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

by Albert Frederick Calvert

The days had passed when Spanish Kings sent to Augsburg for their harness, and in 1620 we hear of a Royal armour factory at Pamplona in Navarre. The first specimen of its work is the parade armour made for the Duke of Savoy by order of Philip III. (A350-353, plate 62). Being a presentation suit, it was lavishly decorated with vertical bands and panels, with a bordering of trefoils of silver in relief. The initial letter, and the ducal crown and palms of Savoy figure in the ornamentation; and on the centre band of the cuirass may be seen the arms of the County of Nice—a crowned eagle gazing at the sun.

Philip III.’s half-suit of armour, numbered A354-355, was also forged at Pamplona. It is of steel-plated iron, and of extraordinary thickness. It is blued and decorated at the borders with bands on which are chiselled flowing scrolls, animals, grotesques, &c. A graceful edging of silver trefoils in relief finishes off the bands. The helmet, or cabasset, has a drooping brim, and is forged in two pieces. The breastplate is adorned by the Collar of the Golden Fleece, and another collar or riband (engraved), from which hangs the medal of the Immaculate Conception. A curious feature is the seven indentations made by the bullets of an arquebus, and each set with silver pearls. These marks do not say much for the quality of the metal, which is ten millimetres thick. The backplate, which is only three millimetres thick, has been perforated by the bullet. The arms are defended by espaliers reaching to the elbow, where they meet the cuffs of the gauntlets.

At Pamplona were also made six half-suits of boys’ armour for the three sons of Philip III.—the Infantes Philip, Charles, and Ferdinand. These suits (B13-B20, plates 87, &c.) are composed of closed helmet, gorget, cuirass, and the usual arm armour. The steel is blued, and each piece is decorated at the edge with the Collar of the Golden Fleece. The rest of the surface is divided by beautiful foliations in silver into diamond-shaped sections, in which are displayed the Tower and Lion of Spain, the Pillars of Hercules, warlike trophies, and the Double-headed Eagle.

The suit A360-368 (plate 58) was made in the first years of the century, in Italy, apparently for the Prince Filippo Emmanuele of Savoy, who died in 1605, aged 19. It consists of closed tilting helmet, gorget, cuirass, tassets, and the usual pieces for the limbs. All the pieces are richly decorated, but the blackening of the groundwork and the gilding of the ornamentation have disappeared. The crown of Savoy, with the palms and olive-branch, and groups of trophies are etched in rhomboidal sections formed by intertwined lovers’ knots, the emblem of the ducal house.

The same scheme of decoration is apparent on the two suits (A369, A377) of Italian make that were the property of the victor of St. Quentin, Prince Emmanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Grand Admiral of Spain (1588-1624). On the first suit certain Spanish heraldic devices, such as the Tower and Lion, may also be seen associated with the emblems of Savoy.

The last period of armour is illustrated by the suits belonging to King Philip IV. Six of these were sent to him from Brussels by his aunt, the Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia, wife of the Archduke Albrecht.

The first of these (A380-393) dates from 1624. It is shown on two figures, both with the same decoration of vertical bands traced on a groundwork of gold. On the shield may be deciphered the initials M. P. with a crown and three fleurs-de-lys, which leads the Conde de Valencia to hazard the conjecture that the armourer may have been one of the Petits, who served Louis XIII. of France. The harness includes the complete leg-armour, which now was never worn in the field; but the second figure (A381, plate 60) has, instead, the lobster-tail tassets, which were in actual use.

The second presentation suit (A394-401) is that in which Philip IV. is represented by Velazquez in the portraits in the Prado, numbered 1,066 and 1,077. It seems to have been originally blackened with the edges and rivets gilded, but probably lost its hue when worn by the illustrious Don Juan José, natural son of Philip IV., in his Italian campaign in 1652.

The armour A408-413 was among the gifts presented by the Archduchess Isabel Clara. It was very elegantly decorated with bands of gold and silver, chiselled by hand in zig-zag fashion. The next suit, A414-421, from the same donor, was worn by Don Juan José, who is shown wearing the cuirass on a bust in the Prado gallery.

The two remaining suits attributed to Philip IV. were the gift of his brother, the Cardinal Infante Ferdinand. The first (A422, plate 59) has the lobster-tail tassets, and is blued and decorated with vertical bands of medallions with various subjects. This suit was formerly, for some obscure reason, ascribed to Columbus. The second suit (A423-428) was originally blued and gilt, but the natural colour of the metal has now reasserted itself. The armour is distributed over three figures, and includes several pieces fast becoming obsolete at that time (1632). Notice the unusual size of the garde-de-rein on the first figure.