Did Orientals ever wear Spurs?
—In the second volume, p. 38., of Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, are given some lines from Hyta, Guerras de Granada, &c., descriptive of the departure of Abdallah Chico on his fatal expedition against Lucena. These, enumerating all the braveries of the cortège, amongst others, mention
"Cuánto de Espuela de Oro,
Cuánta Estribera de Plata."
Now, unless this be an oversight of Hyta, his spurs of gold and stirrups of silver require some explanation, since the specification of both does not leave us the alternative of supposing that the former merely meant the sharp corners of the shovel-stirrup, which we all know serve the Oriental horseman of the present day as spurs.
Was Hyta a Spaniard or a Moor?
A. C. M.
Badges of Noblemen in the Fifteenth Century.
—What were the customary badges or cognizances of De la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, executed 1450; Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, and John Duke of Bedford, Protectors, temp. Henry VI.; Cardinal Beaufort; the Earls of Somerset, Salisbury, and Arundel, temp. Henry VI.; and Sir John Fastolfe?
BURIENSIS.