APPENDIX A

THE LEGEND OF SAN MIGUEL IN EXCELSIS

Towards the year a.d. 707, when Witiza was king of Spain, there dwelt at the castle of GoÑi, not far from the city of Pamplona in Navarre, a cavalier named Don Theodosio, whose wife, DoÑa Constanza de Viandra, was a lady of remarkable beauty. On one occasion Don Theodosio found himself obliged to quit his native country for a time, in order to command a military expedition against the Berbers, and before his departure he begged his father and mother to cheer his wife's loneliness while he should be away, by taking up their residence at his castle. They came accordingly, and as a special mark of honour to the parents of her lord, DoÑa Constanza gave up to them her own chamber, together with the nuptial couch. After a time, when Theodosio's enterprise was concluded, and the warrior, safe and sound, was returning to Navarre, the Devil, disguised as a hermit, one evening lay in wait for him at a spot called Errotavidea, situated at a few miles' distance from GoÑi castle, in the wooded and romantic valley of the Ollo. Stepping up to the cavalier's side, Satan assured him, in a tone of smooth hypocrisy, that during his absence the lady Constanza had been seduced by one of Theodosio's own servants. Upon the knight's demanding proof, “proceed,” replied the Devil, “to your castle, enter your nuptial chamber, and there you will find your consort in the very arms of her paramour.” Frantic with apprehension, the warrior spurred home, broke into his chamber at the dead of night, and, passing his hand over the bed, encountered, as Satan had malignantly foretold, two bodies; whereupon he drew his sword and, in this moment of fatal and irreflective haste, murdered his own father and mother. Then, just as he was rushing from the room, he met, carrying a lighted lamp, the lady Constanza herself, returning from the chapel in which, as was her custom every night, she had been praying for his safe return.

Smitten with deep repentance for the crime, whose enormity had been discovered by the impetuous lord in so dramatic and dreadful a fashion, Theodosio journeyed to Rome, and related what had happened to the Pope, who sentenced him to wear a heavy iron collar round his neck, and chains about his body, and to wander, in a state of rigorous penance, through the loneliest regions of Navarre, without setting foot in any town, until, as a sign that divine justice was satisfied, the chains should fall from off him. Wherever this should come to pass, he was instructed to build a temple in honour of the archangel Michael.

The sentence was patiently performed, and Theodosio had spent some years in solitary wandering, when on a day a single link dropped from his ponderous chains. This happened on the top of a high mountain called Ayedo, in the Sierra de AndÍa, and accordingly the penitent erected on the spot a simple fane in the archangel's honour, known by the name of San Miguel de Ayedo, and which, in the form of a little hermitage, still exists.

This proof of heavenly grace presaged a further and a more complete deliverance. When Theodosio's wandering had lasted seven years, he reached one day the summit of Mount Aralar, at two leagues' distance from his own castle, and was there met by a ferocious dragon of appalling size. Being, as a penitent, unarmed, as well as encumbered by his massive chains, the miserable man fell helpless to his knees, and called to God to succour him. The prayer was heard. Suddenly the form of his patron the archangel flashed out against the sky, the dragon fell dead, and all of Theodosio's chains were shattered, and dropped from him. Here, therefore, he built another and a larger temple in honour of his guardian, and, accompanied by DoÑa Constanza, passed the remainder of his life in peaceful and secluded piety.

The castle of GoÑi, which was also called “Saint Michael's palace,” and “the palace of the cavalier to whom Saint Michael revealed himself,” was standing as late as the year 1685, but, according to Padre Burgui, by the close of another century the walls were crumbling fast. Until about the year 1715 there also stood an ancient wooden cross to mark the spot where Satan, in a hermit's garb, had appeared to Don Theodosio.

APPENDIX B

JET-WORK OF SANTIAGO

In former times the art of carving jet was largely practised at this town. The characteristic form was the signaculum or image of Saint James; that is, a more or less uncouth representation of the apostle in full pilgrim's dress. The height of these images, which are now dispersed all over Europe, varies between four and seven inches. They are fully described in Drury Fortnum's monographs, On a signaculum of Saint James of Compostela, and Notes on other signacula of Saint James of Compostela, as well as in Villa-amil y Castro's La azabacherÍa compostelana. These objects were sold in quantities to the pilgrims visiting Santiago, who nevertheless were often cheated by the substitution of black glass for jet.[59]

Specimens of this work are in the British and Cluny Museums, and in the ArchÆological Museum at Madrid. An interesting jet figure of the apostle on horseback belonged to the late Count of Valencia de Don Juan. Jet processional crosses (twelfth and thirteenth century), studded with enamel, and which were used at funerals, are preserved in the cathedrals of Oviedo and Orense. Rings, rosaries, and amulets were also carved from this material.

As to Spanish processional crosses generally (the use of which was undoubtedly borrowed from the standard borne at the head of pagan armies), I may say that they are commonly fitted with a handle, called the cruz baja or “lower cross,” though sometimes this handle is dispensed with, as, for instance, at the funerals of infants. According to Villa-amil y Castro, the typical shape of the Spanish processional cross has always been that denominated the immissa, consisting of four arms terminating in straight edges. The same authority says that within this broader definition the primitive form was the Greek cross, that is, having four arms of equal length. Another early form was the “Oviedo” cross (see Vol. I., Plate II.), with the four arms in the shape of trapezia, united at the centre by a disc. Of this latter shape are, or were, the crosses of Guarrazar and those which were presented by Alfonso the Second and Alfonso the Third to the cathedrals of Oviedo and Santiago.

A later form was the potenzada cross, which had a cross-piece fixed at the extremity of each arm. As time advanced, this T-shaped termination to the arms assumed such decorative and capricious forms as the trefoil and the fleur-de-lis. Early in the history of the Spanish church the processional cross consisted often of a wooden core, covered with more or less profusely ornamented silver plates, and having, between the handle and the upper part, an enamelled bulb or noeud. The image of Christ, converting the cross into the crucifix, was not attached until a later period, because, as Villa-amil y Castro has remarked, the primitive Christians considered the essential glory of their faith, rather than, as yet, the perils and the pains to which they were exposed by clinging to that faith. The cross was thus the symbol of the Christian's glory; the crucifix, of his suffering.[60]

APPENDIX C

DESCRIPTION OF THE CUSTODIAS OF SEVILLE AND CORDOVA

The custodia of Seville cathedral is described by its author, Juan de Arfe, in the following terms:—

The shape is circular, with projecting friezes and bases. The custodia is four yards high, and is divided into four orders of symmetrical proportions, the second order being smaller by two-fifths than the first, the third smaller by the same fraction than the second, and the fourth than the third. Each order rests upon four-and-twenty columns, twelve of which are of a larger size, and wrought in relief. The other and the smaller twelve are striated, and serve as imposts to the arches. All these orders are of open work, containing twelve vistas (prospects) apiece. Six are of full dimensions, and the other six spring from half-way up the larger ones, as is shown in the appended design, which I will not explain further, as the proportion and harmony can be judged of from the plan (see Vol. I., Plate xvii.).

FIRST ORDER

The first order is in the Ionic style. The columns and frieze are adorned with vines containing fruits and foliage, and some figures of children holding spikes of wheat, to signify bread and wine. In the centre of this, the largest order, is Faith, represented by the figure of a queen, seated on a throne, holding in her right hand a chalice with the host, and in the other a standard such as is seen in certain ancient medals of the emperors Constantine and Theodosius. Beneath her feet is a world, and behind her, overthrown and bound with chains, a monster with the face of a beautiful woman and the trunk or body of a dragon, to represent Heresy, which seems to attract by pleasantness of shape, being at bottom poison and deceit.

At one side is the figure of a youth with wings, and a bandage over his eyes, representing Intelligence. His hands are shackled, and he is kneeling, as one that surrenders himself captive to Faith in all her mysteries, and particularly in this one.

Corresponding to this figure, on the opposite side, is that of a beautiful woman, likewise kneeling, crossing her hands before her breast, and holding a book, to represent Human Wisdom, which acknowledges the majesty of the Catholic Faith, and is subservient thereto.

On the right hand of Faith is Saint Peter, seated, holding his keys on high, and on her left Saint Paul, with naked sword, that is, the preaching of the word of God. High up, about the spring of the vault, is the figure of the Holy Spirit, assistant in the church.

Between the six asientos of the base are the four doctors of the Church, together with Saint Thomas and Pope Urban the Fourth, who instituted the festival of the Holy Sacrament.

All these figures are half a yard in height; that is, one half the height of the larger columns belonging to this order.

In the six niches that are between the arches, are the figures of six Sacraments, in this wise:—

(1) Baptism, represented by the figure of a youth holding in one hand a bunch of lilies, signifying purity and innocence, and in the other a beautiful vessel, showing the act of washing the soul, that is the particular virtue of this Sacrament. Over the arch is a scroll containing the word BAPTISMUS.

(2) Confirmation is a damsel of spirited mien, armed with a helmet. In one hand she has some vessels of holy oil. Her other hand is raised, while with the index finger she expresses firm determination to confess the name of Christ. Inscribed upon her is the word CONFIRMATIO.

(3) Penitence holds in her right hand a wand, denoting spiritual jurisdiction, like the wand wherewith they smite the excommunicated at his absolution. In her left hand is a Roman javelin, that was the symbol of liberty, to signify the free estate of the captive's soul, and how, through absolution, sin is made a slave; together with the word PŒNITENTIA.

(4) Extreme Unction is represented by an aged woman, holding a vase whence issueth an olive bough, and in her other hand a candle, as token that this Sacrament is a succour to those that be in the last agony. The word inscribed is UNCTIO.

(5) Order is a priest with his vestments, holding an incensory, together with a chalice and the host, signifying Oration and Sacrifice. The word inscribed is ORDO.

(6) Matrimony is the figure of a youth, holding in one hand a cross with two serpents twined about it, in imitation of Mercury's wand. In his other hand he bears a yoke, and the inscription MATRIMONIUM.

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The Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, as being most excellent of all, occupies a loftier place than all these other Sacraments.

The basement of this order, forming, as it were, a boundary and bordering to this holy edifice of the Church, has twelve pedestals beneath the columns, making six and thirty sides, which are adorned with six and thirty scenes, eighteen whereof are taken from the Old Testament, and the other eighteen from the New Testament, or relating to the present state of the Church.

