Part 3

The history of the city thenceforward becomes merged in the history of the kingdom and in that of Spain generally. But here and there in the annals of the time certain events stand out as specially associated with it. In the year 1029 the young Count Garcia of Castile came hither to espouse Sancha, the sister of King Fernando III. His movements were watched by the three sons of the Count of Vela, whom his father had put to death. Their manner towards the young Count implied rather friendship than enmity. But one morning, as he entered the church of San Isidoro, they fell upon him and slew him. The assassins were burned to death; but their deed served to intensify the bitter rivalry of Castile and Leon.

There were other ecclesiastical councils held here in 1106, 1114, 1134, 1228, and 1288. And in 1137 the church which had been defiled with the young Garcia’s blood was the scene of the impressive coronation of Alfonso VII. as Emperor of all Spain--a title which no Spanish king could justly bear, till Charles came from Flanders in 1517 to rule over a Spain for ever united.

For a hundred years longer the little city by the northern hills posed from time to time as an imperial capital, but with the union of the crowns under San Fernando the headship of the kingdom passed to Burgos and Toledo. For a century more the court of the Spanish kings was in the ever-moving camps, on the ever-shifting battlefield. The claims of Leon to rank as capital were forgotten. The echoes of warfare far away on the banks of the Jucar and Guadalquivir hardly reached her walls. She fell asleep. She had harboured the founders of national independence; she had borne the brunt and stress of battle, had been in the van in the fierce strife between Christian and Moslem. Everything that happened to Leon happened a very long time ago; and it might all have seemed a dream if the genius of the architect had not bequeathed to our own day great memorials of the glory made by kings and prelates.

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Leon, as we know, does not derive its name from ‘the lions introduced by the Carthaginians,’ as some old chroniclers believed, but from the legion quartered here in the first century of the Christian era. The old name of the place was Urbs Legionis. Remembering the peculiar pronunciation of the Spanish G, the modification of the Latin word into its present form is easily explained.

The legion which preserved the _pax Romana_ in this remote corner of the empire may have varied in strength from six to seven thousand men of all arms. The camp was rectangular, and measured 380 by 570 metres. It was confined by the wall, of which the northern, eastern, and part of the western sides remain,--or rather the bases, for the masonry of the upper part reveals the handiwork of various subsequent ages. Walking round the city, you notice the stout round bastions outcropping between the houses which frequently obscure the trace of the wall. Of the four Roman gates, faced with marble slabs and inscribed with the names of the commanders of the legion, two remain--the eastern, or Bishop’s gateway, behind the cathedral, and the low semicircular arch in the Plazuela del Conde de Luna.

Embedded in or against these walls many profoundly interesting relics of the Roman domination have been discovered. These are now to be seen in the Provincial Museum. There is the white marble altar dedicated to Diana by the legate Tullius Maximus, as the inscription on one side records. The three other faces bear respectively these inscriptions:--

(1) ‘Aequora conclusit campi, Divisque dicavit, Et templum statuit tibi, Delia virgo triformis, Tullius è Lybia, rector legionis Hiberae, Ut quiret volucris capreas, ut figere cervos, Saetigeros ut apros, ut equorum silvico lentum Progeniem, ut cursu certare, ut disice ferri, Et pedes arma gerens, et equo jaculator Hibero.’

(2) ‘Cervôm altifrontum cornua Dicat Dianae Tullius, Quos vicit in parami aequore Vectus feroci sonipede.’

(3) ‘Dentes aprorum quos cecidit Maximus Dicat Dianae, pulchrum virtutis decus.’

This Tullius Maximus seems to have loved the chase, and elsewhere we find him dedicating a bear’s skin to his favourite goddess. The people of the Urbs Legionis were probably mighty hunters. On a sepulchral monument the son-in-law, daughter, and grandson of the founder are represented as a boar, a hind, and a fawn. The Provincial Museum also contains an altar consecrated to the genius of the legion.

