Chapter VI: Zaragoza 135 (1)

ILLUSTRATIONS

VALLADOLID

SUBJECT PLATE

General View of Valladolid, 1

General View of Valladolid, 2

The Bridge of Piedra, 3

La Acera de San Francisco, 4

The Town Hall, 5

The Old Parish Church, 6

House in which Christopher Columbus died, 7

House where King Philip II. was born, 8

The Royal Palace of Philip III., 9

Church of San Juan de Letran, 10

College of the Escoceses, 11

College of the Ingleses, 12

Interior view of the Library, 13

Interior of the Museum, 14

Façade of the Museum, 15

Museum: Back of a Choir Stall, by Berruguete, 16

Museum: Detail of the Choir Stalls of San Benito, 17

Museum: Several Fragments of Choir Stalls, by Berruguete, 18

Museum: Head of St. Paul, 19

Museum: Centre part of a Wooden Altar-piece, 20

Museum: Fragments of Choir Stalls, by Berruguete, 21

Museum: Fragments of Choir Stalls, by Berruguete, 22

Museum: Altar-piece carved in wood, 23

Museum: The Assumption of the Virgin, by Rubens, 24

Museum: St. Anthony of Padua and the Child Jesus, by Rubens, 25

Museum: The Annunciation, by José Martinez, 26

Museum: The Holy Family, by Raphael, 27

Museum: St. Francis and a Lay Brother, by Rubens, 28

St. Joachim and the Virgin as a Child, by Murillo, 29

Provincial Museum: San Bruno, 30

Centre of the Façade of San Gregorio, 31

Detail of the Façade of San Gregorio, 32

Detail of the Façade of San Gregorio, 33

Left Angle in the Court of San Gregorio, 34

Gallery in the Court of San Gregorio, 35

Detail in the Court of San Gregorio, 36

Interior Gate of San Gregorio, 37

Façade of San Pablo, 38

Lower Part of the Façade of San Pablo, 39

Detail of the Portal of San Pablo, 40

Lower Central Part of the Façade of San Pablo, 41

Portal of San Pablo, 42

Detail of the Porch of San Pablo, 43

Detail of the Porch of San Pablo, 44

OVIEDO

General View, 45

Tower of the Cathedral 46

Principal Entrance to the Cathedral, 47

Principal Gate of the Cathedral, 48

Cathedral: View of the Interior, 49

Cathedral: The Retablo, 50

La Camara Santa, 51

Coffin in the Cathedral, 52

Old Tower of the Cathedral, 53

Cathedral: Oaken Ark, 54

Cathedral: Section, Plan, and Details of the Camara Santa, 55

Cathedral: Cross of the Angels, 56

Crosses and Caskets of the Asturias, 57

Cathedral: Cross of Victory, 58

A Capital, 59

Santa Maria de Naranco, 60

Santa Maria de Naranco, 61

Church of San Miguel de Lineo, 62

Church of San Juan de Priorio, 63

Church of San Juan de Priorio, 64

Details of the Churches of St. Clara, St. John, and Our Lady de la Vega, 65

Details of Santa Maria de Valdedios, 66

Details of Santa Maria de Valdedios, 67

Details of San Juan de Amandi, 68

Details of San Juan de Amandi, 69

Details of the Church of Villaviciosa, 70

Details of the Church of Villaviciosa, 71

Plan and Section of San Salvador de Valdedios, 72

Details of San Salvador de Valdedios, 73

Details of the Churches of Priesca and Fuentes, 74

Details of Santa Maria de Villamayor, 75

Details of Santa Maria de Villamayor, 76

Details of San Adrian de Tunon, 77

Details of the Hermitage of Santa Cristina, 78

Details of the Collegiate Church of Covadonga, 79

Details of the Church of Ujo, 80

Details of the Church of Ujo, 81

SEGOVIA

General View from the Nievas, 82

General View, 83

The Roman Aqueduct, 84

The Alcazar and Cathedral from the Fuencisla, 85

General View from the Nievas, 86

Old Houses in the Plaza Mayor, 87

View of the Walls, 88

Aqueduct over the River Castilla, 89

The Cathedral, 90

View of the Cathedral, 91

View of the Cathedral, 92

Casa de los Picos, 93

Church of Santa Cruz, 94

Porch of the Church of Santa Cruz, 95

Church of Santa Cruz, 96

View of the Mint and the Parral, 97

Façade of the Parral, 98

Cloisters of the Parral, 99

General View of Turégano, 100

Turégano Castle, 101

General View of Coca Castle, 102

Another View of Coca Castle, 103

St. Andrew’s Gate, 104

The Arch of the Fuencisla, 105

Gate of Santiago, 106

The Alcazar before the Fire of 1862, 107

The Alcazar from the Hoyos Hill, 108

View of the Alcazar, 109

The Alcazar from the Caves, 110

Façade of the Alcazar before the Fire of 1862, 111

Details of the Church of the Parral, 112

Church of St. Nicholas, 113

View of the Church of Vera Cruz, 114

Porch of the Church of Vera Cruz, 115

Courtyard of the Marquis of Arcos’ House, 116

Façade of St. John, 117

Church of St. John, 118

San Juan de los Caballeros, 119

Church of St. Martin, 120

Porch of St. Martin, 121

Parish Church of St. Martin, 122

Details of the Church of St. Martin, 123

General View of St. Stephen, 124

Portico of St. Stephen, 125

Details of St. Stephen, 126

Church of San Lorenzo, 127

Church of San Lorenzo, 128

Lateral Façade of San Lorenzo, 129

The Church of San Lorenzo, 130

Details of San Lorenzo, 131

Interior of San Millán, 132

Interior of San Millán, 133

Arches and Eaves of San Millán, 134

Sectional Elevations of San Millán, 135

Details of San Millán, 136

Details of San Millán, 137

Details of San Millán, 138

Details of the Convent of Corpus Christi, 139

Interior of the Convent of Santo Domingo and Towers, 140

Painted Socles in the Tower of Santo Domingo, 141

Façade of the Convent of Our Lady de la Sierra, 142

Ruins of the Chapel of the Convent of Our Lady de la Sierra, 143

Interior of the Ruined Convent of Our Lady de la Sierra, 144

Porch of the Convent of Our Lady de la Sierra, 145

General View of the Roman Aqueduct, 146

The Roman Aqueduct, 147

The Roman Aqueduct, 148

The Roman Aqueduct, 149

The Roman Aqueduct, 150

The Roman Aqueduct, 151

The Roman Aqueduct, 152

A Dance in the Plaza del Pueblo de Nieva, 153

Enrique IV. conducting the Infanta Isabel through the Streets of Segovia, 154

Group of Peasants of the Province, 155

Peasants of the Province, 156

Peasants of the Province, 157

Peasants of the Province, 158

Peasants of the Province, 159

Peasants of the Province, 160

Peasants of the Province, 161

Peasants of the Province, 162

Peasants of the Province, 163

Peasants of the Province, 164

Peasants of the Province, 165

ZAMORA

View of Zamora, 166

View of Zamora, 167

Walls and Postern Gate, 168

Stone Bridge over the Duero, 169

Bridge over the Duero, 170

View of the Cathedral, 171

Façade of the Cathedral, 172

Cathedral: Gate of the Bishop, 173

The Cathedral: East Front, 174

Cathedral: Gate of the Bishop, 175

Cathedral: Gate of the Bishop, 176

Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela, 177

Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela, 178

Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Detail of the Interior, 179

Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Detail of the Interior, 180

Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Chancel, 181

Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Example of the Vaulting, 182

Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Interior, 183

Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Transept and Nave, 184

Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Detail of a Window, 185

Ancient Cistercian Monastery of Moreruela: Transept Porch, 186

Santa Maria la Nueva: Detail of the Exterior, 187

Santa Maria la Nueva: Doorway, 188

Santa Maria la Nueva: Capitals of Recessed Windows, 189

Church of the Magdalen, 190

Principal Door of the Church of the Magdalen, 191

Plan and Sections of the Church of St. Peter, 192

Details of the Church of St. Peter (Nave), 193

House of The Cid, 194

Tapestry of the Beginning of the Fifteenth Century, 195

Painting in the Town Hall, 196

Painting in the Town Hall, 197

Painting in the Town Hall, 198

Painting in the Town Hall, 199

The Royal Escutcheon, 200

St. Ferdinand and King John II., 201

The Arms of the Town, 202

Queen Urraca and Aris Gonzalo, 203

Trophies of Arms and Armour in the Town Hall, 204

The House of the Momos, 205

Bridge of Rocobayo over the Esla, 206

Stone Quarries of the Town of Valderojo, 207

Earthworks of the ancient City of Toro, 208

North and Centre Gates of the Church of Toro, 209

Details of the Church of Toro, 210

Group of Peasants of the Village of Bermigo de Sayago, 211

Group of Peasants of the Village of Carbajales, 212

Peasants of the Village of Bermigo de Sayago, 213

AVILA

General View, 214

General View, 215

View of Avila, 216

Gate of the Alcazar, 217

Gate of San Vicente, 218

Gate of San Vicente, 219

Gate of San Vicente, 220

Gate of San Vicente, 221

A Street, 222

View of the Cathedral, 223

Exterior of the Cathedral, 224

Entrance to the Cathedral, 225

Plan of the Cathedral, 226

The Cathedral, 227

Side Door of the Cathedral, 228

Cathedral: Pulpit of Repoussé Iron Work, 229

Cathedral: Pulpit of Repoussé Iron Work, 230

Cathedral: Pulpit of Repoussé Iron Work, 231

Interior of the Cathedral, 232

Cathedral: Detail of the Interior, 233

Cathedral: Detail of the Choir, 234

Cathedral: The Choir, 235

Cathedral: Detail of the Choir, 236

Cathedral: Detail of the Choir, 237

Cathedral: Detail of the Choir, 238

Cathedral: Altar of San Segundo, 239

Cathedral: Altar of Santa Lucia, 240

Cathedral: Sepulchre of Don Juan d’Avila, 241

Cathedral: Tomb of El Testado, 242

Cathedral: Altar behind the Choir, 243

Cathedral: Silver Monstrance of Juan de Arfe, 244

Convent of Santo Tomas: Sepulchre of the Infante Don Juan, 245

Sepulchre of the Holy Martyrs Vicente, Sabina, and Cristina, 246

Interior of the Chapel of San Bernardo, 247

Church of St. Peter, 248

Entrance to the Church of St. Peter, 249

Church of St. Peter, 250

Details of the Church of St. Peter, 251

Exterior of the Church of San Vicente, 252

Basilica of San Vicente before its restoration, 253

Basilica of San Vicente before its restoration, 254

Basilica of San Vicente: North Façade, 255

Basilica of San Vicente: Principal Façade, 256

Basilica of San Vicente: Eastern Façade, restored, 257

Basilica of San Vicente: Façade, 258

Basilica of San Vicente: Central Gate, restored, 259

Basilica of San Vicente: Detail of the middle cornice, restored, 260

Basilica of San Vicente: Portal, 261

Basilica of San Vicente: Principal west entrance, 262

Basilica of San Vicente: Principal west entrance, 263

Basilica of San Vicente: General view of the Interior, 264

Basilica of San Vicente: Sepulchre of the Holy Martyrs, 265

Basilica of San Vicente: Detail of the Interior, 266

Porch of the Church of San Vicente, 267

Porch of the Church of San Vicente, 268

Porch of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 269

Section of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 270

Plan of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 271

Gate of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 272

Door of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 273

Interior of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 274

The Court of Silence in the Convent of Santo Tomas, 275

Convent of Santo Tomas: The Court of Silence, 276

Convent of Santo Tomas: The Court of the Kings, 277

Convent of Santo Tomas: Courtyard of the Infirmary, 278

Cloisters of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 279

Cloisters of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 280

Cloisters of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 281

Gate of the Cloisters in the Convent of Santo Tomas, 282

Choir of the Convent of Santo Tomas, 283

Convent of Santo Tomas: Details of the Choir, 284

Choir Stalls in the Convent of Santo Tomas, 285

Choir Stalls in the Convent of Santo Tomas, 286

Church of San Segundo: Statue of San Segundo, 287

Church of Santo Tomas: Sepulchre of the Infante Don Juan, 288

Church of Santo Tomas: Sepulchre of the Infante Don Juan, 289

Church of Santo Tomas: Sepulchre of the Infante Don Juan, 290

