SADDLERY AND COACHES

see captionSPANISH SWORDS(Royal Armoury, Madrid)

SPANISH SWORDS(Royal Armoury, Madrid)

The article from which I quote this passageadds that the palace of the archbishop at Alcalá de Henares was fortified with cannon until the beginning of the nineteenth century.[141]

Cannon are mentioned with increasing frequency throughout the fifteenth century; and in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella we read of lombards of enormous size, which had to be dragged across the Andalusian hills and plains by many scores of men and beasts; which frequently stuck fast and had to be abandoned on the march; and which, even in the best of circumstances, could only be discharged some twice or thrice a day.

In reading documents and chronicles of older Spain, it is easy to confound the early forms of cannon with the engines similar to those employed by the Crusaders in the Holy Land, and built for hurling stones or arrows of large size. Such engines were thetrabuco, thealmajanechoralmojaneque, thealgarrada, and thefundíbaloor Catalanfonevol. Beuter, in hisChronicle of Spain and of Valencia, describes the latter as “acertain instrument which has a sling made fast to an extremity of wood … made to revolve so rapidly that the arm, on being released, projects the stone with such a force as to inflict much harm, even in distant places, whither could reach no missile slung by the hand of man.”

Turning to portable Spanish firearms, we find that the precursor of the arquebus, musket, and rifle seems to have been a weapon which was introduced about the middle of the fifteenth century, and called theespingarda. Alfonso de Palencia says it was employed against the rebels of Toledo in 1467; and the Chronicle of Don Alvaro de Luna relates that when this nobleman was standing beside Don Iñigo d'Estúñiga, upon a certain occasion in 1453, “a man came out in his shirt and set fire to anespingarda, discharging the shot thereof above the heads of Don Alvaro and of Iñigo d'Estúñiga, but wounding an esquire.”

see captionMARKS OF TOLEDAN ARMOURERS (15TH–17TH CENTURIES), FROM SWORDS IN THE ROYAL ARMOURY AT MADRID

MARKS OF TOLEDAN ARMOURERS (15TH–17TH CENTURIES), FROM SWORDS IN THE ROYAL ARMOURY AT MADRID

As time advanced, portable firearms of first-rate quality were made throughout the northern Spanish provinces, and also in Navarra, Cataluña, Aragon, and Andalusia. The inventory of the Dukes of Alburquerque mentions, in 1560, “four flint arquebuses of Zaragoza make … anotherarquebus of Zaragoza, together with its fuse,” and “arquebuses of those that are made within this province” (i.e.of Segovia). Cristóbal Frisleva, of Ricla in Aragon, and Micerguillo of Seville were celebrated makers of this arm; but probably these and all the other Spanish masters of this craft derived their skill from foreign teaching, such as that of the brothers Simon and Peter Marckwart (in Spanish the name is speltMarcuarte,) who were brought to Spain by Charles the Fifth.[142]

The Royal Armoury contains some finely decorated guns, made for the kings of Spain at the close of the seventeenth century and early in the eighteenth, by Juan Belen, Juan Fernandez, Francisco Baeza y Bis, and Nicolás Bis. The last-named, pupil of Juan Belen, was a German; but all these gunsmiths lived and worked at Madrid. Nicolás was arquebus-maker to Charlesthe Second from 1691, and afterwards held the same post from Philip the Fifth. He died in 1726, and the Count of Valencia de Don Juan says that in 1808—that is, before it was plundered by the mob—the Royal Armoury contained no fewer than fifty-three weapons of his manufacture. One of the guns which bear his mark, and still exist, is inscribed with the words, “I belong to the Queen our lady” (Isabel Farnese, first wife of Philip the Fifth), combined with the arms of León and Castile, and of the Bourbon family. This weapon was used, or intended to be used, for hunting.

Diego Esquivel, another gunsmith of Madrid, was also famous early in the eighteenth century, as, later on, were Manuel Sutil, José Cano, Francisco Lopez, Salvador Cenarro, Isidro Soler (author of aCompendious History of the Arquebus-makers of Madrid), Juan de Soto, and Sebastián Santos.

see captionBRIDONASADDLE(15th Century. Royal Armoury, Madrid)

BRIDONASADDLE(15th Century. Royal Armoury, Madrid)

Swinburne wrote from Cataluña in 1775; “the gun-barrels of Barcelona are much esteemed, and cost from four to twenty guineas, but about five is the real value; all above is paid for fancy and ornament; they are made out of the old shoes of mules.”

Until 1793, the smaller firearms of the Spanisharmy were made at Plasencia in Guipúzcoa. In that year the government factory, where hand-labour alone continued to be used till 1855, was removed to Oviedo. To-day this factory employs about five hundred workmen. In 1809 Laborde wrote that “firearms, such as fusees, musquets, carbines, and pistols are manufactured at Helgoivar, Eybor, and Plasencia; at Oviedo, Barcelona, Igualada, and at Ripoll; the arms made at the latter city have long had a distinguished reputation. Seven hundred and sixty-five gunsmiths, it is estimated, find employment in the factories of Guipúzcoa.”

Both Townsend and the foregoing writer give a good account of Spanish cannon at this time. According to Laborde, “two excellent founderies for brass cannon are royal establishments at Barcelona and Seville; in the latter city copper cannon are cast, following the method recommended by M. Maritz. Iron ordnance are made at Lierganez and Cavada.” Townsend wrote of Barcelona, in 1786; “The foundery for brass cannon is magnificent, and worthy of inspection. It is impossible anywhere to see either finer metal, or work executed in a neaterand more perfect manner. Their method of boring was, in the present reign, introduced by Maritz, a Swiss. Near two hundred twenty-four pounders are finished every year, besides mortars and field-pieces.”

Probably no relic of the former of these crafts in Spain is older or more curious than the iron bit (Platelvii., No. 8), inlaid with silver dragons' heads and crosses, and attributed, from cruciform monograms which also decorate it, to the Visigothic King Witiza (who died in 711), or sometimes to the conqueror of Toledo, Alfonso the Sixth (eleventh century). The spurs oracicates(Platelvii., No. 9) of Ferdinand the Third of Castile, who conquered Seville from the Moors, are also treasured in the Royal Armoury, and bear upon an iron ground remains of gold and silver decoration representing castles. The Count of Valencia de Don Juan believed these spurs to be authentic, because they are identical with the ones which Ferdinand wears in his equestrian seal, preserved among the National Archives of France, and dating from the year 1237.

