edral 207

Cloister of Soria Cathedral 212

Palencia Cathedral 226

Zamora Cathedral 238

Toro Cathedral 248

Old Salamanca Cathedral 260

New Salamanca Cathedral 266

Cuidad Rodrigo Cathedral 272

Facade of Plasencia Cathedral 288

Western Front of Valladolid Cathedral 300

Tower of Avila Cathedral 310

Segovia Cathedral 316

San Isidro, Madrid 326

Alcala de Henares Cathedral 332

Toledo Cathedral 360

_PART I_

_Introductory Studies_

_The Cathedrals of Northern Spain_

I

GENERAL REMARKS

History and architecture go hand in hand; the former is not complete if
it does not mention the latter, and the latter is incomprehensible if
the former is entirely ignored.

The following chapters are therefore historical and architectural; they
are based on evolutionary principles and seek to demonstrate the motives
of certain artistic phenomena.

Many of the ideas superficially mentioned in the following essays will
be severely discussed, for they are original; others are based on two
excellent modern historical works, namely, "The History of the Spanish
People," by Major Martin Hume, and "Historia de Espana," by Senor Rafael
Altamira. These two works can be regarded as the _dernier mot_
concerning the evolution of Spanish history.

Unluckily, however, the author has been unable to consult any work on
architecture which might have given him a concise idea of the story of
its gradual evolution and development, and of the different art-waves
which flowed across the peninsula during the stormy period of the middle
ages, which, properly speaking, begins with the Arab invasion of the
eighth century and ends with the fall of Granada, in the fifteenth.

Several works on Spanish architecture have been written (the reader will
find them mentioned elsewhere), but none treats the matter from an
evolutionary standpoint. On the contrary, most of them are limited to
the study of a period, of a style or of a locality; hence they cannot
claim to be a _dernier mot_. Such a work has still to be written.

Be it understood, neverthele