Part 6

The High Altar, or Altar Mayor, occupying the centre of the apse, is approached by a flight of steps of white, red, and black marble. It is railed off from the ambulatory by _rejas_ or bronze screens fixed on pedestals of jasper between the pillars of the nave; the backs of these latter are adorned with life-size statues. Behind the altar rises the Renaissance retablo, an elaborate and gorgeous work of walnut wood, heavily gilded and each of its stages in a different order of architecture. The symmetrical division of these altar-pieces into compartments, each filled with its own statue, does not strike the layman as artistic or pleasing. Indeed, there is something faintly suggestive of pigeon-holes about it. Street, quoting Ponz, states that the sculptures were the work of Rodrigo and Martin de la Aya (1577), who were paid forty thousand ducats; and that for the painting and gilding Juan de Urbino of Madrid and Martinez of Valladolid received, in 1573, eleven thousand ducats. At the back of the sanctuary, between the arches, may be seen the spirited reliefs of the celebrated Juan Vigarni or ‘Borgoña,’ executed in 1540, and representing the Agony in the Garden, Christ bearing the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension. The first and last are stated by Ford to have been executed by one Alonso de los Rios in 1679. To the Renaissance period also belong the handsome silver lamp and candlesticks. To an earlier age belong the tombs on the north side of the sanctuary--two concealed by the retablo; they contain the remains of Don Juan, the rebellious son of Alfonso X., Don Sancho, brother of Enrique II. of Trastamara, and his wife, Doña Beatriz. Over the altar is the copy of the banner borne before Alfonso VIII. at the Navas de Tolosa, made by the De la Aya brothers and others about 1570.

Over the crossing or intersection of nave and transept rises the gorgeous lantern or octagonal dome, which Philip II. said seemed like the work of angels rather than of men. It replaced the earlier dome which collapsed in March 1537, and was completed in December 1567. Felipe Vigarni (de Borgoña) and Juan de Vallejo are mentioned as the architects. The Gothic and Renaissance styles are curiously but not inharmoniously blended in this beautiful lantern, which rises to a height of one hundred and seventy-three feet, and is profusely adorned with sculpture.

Crossing the wide transept we reach the choir, which occupies three bays of the nave. Under the eastern lectern lies the effigy--of wood cased in bronze--of the English Bishop Maurice, a fine work believed to date from 1260. The stalls, one hundred and three in number, were executed between 1497 and 1512 by Felipe Vigarni, and bestowed on the cathedral by Bishop Pascual de Fuensanta. They are of walnut wood, and in two tiers--all most richly carved in fine Renaissance style, the pillars between being moulded in similar fashion. The lower seats are, on the whole, the finer work, and are inlaid in boxwood. The subjects of the reliefs are taken from the acts of the saints and life of the Virgin. Scenes from Genesis form the subject of the reliefs on the fronts of the upper stalls, the backs illustrating the New Testament. The trascoro, or screen at the west end of the choir, cost ten thousand ducats. The _reja_ displays the arms of Cardinal Zapata, whose gift it was; the pillars which support it rise from pedestals of jasper, and on brackets are placed two white marble statues of Saints Peter and Paul. These statues, columns, reliefs, etc., were executed at the expense of Archbishop Manso de Zuñiga, in the first half of the seventeenth century, by Fray Juan de Rici of the Order of St. Benedict.

The grand chapel of the Constable (Capilla del Condestable), behind the high altar at the east end of the church, was built about 1487 by Don Pedro Fernandez de Velasco, Conde de Haro, and Lord High Constable of Castile, the property of whose descendant, the Duque de Frias, it remains to-day. The architect was Juan de Colonia (John of Cologne) or, as some will have it, his son Simon. Street sees much that is German in the style of the chapel, but also features which may be fairly attributed to the Spaniards who worked under the architect’s orders, or to his own efforts to consult native tastes. While the chapel may be described as florid Gothic, the splendid entrance arch, with its marvellous lacelike tracery, tapering pinnacles, and railing, the masterpiece of Andino, belongs to the Renaissance. The chapel is lighted by fourteen stained-glass windows, displaying the arms of the Velascos, which are repeated on four large stone escutcheons on the walls. The retablo of the high altar, believed to be by Juan de Borgoña, has, in its lower stage, a spirited sculpture of the Purification. Before the altar are the noble tombs of the Constable and his wife, Doña Mencia de Mendoza, Condesa de Haro. The effigies are of Carrara marble, the tombs of jasper. The Constable is shown in complete armour, the details of which are admirably rendered and merit close study. At the feet of the Countess is crouched a dog, the emblem of fidelity. This great seigneur of old Spain and his consort are interred in the vault beneath their monuments. Close to the monument is a huge oblong slab of polished jasper from the quarries of Atapuerca, weighing thirty-three tons, and intended presumably to cover a tomb. The chapel contains many other objects of interest. The side altars display some good sculpture, the one in the Gothic, the other in the Renaissance style. There is a fine Flemish triptych, and a good statue of St. Jerome by Becerra. In the sacristy is shown the little portable ivory altar which the Constable carried about with him, and a ‘Magdalene,’ attributed by some to Da Vinci, by others to Luini. The plate, of the same age as the chapel, includes a chalice of silver-gilt, enamelled in red and white and richly jewelled; a pax in ivory and enamel, a thurible shaped like a ship; a splendid silver-gilt cross; an oval alabaster relief of the Madonna; and other treasures, some of which are not readily shown.

