In the inventory (1560) of the Dukes of Alburquerque occurs a very curious notice which seems to show that mediæval Spanish swords were manufactured even in the rural districts. The entry runs; "an old grooved sword of a broad shape, bearing the words _Juanes me fezió_ ("John made me"). In the middle of the same a P within a parted wave, with Portuguese fittings, varnished, black silk hilt and fringes, and double straps of black leather, with varnished ends and buckles and black leather sheath. _Juan de Lobinguez made this sword at Cuéllar._" [Illustration: LI MOORISH BUCKLER (_Osier and metal. Royal Armoury, Madrid_)] The Spanish guilds of armourers enjoyed high favour,[134] since the examination for admission to this craft was very strict, as well as fenced about with curious prohibitions. Thus at Seville, "no Moor, Jew, black man, or other person such as the law debars, shall set up a shop for making and selling defensive arms, or undergo examination in this craft."[135] The penalty for infringement of this law was confiscation of the arms, together with a fine of twenty thousand _maravedis_. [134] In the Corpus Christi festival at Granada the banner which preceded all the rest was that of the armourers and knife-makers, followed by that of the silk-mercers. _Ordenanzas de Granada_; tit. 126. [135] _Armourers' Ordinances of Seville_, extant in ms. (quoted by Gestoso; _Diccionario de Artífices Sevillanos_; vol. I., p. xxxvi). Throughout these times the armourer's and the gilder's crafts are found in closest union; just as the armourer's craft would often alternate with that of the goldsmith or the silversmith. At Seville, the Ordinance of 1512 prescribed that every candidate who came to be examined must make "a set of horse harness, complete with stirrups, headstalls, spurs, poitral, and the fittings of a sword; and he must silver several of these pieces and blue them with fine blue; and make of iron, and gild the spurs and fittings of the sword. Thus shall he make, and gild, and silver the aforesaid pieces." Equally severe and comprehensive are the swordsmiths' Ordinances (1527 to 1531) of Granada. The aspirant to the title of _oficial_ "shall mount a sword for wear with ordinary clothes, fitted in black, together with its straps, and fringed and corded hilt; besides a sword gilded a low gold, together with its straps and other parts, all of a single colour. Also he shall fit a velvet-scabbarded, silver-hilted sword, and a two-handed sword, fully decorated, with the knife attaching to the same, one-edged and with a smooth hilt; also a sword whose scabbard shall be fitted with knives numbering not less than three; and a hilt of _lacería_ (network ornament); and another sword in a white sheath, with woven hilt; and another of a hand and a half."[136]