THE fourteenth century witnessed a notable transformation in military equipment.[C] The introduction of firearms and the marked improvement in weapons of offence led to the almost complete abandonment of the coats of mail which had served the chivalry of Europe so long and so well, and to the substitution of plate armour for at least the more vital points of the harness. In Spain we have seen the transition began considerably earlier than in Northern Europe, but the adoption of the new fashion in its entirety did not proceed quite so rapidly as this early start might lead one to expect.

Aragon, thanks to its intercourse with Italy—to which country, as has been noted, swords were exported from Barcelona—led the van in armourership. The companions-in-arms of Jaime el Conquistador are nearly always represented wearing a considerable weight of plate armour.

Don Ramon Folch, Vizconde de Cardona, surnamed, on account of his commanding personality and abilities, el Prohom, is shown on his tomb at Poblet wearing jambs, or greaves of steel (it is difficult to say which), and at the neck a high mentonniÈre, which must have been worn with a heaulme, or visored salade. The close-fitting chapelle-de-fer is adorned with cardon flowers, the arms of his house. So also is the long and tastefully-embroidered surcoat with sleeves, which descends below the knees. Beneath this was worn a hauberk of mail, with articulated gloves. A broad decorated baldric supports a short sword. This monument dates from 1322.

No greaves or any plate armour, on the other hand, appear on the sepulchral monument, executed about twenty years later, over the remains of Don Rodrigo de Lauria, son of the famous Admiral. The warrior is clothed entirely in a suit of mail, with hood and camail, a graceful coronet with fleurs-de-lys encircling the forehead. The surcoat or tunic is, as in the other examples, charged with the armorial bearings of the deceased, and has three openings—at the sides, and in the middle—with a gilt fringe—“a fashion,” remarks Don Valentin Carderera, “which we have observed in Spain only on the statues of Aragonese knights.” The sword is much longer and narrower than usual, and reveals fine workmanship. The spurs are of the goad shape.

The Historia Troyana, executed in Castile about 1350, represents warriors clad in similar suits of mail, with pointed heaulmes with visors, but no chin-pieces. Greaves and genouillÈres are worn with the chausses. In one instance a surcoat is shown of scaled and studded pattern. This may have been some rare sort of gambeson, or again may have been made of the cuir-bouilli—boiled leather—common all over Europe and the East then and for centuries after. Banded armour is also shown.

The statue of Don Alonso Perez de Guzman, Captain-General of Jerez, who distinguished himself at the taking of Algeciras in 1344, is interesting technically as showing several new pieces of plate-armour. The jambs (leg-plates) are closed, and coudiÈres are worn on the elbows and vambraces on the forearm. Defences of plate for the arm were coming into use about this time. The earliest examples date from 1328, but they occur very rarely prior to 1360. Yet this monument is believed to have been executed some years before the knight’s death in 1351. It is evident that the Castilians were not lagging behind in the arts and appliances of warfare. Don Alonso wears pointed sollerets of six plates, and the hauberk of mail beneath a surcoat. He clasps a long cross-hilted sword.

A decided impetus was given to the movement towards plate armour by the influx of English and French troops into Castile, incidental to the restoration and final deposition of Pedro the Cruel. Almost for the first time the Spaniards were brought face to face on the tented field with a foreign Christian soldiery, and that under leaders no less formidable than Edward the Black Prince and Bertrand Duguesclin. Against such doughty foemen stouter defences were needed than against the light-armed, leather-and-mail-clad chivalry of Islam. Though in Aragon the cuirass, or coracina, had already been worn, its introduction into Castile is generally ascribed to Bertrand Claquin and those who with him entered the service of Don Enrique de Trastamara. This tradition seems to be warranted by a sepulchral effigy of Don Pedro, described in Carderera’s Iconografia (see plate 6), though it should be said that this was not executed till seventy-six years after that King’s death. The components of the armour are: a hauberk of mail, reaching half-way down the thigh; a coracina or cuirass; vambraces, rere-braces,[D] coudes, and genouillÈres. The surcoat and mantle which hide so much of the armour, are brocaded with gold flowers on a blue field.

The monument of one of Don Enrique’s partisans, Juan Alfonso, Lord of Ajofrin (see plate 3), was erected a year or two after his death on the field of Aljubarrota, in 1385. He wears a short hauberk with a sleeved surcoat, which probably concealed a cuirass. The leg-armour—jambs, genouillÈres, cuisses—is entirely of plate. The gauntlets are of extraordinarily delicate workmanship. The cuff and hand are of plate, richly chased; the fingers are articulated and composed of small annular plates, which must have allowed perfect freedom to the joints; the tips are shaped to imitate the nails; and the knuckles are furnished with gads or spikes, which served as offensive as well as defensive armour. Gauntlets of beautiful workmanship were not, of course, peculiar to Spain, but were adopted there as early as in any other country. The Lord of Ajofrin wears laminated sollerets, and carries a sword of unusual length, with drooping quillons, and a shield or escutcheon on the pommel.

