Agni: jacet: Petrus Petri: magisterEclesia: Scte: Marie: Toletani: fama:Per exemplum: pro more: huic: bona:Crescit: qui presens: templum: construxitEt hic quiescit: quod: quia: tan: mire:Fecit: vili: sentat: ire: ante: Dei:Vultum: pro: quo: nil: restat: multum:Et sibi: sis: merce: qui solus: cuncta:Coherce: obiit: x dias de Novembris:Era: de M: et CCCXXVIII (A.D.1290).
Agni: jacet: Petrus Petri: magisterEclesia: Scte: Marie: Toletani: fama:Per exemplum: pro more: huic: bona:Crescit: qui presens: templum: construxitEt hic quiescit: quod: quia: tan: mire:Fecit: vili: sentat: ire: ante: Dei:Vultum: pro: quo: nil: restat: multum:Et sibi: sis: merce: qui solus: cuncta:Coherce: obiit: x dias de Novembris:Era: de M: et CCCXXVIII (A.D.1290).
Agni: jacet: Petrus Petri: magisterEclesia: Scte: Marie: Toletani: fama:Per exemplum: pro more: huic: bona:Crescit: qui presens: templum: construxitEt hic quiescit: quod: quia: tan: mire:Fecit: vili: sentat: ire: ante: Dei:Vultum: pro: quo: nil: restat: multum:Et sibi: sis: merce: qui solus: cuncta:Coherce: obiit: x dias de Novembris:Era: de M: et CCCXXVIII (A.D.1290).
“Petrus Petri” is interpreted by Spanish writers “Pedro Perez,” but we incline to Mr. Street’s view that the correct rendering is probably Pierre le Pierre, the architect having been, as the name implies, a Frenchman. “This, at any rate,” continues Mr. Street, “is certain: the first architect of Toledo, whether he were French or Spanish, was thoroughly well acquainted with the best French churches, andcould not otherwise have done what he did. In Spain, there was nothing to lead gradually to the full development of the Pointed style. We find, on the contrary, buildings, planned evidently by foreign hands, rising suddenly without any connection with other buildings in their own district, and yet with most obvious features of similarity to works in other countries erected just before them. Such is the case with the cathedrals at Burgos, at Leon, and at Santiago, and such even more decidedly is the case here. Moreover, in Toledo, if anywhere, was such a circumstance to be expected. In this part of Spain there was in the thirteenth century no trained school of native artists. Even after the conquest the Moors continued to act as architects for Christian buildings whether secular or ecclesiastical, and, indeed, to monopolise all the art and science of the country which they no longer ruled. In such a state of things I can imagine nothing more natural than that, though the Toledans may have been well content to employ Mohammedan art in their ordinary works, yet, when it came to be a question of rebuilding their cathedral on a scale vaster than anything which had as yet been attempted, they would be anxious to adopt some distinctly Christian form of art; and lacking entirely any school of their own, would be more likely to secure the services of a Frenchman thanone of any other nation.... But however this may have been, the church is thoroughly French in its ground-plan and equally French in all its details for some height from the ground; and it is not until we reach the triforium of the Choir that any other influence is visible; but even here the work is French work, only slightly modified by some acquaintance with Moorish art....”
The stupendous fabric, once begun, whether by French or Spanish hands, took two hundred and sixty-six years to finish. From the death of the first architect in 1270 to the year 1425 the names of the architects have been lost. During this period, the successive styles of architecture naturally influenced the original scheme and found expression in the building. It was in January 1493 that the roof was finished and the main structure completed. Certain chapels, such as the Reyes Nuevos, Sagrario, &c., were later additions. Among the later architects we find Rodrigo Alfonso, Alvar Gomez, Martin Sanchez, and Juan Guas. The stone employed inside (according to O’Shea) was quarried at Oliguelas, some nine miles from the city. It becomes harder with age. “The external portion is all of Berroqueña stone, save the ornamentation of the portals, which is also of Oliguelas white stone.”
