ESCORIALE (EL ESCORIAL). — Town approximately 40 km from Madrid, famous for a magnificent complex of buildings, founded by Filippo II in memory of the victory of S. Quintino. Begun in 1563, according to the design and under the direction of Juan Bautista de Toledo and subsequently of Giambattista Castello and Juan de Herrera, the building has a rectangular ground plan.
It comprises the convent of S. Lorenzo, two large courtyards, the Greek-cross church, the Royal Palace, the Pantheon of the Kings, that of the Infants, the high chapel, and the old church. The long façades, with four tiers of simple windows, are articulated by majestic portals and square towers at the corners, and appear to be surmounted by the dome and the two bell towers of the church. Distinguished artists contributed to the interior decoration, among them B. Cellini, P. and L. Leoni, P. Tacca, L. Cambiaso, P. Tibaldi, and L. Giordano. The chapter rooms contain an important collection of paintings. The palace is adorned with tapestries, including numerous ones based on cartoons by Goyo. The distinguished monument, although inspired by sixteenth-century Italian architecture, has a typically Iberian character in its austere majesty
and is the complete expression of the spirit of its founder, who had himself transported there in agony, in order to die there, in 1598.
The library, too, was founded by Filippo II, with an initial endowment of 4,000 volumes from his personal library, including some manuscripts. In 1576 the library of Diego de Mendoza, formerly ambassador to Venice and Rome, was added to II. Other substantial collections came from Granada, Plasencia, Majorca, and Barcelona; others were acquired through donations and testamentary bequests. Filippo IV increased the revenues left by Filippo II, and the privilege was issued whereby a copy of every printed work was to be sent to the library—a privilege that, through the viceroys, was extended to Naples, Milan, and the Netherlands.
A fire in 1671 destroyed more than 4,000 manuscripts. In 1876 approximately 5,000 volumes from the library of the Seminary of Cuba, founded by s. Antonio Claret, were transferred to E.
Among the manuscripts are noteworthy: The Itinerary of Antoninus from the seventh century, already listed in the inventory of the cathedral of Oviedo in 882; the Codex Aureus, written in golden letters and containing the four Gospels; an Explanación del Apocalipsis by s. Beato di Liébana from the ninth century; the Vigilian or Albeldense codex, which contains the ancient general and particular councils of Spain, Gaul, and Africa, the Decretals, and the Chronicle of Albelda up to the year 976; the Camino de perfección, in the autograph of s. Teresa di Gesù; the Breviary of the Emperor Carlo V; the illuminated Breviary of Filippo II; a Cosmografía by Ptolemy from the fifteenth century; and a Hebrew Bible, written in Spain in the middle of the fifteenth century, etc. Among the incunabula there is one from Valencia, dated 1475, and one from Saragossa dated 1481, a unique copy. The Hieronymites were succeeded in 1885 by the Augustinians, who established there the Real Colegio de Alfonso XIII. — Vedi tav. XLI.
BIBLI: J. Quevedo, Historia del real monasterio de S. Lorenzo llamado comunmente del E., Madrid 1849; J. de Sipilenza, Historia primitiva y exacta del monasterio del E. (ordinata da M. Sánchez y Pinillos), there 1881; O. Schubert, Geschichte d. Barock in Spanien, Esslingen 1908, see index; J. F. Ralola, Arquitectura del Renacimiento español, Barcellona 1929, see index; Cottineau, I. col. 1068; Eur. Eur. Am., XX, pp. 868–96. Mario d'Orsi