and in the upper part are large belfry
windows. This is not the original tower, for that was pulled down in
1515, when the present one was built in its stead by Pedro Esteves
Cogominho. Though of so late a date it is quite uninfluenced, not only
by those numerous buildings of Dom Manoel's time, which are noted for
their fantastic detail, but by the early renaissance which had already
begun to show itself here and there, and it is one of the most
picturesque church towers in the country.
A few feet to the west of the church there is a small open shrine or
chapel, a square vault resting on four pointed arches which are well
moulded, enriched with dog-tooth and surmounted by gables. This chapel
was built soon after 1342 to commemorate the miracle to which the church
owes its name. Early in the fourteenth century there grew at Sao
Torquato, a few miles off, an olive-tree which provided the oil for that
saint's lamp. It was transported to Guimaraes to fulfil a like office
there for the altar of Our Lady. It naturally died, and so remained for
many years till 1342, when one Pedro Esteves placed on it a cross which
his brother had bought in Normandy. This was the 8th of September, and
three days after the dead olive-tree broke into leaf, a miracle
[Illustration: FIG. 37.
CAPELLA OF D. JUAN OF CASTILLE.
TAKEN AT THE BATTLE OF ALJUBARROTA BY JOAO I, 1385, AND NOW IN THE
TREASURY OF N.S. DA OLIVEIRA GUIMARAES.]
[Illustration: FIG. 38.
GUARDA.
N. SIDE OF CATHEDRAL.]
greatly to the advantage and wealth of the church and of the town. From
that day the church was called Our Lady of the Olive Tree.
[Sidenote: Guarda.]
Far more interesting than this church, because much better preserved and
because it is clearly derived, in part at least, from Batalha, is the
cathedral of Guarda, begun by Joao I. Guarda is a small town, not far
from the Spanish border, built on a hill rising high above the bleak
surrounding tableland to a height of nearly four thousand feet, and was
founded by Dom Sancho I. in 1197 to guard his frontier against the
Spaniards and the Moors. Begun by Joao I. the plan and general design of
the whole church must belong to the beginning of the fifteenth century,
though the finishing of the nave, and the insertion of larger transept
windows, were carried out under Dom Manoel, and though the great reredos
is of the time of Dom Joao III. Yet the few chapels between the nave
buttresses are almost the only
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