wn, as the great Scipio took care to destroy it so thoroughly that
not even a stone remains to-day to indicate where the heroic fortress
stood.

In the present day, two cities and two cathedrals are seated on the
banks of the Duero within this circle; the one is Soria, the other Osma.
The latter was a Roman town, an early episcopal see, and later an Arab
fortress; the former was founded by one of the Alfonsos toward the end
of the eleventh century, as a frontier fortress against Aragon to the
east, the Moors to the south, and Navarra to the north.

The town grew apace, thanks to the remarkable _fueros_ granted to the
citizens, who lived as in a republic of their own making--an almost
unique case of self-government to be recorded in the middle ages.

The principal parish church was raised to a suffragan of Osma in the
twelfth century. Since then, there has been a continual spirit of
rivalry between the two cities, for the former, more important as a town
and as the capital of a province, could not bend its head to the
ecclesiastical authority of a village like Osma. Throughout the middle
ages the jealousy between the two was food for incessant strife. Pope
Clement IV., at Alfonso VIII.'s instigation, raised the Collegiate at
Soria to an episcopal see independent of Osma, but the hard-headed
chapter of the last named city refused to acknowledge the Pope's order,
and no bishop was elected or appointed.

This bitter hatred between the two rivals was the origin of many an
amusing incident. Upon one occasion the Bishop of Osma, visiting his
suffragan church in Soria, had the house in which he was stopping for
the night burnt about his ears. He moved off to another house, and on
the second night this was also mysteriously set on fire. His lordship
did not await the third night, afraid of what might happen, but bolted
back to his episcopal palace at Osma.

In 1520 the chapter of the Collegiate in Soria sent a petition to the
country's sovereign asking him to order the erection of a new church in
place of the old twelfth-century building, and in another part of the
town. The request was not granted, however, so what did the wily chapter
do? It ordered an architect to construct a chapel in the very centre of
the church, and when it was completed, admired the work with great
enthusiasm, excepting only the pillar in front of it which obstructed
the uninterrupted view. This pillar was the real support of the church,
and though