treasure of Guarrazar. As we have seen, much of it was broken up and
melted down by the goldsmiths of Toledo. It is said that it comprised a
beautiful golden dove, which came into the possession of a jeweller, who
had so many qualms of conscience concerning it, that he at last took the
drastic course of throwing it into the Tagus. That rapid stream must
have received a good deal of Visigothic treasure since it first flowed
under the arches of Toledo.
The crowns preserved at Madrid and the Cluny are not the official
insignia of royalty, but offerings at the shrine. This is proved by the
inscriptions on them, and by the fringe of pendants, which could not
possibly have dangled over the royal countenance. The crown of King
Suintila (numbered N1 in the catalogue), who reigned from 621 to 631, is
formed by two semi-circles of double gold plate, joined by hinges, the
resulting hoop being 0.220 in diameter, and 0.060 in height. The inside
plate is plain. The outer hoop is encircled by three bands in relief,
two being set with pearls and sapphires, and the middle and wider one
designed with openwork rosettes, enriched with settings of the same
stones. In its original state the crown had, hanging from its lower
edge, a cross and twenty-two letters, making up the inscription,
SVINTHILANVS REX OFFERET. All and each of the letters were actual jewels
set in a vitreous substance, like enamel sockets, attached to which are
brilliants, pearls, and pear-shaped sapphires hanging from each other in
the order mentioned. Though only twelve letters were remaining, the
dedication was skilfully reconstructed by Señores Madrazo and Amador de
los Rio. The crown is suspended by four chains from an ornament composed
of two golden lilies separated by a piece of rock crystal cut in facets.
Each chain consists of four links, shaped like the leaf of the
pear-tree. Hanging from one of these chains is a cross of beautiful
workmanship, composed of pieces from two other crosses, belonging in all
probability to two different crowns.
The exhibits N4 and N6 are floral ornaments similar to that from which
the crown of Suintila is suspended. The votive crown of the Abbot
Theodosius (N2) is of less elaborate workmanship and design; seven of
its eight pendants of gold, pearls, and sapphires remain. Close to it
(N3) is the Byzantine cross which, the letters stamped upon it in
reverse order tell us, was offered by Bishop Lucetius. It has, likewise,
seven pendants of gold and pear-shaped sapphires. The various articles
in this collection do not differ appreciably in style and material, it
is perhaps unnecessary to observe, from those of similar origin in the
Cluny Museum. All exhibit the traces of Byzantine influence.
To the Visigothic era is also ascribed (Conde de Valencia thinks with
good reason) a very ancient horse’s bit (F123--plate 9), found on a
battlefield in Andalusia, and said to have been used by Witiza, the
ill-fated Roderick’s predecessor. The mouthpiece does not differ greatly
from the modern pattern, but in place of rings it has four oblong
pieces pierced with holes for the reins and halter. These apertures form
dragons’ heads and crosses, alternating with cruciform monograms. The
bit is of unusual thickness, and the roughness of the work, together
with the silver incrustation, complete its resemblance to other relics
classified as Gothic or Scandinavian.
During the three centuries that followed the dreadful days of the
Guadalete, the Spaniard must needs have looked well to his armour and
his weapons: “In native swords and native ranks, the only hope of
courage dwelt.” The sword industry of Toledo had passed under the
control of the invaders, and we read that Abd-ur-Rahman II. (822-852)
regulated and reformed it. One of the numerous friendly passages between
Moor and Christian was marked by a gift of Toledan blades from Al Hakim
II. to Sancho, Count of Navarre (865). Meanwhile, among the fastnesses
of Asturias and the Pyrenees, the hard-pressed Spaniards were forging
for themselves arms and armour against which the sword of the doughty
Roland was shivered, and which successfully withstood the swift strong
lance-thrusts of Saracen chivalry. Cut off though they were from the
rest of the Christian world, the early defenders of Spanish liberty do
not seem to have arrayed themselves for war in a fashion very different
from that of their contemporaries. In the cathedral of Oviedo is
preserved the Libro Goticó,[A] a curiously illuminated codex, where we
see “armigers” carrying circular and kite-shaped shields, and wearing,
in one case, what seems to be a hauberk of mail. The sepulchre of the
three daughters of Ramiro I. of Aragon, dating from the last years of
the eleventh century, is sculptured with the forms of three knights, two
mounted and about to engage in combat, while the third, Samson-like, is
forcing open the jaws of a monstrous beast. The cavaliers wear
close-fitting caps, seemingly fluted, and very much like the
_chapelles-de-fer_ of a later age; long surcoats reaching below the
knee, and decorated with ornamental borders at the neck, cuff, and
openings; one is armed with a spear, the other with spear, sword, and
kite-shaped shield with bosses; and both wear greaves or leg-armour of
plate or leather. The horses are not provided with any defensive armour;
the custom of “barding” chargers not being introduced till a much later
date.
