Petrus Puig presbiteri benefficiati in dicta ecclesia Gerundensi. 512 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. App. H. XVII. Deinde vero die Lunae octava mensis Martii anno a Nativitate Domini millessimo cccc. decimo septimo alius artifex lapiscida infra- scriptus jnravit et deposuit in dicta civitate Gerundee in posse mei Bernardi de Solerio notarii supra et infra scripti, prsesentibns et interrogantibus venerabilibns viris dominis Arnoldo de Gnrbo, canonico, et Guillermo Marinierii presbitero de capitulo dictfe ecclesife Gerundensis, ad hoc per dictos reverendum dominum Dal- niaciiim episcopum et honorabile capitulum Gernndense, specialiter deputatis snper articixlis praeinsertis, et contentis in eisdem ut seqnitiir. XVIII. GuiLLERMUS BoFFiY, magister operis sedis dictce ecdesios Gerundensis simili juramento a se corporaliter proestito super primo articulo dictorum arti- culorum interrogatus, dixit et deposuit : — 1. That the work of the nave of the church of Gerona, already begun, coiild be made and continued very well ; and that if it is continued it will be firm and secure without any doubt, and that the foundations, and others which may be made like them, are and will be good and fi^rm enough to sustain the said work of one nave. And that it is true that the said foundations or abutments, even if they were not so strong, would be sufficient to maintain the said work of one nave, since they have a third more of breadth than is required : wherefore they are very strong, and offer no kind of risk. ■ 2. That the work of three naves for the said church does not merit to be continued when compared with that of one nave, because great deformity and great cost will follow from it, and it would never be so good as that of one nave. 3. That the work of one nave is, without comparison, the most conformable to the choir of the church already commenced and made, and that the plan of three naves would not be so. And that, if the plan of one nave is carried out, it would have such grand advan- tages, and such grand lights, that it would be a most beautiful and notable work. XIX. Post prgedicta autem omnia sic habita et secuta, videlicet die Luna;, intitulata quinta decima dicti mensis Martii, anno jam dicto a Nativitate Domini millesimo cccc. decimo septimo, mane videlicet, post missam sub honore beatas MarijB Virginis gloriosse in dicta Gerundensi ecclesia solemniter celebratam, dictis reverendo in Christo patre et domino domino Dalmacio ejjiscopo, et honorabilibus app. h. nave of gerona cathedral. 513 viris capitulo dicte ecclesiae Gerundensis, liac de causa ad tiiiium tactum cimbali, tit moris est, de raandato dicti domini episcopi apud domos praedictas Thesaurariae dicta3 ecclesiae Gerundensis siimil convocatis et congi-egatis : ubi cunvenemnt, et fuerunt pr^sentes dictus reverendus dominus Dalmacius episcopus, et honorabiles viri Dabnacius de Raseto, decretonim doctor, archidiaconus de Silva, Arnaldus de Guibo, Joannes de Pontonibus, canonici, Guillermus de Burgarolis, sarista secundus, Joannes de Boscbo, Thesauraiius, Joannes Gabriel Pavia, Petrus de Boscho, Guillerimis Marinerii, Petrus Sala, Bacallarii in decretis, Franciscus Mathei et Bartholo- meus Vivos licentiatus in decretis, presbiteri capitulares et de capitulo ante dicto, ipsi reverendus dominus episcopus et honora- biles viri et capitulum prsenotati, sicut prgemititur capitulariter convocati et congregati, et capitulum dictaj ecclesias Gerundensis facientes, representantes, et more solito celebrantes, visis et recogni- tis per eosdem, ut dixerunt, praedictorum artificum et lapiscidarum depositionibus ante dictis in unum Concordes deliberavemnt, sub Navi una prossequi magnum opus antiquum Gerundensis ecclesice, praelibatis rationibus quae sequuntur : tum quia ex dictis prEemissorum