Castile owed, not only the corselet, but an improved headpiece to the White Company, which crossed the Pyrenees to support the claims of Don Enrique in 1366. It should, however, be said that Don Pedro in his will, dated 1362, bequeaths his bascinet to his son, Don Juan.[E] “The heaulme,” says M. Mathieu Prou, “having become too heavy, was from 1300 onwards little more than a headpiece for parade. In action the knights preferred to combat with uncovered face, the head protected by a casque called bassinet or bascinet, which was without a nasal, round, at first rather low, but towards 1330 assuming an ovoid form. From the beginning of the fourteenth century it became the custom to fix to the iron cap a visor moving on pivots, or attached to hinges, and opening like a shutter. This visor was ordinarily pointed and elongated in muzzle form, and provided with two horizontal slits for the vision (occularia), and numerous holes for respiration. As this helmet did not protect the throat, to the lower part was soon added the piece called beavor, over which the visor fell when it was lowered.”

The celada or salade was also worn in Spain about this time. The collection of Don JosÉ Estruch, at Barcelona, contains such a headpiece of somewhat peculiar shape. The crest is very high and the brim very broad. To it is fastened a beavor in three plates, to which again is laced a covering of mail for the back of the neck. The bascinet is worn by the Lord of Ajofrin’s contemporary, Don Bernardo de Anglesola, of Aragon (see plate 8). It is encircled by a double band of ornaments and precious stones, and is worn over the camail, which falls like an ample tippet over the breast. The harness is composed of hauberk of mail, rere-braces, vambraces, coudes, gauntlets, cuisses, genouillÈres, jambs, and sollerets. The brocaded surcoat may be intended to conceal a corselet.

Froissart throws some light on the military equipment and peculiarities of the Castilians of his day. From more than one passage in the Chronicles it is evident that the sling, a weapon long discarded by other Western nations, was still esteemed in Spain, where the javelin also was a favourite weapon. We read, “‘By my faith,’ said the Duke of Lancaster, ‘of all the arms the Castilians and your countrymen make and use, I love the dart best, and love to see it used; they are very expert at it; and I tell you, whoever they hit with it, he must be indeed strongly armed, if he be not pierced through and through.’ ‘You say truly,’ replied the squire, ‘for I saw more bodies transfixed at these assaults than ever I saw before in all my life. We lost one whom we much regretted, Senhor Joao LourenÇo da Cunha, who was struck with a dart that pierced through his plates and his coat of mail and a gambeson stuffed with silk, and his whole body, so that he fell to the ground.’”

The address of the Castilians with the dart or javelin is again referred to at the attack on Vilha Lobos in 1386; while, at the battle of Najara, “the Spaniards and Castilians had slings, from which they hurled stones and crushed heaulmes and bascinets; in which manner they wounded many.” In another passage we are told that the troops were armed according “to the usage of Castile, with darts and archegayes (assegais) and throwing stones from slings.”

There is a tendency among certain historians to exaggerate the influence exercised by the Moors on the applied arts in Spain. So far as armour was concerned, it is clear that the Christians of the Peninsula, where they did not originate fashions, followed those of Italy, or in later times of France. They certainly did not look to Granada for a lead. And if the Spanish Moors had been such skilful armourers as some would have us believe, it is hardly likely that their kinsmen and neighbours, the Moors of Barbary, would have gone so poorly equipped as they seem to have gone in Froissart’s time.

“For,” says Messire Froissart, “they are not so well nor so strongly armed as the Christians; for they have not the art nor the method nor the workmen to forge armour as the Christians do. Neither is the material, that is, iron and steel, common with them. Their armour is usually of leather, and at their necks they carry very light shields, covered with cuir-bouilli of Cappadocia, which, if the leather has not been overheated, no weapon can penetrate.”

