THE SPANISH SERIES
VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA
ZAMORA, AVILA, AND ZARAGOZA
THE SPANISH SERIES
_EDITED BY ALBERT F. CALVERT_
GOYA
TOLEDO
SEVILLE
MURILLO
CORDOVA
VELAZQUEZ
CERVANTES
THE PRADO
THE ESCORIAL
SPANISH ARMS AND ARMOUR
GRANADA AND THE ALHAMBRA
LEON, BURGOS, AND SALAMANCA
VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA,
ZAMORA, AVILA, AND ZARAGOZA
_In preparation._
MADRID
GALICIA
EL GRECO
CITIES OF ANDALUCIA
MURCIA AND VALENCIA
ROYAL PALACES OF SPAIN
TAPESTRIES OF THE ROYAL PALACE
CATALONIA AND BALEARIC ISLANDS
SANTANDER, BISCAYA, AND NAVARRE
VALLADOLID, OVIEDO
SEGOVIA, ZAMORA
AVILA, & ZARAGOZA
AN HISTORICAL & DESCRIPTIVE
ACCOUNT, BY ALBERT F. CALVERT,
WITH 413 ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMVIII
Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty
PREFACE
The six cities of Spain which form the subject of the following pages
are little known to English travellers. Yet no one who would understand
the country can afford to pass them by. Not only are they compact of
artistic and architectural treasures, but within their walls much of the
history of the Spanish nation has been made. Oviedo--that little city
between the mountains and the sea, so far off the beaten track--was the
cradle of the monarchy, the residence and burial-place of its patriot
kings. For all men of Spanish blood it is holy ground. In Zamora we have
the typical city of the heroic age of Spain, the era of half-fabulous
heroes, whose personalities are made known to us only by folklore and
ballads.
Segovia and Avila are towns of the Reconquest, wardens, one might say,
against the redoubtable Moor. To the fancy their grass-grown streets
still re-echo with the tramp of armed men, with the ring of spears and
the word of command. The shadowy warriors of Oviedo and Zamora here
give place to the tall knight who stalks across the page of history,
ready to do battle with pagan Moor or Christian tyrant. But Avila
enshrines the holier memory of the sainted Theresa, greatest of Spanish
women, revered not least in the lands for whose conversion to her faith
she unceasingly prayed. And so we pass on, each town illustrating a
different stage of a great nation’s development.
In Valladolid, which preceded and subsequently nearly supplanted Madrid
as the capital of Spain, we are again on holy ground; for Cervantes
dwelt here, and here died the immortal Columbus. Zaragoza, the chief
city of a kingdom that influenced the destinies of powerful European
States when Castile was hardly known to the outside world, has ever been
a noble and important capital, boasting a glory which has been brightest
perhaps in its later days. To the citizens of Zaragoza was reserved the
honour of rejecting the Inquisition, to which other towns reluctantly
submitted, and just one hundred years ago she proved to an astonished
Europe that within her crumbling walls dwelt the old brood of
Numantia--that she was prolific still of heroes and heroines.
The prowess of Augustina would not indeed have come as a surprise to
those who knew her country well; nor could the most thoughtless of
travellers, after a survey of the memorials of genius and vitality which
these six cities contain, ever believe the greatness of the people to be
exhausted. Already Valladolid and Zaragoza throb with life and commerce.
But a few more years and the other cities, already stirring, will
pulsate with the spirit of young Spain, and the Phœnix, born a thousand
years ago at Oviedo, will renew its youth for the tenth time.
To Señor J. Lacoste my thanks are due for his courtesy in permitting me
to reproduce many of the photographs which find a place in this book,
and I have also to acknowledge the assistance rendered me by Mr. E. B.
d’Auvergne in the preparation of the text.
A. F. C.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. VALLADOLID 1
II. OVIEDO 38
III. SEGOVIA 59
IV. ZAMORA 86
V. AVILA 103
VI. ZARAGOZA 135
ILLUSTRATIONS
VALLADOLID
SUBJECT PLATE
General View of Valladolid, 1
General View of Valladolid, 2
The Bridge of Piedra, 3
La Acera de San Francisco, 4
The Town Hall, 5
The Old Parish Church, 6
House in which Christopher Columbus died, 7
House where King Philip II. was born, 8
The Royal Palace of Philip III., 9
Church of San Juan de Letran, 10
College of the Escoceses, 11
College of the Ingleses, 12
Interior view of the Library, 13
Interior of the Museum, 14
Façade of the Museum, 15
Museum: Back of a Choir Stall, by Berruguete, 16
Museum: Detail of the Choir Stalls of San Benito, 17
Museum: Several Fragments of Choir Stalls, by Berruguete, 18
Museum: Head of St. Paul, 19
Museum: Centre part of a Wooden Altar-piece, 20
Museum: Fragments of Choir Stalls, by Berruguete, 21
Museum: Fragments of Choir Stalls, by Berruguete, 22
Museum: Altar-piece carved in wood, 23
Museum: The Assumption of the Virgin, by Rubens, 24
Museum: St. Anthony of Padua and the Child Jesus, by
Rubens, 25
Museum: The Annunciation, by José Martinez, 26
Museum: The Holy Family, by Raphael, 27
Museum: St. Francis and a Lay Brother, by Rubens, 28
St. Joachim and the Virgin as a Child, by Murillo, 29
Provincial Museum: San Bruno, 30
Centre of the Façade of San Gregorio, 31
Detail of the Façade of San Gregorio, 32
Detail of the Façade of San Gregorio, 33
Left Angle in the Court of San Gregorio, 34
Gallery in the Court of San Gregorio, 35
Detail in the Court of San Gregorio, 36
Interior Gate of San Gregorio, 37
Façade of San Pablo, 38
Lower Part of the Façade of San Pablo, 39
Detail of the Portal of San Pablo, 40
