Chapter XXIX: A Velón 168 (5)

The thimbles from which I quote these legends are in the National Museum. The same collection includes a very finely wrought bronze bucket or _acetre_ (Latin _situlus_; Arabic _as-setl_, the utensil for drawing water for a bath). The outside is covered with delicate ornamentation, varied with inscriptions of no great interest, invoking Allah's blessing on the owner or employer of the bucket, which is thought by Amador to be of Granadino workmanship, and to date from about the middle of the fourteenth century.

Not many specimens remain of early mediæval Spanish bronzes wrought by Christian hands. Riaño, who admits that "we can hardly trace any bronze of this period other than cathedral bells," mentions as probably proceeding from abroad the altar-fronts and statuettes, in gilt enamelled bronze, of Salamanca and elsewhere,[93] and gives a short description of the bell, about six inches high (Pl. xxxv.), known as the Abbot Samson's, now in Cordova Museum. This object bears an early date (875 A.D.), and is inscribed, "_Offert hoc munus Samson abbatis in domum Sancti Sebastiani martyris Christi, Era_ D.C.C.C.C.XIII."

[93] See p. 50.

It is curious that Riaño should make no mention of Spanish bronze processional crosses. In my chapter on gold, silver, and jewel work I mentioned those belonging to churches in the north of Spain. A bronze crucifix (Plate xxxvi.), believed to date from the beginning of the twelfth century, and proceeding from the monastery of Arbós, in the province of León, is now in the possession of Don Felix Granda Builla. It is undoubtedly of Spanish make, and probably was carried in processions. The style is pure Romanic, and the drawing of the ribs, extremities, and limbs is typically primitive. The _sudarium_ is secured by the belt or _parazonium_. The feet, unpierced, rest on a _supedaneum_.

A bronze Renaissance parish cross of the sixteenth century, once hidden in a village of Asturias, was bought some thirty years ago by the museum of Madrid. The body of the cross is wood, covered on both sides with bronze plates wrought with figures of the Saviour as the holy infant and as full-grown man, and also with a figure of the Virgin. These figures were formerly painted, and traces of the colour yet remain. The cross was also silvered. The rest of the ornamentation consists of vases, flowers, and other subjects proper to Renaissance art.

A similar cross belongs to the parish church of San Julian de Recaré, in the province of Lugo, while San Pedro de Donas, near Santiago in Galicia, possesses a processional cross of bronze, pierced along the edges in a pattern of trefoils and _fleurs-de-lis_, but otherwise undecorated.

Sometimes in Spanish bronze we find the handiwork of Moors and Christians picturesquely intermingled, as in the gates of Toledo cathedral (1337), and the Puertas del Perdón--forming the principal entrance to the Court of Orange Trees--of the mosque of Cordova, made of wood and covered with bronze plating decorated with irregular hexagons and Gothic and Arabic inscriptions. The knockers contain a scroll and flowers, and on the scroll the words, _Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel_. The gate of the same name of Seville cathedral (Pl. xxxvii.) is similar in workmanship, and is considered by Riaño to be a good example of Moresque bronze-work.

While speaking of these doors, we should remember that Moorish craftsmen were employed to decorate or to repair the mosque of Cordova long after it had been converted to the worship of the Christians. When he was acting as viceroy in the year 1275, the Infante Don Fernando confirmed a letter of his father, King Alfonso, remitting tolls and taxes that would otherwise be leviable upon four Moors who worked in the cathedral. The Infante's confirmation, after recording that "one (of the four Moors) is dead and the other blind, in such wise that he can work no more," consents to the engagement of another two, Famet and Zahec by name, to fill their places, and who also are hereby exempted from the payment of all dues. Five years afterwards this privilege was reconfirmed by King Alfonso, and we are further told on this occasion that two of the Moorish four were _albañís_, or masons, and the others _añaiares_, or carpenters. As time progressed, the situation of the vanquished and humiliated Mussulmans grew more irksome. On October 25th, 1320, the Infante Don Sancho, who had usurped the throne, proclaimed, in ratification of a letter issued by his father, that all the Moorish carpenters, masons, sawyers, and other workmen and artificers of Cordova must work in the cathedral (presumably without a wage) for two days in every year.[94]

[94] _Libro de las Tablas_, pp. 17, 18. See Madrazo, _Cordova_, pp. 273
_et seq._

In the latter half of the sixteenth century, Bartolomé Morel, a Sevillano, produced some notable work in bronze.[95] Three objects by his hand--namely, the choir lectern and the tenebrarium of Seville cathedral, and the weathercock or _Giraldillo_ which crowns the celebrated tower of the same enormous temple--are specially distinguished for their vigour and effectiveness.

[95] In documents which relate to him (see Gestoso's _Dictionary of
Sevillian Artificers_) Morel is often called an _artillero_. His
father, Juan Morel, was also a founder of cannon, and signed a
contract in 1564 to cast two bronze pieces or _tiros_, with the
royal arms on them.

The least important of these objects is the choir lectern, for which Morel was paid six hundred ducats. The decoration is of statuettes and _rilievi_, well designed and better executed. The tenebrarium, aptly defined by Amador as "an article of church furniture intended to make a show of light,"[96] is more ambitious and original. "It was designed and made by Morel in the year 1562. Juan Giralte, a native of Flanders, and Juan Bautista Vazquez helped him to make the statues at the head of this candelabrum, and Pedro Delgado, another noted sculptor of Seville, worked at the foot of it. It is eight and a half yards high, and the triangular head is three yards across. Upon this upper part are fifteen statues, representing the Saviour, the apostles, and two other disciples or evangelists. In the vacant space of the triangle is a circle adorned with leaves, and in the centre of this circle is a bust of the Virgin in relief, and, lower down, the figure of a king. All of this part is of bronzed wood, and rests upon four small bronze columns. The remainder of the candelabrum is all of this material, and the small columns are supported by four caryatides, resting upon an order of noble design decorated with lions' heads, scrolls, pendants, and other ornamentation, the whole resting upon a graceful border enriched with harpies."

