was the holier of the two patrons, owing to whose protection the church
stands to-day so well preserved, still Froila was in certain respects no
less remarkable. The Segovians of his day saw him split open a rock with
his jackknife and prove to the Moslems then ruling his city, beyond all
doubt, the validity of his Christian faith.

But long before saints and cathedrals, the Romans, recognizing the
tenacious and commanding position as a military stronghold of the rock
of Segovia, which rises precipitously from the two valleys watered by
the Erasma and Clamores, pitched their camp upon its crest, renaming it
Segobriga. The city was fortified, and under Trajan the truly
magnificent aqueduct was built, either by the Romans or the devil, to
supply the city with the waters of the Fonfria mountains. A beautiful
Segovian had at this early time grown weary of carrying her jugs up the
steep hills from the waters below and promised the devil she would marry
him, if he only would in a night's time once and for all bring into the
city the fresh waters of the eastern mountains. She was worth the labor,
and the suitor accepted the contract. Fortunately the Church found the
arcade incomplete, the devil having forgotten a single stone, and the
maid was honorably released from her part of a bargain, the execution of
which had profited her city so greatly. Segovia still carries on her
shield this "Puente del diabolo," with the head of a Roman peering above
it.

The strong position of the city made it an envied possession to whatever
conqueror held the surrounding country. It lay on the borderland,
constantly disputed with varying fortune by Christian and Moslem. Under
the dominion of the early Castilian kings, and even under the triumphant
Moors, the youthful church prospered and grew, for in the government of
their Christian subjects, the Mohammedans here, as elsewhere, showed
themselves temperate and full of common sense. The invaders had, indeed,
everywhere been welcomed by the numerous Jews settled in Spanish cities,
who under the new rulers exchanged persecution for civil and religious
liberty. Prompt surrender and the payment of a small annual tax were the
only conditions made, to confirm the conquered, of whatever race or
religion, in the possession of all their worldly goods, perfect freedom
of worship and continued government by their own laws under their own
judges.

In the eleventh century, Segovia was included in the grea