(1) The first scene represents how God formed Eve from one of Adam's ribs. An inscription at the foot of the pedestal says, Humani generis auspicia.

(2) Next to the preceding is an image of our Saviour with two angels supporting him by the arms, while from his wounded side issue seven rays of blood, signifying the Church and Sacraments. The inscription says, Felicior propagatio.

(3) The tree of Life, with Adam and Eve partaking of its fruit, and the inscription, PeriturÆ gaudia vitÆ.

(4) A cross adorned with branches and with blades of wheat, surmounted by a chalice and the host, and round about it a few prostrate figures, eating this holy fruit, and the inscription, VitÆ melioris origo.

(5) The angel with the flaming sword, driving our fathers from Paradise, without suffering them to reach the tree of Life. The inscription says, Procul, procul esse prophani.

(6) The parable of the banquet, from which was driven out the man that had no wedding garment. The inscription says, Non licet sanctum dare canibus.

(7) The stream of water that issued from the rock smitten by the rod of Moses, and the thirsty people, drinking. The inscription says, Bibebant de spirituali petra.

(8) Beside the preceding, the figure of Christ, from whose side issues a stream of blood, of which some sheep are drinking. The inscription says, Petra autem erat Christus.

(9) The manna which fell from Heaven. The inscription says, Manducaverunt et mortui sunt.

(10) The miracle of the five loaves, with the inscription, Qui manducat vivit in Æternum.

(11) The raven bringing bread and meat to Elijah. The inscription says, Non turpat dona minister.

(12) Next to this, an angel conveying a chalice and the host to the saints in the desert, with the inscription, Sacerdos Angelus Domini est.

(13) Elisha throwing flour in the pot to sweeten the bitterness of the colocynth. The inscription says, VitÆ solamen acerbÆ.

(14) Christ turning the water into wine, with the inscription, Vertit tristes in gaudia curas.

(15) Tobias frightening away the Devil with the smoke from the liver of a fish. The inscription says, Fumum fugit atra caterva.

(16) Devils flying from an altar containing a chalice and the host, with the inscription, Fugiunt phantasmata lucem.

(17) Lot inebriated, sleeping with his daughters. The inscription says, De vinea sodomorum vinum eorum.

(18) A group of virgins prostrating themselves before the Sacrament upon the altar, with the inscription, Hoc vinum virgines germinat.

(19) Abraham harbouring the angels and washing their feet. The inscription says, Non licet illotos accedere.

(20) Christ washing the feet of his disciples before a table. The inscription says, Auferte malum cogitationum vestrarum.

(21) The supper of the paschal lamb, with the inscription, Antiqua novis misteria cedunt.

(22) The supper of Christ, with the inscription, Melioris fercula mensÆ.

(23) The throne of God, before which stands the prophet Isaiah, and an angel whose mouth is smitten by a lighted brand. The inscription says, Purgavit filios Levi.

(24) A priest before an altar, in his robes, administering the communion to the Christian people. The inscription says, Probet se ipsum homo.

(25) Elijah reclining in the shade of the tree, with an angel bringing him bread and a vessel. The inscription says, In pace in idipsum.

(26) A sick man in his bed, with a priest administering the Sacrament to him. The inscription says, Dormiam et requiescam.

(27) Habbakuk borne by the angels to the den of lions, to carry food to Daniel. The inscription says, Adjutor in opportunitatibus.

(28) An angel with a chalice and the host, which he administers to the souls in Purgatory. The inscription says, Emissit vinctos de lacu.

(29) Noah sleeping beneath the vine, holding a vessel, with his sons gathered about him. The inscription says, HumanÆ ebrietatis ludibria.

(30) Christ with a chalice in his hand, and angels round him, holding clusters of grapes, and a cross surrounded with a vine. The inscription says, Calix ejus inebrians quant prÆclarus est.

(31) A queen adorned profanely, crowned with a snake. She holds a vessel in her hand, and rides upon a dragon with seven heads, some of which are drooping, as though they were inebriated. The inscription says, HÆreticÆ impietatis ebrietas.

(32) The figure of a virtuous lady wearing a royal crown. She holds a chalice in her hand, and rides in a car borne by the figures of the four evangelists. The inscription says, EcclesiÆ CatholicÆ veritas.

(33) The table with the loaves of propitiation, before the tabernacle, with Moses and Aaron standing beside it, and the inscription, Umbram fugit veritas.

(34) A custodia, with a chalice and the host, borne by angels. The inscription says, Ecce panis angelorum.

(35) David and his soldiers, who receive bread from the priest's hand. The inscription says, Absit mens conscia culpÆ.

(36) A priest, administering the Sacrament to two persons, each of whom has an angel beside him. The inscription says, Sancta sanctis.

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And since all Sacraments have virtue and efficacy from the passion of Christ our Saviour, which passion is perpetually commemorated by this holiest of Sacraments, I placed upon the summit of the twelve columns belonging to this order twelve child-angels, naked, bearing the signs and instruments of the Passion, as voices to announce this sacred mystery.

On the tympanums of the arches are angels bearing grapes and ears of wheat, and in the middle of the six sides of the frieze are graven, upon some ovals, the following images and devices, the inscription corresponding to them being on the largest scroll of the architrave.

(1) A garland of vine-tendrils and ears of wheat, and in the midst thereof an open pomegranate, signifying, by the number and cohesion of its grains, the Church, guarded within the fortress of this holiest of Sacraments. The inscription says, Posuit fines tuos pacem.

(2) A hand among clouds, extended over a nest of young ravens that have their beaks open and raised, with the inscription Quanto magis vos. This signifies, that the Lord who taketh care to sustain the infidels and pagans, taketh also especial care to sustain His Church with abundance of this celestial food.

(3) A fair stalk of wheat, whence issue seven ears of great fatness, with the inscription, Sempiterna satietas; showing that, not as in the seven years in Egypt, but for ever, shall spiritual abundance abide in the Church of Christ, owing to this holy table of His body and His blood.

(4) A stork upon a nest woven of wheat-ears and vine-tendrils, with the inscription, Pietas incomparabilis. Showing the piety and fatherly love that God affordeth to us in this Sacrament.

(5) A hare smelling at a bough and some ears of wheat, with the inscription, Vani sunt sensus hominis. The hare signifies the senses, which are deceived by the appearance of the bread and wine, unless they be fortified by faith.

(6) A hand bearing a wand, the end whereof is turning to a serpent, with this inscription, Hic vita, hic mors; because this Sacrament is the judgment and condemnation of all that receive it unworthily, but life for such as receive it with a clean spirit. The device has reference to the rod of Moses, that gave health to the people of Israel, affording them a passage through the midst of the sea, and making streams of sweet water to gush from the rock, but that was ruinous to the Egyptians, causing among them terrible sickness and destruction.

SECOND ORDER

The second order is in the Corinthian style, the columns and frieze adorned with foliage in the upper and lower thirds, and the other one with fluted columns. This order contains the Holy Sacrament in a circular viril ornamented at its ends. Round it are the four evangelists with the figures of the lion, bull, eagle, and angel, adorning the majesty of the Lord that is within the Sacrament, whereof they gave true testimony, according to these words upon a tablet which each one holdeth in his hand:—

On the outside are placed these figures, in pairs:—Saint Justa and Saint Rufina, patron saints of Seville; San Isidro and San Leandro, archbishops of the same city; San Hermenegildo and San Sebastian; San Servando and San Germano, martyrs; San Laureano, archbishop of Seville, and San CarpÓforo, priest; Saint Clement, pope, and Saint Florence, martyr.

On the six running pedestals of the columns of this order are six scenes or figures of ancient sacrifices, symbolic of this holiest sacrifice of the Eucharist, as showing how this one is the consummation and perfection of all sacrifices, and that the light thereof dispersed the shadows of the others. And these be in the following wise:—

(1) The sacrifice of Abel.

(2) That of Noah, on his leaving the ark.

(3) That of Melchisidech.

(4) That of Abraham, when he sought to sacrifice Isaac.

(5) That of the lamb which was found in the thornbush and placed upon the altar.

(6) Solomon's sacrifice at his dedication of the temple.

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On the tops of these columns are twelve figures representing the twelve gifts and fruits of this most holy Sacrament, as they are told of by Saint Thomas in his treatise on this mystery:—

(1) The conquest of the Devil, represented by a maiden beautified and adorned with a palm and a cross. The inscription on the pedestal says, Fuga dÆmonis.

(2) Spiritual cheerfulness and delight, in the form of another maiden, holding a wand wreathed with boughs and tendrils of the vine, and in her other hand some ears of wheat. The inscription says, Hilaritas.

(3) Purity of soul, represented by a heart among flames, suspended over a crucible. The inscription, Puritas.

(4) Self-knowledge, represented by a figure of Reason, holding in one hand a mirror, in which she regards herself, and in the other hand a leafy bough. The inscription says, Cognitio sui.

(5) Peace, and the appeasing of the wrath of God, represented by a figure holding in one hand an olive bough, and in the other a cornucopia filled with grapes and wheat. The inscription, Reconciliatio.

(6) Inward quiet and control of the affections, represented by a figure holding some poppies in one hand, and in the other a lamp, the lower wick of which is being extinguished. The inscription says, Animi qui est.

(7) Charity, and profound love for God and for our neighbours, represented by a figure holding in one hand a lighted heart that has two wings, and with the other pouring from a cornucopia. The inscription says, Charitas.

(8) Increase of true worth, represented by a figure holding in one hand a bough of mustard, that is wont to grow and multiply exceedingly from a tiny grain, and in the other hand a half-moon, receiving greater brightness as it waxes. The inscription says, Meritorum multiplicatio.

(9) Firmness and constancy in well-doing, represented by the figure of a woman holding an anchor in one hand, and in the other a palm. The inscription says, Constantia.

(10) The hope that guides us to our celestial home, represented by a figure holding in one hand a bunch of flowers (denoting the hope of the fruit that is to come), and in the other hand a star, as one that guideth to a haven. The inscription, Deductio in patriam.

(11) Resurrection, represented by the figure of a beautiful woman, holding in one hand a snake, and in the other an eagle; creatures that renew themselves by casting off the slough of their old age. The inscription says, Resurrectio.

(12) Life Eternal, represented by a figure holding a palm in one hand, and a crown in the other. The inscription says, Vita Æterna.

