Chapter XVI: Appendix: H

SPANISH TRADE-GUILDS

The _gremios_ of Spain were copied from the guilds of France and other countries, and may be traced originally to the _corpora_ and _collegia_ of the Romans and Byzantines. The earliest which were formed in the Peninsula were those of Barcelona[64] and Soria, succeeded, not long after, by Valencia, Seville,[65] and Toledo. Prior, however, to the institution of these trade-guilds proper, whose purpose was pre-eminently mercenary,[66] there existed, in the case of several cities, _cofradías_ or religious brotherhoods, that is, associations of a philanthropic character, composed of tradesmen or artificers who pledged themselves to assist each other in poverty or sickness, or to defray the burial expenses of such members as should die without resources.

[64] See Pérez Pujol, _Condición social de las personas á principios del
siglo V_. "The ironsmiths of Barcelona," says Riaño, "formed an
extensive guild in the thirteenth century; in 1257, four of its
members formed part of the chief municipal council; this guild
increased in importance in the following centuries."

[65] The history of the Sevillian trade-guilds begins properly with the
fifteenth century, although Gestoso states in his _Diccionario de
Artífices Sevillanos_ that he has found a few documents which seem
to point to their existence in the century preceding.

When the Spanish Christians pitched their camp before this city,
prior to their victorious assault upon its walls, the besieging
army was divided according to the various trades of its component
soldiery: the spicers in one part of the camp, the apothecaries in
another, and so forth. It is therefore probable that the Sevillian
trade-guilds were instituted shortly after the re-conquest. The
wages of smiths, shoemakers, silversmiths, armourers, and other
craftsmen were decreed by Pedro the First in his _Ordenamiento de
Menestrales_. The ordinances of the silversmiths, in particular,
are so old that Gestoso believes them to have been renewed and
confirmed by Juan the Second, in the year 1416. However this may
be, it is certain that the Seville guilds were regularly
constituted in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.

[66] Barzanallana defines the word _gremio_ "as it came to be understood
in Spain," as "any gathering of merchants, artisans, labourers, or
other persons who practised the same profession, art, or office;
and who were bound to comply with certain ordinances, applicable to
each individual of their number."

It is well, however, to distinguish broadly between actual
manufacturers or producers (_menestrales de manos_) and merchants
or shopkeepers (_mercaderes de tienda y de escriptorio_), who
merely trafficked in what was executed by another.

The formula of admission to a Spanish brotherhood was very quaint in its punctilious and precise severity. A notice of this ceremony, relating to the Cofradía of Saint Eligius, or Silversmiths' Brotherhood of Seville,[67] is quoted by Gestoso from the venerable _Regla de Hermandad_ or statutes of the members, preserved in a codex dating from the first half of the sixteenth century. It was required that the candidate for admission should be a silversmith, married in conformity with the canons of the church, a man well spoken of among his neighbours, and not a recent convert to the Christian faith. The day prescribed for choosing or rejecting him was that which was consecrated to Saint John the Baptist, coinciding with the festival of Saint Eligius or San Loy, "patron and representative" of silversmiths, and who in life had been a silversmith himself. The regulations of the Cofradía decreed the following method of election. "In the chest belonging to the Brotherhood shall be kept a wood or metal vessel with space sufficient to contain some fifty beans or almonds; and the said vessel shall be set in our chapter-room, in a spot where no man is. Each of the brothers that are present shall next be given one of the beans or almonds, and, rising from his seat, arrange his cloak about him so as to conceal his hands, in order that none may witness whether he drops, or does not drop, the almond or the bean into the vessel. Then, with due dissimulation, he shall proceed to where the vessel lies, and if he deem that he who seeks to be admitted as our brother be an honourable man, and such as shall contribute to the lustre of our Brotherhood, then shall he drop in a bean or almond, and return to his seat, still covering his hands with his cloak. But if, upon the contrary, he deem that the said candidate be a sinner, and a riotous fellow and bad Christian, that should prove a source of evil and vexation to our chapter, or that hath wronged another of our brethren, then shall he not cast in the bean or almond, but secretly reserve the same, and once more seat himself. Lastly, when all shall have crossed over to and from the vessel, they shall bear it to the table where the officers sit, and void it in the sight of all the company, and count the beans or almonds; and if the number of these be full, then is it clear that we do receive the other for our _Hermano_. But if there be a bean or almond wanting, in that a brother hath retained it in his fingers, then shall our _Alcaldes_ speak to this effect. 'Señores: here wants a bean or almond' (or two, or any number, as may be). 'Within eight days from now let him that kept it back present himself to us, or to any one of us, and give account why he that sought admission to our Brotherhood deserves to be rejected.' And if the brother that kept back the bean or almond should not present himself within the appointed time, then shall the Brotherhood admit the other: but if he appear, and state a lawful cause against the other's entry, then our _Alcaldes_, when this last presents himself to learn their resolution, shall urge him to have patience, in that not all the brothers are content with him, albeit, if such cause consisteth in a quarrel between a brother and the candidate for entry, peace may be brought about between the two, and afterward the _Cofradía_ may admit him of their number."

[67] This guild, as all the others, held an annual convocation of its
members, and possessed a chapel of its own in the convent of San
Francisco. It exercised a strict and constant supervision upon the
gold and silver work produced throughout the city. On April 15th,
1567, the inspectors appointed and salaried by the guild visited
the shop of Antonio de Cuevas, and seized an _Agnus Dei_ and a
faultily executed cross, both of which objects were destroyed
forthwith. On February 8th, 1569, they repeated their visit to the
same silversmith, and seized an _apretador_, which was likewise
broken up. On February 9th, 1602, they entered the shop of Antonio
de Ahumada, and took away "two rings, a gold _encomienda_, a cross
of Saint John, some small cocks, a toothpick, and a San Diego of
silver." Similar notices of fines, confiscations, and other
punishments exist in great abundance, and may be studied in
Gestoso's dictionary. See also Vol. I., p. 114, of the present
work.

