FOOTNOTES:
[1] I have quoted this book throughout as “Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp.”
[2] Die Christliche Kunst in Spanien. Leipzic, 1853.
[3] España Artistica y Monumental, por Don G. P. de Villa Amil y Don P.
de la Escosura. Paris, 1842.
[4] Recuerdos y Bellezas de España, por F. J. Parcerisa, 1844, &c.
[5] Monumentos Arquitectónicos de España; publicados á expensas del
Estado, bajo la direccion de una Comision especial creada por el
Ministerio de Fomento.--Madrid, 1859-65, and still in course of
publication.
[6] The church, at Bidart, between Bayonne and the French frontier, is
quite worth going into. It has a nave about forty-five feet wide, and
three tiers of wooden galleries all round its north, west, and south
walls. They are quaint and picturesque in construction, and are
supported by timbers jutting out upwards from the walls, not being
supported at all from the floor.
[7] Plate I. This (as are all the other plans in this book) is made from
my own rapid sketches and measurements. It is necessarily, therefore,
only generally correct. But I believe that it, and all the others, will
be found to be sufficiently accurate for all the purposes for which they
are required. Without ground-plans it is impossible to understand any
descriptions of buildings; and they are the more necessary in this case,
seeing that, with the exception of very small plans of Burgos and Leon
Cathedrals, there is probably no illustration of the plan of any one of
the churches visited by me ever yet published in England. I have drawn
all the plans to the same scale, viz., fifty feet to an inch. This is
double the scale to which the plans in Mr. Fergusson’s ‘History of
Architecture’ are drawn; and though it would facilitate a comparison of
the Spanish with other ground-plans illustrated by him to have them on
the same scale, I found it impossible to show all that I wanted in so
very small a compass.
[8] I have not thought it necessary to draw these ruinous additions to
the early design. That they are additions is easily proved by the way in
which they are tied with bands of iron to the early shafts, as well as
by the complete difference in style. The original work is fortunately
intact behind the added pinnacles, and there is nothing conjectural in
its restoration.
[9] The Chapter entered into a contract with one Jusepe Rodriguez for
these books; but Philip II. insisted upon his being set free from this
contract in order that he might work for him on the books for the
Escorial, where he wrought from A.D. 1577 to A.D. 1585. Cean Bermudez,
Dice. Hist. de las Bellas Artes en España. Some illustrations of initial
letters in the Burgos books are given by Mr. Waring in his
‘Architectural Studies in Burgos.’
[10] ‘España Sagrada,’ vol. xxvi. p. 301. G. G. Dávila, ‘Teatro
Ecclesiastico de las Yglesias de España,’ iii. 65, says that Maurice was
a Frenchman; and he mentions the consecration by him of the
Premonstratensian Church of Sta. Maria la Real de Aguilar de Campo, on
the 2nd Kal. Nov. 1222.
[11] Esp. Sag., xxvii. 306; ‘Memorial in the Archives at Burgos,’ ii.
fol. 57. The era 1259 answers to A.D. 1221. The “era” so frequently
occurring in Spanish records precedes the year of our Lord by
thirty-eight years, and is, in fact, the era of the Emperor Cæsar
Augustus. See ‘Cronicas de los Reyes de Castilla,’ vol. i. p. 31, and
‘España Sagrada’ vol. ii. pp. 23 et seq., for an explanation of this
computation, which is constantly used as late as the middle of the
fourteenth century in all Spanish inscriptions and documents.
[12] Esp. Sag., xxvii. 313.
[13] Esp. Sag., xxvi. 315.
[14] Ponz states that Bishop Pascual de Fuensanta (1497-1512) moved the
stalls from the Capilla mayor (_i.e._ choir) to the middle of the
church; and Florez, Esp. Sag. xxvi. 315 and 413, makes the same
statement.
[15] Ponz, ‘Viage de España,’ xii. 28, says that the sculptures of this
Retablo were executed by Rodrigo de la Aya and his brother Martin
between A.D. 1577 and 1593 at a cost of 40,000 ducats; and that Juan de
Urbina (a native of Madrid), and Gregorio Martinez of Valladolid,
painted and gilded it for 11,000 ducats in three years, finishing in
A.D. 1593.
[16] Esp. Sag., xxvi. 331.
[17] The chapel of the Visitation was built by Bishop Alonso de
Cartagena, 1435-56. The chapel of Sta. Ana was built by Bishop Luis
Acuña y Osorio, 1457-95. The chapel of Sta. Catalina in the Cloister is
said to have been built in the time of Enrique II.--Caveda, Ensayo
Historico, 379-80.
[18] Cod. M., No. 9.
[19] Noticias de los Arquitectos y Arquitectura de España, vol. i.,
206-7.
[20] Florez, Esp. Sag. xxvi. 393, says: “A MS. which I have says that
Bishop Luis Acuña y Osorio (1457-95) reformed the fabric of the transept
in the middle of the church with eight turrets, which became a ruin in
the middle of the following century.”
[21] A view of the west front in A.D. 1771 shows the three western doors
in their old state; they had statues on the door-jambs, and on the piers
between them.--Esp. Sag. xxvi. p. 404.
[22] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. 105, 106.
[23] It was well that I used the word “delighted” when I wrote this
page, for this passage no longer delights me as it did. I visited Burgos
again last (1863), and found the Cathedral undergoing a sort of
restoration; masons cleaning up everything inside, and by way of a
beginning outside they had widened the passage to the south door, so as
to make it square with and of the same width as the doorway; to do this
a slice had been cut off the bishop’s palace, at some inconvenience to
the bishop, no doubt, the result of doing it being simply that much of
the beauty and picturesqueness of the old approach to the church is
utterly lost for ever. Of one thing, such an unsuccessful alteration
satisfies me--little indeed as I require to be satisfied on the
point,--and this is, that in dealing with old buildings it is absolutely
impossible to be too conservative in everything that one does. Often
what seems--as doubtless this thing did to the people of Burgos--the
most plain improvement is just, as this is, a disastrous change for the
worse. And when we find old work, the reason for or meaning of which we
do not quite perceive, we cannot be wrong in letting well alone. It is
to be hoped that Spain is not now going to undergo what England suffered
from James Wyatt and others, and what she is still in many places
suffering at the hands of those who follow in their steps!
[24] In A.D. 1257 the king gave a piece of land opposite his palace (now
the Episcopal Palace) to the Dean of Burgos. Was not this for the
erection of the cloisters?
[25] One of the buttresses of the north transept is seen in the western
alley of the cloister. On the face of it still remains one of the
original dedication crosses--a cross pattée enclosed in a circle.
[26] On the east side these recessed arches have a very rich foliage in
their soffeits.
[27] The coffer of the Cid is that which he filled with sand, and then
pledged for a loan from some Jews, who supposed it to be full of
valuables; afterwards he honestly repaid the borrowed money, and hence,
perhaps, the coffer is preserved, the first part of the transaction
being unquestionably not very worthy of record.
[28] Manrique, Anales Cisterciences, iii. 201.
[29] Plate II.
[30] The nuns’ choir in the nave is, according to Florez, “the most
capacious of all that are known in cathedrals and monasteries.” Esp.
Sag., xxvi. 582.
[31] The organ in All Saints, Margaret Street, has the pipes of one stop
similarly placed; but I know no old English example of this arrangement.
[32] Mr. Waring and M. Villa Amil have both published drawings of the
inner cloister. The drawing of the latter is evidently not to be
trusted; but from Mr. Waring’s view I gather that the arches are round,
resting on coupled shafts, with large carved capitals. Mr. Waring calls
them Romanesque, but in his drawing they look more like very late
Transitional work, probably not earlier than A.D. 1200. They appear to
be arranged in arcades of six open arches between larger piers, and with
such a construction the cloister could hardly have been intended for
groining. The famous cloister at Elne, near Perpignan, with those of
Verona Cathedral, S. Trophine at Arles, Montmajeur, and Moissac, are
examples of the class from which the design of such a cloister as this
must have been derived, and its character is therefore rather more like
that of Italian work, or work of the South of France, than that of
Northern France or England.
[33] España Sagrada, xxvii. 611-14.
[34] España Sagrada, xxvi. 350, 359.
[35] An interesting account of this meeting is given in Cronicas de los
Reyes de Castillos, i. p. 481-3.
[36] That it was “of no diocese” was expressly recorded among the titles
borne by the Abbess, and given by Ponz, Viage de España, xii. 65.
[37] See the account at length in Esp. Sag., xxvii. 393 and 558.
[38] These stalls are like late Flemish work, but wrought by a Spaniard,
Martin Sanchez, circa A.D. 1480, who received 125,000 maravedis for his
labour.
[39] See Cean Bermudez, Dicc. Hist., vi. 171.
[40] A decidedly hyperbolical inscription is quoted by Ponz, in which
the Chapel of Miraflores is called a Temple, “second to none in the
world for monuments, beauty and curiousness.”--Ponz, Viage de Esp., xii.
61. The remark might fairly have been made if had referred only to the
monuments.
[41] Quoted by Cean Bermudez, Dicc. Hist., iv. 378.
[42] There is an illustration of this monument in Mr. Waring’s book.
[43] See España Sagrada, xxvii. 559. Cean Bermudez, Dicc. Hist. iv. 324,
vi. 285, and Arq. de España, i. 106 and 121.
[44] “Nobilis Vir Gonsalvus Polauco, atque ejus conjux Eleonora Miranda
hujus sacri altaris auctores hoc tumulo conquiescunt:” “Obiit ille anno
1505 hæc vero 1503.”
[45] I fear I must add that Roman Catholics still seem to be fond of
western galleries; for one of the most recent, and I hope the most
hideous of their works, the new Italian church in Hatton Garden, has, in
addition to all its other faults, the glaring one of a western gallery
fitted up like an orchestra, whilst the part of the floor which,
according to all old usage, was given to the choir to sing praises to
God, seems from the aspect of the chairs with which it is filled to be
reserved for the more “respectable” part of the congregation! Extremes
meet, and this Italian church would be easily convertible, as it would
be most suitable, to the use of the baldest form of Dissent!
[46] Ponz, Viage de Esp., xii. 21, gives an inscription on one of the
towers of the castle, which states that Pedro Sanchez, “Criado y
Ballistero,” servant and archer to the King (Enrique II.), was its
Mayordomo during its construction in the year 1295.
[47] In Braun and Hohenburgius’ Théâtre des Villes, A.D. 1574, there is
a view of Burgos, which must have been drawn somewhat earlier as the
Chapel of the Constable is not shown in the cathedral: San Esteban is
represented with a spire on its tower.
[48] I particularly refer here to our colonial cathedrals, in which I
wish that the founders would from the first contemplate the erection of
all the proper subordinate buildings, as well as that of the church
itself; and also to those large town churches which we may hope to see
built before long, and served by a staff of clergy working together and
encouraging each other.
[49] _i.e._ the north side, which would be the side of the Gospel ambon
if it faced in the right direction. As I never saw these galleries used,
I do not know how the ambons were really appropriated.
[50] The work of Berruguete and his school is so called in Spain from
its plate-like delicacy of work in flat relief. For Renaissance work it
has a certain air of rich beauty, not often attained in other lands;
and, indeed, it is only a debt of justice due to the architects of Spain
from the time of Berruguete in 1500 to that of the ponderously Pagan
Herrera towards the end of the same century, to say, that whatever
faults may be found with their overgreat exuberance and lavish display
of decoration, they nevertheless possessed rare powers of execution, and
a fertility of conception (generally, it must be owned, of very ugly
things), for which they may well be envied by their school now, as they
were in their own day. Indeed, if the revivers of Renaissance in these
days ever think of such a thing as importing a new idea, I wish heartily
that they would go to Spain and study some of her 16th century
buildings.
[51] The similar but rather earlier iron lectern preserved in the Hôtel
Cluny, at Paris, is well known. See an illustration of it from a drawing
of mine in the second volume of ‘Instrumenta Ecclesiastica’ of the
Ecclesiological Society.
[52] The curious cemetery at Montmajeur, near Arles, is full of graves
excavated in the rock, and cut out just so as to receive the body; so
too are all our own old stone coffins. See also the illuminations
illustrating the burial office so constantly introduced in books of
“Hours.”
[53] Vol. xxvii. p. 675.
[54] This is a very common Flemish custom; but whether the Flemings
borrowed it from Spain, or _vice versâ_, I cannot say.
[55] Iron pulpits were not unknown in England in the middle ages. There
was one in Durham Cathedral. See ‘Ancient Rites of Durham,’ p. 40.
[56] A drawing of this door is given by Mr. Waring, ‘Architectural
Studies in Burgos,’ pl. 39.
[57] España Sagrada, vol. xxvi. p. 382-387, and vol. xxvii. p. 540.
[58] “Qui venerandus Pontifex hanc ecclesiam cum sacristia et capitulo
suis sumptibus ædificavit.”--España Sagrada, xxvi. p. 387. The cloister
was rebuilt by Alonso de Burgos, Bishop of Palencia, cir. 1480-99.--G.
G. Dávila, Teatro Eccl. ii. 174.
[59] The inscription on the monument of Gonsalvo, Bishop of Sigüenza,
contained the following passage: “Hic venerandus Pontifex fuit filius,
_ex legitimo matrimonio_ natus, Reverendi Pontificis Dñi Pauli,” &c.
[60] Ceau Bermudez, Arq. y Arquos. de España, i. 103.
[61] In ‘L’Univers Pittoresque, Espagne,’ vol. xxxi. pl. 54, is a view
of the ruin of the west end (apparently) of the convent of Carmelites at
Burgos; it is a very richly sculptured and panelled front of the most
florid kind of latest Pointed, and in a ruinous state.
[62] The first stone of the cathedral was laid on the 1st of June, 1321,
by Cardinal Arnoldo, legate of Juan XXII., assisted by Juan II., Bishop
of Palencia, and six other bishops, among whom was the Bishop of
Bayonne; “and the first prebendary who had charge of the works
(‘obrero’) in this holy church was Juan Perez de Aceves, Canon and Prior
of Usillos, who assisted in laying the first stone with the legate and
the bishops.”--G. G. Dávila, Teatro Eccl. ii. 159.
