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Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
The ligature oe is represented by [oe].
The dagger sign has been marked as [dagger].
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[Illustration: "THE GRAPE-GATHERERS"
(_Tapestry from Cartoon by Goya. El Escorial_)]
The World of Art Series
THE ARTS AND CRAFTS OF OLDER SPAIN
by
LEONARD WILLIAMS
Corresponding Member of the Royal Spanish Academy,
of the Royal Spanish Academy of History, and of the
Royal Spanish Academy of Fine Arts;
Author of "The Land of the Dons"; "Toledo and Madrid"; "Granada," etc.
In Three Volumes, Illustrated
VOLUME III
Chicago
A. C. McClurg & Co.
Edinburgh: T. N. Foulis
1908
American Edition
Published October 10, 1908
CONTENTS OF VOLUME THREE
TEXTILE FABRICS
PAGES
INTRODUCTION 1-38
SPANISH SILK 38-105
CLOTHS AND WOOLLENS 105-125
EMBROIDERY 125-137
TAPESTRY 137-159
LACE 159-175
* * * * *
APPENDICES 177-258
BIBLIOGRAPHY 259-268
INDEX 271-282
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
_VOLUME THREE_
TEXTILE FABRICS
PLATE PAGE
"The Grape-Gatherers"; Tapestry from Cartoon
by Goya; El Escorial _Frontispiece_
I. The "Banner of Las Navas"; Monastery of Las Huelgas,
Burgos 22
II. Fragment of the Burial Mantle of Ferdinand the Third;
Royal Armoury, Madrid 26
III. King Alfonso the Learned; from "The Book of Chess," MS.
in the Escorial Library 28
IV. Spanish Velvet; about A.D. 1500 30
V. The Tunic of Boabdil el Chico; National Museum of
Artillery, Madrid 36
VI. The "Banner of Saint Ferdinand"; Seville Cathedral 40
VII. Velvet made at Granada 56
VIII. The Daughters of Philip the Second; Prado Gallery,
Madrid 98
IX. A _Charra_ or Peasant Woman of Salamanca, in the
year 1777 102
X. Embroidered Priest's Robe; about A.D. 1500 118
XI. Embroidered Priest's Robe; about A.D. 1500 120
XII. Embroidered Chasuble; Palencia Cathedral 122
XIII. Embroidered Case of Processional Cross; Toledo Cathedral 124
XIV. Embroidered Altar-Front 126
XV. Embroidered Altar-Front; Toledo Cathedral 128
XVI. Embroidered Altar-Front; Palencia Cathedral 130
XVII. Embroidered Altar-Fronts; Palencia Cathedral 132
XVIII. Costume of Woman of the Balearic Islands; about
A.D. 1810 134
XIX. The "Genesis Tapestry"; Gerona Cathedral 138
XX. _Tapiz_ of Crimson Velvet worked in gold tissue;
Monastery of Las Huelgas, Burgos 144
XXI. "The Spinners," by Velazquez; Prado Gallery, Madrid 148
XXII. Tapestry made at Brussels from Granada Silk 150
XXIII. "A Promenade in Andalusia"; Cartoon for Tapestry,
by Goya 152
XXIV. Tapestry; Arras-Work, from Italian Cartoons; Zamora
Cathedral 156
XXV. Flemish Tapestry; Collection of the late Count of
Valencia de Don Juan 158
XXVI. The Marchioness of La Solana, by Goya 160
XXVII. A Spanish _Maja_; A.D. 1777 162
XXVIII. A _Maja_, by Goya 164
XXIX. A Lady of Soria; about A.D. 1810 166
XXX. Handkerchief of Catalan Lace, presented to Queen
Victoria of Spain on her marriage 168
XXXI. Curtain of Spanish Lace; Point and Pillow Work, modern 170
XXXII. Point Lace Fan, of Mudejar Design, modern 172
TEXTILE FABRICS
INTRODUCTION
Our earliest intelligence respecting textile fabrics of old Spain
derives almost exclusively from Moorish sources, and shows, together
with the silence of Saint Isidore, that until the subjugation of the
Visigoths, the occupants of the Peninsula attached no great importance
to this industry. Under the Moors, the south and east of Spain grew
rapidly famous for the manufacture of all kinds of textile stuffs, and
in particular those of silk. The origin of these silks, or of the most
luxurious and artistic of them, may be traced to Almería. According to
Al-Makkari, what made this Andalusian capital superior to all other
cities of the world was her "various manufactures of silks and other
dress materials, such as the _dibaj_, a silken fabric of many colours,
surpassing, both in quality and durability, all other products made
elsewhere, and also the _tiraz_, a costly stuff whereon are inscribed
the names of sultans, princes, and other personages, and for making
which there used to be no fewer than eight hundred looms. Inferior
fabrics were the _holol_ (a kind of striped silk), and brocades woven
upon a thousand looms, while as many more were employed continually in
making the scarlet stuffs called _iskalaton_. Another thousand produced
the robes called _al jorjani_ (or 'the Georgian'), and yet another
thousand the Isbahani robes, from Isfahan, and yet another thousand the
robes of Atabi. The making of damask for gay-coloured curtains and
turbans for the women kept busy as many persons as the articles
above-mentioned."
Edrisi, a chronicler of the twelfth century, says of the same capital
that she was the principal city belonging to the Moors in the time of
the Moravides. In fact, she was then a great and prosperous industrial
centre, possessing, together with other kinds of looms, eight hundred
which produced the fabrics known as _holla_, _debady_, _siglaton_,
_espahani_, and _djordjani_, curtains with a flowered decoration, cloths
of a smaller size, and the stuffs which were denominated _attabi_ and
_mi djar_.