Lower Central Part of the Façade of San Pablo, 41
Portal of San Pablo, 42
Detail of the Porch of San Pablo, 43
Detail of the Porch of San Pablo, 44
OVIEDO
General View, 45
Tower of the Cathedral 46
Principal Entrance to the Cathedral, 47
Principal Gate of the Cathedral, 48
Cathedral: View of the Interior, 49
Cathedral: The Retablo, 50
La Camara Santa, 51
Coffin in the Cathedral, 52
Old Tower of the Cathedral, 53
Cathedral: Oaken Ark, 54
Cathedral: Section, Plan, and Details of the Camara Santa, 55
Cathedral: Cross of the Angels, 56
Crosses and Caskets of the Asturias, 57
Cathedral: Cross of Victory, 58
A Capital, 59
Santa Maria de Naranco, 60
Santa Maria de Naranco, 61
Church of San Miguel de Lineo, 62
Church of San Juan de Priorio, 63
Church of San Juan de Priorio, 64
Details of the Churches of St. Clara, St. John, and Our Lady
de la Vega, 65
Details of Santa Maria de Valdedios, 66
Details of Santa Maria de Valdedios, 67
Details of San Juan de Amandi, 68
Details of San Juan de Amandi, 69
Details of the Church of Villaviciosa, 70
Details of the Church of Villaviciosa, 71
Plan and Section of San Salvador de Valdedios, 72
Details of San Salvador de Valdedios, 73
Details of the Churches of Priesca and Fuentes, 74
Details of Santa Maria de Villamayor, 75
Details of Santa Maria de Villamayor, 76
Details of San Adrian de Tunon, 77
Details of the Hermitage of Santa Cristina, 78
Details of the Collegiate Church of Covadonga, 79
Details of the Church of Ujo, 80
Details of the Church of Ujo, 81
SEGOVIA
General View from the Nievas, 82
General View, 83
The Roman Aqueduct, 84
The Alcazar and Cathedral from the Fuencisla, 85
General View from the Nievas, 86
Old Houses in the Plaza Mayor, 87
View of the Walls, 88
Aqueduct over the River Castilla, 89
The Cathedral, 90
View of the Cathedral, 91
View of the Cathedral, 92
Casa de los Picos, 93
Church of Santa Cruz, 94
Porch of the Church of Santa Cruz, 95
Church of Santa Cruz, 96
View of the Mint and the Parral, 97
Façade of the Parral, 98
Cloisters of the Parral, 99
General View of Turégano, 100
Turégano Castle, 101
General View of Coca Castle, 102
Another View of Coca Castle, 103
St. Andrew’s Gate, 104
The Arch of the Fuencisla, 105
Gate of Santiago, 106
The Alcazar before the Fire of 1862, 107
The Alcazar from the Hoyos Hill, 108
View of the Alcazar, 109
The Alcazar from the Caves, 110
Façade of the Alcazar before the Fire of 1862, 111
Details of the Church of the Parral, 112
Church of St. Nicholas, 113
View of the Church of Vera Cruz, 114
Porch of the Church of Vera Cruz, 115
Courtyard of the Marquis of Arcos’ House, 116
Façade of St. John, 117
Church of St. John, 118
San Juan de los Caballeros, 119
Church of St. Martin, 120
Porch of St. Martin, 121
Parish Church of St. Martin, 122
Details of the Church of St. Martin, 123
General View of St. Stephen, 124
Portico of St. Stephen, 125
Details of St. Stephen, 126
Church of San Lorenzo, 127
Church of San Lorenzo, 128
Lateral Façade of San Lorenzo, 129
The Church of San Lorenzo, 130
Details of San Lorenzo, 131
Interior of San Millán, 132
Interior of San Millán, 133
Arches and Eaves of San Millán, 134
Sectional Elevations of San Millán, 135
Details of San Millán, 136
Details of San Millán, 137
Details of San Millán, 138
Details of the Convent of Corpus Christi, 139
Interior of the Convent of Santo Domingo and Towers, 140
Painted Socles in the Tower of Santo Domingo, 141
Façade of the Convent of Our Lady de la Sierra, 142
Ruins of the Chapel of the Convent of Our Lady de la Sierra, 143
Interior of the Ruined Convent of Our Lady de la Sierra, 144
Porch of the Convent of Our Lady de la Sierra, 145
General View of the Roman Aqueduct, 146
The Roman Aqueduct, 147
The Roman Aqueduct, 148
The Roman Aqueduct, 149
The Roman Aqueduct, 150
The Roman Aqueduct, 151
The Roman Aqueduct, 152
A Dance in the Plaza del Pueblo de Nieva, 153
Enrique IV. conducting the Infanta Isabel through the Streets
of Segovia, 154
Group of Peasants of the Province, 155
Peasants of the Province, 156
Peasants of the Province, 157
Peasants of the Province, 158
Peasants of the Province, 159
Peasants of the Province, 160
Peasants of the Province, 161
Peasants of the Province, 162
Peasants of the Province, 163
Peasants of the Province, 164
Peasants of the Province, 165
ZAMORA
View of Zamora, 166
View of Zamora, 167
Walls and Postern Gate, 168
Stone Bridge over the Duero, 169
Bridge over the Duero, 170
View of the Cathedral, 171
Façade of the Cathedral, 172
Cathedral: Gate of the Bishop, 173
The Cathedral: East Front, 174
Cathedral: Gate of the Bishop, 175
Cathedral: Gate of the Bishop, 176
Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela, 177
Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela, 178
Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Detail of the
Interior, 179
Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Detail of the
Interior, 180
Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Chancel, 181
Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Example of the
Vaulting, 182
Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Interior, 183
Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Transept and
Nave, 184
Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Detail of a
Window, 185
Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Transept Porch, 186
Santa Maria la Nueva: Detail of the Exterior, 187
Santa Maria la Nueva: Doorway, 188
Santa Maria la Nueva: Capitals of Recessed Windows, 189
Church of the Magdalen, 190
Principal Door of the Church of the Magdalen, 191
