Juan or of the Canons, so called because Mass can be celebrated here
only by those dignitaries. It was built in 1537 by Covarrubias in the
Renaissance style, and occupies the site of the old tower chapel, called
the Quo Vadis. The ceiling is of artesonado, in gold and black, with
carved flowers and figures. Since 1870 this chapel has been the
repository of the Cathedral Treasure, styled Las Alhajas, or the Jewels.
Here is kept the gorgeous _custodia_, or portable tabernacle, made by
order of Cardinal Cisneros by Juan de Arfe, who began it in 1517 and
completed it without assistance in 1524. This triumph of the
silversmith’s craft is in the form of a Gothic temple, eight feet high,
with all the architectural details, such as columns, arches, and
vaultings, the whole resembling delicate lacework. Scenes from the life
of our Saviour are illustrated in reliefs. There are no fewer than two
hundred and sixty statues of various sizes, all exhibiting the same
skill. The tabernacle was gilded over in 1595 by Valdivieso and Morino.
The _viril_ inside, in which the Host is exposed, was made of the first
gold brought from America, is completely covered with precious stones,
and weighs twenty-nine pounds. In the Treasure is also included the
mantle of the Virgen del Sagrario, considered by Señor de Riaño the most
remarkable specimen of embroidery that exists in Spain. It is described
in the following manner: “It is made of twelve yards of cloth of silver,
entirely covered with gold and precious stones. In the centre is an
ornament of amethysts and diamonds. Eight other jewels appear on each
side of enamelled gold, emeralds, and large rubies; a variety of other
jewels are placed at intervals round the mantle, and at the lower part
are the arms of Cardinal Sandoval [seventeenth century] enamelled on
gold and studded with sapphires and rubies. The centre of this mantle is
covered with flowers and pomegranates embroidered in seed-pearls of
different sizes. Round the borders are rows of large pearls. Besides the
gems which are employed in this superb work of art, no less than 257
ounces of pearls of different sizes, 300 ounces of gold thread, 160
ounces of small pieces of enamelled gold, and eight ounces of emeralds
were used.” The beautiful dish, repoussé in silver, the designs on
which represent the Rape of the Sabines and the Death of Darius, was
believed to be the work of Benvenuto Cellini, but is now ascribed to the
Flemish artist, Mathias Méline. Among the Alhajas are also four
geographical globes, with large silver figures, gleaming with
gems--eighteenth-century work. Of historical interest is the sword, said
to have been worn by Alfonso VI. on his entry into Toledo, and the
original letter written by St. Louis of France to the Chapter, bestowing
sacred relics obtained from the Great Emperor: “Given at Etampes, the
year of our Lord, 1248, month of May.” Other objects of value are the
Cope of Cardinal Albornoz and the Cruz de la Manga, made in the
sixteenth century by Gregorio de Varona, a native of the city. Here,
also, are the archiepiscopal cross, planted by Cardinal Mendoza on the
summit of the Alhambra in 1492, and the Golden Bible in three volumes,
dating from the twelfth century. It is to be doubted if the accumulation
of these splendid objects, intended for diverse practical uses, in one
collection, serves to show any of them to the best advantage.
On the north aisle are the chapels of Teresa de Haro, Nuestra Señora de
la Antigua--where the Spanish colours used in the Moorish campaigns were
blessed--of the Pila Bautismál, with a beautiful bronze font, and a
reja by Céspedes; and the large Capilla de San Pedro, built in 1442 in
the Gothic style by Archbishop de Rojas. The founder’s fine monument was
placed here in the eighteenth century. On the other side of the Puerta
del Reloj is the Capilla de la Virgen del Sagrario, noted for a statue
of the Blessed Virgin, which she is said to have kissed on her visit to
St. Ildefonso. The statue is of dark-coloured wood, and was formerly
clothed in a mantle embroidered by Felipe Corral; and composed of gold,
rubies, emeralds, and pearls, now kept in the Treasury. In this chapel
the degree of doctor is conferred on licentiates. The two small chapels
of the Cristo and of Santa Leocadia are adjacent to the entrance to the
Capilla de los Reyes Nuevos.