artifi- cum clare constat, quod si opus trium navium supradictum opere continuetur jam coepto, expedit omnino quod opus expeditum supra chorum usque ad capitellos ex ejus deformitate penitus diruatur et de novo juxta mensuras coepti capitis reformetur : tum quia constat ex dictis ipsomm clare, eovum uno dempto, nemine discrepante, quod hujusmodi opus magnum sub navi una jam coeptum est firmum, stabile et securum si prosequatur tali modo et ordine, utest coeptum, et quod terra^motus, tonitrua nee turbinem ventorum timebit : tum quia ex opinione multorum artificum pra^dictorum constat, dictum opus navis unius fore solemnius, notabilius et proportionabilins capiti dictae ecclesiae jam incepto, quam sit opus trium navium supradictum : tum quia etiam mnlto majori claritate fulgebit quod est Ijetiiis et jucundum : tum quia vitabuntur expensae, nam ad prosequendi^m alteram operum praedictoram modo quo stare viden- tur opus navis unius multo minori prtetio, quam opus trium navium, et in breviori tempore poterit consumari. Et sic rationum intuitu preemisarum dictus reverendus dominus episcopus et honorabile capitulum supradicta^ ecclesite Gerun- densis voluerunt, cnpierunt, et intenderunt, ut dictum est, opus magnum unius navis prasdictum, quantum cum Deo poterunt pro- sequi et deduci totaliter ac eifectum. Et talis fuenint intentionis domini episcopus et capitulum ante dicti praesento me eodem Ber- nardo de Solerio, notario supra et infra scripto et preesentibus vene- rabilibus viris, &c. &c. &c. 2 L 514 GOTHIC ATiCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Apr. I. CONTRACT OF GUILLERMO SAGRERA FOR THE EXCHANGE AT PALMA. Contract entered into at Pahna in Mallorca, March 11, 1426, hy ivhich the Architect Gidllermo Sagrera hound himself to construct or to continue the Construction of the Exchange of that City, according to Plans which he presented, and to the Conditions expressed. Kecites the names of the contracting parties for the erection of the fabric of the Exchange which is being built in the Place called " del Boters," outside the walls of the city. (The following conditions were written in the " Lemosin " or Maliorcan idiom.) Firstly.— T\\ixt the said Guillerrao Sagrera promises and agrees in good faith with the said honourable members of the Building Coun- cil (Fabriqueros), that, God helping, he will complete the building of the said Exchange, to the covering of its vaults, in the first twelve years from the date of the contract : the said Exchange to be eight " canas^ of Monpeller " in height, reckoning from the pavement to the keystone. Item.— That the said twelve j-ears being passed, the said Guillermo Sagrera will be obliged in the three succeeding years to make and finish all the towers, turrets, and other works which pertain to the said Exchange above the roof. Item. — That the said Guillermo must and is bound to do all the said work at his own cost and charge, as well what may be neces- sary by reason of his art, as for wooden scaffolding and centering ; and also for paying for all the stone, lime, gravel, and all the instruments and tools necessary for the work; and in the same manner for all the workmen, officials, and others working in the said Exchange and outside it ; and lastly all the other things neces- sary for its completion. Item. — That the said Guillermo is obliged to continue and com- plete the said work of the Exchange in the form which was begun, and according to the designs given and put into the hands of the honourable Council of the Fabric by the said Guillermo. Item. — That the said Guillermo binds himself to build from the base and to complete all the pillars and keystones of the said Exchange in Santani stone, fluted and according to the said design, and to floor it with the same stone, and to lay the terrace with the mixture of burnt clay and fresh lime which they call " TrespoU." ' A " cana ' equals two yards and three inches Spanish measure. App. I. ERECTION OF F.XCHANGE AT PALMA. 