The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain, Volume 1 (of 3)Williams, Leonard
History
The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain, Volume 1 (of 3)
Williams, Leonard
Decorative arts -- Spain -- History
[145] As I have stated in another chapter, the precious stones and
metals were continually employed in arms and harness, both of
Spanish Moors and Spanish Christians. In 1062 Pedro Ruderiz
bequeathed to the Monastery of Arlanza all his battle harness,
together with his silver bit (_frenum argenteum_). Thousands of
such bequests have been recorded. The Chronicle of Alfonso the
Eleventh says that after the victory of the Rio Salado, this
monarch found among his spoil "many swords with gold and silver
fittings, and many spurs, all of enamelled gold and silver....
And all this spoil was gathered by the king into his palaces
of Seville (_i.e._ the Alcázar), the doubloons in one part, and
the swords in another part." The testament (sometimes considered
to be a forgery) of Pedro the Cruel mentions "my sword in the
Castilian manner, that I caused to be made here in Seville with
gems and with _aljofar_." In 1409 Yusuf, King of Granada,
presented Juan the Second and the Infante Don Enrique with
silver-fitted swords. Referring to a later age, Davillier
discovered at Simancas a detailed list of weapons sumptuously
decorated with gold and coloured enamels, made for Philip the
Second by Juan de Soto, "_orfebrero de su Alteza_." _Recherches_,
pp. 149-151.
The stirrups included "two Moorish stirrups of gilded tin, for a woman's
use";[146] "some large Moorish stirrups, gilt, with two silver plates
upon their faces, enamelled gold, green, and blue, and eight nails on
either face"; "some other Moorish stirrups, wrought inside with
_ataujía_-work in gold, and outside with plates of copper enamelled in
green, blue, and white; the handles gilt, with coverings of red
leather"; and "some silver stirrups with three bars upon the floor
thereof, round-shaped in the manner of an urinal, with open sides
consisting of two bars, a flower within a small shield on top, and, over
this, the small face of a man."
[146] The women of mediæval Spain had few amusements besides riding.
Another--though owing to the temperate climate it must have been
on few occasions--was skating, since this inventory mentions
"two pairs of skates, for a man, for travelling over ice. Two
pairs of skates, for the same purpose, for a woman." This entry
almost matches in its quaintness with the "irons for mustaches,"
or the "triggers for extracting teeth," set forth in Spanish
documents such as the _Tassa General_ of 1627.
The many sets of reins included several of Granada make, coloured in
white, red, and bay; while one of the most elaborate of the poitrals was
of "red leather, embroidered with gold thread, with fringes of
rose-coloured silk, buckles, ends, and rounded knobs; the whole of
copper enamelled green, and blue, and white."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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