The Cathedral forms an oblong, semicircular at the eastern end, and lying east and west. Inwidth it is exceeded only by the Cathedrals of Milan and Seville, measuring 178 feet broad by 395 feet long. On the north side are the cloisters and additional chapels and sacristies. From the eastern side project the chapels of the Reyes Nuevos, San Ildefonso, and Santiago, and the Winter Chapter-room. The plan of the interior is easy of comprehension. The nave extends from the western entrance to the Capilla Mayor: on either side of it are two aisles which are continued round and behind this chapel in a semicircular sweep. Street extols the skill with which this arrangement has been carried out. Between the Choir and the Capilla Mayor a transept extends across the church, not projecting, however, beyond the outer walls of the farther aisles. The eighty-eight pillars which support the fabric and mark off these divisions are composed each of from eight to sixteen light columns, standing on the same base. The capitals are moulded in plain foliage. The arches resting on these pillars make up the seventy-two vaults of which the roof is composed. The aisles rise gradually in towards the central nave, which is 116 feet high. The crypt or substructure corresponds in its divisions and the number of its piers to the edifice above. The pavement is of bluish white marble arranged in chequers.
In the original plan no side-chapels appear tohave been contemplated. But the chapel of Santa Lucia was added by Archbishop de Rada in memory of Alfonso VI. And, in addition to chapels built since the rest of the church, the spaces between the buttresses in the outer aisles have been railed off so as to form twenty-three chapels of various styles and periods. The interior is lit by 750 stained-glass windows of rich hues that delight the spectator. They depict episodes from the Scriptures, and are said to have been as carefully designed as if intended for close inspection. Among the artists were Dolfin (1418), De Vergara, Albert of Holland, Maese Cristobal, Juan de Campos, Vasco Troya, and Pedro Francés. The effect of the light falling in rays of richest colour on the pavement and columns is magical. The walls are denuded of colour and rudely whitewashed.
The centre of the Cathedral is occupied by the choir (Coro), to the east of which, separated by the transept, is the Capilla Mayor. The choir is enclosed by walls and cloisters, except on the side facing the Capilla Mayor, where it is railed in by the magnificent reja, designed by Domingo de Cespedes and Hernando Bravo (1548). Like the corresponding railing of the High Chapel opposite, this work was formerly heavily silver-plated and gilded, but at the time of the French invasion it was recoated with iron to secure itfrom spoliation. Unfortunately, no means have yet been discovered of restoring the reja to its original state. Among the elaborate ornamentation may be noticed the arms of Cardinal Siliceo and of the Ayala family, with the interwoven inscriptionsProcul esto prophaniandPsale et psile. The Choir is paved with white marble inlaid with dark. The vaulting above the Choir itself rises to the height of a hundred feet, the aisle round it to ninety feet, and the outer aisle to thirty-five feet. In the outer aisle are small chapels placed between the buttresses. Mr. Street describes this part of the building in great detail and considers that the original scheme of the Cathedral is only to be seen here. The triforium, formed of an arcade of cusped arches, in the outer wall of the inner aisle exhibits Moorish influence. “It would be impossible,” writes the authority just mentioned, “to imagine any circumstance which could afford better evidence of the foreign origin of the first design than this slight concession to the customs of the place in a slightly later portion of the works. An architect who came from France, bent on designing nothing but a French church, would be very likely, after a few years’ residence in Toledo, somewhat to change in his views, and to attempt something in which the Moorish work, which he was in the habit of seeing, would have its influence. The detailof this triforium is, notwithstanding, all pure and good....”
The Choir is enriched by a magnificent screen, lecterns, and stalls. The screen, orrespaldo, which at one time seems to have been continued right across the transept, encloses the Choir on three sides, and consists of an arcade carried on fifty-two columns of jasper and marble, and supporting and enclosing admirable statuary and sculpture. Above the capitals of the columns is a series of fifty-six medallions in high relief, dating from 1380, and representing scenes from the Old Testament. These reliefs are worthy of close study, and are beautiful examples of simple and faithful mediæval treatment. The series is supplemented by a medallion with a bust by Berruguete and the statues of Innocence and Sin, by Nicolas de Vergara—works on which Street outpours the vials of his wrath.