On the other hand there can be no doubt that the conquest of Andalusia had let the Castilian artificers into the secrets of many new methods, such as damascening and enamelling, by which they were not slow to profit. The traditions of the goldsmith’s craft, handed down from Visigothic times, had never been lost; and certain it is that in the fourteenth century, when the conquerors had had time to assimilate the arts of the conquered to their own, armour and metal work of all kinds began to assume a rich and elaborate character. The goldsmiths of Barcelona, Toledo, Valladolid, and Seville enjoyed a European reputation. They worked in close co-operation with the armour-smith. In the example of a fourteenth-century harness we have just considered—that of Don Bernardo Anglesola—not only bascinet, gauntlets, coudes, and genouillÈres are chased, and in some cases set with precious stones, but the hauberk has a rich fringe of gilt, and each plate of the rere-braces has a decorative band at the lower border. The baldric is adorned with studs and fleurs-de-lys. In the statue, at Seville, of Don Alvaro de Guzman, Admiral of Castile, who died in 1394, the same elaboration may be noticed in the roped edges of the genouillÈres, the gauntlets, and the tasteful floral devices, alternating with rows of studs, in the ornamentation of the baldric. The pommel of the sword, as was customary, is emblazoned with the arms of the owner. According to Froissart, the bascinet of the King of Castile (1385) was encircled by a fillet of gold and precious stones—“qui bien valoient vingt mille francs.”

Helmets at the close of the fourteenth century were not only richly, but, as was often the case in preceding ages, fantastically decorated. We have an excellent illustration in the Armoury (plate 9) in the crest of King Martin of Aragon (1395-1412), formerly attributed to Jaime el Conquistador, and carried for many years in the procession of the “Standart,” at Palma (OII). It represents the head, neck, and wings of a dragon—the Drac pennat, the device displayed in field and tilt-yard by the Princes of the House of Aragon from Pedro IV. to Fernando II. (1336-1479). As was generally the case, it is made of boiled parchment and gilded plaster, and was set on the crest of the helmet, encircled by the crown or coronal, amid dancing plumes. The cap on which the Drac pennat is mounted was added in the first years of the fifteenth century, that it might be worn by the man who carried in the procession the standard of Jaime I. At the renowned and honourable passage of arms of Don Suero de QuiÑones (1434), the crest of one of the knight’s helmets was in the shape of a golden tree, with green leaves and golden fruit; round the trunk was coiled a serpent, and in the middle was a naked sword with the device—Le vray amy. (True friend).

To the last year of the fourteenth century belongs the effigy of a knight of the Anayas family in the Cathedral of Salamanca, described by Carderera. French influence is attested by the corselet and by the brigantine or hauberk of metal discs which was in very general use and esteem in France at that time. The legs and arms are, as now customary, sheathed in plate, the coudes being of tasteful design and sharply pointed. The transition from mail to plate is well illustrated by a medallion which represents Alfonso V. of Aragon, when a youth (about 1416), in a coat of mail, and a bas-relief portraying him as a man of mature years in a complete harness of plate, mail only appearing as gussets at the armpits.

The reign of Juan II. of Castile (1406-1454) is extolled by Spanish writers as the golden age of chivalry. Knighthood was in flower, in fact, somewhat later in the Peninsula than in the rest of Europe, though I can find no adequate reason for ascribing the introduction of chivalry, as an institution, to the Black Prince and Duguesclin. Such enactments as that of Jaime II. of Aragon (1291-1327), which ordained that any cavalier escorting a lady should be secured from any kind of molestation or hindrance, and given a free passage from one end of the kingdom to the other, show that the spirit of chivalry was certainly understood South of the Pyrenees many years before the battles of Najara and Montiel. But it is likely enough that warfare with a Christian foe may have put a finer edge on the Spaniards’ sense of honour—blunted, perhaps, by their relations with the infidel, to whom it was deemed unnecessary to extend all the courtesies of war. The lull, too, in that long conflict caused men to find an outlet for their energies in tourney and tilt-yard, where the atmosphere was more favourable to the generous emotions than was the field of actual battle. Juan II. and his all-powerful minister, Alvaro de Luna, Constable of Castile, delighted in jousts and tournaments, and encouraged the sentiment and exercise of chivalry by all the means in their power. The Constable himself often appeared in the lists as a mantenedor (or challenger), or aventurero (or respondent). The spirit of the age is exemplified by the famous passage of arms, to which I have already made reference. In 1434, Don Suero de QuiÑones, a knight of good family, besought the King to grant him release from a vow he had made to his lady, by allowing him to hold the Bridge of Orbigo, near Leon, with nine friends, for thirty days against all comers. His Majesty convoked the Cortes to deliberate upon this grave proposal, with the result that a large sum of money was voted to defray the expenses of the tournament, and invitations were sent to all the Courts of Europe. Knights flocked from all parts of the Continent. Nothing was omitted that could lend dignity and splendour to the scene. There were in all sixty-eight competitors, and seven hundred and twenty-eight courses were run. One Aragonese knight having been killed, and several champions seriously wounded, among them Suero de QuiÑones himself, the latter was adjudged to have fulfilled his vow, and to have honourably discharged his duty to his lady. This memorable contest was considered to have reflected immortal lustre on Castilian arms, and King Juan no doubt felt prouder of himself, his knights, and his kingdom than if he had driven the Moors from Spain. The Honroso Paso de Don Suero de QuiÑones is set forth in minute detail in a special chronicle, and is frequently and lovingly referred to in Spanish history.