Gothic Gate in ruins, 291

Door of a Private House, 292

Calle de Pedro d’Avila, 293

Celebrated Window in the House of Pedro d’Avila, 294

Courtyard of the Polentinos’ Palace, 295

Portico of the Polentinos’ Palace, 296

Church of San Andrés and San Segundo, 297

Hermitage of San Isidro, 298

The Academy, 299

Camposagrado Palace, 300

Casa de la Baraganas, 301

Casa de la Torre, 302

Chapel of Mosen Rubi, 303

Palace of the Conde de Superunda, 304

Miniatures from the Avila Missal, 305

Miniatures from the Avila Missal, 306

Door of San Francisco, 307

A Roman Capital of the Church of San Francisco, 308

Latin-Byzantine Frieze in the Church of San Francisco, 309

Monastery of San Pedro at Arenas, 310

ZARAGOZA

General View from Cabezo-Cortado, 311

General View from Altabas, 312

General View from Altabas, 313

The Bridge over the Ebro, from the Ruins of San Lazaro, 314

The Bridge over the Ebro, from El Pilar, 315

General View of Zaragoza, 316

General View of Zaragoza, 317

General View of Zaragoza, 318

General View from the Portilla, 319

View of Zaragoza, 320

Calle del Mercado, 321

Paseo de Santa Engracia, 322

Cathedral of La Seo, 323

Cathedral of La Seo, 324

Glazed Tiles on the Walls of the Cathedral of La Seo, 325

Interior of the Cathedral of La Seo, 326

Cathedral of La Seo: View of the Transept, 327

Cathedral of La Seo: Detail of Transept, 328

Chapel of St. John in the Cathedral of La Seo, 329

Chapel of Gabriel de Zaporta in the Cathedral of La Seo, 330

Cathedral of La Seo: Reja bronze repoussé, 331

Sepulchre of Archbishop Don Lope de Luna in the Cathedral of La Seo, 332

Central Dome of the Cathedral of La Seo, 333

Silver Monstrance in the Cathedral of La Seo, 334

Censer belonging to the Cathedral of La Seo, 335

Cathedral of El Pilar, 336

Cathedral of El Pilar, 337

Interior of Our Lady del Pilar, 338

Side Altar in Our Lady del Pilar, 339

Our Lady del Pilar: View of the Choir, 340

Our Lady del Pilar: Organ in the Choir, 341

Chapel in Our Lady del Pilar, 342

High Altar in Our Lady del Pilar, 343

Paintings on the Cupola of Our Lady del Pilar, 344

Our Lady del Pilar : Choir Stalls, 345

Our Lady del Pilar: Choir Stalls, 346

Our Lady del Pilar: Choir Stalls, 347

Our Lady del Pilar, by M. de Unceta, 348

Our Lady del Pilar, 349

Silver Salver in the Cathedral of El Pilar, 350

Vase in the Cathedral of El Pilar, 351

Church of the Magdalen, 352

Place and Church of St. Nicholas, 353

Portal of the Church of San Miguel, 354

Façade of the Church of Santa Engracia, 355

Church of St. Paul: Puerta del Cristo, 356

The New, or Leaning Tower, 357

Tower of the Calle de Antonio Perez, 358

Tower of San Miguel, 359

Tower of San Pablo, 360

Tower of the Trovador, 361

Ancient Wall and Buildings, 362

Statue of Pignatelli, 363

Courtyard in the House of Pardo, 364

Detail of the Courtyard in the House of Pardo, 365

Entrance to the Audiencia Palace, 366

Palace of the Provincial Deputation, 367

Courtyard in the Count of Argillo’s House, 368

Eaves on the House of the Conde de Argillo, 369

Courtyard in the Count of Argillo’s House, 370

House in the Plaza de San Carlos, 371

The Exchange, 372

Façade of the Exchange, 373

Interior of the Exchange, 374

Porch of the House of Zaporta, 375

Courtyard of the House of Zaporta, 376

Courtyard of the House of Zaporta, 377

Courtyard of the House of Zaporta, 378

Courtyard of the House of Zaporta, 379

Courtyard of the House of Zaporta, 380

Detail of the Courtyard of the House of Zaporta, 381

Court of the Provincial Museum, 382

Gallery in the Provincial Museum, 383

The Aljaferia or Citadel. Window of the Main Staircase, 384

Aljaferia: Interior of the Mosque, 385

Aljaferia: Interior of the Mosque, 386

Aljaferia: Interior of the Mosque, 387

Aljaferia: Details of the Interior, 388

Aljaferia: Details of the Interior, 389

Details of the Aljaferia, 390

Details of the Aljaferia, 391

St. Isabel and her Husband. Tapestry in the University, 392

View of the Barracks of the Aljaferia, 393

The Casa de la Infanta. ‘The Departure for the Fight,’ by P. Gonzalvo Perez, 394

Gate of Our Lady del Carmen, 395

The Defence of Zaragoza in 1809, by Nicolas Mejia, 396

The First Siege of Zaragoza, by A. Ferrant y Fischermans, 397

Heroic Defence of the Tower of St. Augustine at Zaragoza in the War of Independence, by C. Alvarez Dumont, 398

Heroic Combat in the Pulpit of the Church of San Augustin at Zaragoza in 1809, by C. Alvarez Dumont, 399

The Maid of Zaragoza, by M. Hiraldez Acosta, 400

The Maid of Zaragoza, by Navarro y Canizares, 401

Arch from the Aljaferia Palace, now in the Archæological Museum, 402

Arch from the Aljaferia Palace, now in the Archæological Museum, 403

Provincial Museum: Detail of ‘The Mosque’ of the Aljaferia, 404

Provincial Museum: Corbels of Eaves, Gothic style, from the old Custom House, 405