Saddles of various kinds were used in Spainthroughout the Middle Ages. Among them were the ordinary travelling-saddle orsilla de barda(Arabical-bardá); saddlesde palafrén,[143]thesilla de la guisa, orde la bridaorbridona, for riding with long stirrups, and consequently the antithesis of theginetasaddle;[144]or saddles made for use exclusively in war, on which therider was accustomed to make the sign of the cross before or after mounting, such as thelidona,gallega(“siellas gallegas” are mentioned in thePoem of the Cid), andcorseraorcocera(Arabical-corsi), or else thesilla de conteras, “whose hindmost bow,” according to the Count of Valencia de Don Juan, “terminated in converging pieces to protect the wearer's thighs.”

A saddle known as thesilla de rua, or “street saddle,” was generally used in Spain throughout the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries. It was intended, not for war, but promenade and show, and therefore richly decorated. The Royal Armoury has nineteen of these saddles, all of which are Spanish-made. In the same collection is a plainbridonasaddle (Platelix.), with iron stirrups and two gilt-metal bells, such as were commonly used in tournaments or other festivals. This saddle has been erroneously ascribed to the thirteenth century. It dates from the beginning of the fifteenth century, and proceeds from Majorca.

see captionHANGINGJAECESFOR HORSES

HANGINGJAECESFOR HORSES

The old belief that one of the saddles in this armoury, whose bows are chased with a design in black and gilt of leaves and pilgrim's shells, was once upon a time the Cid Campeador's,has been exploded recently. The saddle in question is known to be Italian, dates from the sixteenth century, and bears the arms of a town in the duchy of Montferrato.

The inventory (1560) of the dukes of Alburquerque mentions some curious saddles, including one “de la brida, of blue velvet, with the bows painted gold, and on the front bow a cannon with its carriage, and on the hind bow another cannon with flames of fire.” Among the rest were “aginetasaddle of red leather, used by my lord the duke,” together with saddles of bay leather, of dark brown leather, of “smooth leather with trappings of blue cloth,” of Cordova leather, and “a date-colouredgineta-saddle, complete.”

The same inventory specifies innumerable smaller articles of harness, such as stirrups, spurs, reins, headstalls, and poitrals or breast-leathers. Many of these pieces were richly ornamented;e.g., “some silver headstalls of small size, enamelled in blue, with gilt supports of iron,”[145]as well as“some silver headstalls, gilded and enamelled green and rose, with shields upon the temples.” Others of these headstalls were made of copper, and nearly all were colour-enamelled.

The stirrups included “two Moorish stirrups of gilded tin, for a woman's use”;[146]“some large Moorish stirrups, gilt, with two silver plates upon their faces, enamelled gold, green, and blue, andeight nails on either face”; “some other Moorish stirrups, wrought inside withataujía-work in gold, and outside with plates of copper enamelled in green, blue, and white; the handles gilt, with coverings of red leather”; and “some silver stirrups with three bars upon the floor thereof, round-shaped in the manner of an urinal, with open sides consisting of two bars, a flower within a small shield on top, and, over this, the small face of a man.”

The many sets of reins included several of Granada make, coloured in white, red, and bay; while one of the most elaborate of the poitrals was of “red leather, embroidered with gold thread, with fringes of rose-coloured silk, buckles, ends, and rounded knobs; the whole of copper enamelled green, and blue, and white.”

Small but attractive accessories to these handsome sets of mediæval Spanish harness were the decorative medals (Platelx.) hung from the horse's breast in tourneying or in war. In France these medals were known asannelets volants,branlants, orpendants; although in Spain, where it is probable that they were used more widely than in other countries, they have no definite name. The termjaecesis sometimes applied tothem; butjaezproperly means the entire harness for a horse, and the word is thus employed by classic Spanish authors, such as Tirso de Molina. A recent term, invented by a living writer, isjaeces colgantes, or “hangingjaeces.”

These ornaments, which had their origin among the Romans and Byzantines, are figured in certain of the older Spanish codices such as theCántigas de Santa Maria. In Christian Spain, however, their vogue was greatest in the thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries. They disappeared altogether in the sixteenth century; and among the Spanish Moors their use, though not unknown, was always quite exceptional.

The mottoes and devices on these little plates are very varied. Sometimes the motto has an amorous, sometimes a religious import. Sometimes the vehicle of the motto is Latin, sometimes Spanish, sometimes French. Sometimes the device contains, or is composed of, a blazon, and commonly there is floral or other ornament. A collection of nearly three hundred of these medals belonged to the late Count of Valencia de Don Juan, all of which were probably made in Spain. The material as a rule is copper, adorned withchamplevéenamelling, and thecolours often used to decorate and relieve the interspaces of the gilded metal are red, blue, black, white, and green.

see captionTRAVELLING LITTER(Attributed to Charles the Fifth. Royal Armoury, Madrid)

TRAVELLING LITTER(Attributed to Charles the Fifth. Royal Armoury, Madrid)

According to Florencio Janer, coaches were not known in Spain until the middle of the sixteenth century. Before that time the usual conveyance was the litter. The Madrid Armoury contains an object which is thought to have been the campaigning-litter of Charles the Fifth (Platelxi.). The Count of Valencia de Don Juan also inclined to this belief from the circumstance that an engraving exists in the British Museum which represents a German litter of the sixteenth century, identical in all respects with this one. Probably, however, these litters were the same all over Europe. The inventory of the Dukes of Alburquerque includes, in 1560, a “cowhide litter, black, lined with black serge; also poles stained black, and harness for mules.” This, together with other travelling gear, belonged to “my lady the duchess”; and it is worth noting that the litter attributed to Charles, though cased with a protective covering of whitish canvas, is also of black leather and lined with black serge, besides being evidently built for carriage by two mules. The interior contains asmall armchair rising some inches only from the floor, and which, requiring him to keep his legs continually outstretched, could hardly fail to prove excruciatingly uncomfortable to the traveller.

