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Title: The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain, Volume III (of 3)
Author: Leonard Williams
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Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
The ligature oe is represented by [oe].
The dagger sign has been marked as [dagger].
A carat character is used to denote superscription. A
single character following the carat is superscripted
(XIV^e).
[=a] represents a letter (in this instance a lower case
"a") with a macron above it.
[Illustration: "THE GRAPE-GATHERERS"
(_Tapestry from Cartoon by Goya. El Escorial_)]
The World of Art Series
THE ARTS AND CRAFTS OF OLDER SPAIN
by
LEONARD WILLIAMS
Corresponding Member of the Royal Spanish Academy,
of the Royal Spanish Academy of History, and of the
Royal Spanish Academy of Fine Arts;
Author of "The Land of the Dons"; "Toledo and Madrid"; "Granada," etc.
In Three Volumes, Illustrated
VOLUME III
Chicago
A. C. McClurg & Co.
Edinburgh: T. N. Foulis
1908
American Edition
Published October 10, 1908
CONTENTS OF VOLUME THREE
TEXTILE FABRICS
PAGES
INTRODUCTION 1-38
SPANISH SILK 38-105
CLOTHS AND WOOLLENS 105-125
EMBROIDERY 125-137
TAPESTRY 137-159
LACE 159-175
* * * * *
APPENDICES 177-258
BIBLIOGRAPHY 259-268
INDEX 271-282
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
_VOLUME THREE_
TEXTILE FABRICS
PLATE PAGE
"The Grape-Gatherers"; Tapestry from Cartoon
by Goya; El Escorial _Frontispiece_
I. The "Banner of Las Navas"; Monastery of Las Huelgas,
Burgos 22
II. Fragment of the Burial Mantle of Ferdinand the Third;
Royal Armoury, Madrid 26
III. King Alfonso the Learned; from "The Book of Chess," MS.
in the Escorial Library 28
IV. Spanish Velvet; about A.D. 1500 30
V. The Tunic of Boabdil el Chico; National Museum of
Artillery, Madrid 36
VI. The "Banner of Saint Ferdinand"; Seville Cathedral 40
VII. Velvet made at Granada 56
VIII. The Daughters of Philip the Second; Prado Gallery,
Madrid 98
IX. A _Charra_ or Peasant Woman of Salamanca, in the
year 1777 102
X. Embroidered Priest's Robe; about A.D. 1500 118
XI. Embroidered Priest's Robe; about A.D. 1500 120
XII. Embroidered Chasuble; Palencia Cathedral 122
XIII. Embroidered Case of Processional Cross; Toledo Cathedral 124
XIV. Embroidered Altar-Front 126
XV. Embroidered Altar-Front; Toledo Cathedral 128
XVI. Embroidered Altar-Front; Palencia Cathedral 130
XVII. Embroidered Altar-Fronts; Palencia Cathedral 132
XVIII. Costume of Woman of the Balearic Islands; about
A.D. 1810 134
XIX. The "Genesis Tapestry"; Gerona Cathedral 138
XX. _Tapiz_ of Crimson Velvet worked in gold tissue;
Monastery of Las Huelgas, Burgos 144
XXI. "The Spinners," by Velazquez; Prado Gallery, Madrid 148
XXII. Tapestry made at Brussels from Granada Silk 150
XXIII. "A Promenade in Andalusia"; Cartoon for Tapestry,
by Goya 152
XXIV. Tapestry; Arras-Work, from Italian Cartoons; Zamora
Cathedral 156
XXV. Flemish Tapestry; Collection of the late Count of
Valencia de Don Juan 158
XXVI. The Marchioness of La Solana, by Goya 160
XXVII. A Spanish _Maja_; A.D. 1777 162
XXVIII. A _Maja_, by Goya 164
XXIX. A Lady of Soria; about A.D. 1810 166
XXX. Handkerchief of Catalan Lace, presented to Queen
Victoria of Spain on her marriage 168
XXXI. Curtain of Spanish Lace; Point and Pillow Work, modern 170
XXXII. Point Lace Fan, of Mudejar Design, modern 172
TEXTILE FABRICS
INTRODUCTION
Our earliest intelligence respecting textile fabrics of old Spain
derives almost exclusively from Moorish sources, and shows, together
with the silence of Saint Isidore, that until the subjugation of the
Visigoths, the occupants of the Peninsula attached no great importance
to this industry. Under the Moors, the south and east of Spain grew
rapidly famous for the manufacture of all kinds of textile stuffs, and
in particular those of silk. The origin of these silks, or of the most
luxurious and artistic of them, may be traced to Almería. According to
Al-Makkari, what made this Andalusian capital superior to all other
cities of the world was her "various manufactures of silks and other
dress materials, such as the _dibaj_, a silken fabric of many colours,
surpassing, both in quality and durability, all other products made
elsewhere, and also the _tiraz_, a costly stuff whereon are inscribed
the names of sultans, princes, and other personages, and for making
which there used to be no fewer than eight hundred looms. Inferior
fabrics were the _holol_ (a kind of striped silk), and brocades woven
upon a thousand looms, while as many more were employed continually in
making the scarlet stuffs called _iskalaton_. Another thousand produced
the robes called _al jorjani_ (or 'the Georgian'), and yet another
thousand the Isbahani robes, from Isfahan, and yet another thousand the
robes of Atabi. The making of damask for gay-coloured curtains and
turbans for the women kept busy as many persons as the articles
above-mentioned."
