[138] The following inscription remains on one of the columns on the north side of the nave:—
SANTA : MARIA : RECE
AB : ESTE : PIAR : DE : FON
DO : A TE : CIMA : CON : LA
METADE : DOS : AR
COS : CA : QUELQUE : O :
PAGON : EN : VIII. : IDUS
JULII : ERA : MCCC : XL.
From which it appears that this column, with the halves of the two arches springing from it, was built in A.D. 1302. On another column on the same side is an inscription recording the erection of the Chapel of the Visitation in A.D. 1374.
[140] España Sagrada, xix. p. 91.
[141] Historia del Apostol Sanctiago, by Mauro Castella Ferrer, p. 463.
[142] The latter document in particular has much architectural interest, and is worth transcribing in part, on account of its reference to these early buildings, and their materials and furniture. It commences as follows:—
“In nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, edificatum est Templum Sancti Salvatoris, et Sancti Jacobi Apostoli in locum Arcis Marmoricis territorio Galleciæ per institutionem gloriosissimi Principis Adefonsi III. cum conjuge Scemena sub Pontifice loci ejusdem Sisnando Episcopo.” (877-903.) “Supplex egregii eximii Principis Ordonii proles ego Adefonsus Principi cum prædicto antistite statuimus ædificare domum Domini et restaurare Templum ad tumulum sepulchri Apostoli, quod antiquitus construxerat divæ memoriæ Dominus Adefonsus Magnus ex petra et luto opere parvo. Nos quidem inspiratione divina adlati cum subditis ac familia nostra adduximus in sanctum locum ex Hispania inter agmina Maurorum, quæ eligimus de Civitate Eabecæ petras marmoreas quas avi nostri ratibus per Pontum transvexerunt, et ex eis pulchras domos ædificaverunt, quæ ab inimicis destructæ manebant. Unde quoque ostium principale Occidentalis partis ex ipsis marmoribus est appositum: supercilia vero liminaris Sedis invenimus sicut antiqua sessio fuerat miro opere sculpta. Ostium de sinistro juxta Oraculum Baptistæ et Martyris Joannis quem simili modo fundavimus, et de puris lapidibus construximus columnas sex cum basibus todidem posuimus, ubi abbobuta tribunalis est constructa, vel alias columnas sculptas supra quas portius imminet de oppido Portucalense ratibus deportatas adduximus quadras, et calcem unde sunt ædificatæ columnæ decem et VIII. cum aliis columnelis marmoreis simili modo navigio.”—España Sagrada, xix. p. 344, Appendix.
[143] Handbook of Spain, pp. 600-605.
[144] The authors of the ‘Manual del Viagero en la Catedral de Santiago’ are, however, not quite of this opinion. They say of it, “The monument which we examine belongs not to Santiago, to Galicia, to Spain, but is the patrimony of the Christian religion, of the Catholic world; since in all fervent souls something remains of the ancient and fervent faith of our forefathers.” This guide-book, by the way, is one of the worst I ever met with.