Mendez Silva says that the precise date of the introduction of coaches into Spain was 1546, and other writers do not greatly differ from him. The Alburquerque inventory includes “two four-wheeled coaches,” as well as “a triumphal car with four wheels, its body painted with red and gold stripes.” Vanderhamen, who says that the first coach ever seen in Spain was brought here by a servant of Charles the Fifth in 1554, adds that within a little time their use became “a hellish vice that wrought incalculable havoc to Castile.” Certainly this vehicle for many years was far from popular among the Spaniards, and was assailed with special vehemence by all who lacked the income to support one. The Duke of Berganza is said to have remarked that “God had fashioned horses for the use of men, and men had fashioned coaches for the use of women”; while a priest, Tomás Ramón, declared that it was “a vast disgrace to see bearded men, with rapiers at their side, promenading in a coach.” Even the governing powers thought fit to interfere. In 1550,1563, and 1573 the Cortes demanded the total prohibition of these modish yet detested vehicles, while the Cortes of 1578 decreed four horses as the statutory and invariable number for a private carriage. A further law enacted in 1611 that coaches must be strictly private property, and not, on pain of rigorous chastisement, be lent or hired by their owner;[147]while the owner, to own or use a coach at all, required a special licence from the Crown.

Some curious facts relating to these vehicles in older Spain are instanced by Janer. In the seventeenth century a Spanish provincial town would normally contain a couple of hundred coaches. Among such boroughs was Granada. Here, in 1615, the authorities, backed by nearly all the citizens, protested that the coaches ploughed the highway into muddy pits and channels, and gave occasion, after nightfall, todisgraceful and immoral scenes.[148]After a while the protest grew so loud that the use of coaches in this capital was totally suppressed. One of the first persons to employ a coach in Granada had been the Marquis of Mondejar; and yet, in spite of his extensive influence, this nobleman, each time he wished to drive abroad, required to sue for licence from the town authorities, and these, in making out the written permit, took care to specify the streets through which he was allowed to pass.

Assailed by numerous pragmatics,[149]chiefly of a sumptuary tenor and repeated at spasmodic intervals until as late as 1785, the private coach became at last an undisputed adjunct to the national life of Spain. Doubtless the use by royalty of gala-coaches orcarrozaswent far to sanction and extend their vogue. However, I will not describe these lumbering, uncouth, and over-ornamented gala-carriages (some of whichwere made in Spain) belonging to the Spanish Crown, but quote the following pragmatic, dated 1723, as aptly illustrative of the progress of this industry, and other industries akin to it, in the Peninsula:—

“In order to restrain the immoderate use of coaches, state-coaches,estufas, litters,furlones,[150]and calashes, we order that from this time forth no one of these be decorated with gold embroidery or any kind of silk containing gold, nor yet with bands or fringes that have gold or silver points; but only with velvets, damasks, and other simple silken fabrics made within this realm and its dependencies, or else in foreign countries that have friendly commerce with us. Also, the fringes and galloons shall be of silk alone; and none, of whatsoever dignity and degree, shall cause his coach, state-coach, etc., to be decorated with the fringes that are known as net-work, tassel-pointed, or bell-pointed; but only with undecorated, simple fringes, or with those of Santa Isabel; nor shall the breadth of either kind of these exceed four fingers. Also, he shall not cause his coach, state-coach,etc., to be overlaid with any gilt or silvered work, or painted with any manner of design—meaning by such, historic scenes, marines, landscapes, flowers, masks, knots of the pattern known as coulicoles, coats of arms, war devices, perspectives, or any other painting, except it imitate marble, or be marbled over of one single colour chosen at the owner's fancy; and further, we allow in every coach, state-coach, etc., only a certain moderate quantity of carving. And this our order and pragmatic shall begin to rule upon the day it is made public; from which day forth no person shall construct, or buy, or bring from other countries, coaches orestufasthat infringe our law herein expressed; wherefore we order thealcaldesof this town, our court and capital, to make a register of all such vehicles that each house contains, without excepting any. Nevertheless, considering that if we should prohibit very shortly those conveyances that now be lawful, the owners would be put to great expense, we grant a period of two years wherein they may consume or rid themselves thereof; upon the expiration of which term our law shall be again made public, and thenceforward all, regardless of their quality and rank, shall becompelled to pay obedience to the same. Also we order that no person make or go abroad in hand-chairs fitted with brocade, or cloth of gold or silver, or yet with any silk containing gold and silver; nor shall the lining be embroidered or adorned with any of the stuffs aforesaid; but the covering of the chair, inside and out, shall only be of velvet, damask, or other unmixed silk, with a plain fringe of four fingers' breadth and button-holes of the same silk, and not of silver, gold, or thread, or any covering other than those aforesaid; but the columns of such chairs may be adorned with silken trimmings nailed thereto. And we allow, as in the case of coaches, a period of two years for wearing out the hand-chairs now in use…. Also, we order that the coverings of coaches,estufas, litters, calashes, andfurlonesshall not be made of any kind of silk, or yet the harness of horses or mules for coaches and travelling litters; and that the said coaches, gala-coaches,estufas, litters, calashes, andfurlonesshall not be back-stitched (pespuntados), even if they should be of cowhide or of cordwain (goatskin); nor shall they contain any fitting of embroidered leather.”

