see captionCREST OF JOUSTING HELMET(Royal Armoury, Madrid)
CREST OF JOUSTING HELMET(Royal Armoury, Madrid)
Thus, when the Romans entered Spain the natives of this country were experienced in the use of arms, and made their own from such materials as their own soil yielded. Their tempering was excellent, for Diodorus Siculus tells us that they had already discovered the secret of burying the metal in order that the moisture of the earth might eat away its baser portions. Besides the ancient Bilbilis in Aragon, a Spanish city famous for her faultless tempering of implements and weapons was Toledo. Martial,[103]the most illustrious son of Bilbilis, has sung the praises of the one; less celebrated poets, such as Gracio Falisco, of the other.[104]Even the armourers of Rome were found to be less skilful and successful swordsmiths than the Spaniards;[105]and so, before the second Punic War, the modelor the models of the Spanish sword had been adopted by the Roman army.
Various of the native peoples of Iberia were distinguished by a special instrument or mode of fighting. Strabo says that the Iberians as a general rule employed two lances and a sword. Those of Lusitania were especially adroit in hurling darts. Each of their warriors kept a number of these darts contained within his shield. Upon the head they wore a helmet of a primitive pattern strapped beneath the chin. This helmet, called thebacula, protected all the wearer's face, and had a mitred shape, with three red feathers on the crest. Together with these arms, the Lusitanians used a copper-headed lance and the typical form of Celtiberian sword. More singular and celebrated in their mode of fighting were the Balearic islanders, who carried, through persistent exercise, the art of slinging stones and leaden plummets to the utmost limit of perfection. The beaches of these islands, we are told, abounded, then as now, in small, smooth pebbles, “weapons of Nature's own contrivance,” rarely suited to the sling.[106]These slings were of three patterns, severally designed for near, far, and middlingdistances. The lead or stone projectile sometimes weighed a pound. Accordingly—so strenuous was their zeal to be unrivalled in the practice of this arm—even as little children the Baleares went without their dinner, till, with the formidablefundain their hand, they struck the stick their parents planted for them in the soil. Pliny and Polybius, notwithstanding, state that the sling itself was not indigenous in this region, but imported from Phœnicia. However this may be, the islanders within a little time contributed to swell the power of the Roman legions.
The Visigoths continued using many of the Roman or Ibero-Roman arms. Nevertheless, the solid armour of the Romans, such as their greaves and thigh-pieces and breastplates, was now replaced by primitive chain-mail resembling scales of fishes. According to Saint Isidore, Procopius, and other writers, the favourite weapons of the Spanish Visigoths were the sword orspatha, long, broad-bladed, with a double edge; the hatchet, the bow, the sling, the lance, the scythe, the mace, thepilumor javelin (used extensively in Spain throughout the Middle Ages),[107]thedolon, adagger which concealed itself within a wooden staff, and took the name of “treacherous” or “wily” from this circumstance; and theconto, a keenly pointed pike. We also find among the military engines of the Visigoths thebalista, for hurling stones and darts of large size, and thearieteor battering-ram, constructed from a gnarled and powerful tree-trunk braced with iron and suspended by a cable. Their defensive body-armour consisted of a coat of mail composed of bronze or iron scales, and called thelórigaorperpunte. This was worn above thethorachomachus, a kind of tunic made of felt, in order to shield the body from the roughness of the mail. Upon their heads they wore an ample helmet.
see captionSPANISH CROSSBOWMAN(Late 15th Century. Royal Armoury, Madrid)
SPANISH CROSSBOWMAN(Late 15th Century. Royal Armoury, Madrid)
A fragment of stone carving preserved in Seville museum shows us two Visigothic Spanish warriors who wear a tunic and helmet of a simple pattern, and carry a two-edged sword and a large shield. García Llansó says, however, that the nobles of this people wore close-fitting mail tunics covered with steel scales, a kind of bronze bassinet,tight breeches, and high boots, and carried, besides the sword which was slung from their belts, a large, oval shield.[108]
From about the time of the Moorish invasion, the changes in the arms and armour of the Spaniards coincided in the main with those in other parts of western Europe. Nevertheless, as late as the eleventh century the Spanish sword retained the characteristic which had endeared it to the Roman legionaries—namely, a hilt of small dimensions and a broad and shortish blade. In course of time the blade grows narrower and begins to taper towards the point. Thequillonsor crossbars (Spanisharriaces, from the Arabicarrias, a sword-hilt) were originally straight or semicircular, and ended in a knob (manzana, literally “apple”; Latinpomum, Englishpommel). Thus, in thePoem of the Cidwe find the verse:—
“Las manzanas é los arriaces todos de oro son.”
