ugh
successive reigns until, with indulgences, benefices, and privileges, it
grew to be a feudal power. As late as the fifteenth century, the workmen
of the Cathedral were exempted from tributes and duties by the Spanish
kings.[2] During the first years of Jeronimo's activity and the earliest
work on the building, we find curious descriptions of how the Moorish
prisoners were put to work on the walls, even to the number of "five
hundred Moslem carpenters and masons."

The Cathedral stands upon one of the hills of the old city. The exact
date of its inception, as well as the name of the original architect, is
doubtful, but it is certain that it was begun not long after the year
1100. At Jeronimo's death it could not have been far advanced, but the
crossing and the Capilla Mayor could be consecrated and employed for
services in the middle of the century, and the first cloisters were
built soon after. The nave and side aisles followed, their arches being
closed in the middle of the thirteenth century. The lantern was probably
placed over the crossing as late as the year 1200. Following an order
inverse to that pursued by later Gothic architects, the Romanesque
builders finished their work with the eastern end.

Its building extended over long periods marked by a gain in confidence
and skill and a development of architectural style, so that in its
stones we may read a most interesting story of different epochs, and to
serious students of church-building, the old Cathedral of Salamanca is
possibly the most interesting edifice in Spain. It is magnificent in its
early, virile manhood. The tracing of the many and varied influences is
as fascinating as it is bewildering. Every student and authority on the
subject has a new conception or some definite final conclusion in regard
to its many surprising elements. No student of Spanish architecture has
studied its origin with greater insight or knowledge than Senor Don
Lamperez y Romea in his recent luminous work on Spanish ecclesiastical
architecture.

To say that the old Cathedral was wholly a French importation would be
unjust; to speak of it as sprung entirely from native precedents and
inspiration would show equal ignorance. No, there were many and subtle
influences affecting its original conception and formation; first of all
and naturally, those derived from Burgundy, now only partially visible,
as for instance the vaulting of the nave. These precedents have been
altered or