Where the cathedral now stands were the Roman baths, which are said to have been converted into a castle or palace by the kings of Asturias. The building was utterly destroyed by Al Mansûr, and on its site arose the basilica of Ordoño II. The royal residence then seems to have been situated near where the monastery of San Salvador del Palaz del Rey was built by Ramiro II. (930-950). Another palace occupied the square in front of the church of San Isidoro. Rebuilt by Berenguela, the mother of San Fernando, it was pulled down in the time of Isabel the Catholic. It was no doubt from this building that Count Garcia passed to his death in the opposite church.

SAN ISIDORO,

after the Roman walls the most ancient building in Leon, occupies the site of a chapel and nunnery consecrated in 966 and rebuilt by Alfonso V. Fernando I., who reigned over Leon and Castile from 1033 to 1065, obtained from the Amir of Seville the body of the doctor, San Isidoro. To receive this venerated relic a new church was built, and solemnly dedicated on December 21, 1063. Two years later the bones of the martyr San Vicente were transported hither from Avila. In the next century the church was greatly enlarged and richly endowed by Alfonso VII., who attributed his victory at Baeza to the miraculous intervention of the Doctor of Seville. To provide for the service of the church, the regular canons were transferred here from Carvajal, and exchanged quarters with the nuns who had continued to occupy the old tenth-century convent.

The church is in the Romanesque style, the oldest portion being the chapel of Santa Catalina, which Street thinks was the original fabric of Fernando I. The chapel was intended as a mausoleum for the royal family of Leon, but twelve tombs only remain out of thirty. The only inscriptions are on the resting-places of Alfonso V. and Sancha, the sister of Alfonso VII. Here were buried Alfonso IV., Ramiro II., Ordoño III. and his queen, Sancho I., Ramiro III. and his queen Urraca, Fernando I. and Queen Sancha, Sancho the Great of Navarre, and the murdered Count Garcia. Here, before the Pantheon was despoiled by the French in 1808, might have been seen the marble and porphyry sepulchre of the brave princess Urraca of Zamora, and the urns of the Moorish and French wives of Alfonso VII. Now, the inscriptions having been wantonly defaced, it is impossible to identify the few remaining sarcophagi.

The arches of this gloomy Pantheon are decorated with curious frescoes, probably of the twelfth century. The crude drawing and tints rather add to the impressive effect of these solemn paintings. Among the subjects are the ‘Massacre of the Innocents,’ the ‘Last Supper’ (painted, as Street points out, without the least regard to the angles formed by the groining, and as if the vault were a flat surface), scenes from the Passion, and the Visions of the Apocalypse--terrible conceptions. One of the designs represents the Supreme Judge with two swords issuing from His mouth; another shows a hand, inscribed _Dextra Dei_. The compositions are surrounded by foliage, rich and conventional. On the altar is an interesting ivory cross, the gift of Fernando I. and Sancha, whose names are engraved upon the reverse. While the figure of Christ is rude in the extreme, the foliage and figures of the four evangelists at the back are exquisitely chiselled.

Leaving this place consecrated to wrath and tears, we re-enter the church. The plan is roughly cruciform, an apsidal chapel projecting to the east of each arm of the transept, on either side of the Capilla Mayor. We are now in that part of the fabric which was built by order of Alfonso VII., evidently on the model of St. Sernin at Toulouse. The name of the architect is given on an inscription in the flooring as Petrus de Deo--Peter of God. The most interesting features in the church are the very ancient mural paintings in the Byzantine style, with the same profusion of foliage and richly moulded capitals to be noticed in the Pantheon. The dentated and horse-shoe arches reveal traces of Moorish influence, showing that even in the far north of Spain architects could not have closed their eyes and ears altogether to the doings of the detested infidels.

Among the treasures of the church might fairly be included the font, with its Byzantine reliefs, while objects of special veneration are the relics of San Isidoro contained in an ancient silver urn, supported by four lions, and the hand of San Martino, holding a pen, and encased in a rich reliquary. Here also you may see a chalice of agate, the donation of the Infanta Urraca, and (in the Sacristy) the standard embroidered by order of Alfonso VII. with the image of San Isidoro as he appeared at Baeza, and last displayed at the taking of Antequera in the fifteenth century. Many other priceless treasures and relics were lost when the church was plundered by the French; while in 1811 the building was struck by lightning, and--as if that were not enough--white-washed throughout!