Throughout these early times the scabbard was of wood lined with leather or with velvet, and strengthened and adorned with leather bands; but when the owner was of high estate, it oftenbore enamels in thecloisonnéstyle; that is, with patches of the coloured, vitreous substance bordered and fastened in by metal wire. In Spain this style, undoubtedly of foreign origin, was superseded in the thirteenth century bychamplevéenamelling, in which the enamel lies within a hollowed ground.
Spanish mediæval weapons down to the fourteenth century are specified in thefueroof Cáceres and other documents contemporary with their use. Next always in importance to the sword we find the hatchet, lance, crossbow, and mace. Montaner'sChronicle of the Kings of Aragontells us that the sovereign, mace in hand, dealt one of his enemies “such a blow upon his iron hat that his brains came oozing out at his ears.” Covarrubias mentions a dart-shaped missile called theazcona—a word which some authorities derive from the Arabic, and others from the Basquegascona, an arm employed by the natives of Gascony. The former derivation seems the likelier. Thefueroof Cáceres mentions thetarágulo, described by the Count of Clonard as a kind of dagger; and at the close of the thirteenth century appears in Spain the poniard, which was called among the GermansPanzerbrecher, or “breaker of cuirasses,” and among the French themisericorde.
Thefueroof Cáceres tells us, furthermore, what was the regular equipment of the Spanish foot and mounted soldier of that period. “Each horseman shall go forth to battle with a shield, a lance, a sword, and spurs; and he that carries not all these shall pay each time five sheep wherewith to feed the soldiers…. Each mounted man or pawn that trotteth not or runneth not to quit his town or village as he hears the call,—the first shall have his horse's tail cut off; the other shall have his beard clipped.”
Defensive arms included various kinds of coverings for the head; thelórigaor covering for the body, thecálciasor covering for the legs, and the shield.
Thelóriga(Latinlorica) was the ordinary hauberk or shirt of mail, such as was worn all over military Europe, made of rings or scales sewed strongly on a linen or leather under-tunic consisting of a single piece, and reaching to the knee. TheGran Conquista de Ultramarof Alfonso el Sabio also informs us that it was tied at certain openings known asventanas(“windows”), and that the collar of the tunicwas called thegorguera. The resistance of the Spanishlórigato a pointed weapon does not seem to have been great, for the Chronicle of the Monk of Silos says that at the siege of Viseo the arrows of the Moorish bowmen went through the triplelórigasof their foe.
Towards the twelfth century the custom arose of wearing over the coat of mail a loose, sleeveless frock (theWaffenrockof Germany), woven of linen or some other light material, painted or embroidered with the owner's arms. As the Count of Clonard observes, it is clearly this kind of frock that is referred to in the following passage of theLeyes de Partida: “For some (of the knights) placed upon the armour carried by themselves and by their horses,[109]signs that were different one from another, in order to be known thereby; while others placed them on their heads, or on their helmets.”
see captionTHE BATTLE OF LA HIGUERUELA(Wall painting. Hall of Battles, El Escorial)
THE BATTLE OF LA HIGUERUELA(Wall painting. Hall of Battles, El Escorial)
The Normans used a form of hauberk with attached mail-stockings. In Spain we find inlieu of this leg-covering, the Romancálcia(Latincaliga), extending from the foot to just below the thigh, and subsequently called thebrafonera.[110]This was, in fact, a separate mail-stocking, made of closely interlacing steel rings, and worn above the leather boots ortrebuqueras.
The Spanishescudoor shield was usually made of wood covered with leather, and painted with the arms or the distinguishing emblem of its lord. Sometimes it was made of parchment. Thus the Chronicle of the Cid informs us that this hero after death was equipped with “a painted parchment helm and with a shield in the same wise.” Another form of Spanish shield, theadarga(atareca,atarca; Arabicad-darka, to hold upon the arm), of which I shall subsequently notice specimens in the Royal Armoury, was commonly in the shape of a rough oval or of a heart, and made of various folds of leather sewn and glued together. The Chronicle of Alfonso the Eleventh speaks of a certain famine which broke out among the Spanish troops, and caused them such privationthat “they chewed the leather of their shields.”[111]
The battle headgear of this people passed through many changes. “The helmet of the eighth century,” says the Count of Clonard, “was the same which had been used by the Cantabrians and Vascones before the general peace proclaimed by Augustus Cæsar. Helmets of this design are engraved upon the medals (reproduced by Florez) of the imperial legate Publius Carisius. They covered the entire head and face, leaving only two holes for the eyes, as we see upon the carved stone fragments in relief at the door of the church of San Pedro de Villanueva, representing the struggle of King Froila with a bear.”