Edrisi, a chronicler of the twelfth century, says of the same capital
that she was the principal city belonging to the Moors in the time of
the Moravides. In fact, she was then a great and prosperous industrial
centre, possessing, together with other kinds of looms, eight hundred
which produced the fabrics known as _holla_, _debady_, _siglaton_,
_espahani_, and _djordjani_, curtains with a flowered decoration, cloths
of a smaller size, and the stuffs which were denominated _attabi_ and
_mi djar_.
A similar notice is contained in the _Chronicle of Rassis the Moor_.
Referring to the end of the tenth century, this author wrote that
"Almería is the key of profit and of all prosperity. Within her walls
dwell cunning weavers who produce in quantities magnificent silken
cloths inwoven with gold thread." Other important centres of this trade
and craft were Málaga, Baeza, Alicante, Seville, and Granada. Rassis
wrote of Málaga: "She has a fertile territory, wherein is made the
finest _sirgo_ in the world. From here they trade in it with every part
of Spain. Here too is made the finest of all linens, and that which the
women best esteem." Of Baeza he wrote: "She manufactures excellent and
famous silken cloths of the kind which are called _tapetes_"; and of
Alicante, "This city lies in the Sierra de Benalcatil, which in its turn
is situated in the midst of other ranges containing prosperous towns
where silken cloths of finest quality were made in other days; and the
weavers of these cloths were skilled exceedingly."
Málaga is described by the Cordovese historian Ash Shakandi (thirteenth
century) as "famous for its manufactures of silks of every colour and
design, some of them so costly that a suit is sold for thousands; such
are the brocades of beautiful pattern, inwoven with the names of
caliphs, emirs and other wealthy personages.... As at Málaga and
Almería, there are at Murcia several manufactories of silken cloth
called _al washiu thalathat_, or 'the variegated.' This town is also
celebrated for the carpets called _tantili_, which are exported to all
countries of the east and west, as well as for a sort of bright-coloured
mat with which the Murcians cover the walls of their houses."
The ancient Illiberia or Illiberis, believed to have been situated not
far from where is nowadays Granada, is described in Rassis' chronicle as
"a city great and flourishing by reason of the quantity of silk that she
exports to every part of Spain. She lies at sixty thousand paces
distance from, and on the southward side of Cordova, and six thousand
paces from, and to the north of the Frozen Sierra" (_i.e._ the Sierra
Nevada).
Another chronicle--that of El Nubiense, who visited Spain towards the
twelfth century--states that in the kingdom of Jaen alone were six
hundred towns which produced and carried on a trade in silk.
The foregoing extracts show that under the Spanish Moors the manufacture
of textile fabrics attained in mediæval times a very great importance.
It is also certain that during the same period the textile fabrics in
use among the Christian Spaniards were strongly and continually
influenced, and even to a large extent produced, by Spanish Moors,
while, as the Moorish cities fell into the power of the enemy, the
Christian rulers encouraged their newly-sworn Mohammedan lieges to
prosecute this industry with unabated zeal. A privilege is extant which
was granted by Jayme the Conqueror in the year 1273, to a Moor named Ali
and his sons Mohammed and Bocaron, empowering these artificers to
manufacture silk and cloth of gold at Jativa, in the kingdom of
Valencia. The fabrics produced by Mussulman weavers such as these, found
ready purchase with the wealthier classes of the Christian Spaniards.
The dress and other materials thus elaborated possessed a great variety
of names, whose meaning cannot always be determined at the present day.
Among the fabrics most in vogue were those denominated _samit_ (also
_xamed_ or _examitum_), _ciclaton_, _tabis_ or _atabi_, _zarzahan_,
_fustian_ or _fustan_, _cendal_ or _sendat_, _camelote_ (also
_chamelote_ or _xamellot_), _drap imperial_, and _bougran_ (also
_bouckram_, _buckram_), stated by Dr Bock to be derived from Bokhara,
and which was of a quality far superior to the buckram of more modern
times. These Saracenic or semi-Saracenic stuffs were manufactured from
an early period, but modern experts are not agreed as to their
character. Miquel y Badía and some other authorities believe that
_samit_ was a costly material which was sometimes coloured green, and
shot with gold or silver thread. Others believe it to have been a kind
of velvet. In either case it is known to have been used for shrouding
the bodies of the wealthy. _Ciclaton_ was a strong though flexible
material used for robes and also for wall-hangings. _Tabis_ or _atabi_
was a kind of taffeta, and probably consisted, as a general rule, of
silk, though sometimes it was mixed with cotton. _Chamelot_ was an
oriental fabric of rich silk, coloured white, black, or grey. It is
mentioned, together with velvets, taffetas, and _cendal_ or _sendat_
(another silken stuff) in a law passed by the Cortes of Monzón in 1375,
and which is quoted in Capmany's _Memorias_.[1] Fustian is thought to
have been first produced in Egypt. It was woven of thread or cotton, and
was largely used in England from at least as early as the twelfth
century. From about the same time buckram was also popular in northern
countries.
[1] "Perco con los draps d'or é d'argent, é de seda axi brocats d'or é
d'argent con altres é velluts, xamelots, tafetanes, é sendats se
usen molt de vestir en lo dit Principat d'alguna generalitat ne
dret no y sia posat, mes solament vi liners per liura per la
entrada."
Early in the fourteenth century a number of other costly stuffs began to
be made in various quarters of the civilized world, including Spain.