Plan and Sections of the Church of St. Peter, 192
Details of the Church of St. Peter (Nave), 193
House of The Cid, 194
Tapestry of the Beginning of the Fifteenth Century, 195
Painting in the Town Hall, 196
Painting in the Town Hall, 197
Painting in the Town Hall, 198
Painting in the Town Hall, 199
The Royal Escutcheon, 200
St. Ferdinand and King John II., 201
The Arms of the Town, 202
Queen Urraca and Aris Gonzalo, 203
Trophies of Arms and Armour in the Town Hall, 204
The House of the Momos, 205
Bridge of Rocobayo over the Esla, 206
Stone Quarries of the Town of Valderojo, 207
Earthworks of the ancient City of Toro, 208
North and Centre Gates of the Church of Toro, 209
Details of the Church of Toro, 210
Group of Peasants of the Village of Bermigo de Sayago, 211
Group of Peasants of the Village of Carbajales, 212
Peasants of the Village of Bermigo de Sayago, 213
AVILA
General View, 214
General View, 215
View of Avila, 216
Gate of the Alcazar, 217
Gate of San Vicente, 218
Gate of San Vicente, 219
Gate of San Vicente, 220
Gate of San Vicente, 221
A Street, 222
View of the Cathedral, 223
Exterior of the Cathedral, 224
Entrance to the Cathedral, 225
Plan of the Cathedral, 226
The Cathedral, 227
Side Door of the Cathedral, 228
Cathedral: Pulpit of Repoussé Iron Work, 229
Cathedral: Pulpit of Repoussé Iron Work, 230
Cathedral: Pulpit of Repoussé Iron Work, 231
Interior of the Cathedral, 232
Cathedral: Detail of the Interior, 233
Cathedral: Detail of the Choir, 234
Cathedral: The Choir, 235
Cathedral: Detail of the Choir, 236
Cathedral: Detail of the Choir, 237
Cathedral: Detail of the Choir, 238
Cathedral: Altar of San Segundo, 239
Cathedral: Altar of Santa Lucia, 240
Cathedral: Sepulchre of Don Juan d’Avila, 241
Cathedral: Tomb of El Testado, 242
Cathedral: Altar behind the Choir, 243
Cathedral: Silver Monstrance of Juan de Arfe, 244
Convent of Santo Tomas: Sepulchre of the Infante Don Juan, 245
Sepulchre of the Holy Martyrs Vicente, Sabina, and Cristina, 246
Interior of the Chapel of San Bernardo, 247
Church of St. Peter, 248
Entrance to the Church of St. Peter, 249
Church of St. Peter, 250
Details of the Church of St. Peter, 251
Exterior of the Church of San Vicente, 252
Basilica of San Vicente before its restoration, 253
Basilica of San Vicente before its restoration, 254
Basilica of San Vicente: North Façade, 255
Basilica of San Vicente: Principal Façade, 256
Basilica of San Vicente: Eastern Façade, restored, 257
Basilica of San Vicente: Façade, 258
Basilica of San Vicente: Central Gate, restored, 259
Basilica of San Vicente: Detail of the middle cornice, restored, 260
Basilica of San Vicente: Portal, 261
Basilica of San Vicente: Principal west entrance, 262
Basilica of San Vicente: Principal west entrance, 263
Basilica of San Vicente: General view of the Interior, 264
Basilica of San Vicente: Sepulchre of the Holy Martyrs, 265
Basilica of San Vicente: Detail of the Interior, 266
Porch of the Church of San Vicente, 267
Porch of the Church of San Vicente, 268
Porch of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 269
Section of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 270
Plan of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 271
Gate of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 272
Door of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 273
Interior of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 274
The Court of Silence in the Convent of Santo Tomas, 275
Convent of Santo Tomas: The Court of Silence, 276
Convent of Santo Tomas: The Court of the Kings, 277
Convent of Santo Tomas: Courtyard of the Infirmary, 278
Cloisters of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 279
Cloisters of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 280
Cloisters of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 281
Gate of the Cloisters in the Convent of Santo Tomas, 282
Choir of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 283
Convent of Santo Tomas: Details of the Choir, 284
Choir Stalls in the Convent of Santo Tomas, 285
Choir Stalls in the Convent of Santo Tomas, 286
Church of San Segundo: Statue of San Segundo, 287
Church of Santo Tomas: Sepulchre of the Infante Don Juan, 288
Church of Santo Tomas: Sepulchre of the Infante Don Juan, 289
Church of Santo Tomas: Sepulchre of the Infante Don Juan, 290
Gothic Gate in ruins, 291
Door of a Private House, 292
Calle de Pedro d’Avila, 293
Celebrated Window in the House of Pedro d’Avila, 294
Courtyard of the Polentinos’ Palace, 295
Portico of the Polentinos’ Palace, 296
Church of San Andrés and San Segundo, 297
Hermitage of San Isidro, 298
The Academy, 299
Camposagrado Palace, 300
Casa de la Baraganas, 301
Casa de la Torre, 302
Chapel of Mosen Rubi, 303
Palace of the Conde de Superunda, 304
Miniatures from the Avila Missal, 305
Miniatures from the Avila Missal, 306
Door of San Francisco, 307
A Roman Capital of the Church of San Francisco, 308
Latin-Byzantine Frieze in the Church of San Francisco, 309
Monastery of San Pedro at Arenas, 310
ZARAGOZA
General View from Cabezo-Cortado, 311
General View from Altabas, 312
General View from Altabas, 313
The Bridge over the Ebro, from the Ruins of San Lazaro, 314
The Bridge over the Ebro, from El Pilar, 315
General View of Zaragoza, 316
General View of Zaragoza, 317
General View of Zaragoza, 318
General View from the Portilla, 319
View of Zaragoza, 320
Calle del Mercado, 321
Paseo de Santa Engracia, 322
Cathedral of La Seo, 323
Cathedral of La Seo, 324
Glazed Tiles on the Walls of the Cathedral of La Seo, 325