A similar notice is contained in the _Chronicle of Rassis the Moor_.
Referring to the end of the tenth century, this author wrote that
"Almería is the key of profit and of all prosperity. Within her walls
dwell cunning weavers who produce in quantities magnificent silken
cloths inwoven with gold thread." Other important centres of this trade
and craft were Málaga, Baeza, Alicante, Seville, and Granada. Rassis
wrote of Málaga: "She has a fertile territory, wherein is made the
finest _sirgo_ in the world. From here they trade in it with every part
of Spain. Here too is made the finest of all linens, and that which the
women best esteem." Of Baeza he wrote: "She manufactures excellent and
famous silken cloths of the kind which are called _tapetes_"; and of
Alicante, "This city lies in the Sierra de Benalcatil, which in its turn
is situated in the midst of other ranges containing prosperous towns
where silken cloths of finest quality were made in other days; and the
weavers of these cloths were skilled exceedingly."
Málaga is described by the Cordovese historian Ash Shakandi (thirteenth
century) as "famous for its manufactures of silks of every colour and
design, some of them so costly that a suit is sold for thousands; such
are the brocades of beautiful pattern, inwoven with the names of
caliphs, emirs and other wealthy personages.... As at Málaga and
Almería, there are at Murcia several manufactories of silken cloth
called _al washiu thalathat_, or 'the variegated.' This town is also
celebrated for the carpets called _tantili_, which are exported to all
countries of the east and west, as well as for a sort of bright-coloured
mat with which the Murcians cover the walls of their houses."
The ancient Illiberia or Illiberis, believed to have been situated not
far from where is nowadays Granada, is described in Rassis' chronicle as
"a city great and flourishing by reason of the quantity of silk that she
exports to every part of Spain. She lies at sixty thousand paces
distance from, and on the southward side of Cordova, and six thousand
paces from, and to the north of the Frozen Sierra" (_i.e._ the Sierra
Nevada).
Another chronicle--that of El Nubiense, who visited Spain towards the
twelfth century--states that in the kingdom of Jaen alone were six
hundred towns which produced and carried on a trade in silk.
The foregoing extracts show that under the Spanish Moors the manufacture
of textile fabrics attained in mediæval times a very great importance.
It is also certain that during the same period the textile fabrics in
use among the Christian Spaniards were strongly and continually
influenced, and even to a large extent produced, by Spanish Moors,
while, as the Moorish cities fell into the power of the enemy, the
Christian rulers encouraged their newly-sworn Mohammedan lieges to
prosecute this industry with unabated zeal. A privilege is extant which
was granted by Jayme the Conqueror in the year 1273, to a Moor named Ali
and his sons Mohammed and Bocaron, empowering these artificers to
manufacture silk and cloth of gold at Jativa, in the kingdom of
Valencia. The fabrics produced by Mussulman weavers such as these, found
ready purchase with the wealthier classes of the Christian Spaniards.
The dress and other materials thus elaborated possessed a great variety
of names, whose meaning cannot always be determined at the present day.
Among the fabrics most in vogue were those denominated _samit_ (also
_xamed_ or _examitum_), _ciclaton_, _tabis_ or _atabi_, _zarzahan_,
_fustian_ or _fustan_, _cendal_ or _sendat_, _camelote_ (also
_chamelote_ or _xamellot_), _drap imperial_, and _bougran_ (also
_bouckram_, _buckram_), stated by Dr Bock to be derived from Bokhara,
and which was of a quality far superior to the buckram of more modern
times. These Saracenic or semi-Saracenic stuffs were manufactured from
an early period, but modern experts are not agreed as to their
character. Miquel y Badía and some other authorities believe that
_samit_ was a costly material which was sometimes coloured green, and
shot with gold or silver thread. Others believe it to have been a kind
of velvet. In either case it is known to have been used for shrouding
the bodies of the wealthy. _Ciclaton_ was a strong though flexible
material used for robes and also for wall-hangings. _Tabis_ or _atabi_
was a kind of taffeta, and probably consisted, as a general rule, of
silk, though sometimes it was mixed with cotton. _Chamelot_ was an
oriental fabric of rich silk, coloured white, black, or grey. It is
mentioned, together with velvets, taffetas, and _cendal_ or _sendat_
(another silken stuff) in a law passed by the Cortes of Monzón in 1375,
and which is quoted in Capmany's _Memorias_.[1] Fustian is thought to
have been first produced in Egypt. It was woven of thread or cotton, and
was largely used in England from at least as early as the twelfth
century. From about the same time buckram was also popular in northern
countries.
[1] "Perco con los draps d'or é d'argent, é de seda axi brocats d'or é
d'argent con altres é velluts, xamelots, tafetanes, é sendats se
usen molt de vestir en lo dit Principat d'alguna generalitat ne
dret no y sia posat, mes solament vi liners per liura per la
entrada."
Early in the fourteenth century a number of other costly stuffs began to
be made in various quarters of the civilized world, including Spain.
Among these fabrics were _zatonin_ or _zatony_ (perhaps the same as
_zetani_, _aceituni_, or _aceytoni_--that is, satin), several kinds of
_drap d'aur_ or cloth of gold, several kinds of velvet, _sarga_ or
serge, and _camocas_, which is stated by Miquel y Badía to have been a
strong material used for lining curtains, coats of mail, etc. The same
writer observes that the stuff called by the name _zatonin_ and its
variations is the same as the Castilian raso and the Catalan _setí_ or
_satí_, a favourite though expensive and luxurious fabric in the
fourteenth and succeeding centuries. Under the name _aceytoni_ it is
mentioned in a work in the Catalan language titled _Croniques
d'Espanya_, by Pedro Miguel Carbonell, in which we read that at the
coronation of Don Martin of Aragon this monarch's consort, Doña María,
was "dressed in white cloth of gold and a long mantle ... and rode upon
a white horse covered with trappings of white _aceytoni_."
