San Nicolás de Bari, Burgos

Iglesia San Nicolas de Bari behind the Cathedral of Burgos

Iglesia de San Nicolás de Bari is a Catholic church on Fernán González street in Burgos, Spain, located next to the Camino de Santiago, behind the Cathedral of Burgos. It is mainly known for having one of the largest altarpieces in Spain and the only one carved in limestone, commissioned by the Polanco noble merchant family of Burgos.

Since the Church of San Esteban was turned into a museum, it has served as the seat of the parish of San Esteban.

Main Altarpiece of the Church and the tombs of Don Gonzalo and Don Alfonso Polanco

Description

Tombstone of Don Gregorio de Polanco

The church was built in 1408, replacing another Romanesque temple.[1] Inside the temple presides one of the most impressive and monumental altarpieces of the Castilian Renaissance art, designed and produced in the fifteenth century by Simón de Colonia and his son Francisco de Colonia The altarpiece dedicated to St. Nicholas is an imposing retable that is unique among its contemporaries in terms of its size and its materials. It is both the largest lay commissioned carved retable from late medieval Burgos and the only altarpiece made from stone that survives from the city’s late medieval period

This main altarpiece was financed by the Burgos merchant Don Gonzalo Lopez de Polanco prior to his death in 1505 in order to serve as a funerary monument for his family. The work measures 15.55 by 9.04 meters and is made of a porous limestone from Hontoria de Cantera, a small town in the province of Burgos. This type of stone was often used in the construction of buildings, including the Cathedral of Burgos and the Monasteries of San Pablo but was seldom used for altarpieces.[2]

The high altarpieces from the Cathedral of Toledo (c. 1498-1504), the Cathedral of Seville (c. 1482-1492), the Carthusian Monastery of El Paular (c. 1490-1500), and the Cathedral of Oviedo (c. 1500-1505), are all of similar in scale to Polanco’s altarpiece but the majority of these works were carved from wood and then polychromed.[3]

Sarcophagus of Martin Rodriguez de Maluenda and Leonor Alvarez de Castro y Lasso de la Vega, parents of Constanza Maluenda

Gonzalo López de Polanco’s funerary altarpiece is a depiction of the Heavenly Kingdom and a testament to his concern for the afterlife, containing representations of over 300 holy personages, all of whom Polanco hoped would assist in his salvation.

The Gothic sepulcher of Gonzalo Lopez de Polanco and that of his wife Leonor de Miranda resides at the beginning of the west façade of the altarpiece. The tomb of his brother Don Alfonso de Polanco and his wife Constanza de Maluenda de Castro[4] is at the beginning of the east façade. Next to the sepulcher of Gonzalo Lopez de Polanco lays the thombstone of his only son, merchant and Mayor of Burgos and father of famous secretary of the Jesuits Juan Alfonso de Polanco, Don Gregorio de Polanco. Along with his, reside the rests of his wife, Maria de Salinas, and his father, Don Gonzalo Lopez de Polanco ("the old one"). Other relatives and ancestors of the Polanco family are buried in the Convento of Santa Clara in Burgos and the Chapel of Santo Domingo and Nuestra Señora del Rosario in the Dominican Convent of San Pablo de Burgos (disappeared)

In addition to its Gothic tombs, the Renaissance arch of María Sáez de Oña and Fernando de Mena and the tables of the Burgos School of the Master of San Nicolás are also of great interest. Many of the works of art were also paid for by the Polanco family.

The Church of San Nicolas de Bari in Burgos was declared a National Monument in Spain on January 26, 1917.