Similar ceremonies and customs were observed in old Toledo (see the Ordinances of this city, dated June 24th, 1423, renewed and amplified in 1524).[68] Here also the silversmiths agreed to meet and celebrate the festival of their patron saint upon one day in every year, "for ever and for ever" (_para siempre jamás_). On these occasions the image of the saint was carried in procession, and a repast was given to the brothers themselves, as well as to all persons who were "willing to receive it for the love of God." Every brother who failed to present himself at this solemnity was fined one pound of candle-wax; but if he were merely unpunctual, and arrived "after the singing of the first three psalms," the fine was only half a pound. A pound of candle-wax was also the statutory tribute for admission to the Brotherhood, together with a hundred _maravedis_ and other unimportant sums in cash.

The history of the _gremios_ of Valencia has been traced in an instructive essay by Luis Tramoyeres Blasco. Early in the fifteenth century guilds were established here of nearly thirty trades, including tailors, millers, carpenters, shoemakers, silversmiths, weavers, tanners, dyers, swordsmiths, and bonnet-makers. These guilds developed greatly in the sixteenth century, expanding into powerful and wealthy bodies, who practically controlled the entire commerce and commercial products of their native town. Among the _gremios_ instituted at a later date were those of the firework-makers, basket-makers, twisters of silk, stiffeners of dress fabrics, bell-founders, and painters of chests and boxes, each of these corporations being enrolled by law, and possessing a code of regulations for the government and guidance of its members. Sometimes, however, owing to diminution in its trade, a guild became extinct, as happened with the _guadamacileros_ (see Vol. II., pp. 38 _et seq._), and with the clothmakers, of whom, in 1595, but three remained in all Valencia. Or else a _gremio_ would purposely amalgamate with, or merge insensibly into, another. Thus in 1668 the tailors and the makers of trunk-hose united in a single corporation, just as, at other times, the glovers and the parchment-dressers, the clog-makers and the shoemakers.

[68] The foremost in importance of the _gremios_ of Toledo was that of
the silk-weavers (_arte mayor de la seda_), whose earliest
ordinances date from A.D. 1533.

Interesting particulars of the old Toledan _gremios_ generally will
be found in the municipal archives of this city, in the _Ordenanzas
para el buen régimen y gobierno de la muy noble, muy leal é
imperial ciudad de Toledo_ (reprinted in 1858); in Martín Gamero's
_History of Toledo_; and in the Count of Cedillo's scholarly
monograph, _Toledo in the Sixteenth Century_.

Those of the Valencian guilds which possessed the greatest influence and resources, and enjoyed the highest privileges from the city or the crown, were called _colegiados_. Among them were the velvet-makers, hatters, bronze-founders, wax-makers, confectioners, dyers, and makers of silk hose. The earliest to obtain this coveted and honourable title were the booksellers, in 1539, followed by the wax-makers in 1634, the confectioners in 1644, the velvet-makers also in this year, and others in succession, terminating with the dyers in 1763, the hatters in 1770, the bell-founders in 1772, and the makers of silk stockings in 1774.

According to Tramoyeres, most of the Valencian trade-guilds owned a building in fee-simple, and often gave the title of their craft to the entire street in which that edifice was situated. Nor did the _gremios_, in their evolution from the simpler and less mercenary form of brotherhood or _cofradía_, wholly abandon the religious ceremonies of their prototype. In almost every instance the guild erected and maintained a chapel within its private _domicilio_, chose a particular saint to be its patron, and held, with fitting pomp and liberality, a yearly celebration of that patron's holy-day.

On these occasions masses and other services were said or sung, and the embroidered banner of the guild, together with the image (which was often of silver) of its tutelar saint, was carried in procession through the streets of this bright city of the south, abounding at all seasons in flowers and sunshine, and famed, from the remotest days of Spanish history, for the splendour and munificence of her public festivals.

Our earliest record of the formal attendance of the _gremios_ of Valencia at one of her _fiestas_, goes back to the visit to this capital of King Pedro the Second, in 1336, when the guilds were marshalled in military fashion, company by company, each headed by its pennon "_á la saga dels primers_," that is, next to the group or company immediately in front of it. In 1392, upon the visit of another monarch, Juan the First, who was accompanied by his queen, Violante, a more elaborate character was given to the welcome. Jongleurs and dancers were hired to perform, while several of the _gremios_ constructed decorative scenes or allegorical tableaux on a platform or a waggon, which was wheeled along the street in slow procession, surrounded by the marching members of the guild. One of these structures represented the winged dragon or _drach-alat_ which figures so conspicuously in the records of Valencia (see Vol. I., p. 210), and was attacked and overcome in mimic combat by a body of knights armed cap-à-pie. The mariners of the port built two large galleys, also moved on wheels and simulating an attack, and the _freneros_ or bit-makers presented a gathering of folk disguised as savages. Nor was the bullfight--that most characteristic of Spanish sports--omitted from the entertainment, judging from the following entry in the city archives: "Item. Sien aemprats los prohomens carnicers a procurar e haver toros e fer per sos dies feta la dita entrada joch ab aquells specialment en lo mercat com sia cert quel Senyor Rey se agrada e pren plaer de tal joch."

A typical _fiesta_ and procession of these trade-guilds is described by Tramoyeres. "Formed in two long lines, the members of the guild advanced along the tortuous and narrow highways of the town, adorned with tapestries and altars. Each _gremio_ was preceded by a band of cymbal-beaters, pipers, and jongleurs, sometimes accompanied by a _comparsa_ allusive to the ceremony now being celebrated. Next came the standard of the master-craftsmen and apprentices, each group of whom attended its _divisa_ or distinguishing emblem. Close after followed the banner of the craft in general, carried by one or two of the _oficiales_, who made display of their dexterity and strength by supporting the staff of the banner upon their shoulder, the palm of the hand, or the under-lip. The cords of the banner were held by the officers of the guild, denominated _mayorales_, _clavarios_ and _prohombres_; behind these came the masters, and last of all, a triumphal car on which were represented scenes relating to the craft. Thus, in the year 1655, at the commemoration of the second centenary of the canonization of Saint Vincent Ferrer, the _gremios_ showed particular ingenuity and novelty in these devices." Don Marco Antonio Ortí, who wrote an account of the festival in question, thus describes a few of them. "The millers were preceded by a waggon drawn by four mules and covered with boughs and flowers. On it was the imitation of a windmill, wheel and every other part, contrived so cunningly that although the wheel went round at a great speed, the artifice which caused it to revolve was kept from view, and in the time that the procession lasted, it ground to flour a whole _caliz_ of wheat." Another invention, says the same chronicler, was that of the masons. "The scene devised by these was a triumphal car, handsomely adorned, on which was borne the great tower (of the cathedral),[69] imitated so skilfully that it seemed to have been rooted from its foundation, and replanted in the car aforesaid; and so enormous was its size that a special spot required to be chosen in which to set it up. This was in the garden of La Punta; and when the tower was finished and ready to be taken forth, a breach for its passage had to be opened in the garden wall. It even contained a peal of bells, which rang by turning round and round, and this invention of the bells, besides its ingenuity, was rarely fitted to this festival, seeing that the clock-bell of the cathedral (that is the greatest of them all) was given, when it was baptized, the name of San Vicente's bell, as well as of Saint Michael the Archangel; whence the tower itself is called the Micalet, this, in the language of Valencia, being the diminutive for Michael. It were impossible to imagine the stir and the applause excited in all quarters of the city by the passage of this tower."