Provincial Museum: Corbels of Eaves, 406

Provincial Museum: Corbels of Eaves, Gothic style, 407

Provincial Museum: Corbels of Eaves, Pointed style, 408

Provincial Museum: Arab Capitals of the Aljaferia Castle, 409

Provincial Museum: Arab Capitals from the Aljaferia, 410

Provincial Museum: Arab Capitals from the Aljaferia, 411

The Story of Lucretia. A Plate from the work entitled ‘Mugeres Ilustres,’ translated from Boccaccio, 412

A Page from the work entitled ‘Example against the Deception and Perils of the World,’ by Juan de Capua, 413

Valladolid, Oviedo, Segovia, Zamora, Avila, and Zaragoza

I

VALLADOLID

ITS STORY

Valladolid, a thriving, bustling place, as Spanish cities go, stands on the rivers Pisuerga and Esgueva, a few miles above the confluence of their united streams with the Duero. All round spreads the vast, dreary plain of Castile, interrupted within sight of the town by a ring of low hills. Trains thunder past from north, south, and west, keeping Valladolid in close touch with Madrid, with France, with Portugal, and with the rest of the world. The natural centre, this, of the old kingdom of Leon and Castile, of which it was for a long time the political capital.

The etymology of the name has perplexed historians not a little. The most probable derivation is from the Arabic Belad-Walid, the valley of Walid, or (as likely) of the Wali or governor. In Latin documents the name is Vallisoletum, from which the poetical etymology, _vallis odoris_, was ingeniously manufactured. Though a great many of the towns in this part of Spain were founded on fresh sites on the resettlement of the country in the ninth and tenth centuries, Valladolid can, with some show of probability, claim a more remote origin. The contention of the old writers that this was the town called Pintia, described by Ptolemy as lying on the road from Caesaraugusta to Asturica, is to some extent borne out by numerous remains, attesting the existence at this spot of a Roman community of opulence and importance.

The earliest mention of the place since the Christian era occurs in the Chronicle of Cardeña, where in the year 1072 it is referred to as one of the two towns (Rio Seco being the other) offered to Doña Urraca by her brother, Sancho, in exchange for Zamora. We may presume, therefore, that it was already a place of some consequence. In 1074 it was handed over by Alfonso VI. to Count Pedro Ansúrez, the companion of his exile at Toledo. This noble plays the same part in its history as Count Raymond does in that of Salamanca. The principal buildings, such as Santa Maria la Antigua and the bridge over the Pisuerga, are ascribed to him. He founded and generously endowed the collegiate church of Santa Maria la Mayor, with the adjacent abbey, of which, in after years, infantes and the sons of the most exalted persons were alone deemed worthy to be abbots. The famous Bernard, Archbishop of Toledo, came to bless the church, with the not less famous Alvar Fañez, who was Count Pedro’s son-in-law. When good King Alfonso passed away, Ansúrez took the oath of allegiance to his daughter, Queen Urraca, and to her husband, ‘The Battler of Aragon.’ When the royal twain came to blows, the count surrendered all the strongholds he held to the queen, and presented himself to the king, saying that ‘with the hands, the tongue, and the body which had paid him homage,’ he could do as he willed. Alfonso the Battler let him depart unmolested, and he was laid to rest in 1118, clothed in his armour, in the collegiate church he had endowed.

The lordship of Valladolid now passed to Armengol, son of Count Pedro’s eldest daughter, by the Count of Urgel. Under his sway the city prospered exceedingly. King Alfonso VII. chose it for the place of his marriage with a Polish princess, and for several ecclesiastical councils. Two more counts of the same name continued the dynasty of Ansúrez till the year 1208; but of these the town saw little, for as Counts of Urgel they were vassals of Aragon, and spent most of their time in that kingdom. The last count left half of his Castilian dominions to the Pope, the other half to his daughter Aurembiax, who was believed to be the mistress of the King of Aragon. Alfonso VIII. of Castile can hardly, therefore, be blamed for setting aside a disposition which handed over the principal town in his kingdom to two foreign potentates. In the year 1208, accordingly, the city was incorporated with the monarchy. Soon after (1215) it became for the first time the royal residence--that of the Queen-Regent Berenguela and her youthful charge, Don Enrique I.; and in accordance with this precedent, two years later, Fernando III. was crowned here, in the Plaza Mayor. Thenceforward the town became the usual seat of the court, though an official capital in the modern sense Spain did not possess till Philip II.’s time. The last years of the thirteenth century saw the reins of government in the hands of a native of Valladolid, the Queen-Regent, Maria de Molina, widow of Sancho el Bravo. Her predilection for her own birthplace practically extinguished the pretensions of Burgos to rank as capital, and during her stormy regency Valladolid stood by her loyally. She was not the least capable or intrepid of the many able women-rulers by whom Spain has been so well served.

Though the seat of government, Valladolid was not wanting in the turbulent, independent spirit characteristic of the Castilian cities. In 1328 a rumour spread abroad that the king’s Jewish treasurer, Joseph, was about to carry off the Infanta Leonor, and to marry her to the detested favourite, Nuñez Osorio. Sure enough the princess presently appeared, mounted and attended by an escort, as if proceeding on a journey. The citizens forced her to return to the palace, and clamoured for the head of the treasurer. Leonor promised to satisfy them if they would permit her to go to the Alcazar, or citadel, whither she contrived to convey the trembling Hebrew concealed among her retinue. Safe inside the fortress, Infanta and Jew set the mob at defiance, and sustained a siege till relieved by the king. Comically enough, Alfonso dismissed his favourite on the ground that he was the cause of these disturbances, while the Infanta married the Prince of Portugal, whom she had been on her way to meet when forced back by the crowd.

Women figure largely in the history of Valladolid. Here in the church of Santa Maria la Mayor, Peter the Cruel was married to the hapless Blanche de Bourbon, to leave her three days later. It was only by the entreaties of his mistress, Maria de Padilla, that he could be persuaded to return to his wife; but unable to overcome his repugnance to the poor princess, he again abandoned her a few days after, this time for ever.