The exterior is interesting. A doorway admits to the middle of the nave on the south side. The arch is semicircular and triple, the tympanum and spandrils being filled with sculpture, representing the Offering of Isaac, the Lamb of God, figures of Saints, and the signs of the Zodiac. ‘The whole detail of this sculpture,’ says Street, ‘is very unlike that of most of the early work I have seen in Spain; the figures are round and flabby, and very free from any of the usual conventionality. All this made me feel much inclined to think that the execution of this work was at an early date, and soon after the first consecration of the church.’ The appearance of the whole front was not improved by the Renaissance work above this gateway--the elaborate cornice, the imperial shield of Charles V., and the colossal equestrian statue of San Isidoro. The Romanesque portal of the southern transept, now closed, is adorned with a relief representing the Descent from the Cross, the statues of Saints Peter and Paul, and other sculptures. Detached from the church is a square tower or steeple built between two bastions in the adjoining city wall. Generally speaking, the eastern façade is strictly Gothic, much of it having been added to the Romanesque framework in the sixteenth century.

The adjoining cloister is mainly of the same period and style. The decorations are in the plateresque style, and the staircase, leading to the council chamber of the Provincial Deputation, is a daring and admirable example of Renaissance work. The library contains the beautiful Bible written in 960 by the priest Sancho, ‘whose illuminations and vignettes’ (says a native writer) ‘with their sinister figures with black faces, curious dresses, and gloomy fancies, display the artistic tendencies of that age of turmoil.’

In the Plaza del Conde de Luna is the mean little church of San Salvador del Palaz del Rey, built by Ramiro II. as a convent for his daughter Elvira--she who ruled as regent during the minority of her brother, Ramiro III. Nothing of the original structure remains; but the site is that of one of the oldest royal residences in Leon, and of the first burying-place of her kings, before their ashes were transported to San Isidoro.

THE CATHEDRAL

of Leon marks the second period of the city’s history and of the architecture of northern Spain. San Isidoro stands for the infant monarchy, with its Byzantine traditions handed down from the Visigothic kings; the cathedral, for the strong, ever-expanding realm of Leon and Castile, in close touch and sympathy with the great Catholic world of the west. San Isidoro is Romanesque; the cathedral is not only Gothic, but purely French, closely resembling Amiens and Rheims. It is a magnificent exotic. It symbolised the reunion of Spain with Western Christendom, after its long night of isolation, the infusion into its art and its people of the European spirit.

This beautiful cathedral--_pulchra Leonina_--occupies the site of the basilica of Ordoño II. (of which no trace remains). Planned about the first years of the reign of San Fernando, it was not completed in 1258, when an episcopal congress was held at Madrid to discuss the progress of the works and to grant an indulgence of forty days to the faithful who should assist with alms. In 1303 the Bishop Gonzalez proclaimed that the work was done, ‘thanks be to God.’

The beauty of this wonderful church consists largely in its lightness. Its supports are so slender, its walls so freely pierced with windows at every stage, its details everywhere so delicate, that the term ‘frozen music’ applied to architecture seems here indeed no mere hyperbole. ‘A mere lantern,’ Street calls the church, and blames the architect for his extreme daring and for his excessive use of windows. Though the vaults had been filled in with very light stone or concrete, the fabric was ever trembling on its fragile foundations. In 1631 the vault above the crossing collapsed, and was replaced by a dome. A hundred years later many of the arches of the aisles succumbed. Meanwhile Renaissance and Churrigueresque additions were made; but the whole was restored between the years 1850 and 1901, and now the cathedral exists in almost pristine symmetry and airiness.