Among these fabrics were _zatonin_ or _zatony_ (perhaps the same as
_zetani_, _aceituni_, or _aceytoni_--that is, satin), several kinds of
_drap d'aur_ or cloth of gold, several kinds of velvet, _sarga_ or
serge, and _camocas_, which is stated by Miquel y Badía to have been a
strong material used for lining curtains, coats of mail, etc. The same
writer observes that the stuff called by the name _zatonin_ and its
variations is the same as the Castilian raso and the Catalan _setí_ or
_satí_, a favourite though expensive and luxurious fabric in the
fourteenth and succeeding centuries. Under the name _aceytoni_ it is
mentioned in a work in the Catalan language titled _Croniques
d'Espanya_, by Pedro Miguel Carbonell, in which we read that at the
coronation of Don Martin of Aragon this monarch's consort, Doña María,
was "dressed in white cloth of gold and a long mantle ... and rode upon
a white horse covered with trappings of white _aceytoni_."
Miquel y Badía has discovered the names of other fabrics which are known
from documentary evidence to have been used in older Spain, and which
were called _aducar_, _alama_, _tela de nacar_, _primavera_ or
_primavert_, _almexia_, _picote_, and _velillo_. It is probable that
_alama_ and _tela de nacar_ had silver interwoven with their texture.
The _primavera_ or "spring fabric" was so named from the flowers which
adorned it. _Almexía_ is mentioned in the _Chronicle of the Cid_. It was
a costly and elaborate stuff, and is believed by Miquel to have taken
its title from the city of Almería. _Picote_ was a kind of satin
manufactured in the island of Majorca, and _velillo_ a thin, delicate
fabric decorated with flowers and with silver thread.
The devices on all these stuffs were very varied. Prominent types among
them were the _pallia rotata_, containing circles which are commonly
combined with other ornament, the _pallia aquilinata_, in which the
dominant motive was the eagle, and the _pallia leonata_, in which it was
the lion. Other beasts, birds, and monsters were also figured with great
frequency, such as griffins, peacocks, swans, crows, bulls, tigers, or
dogs; but the emblem most in favour, especially throughout the tenth,
eleventh, and twelfth centuries, was the eagle, owing to the numerous
and illustrious qualities attributed to it, such as majesty, victory,
valour, and good omen. These creatures, too, were frequently represented
face to face or back to back, in pairs; nor were they so disposed in
textile fabrics only, but on ivory, wood, or silver caskets, and on
numerous other objects, as well as on the painted friezes of a place of
worship.[2]
[2] "We have seen many instances of such opposed animals and birds on
the metal-work and carving of the thirteenth century, and there is
no doubt that the design is much older than Mohammedan times, and
goes back to the productions of the old artists of Mesopotamia and
Persia. We read in Quintus Curtius of robes worn by Persian satraps,
adorned with birds beak to beak--_aurei accipitres veluti rostri in
se irruerunt pallam adornabant_. Plautus mentions Alexandrian
carpets ornamented with beasts: _Alexandrina belluata conchyliata
tapetia_. There is indeed reason to believe that the notion of such
pairs of birds or beasts may have originated with the weavers of
ancient Persia, and have been borrowed from them by the engravers of
metal-work; for the advantage of such double figures would be
specially obvious to a weaver. The symmetrical repetition of the
figure of the bird or animal, reversed, saved both labour and
elaboration of the loom. The old weavers, not yet masters of
mechanical improvements, were obliged to work their warp up and down
by means of strings, and the larger the design the more numerous
became these strings and the more complicated the loom. Hence, to be
able to repeat the pattern in reverse was a considerable economy of
labour, and could be effected very simply on a loom constructed to
work _à pointe et à reverse_. Examples of such repetitions of
patterns, especially of symmetrical pairs of animals within circles,
are common in Byzantine and Sassanian woven work, and the Saracens
followed these models."--Stanley Lane-Poole, _The Art of the
Saracens in Egypt_, p. 288.
The colours of these fabrics also varied very greatly. That which was
most admired was probably red, crimson, or carmine, used by preference
as a ground, with the pattern inwoven or super-woven in gold, silver, or
otherwise. Velvets, too, were not invariably in monochrome, but would
contain two or three colours such as purple, crimson, blue, or yellow,
besides gold and silver. Miquel y Badía mentions a magnificent velvet
pluvial in gold and three colours, belonging to a church in Cataluña.
The following observations are by the same authority, who himself
possesses a valuable collection of early textile fabrics, many of which
are Spanish. "The same prevailing colours are found in the Mudejar
textile fabrics as in those of the Spanish Moors--the same ground of red
inclining to carmine, of dark blue, or of bluish green, with a pattern
in yellow, green, blue, or red, according to the colour which combines
with it. I have seen copies of Mudejar stuffs in which there is no
white, because this was wanting in the fragments which the copying
artist had before him. And it is a fact that from some cause, which we
cannot now determine, white silk is that which disappears soonest from
among the textile fabrics of the Spanish Moors and Mudejares, so that by
far the greater part of them contain no white at all, or only traces of
it."
In Spain these handsome stuffs were used by all the wealthier classes,
and some idea of their prevalence and popularity may be formed from the
voluminous mass of sumptuary laws which deal with them at almost every
stage of Spanish history. Thus, an edict of Jayme the First of Aragon
established, in the year 1234, that neither the monarch nor any of his
subjects were to decorate their clothes with gold and silver, or fasten
their cloaks with gold or silver clasps. The _Ordenamiento_ of Alfonso
the Tenth, subscribed at Seville, February 27th, 1256, provides that no
woman is to carry _aljofar_-work, trim her dress with gold or silver, or
wear a _toca_ decorated with those metals, but only a plain white one,
the price of which is not to exceed three _maravedis_. It is also
provided by this edict that on the celebration of a wedding, the cost of
the bridal clothes must not exceed sixty _maravedis_, nor may the number
of guests who sit down to the marriage banquet exceed five women and
five men, besides the witnesses of the ceremony and relatives of the
bride and bridegroom. This absurd law was so extensively neglected that
two years later the Cortes of Valladolid took up the matter afresh, and
even resolved that the expenses of the king's table, without the cost of
his invited guests, were not to exceed a daily total of a hundred and
fifty _maravedis_.