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The devices contained in this order, and in the middle of the frieze, are as follows:—

(1) A bunch of grapes upon a wand, surrounded with ears of wheat. The inscription says, Coelestis patriÆ specimen. This signifies that, as the great bunch of grapes that was borne by Joshua and Caleb on their shoulders was a token of the fertile land of promise, so the greatness and the sweetness of this admirable Sacrament, which is afforded to us in the guise of bread and wine, is the living sign and earnest of the abundance reigning in the kingdom of the blessed.

(2) A hand extending the index-finger, pointing to a chalice and the host, with the inscription, Digitus Dei hic est. This means that the miracle of this holiest of Sacraments is the work of the eternal wisdom, that cannot be attained by any wisdom of us humans.

(3) A rainbow, and above it a chalice with the host, and the inscription, Signum foederis sempiterni. Signifying, that as in the olden time God vouchsafed the rainbow to Noah in sign of friendship and alliance, so does He now vouchsafe His own flesh and blood as a true and effective token of His lasting association with mankind.

(4) Two rays, crossed, and in their midst an olive bough, with the inscription, Recordabor foederis mei vobiscum. These are the words that were spoken by God to Noah, when He made the said alliance with him, giving to understand the clemency wherewith God treateth mankind in the lesson of this divinest Sacrament, forgetting their errors, and establishing perpetual peace and amity with them.

(5) The pelican feeding her young with the life-blood issuing from her breast. The inscription says, Majorem charitatem nemo habet.

(6) A dead lion, from whose mouth issueth a swarm of bees, with the inscription, De forti dulcedo. Giving to understand, that as from the mouth of so brave a creature there issued a substance so sweet as honey, so did the God of vengeance, the brave Lion of the tribe of Judah, concert such love and peace with man, that He offered His very body for man's food.

THIRD ORDER

The rest of the third order, as far as the summit of the custodia, represents the Church triumphant: wherefore was placed in the midst of this order (which is in the composite style) the history of the Lamb that is upon the throne, and round about it the four beasts that are full of eyes, as the Apocalypse relateth.

Upon the six continuous pedestals of the columns of this order are graved the following six scenes:—

(1) The saints who wash their stoles in the blood that issues from the Lamb, as is told in the Apocalypse.

(2) God the Father, with a sickle in His hand, and angels gathering grapes in the vat, and corn in the granary, after winnowing out the chaff; signifying the reward accorded unto men in sowing, and in the harvest of the vine.

(3) The saints in joyful procession, each with his sheaf of wheat.

(4) The virgins, crowned with vine-tendrils and ears of wheat, that follow the Lamb.

(5) The five prudent virgins, that with their lighted lamps go in to the feast of the Bridegroom.

(6) The banquet of the blessed.

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Between the arches of this order are the six hieroglyphs following, with their inscriptions above, upon tablets.

(1) A burning phoenix, with the inscription, Instauratio generis humani.

(2) Two cornucopias crossed, with a cross in their midst. The cornucopias are full of vine-tendrils and ears of wheat. The inscription says, Felicitas humani generis.

(3) A kingfisher brooding over her young in a nest of vine-tendrils and blades of wheat, with the inscription, Tranquillitas immutabilis. This signifies the calm state of the blessed, whereof a token is the nest of the kingfisher, which bird, when it crosses the water, causes all storms to cease.

(4) A car with flames, rising to heaven, with the inscription, Sic itur ad astra. Signifying that this divinest Sacrament is the harbinger of those that travel heavenward, in that Elijah was so swept away, after God had sent him bread by the angel and the raven.

(5) Two dolphins, whose tails are crossed, and in the middle a chalice and the host, with the inscription, DelitiÆ generis humani. By this device is signified the love and the delight bestowed by God on men by means of this Sacrament.

(6) An altar adorned with festoons of vine-tendrils and blades of wheat, with flames upon it, and bearing the inscription, Æternum sacrificium.

FOURTH ORDER

In this order is represented the Holy Trinity upon a rainbow, surrounded by many rays of splendour, and in the fifth order is a bell, surmounted by a simple cross.

Thus are all the parts of the custodia adorned with the foregoing beautiful decoration, having regard to their proportions and their symmetry, according to the rules of good architecture, and to the movements and position of the statuary, designed after nature, as was prescribed by the inventor of histories. “Et in his omnibus sensum matris EcclesiÆ sequimur, cujus etiam juditium reveremur.”

Such is the description, written by Arfe himself, of this wonderful masterpiece of silver-work. Unfortunately, since his time the custodia has been much meddled with by profane hands, and has been subjected to various impertinent “restorations” and “improvements.” Thus, the original statuette of Faith, seated on her throne, has been replaced by another of the Virgin, and the twelve child-angels, holding the instruments of the passion, by the same number of figures of a larger size and far inferior workmanship. Further, some simple pyramids which crowned the fourth order were foolishly replaced by badly executed statuettes of children, and the Egyptian obelisk, resting on four small spheres, which surmounted the whole custodia, by an unwieldy statue representing the Catholic Faith.

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Description of the Custodia of Cordova Cathedral
(From CÓrdoba, by Pedro de Madrazo)

As I have stated in Vol. I., p. 98, the author of this custodia was Enrique de Arfe, Juan de Arfe's grandfather. “The base, supported on small wheels placed in the interior, is in the form of a regular dodecagon, each side of which measures a foot. On the twelve-sided plate which forms the base and which has well executed heads of seraphs at each corner, is an order consisting of three tiers. The first, which has projecting and receding angles, leaves, about six sides of the dodecagon, a free space for the handles by which the custodia is raised. The first tier forms a kind of socle with six buttresses, on the surface of which are represented allegorical scenes, alternated in rows with graceful designs in relief, grotesque and pastoral dances, and scenes from Bible history relative to the carriage of the Tabernacle. This tier is surmounted by a gilded balustrade of elegant design. The bas-reliefs are wrought alternately in gold and silver.

“The second tier is formed by a small socle, crowned by a band of leaves and diminutive figures. Over this is a gilded balustrade, and finally another and a broader frieze containing gilded figures, together with delicate foliage wrought in dull silver. This second tier grows gradually narrower, and sustains the third, whose base projects, serving as cornice to the frieze of the tier below, and decorated with a gilded balustrade. Upon it rises a mass or body with twelve sides, following the same arrangement of projecting and receding angles as the lower tiers. In each of its receding spaces this order contains three compartments, and in each of its salient faces it has a small tower or buttress, which springs from the base and rests upon a delicate plinth carved with a gilded ornamental band. Thus, the order we are describing has six salient faces behind the six towers or buttresses, and six spaces containing three open compartments. In these compartments, separated one from another by diminutive buttresses with delicate pinnacles, there is the same number of sunken spaces, one inch deep, on which are represented, in high relief, scenes of the life and passion of our Lord. The figures, admirably executed, are two inches high. Above this order is a projecting cornice, decorated along its lower part with a band of dull silver. It should be noted, that as the custodia narrows gradually as it rises, the receding spaces grow proportionally larger, thus affording room for the spacious inner order on which is raised the viril. This order is formed by a crystal cylinder (containing the host) resting on a base which is also cylindrical, the lower part of which is decorated with a broad hexagonal band, narrower at the top than at the bottom, and wrought with delicate foliage and figures, as are the bands which lie beneath it. Above the transparent cylinder enclosing the viril rises a Gothic vault, drooping over in the manner of a plume, and resting on the buttresses which fill the projecting spaces on the base of the principal order. These buttresses have a similar arrangement to, and coincide with, the other ones which spring from the base of the third tier of the first order, and are joined one to another by means of fine cross-buttresses surmounted by statuettes. The circular vault which holds the crystal cylinder containing the viril, and which resembles that of the rotunda dedicated as a sepulchral chapel by the emperor Constantine to the memory of his daughter, saint Constance, supports other and finer buttresses, alternated with those beneath; but instead of rising from the salient spaces of the base, these rise from the receding spaces and support another vault, of smooth open-work, beneath which is a graceful statuette of Nuestra SeÑora de la AsunciÓn. Over this vault is a kind of open-work dome, consisting of an effective series of pinnacles and buttresses in the shape of segments of a circle, which bridge over the summits of the pinnacles. Upon the dome is a crown surmounted by a statuette of Christ triumphant, with the cross. The two vaults—that which encloses the viril, and the other one above it, enclosing the image of the Virgin—are masked on the outside by arches of elegant design, crowned by an elaborate balustrade. The turrets or buttresses which rise upon the lowest and the principal orders are decorated with numerous statuettes, resting on plinths of exquisite design, covered by open-work canopies.

“This masterpiece of art is made of gold, and polished and unpolished silver. The weight is 532 marks…. Unfortunately, it lacks its original purity of style, having been restored in the year 1735, when it is probable that certain details were added which now disfigure it.”

APPENDIX D

THE IMPERIAL CROWN OF THE VIRGEN DEL SAGRARIO, TOLEDO

This was the most elaborate and costly crown that had ever been produced in Spain for decorating an image of the Virgin. The following is a sketch of it:—

Before it was enlarged to the imperial shape, this crown was executed by a silversmith named Fernando de CarriÓn, who finished it in the year 1556, and was paid for his labour 760,000 maravedis. It then consisted of a gold diadem adorned with rows of pearls, emeralds, rubies, and enamelled devices of various colours, in the style of the Renaissance.

The superstructure, which converts it into what is known as an imperial crown, was added by Alejo de Montoya, another silversmith of Toledo, who began it in 1574, and completed it twelve years later. The addition consisted of a number of gold statuettes of angels, covered with enamel, measuring in height from two inches to two and a half, distributed in pairs, and supporting decorative devices attached to the body of the crown. From behind these angels sprang gold bands thickly studded with precious stones, and terminating towards their union at the apex of the crown in seated allegorical figures grouped about a globe surmounted by a cross. This globe consisted of a single emerald, clear, perfect both in colour and in shape, and measuring an inch and a half in diameter. The inside of the hoop was covered with enamels representing emblems of the Virgin, disposed in a series of medallions, and the dimensions of the entire crown were eleven inches high by nine across the widest part.