[63] In 1504 the conclusion of the cathedral of Palencia was undertaken
by Martin de Solórzano, an inhabitant of Sta. Maria de Haces, under the
condition that he should finish his work in six years, with stone from
the quarries of Paredes del Monte and Fuentes de Valdepero. Salórzano,
however, died in 1506, and Juan de Ruesga, a native of Segovia, finished
it.--Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, vol. i. p. 142.
[64] Gil Gonzalez Dávila, ‘Iglesia de Palencia,’ fol. 164, gives a
letter from the Chapter to the Bishop D. Sancho de Rojas, begging for
money for the work. The Chapter state that the stalls are to cost 76,000
maravedis, and that they are the work of “Maestro Centellas,” and that
they propose to adorn the Bishop’s seat with four achievements of arms.
The bishop at the time this letter was written was at Valencia,
assisting at the wedding of Alonso, Prince of Gerona, and the daughter
of King D. Enrique III.--G. G. Dávila, Teatro Eccl. ii. 164.
[65] Cean Bermudez, Dicc. Hist., vol. ii. p. 236.
[66] Ibid., vol. v. p. 121.
[67] Also in his (D. Sancho de Rojas, A.D. 1397 to A.D. 1411) time was
built the Capilla mayor, which is now the “Parroquia” of the church.--G.
G. Dávila, Teatro Eccl., ii. 164.
[68] Cristóbal Andino made the Reja of the Capilla mayor in A.D. 1520
for 1500 ducats, and in 1530 the screen for 430 ducats, and Gaspar
Rodriguez made that of the Coro in 1555 for the sum of 3600 gold ducats,
paid by the bequest of Bishop D. Luis Cabeza de Vaca.
[69] Cean Bermudez, ‘Arq. Esp.’ i. 60, says the date 1535 exists on the
door from the church to the cloister: and G. G. Dávila, Teatro Ecc., ii.
p. 171, says that in the time of D. Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca
(translated to Burgos in A.D. 1514) the greater part of the chapels from
the crossing downwards were built, as also the cloister and
Chapter-house. The same bishop gave the stairs leading to the well of S.
Antholin, repaired the dormitories, and gave to the sacristy a rich set
of altar vestments (terno) of brocade, four tapestries of ecclesiastical
history, and four others of “Salve Regina.”
[70] The stained glass which once adorned the church was executed by
Diego de Salcedo in 1542, at the price of 100 maravedis each palm (cada
palmo).--Cean Bermudez, Dicc. Hist., vol. iv. p. 304.
[71] This rare arrangement is seen in the church of the Frari at Venice,
and in the church of the Capuchins at Lugo.
[72] Madoz, Dicc. de España.
[73] It should be compared, for instance, with the church of the
Eremitani at Padua, and the church of San Fermo Maggiore at Verona.
[74] We put up at the Fonda de Paris, in the Plaza Sta. Ana--a good inn,
kept by some natives of Belliuzona, who took a good deal of trouble for
me, and whose hotel may safely be recommended.
[75] ‘Viage de España,’ vol. xi. p. 38.
[76] Plate III.
[77] The Retablo of the high altar is (except the figure of the Blessed
Virgin) a work of Juan de Juni (circa A.D. 1556-1583). He had studied
under Michael Angelo, and was either an Italian or a Fleming. I am sorry
to differ from Mr. Ford as to the merits of this artist; but I must say
that I never saw figures so violently twisted and distorted, so affected
and unnatural, or coloured decorations so gaudy and contemptible as
those in which he indulged. At the same time, his works are so
characteristic of his period and school as to deserve examination, even
if they provoke contempt.
[78] Historia de Valladolid, vol. ii. p. 181.
[79] Sagrador y Vitores, Hist. de Valladolid, vol. ii. p. 186.
[80] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp. i. 109.
[81] Sagrador y Vitores, Hist. de Valladolid, ii. 263-268.
[82] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp. i. 128.
[83] Enrique de Egas built the Hospital of Sta. Cruz, at Toledo, between
1504 and 1514. His work at Valladolid is still half Gothic; a few years
later, at Toledo, it is completely Renaissance in style. It is seldom
that we can trace this radical change of style in the work of the same
man.
[84] Little meets the eye, but still I have had several new
establishments of regular clergy pointed out to me, and the Church in
Spain is already, no doubt, regaining something of what she has lost in
revolutions and wars.
[85] Handbook of Spain, vol. ii. p. 572.
[86] Berruguete was not dissatisfied with his work. In a letter from him
to Andrés de Nágera (given by Sagrador y Vitores in his History of
Valladolid, vol. ii. p. 257) he expresses his own extreme satisfaction
in the most unreserved way.
[87] The remarkable brick buildings of Toulouse and its neighbourhood
are similarly constructed; so, too, are those not less remarkable works
at Lübeck and elsewhere in the north of Germany.
[88] Plate IV.
[89] It is doubtful whether this surname is correct, and whether it is
not old Spanish for “Vixit” in the inscription on his tomb.--Ford,
Handbook, p. 521.
[90] Teatro Eccl., iii. 236-8.
[91] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. 21.
[92] G. G. Dávila, Teat. Eccl., iii. 344.
[93] Plate IV.
[94] The statues at the angles of the lantern are of our Lord, the B. V.
M., an angel, and a bishop.
[95] Don Miguel, priest of San Juan, Medina del Campo, made a donation
to the church in A.D. 1178, to complete the work of the cathedral. The
Chapter-house is probably of about this date or a little later.--Cean
Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. 23.
[96] I use the modern terms, which seem to express their offices. The
original words are J. G. de Hontañon, “maestro de canteria para maestro
principal, y en Juan Campero, cautero, para aparejador.”
[97] Two inscriptions on stones on the church give the dates of its
commencement and first use.
“+ Hoc Templum inceptum est anno a nativitate Domini millesimo
quingentesimo tercio decimo die Jovis duodecima mensis Maii.”
“+ Pio. IV. Papa, Philippo II. Rege. Francisco Manrique de Lara,
Episcopo, ex vetere ad hoc templum facta translatio xxv. Martii anno a
Cristo nato 1560.”--G. G. Dávila, Teat. Ecc., iii. 320, 344.
[98] It will be seen presently that in the somewhat similar cathedral at
Zamora the Romanesque steeple occupies precisely the same position as
this. It is possible that when the Junta sat the steeple they spoke of
was of the same age as the old church, and that it has been subsequently
recast in Renaissance.
[99] Yet I think a more careful search would be rewarded, for we know of
the consecration of several churches at an early date, and Mr. Ford
speaks of them as still existing.
Church of San Nicholas, consecrated 11 Kal. Nov. 1192.
Do. San Pedro, do. Nov. 1202.
Church of Sta. Maria de los Caballeros, consecrated Nov. 1214.
Do. San Emilian, do. Nov. 1226.
Do. S. Michael, do. Nov. 1238.
--G. G. Dávila, Teatro Eccl., iii. pp. 272-4.
[100] Plate IV.
[101] G. G. Dávila, Teatro Eccl., ii. 397. Dávila’s statement, supported
by the inscription on his tomb, is that Bernardo was the first Bishop of
Zamora; but this does not appear to accord exactly with the result at
which Florez arrives. His statement is that Gerónimo was the first
Bishop of Zamora after a long hiatus, that he was succeeded by Bernardo,
and that both these bishops were appointed by Bernard of Toledo, and
both were natives of Périgord. The fact seems to be that Gerónimo was
Bishop of Valencia, and had to fly thence when the Moors regained
possession after the Cid’s death, and that he was then made Bishop of
Salamanca. It is certainly not a little curious that two of the
eleventh-century bishops of Zamora should have come from a district
where all the vaulting is more or less domical, and that we should have
in their cathedral one of the most remarkable examples of a domed
church. It will be recollected that nearly the same facts have been
mentioned in regard to Salamanca. See Esp. Sag., vol. xiv. pp. 362-368,
and p. 79 _ante_.
[102]
Fit domus hista quidem, veluti Salomonica capridem
Huc adhibite fidem: domus hæc successit eidem.
Sumptibus, et magnis viginti fit tribus annis.
A quo fundatur, Domino faciente sacratur.
Anno millessimo, centessimo, septuagesimo.
Quarto completur, Stephanus, qui fecit habetur.
Alfonsus imperator, Rex Septimus fundavit.
G. G. Dávila, Teat. Eccl., ii. 397-8.
The same historian says that King Fernando I. rebuilt the city of Zamora
with very strong walls in 1055.--ii. 395.
[103] This I suppose is the chapel of San Ildefonso, founded in 1466 by
the Cardinal D. Juan de Mella, Bishop of Zamora.
[104] M. Villa-Amil, who gives a view of this transept, has converted
this arcade into a row of windows, presented the doorway with a
sculptured tympanum, and entirely altered the character of the archivolt
enrichment.
[105] On the north side, the figures and inscriptions are as follow:--
1. Abel. _Vox sanguinis._
2. Abraam. _Tres vidit; unum adoravit._
3. Joseph. _Melius est ut venundetur._
4. Melchisedec. _Rex Salem proferens panem et vinum._
5. Job. _De terra surrecturus sum._
6. Aaron. _Invenit germinans._
7. Samson. _De (comedente exivit cibus)._
8. Samuel. _Loquere Domine._
9. David. _Dominus dixit ad me, Filius._
10. Jeremias. _Dominus._
11. Ezekiel. _Porta hæc._
12. Oseas (with cross botonnée on breast). _Addam ultra._
13. Amos. _Super tribus._
14. Micheas. _Percutient maxillam._
15. Abacuc. _Exultabo in Deo Jesu meo._
16. Sophonias. _Juxta est dies._
17. Zacharias. _Jesus erat_.
18. Nabuchodonosor. _Quartus similis Filio Dei._
19. Virgilius Bucol. _Progenies._
On the south side:--
1. Moyses. _Prophetam excitabit._
2. Isaac. _Vox quidem vox._
3. Jacob. _Non auferetur Sceptrum de Juda._
4. Balaam. _Orietur stella ex._
5. Gedeon. _Si ros solo._
6. Helias. _Ambulavit in fortitudine._
7. Helisæus. _Vade, et lavare septies._
8. Salomon. _Levent servi mei._
9. Tobias. _Jherusalem._
10. Isayas. _Ecce Virgo concipiet._
11. Baruch. _Statuam Testamentum illis._
12. Daniel. _Septuaginta hebdomades._
13. Johel. _Magnus enim dies Domini._
14. Jonas. _De ventre._
15. Naum. _Ecce super._
16. Ageus. _Veniet desideratus._
17. Malachias. _A solis ortu usque ad._
18. Caiaphas. _Expedit vobis._
19. Centurio. _Vere Filius._
[106] See plan, Plate VIII.
[107] The western doorways of Salisbury Cathedral are emphatically mere
“holes in the wall,” and very characteristic, too.
[108] I add Dr. Neale’s notes of two churches here which I did not
discover.
“San Juan de la Puerta Nueva. Principally of Flamboyant date, has a
square east end. The whole breadth of the church is here under one
vault, the span somewhere about sixty feet. The north porch, separated
by a parclose from the chapel of the Cross, has an excellent
Transitional door. The western façade has a middle-pointed window of
five lights.
“San Pedro. Has had its originally-distinct nave and aisles thrown into
one in Flamboyant times, and vaulted with an immense span.”
[109] Nevertheless, Dr. Neale describes it as existing, and so, no
doubt, it does.--‘An Ecclesiological Tour,’ Ecclesiologist, vol. xiv. p.
361.
[110] See plan, Plate VIII.
[111] There is an inscription on the south-east buttress of the transept
which, I believe, refers to the date of the church; but, unfortunately,
though I noticed it, I forgot to write it down.
[112] See Catologo de los Obispos de Leon. Cixila II. Esp. Sag., xxxiv.
211.
[113] In a deed of the 20th March, A.D. 1175, mention is made of Pedro
Cebrian, “Maestro de la Obra de la Catedral,” and of Pedro Gallego,
“Gobernador de las Torres.” It is possible, of course, that Cebrian may
have been the architect of the new cathedral if it was commenced between
1181 and 1205, but I do not believe that this was the case; and the real
architect was, more probably one who is thus mentioned in the book of
Obits of the cathedral: “Eodem die VII. idus Julii, sub era MCCCXV.
obiit Henricus, magister operis,” and who, dying in the year 1277, may
well have designed the greater portion of the work. At a later date, in
1513, Juan de Badajoz was architect of the cathedral, and may probably
have finished one of the steeples.--Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i.
37, 38.
[114] “Hoc tempore,” he says, “ampliata est fides Catholica in Hispania,
et licet multi Regnum Legionense bellis impeterent, tamen Ecclesiæ
regalibus muneribus ditatæ sunt in tantum, ut antiquæ destruerentur
Ecclesiæ, quæ magnis sumptibus fuerant fabricatæ, et multo nobiliores et
pulchriores in toto Regno Legionensi fuudarentur. Tunc reverendus
Episcopus Legionensis Manricus ejusdem Sedis Ecclesiam fundavit opere
magno, sed eam ad perfectionem non duxit.”
[115] “Cum igitur,” they say, “ad fabricam Ecclesiæ Sauctæ Mariæ
Legionensis quæ de novo construitur, et magnis indiget sumptibus,
propriæ non suppetant facultates, universitatem vestram
rogamus,”--“quatenus de bonis vobis a Deo collatis eidem fabricæ pias
eleemosynas de vestris facultatibus tribuatis, ut per hæc, et alia bona
opera, quæ inspirante Deo feceritis, ad eterna possitis gaudia
pervenire.” This indulgence is preserved in the archives of the
cathedral.--España Sagrada, xxxv. p. 269.
[116] “Cum igitur Ecclesia Beatæ Mariæ Legion. Sedis ædificetur de novo
opere quamplurimum sumptuoso, et absque fidelium adminiculo non possit
feliciter consummari, universitatem vestram monemus et exhortamur in
Domino,” &c. &c.; “ut per subventionem vestram, quod ibidem inceptum
est, ad effectum optatum valeat pervenire,” &c., given in the general
Council of Leon, 10 Kal. Aug. A.D. 1273.--España Sagrada, xxxv. p. 270.
[117] Plate V.
[118] So, at least, I was assured by the superintendent of the works at
the cathedral. Some of the material I saw was no doubt tufa; but some of
it seemed to me to be an exceedingly light kind of concrete. The
vaulting of Salisbury Cathedral is similarly constructed. I do not know
whether at Beauvais the same expedient was adopted to lessen the weight.