[96] The efficacy of light in illuminating, or may be in dazzling and
confounding, Christian worshippers is too self-evident to call for
illustration. The symbolic meaning of church candles is, however,
neatly indicated by the wise Alfonso in his compilation of the
seven _Partidas_. "Because three virtues dwell in candles, namely,
wick, wax, and flame, so do we understand that persons three dwell
in the Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and we may understand
three other things that dwell in Jesus Christ; to wit, body, soul,
and godhead. Hence the twelve lighted candles manifested to each
quarter of the church exhibit unto us the twelve apostles who
preached the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ through all the earth,
and manifesting truest wisdom illumined all the world."

This description of the Seville tenebrarium is translated from Cean Bermudez, and is the one most commonly quoted, though Amador complains that it is not precise, and fails to dwell upon the symbolism of this mighty mass of bronze.[97] Thus, what Cean affirms to be the bust of a king is declared by Amador to be the head of a pope, probably Saint Gregory the Great. Metal, as Cean remarks, is not employed throughout. In order to preserve its balance, the upper part of the tenebrarium, containing the triangle which is said by some to symbolize "the divinity of Jesus as God the triple and the one," is merely wood bronzed over. Amador adds that the foot and stem are intended to represent "the people of Israel in their perfidy and ingratitude." He also says that the statue in the centre of the triangle is that of Faith, and that which crowns the entire tenebrarium, of the Virgin Mary.

[97] The English rendering of Cean's description inserted by Riaño is
inaccurate throughout.

Morel, like Brunelleschi, was an architect as well as a craftsman in bronze.[98] He completed this tenebrarium in 1562, and the chapter of the cathedral were so contented with it that instead of paying him the stipulated price, namely, eight hundred ducats, they added of their own accord a further two hundred and fifty. They also commissioned him to make a handsome case to keep it in; but the case has disappeared, and the naked tenebrarium now stands in the Sacristy of Chalices of the cathedral.[99] It is still used at the Matin service during the last three days of Holy Week, and still, in the _Oficio de Tinieblas_, the custom is observed of extinguishing the fifteen tapers, one by one, at the conclusion of each psalm.

[98] As architect, he made a monument (which exists no longer) for the
festivals of Holy Week at Seville.

[99] In 1565 Juan del Pozo, an ironsmith, received one hundred _reales_
"on account of an engine which he made of iron for moving the
tenebrarium of the cathedral, and other heavy things."--Gestoso,
_Diccionario de Artífices Sevillanos_, vol. i. p. 313.

The title of the object which surmounts the famed Giralda tower of Seville is properly "the Statue of Faith, the triumph of the Church" (Pl. xxxviii.); but it is known in common language as the Giraldillo (weathercock), which name has passed into the word Giralda, now applied to all the tower. The populace of Seville also call it, in the _argot_ of their cheerful town, the _muñeco_ or "doll," the "Victory," and the "Santa Juana."

This statue, made of hollow bronze, rotates upon an iron rod piercing the great bronze globe which lies immediately beneath the figure's feet. The globe is nearly six feet in diameter. The figure itself represents a Roman matron wearing a flowing tunic partly covering her legs and arms. Sandals are secured to her feet by straps. Upon her head she wears a Roman helmet crested by a triple plume. In her right hand she holds the semicircular Roman standard of the time of Constantine, which points the direction of the wind and causes the figure to revolve, excepting when the air is very faint, in which case it is caught by two diminutive banners springing from the large one.[100] So huge are the proportions of this metal lady that the medal on her breast contains a life-size head which represents an angel.

[100] The statue, which looks so tiny from the street, measures nearly
fourteen feet in height, and weighs more than two thousand two
hundred pounds. The banner alone weighs close upon four hundred
pounds. The figure was raised into its place in 1568, in which
year I find that eighteen Moriscos were paid seventy-eight
_reales_ between them all for doing the work of carriage (Gestoso,
_Diccionario_). Gestoso also mentions a large bronze plate made
by Morel for the pavement of the cathedral, and which has
disappeared. It weighed 2269 pounds, or about the same as the
weathercock of the Giralda, and Morel was paid for it the sum of
289,361 _maravedis_.

The Spanish Moors were also well acquainted with the use of weathercocks. During the reign, in the eleventh century, of the Zirite kingling of Granada, Badis ben Habbus, a weathercock of strange design surmounted his _alcázar_. The historian Marmol wrote in the sixteenth century that it was still existing on a little tower, and consisted of a horseman in Moorish dress, with a long lance and his shield upon his arm, the whole of bronze, with an inscription on the shield which says: "Badis ben Habbus declares that in this attitude should the Andalusian be discovered (at his post)."

Not many other objects in this substance can be instanced as the work of Spanish craftsmen of the sixteenth and succeeding centuries, or of the later-Gothic age immediately preceding. Among them are the pulpits of Santiago cathedral, made by Celma, an Aragonese, in 1563; the choir-screen (1574-1579) in the cathedral of Zaragoza, made by Juan Tomás Cela, also a native of Aragon; the gilt lecterns of Toledo cathedral, which are the work of Nicolás Vergara and his son; the Gothic lectern of the mosque of Cordova; the choir-lectern (1557) of Cuenca, made by Hernando de Arenas, who will also be remembered as having made the _reja_ of the same cathedral; and the octagonal gilt-bronze pulpits of Toledo, wrought by Francisco de Villalpando, as are the bas-reliefs (1564) upon the door of Lions, executed by the same craftsman from designs by Berruguete.