Interior of the Cathedral of La Seo, 326
Cathedral of La Seo: View of the Transept, 327
Cathedral of La Seo: Detail of Transept, 328
Chapel of St. John in the Cathedral of La Seo, 329
Chapel of Gabriel de Zaporta in the Cathedral of La Seo, 330
Cathedral of La Seo: Reja bronze repoussé, 331
Sepulchre of Archbishop Don Lope de Luna in the Cathedral
of La Seo, 332
Central Dome of the Cathedral of La Seo, 333
Silver Monstrance in the Cathedral of La Seo, 334
Censer belonging to the Cathedral of La Seo, 335
Cathedral of El Pilar, 336
Cathedral of El Pilar, 337
Interior of Our Lady del Pilar, 338
Side Altar in Our Lady del Pilar, 339
Our Lady del Pilar: View of the Choir, 340
Our Lady del Pilar: Organ in the Choir, 341
Chapel in Our Lady del Pilar, 342
High Altar in Our Lady del Pilar, 343
Paintings on the Cupola of Our Lady del Pilar, 344
Our Lady del Pilar : Choir Stalls, 345
Our Lady del Pilar: Choir Stalls, 346
Our Lady del Pilar: Choir Stalls, 347
Our Lady del Pilar, by M. de Unceta, 348
Our Lady del Pilar, 349
Silver Salver in the Cathedral of El Pilar, 350
Vase in the Cathedral of El Pilar, 351
Church of the Magdalen, 352
Place and Church of St. Nicholas, 353
Portal of the Church of San Miguel, 354
Façade of the Church of Santa Engracia, 355
Church of St. Paul: Puerta del Cristo, 356
The New, or Leaning Tower, 357
Tower of the Calle de Antonio Perez, 358
Tower of San Miguel, 359
Tower of San Pablo, 360
Tower of the Trovador, 361
Ancient Wall and Buildings, 362
Statue of Pignatelli, 363
Courtyard in the House of Pardo, 364
Detail of the Courtyard in the House of Pardo, 365
Entrance to the Audiencia Palace, 366
Palace of the Provincial Deputation, 367
Courtyard in the Count of Argillo’s House, 368
Eaves on the House of the Conde de Argillo, 369
Courtyard in the Count of Argillo’s House, 370
House in the Plaza de San Carlos, 371
The Exchange, 372
Façade of the Exchange, 373
Interior of the Exchange, 374
Porch of the House of Zaporta, 375
Courtyard of the House of Zaporta, 376
Courtyard of the House of Zaporta, 377
Courtyard of the House of Zaporta, 378
Courtyard of the House of Zaporta, 379
Courtyard of the House of Zaporta, 380
Detail of the Courtyard of the House of Zaporta, 381
Court of the Provincial Museum, 382
Gallery in the Provincial Museum, 383
The Aljaferia or Citadel. Window of the Main Staircase, 384
Aljaferia: Interior of the Mosque, 385
Aljaferia: Interior of the Mosque, 386
Aljaferia: Interior of the Mosque, 387
Aljaferia: Details of the Interior, 388
Aljaferia: Details of the Interior, 389
Details of the Aljaferia, 390
Details of the Aljaferia, 391
St. Isabel and her Husband. Tapestry in the University, 392
View of the Barracks of the Aljaferia, 393
The Casa de la Infanta. ‘The Departure for the Fight,’ by
P. Gonzalvo Perez, 394
Gate of Our Lady del Carmen, 395
The Defence of Zaragoza in 1809, by Nicolas Mejia, 396
The First Siege of Zaragoza, by A. Ferrant y Fischermans, 397
Heroic Defence of the Tower of St. Augustine at Zaragoza in
the War of Independence, by C. Alvarez Dumont, 398
Heroic Combat in the Pulpit of the Church of San Augustin at
Zaragoza in 1809, by C. Alvarez Dumont, 399
The Maid of Zaragoza, by M. Hiraldez Acosta, 400
The Maid of Zaragoza, by Navarro y Canizares, 401
Arch from the Aljaferia Palace, now in the Archæological
Museum, 402
Arch from the Aljaferia Palace, now in the Archæological
Museum, 403
Provincial Museum: Detail of ‘The Mosque’ of the Aljaferia, 404
Provincial Museum: Corbels of Eaves, Gothic style, from the
old Custom House, 405
Provincial Museum: Corbels of Eaves, 406
Provincial Museum: Corbels of Eaves, Gothic style, 407
Provincial Museum: Corbels of Eaves, Pointed style, 408
Provincial Museum: Arab Capitals of the Aljaferia Castle, 409
Provincial Museum: Arab Capitals from the Aljaferia, 410
Provincial Museum: Arab Capitals from the Aljaferia, 411
The Story of Lucretia. A Plate from the work entitled
‘Mugeres Ilustres,’ translated from Boccaccio, 412
A Page from the work entitled ‘Example against the Deception
and Perils of the World,’ by Juan de Capua, 413
Valladolid, Oviedo, Segovia, Zamora, Avila, and Zaragoza
I
VALLADOLID
ITS STORY
Valladolid, a thriving, bustling place, as Spanish cities go, stands on
the rivers Pisuerga and Esgueva, a few miles above the confluence of
their united streams with the Duero. All round spreads the vast, dreary
plain of Castile, interrupted within sight of the town by a ring of low
hills. Trains thunder past from north, south, and west, keeping
Valladolid in close touch with Madrid, with France, with Portugal, and
with the rest of the world. The natural centre, this, of the old kingdom
of Leon and Castile, of which it was for a long time the political
capital.
The etymology of the name has perplexed historians not a little. The
most probable derivation is from the Arabic Belad-Walid, the valley of
Walid, or (as likely) of the Wali or governor. In Latin documents the
name is Vallisoletum, from which the poetical etymology, _vallis
odoris_, was ingeniously manufactured. Though a great many of the towns
in this part of Spain were founded on fresh sites on the resettlement of
the country in the ninth and tenth centuries, Valladolid can, with some
show of probability, claim a more remote origin. The contention of the
old writers that this was the town called Pintia, described by Ptolemy
as lying on the road from Caesaraugusta to Asturica, is to some extent
borne out by numerous remains, attesting the existence at this spot of a
Roman community of opulence and importance.