[119] The three crucifixes at the entrance to the cemetery at Nuremberg
will be remembered by all who have ever seen them; and such a group
would have made a fitting centre for such a cloister as this at Leon.
[120] This conceit is illustrated more elaborately than I have elsewhere
seen it in a palace near San Isidoro, where the angle windows are
designed and executed in a sort of perspective, which is inexpressibly
bad in effect.
[121] _Not_ a crucifix.
[122] Witness Mr. E. Burne Jones’s beautiful picture over the altar of
S. Paul, Brighton, and Mr. D. G. Rossetti’s at Llandaff.
[123] Teatro Ecclesiastico, i. p. 365.
[124] “Hic requiescit Petrus de Deo, qui superædificavit Ecclesiam hanc.
Iste fundavit pontem, qui dicitur de Deus tamben: et quia erat vir miræ
abstinentiæ et multis florebat miraculis, omnes eum laudibus
prædicabant. Sepultus est hic ab Imperatore Adefonso et Sancia Regina.”
Esp. Sag., xxxv. p. 356. G. G. Dávila, Teatro Eccles., i. p. 340. Dávila
adds the words “servus Dei” before the name of the architect.
[125] See Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. p. 14.
[126] The whole of this deed of endowment is interesting. I quote a few
lines only, which have some interest, as bearing, among other things, on
the Gothic crowns found at Guarrazar, and mentioned at p. 212.
“Offerimus igitur” “ornamenta altariorum: id est, frontale ex auro puro
opere digno cum lapidibus smaragdis, safiris, et omnia genere pretiosis
et olovitreis: alios similiter tres frontales argenteos singulis
altaribus: Coronas tres aureas: una ex his cum sex alfas in gyro, et
corona de Alaules intus in ea pendens: alia est de anemnates cum
olivitreo, aurea. Tertia vero est diadema capitis mei,” &c. &c.--Esp.
Sag., xxxvi., Appendix, p. clxxxix.
[127] “Sub era millesima centesima octuagesima septima, pridie nonas
Martii, facta est Ecclesia Sancti Isidori consecrata per manus Raymundi
Toletanæ Sedis Archiepiscopi, et Joannis Legionensis episcopi,” &c.
&c.--Teatro Eccl., vol. ii., p. 243. See also the similar inscription on
a stone in San Isidoro.--Esp. Sag., vol. xxxv. p. 207.
[128] Ponz, Viage de España, xi. p. 234.
[129] Plate VI.
[130] _E.g._ Segovia, Avila, Salamanca, Benavente, Lérida.
[131] So, at least, says Cean Bermudez, but without giving his
authority.
[132] Pallares Gayoso, Hist. de Lugo, from the black book in the
archives.
[133] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. 25.
[134] Plate VII.
[135] A.D. 1577.--Madoz, Dicc.
[136] Teatro Eccl., iii. 182, 183.
[137] Plate VIII.
[138] The following inscription remains on one of the columns on the
north side of the nave:--
SANTA : MARIA : RECE
AB : ESTE : PIAR : DE : FON
DO : A TE : CIMA : CON : LA
METADE : DOS : AR
COS : CA : QUELQUE : O :
PAGON : EN : VIII. : IDUS
JULII : ERA : MCCC : XL.
From which it appears that this column, with the halves of the two
arches springing from it, was built in A.D. 1302. On another column on
the same side is an inscription recording the erection of the Chapel of
the Visitation in A.D. 1374.
[139] Plate VIII.
[140] España Sagrada, xix. p. 91.
[141] Historia del Apostol Sanctiago, by Mauro Castella Ferrer, p. 463.
[142] The latter document in particular has much architectural interest,
and is worth transcribing in part, on account of its reference to these
early buildings, and their materials and furniture. It commences as
follows:--
“In nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, edificatum est Templum Sancti
Salvatoris, et Sancti Jacobi Apostoli in locum Arcis Marmoricis
territorio Galleciæ per institutionem gloriosissimi Principis Adefonsi
III. cum conjuge Scemena sub Pontifice loci ejusdem Sisnando Episcopo.”
(877-903.) “Supplex egregii eximii Principis Ordonii proles ego
Adefonsus Principi cum prædicto antistite statuimus ædificare domum
Domini et restaurare Templum ad tumulum sepulchri Apostoli, quod
antiquitus construxerat divæ memoriæ Dominus Adefonsus Magnus ex petra
et luto opere parvo. Nos quidem inspiratione divina adlati cum subditis
ac familia nostra adduximus in sanctum locum ex Hispania inter agmina
Maurorum, quæ eligimus de Civitate Eabecæ petras marmoreas quas avi
nostri ratibus per Pontum transvexerunt, et ex eis pulchras domos
ædificaverunt, quæ ab inimicis destructæ manebant. Unde quoque ostium
principale Occidentalis partis ex ipsis marmoribus est appositum:
supercilia vero liminaris Sedis invenimus sicut antiqua sessio fuerat
miro opere sculpta. Ostium de sinistro juxta Oraculum Baptistæ et
Martyris Joannis quem simili modo fundavimus, et de puris lapidibus
construximus columnas sex cum basibus todidem posuimus, ubi abbobuta
tribunalis est constructa, vel alias columnas sculptas supra quas
portius imminet de oppido Portucalense ratibus deportatas adduximus
quadras, et calcem unde sunt ædificatæ columnæ decem et VIII. cum aliis
columnelis marmoreis simili modo navigio.”--España Sagrada, xix. p. 344,
Appendix.
[143] Handbook of Spain, pp. 600-605.
[144] The authors of the ‘Manual del Viagero en la Catedral de Santiago’
are, however, not quite of this opinion. They say of it, “The monument
which we examine belongs not to Santiago, to Galicia, to Spain, but is
the patrimony of the Christian religion, of the Catholic world; since in
all fervent souls something remains of the ancient and fervent faith of
our forefathers.” This guide-book, by the way, is one of the worst I
ever met with.
[145] The twentieth volume of ‘España Sagrada’ is entirely occupied with
the reprint of this chronicle.
[146] Histor. Compost, lib. iii. cap. 1.
[147] “Postquam supradictus Episcopus,” “ad Ecclesiam Patroni sui B.
Jacobi Apostoli rediens, circa eam indefessam solicitudinem exhibuit.”
“Reversus itaque a supradicta expeditione, vetustissimam Ecclesiolam
obrui præcepit, quæ intra immensam novæ ecclesiæ capacitatem imminente
ruina lapsum minabatur. Hæc in longitudinem ad altare B. Jacobi
protendebatur ab illo pilari qui juxta principalem ecclesiæ parietem, et
secus unum de quatuor principalibus pilaribus existit, in sinistra parte
superiorem partem chori ingredientibus pone relinquitur, et juxta fores
pontificalis Palatii Ecclesiam introeuntibus, recta fronte opponitur, et
in alia parte, id est in dextera, a pilari opposito supradicto pilari
usque ad idem altare: latitudo vero illius eadem quæ modo et chori est.
Destructa illa Ecclesia in era I.C.L.” (A.D. 1112.) “quæ quasi
obumbraculum totius Ecclesiæ esse videbatur, Chorum satis competentem
ibidem composuit, qui usque in hodiernum diem Dei gratia et B. Jacobi
per industriam ejusdem Episcopi optimi Cleri excellentia egregie
decoratur. Ipse quoque Episcopus, utpote sapiens architectus, in ejusdem
chori dextro capite fecit supereminens pulpitum, in quo Cantores, atque
Subdiacones officii sui ordinem peragunt. In sinistro vero aliud, ubi
lectiones et Evangelia leguntur. Est autem B. Jacobi specialis et
præclara nova ecclesia incæpta Era I. C. XVI.--V. idus Jul.” (A.D.
1078.) Histor. Compost., lib. i. cap. 78.
[148] The Archbishop’s words were as follows:--“Fratres, nostra ecclesia
non nostris sed Dei gratia et nostri Patroni Beatissimi Apostoli Jacobi
meritis maximi et celeberrimi est nominis, et ultra portus et citra
portus pro ditissima et nobilissima reputatur.” “Quælibet Sedes ultra
portus pulchriora et valentiora ædificia habet quam nostra,” &c.
&c.--Hist. Compost., lib. iii. cap. 1.
[149] Histor. Compost., lib. ii. cap. 64.
[150] Ibid., lib. iii. cap. 36.
[151] See Appendix.
[152] Before this time, in 1161, Master Matthew had built the bridge of
Cesures in Gallicia.--Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. 33.
[153] “Era: millena: nova: vicies: duodena.”
[154] By a strange coincidence, S. Sernin boasts of having, among the
bones of several of the apostles, those of S. James; though, of course,
this would be strongly denied at Compostella.
[155] The church from which the cathedral at Santiago was copied is one
of a considerable number in France, all of which have the same general
characteristics. I have already given some description of them in a
paper read before the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1861, and
published in their Transactions. The following list of some of the more
remarkable examples will show both their date and locale:--Conques,
completed in A.D. 1060; S. Etienne, Nevers, commenced in A.D. 1063,
consecrated A.D. 1097; S. Eutrope, Saintes, consecrated in A.D. 1096; S.
Genes, A.D. 1016-1120; S. Hilary, Poitiers, A.D. 1049; Montierneuf,
Poitiers, A.D. 1069-1096; S. Radigonde, Poitiers, A.D. 1099; S. Amable,
Riom, A.D. 1077-1120; S. Sernin, Toulouse, A.D. 1060-1096; Cluny, A.D.
1089-1131; Dorat (Haute Vienne) and Bénévente (Creuse), A.D. 1150-1200;
S. Saturnin; Volvic; Issoire; S. Nectaire; N. D. du Port, Clermont
Ferrand, circa A.D. 1080-1160; Brioude, A.D. 1200. There is a church of
similar construction at Granson, on the lake of Neufchâtel. These
churches agree generally in their plans, but especially in those of
their chevets (which almost invariably have chapels in the alternate
bays only). Their sections are also alike, the triforia galleries being
always vaulted with a continuous half-barrel or quadrant vault, and they
have no clerestories. No doubt they were always intended to receive
stone roofs, without any use of timber; and this mode of covering has
been carefully restored recently at N. D. du Port, Clermont Ferrand.
[156] This façade was designed by D. Ventura Rodriguez, in 1764.
[157] The ground-plan of this chapel is shown on Plate IX., above the
plan of the cathedral.
[158] The sacristan will not trouble himself to show this chapel, and it
was by a mere accident that I discovered its existence. The keys are
kept by the carpenter of the chapter, whose shop is below the
chapter-house.
[159] The seminario on the west, the hospital on the north, and the
College of San Jerónimo on the south side.
[160] This is the Puerta Santa, and is only opened by the archbishop in
years of jubilee.
[161] It is just open to doubt whether the small circular window over
the other is original, but I think the similarity to S. Sernin is in
favour of its being so, in spite of some awkwardness in the mode of its
introduction, which would otherwise have inclined me to doubt it.
[162] See the illustration of this doorway in the frontispiece.
[163] I could not discern the meaning of a rite the people perform here.
They kneel down and put the thumb and three fingers of one hand into
some cavities just fitted for them in the sculpture of the central
shaft, and then with the other hand throw sand down the throats of the
monsters. Some people evidently did this much to their own satisfaction,
whilst an acolyte called my attention to the practice as being curious
and unintelligible.
[164] España Sag., vol. xix.
[165] This practice illustrates the intention of the singular pilgrimage
chapel at the west end of Lapworth church, Warwickshire, which has two
newel staircases to its small upper chamber, evidently intended to
facilitate the passage of a crowd of people.
[166] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. p. 105.
[167] “Don Juan of Medina, Bishop of Segovia, Abbat of Medina, President
of the Cortes, Chancellor of Valladolid, ordered this chapel to be made
in the year 1503. Laus Deo.”
[168] The walls near San Vicente are 42 feet high by 14 feet thick, and
the towers of the gateway upwards of 60 feet in height.
[169] Ariz, Historia de Avila, part ii. p. 13. Ponz, Viage de España,
xii. 308-9.
[170] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, vol. i. p. 18.
[171] España Sagrada, xxxviii. p. 134.
[172] See ground-plan, Plate X.
[173] See ground-plan, Plate XXIII.
[174] Teatro Eccl. ii. 258. Dávila, among the celebrities of Avila,
includes himself, “the least of all, Pulvis et umbra.” One is surprised
to find in his account of his own town so little really original matter
as to the history or the date of its buildings.
[175] Juan de Borgoña contracted on March 23, 1508, to paint five
pictures which were lacking in this Retablo, receiving 15,000 maravedis
for each, and binding himself to finish them by All Saints’ Day of the
same year.
[176] Plate XI.
[177] See the illustration of San Esteban, Segovia.
[178] Teatro Eccl. ii. 230.
[179] Teatro Eccl. ii. 229.
[180] Teatro Eccl. ii. 230.
[181] “In 1465 the sepulchre of the martyrs was made by donations from
the Catholic kings, prelates,” &c. D. Andres H. Gallejo, ‘Memoria sobre
la Basilica de San Vicente,’ p. 13. This date can only refer to the
canopy.
[182] The following inscriptions on churches in Avila are given by G. G.
Dávila. On a stone in San Nicolas, “In honorem B. Nicolai dedicavit hanc
ecclesiam Jacobus Abulensis Episcopus, &c. &c., vi. Kal. Novembris, era
MCC.XXXVI.” On a stone in San Bartolomeo, “In honorem S. Bartholomei
Apost. dedicavit hanc ecclesiam Petrus Episcopus, &c. &c., vii. idus
Decembris, MCCXLVIII.” The same bishop consecrated San Domingo in 1240.
[183] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, vol. i. p. 113. This convent is
said to have been founded by the Catholic monarchs entirely with the
confiscated goods of Jews.
[184] Cean Bermudez, Dicc., &c., de los Bellas Artes en España, vol. ii.
p. 125.
[185] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. p. 214.
[186] Here lies Rodrigo Gil de Hontañon, Master of the Works of this
Holy Church. He died the 31st of May, 1577. He set the first stone,
which the Bishop D. Diego de Ribera laid on the 8th of June, 1525.