Another form of helmet which the Spaniards began to use about this time was thealmofar(Arabical-mejfar), made of iron scales. It covered all the head, with the exception of the eyes, nose, and mouth, and corresponds to thecamailof the Normans. Beneath it was worn the linencofia, a kind of bag or cap in which the warrior gathered up his hair. After about another century a round or conical iron helmet(capacete), fitted with cheek-pieces, was superposed on thealmofarand fastened round the chin with straps. Thecapaceteof a noble was often adorned with precious stones and coronets of pure gold, while a spike projecting from the top was tipped with a large carbuncle, in order to catch and to reflect the flashing sunbeams.
The substitution for this spike of multiform and multicolor figures or devices dates from a later age. The Chronicle of Alfonso the Eleventh describes as something altogether novel and surprising, the crests upon the helmets of the foreign knights who flocked, in 1343, to Algeciras to aid the cause of Christianity against the Moor. “All of them,” says this narrative, “placed their helmets at the door of their dwellings, supporting them on stout and lofty staves; and the figures on the helmets were of many kinds. On some was the figure of a lion; on others that of a wolf, or ass's head, or ox, or dog, or divers other beasts; while others bore the likeness of the heads of men; faces, beards, and all. Others, too, had wings as those of eagles or of crows; and so, between these various kinds there were in all as many as six hundred helmets.”
This brings us to the celebrated helmet orcimera(Platexxxix.), now in the Royal Armoury of Madrid, believed till recently to have belonged to Jayme the First, conqueror of Palma and Valencia, and the greatest, both in spirit and in stature, of the old-time kings of Aragon.
Such part of this interesting helmet as is left consists of two pieces, one of them resting loosely on the other. Baron de las Cuatro Torres infers, from a detail which will presently be noted, that the lower of these two pieces is not original; and his opinion was shared by the Count of Valencia de Don Juan, who, notwithstanding, thought the spurious part to be coeval with the actual crest. The upper part consists of a fragment of a helm, made, like some flimsy theatre property, of linen, card, and parchment, and surmounted with the figure of the mythical monster known in the Lemosin language as thedrac-pennat, or winged dragon, which formed, conjointly with the royal crown, the emblem or device of all the Aragonese sovereigns from Pedro the Fourth to Ferdinand the Second.
see captionPARADE HARNESS OF PHILIP THE THIRD(Royal Armoury, Madrid)
PARADE HARNESS OF PHILIP THE THIRD(Royal Armoury, Madrid)
There is, however, no reason to doubt the helmet's authenticity. It is known to have remained for centuries at Palma, in the Balearics, where it was worn upon the day of Saint Sylvesterin each year, by a person who walked in the procession of theStandartto celebrate the capture of the city by Don Jayme. This would explain the lower piece contrived and added to the crest itself, in order to adjust the incomplete and upper portion to the subsequent wearer's head. The helmet as originally made was meant for tourneying only, and is therefore fashioned, not of metal, but of the frail theatrical materials I have stated. Copper and wood, says Viollet-le-Duc, were also used in making these objects. The earliest wearer of the helm cannot have been Don Jayme. Baron de las Cuatro Torres remarks that on an Aragonese coin of the reign of Pedro the Fourth, the monarch is wearing on his head something which looks identical with thiscimera.[112]Demay has further told us that the vogue of suchcimeras, whose principal purpose was to distinguish seigniories, lasted from 1289 till the introduction of movable visors at the end of the fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth century. The present helmet, therefore, probably belonged to Don Pedro the Fourth of Aragon (“the Ceremonious”), and was made atsome time in his reign—that is, between 1335 and 1387. A document has been discovered in which this monarch's son, Don Martin of Aragon, commands that year by year his own helmet, “nostram emprissiam sive cimbram,” together with the banner of Jayme the Conqueror, is to be publicly exhibited in commemoration of the capture of Majorca. Therefore we may conclude from these important facts that here is the crest of a tourneying helmet which belonged either to Don Pedro the Fourth of Aragon, or else to either of, or possibly both, his sons, Don Juan and Don Martin.
