Toledo Cathedral

Contents

List of Illustrations

Tables

Abbreviations

Acknowledgments

Note on the Text

Part 1

Introduction

Building Histories

The Historical Trajectory

Toledan Encounters

Chapter 1. The City

The Forma mezquite

Part 2

Chapter 2. The Design

Rodrigo and his Chapter

Building Big

Vaults

Chapels

Chapter 3. Rodrigo’s Project

Setting Out

New Altars, Old Altars

The Upper Levels

Building the Cathedral

Building Toledo

Chapter 4. Between Córdoba and Paris

Design and Transmission

Inventing vaults

Chapter 5. The Exemplary Form

Archaeological Evidence

Written Evidence

Stylistic Evidence

Finding the End

Part 3

Chapter 6. The Cathedral of Memory

Liturgy

The Dead

Sacred Topography

The Treasury

Chapter 7. Cults

Mad about Mary

Mary Multiplied

Greedyguts and Avarice

The Cult of St Ildefonso

The San Ildefonso Chapel

St Eugene

The Cross

Chapter 8. Urbs regia

The Royal Chapels

Kings and Crosses

History Embodied

Picturing History

Chapter 9. Cathedral and City

The Puerta del Reloj

The West Façade

The Puerta del Perdón

Chapter 10. Art and Belief

Tenorio and his Painters

Locating the Choir Enclosure

Picturing the Pentateuch

The Choir Enclosure and Image Culture in Late Medieval Castile

Conclusion. Toledo and Beyond

Glossary

Appendix

Notes

Bibliography

Index

“Few studies of Spanish Gothic architecture address the history and significance of a major cathedral with such mastery as does Tom Nickson’s Toledo Cathedral. Nickson’s meticulous scrutiny of primary texts and material evidence builds a cogent, persuasive construction narrative that illuminates the roots and trajectory of Toledo Cathedral’s distinctive design, while his reconstruction of the late medieval people, objects, and performances that animated this great building sheds unprecedented light on its continuing importance to a city bent on asserting its centrality to Iberian history, politics, and culture. Blending traditional architectural analysis with incisive social history, this impressive, generously illustrated book will reshape our understanding not just of Toledo’s history and meaning but also of the story and significance of Gothic architecture in Spain.”

—Pamela Patton, Princeton University