515 Item. — That the said Guillermo binds himself to make the pen- dents of the said Exchange of Solleric stone. Item. — That the said Guillermo binds himself to make on the ontside part of the said Exchange, and above the gable of the door- way which looks towards the Royal castle of the said city of Mallorca, a solemn tabernacle with the figure of the modest Virgin onr Lady Saint Mary. Item. — That the said GTiillei;mo binds himself to make on the other three fronts of the same Exchange, that is on the outside of each one of them, a figui'e of an angel, each one with his taber- nacle over him ; and that each of the said angels have on one side the Eoyal scutcheon, and on the other that of the said city of Mallorca, in the form and manner which may be pleasing to the said hionourable Council of the Fabric. Item. — That the said Guillermo binds himself to make in each one of the four corners of the said Exchange on the outside a grand statue, each one in his tabernacle, similar to the angels : that is, in the corner which looks towards the Pi Gate, that of San Nicolas ; in that which looks towards the church of San Juan, that of St. John the Baptist ; in that which looks towards the Arsenal, that of Sta. Catalina ; and in that which looks towards the said Eoyal castle, that of Sta. Clara ; in the form and manner which may please the said honourable Council of the Fabric. Item. — That the said Guillermo binds himself to make in one of the four turrets of the corners of the said Exchange a room where a clock can be placed. Item. — That the said Guillermo binds himself to cover the abut- ments or buttresses with sharp-pointed stone weatherings, and in the top of each of the said weatherings there must be a great knop on which a flower-pot can stand ; and that the balustrade which surrounds all the top of the Exchange shall be pierced with openings. And all the things which are at present within the said Exchange shall belong to the said Guillermo ; and it is further declared that the aforenamed will not have to make gates nor iron screens in the said Exchange. Item. — That the said honourable Council of the Fabric are to give and pay to the said Guillermo, on account of all the things before said and speciiied, 22,000 pounds of Mallorcan money, in instalments, in the form and manner following : To wit, That the said honourable Guardians and those who succeed them in the office of Guardians of the Merchants' Affairs shall be obliged to pay each year to the said Guillermo the sum for which they may have alienated the right of dues on the merchandize imposed by the said Mercantile College upon all the stuffs and merchandize entering and sailing from the island of Mallorca, reserving to the said honourable Guardians in each year 2 L 2 516 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN. Arp. I. 150/. of tlie said money of Mallorca for the expenses and business of the College; and the said price of the said dues, the IbOl. already refeiTed to being dediicted, is to be reserved for ibe said Guillerino every }'ear in payment and satisfaction of the said 22,000/. ; and this for such time and until the abovementioncd is wholl}' and completely paid and satisfied to the whole extent already mentioned. Declaring however and agreeing in which, the said Guillermo shall be bound to spend each year out of his own stock on the said work of the Exchange 500/. of the said money beyond that wliiih he shall leceive of the said price of the dues of mer- chandize. &c. &c. Signed March 11th, 1426, by Guillermo Sagrera, Francesco Anglada, and Juan Terriola, and by others.' ' Ceau Bermudez, Arq. de Espana, i. pp. 