Stimulated by such public displays of prowess and knightly address, and despite severe sumptuary laws, armour and military gear became more ornate and costly every year. In the chronicle of Don Alvaro de Luna, in the account of the battle of Olmedo in 1445, we read:

“So long had the wars in Castile lasted, that the greatest study of everyone was to have his armour well decorated and his horses well chosen; so much so that it would scarcely have been possible in all the Constable’s host to find one whose horse had no covering, or the neck of whose horse was without steel mail. Thus all those noble young gentlemen of the Constable’s house, and many others, were very richly adorned. Some had different devices painted on the coverings of their horses, and others jewels from their ladies on their helmet-crests. Others had gold and silver bells, with stout chains hanging to their horses’ necks. Others had badges studded with pearls or costly stones around the crests. Others carried small shields, richly embellished, on which were strange figures and inventions. Many different things were put on the helmet-crests, for some had insignia of wild beasts, others plumes of various colours, and others had plumes both on their helmet-crests and on the face-covering of their horses. Some horsemen had feathers that spread like wings against their shoulders; some affected simple armour; others wore plated coats over the cuirass; others rich embroidered tunics.”

The increased popularity of tilting and similar martial exercises brought about a demand for heavy reinforcing pieces of armour, such as could not be worn habitually except by men of the strongest physique, in the field. Henceforward we find a distinction made between war harness and tilting harness. As a specimen of the latter, belonging to the time of which I am now speaking (middle fifteenth century), we have in the Royal Armoury, a Spanish tilting breast-plate (E59), thus described in the 1898 Catalogue:

“Spanish tilting Breastplate, middle fifteenth century, composed of breastplate and over-breastplate, screwed together. The breastplate, tin-plated to avoid oxidation, preserves the nails of the brocade with which it was covered. The over-breastplate was also called ‘the volant’—a defence much used in tilts in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It was strengthened with iron, as stated in the description of the honourable passage of Don Suero de QuiÑones. It is doubtful if this second piece was also covered with rich cloth, like others of a later period; it has its original hollow lance-rest, for tilt, fastened with a bolt and four staples. It has also a piece of iron, which we call flaon, used as a wedge between the shield and the breastplate, and forming a resisting whole against the adversary’s lance. This flaon, the only iron one we have seen, serves also to fasten the helm to the breast”—in the manner shown on the piece A16. [The flaon was nearly always of wood.]

The headpiece was correspondingly strengthened. Referring more particularly to the tilting helm that forms part of the suit (A16) belonging to Felipe I. of Castile (1478-1506), from which the casque worn by Don Suero probably did not differ, the Conde de Valencia says:

“The tilting helm, or round closed almete, as it was called, appeared at the end of the fourteenth century, and continued in use, with slight modifications in each country, until the beginning of the sixteenth. Designed to resist the impact of a lance in front, the part around the vizor, or the horizontal opening between the crest and the face, was strengthened, attaining a thickness of nine millimetres in some places; in others, as the sides and occiput or back of the helmet, it gradually diminishes. Its vertical and almost cylindrical length, is such that it might rest on the shoulders, so that, fastened to the breastplate by the hinge, and to the backplate by a strong strap, it might protect the tilter’s head without inconveniencing his movements. In certain tilts, this resource was insufficient against the violence of a lance-thrust at full gallop of two horses going in an opposite direction, and then the horsemen protected the head with a stiffened cap, which in German was called harnisch kappe.”

The armet, the most graceful form of steel headpiece, also seems to have been introduced into Spain about the middle of the fifteenth century. A fresco in the Escorial, copied from a painting of the first half of that century, representing the battle of Higueruela, depicts men-at-arms wearing this species of helmet. It superseded the bascinet for use in war, and will be described further on in these pages.

The sword continued, as during the preceding centuries, to be two-edged, of rhomboidal or almond-shaped section, intended much more for cutting and hacking than thrusting. The grip now tended to lengthen, and the pommel, which was usually pear-shaped, became lighter. To this period belongs G4, the sword presented by Pope Eugene IV. to Juan II., in the sixteenth year of his pontificate (1446), as the inscription engraved with aqua fortis on the ricasso records. The blade is wide and grooved. In the groove are inscribed the words PIERVS ME FECE.

