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."
The greater part of its contents were made within a limited interval, as
well as not produced in Spain. Such are the glittering and gorgeous
harnesses constructed for the actual use of Charles the Fifth by
celebrated German and Italian armourers, ponderous suits for jousting or
parade, or lighter suits for combat in the field, whether on foot or
horseback (Plate xlviii.), fashioned, chiselled, and inlaid by craftsmen
such as the Negroli and Piccini of Milan, Bartolommeo Campi of Pesaro,
or Kollman of Augsburg, bombastically called, by a Spanish poet in the
mode of Gongora, "the direct descendant of Vulcanus."
This German and Italian armour, with its multitude of accessorial
pieces,[125] falls outside the province of a book on Spanish arts and
crafts. Nevertheless, I reproduce, as being too little known outside
Madrid, the sumptuous jousting harness (Plate xlix.), of Charles the
Fifth, made for the emperor when he was a lad of only eighteen years by
Kollman Helmschmied of Augsburg.[126] Laurent Vital, describing the
royal jousts at Valladolid in 1518, relates that "après marchait le Roy
bien gorgiasement monté et armé d'un fin harnais d'Alemaigne, plus
reluisant que d'argent brunti." This is the very harness told of by the
chronicler. The helmet turns the scale at forty pounds; the entire suit
at two hundred and fifty-three pounds; and the length of the lance
exceeds eleven feet.
[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 of _Mogreb-El-Acksa_ wrote 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.
There is, however, also in this armoury a jousting harness (Plate l.)
formerly the property of Philip the First of Spain, a part of which,
including the cuirass, is known to be of Spanish make. The cuirass in
question bears the mark of a Valencia armourer, and the harness
generally dates from about the year 1500, at which time Gachard tells us
in his _Chroniques Belges_ that Philip was learning to joust "à la mode
d'Espaigne." Besides the enormous helmet and the Spanish-made cuirass,
covered with gold brocade, this ornament includes a tourneying lance
with a blunt three-pointed head,[127] and a curious form of rest, said
by the Count of Valencia de Don Juan to be peculiar to the Spaniards and
Italians. This rest is stuffed with cork, on which, just as the fray
began, the iron extremity of the lance was firmly driven. Another
interesting detail is the _cuja_, fastened to the right side of the
cuirass, and also stuffed with cork, made use of to support the lance
upon its passage over to the rest. Nor in this instance was the _cuja_ a
superfluous device, seeing that the lance is over fifteen feet in
length.
[127] This, in the later Middle Ages, was a favourite form of tourneying
lance.
These are the principal portions of the harness. The seemingly
insufficient protection for the arms is explained by the fact that the
solid wooden shield completely covered the fighter's left arm, while
the right would be defended by the shield-like disc or _arandela_ of the
lance.
[Illustration: XLIX
JOUSTING HARNESS OF CHARLES THE FIFTH
(_Royal Armoury, Madrid_)]
Spanish shields and swords of great antiquity and interest are also in
this armoury. The oldest of the shields dates from the twelfth century,
and proceeds from the monastery of San Salvador de Oña, Burgos. The
material is a wood resembling cedar, although much eaten by moth, and is
covered on both sides with parchment bearing traces of primitive
painting of a non-heraldic character. Inside the shield, this decoration
consisted of a black ground crossed diagonally by a broad red band, and
outside, of a red ground covered with rhomboid figures, some in gilt and
some in colour. Such figures were a popular pattern at this time and on
this class of objects. The general stoutness of this shield shows that
it was meant for war. It still retains the strap which slung it from the
warrior's neck, as well as fragments of the braces--made of buffalo
leather covered with crimson velvet--for the hand.
Another shield, proceeding from the same monastery, dates from the
thirteenth century. The material, here again, is wood and parchment; but
in this hundred years formal heraldic ornament had superseded fancy or
conventional devices. Accordingly, this shield is painted with a
blazon, now much worn, of which, however, enough remains to show that it
consisted once upon a time of four black chaperons crowned with gold
_fleurs-de-lis_ upon a gold ground--said to have been the arms of Don
Rodrigo Gomez, Count of Bureba.
