Spanish Arms and Armour: Being a Historical and Descriptive Account of the Royal Armoury of MadridCalvert, Albert Frederick
History
Spanish Arms and Armour: Being a Historical and Descriptive Account of the Royal Armoury of Madrid
Calvert, Albert Frederick
Arms and armor -- Spain; Real Armería de Madrid
On the other hand there can be no doubt that the conquest of Andalusia
had let the Castilian artificers into the secrets of many new methods,
such as damascening and enamelling, by which they were not slow to
profit. The traditions of the goldsmith’s craft, handed down from
Visigothic times, had never been lost; and certain it is that in the
fourteenth century, when the conquerors had had time to assimilate the
arts of the conquered to their own, armour and metal work of all kinds
began to assume a rich and elaborate character. The goldsmiths of
Barcelona, Toledo, Valladolid, and Seville enjoyed a European
reputation. They worked in close co-operation with the armour-smith. In
the example of a fourteenth-century harness we have just
considered--that of Don Bernardo Anglesola--not only bascinet,
gauntlets, coudes, and genouillères are chased, and in some cases set
with precious stones, but the hauberk has a rich fringe of gilt, and
each plate of the rere-braces has a decorative band at the lower border.
The baldric is adorned with studs and fleurs-de-lys. In the statue, at
Seville, of Don Alvaro de Guzman, Admiral of Castile, who died in 1394,
the same elaboration may be noticed in the roped edges of the
genouillères, the gauntlets, and the tasteful floral devices,
alternating with rows of studs, in the ornamentation of the baldric. The
pommel of the sword, as was customary, is emblazoned with the arms of
the owner. According to Froissart, the bascinet of the King of Castile
(1385) was encircled by a fillet of gold and precious stones--“qui bien
valoient vingt mille francs.”
Helmets at the close of the fourteenth century were not only richly,
but, as was often the case in preceding ages, fantastically decorated.
We have an excellent illustration in the Armoury (plate 9) in the crest
of King Martin of Aragon (1395-1412), formerly attributed to Jaime el
Conquistador, and carried for many years in the procession of the
“Standart,” at Palma (OII). It represents the head, neck, and wings of a
dragon--the _Drac pennat_, the device displayed in field and tilt-yard
by the Princes of the House of Aragon from Pedro IV. to Fernando II.
(1336-1479). As was generally the case, it is made of boiled parchment
and gilded plaster, and was set on the crest of the helmet, encircled by
the crown or coronal, amid dancing plumes. The cap on which the _Drac
pennat_ is mounted was added in the first years of the fifteenth
century, that it might be worn by the man who carried in the procession
the standard of Jaime I. At the renowned and honourable passage of arms
of Don Suero de Quiñones (1434), the crest of one of the knight’s
helmets was in the shape of a golden tree, with green leaves and golden
fruit; round the trunk was coiled a serpent, and in the middle was a
naked sword with the device--_Le vray amy_. (True friend).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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