“The guard, notable for its elegant simplicity, is all of silver, gilded over and chased, with the cross of straight arms with fleurs-de-lys at the ends. The hilt is a festooned ballister, i.e., a small pillar swelling in the centre or towards the base, and the pommel, covered with leaves, also festooned, is pear-shaped. The description in the inventory of this Treasury (King Juan’s) makes us aware that the hilt has lost much of its most beautiful decoration: ‘Another sword with a groove in the middle and the words pierus me fece, gilded, has the cross one hand in length, the pommel, hilt, cross, and all the sheath of gilded silver, and on this are some open leaves soldered to some trunks; and the cross is a serpent with wings enamelled green; the rim, which is the first piece of the sheath, is enamelled blue with its quirimi’ (from quiris, a spear or javelin), &c.”

G5. Blade of a Pontifical sword, sent to Henry IV. of Castile by Pope Calixtus III. in 1458. (This Spanish pontiff, Alfonso Borgia, of Valencia, was elected in 1455, and died in 1458.)

It has four surfaces, with false guard and long ricasso, sloped on both edges; gilded and engraved on both sections. Length, 1.180; width, 0.039.

The history of this weapon leads us to suppose that the mark is that of an unknown Italian swordmaker. On each side of the blade is a circular shield with the arms of the Pontiff (a bull on a ground composed of bezants, surmounted by the tiara and keys), and this inscription: ACCIPE S C M GLADIVM MVNVS A DEO I QVO DEI CIES (sic) ADVERSARIOS P P LI MEI XPIANI.

According to the note in the Cronicon of Valladolid, this sword was sent to Enrique IV. of Castile by Calixtus III., to encourage him to fight unremittingly against the Moors. The ornamentation has gone; but we may judge of its richness and artistic value by the sketch of it in the Inventory of the alcazars of Segovia: it says—”.... A sword, all gilded, nearly to the last third section, with large letters in each portion, and the mark consists of seven spots on a small shield; the pommel, the hilt, and cross are all of gilded acucharado silver, and in the middle of the pommel are the words Calistus Papa Tercio; the sheath of gilded silver, engraved with evergreen oak-leaves and acorns, has four round enamels on the middle portion; on one is St. Peter with a cross in his hand, in a ship, and on each of the other two (sic) is a coloured cross and four small ones; the rim is enamelled with coats of arms of the Pope, and a shield with an ox in each quarter and some blue letters ..., &c. This work of art was by the artificer of Zaragoza, Antonio PÉrez de las Cellas, established in Rome, who worked almost exclusively for Calixtus III. during his brief pontificate.” (Muntz, Les arts À la cour des Papes.)

The name falsaguarda, or dummy guard, was given, in an Inventory of arms of the sixteenth century, to the two small pieces or wings on the blades of broadswords, a third of the way from the guard, where the grooving on the blade ends.

These, of course, were presentation swords. The blade (G24), which is traditionally ascribed to the Conde de Haro, of Juan II.’s reign, is gilded and engraved at the upper end, the design representing on one side the Annunciation, on the other, St. John in the Desert. It has a groove down its entire length, and is diamond-pointed. The sword (G23—plate 11) is of similar make, and is engraved in Gothic character on a field of gold with texts, which, translated, run as follows:

THE LORD IS MY HELP; I WILL NOT FEAR WHAT MAN CAN DO UNTO ME, AND I WILL DESPISE MY ENEMIES; SUPERIOR TO THEM, I WILL OVERTHROW THEM. On a circle, part of verse 8, chapter xviii. of the Gospel of St. John: IF YE THEREFORE SEEK ME, LET THESE GO THEIR WAY, BUT JESUS PASSED THROUGH (the midst of them), and also in the centre, MARY VIRGIN. In another circle, part of the anthem of the Purification of Our Lady: MAKE ME WORTHY TO PRAISE THEE, BLESSED BE THE SWEET VIRGIN MARY, and, in the centre, the monogram of Jesus Christ.

The guard consists of an iron crosspiece with traces of gold: the guard curved towards the blade and twisted at the ends; circular pommel with two faces with a cavity (round) in the centre, which was frequently incrusted with the shield of arms of the owner.

The two-handed sword was introduced in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century. The Armoury contains a specimen (G15—plate 10) belonging to the first half of the latter era. It comes from Mallorca. The blade is almond-shaped, metre 0.990 long, by 0.038 broad; it has a long ricasso, counter-guard (falsaguarda), and three grooves. The guard is of copper, once gilded, with quillons drooping very slightly; the grip, of corded wood, covered with leather; the pommel pear-shaped and facetted.

