Spanish Arms and Armour / Being a Historical and Descriptive Account of the Royal Armoury of Madrid

by Albert Frederick Calvert

Of the arms and detached pieces of armour ascribed to Philip II., and included in the Armoury, the most remarkable is the sword (G47) belonging to the parade-armour A239.

The blade is of diamond section, with a short groove below the tang. The first third of its length is adorned with engravings and small squares of gold, enclosed in which we find these inscriptions, on one side—PRO FIDE ET PATRIA. PRO CHRISTO ET PATRIA. INTER ARMA SILENT LEGES SOLI DEO GLORIA; on the other—PVGNA PRO PATRIA. PRO ARIS ET FOCIS; NEC TEMERE, NEC TIMIDE, FIDE SED CVI VIDE. On the ricasso is the mark of the maker, Clement Horn, of Solingen. The hilt is the most remarkable in the collection. It is blued and carved in gold relief in the Italian renaissance style. The centre of the guard is decorated with numerous figures in high relief on a gilded ground; one quillon curves downwards, the other upwards, and both end in the heads and busts of men entwined about with spirals. From a cartouche engraved with the Judgment of Paris on the guard, springs an exquisite counter-guard composed of two beautiful Caryatides united by volutes. The grip is of quadrangular section, and formed with four pieces of rock-crystal engraved in gold. The pommel, which is the most admirable part of the composition, is formed by two volutes, which hold and press between them the head of an old Satyr, whose expression reveals his vexation; in the curves of the volutes are two little genii. They grasp and tread on festoons of fruit, which are gathered up at the back of the pommel by the god Vertumnus, beneath whom, on an oval cartouche, Hercules is seen in combat with the Nemean lion.

The sword G48, believed to have been the work of the Toledo maker Martinez Menchaca, and the property of Philip II., is flat, with three pierced channels in its upper third. The hilt is German, and highly ornate. The quillons and guards resemble the coils of a serpent, and are elaborately chased and incrusted with silver. They are further adorned with masks, torsos, and nude figures within medallions, the whole being designed and executed with much taste. The hilt of the sword, G49, attributed to the Conde de Coruña (Viceroy of Nueva España in 1580), is another beautiful piece of work, the decoration being less elaborate, but on the whole more tasteful than that of the sword G48. It is of Spanish (Toledo) make, but the maker’s name remains unknown.

Perhaps the most magnificent suit in the whole Armoury is the Parade Armour (A290, plates 53, 53D) made for King Sebastian of Portugal (1554-1578) by Anton Pfeffenhauser of Augsburg.

“Examined from the artistic point of view,” says the Conde de Valencia, “this is Pfeffenhauser’s masterpiece, and places him on a level with, if not above, the best German armourers of his time. True, he falls into the mistake of over-ornamentation, and his figures are incorrectly designed; but the composition and embossing are bolder than Colman’s, and, above all, his chiselling is of inimitable precision and clearness. With regard to the style of the decoration, on comparing the capricious combinations of figures, scrolls, and other features of the ornamentation with the designs published by Hefner Altenech, we are led to believe that it was the work of either Hans Mielich, of Munich, or some other German artist of the same age and equal ability.”

The sixteen pieces of the armour are blackened, and gilded only at the nails, clasps, and plume-holder. The burgonet is cast in one piece and richly embossed. On the comb are seen Tritons, sea-horses, dolphins, and Nereids; the major portion of the surface is occupied by battle scenes, the warriors wearing classic garb, and fighting on the backs of elephants—an allusion, like the coat-of-arms carried by one of the warriors, to the Portuguese conquests in India; at the base of the skull are represented Diana, Hercules, Neptune, and Amphitrite; and on the cheek-pieces, each of three laminæ, are the images of Strength and Justice.

The decoration of the other pieces consists in the customary wide vertical bands, traversing the body from the gorget to the ankle. On the widest and midmost band is the figure of Jupiter; beneath him is Diana; and, lastly, the infant Hercules strangling the serpents. The other bands, both on breast and backplates, likewise display mythological subjects. The pauldrons are even more richly ornamented than the other pieces: at the back and front they are embossed with designs representing respectively Power, Victory, Peace, and Navigation.

The coudes display the four figures of the Cardinal Virtues. Beautiful emblematic groups and figures adorn the genouillères and demi-jambs. The tassets are detachable half-way up the thigh. The gauntlets correspond in decoration and elegance with the rest of this magnificent suit.

The armour of Philip III. belongs to the period of the decadence of the armourer’s craft. The final victory of the firearm in the long struggle between attack and defence was now very generally recognised, and complete suits of armour were worn mainly for display. Tilting, too, was going rapidly out of fashion. By the middle of the seventeenth century the burgonet, cuirass, and tassets were well-nigh the only pieces of armour worn in the field.

The suit B1 to B3 (plates 82 et seq.) presented to Philip III. when Prince, at the age of seven, by his brother-in-law, Carlo Emmanuele, Duke of Savoy, is obviously one of the harnesses intended for ornament, and not defence. It is a beautiful example of Italian art, including twelve pieces, worked in gilded iron, and decorated with innumerable figures, masks, &c., in the low relief contained in cartouches, scrolls, and bands—all embossed and damascened. There is no leg-armour attached to the suit, and the gauntlets have disappeared.