The convent of La Merced owes its origin to another case of erratic passion. Donha Leonor Telles de Meneses had been torn from the arms of her first husband, João Lourenço d’Acunha, by the King of Portugal, who raised her to the throne. D’Acunha retired to Valladolid, where he was buried in the church of Santa Maria la Antigua. In the course of time Leonor’s second husband also died, and she also came to Valladolid, possibly to see what had become of the first. Doubly a widow, she found consolation in the affection of a knight named Zoilo Iñiguez, by whom she had a daughter called Maria. Leonor’s experience of love and matrimony led her at her death to charge her daughter’s guardian, one Laserna, to dedicate the girl to religion, and to found a convent for her special accommodation. Before this could be accomplished, Maria, who believed herself to be a relation of Laserna, fell in love with his nephew, and incontinently married him. On discovering the secret of her origin, she so far complied with her mother’s wish as to build a convent, in which Queen Leonor as the foundress was entombed.

About the same time, by order of Juan I., the old Alcazar, round which the town had been built, was demolished to make room for the existing convent of San Benito. The monastery of San Pablo became the residence of the court during the minority of Juan II. That king may be said to have lived here permanently, and to have confirmed Valladolid in its dignity as capital of the realm. As such it was the scene of much splendour and chivalrous display under the rule of the high-minded favourite, the great Constable Alvaro de Luna. And it was in the little Plaza del Ochavo, in the centre of the town, having run his course as a true knight and a wise statesman, that he met his fate with the dignity and composure which had distinguished him during his whole career.

The place of his execution was chosen by his enemies as precisely the scene of his greatest triumphs. He was confined during his last night in the house of his enemy, Zuñiga, where he passed the hours ‘in great contrition and affliction of spirit.’ ‘The melancholy 2nd of June 1453 dawned,’ says Don Jose Quadrado, ‘and in the Plaza del Ochavo, which then formed the principal square of Valladolid, loomed a scaffold draped with black cloth, and above it a cross set with lighted tapers. On a post was fixed the spike destined to receive the severed head. The Constable was conducted to the spot by the streets of Francos, Cantarranas, and Plateria, mounted on a mule with black trappings, and preceded by a crier, whose violent denunciations drew from him only the humble words, _Más merezco_ (“I deserve more”). Alighting on the side of the church of San Francisco, and mounting the scaffold with firmness, having knelt before the cross, he hesitated whether he should address the people, when he perceived among the crowd his faithful page Moreles, and Barrasa, esquire to Don Enrique. He told the latter to adjure his master not to follow the example of the king, his father, in the way of rewarding his servants; to the former he gave his signet-ring, which the youth received weeping, not a few of the bystanders weeping loudly also. “With my body they may do as they please,” he said on perceiving the spike and divining its object; and baring his throat, and his hands being bound with his own girdle, he offered his head to the executioner, who a few seconds later held it up, dripping with blood, before the horror-stricken people. The body remained exposed three, and the head nine days, with a box beside it to receive alms. With these he was buried among malefactors in the hermitage of San Andrés outside the walls; but at the end of two months he was given a more decent sepulture in San Francisco, where he lay till the rehabilitation of his memory and his magnificent entombment thirty-one years later in the cathedral of Toledo.’

The feeble and ungrateful king (Juan II.) survived his favourite little more than a year, and died at the convent of San Pablo, which had been his usual abode. Valladolid remained steadily loyal to his miserable successor, Enrique IV., when scarcely another town in his dominions would harbour him. Yet, strangely enough, it was in this city, in the house of Juan Vivero (where the Audiencia now stands), that the king’s sister Isabel, in defiance of his wishes, celebrated in secret, but with great ceremony, her marriage with Ferdinand of Aragon. This was on October 18, 1469--an auspicious night for Spain. But the city was too full of Enrique’s partisans to afford a safe asylum to the newly-wedded pair, who immediately betook themselves to Dueñas.

Valladolid, always on the side of authority, accepted ‘the Catholic Kings’ on the death of Enriqùe, to the exclusion of Juana, whom a modern writer inexplicably calls that monarch’s illegitimate daughter. She was barred from the succession on the ground that she was not his daughter at all. The vigorous but hardly beneficent rule of Ferdinand and Isabel was celebrated in 1489 by eighteen persons being burned alive in the Plaza Mayor, while a few years after the city was emptied of its Jewish inhabitants. A whole quarter left tenantless, deserted homes, and smoking human sacrifices marked the inauguration of the New Monarchy in Valladolid. Yet the city prospered, and was too busy to notice the worn-out adventurer, the Admiral of the Indies, the immortal Christopher Columbus, who died within its walls on May 20, 1506. But all their prosperity could not reconcile the sturdy citizens to the arbitrary government of Charles V.’s regents. Valladolid threw in her lot with the Comunidad. Her sons bled in the cause of liberty beside Padilla on the fatal field of Villalar; and when the Flemish emperor proclaimed an amnesty on visiting the city in 1522, many of her townsmen found themselves among the three hundred specially excluded from its operation.

Philip II. was born here on May 21, 1527; here he was married to his first and Portuguese wife; here also she died in giving birth to his luckless son Carlos. Yet it was this native of Valladolid who reduced it to the rank of a provincial city, and in the year 1560 definitely declared Madrid to be the _unica corte_, the official capital of Spain. This measure has been variously criticised, but it is certainly difficult to perceive the advantages which the new capital possessed over the old, or over Toledo or Zaragoza. This loss of dignity was followed by a more dreadful catastrophe. Valladolid was devastated by a fire in the night of September 21, 1561, four hundred and forty houses being destroyed, though only three persons lost their lives. The silversmiths, for whom the city was renowned, saved their wares by throwing them into the wells. The conflagration was caused by the sparks blown from a fire lit by some beggars in the shadow of a wall. Possibly the citizens were reminded of those other flames so frequently kindled in their midst by the abominable Inquisition, when men and women were roasted to death in the presence and with the approval of His Catholic Majesty Philip II. The furious element was less destructive than the Holy Office.