The changes which occur in Spanish arms and armour between the fourteenth and the sixteenth centuries keep pace, upon the whole, with those in other parts of Europe. It is, however, opportune to notice how the Spanish armies of this time were organized. Their regular cavalry consisted of: (1) the force directly mustered by the king and under his immediate leadership; (2) the mounted burghers who defrayed the whole or part of their expenses, being in certain instances assisted by a stipend which had been created by municipal and localfueros; (3) the knights belonging to the military orders; and (4) the barons, together withthe men these last were called upon, obedient to the summons of the royalmandadero(messenger), to mount, equip, provision, and bring to war with them. Such was the heavy cavalry of later mediæval Spain. A lighter class, said by the Count of Clonard to have been recruited from the southern regions of the land, was known asalfaraces,almogávares, oromes de la gineta.
These latter lived in frugal fashion. Water was their only drink; bread and the roots of plants their only food. Their clothing, too, was of the slightest, consisting merely of a shirt, high boots, and a kind of net upon the head. They wore no armour, and carried as their only weapons anazagayaand a lance. Their principal value was in skirmishing.
The infantry were also of two kinds. The first, collective or stipendiary, was levied by the towns and cities, and from them received its maintenance. The second was thealmogávares, who served for scouting, like their mounted comrades of the same denomination. The stipendiary or regular troops proceeded chiefly from the northern provinces—Alava, Guipúzcoa, the Asturias, and the mountains of León, and carried commonly the lance, sword, sling, crossbow, and theazagaya—thislast a dart-shaped missile borrowed from the Berber tribesmen,—the ancient Moorishazgaya, the modernassagaiorassegaiof Zululand.[113]
see captionMOORISH CROSSBOW AND STIRRUP(Museum of Granada)
MOORISH CROSSBOW AND STIRRUP(Museum of Granada)
In a country which was plunged in ruinous and almost unremitting internecine strife; which was (and is) inherently averse to commerce or to agriculture; and where the bulk of all the national wealth was either locked away in churches and in convents, or in the coffers of great nobles who were frequently as wealthy as, or even wealthier than, the Crown, the armour of the common mediæval Spanish soldier consisted of the plain and necessary parts and nothing more. The aristocracy, upon the other hand, often adorned their battle-harness with the finest gold and silver work, and studded it with precious stones. Even the esquires would sometimes imitate their masters in this costly mode. “We command,” said Juan the First in one of his pragmatics dating from the end of the fourteenth century, “that no shield-bearer shall carry cloth of gold or any manner of gold ornament upon his trappings, scarf, or saddle; or onhis badge or arms, excepting only on the edges of his bassinet and his cuisses, together with the bit and poitral of his horse, which may be gilded.”
It is also evident from Royal Letters of this time, that the kings of Spain depended very largely for the flower of their forces on the private fortune or resources of the Spanish noblemen or even commoners; nor did they ever hesitate to turn these means of other people to their own particular good. The Ordinance of Juan the First, dated Segovia, 1390, commands that, “Every man who possesses 20,000maravedisand upward shall have his proper set of harness, habergeons and scale-pieces, and lappet-piece, cuisses and vantbrasses, bassinet, camail, and war-cap[114]with its gorget; or else a helmet, together with sword and dagger, glaive and battle-axe. And whoso possesses 3000maravedisand upward shall have his lance and javelin and shield, his lappet-piece and coat of mail, and iron bassinet without a camail, and acapellina, together with his sword,estoque, and knife. And whoso has between 2000 and 3000maravedisshall have his lance and sword orestoqueand knife, or a bassinetorcapellina, together with a shield. And whoso has from 600 to 2000maravedisshall have a crossbow with its nut and cord and stirrup, quiver and strap, and three dozen shafts. And whoso has from 400 to 600maravedisshall have a lance, a javelin, and a shield. And whoso has 400maravedisshall have a javelin and a lance.”