The _scut_, or polished metal shield, with painted blazonry or other
decoration, was limited to Aragon and Cataluña.[128]
[128] _Historia General del Arte; Armas_, by García Llansó; p. 445.
Among the smaller and more modern shields preserved in this collection
are two wooden bucklers dating from the sixteenth century. One is in the
Spanish-Moorish style and of a convex shape, with iron bordering and
umbo, and a lining of yellow brocade. The other, of the Christian
Spaniards, is small and lined with painted parchment, and was intended,
so the inventory says, "for going about at night."[129]
[129] "Dès que le soir arrive, on ne va point n'y à Madrid ny ailleurs,
sans cotte de maille et sans _broquet_ qui est une
rondache."--Bertaut de Rouen, _Voyage d'Espagne_ (1659 A.D.),
p. 294.
The arms of Spaniards promenading after dark were even fixed by
law. The _Suma de Leyes_ of 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 thousand
_maravedis_, 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 a
_barazano_, of a palm in length, even if the wearer be a
shepherd." The penalty for infringement of this law was a fine of
ten thousand _maravedis_; 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."
There is also a richly gilt and silvered buckler of the seventeenth
century, made at Eugui in Navarre, and covered with a scene--decadent
in design and workmanship--which represents the judgment of Paris.
Defensive armour, chiefly of a highly decorative kind, was made all
through this century at the capital of Navarre, Pamplona. The Royal
Armoury contains a Pamplonese parade harness (Plate lii.), offered as a
gift to Philip the Third, as well as six diminutive sets of armour made
to his order for the youthful princes Don Felipe, Don Fernando, and Don
Carlos.
The _adarga_ was a kind of targe used by the light cavalry, and had its
origin in Africa. Those which were stored in the palace of the Nasrite
sultans of Granada are described by Al-Makkari as "solid, without pores,
soft to the touch, and famed for their imperviousness." The material was
strong leather, such as cowhide, often embroidered with a scutcheon or
with arabesques. Two Spanish-made _adargas_ in this armoury are
particularly handsome. One is of Moorish craftsmanship, and dates from
the end of the fifteenth century. The other (Plate liii.), apparently
the work of a Spanish Christian and dating from a century later, is
embroidered in silver thread and coloured silk with arabesque devices
and also with four coats of arms, one of which belongs to the noble
family of Fernández de Cordova. The dimensions of this shield are a yard
in height by thirty inches in breadth.
[Illustration: L
JOUSTING HARNESS OF PHILIP THE HANDSOME
(_Royal Armoury, Madrid_)]
There also are preserved in this collection a shield (late sixteenth
century) adorned by Mexican Indians with a most elaborate "mosaic of
feather-work," and a number of Spanish _adargas_ of the same period, for
playing the _juego de cañas_ or "game of canes." The armoury contained
in former days as many as forty-two _adargas_; but the fire of 1884
completely destroyed sixteen and badly damaged twenty-three,
obliterating their heraldic and other decoration. A yet more sinister
event befell on December 1st, 1808, when the Spanish mob, exasperated by
the French, broke in and seized three hundred swords, not one of which
was afterwards recovered. Mention of these disasters leads me to recall
the quantity of beautiful or historic military gear that Spain has lost
through many tribulations and vicissitudes. Formerly her noble families
had excellent collections in their palaces or castles. Such were the
private armouries of the Dukes of Pastrana at Guadalajara, and of the
Dukes of Alburquerque at Cuéllar Castle, near Segovia. Bertaut de Rouen
describes the first as "une des plus belles qui se voyent pour un
seigneur particulier. Il y a quantité d'armes anciennes, et l'on y void
une épée qui s'allonge et s'accourcit quand on veut, de deux pieds et
demy."[130] The Cuéllar armoury was pulled to pieces by Philip the
Fourth to arm his troops against the French. "Send me," he wrote to the
Duke from Madrid, in a letter dated April 16th, 1637, "all your pistols,
carbines, harness for horses, breastplates and other arms for mounted
fighting"; and the loyal nobleman complied upon the spot, despatching
more than five hundred pieces, many of which were doubtless of the
greatest interest.[131]
[130] _Voyage d'Espagne_, p. 199.