In A.D. 1286 the Council of Cordova decreed that knights and squires,
upon the celebration of their marriage, were not to present their brides
with more than two dresses, one of these to be of scarlet, without
trimming of ermine or grey fur, or decoration of gold, silver, or
_aljofar_. A law of Alfonso the Eleventh, dated May 6th, 1338,
proclaimed that the women of the upper classes were not to clothe
themselves in any silken fabric decorated with gold thread. Similar
restrictions were laid upon the other sex. "No man, whatever be his
condition (excepting only Us, the King), shall wear cloth of gold, or
silk, or any stuff adorned with gold lace, _aljofar_, or any other
trimming, or with enamel: only his cloak may bear _aljofar_ pearl-work,
or fillets without pearls." Other dispositions signed by the same
monarch show that the Spaniards of his time were in the habit of wearing
costly cloth adorned with gold and silver, pearls, gold buttons, enamel,
and other ornament, while even the squires wore furs and gilded shoes.
The _ricos-hombres_ loaded their saddles with gold and with
_aljofar_-work, and their wives were licensed to bear on each of their
dresses the same _aljofar_-work or strings of tiny pearls, to the value
of four thousand _maravedis_.
Provisions of the same tenor are contained in the prolix sumptuary
pragmatic of Pedro the Cruel, signed in the year 1351 at Valladolid, as
well as in that of Juan the First, A.D. 1385, which ordained, together
with other vexatious prohibitions, that "neither man nor woman, whatever
be their condition or estate, shall wear cloth of gold or any
silk-stuff, gold or silver _aljofar_, or other precious stones,
excepting the Infante and Infantas, who may wear whatever pleases them."
The extravagance of Isabella the Catholic in dress and personal
adornment generally, was illustrated in an earlier chapter of this work.
A further instance is recorded by Clemencin. According to this
chronicler, in 1476 and 1477, upon her reception at Alcalá of two
embassies from France, the queen was dressed in a magnificent robe,
which drew upon her a sharp rebuke from her confessor, the virtuous and
austere Hernando de Talavera. From this charge Isabella defended herself
with more spirit than truthfulness. "Neither myself nor my ladies," she
wrote in her letter of reply, "were dressed in new apparel. All that I
wore on this occasion I had already worn in Aragon, and the French
themselves had seen me wearing it. I only used one robe at all, and that
of silk with three marks of gold, the plainest I could find: in this was
all my festival. I say this much in that my clothing was not new; nor
did we deem that error could dwell therein."[3]
[3] _Elogio de la Reina Católica_, p. 374.
Although their own extravagance is past all question, on September 30th,
1499, Ferdinand and his consort issued a proclamation at Granada, in
which it was commanded that "no persons shall wear clothing of brocade,
or silk, or silk _chamelote_, or _zarzahan_, or taffeta, or carry
linings of the same upon the trappings of their horses, or upon hoods,
or the straps and scabbards of their swords, or bits, or saddles, or
_alcorques_[4] ... nor shall they wear embroidered silk-stuffs
decorated with gold plates, whether such gold be drawn or hammered, spun
to a thread, or interwoven with the fabric."
[4] These are defined by the Count of Clonard as "a kind of clog
(_chapín_) with a cork sole, and which was introduced by the Moors
under the name _al-kork_."
These prohibitions, or others of their import, were ratified by Doña
Juana at the Cortes of Burgos, and, in 1533, by Charles the Fifth at
Valladolid. In 1551 the Emperor again prohibited "all brocaded stuffs,
or gold or silver cloth, whether embroidered or enriched with gold or
silver thread, or bound with cord or edging of the same;" and a royal
edict of January 12th, 1611, forbade the wearing of brocade and every
other costly stuff to all except the clergy and the military.
The clergy, indeed, had always been notorious for extravagance, and not
a few of all these sumptuary laws are aimed specifically at them. In
A.D. 1228 the Council of Valladolid prohibited the use by priests of
sleeved robes, or gilded saddles, bits, spurs, or poitrels. In 1267 the
Synod of León repeated these prohibitions, further insisting that the
garments of the clergy, besides being sleeveless, were not to be red or
green, and were to have a moderate length ("_non muy largas, non muy
cortas_"), and that their cloaks were not to fasten with a clasp or
cord; these regulations to be rigidly adhered to _en sennal de
honestidat_--"as a sign of honesty."
We also know that at this time (thirteenth century) the shirts of many
of the wealthier Spaniards were woven of finest linen imported from the
East, embroidered and picked out with gold and silver thread, and that
the clergy were at least the equals of the laity in their craze for
costly clothing. In A.D. 1273, an inventory was made of the effects
belonging to Don Gonzalo Palomeque, on his election to the bishopric of
Cuenca. It mentions _almadraques_ and Murcian _tapetes_, _carpitas
viadas_ from Tlemcen, fine Murcian blankets (_alhamares_), silk
_xamedes_, Murcian matting for covering walls and daïses ("_para paret
et para estrado_"), and stuffs from Syria. Another inventory, that of
Don Gonzalo Gudiel, archbishop of Toledo, is dated A.D. 1280, and
mentions, as included with his property, quantities of oriental fabrics
which are designated by the general name _tartaricas_.[5] Among them
were "unus pannus operatus ad aves de auro et campus de serica viridi,
item unus alius pannus tartaricus cum campo de seta alba et vite aurea,
item unus pannus tartaricus de seta rubea cum pinis aureis, item unus
pannus tartaricus de seta viridi."[6]
[5] Specifically, _tartari_ was a costly fabric, heavily embroidered.
