Note 227 — Chapter XI · TOLEDO.

“In the era 1264 (A.D. 1226) the king D. Fernando, and the archbishop Don Rodrigo, laid the first stones in the foundation of the church of Toledo.”—Anales Toledanos III. Salazar de Mendoza, in the prologue to the Chronicle of Cardinal D. Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, says that the function took place on the 14th Aug. 1227, the eve of the Assumption. The archbishop, in his History, lib. ix. cap. 13, says that the work was carried on to the great admiration of the people: “Et tunc jecerunt primum lapidem” (the Toledo MS. has lapides) “Rex et Archiepiscopus Rodericus in fundamento ecclesiæ Toletanæ, quæ in forma mexquitæ” (of a mosque) “à tempore Arabum adhue stabat: cujus fabrica opere mirabili de die in diem non sine grandi admiratione hominum exaltatur.” It is vexatious to find the archbishop who laid the first stone writing a history of his own times, and saying nothing throughout the entire volume beyond these few words about his cathedral. No one seems to be able to judge what will interest another age. Most of the archbishop’s facts are rather insignificant, and what thanks would we not have given him for any information as to the building of one of the grandest churches of the age!—See his History—finished in 1243—in vol. iii. of Coll. Patrum Ecc. Toletanæ, Madrid, 1795.