The crown was examined and reported upon by two goldsmiths of Madrid, who declared it to contain the following precious stones:—

Two balas rubies,	valued at	150,000	maravedis
Twelve rubies,	valued at	403,528	maravedis
Twelve emeralds,	„	237,500	„
Fifty-seven diamonds,	„	555,396	„
One hundred and eighty-two pearls,	„	397,838	„

The precious stones were thus valued at a total of 1,744,262 maravedis. Besides this, the value of the gold and silver contained in the crown was estimated to amount to 405,227 maravedis, while 3,097,750 maravedis were allowed for the workmanship. These figures relate to the part which was made by Alejo de Montoya only. That which had previously been executed by Fernando de CarriÓn was valued at 1,954,156 maravedis, making a grand total, for the whole jewel, of 7,201,395 maravedis. At the present day the intrinsic value of the crown would be from nine to ten thousand pounds sterling.

In 1869 this splendid specimen of Renaissance jewellery was stolen from a cupboard in the cathedral of Toledo, sharing thus the fate of many other precious objects which have been entrusted to the slender vigilance or slender probity of Spanish church authorities.

APPENDIX E

GOLD INLAY ON STEEL AND IRON

The inlaying of iron or steel with gold is often thought to be a craft particularly Spanish, and to have been inherited directly by the Spanish Christians from the Spanish Moors. This work, however, although we may assume it to have been of Eastern origin in a period of remote antiquity, was quite familiar to the ancient Romans, including, probably, such as made their home in Spain. The Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini contain the following notice of the work in question:—

“I met with some little Turkish daggers, the handles of which were of iron as well as the blade, and even the scabbard was of that metal. On these were engraved several fine foliages in the Turkish taste, most beautifully filled up with gold. I found I had a strong inclination to cultivate this branch likewise, which was so different from the rest; and finding that I had great success in it, I produced several pieces in this way. My performances, indeed, were much finer and more durable than the Turkish, for several reasons: one was, that I made a much deeper incision in the steel than is generally practised in Turkish works; the other, that their foliages are nothing else but chicory leaves, with some few flowers of echites: these have, perhaps, some grace, but they do not continue to please like our foliages. In Italy there is a variety of tastes, and we cut foliages in many different forms. The Lombards make the most beautiful wreaths, representing ivy and vine-leaves, and others of the same sort, with agreeable twinings highly pleasing to the eye. The Romans and the Tuscans have a much better notion in this respect, for they represent acanthus leaves, with all their festoons and flowers, winding in a variety of forms; and amongst these leaves they insert birds and animals of several sorts with great ingenuity and elegance in the arrangement. They likewise have recourse occasionally to wild flowers, such as those called Lions' Mouths, from their peculiar shape, accompanied by other fine inventions of the imagination, which are termed grotesques by the ignorant. These foliages have received that name from the moderns, because they are found in certain caverns in Rome, which in ancient days were chambers, baths, studies, halls, and other places of a like nature. The curious happened to discover them in these subterranean caverns, whose low situation is owing to the raising of the surface of the ground in a series of ages; and as these caverns in Rome are commonly called grottos, they from thence acquired the name of grotesque. But this is not their proper name; for, as the ancients delighted in the composition of chimerical creatures, and gave to the supposed promiscuous breed of animals the appellation of monsters, in like manner artists produced by their foliages monsters of this sort; and that is the proper name for them—not grotesques. In such a taste I made foliages filled up in the manner above mentioned, which were far more elegant and pleasing to the eye than the Turkish works.

“It happened about this time that certain vases were discovered, which appeared to be antique urns filled with ashes. Amongst these were iron rings inlaid with gold, in each of which was set a diminutive shell. Learned antiquarians, upon investigating the nature of these rings, declared their opinion that they were worn as charms by those who desired to behave with steadiness and resolution either in prosperous or adverse fortune.

“I likewise took things of this nature in hand at the request of some gentlemen who were my particular friends, and wrought some of these little rings; but I made them of steel well tempered, and then cut and inlaid with gold, so that they were very beautiful to behold: sometimes for a single ring of this sort I was paid above forty crowns.”

APPENDIX F

OLD SPANISH PULPITS

The earliest pulpits of the Spaniards were similar to those of other Christian nations. One of them was the tribuna or tribunal, so called, according to Saint Isidore, “because the minister delivers from it the precepts for a righteous life, wherefore it is a seat or place constructed upon high, in order that all he utters may be heard.” The ambo, too, although it is not mentioned by Saint Isidore, was probably not unknown among the Spaniards.[61] Then there were various desks, such as the analogia, legitoria, or lectra, on which the scriptures were deposited in church, or carried in procession, and from which the latter were read aloud by the priest. Saint Isidore remarks of the analogium; “It is so called because the word is preached therefrom, and because it occupies the highest place.”[62] Ducange, quoting from old authors, remarks in his Glossary that these desks were often adorned with gold and silver plates or precious stones. Thus it is extremely probable that Tarik's celebrated “table” (see Vol. I., pp. 31 et seq.) was merely some elaborate and bejewelled analogium of the Christians; such as was, in fact, the predecessor of the modern lectern or “hand-pulpit.”

According to Amador de los RÍos, sermons in those early times were delivered from the analogium only. Towards the twelfth century, the Isidorian liturgy was abolished in Spain, and the furniture of Spanish temples underwent some change. In the same century and throughout the century following, the Spanish Peninsula was invaded by the Order of Preachers, while, coinciding with, or closely consequent upon, this movement, the primitive ambo was succeeded by the jubÉ, and wood, as the material of which the pulpit was constructed, by marble, iron, stone, or plaster.

Two Mudejar pulpits of great interest are preserved at Toledo, in the church of Santiago del Arabal (thirteenth century), and in the convent, erected in the reign of Pedro the Cruel, of Santo Domingo el Real. The substance of these ancient objects is a brick and plaster foundation, with panels of the stucco known as obra de yeserÍa, produced from wooden moulds. The pulpit of the church of Santiago is traditionally affirmed to be the one from which, in 1411, Saint Vincent Ferrer delivered a sermon to the Toledan Jews. Whether this be so or not, the date of its construction is undoubtedly the second half of the fourteenth century, or early in the fifteenth. The shape is octagonal—a very common form with Gothic pulpits. It is divided into four cuerpos or orders, including the sounding-board. The decoration, which is chiefly floral, is a combination of the Gothic and the Moorish styles.

The pulpit of Santo Domingo el Real stands in the refectory of that convent. It dates from the same period as the one belonging to the church of Santiago, but unlike this latter, bears no trace of former gilding, painting, or enamelling upon the surface of the stone or plaster. It has three tiers or compartments, and, as in the other pulpit, the decoration consists of leaves and flowers, blended with geometrical patterns and Moorish lacerÍa.

The Moorish mimbar or pulpit of the mosque of Cordova was very wonderful. According to Sentenach, its situation was near the archway leading to the mihrab, and on its desk rested the sacred copy of the Koran which had belonged to the Caliph Othman, and which was stated to be stained with his blood.

This mimbar, sacrificed long years ago to Christian barbarism and neglect, was the richest piece of furniture in all that mighty building, seven years of unremitting labour being exhausted by Al-Hakem's craftsmen in constructing it of the richest and most aromatic woods, inlaid with silver, ivory, gold, and precious stones. Ambrosio de Morales called it “King Almanzor's chair,” describing it quaintly as a four-wheeled car of richly-wrought wood, mounted by means of seven steps. “A few years since,” he adds, “they broke it up, I know not wherefore. So disappeared this relic of an olden time.”

APPENDIX G

SPANISH CUTLERS

In former times excellent cutlery, such as knives, scissors, daggers, spearheads, and surgical instruments, was made in Spain, at Seville, Albacete, Toledo, Valencia, Pamplona, Ronda, PeÑÍscola, Guadix, Ripoll, Mora, Olot, and Tolosa. Rico y Sinobas has given an interesting description of the workshop and apparatus of one of these old Spanish cutlers—his graduated set of hammers, weighing from a few ounces to five pounds, his hand-saws, bench-saw, chisels, pincers, files, and drills, his forge, measuring from a yard square to a yard and a half, his two anvils of the toughest iron, the larger with a flat surface of three inches by ten inches, for ordinary work, the smaller terminated by conical points for making the thumb and finger holes of scissors.[63] The method of tempering and forging practised by these cutlers was much the same as that of the Toledo swordsmiths.

Rico y Sinobas also embodied in his essay the following list of cutlers and cutler-armourers, who manufactured knives, penknives, scissors, parts of firearms, or heads and blades for lances, halberds, and the like. The following is a summary of the list in question:—