The earliest mention of the place since the Christian era occurs in the
Chronicle of Cardeña, where in the year 1072 it is referred to as one of
the two towns (Rio Seco being the other) offered to Doña Urraca by her
brother, Sancho, in exchange for Zamora. We may presume, therefore, that
it was already a place of some consequence. In 1074 it was handed over
by Alfonso VI. to Count Pedro Ansúrez, the companion of his exile at
Toledo. This noble plays the same part in its history as Count Raymond
does in that of Salamanca. The principal buildings, such as Santa Maria
la Antigua and the bridge over the Pisuerga, are ascribed to him. He
founded and generously endowed the collegiate church of Santa Maria la
Mayor, with the adjacent abbey, of which, in after years, infantes and
the sons of the most exalted persons were alone deemed worthy to be
abbots. The famous Bernard, Archbishop of Toledo, came to bless the
church, with the not less famous Alvar Fañez, who was Count Pedro’s
son-in-law. When good King Alfonso passed away, Ansúrez took the oath of
allegiance to his daughter, Queen Urraca, and to her husband, ‘The
Battler of Aragon.’ When the royal twain came to blows, the count
surrendered all the strongholds he held to the queen, and presented
himself to the king, saying that ‘with the hands, the tongue, and the
body which had paid him homage,’ he could do as he willed. Alfonso the
Battler let him depart unmolested, and he was laid to rest in 1118,
clothed in his armour, in the collegiate church he had endowed.
The lordship of Valladolid now passed to Armengol, son of Count Pedro’s
eldest daughter, by the Count of Urgel. Under his sway the city
prospered exceedingly. King Alfonso VII. chose it for the place of his
marriage with a Polish princess, and for several ecclesiastical
councils. Two more counts of the same name continued the dynasty of
Ansúrez till the year 1208; but of these the town saw little, for as
Counts of Urgel they were vassals of Aragon, and spent most of their
time in that kingdom. The last count left half of his Castilian
dominions to the Pope, the other half to his daughter Aurembiax, who was
believed to be the mistress of the King of Aragon. Alfonso VIII. of
Castile can hardly, therefore, be blamed for setting aside a disposition
which handed over the principal town in his kingdom to two foreign
potentates. In the year 1208, accordingly, the city was incorporated
with the monarchy. Soon after (1215) it became for the first time the
royal residence--that of the Queen-Regent Berenguela and her youthful
charge, Don Enrique I.; and in accordance with this precedent, two years
later, Fernando III. was crowned here, in the Plaza Mayor. Thenceforward
the town became the usual seat of the court, though an official capital
in the modern sense Spain did not possess till Philip II.’s time. The
last years of the thirteenth century saw the reins of government in the
hands of a native of Valladolid, the Queen-Regent, Maria de Molina,
widow of Sancho el Bravo. Her predilection for her own birthplace
practically extinguished the pretensions of Burgos to rank as capital,
and during her stormy regency Valladolid stood by her loyally. She was
not the least capable or intrepid of the many able women-rulers by whom
Spain has been so well served.
Though the seat of government, Valladolid was not wanting in the
turbulent, independent spirit characteristic of the Castilian cities. In
1328 a rumour spread abroad that the king’s Jewish treasurer, Joseph,
was about to carry off the Infanta Leonor, and to marry her to the
detested favourite, Nuñez Osorio. Sure enough the princess presently
appeared, mounted and attended by an escort, as if proceeding on a
journey. The citizens forced her to return to the palace, and clamoured
for the head of the treasurer. Leonor promised to satisfy them if they
would permit her to go to the Alcazar, or citadel, whither she contrived
to convey the trembling Hebrew concealed among her retinue. Safe inside
the fortress, Infanta and Jew set the mob at defiance, and sustained a
siege till relieved by the king. Comically enough, Alfonso dismissed his
favourite on the ground that he was the cause of these disturbances,
while the Infanta married the Prince of Portugal, whom she had been on
her way to meet when forced back by the crowd.
Women figure largely in the history of Valladolid. Here in the church of
Santa Maria la Mayor, Peter the Cruel was married to the hapless Blanche
de Bourbon, to leave her three days later. It was only by the entreaties
of his mistress, Maria de Padilla, that he could be persuaded to return
to his wife; but unable to overcome his repugnance to the poor princess,
he again abandoned her a few days after, this time for ever.
The convent of La Merced owes its origin to another case of erratic
passion. Donha Leonor Telles de Meneses had been torn from the arms of
her first husband, João Lourenço d’Acunha, by the King of Portugal, who
raised her to the throne. D’Acunha retired to Valladolid, where he was
buried in the church of Santa Maria la Antigua. In the course of time
Leonor’s second husband also died, and she also came to Valladolid,
possibly to see what had become of the first. Doubly a widow, she found
consolation in the affection of a knight named Zoilo Iñiguez, by whom
she had a daughter called Maria. Leonor’s experience of love and
matrimony led her at her death to charge her daughter’s guardian, one
Laserna, to dedicate the girl to religion, and to found a convent for
her special accommodation. Before this could be accomplished, Maria, who
believed herself to be a relation of Laserna, fell in love with his
nephew, and incontinently married him. On discovering the secret of her
origin, she so far complied with her mother’s wish as to build a
convent, in which Queen Leonor as the foundress was entombed.
About the same time, by order of Juan I., the old Alcazar, round which
the town had been built, was demolished to make room for the existing
convent of San Benito. The monastery of San Pablo became the residence
of the court during the minority of Juan II. That king may be said to
have lived here permanently, and to have confirmed Valladolid in its
dignity as capital of the realm. As such it was the scene of much
splendour and chivalrous display under the rule of the high-minded
favourite, the great Constable Alvaro de Luna. And it was in the little
Plaza del Ochavo, in the centre of the town, having run his course as a
true knight and a wise statesman, that he met his fate with the dignity
and composure which had distinguished him during his whole career.