276-279. ( 517 ) INDEX. A. Abbey of Veruela, 384. Abiell, Guillermo, 311 ; his report ou plan for completion of Gerona cathedral, 507. Acuna, Bishop Luis cle, 25 and note, 26. Adam, Juan, bell-founder, 350. Asata, Stii., church of, at Barcelona, 312. Ajiuiez windows, meaning of term, 269 ; examples of, at Segovia, 193 ; at Va- lencia, 2G9, 270 ; at Tarragona, 289 ; at Barcelona, 316 ; at Gerona, 334, 335 ; near Manresa, 340 ; at Leriiia, 361. Alagon, town of, 391. Alava, Juan de, architect, 86. Alcala de Henares : chiu-ch of SS. Just y Pastor, 199 ; university, 201 ; church of San Ildefonso, 201 ; bisliop'a palace, 201. Alcantara, bridge of, 210, 211 note, 230. Alcazar, the, at Segovia, 187 ; at Toledo, 211. Alfonso, son of Juan IL, his monument in the cliapel of Miiailores, 42. , Eodrigo, architect, 251. Almansa, 259. Almudevar, castle of, 362 and noto. Altar-frontals at Valencia, brought from St. Paul's, London, 267 ; in the col- legia ta at Manresa, 344. Altars, old, 89, 240, 387. Amiens, cathedral at, date of, 109. Ana, Sta., collegiate church of, at Barce- lona, 295. Andino, Cristobal, worker in iron, 60, note, Autholin, San, cathedral of, at Palencia. 57 ; chui-ch of, at Medina del Campo, 161 ; at Segovia, 192. Autigoni, Antonio, his report on plan for completion of Gerona cathe hal, 509. Antigua, la, church of, at Valladolid, 69 ; at Guadalajara, 202.; Anton, San, church of, at Barcelona, 314. Aqueduct, Eoman, at Segovia, 181; at Tarragona, 274 ; modern, near TaFalla, 402. Aijuitaiue and AuvLigiie, type of cliurch ARCHITECTS. common in, in the twelfth century 415. Aragon, kingdom of, provinces composing it, 411. Arandia, Juan de, architect, 71. Aranjuez, 209, 259. Ai-c],itects, Juntas of, at Salamanca, 85, 459; at Zaragoza, 266 note, 370; at Gerona, 320, 456; others, 460. , the old Spanish, their main object, 420. , Villanueva's list of, employed on the cathedral at (ierona, 319, note. , Spanish, of the middle ages, 448- 464 ; Petrus de Deo, his work at San Isidoro, Leon, 448 ; Eaymundo of ]Mou- forte de Lemos, his contract with the Chapter of Lugo, 449; Maftlieus, master of the works at Santiago cathe- dral, 449; Raymuudo, a "Lambardo," employed on Urgel cathedral, 450; Pedro de Cumba, architect of Lerida cathech-al, 451 ; Pedi-o de Peiiafreyta, his successor, 452; Maestro Ponce, 452 ; Jayme Fabre, his works at Bar- celona and Palma, 453 ; Pedro Zacoma, employed on San Feliu, Gerona, 453 ; Juan Garcia de La guard ia, master- mason of Navarre, 454 ; (iuillermo ^olivella, 454 ; Juan Franck, 455 ; Lucas Bernaldo de Quintana, his con- tract for rebuilding the church at Gijon, 455 ; Jmita of, at Gerona, 456 ; Guillermo Sagrera, his works at Per- piiian and Palma, 457 ; Guillermo Vila- solar, his agreement to complete work commenced by Sagrera, 457 ; appoint- ment of architect to Calahorracathedi'al, 45H; Juan Norman appointed to Seville cathedral, 459; succeeded by Maestro Jimon, 459 ; Juan de Escobedo at Segovia, 459 ; Pedro Compte, his works at Valencia, 459 ; Anton Egas and Alfonso Kodriguez, theii' plan for a new cathedral at Salamanca, 459 ; Junta of at Salamanca, 459 ; Eodrigo Gil de Hontaiion appointed, 460 ; report on the state of the works by three archi- tects, 460; other Juntas of, 460; Bene- 518 INDEX. AKCHITECTS. dicto Oger and Domingo Urteaga, their contracts for erecting churches, 4(11 ; Felipe de Borgona, superintends works at Burgos, 461, note; Jayme Castayls, statues by, 4G1, note ; Berengario Por- tell and Gil de Siloe, works of, 4G2 ; few cases of competition among, 462 ; usual practice of, 462 ; question between ourselves and them, 463 ; clerical archi- tects, 464. Architects, sculptors, and builders of churches, catalogue of, 471. Architectural terms supplied by Arabs, 209. Argenta, Bart., architect, 319. Arnoldo, Cardinal, 