Miquel y Badía has discovered the names of other fabrics which are known
from documentary evidence to have been used in older Spain, and which
were called _aducar_, _alama_, _tela de nacar_, _primavera_ or
_primavert_, _almexia_, _picote_, and _velillo_. It is probable that
_alama_ and _tela de nacar_ had silver interwoven with their texture.
The _primavera_ or "spring fabric" was so named from the flowers which
adorned it. _Almexía_ is mentioned in the _Chronicle of the Cid_. It was
a costly and elaborate stuff, and is believed by Miquel to have taken
its title from the city of Almería. _Picote_ was a kind of satin
manufactured in the island of Majorca, and _velillo_ a thin, delicate
fabric decorated with flowers and with silver thread.
The devices on all these stuffs were very varied. Prominent types among
them were the _pallia rotata_, containing circles which are commonly
combined with other ornament, the _pallia aquilinata_, in which the
dominant motive was the eagle, and the _pallia leonata_, in which it was
the lion. Other beasts, birds, and monsters were also figured with great
frequency, such as griffins, peacocks, swans, crows, bulls, tigers, or
dogs; but the emblem most in favour, especially throughout the tenth,
eleventh, and twelfth centuries, was the eagle, owing to the numerous
and illustrious qualities attributed to it, such as majesty, victory,
valour, and good omen. These creatures, too, were frequently represented
face to face or back to back, in pairs; nor were they so disposed in
textile fabrics only, but on ivory, wood, or silver caskets, and on
numerous other objects, as well as on the painted friezes of a place of
worship.[2]
[2] "We have seen many instances of such opposed animals and birds on
the metal-work and carving of the thirteenth century, and there is
no doubt that the design is much older than Mohammedan times, and
goes back to the productions of the old artists of Mesopotamia and
Persia. We read in Quintus Curtius of robes worn by Persian satraps,
adorned with birds beak to beak--_aurei accipitres veluti rostri in
se irruerunt pallam adornabant_. Plautus mentions Alexandrian
carpets ornamented with beasts: _Alexandrina belluata conchyliata
tapetia_. There is indeed reason to believe that the notion of such
pairs of birds or beasts may have originated with the weavers of
ancient Persia, and have been borrowed from them by the engravers of
metal-work; for the advantage of such double figures would be
specially obvious to a weaver. The symmetrical repetition of the
figure of the bird or animal, reversed, saved both labour and
elaboration of the loom. The old weavers, not yet masters of
mechanical improvements, were obliged to work their warp up and down
by means of strings, and the larger the design the more numerous
became these strings and the more complicated the loom. Hence, to be
able to repeat the pattern in reverse was a considerable economy of
labour, and could be effected very simply on a loom constructed to
work _à pointe et à reverse_. Examples of such repetitions of
patterns, especially of symmetrical pairs of animals within circles,
are common in Byzantine and Sassanian woven work, and the Saracens
followed these models."--Stanley Lane-Poole, _The Art of the
Saracens in Egypt_, p. 288.
The colours of these fabrics also varied very greatly. That which was
most admired was probably red, crimson, or carmine, used by preference
as a ground, with the pattern inwoven or super-woven in gold, silver, or
otherwise. Velvets, too, were not invariably in monochrome, but would
contain two or three colours such as purple, crimson, blue, or yellow,
besides gold and silver. Miquel y Badía mentions a magnificent velvet
pluvial in gold and three colours, belonging to a church in Cataluña.
The following observations are by the same authority, who himself
possesses a valuable collection of early textile fabrics, many of which
are Spanish. "The same prevailing colours are found in the Mudejar
textile fabrics as in those of the Spanish Moors--the same ground of red
inclining to carmine, of dark blue, or of bluish green, with a pattern
in yellow, green, blue, or red, according to the colour which combines
with it. I have seen copies of Mudejar stuffs in which there is no
white, because this was wanting in the fragments which the copying
artist had before him. And it is a fact that from some cause, which we
cannot now determine, white silk is that which disappears soonest from
among the textile fabrics of the Spanish Moors and Mudejares, so that by
far the greater part of them contain no white at all, or only traces of
it."
In Spain these handsome stuffs were used by all the wealthier classes,
and some idea of their prevalence and popularity may be formed from the
voluminous mass of sumptuary laws which deal with them at almost every
stage of Spanish history. Thus, an edict of Jayme the First of Aragon
established, in the year 1234, that neither the monarch nor any of his
subjects were to decorate their clothes with gold and silver, or fasten
their cloaks with gold or silver clasps. The _Ordenamiento_ of Alfonso
the Tenth, subscribed at Seville, February 27th, 1256, provides that no
woman is to carry _aljofar_-work, trim her dress with gold or silver, or
wear a _toca_ decorated with those metals, but only a plain white one,
the price of which is not to exceed three _maravedis_. It is also
provided by this edict that on the celebration of a wedding, the cost of
the bridal clothes must not exceed sixty _maravedis_, nor may the number
of guests who sit down to the marriage banquet exceed five women and
five men, besides the witnesses of the ceremony and relatives of the
bride and bridegroom. This absurd law was so extensively neglected that
two years later the Cortes of Valladolid took up the matter afresh, and
even resolved that the expenses of the king's table, without the cost of
his invited guests, were not to exceed a daily total of a hundred and
fifty _maravedis_.