There is an extremely interesting manuscript in the British Museum
called the _Comentario Apocaliptica_, said to have been executed between
1089 and 1109. It is frequently referred to by Hewitt, and throws much
light on the armour of the period. We have reason to be grateful for the
absurd practice persisted in by ancient illuminators and painters of
depicting persons, supposed to have lived in Greek and Roman times, in
the costume of their own day. One of the illuminations shows four
knights mounted. They wear long coats of mail, reaching below the knees,
with sleeves, which, in two cases, reach only to the elbows. In one case
the coat of mail is shown as composed of blue scales, with red studs,
and here we seem to have an instance of jazerine armour (from the
Italian _ghiazerino_). It seems clear that the designer did not mean to
represent chain-mail in this way, for when the body of the garment is
obviously of mail he has taken care to distinguish a different pattern
on the chausses or leg armour. Still in this class of illustration it is
always a moot point what kind of armour the artist actually did mean to
represent. Possibly a shirt of chain-mail was sometimes worn, with
stockings of leather set with scales of metal, as more flexible and
allowing greater freedom to the limbs. The shirts of mail are edged
with wide borders, which may or may not represent the under tunic or
gambeson showing beneath.
On fol. 194, we have the full-length picture of a warrior armed
_cap-à-pie_. He wears a long hauberk of mail, chausses or leg-armour of
the same material, and a conical helmet, with a “nasal” or
nose-protector, exactly the same as that worn by William the Conqueror
and his knights. Hewitt calls attention to the knop, or button,
surmounting the helmet, as a peculiarity. The knight is armed with sword
and spears, and, like the four others just mentioned, carries a circular
target. This is a noteworthy detail, as kite-shaped shields were almost
universally in vogue at this epoch, over the rest of Europe. That they
were to some extent in use in Spain also, is attested by the specimen
(O59) in the Armoury.
This is a kite-shaped war shield, probably of cedar wood. On both sides
it is covered with parchment, and has strong straps of skin, lined with
red velvet, for the grasp of the holder, and part of the strap by which
it hung from his neck. Inside it seems to have been painted black; the
outer side is slightly convex, and was adorned with stripes and other
designs in colour and gilding on a red ground. This description of
decoration was common in the twelfth century, but had no heraldic
signification, the science of blazonry not being at that time well
understood. Nothing definite is known as to the original owner of this
shield, but it is not unlikely that it belonged to Don Gonzalo
Salvadores, surnamed “Four Hands,” or to Don Nuñez Alvárez, both of whom
were buried at the spot where it was found. Ramon Berenguer IV., Count
of Barcelona (1131-1162) is represented on an engraved seal, reproduced
in M. Auguste Demmin’s work on armour, carrying a kite-shaped shield. He
wears the conical helmet with nasal and hauberk of mail, with camail or
hood of mail, such as was generally worn, and the absence of which is
worthy of remark in the warriors of the _Apocaliptica_. Thus early we
are able to distinguish certain differences between the knightly
harnesses of Aragon and Leon.
Such armour as is shown in the illuminated codex referred to, was no
doubt worn by the redoubtable Cid, Ruy Diez de Bivar, whose stormy
career extended from 1029 to 1099. The _Poema del Cid_, which relates
his great achievements, was written unfortunately at least one hundred
and eight years after his death, and therefore we cannot place absolute
reliance upon the few details it contains as to his equipment. The
following passages are of special interest to the student of arms and
armour:
“With bucklers braced before their breasts, with lances pointing low,
With stooping crests, and heads bent down above the saddle bow,
All firm of hand and high of heart, they roll upon the foe.
And he that in good hour was born, his clarion voice rings out,
And clear above the clang of arms is heard his battle-shout:
‘Among them, gentlemen! strike home for the love of Charity!
