PRODUCTO TURÍSTICO

When the see of Toledo became vacant after the demise of Ximeno de Luna in Alcalá de Henares in November 1337, Alfonso XI recommended that Albornoz be elected Archbishop of Toledo, disregarding the wishes of the cathedral Chapter, whose members favoured Blas

78

Sáez, Trenchs and Bañares (1979), pp. 26-27. 79

Boscolo (1972), p. 89, 14 October 1330. 80

José Trenchs Odena, „Albornoz y Aviñón: Relaciones con la Cámara Apostólica (1325-1350)‟ in El Cardenal Albornoz y el Colegio de España, ed. Evelio Verdera y Tuells (Bologna: Real Colegio de España, 1972), Vol. I, pp. 263-286, at p. 269.

81

Crónica de Alfonso XI, cl, p. 271. 82

Sáez, Trenchs and Bañares (1979), pp. 31-32, fn. 90. It is probably in this visit that he was appointed papal chaplain.

83

ACT, X.12.B.1.2, 2a, fol. 17r: „Item una capa de diaspro bermejo afforrada en cendal amarillo con una broncha de plata que dio el arzobispo don gil seyendo arcediano.‟

84

53 Fernandez.85 Benedict XII agreed to fulfill the request of the king of Castille without objections, given that the debt of Alvar Garcia had been paid and Albornoz was now 36 years old. The newly appointed archbishop went to Avignon to receivethe papal confirmation, which took place on 13 May 1338.86 Albornoz remained in Avignon until the Spring of 1339, when he returned to Castile and was charged by Benedict XII with the spiritual leading of the Crusade against the Muslim infidel in Spain.87 The King called for clergy and nobility to meet him in Seville, and Gil was amongst those; they headed for Tarifa.88 Not only did Albornoz join the king in the military campaign of 1339, but he preached the Crusade in 1340 with the power invested on him by Benedict XII.89 His predecessor Ximenez de Rada (d.1247) set a

determining precedent in the role that the Archbishops of Toledo would play in the ecclesiastical, military and political spheres. Having obtained the privilege of a crusade from the Pope for the war against the Moors, Ximenez took an active part in the battle of the Navas de Tolosa (1212),

85

Jara (1914), pp. 48-50. Flores Jiménez (1967), p. 10. Crónica de Alfonso XI, clxxxv, p. 292: „Et estando en esta ciubdat de Sevilla sopo como en este tiempo finára Don Ximeno Arzobispo de Toledo, et andaba en casa del Rey Gil Alvarez de Cuenca Arcediano de Calatrava, et era del Consejo del Rey: et por servicios que le avia fecho, el Rey envió mandar et rogar al Cabildo de la Iglesia de Toledo que le esleyesen por Arzobispo. Et como quier que Don Vasco Dean de aquella Iglesia oviese todas las mas voces por sí, pero porque el Rey ge lo enviára mandar et rogar mucho afincadamente, todos tovieron que era razon facer lo que el Rey les enviaba rogar et esleyeronle por

Arzobispo.‟ The „servicios‟ probably referred to diplomatic trips. Blas Fernandez would finally become Archbishop of Toledo through the intervention of Pedro I and Maria de Portugal; Lop Otín (2003), p. 234.

86

Boscolo (1972), p. 84. Trenchs Odena (1972), pp. 269-70. Rivera Recio (1969), p. 86. 87

Crónica de Alfonso XI, cxcii, p. 296: „Et en este tiempo veno de Corte de Roma Don Gil Arzobispo de Toledo con la confirmacion de su Arzobispado.‟

88

Crónica de Alfonso XI, ccxliii, pp. 318-9: „Et venieron y Don Joan, fijo del Infante Don Manuel, et Don Gil, Arzobispo de Toledo Primado mayor de las Españas, et Don Martino, Arzobispo de Santiago,...‟also the bishops of Palencia and Mondoñedo. For the siege of Tarifa, see ccxli-cclii; in p. 325, ccli describes the preparations for the battle of the Salado river, in October 1340, with Gil celebrating Mass for the King. The Cronica tells us that Albornoz saved the life of the King, p. 326-7. Albornoz wrote a letter to Cardinal Annibale de Ceccano from the front in Tarifa, where he described the booty of the Salado, quoted by Philippo Labbe, Novae Bibliothecae manuscriptorum librorum (Paris: Sebastanum Cramoisy, 1657), Vol. I, fol. 388.