The city was practically rebuilt by order of the despot, and as a mark of his favour he persuaded the Pope to erect it into a diocese in the last years of the sixteenth century. His successor, with a judgment of which he rarely gave proof, reinstated Valladolid in its rank of capital of the monarchy, and resided here in the palace facing San Pablo (now the Audiencia). Here Anne of Austria and Philip IV. were born. Cervantes lived here in one of the houses in the Rastro behind the Campo Grande, where he finished the first part of _Don Quixote_. His experience of the city was unfortunate. He was, together with his family, imprisoned on the charge of being implicated in a night brawl, wherein as a matter of fact he had simply played the part of Good Samaritan. His brother wits and the literati unceasingly assailed Valladolid as unworthy the residence of the court, and after five years Philip III. was obliged, professedly because the city was unhealthy, to restore Madrid to its pre-eminence. The abandoned capital was hit very hard. Industry and commerce languished, nothing but the religious vocation flourished. The project of rendering the Duero and Pisuerga navigable for large vessels was given up, and, to crown all, the Moriscos to the number of one thousand were expelled, taking the silk industry with them. Inundations and all sorts of calamities followed in quick succession. Whatever money men earned in moribund Castile, they used to build churches and convents. The city’s attachment to the Bourbon cause in the War of the Spanish Succession disposed Philip V. to transfer the court hither a second time; but the pre-eminence of Madrid was too firmly established to permit this. The French invaders, a hundred years ago, found the place ruined and stagnant. Since then Valladolid has awakened from her sleep. The opening of the North of Spain Railway, and the establishment here of the company’s loco-motive works, gave a great impetus to her progress, and she is now an important commercial town, the centre of the corn trade of Castile. No Spanish city north of the Guadarrama gives such promise as Valladolid.

THE CITY

A city which was so long the capital of the monarchy--the city where Columbus died and Cervantes lived--whose streets are haunted by the immortal creature of Le Sage’s genius--can be no unworthy goal for a pilgrimage. It has memories far more stirring than Madrid, which in physiognomy it rather resembles. A cold, formal town it seems at first sight, with modern-looking squares, straight streets, and severe, imposing buildings; but behind these you find the old city of Juan II. and Enrique IV., a labyrinth of tortuous lanes, gloomy palaces, and ruinous monastic houses.

The handsome Accra de Recoletos, which looks across the spacious Campo Grande--the city’s principal park--leads from the triumphal Puerta del Carmen, commemorating the reign of Charles III., to the majestic Arch of Santiago. We pass through, and presently reach the Plaza Mayor, now called the Plaza de la Constitucion, the focus of the city’s life.

A minor Puerta del Sol, Ford calls this regular, symmetrically planned open space, designed after the great fire of 1561 by Francisco Salamanca. The houses enclosing it are of uniform architecture, with three tiers of balconies in the three Grecian orders, capable, it is said, of accommodating 24,000 spectators. The portico is supported by massive granite columns of a bluish tinge, each a monolith. On the north side is the ungraceful Ayuntamiento (Town Hall), with weather-vanes on its towers and martial trophies surmounting the town clock. The space is as lively and gay as any in Spain. The sun shines brightly, the birds fly as freely overhead as across the innocent plains; here there is no deeper shadow than elsewhere, no abiding gloom or ghostly chill. Yet if ever a spot deserved to be called accursed it is this. Let us project ourselves back into the past, to a bright morning in May in the year 1559. The balconies have not yet been built, but stands and tiers of seats have been constructed round the Plaza. There is a grand display of bunting, and the richest draperies are hung from the crowded windows--silks and cloth of gold and silver, damasks and brocades. On a daïs are seen the little prince, Don Carlos, and his aunt the Infanta Juana. The civic dignitaries of the town are here, the craftsmen in their liveries; but making the bravest show of all are the bishop and the clergy, arrayed in full canonicals, as befits the solemn Act of Faith at which they are about to assist. The square is packed with a vast multitude--men have come from far and near to see this thing--and people are pouring down the narrow streets, an unceasing stream. All eyes are fixed on the platform in the centre of the Plaza, whereon faggots and brushwood are neatly piled round fourteen pillars, and busy varlets are bestirring themselves. A subdued murmur betokens the approach of the procession. For the alguazils who clear the way, for the horribly clad familiars of the Holy Office who stalk before, the spectators have no eyes: the gaze of those thousands is levelled on the fourteen men and women walking slowly to their awful doom. Were ever creatures so shockingly grotesque? They wear a perfectly ridiculous headgear, like an elongated nightcap, or a hat such as our grenadiers wore in days gone by; a sort of smock covers their bodies, an ugly flame-coloured garment, painted with figures of dancing and grimacing devils. You can hardly restrain a smile. I’ll wager those gallants yonder are cracking some clever jokes at their expense, for the Latin is by nature a wag. We all know who they are, these wretches. Not long before Valladolid was thrilled by the rumour that a Lutheran conventicle had been discovered here in the heart of His Most Catholic Majesty’s capital. A holy woman, suspicious of her husband’s orthodoxy, had followed him one day, found him in the midst of this heretical assembly, and denounced him to the Holy Office. That is the man, Juan Garcia, a goldsmith whom all the townsmen have known and dealt with this many a year. Where’s his wife? somewhere in the crowd, doubtless, praying for his soul. Virtue like hers is worthy of heroines or devils. Most notable of the heretical crew is the Doctor Cazalla, one of the king’s most notable preachers; but the Holy Inquisitors are no respecters of persons. They would drag you from behind the throne. The priest with the Doctor is his brother Francisco. The woman is his sister, Doña Beatriz. Burn a woman? Ay, surely. There are four more, one of them a serving-wench. That black-avised fellow is a mere Jew from Lisbon--there is little sympathy for him. Then there are four gentlemen, and--hold!--one has a gag in his mouth. It is the Bachelor, Antonio Herrerruelo, an obstinate fellow, who will not recede one hair’s-breadth from his heretical opinions or concede one iota. The sixteen that follow interest us less. They have been reconciled with Mother Church, and for them no worse fate is reserved than the confiscation of all their goods and solitary confinement for life. Ha! one of them has fainted. It is the youthful daughter of the Marqués de Alcañias, Doña Ana Enriques. They say that one of this batch is an Englishman. Perhaps he has seen Catholics hanged, drawn, and quartered in his own land, and can forgive the Spaniard.