57. Artesinado work, meaning of, 220, note. Assas, Manuel de, quoted, 213, notes. Astorga, walls of, 129; cathecbal, 129. Avila : situation, 162 ; walls and towers, 162; cathedral, 163; church of San Vicente, 170; San Pedro, 176; church and convent of San Tomas, 178. Aya, Martin de la, sculptor, 20, note. , liodrigo, 20, note. B. Badajoz, Juan de, architect, 85, 126, 128. Balaguer, Pedro, architect, 265, 350. Baldachin, at Gerona, 327. Barbastro, cathedral of, 362. Barcelona, 291 ; convent and church of San Pablo del Campo, 292 ; chm-ch of San Pedro de las Puellas, 294 ; colle- giata of Sta. Ana, 295 ; catl.edral, 296- 307 ; chapel of Sta. Lucia, 304 ; Bishop's palace, 307 ; church of Sta. Maria del Mar, 307 ; Sta. INIaria del Pino, 309 ; SS. Just y Pastor, 309; San Jayme, 311; Sta. Agata, 312; N. S. del Carmen, 313 ; San Miguel, 314 ; San Anton, 314 ; San Geronimo, 314 ; CasaConsistorial,314; Casa de la Disputacion, 316 ; Lonja, 316; building intended for a cloth-hall, 317; the Mole, 317. Barcekmette, 292. Bartolome', Maestro, sculptor, 275, 285 note. , San, church of, at Toledo, 229. Bayonne, cathedral. 7. Bells, 251, 346, 350. , wheel of, at Toledo, 255 ; at Barce- lona, 306; at Gerona, 328; at Man- resa, 345. Benavente : appearance of the town, 102; church of Sta. Maria del Azogue, 102 ; San Juan del Mercador, 108; ruins of castle, 104. Benito. San. monastery and church of, at Valladolid, 71,72. " CARTAGENA. Bernardo, Archbishop of Toledo, 79. , Bishop of Toledo, 233, note. , Bishop of Sigiienza, 204. , Brother, architect, 275. de Vallfogona, architect, 285, note. Ben-uguete, name given to his work, 49, note ; his so-called chef-d'oeuvre, 74 ; his work at Toledo, 253. Betanzos. town of, 136. Biarritz, 7. Bidart, church at, 8, note. Bishops, French, in Spain, 79, 92, 204, 235. , Junta of, at Leon. 108. Bias, San, chapel of, in Toledo cathedral, 251. Blay, Pedro, architect, 316. Boffiy, Guillermo, architect, 320, 322 ; his report on plan for completion of Gerona cathedi-al, 512. Boix, Bernardo, mason, 265. Bonife, Matias, sculptor, 305, note. Borgofia, Felipe de, architect, 24, 252, 461 note. , Juan de, painter, 20, 169 note. Bricks, employment of, in Spanish build- ings, 76, 2i6, 220, 227, 337, 371, 379, 385, 439 ; mostly used by the Moors, 440. Bridges : at Zamora, 92 ; at Toledo, 210, 211 note, 230, 232 and note; at Tudela, 398 note. Building materials used in Spain, 438. P>ull-iight at Madrid, 198; at Nimes, 199. Burgos, drive to, 7; approach to, 10; ca- thedial described, 12-34 ; churches of San Nicolas, 44 ; San Esteban, 46 ; San Gil, 50 ; San Lesraes, 52 ; San Juan, 52 ; San Lucas, 52 ; San Pablo, 53; La Merced, 53; convents of San Juan, 52 ; San Pablo, 52 ; La Merced, 53 ; domestic architecture, 54 ; gateway of Sta. Maria, 54 ; general character of the cathedral, 426. Butterfield, Mr., his church of St. Alban, London, 447, note. C. Cami'anas, las, old church near, 402. Campero, Juan, architect, 86, 184, 186. Canet, Antonio, his report on plan for completion of Gerona cathedral, 506. Cantarell, Giralt, architect, 343. Capilla mayor, meaning of, 17. Capuchins, church of the, at Lugo, 134. Carlos, architect, 370. Carmen, N. S. del, chm'ch of, at Barce- lona, 313 ; at Manresa, 345. Carpentry, Moorish, 443. Carpintero, Macias, architect, 71. CaiTcno, architect, 160. Cartagena, BishoiD Alfonso de, 26. INDEX. 