[69] That is, the ponderous structure known as the Miguelete, which
stands unfinished to this day.

The same writer describes the decorative car or waggon of the flax-weavers. "Upon it were a woman seated beneath a canopy, weaving at a frame, and representing Santa Ana, the child Jesus making _cañillas_, and an aged man, for San Antonio, dressed as a hermit, with a live sucking-pig at his side. Before these went Our Lady riding on a jennet, with a child in her arms, her right hand held by a man of venerable age representing Saint Joseph. This artifice was symbolic of the weavers' trade, receiving for this reason great applause, as well as for the lavish decoration of, and curious details that were in, the car."

Tramoyeres further explains that the guild which took first place in the procession was that which had been most recently created, the oldest and most honoured coming last. At Valencia this proud position was held from the remotest period by the clothmakers; but from time to time, when these for any cause were absent from the festival, their place was taken by one or other of two companies almost as ancient and as honourable--the tanners or the tailors.

Each guild selected an official dress or livery, distinguished from the others by its colour or design:--the tailors, purple and white; the weavers, rose with black sleeves; the cutlers, crimson with green sleeves and sprinkled with golden roses; the millers, white with crimson-striped sleeves; the silversmiths, crimson with silver trimming; and so forth. Their banners, too, were quite in harmony with the rich apparel of the vain _agremiados_. According to an author of the seventeenth century, these flags were "not of war, but of a different workmanship, and greatly larger. All are of damask, most being coloured crimson, and the poles sustaining them, and terminated by an image of the sainted patron of the guild, are longer than the longest pike of war. Truly, a splendid show these banners make, displayed with fringes of drawn gold, and shields embroidered with the same material."

The image in which the pole of the banner concluded was not, however, invariably that of a saint, or of a saint alone. In the case of the cask-makers it was a golden tun surmounted by a cross, with figures of Saint Helen and the Emperor Constantine standing on either side of it. That of the armourers was a bat (the _rat-penat_ or "winged rat" contained in the _escudo_ of Valencia); that of the cloth-shearers, a pair of scissors with a golden crown and the image of Saint Christopher; of the fishermen, a boat containing Saint Peter and Saint Andrew; of the clothmakers, a sphere inscribed with the name of Jesus; of the stonemasons, a silver millwheel and a silver image of the Virgin. Similarly, each _gremio_ displayed upon its coat-of-arms some kind of emblem such as the implement, or implements, associated with its trade:--the silversmiths, a square and compass; the carpenters, a hatchet and a saw; the lock-smiths, a pair of hammers and an anvil.

Quaintly instructive are the dispositions of the guilds relating to apprenticeship. The _maestro_ of a trade, described by the Count of Torreánaz as "the principal worker in the workshop," agreed to feed, clothe, and instruct his apprentice or _discípulo_, and treat him generally as a member of his own family. He was permitted to punish his apprentice for misconduct, but not to employ excessive physical violence; and a law of Jayme the First decreed that if the apprentice lost one or both of his eyes from a blow inflicted by his master, the latter was to "make good the injury" (_sia tengut del mal que li haura feyt_).

The number of apprentices allowed in any one workshop was often (and subsequently to the fifteenth century, nearly always) regulated by the law. The first disposition of this kind discovered by Tramoyeres dates from the year 1451, and refers to the shoemakers, whose apprentices might not outnumber three to each _maestro_.[70] Similarly, by provisions issued at a later date, the mattress-makers and the builders were allowed no more than two apprentices, and the silk-weavers three, although sometimes the master might admit an extra _aprenent_ or so, on payment of a certain sum per head.[71] The term of the apprenticeship was also often fixed by law. In most of the trades it was four years; but in the case of the makers of ribbons and of boxes it was five years; while stocking-makers were apprenticed for six, and wax-makers and confectioners for eight years.

[70] The Count of Torreánaz quotes an earlier instance, relative to
another city, from the shoemakers' ordinances of Burgos, confirmed
by the emperor Alfonso in A.D. 1270. These laws decreed, obviously
with the purpose of limiting the number of apprentices, that every
master-craftsman who engaged an apprentice was to pay two thousand
_maravedis_ "for the service of God and of the hospital." Similar
legislation, lasting many centuries, was in force elsewhere, for
Larruga says that at Valladolid, although the city produced
fourteen thousand hats yearly, most of the master-hatters had no
apprentices in their workshops, and only one _oficial_.

[71] _E.g._, the silk-weavers (Statute of 1701). "Que ningun collegial
de dit collegi puixa matricular francament mes de tres aprenents y
si volgués tenirne mes, hatja de pagar á dit collegi deu lliures,
moneda real de Valencia per cascú dels que excedirá de dit numero."

Before the father or the guardian of a lad could sign his papers of apprenticeship, it was required (during and after the sixteenth century) to prove before the guild, by means of his certificate of baptism, or on the declaration of witnesses, that he was the child of parents who were "old Christians," and not the offspring of Moor, Jew, slave, convert, or (in the fierce expression of the stocking-makers) "any other infected race." Still more absurd and savage was an ordinance, dated 1597, of the shoemakers, prohibiting any master of this trade from admitting to apprenticeship in any form, "a black boy, or one of the colour of cooked quince, slave or Moor ... so as to avoid the harm which might befall our brother shoemakers from the ridicule that would be stirred among the populace, if they should see in our processions and other public acts, a slave, or the son of a black slave, or a lad of the colour of cooked quince, or a Moor; as well as the rioting and scandals that would be caused by the spectacle of creatures of this nature mixing with decent, well-dressed people."