The two chapels next to that of the Constable on the north side of the apse are earlier than the others and are of good middle-pointed style. The chapel of San Gregorio seems to be the only one belonging to the thirteenth-century church. It contains the tomb of Bishop Fontecha. The adjoining chapel of San Nicolás was built in 1268 by Bishop Villahoz, whose tomb and effigy are placed upright against the wall. Close by is one of the finest sepulchres in the cathedral--that of the Archdeacon Fernando Villegas, an early translator of Dante. Opposite the door of the Nacimiento chapel is a notable picture of San Juan de Ortega by Cuadra.

At the northern end of the transept is the grand staircase of thirty-eight steps, leading to the Puerta Alta. It is one of the finest examples of the art of Diego de Siloe, who was at his best when handling such intricate and profuse decoration as this. The splendid iron balustrade was the work of Cristobal Andino.

Opening on to the north aisle are the large chapels of Santa Ana and Santa Tecla. The former was founded in 1474 by Bishop Luis Osorio Acuña, whose tomb is here. A much finer altar and monument in the Gothic style is that of the Archdeacon Fernando Diez de Fuente Pelayo, who died in the memorable year 1492; it is in white marble and adorned with sculpture with New Testament subjects, a good deal damaged. There are a few good pictures in this chapel, one attributed to Andrea del Sarto, and a sculptured genealogy of the Virgin. Of the chapel of Santa Tecla, perhaps not much else need be said than that it is in the Churrigueresque style and was founded in 1734. Its best feature is its ‘half-orange’ dome. O’Shea says that there formerly existed on the side of the baptistry a small chapel dedicated to Santiago, wherein Alfonso XI. instituted the order of knighthood of La Vanda or the Badge, of which the kings of Castile were members.

Opening on to the southern aisle, opposite the Capilla de Santa Tecla, is the cruciform chapel of the Santisimo Cristo de la Agonia, containing a very ancient, curious, and (it is alleged) miraculous image of Christ. It is supposed to have been carved by the fearful Nicodemus, and to have been afterwards found floating in a boat on the sea. It is a grotesque and yet a weird and impressive object, dressed up after the ridiculous custom in Spain.

The chapel of the Presentation was founded in 1519 by the Canon Gonzalo de Lerma, whose noble tomb in the centre of the chapel was executed during his lifetime by Vigarni. Another fine tomb is here--that of Canon Jacubo de Bilbao. This chapel possesses a beautiful Virgin and Child painted on a panel, probably by Sebastiano del Piombo, and sculptures by Berruguete. The railing is another example of Andino’s craftsmanship.

In the chapel of San Juan de Sahagun are preserved the relics of the saint, who was a canon of Burgos. Here are also numerous other relics, chiefly fragments of the bodies of sainted personages, among them two local martyrs, Centola and Helena. The image of the Virgin of Oca is fabled to have testified by a nod to the promise of marriage made by a faithless Don Juan to a damsel--a silly story also told of the Cristo de la Vega at Toledo. Simon, the last Bishop of Oca, is buried in this chapel, and also the Blessed Lesmes, who is invoked by sufferers from nephritic disorders. More interesting than any of these things is the Cristo de la Agonia, a painting signed by El Greco.

In the chapel of the Visitation is the handsome tomb of the founder, the Bishop de Cartagena; and in the seventeenth-century chapel of San Enrique repose the remains of the bishops of Oca, and those of the founder, Bishop Peralta--contained in a beautiful tomb of alabaster, beneath a superb kneeling effigy in bronze. Of alabaster is also the beautiful flooring of the chapel; and of bronze, the fine eagle lectern.

We now reach the sacristy, a great part of which is in the bad style of the eighteenth century. There is some good carving, which, indeed, is not rare in Spain; but the pictures ascribed to Murillo and other masters are all very doubtful. A jasper table is among the most interesting objects. We complete the circuit of the church by a visit to the large chapel of Santiago, designed in the sixteenth century by Juan de Vallejo. It is considered to be the parish church of Burgos. The Apostle of Spain is shown on horseback on the high altar, and again on the beautiful _reja_. Here lies the Abbot of San Quirce, one of the Velasco family, beneath a tomb worthy of his illustrious ancestry. Not far off is the sarcophagus of the Astudillos, one of whom was the founder of the chapel of the Three Kings at Cologne. There are other interesting tombs in this chapel, among the oldest being that of Bishop de Villacreces, who died in 1463.