These last-named pulpits are associated with a legend. Within this temple, once upon a time, rested the metal sepulchre of the great Don Alvaro de Luna, so constructed by his orders that upon the touching of a secret spring the statue of the Constable himself would rise into a kneeling posture throughout the celebration of the mass. His lifelong and relentless foe, the Infante Enrique of Aragon, tore up the tomb in 1449; and from its fragments, superstition says, were made these pulpits.

Spanish Renaissance door-knockers in bronze are often curious. Fifteen large bronze rings adorned with garlands, heads of lions and of eagles, or with the pair of columns and the motto PLUS OULTRE of Charles the Fifth, were formerly upon the pilasters of the roofless, semi-ruined palace of that emperor at Granada. Removed elsewhere for greater safety,[101] they will now be found among the couple of dozen curiosities preserved in a chamber of the Moorish royal residence of the Alhambra.

[101] Spaniards have a very scanty confidence in one another's honesty,
as well as in the competence of their police. Often, at Madrid,
and at this day, the porter of a house, as soon as it is dark,
unscrews the knockers from the downstairs door, and guards them
in his _conciergerie_ until the morning.

Herewith I end my sketch of Spanish bronzes, without delaying to describe the tasteless _transparente_ behind the altar of Toledo cathedral, or the neo-classic, Frenchified productions of the reign of Charles the Third, such as the table-mountings of the Buen Retiro, or trifles from the silver factory of Antonio Martinez. At the Escorial, the shrine of the Sagrario de la Santa Forma and the altar-front of the pantheon of the kings of Spain, wrought by Fray Eugenio de la Cruz, Fray Juan de la Concepción, and Fray Marcos de Perpignan, are meritorious objects of their time. But the history of Spanish bronzes properly ends with the Renaissance. This material, possibly from its cost, has not at any time been greatly popular in Spain. Wood, plain or painted, was preferred to bronze in nearly all her statuary. Her mediæval and Renaissance _reja_ and _custodia_ makers can challenge all the world. So can her potters, armourers, leather-workers, and wood-carvers. But if we look for masterpieces in the art of shaping bronze, our eyes must turn to Italy, where, to astonish modern men, the powers of a Donatello or Ghiberti vibrate across all ages in the bas-reliefs of Saint Anthony at Padua, or in the gates of the Baptistery of Florence.

ARMS

Lovers of the old-time crafts approach a fertile field in Spanish arms; for truly with this warworn land the sword and spear, obstinately substituted for the plough, seem to have grown well-nigh into her regular implements of daily bread-winning; and from long before the age of written chronicle her soil was planted with innumerable weapons of her wrangling tribesmen.

The history of these ancient Spanish tribes is both obscure and complicated. If Pliny, Strabo, Ptolemy, and other authors may be credited, the Celtic race invaded the Peninsula some seven centuries before the Christian era, crossing the river Ebro, founding settlements, and fusing with the natives into the composite people known henceforward as the Celtiberians. Thus strengthened, they extended over nearly all the land, and occupied, by a dominative or assimilative policy, the regions corresponding to the modern Andalusia, Portugal, Galicia, and the flat and central elevations of Castile.

These Spanish tribes were ever quarrelling, and knew, in Strabo's words, "no entertainment save in horsemanship and in the exercise of arms." Quantities of their weapons have been found all over Spain, such as the heads of spears and arrows, or the blades of daggers, hatchets, knives, and swords. With these Iberian tribesmen, as with other peoples of the ancient world, the truly prehistoric age is that of stone; hence they advanced to bronze, and finally to iron. Beuter, the historian of Valencia, wrote in 1534 that near to the town of Cariñena, in Aragon, on digging out some earthen mounds the excavators came upon enormous bones, flint lance and arrow heads, and knives the size of half an ordinary sword; all these in company with "many skulls transfixed by the said stones." In the collection at Madrid, formed by Don Emilio Rotondo y Nicolau, these primitive Spanish weapons number several thousands; and many more are in the National Museum.[102]

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

Discoveries of ancient Spanish arms of bronze occur less often and in smaller quantities than those of stone or iron. Bronze hatchets, principally of the straight-edged class (_à bords droites_) have been found in Galicia and certain other provinces. Villa-amil y Castro describes a bronze dagger of curious workmanship, which was found in Galicia in 1869. The point of the blade is missing. If this were included, the length of the weapon would be about six inches.

Other examples, now in the Madrid Museum, include two swords, two daggers, and two arrowheads. The swords, sharp-pointed, narrow in the blade, and used by preference for thrusting, were found not far from Calatayud--the ancient town renowned, as Roman Bilbilis, for weapons of incomparable temper. The daggers were probably used for fighting hand to hand.