Before the century was three-quarters gone, complete suits of plate-armour were worn in Castile, though the hauberk was still retained, in some cases, as an additional defence. The powerful and ambitious Juan Pacheco, Marques de Villena and Grandmaster of St. James, who died in the same year as his sovereign Enrique IV. (1474), is shown (plate 12) wearing, in addition to the pieces which had now become a regular part of the harness, espaliers in five pieces, and tassets or armour for the hips, of five pieces, in the graceful oak-leaf pattern, which endured till the time of Charles V. The opening between the tassets is defended by the skirt of the hauberk, worn beneath the cuirass. That piece, and the vambraces, are exquisitely chiselled with floral designs. The armour of Don IÑigo Lopez de Mendoza, Conde de Tendilla, who died five years after Villena, is very similar. His coudes are very large, chased, and set with gilt studs round the borders.

We have now reached the beginning of the most glorious and prosperous epoch in the history of Spain. The chivalric spirit, which had been sedulously fostered in the nation during the two preceding reigns, in the age of the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabel, found its genuine and loftiest expression in enterprises of supreme national importance. This was essentially a martial age—the era of the Conquest of Granada and of the Discovery and Subjugation of the New World. Everything connected with the profession of arms became the subject of close study and a matter for improvement. Farseeing men might have predicted, even as early as the taking of Granada, that the armourer’s craft was a doomed industry. Considering the productions of its latest ages, we might be tempted to impute its extinction to its having reached a point beyond which progress was impossible—where the artificer saw that all attempts to improve on existing models must be vain.

An interesting relic of this period is the sword (G13) which the Conde de Valencia thinks may be safely ascribed to Ferdinand the Catholic (plate 10). The blade is rigid, of rhomboidal section, and without ricasso; the crosspiece is of gilded iron, very plain; velvet-bound grip; the pommel is pear-shaped and facetted. “Like nearly all the swords for the saddle-bow of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which were fastened by the scabbard to the front bow of the man-at-arms’ saddle, this blade has a hilt of the kind then called ‘a hand and a half,’ because its length allowed of its being used with one or both hands without disturbing the equilibrium necessary for the proper handling of the weapon.”—Valencia, CatÁlogo.

G1 (plate 11) is the Ceremonial Sword of Ferdinand and Isabel. The blade is metre 1.070 long by 0.050 broad, almond-shaped, and without ricasso. The crossguard is of gilded and engraved iron, the ends of the arms cusped. On the cusps are the inscriptions TANTO MONTA[F] and MEMENTO MEI O MATER DEI MEI. The grip is wire-bound and covered with red velvet. The pommel is disc-like and cut and perforated into a cruciform device; it bears on one side the yoke, the emblem of Ferdinand, on the other, the sheaf of arrows, the emblem of Isabel.

G2 is the sheath of the preceding sword. It is of wood, covered with crimson silk, minus the rim and the ferrule; it bears the Spanish shield of arms as charged after the taking of Granada, and the devices of the two Sovereigns.

“This Royal sword is extremely interesting in every way, as it was the same that Ferdinand and Isabella and their grandson the Emperor, used in the ceremony of conferring knighthood. This statement is in the Relacion notarial de Valladolid, thus: ‘a wide sword, old, for making knights, with flat pommel with holes and gilded cross’—a description which agrees with the illustration of the same sword in the Illuminated Inventory of Charles V.

“In our opinion, it is the Royal sword which, during the rule of the House of Austria, and in accordance with the etiquette of the Houses of Castile and Burgundy, in the solemn entries into cities and on Princes taking the oath, was carried bare by the Chief Equerry of the King, in the absence of the Count of Oropesa, ‘whose privilege it was in Castile, and the Count de SÁstago’s in Aragon.’ In support of this opinion we may instance picture 787 in the Museum of Paintings in Madrid, called the Pacification of Flanders, where Philip IV. is represented crowned by the goddess Pallas, assisted by the Count-Duke de Olivares, who has the sword referred to in his left hand.”

(G31—plate 13). The battle sword of Ferdinand the Catholic is thus described: “The blade is hexagonal, fluted ricasso with scallop for the index finger, and narrow groove down to the middle, in the centre of which are the words—ANTONIVS ME FECIT. (This must have been the famous swordmaker mentioned by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza in the Vida del Lazarillo del Tormes.) Length, 0.900; breadth, 0.040.

“The whole of the hilt is of gilded iron, delicately chiselled; the arms of the cross, which broaden at the ends, are flat and curve towards the blade; it has branches curving to the ricasso; the grip is also gilded and chiselled; pommel disc-like, with four crescent-shaped indentations equidistant from each other; around both faces, in monachal letters, are these octosyllabic verses:

(There is never peace with me, and my desire is always for war.)