On the south-east side of the cathedral are the cloisters, among the most beautiful buildings of their kind. Street believes them to date from between the years 1280 and 1350. They form a quadrangle, the dimensions of each gallery being 90 feet by 22 feet. The cloisters are entered through a fine pointed arch, near the chapel of the Visitation, adorned with statues and heraldic devices. The head of St. Francis of Assisi is said to be an actual portrait. Other statues are those of the Blessed Virgin, St. Gabriel, David, and Isaiah. The tympanum is sculptured with the Baptism of Christ--the rite being administered to Christ _seated_. The reliefs on the doors, which are of later date, and were the gift of Bishop Acuña, are worthy of their splendid setting.

The cloisters are in two stages, the lower being plain, the upper very ornate. The windows are ogival, of four lights, and freely decorated with traceries and foliage. The angles and niches are adorned with good statues. Among these are the effigies of St. Fernando and his wife, Doña Beatriz, each holding a ring in commemoration of their marriage at Burgos. The statues of Santiago and Abraham date from the thirteenth century. There are numerous tombs and doorways, all well sculptured. Of this cloister Street remarks, ‘I know none altogether more interesting and more varied, or more redolent of those illustrations of and links with the past, which are of the very essence of all one’s interest in such works.’

In a chapel leading from the cloisters is attached to the wall one of the celebrated trunks filled with sand which the Cid palmed off as security for a loan upon an unusually simple-minded son of Israel. It is antique and solid enough to date from those days at all events. Close by is the recumbent effigy and tomb of Juan Cuchiller, the faithful servant of Enrique III. In adjacent chapels may be seen the splendid tombs of Canon Santander, a sixteenth-century work, with an exquisite relief of the Virgin and Child; of Canon Aguilar, who died in 1482; and the monuments of other canons, chaplains, and knights.

Adjoining the cloisters is the Chapter House, or Sala Capitular, with a fine _artesonado_ ceiling, and a cornice of blue and white majolica, around which run verses from the Proverbs. The room contains a Crucifixion signed _Greco_, and a St. John the Divine doubtfully attributed to Murillo. There remains to be seen the old sacristy, a spacious room over forty feet square, and with corbels quaintly carved with scenes from a lion hunt. The treasury of Burgos is not as rich as that of Toledo or Seville; but it contains some magnificent and seemingly ancient vestments, beautifully carved presses, and a long series of portraits of the occupants of the episcopal see. Below the cloister a lower story was built; but the arches are now blocked up and it is neglected, though abounding in interesting tombs and monuments of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

The south-west side of this grand cathedral is shut in by the archbishop’s palace.

LAS HUELGAS

The other great ecclesiastical building of Burgos belongs nearly to the same period as the cathedral. The Cistercian convent of Santa Maria la Real de las Huelgas was founded in 1180 by Alfonso VIII. and his Queen Eleanor, daughter of our Henry II.--to propitiate the Heavenly Powers after the rout of Alarcos, it is asserted by some. The architect appears to have been a countryman of his royal mistress--an Angevin--and his work was certainly copied in those churches which were built by Spaniards.

This historic pile stands about a mile from the city, on the road to Valladolid. The name is derived from the verb _holgar_ (to rest), the site having been formerly occupied by pleasure in grounds. Many of the most striking events in Castilian history were enacted here. Here Edward I. was knighted by Alfonso el Sabio; here, in after years, the Black Prince lodged, fresh from his much-to-be-regretted victory at Navarrete. Many royal personages were wedded here, and not a few were buried here besides. Great was the dignity of the abbess, who exercised ‘the high, the low, and the middle justice,’ or, in other words, could hang offenders on her own gallows; whose authority extended over half a hundred towns and villages, and who was exempt from all episcopal jurisdiction or control. Though shorn of her proudest prerogatives and much of her wealth, the abbess of Las Huelgas is still one of the greatest ladies of Spain. The rule, too, of St. Bernard is observed with primitive strictness, and the high-born nuns refuse to permit even the most sober of archæologists to examine their cloisters.