Footnotes:[102]According to Tubino, the existence of a prehistoric age of stone was not suspected in Spain until the year 1755, when Mann y Mendoza affirmed that a state of society had existed in the Peninsula before the age of metals. Since then the Celtic remains of Spain and Portugal have been investigated by many scientists, including Assas, Mitjana, Murguía, and Casiano de Prado, who discovered numbers of these weapons. Towards the middle of last century Casiano de Prado, aided by the Frenchmen Verneuil and Lartet, explored the neighbourhood of San Isidro on the Manzanares, and found large quantities of arms and implements of stone. Valuable service in the cause of prehistoric Spanish archæology has also been performed by Vilanova, Torrubia, and Machado.[103]“Gerone qui ferrum gelat.” This river, the purity and coldness of whose waters lent, or so it is supposed, its virtues to the steel, rolls past the walls of Calatayud, and is called in later ages the Jalon.[104]“Imo Toletano præcingant ilia cultro.”[105]“Romani patriis gladiis depositis Hannibalico bello Hispaniensium assumpserunt … sed ferri bonitatem et fabrica solertiam imitari non potuerunt.”—Suidas.[106]Descripciones de las Islas Pithiusas y Baleares.Madrid, 1787.[107]A javelin made throughout of iron was found in Spain some years ago, completely doubled up, so as to admit of its being thrust into a burial urn. The javelin in question is now in the Madrid museum, and a similar weapon may be seen in the provincial museum of Granada.[108]Historia General del Arte: García Llansó;Armas, pp. 439, 440.[109]The horse was also covered with alóriga, on which, from about the twelfth century, were thrown the decorative trappings ofcendalor thin silk, painted or embroidered with the warrior's arms.[110]“Calzó las brafoneras que eran bien obradasCon sortijas de acero, sabet bien enlazadas;Asi eran presas é bien trabadas,Que semejaban calzas de las tiendas taiadas.”Poem of the Cid.[111]Count of Clonard,op. cit.[112]Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones; Nos. 16 and 17.[113]One of these weapons may be seen in the Royal Armoury (No. I. 95). It is made of iron covered with leather, and has a laurel-shaped blade with sharpened edges. The other end consists of two projecting pieces of the metal, shaped to resemble the plumes of an arrow. The length of this arm is 5 feet 8 inches.[114]Capellina. The Count of Clonard says that this was in the shape of half a lemon, and fitted with a visor with a cutting edge.[115]The following armourers' marks are stamped on various korazins in the Royal Armoury, made in Aragon and dating from the fifteenth century:—marks[116]My theory that this harness and the one in the Royal Armoury are the same is strengthened by the official inventory, which specifies “a band of gold and silver, striped, and with devices in relief, studded with lapis lazuli, and yellow gems and luminous crystals.” The Count of Valencia de Don Juan says that this fine outfit, except the portions which are represented in the plate, was mutilated and dispersed in later years, and that he has discovered fragments in the museums of Paris and Vienna, and in the collection of Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild.[117]Historia General del Arte: García Llansó;Armas; pp. 440, 441.[118]This weapon can have been no other than the typical Iberian lance.[119]In the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, this characteristically eastern downward curve of the crossbars grew to be popular even with the Christian Spaniards, as we observe from the swords of Ferdinand himself, preserved in the Royal Armoury at Madrid, and the Chapel Royal of the cathedral of Granada.[120]Las Pinturas de la Alhambra, p. 15.[121]The Count of Valencia de Don Juan states that seven Hispano-Moresqueginetaswords are known to exist to-day: the one which is here described, and those belonging to the Marquises of Viana and Pallavicino, Baron de Sangarrén, the Duke of Dino, Señor Sánchez Toscano, the archæological museum at Madrid, the museum of Cassel in Germany, and the national library at Paris, Aginetasword in the Madrid Armoury popularly attributed to Boabdil can never have belonged to him. The hilt is modern, and the blade proceeds from Barbary.[122]A number of Moorish swords are mentioned in the inventory, compiled in 1560, of the Dukes of Alburquerque. One is particularly interesting. It is described as “a Moorishginetasword which belongs to the Count of Monteagudo, and is pawned for six thousandmaravedis. The sheath is of bay leather, worked in gold thread. The chape and fittings are of silver, decorated with green, blue, purple, and white enamel. There are two serpents' heads upon the fitting, together with the figure of a monster worked in gold thread on a little plate, and two large scarlet tassels: the little plate has three ends of the same enamel and a silver-gilt buckle.” A note at the margin adds; “The chape is wanting, and is owed us by the Marquis of Comares, who lost it at the cane-play at Madrid.”The two serpents' heads formed part of the arms of the Alahmar sultans of Granada; so that from this and from the richness of this weapon we may infer that it had once belonged to Mussulman royalty. The same inventory describes “a Moorish scimitar with gilded hilt; the cross and pommel, and a great part of the scimitar itself, being of gildedataujíawork. The sheath is green inside, and black and gilt upon the face; and hanging from the hilt is a gold and purple cord with a button and a black tassel.”[123]To-day the craft of finely decorating arms is not forgotten in Morocco. “A silversmith advanced to show a half-completed silver-sheathed and hafted dagger, engraved with pious sentences, as, “God is our sufficiency and our best bulwark here on earth,” and running in and out between the texts a pattern of a rope with one of the strands left out, which pattern also ran round the cornice of the room we sat in, and round the door, as it runs round the doors in the Alhambra and the Alcazar, and in thousands of houses built by the Moors, and standing still, in Spain. The dagger and the sheath were handed to me for my inspection, and on my saying that they were beautifully worked, the Caid said keep them, but I declined, not having anything of equal value to give in return.”—Cunninghame Graham;Mogreb-El-Acksa, p. 234.[124]E.g., by Townsend, who wrote of it, with ill-informed enthusiasm, as “an epitome of Spanish history.” Swinburne's notice of the same armoury is also curious: “At the bottom of the palace-yard is an old building, called the Armeria, containing a curious assortment of antique arms and weapons, kept in a manner that would have made poor Cornelius Scriblerus swoon at every step; no notable housemaid in England has her fire-grates half so bright as these coats of mail; they show those of all the heroes that dignify the annals of Spain; those of Saint Ferdinand, Ferdinand the Catholic, his wife Isabella, Charles the Fifth, the great Captain Gonsalo, the king of Granada, and many others. Some suits are embossed with great nicety. The temper of the sword blades is quite wonderful, for you may lap them round your waist like a girdle. The art of tempering steel in Toledo was lost about seventy years ago, and the project of reviving and encouraging it is one of the favourite schemes of Charles the Third, who has erected proper works for it on the banks of the Tagus.”[125]Throughout this time, the full equipment of the knight consisted of no less than four complete suits, for tournament or battle, or for foot or mounted fighting, together with their lances, swords, and targes. The Alburquerque inventory describes in detail a complete set (“all of it kept in a box”) of war and tourneying harness belonging to the duke. Although the warriors of that day were short of stature, their muscular strength is undeniable, for one of their lances has to be lifted nowadays by several men. When the author ofMogreb-El-Acksawrote contemptuously of the “scrofulous champions tapping on each other's shields,” he was perhaps, forgetful for a moment of this fact.