15th century

A view over the courtyard of San Juan de los Reyes.

Solemnity, seclusion and sin at San Juan de los Reyes Monastery

Posted on by The Gothic Dispatch

Matthew Lewis’s novel The Monk is full of gothic obscurity. I travelled to Toledo to get as close as possible to the novel’s setting – as long as you don’t mean geographically.

Greetings from San Juan de los Reyes Monastery, where Franciscan monks lived and studied in solemnity and seclusion. Discover the corridors and chapel of the monastery built for Spanish royalty. Wonder at the possible sins and secrets kept behind the many locked doors. And succeed where the monk Ambrosio and I have failed, in staying on the path of virtue.

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In a display case in Toledo’s museum of witchcraft in Spain is a handwritten recipe book surrounded by obscure plants preserved in jars.

The wise healer becomes the evil witch in Toledo’s Brujeria Museum

Posted on by The Gothic Dispatch

Just as superstition and misunderstanding have ruined the reputation of this writer, so they ruined the image of the witch in 15th century Europe.

Greetings from the Brujeria Museum, a cabinet of curiosities collecting the history of witchcraft in Spain – and her fall from wise healer to wicked heathen. Learn why witchcraft was safer practiced in the south of Spain. Read the handwritten recipe books for spells of transformation, invisibility and more. And help keep the image of the wise witch alive – even if you can’t save the other.

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The interrogation chair, a torture device of the Spanish Inquisition, in Toledo’s Museum of Torture. Iron spikes on all surfaces leave little to the imagination.

The Museum of Torture and the “painful questions” of the Spanish Inquisition

Posted on by The Gothic Dispatch

So, you’ve been accused of heresy in 15th century Spain. What’s next? I won’t keep you in the dark. That, after all, is the job of the Spanish Inquisition.

Greetings from the Museum of Torture, a collection of “painful questions” put to the accused during the reign of Fernando II and Isabella I. Look back with regret at the events leading up to accusation and incarceration. Browse the cruel and merciless methods used to extract confessions from enemies of the state. And ask yourself if, maybe, you were better off kept in the dark.

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Iron pillars hold up the roof of an old arcade in central Paris. A cobbled path leads through and, on the other side, the green of trees hints at a local square.

Dancing with death at the former site of Holy Innocents’ Cemetery

Posted on by The Gothic Dispatch

Remember that war, plague or famine could carry us to the grave at any instant. So, let’s just try and enjoy ourselves before that.

In this dispatch, visit the former site of Holy Innocents’ Cemetery and the first visual example of a danse macabre. Search high and low for what remains of the cemetery – not least its reputation for depravity. And join me in learning that, whether you want to visit a country’s monuments or assassinate one of its monarchs, it’s best to seize every moment.

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