A thirteenth-century postern leads into the _compás_ or square formed by the convent, a graceful fourteenth-century tower, and the ancient palace of the Castilian monarchs, now a school. The church, built by St. Ferdinand in 1279, is of the usual cruciform plan. It is stern, simple, very pure Gothic, despite the restorations and alterations effected in successive ages. The nave is inaccessible to strangers, and is reserved exclusively to the nuns, who may be seen, through the screen, assisting at the offices in their grandly carved stalls. We loiter in the transept, and notice the lofty lantern over the crossing, and the revolving pulpit from which St. Vincent Ferrer is said to have preached, though the date of its construction (1560) may be discerned carved upon it. The chancel, with its green tapestries woven with gold--the gift of Philip the Handsome--is flanked on either side by two chapels, but our interest centres in the nave, of which we can only obtain a glimpse through the grille. The tombs facing us are those of the founders, Alfonso VIII. and Eleanor Plantagenet. The conqueror of Las Navas is shown on a relief, enthroned, handing the charter of the abbey to the first abbess. To the right of these tombs lies Queen Berenguela, mother of St. Ferdinand; and farther back in the aisles are the sarcophagi of thirty-six members of the royal house of Spain, among them the ‘Emperor’ Alfonso VII., Sancho I., Enrique I., and Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy. Anne of Austria, daughter of the great Don John, was the last princess entombed within these venerable precincts. Unapproachable by visitors is the chapel of Santiago, wherein is preserved an effigy of St. James, which by means of some hidden mechanism could place the crown on the royal brow and confer the accolade of knighthood.

The remarkable Moorish fabric, generally believed to have been a trophy of the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, is hung in the nun’s choir, but a replica may be seen hanging in the chancel. A detailed description of this interesting relic is contained in Riaño’s _Spanish Arts_. Amador de los Rios rejects the tradition that this was the Almohade standard, and thinks it was the curtain or flap of the Amir’s tent, taken in the battle. Riaño goes farther, and opines that it was an offering made, not by Alfonso VIII., but by the eleventh monarch of that name. Adopting this theory, it remains probable that the fabric was one of the spoils of war, for the character of the texts from the Koran woven upon it are a sufficient proof that it could not have been worked by Moorish weavers under Christian direction.

Not far from Las Huelgas is the Hospital del Key, built by Alfonso VIII. as a hospice for pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela. There is little about this building now to suggest a twelfth-century origin. Rebuilt in the sixteenth century and restored by Carlos III., it has been styled one of the finest specimens of the plateresque in Castile. The Puerta de Romeros exhibits a bewildering wealth of ornament, against which stands out, as the most interesting features, the vigorous figure of the apostle, and the crowned busts of Alfonso and Eleanor. The court is bordered on two sides by cloisters, the symmetry of which is marred by the excess of arches. The cornice, with its heraldic achievement and busts, is, on the whole, in good taste. One side of the court is formed by the façade of the church, restored in the plateresque style by Carlos III. in 1771. The original structure may be recognised in some dilapidated and deserted chambers with Mudejar ceilings, adjacent to the Magdalena arcade. There are some graceful Mudejar capitals and Arabic inscriptions of the thirteenth century likewise to be seen in the stables of the Hospice.

Far more interesting and substantially more ancient, though of a later foundation, is the Cartuja de Miraflores in an arid spot some two and a half miles from the city. Here once stood the hunting palace of Enrique III.--placed like so many abodes of Spanish royalty in a naturally uninviting site, and converted by that king’s son and successor, Juan II., into a Carthusian monastery in 1442. In consequence of a fire, all had to be rebuilt, a few years later, under the direction of Juan de Colonia. The edifice was not actually completed till the time of Isabel the Catholic. The monastery is now inhabited by only a few monks, each having his own house or cell, according to the rule of St. Bruno. Grass grows in the courtyard, and everything wears an aspect of desolation and neglect. The church recalls San Juan de los Reyes at Toledo. It rises high above the adjacent buildings, simple in plan and rather spoilt by plateresque additions. The interior, consisting of a single nave and apse, is divided by _rejas_ or grilles into three parts, reserved respectively to the laity, the lay brothers, and the clergy. The two last have their own choirs. The stalls of the lay brothers are beautifully carved in walnut, and display the figures of the apostles. They were carved in 1558 by Simon de Bueras for the sum of 810 ducats. The priests’ stalls, also in walnut, show the fine workmanship of Martin Sanchez (1489), a Spaniard whose style was very Flemish. The quadrangular altar, designed by Gil de Siloe, was adorned with gold brought from America in the second expedition of Columbus. The altar-piece, by the same artist and Diego de la Cruz, is a triumph of design and colouring. It is impossible to describe in detail the almost innumerable subjects and sculptures which make up this marvellous work. To be easily distinguished among the religious compositions are the figures of Juan II. and his Queen Isabel, kneeling on faldstools and attended by their guardian angels. Above the tabernacle a superb cluster of angels encircles a crucifix, over which is seen the symbolical figure of the pelican. Very fine, also, is the seat occupied by the celebrating priest during the sermon. It is the work of Martin Sanchez, and is an exquisite specimen of Gothic carving, described by one authority as ‘one of the most beautiful and sumptuous pieces of ecclesiastical furniture of its kind and period in Spain or elsewhere.’