[126]The Count of Valencia de Don Juan has found, from documents at Simancas, that in the year 1525 Kollman visited Toledo to measure Charles for armour. It is also certain, adds the Count, that, in order to produce this armour of a perfect fit, Kollman first moulded Charles' limbs in wax, and then transferred the moulds to lead. In a budget of accounts which coincides with Kollman's visit to Toledo appears the following item: “Pour trois livres de cire et de plomb pour faire les patrons que maître Colman, armoyeur, a fait”—followed by details of the cost.[127]This, in the later Middle Ages, was a favourite form of tourneying lance.[128]Historia General del Arte; Armas, by García Llansó; p. 445.[129]“Dès que le soir arrive, on ne va point n'y à Madrid ny ailleurs, sans cotte de maille et sansbroquetqui est une rondache.”—Bertaut de Rouen,Voyage d'Espagne(1659A.D.), p. 294.The arms of Spaniards promenading after dark were even fixed by law. TheSuma de Leyesof 1628 ordains that after ten o'clock nobody is to carry arms at all unless he also bears a lighted torch or lantern. No arquebus, on pain of a fine of ten thousandmaravedis, may have a barrel less than a yard long. Nobody may carry a sword or rapier the length of whose blade exceeds a yard and a quarter, or wear a dagger unless a sword accompanies it. Sometimes these prohibitions extended even to seasons of the year. In 1530 an Ordinance of Granada proclaims that from the first of March until the last day of November nobody may carry a hatchet, sickle, or dagger, “except the dagger which is called abarazano, of a palm in length, even if the wearer be a shepherd.” The penalty for infringement of this law was a fine of ten thousandmaravedis; but labourers who worked upon a farm were exempted from the prohibition.Swinburne wrote from Cataluña, in 1775, that “amongst other restrictions, the use of slouched hats, white shoes, and large brown cloaks is forbidden. Until of late they durst not carry any kind of knife; but in each public house there was one chained to the table, for the use of all comers.”[130]Voyage d'Espagne, p. 199.[131]Gonzalo de la Torre de Trassierra; Articles on Cuéllar published in theBoletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones.[132]“Draw me not without a cause, nor sheathe me without honour.” A sword with this inscription is in the Royal Armoury—(G. 71 of the official catalogue).[133]Leonard Williams;Toledo and Madrid: their Records and Romances; p. 102.[134]In the Corpus Christi festival at Granada the banner which preceded all the rest was that of the armourers and knife-makers, followed by that of the silk-mercers.Ordenanzas de Granada; tit. 126.[135]Armourers' Ordinances of Seville, extant in ms. (quoted by Gestoso;Diccionario de Artífices Sevillanos; vol. I., p. xxxvi).[136]“De mano y media”;i.e.for wielding either with one hand or both. Specimens of this kind of sword existing at Madrid will be described immediately.[137]“Señor, let thy yea be yea, and thy nay be nay; for of great virtue is it in the prince, or any man, to be a speaker of the truth, and of great security to his vassals and to his property.”[138]Toledo and Madrid: their Records and Romances; pp. 99–101.[139]Andrés Ferrara was a well-known armourer of Zaragoza.[140]Vol. iv. p. 358.[141]Escudero de la Peña;Claustros, Escalera, y Artesonados del Palacio Arzobispal de Alcalá de Henares; published in theMuseo Español de Antigüedades.[142]The brothers Marckwart, or possibly one or other of them, are believed to have stamped their arquebuses with a series of small sickles, thus:marks[143]An old account copied into a book (seep. 89,note) in the National Library at Madrid, and dating from the reign of Sancho the Fourth, states that Pedro Ferrández, saddler, received a certain sum for making various saddles, including two “de palafrés, wrought in silk with the devices of the king.”[144]“In mediæval Spain, good riders were often designated as ‘Ginete en ambas sillas,’ that is, accustomed to either saddle,i.e.the Moorish and the Christian, and I now understand why chroniclers have taken the trouble to record the fact. Strangely enough, the high-peaked and short-stirruped saddle does not cross the Nile, the Arabs of Arabia riding rather flat saddles with an ordinary length of leg. The Arab saddle of Morocco, in itself, is perhaps the worst that man has yet designed; but, curiously enough, from it was made the Mexican saddle, perhaps the most useful for all kinds of horses and of countries that the world has seen.” Cunninghame Graham:Mogreb-El-Acksa, p. 66. The same writer naïvely adds the following footnote to the wordsGinete en ambas sillas. “This phrase often occurs in Spanish chronicles, after a long description of a man's virtues, his charity, love of the church, and kindness to the poor, and it is apparently inserted as at least as important a statement as any of the others. In point of fact, chronicles being written for posterity, it is the most important.”[145]As I have stated in another chapter, the precious stones and metals were continually employed in arms and harness, both of Spanish Moors and Spanish Christians. In 1062 Pedro Ruderiz bequeathed to the Monastery of Arlanza all his battle harness, together with his silver bit (frenum argenteum). Thousands of such bequests have been recorded. The Chronicle of Alfonso the Eleventh says that after the victory of the Rio Salado, this monarch found among his spoil “many swords with gold and silver fittings, and many spurs, all of enamelled gold and silver…. And all this spoil was gathered by the king into his palaces of Seville (i.e.the Alcázar), the doubloons in one part, and the swords in another part.” The testament (sometimes considered to be a forgery) of Pedro the Cruel mentions “my sword in the Castilian manner, that I caused to be made here in Seville with gems and withaljofar.” In 1409 Yusuf, King of Granada, presented Juan the Second and the Infante Don Enrique with silver-fitted swords. Referring to a later age, Davillier discovered at Simancas a detailed list of weapons sumptuously decorated with gold and coloured enamels, made for Philip the Second by Juan de Soto, “orfebrero de su Alteza.”Recherches, pp. 149–151.[146]The women of mediæval Spain had few amusements besides riding. Another—though owing to the temperate climate it must have been on few occasions—was skating, since this inventory mentions “two pairs of skates, for a man, for travelling over ice. Two pairs of skates, for the same purpose, for a woman.” This entry almost matches in its quaintness with the “irons for mustaches,” or the “triggers for extracting teeth,” set forth in Spanish documents such as theTassa Generalof 1627.[147]This prohibition was not inopportune. Swinburne wrote towards the end of the eighteenth century; “Having occasion one day for a coach to carry us about, the stable-boy of our inn offered his services, and in a quarter of an hour brought to the door a coach and four fine mules, with two postillions and a lacquey, all in flaming liveries; we found they belonged to a countess, who, like the rest of the nobility, allows her coachman to let out her equipage when she has no occasion for it; it cost us about nine shillings, which no doubt was the perquisite of the servants.”[148]Towns still exist in Spain where vehicles are not allowed to proceed at more than a walking-pace through any of the streets. One of such towns is Argamasilla de Alba (ofDon Quixotefame), where I remember to have read a notice to this effect, painted, by order of the mayor, on a house-wall of the principal thoroughfare.[149]A royal degree of 1619 disposed that “every one who sows and tills twenty-fivefanegasof land each year, may use a coach.”[150]Theestufa(literallystove) was a form of family-coach. Thefurlonis described in an old dictionary as “a coach with four seats and hung with leather curtains.”