Of the wonderful Choir Stalls of Toledo everyone has heard. They are unsurpassed triumphs of the carver’s art. The lower tier, including fifty seats, is the work of Maese Rodrigo, and dates from 1495. The stalls are of walnut wood, and the carving portrays the campaign against Granada by the Catholic Sovereigns. The carving being almost contemporary with the events illustrated has given these reliefs an historical as well as an artistic value. The names of thefortresses are here and there indicated by labels, and the designs are somewhat marred by the introduction of fanciful monsters. The whole breathes very much of the mediæval spirit, and we can, therefore, hardly complain of a certain stiffness and lack of variety. They form an admirable contrast to the finer, more finished work of the upper tier of stalls, executed fifty years later by Berruguete and Philip of Burgundy, surnamed Vigarni. Thirty-five seats, including the Primate’s, are the work of the Spaniard, the thirty-six opposite exhibiting the skill of the Burgundian. “They were wrought,” says O’Shea, “in rivalry of each other, and finished in 1543; and as Cardinal Tavera’s inscription runs: ‘Certaverunt turn artificum ingenia; certabunt semper spectatorum judicia.’”The stalls are placed in recesses of alabaster, and separated by fine red jasper columns, with capitals in white marble. Over the recesses is a series of alabaster figures in low relief of the prophets and patriarchs. The carvings on the stalls themselves depict episodes from both the New and Old Testaments. The work breathes the spirit of the Renaissance, interpreted by Berruguete and his colleague with a skill, it has been truly observed, worthy of Benvenuto Cellini himself. Berruguete was a pupil of Michelangelo. His work is more vigorous than that of Vigarni,who excels in elegance and softness of outline. Street’s denunciations of these triumphs of the carver’s art are a curious instance of the length to which an artistic bias may lead a clever writer and critic. The reliefs representing the visits of the Blessed Virgin to Purgatory and to St. Ildefonso are not by Philip of Burgundy, but by his brother Gregorio.
Very fine are the reading-desks, with friezes of gilded bronze, executed by the two Vergaras in the middle of the sixteenth century. Those on the Epistle side are carved in low relief with the stories of David and Saul, the Blessed Virgin and St. Ildefonso, and the Apocalypse; those on the Gospel side, the stories of St. Ildefonso, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Passage of the Red Sea. In the centre of the Choir is a magnificent brass lectern upheld by a great eagle with wings outspread; its eyes are of red stones and it crushes with its talons a struggling dragon. It was executed in 1646 by Salinas. The pedestal on which it stands is older by two hundred years, and is thoroughly Gothic in character, with buttresses, pinnacles, and statuary. The work is said to be German. The pedestal is borne by six lions, finely sculptured.
The northern entrance to the transept, which separates the Choir from the Capilla Mayor, affords the best and least interrupted view of theCathedral. That view impressed the writer with its calm majesty and sanctity, but by way of contrast it is worth while recording the impressions of a traveller only lately returned (Mr. Stewart Dick): “My first feeling was one of disappointment—a feeling that even now has hardly worn away.
“It is vast and cold. A white expanse. Huge pillars towering up to a great height. A blaze of harsh daylight. In the middle, blocking up the view down the nave, the tawdry gilt of the Coro. Doors opening and banging all round, people promenading, sitting on the bases of the pillars and talking with undropped voices. You ask yourself with amazement, Is this a church? The form is here, but where is the spirit?
“In fact, it is only in the evening that Toledo Cathedral comes into its own. It is quiet and peaceful then. The promenaders have all gone away, the blaring of the organ has ceased, and through the open door you hear the twittering of birds in the cloisters. The shadows darken among the pillars, the beautiful windows begin to glow, and a soft light fills the upper part of the church. It is like the opening of a flower.
“Then at last you begin to feel the impressiveness and the dignity of those avenues of mighty pillars. The trivialities that annoyed you are lost, the effects are broad, grand, and majestic, and atlast the building is a temple; it seems as if the Holy Spirit had entered with the fall of the twilight.”