These statutes are selected from the mass of local legislation which concerned Valencia only. Turning to Spanish guilds at large, the study of these institutions throws considerable light upon the customs of the Spanish nation in the past, and more especially upon the social and financial standing of the older Spanish craftsman. As in other countries, the principal and primal object of the _gremio_ was to organize a system of defence against the military and nobility, or even against the crown. Presently, however, and long before their evolution is completed, errors become apparent in the statutes or proceedings of these bodies which denote, very instructively and very plainly, the typical defects or weaknesses of the Spanish character. Foremost of all was thriftlessness. Although it is a fact that several of the Spanish guilds owned houses or even land, none of them (except the silversmiths of two or three large towns) were really affluent;[72] and indeed, in a country racked by incessant foreign wars or civil strife, there was every reason why they should not be affluent. Yet, notwithstanding this, in celebrating any kind of public festival, the poor _agremiado_ made no scruple to vie in prodigal disbursements with the moneyed aristocracy, clothing himself in fanciful and costly stuffs,[73] constructing shows and spectacles on wheels, raising elaborate altars in the streets, contracting for expensive services, performances, and tableaux. More than once, the _gremios_ were obliged to borrow funds to celebrate the festival of their patron saint.[74] So also with regard to dress. The costumes of the guildsmen of Valencia have been already noticed. An equal recklessness and foppery prevailed in other Spanish towns; for instance, at Barcelona, where, on a visit of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1481, the silversmiths formed part of the procession "dressed in the richest manner, with robes and mantles all covered with silver, and some of them with bonnets that were all of silver plate with jewels and silver foliage, while others wore silver chains about their necks."

[72] It is not often, for instance, that we meet with notices of Spanish
craftsmen such as Miguel Jerónimo Monegro, a silversmith of
Seville, who at his death, towards the middle of the sixteenth
century, was in a position to bequeath the following money and
effects: 15,000 _maravedis_ to his servant, Catalina Mexia, 6000
_maravedis_ to Juan Ortiz, "a boy that was in my house, that he may
learn a trade," 6000 _maravedis_ yearly to his slavewomen, Juana
and Luisa, and a black mule to his executor, Hernando de
Morales.--Gestoso, _Diccionario de Artífices Sevillanas_,
Vol. II., p. 256.

[73] This did not happen only at Valencia. The Cortes assembled at
Valladolid in 1537 complained that it was "tolerable that costly
stuffs should be worn by lords, gentlemen, and wealthy persons; but
such is become our nation, that there is not an hidalgo, squire,
merchant, or _oficial_ of any trade, but wears rich clothing;
wherefore many grow impoverished and lack the money to pay the
_alcabalas_ and the other taxes owing to His Majesty."

Fernandez de Navarrete stated, in 1626, that "the wives of common
_mecánicos_ (_i.e._ craftsmen) furnish their dwellings more
luxuriously than titled personages of the realm were wont to
furnish theirs some few years ago," and that hangings of taffeta
or Spanish _guadamecíes_ were now regarded with contempt, being
replaced, even in the homes of the moderately well-to-do, by
sumptuous fabrics of Florence and Milan, and by the costliest
Brussels tapestry.--(_Conservación de Monarquías_, p. 246).

[74] Larruga, in Vol. XVIII. of his _Memorias_, inserts an account of
the heavy debts incurred by the _gremios_ of Valladolid, upon the
celebration of various of their festivals.

Two of the most conspicuous faults among the Spanish race are pride and envy. Yet these defects may be explained without much puzzling, and, in a measure, pardoned. Spaniards, through all the process of their national development, have clung by preference to the calling of the soldier or the priest; that is, the only occupations which directly dissipate the revenue of the commonwealth. Since, therefore, they were thus inclined from earliest antiquity, as well as tutored by a crafty priesthood to believe that might or violence alone is right, the haughtiness of the Spanish people is a logical, and indeed inevitable, outcome of their history. Moreover, side by side with this erroneous theory that the only prowess and decorum of a people must consist in armed aggressiveness, as well as in a truculent and militant intolerance in matters of religion (or rather, of superstition), there arose the equally as mischievous and erroneous theory that the arts of peace were venal, despicable, and effeminate, or, in the current phrase of our contemporaries, "unworthy of a gentleman." "The Spaniards," wrote Fernández de Navarrete, "are so proud-hearted that they do not accommodate themselves to servile labour." Therefore this people chose their favourites and heroes in a semi-savage freebooter; never in a craftsman of gigantic merit, like the elder Berruguete, or Juan de Arfe, or Alonso Cano. Sometimes, as happened with the _reja_ of the Chapel Royal of Granada, they did not even trouble to record the surname of her best artificers. These men, in fact, exceptions to her universal rule, were coldly looked upon, or even persecuted.[75] Abundant proof is yet extant of this humiliation of her merchants, craftsmen, shopkeepers, as distinguished from her soldiery and clergy, gentry and nobility. Undoubtedly, beneath such scorn the former of these groups were sensitive to their position, and all the more acutely sensitive because of their inherent Spanish pride. In fact, so sensitive were they, that now and then the crown esteemed it prudent to appease their wounded vanity by certain declarations or emoluments. Thus, the _Repartimiento de Sevilla_ tells us that in the year 1255 Alfonso the Tenth rewarded several craftsmen of his capital of Seville with the title of _Don_, "a dignity," says Amador, "rarely bestowed at that time."[76] In 1556 Charles the Fifth resolved, in favour of the corporation of _artistas-plateros_ or "artist-silversmiths," that the masters of this craft, together with their wives, might dress in silk, "in that it was an art they exercised, and not an office" (Gestoso, _Diccionario de Artífices Sevillanos_, Vol. I., p. lx.), while Philip the Fourth decreed that they should not be forced to contribute to the equipment of his troops, but should only be invited to contribute, _just as with the nobles_. Nevertheless, Rico y Sinobas points out (_Del vidrio y de sus artífices en España_) that Philip the Fifth and Ferdinand the Sixth, on founding the royal glass factory of San Ildefonso, did not dare to ennoble the Castilian workmen.