The Polanco Family

Coat of arms of the Polanco family of Burgos

The Polanco was a noble merchant family with trading posts and house representatives in Florence,[5][6] Antwerp,[7] Bruges,[8] England,[9][10] France,[11] Portugal[12][13] and Seville.[14][15] The Polanco family exemplified the triumph of the merchants from Burgos in the XV and XVI centuries[16] and a historical list names it as one of the great international merchant families of the XV and XVI centuries along with the Maluenda, Ruiz, Haro, Bernuy and others.[17] Like the majority of the burgalese merchant families, they arrived from outside of the city attracted by its economic strength. Burgos was the capital of the Crown of Castille before Madrid succeeded it in 1561,[18] and had merchant navies that rivaled that of the Hanseatic League and Venice.[17][19]

Gonzalo Lopez de Polanco "the old one" (c.1425-?), was the first Polanco member that settled in Burgos coming from Santillana del Mar. He was the son of Juan Lopez (or Gonzalez) de Polanco who was a scribe and notary public for king Enrique IV of Castile in Santillana del Mar and mayor of Merindad de Campoo in 1422[20] and Leonor Lopez de Mendoza (or de Ovando) who descended from the House of Lasso de la Vega.

His great grandfather Juan (Gonzalez) de Polanco (c. 1350), the first Polanco of whom there is record, was a scribe and notary public for the King as well as Mayor of Santillana del Mar in 1386. His ancestors and relatives from Santillana del Mar are buried in the Capilla de Polanco dedicated to King of France Louis IX "The Saint" as well as the cloister in which its located.

House of the Polanco y Lasso de la Vega family in Santillana del Mar, also known as the House of Leonor Lasso de la Vega[21]

Along with the Polanco branch of Burgos, one more branch of the Polancos from Santillana settled in Suances (out of which the billionaire entrepreneur Jesús de Polanco descends)[22] and another in Oruña.

Gonzalo Lopez de Polanco had at least three sons: Alfonso (c.1450- 1491) who married his cousin Constanza Maluenda de Castro (c. 1450-1520), Gonzalo "the young one" Lopez Polanco (c. 1450- 1505) who married Leonor de Miranda (c.1450-1503) and Juana de Polanco (c.1450-?) who married Alvaro de Lerma,[23][24] parents to canon of the Cathedral of Burgos Gonzalo de Lerma Polanco and merchant García de Lerma. The Lerma Polanco branch were the patrons and are buried in the Chapel of the Presentation of the Cathedral of Burgos as well as the Chapel of Nuestra Señora de la Buena Mañana in the Iglesia San Gil de Abad.

Coat of arms of Polanco family of Santillana

Coat of Arms

There are two variants of the coat of arms of the Polanco family of Santillana del Mar. The oldest variant consists of a castle next to an eight pointed star (upper half on figure 1). The second variant has a band with two eight-pointed stars on each extreme and a tower with two cauldrons hanging from it (Polanco y Lasso de la Vega on figure 2 and the coat of arms of Luis de Polanco and Maria Cepeda on figure 3). The branches of Suances and Oruna had the two cauldrons on each side of the band and its eight-pointed starts as well as a castle (figure 4)

The Polanco branch of Burgos had the two eight-pointed stars on top of a castle that rests on 5 columns or bands and the cauldrons surround the shield.

Trade network of the family

Palace of the Maluenda Family, or Palacio de Castilfalé, in the Fernan Gonzalez street, Burgos

The Polanco family was involved and accumulated its wealth through the exportation of wool from the Spanish Mesta to the cities of Florence and Flanders (Antwerp and Bruges) through the Cantabrian ports of Santander, Laredo and Bilbao as well as Alicante and Cartagena.[25] They also had a business network that extended throughout the Iberian peninsula to Cordoba, Seville and Cadiz distributing products that arrived to Burgos from Flanders, England, France and Portugal[14][15] later from there getting involved in the trade with the Americas of sugar and gold.[26][27][28] The family established a majorat or "mayorazgo" in the XVI century[29][30] and their main palace in the city of Burgos was located in the street Fernan Gonzalez with street of Pozo Seco in the Barrio of San Pedro[31]

Most of the house representatives of the family in the cities outside of Spain where members of the family or basques from Biscay. Gonzalo Lopez de Polanco's grandsons for example, Luis and Gonzalo Polanco Salinas, were the house representatives (or "factores") in Florence.[32][33] The Palace of the Polancos in Florence was located in the center of the city on street Borgo Ognissanti and some of the burial slabs of the family representatives can be found in the Capilla de los Españoles and cloister in the Church of Santa Maria Novella.[6]