The Capilla Mayor, or High Chapel, occupies the eastern end of the nave, the aisles sweeping round behind it. The hinder portion was originally the Capilla de los Reyes Viejos, the chapel in which were entombed Sancho el Bravo, Sancho el Deseado, Alfonso VII., and others. In the year 1498 the two chapels were thrown into one by Cardinal Cisneros, who left the royal tombs for a time undisturbed. The High Chapel, according to O’Shea, measures 56 feet in length, 50 feet in breadth, and 116 feet in height. The piers are sculptured with the effigies of kings, prelates, and saints, and with “a multitude of angels playing on different instruments, and with outspread wings, that want but incense to raise them again from the spot where they have alighted.” The walls of the chapel are pierced or of open-work, the stone in parts being almost transparent, and thus adding to the brightness of the effect. Two rows of statuary enhance the beauty of the stonework, which is among the earliest portions of the fabric. But these walls, for all their magnificence, are put in the shade by the superb reja or railing, facing that of the Choir, and contemporary with it. This work is thus described by Señor Riaño: ‘The reja is 42 feet wide by 19 inches high; itrests on a pediment of marble ornamented with masks and bronze work upon which rises the reja, which is divided horizontally by means of a frieze of ornamentation, and this again vertically into five compartments. In each vertical division there is a pilaster of four sides formed ofrepousséplates, carved with a fine ornamentation in the Renaissance style; this is again terminated with life-size figures in high relief of bronze. The second compartment rises upon the band which divides it in a horizontal sense; it follows the same decoration in its pilasters, and is terminated by a series of coats of arms, torches, angels, and a variety of foliage which finishes the upper part. Upon the centre, hanging from a thick chain, supported from the roof, is suspended a life-size Rood of admirable effect, which completes the decoration. In several spots there are labels with mottoes in Latin; in one of them appears the following inscription, and the date of 1548, when the splendid work was finished: ‘Anno MDXLVIII. Paul III. P.M. Carol. V. Imper. Rege. Joannes Martinez Siliccus Archiepiscopus Tolet. Hispaniae Primat.’ The railings of the reja are silvered, and the reliefs and salient points gilt. The artist who made it was Francisco Villalpando, a native of Valladolid; this model was chosen in preference to those of several artists, who presented their plans in competition before the ecclesiasticalauthorities; it is calculated that ten years elapsed before it was finally finished, Villalpando was greatly distinguished likewise as a sculptor and architect.” By him are the gilt pulpits in the plateresque style, made from the bronze tomb that the Great Constable, De Luna, had caused to be designed for himself. On a pier at the extremity of the chapel is the statue of the celebrated shepherd, Martin Alhaga, who is said to have, semi-miraculously, guided Alfonso VIII. and his army to the rear of the Moorish forces at Las Navas de Tolosa—thus securing the victory to the Christians. The king, who alone saw his features, is said to have designed the statue. Opposite is the figure of the Moorish Alfaqui, Abu Walid, whose intercession secured the old mosque to the Catholics, in the manner already narrated.
The splendour of the High Altar, with its jasper and bronzes, renders a detailed description impossible and inadequate. Its magnificent retablo, rising to the very roof, is the richest gem of the Cathedral. Designed by Philip Vigarni (Borgoña), and painted and gilded by his brother Juan, numerous other masters contributed to its excellences. We may name Maître Petit Jean (of France or Aragon), Almonacid (a converted Moor), Copin (a Dutchman), Francesco of Antwerp, Fernando del Rincon, Egas, and Pedro Gumiel. The retablo is of wood anddivided into five compartments by gorgeous columns. The subjects are from the New Testament, and are worked out with immense and ornate elaboration. The whole is crowned with a colossal Calvary. Behind the High Altar is placed that extraordinary example of eighteenth-century bad taste, the too famousTransparente. The whole architecture, painting, statues, carving and bronze is the work of the same person, Narciso Thomé who completed it in 1734. Much as we may denounce the taste (or rather the lack of it) of this triumph of the Churrigueresque style, we are obliged to admire the wonderful execution of this misdirected genius.
The royal tombs lie around the High Altar. They were placed in recesses, sculptured in the Gothic style by Diego Copin of Holland, by order of Cardinal Cisneros in 1507. The arches are peculiarly graceful and light. The tombs themselves date from much earlier times. Here sleep their last sleep Alfonso VII., Sancho el Bravo, Sancho el Deseado, and several Infantes. To the left of the altar is the sepulchre, more glorious than any king’s, of the great Cardinal Mendoza, erected by order of Isabel the Catholic, who owed so much to him. It was the work of Covarrubias, and is all of precious marbles. One side is formed by the sarcophagus with its recumbent effigy, the other by an altar. Above thislast is a medallion representing the Archbishop Adoring the Cross. Part of the wall was demolished to make room for this stately mausoleum. Beneath the Capilla Mayor is a subterranean chapel, not of special interest. It contains a Burial of Christ by Copin, deserving of an inspection that in the dim light is well-nigh impossible, and some pictures by Ricci.