The wealthier classes responded lavishly to this command. Describing the battle of Olmedo and the forces of Don Alvaro de Luna sent against the Navarrese, the chronicle of the Constable declares that among his entire host could hardly have been found a single cavalier whose horse was not covered with trappings, and its neck with mail. “For some there were that carried divers figures painted on the aforesaid trappings, and others that bore upon their helmets jewels that were a token from their mistresses. And others carried gold or silver bells suspended from their horses' necks by thick chains; or plates upon their helmets studded with precious stones, or small targes richly garnished with strange figures and devices. Nor was there less variety in the crests upon their helmets; for some bore likenesses of savage beasts, and others plumes of various colours; while others carriedbut a plume or two upon their helmet crest, like unto those upon the forehead of their horses.”
The fifteenth century is often called in Spain her golden age of arms—not in the sense that she invented anything new relating to this craft, but that her warriors were more fully and more frequently equipped with what had been imported from elsewhere. As in the case of crested helmets, foreign initiative brought about the substitution of plate or German armour—developed from the chain armour and the coat of mail—for the earlier sets of disconnected pieces. Possibly, as a chronicle which describes the Englishmen and Gascons who were present at the siege of Lerma in 1334 would seem to indicate, it was in consequence of this direct association with the foreigner that the older form of Spanish harness yielded to the new. However this may be, plate armour certainly appeared in Spain at some time in the fourteenth century, and grew in vogue throughout the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries. Suits of armour worn by Spanish pikemen and crossbowmen of this period may be profitably studied in the Royal Armoury (Platexl.); and the same harness is reproduced in the choir-stalls of Toledo cathedral, carved by Maestre Rodrigo in1495. It is also useful to consult the prolix description of thePasso Honroso(1433) of Suero de Quiñones, held at the bridge of Orbigo, as well as the painting of the battle of La Higueruela (Platexli.) in the Sala de las Batallas of the Escorial. We find from these authoritative sources that Spanish harness then consisted of the war-hat orcapacete, with itsbarboteor piece to cover the mouth and cheeks, and fringe of mail (mantillos) to protect the neck: thecoracinaor korazin of tinned steel plates;[115]the coat of mail; armlets and gauntlets; leg-pieces with closed greaves; and steel-pointed mail shoes.
see captionMOORISH SWORD(Casa de los Tiros, Granada)
MOORISH SWORD(Casa de los Tiros, Granada)
The Spanish man-at-arms of the sixteenth century is well described by Martin de Eguiluz, in his book,Milicia, Discursos, y Regla Militar. “The man is mounted and bears a lance. His head is covered with a visored helmet. He wears a double breastplate, of which the outer piece is calledvolante. His thighs are guardedby cuisses, his legs by greaves, and his feet by shoes of mail or iron. His horse's face, neck, breast, and haunches are covered with iron or with doubled leather. These coverings are calledbardas, and the horses protected by thembardados, of which each man-at-arms is called upon to possess two.”
These plainer sets of war-harness for horses were made in Spain. The costlier bards, whether for war or tournament, were made in Italy and Germany, and often match the outfit of the rider in the splendour and luxuriance of their decoration. Striking examples of these bards are in the Royal Armoury, including one (Platexlii.) which formerly belonged to Philip the Third. Probably it is the same referred to in the manuscript account of Valladolid from which I have already quoted curious notices of other crafts. Speaking of the Duke of Lerma in 1605, this narrative says; “He rode a beautiful horse with richly decorated arms and gold-embroidered bard, fringed, and with medallions in relief. The trappings, reaching to the ground, were of black velvet covered with silver plates as large as dinner-plates, and others of a smaller size that represented arms and war-trophies, all of themgilt, and studded with precious stones. I heard say that this armour which the Duke now wore, had once belonged to the Emperor, and is now the King's.”[116]
The crossbow was an arm of great importance from about the eleventh century until the seventeenth, and Spain, throughout the latter of these centuries, was celebrated for their manufacture. Roquetas, a Catalan, “master-maker of crossbows,” constructed them of steel, so skilfully and finely that they could be carried concealed inside the sleeve of a coat, and discharged without awaking the suspicion of the victim. A letter of René of Anjou, quoted by the Count of Valencia de Don Juan, also refers to the skill of the Catalans in making crossbows, and mentions one of these weapons constructed by “Saracen,” of Barcelona, “who refuses to teach his craft to Christians.” The letter further states that thisarm was of a curious shape, and that, “despite its small dimensions, it carries to a greater distance than any other I have yet possessed.”