In Bruges, the Polanco-Maluendas had the Palace of Our Lady of Monserrat in Mallebergplaats as residence, built by merchant Diego Perez de Maluenda, nephew of Alfonso Polanco and Constanza de Maluenda, and are buried in the Chapel of the Holy Cross in the Basilica of the Holy Blood.[34][35][36] In Antwerp, Antonio de Polanco and his relatives had his palace in Keizerstraat in the old town of the city.[37] In Rouen, the family members had the Church of Saint-Etienne-des-Tonneliers.[27] The branch of the Polanco family of Burgos that resided in Seville and Cadiz also had the Capilla de los Burgaleses in the Convent of San Francisco in Seville.

Burgos later became an important city in the commerce of the Americas, in which the Polanco family and the merchant families it married into and formed business partnerships with (de Lerma, Maluenda, de Castro, Salamanca, Soria, Astudillo, Santa Cruz, Lopez Gallo, Pardo, Haro, Ruiz and others)[38] had a very active role from the very beginning [39][40][41][42][43][44] It was also in Burgos where the Laws of Burgos were passed in 1512.

In total 8 consul priors to the Consulado del Mar of Burgos emerged from the Polanco family of Burgos[45] as well as numerous mayors, bishops, counts, knights, governors and artists both in Spain and in America where many members of the family settled in the XVI and XVII centuries.[46]

