1250, under the Almohaden dynasty. This was the period of
the Moors' greatest constructive energy,--they no longer blindly copied
the ancient architecture of Byzantium, but endeavored to create a bold
and independent art of their own.

After the capture of Seville in 1248, Ferdinand at once consecrated the
mosque to Christian service, and it was used without alteration until it
began to crumble. Its general plan was probably very much like the one
in Cordova, a great rectangle filled with a forest of columns: its high
walls of brick and clay supported by buttresses and crowned with
battlements enclosed an adjacent courtyard with fountain and rows of
orange trees, abutted by the bell or prayer tower. The courtyard and
tower remain with but slight changes or additions; portions of the
foundation walls, the northeast and west porticos, decorative details
and ornamentation still to be found on the Christian church are all
Moorish. The plan and general structure have been restricted by the
lines of the old Moorish foundations. There are no documents extant that
give a trustworthy account of what portions of the old mosque were
allowed to remain when the Christians finally decided to rebuild, but
the most cursory glance at the outline of the Cathedral shows how
organically it has been bound by what was retained. The mosque must have
been built on as large and magnificent a scale as the one which still
amazes us in Cordova. The peculiar, oblong, quadrilateral form was
probably common to both.

On the 8th of July, 1401, the Cathedral Chapter issued the challenge to
the Catholic world which to the more practical piety of to-day rings
with a true mediaeval fervor. Verily a faith that could remove mountains!
The inspired Chapter proclaimed they could build a church of such size
and beauty that coming ages should call them mad to have undertaken it.
And their own fat pockets were the first to be emptied of half their
stipends. The pennies of the poor, grants from the crown, indulgences
published throughout the kingdom, all went to satisfy the ever-grasping
building fund.

In 1403 the work of tearing down and commencing afresh on the old
foundations was begun. These measured about some 415 feet in length by
278 feet in width. The old mosque or the present church proper is now
only the central edifice in a rectangle of about 600 by 500 feet. This
is the size of a village, with its courts, its tower, the great library
of the Cathed