A handsome Moorish crossbow, inlaid with bronze (Platexliii.), exists in the provincial museum of Granada. The Royal Armoury has no example of the rare form of crossbow fitted with wheeled gear, but all the commoner kinds employed for hunting or for war are represented here, including those with thearmatosteor goat's-foot lever, stirruped crossbows, and those which have thetornoor windlass (Frenchcranequin). Demmin appends the following note to an illustration in his handbook of a crossbow with a goat's-foot lever fixed to the stock:—“A similar weapon in ironwood, sixteenth century, belonged to Ferdinand the First, proved by the inscription on the bow:Dom Fernando rei de Romano, followed by four Golden Fleeces. It bears the name of the Spanish armourer Juan Deneinas. This valuable crossbow once belonged to M. Spengel, at Munich, but it is at present in the collection of the Count of Nieuwerkerke.”
There is also in the Royal Armoury a crossbow of the scarcer kind known in Spanish asballestas de palo, in which the gaffle is not ofsteel, but put together from slips of springywoods, including yew. The wings are tippedwith horn, and traces of heraldic and Renaissance decoration, painted on parchment, yet remain upon the weapon. Other portions are inlaid. Except for the erasure of the painting, this arm is splendidly preserved, and still retains its double cord, nut, and pins, together with the separate lever.
see captionSWORD OF BOABDIL EL CHICO(Museum of Artillery, Madrid)
SWORD OF BOABDIL EL CHICO(Museum of Artillery, Madrid)
Another interesting crossbow in this armoury belonged to Charles the Fifth, who used it for the chase. It has averjaor yard of steel engraved with the letter C four times repeated and surmounted by a crown, and bears the inscription,PRO · IMPERATORE · SEMPER · AVGVSTO · PLVS · VLTRA ·, together with ·IV DE LA FVETE·, for Juan de la Fuente, the name of a celebrated maker of these parts of a crossbow. The shaft (tablero), ornamented in bone and iron, is from the hand of another master, Juan Hernandez, whose signature isIO: HRZ. The Count of Valencia de Don Juan supposed that this was the one crossbow which Charles took with him to the rustic solitude of Yuste, and which is mentioned in a document at Simancas as “a crossbow with its gear and gaffles (it is inHis Majesty's possession, but he has not paid for it).”
Hitherto I have traced the war-equipment of the Spanish Christians only. In the early period of Mohammedan rule, the conquerors used a simple dress for war, consisting of thecapaceteoralmofarfor the head, secured by a chain beneath the chin and covered by a piece of cloth calledschasch, hanging to just below the shoulders; a wide sleeveless tunic; a shirt of mail; tight breeches, and leather shoes. Their weapons were the lance and sword. The foot-soldiery wore thedjobba, a tight-sleeved tunic of white wool, bound to the body by a scarf, and leather shoes, and carried as their arms acapaceteof beaten iron, without a crest or cheek-pieces; a large round shield with its projecting umbo; and either a lance, or a double-edged and double-handed sword. Such are the details represented in theCodex of the Apocalypse, preserved in the cathedral of Gerona. As time progressed, the weapons and defensive armour of these Spanish Moors grew more luxurious and ornate, being often decorated with enamels, precious stones, or inlaid metals such as silver, gold, and bronze. Prominent centres of this industry wereMurcia, Zaragoza, and Toledo, which are even said to have surpassed Damascus. Andalusia, too, was celebrated for her gold-inlaid cuirasses and coats of mail; while, according to El Idrisi, the town of Jativa enjoyed a widespread fame for every kind of decorative armour.[117]
The military outfit of the Spanish Moors was, therefore, much the same as that of Christian Spain. Toledo under Muslim rule continued to be famous for her swords. Moorish Seville, Ronda, and Valencia were also favourably known for weapons, household knives, and scissors. Cutlery in the Moorish style is still produced in certain parts of eastern Spain, and in hisHistory of the Mohammedan Dynastiesof this country, Gayangos tells us of a knife which bore upon one side of the blade the inscription in Arabic characters, “With the help of God I will inflict death upon thy adversary,” and upon the other side, in Castilian, the words, “Knife-factory of Antonio Gonzalez. Albacete, 1705.”