519 Casandro, architect, 1G3. Casqaute, pilgrimage church at, 376. Cashel, St. Oormuck's chapel at, an ex- ample of an ethtice built for perma- nence, 421. Castaneda, Juan de, 24. C.istayls, aiaestro Jayme, sculptor, 275, 285 note, 461 note. Castile, kingdom of, provinces composing it, 411. Castles, Spanish, 437. Catalina, Sta., chapel of, in San Isidoro, Leon, 125 ; remarkable paintings in, 127. Catalogue of dated examples of Spanish buildings, 467; of architects, sculijtors, and builders of churches, 471. Cataluna, its architecture and architects, 291 ; large churches of, 429. Cathedrals : Burgos, 12 ; Palencia, 57 ; Valladolid, 66 ; Salamanca, old, 78 ; new, 85 ; Zamora, 92 ; Leon, 105 ; Astorga, 129 ; Lugo, 131 ; Santiago de Compostella, 141 ; Avila, 163 ; Segovia, 181 ; Sigiienza, 2U4 ; Toledo, 233 ; Valencia, 261 ; Tarragona, 274 ; Barcelona, 296 ; Gerona, 318 ; Le'rida, 347 ; Barbastro, 362 ; Huesca, 363 ; Jaca, 367 ; Zaragoza, 369 ; Tarazona, 377 ; Tudela, 391 ; Pamplona, 402. Cementarius, meamng of the term, 450, note. Centellas, IMaestro, carver, 58. Cervera, churches at, 346. Cervia, Berenguer, artist, 326. Chapter-houses, 84, 266, 294, 296, 388, 406. Christians in Sjiain, their connexion with the IMoors, 409 ; inferior in regard to civilization, 410; their warlike cha- racter, 410 ; dates of recovery of certain towns by, 410 ; early buildings of, 412. Churches, dimensions of some of the largest, 323, note. , Spanish, fimiiture of, 433; monu- ments in, 434 ; dependent buildings, 434; roofing of, 435. Church plate, 23, 343. Chinriguera, iU'chitect, 66. Cid, cotfer of the, 32 and note. Ciinborio, meaning of the word, 18 ; ex- amples of, 24, 35,80, 93, 174, 183, 188, 256, 263, 280, 295, 301, 331, 340, 357, 367, 370, 379. Cistercians, tiieir first house in Spain, 384. Clairvaux, convent of, compared with the abbey of Veruela, 385. Clerical architects, belief in a race of, erroneous, 464. Clermont-Ferrand, church of Notre Dame at, 81, 416. Climate, adaptation of clnu'ches to, 87, 112, 187, 299, 369, 380, 389, 403. Cloisters, 30, 38, 40, 47, 67, 97, 117, 157, 169, 171, 187, 188, 190, 191, 202, 207, 251, 257, 296, 303, 322, 330, 338, 351, 367, 368, 381, 387, 397, 405, 408. Colivella, Guillermo, architect and sculp- tor, 349, 454. Colonia, Juan de, architeot, 21, 23, 26, 43, 71. , Simon de, architect, 23, 43. Colom's used in various seasons at Toledo, 255, note. Compte, Pedro, architect, 266, 270, 370, 459. Concepciou, la, church of, at Toledo, 227, 229 ; at Tarazona, 383. Constable, chapel of the, in Burgos ca- thech-al, 21. Constantinople, Crimean memorial church at, 322, note. Corbie, Peter de, architect, 424. Coro, meaning of term, 16. , position of, 14, 41, 96, 300, 343, 382, 392. Coruiia, la, situation of, 136 ; coUegiata of Sta. Maria del Campo, 136 ; church of Santiago, 138. Council at Leon, 108. Covarrubias, Alonso de, architect, 86, 254 note. Creus, Sta., church of, near Poblet, 289 and note. Cristo de la Luz, chm-ch of, at Toledo, 215. Crockery-ware, good character of, at Tara- zona, 389. Crockets, 28, 69, 81, 94. Crowns, votive, collection of, found near Toledo, 212, note. Crucero, meaning of, 16. Cruz, Diego de la, sculptor, 43. , Santos, painter, 169. , Sta., college of, at Valladolid, 71; de los Seros, chm-ch at, 368 ; de Cangas, church of, 412. Cucufate, San, convent of, near Barcelona, 292 and note. Cumba, Pedro de, architect, 451. D. Deo, Petrus de, architect, 121 note, 448. Diligences, Spanish, 10. Domestic architectui'e, specimens of: at Bm-gos, 54 ; Zamora, 101 ; Santiago, 158; Segovia, 193; Alcala, 201 ; Gua- dalajara, 203 ; Toledo, 221 ; Valencia, 269; Barcelona, 315; Gerona, 334; Pei-pifian, 337 ; Le'iida, 361 ; Zaragoza, 374 ; general, of Spain, 43(!. 