Ducange considers that it came, or came originally, from Tartary.
We read of it twice in the _Chronicle of the Cid_, and again, in
the _Chronicle of Ferdinand the Fourth_:--"tiraron los paños de
marhega que tenia vestidos por su padre é vistiéronle unos paños
nobles de tartari."
[6] Quoted by Fernandez y Gonzalez, _Mudejares de Castilla_, p. 231,
from the originals in the Archiepiscopal Library of Toledo.
A number of mediæval textile fabrics, some in fragments, some intact,
have been preserved in Spanish private collections or museums. It is,
however, seldom easy to determine whether they were made in this
Peninsula, or whether in Sicily, Byzantium, Venice, or the East. Among
the most remarkable of all these interesting specimens are, a strip
which was extracted from the mausoleum of a Spanish bishop, Don Bernardo
Calbó, a native of Vich in Cataluña, and which is now in the museum of
that town; other fragments in the same collection, including one of
_holosericum_ or pure silk, which was formerly in the neighbouring
church of San Juan de las Abadesas, and is commonly known as the
_pallium_ or altar front "of the witches" (owing to certain beasts or
monsters figuring in the design), a Moorish _tiraz_, now in the Academy
of History at Madrid, the celebrated Moorish "banner of the battle of
Las Navas," now in the Monastery of Santa María la Real de las Huelgas
at Burgos, the banner (also Moorish) of the battle of the River Salado,
the chasubles "of the Constable" and of Chiriana, preserved respectively
at Burgos and at Caravaca, a fragment, preserved in the Royal Armoury at
Madrid, of the shroud of Ferdinand the Third, and the Moorish clothing
of the son of the same King Ferdinand, the Infante Don Felipe, and of
Felipe's second wife, Doña Leonor Ruiz de Castro.
The strip of woven material found in the sepulchre of Bishop Calbó, who
is said to have accompanied Don Jayme the Conqueror in the conquest of
Valencia (A.D. 1238), is described by Miquel y Badía as belonging to the
class denominated _pallia rotata_--that is, with circles forming part of
their design,--and dates most probably from the twelfth century; but it
is impossible to say whether it was manufactured in the East, or whether
at Valencia or some other Spanish town. The same remark applies to other
fragments which are also, as I stated, in the Vich Museum. The one
discovered in the tomb of Bishop Calbó contains, coloured in green,
grey, and black upon a carmine ground, a decorative scheme of circles,
flowers, and gryphons or other monsters in pairs, _affrontés_, and also,
within the circles, the figure of a man grappling with two lions,
tigers, dogs, or other beasts, and who is believed to represent Samson
or Daniel--more probably the latter. Miquel y Badía points out that in
this fragment the figure of the man recalls Egyptian art, suggested by
his curious head-dress, and by the crossing of his clothes upon his
breast.
Another textile fragment in the same collection is coloured black, red,
and grey upon a yellowish ground. It is decorated with long-tailed birds
resembling peacocks, and with sphinxes which fill the circles or
medallions. A third fragment, also in the Vich Museum, belongs to the
type of _pallia cum aquilis et bestiolis_. The design consists of a
double-headed eagle with half-extended wings, holding in the claws of
either foot some kind of quadruped--perhaps a bull. The colour of the
ground resembles carmine, and on it the design is wrought in greenish
black--that may have been originally green--relieved at intervals with
yellow.
The "witches'" _pallium_ in the same collection is decorated with the
series of extraordinary beasts or monsters that have won for it this
title with the vulgar, depicted in yellow, white, black, and dark green
upon a red ground. Miquel believes this fabric to proceed from
Byzantium, and to date from not much earlier than the eleventh century.
The devices are disposed in two rows, the lower containing peacocks
_affrontés_, and the upper a series of fantastic monsters, each of which
possesses a head, two bodies, and four feet--the head being semi-human,
semi-bestial, the double body that of a bird, and the claws those of a
lion or some other formidable quadruped.
The Royal Academy of History at Madrid possesses a fragment of the
costly fabric known as _tiraz_, an eastern word (corrupted by the
Spaniards into _taracea_, _i.e._ embroidery on clothing), which means
the bordering for a royal robe. Such bordering, which contained
inscriptions, or the sultan's name, or both together, is said to have
been first used in Spain by Abderrahman the Second, who ruled from A.D.
825 to 852. "The caliphs of Cordova," says Riaño, "had a place set apart
in their palaces where this stuff was kept: this custom lasted until the
eleventh century, when it disappeared, and was re-established in the
thirteenth century with the kings of Granada." _Tiraz_, in fact, was
both produced and stored in special departments of the Sultan's
palaces[7]; or so we must infer from the following passage by
Ibn-Khaldun. "The places (_almedinas_) where these stuffs were woven
were situated within the palaces of the caliphs, and were known as the
'pavilions of the _tiraz_.' The person at the head of these workshops
was called the superintendent of the _tiraz_: he had charge of both the
weavers and the looms, administered the salaries, and looked to the
quality of the work. This post was entrusted by the princes to one of
the foremost officers of their kingdom, or else to some freedman who
thoroughly deserved their confidence." The same historian adds that the
manufacture of _tiraz_ was conducted in Spain in the same manner as in
the East under the dynasty of the Ommeyades. It is, however, certain
that among the Spanish Moors _tiraz_ was not produced exclusively in
royal factories. Al-Makkari states that in the time of the Somadies and
the Almoravides there were looms at Nerja (and possibly at Almería) for
weaving this luxurious fabric, as well as _holas_, a fine brocade,
heavily embroidered, and adorned with figures representing the caliphs
and other personages. In the time of the Almoravides there were at
Almería as many as a thousand factories for making _holas_.
