Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/649

Rh S E G S E I 623 2500 feet above the sea, monotonous enough in appear- ance, and burnt to a dull brown during summer, but yet producing some of the finest corn in the Peninsula. Along the whole south-eastern boundary the Guadarrama range of mountains rises up suddenly, like a huge barrier, sepa- rating Old from New Castile and the basin of the Douro from that of the Tagus, affording, too, among its ravines and upon its slopes some remarkably fine scenery. There are two well-known passes or " puertos " over the sierra, those of the Nava Cerrada and of Somosiera. The former has been, until quite a recent date, the chief means of communication with the outer world, save when blocked by winter snows. It winds round the lower southern slope of the Penalara (8500 feet). The Puerto de Somo- siera lies north of the Penalara. By it in 1808 Napoleon descended upon Madrid. Though to the eye of the stranger almost desert-like in appearance, the province of Segovia is well watered by the streams which rise in the Guadarrama range and flow northwards to the Douro, and by careful methods of irrigation. The Eresma, Cega, Duraton, and Riaza are the principal watercourses. With the exception of Segovia and Sepulveda, there is no town of any import- ance, the inhabitants being for the most part employed in agricultural and pastoral pursuits and backward in civilization. Since the completion (1883) of the railway from Medina del Campo to the city of Segovia, however, the towns en route have begun to show signs of animation ; and, as the province contains monuments of deepest inter- est to the historian and ecclesiologist, it bids fair to receive its due measure of attention and enlightenment. At the foot of the Nava Cerrada pass lies the royal demesne and summer residence of La Granja, or San Ildefonso, one of the great show places of the Peninsula. The chief trades and manufactures formerly carried on in the province weaving, tanning, making of earthenware, &c. have been drawn away to more commercial centres. Paper-making holds its own to some extent, owing to the excellence of the water ; and for the same reason, together with the superior quality of the breed of sheep, the picturesque scenes attendant upon the preparation of the fleeces may still be witnessed. Such prosperity, however, as Segovia retains is dependent upon its agricultural produce wheat, rye, barley, peas, hemp, flax, <fec. together with the rearing of sheep, cattle, mules, and pigs. The sierras yield excellent granite, marble, and limestone ; but hitherto the difficulty of trans- port has prevented any development of mineral wealth. SEGOVIA, the capital of the above province, clusters upon a narrow ridge of rock which rises in the valley of the Eresma, where this river is joined by its turbulent little tributary the Clamores, and is one of the best specimens extant of the Gotho-Castilian cities. Founded originally as a Roman pleasure resort, it became in the Middle Ages a great royal and religious centre, and was surrounded by Alphonso VI. with the walls and towers which still give to it, even in their dilapidation, the air of a military stronghold. The streets are steep, irregular, and narrow, and are lined with quaint old-fashioned houses as irregular and forbid- ding, built for the most part of granite from the neighbour- ing sierra. The place teems with records and monuments of the many vicissitudes of fortune and art through which it has passed, foremost among the latter being the ancient Alcdzar, the cathedral, the aqueduct of Trajan, and a notable array of churches and other ecclesiastical edifices. The Alcazar is perched upon the western tip of the long tongue of rock upon which the city is built, and which at this point has a sheer descent upon three sides into the valley. Of the original Middle-Age fortress but little re- mains save the noble facade, the building having been wantonly fired in 1862 by the students of the artillery school then domiciled within its walls, and all but destroyed. It is now in course of slow but praiseworthy restoration. The work is Gotho-Moorish, with an admixture of Renaissance in the decoration. Some of the rooms deserve notice, especially the Sala del Trono and the Sala de Recibimiento. The views obtained over the outlying vega from the towers and windows are superb. The 16th-century cathedral (1521-1577), the work of Juan Gil de Ontanon and his son Rodrigo, occupies the site of a former church of the 1 1th century, of which the present cloisters, rebuilt in 1524, formed part. It is a well-proportioned and delicate piece of Late Gothic the latest of its kind in Spain 317 feet long by 177 wide. The central nave rises 99 feet and the tower 330. The exterior is the least satisfactory portion, at once bald and over-decorated ; the interior is light and pure, with an effectiveness greatly enhanced by some very fine stained glass. The churches of Segovia are legion, though many of them are closed and fast fall- ing into disrepair. The most remarkable are those of La Vera Cruz (Knights Templar, Romanesque of the early 13th century), San Millan and San Juan (both Romanesque of second half of 1 3th century), El Parral (Gothic of early 16th century), and Corpus Christi, an ancient Jewish sanctuary and an interesting specimen of Moorish work. The towers and external cloistering, or corredores, of several of the later churches especially those of San Esteban and San Martin are fine. The great aqueduct, however, called El Puente del Diablo, ranks usually as the glory of Segovia, and is remarkable alike for its colossal propor- tions, its history, its picturesqueness, and the art with which it is put together. Erected first, according to fairly reliable tradition, in the time of the emperor Trajan, and several times barely escaping destruction, it is now, after nearly eighteen hundred years, in perfect working order, bringing the pure waters of the Rio Frio down from the Sierra Fonfria, distant 10 miles to the south. The bridge portion striding across the valley into the city is 847 yards long, and consists of a double tier of superimposed arches, built of rough-hewn granite blocks, laid without lime or cement. The three centre arches are 102 feet in height. - Segovia finally lost its ancient prosperity when it was taken and sacked by the French in 1808. Some insignificant manufactories of cloth, leather, paper, and rude earthen- ware still exist in the suburb of San Lorenzo, but the trade of the place languishes year by year. The city is the see of a bishop, suffragan to Valladolid. The population in 1877 was 11,318. SEIGNORY, or SEIGNIORY, is the relation of the lord of a fee or a mamor to his tenant. There is no land in Eng- land without its lord : " Nulle terre sans seigneur " is the old feudal maxim. Where no other lord can be discovered the crown is lord as lord paramount. The principal inci- dents of a seignory were fealty and rent-service. In return for these privileges the lord was liable to forfeit his rights if he neglected to protect and defend the tenant or did anything injurious to the feudal relation. Every seignory now existing must have been created before the Statute of Quia Emptores, which forbade the .future creation of estates in fee-simple by subinfeudation (see REAL ESTATE). The only seignories of any importance at present are the lord- ships of manors. They are regarded as incorporeal heredita- ments, and are either appendant or in gross. A seignory appendant passes with the grant of the manor ; a seignory in gross that is, a seignory which has been severed from the demesne lands of the manor to which it was originally appendant must be specially conveyed by deed of grant. SEINE. This, one of the chief rivers of France (Lat. Sequana), rises on the eastern slope of the plateau of Langres, 18 miles to the north-west of Dijon. It keeps the same general direction (north-westwards) throughout its entire course, but has numerous windings : between its