“Both the author of the 1849 Catalogue and Jubinal attribute this sword to Queen Isabel the Catholic, but without giving their reasons for so doing. We find that the great Queen in the year 1500 owned several cuirasses of Milan plates, covered with gold, which she doubtless wore to defend herself from attacks like that at Velez-Malaga. She also had a small dagger, the gold and enamelled handle of which was formed like a sheaf of arrows (which was her badge); a sword with hilt of silver and enamel, with strapwork of gold; and another with ‘iron hilt,’ possibly the one we are now describing. As these words are not sufficient of themselves to dismiss all doubt, we may refer to the document which proves that the arm in question belonged to Ferdinand the Catholic. This does not prevent its having belonged to his illustrious wife previously.”

The Hispano-Moresque sword (G27) was long cherished as the sword of Boabdil. The Conde de Valencia and other antiquaries have rudely dispelled this tradition—like that which ascribed the blades numbered G21 and G22 to the Cid and to Roland respectively. The blade comes from the Berber district, and the hilt is certainly modern.

At this point the remarks of Don Juan RiaÑo (Industrial Arts in Spain) on the manufacture of the Toledo blade cannot fail to be of interest. “The celebrity of Toledo blades has excited the curiosity of many who wished to ascertain the cause of their great excellence and renown. Some supposed the sword manufacturers of Toledo possessed a secret for tempering their arms. It was not so, however, their only secret being the waters of the Tagus, and the fine white sand on its banks. This sand was used for cooling the steel: when the steel was red-hot and began to give forth sparks, it was uncovered a little, sprinkled with sand, and sent on to the forgers. As soon as the blade was ready, it was tempered in the following manner: a line of fire was made, and the blade placed in it for four-fifths of its length. As soon as it was red-hot, it was dropped perpendicularly into a bucket of Tagus water. When cold, if it was found to be bent, a small portion of sand was poured on the yoke, the blade placed upon it, and beaten until properly straightened. After this, the remaining fifth part of the blade was fired; and when red-hot, was seized with tongs and rubbed with suet. After this, the blade was sent to the grinding stones, and finished by being polished on wooden wheels with emery-powder.”

The armour worn in the latter half of the fifteenth century is remarkable for its symmetry, simplicity, and graceful line-forms. From the beginning of the century the Missaglias, a family of famous armourers, had been settled at Milan, and the style they designed soon became fashionable all over Europe. Fortunately for art, a rival appeared in Nuremberg, in the person of Hans GrÜnwald, who died in 1503. The competition between the Italian and German masters of the craft resulted in the production of what are, perhaps, the most beautiful pieces of armour ever forged.

The suits numbered A1 to A8 in the Catalogue of the Armoury belong to the last decade of the fifteenth century, and were the ordinary war-harness of the Spanish man-at-arms of the period. They do not differ materially, and consist of the following pieces: armet, breastplate and backplate, taces, tassets, espaliers or espalier-pauldrons, hauberk of mail with short sleeves reaching to elbows and showing at the armpits, coudes, vambraces, gauntlets—in most cases without articulated fingers—cuisses, genouillÈres, jambs, and square-toed sollerets, or shoes of mail. In some cases heavy reinforcing pieces only used for the tilt have been added, such as heavy elbow-gauntlets and the “grande-garde,” or extra piece for the left arm. The armets or helmets merit close attention (plate 14). That of the suit A1 has a comb and a reinforcing piece over the forehead; visor sharply pointed; large side or cheek-pieces covering the chin, hinged above the ears, and secured at the nape of the neck by a small rondel; and beavor of two plates, with attachment to breastplate. In A5 the armet has, in addition to the beavor, a tippet or skirting of mail; the beavor is of one plate only; and the neck is protected by a gorget. The helmet A9, belonging to the early part of the sixteenth century, and worn by the Duque del Infantado has no beavor, and is of the “sparrow-beak” type, like that of A7, where the occularium is the interval between the crownpiece and visor.

The horses’ bards, for the most part, belong to a later period than the riders’ suits. The barding (A3) probably dates from the last years of the fifteenth century. It is composed of large plates of burnished steel, and comprises: chanfron, mainfaire (mane-covering), croupiÈre—with wide hangings attached by thick tags of silk—flechiÈres, and poitrel with hinges and pins, allowing free play to the horse’s shoulders.

