The Industrial Arts in Spain

by Juan F. Riaño

The scabbard of this dagger is most beautiful, its chapes are made of silver enamelled in green, and the remainder is of crimson velvet embroidered in gold, from which hangs a fine tassel of silk and gold thread. A small eating knife is fitted into this same scabbard, which possesses no artistic interest.

The woodcut on the next page will give a good idea of the blade of a Moorish dagger of the 15th century.

A sword of a similar kind to the one already described may be seen at Granada at the Administrador's of the Generalife. It belongs to the marquis of Campotejar, a descendant of Sidi Jahia, a Moorish prince who was converted to Christianity. The marquis of Vega de Armijo has an interesting sword of the same kind, and two others exist at the Museo de Artilleria, Madrid, which belonged to Aliatar; Boabdil's sword is at the Royal Armoury. The Hispano Arab sword, which for centuries had been in a saint's hand at the church of San Marcelo, Leon, is now at the Museo Arqueologico, Madrid.

The Spanish Moors used helmets similar in form to those of the Christians, though their manner of decoration was different; after the importations made by the Crusaders, the similarity must every day have been greater. The almofar, which appears by its name to have been originally oriental, and which is constantly named in Spanish documents from the poem of the Cid, was a protection for the head, of a similar form to those used in France and other countries, consisting of a hood made of chain armour, covering the head and leaving the face free; upon it was placed the hood or helmet. Some helmets exist at the Royal Armoury of Madrid of Spanish Moorish origin; among them are two very remarkable ones, which have been attributed to Boabdil, the last king of Granada. (Nos. 2345, 2356, of the Catalogue.) They are decorated with gold filigree, niellos, and geometrical ornamentation in the best oriental style, most admirably worked, and different in this respect to the helmets used in this time. Another interesting helmet, which belonged to this ill-fated monarch, exists in the province of Almeria.

The adargas, or shields, are more varied: they were frequently adopted by the Christians. They were generally round, with a salient point in the centre, ombilicus, or a sort of iron grating made for the purpose of entangling the adversary's sword. These shields were of wood or thick cowhide, vacaries, and were decorated outside in a variety of ways, sometimes with pierced iron plates or bands of leather, forming arabesques; and at other times with an ornamentation of iron, and leather embroidered with gold and silver, with rich hanging tassels and pendants. Shields of a prolonged form were also very constantly used, terminating in a semicircle in the upper part, and in the lower by a sharp point or a semicircle at the top and bottom, as may be seen in the paintings of the Sala de la Justicia at the Alhambra. A good collection of round shields may be seen at the Armoury at Madrid: they are not earlier in date than the 15th century, the most interesting among them are Nos. 233, 253, 389, 595, and 607 of the Catalogue. Some of them are exquisite in work and detail. These shields, although belonging to the latest period of the middle ages, were used before this time, for they appear on the ivory casket existing at the cathedral of Pamplona, [V. Ivories, p. 130], dated A.D. 1005, and in miniatures of Spanish MSS. of that date. One of the best examples, which may be mentioned to confirm these indications, will be found in a MS. at the British Museum (Add. ii., 695), which was painted during a period of twenty years in the monastery of Silos, near Burgos, and finished and completed A.D. 1109. Mr. Shaw, in his "Dresses and Decorations," vol. v., reproduces some of these figures, and says: "The figures which form our plate represent Spanish warriors of the later part of the 11th century, and are interesting on account of their remarkable resemblance to the Anglo-Norman soldiers on the celebrated Bayeux tapestry. This resemblance is observable in the style of the drawing, as well as in the costumes. It is highly probable that the military habits of this period were borrowed from the Saracens. This supposition is strengthened by the fact that Arabic inscriptions in Cufic letters are found among the ornaments of the several robes still preserved which belonged to German and Frankish barons of the 10th and 11th centuries. One peculiarity of our Spanish warriors is the round shield with the elegant ornaments on the disc."

These may be considered the chief varieties of Spanish arms in the Middle Ages. In other instances the French and Italian forms are adopted. The manufacture of arms was not reduced then as at a later date to the monopoly of the Government or to determined localities. Besides the arms made at Toledo, those of Seville, Granada, Valencia, Zaragoza, Barcelona, the Basque provinces, and Cuellar, were very famous. Readers of Shakespeare will remember Falstaff's bilbo, a rapier made at Bilbao in the Basque provinces. The principal merit of these arms consisted in the manner in which the artist tempered his metal. It was generally done at night in order to distinguish in the darkness the exact colour of the heated steel in dipping it into the water. The swords known by the name of perrillo were highly esteemed in Spain during the 15th and 16th centuries; they were marked with a figure resembling a dog. Cervantes mentions and praises these blades in his "Rinconete y Cortadillo" and "Don Quixote." They were made by a Moor of Granada, who it is stated had been swordsman of King Boabdil, and became a Christian under the name of Julian del Rey. His godfather was King Ferdinand, and besides working at Granada he did so at Zaragoza and Toledo. When an artist of merit excelled in a given locality, it absorbed all the fame of this industry. During the Renaissance larger centres of this industry were established in large towns, and the fame of the objects they produced was concentrated there. Toledo absorbed the importance in the industry of sword making.

We find that the Municipal Ordinances of the Middle Ages give very little information by which we can judge of the merits of the objects produced. A Guild of Armourers existed at Barcelona as early as 1257, and of Sword makers from the 14th century; but the information given concerning this subject is very slight. We find more details in the Ordinances of Toledo, Seville, and Granada, whence we learn that manufactories of arms existed in these towns.

The sword manufactory of Toledo acquires its greatest importance during the Renaissance period until the end of the 17th century, when it terminated. It was re-established again in 1760 under the patronage of the Government, and continues to work in the present day. Don Francisco de Santiago Palomares wrote, in 1772, an "Account of the Sword Manufactory of Toledo," the manuscript of which exists at the Academia de la Historia (E. 41). The most interesting part of this study consists in the details given upon the manner of tempering the blades. The names he has collected of the most remarkable artists, are taken from the original dies of their marks which existed at the Archives of the Ayuntamiento at Toledo. These marks have been published in the "Catalogo de la Armeria," Madrid, 1849, from which I copy them. It must be borne in mind that Palomares, after quoting the text by the Poet Gracio Falisco, which I have given at the beginning, does not establish any definite fact which enables us to study the historical progress of this manufactory during the Middle Ages. The author says, p. 111: "At the beginning of this industry there was no centralization or monopoly in this manufactory, some armourers formed a guild, placing each artist in his proper place. The kings of Castille granted them privileges of different kinds."