In A.D. 1286 the Council of Cordova decreed that knights and squires,
upon the celebration of their marriage, were not to present their brides
with more than two dresses, one of these to be of scarlet, without
trimming of ermine or grey fur, or decoration of gold, silver, or
_aljofar_. A law of Alfonso the Eleventh, dated May 6th, 1338,
proclaimed that the women of the upper classes were not to clothe
themselves in any silken fabric decorated with gold thread. Similar
restrictions were laid upon the other sex. "No man, whatever be his
condition (excepting only Us, the King), shall wear cloth of gold, or
silk, or any stuff adorned with gold lace, _aljofar_, or any other
trimming, or with enamel: only his cloak may bear _aljofar_ pearl-work,
or fillets without pearls." Other dispositions signed by the same
monarch show that the Spaniards of his time were in the habit of wearing
costly cloth adorned with gold and silver, pearls, gold buttons, enamel,
and other ornament, while even the squires wore furs and gilded shoes.
The _ricos-hombres_ loaded their saddles with gold and with
_aljofar_-work, and their wives were licensed to bear on each of their
dresses the same _aljofar_-work or strings of tiny pearls, to the value
of four thousand _maravedis_.
Provisions of the same tenor are contained in the prolix sumptuary
pragmatic of Pedro the Cruel, signed in the year 1351 at Valladolid, as
well as in that of Juan the First, A.D. 1385, which ordained, together
with other vexatious prohibitions, that "neither man nor woman, whatever
be their condition or estate, shall wear cloth of gold or any
silk-stuff, gold or silver _aljofar_, or other precious stones,
excepting the Infante and Infantas, who may wear whatever pleases them."
The extravagance of Isabella the Catholic in dress and personal
adornment generally, was illustrated in an earlier chapter of this work.
A further instance is recorded by Clemencin. According to this
chronicler, in 1476 and 1477, upon her reception at Alcalá of two
embassies from France, the queen was dressed in a magnificent robe,
which drew upon her a sharp rebuke from her confessor, the virtuous and
austere Hernando de Talavera. From this charge Isabella defended herself
with more spirit than truthfulness. "Neither myself nor my ladies," she
wrote in her letter of reply, "were dressed in new apparel. All that I
wore on this occasion I had already worn in Aragon, and the French
themselves had seen me wearing it. I only used one robe at all, and that
of silk with three marks of gold, the plainest I could find: in this was
all my festival. I say this much in that my clothing was not new; nor
did we deem that error could dwell therein."[3]
[3] _Elogio de la Reina Católica_, p. 374.
Although their own extravagance is past all question, on September 30th,
1499, Ferdinand and his consort issued a proclamation at Granada, in
which it was commanded that "no persons shall wear clothing of brocade,
or silk, or silk _chamelote_, or _zarzahan_, or taffeta, or carry
linings of the same upon the trappings of their horses, or upon hoods,
or the straps and scabbards of their swords, or bits, or saddles, or
_alcorques_[4] ... nor shall they wear embroidered silk-stuffs
decorated with gold plates, whether such gold be drawn or hammered, spun
to a thread, or interwoven with the fabric."
[4] These are defined by the Count of Clonard as "a kind of clog
(_chapín_) with a cork sole, and which was introduced by the Moors
under the name _al-kork_."
These prohibitions, or others of their import, were ratified by Doña
Juana at the Cortes of Burgos, and, in 1533, by Charles the Fifth at
Valladolid. In 1551 the Emperor again prohibited "all brocaded stuffs,
or gold or silver cloth, whether embroidered or enriched with gold or
silver thread, or bound with cord or edging of the same;" and a royal
edict of January 12th, 1611, forbade the wearing of brocade and every
other costly stuff to all except the clergy and the military.
The clergy, indeed, had always been notorious for extravagance, and not
a few of all these sumptuary laws are aimed specifically at them. In
A.D. 1228 the Council of Valladolid prohibited the use by priests of
sleeved robes, or gilded saddles, bits, spurs, or poitrels. In 1267 the
Synod of León repeated these prohibitions, further insisting that the
garments of the clergy, besides being sleeveless, were not to be red or
green, and were to have a moderate length ("_non muy largas, non muy
cortas_"), and that their cloaks were not to fasten with a clasp or
cord; these regulations to be rigidly adhered to _en sennal de
honestidat_--"as a sign of honesty."
We also know that at this time (thirteenth century) the shirts of many
of the wealthier Spaniards were woven of finest linen imported from the
East, embroidered and picked out with gold and silver thread, and that
the clergy were at least the equals of the laity in their craze for
costly clothing. In A.D. 1273, an inventory was made of the effects
belonging to Don Gonzalo Palomeque, on his election to the bishopric of
Cuenca. It mentions _almadraques_ and Murcian _tapetes_, _carpitas
viadas_ from Tlemcen, fine Murcian blankets (_alhamares_), silk
_xamedes_, Murcian matting for covering walls and daïses ("_para paret
et para estrado_"), and stuffs from Syria. Another inventory, that of
Don Gonzalo Gudiel, archbishop of Toledo, is dated A.D. 1280, and
mentions, as included with his property, quantities of oriental fabrics
which are designated by the general name _tartaricas_.[5] Among them
were "unus pannus operatus ad aves de auro et campus de serica viridi,
item unus alius pannus tartaricus cum campo de seta alba et vite aurea,
item unus pannus tartaricus de seta rubea cum pinis aureis, item unus
pannus tartaricus de seta viridi."[6]
[5] Specifically, _tartari_ was a costly fabric, heavily embroidered.