[131] Gonzalo de la Torre de Trassierra; Articles on Cuéllar published
in the _Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones_.
Had I the erudition and the time, I would attempt to write, as it
deserves to be written, an introduction to the history of Spanish
swords. Of all the objects mentioned in these volumes, here is the most
inherently symbolic of the Spanish character and history. The Spanish
Moors and Spanish Christians spoke of it as something superhuman. "Once
the sword is in the hand of man," observed, in solemn tones, the Wise
Alfonso, "he hath it in his power to raise or lower it, to strike with
it, or to abandon it." The Spanish Mussulmans talked of putting "clothes
and breeches" on a sword that had a sheath, as though it were a
breathing person; while a Spaniard of the time of Gongora would often
use such language as the following: "Truly in point of look there is as
great a difference between a costly sword and a _Toledan Loyalty_ or
_Soldier's Dream_, as between a marquis and a muleteer, or a washerwoman
and the Infanta. Yet every sword is virtually an hidalgo. Does not the
basest of our Toledanas, even to the _perrillos_ and _morillos_, which
have no core, and cost a dozen _reales_ merely, afford a chivalrous
lesson to its wearer, as it bids him _no me saques sin razon, ni me
envaines sin honor_?[132] The horse and the sword," he continued, taking
a magnificently damascened rapier, and stroking it caressingly, "are the
noblest friends of man, albeit the nobler is the sword; for the horse at
times is obstinate or faint-hearted, but the sword is ready continually.
The sword, moreover, possesses the chiefest of all virtues--justice, or
the power of dividing right and wrong; a soul of iron, which is
strength; and, last and greatest, the Cross, which is the symbol of the
blessed Catholic Faith."[133]
[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.
Notices of early Spanish sword-makers are far from common. Don Manuel G.
Simancas quotes the following, dated in the thirteenth century:--
"_Master Almerique._ By letters of the King and Queen, to Master
Almerique, for making the (sword) blades for the King; out of the MCC
_maravedis_ of his salary he received CCCC _maravedis_."
"_Master Enrique._ By letters of the King and Queen, to Master Enrique,
for making the swords, MCCCC, (of which) he received CCCCXII
_maravedis_."
Other entries of the same period relate to Juan Ferrández, armourer, who
received a sum for making coverings for arms and saddles; and to Master
Jacomin, who was paid three gold _doblas_, or sixty-three _maravedis_,
for making a breastplate.
In the inventory (1560) of the Dukes of Alburquerque occurs a very
curious notice which seems to show that mediæval Spanish swords were
manufactured even in the rural districts. The entry runs; "an old
grooved sword of a broad shape, bearing the words _Juanes me fezió_
("John made me"). In the middle of the same a P within a parted wave,
with Portuguese fittings, varnished, black silk hilt and fringes, and
double straps of black leather, with varnished ends and buckles and
black leather sheath. _Juan de Lobinguez made this sword at Cuéllar._"
[Illustration: LI
MOORISH BUCKLER
(_Osier and metal. Royal Armoury, Madrid_)]
The Spanish guilds of armourers enjoyed high favour,[134] since the
examination for admission to this craft was very strict, as well as
fenced about with curious prohibitions. Thus at Seville, "no Moor, Jew,
black man, or other person such as the law debars, shall set up a shop
for making and selling defensive arms, or undergo examination in this
craft."[135] The penalty for infringement of this law was confiscation
of the arms, together with a fine of twenty thousand _maravedis_.
[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).