[75] The treatment of distinguished craftsmen by the Spanish church was
often sheerly villainous. A document, inserted by Zarco del Valle
among his collection of _Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de
las Bellas Artes en España_, p. 362, and in the handwriting of
"Maestre" Domingo (see Vol. I., pp. 148, 149), states that after
making the choir-_reja_ for Toledo cathedral, "so richly wrought,
that in the elegance and rarity thereof it far surpasseth all that
has been witnessed in our time, whether in his majesty's dominions
or abroad," and expending on it "all the money I had earned in my
youth," this eminent _rejero_ found himself by now "owing a great
quantity of _maravedis_, seeing that I am utterly without
resources," concluding by an appeal to the archbishop to "take heed
how that I shall not perish through such poverty, and my wife and
children in the hospital."

In another document the same artificer complains that in producing
the aforesaid _reja_, he had sacrificed "not only my labour, but my
property to boot, having been compelled to sell my house and my
inheritance to compensate me for my losses," adding that the
cathedral authorities had violated their engagement with him.

In answer to a series of petitions such as this, the archbishop
tardily gave orders for the payment to Domingo of a lump sum of
fifteen thousand _maravedis_ and a pension for the rest of his life
of two silver _reales_ of Castilian money, "to aid him to support
himself." This was in A.D. 1563. By 1565 death had ended the
miseries of the master-craftsman, and again we find his widow and
children knocking at the archbishop's door, pleading that "extreme
is our necessity," and declaring that Domingo had succumbed
overburdened with debt, _affirming on his deathbed that the
cathedral owed him three thousand ducats, being half the value of
a reja he had made_.

In answer to this terrible appeal, the thrifty prelate ordered that
_since it was found to be true that Master Domingo had lost his
maravedis in making the rejas of the choir_, his widow and children
should receive a daily pension of one _real_, and that a suit of
clothes should be given to each of his sons and his two daughters.

[76] So rarely, that Salazar de Mendoza affirms in his book upon
_Castilian Dignities_ that this "high prenomen" (_alto prenombre
Don_) might properly be used by none but kings, _infantes_,
prelates, and the _ricos-homes_ of the realm.

In A.D. 1626, Fernández de Navarrete complained of the tendency
prevailing among the Spaniards generally to usurp the title _Don_.
"Nowadays in Castile," he wrote (_Conservación de Monarquías_,
p. 71, etc.), "exists a horde of turbulent and idle fellows that so
style themselves, since you will hardly find the son of a craftsman
(_oficial mecánico_) that does not endeavour by this trick to filch
the honour that is owed to true nobility alone; and so, impeded and
weighed down by the false appearance of _caballeros_, they are
unsuited to follow any occupation that is incompatible with the
empty authority of a _Don_."

Some of the reasons why these rogues or _pseudonobles_ (as
Fernández de Navarrete called them), attempted to pass for
_hidalgos_ or "sons of somebody," are disclosed by Townsend,
writing a century and a half later. "Numerous privileges and
immunities enjoyed by the _hidalgos_ or knights, sometimes called
_hijos dalgo_, have contributed very much to confirm hereditary
prejudices to the detriment of trade. Their depositions are taken
in their own houses. They are seated in the courts of justice, and
are placed near the judge. Till the year 1784, their persons, arms,
and horses were free from arrest. They are not sent to the common
jails, but are either confined in castles or in their own houses on
their parole of honour. They are not hanged, but strangled, and
this operation is called _garrotar_, from _garrote_, the little
stick used by carriers to twist the cord and bind hard their
loading. They cannot be examined on the rack. They are, moreover,
exempted from the various taxes called _fechos_, _pedidos_,
_monedas_, _martiniegas_, and _contribuciones reales_ and
_civiles_: that is, from subsidies, benevolence, and poll tax, or
taille paid by the common people, at the rate of two per cent., in
this province, but in others at the rate of four. They are free
from personal service, except where the sovereign is, and even then
they cannot be compelled to follow him. None but the royal family
can be quartered on them. To conclude, the noble female conveys all
these privileges to her husband and her children, just in the same
manner as the eldest daughter of the titular nobility transmits the
titles of her progenitors.

"The proportion of _hidalgos_ in the kingdom of Granada is not
considerable; for out of six hundred and fifty-two thousand nine
hundred and ninety inhabitants, only one thousand nine hundred and
seventy-nine are noble; whereas, in the province of León, upon
little more than one-third that population, the knights are
twenty-two thousand. In the province of Burgos, on four hundred and
sixty thousand three hundred and ninety-five inhabitants, one
hundred and thirty-four thousand and fifty-six are entitled to all
the privileges of nobility; and in Asturias, of three hundred and
forty-five thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, nearly
one-third enjoy the same distinction."--(_Journey through Spain in
the years 1786 and 1787_: Vol. III., pp. 79, 80.)

"I bestow the name of craftsmen in silver (_artífices plateros_), not upon all who handle silver or gold, but only upon such as draw, and grave, and execute in relief, whether on a large or small scale, figures and histories from life, just as do the sculptors." These words are quoted from a book, the whole of which was written with the aim of proving that certain classes of Spain's older craftsmen were less abject than the rest.[77] It is not so long ago that the expression _viles artesanos_ ("vile artisans") was banished from the legal phraseology of Spain. "That prejudice," wrote Laborde, "which regards the mechanic arts as base, is not extinguished in Spain, but only abated: hence it happens that they are neglected or abandoned to such unskilful hands that they are wonderfully backward in these matters. The influence of this cause is striking: in Catalonia, laws, customs, and opinions are favourable to artisans, and it is in this province that these arts have made the greatest progress."

[77] Licentiate Gaspar Gutierrez de los Ríos, _Noticia general para la
estimación de las Artes y la manera en que se conocen las liberales
de las que son mecánicas y serviles_. Madrid, 1600. I again have
occasion to mention this curious work in my chapter on Spanish
tapestries.