At the time of the Roman invasion we find, of course, the Spaniards using iron weapons. I shall not tax the patience of my readers by enumerating all these weapons. Their names are many, and the comments and descriptions of old authors which refer to them are constantly at variance. Nevertheless, the sword most popular with the Celtiberians at the period of the Roman conquest seems to have been a broad, two-handed weapon with a point and double edge, and therefore serviceable both for cutting and for thrusting. Another of the Celtiberian swords, called the _falcata_, was of a sickle shape. It terminated in the kind of point we commonly associate with a scimitar, and which is found to-day in Spanish knives produced at Albacete. One of these swords, in good condition, is in the National Museum. It has a single edge, upon the concave side of the blade, and measures rather less than two feet. Other weapons in common use among the Celtiberians were an iron dart--the _sannion_ or _soliferrea_; the javelin; the lance--a weapon so immemorially old in Spain that patriotic writers trace its origin to the prehistoric town of Lancia in Asturias; and the _trudes_ or _bidente_, a crescent blade mounted upon a pole, mentioned by Strabo and Saint Isidore, and identical with the cruel weapon used until about a quarter of a century ago for houghing coward cattle in the bull-ring.

Thus, when the Romans entered Spain the natives of this country were experienced in the use of arms, and made their own from such materials as their own soil yielded. Their tempering was excellent, for Diodorus Siculus tells us that they had already discovered the secret of burying the metal in order that the moisture of the earth might eat away its baser portions. Besides the ancient Bilbilis in Aragon, a Spanish city famous for her faultless tempering of implements and weapons was Toledo. Martial,[103] the most illustrious son of Bilbilis, has sung the praises of the one; less celebrated poets, such as Gracio Falisco, of the other.[104] Even the armourers of Rome were found to be less skilful and successful swordsmiths than the Spaniards;[105] and so, before the second Punic War, the model or the models of the Spanish sword had been adopted by the Roman army.

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

[104] "_Imo Toletano præcingant ilia cultro._"

[105] "_Romani patriis gladiis depositis Hannibalico bello Hispaniensium
assumpserunt ... sed ferri bonitatem et fabrica solertiam imitari
non potuerunt._"--Suidas.

Various of the native peoples of Iberia were distinguished by a special instrument or mode of fighting. Strabo says that the Iberians as a general rule employed two lances and a sword. Those of Lusitania were especially adroit in hurling darts. Each of their warriors kept a number of these darts contained within his shield. Upon the head they wore a helmet of a primitive pattern strapped beneath the chin. This helmet, called the _bacula_, protected all the wearer's face, and had a mitred shape, with three red feathers on the crest. Together with these arms, the Lusitanians used a copper-headed lance and the typical form of Celtiberian sword. More singular and celebrated in their mode of fighting were the Balearic islanders, who carried, through persistent exercise, the art of slinging stones and leaden plummets to the utmost limit of perfection. The beaches of these islands, we are told, abounded, then as now, in small, smooth pebbles, "weapons of Nature's own contrivance," rarely suited to the sling.[106] These slings were of three patterns, severally designed for near, far, and middling distances. The lead or stone projectile sometimes weighed a pound. Accordingly--so strenuous was their zeal to be unrivalled in the practice of this arm--even as little children the Baleares went without their dinner, till, with the formidable _funda_ in their hand, they struck the stick their parents planted for them in the soil. Pliny and Polybius, notwithstanding, state that the sling itself was not indigenous in this region, but imported from Ph[oe]nicia. However this may be, the islanders within a little time contributed to swell the power of the Roman legions.

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

The Visigoths continued using many of the Roman or Ibero-Roman arms. Nevertheless, the solid armour of the Romans, such as their greaves and thigh-pieces and breastplates, was now replaced by primitive chain-mail resembling scales of fishes. According to Saint Isidore, Procopius, and other writers, the favourite weapons of the Spanish Visigoths were the sword or _spatha_, long, broad-bladed, with a double edge; the hatchet, the bow, the sling, the lance, the scythe, the mace, the _pilum_ or javelin (used extensively in Spain throughout the Middle Ages),[107] the _dolon_, a dagger which concealed itself within a wooden staff, and took the name of "treacherous" or "wily" from this circumstance; and the _conto_, a keenly pointed pike. We also find among the military engines of the Visigoths the _balista_, for hurling stones and darts of large size, and the _ariete_ or battering-ram, constructed from a gnarled and powerful tree-trunk braced with iron and suspended by a cable. Their defensive body-armour consisted of a coat of mail composed of bronze or iron scales, and called the _lóriga_ or _perpunte_. This was worn above the _thorachomachus_, a kind of tunic made of felt, in order to shield the body from the roughness of the mail. Upon their heads they wore an ample helmet.

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

A fragment of stone carving preserved in Seville museum shows us two Visigothic Spanish warriors who wear a tunic and helmet of a simple pattern, and carry a two-edged sword and a large shield. García Llansó says, however, that the nobles of this people wore close-fitting mail tunics covered with steel scales, a kind of bronze bassinet, tight breeches, and high boots, and carried, besides the sword which was slung from their belts, a large, oval shield.[108]

[108] _Historia General del Arte_: García Llansó; _Armas_, pp. 439, 440.

From about the time of the Moorish invasion, the changes in the arms and armour of the Spaniards coincided in the main with those in other parts of western Europe. Nevertheless, as late as the eleventh century the Spanish sword retained the characteristic which had endeared it to the Roman legionaries--namely, a hilt of small dimensions and a broad and shortish blade. In course of time the blade grows narrower and begins to taper towards the point. The _quillons_ or crossbars (Spanish _arriaces_, from the Arabic _arrias_, a sword-hilt) were originally straight or semicircular, and ended in a knob (_manzana_, literally "apple"; Latin _pomum_, English _pommel_). Thus, in the _Poem of the Cid_ we find the verse:--

"_Las manzanas é los arriaces todos de oro son._"

Throughout these early times the scabbard was of wood lined with leather or with velvet, and strengthened and adorned with leather bands; but when the owner was of high estate, it often bore enamels in the _cloisonné_ style; that is, with patches of the coloured, vitreous substance bordered and fastened in by metal wire. In Spain this style, undoubtedly of foreign origin, was superseded in the thirteenth century by _champlevé_ enamelling, in which the enamel lies within a hollowed ground.

