Chapter 26

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 direccçon 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 fromA.D.1577 toA.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 toA.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 betweenA.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 inA.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 inA.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]InA.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 thanA.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, circaA.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, orvice 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 matrimonionatus, 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 toA.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 inA.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 inA.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 (circaA.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 inA.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. 79ante.[102]Fit domus hista quidem, veluti Salomonica capridemHuc 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.

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 direccçon 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 fromA.D.1577 toA.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 toA.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 betweenA.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 inA.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 inA.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]InA.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 thanA.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, circaA.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, orvice 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 matrimonionatus, 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 toA.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 inA.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 inA.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 (circaA.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 inA.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.

[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.

[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. 79ante.

[102]Fit domus hista quidem, veluti Salomonica capridemHuc 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.

[102]

Fit domus hista quidem, veluti Salomonica capridemHuc 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.

[105]On the north side, the figures and inscriptions are as follow:—

On the south side:—

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