At the eastern extremity of the Cathedral, behind the Capilla Mayor and projecting beyond the general outline, is the chapel of San Ildefonso. Erected by Archbishop de Rada, it remains the last important middle-pointed feature of the building, though considerably modified by Cardinal Albornoz in the latter part of the fourteenth century. It is eight-sided, and has beautiful traceried windows, and arches richly moulded and decorated. In arched recesses, beneath gabled and pinnacled canopies, are the tombs of Cardinal Albornoz, and several members of his family. There is much beautiful detail on the tomb of Don Iñigo de Mendoza, who fell at Granada in 1491; and the sepulchre of the Bishop of Avila by Tejada is a noble temple of the plateresque. The altar is modern. St. Ildefonso was the prelate who distinguished himself by his advocacy of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. In return he is said to have received signal marks of favour from the Blessed Virgin, who investedhim with a cassock, came down to attend Matins in his company, and so forth.
To the north of this chapel is the larger Capilla de Santiago, likewise projecting beyond the original ground plan, and dating from 1435. It was built by order of the Great Constable, Alvaro de Luna, to be the place of sepulchre of himself and wife, on the site of an earlier chapel dedicated to St. Thomas à Becket. The plan is similar to that of the last chapel described. Outside, the flat-pitched tile roof is finished with a battlement and circular turrets at the angles. The most conspicuous features of the chapel are the tombs, in Carrara marble, of the Constable Alvaro de Luna and his wife Doña Juana Pimentel. The Constable is shown in full armour, and at each corner of his tomb kneels a knight of Santiago, of which order he was Grand Master. Four Franciscan monks attend on his lady. In niches in the wall repose kinsmen of the ill-fated Constable, the tombs all having been executed by permission of Isabel the Catholic, by Pablo Ortiz in 1488, thirty-five years after De Luna’s death on the scaffold at Valladolid. The tombs designed for the Constable in his lifetime were to have been furnished with life-size figures in bronze, which, by mechanical contrivance, were to have risen each time Mass was celebrated, and to have remained during the service in akneeling posture. These figures were destroyed by the Infante Don Enrique, and the bronze was used by Villalpando for the pulpits in the Capilla Mayor. The retablo of the High Altar reveals the portraits of the founder and his wife by Juan de Segovia. “The chapel,” says Mr. Street, “bears evidence in the ‘perpendicular’ character of its panelling, arcading and crocketing, of the poverty of the age in the matter of design. At this period, indeed, the designers were sculptors rather than architects, and thought of little but the display of their own manual dexterity.”
Passing down a corridor between this chapel and that of Santa Leocadia we reach the Capilla de los Reyes Nuevos, lying quite outside the original plan of the Cathedral. It was founded by Enrique II. of Trastamara, and contains his tomb, his wife’s, and the sepulchres of Enrique III., his Queen, Katharine of Lancaster, Juan I. and Queen Leonor, and the effigy of Juan II., who is buried near Burgos. The chapel is a fine specimen of the Renaissance style, reconstructed by Alfonso de Covarrubias in 1534. The portal is fine, and is guarded by two kings armed and bearing escutcheons. During Mass, a gorgeously apparelled functionary holds upright a mace, crowned and jewelled, and with the arms of Spain.
The side-chapels of the Cathedral are not, onthe whole, as interesting as one would expect in a building of such antiquity and associations. To the south of the Capilla de San Ildefonso is the Capilla de la Trinidad; next comes the entrance to the Chapter House or Sala Capitular, an early sixteenth-century work with an artesonado ceiling in red, blue, and gold, excelling anything of the kind in Andalusia. The thirteen frescoes adorning the walls of the Chapter House are by Juan de Borgoña, who was also responsible for the earlier series of portraits of the archbishops. Copin’s work is to be recognised in the archiepiscopal throne, the other stalls being by Francisco de Lara. Returning to the church through a portal in the Moorish style, we find on the left the chapel of San Nicolas, followed by the chapels of San Gil, San Juan Bautista, Santa Ana, and the Reyes Viejos, founded in 1290 as the Capilla del Espritu Santo, with a fine reja by Céspedes. The chapel of Santa Lucia, founded by Archbishop de Rada, is, of course, in the best Gothic style, and has “an extremely rich recessed arch in stucco, of late Moorish work—a curious contrast to the fine pointed work of the chapel.”
