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
The horse’s barding is older than the armour; it is of the early
sixteenth century, and the style of the ornamentation appears to be
Spanish Renaissance. The several pieces of which it is composed are
decorated with trophies, flowers, grotesques, and other devices in good
taste, etched, and part of them engraved by hand. On the poitrel may be
seen St. James on horseback, fighting against the Moors, accompanied by
two warriors of antiquity. The chanfron has the escutcheon of the
Alvarez de Toledo family, the surname of the celebrated Duke of Alba,
from whom possibly it might have come.
The days had passed when Spanish Kings sent to Augsburg for their
harness, and in 1620 we hear of a Royal armour factory at Pamplona in
Navarre. The first specimen of its work is the parade armour made for
the Duke of Savoy by order of Philip III. (A350-353, plate 62). Being a
presentation suit, it was lavishly decorated with vertical bands and
panels, with a bordering of trefoils of silver in relief. The initial
letter, and the ducal crown and palms of Savoy figure in the
ornamentation; and on the centre band of the cuirass may be seen the
arms of the County of Nice--a crowned eagle gazing at the sun.
Philip III.’s half-suit of armour, numbered A354-355, was also forged at
Pamplona. It is of steel-plated iron, and of extraordinary thickness. It
is blued and decorated at the borders with bands on which are chiselled
flowing scrolls, animals, grotesques, &c. A graceful edging of silver
trefoils in relief finishes off the bands. The helmet, or cabasset, has
a drooping brim, and is forged in two pieces. The breastplate is adorned
by the Collar of the Golden Fleece, and another collar or riband
(engraved), from which hangs the medal of the Immaculate Conception. A
curious feature is the seven indentations made by the bullets of an
arquebus, and each set with silver pearls. These marks do not say much
for the quality of the metal, which is ten millimetres thick. The
backplate, which is only three millimetres thick, has been perforated by
the bullet. The arms are defended by espaliers reaching to the elbow,
where they meet the cuffs of the gauntlets.
At Pamplona were also made six half-suits of boys’ armour for the three
sons of Philip III.--the Infantes Philip, Charles, and Ferdinand. These
suits (B13-B20, plates 87, &c.) are composed of closed helmet, gorget,
cuirass, and the usual arm armour. The steel is blued, and each piece is
decorated at the edge with the Collar of the Golden Fleece. The rest of
the surface is divided by beautiful foliations in silver into
diamond-shaped sections, in which are displayed the Tower and Lion of
Spain, the Pillars of Hercules, warlike trophies, and the Double-headed
Eagle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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