Adjoining the Chapel of the Virgen del Sagrario are a set of apartments,
built with it upon the site of an old hospital, by Nicolas de Vergara,
junior, at the close of the sixteenth century. These rooms are the
Sacristia, Vestuario, Cuarto de la Custódia, and Ochavo. The Sacristia,
entered through a portal 26 feet high, contains paintings by El Greco,
to be noticed in the chapter on that master; the ‘Betrayal of Christ,’
by Goya; and a ceiling fresco by Luca Giordano, representing the Miracle
of San Ildefonso. The Vestuario contains pictures by several Italian
masters, among them ‘Paul III.’ by Titian; a replica of the portrait at
Naples; a ‘Madonna’ by Rubens; and a ‘St. Francis’ by El Greco. The
Custodia was till lately the Cathedral Treasury. The Ochavo, at the back
of the Capilla de la Virgen, is richly adorned and contains the
collection of relics, among them massive silver caskets, wonderfully
wrought, for the bones of the saints Leocadia and Eugenius.
The vestments preserved here, to the number of forty sets, belong mostly
to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and are of the most splendid
description. “Each set [says Riaño] generally includes a chasuble,
dalmatic, cope, altar frontal, covers for the gospel stands, and other
smaller pieces. The embroideries on the orphreys, which are formed of
figures of saints, are as perfect as the miniatures on illuminated MSS.”
The Cloisters to the north-west of the church were built by Cardinal
Tenorio in 1389. They are not, as Miss Lynch observes, to be compared
with those of Burgos, of Santiago, or of Oviedo. The garden they enclose
lends a brighter, gayer note to the columned and arched galleries than
is found in those other cathedrals. The frescoes in the lower cloister
were painted by Francisco Bayeu, and illustrate the lives of St.
Eugenius and the legend of the _Niño perdido_.
We should, perhaps, have described the exterior of the Cathedral first,
but from the sightseer’s point of view the interior is, of course, more
important. It is a general subject of complaint that it is extremely
difficult to obtain a good view of any considerable part of the fabric
from the outside, nor does it stand out as conspicuously from a distance
as its imposing dimensions would lead one to suppose. The best view is
to be obtained from the church of Nuestra Señora de la Valle, above the
Puente de San Martin. The exterior, with its flying buttresses, finials,
and rose-windows, reflects the Gothic spirit of the interior. The west
façade is flanked by two towers, that above the Chapel of the Canons
alone being complete. It is 295 feet high, and was begun by order of
Archbishop Tenorio, in 1380, by Rodrigo Alfons, and completed under
Archbishop Contreras in 1440 by Alvar Gomez. On the summit is a small
spire, surmounted by a cross, a vane, and an arrow. Here are hung the
bells, among them the famous Campana Gorda, weighing nearly two tons,
and whose note reaches to Madrid. The tower also contains a peal called
the Matraca, worked continuously by mechanism from Maundy Thursday till
Easter Saturday. The view from the summit is far-reaching and inspiring.
Among the finest features of this noble church are its eight principal
entrances. In the western façade are three portals--the Puerto del
Perdon in the centre, flanked by the Puertas de los Escribános and de
la Torre. All date from the first half of the fifteenth century and are
in the Gothic style. The Puerta del Perdon forms a noble arch, richly
ornamented, and divided into two smaller arches by a column surmounted
by the figure of Christ, above which are the Twelve Apostles. Above
these again is a relief in the Renaissance style representing the gift
of the Chasuble to San Ildefonso. The smaller doors are in single
arches, and are sculptured with statues of angels and patriarchs. The
Puerta de los Escribános is so called because through it the notaries
enter the church to take their oaths. It is also called the Puerta del
Juicio. Above it is a long inscription commemorating the taking of
Granada and the expulsion of the Jews. Above the portals the façade is
adorned with a colossal sculpture of the Last Supper, the Saviour and
the Apostles being seated each in a niche, and the table reaching from
buttress to buttress. The façade is pierced with a beautiful rose-window
thirty feet across with a glazed arcade beneath.
On the south side are the Puertas Llana and de los Leones. The former in
the classic style, was made by Ignacio Haám in 1800. The Puerta de los
Leones gives access to the transept, and is a magnificent Gothic work,
erected in 1460 by the Fleming, de Egas, and ornamented by Juan Alemán.