Name.	Date.	Worked at
Acacio	17th century	He made spearheads and fittings for crossbows.
Aguas, Juan de	Early in 18th century	Guadix.
Alanis	Late 16th century	? Maker of fittings for crossbows.
Albacete	Late 18th century	Albacete. Scissors-maker.
Ambrosio	Late 18th century	Mora. Maker of large scissors for sheep-shearing.
Arbell, RamÓn	17th century (?)	Olot. Knife-maker.
Azcoitia (the elder)	Late 15th century and early 16th	GuipÚzcoa (?). A celebrated maker of pieces for crossbows.
Azcoitia (CristÓbal)	16th century	? Also a maker of pieces for crossbows. He was the fourth descendant of the family who worked at this branch of the cutler's craft.
Azcoitia (Juan)	16th century	? Perhaps a member of the same family. He also made pieces for crossbows.
Beson, Manuel	18th century	Madrid. Knife-maker.
Bis, Francisco	18th century	Madrid (see Vol. I., p. 273). Maker of knives and arquebuses.
Blanco, Juan	16th century	Maker of crossbows, and of pieces for the same.
Castellanos (the elder)	18th century	Albacete. Scissors-maker.
Castellanos (the younger)	18th century and early 19th	Albacete. Scissors-maker.
Castillo, Gregorio	Late 16th century	CataluÑa (?). Scissors-maker.
Cerda, Miguel de la	Late 16th century	Madrid and Segovia. He made scissors and other cutlery.
Criado, Juan	Early 17th century
Diaz, Pedro	Early 18th century	Albacete. Scissors-maker.
Escobar, CristÓbal	Late 16th century and early 17th	Madrid (?). Maker of pieces for crossbows.
Escobar, Juan	17th century	Madrid (?). Son of the preceding, and also a maker of pieces for crossbows.
Fernandez Manso de Payba, JosÉ	Late 18th century	Guadalajara. A Portuguese, naturalized in Spain. He was a scissors-maker of considerable fame.
Fuente, Pedro de la	Late 15th century or early 16th	Madrid (?). Maker of crossbows and their pieces.
GarcÍa, Domingo	Late 17th century	Madrid. Arquebus-maker and cutler.
GarcÍa de la Torre, Teodoro	Early 18th century	Guadalix and AlcorcÓn. Cutler. In company with Manuel Beson, he invented a method of converting iron into steel.
Garijo	18th century	Albacete. Scissors-maker.
Garro, MartÍn	Early 15th century	Pamplona. Cutler and swordsmith. A letter dated October 31st, 1406, records that he was paid five escudos for making a sword, and one escudo for a dagger.
Gomez, Mateo	Late 17th century	Albacete. Scissors-maker.
Grajeras	17th century	Madrid (?). Maker of pieces for crossbows.
Grande, Juan	17th century	Madrid (?). Maker of lanceheads.
Gutierrez	Late 17th century	Chinchilla. Scissors-maker.
Hernandez, Juan	16th century	Madrid (?). Maker of pieces for crossbows.
Herraez, Andres	Late 16th century	Cuenca. Arquebus-maker and cutler.
Herrezuelo (the elder)	Late 16th century and early 17th	Baeza. Cutler.
Herrezuelo (the younger)	Early 17th century	Baeza. Scissors-maker.
Horbeira, Angel	Late 17th century	Madrid. Cutler; a native of Galicia, and reputed to be one of the best craftsmen of his time. He was known as El BorgoÑon, and passed his early life in Flanders.
Hortega	Early 16th century	? Maker of pieces for crossbows.
Lallabe, Juan de	Early 19th century	? Cutler, locksmith, and maker of surgical instruments.
Lastra, Juan	17th century	Madrid (?). Maker of pieces for crossbows. He was one for crossbows. He was one of the latest and most celebrated of these craftsmen.
Leon	Early 18th century	Albacete. Scissors-maker.
Llorens, Pablo	Late 17th century	Olot. Cutler.
Marcoarte, Simon	Late 16th century and early 17th	Madrid. Arquebus-maker and cutler. He was the son of another craftsman of the same name, who settled in Spain in the reign of Charles the Fifth (see Vol. I., p. 273).
Martinez, Juan	Early 16th century	? Maker of darts and lancesfor crossbows.
Mendoza, Francisco and Manuel	Early 18th century	Trigueros (Old Castile). Cutlers.
Moreno, Luis	Late 15th century	Madrid (?). Maker of pieces for crossbows.
Moro, El	Late 18th century and early 19th	Madrid. Cutler.
MuÑoz of Getafe	16th century and early 17th	? Maker of pieces for crossbows.
Óipa, Juan	?	Madrid. Maker of crossbows.
Perez de Villadiego, Juan	16th century	Madrid (?). Maker of pieces
Perez, Julian	Early 17th century	Madrid (?). Maker of darts and lances for crossbows.
Puebla (the elder)	Early 16th century	Madrid. Maker of parts of crossbows.
Ramirez, Juan	Late 16th century	? Cutler. He emigrated to the city of Puebla de los Angeles, in Mexico, where he continued to make knives, scissors, and weapons of good quality.
Renedo (the elder)	Early 16th century(?)	? Maker of darts and lances for crossbows.
Renedo (the younger)	Late 16th century and early 17th	? Son of the preceding. He made the same objects as his father.
Romero	Late 18th century	Albacete. Scissors-maker.
Rosel	?	Mora. Scissors-maker.
San JosÉ, Brother Antonio	Late 17th century	Jaen. Scissors-maker.
SantamarÍa	Late 16th century and early 17th	Madrid (?). Maker of pieces for crossbows.
Selva, Juan	Late 18th century	Cartagena and Madrid. Cutler and iron-founder.
Segura	Late 18th century and early 19th	Mora. Scissors-maker.
Sierra, Juan	18th century	Albacete. Scissors-maker.
Soler, Isidro	Late 18th century and early 19th	Madrid. Arquebus-maker, cutler, and author of An Historical Essay on making Arquebuses.
Sosa	17th century	Madrid (?). Maker of weapons, especially the heads of lances.
Targarona, Francisco	Late 18th century	Madrid. Arquebus-maker to Charles the Third and Charles the Fourth, and one of the most skilful craftsmen of his day.
Tijerero, El (Domingo Sanchez)	?	Toledo. Maker of swords and scissors.
Torres	Early 17th century	Albacete. Scissors-maker.
Ucedo	Late 16th century and perhaps early 17th	? Maker of pieces for crossbows.
V....	16th century (?)	Toledo (?). Scissors-maker. The rest of this craftsman's name is not known.
Valderas, Pedro de	16th century	Madrid and Valladolid. Maker of pieces for crossbows.
Vicen-Perez, Pedro	Late 17th century	Albacete. Scissors-maker.
Vilarasa, Antonio	Late 17th century	? Cutler and razor-maker.
Vilarasa, Antonio	Late 17th century	? Cutler and razor-maker.
... Emt.., Julian	Early 18th century	Albacete. Scissors-maker. Only a fragment of his name has been preserved upon a blade. Rico y Sinobas suggests that the entire surname may have been Vicen-Perez.
Zeruantes, Francisco	Late 17th century	Toledo. Maker of blades for halberds.
Zamora (“the deaf”)	Late 16th century and early 17th	Castile. Cutler,

APPENDIX H

SPANISH TRADE-GUILDS

The gremios of Spain were copied from the guilds of France and other countries, and may be traced originally to the corpora and collegia of the Romans and Byzantines. The earliest which were formed in the Peninsula were those of Barcelona[64] and Soria, succeeded, not long after, by Valencia, Seville,[65] and Toledo. Prior, however, to the institution of these trade-guilds proper, whose purpose was pre-eminently mercenary,[66] there existed, in the case of several cities, cofradÍas or religious brotherhoods, that is, associations of a philanthropic character, composed of tradesmen or artificers who pledged themselves to assist each other in poverty or sickness, or to defray the burial expenses of such members as should die without resources.

The formula of admission to a Spanish brotherhood was very quaint in its punctilious and precise severity. A notice of this ceremony, relating to the CofradÍa of Saint Eligius, or Silversmiths' Brotherhood of Seville,[67] is quoted by Gestoso from the venerable Regla de Hermandad or statutes of the members, preserved in a codex dating from the first half of the sixteenth century. It was required that the candidate for admission should be a silversmith, married in conformity with the canons of the church, a man well spoken of among his neighbours, and not a recent convert to the Christian faith. The day prescribed for choosing or rejecting him was that which was consecrated to Saint John the Baptist, coinciding with the festival of Saint Eligius or San Loy, “patron and representative” of silversmiths, and who in life had been a silversmith himself. The regulations of the CofradÍa decreed the following method of election. “In the chest belonging to the Brotherhood shall be kept a wood or metal vessel with space sufficient to contain some fifty beans or almonds; and the said vessel shall be set in our chapter-room, in a spot where no man is. Each of the brothers that are present shall next be given one of the beans or almonds, and, rising from his seat, arrange his cloak about him so as to conceal his hands, in order that none may witness whether he drops, or does not drop, the almond or the bean into the vessel. Then, with due dissimulation, he shall proceed to where the vessel lies, and if he deem that he who seeks to be admitted as our brother be an honourable man, and such as shall contribute to the lustre of our Brotherhood, then shall he drop in a bean or almond, and return to his seat, still covering his hands with his cloak. But if, upon the contrary, he deem that the said candidate be a sinner, and a riotous fellow and bad Christian, that should prove a source of evil and vexation to our chapter, or that hath wronged another of our brethren, then shall he not cast in the bean or almond, but secretly reserve the same, and once more seat himself. Lastly, when all shall have crossed over to and from the vessel, they shall bear it to the table where the officers sit, and void it in the sight of all the company, and count the beans or almonds; and if the number of these be full, then is it clear that we do receive the other for our Hermano. But if there be a bean or almond wanting, in that a brother hath retained it in his fingers, then shall our Alcaldes speak to this effect. ‘SeÑores: here wants a bean or almond’ (or two, or any number, as may be). ‘Within eight days from now let him that kept it back present himself to us, or to any one of us, and give account why he that sought admission to our Brotherhood deserves to be rejected.’ And if the brother that kept back the bean or almond should not present himself within the appointed time, then shall the Brotherhood admit the other: but if he appear, and state a lawful cause against the other's entry, then our Alcaldes, when this last presents himself to learn their resolution, shall urge him to have patience, in that not all the brothers are content with him, albeit, if such cause consisteth in a quarrel between a brother and the candidate for entry, peace may be brought about between the two, and afterward the CofradÍa may admit him of their number.”

Similar ceremonies and customs were observed in old Toledo (see the Ordinances of this city, dated June 24th, 1423, renewed and amplified in 1524).[68] Here also the silversmiths agreed to meet and celebrate the festival of their patron saint upon one day in every year, “for ever and for ever” (para siempre jamÁs). On these occasions the image of the saint was carried in procession, and a repast was given to the brothers themselves, as well as to all persons who were “willing to receive it for the love of God.” Every brother who failed to present himself at this solemnity was fined one pound of candle-wax; but if he were merely unpunctual, and arrived “after the singing of the first three psalms,” the fine was only half a pound. A pound of candle-wax was also the statutory tribute for admission to the Brotherhood, together with a hundred maravedis and other unimportant sums in cash.

The history of the gremios of Valencia has been traced in an instructive essay by Luis Tramoyeres Blasco. Early in the fifteenth century guilds were established here of nearly thirty trades, including tailors, millers, carpenters, shoemakers, silversmiths, weavers, tanners, dyers, swordsmiths, and bonnet-makers. These guilds developed greatly in the sixteenth century, expanding into powerful and wealthy bodies, who practically controlled the entire commerce and commercial products of their native town. Among the gremios instituted at a later date were those of the firework-makers, basket-makers, twisters of silk, stiffeners of dress fabrics, bell-founders, and painters of chests and boxes, each of these corporations being enrolled by law, and possessing a code of regulations for the government and guidance of its members. Sometimes, however, owing to diminution in its trade, a guild became extinct, as happened with the guadamacileros (see Vol. II., pp. 38 et seq.), and with the clothmakers, of whom, in 1595, but three remained in all Valencia. Or else a gremio would purposely amalgamate with, or merge insensibly into, another. Thus in 1668 the tailors and the makers of trunk-hose united in a single corporation, just as, at other times, the glovers and the parchment-dressers, the clog-makers and the shoemakers.