Throughout these times the armourer's and the gilder's crafts are found
in closest union; just as the armourer's craft would often alternate
with that of the goldsmith or the silversmith. At Seville, the Ordinance
of 1512 prescribed that every candidate who came to be examined must
make "a set of horse harness, complete with stirrups, headstalls, spurs,
poitral, and the fittings of a sword; and he must silver several of
these pieces and blue them with fine blue; and make of iron, and gild
the spurs and fittings of the sword. Thus shall he make, and gild, and
silver the aforesaid pieces."
Equally severe and comprehensive are the swordsmiths' Ordinances (1527
to 1531) of Granada. The aspirant to the title of _oficial_ "shall mount
a sword for wear with ordinary clothes, fitted in black, together with
its straps, and fringed and corded hilt; besides a sword gilded a low
gold, together with its straps and other parts, all of a single colour.
Also he shall fit a velvet-scabbarded, silver-hilted sword, and a
two-handed sword, fully decorated, with the knife attaching to the same,
one-edged and with a smooth hilt; also a sword whose scabbard shall be
fitted with knives numbering not less than three; and a hilt of
_lacería_ (network ornament); and another sword in a white sheath, with
woven hilt; and another of a hand and a half."[136]
[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.
The Royal Armoury at Madrid contains an excellent collection of these
weapons. Among the earliest known to be of Spanish make are two which
date from the thirteenth century. One of them (Plate liv., No. 1), with
fittings of a later time, is frequently miscalled the "Cid's Colada,"
and seems to have been confounded with the genuine weapon of that hero
which was acquired in the thirteenth century by one of the sovereigns of
Castile, and which has probably disappeared.
The blade of this remarkable sword has two edges and tapers gradually to
the point. Part of the blade is slightly hollowed, and bears, extending
through about a quarter of the hollow or _canal_, the following
inscription or device:--
[Illustration]
This is believed by some authorities to represent the words SI, SI, NO,
NON ("Yes, yes, no, no"); and by others to be a purely meaningless and
decorative pattern. The weapon, in any case, is in the best of
preservation, and is especially interesting from the fact that engraved
blades dating from this early period are very seldom met with. The Count
of Valencia de Don Juan believes this weapon to be the same _Lobera_
which belonged to Ferdinand the Third, and aptly quotes the following
passage from the chronicle. When Ferdinand, conqueror of Seville, was
lying on his death-bed in that capital, surrounded by his children, he
gave his blessing to his younger son, the Infante Don Manuel, and
addressed him in these words. "I can bequeath no heritage to you; but I
bestow upon you my sword Lobera, that is of passing worth, and wherewith
God has wrought much good to me." If the Count's surmise be accurate,
another passage which he quotes from the work _Nobleza y Lealtad_,
written by the twelve councillors of Ferdinand, fully explains the
legend on the blade. "_Sennor, el tu si sea asi, e el tu non, sea non;
que muy gran virtud es al Príncipe, ó á otro qualquier ome ser
verdadero, e grand seguranza de sus vasallos, e de sus cosas._"[137]
[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."
I said that the chiselled and gilded iron fittings to the blade are of a
later period. They date from the earlier part of the sixteenth century,
and are the work of Salvador de Avila, of Toledo.
[Illustration: LII
ARMOUR MADE AT PAMPLONA
(_17th Century. Royal Armoury, Madrid_)]
The other sword in this collection, and which also belongs to the
thirteenth century, has a long, broad blade with two edges and a central
groove, thinly engraved with circles (Pl. liv., No. 3, and Pl. lv.). The
crossbars are of silver-gilt, engraved with _ataurique_, curving towards
the blade and terminating in trefoils. A shield midway between them
bears the arms of Castile upon one side, and those of León upon the
other. The grip is of wood, covered with silver plates with decorated
borders, and the pommel is of iron, also covered with ornamental plates
of silver-gilt. Formerly this arm was studded with precious stones, but
all of these excepting one have disappeared.