Footnotes:

[102]According to Tubino, the existence of a prehistoric age of stone was not suspected in Spain until the year 1755, when Mann y Mendoza affirmed that a state of society had existed in the Peninsula before the age of metals. Since then the Celtic remains of Spain and Portugal have been investigated by many scientists, including Assas, Mitjana, Murguía, and Casiano de Prado, who discovered numbers of these weapons. Towards the middle of last century Casiano de Prado, aided by the Frenchmen Verneuil and Lartet, explored the neighbourhood of San Isidro on the Manzanares, and found large quantities of arms and implements of stone. Valuable service in the cause of prehistoric Spanish archæology has also been performed by Vilanova, Torrubia, and Machado.

[103]“Gerone qui ferrum gelat.” This river, the purity and coldness of whose waters lent, or so it is supposed, its virtues to the steel, rolls past the walls of Calatayud, and is called in later ages the Jalon.

[104]“Imo Toletano præcingant ilia cultro.”

[105]“Romani patriis gladiis depositis Hannibalico bello Hispaniensium assumpserunt … sed ferri bonitatem et fabrica solertiam imitari non potuerunt.”—Suidas.

[106]Descripciones de las Islas Pithiusas y Baleares.Madrid, 1787.

[107]A javelin made throughout of iron was found in Spain some years ago, completely doubled up, so as to admit of its being thrust into a burial urn. The javelin in question is now in the Madrid museum, and a similar weapon may be seen in the provincial museum of Granada.

[108]Historia General del Arte: García Llansó;Armas, pp. 439, 440.

[109]The horse was also covered with alóriga, on which, from about the twelfth century, were thrown the decorative trappings ofcendalor thin silk, painted or embroidered with the warrior's arms.

[110]“Calzó las brafoneras que eran bien obradasCon sortijas de acero, sabet bien enlazadas;Asi eran presas é bien trabadas,Que semejaban calzas de las tiendas taiadas.”Poem of the Cid.

[110]

“Calzó las brafoneras que eran bien obradasCon sortijas de acero, sabet bien enlazadas;Asi eran presas é bien trabadas,Que semejaban calzas de las tiendas taiadas.”

Poem of the Cid.

[111]Count of Clonard,op. cit.

[112]Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones; Nos. 16 and 17.

[113]One of these weapons may be seen in the Royal Armoury (No. I. 95). It is made of iron covered with leather, and has a laurel-shaped blade with sharpened edges. The other end consists of two projecting pieces of the metal, shaped to resemble the plumes of an arrow. The length of this arm is 5 feet 8 inches.

[114]Capellina. The Count of Clonard says that this was in the shape of half a lemon, and fitted with a visor with a cutting edge.

[115]The following armourers' marks are stamped on various korazins in the Royal Armoury, made in Aragon and dating from the fifteenth century:—marks

[115]The following armourers' marks are stamped on various korazins in the Royal Armoury, made in Aragon and dating from the fifteenth century:—

marks

[116]My theory that this harness and the one in the Royal Armoury are the same is strengthened by the official inventory, which specifies “a band of gold and silver, striped, and with devices in relief, studded with lapis lazuli, and yellow gems and luminous crystals.” The Count of Valencia de Don Juan says that this fine outfit, except the portions which are represented in the plate, was mutilated and dispersed in later years, and that he has discovered fragments in the museums of Paris and Vienna, and in the collection of Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild.

[117]Historia General del Arte: García Llansó;Armas; pp. 440, 441.

[118]This weapon can have been no other than the typical Iberian lance.

[119]In the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, this characteristically eastern downward curve of the crossbars grew to be popular even with the Christian Spaniards, as we observe from the swords of Ferdinand himself, preserved in the Royal Armoury at Madrid, and the Chapel Royal of the cathedral of Granada.

[120]Las Pinturas de la Alhambra, p. 15.

[121]The Count of Valencia de Don Juan states that seven Hispano-Moresqueginetaswords are known to exist to-day: the one which is here described, and those belonging to the Marquises of Viana and Pallavicino, Baron de Sangarrén, the Duke of Dino, Señor Sánchez Toscano, the archæological museum at Madrid, the museum of Cassel in Germany, and the national library at Paris, Aginetasword in the Madrid Armoury popularly attributed to Boabdil can never have belonged to him. The hilt is modern, and the blade proceeds from Barbary.