Those of the Valencian guilds which possessed the greatest influence and resources, and enjoyed the highest privileges from the city or the crown, were called colegiados. Among them were the velvet-makers, hatters, bronze-founders, wax-makers, confectioners, dyers, and makers of silk hose. The earliest to obtain this coveted and honourable title were the booksellers, in 1539, followed by the wax-makers in 1634, the confectioners in 1644, the velvet-makers also in this year, and others in succession, terminating with the dyers in 1763, the hatters in 1770, the bell-founders in 1772, and the makers of silk stockings in 1774.

According to Tramoyeres, most of the Valencian trade-guilds owned a building in fee-simple, and often gave the title of their craft to the entire street in which that edifice was situated. Nor did the gremios, in their evolution from the simpler and less mercenary form of brotherhood or cofradÍa, wholly abandon the religious ceremonies of their prototype. In almost every instance the guild erected and maintained a chapel within its private domicilio, chose a particular saint to be its patron, and held, with fitting pomp and liberality, a yearly celebration of that patron's holy-day.

On these occasions masses and other services were said or sung, and the embroidered banner of the guild, together with the image (which was often of silver) of its tutelar saint, was carried in procession through the streets of this bright city of the south, abounding at all seasons in flowers and sunshine, and famed, from the remotest days of Spanish history, for the splendour and munificence of her public festivals.

Our earliest record of the formal attendance of the gremios of Valencia at one of her fiestas, goes back to the visit to this capital of King Pedro the Second, in 1336, when the guilds were marshalled in military fashion, company by company, each headed by its pennon “Á la saga dels primers,” that is, next to the group or company immediately in front of it. In 1392, upon the visit of another monarch, Juan the First, who was accompanied by his queen, Violante, a more elaborate character was given to the welcome. Jongleurs and dancers were hired to perform, while several of the gremios constructed decorative scenes or allegorical tableaux on a platform or a waggon, which was wheeled along the street in slow procession, surrounded by the marching members of the guild. One of these structures represented the winged dragon or drach-alat which figures so conspicuously in the records of Valencia (see Vol. I., p. 210), and was attacked and overcome in mimic combat by a body of knights armed cap-À-pie. The mariners of the port built two large galleys, also moved on wheels and simulating an attack, and the freneros or bit-makers presented a gathering of folk disguised as savages. Nor was the bullfight—that most characteristic of Spanish sports—omitted from the entertainment, judging from the following entry in the city archives: “Item. Sien aemprats los prohomens carnicers a procurar e haver toros e fer per sos dies feta la dita entrada joch ab aquells specialment en lo mercat com sia cert quel Senyor Rey se agrada e pren plaer de tal joch.”

A typical fiesta and procession of these trade-guilds is described by Tramoyeres. “Formed in two long lines, the members of the guild advanced along the tortuous and narrow highways of the town, adorned with tapestries and altars. Each gremio was preceded by a band of cymbal-beaters, pipers, and jongleurs, sometimes accompanied by a comparsa allusive to the ceremony now being celebrated. Next came the standard of the master-craftsmen and apprentices, each group of whom attended its divisa or distinguishing emblem. Close after followed the banner of the craft in general, carried by one or two of the oficiales, who made display of their dexterity and strength by supporting the staff of the banner upon their shoulder, the palm of the hand, or the under-lip. The cords of the banner were held by the officers of the guild, denominated mayorales, clavarios and prohombres; behind these came the masters, and last of all, a triumphal car on which were represented scenes relating to the craft. Thus, in the year 1655, at the commemoration of the second centenary of the canonization of Saint Vincent Ferrer, the gremios showed particular ingenuity and novelty in these devices.” Don Marco Antonio OrtÍ, who wrote an account of the festival in question, thus describes a few of them. “The millers were preceded by a waggon drawn by four mules and covered with boughs and flowers. On it was the imitation of a windmill, wheel and every other part, contrived so cunningly that although the wheel went round at a great speed, the artifice which caused it to revolve was kept from view, and in the time that the procession lasted, it ground to flour a whole caliz of wheat.” Another invention, says the same chronicler, was that of the masons. “The scene devised by these was a triumphal car, handsomely adorned, on which was borne the great tower (of the cathedral),[69] imitated so skilfully that it seemed to have been rooted from its foundation, and replanted in the car aforesaid; and so enormous was its size that a special spot required to be chosen in which to set it up. This was in the garden of La Punta; and when the tower was finished and ready to be taken forth, a breach for its passage had to be opened in the garden wall. It even contained a peal of bells, which rang by turning round and round, and this invention of the bells, besides its ingenuity, was rarely fitted to this festival, seeing that the clock-bell of the cathedral (that is the greatest of them all) was given, when it was baptized, the name of San Vicente's bell, as well as of Saint Michael the Archangel; whence the tower itself is called the Micalet, this, in the language of Valencia, being the diminutive for Michael. It were impossible to imagine the stir and the applause excited in all quarters of the city by the passage of this tower.”

The same writer describes the decorative car or waggon of the flax-weavers. “Upon it were a woman seated beneath a canopy, weaving at a frame, and representing Santa Ana, the child Jesus making caÑillas, and an aged man, for San Antonio, dressed as a hermit, with a live sucking-pig at his side. Before these went Our Lady riding on a jennet, with a child in her arms, her right hand held by a man of venerable age representing Saint Joseph. This artifice was symbolic of the weavers' trade, receiving for this reason great applause, as well as for the lavish decoration of, and curious details that were in, the car.”

Tramoyeres further explains that the guild which took first place in the procession was that which had been most recently created, the oldest and most honoured coming last. At Valencia this proud position was held from the remotest period by the clothmakers; but from time to time, when these for any cause were absent from the festival, their place was taken by one or other of two companies almost as ancient and as honourable—the tanners or the tailors.

Each guild selected an official dress or livery, distinguished from the others by its colour or design:—the tailors, purple and white; the weavers, rose with black sleeves; the cutlers, crimson with green sleeves and sprinkled with golden roses; the millers, white with crimson-striped sleeves; the silversmiths, crimson with silver trimming; and so forth. Their banners, too, were quite in harmony with the rich apparel of the vain agremiados. According to an author of the seventeenth century, these flags were “not of war, but of a different workmanship, and greatly larger. All are of damask, most being coloured crimson, and the poles sustaining them, and terminated by an image of the sainted patron of the guild, are longer than the longest pike of war. Truly, a splendid show these banners make, displayed with fringes of drawn gold, and shields embroidered with the same material.”

The image in which the pole of the banner concluded was not, however, invariably that of a saint, or of a saint alone. In the case of the cask-makers it was a golden tun surmounted by a cross, with figures of Saint Helen and the Emperor Constantine standing on either side of it. That of the armourers was a bat (the rat-penat or “winged rat” contained in the escudo of Valencia); that of the cloth-shearers, a pair of scissors with a golden crown and the image of Saint Christopher; of the fishermen, a boat containing Saint Peter and Saint Andrew; of the clothmakers, a sphere inscribed with the name of Jesus; of the stonemasons, a silver millwheel and a silver image of the Virgin. Similarly, each gremio displayed upon its coat-of-arms some kind of emblem such as the implement, or implements, associated with its trade:—the silversmiths, a square and compass; the carpenters, a hatchet and a saw; the lock-smiths, a pair of hammers and an anvil.

Quaintly instructive are the dispositions of the guilds relating to apprenticeship. The maestro of a trade, described by the Count of TorreÁnaz as “the principal worker in the workshop,” agreed to feed, clothe, and instruct his apprentice or discÍpulo, and treat him generally as a member of his own family. He was permitted to punish his apprentice for misconduct, but not to employ excessive physical violence; and a law of Jayme the First decreed that if the apprentice lost one or both of his eyes from a blow inflicted by his master, the latter was to “make good the injury” (sia tengut del mal que li haura feyt).

The number of apprentices allowed in any one workshop was often (and subsequently to the fifteenth century, nearly always) regulated by the law. The first disposition of this kind discovered by Tramoyeres dates from the year 1451, and refers to the shoemakers, whose apprentices might not outnumber three to each maestro.[70] Similarly, by provisions issued at a later date, the mattress-makers and the builders were allowed no more than two apprentices, and the silk-weavers three, although sometimes the master might admit an extra aprenent or so, on payment of a certain sum per head.[71] The term of the apprenticeship was also often fixed by law. In most of the trades it was four years; but in the case of the makers of ribbons and of boxes it was five years; while stocking-makers were apprenticed for six, and wax-makers and confectioners for eight years.

Before the father or the guardian of a lad could sign his papers of apprenticeship, it was required (during and after the sixteenth century) to prove before the guild, by means of his certificate of baptism, or on the declaration of witnesses, that he was the child of parents who were “old Christians,” and not the offspring of Moor, Jew, slave, convert, or (in the fierce expression of the stocking-makers) “any other infected race.” Still more absurd and savage was an ordinance, dated 1597, of the shoemakers, prohibiting any master of this trade from admitting to apprenticeship in any form, “a black boy, or one of the colour of cooked quince, slave or Moor … so as to avoid the harm which might befall our brother shoemakers from the ridicule that would be stirred among the populace, if they should see in our processions and other public acts, a slave, or the son of a black slave, or a lad of the colour of cooked quince, or a Moor; as well as the rioting and scandals that would be caused by the spectacle of creatures of this nature mixing with decent, well-dressed people.”

