UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME 



V ALLADOLI D , 

 OVIEDO, SEGOVIA, 

 ZAMORA, AVILA 

 AND ZARAGOZA 



A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT, WITH 

 390 ILLUSTRATIONS 



THE glory of Valladolid has departed, but the skeleton remains, and at- 

 tached to its ancient stones are the memories that Philip II. was born 

 here, that here Cervantes lived, and Christopher Columbus died. In this 

 one-time capital of Spain, in the Plaza Mayor, the fires of the Great 

 Inquisition were first lighted, and here Charles V. laid the foundation 

 of the Royal Armoury, which was afterwards transferred to Madrid. 



More than seven hundred years have passed since Oviedo was the proud 

 capital of the Kingdoms of Las Asturias, Leon, and Castile. Segovia, though no 

 longer great, has still all the appurtenances of greatness, and with her granite 

 massiveness and austerity, she remains an aristocrat even among the aristocracy 

 of Spanish cities. Zamora, which has a history dating from time almost without 

 date, was the key of Leon and the centre of the endless wars between the Moors 

 and the Christians, which raged round it from the eighth to the eleventh centuries. 

 In this volume the author has striven to re-create the ancient greatness of 

 these six cities, and has preserved their memories in a wealth of excellent and 

 interesting illustrations. 



UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME 



LEON, BURGOS 

 AND SALAMANCA 



A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT, WITH 

 462 ILLUSTRATIONS 



IN Leon, once the capital of the second kingdom in Spain in Burgos, which 

 boasts one of the most magnificent cathedrals in Spain, and the custodian- 

 ship of the bones of the Cid ; and in Salamanca, with its university, which 

 is one of the oldest in Europe, the author has selected three of the most 

 interesting relics of ancient grandeur in this country of departed greatness. 

 Leon to-day is nothing but a large agricultural village, torpid, silent, dilapi- 

 dated ; Burgos, which still retains traces of the Gotho-Castilian character, is a 

 gloomy and depleting capital : and Salamanca is a city of magnificent buildings, 

 a broken hulk, spent by the storms that from time to time have devastated her. 



Yet apart from the historical interest possessed by these cities, they still 

 make an irresistible appeal to the artist and the antiquary. They are content 

 with their stories of old-time greatness and their cathedrals, and these ancient 

 architectural splendours, undisturbed by the touch of a modernising and renovat- 

 ing spirit, continue to attract the visitor. 