Spanish mediæval weapons down to the fourteenth century are specified in the _fuero_ of Cáceres and other documents contemporary with their use. Next always in importance to the sword we find the hatchet, lance, crossbow, and mace. Montaner's _Chronicle of the Kings of Aragon_ tells us that the sovereign, mace in hand, dealt one of his enemies "such a blow upon his iron hat that his brains came oozing out at his ears." Covarrubias mentions a dart-shaped missile called the _azcona_--a word which some authorities derive from the Arabic, and others from the Basque _gascona_, an arm employed by the natives of Gascony. The former derivation seems the likelier. The _fuero_ of Cáceres mentions the _tarágulo_, described by the Count of Clonard as a kind of dagger; and at the close of the thirteenth century appears in Spain the poniard, which was called among the Germans _Panzerbrecher_, or "breaker of cuirasses," and among the French the _misericorde_.

The _fuero_ of Cáceres tells us, furthermore, what was the regular equipment of the Spanish foot and mounted soldier of that period. "Each horseman shall go forth to battle with a shield, a lance, a sword, and spurs; and he that carries not all these shall pay each time five sheep wherewith to feed the soldiers.... Each mounted man or pawn that trotteth not or runneth not to quit his town or village as he hears the call,--the first shall have his horse's tail cut off; the other shall have his beard clipped."

Defensive arms included various kinds of coverings for the head; the _lóriga_ or covering for the body, the _cálcias_ or covering for the legs, and the shield.

The _lóriga_ (Latin _lorica_) was the ordinary hauberk or shirt of mail, such as was worn all over military Europe, made of rings or scales sewed strongly on a linen or leather under-tunic consisting of a single piece, and reaching to the knee. The _Gran Conquista de Ultramar_ of Alfonso el Sabio also informs us that it was tied at certain openings known as _ventanas_ ("windows"), and that the collar of the tunic was called the _gorguera_. The resistance of the Spanish _lóriga_ to a pointed weapon does not seem to have been great, for the Chronicle of the Monk of Silos says that at the siege of Viseo the arrows of the Moorish bowmen went through the triple _lórigas_ of their foe.

Towards the twelfth century the custom arose of wearing over the coat of mail a loose, sleeveless frock (the _Waffenrock_ of Germany), woven of linen or some other light material, painted or embroidered with the owner's arms. As the Count of Clonard observes, it is clearly this kind of frock that is referred to in the following passage of the _Leyes de Partida_: "For some (of the knights) placed upon the armour carried by themselves and by their horses,[109] signs that were different one from another, in order to be known thereby; while others placed them on their heads, or on their helmets."

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

The Normans used a form of hauberk with attached mail-stockings. In Spain we find in lieu of this leg-covering, the Roman _cálcia_ (Latin _caliga_), extending from the foot to just below the thigh, and subsequently called the _brafonera_.[110] This was, in fact, a separate mail-stocking, made of closely interlacing steel rings, and worn above the leather boots or _trebuqueras_.

[110] "_Calzó las brafoneras que eran bien obradas
Con sortijas de acero, sabet bien enlazadas;
Asi eran presas é bien trabadas,
Que semejaban calzas de las tiendas taiadas._"
_Poem of the Cid._

The Spanish _escudo_ or shield was usually made of wood covered with leather, and painted with the arms or the distinguishing emblem of its lord. Sometimes it was made of parchment. Thus the Chronicle of the Cid informs us that this hero after death was equipped with "a painted parchment helm and with a shield in the same wise." Another form of Spanish shield, the _adarga_ (_atareca_, _atarca_; Arabic _ad-darka_, to hold upon the arm), of which I shall subsequently notice specimens in the Royal Armoury, was commonly in the shape of a rough oval or of a heart, and made of various folds of leather sewn and glued together. The Chronicle of Alfonso the Eleventh speaks of a certain famine which broke out among the Spanish troops, and caused them such privation that "they chewed the leather of their shields."[111]

[111] Count of Clonard, _op. cit._

The battle headgear of this people passed through many changes. "The helmet of the eighth century," says the Count of Clonard, "was the same which had been used by the Cantabrians and Vascones before the general peace proclaimed by Augustus Cæsar. Helmets of this design are engraved upon the medals (reproduced by Florez) of the imperial legate Publius Carisius. They covered the entire head and face, leaving only two holes for the eyes, as we see upon the carved stone fragments in relief at the door of the church of San Pedro de Villanueva, representing the struggle of King Froila with a bear."

Another form of helmet which the Spaniards began to use about this time was the _almofar_ (Arabic _al-mejfar_), made of iron scales. It covered all the head, with the exception of the eyes, nose, and mouth, and corresponds to the _camail_ of the Normans. Beneath it was worn the linen _cofia_, a kind of bag or cap in which the warrior gathered up his hair. After about another century a round or conical iron helmet (_capacete_), fitted with cheek-pieces, was superposed on the _almofar_ and fastened round the chin with straps. The _capacete_ of a noble was often adorned with precious stones and coronets of pure gold, while a spike projecting from the top was tipped with a large carbuncle, in order to catch and to reflect the flashing sunbeams.