The Champion of Bivar is here--Ruy Diez--I am he!’
Then bearing where Bermuez still maintains unequal fight,
Three hundred lances, down they come, their pennons flickering white;
Down go three hundred Moors to earth, a man to every blow;
And when they wheel, three hundred more, as charging back they go.
It was a sight to see the lances rise and fall that day:
The shivered shields, the riven mail, to see how thick they lay.”
“Riven mail” in the original is _loriga_, a word obviously derived from
the Latin _lorica_; but Mr. Ormsby, whose translation I give, is
undoubtedly right in his rendering of the word, as cuirasses, or
breastplates, were not worn in Spain for one hundred and fifty years
after the date of the poem. Here is another passage of some technical
interest:
[The Cid beholds approaching the army of the Count of Barcelona, and
encourages his own followers.]
“On with your harness, cavaliers! quick saddle and to horse!
Yonder they come--the linen-breeks--all down the mountain side.
For saddles they have Moorish pads, with slackened girths they ride:
Our saddles are Galician make, our leggings tough and stout:
A hundred of us gentlemen, should scatter such a rout.”
I am inclined to think that the linen-breeks, so scornfully alluded to,
were the trousers or shalwars worn by Moorish auxiliaries of the Count.
The word “leggings” in the original is “huesos” (French _houseaux_),
which seems to mean the same things. But they are described as being
worn on the chausses or stockings of mail, and may not impossibly have
been greaves or defences of plate after the Roman pattern. These would
seem to be an anachronism at the end of the eleventh century; but Don V.
Carderera y Solano (_Iconografia Española_) says that there are in Spain
several bas-reliefs of the twelfth century, which represent knights
wearing pieces similar to the Roman ocreas. It is, on the whole, more
likely that the _huesos_ that protected the stout legs of the Cid were
of the jazerine pattern--of leather faced with metal discs and strips.
The Armoury at Madrid was, till lately, believed to contain many relics
of the great national hero, among them the _Colada_, a sword which the
Conde de Valencia is satisfied belongs properly to the thirteenth
century. The sword blade numbered G180 may, however, be ascribed, in the
opinion of the same authority, to the eleventh century. It is
double-edged, and ends in a round point. Down the greater part of its
length runs a groove, on the sides of which are engraved and inlaid with
gold certain letters and hieroglyphics, the meaning of which no one has
so far deciphered. This blade was included in the treasury of Ferdinand
and Isabel at Segovia, and corresponds closely enough with the
description in the inventory of that collection of “a sword called
Tizona, which belonged to the Cid.” There is, therefore, a strong
probability that the weapon before us is actually that with which Ruy
Diez de Bivar carved out a kingdom for himself in fair Valencia.
During the twelfth century the conical helmet with nasal began to fall
into disuse, though it was worn in Germany as late as 1195. About the
last quarter of the century the flat-topped, cylindrical heaulme, or
helm, was generally adopted. It was nearly always cast in one piece,
had two horizontal clefts for the vision, and was strengthened by bands
crossing each other over the face.
The ruined monastery of Benevivere, in the Province of Palencia,
contains the tomb and effigy, reproduced in the _Iconografia Española_,
of Don Diego Martinez de Villamayor, sometime Chamberlain to Alfonso
III. of Castile, who died in the odour of sanctity in the year 1176. The
knight is clothed in a long and ample white tunic; over this is thrown a
voluminous red mantle. Thus we cannot very well judge whether or not he
wears armour; but as he is girt with a broad baldric, ornamented with
studs, and clasps a cross-hilted sword, we may not unreasonably infer
that he is in knightly gear, and that his spurs are buckled round
leg-armour, which appears to be of plate.
If this assumption is warranted--and it is supported by the evidence of
the bas-reliefs mentioned by Carderera--it would seem that the Spaniards
had progressed more rapidly in the armourer’s craft than their
contemporaries. Greaves, jambs, or leg-armour of plate, were unknown in
Northern and Central Europe till the fourteenth century. Hewitt thinks
they were of German origin because they are sometimes referred to in
documents of that age as _beinberga_, from the German _beinbergen_. He
admits that they might have been copied from the examples of classical
times with which their wars in Italy would have familiarized the
Teutons. “In the South of Europe the greaves were already become of a
highly ornamental character, as we may see from the sculpture of
Gulielmus de Balmis (1289), from a bas-relief in the Annunziata at
Florence.” [The greaves are ornamented with floral devices and
_écussons_, and are strapped on to chausses of mail.] But in Spain we
get a yet earlier example, even supposing the leg-armour on the Jaca and
Benevivere effigies was not of this sort.