The primitive Spanish-Moorish sword was an arm of moderate breadth used both for cutting and for thrusting. As time went on, this peoplegradually adopted swords of Spanish make or pattern, such as the ponderousbrandimartesandmontantesmade for wielding with both hands. The Granadino writer Aben Said complains that the adoption of the arms, and even of the costume of the Spanish Christians, was prevalent at Granada in the thirteenth century. “Sultans and soldiers alike,” he said, “dress in the manner of the Christians, even to their arms and armour, crimson cloaks, standards, and saddlery. They wield in battle a shield and a long lance,[118]which serves them to attack with; nor do they seem to care for Arab bows or maces, but prefer to use the Frankish ones.”
Nevertheless, the warriors of Granada carried several weapons which were not of Christian origin. The tribe of the Beni-Merines brought across from Africa a kind of sword called often in the Christian chronicles theespada gineta, used principally, as we gather from its name, by those addicted to the Moorish mode of horsemanship, or riding with short stirrups. The use of it extended later to the Christian Spaniards, and it is said to have contributed in later times to thevictory of the Spanish army at Pavia. Other swords in use among the Granadinos were thealfange, thechifarra, thechifarote, and thenammexi. The last of these is described in an old dictionary of the Valencian and Castilian languages as a kind of scimitar, although Quatremère and Fleischer believe it to have been a dagger.
see captionDAGGER OF BOABDIL EL CHICO(Museum of Artillery, Madrid)
DAGGER OF BOABDIL EL CHICO(Museum of Artillery, Madrid)
Another author who describes the arms and armour of the Granadinos is Al-Jattib, who says in hisSplendour of the New Moon; “There are in Granada two kinds of soldiery—those of Al-Andalus and those of Africa. Their leader is a prince of royal blood, or some exalted personage at court. Formerly they used the Christian arms; that is, ample coats of mail, heavy shields, thick iron helmets, lances with broad points, and insecure saddles…. Now they have discarded that equipment, and are beginning to use short cuirasses, light helmets, Arab saddles, leather shields, and thin lances.” Of the African troops the same historian adds; “Their weapons for attacking are spears, either short or long, which they propel by pressing with the finger. These arms they callmarasas; but for daily exercise they use the European bow.”
Descriptions of the Spanish-Moorish swordsinserted in the chronicles and poems of the Middle Ages, together with the few examples that have been preserved until our time, enable us to form an accurate idea of the shape and decoration of these weapons generally. Those of the sultans and the Muslim aristocracy were, as a rule, profusely ornamented, either with precious stones or with enamels, or else with delicate and lavish damascening, or with the characteristic Orientalataujía-work of gold and silver inlay. Inscriptions, too, were freely used upon the hilt or scabbard. Thus we are told that the great Almanzor kept for daily use a sword which bore the legend; “Strive in warfare till ye win great victories. Battle with the infidels till ye win them over to Islam”; and similar inscriptions may be quoted in great number. But four or five of these magnificent arms have proved superior to the ravages of time, and naturally tell us more than any weapons whose renown survives in written records merely. Among such extant Spanish-Moorish swords are two attributed respectively to Aliatar and Abindarraez; two others which are known to have belonged to the last ill-fated monarch of the Moors of Spain, Boabdil el Chico; and another, considered to havealso been Boabdil's property, now in possession of the Marquises of Campotejar, owners of the Generalife and of the Casa de los Tiros at Granada.
The “sword of Aliatar,” preserved in the Museum of Artillery at Madrid, is said to have been wrested from the clenched hand of that warrior, father-in-law of Boabdil and governor of Loja, as his corpse was swept away down stream after the rout of the Moorish expedition at Lucena. This arm is richly damascened as well as decorated with the characteristicataujía. The centre of the hilt is made of ivory, and the pommel and crossbars—which latter terminate in elephants' heads with slightly upturned trunks—of damascened and inlaid iron, ornamented here and there withataujía. Part of the blade—probably about an eighth—is broken off. The sheath has disappeared.
An idle superstition has attributed the so-called “sword of Abindarraez” to the hero of the well-known sixteenth-century romance entitledThe Abencerraje and the Beautiful Jarifa.This weapon, which for many years was in possession of the Narvaez family, belongs at present to the Marquis of La Vega de Armijo. The decoration is not particularly rich, and part of it is worn away;but the narrow blade is still engraved with figures or portraits from the story which has given the sword its name.