The scabbard is of wood lined with sheepskin, and is covered with a
series of five silver-gilt plates, profusely decorated with
Hispano-Moresque _lacería_, studded with various kinds of gems. These
gems upon the scabbard amounted once upon a time to seventy-six, which
sum, through pilfering or accident (probably the former, since the
finest stones are gone), has been diminished by one-half. An inventory,
made in the reign of Philip the Second, states that the inner side of
the sheath, now wholly worn away, was covered with lions and castles,
and that the belt was of broad orange-coloured cloth, with silver
fittings.
This sword has been absurdly attributed to the nephew of Charlemagne,
who lived not less than half a thousand years before its date of
manufacture. The Count of Valencia de Don Juan thought that it may have
been the property of a Spanish monarch of the thirteenth
century,--perhaps Alfonso the Learned, or Ferdinand the Third, Alfonso's
father. Ferdinand, we know, possessed a sword which he delivered with
due ceremony to his elder son, the Infante Don Fernando, upon his
leading out a force against the town of Antequera. This sword the
chronicler Alvar García de Santa María described as having "a sheath in
pieces, with many precious stones."
Of even greater interest than the foregoing weapon is the great
two-handed and two-edged _estoque_ or ceremonial sword of Ferdinand and
Isabella, which measures forty-two inches in length. The fittings are of
iron, gilded and engraved. The crossbars, terminating in small
half-moons, with the concave side directed outward, are inscribed with
the well-known motto of the Catholic sovereigns, TANTO MONTA, and with
a supplication to the Virgin, MEMENTO MEI O MATER DEI MEI. The pommel is
a flat disc, suggestive in its outline of a Gothic cross, and bears upon
one side the figure of Saint John together with the yoke, emblem of
Ferdinand the Catholic, and upon the other the sheaf of arrows, emblem
of his consort Isabella. The hilt is covered with red velvet bound with
wire.
The sheath of this most interesting sword--affirmed by the Count of
Valencia de Don Juan to have been used by Ferdinand and Isabella, and
subsequently by Charles the Fifth, in the ceremony of conferring
knighthood, and also, during the Hapsburg monarchy, to have been carried
by the master of the horse before the king upon his formal visit to a
city of his realm--is made of wood covered with crimson silk, bearing in
"superposed" embroidery the arms of Spain posterior to the conquest of
Granada, together with a repetition of the emblems of the Catholic
sovereigns (Plate liv., No. 2).
In the same collection are two other swords which probably belonged to
Ferdinand the Catholic. One of them (Pl. lvii., No. 1), has a discoid
pommel and a gilded iron handle. The flat crossbars grow wider and bend
down towards the blade, and on the hilt we read the words PAZ COMIGO
NVNCA VEO, Y SIEMPRE GVERA DESEO ("Never does peace attend me, and
always do I yearn for war").
This sword has been attributed to Isabella. The evidence for this belief
is slight, although the Count of Valencia de Don Juan discovered that in
the year 1500 Isabella was undoubtedly the possessor of certain weapons
and armour which she sometimes actually wore. Among these objects were
several Milanese breastplates, a small dagger with a gold enamelled hilt
in the shape of her emblem of the sheaf of arrows, and two swords, one
fitted with silver and enamel, and the other with iron.
The other sword, which probably belonged to Ferdinand the Catholic, is
of the kind known as "of a hand and a half" (_de mano y media_; see p.
248, _note_), and also of the class denominated _estoques de arzón_, or
"saddle-bow swords," being commonly slung from the forepart of the
saddle upon the left side of the rider. Ferdinand, however, had reason
to be chary of this usage, for Lucio Marineo Sículo affirms that at the
siege of Velez-Málaga the sword which he was wearing thus suspended,
jammed at a critical moment of the fray, and very nearly caused his
death. Sículo adds that after this experience Ferdinand invariably wore
his sword girt round his person, just as he wears it in the carving on
the choir-stalls of Toledo.