[7] "An interesting parallel to the royal silk factory, or
D[=a]r-et-tir[=a]z of Kay-Kub[=a]d, and to that of the F[=a]timy
Khalif at Tinn[=i]s, is found in the similar institution at Palermo,
which owed its foundation to the Kelby Am[=i]rs who ruled Sicily as
vassals of the F[=a]timis in the ninth and tenth centuries, though
it maintained its special character and excellence of work under
the Norman kings. The factory was in the palace, and the weavers
were Mohammedans, as indeed is obvious from a glance at the famous
silk cloth preserved at Vienna, and called the "Mantle of Nürnberg,"
where a long Arabic inscription testifies to the hands that made it,
by order of King Roger, in the year of the Hijra 528, or
A.D. 1133."--Stanley Lane-Poole, _The Art of the Saracens in Egypt_,
p. 289.
The piece of _tiraz_ which belongs to the Spanish Academy of History
measures about a yard and a half in length by eighteen inches wide.
Riaño describes it as of wool, embroidered in silks with "seated figures
which appear to be a king, a lady, lions, birds, and quadrupeds"; but
after carefully examining it I cannot but agree with Miquel y Badía that
this fabric is woven throughout of pure silk, without the slightest
trace of hand-embroidery. It has two borders containing these
inscriptions in Cufic letters: "In the name of God, the clement, the
merciful. (May) the blessing of God and happiness (be) for the Caliph
Iman Abdallah Hixem, the favoured of God and prince of believers." This
monarch, second of the name, reigned at the end of the tenth century and
early in the eleventh, and the _tiraz_ we are noticing was found in a
casket on the altar of a church at San Esteban de Gormaz, in the
province of Soria. As Riaño suggests, it was very probably a war trophy.
[Illustration: I
THE "BANNER OF LAS NAVAS"
(_Monastery of Santa Maria la Real de las Huelgas, Burgos_)]
Another most interesting example of Saracenic textile work is the
so-called "banner of Las Navas" (Plate i.), which popular tradition
affirms to have been captured (A.D. 1212) in the memorable battle of Las
Navas de Tolosa, between the Almohades and the Spanish Christians. Most
experts now consider that this object is not a military ensign, but a
curtain or some other hanging for a tent or doorway. The material is
_sirgo_ or silken serge, and both the decoration and the workmanship are
purely Moorish. The design is rich and intricate throughout, consisting
of scrolls, leaves, stems, and inscriptions from the Koran, disposed
with exquisite effect about the principal and central motive, formed by
a large eight-pointed star within a circle, and which contains, so as to
form the angles of the star, eight repetitions of the words in Arabic,
"_The Empire_." The dominant colour is carmine, and the fabric
terminates in eight _farpas_ or scallops with red and yellow edges, and
bearing a series of inscriptions in the African character.
The "_pendon_ of the Rio Salado," a trophy which seems to have really
been a war-flag, belongs to the cathedral of Toledo. It measures at this
day about nine feet two inches by seven feet four inches, but is
believed to have been originally of a square form, with scalloped edges.
The dominant colours are red, green, and gold. The decorative scheme
consists of tastefully combined circles and inscriptions in the Cufic
character, and the lower end concludes in the following sentences, now
rendered incomplete through the loss of nearly two feet of the
material:--"... the wise, the victorious, the assiduous, the generous,
the sultan, the caliph, the famous emir of the Muslims and
representative of the Lord of the Universe, Abu-Said Otsmin, son of our
lord and master ... the worshipper of (Allah), the modest, the warlike,
the emir of the Mussulmans Nassir-li-Din (_defender of the law_), Abu
Yusuf Yacub, son of Abd-il-Hac. In the Alcázar of Fez (God bless it.
Praised be God), in the Moon of Moharran of the year twelve and seven
hundred" (712 of the Hegira, or May 9th-June 7th, A.D. 1312).
Tastefully disposed in white Cufic characters, within four rows of
circles woven in gold, are the words which sum the Mussulman
religion,--"There is no God but God: Mahoma is His Messenger"; and on
other parts of the flag are inscribed these sentences:--
"The prophet believes in the purpose for which he was sent by his Lord,
and all the faithful believe in God, in His angels, in His writings, and
in His messengers. We make no distinction between any of His messengers.
And these declare: 'We hear and do obey. Pardon us, O Lord.'
".... And unto Thee we shall return. God will not lay on any soul but
such a weight as it can bear; for it or against it shall be the deeds it
may have done. O Lord, chastise not our forgetfulness or errors. O Lord,
lay not upon us the burden Thou hadst laid on those that were before us.
".... O Lord, burden us not too heavily. Blot out our faults, and pardon
them to us, and have mercy on us. Thou art our Lord. Grant us victory
over the infidel. There came to us a glorious prophet that was born
among us.
"On him rests the weight of your faults, and full of goodness and of
clemency he longs ardently for you to believe. If you should be
forsaken, exclaim, 'God is sufficient for me. There is no God but He. I
trust in Him, because He is Lord of the throne that is on high.'"