These statutes are selected from the mass of local legislation which concerned Valencia only. Turning to Spanish guilds at large, the study of these institutions throws considerable light upon the customs of the Spanish nation in the past, and more especially upon the social and financial standing of the older Spanish craftsman. As in other countries, the principal and primal object of the gremio was to organize a system of defence against the military and nobility, or even against the crown. Presently, however, and long before their evolution is completed, errors become apparent in the statutes or proceedings of these bodies which denote, very instructively and very plainly, the typical defects or weaknesses of the Spanish character. Foremost of all was thriftlessness. Although it is a fact that several of the Spanish guilds owned houses or even land, none of them (except the silversmiths of two or three large towns) were really affluent;[72] and indeed, in a country racked by incessant foreign wars or civil strife, there was every reason why they should not be affluent. Yet, notwithstanding this, in celebrating any kind of public festival, the poor agremiado made no scruple to vie in prodigal disbursements with the moneyed aristocracy, clothing himself in fanciful and costly stuffs,[73] constructing shows and spectacles on wheels, raising elaborate altars in the streets, contracting for expensive services, performances, and tableaux. More than once, the gremios were obliged to borrow funds to celebrate the festival of their patron saint.[74] So also with regard to dress. The costumes of the guildsmen of Valencia have been already noticed. An equal recklessness and foppery prevailed in other Spanish towns; for instance, at Barcelona, where, on a visit of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1481, the silversmiths formed part of the procession “dressed in the richest manner, with robes and mantles all covered with silver, and some of them with bonnets that were all of silver plate with jewels and silver foliage, while others wore silver chains about their necks.”

Two of the most conspicuous faults among the Spanish race are pride and envy. Yet these defects may be explained without much puzzling, and, in a measure, pardoned. Spaniards, through all the process of their national development, have clung by preference to the calling of the soldier or the priest; that is, the only occupations which directly dissipate the revenue of the commonwealth. Since, therefore, they were thus inclined from earliest antiquity, as well as tutored by a crafty priesthood to believe that might or violence alone is right, the haughtiness of the Spanish people is a logical, and indeed inevitable, outcome of their history. Moreover, side by side with this erroneous theory that the only prowess and decorum of a people must consist in armed aggressiveness, as well as in a truculent and militant intolerance in matters of religion (or rather, of superstition), there arose the equally as mischievous and erroneous theory that the arts of peace were venal, despicable, and effeminate, or, in the current phrase of our contemporaries, “unworthy of a gentleman.” “The Spaniards,” wrote FernÁndez de Navarrete, “are so proud-hearted that they do not accommodate themselves to servile labour.” Therefore this people chose their favourites and heroes in a semi-savage freebooter; never in a craftsman of gigantic merit, like the elder Berruguete, or Juan de Arfe, or Alonso Cano. Sometimes, as happened with the reja of the Chapel Royal of Granada, they did not even trouble to record the surname of her best artificers. These men, in fact, exceptions to her universal rule, were coldly looked upon, or even persecuted.[75] Abundant proof is yet extant of this humiliation of her merchants, craftsmen, shopkeepers, as distinguished from her soldiery and clergy, gentry and nobility. Undoubtedly, beneath such scorn the former of these groups were sensitive to their position, and all the more acutely sensitive because of their inherent Spanish pride. In fact, so sensitive were they, that now and then the crown esteemed it prudent to appease their wounded vanity by certain declarations or emoluments. Thus, the Repartimiento de Sevilla tells us that in the year 1255 Alfonso the Tenth rewarded several craftsmen of his capital of Seville with the title of Don, “a dignity,” says Amador, “rarely bestowed at that time.”[76] In 1556 Charles the Fifth resolved, in favour of the corporation of artistas-plateros or “artist-silversmiths,” that the masters of this craft, together with their wives, might dress in silk, “in that it was an art they exercised, and not an office” (Gestoso, Diccionario de ArtÍfices Sevillanos, Vol. I., p. lx.), while Philip the Fourth decreed that they should not be forced to contribute to the equipment of his troops, but should only be invited to contribute, just as with the nobles. Nevertheless, Rico y Sinobas points out (Del vidrio y de sus artÍfices en EspaÑa) that Philip the Fifth and Ferdinand the Sixth, on founding the royal glass factory of San Ildefonso, did not dare to ennoble the Castilian workmen.

“I bestow the name of craftsmen in silver (artÍfices plateros), not upon all who handle silver or gold, but only upon such as draw, and grave, and execute in relief, whether on a large or small scale, figures and histories from life, just as do the sculptors.” These words are quoted from a book, the whole of which was written with the aim of proving that certain classes of Spain's older craftsmen were less abject than the rest.[77] It is not so long ago that the expression viles artesanos (“vile artisans”) was banished from the legal phraseology of Spain. “That prejudice,” wrote Laborde, “which regards the mechanic arts as base, is not extinguished in Spain, but only abated: hence it happens that they are neglected or abandoned to such unskilful hands that they are wonderfully backward in these matters. The influence of this cause is striking: in Catalonia, laws, customs, and opinions are favourable to artisans, and it is in this province that these arts have made the greatest progress.”

Townsend commented as follows on what he called the national prejudice against trade. “Whilst the Jews were merchants, and the mechanic arts were left either to the Moors or to the vilest of the people, the grandees or knights were ambitious only of military fame. After the conquest of Granada, the Moors continued to be the principal manufacturers, and excelled in the cultivation of their lands. When these, with the Jews, were banished, a void was left which the high-spirited Spaniard was not inclined to fill. Trained for many centuries to the exercise of arms, and regarding such mean occupations with disdain, his aversion was increased by his hatred and contempt for those whom he had been accustomed to see engaged in these employments. He had been early taught to consider trade as dishonourable; and whether he frequented the theatre, or listened to the discourses of the pulpit orators, he could not fail to be confirmed in his ideas. Even in the present day, many, who boast their descent from noble ancestors, had rather starve than work, more especially at those trades by which, according to the laws, they would be degraded, and forfeit their nobility.”—(Journey through Spain in 1786 and 1787, pp. 240, 241.)

Laborde endorsed these assertions by uncharitably remarking that “the Spaniard had always fortitude enough to endure privations, but never courage enough to encounter work.” In our time judgments of a still severer kind have been passed upon the Spaniards by various of their own countrymen—among others, Unamuno, Ganivet, and Pompeyo Gener.

It is evident, too, that the cause of the relentless exclusion, by the Spanish guilds, of Moors, Moriscos, Jews, or converts—men who, owing to the unsubstantial taint of heresy, were hated and derided by the Spanish nation almost to a man—resided also in this morbid sensitiveness. Had not the Moorish prisoner been formerly considered as the merest chattel, legally equivalent to a beast of burden?[78] How, then, should he be ever equalled with the Christian Spaniard? These haughty and extravagant notions operated, in the seventeenth century, to bring about the general ruin of Spanish trades and manufactures. Bertaut de Rouen wrote at this time:—>“L'acoÛtumance qu'avoient les Espagnols de faire travailler les Morisques, qui estoient libres parmi eux, et les Mores esclaves, dont il y a encor quelques-uns qu'ils prennent sur leurs costes et sur celles d'Afrique, les a entretenus dans la faineantise et dans l'orgueil, qui fait qu'ils dÉdaignent tous de travailler. Ce qui achÈve de les y plonger, c'est le peu de soucy qu'ils prennent de l'avenir, et l'ÉgalitÉ du menu peuple et de tous les moindres marchands et artisans qu'ils nomment officiales, avec les gentilshommes, qui demeurent tous dans les petites villes.”

In the same century the Countess d'Aulnoy recorded comical instances of the pride of the tradesmen of Madrid. “One morning,” she says, “we stopped awhile in the Plaza Mayor to await the return of a servant whom my aunt had sent with a message to some place not far away. Just then I saw a woman selling some slices of salmon, crying them aloud and proclaiming their freshness in tones which positively molested the passers-by. Presently a shoemaker came up (I knew him to be such, because they called him the seÑor zapatero), and asked for a pound of salmon; since here they sell everything by the pound, even to coal and firewood. ‘You have not been through the market,’ cried the woman who sold the fish, ‘because you fancy that my salmon is cheap to-day; but let me tell you that it costs an escudo the pound.’ Furious that his poverty should thus be hinted at in public, the shoemaker exclaimed in angry tones: ‘It is true that I was not aware of the price of fish to-day. Had it been cheap, I would have bought a pound of it; but since you say it is dear, give me three pounds.’ With these words, he held out his hand with the three escudos, jammed his hat upon his eyebrows (tradesmen in this town wear small hats, and persons of quality hats of great size), and then, twisting the ends of his mustachios, and clapping his hand to his rapier, the point of which bobbed upward, carrying with it a fold of his ragged cloak, caught up his purchase and strode home, looking at us with an arrogant air, as though he had performed some heroic deed and we had witnessed it. Yet the drollest part of it all was that beyond doubt the fellow had no money left at home, but had spent his week's wages upon the salmon, so that his choleric and haughty act would keep his wife and children famishing for all those days, after supping once upon abundant fish. Such is the character of this people; and there are gentlemen here who take the feet of a fowl and hang them so as to show beneath the hem of their cloak, to make it appear as though they really bore a fowl. But hunger, in truth, is all they carry with them.

“You never see a shopman here who does not clothe himself in velvet, silk, and satin, like the king; or who is not the owner of a mighty rapier, which dangles from the wall, together with his dagger and guitar. These fellows work as little as they may, for, as I said, they are by nature indolent. Only in case of extreme necessity do they work at all, and then they never rest, but labour even throughout a feast-day; though when they have finished what was needed to procure them money, they deliver the product of their toil, and with its value relapse into fresh idleness. The shoemaker who has two apprentices, and who has only made one pair of shoes, hands to his lads a shoe apiece and makes them walk before him as though they were his pages; he that has three apprentices is preceded by all three; and when occasion rises, the master-zapatero will hardly condescend to fit upon your feet the shoes which his own hands had put together.”

It seems that the shoemakers of Madrid were distinguished for their insolence and vanity above the rest of her tradespeople. In 1659 Bertaut de Rouen wrote of the two corrales or theatres of this town, that they were “toujours pleines de tous les marchands, et de tous les artisans, qui quittant leur boutique s'en vont lÀ avec la cappe, l'ÉpÉe, et le poignard, qui s'appellent tous cavalleros jusques au Çapateros; et ce sont ceux qui dÉcident si la comedie est bonne ou non, et À cause qu'ils la sifflent ou qu'ils l'applaudissent, et qu'ils sont d'un costÉ et d'autre en rang, outre que c'est comme une espÈce de salve, on les appelle Mosqueteros, en sorte que la bonne fortune des autheurs dÉpend d'eux.”