The learned Dominican in the pulpit reads the sentences of the Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition, and we may be sure his voice shakes with paternal tenderness when _he absolves_ those who are passing into the shadow of perpetual imprisonment. As for those fourteen others--the Church has done with them, and in sorrow, not in anger, she hands them over to the secular arm.

Now who will face the flames? for even the secular arm is merciful at the eleventh hour. Thousands of eyes are strained towards the scaffold. What is passing? Cazalla is making a farewell speech. Is he obdurate? No; from mouth to mouth the rumour runs that he professes penitence, that he abjures his errors. His brothers, the women--look at their blanched faces!--mutter some such words. Their necks are encircled by the collars of the garrote--they stand on the well-laid pyre. But it is not lighted yet. Swiftly the executioner steps from one post to the other. A quiet turn of the screw, and the souls of the heretics have fled, and the flames may have their corpses.

But he with the gag, Herrerruelo? We watch him breathlessly. At all admonitions he simply shakes his head. The executioner even hesitates to fire the pile. He has his hand on the spring of the garrote. A word from the heretic, and he will be dead, unscorched, instantaneously. It is useless. Herrerruelo will not speak that word. The fire is lighted. The logs crackle and blaze. We can hardly see the victim’s form. No groan nor sigh escapes him. But on his face, says one close to him, is stamped the extremest sadness that ever human being knew. Is it for yourself, Castilian of the old Roman mould? Nay, rather, I think, for your country which you see perishing beside you slowly but inevitably on the pyre of fanaticism and superstition.

It is over. The integrity of the faith of Spain has been vindicated. But the heroism of Herrerruelo soon finds imitators. His wife follows him to the flames a few years later. Philip II. himself comes to assist at a superb act of faith which demands another holocaust. He solemnly swears to defend the faith and to enforce the decrees of its tribunal. ‘And you leave me to burn?’ is the bitter reproach a Veronese gentleman among the doomed men dares to address to the king. ‘Ay,’ says Philip, ‘I would bring the wood myself to burn my own son were he a heretic.’ There was thus something of the Roman spirit on both sides. The brave Italian’s fortitude so inspires a fellow-sufferer that he leaps gaily into the flames, calling for wood, more wood.

The shame of the Inquisition rests not on the Spanish people. The citizens of Valladolid were kept in check on these dreadful occasions only by large bodies of troops. Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor, dared not go forth without an armed escort of two hundred and fifty men. The Spaniards of to-day, with few exceptions, refer to the institution with expressions of abhorrence, startling even to Protestant ears. But it must be admitted that some writers more or less half-heartedly attempt a defence. Don J. M. Quadrado observes that the Holy Office saved the country from the horrors of religious wars, to which the obvious rejoinder is that the wars of religion, judged by their results, proved less disastrous to France, Germany, and Switzerland, than the policy of repression proved to Spain, and that the religious unity of other countries, such as Italy and Austria, has been preserved with comparatively little physical suasion.

We will leave the Plaza Mayor, this bright place with such gloomy memories, and see what monuments Faith has raised of a more honourable and durable kind. We cross the prettily named Place of the Golden Fountain, and the Plaza del Ochavo, where Alvaro de Luna died, and a little farther on find the Cathedral of Valladolid.

This church was begun in 1585, by order of Philip II., and replaced the old Iglesia Mayor founded by Pedro Ansúrez. The work was intrusted to Herrera, the architect of the Escorial, but his plans were never fully carried out, and the cathedral remains to-day unfinished, and also unfortunately marred by Churriguera and his disciples. The style of Herrera very eloquently expressed the temper and spirit, if not of the Spain of his day, certainly of his sovereign. The model of the church is to be seen in the muniment room. It is cruciform, the nave and transept to be flanked with aisles and chapels, the crossing to be surmounted by a dome, and a tower to be at each of the four corners. Only one of the towers was ever finished, and that collapsed in 1841; it is now being rebuilt. Street, who is very severe on all non-Gothic buildings in Spain, says that ‘nothing could ever cure the hideous unsightliness of the exterior. Herrera’s west front was revised by Churriguera in the eighteenth century, and cannot therefore be fairly criticised; but the side elevation remains as Herrera designed it, and is really valuable as a warning. Flying buttresses were, of course, an abomination; so in their place he erected enormous solid buttresses above the aisles to resist the thrust of the nave vault. They are shapeless blocks of masonry, projecting about forty feet from the clerestory wall, and finished with a horrid concave line at the top.’

The interior is not wanting in majesty and massiveness. Only the nave, with its aisles and chapels, has been completed. The huge piers carry bold arches, separated by a broad cornice from a plastered and panelled groined ceiling. The walls are destitute of ornament, but over the arched entrances to the chapels runs an open gallery with balustrades. The aisles have been obstructed by ‘provisional chapels,’ which Herrera would have indignantly swept away; and the choir, which he intended to place behind the High Altar, is now placed so as to block the best view of the nave. The Capilla Mayor, placed in the crossing, is in bad taste, with innumerable doors and tribunes piercing its walls. One cannot but agree with the Spanish writer who says that nothing is wanting to destroy the impression of ‘a grand whole,’ which Herrera was especially anxious to create.

The choir stalls, mostly from the convent of San Pablo, were designed by the architect, and display some fine inlay work. The remainder are in the Gothic style, and come from the old church. The chapels contain nothing worthy of note, except a picture by Lucas Jordaens, and the tomb of Count Pedro Ansúrez, whose remains were brought here from the church he founded. A very poor effigy represents the hero, whose merits are set forth in rhymed verse.