The substitution for this spike of multiform and multicolor figures or devices dates from a later age. The Chronicle of Alfonso the Eleventh describes as something altogether novel and surprising, the crests upon the helmets of the foreign knights who flocked, in 1343, to Algeciras to aid the cause of Christianity against the Moor. "All of them," says this narrative, "placed their helmets at the door of their dwellings, supporting them on stout and lofty staves; and the figures on the helmets were of many kinds. On some was the figure of a lion; on others that of a wolf, or ass's head, or ox, or dog, or divers other beasts; while others bore the likeness of the heads of men; faces, beards, and all. Others, too, had wings as those of eagles or of crows; and so, between these various kinds there were in all as many as six hundred helmets."

This brings us to the celebrated helmet or _cimera_ (Plate xxxix.), now in the Royal Armoury of Madrid, believed till recently to have belonged to Jayme the First, conqueror of Palma and Valencia, and the greatest, both in spirit and in stature, of the old-time kings of Aragon.

Such part of this interesting helmet as is left consists of two pieces, one of them resting loosely on the other. Baron de las Cuatro Torres infers, from a detail which will presently be noted, that the lower of these two pieces is not original; and his opinion was shared by the Count of Valencia de Don Juan, who, notwithstanding, thought the spurious part to be coeval with the actual crest. The upper part consists of a fragment of a helm, made, like some flimsy theatre property, of linen, card, and parchment, and surmounted with the figure of the mythical monster known in the Lemosin language as the _drac-pennat_, or winged dragon, which formed, conjointly with the royal crown, the emblem or device of all the Aragonese sovereigns from Pedro the Fourth to Ferdinand the Second.

There is, however, no reason to doubt the helmet's authenticity. It is known to have remained for centuries at Palma, in the Balearics, where it was worn upon the day of Saint Sylvester in each year, by a person who walked in the procession of the _Standart_ to celebrate the capture of the city by Don Jayme. This would explain the lower piece contrived and added to the crest itself, in order to adjust the incomplete and upper portion to the subsequent wearer's head. The helmet as originally made was meant for tourneying only, and is therefore fashioned, not of metal, but of the frail theatrical materials I have stated. Copper and wood, says Viollet-le-Duc, were also used in making these objects. The earliest wearer of the helm cannot have been Don Jayme. Baron de las Cuatro Torres remarks that on an Aragonese coin of the reign of Pedro the Fourth, the monarch is wearing on his head something which looks identical with this _cimera_.[112] Demay has further told us that the vogue of such _cimeras_, whose principal purpose was to distinguish seigniories, lasted from 1289 till the introduction of movable visors at the end of the fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth century. The present helmet, therefore, probably belonged to Don Pedro the Fourth of Aragon ("the Ceremonious"), and was made at some time in his reign--that is, between 1335 and 1387. A document has been discovered in which this monarch's son, Don Martin of Aragon, commands that year by year his own helmet, "_nostram emprissiam sive cimbram_," together with the banner of Jayme the Conqueror, is to be publicly exhibited in commemoration of the capture of Majorca. Therefore we may conclude from these important facts that here is the crest of a tourneying helmet which belonged either to Don Pedro the Fourth of Aragon, or else to either of, or possibly both, his sons, Don Juan and Don Martin.

[112] _Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones_; Nos. 16 and 17.

The changes which occur in Spanish arms and armour between the fourteenth and the sixteenth centuries keep pace, upon the whole, with those in other parts of Europe. It is, however, opportune to notice how the Spanish armies of this time were organized. Their regular cavalry consisted of: (1) the force directly mustered by the king and under his immediate leadership; (2) the mounted burghers who defrayed the whole or part of their expenses, being in certain instances assisted by a stipend which had been created by municipal and local _fueros_; (3) the knights belonging to the military orders; and (4) the barons, together with the men these last were called upon, obedient to the summons of the royal _mandadero_ (messenger), to mount, equip, provision, and bring to war with them. Such was the heavy cavalry of later mediæval Spain. A lighter class, said by the Count of Clonard to have been recruited from the southern regions of the land, was known as _alfaraces_, _almogávares_, or _omes de la gineta_.

These latter lived in frugal fashion. Water was their only drink; bread and the roots of plants their only food. Their clothing, too, was of the slightest, consisting merely of a shirt, high boots, and a kind of net upon the head. They wore no armour, and carried as their only weapons an _azagaya_ and a lance. Their principal value was in skirmishing.

The infantry were also of two kinds. The first, collective or stipendiary, was levied by the towns and cities, and from them received its maintenance. The second was the _almogávares_, who served for scouting, like their mounted comrades of the same denomination. The stipendiary or regular troops proceeded chiefly from the northern provinces--Alava, Guipúzcoa, the Asturias, and the mountains of León, and carried commonly the lance, sword, sling, crossbow, and the _azagaya_--this last a dart-shaped missile borrowed from the Berber tribesmen,--the ancient Moorish _azgaya_, the modern _assagai_ or _assegai_ of Zululand.[113]

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

In a country which was plunged in ruinous and almost unremitting internecine strife; which was (and is) inherently averse to commerce or to agriculture; and where the bulk of all the national wealth was either locked away in churches and in convents, or in the coffers of great nobles who were frequently as wealthy as, or even wealthier than, the Crown, the armour of the common mediæval Spanish soldier consisted of the plain and necessary parts and nothing more. The aristocracy, upon the other hand, often adorned their battle-harness with the finest gold and silver work, and studded it with precious stones. Even the esquires would sometimes imitate their masters in this costly mode. "We command," said Juan the First in one of his pragmatics dating from the end of the fourteenth century, "that no shield-bearer shall carry cloth of gold or any manner of gold ornament upon his trappings, scarf, or saddle; or on his badge or arms, excepting only on the edges of his bassinet and his cuisses, together with the bit and poitral of his horse, which may be gilded."