Townsend commented as follows on what he called the _national prejudice_ against trade. "Whilst the Jews were merchants, and the mechanic arts were left either to the Moors or to the vilest of the people, the grandees or knights were ambitious only of military fame. After the conquest of Granada, the Moors continued to be the principal manufacturers, and excelled in the cultivation of their lands. When these, with the Jews, were banished, a void was left which the high-spirited Spaniard was not inclined to fill. Trained for many centuries to the exercise of arms, and regarding such mean occupations with disdain, his aversion was increased by his hatred and contempt for those whom he had been accustomed to see engaged in these employments. He had been early taught to consider trade as dishonourable; and whether he frequented the theatre, or listened to the discourses of the pulpit orators, he could not fail to be confirmed in his ideas. Even in the present day, many, who boast their descent from noble ancestors, had rather starve than work, more especially at those trades by which, according to the laws, they would be degraded, and forfeit their nobility."--(_Journey through Spain in 1786 and 1787_, pp. 240, 241.)

Laborde endorsed these assertions by uncharitably remarking that "the Spaniard had always fortitude enough to endure privations, but never courage enough to encounter work." In our time judgments of a still severer kind have been passed upon the Spaniards by various of their own countrymen--among others, Unamuno, Ganivet, and Pompeyo Gener.

It is evident, too, that the cause of the relentless exclusion, by the Spanish guilds, of Moors, Moriscos, Jews, or converts--men who, owing to the unsubstantial taint of heresy, were hated and derided by the Spanish nation almost to a man--resided also in this morbid sensitiveness. Had not the Moorish prisoner been formerly considered as the merest chattel, legally equivalent to a beast of burden?[78] How, then, should he be ever equalled with the Christian Spaniard? These haughty and extravagant notions operated, in the seventeenth century, to bring about the general ruin of Spanish trades and manufactures. Bertaut de Rouen wrote at this time:--"L'acoûtumance qu'avoient les Espagnols de faire travailler les Morisques, qui estoient libres parmi eux, et les Mores esclaves, dont il y a encor quelques-uns qu'ils prennent sur leurs costes et sur celles d'Afrique, les a entretenus dans la faineantise et dans l'orgueil, qui fait qu'ils dédaignent tous de travailler. Ce qui achève de les y plonger, c'est le peu de soucy qu'ils prennent de l'avenir, et l'égalité du menu peuple et de tous les moindres marchands et artisans qu'ils nomment _officiales_, avec les gentilshommes, qui demeurent tous dans les petites villes."

[78] It is stated in the Fuero of Nájera (A.D. 1076) that the price of
the blood of a Moorish slave was twelve _sueldos_ and a half, while
the Fuero Viejo of Castile (Book II., Tit. III., Ley IV.) contains
the significantly contemptuous phrase, "If a man demand of another
a beast or a Moor" (_si algún ome demanda á otro bestia ó moro_).
The Countess d'Aulnoy wrote in 1679;--"There are here (at Madrid) a
large number of Turkish and Moorish slaves, who are bought and sold
at heavy prices, some of them costing four hundred and five hundred
_escudos_. Until some time ago the owners of these slaves possessed
the right to kill them at their pleasure, as though they had been
so many dogs; but since it was remarked that this usage tallied but
poorly with the maxims of our Christian faith, so scandalous a
license was prohibited. Nowadays the owner of a slave may often
break his bones without incurring censure. Not many, however,
resort to so extreme a chastisement."

In the same century the Countess d'Aulnoy recorded comical instances of the pride of the tradesmen of Madrid. "One morning," she says, "we stopped awhile in the Plaza Mayor to await the return of a servant whom my aunt had sent with a message to some place not far away. Just then I saw a woman selling some slices of salmon, crying them aloud and proclaiming their freshness in tones which positively molested the passers-by. Presently a shoemaker came up (I knew him to be such, because they called him the _señor zapatero_), and asked for a pound of salmon; since here they sell everything by the pound, even to coal and firewood. 'You have not been through the market,' cried the woman who sold the fish, 'because you fancy that my salmon is cheap to-day; but let me tell you that it costs an _escudo_ the pound.' Furious that his poverty should thus be hinted at in public, the shoemaker exclaimed in angry tones: 'It is true that I was not aware of the price of fish to-day. Had it been cheap, I would have bought a pound of it; but since you say it is dear, give me three pounds.' With these words, he held out his hand with the three _escudos_, jammed his hat upon his eyebrows (tradesmen in this town wear small hats, and persons of quality hats of great size), and then, twisting the ends of his mustachios, and clapping his hand to his rapier, the point of which bobbed upward, carrying with it a fold of his ragged cloak, caught up his purchase and strode home, looking at us with an arrogant air, as though he had performed some heroic deed and we had witnessed it. Yet the drollest part of it all was that beyond doubt the fellow had no money left at home, but had spent his week's wages upon the salmon, so that his choleric and haughty act would keep his wife and children famishing for all those days, after supping once upon abundant fish. Such is the character of this people; and there are gentlemen here who take the feet of a fowl and hang them so as to show beneath the hem of their cloak, to make it appear as though they really bore a fowl. But hunger, in truth, is all they carry with them.

"You never see a shopman here who does not clothe himself in velvet, silk, and satin, like the king; or who is not the owner of a mighty rapier, which dangles from the wall, together with his dagger and guitar. These fellows work as little as they may, for, as I said, they are by nature indolent. Only in case of extreme necessity do they work at all, and then they never rest, but labour even throughout a feast-day; though when they have finished what was needed to procure them money, they deliver the product of their toil, and with its value relapse into fresh idleness. The shoemaker who has two apprentices, and who has only made one pair of shoes, hands to his lads a shoe apiece and makes them walk before him as though they were his pages; he that has three apprentices is preceded by all three; and when occasion rises, the master-_zapatero_ will hardly condescend to fit upon your feet the shoes which his own hands had put together."

It seems that the shoemakers of Madrid were distinguished for their insolence and vanity above the rest of her tradespeople. In 1659 Bertaut de Rouen wrote of the two _corrales_ or theatres of this town, that they were "toujours pleines de tous les marchands, et de tous les artisans, qui quittant leur boutique s'en vont là avec la cappe, l'épée, et le poignard, qui s'appellent tous _cavalleros_ jusques au _çapateros_; et ce sont ceux qui décident si la comedie est bonne ou non, et à cause qu'ils la sifflent ou qu'ils l'applaudissent, et qu'ils sont d'un costé et d'autre en rang, outre que c'est comme une espèce de salve, on les appelle _Mosqueteros_, en sorte que la bonne fortune des autheurs dépend d'eux."