[122]A number of Moorish swords are mentioned in the inventory, compiled in 1560, of the Dukes of Alburquerque. One is particularly interesting. It is described as “a Moorishginetasword which belongs to the Count of Monteagudo, and is pawned for six thousandmaravedis. The sheath is of bay leather, worked in gold thread. The chape and fittings are of silver, decorated with green, blue, purple, and white enamel. There are two serpents' heads upon the fitting, together with the figure of a monster worked in gold thread on a little plate, and two large scarlet tassels: the little plate has three ends of the same enamel and a silver-gilt buckle.” A note at the margin adds; “The chape is wanting, and is owed us by the Marquis of Comares, who lost it at the cane-play at Madrid.”The two serpents' heads formed part of the arms of the Alahmar sultans of Granada; so that from this and from the richness of this weapon we may infer that it had once belonged to Mussulman royalty. The same inventory describes “a Moorish scimitar with gilded hilt; the cross and pommel, and a great part of the scimitar itself, being of gildedataujíawork. The sheath is green inside, and black and gilt upon the face; and hanging from the hilt is a gold and purple cord with a button and a black tassel.”

The two serpents' heads formed part of the arms of the Alahmar sultans of Granada; so that from this and from the richness of this weapon we may infer that it had once belonged to Mussulman royalty. The same inventory describes “a Moorish scimitar with gilded hilt; the cross and pommel, and a great part of the scimitar itself, being of gildedataujíawork. The sheath is green inside, and black and gilt upon the face; and hanging from the hilt is a gold and purple cord with a button and a black tassel.”

[123]To-day the craft of finely decorating arms is not forgotten in Morocco. “A silversmith advanced to show a half-completed silver-sheathed and hafted dagger, engraved with pious sentences, as, “God is our sufficiency and our best bulwark here on earth,” and running in and out between the texts a pattern of a rope with one of the strands left out, which pattern also ran round the cornice of the room we sat in, and round the door, as it runs round the doors in the Alhambra and the Alcazar, and in thousands of houses built by the Moors, and standing still, in Spain. The dagger and the sheath were handed to me for my inspection, and on my saying that they were beautifully worked, the Caid said keep them, but I declined, not having anything of equal value to give in return.”—Cunninghame Graham;Mogreb-El-Acksa, p. 234.

[124]E.g., by Townsend, who wrote of it, with ill-informed enthusiasm, as “an epitome of Spanish history.” Swinburne's notice of the same armoury is also curious: “At the bottom of the palace-yard is an old building, called the Armeria, containing a curious assortment of antique arms and weapons, kept in a manner that would have made poor Cornelius Scriblerus swoon at every step; no notable housemaid in England has her fire-grates half so bright as these coats of mail; they show those of all the heroes that dignify the annals of Spain; those of Saint Ferdinand, Ferdinand the Catholic, his wife Isabella, Charles the Fifth, the great Captain Gonsalo, the king of Granada, and many others. Some suits are embossed with great nicety. The temper of the sword blades is quite wonderful, for you may lap them round your waist like a girdle. The art of tempering steel in Toledo was lost about seventy years ago, and the project of reviving and encouraging it is one of the favourite schemes of Charles the Third, who has erected proper works for it on the banks of the Tagus.”

[125]Throughout this time, the full equipment of the knight consisted of no less than four complete suits, for tournament or battle, or for foot or mounted fighting, together with their lances, swords, and targes. The Alburquerque inventory describes in detail a complete set (“all of it kept in a box”) of war and tourneying harness belonging to the duke. Although the warriors of that day were short of stature, their muscular strength is undeniable, for one of their lances has to be lifted nowadays by several men. When the author ofMogreb-El-Acksawrote contemptuously of the “scrofulous champions tapping on each other's shields,” he was perhaps, forgetful for a moment of this fact.

[126]The Count of Valencia de Don Juan has found, from documents at Simancas, that in the year 1525 Kollman visited Toledo to measure Charles for armour. It is also certain, adds the Count, that, in order to produce this armour of a perfect fit, Kollman first moulded Charles' limbs in wax, and then transferred the moulds to lead. In a budget of accounts which coincides with Kollman's visit to Toledo appears the following item: “Pour trois livres de cire et de plomb pour faire les patrons que maître Colman, armoyeur, a fait”—followed by details of the cost.

[127]This, in the later Middle Ages, was a favourite form of tourneying lance.

[128]Historia General del Arte; Armas, by García Llansó; p. 445.

[129]“Dès que le soir arrive, on ne va point n'y à Madrid ny ailleurs, sans cotte de maille et sansbroquetqui est une rondache.”—Bertaut de Rouen,Voyage d'Espagne(1659A.D.), p. 294.The arms of Spaniards promenading after dark were even fixed by law. TheSuma de Leyesof 1628 ordains that after ten o'clock nobody is to carry arms at all unless he also bears a lighted torch or lantern. No arquebus, on pain of a fine of ten thousandmaravedis, may have a barrel less than a yard long. Nobody may carry a sword or rapier the length of whose blade exceeds a yard and a quarter, or wear a dagger unless a sword accompanies it. Sometimes these prohibitions extended even to seasons of the year. In 1530 an Ordinance of Granada proclaims that from the first of March until the last day of November nobody may carry a hatchet, sickle, or dagger, “except the dagger which is called abarazano, of a palm in length, even if the wearer be a shepherd.” The penalty for infringement of this law was a fine of ten thousandmaravedis; but labourers who worked upon a farm were exempted from the prohibition.Swinburne wrote from Cataluña, in 1775, that “amongst other restrictions, the use of slouched hats, white shoes, and large brown cloaks is forbidden. Until of late they durst not carry any kind of knife; but in each public house there was one chained to the table, for the use of all comers.”

[129]“Dès que le soir arrive, on ne va point n'y à Madrid ny ailleurs, sans cotte de maille et sansbroquetqui est une rondache.”—Bertaut de Rouen,Voyage d'Espagne(1659A.D.), p. 294.

The arms of Spaniards promenading after dark were even fixed by law. TheSuma de Leyesof 1628 ordains that after ten o'clock nobody is to carry arms at all unless he also bears a lighted torch or lantern. No arquebus, on pain of a fine of ten thousandmaravedis, may have a barrel less than a yard long. Nobody may carry a sword or rapier the length of whose blade exceeds a yard and a quarter, or wear a dagger unless a sword accompanies it. Sometimes these prohibitions extended even to seasons of the year. In 1530 an Ordinance of Granada proclaims that from the first of March until the last day of November nobody may carry a hatchet, sickle, or dagger, “except the dagger which is called abarazano, of a palm in length, even if the wearer be a shepherd.” The penalty for infringement of this law was a fine of ten thousandmaravedis; but labourers who worked upon a farm were exempted from the prohibition.