The eastern end, or chevet, projects beyond the city wall, which forms the eastern boundary of the adjacent cloister. The transept, if that term may be applied to the whole space between the Capilla Mayor and Coro, is of unusual breadth, and may be said to include a nave, two aisles to the east and one to the west. North and south it projects but slightly beyond the nave. The west front is flanked by two steeples, which stand on each side of, and do not terminate, the aisles. They are heavier than the rest of the structure, and of different heights and ages. Ugly, too, is the empty space left between their side walls and those of the clerestory over the main entrance. The northern steeple is the older, lower, and simpler; it is surmounted by a spire with a vane. The other tower is more ornate, and contains the belfry. Its traceries are in a debased Gothic style.

The façade between these steeples is very beautiful. It is surmounted by a pediment with ‘acroteria’ or pedestals to receive statues. Beneath this is a very large wheel-window above a row of windows corresponding to the triforium. The three magnificently sculptured doorways extend from steeple to steeple. The arches are pointed and triple. Byzantine influence is visible in the statuary and foliage. The figures, forty in number, are rather more than life-size, and represent saints and apostles, martyrs and confessors, kings and queens. On the north-west doorway is seen the half-defaced figure of Justice, bearing a sword inscribed with the words ‘Justitia est unicuique dare quod suum est.’ Beneath this portal cases of appeal were tried in the thirteenth century. A small column between this and the central doorway is engraved with the words _locus appellationis_ and the arms of Leon and Castile. The tympanum of the arch is adorned with reliefs, illustrating the earlier episodes in the life of Jesus. The doors themselves show scenes from the Passion and Risen Life.

The central shaft of the middle door is disfigured with a dressed-up image of the Virgin enclosed in glass. The sculpture of the tympanum is spirited and elaborate. In a composition depicting the Last Judgment devils are seen stirring their fires and plunging the reprobate into seething cauldrons. On the side of the blessed a young man extracts cheering music from what is perhaps a harmonium. The attitudes of the just express the liveliest satisfaction, whereas a crowned personage, striding boldly into Paradise, is met and warned off by a celestial Janitor. The naïve and fantastically horrible are curiously blended in this skilful work. The southern doorway is the least interesting of the three; the subjects of the reliefs are the death and coronation of the Virgin.

The entrance to the south transept has been entirely rebuilt, but the original reliefs and statuary of the three doors have been preserved and re-erected. Some old Byzantine capitals may be distinguished among the Gothic work. The south-west door is relieved with a diaper of fleurs-de-lys and castles, and lions and castles. The sculpture of the tympanum is equal to that of the west front, and shows the Saviour and the Evangelists, the twelve Apostles, and the Death of the Blessed Virgin. The colossal statue on the central shaft is that of San Froilan, an early bishop of Leon. Above is a row of four windows of two lights, and an enormous rose-window.

The glory of the cathedral is its stained glass, which fills the innumerable windows. Most of this is comparatively modern, and, though good in tone, is inferior to the fifteenth-century glass still existing in the windows of the Capilla Mayor, the Capilla de Santiago, and the north transept. The three rows of windows reach high up to the vaultings of the roof, those of the chapels being of two lights, those of the clerestory of four. It is strange that with such exquisite examples of colouring before them, the restorers of the church should have had the bad taste to bedaub the arches of the aisles with ochre, and to whitewash the pillars and vaults, marking the stonework with red lines. We could well have spared, moreover, the elaborate plateresque work in the choir, which, though good in itself, is dissonant from the general character of the building; and the Churrigueresque retablo of the Capilla Mayor, representing the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. The sanctuary and choir, which in so many churches are the most interesting feature, are of quite secondary importance at Leon. The Capilla Mayor, however, contains the remains of San Froilan in two silver reliquaries of the Renaissance style, and the relics of two other bishops (Alvitas and Pelagius) in plain marble urns. The choir stalls date from the fifteenth century, and are well carved. The best work is seen in the panels behind the stalls, the subjects being the generation of Christ, the Visitation, the Revolt of Satan, and the Descent into Hell.