Don Bernaldo Guillen de Entenza was major-domo of Aragon, and one of the
bravest knights in the train of King Jaime I. the Conqueror. He died a
few days after the victory over the Moors at Enesa in 1237, and was
buried at the Monastery of Puig, near Valencia. His sculptured figure
reveals every detail of his apparel (see plate 2). He wears a hauberk of
mail reaching to the middle of the thigh, and to the finger-tips, the
fingers of the glove being separated; the face is framed in the hood of
mail (camail), and the head protected by a round _chapelle-de-fer_,
ornamented with studs, and a strengthening band. Over the hauberk is
worn a sleeveless surcoat, embroidered at the breast and reaching below
the knee; it is split up at the sides to allow greater freedom to the
limbs. Both surcoat and hauberk are bordered with a fringe, except at
the neck, where the surcoat seems to be edged with a setting of stones
or studs. A baldric encircles the lower body, and supports a short,
broad cross-hilted sword on the left hip, and a dagger or misere-corde
on the right. The pommel of the dagger is carved into the resemblance of
a grotesque human face.
The legs are protected by greaves of plate armour, with ornamental
lengths up the middle. The knees appear to be furnished with
genouillères or knee-caps of iron. The sollerets, pointed shoes, are of
mail.
Here, then, in Aragon, in 1237, we find a knight armed with those
defences which did not become common in Europe for another century. The
circumstance, though it may not in itself appear to be of much
importance, is interesting, as proving how quick was the Spaniard of
that day to avail himself of the latest appliances and inventions of the
age. Aragon, at least, seems to have kept pace with Italy, which is
generally allowed to have set the fashion in military equipment. And we
find that the armourer’s craft was sufficiently important at Barcelona
to constitute a guild, which was existing in 1257.
In the citadel of Lerida there is a fine sepulchral monument showing us
that valiant knight, Don Guillelmo Ramon de Moncada, Seneschal of
Catalonia, armed _cap-à-pie_ (see plate 3). He died about the middle of
the thirteenth century. Like his brother-in-arms, at Puig, he wears the
camail and hauberk. Over the forehead he wears a coronet, with shields
and studs and gilt fleurs-de-lys. The surcoat, which shows the hauberk
beneath, is tastefully embroidered with pearls, and is charged with
eight _écussons_, or shields, each supported by two doves. The garment
must have been a beautiful work of art. The Seneschal wears jambs
(leg-armour) and cuisses (thigh-armour) of plate, and what are
unmistakably genouillères of the shell pattern. His shoes are likewise
of plate. The armpits and elbows are protected by pieces new to us--the
round plates, called palettes or rondels, elsewhere rarely found before
the end of the century. Here again, and in the articulated fingers of
the mail glove, we have evidence of the advanced condition of the
armourer’s art in Spain. This is also demonstrated by a comparison of
this effigy with one of identical date--that of a knight in Haseley
Church, Oxfordshire (Hewitt, Vol. I., plate 46.) Here the armour is
entirely of mail, neither jambs nor coudes (coudières, elbow-plates)
being shown. Nor are there any traces of the rich ornamentation seen on
the Aragonese warriors’ surcoats and mantles.