89

Crónica de Alfonso XI, cxcii, ccxlii, pp. 296, 318; J Gautier Dalché,„A propos d‟une mission en France de Gil Albornoz: operations navales et difficultés financières lors du siège d‟Algésiras (1341-1344)‟, in El Cardenal Albornoz y el Colegio de España, ed. Evelio Verdera y Tuells (Bologna: Real Colegio de España, 1972), Vol. I, pp. 247-263, at p. 249.

54 and obtained for himself and for his successors the title of Canciller Mayor de Castilla.90 Such office implied vast political power.91 The Archbishop of Toledo was second in power only to the King of Castile.92

Unlike his predecessors, Albornoz had not been bishop before reaching the highest ecclesiastical dignity in medieval Spain. He succeeded his uncle Ximeno de Luna, who had occupied the See for almost a decade when he died in 1337. The rampant nepotism that earned the Papal Court in Avignon such harsh and widespread criticism was equally operating in Spain.93 Juan de Medina de Pomar, from Burgos, was Archbishop of Toledo in 1248, and his career benefitted no doubt from the support of his uncle don Mauricio, bishop of Burgos.94 Gonzalo Diaz Palomeque succeeded his uncle Gonzalo Pérez Gudiel in 1299.95 Blas Fernandez de Toledo, whose uncle Gutierre Gomez had been archbishop of Toledo between 1310 and 1319, was appointed to the position in 1353, partly through the political influence of his brother

Gutierre, royal chamberlain to Pedro I.96

The Luna family held a virtual monopoly of the see of Zaragoza throughout the fourteenth century, apart from the brief interval when Pierre de la Jugie and Guillaume d‟Aigrefeuille governed the archbishopric.97

This dynasty of clergymen included Ximeno de

90

For the crusade, see Lop Otín (2003), p. 72. For Ximenez de Rada, see Gonzálvez Ruiz(1997), pp. 165-202 and Linehan (1971), pp. 7-14.

91

Not according to González Crespo (1986), pp. 459, 470, from 1338 the title becomes honorific. 92

Magdalena Merlos, „Arquitectura militar en las villas medievales del Arzobispo de Toledo: función y significado‟, Espacio, Tiempo y Forma Serie VII, Historia del Arte, 13 (2000), pp. 27-50, at p. 27. 93

Guillemain (1972), p. 359. 94

In his will, ACT, A.7.A.1.5, he listed a sapphire ring that he had received from don Mauricio, and left instructions to sell his house in Paris, where he had studied, to provide for poor students. Gonzálvez Ruiz(1997), pp. 206, 209. 95

Gonzálvez Ruiz (1997), pp. 409-412. 96

Sánchez Herrero (1976), pp. 50-51. 97

Ximeno de Luna (1299-1317) was followed by Pedro Lopez de Luna (1317-1345), Pierre de la Jugie (1345- 1347), Guillaume d‟Aigrefeuille (1347-1350) and Lope Fernandez de Luna (1351-1380). Crónica de Pedro I, 1367, i, p. 550. „Don Lope Ferrandez de Luna, Arzobispo de Zaragoza, que era un Perlado que amaba al Rey Don

55 Luna, Lope Fernandez de Luna (who followed Albornoz to Italy), and Pedro de Luna (Pope Benedict XIII in 1394). When Albornoz attained the cathedra of Toledo, he appointed his political nephew, Alonso Ibañez de Carvajal, as Adelantado de Cazorla, captain general of the archbishopric of Toledo and the highest lay office which the Archbishop of Toledo could confer.98

Albornoz received a large income from the vast array of ecclesiastical benefices he held, although he renounced at least one of his positions (in Cuenca cathedral) when he became Archbishop of Toledo.99

By 1342, the war on the Moor had taken its toll on the Castilian finances and the king was forced to offer some of the crown jewels as guarantee when requesting the help of the king of France. In 1342, Albornoz returned to the papal court on an embassy on behalf of Alfonso XI, to request assistance in the Reconquista.100 This time he arrived in Avignon as Archbishop of Toledo, accompanied by fray Alfonso Ortiz Calderón, the prior of the Order of St. John. The recently-appointed Archbishop also headed to the court of Philippe VI, where he stayed for a year.101

The earliest surviving document where Gil de Albornoz appears in his recently-acquired status dates from June 1338. The paper document, which awards pension to a canon of the cathedral, states his rank as „Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain.‟102

On the reverse of the document, the impression of his seal represents a rare survival of this frail medium (Fig. 12).

