Southern Spain, Painted by Trevor Haddon, Described by A. F. Calvert

by Albert Frederick Calvert

The people which arrogates the right to choose its ruler has ever been considered a sort of pirate among the nations, and fair game for more powerful states. Kadir at the moment of his deposition had been nominally under the protection of the Cid. That redoubtable warrior, under the pretext of avenging his protégé's death, advanced on Valencia. The Almoravides came to his assistance, but precipitately retired. Distrusting these allies almost as much as the Christians, Ibn Jahhaf amused the Cid with negotiations, but meanwhile made preparations for defence. He became the special object of the famous warrior's hatred, and when the city fell, was burnt to death at the stake before the eyes of his horrified countrymen. The Cid now ruled Valencia as absolute lord and despot till his death, five years later, in 1097. The legend need not be related here, how his wife defended the city for two years after his death, and finally, setting his corpse fully armed upon his warhorse, won a victory over the terrified Moors and thus took him to his last resting-place at Cardeña.

Valencia was not finally wrested from the yoke of Islam till the memorable 28th of September, 1238, when the standard of the victorious Jaime I. of Aragon was hoisted over the tower of Ali Bufat. In the history of Aragon the conquest ranks with the taking of Seville in the history of Castile. Granada was the joint conquest of both kingdoms. It is curious to compare the ready submission of the Moors, and their surrender of whole kingdoms to the Christians, sometimes as the result of a single battle, with the tenacious resistance offered by their descendants in Algeria in modern times. Enervated by the climate of Spain, the Mussulmans of that country were absolutely incapable of maintaining a prolonged guerrilla warfare. If a fortified capital was taken they at once handed over the whole kingdom to the conqueror. They were not, of course, peculiar in this respect. The sentiment of nationality and physical courage are characteristic far more of the modern than of the ancient world. We have only to compare the resistance of the Anglo-Saxons to the Normans with that of the Boers to the British, of the French in the Hundred Years' War with that of their descendants in 1871, to realize how much more of manliness and endurance we possess than did our ancestors. We must go back to the days of Leonidas and Regulus to find parallels for the exploits of our own Indian army; to Numantia and Saguntum for parallels to Saragossa and Gerona. National and individual self-respect withered under feudalism, and revived only on the introduction of free institutions.

Valencia to-day, as befits the capital of a rich, prosperous province, is a handsome, modern progressive city. There is little or nothing about to remind one of its erstwhile masters, the Moors, and it has not retained more monuments of its past than most other cities. Interesting it is not from the sightseer's point of view, nor convenient from a stranger's, since indications of the names of the streets are few and far between. New avenues are being formed, and in these magnificent houses are arising, all happily in different styles, original and individual, forming a contrast to the dull uniformity of most Continental town perspectives. At two points the town is entered by massive gates of the castellated type—the Torres de Serranos and de Cuarte. The former date from the fourteenth century, and have two octagonal towers with heavy machicolations at two-thirds of their height; the machicolation is continued across the connecting storey, which is richly panelled above the narrow archway. The Torres de Cuarte are drum towers, similarly flanking a gateway; in this case the parapet is itself borne on corbels and machicolated. The work dates from the fifteenth century. These towers add much to the picturesqueness of their respective quarters. The Citadel, in another part of the town, replaces the old temple built in 1238 by the Knights Templars on the spot where the Aragonese planted their cross on entering Valencia. It contains the chapel where St. Vicente Ferrer, "the Angel of the Judgment," took the habit of St. Dominic.

A glance at the Cathedral and the Lonja, and we shall have "done" Valencia in the tourist's sense. The former building was founded in the year 1262 on the site of the principal mosque. In it the Kings of Aragon took the oath as Kings of Valencia. Repeatedly restored, and "modernized" in 1750, it presents a dreadful jumble of styles, and is far behind the cathedrals of Andalusia in beauty and interest. The Micalet Tower, however, rising at the end of the Calle de Zaragoza, presents a striking appearance. It is the great landmark of the district, and the Valencians refer to exile as "losing sight of the Micalet." The view from the summit is very fine. The main entrance to the Cathedral is poor, but the north door, called the Puerta de los Apostoles, richly sculptured and delicately moulded, exhibits the skill and imagery of the fourteenth century at its best.

Above the interesting semicircular Puerta del Palau are seen on medallions the heads of seven men and seven women—these representing the seven knights of the Conquest and the seven ladies (some say of Valencia, and others of Lerida) whom they married. From these alliances sprang the nobility of the province. This doorway was evidently constructed by the architect who designed the Puerta dels Infants at Lerida.

The interior has also suffered by restoration. The pointed arches have been rounded, the Gothic columns almost concealed by Corinthian pilasters, the walls covered with marbles. The effect is rich ("La Rica" is the surname which particularly distinguishes this Cathedral), but much of the religious antique air of the place has gone for ever. The plan is, as usual with Spanish churches, cruciform. The chancel was reconstructed in 1682, but the altar was melted down by the French in 1809. Fortunately the fine panel-shutters made for its protection in the sixteenth century have been preserved. They were carved by a carpenter named Carles, and are painted with scenes from the lives of Christ and the Virgin. These works are ascribed by some to Francisco Pagano and Pablo de San Leocadio, by others to Leonardo da Vinci himself. Hanging to one of the pillars on the Gospel side may be seen the spurs and bridle of Jaime lo Conqueridor, presented by him, on the day he took the city, to his master of the horse, Juan de Perthusa.

Over the crossing rises the fine octagonal lantern, built in 1404 and restored in 1731. The trophies which once adorned it have long since been carried off, among them the flags taken from the Genoese by Ramon Corveran, a famous sea-dog of Valencia.

The pulpit, over which is displayed a picture of St. Vicente Ferrer, was the one from which that zealous missionary actually preached. It can, however, hardly be regarded as a curiosity, as the saint must have preached in nearly every church in the Peninsula, France, and Flanders.