Miquel y Badía considers that when it was intact this object must have
measured eleven feet square. Attention was first drawn to its merit and
antiquity when it was shown at the Exposición Histórico Europea of 1892.
The chasubles of Chirinos (Caravaca) and of the Chapel of the Constable
in Burgos cathedral are both considered to be of Spanish-Moorish
workmanship. The former is woven of silk of various colours, but without
admixture of gold thread, and bears an inscription in Arabic which
Amador de los Ríos has interpreted as, "Glory to our Sultan
Abul-Hachach." The same authority deduces that the fabric dates from the
fourteenth or the fifteenth century--that is, from the time of the
Sultan Abul-Hachach (Yusuf the First) or of his immediate successors.
The chasuble preserved at Burgos is also woven of variegated silk
without gold thread, and may originally have been a _tiraz_, since it
bears, in African letters, the inscription, "Glory to our lord the
Sultan." The date is probably the fifteenth or sixteenth century.
Fragments of similar material are in the collections of Señores Osma and
Miquel y Badía.
[Illustration: II
FRAGMENT OF THE BURIAL MANTLE OF FERDINAND THE THIRD
(_Royal Armoury, Madrid_)]
The object represented in Plate ii. is described in the Catalogue of the
Royal Armoury at Madrid as _A fragment of the royal mantle in which was
buried the king and saint, Ferdinand the Third of Castile_ (A.D.
1217-1252). Gestoso, in the course of his researches into the history of
old Seville, has found that in the year 1579 Philip the Second caused an
examination to be made at that city of the remains, enshrined in her
cathedral, of Saint Ferdinand. The body was found "with a ring with a
blue stone on a finger of the right hand, and wearing sword and spurs."
In 1677 Charles the Second sent for the ring in question, and eleven
years later a fresh examination was made, when the mummy of the saint
was stated to be wrapped in "clothing of a stuff the nature of which
cannot now be recognised, but which is chequered all over with the royal
arms of Castile, and with lions." A third examination was made in 1729,
when the "holy body of Señor San Fernando" was reported to be "covered,
the greater part, with a royal mantle, of a stuff which could not be
recognised for its decay: only it was seen to be embroidered with
castles and lions."
Probably, therefore, this fragment was taken to Madrid at the same time
as the ring--that is, in the year 1677. It has an irregular shape, and
measures eighteen inches long by thirteen and a half in breadth. The
material is a woven mixture of silk and gold thread, and the decoration
consists of castles and lions in gold and red respectively, upon a
ground of carmine and dirty white. Count Valencia de Don Juan points out
that this strip belonged to the lower end of the mantle, since it
includes a portion of the border, formed by a series of horizontal
stripes, blue, yellow, red, and gold. The character of the whole
fragment is decidedly Mohammedan, and indicates a Mudejar fabric, made
at Seville in the thirteenth century.
I find that in the _Book of Chess_ of Alfonso the Learned (an
illuminated Spanish manuscript executed in the thirteenth century, and
now preserved at the Escorial), Alfonso himself is represented (Plate
iii.) as wearing a mantle with this very pattern of lions and castles
contained in squares. Therefore it seems extremely probable, either that
this device was not uncommon on the robes of Spanish kings, or else that
at some time the body of San Fernando was enveloped in a mantle
belonging to, and which perhaps had been inherited by, his son.
[Illustration: III
KING ALFONSO THE LEARNED
(_From "The Book of Chess"; MS. in the Escorial Library_)]
The clothing of the Infante Don Felipe and of Doña Leonor, his wife,
consists of the prince's cloak, which is nearly intact, a piece of his
_aljuba_, his cap, and a strip of silken cloth inwoven with gold. The
latter fragment is thought to have belonged to the robe of the Infanta.
These objects, discovered in 1848, in the tomb of Don Felipe and Doña
Leonor, at Villalcazar de Sirga, near Palencia, are now in the National
Museum. The cloak or mantle is richly wrought in silk and gold, and
bears the word _Blessing_, woven in Cufic characters upon the ground.
The _aljuba_ is also of silk and gold, showing a delicate combination of
blue and yellow, and the style and workmanship of all these fragments
are unmistakably Mohammedan.
Therefore, in textile crafts, the Spanish Moors supplied the wants and
the caprices both of themselves and of their enemies the Christians.
The relationship between certain under-garments of the two peoples is
evident from the very titles of those garments. Thus, the Spanish
_joquejo_ or _soquejo_, a scarf for winding round a woman's body, is
obviously derived, or merely corrupted, from the Arabic _jocob_; the
Spanish _arrede_ or _arrelde_, a kind of cloak, from the Arabic
_arrida_, and the Spanish shirt or tunic for ordinary wear, called the
_casot_, _quesote_, or _quizote_ (which was sometimes white and
sometimes coloured) from the Arabic _al-kuesnat_. The _Chronicle of Juan
the Second_ (A.D. 1410) tells of a mountain covered with Moorish troops,
"and all of them had red _quesotes_."