98

He was married to Gil‟s niece Maria Garcia de Albornoz. Jara (1914), pp. 61-2. Joaquín Cerdá Ruiz-Funes, „Para un estudio sobre los Adelantados Mayores de Castilla (Siglos XIII-XV)‟, in Actas del II Symposium de Historia de la Administración (Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Administrativos, 1971), pp. 183-221, at p. 202. 99

Sáez, Trenchs and Bañares (1979), pp. 22-24 for his benefices in Cuenca diocese. 100

Ibid., p. 10. Alfonso XI called a meeting in early 1342 at Burgos to discuss the problems to finance the war against the Moor, and Albornoz attended, according to Gautier Dalché (1972), pp. 249-50.

101

Gautier Dalché (1972), p. 250. Crónica de Alfonso XI, cclxxii, pp. 347, 367-8. 102

ACT, A.8.D.1.7: „[1] Sepan quantos esta carta vieren como nos Don Gil por la gracia de Dios arçobispo de Toledo e primado [2] de las espannas..‟ 24 June 1338, Padernas.

56 Albeit damaged, the enthroned figure of a prelate, holding a crozier, is clearly visible. The image is rather elaborate, with a careful representation of details such as the abundant folds of his vestment, the inlaid side panels of the chair, and the ornate head of the crozier.

As Archbishop of Toledo, Gil de Albornoz continued the building campaign of the cathedral, founded by Rodrigo Ximenez de Rada in 1226 on the site of the mosque.103 The cathedral of Toledo, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was the recipient of significant royal donations and was also royal pantheon after Las Huelgas.104 Ximenez created the Obra y Fábrica, an autonomous entity for the fundraising and organization of the building campaing of the cathedral.105 In 1238, he established twenty chantries, fourteen of which were assigned to the fourteen altars of the original apse of the building, including a chapel to St. Ildefonso.106 This would be the burial chapel of Gil de Albornoz in 1372.

The building campaign of Albornoz concentrated on the west end of the cathedral. The previous Archbishop, his uncle Ximeno de Luna, ordered the demolition of a number of houses and shops (property of the cathedral Chapter) in the commercial quarter adjacent to the cathedral, known as the Alcaná, in order to clear the way for the cloister. Ximeno allocated 1,500 mrs. from the Obra fund towards this project.107 The credit for the foundation and building of the cloister has been traditionally assigned to Pedro Tenorio since 1549, when Blas Ortiz stated that

103

Lop Otín (2003), p. 72. Gonzálvez and Pereda (1999), p. 150, 104

José Antonio García Luján, Privilegios reales de la Catedral de Toledo (1086-1462) (Granada: J.A. García, 1982) (hereafter referred to as García Luján, 1982b), pp. 277-279.

105

Gonzálvez Ruiz(1997), p. 168. 106

Hernández (1996), doc. 450. One of these chantries was to be in the archbishop‟s palace. 107

ACT, X.10.B.1.8: „[2] Ximeno Arçobispo que fue de Toledo nuestro anteçessor que dios perdone ouo [3] fecho tomar y derribar casas y tiendas que el Cabildo dela nuestra eglesia auie en Toledo çerca la eglesia alas quales disen del alca- [4] na y esto para faser claustro y entretanto para que labrassen y las maestros dela obra dela dicha eglesia por las quales casas y tiendas [5] les fise dar cada año de renta en su tiempo y nos en el vuestro debo dela dicha obra mill y quinientos maravedies por abenençia y conposicion [6] que entre ellos segunt esto fue fecho.‟ 21 October 1339.