[187] Plate XII.
[188] See ground-plan, Plate VIII.
[189] Colmenares (Historia de la insigne Ciudad de Segovia; Segovia.
1637) gives the date of the first foundation 1447, but the buildings do
not seem to have been begun before 1474, and the vaulting was finished
in 1485.--Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. p. 111.
[190] These particulars are all given in Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España,
i. pp. 111, 120, 146.
[191] See Plate VIII.
[192] See ground-plan, Plate VIII.
[193] San Millan is said to have been founded in A.D. 923, and similar
early dates are given for Sta. Columba and San Esteban: none of them, I
believe, retain any features of so great an antiquity.
[194] I did not see the church of San Lorenzo. It has three eastern
apses, and an arcaded cloister on the western and southern sides, some
of the arches being round and some pointed. The detail is all of the
same kind as in other examples here, with much delicate imitation of
natural foliage.--See Illustration in Monos. Arqos. de España.
[195] The illustration of this courtyard is engraved from a photograph.
[196] See ground-plan, Plate XIII.
[197] Teatro Eccl., vol. i. pp. 131-148.
[198] See an illustration of this window on the ground-plan of Sigüenza
Cathedral, Plate XIII.
[199] Hoc. claustrum. a. fundamentis, fieri, maudavit. Reverendissimus.
Dominus. B. Carvaial. Car. S. +. in. Jerusalem. patriarcha.
Ierosolimitan. episcopus. Tusculan. Antistes. hujus. alme. basilice.
quod. cempletum. fuit. de. mense. Novembris. anno. Salutis.
M.C.C.C.C.C.V.II. procurante. D. Serrano. Abbate. S. Columbe. ejusdem.
ecclesiæ. operario.
[200] B: Carvaial: Car: S: +: eps: Saguntin:
[201] Teatro Eccl., i 161.
[202] Señor Cabezas, a commissionaire, to be heard of at the Fonda de
Lino, may be recommended. He knows all the most interesting churches, as
well as the Moorish remains; and to see these last it is indispensable
to have some conductor who knows both them and their owners.
[203] This castle is said by Ponz to have been built by Archbishop
Tenorio, circa 1340.--Viage de España, i. 163.
[204] It seems that the bridge of Alcantara fell down in the year 1211,
and when it was repaired Enrique I. built a tower for the better defence
of the city, as is recorded in an inscription given by Estevan de
Garibay as follows: “Henrrik, son of the king Alfonso, ordered this
tower and gate to be made, to the honour of God, by the hand of Matheo
Paradiso in the _era_ 1255” (A.D. 1217). In A.D. 1258 the king D. Alonso
“el Sabio” rebuilt the bridge, and put the following inscription on a
piece of marble over the point of the arch: “In the year 1258 from the
incarnation of Lord Jesus Christ, was the grand deluge of water, which
commenced before the month of August, and lasted until Thursday the 26th
of December; and the fall of rain was very great in most lands, and did
great damage in many places, and especially in Spain, where most of the
bridges fell; and among all the others was demolished a great part of
that bridge of Toledo, which Halaf, son of Mahomet Alameri, Alcalde of
Toledo, had made by command of Almansor Aboaamir Mahomet, son of
Abihamir, Alquazil of Amir Almomenin Hixem; and it was finished in the
time of the Moors, 387 years before this time; and the king, D. Alonso,
son of the noble king D. Fernando, and of the queen Doña Beatriz, who
reigned in Castile, had it repaired and renovated; and it was finished
in the eighth year of his reign, in the year of the Incarnation 1258.”
Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. p. 254-255. The bridge was restored
again by Archbishop Tenorio in 1380, and fortified in 1484 by Andres
Manrique.--Ford, Handbook of Spain, p. 783.
[205] I must mention in this place one very curious collection of relics
of the age of the Gothic kings of Spain. This is the marvellous group of
votive crowns discovered in 1858 in a place called La Fuente de
Guarrazar, in the environs of Toledo, and which were immediately
purchased by the Emperor of the French for the Museum of the Hôtel de
Cluny. They consist of five or six crowns, with crosses suspended from
them, and three smaller crowns without crosses. They are of gold, and
made with thin plates of gold stamped with a pattern, and they have gold
chains for hanging them up by, and are adorned with an infinity of
stones. They have been illustrated in a volume published by M. F. de
Lasteyrie, with explanatory text. I cannot do better than quote the
conclusions at which he arrives: “(1) The crowns found at Guarrazar are
eminently votive crowns. (2) They have never been worn. (3) Their
construction belongs probably to the age of Reccesvinthus and the
episcopate of S. Ildefonso, who excited so great a devotion to the
Blessed Virgin in Spain. (4) One of the crowns was offered by
Reccesvinthus (whose name, formed in letters suspended from its edge,
occurs on it); possibly the next in size may have been given by the
queen, and the rest by their officers. (5) The place from which they
came was a chapel called N. Dame des Cormiers. (6) All of the crowns,
though found in Spain, appear to belong to an art of the same northern
origin as the conquering dynasty which then occupied the throne. They
certainly give the idea of an extraordinary skill in the gold-smiths’
art at this early period (circa 650-672), and it is probable that they
had been buried where they were found at the time that the Moors entered
Toledo as conquerors in A.D. 711.”--See Description du Trésor de
Guarrazar, &c., par Ferdinand de Lasteyrie, Paris, 1860. Since this
discovery some other crowns have been found in the same neighbourhood,
and these are, I believe, preserved at Madrid. They have been described
in a short paper in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, to
which I must refer my readers. The crowns preserved at the Hôtel Cluny
certainly form one of the greatest attractions in that attractive
collection. They are in a singularly perfect state of preservation.
Their workmanship is rather rude, and they all appear to be of as nearly
as possible the same age and manufacture. There can be no question that
M. F. de Lasteyrie is right in saying that they were never worn as
crowns; they were designed for suspension before an altar, and most of
them have crosses hanging from them. The largest crown--that of
Reccesvinthus, is formed of two plates of gold, the inner plate plain,
the outer pierced, beaten up, and set with very large stones. The plates
of gold in many cases are stamped with a pattern. At the top and bottom
of the plate which forms the coronet is a narrow band of cloisonnée
gold, the spaces in which seem to have been filled with glass or
red-coloured enamel. The largest crown is eight-and-a-half inches in
diameter, and has a splendid jewelled cross suspended from its centre,
and the name of the king in large Roman letters hung by chains from its
lower edge, and formed of cloisonnée gold. When I see such work done in
the seventh century, and then look at modern jeweller’s work, I am
tempted to think that the much vaunted progress of the world is not
always in the right direction. Gold and silver ornaments were exported
from Spain to so considerable an extent, that the tiara of the Pope,
being richly wrought with precious metal, was called
_Spanoclista_.--Masdeu, Hist. Critica.
[206] “The Christians, in all matters exclusively relating to
themselves, were governed by their own laws, administered by their own
judges. Their churches and monasteries (rosæ inter spinas) were
scattered over the principal towns, and their clergy were allowed to
display the costume and celebrate the pompous ceremonial of the Romish
religion.”--Prescott, Hist. of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. i. p. 5.
[207] Sta. Justa (founded in 554), Sta. Eulalia (559), San Sebastian
(601), San Marcos (634), San Lucas (641), San Torcuato (700), and
Nuestra Señora del Arribal were the churches so granted for the use of
the Mozarabic Liturgy. See D. Manuel de Assas, ‘Album Art. de Toledo,’
Art. II., and D. Sisto Ramon Parro, ‘Toledo en la Mano,’ p. 167 et seq.
[208] “The most remarkable buildings which illustrate the Mahomedan
architecture in Toledo are the following:--The Mosque, now church of
Cristo de la Luz, the Synagogues Sta. Maria la Blanca and El Transito,
the church of San Roman--probably once a Mosque or Synagogue--the
gateways De Visagra and Del Sol, and one on the Bridge of Alcantara, the
Alcazar, the Palace of D. Diego, the Casa de Mesa, the Taller del Moro,
the Temple (No. 10, Calle de San Miguel), the College of Saint
Catherine, the house No. 17, Calle de las Tornerias, the ruins of the
Palace of Villena, those of St. Augustine, of San Ginés, the Baths de la
Cava, the Castle of San Servando (or Cervantes), the Palace of Galiena,
and finally the Churches of SS. Ursula, Torcuato, Isabel, Marcos, Justo,
Juan de la Penitencia, Miguel, Magdalena, Concepcion, Sta. Fé, Santiago,
Cristo de la Vega (or Sta. Leocadia), SS. Tomé and Bartolomé.”--D.
Manuel de Assas, Album Artist. de Toledo, and Toledo Pintoresca, Don J.
Amador de los Rios. There are other remains, and among them a very fine
room behind the house, No. 6, Calle la Plata.
[209] Ponz, Viage de España, vol. i. p. 210, gives a view of the
considerable remains of a Roman aqueduct. I believe these have now
entirely disappeared.
[210] There is a view in Villa Amil’s work of this interior, but the
scale of the figures introduced is so much too small as to increase
largely the apparent size of the building; otherwise the drawing is
fairly correct. The illustration which I give is borrowed from Mr.
Fergusson’s ‘Handbook of Architecture,’ and is from a drawing by M.
Girault de Prangey.
[211] I find that Archbishop Rodrigo consecrated the church of San Roman
on the 20th of June, 1221. See his Historia de Rebus Hispaniæ, in España
Sagrada, vol. ii. p. 23.
[212] San Vicente Ferrer is said to have converted more than 4000
Toledan Jews in one day in the year 1407; and in 1413 a vast number were
converted in Zaragoza, Calatayud, and elsewhere in the north of Spain.
One cannot but fear that coming events in this case cast their shadows
before them, and that the Jews had a shrewd suspicion of the coming of
the edict of 1492, by which 170,000 Jewish families were ordered to
leave the kingdom if they would not be baptized. The establishment of
the Inquisition was the necessary consequence of such an edict. See Don
J. Amador de los Rios, Estudios sobre los Judios de España, pp. 84, 106,
156.
The illustration which I give of the interior of this synagogue is
borrowed from Mr. Fergusson’s ‘Handbook of Architecture.’ The original
view is in M. Villa-Amil’s work, and gives a fairly correct
representation of the general effect of the building.
[213] Said to have been so called on account of the passing-bell rung at
the death of any of the Knights of Calatrava, to which it belonged after
A.D. 1492; but more probably owing to its possession of a picture of the
Assumption, the church having sometimes been called Nuestra Señora del
Transito. It is also called San Benito. See D. Man. de Assas, Alb. Art.
de Toledo.
[214] For some notice of Samuel Levi, and the inscriptions in the
Synagogue, see Don José Amador de los Rios, Estudios sobre los Judios de
España, pp. 52-7. Translations of these long and curious Hebrew
inscriptions are given by D. F. de Rades y Andrada in his Chronicle of
Calatrava, pp. 24, 25.
[215] The capture of Granada, on Jan. 2nd, 1492, and the expulsion of
the Jews at the end of July in the same year, were jointly recorded over
the door “del Escribanos” at the west end of the cathedral; and at the
same time so great was the zeal for the Christian faith that nothing
else was tolerated anywhere in Spain, and least of all here under the
eye of the Primate. Yet it is more than doubtful whether the country
gained in any way--moral or material--by such a measure; it lost its
most skilled workmen, its most skilled agriculturists; and the
gloom-inspiring effect of the necessary Inquisition, seems permanently
to have fixed itself on Spanish art and manners. 170,000 families of
Jews, at the time of their expulsion, were compelled to leave the
kingdom in four months, or be baptized.--Don J. A. de los Rios, Estudios
s. l. Judios, p. 156.
[216] From _artesa_, a kneading-trough; a carved ceiling, made in the
shape of an inverted trough. This term is usually applied by Spanish
writers to this class of roof, and I follow Mr. Ford’s example in
adopting it, as we have no term which exactly represents it.
[217] Viage de España, vol. i. p. 41.
[218] España Art. y Mon., vol. i. p. 78.
[219] I am aware that in saying this I blame myself as much as any one
else. The truth is, that so violent is the popular prejudice on some
points that he must be a bold architect who ventures to run counter to
it; and I am quite sure that the first brick building I erect with the
brickwork executed in the proper way will be met by a storm of abuse
from all sides. This is a great snare to most of us. Nothing is more
easy than to secure popular applause in architecture. If we abstain from
study, thought, or over-labour about the execution of every detail, we
may still do what every one will agree is right and proper, because it
has been done five hundred times before; but if we only give a fair
amount of all three we are sure to meet with plenty of critics who never
give any of either, and who hate our work in proportion to their own
incapacity to criticize it from their old standpoint.
[220] A good illustration of San Tomé is given in Villa Amil, vol. ii.
[221] Toledo en La Mano, pp. 249 et seq. Escosura in Villa Amil, vol.
ii. p. 51.
[222] Ford’s Handbook, p. 777.
[223] see ante, p. 210.
[224] An inscription was put up in the time of Philip II. giving the
history of the bridge, and stating that it had been rebuilt by Pedro
Tenorio, the archbishop: “Pontem cujus ruinæ in declivis alveo proxime
visuntur, fluminis inundatione, quæ anno Domini MCCIII. super ipsum
excrevit, diruptum Toletani in hoc loco ædificaverunt. Imbecilla hominum
consilia, quem jam amnis lædere non poterat, Petro et Henrico fratribus
pro regno contendentibus interruptum, Petrus Tenorius archiepiscopus
Toletan. reparâdum curavit.”
A quaint story is told of the building of this bridge. The architect
whilst the work was going on perceived that as soon as the centres were
removed the arches would fall, and confided his grief to his wife. She
with woman’s wit forthwith set fire to the centring, and when the whole
fell together all the world attributed the calamity to the accident of
the fire. When the bridge had been rebuilt again she avowed her
proceeding, but Archbishop Tenorio, instead of making her husband pay
the expenses, seems to have confined himself to complimenting him on the
treasure he possessed in his wife.--Cean Bermudez, Not. de los Arquos.,
&c., vol. i. p. 79.
[225] A stone was found in the 16th century with this inscription on
it:--
IN NOMINE DNI CONSECRA
TA ECCLESIA SCTE MARIE
IN CATHOLICO DIE PRIMO
IDUS APRILIS ANNO FELI
CITER PRIMO REGNI DNI
NOSTRI GLORIOSISSIMI H
RECCAREDI REGIS ERA
DCXXV
This stone is still preserved, and is interesting as a proof that a
church was standing here in the year 587.
