[285] “The directors of the work of the new temple,” says S. Furio (Diccionario historico de los Professores de las Bellas Artes en Mallorca, p. 55), “agreed to give to the architect, Master Jayme, eighteen sueldos a week for the whole of his life, as well when he was ill as well; and during the work, in case he should have to go on matters of business to Mallorca—his country—the Chapter bound themselves to pay him his travelling expenses and maintenance as well going as returning. They promised also to give a house rent free for him and his family, and two hundred sueldos annually for clothing for him and his children.
[286] Mr. Wyatt Papworth’s very learned and complete dissertation on this subject in the Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects may be referred to as the best paper that has been published on the architects of our old buildings. I shall reserve what I have to say on this subject for the last chapter of this volume.
[287] It is rather difficult to ascertain the exact value of the sums mentioned in these documents—a sueldo and a dinero being both disused. The former is said to have been a piece of eight maravedis, the latter a small copper coin. This at the present day would be only a little over threepence a day. In A.D. 1350 we find William de Hoton, the master-mason at York Minster, receiving 2s. 6d. a week—as nearly as may be the same wages that Roque received. Hoton had also a premium of 10l. a year and a house, and liberty to undertake other works. Fabric Rolls of York, Surtees Soc., p. 166. At Exeter, in the year 1300, Master Roger, the master-mason, received 30s. a quarter, or about 2s. 4d. a week. Fabric Rolls of Exeter, in Dr. Oliver’s Lives of the Bishops of Exeter, pp. 392-407.
[288] Given in España Sagrada, xxix. p. 314, in facsimile. In the edition of 1859, engravings both of the shrine and of the crypt are given.
[289] Villanueva, Viage á las Iglesias de España, xviii. 157.
[290] The account of the building of Segovia Cathedral, given in the Appendix, mentions the provision of rooms for this purpose.
[291] Parcerisa, Recuerdos, &c., de España. Cataluña, i. 57.
[292] Viage Lit., xviii. 145.
[293] The lower range of stalls was made in 1457, by Matias Bonife, for fifteen florins for labour for each. In his contract with the Chapter he agrees to carve all the seats, but “in no wise any beasts or subjects.” In 1483 Miguel Loquer made the pinnacles of the upper stalls. The Chapter disputed the goodness of his work, and he died—partly of disgust, apparently—during the lengthy dispute. The Chapter then named arbiters, who, after a formal examination, pronounced them to contain grave defects.—Parcerisa, Recuerdos, &c., Cataluña, i, p. 59.
[294] Here, in 1519, Charles V. celebrated an installation of the Golden Fleece—the only one ever held in Spain.—Ford’s Handbook, p. 413.