It is also evident from Royal Letters of this time, that the kings of Spain depended very largely for the flower of their forces on the private fortune or resources of the Spanish noblemen or even commoners; nor did they ever hesitate to turn these means of other people to their own particular good. The Ordinance of Juan the First, dated Segovia, 1390, commands that, "Every man who possesses 20,000 _maravedis_ and upward shall have his proper set of harness, habergeons and scale-pieces, and lappet-piece, cuisses and vantbrasses, bassinet, camail, and war-cap[114] with its gorget; or else a helmet, together with sword and dagger, glaive and battle-axe. And whoso possesses 3000 _maravedis_ and upward shall have his lance and javelin and shield, his lappet-piece and coat of mail, and iron bassinet without a camail, and a _capellina_, together with his sword, _estoque_, and knife. And whoso has between 2000 and 3000 _maravedis_ shall have his lance and sword or _estoque_ and knife, or a bassinet or _capellina_, together with a shield. And whoso has from 600 to 2000 _maravedis_ shall have a crossbow with its nut and cord and stirrup, quiver and strap, and three dozen shafts. And whoso has from 400 to 600 _maravedis_ shall have a lance, a javelin, and a shield. And whoso has 400 _maravedis_ shall have a javelin and a lance."

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

The wealthier classes responded lavishly to this command. Describing the battle of Olmedo and the forces of Don Alvaro de Luna sent against the Navarrese, the chronicle of the Constable declares that among his entire host could hardly have been found a single cavalier whose horse was not covered with trappings, and its neck with mail. "For some there were that carried divers figures painted on the aforesaid trappings, and others that bore upon their helmets jewels that were a token from their mistresses. And others carried gold or silver bells suspended from their horses' necks by thick chains; or plates upon their helmets studded with precious stones, or small targes richly garnished with strange figures and devices. Nor was there less variety in the crests upon their helmets; for some bore likenesses of savage beasts, and others plumes of various colours; while others carried but a plume or two upon their helmet crest, like unto those upon the forehead of their horses."

The fifteenth century is often called in Spain her golden age of arms--not in the sense that she invented anything new relating to this craft, but that her warriors were more fully and more frequently equipped with what had been imported from elsewhere. As in the case of crested helmets, foreign initiative brought about the substitution of plate or German armour--developed from the chain armour and the coat of mail--for the earlier sets of disconnected pieces. Possibly, as a chronicle which describes the Englishmen and Gascons who were present at the siege of Lerma in 1334 would seem to indicate, it was in consequence of this direct association with the foreigner that the older form of Spanish harness yielded to the new. However this may be, plate armour certainly appeared in Spain at some time in the fourteenth century, and grew in vogue throughout the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries. Suits of armour worn by Spanish pikemen and crossbowmen of this period may be profitably studied in the Royal Armoury (Plate xl.); and the same harness is reproduced in the choir-stalls of Toledo cathedral, carved by Maestre Rodrigo in 1495. It is also useful to consult the prolix description of the _Passo Honroso_ (1433) of Suero de Quiñones, held at the bridge of Orbigo, as well as the painting of the battle of La Higueruela (Plate xli.) in the Sala de las Batallas of the Escorial. We find from these authoritative sources that Spanish harness then consisted of the war-hat or _capacete_, with its _barbote_ or piece to cover the mouth and cheeks, and fringe of mail (_mantillos_) to protect the neck: the _coracina_ or korazin of tinned steel plates;[115] the coat of mail; armlets and gauntlets; leg-pieces with closed greaves; and steel-pointed mail shoes.

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

The Spanish man-at-arms of the sixteenth century is well described by Martin de Eguiluz, in his book, _Milicia, Discursos, y Regla Militar_. "The man is mounted and bears a lance. His head is covered with a visored helmet. He wears a double breastplate, of which the outer piece is called _volante_. His thighs are guarded by cuisses, his legs by greaves, and his feet by shoes of mail or iron. His horse's face, neck, breast, and haunches are covered with iron or with doubled leather. These coverings are called _bardas_, and the horses protected by them _bardados_, of which each man-at-arms is called upon to possess two."

These plainer sets of war-harness for horses were made in Spain. The costlier bards, whether for war or tournament, were made in Italy and Germany, and often match the outfit of the rider in the splendour and luxuriance of their decoration. Striking examples of these bards are in the Royal Armoury, including one (Plate xlii.) which formerly belonged to Philip the Third. Probably it is the same referred to in the manuscript account of Valladolid from which I have already quoted curious notices of other crafts. Speaking of the Duke of Lerma in 1605, this narrative says; "He rode a beautiful horse with richly decorated arms and gold-embroidered bard, fringed, and with medallions in relief. The trappings, reaching to the ground, were of black velvet covered with silver plates as large as dinner-plates, and others of a smaller size that represented arms and war-trophies, all of them gilt, and studded with precious stones. I heard say that this armour which the Duke now wore, had once belonged to the Emperor, and is now the King's."[116]

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

The crossbow was an arm of great importance from about the eleventh century until the seventeenth, and Spain, throughout the latter of these centuries, was celebrated for their manufacture. Roquetas, a Catalan, "master-maker of crossbows," constructed them of steel, so skilfully and finely that they could be carried concealed inside the sleeve of a coat, and discharged without awaking the suspicion of the victim. A letter of René of Anjou, quoted by the Count of Valencia de Don Juan, also refers to the skill of the Catalans in making crossbows, and mentions one of these weapons constructed by "Saracen," of Barcelona, "who refuses to teach his craft to Christians." The letter further states that this arm was of a curious shape, and that, "despite its small dimensions, it carries to a greater distance than any other I have yet possessed."