The foregoing narratives sound absurd, and are particularly prone to be considered so from being of foreign authorship. Their tenor, notwithstanding, is supported by the following declarations, gravely set down in writing by a Spaniard, within some half a dozen years of the visit to Madrid of the Countess d'Aulnoy. The name of this author is Alonso Nuñez de Castro, and the title of his work (published towards the close of the reign of Philip the Fourth), _El Cortesano en Madrid_. "What man," demands this _madrileño_ of a bygone century, "eminent in any of the arts, has belonged to other nations, but has sought in Madrid the applause and gain which his native country would not, or could not, bestow upon him? Thus, either he in person, or else his master-works, visit with frequency this court of ours, wherein they meet a better fate than in their birthplace, since only at Madrid is properly esteemed the value of illustrious effort. Let London manufacture as she may her famous cloths, Holland her cambrics, Florence her satins, India her castors and vicunas, Milan her brocades, Italy and the Netherlands the statues and oil-paintings which seem to breathe the very life of the original: our Court enjoys these products one and all, proving hereby that other nations generate artists for Madrid, who is, in sooth, the supreme Court of Courts, seeing that she is served by all, yet in her turn serves none.

"Yet not at slight expense does she enjoy this sovereignty, showering upon other hands her gold and silver, that they may recreate her mouth with choicest drinks and viands, her nostrils with delicious essences, her eyes with wondrous works of painting and of statuary, her hearing with the skill of world-renowned musicians, her luxury with expensive fabrics and with precious stones; albeit these disbursements mark her, not as prodigal, but as prudent in discovering the proper use of gold, together with the fitting aim and purpose of all riches. Who was possessor of more gold than Midas?--seeing that not he alone, but all he laid his hand upon, was gold; or who so wretched?--seeing that he was powerless to keep himself alive on gold, though all he touched was golden. Truly that man is rich that maketh gold to minister to his wants, and he a miserable pauper that to gold himself is slave, not knowing how to turn its uses to his good. Therefore let other peoples accumulate wealth at ease, heaping up the gold wherewith Madrid repays their ministration to her needs. Whereas her courtiers prove possession of their gold, in that they amassed it formerly, those foreigners show the evil and the mischief of their own by jealously confining it with lock and key: nay, who shall even tell if it be theirs, seeing that they enjoy it not, although they seem to be the lords thereof?

"You will declare that other courts enjoy the same conveniences with less expense, because their magistrates are stricter to restrain the tradesman from establishing his prices at caprice. Truly, it may happen that elsewhere the price of foods and luxuries be less than in Madrid; yet it is certain that Madrid makes fair comparison in cheapness with the other cities of Castile. Nay, more, without there seeming to be cause, her courtiers daily find that by a marvel articles are cheaper here than in the soil which generated them, or in the town where they were wrought. The fact that in comparison with other kingdoms Madrid is in some ways the dearer, proves that she hath the money for rewarding labour; and that in other capitals the sweat of the artificer is worthless, because money is worth more. Always have I remarked that the province or the realm that is awarded the name of _happy_, because all things are purchasable there at next to no expense, is wrongly titled so, since here is evidence, either that money lacks, or that there is no purchaser."[79]

[79] To further show the extravagant way of thinking and behaving of the
Spaniard of the seventeenth century, the same author sets aside the
sneering objection justly made by foreign writers to the river
Manzanares at Madrid--namely, that it has no water--by remarking
with exquisite complacency, that here precisely lies the crowning
merit and advantage of the Manzanares over rival streams; in that
it amuses people without endangering their lives. In the reigns of
Philip the Fourth and Charles the Second, a favourite promenade of
the Madrid aristocracy was the waterless channel of this river, in
which, according to this work, "coaches and carriages do duty for
a gondola, and form a pleasant imitation of the boats and palaces
of Venice."

In the eighteenth century, when better sense prevailed among the statesmen and economists of Spain, the greedy and corrupt administration of her guilds began to be awarded greater notice. Among the enlightened and progressive Spaniards who outspoke their minds upon this theme, were Florez Estrada and the Count of Campomanes. These, among others of less mark, saw and proclaimed that the harm inflicted by the _gremios_ in some directions was incalculable, while the good they were supposed to bring about in others was rather nominal than real.[80] Apart, however, from the judgment uttered by these two authorities, men of acknowledged probity and consequence who held the public ear, as well as by the patriotic Jovellanos in his spirited appeal in favour of the _libre ejercicio de las artes_, a number of causes, such as the propagation of the principles of individual liberty by the French Revolution, contributed to give the _gremios_ an archaic air, and finally to bring about their downfall. The views concerning them which gradually filled the popular mind, prior to their extinction as an act of government in the year 1834,[81] are well expressed by Townsend. "In all the trading companies or _gremios_," wrote this traveller, "religious fraternities are formed, some incorporated by royal authority and letters patent, others by connivance of the crown, but both in violation of the laws.

[80] The object avowedly pursued by Campomanes was not, however, the
absolute suppression of the Spanish trade-guilds, but merely their
reconstruction upon a sounder basis. He still believed that
admission to a guild should be preceded by a formal period of
apprenticeship, as well as that the title and the privileges of the
master of a trade should be hereditary. An instance of the grossly
fraudulent methods employed by the _gremios_ in order to retain the
privilege of manufacture in a certain family, is quoted by Larruga
(_Memorias_, Vol. II., p. 201), who states that the silk-cord
makers of Madrid conferred the title of _master-craftsman_ on a
babe only twenty-two months old.

[81] Barzanallana says that the earliest sign of a movement in the
direction of emancipating the Spanish people from the thraldom of
the _gremios_ is contained in the royal _cedula_ of May 17th, 1790,
abolishing several of the noxious prerogatives which had hitherto
been enjoyed by the families of master-craftsmen. A further crown
decree, dated the same month and year, empowered the Audiencias and
Chancillerías to authorize persons to pursue a craft (provided they
were reasonably competent) without the necessity of approval from
the _gremios_ and their _veedores_. Three years later, the same
monarch (Charles the Fourth) suppressed the _gremios_ and
_colegios_ of the silk-twisters, and declared this craft to be open
to all such persons, of either sex, as wished to practise it. In
1797 it was permitted to all foreigners who should be competent in
any art or industry (except Jews) to establish themselves in Spain
or her dominions, nor were they to be molested in their religious
theories if they should happen not to be Roman Catholics.