Ducange considers that it came, or came originally, from Tartary.
We read of it twice in the _Chronicle of the Cid_, and again, in
the _Chronicle of Ferdinand the Fourth_:--"tiraron los paños de
marhega que tenia vestidos por su padre é vistiéronle unos paños
nobles de tartari."
[6] Quoted by Fernandez y Gonzalez, _Mudejares de Castilla_, p. 231,
from the originals in the Archiepiscopal Library of Toledo.
A number of mediæval textile fabrics, some in fragments, some intact,
have been preserved in Spanish private collections or museums. It is,
however, seldom easy to determine whether they were made in this
Peninsula, or whether in Sicily, Byzantium, Venice, or the East. Among
the most remarkable of all these interesting specimens are, a strip
which was extracted from the mausoleum of a Spanish bishop, Don Bernardo
Calbó, a native of Vich in Cataluña, and which is now in the museum of
that town; other fragments in the same collection, including one of
_holosericum_ or pure silk, which was formerly in the neighbouring
church of San Juan de las Abadesas, and is commonly known as the
_pallium_ or altar front "of the witches" (owing to certain beasts or
monsters figuring in the design), a Moorish _tiraz_, now in the Academy
of History at Madrid, the celebrated Moorish "banner of the battle of
Las Navas," now in the Monastery of Santa María la Real de las Huelgas
at Burgos, the banner (also Moorish) of the battle of the River Salado,
the chasubles "of the Constable" and of Chiriana, preserved respectively
at Burgos and at Caravaca, a fragment, preserved in the Royal Armoury at
Madrid, of the shroud of Ferdinand the Third, and the Moorish clothing
of the son of the same King Ferdinand, the Infante Don Felipe, and of
Felipe's second wife, Doña Leonor Ruiz de Castro.
The strip of woven material found in the sepulchre of Bishop Calbó, who
is said to have accompanied Don Jayme the Conqueror in the conquest of
Valencia (A.D. 1238), is described by Miquel y Badía as belonging to the
class denominated _pallia rotata_--that is, with circles forming part of
their design,--and dates most probably from the twelfth century; but it
is impossible to say whether it was manufactured in the East, or whether
at Valencia or some other Spanish town. The same remark applies to other
fragments which are also, as I stated, in the Vich Museum. The one
discovered in the tomb of Bishop Calbó contains, coloured in green,
grey, and black upon a carmine ground, a decorative scheme of circles,
flowers, and gryphons or other monsters in pairs, _affrontés_, and also,
within the circles, the figure of a man grappling with two lions,
tigers, dogs, or other beasts, and who is believed to represent Samson
or Daniel--more probably the latter. Miquel y Badía points out that in
this fragment the figure of the man recalls Egyptian art, suggested by
his curious head-dress, and by the crossing of his clothes upon his
breast.
Another textile fragment in the same collection is coloured black, red,
and grey upon a yellowish ground. It is decorated with long-tailed birds
resembling peacocks, and with sphinxes which fill the circles or
medallions. A third fragment, also in the Vich Museum, belongs to the
type of _pallia cum aquilis et bestiolis_. The design consists of a
double-headed eagle with half-extended wings, holding in the claws of
either foot some kind of quadruped--perhaps a bull. The colour of the
ground resembles carmine, and on it the design is wrought in greenish
black--that may have been originally green--relieved at intervals with
yellow.
The "witches'" _pallium_ in the same collection is decorated with the
series of extraordinary beasts or monsters that have won for it this
title with the vulgar, depicted in yellow, white, black, and dark green
upon a red ground. Miquel believes this fabric to proceed from
Byzantium, and to date from not much earlier than the eleventh century.
The devices are disposed in two rows, the lower containing peacocks
_affrontés_, and the upper a series of fantastic monsters, each of which
possesses a head, two bodies, and four feet--the head being semi-human,
semi-bestial, the double body that of a bird, and the claws those of a
lion or some other formidable quadruped.
The Royal Academy of History at Madrid possesses a fragment of the
costly fabric known as _tiraz_, an eastern word (corrupted by the
Spaniards into _taracea_, _i.e._ embroidery on clothing), which means
the bordering for a royal robe. Such bordering, which contained
inscriptions, or the sultan's name, or both together, is said to have
been first used in Spain by Abderrahman the Second, who ruled from A.D.
825 to 852. "The caliphs of Cordova," says Riaño, "had a place set apart
in their palaces where this stuff was kept: this custom lasted until the
eleventh century, when it disappeared, and was re-established in the
thirteenth century with the kings of Granada." _Tiraz_, in fact, was
both produced and stored in special departments of the Sultan's
palaces[7]; or so we must infer from the following passage by
Ibn-Khaldun. "The places (_almedinas_) where these stuffs were woven
were situated within the palaces of the caliphs, and were known as the
'pavilions of the _tiraz_.' The person at the head of these workshops
was called the superintendent of the _tiraz_: he had charge of both the
weavers and the looms, administered the salaries, and looked to the
quality of the work. This post was entrusted by the princes to one of
the foremost officers of their kingdom, or else to some freedman who
thoroughly deserved their confidence." The same historian adds that the
manufacture of _tiraz_ was conducted in Spain in the same manner as in
the East under the dynasty of the Ommeyades. It is, however, certain
that among the Spanish Moors _tiraz_ was not produced exclusively in
royal factories. Al-Makkari states that in the time of the Somadies and
the Almoravides there were looms at Nerja (and possibly at Almería) for
weaving this luxurious fabric, as well as _holas_, a fine brocade,
heavily embroidered, and adorned with figures representing the caliphs
and other personages. In the time of the Almoravides there were at
Almería as many as a thousand factories for making _holas_.