The place of his execution was chosen by his enemies as precisely the
scene of his greatest triumphs. He was confined during his last night in
the house of his enemy, Zuñiga, where he passed the hours ‘in great
contrition and affliction of spirit.’ ‘The melancholy 2nd of June 1453
dawned,’ says Don Jose Quadrado, ‘and in the Plaza del Ochavo, which
then formed the principal square of Valladolid, loomed a scaffold draped
with black cloth, and above it a cross set with lighted tapers. On a
post was fixed the spike destined to receive the severed head. The
Constable was conducted to the spot by the streets of Francos,
Cantarranas, and Plateria, mounted on a mule with black trappings, and
preceded by a crier, whose violent denunciations drew from him only the
humble words, _Más merezco_ (“I deserve more”). Alighting on the side of
the church of San Francisco, and mounting the scaffold with firmness,
having knelt before the cross, he hesitated whether he should address
the people, when he perceived among the crowd his faithful page Moreles,
and Barrasa, esquire to Don Enrique. He told the latter to adjure his
master not to follow the example of the king, his father, in the way of
rewarding his servants; to the former he gave his signet-ring, which
the youth received weeping, not a few of the bystanders weeping loudly
also. “With my body they may do as they please,” he said on perceiving
the spike and divining its object; and baring his throat, and his hands
being bound with his own girdle, he offered his head to the executioner,
who a few seconds later held it up, dripping with blood, before the
horror-stricken people. The body remained exposed three, and the head
nine days, with a box beside it to receive alms. With these he was
buried among malefactors in the hermitage of San Andrés outside the
walls; but at the end of two months he was given a more decent sepulture
in San Francisco, where he lay till the rehabilitation of his memory and
his magnificent entombment thirty-one years later in the cathedral of
Toledo.’
The feeble and ungrateful king (Juan II.) survived his favourite little
more than a year, and died at the convent of San Pablo, which had been
his usual abode. Valladolid remained steadily loyal to his miserable
successor, Enrique IV., when scarcely another town in his dominions
would harbour him. Yet, strangely enough, it was in this city, in the
house of Juan Vivero (where the Audiencia now stands), that the king’s
sister Isabel, in defiance of his wishes, celebrated in secret, but with
great ceremony, her marriage with Ferdinand of Aragon. This was on
October 18, 1469--an auspicious night for Spain. But the city was too
full of Enrique’s partisans to afford a safe asylum to the newly-wedded
pair, who immediately betook themselves to Dueñas.
Valladolid, always on the side of authority, accepted ‘the Catholic
Kings’ on the death of Enriqùe, to the exclusion of Juana, whom a modern
writer inexplicably calls that monarch’s illegitimate daughter. She was
barred from the succession on the ground that she was not his daughter
at all. The vigorous but hardly beneficent rule of Ferdinand and Isabel
was celebrated in 1489 by eighteen persons being burned alive in the
Plaza Mayor, while a few years after the city was emptied of its Jewish
inhabitants. A whole quarter left tenantless, deserted homes, and
smoking human sacrifices marked the inauguration of the New Monarchy in
Valladolid. Yet the city prospered, and was too busy to notice the
worn-out adventurer, the Admiral of the Indies, the immortal Christopher
Columbus, who died within its walls on May 20, 1506. But all their
prosperity could not reconcile the sturdy citizens to the arbitrary
government of Charles V.’s regents. Valladolid threw in her lot with
the Comunidad. Her sons bled in the cause of liberty beside Padilla on
the fatal field of Villalar; and when the Flemish emperor proclaimed an
amnesty on visiting the city in 1522, many of her townsmen found
themselves among the three hundred specially excluded from its
operation.
Philip II. was born here on May 21, 1527; here he was married to his
first and Portuguese wife; here also she died in giving birth to his
luckless son Carlos. Yet it was this native of Valladolid who reduced it
to the rank of a provincial city, and in the year 1560 definitely
declared Madrid to be the _unica corte_, the official capital of Spain.
This measure has been variously criticised, but it is certainly
difficult to perceive the advantages which the new capital possessed
over the old, or over Toledo or Zaragoza. This loss of dignity was
followed by a more dreadful catastrophe. Valladolid was devastated by a
fire in the night of September 21, 1561, four hundred and forty houses
being destroyed, though only three persons lost their lives. The
silversmiths, for whom the city was renowned, saved their wares by
throwing them into the wells. The conflagration was caused by the
sparks blown from a fire lit by some beggars in the shadow of a wall.
Possibly the citizens were reminded of those other flames so frequently
kindled in their midst by the abominable Inquisition, when men and women
were roasted to death in the presence and with the approval of His
Catholic Majesty Philip II. The furious element was less destructive
than the Holy Office.
The city was practically rebuilt by order of the despot, and as a mark
of his favour he persuaded the Pope to erect it into a diocese in the
last years of the sixteenth century. His successor, with a judgment of
which he rarely gave proof, reinstated Valladolid in its rank of capital
of the monarchy, and resided here in the palace facing San Pablo (now
the Audiencia). Here Anne of Austria and Philip IV. were born. Cervantes
lived here in one of the houses in the Rastro behind the Campo Grande,
where he finished the first part of _Don Quixote_. His experience of the
city was unfortunate. He was, together with his family, imprisoned on
the charge of being implicated in a night brawl, wherein as a matter of
fact he had simply played the part of Good Samaritan. His brother wits
and the literati unceasingly assailed Valladolid as unworthy the
residence of the court, and after five years Philip III. was obliged,
professedly because the city was unhealthy, to restore Madrid to its
pre-eminence. The abandoned capital was hit very hard. Industry and
commerce languished, nothing but the religious vocation flourished. The
project of rendering the Duero and Pisuerga navigable for large vessels
was given up, and, to crown all, the Moriscos to the number of one
thousand were expelled, taking the silk industry with them. Inundations
and all sorts of calamities followed in quick succession. Whatever money
men earned in moribund Castile, they used to build churches and
convents. The city’s attachment to the Bourbon cause in the War of the
Spanish Succession disposed Philip V. to transfer the court hither a
second time; but the pre-eminence of Madrid was too firmly established
to permit this. The French invaders, a hundred years ago, found the
place ruined and stagnant. Since then Valladolid has awakened from her
sleep. The opening of the North of Spain Railway, and the establishment
here of the company’s loco-motive works, gave a great impetus to her
progress, and she is now an important commercial town, the centre of the
corn trade of Castile. No Spanish city north of the Guadarrama gives
such promise as Valladolid.