The marriage of the third child of the Catholic Kings with Philip, heir to the houses of Habsburg and Burgundy, in 1496, drew closer the relations of Spain with the rest of Europe. The going and coming of foreign princes, ambassadors, and statesmen rapidly familiarized the Spaniards with the customs, fashions, and products of other countries. Native art had new models, and began to lose some of its individuality. The earliest example of foreign armour we find in the Madrid Collection is the half-suit (A11-15—plate 15). It is of Flemish make, and, thanks to the investigations of the Conde de Valencia, may be attributed with certainty to Philip the Handsome, afterwards Philip I. of Castile. The constituent pieces are the following:

Breastplate, with lance-rest, and over-breastplate; taces, placed over the last-named to prevent the adversary’s lance finding an upward opening; backplate with garde-rein (loin-guard) placed under it; hauberk of mail with short sleeves covering rere-braces; espaliers; rondels protecting armpits; coudes; vambraces; gauntlets; mentonniÈre, or beavor-gorget, in three plates; peculiar steel hat, or caperuza, with wide brim, turned upwards and outwards, of the shape of the cloth or velvet caps worn in Flanders at the period (plate 16). The neck defences are strengthened with mail.

The suit is decorated with gilding and engraving. On the breastplate we note the emblem of the Order of the Golden Fleece, of which Philip was Grandmaster, and the inscription, JESVS NASARENVS REX JVDEORVM. On the backplate, O MATER MEI MEMEM; on the left rondel, the angelic salutation in old Flemish, WEEST GHEGRVT MARIA VOL VAN GRACIEN DE HER ES METV ... GHEBEN D; on the right rondel, the same in Latin. On the right coude, IHES NASARENVS REX; on the left, O MATER MEI MEMENTO MEI. On the right gauntlet, AVE MARIA ... GR.... IHES NASAR ..., and on the left, IHS MARIA RENVS REX JVD ... On the brim of the caperuza, JESVS MARIA GRACIA PLENA DOMINVS TECVM BENEDICTA TV-IN MVLERE (sic).

The two-handed sword bears the device of Philip, and the decoration is in German style; but the mark is the same as that of the sword GI, belonging to Ferdinand and Isabel, proving that the blade is of Spanish make.

The Armoury contains a variety of pieces dating from the end of the fifteenth century (plate 17 et seq). By using odd pieces of the ancient stock in the Armoury, others from the dispersed collection of the Dukes of Osuna, and particularly a series of Aragonese brigantines, acquired, like the preceding, by Alfonso XII. in 1882, various types of Spanish soldiers have been formed, such as pike-men, mace-bearers, and other infantry of the fifteenth century—copying at C1 and C2, sculptured figures decorating the portal of the Church of St. Paul at Valladolid, and the choir seats of Toledo Cathedral carved by the master, Rodrigo (1495), representing the then recent victories gained by the Catholic Kings over the Moors of Andalusia.

D86 is a leather Moorish light cavalry shield, probably a trophy of the Conquest of Granada (plate 161). The inside is bound in linen, embroidered, especially the clasp, with floral and other devices in coloured silk. Forming a band, which extends round the circumference, and repeated on eight oval medallions, is an Arabic inscription which reads, “And only God is conqueror.” On a like number of circular medallions, smaller than those mentioned, may be read, “Happiness for my master.”

The more interesting of the other objects of the same period are of foreign make. The helmet D12 (plate 123), formerly attributed to Boabdil, is certainly the work of the famous Missaglias of Milan, who began to be known by the name of Negroli about this time. The decoration exhibits a skilful blending of the Renaissance and Oriental styles.

“This helmet is of one piece, and is strengthened with supplementary pieces that can be taken off and put on at will, being, by its rare make, a complete head armour for two distinct purposes. Without the added pieces, it is a simple helmet for war, similar to those on the low-reliefs of the triumphal arch of Alonso V., of Aragon, in Naples; with the reinforcing pieces, it is transformed into parade armour of surprising beauty and good taste. These extra pieces are of plated steel, chiselled with the outlines of leaves and arabesques in niello, and the whole design beautifully shaded. The crest is defended by a coif like that used for combat on foot. The plume-holder is placed over the forehead. It is to be regretted that a piece of so much merit and value has been deprived of much of the crest-work that once enriched it.”

The next piece (D13) is a salade (or helmet covering the nape of the neck), of German fashion, but made by one of the Negroli family. It is a pure, vigorous piece of work, cast, except the visor, in one piece. The decoration exhibits the same happy combination of the Italian and Oriental styles that characterises D12. The design inside the circles on the skull might easily, at a cursory glance, persuade one of the Moorish origin of the helmet.

The headpieces D14 to D22 emanate from Flanders. The Salade D14 (plate 125), worn by Philip I., has the skull-piece of octagonal shape and ending in a knop, surmounted by a pomegranate. It seems to have been suggested by the Moorish helmet and turban; and we read, in fact, that Philip appeared before Ferdinand and Isabel in the tilt-yard at Toledo in Moorish dress. D22 is a Flemish cabasset—an ungraceful head-covering—forged in one piece.