The Capilla de San Eugenio contains the alabaster effigy of Bishop del Castillo (1521), and the tomb in the Mudejar style of the Alguacil Fernan Gudiel (1278). The statue of the saint is by Copin,the paintings on the retablo by Juan de Borgoña. Adjacent to the chapel is the colossal figure of Saint Christopher, usually seen in Spanish churches. This figure is probably coeval with the fabric, but was restored in 1638. A primitive style of art is also to be seen in the altar-piece of the Capilla de San Martin. The next two chapels—de la Epifania and de la Concepcion—do not present any features of special interest.
In the south-west angle of the church is the interesting Mozárabic Chapel, built in 1504 by Enrique de Egas, under the orders of the famous Cardinal Ximenes de Cisneros. It is devoted to the celebration of Mass and the offices of the church according to the Mozárabic ritual, which till the middle of the last century was followed in six of the parish churches. The Cupola dates from 1626, and was the work of Jorge Manuel Theotocopuli. The porch is Gothic, and the reja in good Renaissance style, executed by Juan Frances in 1524. The frescoes, of no great value, painted by Juan de Borgoña, represent the expedition against Oran, in which the great Cardinal took part. Miss Hannah Lynch gives a vigorously worded account of a service in this chapel according to its peculiar rite: “The quaint old ritual may be heard every morning at 9A.M., and will be found extremely puzzling to follow. The canons, in a sombre, flatmonotone, chant responses to the officiating priest at the altar. The sound combines the enervating effect of the hum of wings, whirr of looms, wooden thud of pedals, the boom and rush of immense wings circling round and round. After the first stupefaction, I have never heard anything more calculated to produce headache, nervous irritation, or the contrary soporific effect. In summer, it must be terrible.”
At the opposite, or north-west, angle of the church is the Chapel of San 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 gorgeouscustodia, 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 thantwo hundred and sixty statues of various sizes, all exhibiting the same skill. The tabernacle was gilded over in 1595 by Valdivieso and Morino. Thevirilinside, 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 abeautiful 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; areplica 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 theNiño 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 Perdonin 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 JuanAlemán. 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 becausemolletesor 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.”
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 corpsewas 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 newrégime. 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 theComunerosmovement. 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, toabandon 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 theúnica 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 eachface. 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. Herethere 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 vastpatio, enclosed by a double arcaded gallery of marble, and, crossing it, ascend a grand staircase with a fine ceiling of theartesonadokind. 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 porchadorned 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 theAnnunciation, with the statues of St. John the Divine and St. John Baptist, one-half the size of the Virtues below.”
The Emperor-King Charles V. had, as we have seen, small reason to love Toledo, but he did something for the permanent embellishment of the city, and the last architectural monuments reared on its craggy peninsula belong to his era.
It is difficult to ascribe the Alcazar, to which reference has so often been made, to any one epoch. It has undergone so many vicissitudes, so many reconstructions, that the name, as we have employed it, must be understood to represent a site rather than the actual palace. A stronghold of some sort has always been here—possibly, in Roman times, the Arx, where tradition avers the martyr Leocadia suffered death. The Arabian geographer, Jerif al Edris, writing in 1154, describes Toledo as “a town great in extent and population, extremely strong, with fine ramparts, and an Alcazaba, fortified and impregnable.” This citadel was doubtless the Alcazar, which was strengthened and rebuilt by successive Castilian kings, and is said to have been the residence of the Cid, the first Christian Alcaide. Added to, reconstructed, partially demolished and repeatedly restored, it must have presented an aspect rude and heterogeneous enough when, in 1538, Charles V. ordered Alonso de Covarrubiasand Luis de Vega to rebuild the palace entirely on the lines of the new Alcazar of Granada. The Flemish Emperor may, then, fairly be considered the founder of the present fortress-palace, though it has since his time undergone radical transformations. It was burnt down during the War of Succession in 1710, restored sixty years later, destroyed again by the French in 1810, and devastated by a third conflagration as late as 1887. Since 1882 it has been the seat of the Royal Military Academy.