[226] Bernard, the first bishop, after the expulsion of the Moors was
sent from France, at the request of the king, by Hugo, Abbot of Cluny.
The story of this seizure of the mosque is as follows: “Regina
Constantia hortante de revete adscitis militibus Christianis, majorem
Mezquilam ingressus est Toletanam, et eliminata spurcitia Mahometi,
erexit altaria fidei Christianæ, et in majori turri campanas ad
convocationem fidelium collocavit.” The king came back forthwith in
great wrath, determined to burn both queen and archbishop, and riding
into the city was met by a crowd of Moors, to whom he cried out that no
injury had been done to them, but only to him who had solemnly given his
oath that their mosque should be preserved to them. They, however,
prudently begged him to let them release him from his oath, whereat he
had great joy, and riding on into the city the matter ended
peacefully.--Archbishop Rodrigo, De Rebus Hispaniæ, lib. vi. cap. xxiii.
[227] “In the _era_ 1264 (A.D. 1226) the king D. Fernando, and the
archbishop Don Rodrigo, laid the first stones in the foundation of the
church of Toledo.”--Anales Toledanos III. Salazar de Mendoza, in the
prologue to the Chronicle of Cardinal D. Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, says
that the function took place on the 14th Aug. 1227, the eve of the
Assumption. The archbishop, in his History, lib. ix. cap. 13, says that
the work was carried on to the great admiration of the people: “Et tunc
jecerunt primum lapidem” (the Toledo MS. has lapides) “Rex et
Archiepiscopus Rodericus in fundamento ecclesiæ Toletanæ, quæ in forma
mexquitæ” (of a mosque) “à tempore Arabum adhue stabat: cujus fabrica
opere mirabili de die in diem non sine grandi admiratione hominum
exaltatur.” It is vexatious to find the archbishop who laid the first
stone writing a history of his own times, and saying nothing throughout
the entire volume beyond these few words about his cathedral. No one
seems to be able to judge what will interest another age. Most of the
archbishop’s facts are rather insignificant, and what thanks would we
not have given him for any information as to the building of one of the
grandest churches of the age!--See his History--finished in 1243--in
vol. iii. of Coll. Patrum Ecc. Toletanæ, Madrid, 1795.
[228] It is preserved in the Chapel of St. Catherine.--See Blas Ortiz,
Summi Templi Toletani graphica Descriptio.
[229] I venture to speak with great positiveness about some features of
detail. It is possible enough that architects in various countries may
develop from one original--say from a Lombard original--groups of
buildings which shall have a general similarity. They may increase this
similarity by travel. But in each country certain conventionalities have
been introduced in the designing of details which it is most rare to see
anywhere out of the country which produced them. Such, _e.g._, are the
delicate differences between the French and English bases of the
thirteenth century, nay even between the bases in various parts of the
present French empire. These differences are so delicate that it is all
but impossible to explain them; yet no one who has carefully studied
them will doubt, when he sees a French moulding used throughout a
building, that French artists had much to do with its design.
[230] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., &c., vol. i. pp. 253-4; and Bellas
Artes en España, passim.
[231]
+-----------------+---------+---------+-----------+
| | | |Width of |
| |Width in |Length in|Nave from |
| -- |clear of |clear. |c to c |
| |Walls. | |of Columns.|
| | | | |
+-----------------+---------+---------+-----------+
| |feet. in.|feet. |feet. in. |
|Toledo[A] |178 0 |395 |50 6 |
|Milan[B] |186 0 |395 |50 6 |
|Cologne[B] |130 0 |405 |44 0 |
|Paris[A] |110 0 |400 |48 0 |
|Bourges[A] |128 0 |370 |49 0 |
|Troyes[A] |124 0 |395 |50 0 |
|Chartres[C] |100 0 |430 |50 0 |
|Amiens[D] |100 0 |435 |49 0 |
|Reims[C] | 95 0 |430 |48 0 |
|Lincoln[C] | 80 0 |468 |45 0 |
|York[C] |106 0 |486 |52 0 |
|Westminster[C] | 75 0 |505 |38 0 |
+-----------------+---------+---------+-----------+
A: Five aisles, exclusive of chapels between buttresses.
B: Three aisles, exclusive of chapels between buttresses.
C: Five aisles.
D: Three aisles.
[232] The north-west tower only was built, and this long after the
original foundation of the church (_i.e._ circa 1380-1440). Blas Ortiz,
speaking of the foundation of the Mozarabic chapel at the west end of
the opposite (south) aisle, says it was placed “in extrema Templi parte,
ubi cœptæ turris fundamenta surgebant.” The four western bays of the
nave are no doubt rather later in date than the rest of the church, but
they follow the same general design, and are not distinguishable on the
ground-plan. My ground-plan of this enormous cathedral is deficient in
some details; but my readers will pardon any departure from absolute
accuracy in every part, when they consider how much useless labour the
representation of every detail entails in such a work, and how
impossible it would be for any one without a great deal of time at his
disposal to do more than I have done. I am not aware that any plan of
this cathedral has ever before been published. I omitted to examine a
detached chapel--that I believe of the “Reyes Nuevos”--but with this
exception, I think my plan shows the whole of the old portion of the
work quite accurately.
[233] The account given by Blas Ortiz (who wrote his description of the
cathedral in the time of Philip II.) ought to be given here, because it
seems to show that in his time the roofs were not entirely covered with
stone, but, as at present, with tile roofs in some parts above the
stone. “Ecclesiæ testudines,” he says, “candidæ sunt, muniunt eas, et ab
imbribus aliisque incommodis protegunt tabulata magna (sive
contiguationes) artificiose composita, fulcris statura hominis
altioribus suffulta, tectaque partim tegulis, partim lateribus ac planis
lapidibus. Turriculæ lapideæ in modum pyramidum erectæ, e singulis
(inquam) pilis per totum ædificium exeunt, quæ sacram Basilicam
extrinsecus pulcherrimam faciunt.”--Descrip. Temp. Toletani, cap. xxi.
[234] M. Viollet le Duc’s articles in the Dictionnaire de l’Architecture
Française on the planning of French churches are extremely valuable, as
indeed is all that he writes; and I take the opportunity afforded me by
the aid which he has thus given me in the consideration of this
question, to express the gratitude which I suppose every student of
Christian art feels for what he has done towards promoting its right
study.
[235] That ingenious form of vault invented by modern plasterers, in
which the transverse arch gives all the data for the shape of the
diagonal rib, which is consequently neither a true pointed arch, nor a
true curve of any kind, is, of course, the worst of all forms; and it
might be thought unnecessary to utter a protest against it, were it not
that we see some of our best modern buildings disfigured beyond measure
by its introduction. Nothing is simpler than a good vault. The best rule
for it is to make a good diagonal arch and a good transverse arch, and
the filling in of the cells is pretty sure to take care of itself.
[236] I refer my readers to Chapter XX. for an account of the curious
likeness between this plan and one by Wilars de Honecort.
[237] Plate XIV.
[238] Toledo Pintoresca, p. 87.
[239] I take the height of nave from Blas Ortiz. He gives the dimensions
of the church in Spanish feet as follows:--Length, 404; breadth, 202;
height, 116 feet.
[240] Compendio del Toledo en la Mano, p. 182.
[241] The western bay, on the north side, has a monument with a gable,
and the spandrels between it and the side pinnacles crowded with tracery
mainly composed of cusped circles. The second bay, counting from the
north-west, has in the tympanum over the cusped arch figures of the
twelve apostles; and over them, our Lord, with angels holding candles
and censers on either side. The monument in the third bay has figures of
twelve saints, and above them the coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The fourth or eastern bay has a modern altar, which conceals completely
the old work. The fifth bay has a Renaissance tomb of a bishop. The
sixth, the same monument as in the second and third bays, with figures
of twelve female saints, and above them the Resurrection, and the Last
Judgment. The seventh bay corresponds with the first, which is opposite
it; and the eighth bay contains the arch of communication with the choir
aisle.
[242] Archbishop Don Pedro Tenorio was one of the most munificent of the
archbishops of Toledo. In addition to the cloister and chapel of San
Blas he is said to have built the castle of San Servando, the bridge of
San Martin, and the convent of Mercenarios in Toledo. Besides which, he
built castles and forts on the frontier of the kingdom of Granada, and
erected the town of Villafranca with its famous bridge “del Arzobispo.”
[243] There are twelve bells, of which the largest is San Eugenio. There
are some old lines which show its fame:--
Campaña la de Toledo,
Iglesia la de Leon,
Reloj el de Benavente
Rollos los de Villalon.
[244] It is said that a number of designs were sent in competition for
this monument, and that from among them that of Pablo Ortiz was
selected, and a contract entered into for its erection on January 7th,
1489.--Bellas Artes en España, iii. 284.
[245] These later stalls have the following inscription:--
“Signa, tum marmorea, tum ligna cœlavere:
Hine Philippus Burgundio
Ex adversum Berruguetus Hispanus
Certaverunt, tum artificium ingenia.
Certabunt semper spertatorum judicia.”
But for their whole history see Bellas Artes en España, v. 230. Borgoña
carved the stalls on the Gospel side, Berruguete those on the Epistle
side of the choir.--Ponz, Viage de España, i. 59. This same Felipe de
Borgoña was architect of the lantern of Burgos cathedral.
[246] The Reja east of the Coro was designed by Domingo Cespides, by
order of the Chapter, to whom he presented a model made in wood by
Martinez, a carpenter.--Toledo Pintoresca, p. 40.
[247] Alonso de Covarrubias, Maestro Mayor from 1534 to 1536, mentions
among his works the removal of most of the Retablos, which, he says,
produced a “detestable effect.” For an account of the Retablo of the
principal altar, and the names of the men who executed it, see Ponz,
Viage de España, i. 65. It was designed in 1500. See also the Life of
Juan de Borgoña, in Diccin., &c., de las Bellas Artes en España, vol. i.
p. 163.
[248] I find the following interesting account of the colours used
during the different seasons of the ecclesiastical year given by Blas
Ortiz, Descriptio Templi Toletani, pp. 387, 388:--
_White._--The Nativity and Resurrection of our Lord, and the feasts of
the Blessed Virgin Mary and Virgins.
_Red._--Epiphany, Pentecost, Festivity of Holy Cross, Apostles,
Evangelists, and Martyrs, and the Victory of Benamarin.
_Green._--In the procession on Palm Sunday, and the Solemnity of S. John
Baptist.
_Saffron, or light Yellow._--On Feasts of Confessors, Doctors, and
Abbots.
_Blue._--Trinity Sunday, and many other Sundays.
_Ash-colour._--Ash-Wednesday.
_Violet._--Advent and Lent, wars, and troubles.
_Black._--For the Passion of our Lord, and for funerals. And besides
these all sorts of colours mixed with gold on the festival of All
Saints, on account of their diversity of character, and on the coming of
the king or archbishops of Toledo, or of legates from the Pope.
[249] Hernando del Pulgar, in the ‘Cronica de los muy Altos y
Esclarecidos Reyes Catolicos’ (part ii. cap. 65), records the erection
of the church in accomplishment of a vow made after the battle of Toro;
and D. Francisco de Pisa, in his ‘Descripcion de la Imperial Ciudad,’
says that Ferdinand and Isabella intended to be buried here. They
changed their intention in favour of the chapel they built at Granada
after the conquest.
[250] Said to be portraits of Ferdinand and Isabella.--Toledo en la
Mano, p. 137.
[251]
ANNO DOMINI M.CC.LXII. X. KAL. JUL. FUIT
POSITUS PRIMUS LAPIS IN ECCLESIA BEATÆ
MARIÆ SEDIS VALENTINÆ PER VENERABILEM
PATREM DOMINUM FRATREM ANDREAM TERTIUM
VALENTINÆ CIVITATIS EPISCOPUM.
[252] This doorway ought to be compared with the south door of the nave
of Lérida cathedral, the detail of which is so extremely similar to it
that it is impossible, I think, to doubt that they were the work of the
same men.
[253] Madoz gives the same date.--Dicc. Geo. Esp. Histórico.
[254] The illustration which I give of this lantern is borrowed from Mr.
Fergusson’s ‘Handbook of Architecture.’
[255] Noticias de los Arquitectos, &c., vol. i. p. 256.
[256] Viage Lit. á las Iglesias de España, vol. i. p. 31.
[257] L’an 1238, lorsque Jaques I. Roi d’Arragon assiégoit Valence, qui
etait au pouvoir des Mores, il déclara que les premiers qui
l’emporteroient auroient l’honneur de donner les poids, les mesures, et
la monnaye de leur ville à ceux de Valence; là dessus ceux de Lérida s’y
jettèrent les premiers, et prirent la ville. C’est pourquoi, lorsqu’on
repeupla Valence, ils y envoyèrent une colonie, leurs mesures, et leur
monnaye, dont on s’y sert encore aujourd’hui; et la ville de Valence
reconnoit celle de Lérida pour sa mère.--Les Délices de l’Espagne, iv.
613. Leyden, A.D. 1715.
[258] Ponz, Viage de España, iv. 21, 22.
[259] Valdomar also built the chapel “de los Reyes,” in the convent of
San Domingo, commenced 18th June, 1439, and completed 24th June, 1476.
This convent is now desecrated, and I did not see it, but it is said
still to contain a good Gothic cloister.
[260] Pedro Compte is mentioned as having been invited by the Archbishop
of Zaragoza to a conference with four other architects as to the
rebuilding of the Cimborio of his cathedral, which had fallen down in
1520.
[261] Viage de Esp., vol. iv. pp. 29, 30.
[262] Spain boasts other like treasures, _e.g._--a figure still
preserved at Mondoñedo, and which is still called “la Yuglesa,” because
brought from St. Paul’s.--See Ponz, Viage de España, vol. iv. p. 43.
[263] Handbook of Spain, i. 367.
[264] Cean Bermudez, Arqua. y Aquos. de España, vol. i. p. 139.
[265] In May, 1862.