The foregoing narratives sound absurd, and are particularly prone to be considered so from being of foreign authorship. Their tenor, notwithstanding, is supported by the following declarations, gravely set down in writing by a Spaniard, within some half a dozen years of the visit to Madrid of the Countess d'Aulnoy. The name of this author is Alonso NuÑez de Castro, and the title of his work (published towards the close of the reign of Philip the Fourth), El Cortesano en Madrid. “What man,” demands this madrileÑo of a bygone century, “eminent in any of the arts, has belonged to other nations, but has sought in Madrid the applause and gain which his native country would not, or could not, bestow upon him? Thus, either he in person, or else his master-works, visit with frequency this court of ours, wherein they meet a better fate than in their birthplace, since only at Madrid is properly esteemed the value of illustrious effort. Let London manufacture as she may her famous cloths, Holland her cambrics, Florence her satins, India her castors and vicunas, Milan her brocades, Italy and the Netherlands the statues and oil-paintings which seem to breathe the very life of the original: our Court enjoys these products one and all, proving hereby that other nations generate artists for Madrid, who is, in sooth, the supreme Court of Courts, seeing that she is served by all, yet in her turn serves none.

“Yet not at slight expense does she enjoy this sovereignty, showering upon other hands her gold and silver, that they may recreate her mouth with choicest drinks and viands, her nostrils with delicious essences, her eyes with wondrous works of painting and of statuary, her hearing with the skill of world-renowned musicians, her luxury with expensive fabrics and with precious stones; albeit these disbursements mark her, not as prodigal, but as prudent in discovering the proper use of gold, together with the fitting aim and purpose of all riches. Who was possessor of more gold than Midas?—seeing that not he alone, but all he laid his hand upon, was gold; or who so wretched?—seeing that he was powerless to keep himself alive on gold, though all he touched was golden. Truly that man is rich that maketh gold to minister to his wants, and he a miserable pauper that to gold himself is slave, not knowing how to turn its uses to his good. Therefore let other peoples accumulate wealth at ease, heaping up the gold wherewith Madrid repays their ministration to her needs. Whereas her courtiers prove possession of their gold, in that they amassed it formerly, those foreigners show the evil and the mischief of their own by jealously confining it with lock and key: nay, who shall even tell if it be theirs, seeing that they enjoy it not, although they seem to be the lords thereof?

“You will declare that other courts enjoy the same conveniences with less expense, because their magistrates are stricter to restrain the tradesman from establishing his prices at caprice. Truly, it may happen that elsewhere the price of foods and luxuries be less than in Madrid; yet it is certain that Madrid makes fair comparison in cheapness with the other cities of Castile. Nay, more, without there seeming to be cause, her courtiers daily find that by a marvel articles are cheaper here than in the soil which generated them, or in the town where they were wrought. The fact that in comparison with other kingdoms Madrid is in some ways the dearer, proves that she hath the money for rewarding labour; and that in other capitals the sweat of the artificer is worthless, because money is worth more. Always have I remarked that the province or the realm that is awarded the name of happy, because all things are purchasable there at next to no expense, is wrongly titled so, since here is evidence, either that money lacks, or that there is no purchaser.”[79]

In the eighteenth century, when better sense prevailed among the statesmen and economists of Spain, the greedy and corrupt administration of her guilds began to be awarded greater notice. Among the enlightened and progressive Spaniards who outspoke their minds upon this theme, were Florez Estrada and the Count of Campomanes. These, among others of less mark, saw and proclaimed that the harm inflicted by the gremios in some directions was incalculable, while the good they were supposed to bring about in others was rather nominal than real.[80] Apart, however, from the judgment uttered by these two authorities, men of acknowledged probity and consequence who held the public ear, as well as by the patriotic Jovellanos in his spirited appeal in favour of the libre ejercicio de las artes, a number of causes, such as the propagation of the principles of individual liberty by the French Revolution, contributed to give the gremios an archaic air, and finally to bring about their downfall. The views concerning them which gradually filled the popular mind, prior to their extinction as an act of government in the year 1834,[81] are well expressed by Townsend. “In all the trading companies or gremios,” wrote this traveller, “religious fraternities are formed, some incorporated by royal authority and letters patent, others by connivance of the crown, but both in violation of the laws.

“Every fraternity is governed by a mayor and court of aldermen, who make laws, sit in judgment on offenders, and claim in many cases exemption from the common tribunals of the country. None but the members of these communities may exercise mechanic arts, or be concerned in trade; and to be admitted as a member is both attended with a heavy fine, and entails upon each individual a constant annual expense.

“This, however, is not the greatest evil, for the mayor and officers, during their year of service, not only neglect their own affairs, but from vanity and ostentation run into expenses, such as either ruin their families, or at least straiten them exceedingly in trade.

“These corporations, being established in the cities, banish, by their oppressive laws, all the mechanic arts from towns and villages. In the cities likewise they tend only to monopoly, by limiting the numbers in every branch of business, and fixing within unreasonable bounds the residence of those who are concerned in trade. This they do either by assigning the distance between shop and shop, under pretence that two shops vending the same commodities must not be so near together as to interfere, or by assembling all the mechanics of the same profession, such as silversmiths, and confining them to one street or quarter of the city, under the plausible pretext that thus the proper magistrate may with ease pay attention to their work, and see that the due standard be observed.[82]

“In many cases the various gremios bear hard upon each other. Thus, for instance, the carpenter must not employ his industry on mahogany, or any other wood but deal, nor must he invade the province of the turner. The turner must confine his ingenuity and labour to soft wood, and must not presume to touch either ivory or metals, even though he should be reduced to poverty for want of work. The wheeler, in similar distress, must not, however qualified, extend his operations beyond the appointed bounds, so as to encroach on the business of the coach-maker, who is equally restrained from either making or mending either cart or waggon wheels. The barber may shave, draw teeth, and bleed, but he must not fill up his leisure time with making wigs.[83] As mechanics are obliged to keep exactly each to his several line, so must shopkeepers confine themselves to their proper articles in trade, and under no pretence must the manufacturer presume to open magazines, that he may sell by retail.

“But neither are these abuses the only evils which call for reformation. Many corporations have been impertinently meddling, and have absurdly bound the hands of the manufacturer by regulations with respect to the conduct of his business and the productions of his art, such as, being too rigidly observed, would preclude all improvements, and would be destructive to his trade, by giving to foreigners a manifest advantage in favour of their merchandise.[84]

“The incorporated fraternities in the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon are 25,581, and their corporate expenses amount to 11,687,861 reals. Their revenue is not altogether consumed in feasting, nor in salaries to officers, nor in pensions to their widows, nor yet in lawsuits, which are said to be both numerous and expensive; but considerable sums are expended for religious purposes, in procuring masses to be said, either for departed spirits and the souls in Purgatory, or for the benefit of the fraternity in which each individual has a proportionable interest. For this reason, these communities enjoy the protection of the ecclesiastical courts, to which, in cases of necessity, they frequently appeal.

“The chartered corporations claim their exclusive privileges by royal grant, and on this plea they resist a formation, not considering, as Count Campomanes with propriety remarks, the essential condition of these grants, Sin perjuicio de tercero, or that nothing therein contained shall be to the prejudice of others, or injurious to the citizens at large.”

APPENDIX I

CLASSES OF POTTERY MADE AT ALCORA
(From RiaÑo's Industrial Arts in Spain)

Towards the middle of the eighteenth century:—

A document, discovered by RiaÑo, and dated 1777, says that in that year the following kinds of pottery were manufactured at Alcora:—

Figures of Demi-Porcelain.
Figures	of tritons.
„	of soldiers (two sizes).
„	of soldiers, one-third of a palmo high.
„	of the four seasons (two sizes).
„	of dancers.
„	of tritons in the form of children.
„	with brackets.
„	of different animals.
„	of gardener and female companion in the Dresden style.
Dancing figures in the German style.
Figures	of Neptune.
„	of shepherd and shepherdess.
„	of the Moorish king, Armenius.
„	of the four parts of the world (two sizes).
„	of peasant and his wife.
Small figures holding musical instruments.
Figures	representing different monarchies.
„	representing historical personages.
„	representing the history of Alexander the Great (two sizes).
„	representing Martius Curtius (two sizes).
„	of elephants.
„	of a man mounted on an elephant.
„	representing Chinese figures.
„	of Heliogabalus.
„	of a general on horseback.
„	of a grenadier supporting a candlestick.
Large figures representing Julius CÆsar.
Figures representing the different costumes worn in Spain, on brackets. Groups of Chinese figures.
Snuff-boxes, sugar-basins, inkstands.
Rabbits, horns, and pug-dogs for holding scent.
Small scent-bottles.
Needle-cases.
Large vases with foot and cover.
Brackets.
Walking-stick handles.
Knife handles.
Teaspoons.
Figures of white Biscuit China.
Figures representing Spanish costumes (two sizes).
Groups of two figures.
Large and small figures of the four parts of the world.
Figures of the four seasons (two sizes).

We find also, says RiaÑo, the following figures of painted and glazed porcelain:—

Four seasons (two sizes).
Groups of two figures.
Figure	of a Moorish king.
„	of musicians and huntsmen.
„	of peasants.
„	of Chinese.
Small figures of a gardener and female companion.
Figures of soldiers in the German style.

From 1789 to 1797, continues RiaÑo, the following kinds of pottery were made at Alcora:—

Hard paste porcelain (French).
Porcelain of three different kinds called Spanish.
Porcelain of pipeclay (English).
Blue pipeclay porcelain.
Marbled pipeclay porcelain..
Bucaros, painted and gilt.
Strasburg ware.
Porcelain painted en froid.
Marbled and gilt wares, hitherto unknown.
Porcelain (Frita).
Porcelain	painted with gilt lines.
„	painted without gold.
„	(frita), canary colour.
Boxes	in relief.
„	plain.
Porcelain (frita), painted with marble wares.
Plain boxes of the same kind.
Porcelain (frita), of blue and brown ground.
Cups and saucers of a similar kind.
Biscuit Porcelain.
Figures.
Vases.
Pedestals.
White	porcelain (frita) cups of different kinds.
„	porcelain, ornamented and plain.
Boxes with busts.
Boxes with ornamentations in relief.
Vases for holding flowers, plates, etc.
Large figures of the four seasons.
Flower vases with rams' heads.
Plain boxes.
Boxes with ornaments in relief.
White Porcelain.
Plates, cups, etc.
Figures of different kinds.
Painted Porcelain.
Cups, saucers, plates, etc.
Cream-pots.
Plain snuff-boxes, or in the shape of a dog.
Fruit-stands in relief.