e different art waves which spread over Spain during the centuries of
the temple's erection. In the western front, the rich Gothic portal of
the third period, the richest perhaps in sculptural variety of any on
the peninsula, contrasts with the high mongrel tower, a true example of
the composite towers so frequently met with in certain Spanish regions.
The second body of the same facade (western) is highly interesting, not
on account of its ornamentation, which is simple, but because of the
solid, frank structure, and the curious fortress-like turrets embedded
in the angles.

The flank of the building, seen from the north--for on the south side
stand the ruins of the old cathedral--is none too homogeneous, thanks to
the different styles in which the three piers of windows--of chapels,
aisles, and clerestory--have been constructed. The ensemble is
picturesque, nevertheless: the three rows of windows, surmounted by the
huge cupola and half-lost among the buttresses, certainly contribute
toward the general elegance of the granite structure.

V

CIUDAD RODRIGO

In the times of the Romans, the country to the west of Salamanca seems
to have been thickly populated. Calabria, situated between the Agueda
and Coa Rivers, was an episcopal see; in its vicinity Augustabriga and
Mirobriga were two other important towns.

Of these three Roman fortresses, and perhaps native towns, before the
invasion, not as much as a stone or a legend remains to relate the tale
of their existence and death.

Toward 1150, Fernando II. of Castile, obeying the military requirements
of the Reconquest, and at the same time wishing to erect a
fortress-town, which, together with Zamora to the north, Salamanca to
the west, and Coria to the south, could resist the invasion of Spain by
Portuguese armies, founded Ciudad Rodrigo, and twenty years later raised
the church to an episcopal see, a practical means of attracting
God-fearing settlers. Consequently, the twelfth-century town, inheriting
the ecclesiastical dignity of Calabria, if the latter ever possessed it,
besides being situated in the same region as the three Roman cities
previously mentioned, can claim to have been born a city.

One of the early bishops (the first was a certain Domingo) was the
famous Pedro Diaz, about whom a legend has been handed down to us. This
legend has also been graphically illustrated by an artist of the
sixteenth century; his painting is to be seen to the right