At a later time the Cortes annulled, or very nearly so, the
_ordenanzas_ of the _gremios_, and allowed the exercise of any
lawful trade or craft to everybody, Spaniards and foreigners alike,
without the requisite of special license or examination, or
approval by the officers of the guilds (decree of June 8th, 1813).
This measure was revoked in 1815, but again became law in 1836, and
two years before this latter date was issued the decree of Queen
María Cristina prohibiting associations which, under the semblance
of a _gremio_, should aim at converting any craft or office into a
monopoly.

The Spanish _gremios_ still exist, but all their sting has
departed. To-day they may be said to spring from the natural and
beneficial interdependence of persons working together in the same
groove, and seeking mutual support by means of peaceable
association. Thus the abuses which rendered them so terrible and
evil in the olden time are fortunately now no more.

"Every fraternity is governed by a mayor and court of aldermen, who make laws, sit in judgment on offenders, and claim in many cases exemption from the common tribunals of the country. None but the members of these communities may exercise mechanic arts, or be concerned in trade; and to be admitted as a member is both attended with a heavy fine, and entails upon each individual a constant annual expense.

"This, however, is not the greatest evil, for the mayor and officers, during their year of service, not only neglect their own affairs, but from vanity and ostentation run into expenses, such as either ruin their families, or at least straiten them exceedingly in trade.

"These corporations, being established in the cities, banish, by their oppressive laws, all the mechanic arts from towns and villages. In the cities likewise they tend only to monopoly, by limiting the numbers in every branch of business, and fixing within unreasonable bounds the residence of those who are concerned in trade. This they do either by assigning the distance between shop and shop, under pretence that two shops vending the same commodities must not be so near together as to interfere, or by assembling all the mechanics of the same profession, such as silversmiths, and confining them to one street or quarter of the city, under the plausible pretext that thus the proper magistrate may with ease pay attention to their work, and see that the due standard be observed.[82]

[82] This custom was borrowed from the East, and explains why, in many
of the older Spanish cities, a number of their streets have taken
their title from the trades that formerly were plied in them, or
(in some instances) that still are so. Especially was this the case
at Valencia and Toledo. In the latter capital there are, or used to
be, the streets, _plazas_, or _barrios_, of the silversmiths,
armourers, bakers, old-clothes vendors, potters, esparto-weavers,
dyers, chairmakers, and many more. Martín Gamero, in his excellent
_History of Toledo_ (Introduction, p. 60), says that in the centre
of the city were located the quiet crafts, such as those of the
jewellers, silversmiths, chandlers, and clog-makers, as well as
the shops of the silk, brocade, and tissue-vendors. Noisy trades,
such as the swordsmiths', tinsmiths', boiler-makers', chairmakers',
and turners', were practised on the outskirts of the town.

"In many cases the various _gremios_ bear hard upon each other. Thus, for instance, the carpenter must not employ his industry on mahogany, or any other wood but deal, nor must he invade the province of the turner. The turner must confine his ingenuity and labour to soft wood, and must not presume to touch either ivory or metals, even though he should be reduced to poverty for want of work. The wheeler, in similar distress, must not, however qualified, extend his operations beyond the appointed bounds, so as to encroach on the business of the coach-maker, who is equally restrained from either making or mending either cart or waggon wheels. The barber may shave, draw teeth, and bleed, but he must not fill up his leisure time with making wigs.[83] As mechanics are obliged to keep exactly each to his several line, so must shopkeepers confine themselves to their proper articles in trade, and under no pretence must the manufacturer presume to open magazines, that he may sell by retail.

[83] Colmeiro has published _memoriales_ presented by the hatters of
Zaragoza, in which they pray to be allowed to line, by their own
hands, or by those of their wives, the hats which they had
manufactured, instead of being required to give up this finishing
and accessorial process to the makers of silk cord.--_Historia de
la Economía Política en España_, and _Biblioteca de los economistas
españoles de los siglos XVI., XVII., y XVIII_.

"But neither are these abuses the only evils which call for reformation. Many corporations have been impertinently meddling, and have absurdly bound the hands of the manufacturer by regulations with respect to the conduct of his business and the productions of his art, such as, being too rigidly observed, would preclude all improvements, and would be destructive to his trade, by giving to foreigners a manifest advantage in favour of their merchandise.[84]

[84] This meddlesomeness almost exceeds belief. It was at its worst,
perhaps, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, who decreed that
the wicks of candles were to be made of the same kind of tow, and
horse-shoes and nails to be of the same weight in every part of
their dominions. It was required that machines, which might have
been to great advantage moved by mules or horses, should only be
worked by the hand of man, however lengthy and exhausting this
might prove. The Count of Torreánaz, who quotes these ridiculous
dispositions from the _Libro de bulas y pragmáticas_ of Juan
Ramírez, further recalls that, as late as the middle of the
eighteenth century, costly woven stuffs of Seville and Valencia
used to be confiscated because, although the ground of the fabric
was of a colour which the law allowed, the flowers or other devices
which formed the decoration were of a forbidden shade. On one
occasion the chief lady-in-waiting of the queen was prohibited from
wearing a dress which she had ordered from a weaver of Valencia,
because the flowered pattern was contrary to the _ordenanzas_.

"The incorporated fraternities in the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon are 25,581, and their corporate expenses amount to 11,687,861 reals. Their revenue is not altogether consumed in feasting, nor in salaries to officers, nor in pensions to their widows, nor yet in lawsuits, which are said to be both numerous and expensive; but considerable sums are expended for religious purposes, in procuring masses to be said, either for departed spirits and the souls in Purgatory, or for the benefit of the fraternity in which each individual has a proportionable interest. For this reason, these communities enjoy the protection of the ecclesiastical courts, to which, in cases of necessity, they frequently appeal.

"The chartered corporations claim their exclusive privileges by royal grant, and on this plea they resist a formation, not considering, as Count Campomanes with propriety remarks, the essential condition of these grants, _Sin perjuicio de tercero_, or that nothing therein contained shall be to the _prejudice of others_, or injurious to the citizens at large."