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When first built by Dom João this raised part formed a covered verandah, the rest being, till about the time of Maria I., open to the sky and forming a charming and cool retreat during the heat of summer. The floor is of tiles and marble, and all along the south wall runs a bench entirely covered with beautiful tiles.
Fireworks and illuminations followed, and a gala performance at the opera for the succeeding night was ordered; but King João VI. was unable to attend.
Affonso V., the African, had died and been succeeded by his son João II. in 1487. Enriched by the confiscation of his victims' possessions, the king was enabled to do without the help of the Cortes, and so to establish himself as a despotic ruler.
Far more interesting than this church, because much better preserved and because it is clearly derived, in part at least, from Batalha, is the cathedral of Guarda, begun by João I. Guarda is a small town, not far from the Spanish border, built on a hill rising high above the bleak surrounding tableland to a height of nearly four thousand feet, and was founded by Dom Sancho I. in 1197 to guard his frontier against the Spaniards and the Moors.
When João died, his widow Dona Leonor is said to have urged her brother, the new king, to finish the work begun by their ancestor and so form a fitting burial-place for her son as well as for himself and his descendants.
The western is not of much interest, but that on the north probably the work of João Fenacho who is mentioned as being a well-known carver working at Setubal in 1513 is one of the most elaborate doorways of that period. The northern side of the church is now a featureless expanse
So far, beyond the great refinement of the details, there has been nothing very characteristic of João de Castilho, but when we find that the pilasters of the choir and apse, as well as the choir and transept arches, are panelled in that very curious way with strips crossing each other at long intervals to form diamonds which João employed in the passage arches in the Thomar dormitory and in the loggia at Batalha, it would be natural enough to conclude that this chapel is his work, and indeed the best example of what he could do with classic details.
The rest of the palace towards the west, between the west end of the chapel and the great square tower in which is the Sala dos Escudos, was probably also built about the time of Dom João I., but except for a few windows there is little of interest left which belongs to his time.
"And are there painters who are not painters?" asked João Çapata."
In due time the Moroccan Arabs were succeeded by their doughty rivals, the Portuguese of the heroic ages of D. D. João II. and Manoel. In Italian and Spanish it would be La Mina, in Portuguese A Mina.
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