[266] Tarragona is the see of an archbishop, who claims to be equal, if
not superior, to the Archbishop of Toledo. Practically, of course, he is
nothing of the kind, yet he carries the assertion of his dignity so far
that I noticed a Mandamos of the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo hung up
in the Coro, in which his title “Primada de las Españas,” and the same
word in “Santa Iglesia Primada,” were carefully scratched through in
ink.
[267] España Sagrada, vol. xxv. p. 214.
[268] Historia de los Condes de Barcelona, p. 183.
[269] The Chapter-house at Fountains Abbey has one of the largest
collections of masons’ marks I have ever seen, and in this case they are
of much value, as proving how large was the number of skilled masons
employed on this one small building at the same time. At Tarragona I saw
nothing like the same variety of marks.
[270] See p. 388.
[271] See illustrations of these on the ground-plan of Tarragona
Cathedral, Plate XV.
[272] See detail of this pavement on Plate XV.
[273] In 1278 M. Bartolomé wrought nine figures of the Apostles for the
façade; and in 1375 M. Jayme Castayls agreed to execute the remainder.
His contract is made under the direction of Bernardo de Vallfogona,
acting as architect to the Chapter, and father probably of the man of
the same name who was consulted about Gerona cathedral, and who executed
the reredos of the high altar at Tarragona in A.D. 1426, and died in
A.D. 1436.
[274] The stalls of the Coro were executed between A.D. 1479 and 1493,
by Francisco Gomar of Zaragoza.
[275] See the illustration of this marble pavement on Plate XV.
[276] Vallbona has a very fine Romanesque cruciform church with eastern
apses and a low central octagonal lantern; Poblet was an early cross
church with a fourteenth-century central lantern, and a cloister of the
same age; and Sta. Creus is an early church with a fourteenth-century
cloister, which has a projecting chapel with a fountain in it on one
side similar to that at Veruela.--Parcerisa, Recuerdos, &c.
[277] There is a good inn here, the Fonda del Europa. But beware of the
Fonda de los Cuatro Naciones, which is dirty and bad. Tarragona may be
reached easily by steamboats from Barcelona. They go twice a week in
five or six hours, I believe.
[278] He was buried here, and this inscription was formerly in the
church: “Sub hac tribuna jacet corpus condam Wilfredi comitis filius
Wilfredi, simili modo condam comitis bonæ memoriæ, Dimittat ei Dñs.
Amen. Qui obiit, vi. Kal. Madii sub era DCCCCLII.” (A.D. 914).
[279] San Cucufate del Vallés is not far from Barcelona; it has a fine
early cloister somewhat like that of Gerona Cathedral, an early church
with parallel triapsidal east end, octagonal lantern and tower on south
side.--See illustrations in Parcerisa, Recuerdos, &c., de Esp. Cataluña,
ii. 23, &c.
[280] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. 12.
[281] According to Ford it was built by Guillermo II., Patriarch of
Jerusalem, in imitation of the church of the Holy Sepulchre.--Handbook
for Travellers in Spain, p. 416. It was one of the churches founded by
the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the year 1141, in
which they sent emissaries to Spain for the purpose.--Viage Literario á
las Iglesias de España, xviii. 139. The necrology of the monastery
contained the obit of a canon who came from Jerusalem, called Carfilio,
as follows: “Obiit Caifilius frater Saucti Sepulchri, qui edificavit
ecclesiam sanctæ Annæ.--Viage Lit., xvii. 144. See ground-plan of this
church on Plate XVII.
[282] Plate XVI.
[283] The inscription on the right hand of this door is as follows:--
+ In: noīe: Dñi: nri: I[=hu]: X[=ri]: ad. honorē. + S[=ce]: Trinitatis:
Pat[=s]. et. Filii. et. S[=p]s. S[=c]i. ac. Beate. Virginis: Marie. et
S[=ce]. crucis. S[=ce]. q. Eulalie. Virginis. et. Martiris. X[=ri]. ac.
civis Barc[=hn]. cujus. sōm. corpus. in ista. requiescit. sede. opus.
istius. eccē. fuit. inceptum. Kl. Madii año. Dñi. M.CCXCVIII. regnāte.
illustrissimo. Dño. Jacobo. rege. Aragonū. Val[=n]. Sardinie. Corsice. +
comite. Q. Barchinone.
The other inscription is on the left side of the same door:--
In. noīe. Dñi. nri. I[=hu]. X[=ri]. K[=ds]. Novēbr. anno. Dñi.
M.CCC.XXIX. regnante. Dño. Alfōso. rege. Aragonū. Valēcie. Sardinie.
Corsice. ac. comite. Barc[=hn]. opus. hujus. sedis. operabatur. ad.
laudē. Dei. ac. B[=te]. M S[=ce] + S[=ce]q. Eul[=aie].
[284] The inscription which records the depositing of the body of Sta.
Eulalia in the crypt below the choir in A.D. 1339, says that “el
Maestro” Jayme Fabra and the masons and workmen of the church, Juan
Berguera, Juan de Puigmolton, Bononato Peregrin, Guillen Ballester, and
Salvador Bertran, covered the urn with a tomb and canopy of stone.--Cean
Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. p. 63. Diego, Historia de los Condes de
Barcelona, pp. 298-301.
[285] “The directors of the work of the new temple,” says S. Furio
(Diccionario historico de los Professores de las Bellas Artes en
Mallorca, p. 55), “agreed to give to the architect, Master Jayme,
eighteen sueldos a week for the whole of his life, as well when he was
ill as well; and during the work, in case he should have to go on
matters of business to Mallorca--his country--the Chapter bound
themselves to pay him his travelling expenses and maintenance as well
going as returning. They promised also to give a house rent free for him
and his family, and two hundred sueldos annually for clothing for him
and his children.
[286] Mr. Wyatt Papworth’s very learned and complete dissertation on
this subject in the Transactions of the Royal Institute of British
Architects may be referred to as the best paper that has been published
on the architects of our old buildings. I shall reserve what I have to
say on this subject for the last chapter of this volume.
[287] It is rather difficult to ascertain the exact value of the sums
mentioned in these documents--a sueldo and a dinero being both disused.
The former is said to have been a piece of eight maravedis, the latter a
small copper coin. This at the present day would be only a little over
threepence a day. In A.D. 1350 we find William de Hoton, the
master-mason at York Minster, receiving 2s. 6d. a week--as nearly as may
be the same wages that Roque received. Hoton had also a premium of
10_l._ a year and a house, and liberty to undertake other works. Fabric
Rolls of York, Surtees Soc., p. 166. At Exeter, in the year 1300, Master
Roger, the master-mason, received 30s. a quarter, or about 2s. 4d. a
week. Fabric Rolls of Exeter, in Dr. Oliver’s Lives of the Bishops of
Exeter, pp. 392-407.
[288] Given in España Sagrada, xxix. p. 314, in facsimile. In the
edition of 1859, engravings both of the shrine and of the crypt are
given.
[289] Villanueva, Viage á las Iglesias de España, xviii. 157.
[290] The account of the building of Segovia Cathedral, given in the
Appendix, mentions the provision of rooms for this purpose.
[291] Parcerisa, Recuerdos, &c., de España. Cataluña, i. 57.
[292] Viage Lit., xviii. 145.
[293] The lower range of stalls was made in 1457, by Matias Bonife, for
fifteen florins for labour for each. In his contract with the Chapter he
agrees to carve all the seats, but “in no wise any beasts or subjects.”
In 1483 Miguel Loquer made the pinnacles of the upper stalls. The
Chapter disputed the goodness of his work, and he died--partly of
disgust, apparently--during the lengthy dispute. The Chapter then named
arbiters, who, after a formal examination, pronounced them to contain
grave defects.--Parcerisa, Recuerdos, &c., Cataluña, i, p. 59.
[294] Here, in 1519, Charles V. celebrated an installation of the Golden
Fleece--the only one ever held in Spain.--Ford’s Handbook, p. 413.
[295] Viage Lit., xviii. p. 142.
[296] Plate XVII.
[297] In nomine Dñi nostri Jesu Christi ad honorem sanctæ Mariæ fuit
inceptum opus fabricæ ecclesiæ Beatæ Mariæ de Mari die Annuntiationis
ejusdem, viii. Kal. Aprilis Anno Domini MCCCXXVIII.
[298] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. p. 61.
[299] Recuerdos, &c., Cataluña, i. p. 66.
[300] Plate XVII.
[301] Plate XVII.
[302] Viage Literario á las Iglesias de España, xviii. 161.
[303] Arq. de España.
[304] Recuerdos, &c., de España, Cataluña, vol. i.
[305] An inscription is given by Villanueva, Viage Literario, xviii.
162, said to be cut on the jamb of the side doorway, which records the
consecration of this church on June 17th, 1453.
[306] See Appendix.
[307] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. 55. But Diego, ‘Historia de los
Condes de Barcelona,’ p. 316, puts the foundation in A.D. 1293.
[308] Villanueva, Viage Literario, xviii. 165, mentions the convent of
San Francisco as still existing (in 1851).
[309] Parcerisa, Recuerdos, &c., Cataluña, i. p. 107.
[310] See previous page.
[311] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., i. 70.
[312] Hala de paños.
[313] See España Sagrada, xlv. pp. 2-3. See also the deed executed by
Bishop Roger in 1015. “Nostra necessitate coacti causa ædificationis
prædictæ ecclesiæ, quæ satis cognitum cunctis est esse destructa,
&c.”--Esp. Sag., xliii. p. 423.
[314] See the act of consecration, España Sagrada, xliii. pp. 432-437,
which declares the church to have been rebuilt “a fundamentis.”
[315] Esp. Sag., vol. xliv. p. 43.
[316] “Capitulum Gerundense in cerca nova ecclesiæ Gerundensis more
solito congregatum, statuit, voluit et ordinavit, quod caput ipsius
ecclesiæ de novo construeretur et edificaretur, et circumcirca ipsum
novem cappellæ fierent, et in dormitorio veteri fieret sacristia. Et
cura ipsius operis fuit commissa per dictum capitulum, venerabilibus
Raimundo de Vilarico, archidiacono, et Amaldo de Monterotundo,
canonico.”--España Sagrada, xlv. p. 3.
[317] “Dimitto etiam ad caput prædictæ ecclesiæ, vel ad cimborium
argenteum faciendum, desuper altare Beatæ Mariæ ilia decem millia
solidurum Barchinon: quæ ad illud dare promisseram jam est diu.”--Will
of Guillermo Gaufredo, Viage Lit. á las Iglesias de España, vol. xii. p.
184.
[318] Esp. Sag., vol. xliv. pp. 51, 320, 322.
[319] “Pateat universis,” “quod die Lunæ 4 Idus Marti intitulata anno
Domini 1346. Reverendus in Christo Pater” “S. Tarrachonensis ecclesiæ
archiepiscopus, altare majus Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ cathedralis
Gerundensis ecclesiæ a loco antiquo ipsius ecclesiæ in quo construtum
erat in capite novo operis ejusdem ut decuit translatum est,” &c. “De
quibus omnibus ad perpetuam rei memoriam venerabilis vir Dominus Petrus
Stephani Presbiter de capitulo et operarius memoratæ ecclesiæ mandavit
unum et plura fieri instrumenta per me Notarium infrascriptum
præsentibus ad hoc vocatis testibus,” &c. &c.--España Sagrada, xlv. pp.
373, 374.
[320] Or “sueldos,” Parcerisa. “Sous,” V. le Duc. = 1500 francs at the
present day.
[321] Register entitled Curia del Vicariato de Gerona, Liber notulorum
ab anno 1320, ad 1322, fol. 48, quoted in Esp. Sag. xlv. p. 373. See
also Viollet le Duc, Dictionnaire Raisonné, i. p. 112. F. J. Parcerisa,
‘Recuerdos y Bellezas de España,’ Cataluña, i. 146, says that the work
was commenced in 1316, and that Enrique of Narbonne died in 1320.
[322] The list of architects given by D. J. Villanueva (Viage Lit. á las
Iglesias de España, xii. p. 172 et seq.) does not agree with this. The
first he mentions is Jayme de Taverant, a Frenchman from Narbonne (and
no doubt identical with Jaques de Favariis), in 1320. Francisco de
Plana, a Catalan, held the post after him, and was removed in 1368 in
favour of Pedro Coma (de Cumba), who was employed also at San Feliu,
Gerona; and in 1397 Pedro de San Juan, “de natione Picardiæ,” was
employed. Guillermo Boffiy succeeded him; in 1427 Rollinus Vautier,
“diocesi Biterrensis,” was master of the works, and in 1430 Pedro Cipres
succeeded him.
[323] The original is in the Liber Notularum. It is reprinted in España
Sagrada, vol. xlv., appendix, pp. 227 to 244. Cean Bermudez has again
reprinted it in Arq. de España, vol. i. pp. 261 to 275; and D. J.
Villanueva in the appendix to vol. xii. of the Viage Lit. á las Iglesias
de España, prints it in the original Catalan dialect.
[324] This key-stone has a sculpture of San Benito.--España Sagrada,
vol. xliv. p. 420.
[325] Plate XVIII.
[326] España Sagrada, xliii. p. 200, and Appendix, p. 453.
[327] In my first design for the Crimean Memorial church which I am
building at Constantinople, I had a vault thirty-eight feet in clear
span, and this was objected to by a really accomplished critic as too
bold and hazardous an experiment! What would have been said then of a
vault twice as wide?
[328] I subjoin the dimensions of some of the largest French and other
churches, in order that the dimensions of the nave of Gerona may be
really appreciated.
Albi 58 feet between the walls.
Toulouse Cathedral 63 do.
S. Jean Perpiñan 60 do.
Amiens 49 centre to centre of column of nave.
Paris 48 do.
Bourges 49 do.
Chartres 50 do.
Cologne 44 do.
Narbonne 54 do.
Canterbury 43 do. do. of choir.
York 52 do. do. of nave.
Westminster Abbey 38 do.
[329] Liber Notularum, fol. 31.
[330] The church was originally intended to have octagonal towers at the
angles of the west front. Of these the south-west tower has been built
up in Pagan style, and the north-west has never been built.
[331] España Sagrada, vol. xlv. p. 8. Villanueva, Viage Lit., xii. 175,
gives the name of this artist as Antonio Claperos “obrer de ymagens.”