57 he laid the foundation stone of the cloister in 1389.108 It is not known what input Albornoz had in the campaign of the cloister, which seems to have been abandoned. In any event, the area that Ximeno had allocated to the cloister was extended with the demolition of further houses between 1389 and 1390.109

In October 1339, Gil ordered that the office of the Refitor of the Cabildo be pulled down, to create a square in front of the west door, in the same general area where the cloister was planned, and he agreed to give 2,250 mrs. a year to the Chapter in compensation, to be funded from the Obra.110 He attached his pending wax seal to the document, where he is represented seated, wearing mitre and pallium, and holding the crozier on his left hand while he blesses with the other hand (Fig. 13). The thickness of this seal makes the details of the image less apparent than those seen on his seal of June 1338. To emphasize the legal character of his arrangement with the Chapter, he added his autograph signature to the document, a rather unusual detail since the presence of the seal already implied the endorsement of its owner to the document (Fig. 14).111

Upon confirmation of their office, clerics commissioned their personalised matrix for the wax seals that would accompany official correspondence and documentation. Seals identified

108

Gonzálvez and Pereda (1999), p. 263. Ángela Franco Mata, „Localismo e internacionalidad en el gótico toledano‟, Toletum 31 (1994), pp. 169-235, p. 197. Palomo Fernández (2002), Vol. 2, fn. 178 in p. 173. Eugenio Narbona, Vida y hechos de Don Pedro Tenorio, arzobispo de Toledo (Toledo: Juan Ruyz de Pereda, 1624), pp. 98- 103. Cf. Pérez (1579), fol. 83r.

109

For houses demolished to make way for the cloister, see ACT, Obra y Fábrica 932, ff. 34r, 35v, 40r. Ricardo Izquierdo Benito, „El patrimonio urbano del cabildo de la catedral de Toledo en la segunda mitad del siglo XIV‟, Anales Toledanos 13 (1980), pp. 3-24 (hereafter referred to as Izquierdo Benito, 1980a), pp. 8-9, 12: in the 14th century, the cathedral had 12 shops in the Puerta de las Ollas (now puerta del Reloj). Two of these were flattened to open up space of access to the doorway, and five were knocked down in 1389 to make way for the cloister. 110

ACT, X.10.B.1.8: „[6] Et otrosi porque nos para fazer plaça delante dela dicha nuestra eglesia faza la puerta que dizen [7] del perdón.‟ 21 October 1339, Alcala de Henares. The Refitor was the office (and canon) that regulated the income of the Cathedral Chapter; see Lop Otín (2003), p. 290.

111

ACT, X.10.B.1.8: „[17] En testimonio desto mandamos les dar esta nuestra carta seellada con nuestro seello pendiente et por asegurar de nostra mano. [18] Dada en Alcala de Fenares, nuestro logar veynte e un dias de octubre era de mill e trezientos e setenta e siete años. D. EGIDIUS ARCHIEPS. TOLETAN.‟

58 and authenticated the signatory, validating the document to which they were appended.112 The seals used by medieval prelates followed an established convention, which often comprised an abstracted representation of the individual, identified by name and position by the inscription on the outher rims of the seal. The titular saint of their church, monastery or diocese might appear in either the seal or the counterseal, an additional, smaller design stamped on the back of the seal to reinforce its validity and authenticity. Counterseals usually depict the patron saint of the church; such is the case in the counterseal of the Archbishop of Tarragona Arnaldo Cescomes in 1342, which shows St. Tecla.113

Seals were also an important testimony of artistic practice and personal taste.114 The artists who designed and executed seals had to adhere to the conventional iconography of the images and small size of these objects, so artistic licence was confined to certain details such as the degree of elaboration of the architecture represented, whilst the patron could choose whether to include his personal heraldry.

The seal of the Archbishop of Toledo may contain a figure of the prelate either standing (Gudiel) or seated, as we see in the seals of Sancho, Diaz Palomeque, Gutierre Gomez, and Albornoz.115 The seal used by Ximeno in 1330 illustrates the set convention of the seal and counterseal of an Archbishop of Toledo: the enthroned archbishop blessing and holding a crozier on the seal, and the Imposition of the Chasuble to St. Ildefonso by the Virgin Mary on the

112

For falsification of seals in 1291, see Crónica de Sancho IV ed. Antonio García Martínez (Murcia: Academia Alfonso X el Sabio, 1982), viii, p. 85.

