ESCORIALE (EL ESCORIAL). - A hamlet about 40 km from Madrid, famous for a grandiose complex of buildings founded by Philip II in memory of the victory of St. Quentin. Begun in 1563, under the design and direction of Juan Bautista de Toledo and later by Giambattista Castello and Juan de Herrera, the building has a rectangular plan.
Within the complex are the century of St. Lawrence, two large courtyards, the church with a Greek cross plan, the royal palace, the Pantheon of the Kings, that of the Infants, the main chapel and the old church. The long façades, with four tiers of simple bichromatic stonework, are articulated by majestic portals and square towers at the corners and appear surmounted by the dome and the two bell towers of the church. Notable artists collaborated on the interior decoration, including B. Cellini, F. and L. Leoni, P. Tacca, L. Cambiaso, P. Tibaldi and L. Giordano. The chapter house contains an important collection of paintings. The palace is adorned with tapestries, including many based on cartoons by Goya. The distinguished monument, though inspired by 16th-century Italian architecture, has a distinctly Iberian character in its austere majesty and is the complete expression of the spirit of its founder, who had himself carried there to die in 1598.
The library was also founded by Philip II with an initial endowment of 4,000 volumes from his personal library, including some manuscripts. In 1576 he added the library of Diego de Mendoza, former ambassador to Venice and Rome. Other substantial collections came from Granada, Plasencia, Majorca, Barcelona, and from donations by testamentary legatees. Philip IV increased the revenues left by Philip II and a privilege was granted that a copy of every printed work be sent to the library; this privilege, through the viceroys, was extended to Naples, Milan and Flanders.
A fire in 1671 destroyed over 4,000 manuscripts. In 1876 about 3,000 volumes from the library of the Seminary of Cuba, founded by St. Anthony Mary Claret, were transferred to the Escorial.
Among the manuscripts are: the Itinerary of Antoninus from the 7th century, already listed in the inventory of the cathedral of Oviedo in 882; the Codex Aureus, written in gold letters and containing the four Gospels; an Explanation of the Apocalypse by St. Beatus of Liébana (9th century); the Vigilan or Albelda Codex, containing the ancient general and particular councils of Spain, Gaul and Africa, the Decretals, the Chronicle of Albelda up to the year 976; the Censura de perfeccion, in the autograph of St. Teresa of Jesus; the Breviary of Emperor Charles V, the Breviary of Philip II; a Cosmography by Ptolemy (15th century) and a Hebrew Bible written in Spain in the mid-15th century, etc. Among the incunabula there is one from Valencia, dated 1475, and one from Saragossa, dated 1481, unique copies. The Jeronymites were succeeded in 1885 by the Augustinians, who established there the Real Colegio de Alfonso XII.