But after the general ensemble and the stained glass, nothing in the cathedral merits as much attention as the tombs and monuments. Of these the noblest is the cenotaph of Ordoño II. at the rear of the High Altar, erected five centuries after his death as a tribute of gratitude by the citizens of Leon. Though in the florid Gothic style of the fifteenth century, many of the figures and inscriptions appear to have been copied from an earlier tomb. The recumbent effigy of the king is large and dignified; his face is sharp and smooth-shaven; he wears his crown and the royal robes, and carries the orb and sceptre. At his feet lies a dog, the emblem of fidelity, beneath which is an inscription in Latin setting forth his deeds and virtues, and erroneously attributing to him the erection of the present temple. The monumental arch above encloses sculpture painted in brilliant colours on a gilt ground, which appears to be of an earlier elate than the rest of the monument. The arches of the wall of the Capilla Mayor have been bricked up, and those on each side of this monument are adorned with two very ancient distemper paintings of the Ecce Homo and Entombment. They exhibit some interesting peculiarities of dress and detail, and though the central figure is badly done, the spectators are lifelike and vigorously represented.

There are many tombs in the cathedral belonging to the transitional period from Byzantine to Gothic, mostly of bishops of the thirteenth century. The best preserved is in the Capilla del Nacimiento, and enshrines the remains of Bishop Rodrigo, who died in 1232. The tympanum of the arch is occupied by a representation of the Crucifixion, below this being shown a funeral procession, with the mourners tearing their hair in a grotesque excess of grief. The benevolence of the good prelate is immortalised by a figure distributing food to the poor, the halt, and the blind. The tomb of Bishop Martin (1254-1289), in the south transept, is adorned with the favourite scene from the life of St. Martin of Tours--the division of the cloak. The monuments to the bishops Manrique de Lara, Erasmus, and Martin (second of the name) are all in much the same style, but differing stages of preservation. In the Capilla del Salvador, behind the High Altar, may be seen the graceful effigy of the Countess Sancha (eleventh century), executed in the fourteenth century by Maestre Juan Lope, as an inscription on the robe informs us. The relief on the front of the tomb, showing a youth dragged along by a fiery horse, probably refers to the punishment in this world or the next of the wicked nephew, by whom the countess was assassinated. Another tomb in the same chapel bears the figure of a venerable man with flowing beard and ample robes.

At the north-eastern shoulder of the church, between it and the tower in the city wall already mentioned, is the fine rectangular chapel of Santiago, built in the time of the Catholic sovereigns--on the site, it would seem, of a twelfth-century chapel. The pillars are borne on the shoulders of various figures, among them being Samson, the Queen of Sheba, Laocoon, and a monk with a book on which is the derisive motto _legere et non intelligere_. The details of the architecture are capricious and graceful. The chapel is lighted by colossal windows, filled with gorgeous stained glass--blue and gold, purple and emerald--the reflected colour producing a magical effect.

The spacious cloister, which conceals the northern façade of the cathedral, was built in the early fourteenth century, but it has been rebuilt, restored, and altered into what Street calls ‘a very poor and weak kind of Renaissance.’ The ornamentation is profuse and not in bad taste. The inner walls have not been much altered, and the pillars supporting them are sculptured in the Gothic style. The bays are painted with an extremely valuable and interesting series of frescoes, so well drawn that they were more likely the work of some fifteenth-century Italian artist than productions of native talent. The subjects are all from the history of Christ and Mary, the Crucifixion curiously enough being omitted. When Street saw these paintings forty years ago, he spoke of the colours as pure and good, but they have now been almost entirely obliterated by the damp. The cloister contains several sepulchral monuments, some mere slabs, but one--that of the Canon Juan de Grajal (1447)--elaborately and artistically sculptured. Some colossal idiot has cut off the heads of the angels shown in this fine piece of work. Near the beautiful Gothic entrance to the cloister is an image of our Lady of Regla, to which at one time the people used to proceed in procession to return thanks for the mythical victory of Clavijo, a choir of damsels representing the equally mythical tribute of one hundred virgins said to have been paid by Mauregato to the Moors.