113

Juan Menéndez Pidal, Catálogo. 1. Sellos españoles de la Edad Media.Archivo Histórico Nacional. Catálogo I. (Madrid: Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, 1918), p. 151, no.186.

114

Julian Gardner, „Some Cardinals‟ seals of the thirteenth century‟, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 38 (1976), pp. 72-96.

115

Menéndez Pidal (1918), seals nos.195-198. For the seal of Sancho, see ACT, A.5.B.1.5 (1268), and Louis Claude Douet D‟Arcq, Archives de l’Empire. Inventaires et Documents. Collection des Sceaux (Paris: Plon, 1863), no. 11344. For the seal of Diaz Palomeque, see ACT, A.5.A.1.10 (1305).

59 counterseal (Fig. 15).116 The counterseal of Ximeno shows the mitred saint kneeling in front of the Virgin Mary, who stands to the right, holding the Child on one hand and the chasuble on the other. On 18 December 666 the Virgin appeared to the Archbishop of Toledo, St. Ildefonso, and offered him the liturgical vestment in recognition for his staunch defense of her virginity in De perpetua virginitate.117 The miraculous event was included in the mid-thirteenth century Cantigas de Santa María by Alfonso X and in the collection of Marian poems written by

Gonzalo de Berceo, Milagros de Nuestra Señora.118 Visual representations of the miracle appear on the counterseals of the Archbishops of Toledo since the thirteenth century.119 The feast of St. Ildefonso was officially celebrated in Toledo since 1302.120

The seal used by Albornoz in 1345 is very similar to those used previously, although it introduces slight variations of artistic licence such as the star at the base of the footstool and the elaborate folds of his chasuble around the arms (Fig. 16).121

The counterseal on this piece is remarkably elaborate. The scene of the Imposition of the chasuble is set within an intricate frame with pointed arches decorated with crockets and finials (Fig. 17). The Virgin Mary sits under a baldachin in the centre of a Gothic building with lancet windows opening on both sides. The figure of the Virgin, holding the Child on her left arm and swaying slightly as she holds the vestment over the kneeling St. Ildefonso, is full of grace and

116

ACT, I.6.B.1.12. Alcalá de Henares, 6 July 1330. 117

The pillar on which the Virgin descended is near the West door of the cathedral. In 1214 a woman funds a chaplaincy in the altar next to the pillar, see Hernández(1996), doc. 348. See Gonzálvez and Pereda (1999), pp. 159-163, 168-171.

118

Cantigas de Santa María, Cantiga 2. Gonzalo de Berceo, Milagros de Nuestra Señora. Colección Odres Nuevos (ed. Daniel Devoto, Madrid: Castalia, 1991, 7th edition, first published 1965), Milagro I, pp. 25-28, 59-62. 119

Menéndez Pidal (1918), p. 156, no.195 for Gudiel, no.196 for Diaz Palomeque. 120

Javier Fernández Conde, „Religiosidad popular y piedad culta‟, in Historia de la Iglesia en España. Vol. II-2: La Iglesia en la España de los siglos VIII al XIV. Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (Ricardo García-Villoslada ed., Madrid: Editorial Católica, 1982), pp. 289-357, at p. 311.

121

Douet d‟Arcq (1863), Vol. I, no. 11345. Arch. de l‟Emp. J602, n.45/5; inscribed: EGIDII

60 elegance. The design is a remarkable achievement on the part of the artist, considering the reduced dimensions of the surface available. This counterseal presents innovative elements such as the architectural setting, whilst the inclusion of the heraldry of the Albornoz (to the left) and Luna families (to the right), gives it a personalised character, not found in earlier counterseals.122

The seal of his successor in the See of Toledo, Blas Fernández, further developed these ideas. His seal of 1353 shows the Archbishop of Toledo sitting inside a canopied structure with tracery and surmounted by pinnacles (Fig. 18).123 The patterned background behind the