[7] "An interesting parallel to the royal silk factory, or
D[=a]r-et-tir[=a]z of Kay-Kub[=a]d, and to that of the F[=a]timy
Khalif at Tinn[=i]s, is found in the similar institution at Palermo,
which owed its foundation to the Kelby Am[=i]rs who ruled Sicily as
vassals of the F[=a]timis in the ninth and tenth centuries, though
it maintained its special character and excellence of work under
the Norman kings. The factory was in the palace, and the weavers
were Mohammedans, as indeed is obvious from a glance at the famous
silk cloth preserved at Vienna, and called the "Mantle of Nürnberg,"
where a long Arabic inscription testifies to the hands that made it,
by order of King Roger, in the year of the Hijra 528, or
A.D. 1133."--Stanley Lane-Poole, _The Art of the Saracens in Egypt_,
p. 289.
The piece of _tiraz_ which belongs to the Spanish Academy of History
measures about a yard and a half in length by eighteen inches wide.
Riaño describes it as of wool, embroidered in silks with "seated figures
which appear to be a king, a lady, lions, birds, and quadrupeds"; but
after carefully examining it I cannot but agree with Miquel y Badía that
this fabric is woven throughout of pure silk, without the slightest
trace of hand-embroidery. It has two borders containing these
inscriptions in Cufic letters: "In the name of God, the clement, the
merciful. (May) the blessing of God and happiness (be) for the Caliph
Iman Abdallah Hixem, the favoured of God and prince of believers." This
monarch, second of the name, reigned at the end of the tenth century and
early in the eleventh, and the _tiraz_ we are noticing was found in a
casket on the altar of a church at San Esteban de Gormaz, in the
province of Soria. As Riaño suggests, it was very probably a war trophy.
[Illustration: I
THE "BANNER OF LAS NAVAS"
(_Monastery of Santa Maria la Real de las Huelgas, Burgos_)]
Another most interesting example of Saracenic textile work is the
so-called "banner of Las Navas" (Plate i.), which popular tradition
affirms to have been captured (A.D. 1212) in the memorable battle of Las
Navas de Tolosa, between the Almohades and the Spanish Christians. Most
experts now consider that this object is not a military ensign, but a
curtain or some other hanging for a tent or doorway. The material is
_sirgo_ or silken serge, and both the decoration and the workmanship are
purely Moorish. The design is rich and intricate throughout, consisting
of scrolls, leaves, stems, and inscriptions from the Koran, disposed
with exquisite effect about the principal and central motive, formed by
a large eight-pointed star within a circle, and which contains, so as to
form the angles of the star, eight repetitions of the words in Arabic,
"_The Empire_." The dominant colour is carmine, and the fabric
terminates in eight _farpas_ or scallops with red and yellow edges, and
bearing a series of inscriptions in the African character.
The "_pendon_ of the Rio Salado," a trophy which seems to have really
been a war-flag, belongs to the cathedral of Toledo. It measures at this
day about nine feet two inches by seven feet four inches, but is
believed to have been originally of a square form, with scalloped edges.
The dominant colours are red, green, and gold. The decorative scheme
consists of tastefully combined circles and inscriptions in the Cufic
character, and the lower end concludes in the following sentences, now
rendered incomplete through the loss of nearly two feet of the
material:--"... the wise, the victorious, the assiduous, the generous,
the sultan, the caliph, the famous emir of the Muslims and
representative of the Lord of the Universe, Abu-Said Otsmin, son of our
lord and master ... the worshipper of (Allah), the modest, the warlike,
the emir of the Mussulmans Nassir-li-Din (_defender of the law_), Abu
Yusuf Yacub, son of Abd-il-Hac. In the Alcázar of Fez (God bless it.
Praised be God), in the Moon of Moharran of the year twelve and seven
hundred" (712 of the Hegira, or May 9th-June 7th, A.D. 1312).
Tastefully disposed in white Cufic characters, within four rows of
circles woven in gold, are the words which sum the Mussulman
religion,--"There is no God but God: Mahoma is His Messenger"; and on
other parts of the flag are inscribed these sentences:--
"The prophet believes in the purpose for which he was sent by his Lord,
and all the faithful believe in God, in His angels, in His writings, and
in His messengers. We make no distinction between any of His messengers.
And these declare: 'We hear and do obey. Pardon us, O Lord.'
".... And unto Thee we shall return. God will not lay on any soul but
such a weight as it can bear; for it or against it shall be the deeds it
may have done. O Lord, chastise not our forgetfulness or errors. O Lord,
lay not upon us the burden Thou hadst laid on those that were before us.
".... O Lord, burden us not too heavily. Blot out our faults, and pardon
them to us, and have mercy on us. Thou art our Lord. Grant us victory
over the infidel. There came to us a glorious prophet that was born
among us.
"On him rests the weight of your faults, and full of goodness and of
clemency he longs ardently for you to believe. If you should be
forsaken, exclaim, 'God is sufficient for me. There is no God but He. I
trust in Him, because He is Lord of the throne that is on high.'"
Miquel y Badía considers that when it was intact this object must have
measured eleven feet square. Attention was first drawn to its merit and
antiquity when it was shown at the Exposición Histórico Europea of 1892.