[332] See the description of this silver frontal in España Sagrada, vol.
xlv. p. 8. The Historia de S. Narciso y de Gerona, by P. M. Roig y
Yalpi, is quoted as authority for the statements given. See also the act
of consecration of the cathedral in A.D. 1038 (España Sagrada, xliii. p.
437), in which among the list of signatures at the end occurs the
following passage:--“S. Ermessendis comitissæ quæ eadem die ad honorem
Dei et Matris Ecclesiæ trescentas auri contulit uncias ad auream
construendam tabulam;” and in a necrologium, from 1102 to 1313, occur
the following entries: “1254. Pridie Kalendas Februarii obiit Guillelmus
de Terradis, sacrista major, qui tabulam argenteam altari Beatæ Mariæ
Cathedralis fieri fecit.” “1229. Kalendis Martii obiit Ermesendis
Comitissa quæ hanc sedem ditavit et tabulam auream ac crucem Deo et
Beatæ Mariæ obtulit, et ecclesiam multis ornamentis ornavit.”
[333] “Hic jacet Amaldus de Solerio, Archidiaconus Bisalduenensis qui
etiam suis expensis propriis fecit fieri cimborium seu coopertam
argenteam super altaro majori ecclesiæ Gerundensis. Obiit autem anno
Dni. M.CCCXX. sexto, viii. Kal. Augusti.”
[334] See note^{3}, p. 319.
[335] See Martene de Antiq. Eccl. Rit., lib. i. cap. iv. art. 3.
[336] “Galligans; in the old Latin, Galli Cautio. The name is taken from
a little stream which washes its walls and falls into the Oña.”--Don J.
Villanueva, Viage Lit., &c., xiv. 146.
[337] See ground-plan on Plate XVIII.
[338] Don J. Villanueva, Viage Literario, xiv. p. 150, asserts that
these cloisters are not earlier than the fourteenth century, though I
notice that some of the inscriptions which he gives from them are of
earlier date.
[339] Parcerisa describes this little church as that of S. Daniel, but I
was unable on the spot to learn its dedication. I believe, however, that
its dedication is to S. Nicolas, and that S. Daniel is a larger church
of later date. In España Sagrada, xlv. p. 185 et seq., some account is
given of the foundation of S. Daniel. This took place in 1017, Bishop
Roger having sold the church to Count Ramon, and Ermesendis his wife,
for 100 ounces of gold, which were to be spent on the fabric of the
cathedral. The Countess, after the death of the Count, endowed the
church, and the deed still preserved recounts how that “Ego Ermesendis
inchoavi prædictam ecclesiam edificare et Deo auxiliante volo
perficere.” An architectural description of the present church is given
by Villanueva, Viage Literario, xiv. 158, from which it seems that it is
a Greek cross in plan, and mainly of the fourteenth century, with an
altar in a crypt below the high altar, constructed in 1343: and if this
account is correct, this small twelfth-century church cannot be S.
Daniel.
[340] S. Felix.
[341] España Sagrada, xlv. p. 41.
[342] Extract from the book entitled “Obra = Recepte et Expense, ab anno
1365;” It.: Solvi discº. R. Egidii Not. Gerunde v die Septembris, anno
M.CCC.LX.VIII., pro instrumento facto inter Capitalum hujus Eccle. et P.
Zacoma magistrum operis Cloquerii noviter incepti et est certum quod in
isto instrumento continentur in efectu ista.--Pº, Quod ille proficue
procuret ipsum opus dictum evitando expensas inordinatas quantum in ipso
fuerit, et hoc juravit. It.: Quod aliud opus accipere non valeat sine
licencia operarii. It.: Quod quotiescumque fuerit in ipso opere factus
apparatus operandi quod vocatus quocumque opere dimisso operetur in
nostro opere: in premissis fuit exceptum opus Pontis majoris in quo jam
prius extitit obligatus et convenit quando ipso fuerit in ipso opere
Pontis vel in alio quod una hora diei sine lexiare--videat illos qui
operabuntur vel parabunt lapides desbrocar in ipso opere. Et est sibi
concessum dare pro qualibet die faoner quod fuerit in opere predicto
IIII SS. et uni ejus famulo I vel II secundum ministeria ipsorum.--It.:
Ulteris ammatian dare sibi de gratia CXL SS. (_sueldos_), segons lo
temps empero que obraran. Car per lo temps que no obraran en lo Cloquer
ne en padrera no deu res pendrer mes deu esser dedecet dels dets CXL SS.
pro rata temporis, et quantitatis.”--España Sagrada, App., xlv. p. 248.
See Spanish translation do., p. 73. In an old Kalendar, of Gerona,
printed in España Sagrada, xliv. p. 399, is the following paragraph,
which refers to the works of Pedro Zacoma:--“An. 1368 fuit inceptus lo
Pont non de mense Madii; á 9 Aug. ejusdem anni fuit inceptus lo Cloquer
de Saut Fehu.”
[343] A memorandum in the book of the ‘_Obra_,’ under date 1385,
describes the various works in the fortification then in progress, and
mentions “P. Comas, maestro mayor,” España Sagrada, xlv. p. 45.
Parcerisa, Recuerdos y Bellezas de España, Cataluña, says that the spire
was finished in 1581. But I think he has been misled by some repairs of
the steeple rendered necessary after the destruction of the upper part
of the spire in this year by lightning, and mentioned in the Actas
Capitulares.
[344] Roussillon belonged to the Kings of Aragon from A.D. 1178.
Perpiñan was taken, after a vigorous resistance, by Louis XI. in 1474,
restored to Spain, and finally taken by the French in A.D. 1642.
[345] An illustration of this organ is given in M. Viollet le Duc’s
Dictionary of French Architecture.
[346] Viage Literario á las Iglesias de España, vol. xiv. p. 106.
[347] Viage Lit. á las Iglesias de España, vii. 179.
[348] See Plate XIX.
[349] Viage Lit. á las Iglesias de España, vii. 180.
[350] The subjects are as follows:--
1. The Marriage of the Blessed Virgin.
2. The Annunciation.
3. The Salutation.
4. The Nativity.
5. The Adoration of the Magi.
6. The Flight into Egypt.
7. The Presentation in the Temple.
8. The Dispute with the Doctors.
9. The Money-changers driven out of the Temple.
10. The Crucifixion.
11. The Entry into Jerusalem.
12. The Last Supper.
13. The Agony in the Garden.
14. The Betrayal.
15. Our Lord before Pilate.
16. The Scourging.
17. Our Lord bearing His Cross.
18. The Resurrection.
19. The Descent into Hell.
The subjects begin at the upper left-hand corner, and are continued from
left to right, the subjects 1 to 9 being on the left, and 11 to 19 on
the right of the Crucifixion.
[351] To those who know them I need hardly say that the remains of the
Anglo-Saxon vestments found in S. Cuthbert’s tomb, and preserved at
Durham, are perhaps the most exquisitely delicate works in existence--so
delicate that a magnifying glass is necessary in order to understand at
all the way in which the work has been done. This Florentine work, of a
later age, quite makes up in art for what it lacks in minute delicacy of
execution when compared with S. Cuthbert’s vestments.
[352] Viage Lit. á las Iglesias de España, ix. p. 17.
[353] I do not forget the successful defence of Lérida, in the sixteenth
century, against the Prince de Condé; it is one of which the people may
well be proud: but this was before the desecration of the cathedral.
[354] Vol. xlvii. De la Santa Iglesia de Lérida en su estado moderno. Su
autor el Doctor Don Pedro Sainz de Baranda.
[355] I give a few notes from the rules of this church as agreed on at
the Synods. In 1240: No priest to say mass more than once in a day, save
in case of great necessity. Priests to administer the sacrament of
penance in the sight of all in the church. Godchildren are prohibited
from marrying the children of their god-parents of baptism or
confirmation. Mendicants are forbidden to celebrate on portable altars
(_super archas_). Clergy are ordered to have a piscina near the altar,
where, after receiving, they may wash their hands and the chalice. In a
Synod held in 1318, it is ordered that, as many corpses are interred in
churches which ought not to be, for the future none shall be so save
that of the patron, or of some one who has built a chapel or endowed a
chaplain.
[356] “Anno Domini MCCIII. et xi. Cal. Aug. sub Innocentio Papa III.
venerabili, Gombaldo huic ecclesiæ presidente inclitus Rex Petrus II. et
Ermengandus Comes Urgullen. primarium istius fabricæ lapidem posuerunt,
Berengario Obicionis operario existente. Petrus Percumba Magister et
fabricator.”--Esp. Sag. xlvii, p. 17.
[357] Viage Lit., vol. xvi, p. 81.
[358] “Anno Dñi MCCLXXVIII. ii Cal. Novembris Dominus G. de Montecatheno
ix Ilerd. Eps. consecravit hanc Eccm. et concessit xl dies indulgencie
per omnes octavas et constituit ut festum dedicationis celebraretur
semper in Dominica prima post festum S. Luce.”--España Sagrada, xlvii.
p. 33.
[359] Viage Lit., vol. xvi, p. 83.
[360] “Cum nos concesserimus dari operi claustri Ecclesie Sedis
civitatis Illerde sex mille pedras somadals de petraria domus predicte
de Gardenio: ideo vobis dicimus et mandamus quatenus dictas sex mille
pedras de dicta petraria operario dicte Ecclesie recipere libere
permitatis convertendas seu imponendas in opere supradicto. Datum
Illerde duodecimo calendas Septembris anno Domini M.CCC.X.--Ex. Arch.
reg. Barc. grat. 9 Jacob. II. fol. 145b.
[361] Esp. Sag., xlvii, p. 46.
[362] Ibid., p. 47.
[363] The inscription on this bell was as follows:--“Christus. Rex.
venit. in. pace. et. Deus. homo. factus. est. Chtus. vincit. Chtus.
regnat. Chtus. ab. omn. mal. nos. defendat. Fuit. factum. per magistrum.
Joannem. Adam. anno. Dñi. 1418 in mense. Aprili.--Viage Lit. á las
Iglesias de España, xvi. 89.
[364] See plan, Plate XX.
[365] There are said to be three doorways from the cloister to the
church.--Viage Lit., xvi. 86.
[366] See reference to this porch at p. 349.
[367] As, _e.g._, at S. Etienne, Nevers.
[368] “During the episcopate of Romeo de Cescomes, 1361-80, the work of
the principal altar was ordered to be concluded, and it was forbidden to
say mass there from All Saints’ day till the following month of May,
1376.”
[369] See plan, Plate VIII.
[370] There is a very fair inn at Lérida, the Parador de San Luis,
pleasantly situated on the bank of the Segre; and the railway from
Barcelona to Zaragoza, passing by Lérida, makes it easy of access.
[371] Parcerisa, Recuerdos y Bellezas de España, Aragon, p. 120.
[372] Almudévar has a picturesque castle, with a chapel on its eastern
side, but I was unable to examine it.
[373] Cean Bermudez (Arq. i. 83) says that the work was commenced in
A.D. 1400, and not finished until A.D. 1515.
[374] See plan, Plate XXI.
[375] It will be seen that the plan is exactly the same as that of the
church of Las Huelgas, Burgos (see Plate II.), and the cathedral at
Tudela (Plate XXIV.).
[376] This reredos cost 5500 crowns (escudos) or libras jaquesas.---
Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. 218.--Damian Forment is said to have
studied under Donatello, which seems, however, on a comparison of dates,
to have been all but impossible. The epitaph on his monument in the
cloister here described him as “arte statuaria Phidiæ, Praxitelisque
Æmulus,” a statement which must be accepted with the reserve usual in
such cases.--Bellas Artes en España, ii. p. 132.
[377] See Ainsa, Historia de Huesca, lib. 4.
[378] See ground-plan on Plate XXI.
[379] Parcerisa, Aragon, p. 157.
[380] Views of Jaca and San Juan de la Peña are given by F. J.
Parcerisa, ‘Recuerdos y Bellezas de España,’ Aragon.
[381] Seu, Sedes, See.
[382] I am reminded by this of a curious passage of somewhat similar
character in the life of Sir Christopher Wren, which is to be gathered
out of the entries in the old parish books of St. Dionis Backchurch,
Fenchurch-street. Here Sir Christopher built a steeple, and when it was
nigh completion the grave question arose whether they should have an
anchor for a weather-cock. Sir Christopher preferred it, and some of the
parishioners, of course, opposed it. They appealed to the bishop, and
after many interviews it was at last decided that the bishop should meet
them at Sir Christopher’s at 8 o’clock a.m. to settle the matter, Sir
Christopher’s “gentleman” (who was always treated to something to drink
by the churchwarden when he came to the church) having made the
engagement. The bishop was punctual to his appointment, but Sir
Christopher seems to have gone out for an early walk and forgotten all
about it; and finally, the Bishop of London, having waited an hour for
the great man, retired in despair, but ordered Sir Christopher’s
weathercock to be adopted.
[383] The following inscription on the Cimborio fixes the date of it’s
completion: “Cimborium quo hoc in loco Benedictus Papa XIII. Hispanus,
patria Arago, gente nobili Luna exstruxerat, vetustate collapsum, majori
impensa erexit amplissimus, illustrisque Alphonsus Catholici Ferdinandi,
Castellæ, Arago, utriusque Siciliæ regis filius, q. gloria finatur, anno
1520.”
[384] Don P. de la Escosura (España Art. y Mon.), iii. 93, attributes
this tower and the church to the twelfth century, but, I feel confident,
without good ground for doing so, as far as the former is concerned.
[385] Vol. ii., plate 45.
[386] Madoz, xiv. pp. 595-599.
[387] See Plate XXII.
[388] The fact is worthy of record, because in these days, though it is
often manifestly convenient to use a different material from that which
was used by our ancestors, there are many well-disposed people who
object to such a course, as being an unwarrantable departure from old
precedents; yet, if our forefathers’ example is to be followed, we ought
to do as they would have done in our circumstances.
[389] His name occurs in an inscription on it.
[390] Madoz, vol. xv. p. 685.
[391] See Plate XXIII.
[392] See ground-plan, Plate XXIV.
[393] The lead _flêche_ in a similar position at Reims cathedral will no
doubt be remembered by many of my readers. No doubt, however, this work
at Tudela is earlier, and being of stone is even more remarkable.
[394] There is, I believe, a fine old bridge of seventeen arches over
the Ebro, near Tudela: unfortunately I did not see it.