The sculpture of the portal is perfect. The six columns of the atrium
are surmounted by six lions holding shields. Here are the famous bronze
doors, wrought by Villalpando and Ruy Diaz del Corral in 1545. The
wood-carving and decoration employed a great many masters, among whom
may be mentioned Velasco, Troyas, and the two Copins. Between them was
divided the sum of 68,672 maravedis. At the opposite or northern end of
the transept is the Puerta del Reloj, dating from the beginning of the
fifteenth century, and so named from the clock above it. The door is of
bronze and above it is a fine rose-window of about the same period. It
is considered by Street the best example of stained glass now remaining
in the Cathedral. West of this, the Puerta de Santa Catalina leads into
the eastern cloister. The decoration is profuse. St. Catharine, and the
instruments of her martyrdom, are shown, with the arms of Spain and the
Tenorio family. The Puerta de la Presentacion, also leading into the
cloister, is in the Renaissance style, and dates from 1565. Pedro
Castañeda, Juan Vasquez, Torribio Rodriguez, Juan Manzano, and Andrés
Hernandez are named as the designers of this very fine portal. The
cloisters are entered from the west side next to the tower, by the
Puerta del Mollete, so called because _molletes_ or rolls were or are
distributed to the poor here.
The chapel and cloister of San Bias on the north side of the cloisters
are the most important additions made to the structure in the fifteenth
century. The chapel contains the monument of the founder, Cardinal
Tenorio, and “in the cloister walls,” says Street, “a door which, in the
capricious cusping and crocketing of its traceried work, illustrates the
extremes into which Spanish architects of this age ran in their
elaboration of detail and affectation of novelty.”
THE DECLINE OF THE CITY
Toledo, up till then hardly distinguished for its loyalty to the Crown,
loved Isabel the Catholic, and on her account, perhaps, rendered
obedience to her Aragonese husband. The Catholic sovereigns liked the
city, and generally held their Court there. The magnificent Cardinal
Mendoza was the prime mover in the expedition against Granada, and
planted the Cross on the summit of the Alhambra. The power of the
primacy was in no way diminished by the consolidation of the monarchy,
and Toledo still looked rather to its archbishop than to its king for
guidance and governance. Under Ferdinand and Isabel it prospered
exceedingly. The arts of peace were studied, industries flourished, and
the more adventurous and restless spirits found an outlet for their
energies in colonial enterprises beyond the seas instead of cutting each
other’s throats in the byways of the city. Toledo became courtly and
urbane. The luckless princess, Juana, was born at the Alcazar in 1479;
and here the Infanta Isabel was married on April 29, 1498, to the King
of Portugal. Only a few months later her corpse was brought hither from
Zaragoza, to be laid in the convent of Santa Isabel.
The death of Queen Isabel, and the proclamation of Juana and Felipe I.
on May 22, 1502, put an end to the long spell of peace. Toledo sided at
first with Ferdinand against his son-in-law, and was held by the Silvas
against the latter’s forces under the Marquis de Villena. In the
following year (1506) the Ayalas, supported by the townsmen generally,
took possession of the town, and resolved to maintain its liberties
against the Flemish favourites and centralising tendencies of the new
_régime_. The Silvas, as a matter of course, ranged themselves on the
opposite side, and the streets ran red with blood. Toledo was herself
again.
The accession of the Flemish prince, Charles, afterwards emperor,
determined the Castilians to make a stand for national independence.
What city had so good a claim to be the headquarters of the movement,
the focus of anti-foreign agitation, as Toledo the turbulent? In 1520
occurred the outbreak of the _Comuneros_ movement. At its head were four
gentlemen of Toledo: Hernando Dávalos, Gonzalo Gaytan, Pedro de Ayala,
and (greatest of all) Juan de Padilla. Twenty thousand citizens rallied
to the cry of “Padilla y Comunidad!” and the movement spread from the
Tagus to Salamanca and westwards to the frontiers of Portugal. To
Juana, imprisoned at Tordesillas, herself a Toledan, protestations of
loyalty and devotion were addressed. But denounce her son’s fraudulently
obtained sovereignty she would not. Meanwhile Charles’s forces were not
idle. The Alcaide, Clemente de Aguayo, held the tower of San Martin, and
Don Juan de Silva, the Alcazar, against the insurgents. But the townsmen
were victorious. Padilla, however, was defeated at Villalar, and
executed, with his brave lieutenants, Juan Bravo and Maldonado.
