The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain, Volume 2 (of 3)Williams, Leonard
History
The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain, Volume 2 (of 3)
Williams, Leonard
Decorative arts -- Spain -- History
_Item_, three large pieces of wall tapestry made of blue wool with the
same devices of lions, horses, and doves, made likewise of wool, yellow
and of other colours. _Item_, five carpets made of the aforesaid wool,
bearing the same devices. _Item_, three coverlets of the same wool, and
with the same devices, for placing on the bed. _Item_, a coverlet of red
leather bearing in its centre the arms of the King and the Infanta.
_Item_, another coverlet made of leather bars and plain red leather.
_Item_, a woollen coverlet with the arms of the Infanta."[6]
[3] The _Codex of the Testaments_, preserved in Oviedo Cathedral,
contains some valuable illustrations of Spanish furniture of the
tenth century. Greatly interesting, too, is the chair of San
Raimundo (12th century) preserved at Roda in Aragon. It is of the
"scissors" or folding form (_sella plicatilis_, Ducange), and the
arms are terminated by heads of animals.
[4] The early nomenclature of the clothes and other fittings of a
Spanish bed is bewildering. We find in common use the canopy
(_almocalla_, _almuzala_; Arabic, _al-mokalla_, i.e. "haven of
refuge in all winds"--not always, possibly, a judicious term in the
case of a _cama de matrimonio_ or "marriage-bed"); the cloth-lined
skins for chilly weather (_alifafe_, _alifad_; Arabic _al-lifafh_),
such as King Juan the First of Aragon provided for his daughter
("two leathers of Morocco for the bed." _Archive of the Crown of
Aragon; Registro 1906, fol. 42_); the parament or _dosal_; the
_galnapé_ or topmost of the bedclothes proper ("_un lecho con
guenabe_"; Fuero of Cáceres, A.D. 1229); the counterpane (_fatel_,
_fatol_, _alfatel_, _facel_, _farele_, _fateye_, _fatiro_; Arabic
_fatla_); the linen sheets (_izares_, _lentros_, _lentos_, _lintes_,
_lincas_, _linteáminas_, or _lencios_); and the mattress, pillow,
and bolster, called, all three of them, _plumazo_, _plumario_, or
_plumaco_. Nearly or quite identical in meaning with these last are
_cúlcita_ and _almadraque_. _Cúlcita_ is corrupted into _colcedra_,
_cocedra_, _conzara_, _colotra_, and other more or less barbaric
variations; while _almohada_, _almuella_, _travesera_,
_almofadinha_, _faseruelo_, and _aljamar_ also signify a pillow or
a cushion.
[5] "E due haber encara héla entegrament, ses vestitz é ses joyes é un
leyt ben garnit del misllors apereylltz que sien en casa, é _una_
_escala d'argent_ é una cortina." Fuero of Jaca, A.D. 1331, quoted
by Abad y la Sierra and the Count of Clonard.
[6] Sanpere y Miquel; _Las costumbres catalanas en tiempo de Juan I._,
pp. 83, 84.
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