The sword (Pl.xliv.) belonging to the Marquises of Campotejar, and which is preserved in the Casa de los Tiros at Granada, bears some resemblance to the “sword of Aliatar,” and has about the same dimensions. Although it is commonly believed that Boabdil was the original owner of this sword, Gómez Moreno considers that more probably it belonged to one of the Moorish princes of Almería. The handle and crossbars, as well as the shape of the sheath, are silver-gilt, covered with minute arabesque ornamentation forming leaves and stems, and further decorated with enamel. The sheath is of Morocco leather worked with silver thread. The crossbars, curving abruptly down,[119]terminate in elephants' trunks boldly upturned towards the pommel. The blade is stamped with a Toledo mark consisting of Castilian letters and a pomegranate.
But the most important, interesting, and beautifulspecimens of Spanish-Moorish arms preserved to-day are those which were captured from Boabdil at the battle of Lucena (1482), when the monarch was made prisoner by the young Alcaide de los Donceles, Don Diego Fernandez de Cordova. A manuscriptHistory of the House of Cordova, quoted by Eguilaz Yanguas,[120]says that upon the day in question, irretrievably disastrous to the Moorish cause in Spain, Boabdil carried “a short, silver-handled sword, a damascened dagger, and a lance and buckler of great strength” (Platesxlv. andxlvi.). These arms, together with another and a larger sword (montanteorestoque real) for wielding with both hands, and certain articles of Boabdil's clothing, continued in the captor's family for centuries, and were, some years ago, presented by the Marquises of Villaseca, his direct descendants, to the National Museum of Artillery.
see captionMOORISH SWORD(Hilt and upper part of sheath)
MOORISH SWORD(Hilt and upper part of sheath)
The smaller orginetasword[121]is handsomer andmore important than the largeestoque. The crossbars, as we find so often in weapons of this character and date, are bent abruptly down, and then curve up in a design of dragons' heads—the well-known emblem of the Nasrite sultans of Granada. Part of the handle is of solid gold adorned with crimson, white, and blue enamel distributed about the top and bottom of the hilt, the pommel, and thearriacesor crossbars. The centre of the hilt consists of ivory, richly carved. On either side of it are two octagonal intersecting figures, bearing upon one side, in semi-Cufic characters, the words, “Achieve thy aim,” and on the other, “in preserving his(i.e.the owner's)life.” Round the upper border of the ivory is carved the sentence; “In the name of God; the power belongs to Him, and there is no Divinity but He. Happiness proceeds from God alone”; and round the lower border, “The marvellous belongs to God. Assuredly at the outset the ignorant do not know their God; seeing that error is their custom.”
Other inscriptions of a sacred character, combinedwith delicateataujía-work, are on the pommel and the upper portion of the hilt; but it has been remarked that, although the entire decoration is amazingly elaborate and rich, these inscriptions nowhere indicate that the weapon belonged to a personage of royal blood.
The sheath of this most sumptuous arm is also lavishly adorned with silver and enamel on a purple leather ground. The blade is of a later date than either sheath or hilt, and bears the letter S, believed to be the mark of Alonso Sahagun the elder, of Toledo. The total length of this weapon is thirty-nine inches; and Gayangos declares that it was worn suspended by a belt between the shoulders.[122]
The largemontantewhich belonged to thesame ill-fated monarch has a cylindrical hilt, narrower in the centre of the handle than at either end. This hilt is made of steel inlaid withlaceríaor network ornament in ivory. In a small shield within the decoration of the pommel, appear the words “To God”; and in the centre of the handle, the familiar motto of the Nasrite sultans of Granada; “The only Conqueror is God.”
Part of the blade is broken off. That which is left is broad and straight, with two grooves (one of which extends about three inches only) on each side, and bears an oriental mark consisting of five half-moons. The sheath is of brown Morocco decorated with a small gilt pattern forming shells and flowers. The mouth and chape are silver-gilt.
In beautiful and skilful craftsmanship Boabdil's dagger orgumíamatches with his swords. The handle is of steel inlaid in ivory with floralpatterns, and terminates in a large sphere, similarly decorated. The blade has a single edge, and is exquisitely damascened in gold designs which cover more than half of all its surface. Along one side we read the inscription; “Health, permanent glory, lasting felicity, permanent glory, lasting felicity, and lasting and permanent glory belong to God”; and on the other side, “It was made by Reduan.”
The sheath of this little arm is made of crimson velvet richly embroidered with gold thread, and hanging from it is a large tassel of gold cord and crimson silk. The chape and mouth are silver-gilt, profusely decorated, and the latter of these pieces is embellished with circular devices of a lightish green enamel, in addition to the chasing.