In the Comunero leader’s dauntless wife, Maria de Pacheco, liberty found
a new champion and Spain a new heroine. “She was found praying at the
foot of the Cross,” says Miss Lynch, “when her servants brought her the
news of Padilla’s defeat and death. She rose, robed herself in black,
and walked to the Alcazar between her husband’s lieutenants, Dávalos and
Acuña, who bore a standard representing Padilla’s execution. They named
her captain of the insurgents, and found her implacable and violent, but
still a sovereign commander.” For sixteen months under this Castilian
Joan of Arc the old city of the Visigoths held out against the armies of
Charles V. Routed in a bloody sortie on October 16, 1521, by Zuñiga,
prior of San Juan, the Comuneros were obliged, ten days later, to
abandon the gates to the besiegers. A truce was agreed to, while the
demands of the citizens should be presented to the Emperor. Maria
remained in her own house, as in a fortress, guarded by her faithful
troops. But on February 3 the murder of a citizen brought on a renewal
of the conflict. Desperate battle waged in every street and lane. Maria,
assailed and valiantly defended in her stronghold, at last cut her way
through, and retired to Portugal, dying at Oporto years afterwards. The
townsmen were worsted, and sullenly submitted. Toledo had fought her
last fight.
Her day was over. Charles V. forgave her, and would come at times to
live in the Alcazar. She was still the capital of Spain. But her haughty
temper and the arrogance of her clergy matched ill with the policy of
Philip II. In 1560 Madrid--upstart, provincial Madrid--was proclaimed
the _única corte_. Less important than under the Khalifate, Toledo
became a mere provincial town. But the Church did not desert her. She is
still the metropolitan see of Spain.
Let us see what the monarchs of United Spain did for the old city, and
what monuments remain of the days when it was Court and capital.
The church of San Juan de los Reyes, near the Puente de San Martin, was
built in 1476 by Ferdinand and Isabel, in thanksgiving for the victory
of Toro gained over the Portuguese allies of Juana, nicknamed “la
Beltraneja.” The first architect was a Fleming, Juan Guas, one of the
builders of the cathedral. The church was intended to receive the ashes
of the royal founders, but after the capture of Granada it was decided
to establish the mausoleum in that city, and the completion of San Juan
de los Reyes was delayed till the seventeenth century. In consequence,
the architecture exhibits the transition from the Late Gothic to the
Late Renaissance style. “Nothing,” remarks Street, “can be more
elaborate than much of the detail of this church, yet I have seen few
buildings less pleasing or harmonious.” The exterior is unpromising, and
is decorated, if we can use the word in such a connection, with festoons
of rusty chains which fettered the limbs of the Christians in Moorish
prisons. The chief entrance, to the north, was completed by Covarrubias
in 1610, and is in the decadent style of architecture. It is adorned
with inferior statuary, and the arms and initials of the Catholic
sovereigns.
The interior is composed of a single nave, two hundred feet long and
from forty-three to seventy feet wide. There are four chapels on one
side and three on the other. At the east end of the church is a shallow
five-sided apse, forming the Capilla Mayor. Over the junction of the
nave and transept is an octagonal cupola, resting on four fine pillars,
with a pointed dome and a window in each face. At the west end of the
church is a deep gallery, containing the choir. The altar dates from the
Renaissance period, and is brought well forward into the nave. It came
from the suppressed church of Santa Cruz. Above it is a blue velvet
canopy, embroidered with the eagle, the symbol of St. John. The whole
fabric is enriched with statuary, tracery, carving, and heraldic devices
in almost reckless profusion. The yoke and the arrows--the devices of
the Catholic sovereigns--and their coats of arms are repeated again and
again. Among the inscriptions is one commemorating the foundation of the
church. It runs: “Este monasterio é églesia mandaron hacer los muy
esclarecidos Principes é señores D. Hernando é Doña Isabel, Rey y Reina
de Castilla, de Leon, de Aragon, de Sicilia, los cuales señores por
bienaventurado matrimonio y uñaron los dichos Reinos, seyendo el dicho
rey y señor natural de los reinos de Aragon y Sicilia, y seyendo la
dicha señora Reina y señora natural de los Reinos de Castilla y Leon; el
cual fundaron á gloria de nuestro señor Dios, y de la bienaventurada
Madre suya, nuestra Señora la Virgén Maria, y por especial devocion que
le ovieron.”
Admirable as is the church in its general structure, and in the detail
and execution of its ornamentation, it is garish and ostentatious. There
is a superabundance of light and luxury. Here there is no dim religious
light, no suggestion of mystery or devotion. Prayer would seem
incompatible with the whole character of the edifice. More favourable
was the opinion of Théophile Gautier, who declared that “Gothic art
never produced anything more suave, more elegant, or more fine.”
Attached to the church is the convent, bestowed on the Franciscans, and
pillaged by the French in 1808. It has been converted into a museum,
which does not contain much of great interest. The most important
exhibits are fragments of Visigothic inscriptions and Moorish tile-work.