These were the spacious days of Ferdinand of Castile and James of
Aragon, when province after province, city after city, were wrested from
the Moor, and the defeat of Roderick was wiped out on the very spot
where he had endured it five hundred years before. Cordova, Valencia,
Murcia, Seville, fell in turn before the Christian arms. The
armourer-sergeants, wandering through the bazaars of the captured
Moorish cities, and curiously examining the products of their dusky
fellow-craftsmen, must doubtless have gleaned many new ideas and scraps
of useful knowledge. Ibn-Said, born at Granada in 1214, has left it on
record that in his time Murcia was renowned for its coats of mail, its
cuirasses, and for every description of iron armour incrusted with gold;
it was likewise celebrated for its saddles and harness richly gilt. In
fact, continues the Moorish chronicler, for all articles of military
equipment, such as bucklers, swords, quivers, arrows, and so forth, the
workshops of Andalus surpassed those of any other country. He boasts the
beautiful inlaid swords of Seville, which were not inferior to those of
the Indies.[B] Cordova, the great centre of industry and refinement in
the Peninsula, never achieved fame for its steel manufactures, but its
oval leather shields (adargas) were known as early as the tenth century,
and used all over Europe, but more particularly in Spain, in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Some interesting relics of Saint Ferdinand are enshrined in the Royal
Armoury. The remains of the cloak in which the saintly King was buried
(N9) are thus described in the Catalogue (see plate 1). “Its texture is
of silk and gold, made like an Oriental tapestry, checkered, the first
of the squares being crimson and a dirty white, with gold castles, and
the second with red lions rampant, like those of the Spanish arms, but
turned to the left of the shield. The border is woven in horizontal
bands, a wide one in the centre, composed of graceful floral designs,
blue and red, on a gold ground; two narrow ones, yellow, on the outer
edges of the former, and outside these other two bands of Arab lacework
of gold on a crimson ground.”
The _azicates_ (long-necked Moorish spurs) of St. Ferdinand (F189 and
160) are of easily-worked iron. What remains of the incrustation of gold
is adorned with little silver castles, similar heraldic devices in gilt
being distinguishable on the springs of the straps.
The Conde de Valencia de San Juan endeavours to prove--and, I think,
with success--that the sword numbered G21, believed at one time to be
the Cid’s famous blade “Colada,” is no other than the “Lobera” of St.
Ferdinand. How the name “Lobera” came to be applied to a sword is
unknown. The Conde hazards a conjecture that it was named after a
gentleman called Guillen Lobera, who is referred to in the memoirs of
Jaime I. of Aragon. The word was first used in this connection by the
Saint himself, who, on his death-bed, bequeathed to the Infante Manuel
for all his inheritance, “his Lobera sword, which was of great virtue,
and by means of which God had greatly helped him.”
Not less interesting is the passage in the chronicle of Alfonso XI.,
referring to the famous battle of Salado: “Then the King sent word to
Don Juan, son of the Infante Manuel (grandson of Ferdinand), by a
gentleman, to ask why he and those in the front did not pass the river.
And an esquire, called Garci Jofre Tenoryo, son of the Admiral killed by
the Moors, who was a vassal of the King and in the front, said to Don
Juan, that his Lobera sword, which he said had virtue, would do the
most work that day.”
The blade (see plate 4) is smooth, double-edged, and round-pointed; on
both sides for two-thirds of its length it is grooved, like most swords
of that time. Inside both grooves are certain signs or letters, engraved
and gilded, which the Conde de Valencia reads as the words--_Si_, _si_,
_No_, _non_. This somewhat cryptic inscription, the learned antiquary
explains as being part of the motto of St. Ferdinand, which may be
roughly translated--“Let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay.” The hilt
is of the sixteenth century, and was the work of Salvador de Avila, a
swordmaker of Toledo, who died in 1539.
Next to this sword is another of the same era (G22), erroneously
attributed to Roland, the famed Paladin of the eighth century. It is not
impossible that this also was one of St. Ferdinand’s weapons. It is very
long and broad, thin and flexible, double-edged, scallop-pointed, and
grooved for two-thirds of its length. The groove is engraved with rings
or circles, and ends in an elaborate cruciform device. The guard, of
massive silver-gilt, has quillons drooping and curving inward, and bears
the arms of Castile on one side and those of Leon on the other. The hilt
is of wood, plated with silver; the pommel is of iron, and is plated
with silver-gilt. The plates were once covered with filigree work. The
scabbard is of wood, sheathed in silver-gilt plate, and covered with
lace-work, essentially Morisco in character. Of the seventy-five stones
originally set in this filigree, only the half remain, including a large
amethyst and three engraved stones of the classical style and period
(plate 5).
Shields had not changed much since the preceding century to judge from
the specimen numbered D60. Like the twelfth century shield next to it,
it is of wood covered with parchment, and has grips of skin. On the
obverse may be traced the design of a hood, which has led Don Leocadio
Salazar to conclude that the shield was the property of the Conde de
Bureba, four hoods being on his coat of arms. The epitaph on that
illustrious personage’s tomb declares that “he filled Spain with the
fame of his name, as Themistocles did Athens.”