Some Account of Gothic Architecture in Spain

by George Edmund Street

SEGOVIA CATHEDRAL.

Memoir of the Canon of Segovia Juan Rodriguez, in which is related all that happened as to the Construction of the Cathedral from the year 1522, in which he began to exercise the government and administration of the fabric, until the year 1562, in which, through infirmity, he gave it up.—From the Archives of the Cathedral.

AFTER reciting his pious reasons for his undertaking, he continues his Memoir as follows; entering first of all into various particulars in reference to the subscriptions for the work and so forth, he then goes on:—

“We commence, in the name of God, to give an account of the form and order which prevailed in the work of the said church and cloister, Chapter-house, libraries, tower, sacristy, and place for relics,[465] and all the other necessary offices, which until this time have been paid for, and now belong to the said holy church, free from all interest or tax.

“Commencing at the beginning, which was in the said year of 1520, when the Chapter was driven out of the other church by reason of the alterations already mentioned, they had the divine offices in the Church of Sta. Clara, which the monks of the order of Sta. Clara had left, who at present reside in the monastery of San Antonio el Real; and beginning by having the divine office on the floor of the church on some benches or logs of wood, which were placed for it from the door of the church as far as the rooms of the keepers of the wardrobe of the convent which were there, afterwards they made a tribune on some pieces of timber or posts for the Coro, in order to have the holy office; and afterwards they put the altars right with Retablos and images, which they brought from the old church; and they put right the old cloister, which had some high battlements; and they overcame difficulties and put everything in order to be able to make use of it, and set right the chapel where the Crucifix and Sacrament were, and where the chaplains said their office. Then, likewise, was made a hall of the old corridors, in which the Chapter was held, where it was for some years, until that one was made below close to the chapel of the Crucifix. And then the tower was raised, and there they placed some of the bells of the other old church, and others they made new in the town of Olmedo; and they got a new clock from Medina del Campo, and put the whole in the old tower.

“Then, in consequence of the narrowness of the church, they took some houses in which lived the wardrobe-keepers, and pulled them down, and made a wall of lime and stone in front, and placed there the Coro of the old church, and repaired it in the said place where the divine office was said, and placed the iron screens of the two Coros; the whole of which was done between the said year of 1520 and June 8th, 1522, when, by the consent and resolution of the Lord Bishop D. Diego de Rivera, and of the Dean and Chapter of the said church, it was agreed to commence the new work of the said church, to the glory of God, and in honour of the Virgin Mary and the glorious San Frutos and All Saints, taking for master of the said work Juan Gil de Hontañon, and for his clerk of the works (aparejador) Garcia de Cubillas.

“Thursday, the 8th of June, 1522, the Bishop ordered a general procession with the Dean and Chapter, and clergy, and all the religious orders. Solemn mass was said in the Plaza of San Miguel, before the doors of the said Church of Sta. Clara, and there was a sermon, and absolution, and general pardon to all who had erred; and they demolished the other church, and gave absolution for all the faults and sacrileges which might be committed in it, as is the case in all general pardon of sins. From there the Bishop, Dean and Chapter, clergy and religious, went in procession to the part where was the foundation of the principal wall of the foot of the holy church, and in that place where the principal door was to be, which is now called ‘del Pardon;’ and the Master of the works and the officials being there with stone and mortar, the Lord Bishop placed the foundation in the middle where the said door had to come, which is called ‘del Pardon.’ Giving first his benediction on the commencement of the work, he put a piece of silver with his face on it, and others of metal with certain letters, and upon them placed the stone and mortar. The workmen then raised the building.

“All this solemnity, as I have told, began to the glory of God our Lord, the Virgin Mary, and All Saints, for the promotion of the said work. This was settled and arranged between the Lord Bishop, the Dean and Chapter, to be executed in masonry of a rough description, by reason of the great poverty of the said church. And I then, feeling this, conferred on this matter with the said Juan Gil de Hontañon and Garcia de Cubillas, and it seemed to them to be a great pity to execute the work in such a way in so celebrated a city. And the Lord Bishop, the Dean and Chapter, having considered this, thought it well to give leave, confiding in the providence of our Lord, that it should be done as I had petitioned, for which many thanks be given to our Lord.”

“The building being commenced, as I have said, on Thursday, July 8th, 1522, was carried on according to the plan first of all given, beginning from the principal door at the foot of the church, which is called ‘del Pardon,’ corresponding to the principal nave, and going on in order, taking the chapel and the chapels in the walls, of which there are five on either side, ten in all, where at present the private masses and endowments which the said church has are said.

“After the same manner the principal pillars in the said church were built, which divide, and on which is raised the principal nave, and on either side one, in all five collateral naves; the principal, of 115 to 120 feet in height, and 54 in width, from line to line; the collaterals, 80 feet in height each one of them, and 38 in width, and the chapels between the buttresses, of which there are ten, 50 feet of height, and 26 in width, as, thanks to God, they have all been made and finished to perfection, as may be seen.