Note 44 — FURNITURE
Reading edition
The following words record the date of the construction of this place and its doors, and may be read (Plate xiii.) upon the scroll of tiles or alizares crowning the principal façade:—
☩ EL ︰ MUY ︰ ALTO ︰ ET ︰ MUY ︰ NOBLE ︰ ET ︰ MUY ︰ PODEROSO ︰ ET ︰ MUY ︰ CONQUERIDOR ︰ DON ︰ PEDRO ︰ POR ︰ LA ︰ GRACIA ︰ DE ︰ DIOS ︰ REY ︰ DE ︰ CASTIELLA ︰ ET ︰ DE ︰ LEON ︰ MANDÓ ︰ FACER ︰ ESTOS ︰ ALCÁZARES ︰ ET ︰ ESTOS ︰ PALACIOS ︰ ET ︰ ESTAS ︰ PORTADAS ︰ QUE ︰ FUÉ ︰ FECHO ︰ EN ︰ LA ︰ ERA ︰ DE ︰ MILL ︰ ET ︰ QUATROÇIENTOS ︰ Y ︰ DOS ︰
The observant Swinburne was not misled, like many travellers of to-day, into believing the Alcázar to be of purely Moorish origin. “Having read that the Moors built one part of this palace, I concluded I was admiring something as old as the Mahometan kings of Seville; but upon closer examination was not a little surprised to find lions, castles, and other armorial ensigns of Castille and Leon, interwoven with Arabesque foliages; and still more so, to see in large Gothic characters, an inscription informing me that these edifices were built in the fourteenth century, by the most mighty king of Castille and Leon, Don Pedro.”