Swinburne wrote from Cataluña, in 1775, that “amongst other restrictions, the use of slouched hats, white shoes, and large brown cloaks is forbidden. Until of late they durst not carry any kind of knife; but in each public house there was one chained to the table, for the use of all comers.”

[130]Voyage d'Espagne, p. 199.

[131]Gonzalo de la Torre de Trassierra; Articles on Cuéllar published in theBoletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones.

[132]“Draw me not without a cause, nor sheathe me without honour.” A sword with this inscription is in the Royal Armoury—(G. 71 of the official catalogue).

[133]Leonard Williams;Toledo and Madrid: their Records and Romances; p. 102.

[134]In the Corpus Christi festival at Granada the banner which preceded all the rest was that of the armourers and knife-makers, followed by that of the silk-mercers.Ordenanzas de Granada; tit. 126.

[135]Armourers' Ordinances of Seville, extant in ms. (quoted by Gestoso;Diccionario de Artífices Sevillanos; vol. I., p. xxxvi).

[136]“De mano y media”;i.e.for wielding either with one hand or both. Specimens of this kind of sword existing at Madrid will be described immediately.

[137]“Señor, let thy yea be yea, and thy nay be nay; for of great virtue is it in the prince, or any man, to be a speaker of the truth, and of great security to his vassals and to his property.”

[138]Toledo and Madrid: their Records and Romances; pp. 99–101.

[139]Andrés Ferrara was a well-known armourer of Zaragoza.

[140]Vol. iv. p. 358.

[141]Escudero de la Peña;Claustros, Escalera, y Artesonados del Palacio Arzobispal de Alcalá de Henares; published in theMuseo Español de Antigüedades.

[142]The brothers Marckwart, or possibly one or other of them, are believed to have stamped their arquebuses with a series of small sickles, thus:marks

[142]The brothers Marckwart, or possibly one or other of them, are believed to have stamped their arquebuses with a series of small sickles, thus:

marks

[143]An old account copied into a book (seep. 89,note) in the National Library at Madrid, and dating from the reign of Sancho the Fourth, states that Pedro Ferrández, saddler, received a certain sum for making various saddles, including two “de palafrés, wrought in silk with the devices of the king.”

[144]“In mediæval Spain, good riders were often designated as ‘Ginete en ambas sillas,’ that is, accustomed to either saddle,i.e.the Moorish and the Christian, and I now understand why chroniclers have taken the trouble to record the fact. Strangely enough, the high-peaked and short-stirruped saddle does not cross the Nile, the Arabs of Arabia riding rather flat saddles with an ordinary length of leg. The Arab saddle of Morocco, in itself, is perhaps the worst that man has yet designed; but, curiously enough, from it was made the Mexican saddle, perhaps the most useful for all kinds of horses and of countries that the world has seen.” Cunninghame Graham:Mogreb-El-Acksa, p. 66. The same writer naïvely adds the following footnote to the wordsGinete en ambas sillas. “This phrase often occurs in Spanish chronicles, after a long description of a man's virtues, his charity, love of the church, and kindness to the poor, and it is apparently inserted as at least as important a statement as any of the others. In point of fact, chronicles being written for posterity, it is the most important.”

[145]As I have stated in another chapter, the precious stones and metals were continually employed in arms and harness, both of Spanish Moors and Spanish Christians. In 1062 Pedro Ruderiz bequeathed to the Monastery of Arlanza all his battle harness, together with his silver bit (frenum argenteum). Thousands of such bequests have been recorded. The Chronicle of Alfonso the Eleventh says that after the victory of the Rio Salado, this monarch found among his spoil “many swords with gold and silver fittings, and many spurs, all of enamelled gold and silver…. And all this spoil was gathered by the king into his palaces of Seville (i.e.the Alcázar), the doubloons in one part, and the swords in another part.” The testament (sometimes considered to be a forgery) of Pedro the Cruel mentions “my sword in the Castilian manner, that I caused to be made here in Seville with gems and withaljofar.” In 1409 Yusuf, King of Granada, presented Juan the Second and the Infante Don Enrique with silver-fitted swords. Referring to a later age, Davillier discovered at Simancas a detailed list of weapons sumptuously decorated with gold and coloured enamels, made for Philip the Second by Juan de Soto, “orfebrero de su Alteza.”Recherches, pp. 149–151.

[146]The women of mediæval Spain had few amusements besides riding. Another—though owing to the temperate climate it must have been on few occasions—was skating, since this inventory mentions “two pairs of skates, for a man, for travelling over ice. Two pairs of skates, for the same purpose, for a woman.” This entry almost matches in its quaintness with the “irons for mustaches,” or the “triggers for extracting teeth,” set forth in Spanish documents such as theTassa Generalof 1627.

[147]This prohibition was not inopportune. Swinburne wrote towards the end of the eighteenth century; “Having occasion one day for a coach to carry us about, the stable-boy of our inn offered his services, and in a quarter of an hour brought to the door a coach and four fine mules, with two postillions and a lacquey, all in flaming liveries; we found they belonged to a countess, who, like the rest of the nobility, allows her coachman to let out her equipage when she has no occasion for it; it cost us about nine shillings, which no doubt was the perquisite of the servants.”

[148]Towns still exist in Spain where vehicles are not allowed to proceed at more than a walking-pace through any of the streets. One of such towns is Argamasilla de Alba (ofDon Quixotefame), where I remember to have read a notice to this effect, painted, by order of the mayor, on a house-wall of the principal thoroughfare.

[149]A royal degree of 1619 disposed that “every one who sows and tills twenty-fivefanegasof land each year, may use a coach.”

[150]Theestufa(literallystove) was a form of family-coach. Thefurlonis described in an old dictionary as “a coach with four seats and hung with leather curtains.”

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The original spelling and minor inconsistencies in the spelling and formatting have been maintained.

Inconsistent hyphenation and accents are as in the original if not marked as a misprint.

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