The cloister of San Juan de los Reyes is a gem of florid Gothic, and the
finest part of the whole fabric. There are two galleries, one above the
other, the lower with traceried openings, the upper with large open
arches. As in the church, there is here an excess of decoration, hardly
a square inch on pillar, arch, and vaulting being free from sculptured
ornamentation. There is a bewildering profusion of statues of angels,
men, and animals, of scroll-work and foliage, heraldic devices and
inscriptions. The whole is dazzlingly white--more like a temple of the
Sun than a shrine of “the pale Galilean.” The original effect, perhaps,
was less crude, for the church and cloisters have been recently
restored, and, it must be confessed, not too skilfully.
A most beautiful specimen of azulejo work has been built into the
north-west wall. It comes from the suppressed monastery of the Calced
Augustines, and is said to have been a part of the ornamentation of the
ancient palace of Don Rodrigo--wherever that may have been situated.
Before the finishing touches had been put to San Juan de los Reyes, the
last important Gothic work of Toledo, the erection of one of the two
earliest examples of the Renaissance style in Spain had been begun. The
hospital of Santa Cruz was built between the years 1494 and 1514 by
Enrique de Egas, of Brussels, some ten years after he had completed the
college of the same name at Valladolid. The hospital was designed by the
founder, the mighty Cardinal Mendoza, as an asylum for foundlings. He
died in 1495, and left 75,000 ducats to the queen for the completion of
the work. Isabel it was who chose the site overlooking the bridge of
Alcantara, where formerly the palace of the legendary King Galafre is
fabled to have stood. Among other stories connected with the spot is
that of a Leonese princess wedded against her will to a Moorish prince,
her union with whom was prevented by the intervention of an angel. As in
all the early specimens of Spanish Renaissance architecture, the
groundwork of the building approximates to the Gothic, the new ideas
manifesting themselves in the decoration and carving. The portal is
superb. The reliefs represent the Adoration of the Cross by St. Helena,
St. Peter, St. Paul, and the founder, Cardinal Mendoza, two pages also
appearing, bearing mitre and helmet. Other reliefs, exquisitely
chiselled, have for subjects the espousals of St. Joachim and St. Anne,
and Charity. The four cardinal virtues are shown, and everywhere, amidst
a maze of ornamentation, occur Mendoza’s arms and device. The
plateresque windows, with their rejas in the local style, are deserving
of admiration. Entering, we find a vast _patio_, enclosed by a double
arcaded gallery of marble, and, crossing it, ascend a grand staircase
with a fine ceiling of the _artesonado_ kind. The chapel, in the form of
a Maltese cross, has also a fine ceiling, and Gothic pillars,
beautifully carved, that attest the splendid appearance once presented
by this dismantled building. Some of the columns adorning Santa Cruz
were brought from the Visigothic church of Santa Leocadia.
To the same period belongs the Franciscan convent and church of San Juan
de la Penitencia, begun by order of Cisneros in 1514, and finished by
his secretary, Fray Francisco Ruiz, Bishop of Avila. The semi-Moorish
palace of the Pantojas was utilised in its construction, and the whole
building bears traces of Arabic, or rather Mudejar, workmanship.
Entering the chapel by a porch adorned with the great Cardinal’s arms
and foliations in the Gothic style, we find ourselves in a sombre
edifice of a single nave, revealing a curious medley of styles. The roof
is a fine example of the artesonado. Over the transept, which is divided
from the nave by a plateresque reja, is a cupola with a stalactite roof
of the Moorish pattern. The principal retablo is early Renaissance, and
several of the altars may be classed as Baroque. The most interesting
feature of the church is the tomb of the Bishop of Avila, who died in
1528. It is in the Renaissance style, and was the work of a Lombard
artist. It is wrought in Sicilian marble, and is thus described by Ponz:
“Above a large stone divided by three pilasters to form three pedestals
there are an equal number of statues seated, representing Faith, Hope,
and Charity. Between the pilasters are the arms of the Bishop--five
castles. In a framed recess are the urn, couch, and recumbent figure. In
front of the urn are seen two weeping children, and within the recess
four angels draw aside the curtains. On either side are two Doric
pillars supporting the frieze, which is inscribed, ‘Beati mortui qui in
Domino moriantur.’ On the edge are two antique columns admirably
executed. Between these columns and pilasters are statues, St. James and
St. Andrew, and above, the figures of children. Over all is a bas-relief
of the Annunciation, with the statues of St. John the Divine and St.
John Baptist, one-half the size of the Virtues below.”