The northern façade was constructed after the designs of Covarrubias, and looks on the square created by Ferdinand and Isabel in 1502. The reconstruction was so complete that probably no stone of the older façade was left in its place. The façade is severe and majestic, revealing classical influence, though not without important traces of the plateresque. It is flanked by towers, and adorned with a handsome portal—the work of Enrique de Egas, brother-in-law of Covarrubias. Over the door are the Imperial arms, supported by the figures of two heralds or mace-bearers. The fortress-like eastern façade is believed to be a part of the original Alcazar as restored by Alfonso X.; the western side of the building dates from the reign of the Catholic sovereigns, and the southern, with massive Doric pillars and square turrets, was built after designs by Juan de Herrera.
The inner court, orpatio, is described by a Spanish writer as “solemn, grandiose, full of majesty ... constructed for the dwelling-place of the August Cæsar.” It forms a spacious parallelogram and is enclosed by an arcade in two storeys with columns of the Corinthian order. Above the capitals are displayed the escutcheons of the various kingdoms ruled over by Charles. The modern restorers of the palace have adorned the court with a statue of the Emperor in the Roman costume in which he was so fond of being represented.
The finest feature of the palace must have been the staircase, designed by Villalpando and Herrera, which has been to some extent restored after its destruction by Stahremberg in 1710. One of the widest staircases in the world, “it ends,” says Miss Hannah Lynch “in the void!” In truth, the Alcazar is not to-day a very interesting building. It is, in reality, quite impossible to identify the scenes of the romantic and historical episodes which we know occurred in one or other of the successive Alcazars. But the room in which Alfonso VI. died and the window at which the hapless Blanche de Bourbon wept,pacethe local guides, must have disappeared to the last stone and fragment ages ago. All that can be said of the palace to-day is that it forms an imposing landmark, and affords from its northern terrace one of the finest views of Toledo.
To the age of Charles V. (or Carlos I. as in Spain he would properly be called) belongs the Hospital de San Juan Bautista, styled the Hospital de Afuera (outside) in the suburb of Covachuelas. The building was begun in 1541 by order of Archbishop Juan de Tavera, who died on his return from the baptism of Prince Carlos at Valladolid. The building was carried on after Bustamente’s death by the two Vergaras, and completed about 1600. The façade dates from the eighteenth century and is still unfinished. The courtyard, spacious and imposing, is divided into two and enclosed by colonnades. A fine Renaissance portal by Berruguete leads into the large chapel, which is in the form of a cross and surmounted by a dome. The pavement is of black and white marble. Before the altar is the tomb of Archbishop Tavera by Berruguete. This is one of the finest monuments in Spain. It was finished by Berruguete when he was over eighty years old, in 1561, his death taking place the same year in one of the rooms under the great clock. His sons received nearly a million maravedis for the work. “The Cardinal,” says Théophile Gautier, “is stretched out upon his tomb in his pontifical habit. Death has pinched his nose with its strong fingers, and the last contraction of the muscles, in their endeavour to retain the soul about to leave the body for ever, puckers up the corners of the mouth and lengthens the chin;never was there a cast taken after death more horribly true; and yet the beauty of the work is such, that you forget any amount of repulsiveness that the subject may possess. Little children in attitudes of grief support the plinth and the Cardinal’s coat of arms. The most supple and softest clay could not be more easy or more pliant; it is not carved, it is kneaded!”
The hospital contains some of El Greco’s most notable work, which will be noticed in the chapter on that master.
To Charles V. Toledo also owes the grand New Gate of Visagra, built in 1550, and restored in 1575. It consists of two separate structures, or gateways, enclosing apatio. On the exterior of the north gate is shown the double eagle with the Spanish arms and a Latin inscription—all in sculptured granite. On the inside is a fine statue of St. Eugenio, variously attributed to Berruguete and Monegro. The statues of Gothic kings, a life-sized angel with unsheathed sword, elegant capitals and balconies, combine to make this gateway one of the finest approaches possessed by any city in the world.
The Ayuntamiento, or town hall, of Toledo was erected in the time of Ferdinand and Isabel by the corregidor Gomez Manrique, and enlarged and restored between 1576 and 1618 by the corregidor Juan Tello, under the supervision of El Greco. The façade is composed of two storeys,the first consisting of nine arches with Doric columns which spring from massive pillars, the second of as many arches with Ionic columns. The edifice is surmounted by two towers, crowned with steeples and weather-vanes. On the fine staircase may be read in letters of gold on a blue ground this admonition to the civic dignitaries of Toledo: