to receive them. Affonso V. himself dying was
laid in a temporary tomb of wood in the chapter-house, as were his wife
and his grandson, the only child of Dom Joao II.; while a coffin of wood
in one of the side chapels held Dom Joao himself.

When Joao died, his widow Dona Leonor is said to have urged her brother,
the new king, to finish the work begun by their ancestor and so form a
fitting burial-place for her son as well as for himself and his
descendants. Dom Manoel therefore determined to finish the Capellas
Imperfeitas, and the work was given to the elder Matheus Fernandes, who
had till 1480, when he was followed by Joao Rodrigues, been master of
the royal works at Santarem. The first document which speaks of him at
Batalha is dated 1503, and mentions him as Matheus Fernandes, vassal of
the king, judge in ordinary of the town of Santa Maria da Victoria, and
master of the works of the same monastery, named by the king. He died in
1515, and was buried near the west door.[120] He was followed by another
Matheus Fernandes, probably his son, who died in 1528, to be succeeded
by Joao de Castilho. But by then Dom Manoel was already dead. He had
been buried not here, but in his new foundation of Belem, and his son
Joao III. and Joao de Castilho himself were too much occupied in
finishing Belem and in making great additions to Thomar to be able to do
much to the Capellas Imperfeitas. So after building two beautiful but
incongruous arches, Joao de Castilho went back to his work elsewhere,
and the chapels remain Imperfeitas to this day.

It will be remembered that the tomb-house begun by Dom Duarte took the
form of a vast octagon some seventy-two feet in diameter surrounded by
seven apsidal chapels--one on each side except that towards the
church--and by eight smaller chapels between the apses. When Matheus
Fernandes began his work most of the seven surrounding chapels were
finished except for their vaulting, but not all, as in two or three the
outer moulding of the entrance arch is enriched by small crosses of the
Order of Christ, and by armillary spheres carved in the hollow; while
the whole building stood isolated and unconnected with the church.

The first thing, therefore, done by Matheus was to build an entrance
hall or pateo uniting the octagon with the church. Unless the walls of
the Pateo be older than Dom Manoel's time it is impossible now to tell
how Huguet, Dom Duarte's architect, meant to connect the two, perhap