A handsome Moorish crossbow, inlaid with bronze (Plate xliii.), exists in the provincial museum of Granada. The Royal Armoury has no example of the rare form of crossbow fitted with wheeled gear, but all the commoner kinds employed for hunting or for war are represented here, including those with the _armatoste_ or goat's-foot lever, stirruped crossbows, and those which have the _torno_ or windlass (French _cranequin_). Demmin appends the following note to an illustration in his handbook of a crossbow with a goat's-foot lever fixed to the stock:--"A similar weapon in ironwood, sixteenth century, belonged to Ferdinand the First, proved by the inscription on the bow: DOM FERNANDO REI DE ROMANO, followed by four Golden Fleeces. It bears the name of the Spanish armourer Juan Deneinas. This valuable crossbow once belonged to M. Spengel, at Munich, but it is at present in the collection of the Count of Nieuwerkerke."

There is also in the Royal Armoury a crossbow of the scarcer kind known in Spanish as _ballestas de palo_, in which the gaffle is not of steel, but put together from slips of springy woods, including yew. The wings are tipped with horn, and traces of heraldic and Renaissance decoration, painted on parchment, yet remain upon the weapon. Other portions are inlaid. Except for the erasure of the painting, this arm is splendidly preserved, and still retains its double cord, nut, and pins, together with the separate lever.

Another interesting crossbow in this armoury belonged to Charles the Fifth, who used it for the chase. It has a _verja_ or yard of steel engraved with the letter C four times repeated and surmounted by a crown, and bears the inscription, PRO · IMPERATORE · SEMPER · AVGVSTO · PLVS · VLTRA ·, together with · IV DE LA FVETE ·, for Juan de la Fuente, the name of a celebrated maker of these parts of a crossbow. The shaft (_tablero_), ornamented in bone and iron, is from the hand of another master, Juan Hernandez, whose signature is IO: HRZ. The Count of Valencia de Don Juan supposed that this was the one crossbow which Charles took with him to the rustic solitude of Yuste, and which is mentioned in a document at Simancas as "a crossbow with its gear and gaffles (it is in His Majesty's possession, but he has not paid for it)."

Hitherto I have traced the war-equipment of the Spanish Christians only. In the early period of Mohammedan rule, the conquerors used a simple dress for war, consisting of the _capacete_ or _almofar_ for the head, secured by a chain beneath the chin and covered by a piece of cloth called _schasch_, hanging to just below the shoulders; a wide sleeveless tunic; a shirt of mail; tight breeches, and leather shoes. Their weapons were the lance and sword. The foot-soldiery wore the _djobba_, a tight-sleeved tunic of white wool, bound to the body by a scarf, and leather shoes, and carried as their arms a _capacete_ of beaten iron, without a crest or cheek-pieces; a large round shield with its projecting umbo; and either a lance, or a double-edged and double-handed sword. Such are the details represented in the _Codex of the Apocalypse_, preserved in the cathedral of Gerona. As time progressed, the weapons and defensive armour of these Spanish Moors grew more luxurious and ornate, being often decorated with enamels, precious stones, or inlaid metals such as silver, gold, and bronze. Prominent centres of this industry were Murcia, Zaragoza, and Toledo, which are even said to have surpassed Damascus. Andalusia, too, was celebrated for her gold-inlaid cuirasses and coats of mail; while, according to El Idrisi, the town of Jativa enjoyed a widespread fame for every kind of decorative armour.[117]

[117] _Historia General del Arte_: García Llansó; _Armas_; pp. 440, 441.

The military outfit of the Spanish Moors was, therefore, much the same as that of Christian Spain. Toledo under Muslim rule continued to be famous for her swords. Moorish Seville, Ronda, and Valencia were also favourably known for weapons, household knives, and scissors. Cutlery in the Moorish style is still produced in certain parts of eastern Spain, and in his _History of the Mohammedan Dynasties_ of this country, Gayangos tells us of a knife which bore upon one side of the blade the inscription in Arabic characters, "_With the help of God I will inflict death upon thy adversary_," and upon the other side, in Castilian, the words, "_Knife-factory of Antonio Gonzalez. Albacete, 1705._"

The primitive Spanish-Moorish sword was an arm of moderate breadth used both for cutting and for thrusting. As time went on, this people gradually adopted swords of Spanish make or pattern, such as the ponderous _brandimartes_ and _montantes_ made for wielding with both hands. The Granadino writer Aben Said complains that the adoption of the arms, and even of the costume of the Spanish Christians, was prevalent at Granada in the thirteenth century. "Sultans and soldiers alike," he said, "dress in the manner of the Christians, even to their arms and armour, crimson cloaks, standards, and saddlery. They wield in battle a shield and a long lance,[118] which serves them to attack with; nor do they seem to care for Arab bows or maces, but prefer to use the Frankish ones."

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

Nevertheless, the warriors of Granada carried several weapons which were not of Christian origin. The tribe of the Beni-Merines brought across from Africa a kind of sword called often in the Christian chronicles the _espada gineta_, used principally, as we gather from its name, by those addicted to the Moorish mode of horsemanship, or riding with short stirrups. The use of it extended later to the Christian Spaniards, and it is said to have contributed in later times to the victory of the Spanish army at Pavia. Other swords in use among the Granadinos were the _alfange_, the _chifarra_, the _chifarote_, and the _nammexi_. The last of these is described in an old dictionary of the Valencian and Castilian languages as a kind of scimitar, although Quatremère and Fleischer believe it to have been a dagger.