In the sacristy is one of the finest specimens of the metal-work for which Spain has always been renowned. The solid silver monstrance, by Juan de Arfe, is 6½ feet high, and weighs upwards of 150 lbs. It is in the shape of a temple in four stories, two of which are octagonal, and two circular. Statuettes of Adam and Eve, and a relief of the mystery of the Conception, adorn this exquisite work, for which the artificer received 44,000 reals.

Adjacent to the cathedral are some remains of the Iglesia Mayor, founded by Pedro Ansúrez, and rebuilt in the reign of St. Ferdinand. A doorway, still standing, and the various scattered pillars are in the Romanesque style, but there are also traces of Gothic work. A cloister existing at the end of the sixteenth century is described as one of the finest in Spain, containing many sculptures, all coloured, and tombs of notable people. Part of this cloister has gone to form a room called the Library, but that it still contains books I was unable to ascertain.

The Iglesia Mayor is said to have been built at the same time as the church of Santa Maria la Antigua, on the other side of the square, and both by Count Ansúrez. Comparing conflicting testimony, and the opinions of various architects, the conclusion would appear to be that the church was founded before the Count’s time (for it is mentioned in documents as far back as 1088, and was in his day called the Ancient), and that the existing fabric dates mainly from the reign of Alfonso IX. (1230-44)--not from the time of the alleged restorer, Alfonso XI. Santa Maria is, beyond doubt, the most interesting church in the city. Its lofty steeple, with tiled roof and semicircular windows in all its four stages, is one of the few prominent landmarks of the wayfarer to Valladolid. The side apses are Romanesque, but the nave terminates in an apse, Gothic in style, and pierced with lancet windows. The buttresses taper off into graceful finials, with crockets and gargoyles. The main apse and transept are both pierced near the roof with an elegant openwork balustrade. The steeple is thoroughly Lombard in character.

The interior exhibits an interesting blending of the Romanesque and Gothic styles. On the outer door, defaced by a modern portico, formerly hung the knockers wrenched off the gates of the Mezquita at Cordova by the first Count Armengol. The mouldings of the arch are Romanesque, but Gothic is the beautiful groining of the interior. At the west end of the church is a gallery for the choir, with stalls and organ. In the days when this was built churches were built for the laity, and the clergy did not insist on taking up the greater part of the nave, as they did in after years. The chapel of the Counts of Cancelada contains some good paintings. The most valuable accessory is, however, the reredos by the celebrated Juan de Juni, begun in 1551 and finished in 1557. The work betrays an extraordinary degree of skill and vigour, but it is over-elaborate and in parts fantastic.

On the north this venerable church is flanked by a very beautiful Romanesque cloister of fourteen semicircular arches in three bays. The shafts, says Street, are moulded and wrought in imitation of the coupled columns of early Italian artists. This cloister, together with the steeple, makes up the most picturesque group of buildings in Valladolid, and is well worth careful preservation, if not restoration.

We will visit the University on the south side of the square another time, and will now thread our way northwards to the Plaza de San Pablo, a very interesting site. At the corner of the Calles de las Angustias and San Martin is the house where the Andalusian painter Alonso Cano is said to have killed his wife. He fled (so we are told) in consequence to his native city of Granada, where he became a prebendary of the cathedral, and executed his finest work. The church of San Martin is a very ordinary seventeenth-century structure; but it was founded soon after the resettlement of the city, and preserves its steeple, in the same style as that of Santa Maria la Antigua, and dating from about 1200. There was a baseless story that this was originally a Moorish watch-tower.

The Dominican monastery of San Pablo was founded in 1276 by Queen Violante, the rebellious consort of Alfonso XI. Maria de Molina showered favours on the community, whose friendly rivals, the Franciscans, were established in the Plaza Mayor. Later on, as we have said, Juan II. made the building his home, and died here in 1454--near to, if not in, the odour of sanctity. Here, too, the Cortes often used to sit. The present building may be considered the creation of Cardinal Juan de Torquemada (not the notorious Inquisitor), whose death took place in 1468. The façade was constructed in the latter part of the fifteenth century, and restored in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries; it is a debased late-Gothic style, the main object of the architects being evidently to multiply evidences of their skill. In this they succeeded, for no one can question the merit of the execution. The riotous exuberance of the decoration renders a description difficult. The doorway is placed within an arch of a curious waved line. On either side are shown saints of the order, standing on pedestals, with pinnacle-like canopies above them. Above the arch is an indifferent relief of the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin, attended by Cardinal Torquemada with his patron saints, the Baptist and the Evangelist. All this part of the decoration is enclosed within an ugly flattened arch. Above is the figure of Christ Enthroned, and on each side of Him a trefoil arch containing the figures of the Four Evangelists. These arches frame windows with exquisite traceries, such as fill the circular window above the Christ. The upper part of the façade is in three stages, each filled with figures of saints and heraldic devices. ‘Every vacant space,’ says Street, ‘seems to have a couple of angels holding coats-of-arms, so that it is impossible not to feel that the sculptor and the founder must have had some idea of heaven as peopled by none with less than a proper number of quarterings on their shields, or without claim to the possession of _Sangre Azul_.’ The arms displayed on the lower part of the façade are not, however, those of Torquemada, but of the Duke of Lerma, the favourite of Philip III., by whom the church was restored. Here he celebrated his first Mass in the year 1618, having sought refuge in the church from the cares of state, or the disappointments of a courtier’s life; and here, too, he was ultimately buried. The church was plundered and dismantled by the French during the Peninsular War, and the interior is now inaccessible to visitors.

On the other side of the Plazuela is the palace built by Lerma on the site of the house where Don Carlos was born, and sold by him to Philip III. for thirty-seven million maravedis. The façade is simple, not undignified, and adorned with the royal arms over the doorway. The patio, or inner quadrangle, is decorated with busts of the Roman emperors and the arms of the old provinces of Spain. Here, says Ford, Napoleon took up his quarters on that memorable visit to Spain which at once altered the complexion of affairs. The building is now the Audiencia, or Law Court.

Philip II. was born in the house at the corner of the square and the Calle Cadesa de San Gregorio, and baptized in the church of San Pablo. Except for its associations, the house is uninteresting.