The chasubles of Chirinos (Caravaca) and of the Chapel of the Constable
in Burgos cathedral are both considered to be of Spanish-Moorish
workmanship. The former is woven of silk of various colours, but without
admixture of gold thread, and bears an inscription in Arabic which
Amador de los Ríos has interpreted as, "Glory to our Sultan
Abul-Hachach." The same authority deduces that the fabric dates from the
fourteenth or the fifteenth century--that is, from the time of the
Sultan Abul-Hachach (Yusuf the First) or of his immediate successors.
The chasuble preserved at Burgos is also woven of variegated silk
without gold thread, and may originally have been a _tiraz_, since it
bears, in African letters, the inscription, "Glory to our lord the
Sultan." The date is probably the fifteenth or sixteenth century.
Fragments of similar material are in the collections of Señores Osma and
Miquel y Badía.
[Illustration: II
FRAGMENT OF THE BURIAL MANTLE OF FERDINAND THE THIRD
(_Royal Armoury, Madrid_)]
The object represented in Plate ii. is described in the Catalogue of the
Royal Armoury at Madrid as _A fragment of the royal mantle in which was
buried the king and saint, Ferdinand the Third of Castile_ (A.D.
1217-1252). Gestoso, in the course of his researches into the history of
old Seville, has found that in the year 1579 Philip the Second caused an
examination to be made at that city of the remains, enshrined in her
cathedral, of Saint Ferdinand. The body was found "with a ring with a
blue stone on a finger of the right hand, and wearing sword and spurs."
In 1677 Charles the Second sent for the ring in question, and eleven
years later a fresh examination was made, when the mummy of the saint
was stated to be wrapped in "clothing of a stuff the nature of which
cannot now be recognised, but which is chequered all over with the royal
arms of Castile, and with lions." A third examination was made in 1729,
when the "holy body of Señor San Fernando" was reported to be "covered,
the greater part, with a royal mantle, of a stuff which could not be
recognised for its decay: only it was seen to be embroidered with
castles and lions."
Probably, therefore, this fragment was taken to Madrid at the same time
as the ring--that is, in the year 1677. It has an irregular shape, and
measures eighteen inches long by thirteen and a half in breadth. The
material is a woven mixture of silk and gold thread, and the decoration
consists of castles and lions in gold and red respectively, upon a
ground of carmine and dirty white. Count Valencia de Don Juan points out
that this strip belonged to the lower end of the mantle, since it
includes a portion of the border, formed by a series of horizontal
stripes, blue, yellow, red, and gold. The character of the whole
fragment is decidedly Mohammedan, and indicates a Mudejar fabric, made
at Seville in the thirteenth century.
I find that in the _Book of Chess_ of Alfonso the Learned (an
illuminated Spanish manuscript executed in the thirteenth century, and
now preserved at the Escorial), Alfonso himself is represented (Plate
iii.) as wearing a mantle with this very pattern of lions and castles
contained in squares. Therefore it seems extremely probable, either that
this device was not uncommon on the robes of Spanish kings, or else that
at some time the body of San Fernando was enveloped in a mantle
belonging to, and which perhaps had been inherited by, his son.
[Illustration: III
KING ALFONSO THE LEARNED
(_From "The Book of Chess"; MS. in the Escorial Library_)]
The clothing of the Infante Don Felipe and of Doña Leonor, his wife,
consists of the prince's cloak, which is nearly intact, a piece of his
_aljuba_, his cap, and a strip of silken cloth inwoven with gold. The
latter fragment is thought to have belonged to the robe of the Infanta.
These objects, discovered in 1848, in the tomb of Don Felipe and Doña
Leonor, at Villalcazar de Sirga, near Palencia, are now in the National
Museum. The cloak or mantle is richly wrought in silk and gold, and
bears the word _Blessing_, woven in Cufic characters upon the ground.
The _aljuba_ is also of silk and gold, showing a delicate combination of
blue and yellow, and the style and workmanship of all these fragments
are unmistakably Mohammedan.
Therefore, in textile crafts, the Spanish Moors supplied the wants and
the caprices both of themselves and of their enemies the Christians.
The relationship between certain under-garments of the two peoples is
evident from the very titles of those garments. Thus, the Spanish
_joquejo_ or _soquejo_, a scarf for winding round a woman's body, is
obviously derived, or merely corrupted, from the Arabic _jocob_; the
Spanish _arrede_ or _arrelde_, a kind of cloak, from the Arabic
_arrida_, and the Spanish shirt or tunic for ordinary wear, called the
_casot_, _quesote_, or _quizote_ (which was sometimes white and
sometimes coloured) from the Arabic _al-kuesnat_. The _Chronicle of Juan
the Second_ (A.D. 1410) tells of a mountain covered with Moorish troops,
"and all of them had red _quesotes_."
[Illustration: IV
SPANISH VELVET
(_Red upon Gold Ground. About A.D. 1500_)]
Among the cities of Moorish Spain, Almería and Granada were undoubtedly
those which produced the handsomest stuffs--Almería from comparatively
early in the days of Muslim domination, Granada from a somewhat later
time.[8] Notices are extant of Christian princes who directly ordered
these materials from Granada; _e.g._ in 1392 Don Juan the First caused
to be purchased there, as a present to his daughter on her marriage,
"una cambra de saya orlada ab son dozer e cobertor de color vermella,
blaua, ó vert, ù otro que fuera de buena vista" (_Archives of the Crown
of Aragon_). The manufacture of velvet was probably introduced into
Aragon in the reign of Pedro the Fourth. Excellent silks and cloth of
gold were also made at Málaga, Seville, Toledo, and Valencia. Indeed, no
better source exists for studying the character of this important
industry in older Spain than the Ordinances of the cities I have just
enumerated.[9] We learn from these municipal provisions, most of which
were framed or ratified in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, that the
mingling of fine with base material was forbidden in the strictest
terms, and that the styles and classes of even the luxurious and
elaborate stuffs, which bore an infinite variety of devices, were very
numerous. Thus, there were satins, taffetas, _azeytunis_, double and
single velvets (Plates iv. and vii.), brocades, and silken serges; as
well as fabrics interwoven with gold and silver thread, including the
_gorgoranes_, _restaños_, _sargas_, and _jergas de filigrana de plata_.