520 INDEX. Domical vaults, domes, and semi-domes, 81, 88, 98, 174, 229, 276, 294, 8G2, 865. Domiugo, Sau, chuicb of, at Lugo, 135. £. Ebko, clnirch on tlie, opposite to IMiranda, 9 ; valley of the, 891. Ecclesiologist, the, quoted, 95. l<'gas, Anton, architect, 85, 459. , Enrique de, architect, 72, 870, 460. Elne, church at, 337. Embroidery, carved imitations of, 89, 240. , remarkable specimens of, at La Comfia, 188; Valencia, 267; Mondo- nedo, 267 ; Blanresa, 344 ; Durham, 845, note. England, commerce of, with tlie south of Spain, 427, note; perfection of her village churches, 427, note ; scarcity of large town churches in, 429. Engracia, Sta., church of, at Zaragoza, 374. Enrique of Narbonne, architect, 319. " Era," the, of Augustus Cajsar, 19, note. Escobedo, Juan de, architect, 459. Escorial, the, 179. Escuder, Andres, architect, 298. Esia, valley of the, 105. Esteban, San, cliurches of, at Burgos, 46 ; at Segovia, 1S7. Eugenio, San, church of, at Toledo, 229. Eulalia, Sta.. chapel of, in Barcelona cathedral, 299. Exchange at Palraa, contract for, 514. F. Fabre, Jayrae, architect, 297, 453; his agreement with the sub-Prior and brethren of Sau Do)uingo, at Palma, 500. Faisans, lie de, 8. Faim-labourers, Valencian, theii- costume, 260. Favariis, Jacobo de, architect, 319. Fe, Sta., church of, at Toledo, 229. Feliu, San, church of, at Gerona, 331. Ferrandis, Martin, oi-gan-builde:-, 807. Figueras, cathedral at, 336. Florentesi, IMicer Domenico Alexandre, sculptor, 179. Fonda, the, 4. Font, Juan, architect, 343, 370. Ford, Mr., on the cathedj-al of Le'rida, 347. Fonnent, Damiau, sculptor, 864 and note, 378. Fornellcs, 885. Fountains Abbej-, Chapter-house at, 278, note. Francesco, San, chiu-ch of, at Palencia, 63. Franck, Juan, architect, 265, 455. Fieemason.s, belief in peripatetic bodies of, probably erroneous, 464. French churches, list of the more remark- able, liaving the same general charac- teristics as the cathedral at Santiago, 146, note ; copies of, in Spain, 417. Fuentenabia, distant view of, 8. Furniture of Siianisli chm-ches, 433. G. Gaixegan peasantry, WTetched state of, 140 ; at Santiago, on Sunday, 148. Gallego, Juan, arcliitect, 185. Galleries in Spanish churches, 45, 49, 53, 68, 73, 178, 186, 256, 388, 406. G'altes, Carlos, de Kuan, arcliitect, 350. Garcia, Alvar, arcliitect, 168. Gateways and walls of old towns : Burgos, 54 ; las Huclgas, 38 ; Zamora, 101 ; Leon, 109, 127; Astorga, 129; Lugo, 135 ; Avila, 163 ; Segovia, 192 ; Alcala, 201 ; Sigiienza, 208 ; Toledo, 211, 230 ; Valencia, 268 ; Tarragona, 274 ; Ge- rona, 329; Hostalrich, 385; Veruela, 384 ; Olite, 400 ; Pamplona, 402. Gelmirez, Diego, Archbishop of Santiago, 143. Gerona: cathedral, 318-329; town walls, 329 ; cl.iu-cli of San Pedro de los Galligans, 329; another church, 831 ; San Daniel, 381, note; San Feliu, 831 ; di mestic remains, 384. cathedral, reports on plan for com- pletion of, 501. Geionimo, San, chmch of, at Barcelona, 314. Gil, Sau, church of, at Bulges, 50. Gomar, Francisco, sculptor, 288. Gomez, Alvar, architect, 251. Gonzalez, Bishop, 108. Granja, la, palace at, 180. Granolkrs, church at, 385. Grao, port of Valencia, 271. Gregorio, San, college of, at Valladolid, 71, 75. Guadalajara : church of Sta. Maria, 202 ; San Miguel, 202; la Antigua, 202; palace del Infantado, 203. Guadalupe, Pedro de, architect, 58. Guadavrama, Sierra de, 5, ISO, 195. • , village, 195. Glial, Bartolome, architect, 298; his report on i)lan for completion of Gerona cathedial, 506. Guiis, Bonifacio de, builder. 185. • , Juan de, buikler. 185. INDEX. 521 GlINGUAMPS. Guinguamps, Joannes de, his report ou plan for completion of Gerona cathe- dral, 510. Gmniel, Pedro, architect, 199. Hatton Garden, Italian church in, 45, note. Heraldn', love of, in Spain, 22, 75, 203, 25G, 379. Herrera, architect, 6G, 76, 179. Honecort, Wilars de. architect, 424. Houtanon, Juan Gil de, architect, 86, 182. 460. , Rodrigo Gil de, architect, 182, 201, 460. Host, perpetual exposition of the, at Leon, 126 : at Lugo, 133. Hostalrich, 335. Huelgas, las : convent of, 34 ; village, 35 ; church, 35 ; solemnities at, 39 ; corpse of Juan II. at, 40. Huesca : college and palace, 362 ; catlie- dral, 363 ; church of San Pedro, 365 ; San Martin, 367; San Juan, 367. Ildefoxso, San, church of, at Alcala,201 ; chapel of, in Toledo cathedral, 250. Iufanta