THE CITY
A city which was so long the capital of the monarchy--the city where
Columbus died and Cervantes lived--whose streets are haunted by the
immortal creature of Le Sage’s genius--can be no unworthy goal for a
pilgrimage. It has memories far more stirring than Madrid, which in
physiognomy it rather resembles. A cold, formal town it seems at first
sight, with modern-looking squares, straight streets, and severe,
imposing buildings; but behind these you find the old city of Juan II.
and Enrique IV., a labyrinth of tortuous lanes, gloomy palaces, and
ruinous monastic houses.
The handsome Accra de Recoletos, which looks across the spacious Campo
Grande--the city’s principal park--leads from the triumphal Puerta del
Carmen, commemorating the reign of Charles III., to the majestic Arch of
Santiago. We pass through, and presently reach the Plaza Mayor, now
called the Plaza de la Constitucion, the focus of the city’s life.
A minor Puerta del Sol, Ford calls this regular, symmetrically planned
open space, designed after the great fire of 1561 by Francisco
Salamanca. The houses enclosing it are of uniform architecture, with
three tiers of balconies in the three Grecian orders, capable, it is
said, of accommodating 24,000 spectators. The portico is supported by
massive granite columns of a bluish tinge, each a monolith. On the north
side is the ungraceful Ayuntamiento (Town Hall), with weather-vanes on
its towers and martial trophies surmounting the town clock. The space is
as lively and gay as any in Spain. The sun shines brightly, the birds
fly as freely overhead as across the innocent plains; here there is no
deeper shadow than elsewhere, no abiding gloom or ghostly chill. Yet if
ever a spot deserved to be called accursed it is this. Let us project
ourselves back into the past, to a bright morning in May in the year
1559. The balconies have not yet been built, but stands and tiers of
seats have been constructed round the Plaza. There is a grand display of
bunting, and the richest draperies are hung from the crowded
windows--silks and cloth of gold and silver, damasks and brocades. On a
daïs are seen the little prince, Don Carlos, and his aunt the Infanta
Juana. The civic dignitaries of the town are here, the craftsmen in
their liveries; but making the bravest show of all are the bishop and
the clergy, arrayed in full canonicals, as befits the solemn Act of
Faith at which they are about to assist. The square is packed with a
vast multitude--men have come from far and near to see this thing--and
people are pouring down the narrow streets, an unceasing stream. All
eyes are fixed on the platform in the centre of the Plaza, whereon
faggots and brushwood are neatly piled round fourteen pillars, and busy
varlets are bestirring themselves. A subdued murmur betokens the
approach of the procession. For the alguazils who clear the way, for the
horribly clad familiars of the Holy Office who stalk before, the
spectators have no eyes: the gaze of those thousands is levelled on the
fourteen men and women walking slowly to their awful doom. Were ever
creatures so shockingly grotesque? They wear a perfectly ridiculous
headgear, like an elongated nightcap, or a hat such as our grenadiers
wore in days gone by; a sort of smock covers their bodies, an ugly
flame-coloured garment, painted with figures of dancing and grimacing
devils. You can hardly restrain a smile. I’ll wager those gallants
yonder are cracking some clever jokes at their expense, for the Latin is
by nature a wag. We all know who they are, these wretches. Not long
before Valladolid was thrilled by the rumour that a Lutheran conventicle
had been discovered here in the heart of His Most Catholic Majesty’s
capital. A holy woman, suspicious of her husband’s orthodoxy, had
followed him one day, found him in the midst of this heretical assembly,
and denounced him to the Holy Office. That is the man, Juan Garcia, a
goldsmith whom all the townsmen have known and dealt with this many a
year. Where’s his wife? somewhere in the crowd, doubtless, praying for
his soul. Virtue like hers is worthy of heroines or devils. Most notable
of the heretical crew is the Doctor Cazalla, one of the king’s most
notable preachers; but the Holy Inquisitors are no respecters of
persons. They would drag you from behind the throne. The priest with the
Doctor is his brother Francisco. The woman is his sister, Doña Beatriz.
Burn a woman? Ay, surely. There are four more, one of them a
serving-wench. That black-avised fellow is a mere Jew from Lisbon--there
is little sympathy for him. Then there are four gentlemen,
and--hold!--one has a gag in his mouth. It is the Bachelor, Antonio
Herrerruelo, an obstinate fellow, who will not recede one hair’s-breadth
from his heretical opinions or concede one iota. The sixteen that
follow interest us less. They have been reconciled with Mother Church,
and for them no worse fate is reserved than the confiscation of all
their goods and solitary confinement for life. Ha! one of them has
fainted. It is the youthful daughter of the Marqués de Alcañias, Doña
Ana Enriques. They say that one of this batch is an Englishman. Perhaps
he has seen Catholics hanged, drawn, and quartered in his own land, and
can forgive the Spaniard.
The learned Dominican in the pulpit reads the sentences of the Holy
Tribunal of the Inquisition, and we may be sure his voice shakes with
paternal tenderness when _he absolves_ those who are passing into the
shadow of perpetual imprisonment. As for those fourteen others--the
Church has done with them, and in sorrow, not in anger, she hands them
over to the secular arm.