The Ordinances of Toledo mention the following fabrics as manufactured
in that city in the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella, and of Charles the
Fifth:--
"Stuffs of gold and silver made in the same manner as satin.
"Satins woven with gold.
"Satins brocaded with silk and gold, or silver flowers.
"Silver serges with double filigree.
"Silver and gold materials, which are made like _gorgoran_ or serge.
"Silver and gold stuffs which are made like taffetas, or in silver
with silk flowers.
"Embroidered stuffs.
"Embroidered stuffs called silver serge, or _berguilla_.
"_Lama_, cloth of silver, shaded with watering in silver.
"Plain silk-stuffs woven with silver or gold, and called _restaño_.
"Silk-stuffs woven with gold or silver, and called _relampagos_.
"Serges woven with gold and silver for church vestments.
"Plain filigree serges.
"_Velillo_ of silver.
"Satin woven with gold and silver.
"Brocades of different kinds.
"Church vestments.
"Silver _primaveras_.
"Serges for church vestments."
[8] The Alburquerque inventory mentions, in 1560, "two Almería sheets,
one with green and purple edging, and the other with white and red";
also "two _short_ holland shirts for sleeping in at night."
Commenting on the word _short_, Señor de la Torre de Trassierra
aptly recalls the thrifty proverb of the Spaniards,--"A shirt which
reaches below the navel is so much linen wasted."
[9] See particularly _Las Ordenanzas de los tejedores de seda de
Sevilla_ (officially proclaimed on March 2nd, 1502), and also _Las
Ordenanzas para el buen régimen y gobierno de la muy noble, muy
leal, é imperial cuidad de Toledo_. (_Tit._ cxxxv: "silk-weavers.")
It was usual for ladies of the Christian-Spanish aristocracy to trim
their clothes, in Moorish fashion, with strings of larger pearls or of
_aljofar_-work--a custom which continued until the extinction of the
House of Austria. The Alburquerque inventory includes "a _marlota_ of
crimson satin, trimmed with pearls and with _aljofar_, as to the hem,
the sleeves, and the hood; with twelve buttons of _aljofar_-pearls in
the front thereof, that on a time were thirteen; but one is missing
_which was ground up for the said Duchess when she was sick_, and six
buttons on each sleeve, and the same where each sleeve meets the
shoulder."
Early in the seventeenth century, Pinheiro da Veiga mentions the same
fashion at Valladolid:--"At the sale of the Marchioness of Mondejar, I
saw twelve of her _sayas_ with long trains to them, and satin bodices,
all of embroidered silk, and some with _aljofar_-work, besides a number
of all kinds of _diabluras_."
It is stated by Ibn-Said, Al-Makkari, Al-Khattib, and Ibn-Khaldun, that
the Moors of Granada occasionally adopted Christian clothing, and we
know that the Sultan Mohammed, a contemporary of Alfonso the Learned of
Castile, was assassinated by Abrahim and Abomet, the sons of Osmin,
because he was so clothed, and because he had further violated the
precepts of the Koran by eating at Alfonso's table.[10] But as a rule
the costume of the Spanish Moors was almost wholly that of orientals.
Where they were tolerated in a city under Christian rule, a certain
dress was sometimes forced upon them by their subjugators, as by the
_Ordenamiento_ (A.D. 1408) of Doña Catalina, issued on behalf of her
son, Juan the Second, and which prescribed for the Moorish men a _capuz_
of yellow cloth with a mark upon it in the form of a blue half-moon
measuring an inch from point to point, and which was to be worn on the
right shoulder. The garments of the women were to be similarly marked,
on pain of fifty lashes administered publicly, together with the
forfeiture of all such clothes as lacked this necessary and humiliating
token.
[10] On the other hand, Rosmithal recorded in his narrative of a tour of
Spain that Henry the Second of Castile affected the costume of the
Mohammedans.
But where the Spanish Moors were in possession of the soil, their
clothes were similar in most respects to those of eastern peoples.
Detailed notices of these costumes are furnished us by Ibn-Said and
other writers. Fray Pedro de Alcalá explains in his _Vocabulary_ that,
among the Granadinos, the use of one garment in particular was limited
to royalty, or nobles of high rank. This was the _libas_ (or, in the
Granadino dialect, _libis_), shaped like roomy breeches, and greatly
resembling the _zaragüelles_ worn until this hour by the peasants of the
Huerta of Valencia. Ibn-Said, quoted by Al-Makkari (see Gayangos,
_History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain_, Vol. I., p. 116) says
that the dress of the Moors of Andalusia was not identical with that of
the Asiatic Mussulman. The former, he declares, would often discard the
turban; especially those who lived towards the eastern frontier. In the
western region the turban continued to be generally worn by the upper
classes and by the leading State officials. Thus, at Cordova and Seville
every _cadi_ and _alfaqui_ would wear a turban, while at Valencia and
Murcia even the nobles went without it, and among the lower classes it
had fallen into absolute disuse. Neither officers nor soldiers of the
army wore the turban.