APPENDIX F
OLD SPANISH PULPITS
The earliest pulpits of the Spaniards were similar to those of other Christian nations. One of them was the tribuna or tribunal, so called, according to Saint Isidore, “because the minister delivers from it the precepts for a righteous life, wherefore it is a seat or place constructed upon high, in order that all he utters may be heard.” The ambo, too, although it is not mentioned by Saint Isidore, was probably not unknown among the Spaniards.[61] Then there were various desks, such as the analogia, legitoria, or lectra, on which the scriptures were deposited in church, or carried in procession, and from which the latter were read aloud by the priest. Saint Isidore remarks of the analogium; “It is so called because the word is preached therefrom, and because it occupies the highest place.”[62] Ducange, quoting from old authors, remarks in his Glossary that these desks were often adorned with gold and silver plates or precious stones. Thus it is extremely probable that Tarik's celebrated “table” (see Vol. I., pp. [31] et seq.) was merely some elaborate and bejewelled analogium of the Christians; such as was, in fact, the predecessor of the modern lectern or “hand-pulpit.”
According to Amador de los Ríos, sermons in those early times were delivered from the analogium only. Towards the twelfth century, the Isidorian liturgy was abolished in Spain, and the furniture of Spanish temples underwent some change. In the same century and throughout the century following, the Spanish Peninsula was invaded by the Order of Preachers, while, coinciding with, or closely consequent upon, this movement, the primitive ambo was succeeded by the jubé, and wood, as the material of which the pulpit was constructed, by marble, iron, stone, or plaster.
Two Mudejar pulpits of great interest are preserved at Toledo, in the church of Santiago del Arabal (thirteenth century), and in the convent, erected in the reign of Pedro the Cruel, of Santo Domingo el Real. The substance of these ancient objects is a brick and plaster foundation, with panels of the stucco known as obra de yesería, produced from wooden moulds. The pulpit of the church of Santiago is traditionally affirmed to be the one from which, in 1411, Saint Vincent Ferrer delivered a sermon to the Toledan Jews. Whether this be so or not, the date of its construction is undoubtedly the second half of the fourteenth century, or early in the fifteenth. The shape is octagonal—a very common form with Gothic pulpits. It is divided into four cuerpos or orders, including the sounding-board. The decoration, which is chiefly floral, is a combination of the Gothic and the Moorish styles.
The pulpit of Santo Domingo el Real stands in the refectory of that convent. It dates from the same period as the one belonging to the church of Santiago, but unlike this latter, bears no trace of former gilding, painting, or enamelling upon the surface of the stone or plaster. It has three tiers or compartments, and, as in the other pulpit, the decoration consists of leaves and flowers, blended with geometrical patterns and Moorish lacería.
The Moorish mimbar or pulpit of the mosque of Cordova was very wonderful. According to Sentenach, its situation was near the archway leading to the mihrab, and on its desk rested the sacred copy of the Koran which had belonged to the Caliph Othman, and which was stated to be stained with his blood.
This mimbar, sacrificed long years ago to Christian barbarism and neglect, was the richest piece of furniture in all that mighty building, seven years of unremitting labour being exhausted by Al-Hakem's craftsmen in constructing it of the richest and most aromatic woods, inlaid with silver, ivory, gold, and precious stones. Ambrosio de Morales called it “King Almanzor's chair,” describing it quaintly as a four-wheeled car of richly-wrought wood, mounted by means of seven steps. “A few years since,” he adds, “they broke it up, I know not wherefore. So disappeared this relic of an olden time.”