Now who will face the flames? for even the secular arm is merciful at
the eleventh hour. Thousands of eyes are strained towards the scaffold.
What is passing? Cazalla is making a farewell speech. Is he obdurate?
No; from mouth to mouth the rumour runs that he professes penitence,
that he abjures his errors. His brothers, the women--look at their
blanched faces!--mutter some such words. Their necks are encircled by
the collars of the garrote--they stand on the well-laid pyre. But it is
not lighted yet. Swiftly the executioner steps from one post to the
other. A quiet turn of the screw, and the souls of the heretics have
fled, and the flames may have their corpses.
But he with the gag, Herrerruelo? We watch him breathlessly. At all
admonitions he simply shakes his head. The executioner even hesitates to
fire the pile. He has his hand on the spring of the garrote. A word from
the heretic, and he will be dead, unscorched, instantaneously. It is
useless. Herrerruelo will not speak that word. The fire is lighted. The
logs crackle and blaze. We can hardly see the victim’s form. No groan
nor sigh escapes him. But on his face, says one close to him, is stamped
the extremest sadness that ever human being knew. Is it for yourself,
Castilian of the old Roman mould? Nay, rather, I think, for your country
which you see perishing beside you slowly but inevitably on the pyre of
fanaticism and superstition.
It is over. The integrity of the faith of Spain has been vindicated. But
the heroism of Herrerruelo soon finds imitators. His wife follows him to
the flames a few years later. Philip II. himself comes to assist at a
superb act of faith which demands another holocaust. He solemnly swears
to defend the faith and to enforce the decrees of its tribunal. ‘And you
leave me to burn?’ is the bitter reproach a Veronese gentleman among the
doomed men dares to address to the king. ‘Ay,’ says Philip, ‘I would
bring the wood myself to burn my own son were he a heretic.’ There was
thus something of the Roman spirit on both sides. The brave Italian’s
fortitude so inspires a fellow-sufferer that he leaps gaily into the
flames, calling for wood, more wood.
The shame of the Inquisition rests not on the Spanish people. The
citizens of Valladolid were kept in check on these dreadful occasions
only by large bodies of troops. Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor, dared
not go forth without an armed escort of two hundred and fifty men. The
Spaniards of to-day, with few exceptions, refer to the institution with
expressions of abhorrence, startling even to Protestant ears. But it
must be admitted that some writers more or less half-heartedly attempt a
defence. Don J. M. Quadrado observes that the Holy Office saved the
country from the horrors of religious wars, to which the obvious
rejoinder is that the wars of religion, judged by their results, proved
less disastrous to France, Germany, and Switzerland, than the policy of
repression proved to Spain, and that the religious unity of other
countries, such as Italy and Austria, has been preserved with
comparatively little physical suasion.
We will leave the Plaza Mayor, this bright place with such gloomy
memories, and see what monuments Faith has raised of a more honourable
and durable kind. We cross the prettily named Place of the Golden
Fountain, and the Plaza del Ochavo, where Alvaro de Luna died, and a
little farther on find the Cathedral of Valladolid.
This church was begun in 1585, by order of Philip II., and replaced the
old Iglesia Mayor founded by Pedro Ansúrez. The work was intrusted to
Herrera, the architect of the Escorial, but his plans were never fully
carried out, and the cathedral remains to-day unfinished, and also
unfortunately marred by Churriguera and his disciples. The style of
Herrera very eloquently expressed the temper and spirit, if not of the
Spain of his day, certainly of his sovereign. The model of the church is
to be seen in the muniment room. It is cruciform, the nave and transept
to be flanked with aisles and chapels, the crossing to be surmounted by
a dome, and a tower to be at each of the four corners. Only one of the
towers was ever finished, and that collapsed in 1841; it is now being
rebuilt. Street, who is very severe on all non-Gothic buildings in
Spain, says that ‘nothing could ever cure the hideous unsightliness of
the exterior. Herrera’s west front was revised by Churriguera in the
eighteenth century, and cannot therefore be fairly criticised; but the
side elevation remains as Herrera designed it, and is really valuable as
a warning. Flying buttresses were, of course, an abomination; so in
their place he erected enormous solid buttresses above the aisles to
resist the thrust of the nave vault. They are shapeless blocks of
masonry, projecting about forty feet from the clerestory wall, and
finished with a horrid concave line at the top.’
The interior is not wanting in majesty and massiveness. Only the nave,
with its aisles and chapels, has been completed. The huge piers carry
bold arches, separated by a broad cornice from a plastered and panelled
groined ceiling. The walls are destitute of ornament, but over the
arched entrances to the chapels runs an open gallery with balustrades.
The aisles have been obstructed by ‘provisional chapels,’ which Herrera
would have indignantly swept away; and the choir, which he intended to
place behind the High Altar, is now placed so as to block the best view
of the nave. The Capilla Mayor, placed in the crossing, is in bad taste,
with innumerable doors and tribunes piercing its walls. One cannot but
agree with the Spanish writer who says that nothing is wanting to
destroy the impression of ‘a grand whole,’ which Herrera was especially
anxious to create.
The choir stalls, mostly from the convent of San Pablo, were designed by
the architect, and display some fine inlay work. The remainder are in
the Gothic style, and come from the old church. The chapels contain
nothing worthy of note, except a picture by Lucas Jordaens, and the tomb
of Count Pedro Ansúrez, whose remains were brought here from the church
he founded. A very poor effigy represents the hero, whose merits are set
forth in rhymed verse.
In the sacristy is one of the finest specimens of the metal-work for
which Spain has always been renowned. The solid silver monstrance, by
Juan de Arfe, is 6½ feet high, and weighs upwards of 150 lbs. It is in
the shape of a temple in four stories, two of which are octagonal, and
two circular. Statuettes of Adam and Eve, and a relief of the mystery
of the Conception, adorn this exquisite work, for which the artificer
received 44,000 reals.