[395] See illustration on next page.
[396] I believe a portion of the old cloister remains. I was not aware
of this, and seeing the fine late cloister, assumed, unfortunately, that
there was nothing else to be seen.
[397] Plate XXV.
[398] Arq. de España, i. p. 83.
[399] See ground-plan on Plate XXV.
[400] Morales, lib. 12, cap. 76.
[401] See p. 212.
[402] Noticias de los Arq. de España, i. 1-14.
[403] Esp. Sag., vol. xxxvii. p. 86-7.
[404] Recuerdos y Bellezas de Esp., Ast. y Leon, p. 76 and 244.
[405] See the account of it in the Historia Compostellana, lib. i. cap.
78.
[406] See p. 331. I am not certain as to the dedication. I refer to the
small church near San Pedro de los Galligans.
[407] For illustration, &c., see p. 366, and Plate XXI.
[408] Both these churches are planned upon precisely the same system of
proportions founded upon the equilateral triangle. Taking the width of
the nave and aisles as the base, the apex of the triangle gives the
centre from which the vault of the nave is struck; and all the
subordinate divisions are also so exactly marked that there is hardly
room for doubt that the system was distinctly recognised, and
intentionally acted on.
[409] The Monistrol I refer to is the village between S. Etienne and Le
Puy, and not the place of the same name at the foot of Monserrat, in
Cataluña.
[410] _E.g._, St. Albans, Winchester Cathedral, St. Cross Chapel.
[411] The parallel holds good in very small matters. At Westminster the
clergy and choir assemble in the choir, and begin the service so soon as
the clock strikes. In several Spanish churches the same custom obtains.
I think it would be a great gain if the metal screens across the
transepts were moved so as to form the narrow central passage from the
choir to the altar, so common in Spain. They would then have some
meaning and use, which they certainly have not now.
[412] See pp. 385-6.
[413] The design of this chevet is almost a repetition of that of the
church at Avenières, near Laval, which is said to have been commenced as
early as A.D. 1040, though most of it is certainly later by a century
than this.
[414] I might perhaps add Tarazona Cathedral to this list.
[415] See ground-plan, Plate XIV.
[416] The round portion of the Temple Church, London, has its aisle
groined with alternate bays of square and triangular outline. The latter
have no ribs, and are constructed differently from those at Toledo.
[417] Facsimile of the Sketch-book of Wilars de Honecort. Eng. edit.
Edited by Professor Willis. Plate XXVIII.
[418] Beauvais cathedral was commenced in A.D. 1225.
[419] See the plan, Plate I. The chapel marked B is, I think, the only
original one; and this repeated five times will probably give the exact
plan of the original chevet.
[420] The commerce of the south of Spain with England was considerable;
and it is just possible that some of the middle-pointed work in Valencia
may have an English origin. The English sovereigns encouraged the
Catalan traders by considerable immunities to frequent their ports
during the fourteenth century.--Macpherson, ‘Annals of Commerce,’ i.
502, &c.
[421] I speak only of town churches here: our little English village
churches are the most perfect in the world, so thoroughly
characteristic, and at the same time so suitable for their work, that we
may always study them with greater gain than any others elsewhere in
Europe.
[422] See frontispiece. In so small an engraving--putting out of view
the extreme difficulty of getting a faithful transcript of a careful
sketch of sculpture--it is impossible to do justice to such a work; and
I must ask my readers rather to accept my statement than to pass
judgment by aid only of the illustration.
[423] See p. 283, and illustrations on ground-plan, Plate XV.
[424] See p. 366.
[425] See p. 381.
[426] See p. 215.
[427] See ground-plan, Plate IV.
[428] See illustration of this battlement at Las Huelgas, No. 4, page
38, and on the walls at Veruela, No. 48, page 384.
[429] ‘Annals of the Artists of Spain,’ 1848.
[430] The paintings at Leon seem to me to be such as one might expect at
the hands of Dello Delli. He is said to have made Seville his place of
residence during the many years that he spent in Spain. But the period
of his abode there is just that during which the paintings at Leon were
executed.
[431] See the short account of these painters in Mr. Stirling’s ‘Annals
of the Artists of Spain,’ vol. i. chap. ii.
[432] I venture to regard the stern simplicity of Mr. Butterfield’s
noble church of St. Alban as his silent protest against the vulgarity in
art to which I here refer. Without any sculpture, this church is from
first to last the work of a great master of his art, and one for which
his brother artists owe him a great debt of gratitude.
[433] See Appendix. The maravedi was, I believe, a more valuable coin
than it is now, so that it is difficult to say what amount of money at
the present day this grant really represents.
[434] This inscription is referred to at p. 144.
[435] I do not know the meaning of this term; it is evidently the name
of a trade or calling, and probably corresponds with “masons,” as
distinguished from “wallers;” the two terms, “Lambardos” and
“Cementarios,” being used somewhat in opposition to each other.
Cementarios is one of the earliest terms used in documents referring to
English buildings, and no doubt would be properly translated by the word
“mason;” but in the case of the Urgel contract, it seems there were to
be several “Lambardos,” and, as “Cementarios” were only to be employed
if absolutely necessary, there must have been some distinction between
them, which was more probably of grade or degree than of profession.
Possibly the “Lambardos” may have been members of a guild, “Cementarios”
common masons.
[436] This contract is given by Don J. Villanueva, Viage Literario a las
Iglesias de España, vol. ix. pp. 298-300. I extract from it the parts
which are especially interesting:--
“EGO A. DEI Gratia Urgellensis episcopus, cum consilio et comuni
voluntate omnium canonicorum Urgellensis ecclesiae, commendo tibi
Raymundo Lambardo opus beatae Mariae, cum omnibus rebus tam mobilibus
quam immobilibus, scilicet, mansos, alodia, vineas, census, et cum
oblationibus oppressionum et penitentialium, et cum elemosinis fidelium,
et cum numis clericorum, et cum omnibus illis, quae hucusque vel in
antea aliquo titulo videntur spectasse sive spectare ad prephatum opus
beatae Mariae. Et preterea damus tibi cibum canonicalem in omni vita
tua, tali videlicet pacto, ut tu fideliter et sine omni enganno claudas
nobis ecclesiam totam, et leves coclearia sive campanilia, unum filum
super omnes voltas, et facias ipsum cugul bene et decenter cum omnibus
sibi pertinentibus. Et Ego R. Lambardus convenio Domino Deo, et beatae
Mariae, et domino episcopo, et omnibus clericis Urgellensis ecclesiae,
qui modo ibi sunt, vel in antea erunt, quod hoc totum, sicut superius
scriptum est, vitâ comite, perficiam ab hoc presenti Pascha, quod
celebratur anno dominicae incarnationis M.º C.º LXXV.º, usque ad VII.
annos fideliter, et sine omni enganno. Ita quod singulis annis habeam et
teneam ad servitium beatae Mariae, me quinto, de Lambardis idest IIII.
lambardos et me, et hoc in yeme et in estate indesinenter. Et si cum
istis potero perficere, faciam, et si non potero addam tot cementarios,
quod supra dictum opus consumetur in prephato termino. Post VII. vero
annos, cum iam dictum opus, divina misercordiâ opitulante, complevero,
habeam libere et quiete cibum meum dum vixero, et de honore operis et
avere stem in voluntate et mandamento capituli postea. Preterea nos, tam
episcopus, quam canonici, omnino prohibemus tibi Raymundo Lambardo, quod
per te, vel per submisam personam, non alienes vel obliges aliqua
occasione quicquam de honore operis, quae modo habet, vel in antea
habebit. De tuo itaque honore, quem nomine tuo adquisisti, et de avere,
fac in vita et in morte quod tibi placuerit post illud septennium. Si
forte, quod absit, tanta esterilitas terrae incubuerit, quod te nimium
videamus gravari, liceat nobis prephato termino addere secundum
arbitrium nostrum, ne notam periurii incurras. Sed aliquis vel aliqui
nostrum praedictam relaxationem sacramenti facere tibi non possit, nisi
in pleno capitulo, comuni deliberatione et consensu omnium. Et quicquid
melioraveris in honore operis, remaneat ad ipsum opus. Si vero pro
melioracione honoris operis oporteret te aliquid impignorare vel
comutare, non possis hoc facere sine consilio et conveniencia capituli.
Juro ego R. Lambardus, quod hoc totum, sicut superius est scriptum,
perficiam, et fidelitatem et indempnitatem canonicae beatae Mariae
Urgellensis ecclesiae pro posse meo, per Deum, et haec sancta evangelia
= Sig + num R. Lambardi, qui hoc iuro, claudo et confirmo = Sig + num
domni Arnalli Urgellensis episcopi,” &c. &c.
[437] _E.g._ at San Cristóbal de Ibeas--
Eia M. C. LXX.
Fuit hoc opus fundatum
Martino Abbate regente
Petrus Christophorus
Magister hujus operis fuit.
Or another at Ciudad Rodrigo--
Aqui yace Benito Sanchez,
Maestro que fue de esta obra, e
Dios le perdone. Amen.
So too the inscription given at p. 234 of the architect of Toledo. The
same term was used extensively at the same time over the greater part of
Europe.
In France we have these among others:--“Ci git Robert de Couey, Maitre
de Notre Dame et de Saint Nicaise, qui trépassa l’an 1311.” In A.D.
1251, at Rouen, “Walter de St. Hilaire, Cementarius, magister operis,”
is mentioned; and in A.D. 1440, in the same city, we have this
inscription: “Ci git M. Alexandre de Berneval, Maistre des Œuvres de
Massonerie au Baillage de Rouen et de cette église.” In Italy the same
term was commonly used, as, _e.g._, in the Baptistery at Pisa, which has
the inscription, “Deotisalvi magister hujus operis;” and again in the
church at Mensano near Siena, which has “Opus quod videtis Bonusamicus
magister fecit.” But in England, according to Mr. Wyatt Papworth, who
has devoted much pains to the elucidation of the subject, the term
“Master of the works” appears to be very seldom employed, and sometimes
of the officer called the “operarius” in Spain, rather than of the
architect.
[438] Villanueva, Viage Lit. xxi. 106.
[439] Fabre is spoken of in the inscription on the shrine as Jacobus
“Majoricarum, cum suis consortibus.”
[440] These fabric rolls contain the names of Martin Mayol, G. Scardon,
Bernardo Desdons, and Jayme Pelicer, as painters of pictures between
A.D. 1327 and 1339.
[441] See p. 319.
[442] See p. 332.
[443] See p. 57.
[444] See p. 349, note 1.
[445] Villanueva, Viage Lit. a las Iglesias de España, xvi. 99, says
that “Lapicida” does not really mean a cutter of stones, which would be
described as “pica petras.” In vol. xxi. p. 107, however, he speaks of
“Lapicida” as the Latin term corresponding to “picapedres” in the vulgar
tongue; and he says sculptors of figures called themselves
“Imaginayres.”
[446] See p. 265.
[447] The contract is given at length by Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España,
i. 257-61.
[448] See the translation of these documents in the Appendix.
[449] This sum would probably be equal to about 90_l._ or 100_l._ per
annum at the present day.
[450] Other plans still preserved in Spain are, the original design for
the church of San Juan de los Reyes, Toledo, and that for the west front
of Barcelona Cathedral. I have tried in vain to obtain copies of these
plans.
[451] Arq. de España, i. 282-4.
[452] We have accidental evidence of the fact that Hontañon was an
architect, for the “Master of the Works” of La Magdalena, Valladolid,
contracted in A.D. 1570 to build the tower and body of the church
according to his plan for a specified sum. But it will be observed that
the date of this agreement is very late, and that, whilst the maker of a
plan had become an architect in the modern sense of the word, the
Maestro Mayor had descended to be, in fact, nothing more than the
contractor for the work, also in the modern sense. Somewhat in the same
way, we know that when the lantern of Burgos Cathedral fell, in A.D.
1539, Felipe de Borgoũa was summoned from Toledo to superintend the two
cathedral masters of the works: from which it seems probable that they
executed the work which Borgoũa designed. So again at an earlier date,
in A.D. 1375, Jayme Castayls executed some statues for the west front of
Tarragona cathedral, under the direction of Bernardo de Vallfogona, the
Maestro Mayor.
[453] Bellas Artes en España. This catalogue of artists includes those
who lived before the year 1500, the names of fifty sculptors, thirty
painters, several silversmiths, workers in stained glass, and others.
[454] See p. 252.
[455] See p. 182.
[456] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., vol. i. p. 285.
[457] Cean Bermudez. Arq. de Esp., vol. i. p. 286.
[458] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de Esp., vol. i. p. 287.
[459] In the margin of this paragraph is written, in the hand of Maestro
Juan del Ribero Rada,--“It has been built square.” The word ‘Trascoro’
seems to be used here of the east end of the church.
[460] From Cean Bermudez, Not. de los Arq. y Arquos de España, vol. i.
p. 293-299.
[461] The sense of this word is given in Connelly and Higgins’s
Dictionary, as “the substitute of the chief architect of the building,
who places the workmen and distributes the materials according to the
arrangements of the plan.”
[462] Cean Bermudez, vol. i. p. 300.
[463] Ibid., vol. i. p. 315.
[464] Ibid., vol. i. p. 317.
[465] _Sagrario._--This, I think, sometimes means the chapel, commonly
called the _Parroquia_, or Chapel of the Cathedral Parish.
[466] This subject occurs in the well-known illustrations of Queen
Mary’s Psalter, 2 B. VII., at the British Museum library. It is
described as “Here GOD reposes on His throne with His angels.”
[467] This subject occurs in the ‘Biblia Pauperum,’ with the following
inscription:--“Legitur in Apocalypsi xxiº Capº et in iiiº Ysaya xiiii
Capº quod lucifer cecidit per superbiam de celo cum omnibus suis
adherentibus.”
[468] This interrogatory, and the declarations of the twelve architects,
are in the Catalan idiom in the original, and are translated into
Castilian by Fr. José de la Canal, Esp. Sag. xiv. pp. 227-244. I have
thought it best to give an English translation.
[469] “Cana,” a measure of two ells Flemish.
[470] A “cana” equals two yards and three inches Spanish measure.
[471] Cean Bermudez, Arq. de España, i. pp. 276-279.