References

  1. ↑ Ríos, Rodrigo Amador de los (1888). Burgos (in Spanish). D. Cortezo y Ca. p. 624.
  2. ↑ Reineck, Emily. "Piety and the Merchant Patron: A Case study of merchant patronage in early sixteenth-century Burgos (p. 8-9)" (PDF).
  3. ↑ Reineck, Emily. "Piety and the Merchant Patron: A Case study of merchant patronage in early sixteenth-century Burgos (p. 17)" (PDF).
  4. ↑ Cantera Burgos, Francisco. "Alvar García de Santa María y su familia de conversos : historia de la Judería de Burgos y de sus conversos más egregios".
  5. ↑ Otazu, Alfonso. "El espíritu emprendedor de los vascos". p. 141.
  6. 1 2 Blanca, Gonzalez Talavera. "Presencia y mecenazgo espanol en la Florencia medicea (p 129)" (PDF).
  7. ↑ Fagel, Raymond. "DE HISPANO-VLAAMSE WERELD. De contacten tussen Spanjaarden en Nederlanders 1496-1555" (PDF).
  8. ↑ Casado Alonso, H. "La nation et le quartier des Castillans de Bruges".
  9. ↑ Caunedo del Potro, Betsabé (1983). "Mercaderes castellanos en el golfo de Vizcaya (1475-1492): La Familia Polanco" (PDF). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. pp. 190–193.
  10. ↑ Jones Mathers, Constance. "Family Partnerships and International Trade in Early Modern Europe: Merchants from Burgos in England and France, 1470-1570". The Business History Review Vol. 62, No. 3 (Autumn, 1988). pp. 367–397.
  11. ↑ Basas Fernandez, Manuel (2015). "Los libros mercantiles de la Compañía de García y Miguel de Salamanca (Burgos, siglo XVI): El Libro de Ruan". Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. pp. 234–235, 240.
  12. ↑ Anthony, Joseph Drexel Biddle (1901). "The land of the wine;being an account of the Madeira Islands". p. 78.
  13. ↑ Instituto Fernan Gonzalez. "Boletín, Volume 43, Issue 162 - Volume 44, Issue 165".
  14. 1 2 Basas Fernandez, Manuel. "Mercaderes burgaleses en la Sevilla del siglo XVI".
  15. 1 2 Palenzuela Domínguez, Natalia. "Los mercaderes burgaleses en Sevilla a fines de la Edad Media".
  16. ↑ Payo Hernanz, René Jesús (2015). La Edad de Oro de la Caput Castellae"Los Grandes Clanes de Mercaderes, Comercio, Arte y Consolidacion Social: Los Polanco, de Cantabria a Castilla". Editorial Dossoles. pp. 207–214.
  17. 1 2 Bennassar, Bartolomé. "Valladolid en el Siglo de Oro (p. 95-99)".
  18. ↑ "Burgos (Municipality, Castilla y León, Spain)".
  19. ↑ "Mercaderes Burgueses del siglo XVI (p. 64)".
  20. ↑ "Sentencia favorable al concejo, pronunciada por Juan González de Polanco, alcalde de la Merindad de Campoo". Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Valladolid.
  21. ↑ "Patrimonio Civil de Santillana del Mar".
  22. ↑ González Echegaray, Maria del Carmen (1983). Santillana del Mar a través de su heráldica. Fundación Santillana. p. 123.
  23. ↑ Polanco, Juan Alfonso. "Polanci complementa. Epistolae et commentaria p. Joannis Alphonsi de Polanco e Societatis Jesu (Epistolae 2, page 4)".
  24. ↑ Reineck, Emily. "Piety and the Merchant Patron: A Case study of merchant patronage in early sixteenth-century Burgos (p. 20-21)" (PDF).
  25. ↑ Uriarte Melo, Clara. "Las rutas maritimas de la lana" (PDF).
  26. ↑ Lobo Cabrera, Manuel. "Mercaderes de Burgos en Canarias" (PDF).
  27. 1 2 Casado Alonso, Hilario. "La Edad Dorada del comercio burgalés (siglos XV y XVI)" (PDF). pp. 132–133.
  28. ↑ Diaz Blanco, Jose Manuel. "Antes de 1717: La Casa de Contratacion en el Cadiz del seiscientos (p.34-35)" (PDF).
  29. ↑ "Testimonio de posesión del mayorazgo fundado por Gonzalo López de Polanco y Leonor de Miranda".
  30. ↑ "Fundación del mayorazgo de Gregorio de Polanco y doña María de Salinas. Madrid".
  31. ↑ Carmona Uran, Gregorio. "Historia de las viejas ruas burgenses".
  32. ↑ GEI. "Diccionario de espiritualidad ignaciana, Volume 2 (p.1463)".
  33. ↑ Archivio di Stato di Firenze. "Carteggio universale di Cosimo I de Medici: (1549-1551) (p.126)".
  34. ↑ González Talavera, Blanca. "Presencia y mecenazgo español en la Florencia Medicea del Quinientos".
  35. ↑ Porras Gil, Concepcion. "Castilla sin fronteras. El movimiento de las ideas y las artes en la baja edad media" (PDF).
  36. ↑ Casado Alonso, Hilario. "El comercio internacional burgales: en torno a algunas publicaciones extranjeras".
  37. ↑ Fagel, Raymond. "DE HISPANO-VLAAMSE WERELD. De contacten tussen Spanjaarden en Nederlanders 1496-1555" (PDF).
  38. ↑ Palenzuela Domínguez, Natalia. "Los mercaderes burgaleses en Sevilla a fines de la Edad Media (p. 136)".
  39. ↑ Sanz, Eufemio Lorenzo. "Los Burgaleses en la colonizacion, conquista y comercio con America en la epoca moderna".
  40. ↑ Sanz, Eufemio Lorenzo. "Los Burgaleses en el descubrimiento y formacion de America".
  41. ↑ Hernández Sánchez-Barba, Mario. "Burgos y el descubrimiento".
  42. ↑ Sagarra Gamazo, Adelaida. "El grupo de Burgos y la esclavitud".
  43. ↑ Codon, Jose Maria. "Presencia de Burgos en America".
  44. ↑ Otte, Enrique. "Los Mercaderes y la conquista de America" (PDF).
  45. ↑ Basas Fernandez, Manuel. "Priores y Consules de la Universidad de Mercaderes y Consulado de Burgos en el siglo XVI" (PDF).
  46. ↑ Only in the XVIII century and after did members of the branches of Oruña and Suances settled in America. All the Polancos that settled in America from in the XVI and XVII centuries came from the Burgos branch.

Coordinates: 42°20′27″N 3°42′20″W / 42.34083°N 3.70556°W / 42.34083; -3.70556

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