[Illustration: IV
SPANISH VELVET
(_Red upon Gold Ground. About A.D. 1500_)]
Among the cities of Moorish Spain, Almería and Granada were undoubtedly
those which produced the handsomest stuffs--Almería from comparatively
early in the days of Muslim domination, Granada from a somewhat later
time.[8] Notices are extant of Christian princes who directly ordered
these materials from Granada; _e.g._ in 1392 Don Juan the First caused
to be purchased there, as a present to his daughter on her marriage,
"una cambra de saya orlada ab son dozer e cobertor de color vermella,
blaua, ó vert, ù otro que fuera de buena vista" (_Archives of the Crown
of Aragon_). The manufacture of velvet was probably introduced into
Aragon in the reign of Pedro the Fourth. Excellent silks and cloth of
gold were also made at Málaga, Seville, Toledo, and Valencia. Indeed, no
better source exists for studying the character of this important
industry in older Spain than the Ordinances of the cities I have just
enumerated.[9] We learn from these municipal provisions, most of which
were framed or ratified in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, that the
mingling of fine with base material was forbidden in the strictest
terms, and that the styles and classes of even the luxurious and
elaborate stuffs, which bore an infinite variety of devices, were very
numerous. Thus, there were satins, taffetas, _azeytunis_, double and
single velvets (Plates iv. and vii.), brocades, and silken serges; as
well as fabrics interwoven with gold and silver thread, including the
_gorgoranes_, _restaños_, _sargas_, and _jergas de filigrana de plata_.
The Ordinances of Toledo mention the following fabrics as manufactured
in that city in the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella, and of Charles the
Fifth:--
"Stuffs of gold and silver made in the same manner as satin.
"Satins woven with gold.
"Satins brocaded with silk and gold, or silver flowers.
"Silver serges with double filigree.
"Silver and gold materials, which are made like _gorgoran_ or serge.
"Silver and gold stuffs which are made like taffetas, or in silver
with silk flowers.
"Embroidered stuffs.
"Embroidered stuffs called silver serge, or _berguilla_.
"_Lama_, cloth of silver, shaded with watering in silver.
"Plain silk-stuffs woven with silver or gold, and called _restaño_.
"Silk-stuffs woven with gold or silver, and called _relampagos_.
"Serges woven with gold and silver for church vestments.
"Plain filigree serges.
"_Velillo_ of silver.
"Satin woven with gold and silver.
"Brocades of different kinds.
"Church vestments.
"Silver _primaveras_.
"Serges for church vestments."
[8] The Alburquerque inventory mentions, in 1560, "two Almería sheets,
one with green and purple edging, and the other with white and red";
also "two _short_ holland shirts for sleeping in at night."
Commenting on the word _short_, Señor de la Torre de Trassierra
aptly recalls the thrifty proverb of the Spaniards,--"A shirt which
reaches below the navel is so much linen wasted."
[9] See particularly _Las Ordenanzas de los tejedores de seda de
Sevilla_ (officially proclaimed on March 2nd, 1502), and also _Las
Ordenanzas para el buen régimen y gobierno de la muy noble, muy
leal, é imperial cuidad de Toledo_. (_Tit._ cxxxv: "silk-weavers.")
It was usual for ladies of the Christian-Spanish aristocracy to trim
their clothes, in Moorish fashion, with strings of larger pearls or of
_aljofar_-work--a custom which continued until the extinction of the
House of Austria. The Alburquerque inventory includes "a _marlota_ of
crimson satin, trimmed with pearls and with _aljofar_, as to the hem,
the sleeves, and the hood; with twelve buttons of _aljofar_-pearls in
the front thereof, that on a time were thirteen; but one is missing
_which was ground up for the said Duchess when she was sick_, and six
buttons on each sleeve, and the same where each sleeve meets the
shoulder."
Early in the seventeenth century, Pinheiro da Veiga mentions the same
fashion at Valladolid:--"At the sale of the Marchioness of Mondejar, I
saw twelve of her _sayas_ with long trains to them, and satin bodices,
all of embroidered silk, and some with _aljofar_-work, besides a number
of all kinds of _diabluras_."
It is stated by Ibn-Said, Al-Makkari, Al-Khattib, and Ibn-Khaldun, that
the Moors of Granada occasionally adopted Christian clothing, and we
know that the Sultan Mohammed, a contemporary of Alfonso the Learned of
Castile, was assassinated by Abrahim and Abomet, the sons of Osmin,
because he was so clothed, and because he had further violated the
precepts of the Koran by eating at Alfonso's table.[10] But as a rule
the costume of the Spanish Moors was almost wholly that of orientals.
Where they were tolerated in a city under Christian rule, a certain
dress was sometimes forced upon them by their subjugators, as by the
_Ordenamiento_ (A.D. 1408) of Doña Catalina, issued on behalf of her
son, Juan the Second, and which prescribed for the Moorish men a _capuz_
of yellow cloth with a mark upon it in the form of a blue half-moon
measuring an inch from point to point, and which was to be worn on the
right shoulder. The garments of the women were to be similarly marked,
on pain of fifty lashes administered publicly, together with the
forfeiture of all such clothes as lacked this necessary and humiliating
token.
[10] On the other hand, Rosmithal recorded in his narrative of a tour of
Spain that Henry the Second of Castile affected the costume of the
Mohammedans.
But where the Spanish Moors were in possession of the soil, their
clothes were similar in most respects to those of eastern peoples.
Detailed notices of these costumes are furnished us by Ibn-Said and
other writers. Fray Pedro de Alcalá explains in his _Vocabulary_ that,
among the Granadinos, the use of one garment in particular was limited
to royalty, or nobles of high rank. This was the _libas_ (or, in the
Granadino dialect, _libis_), shaped like roomy breeches, and greatly
resembling the _zaragüelles_ worn until this hour by the peasants of the
Huerta of Valencia. Ibn-Said, quoted by Al-Makkari (see Gayangos,
_History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain_, Vol. I., p. 116) says
that the dress of the Moors of Andalusia was not identical with that of
the Asiatic Mussulman. The former, he declares, would often discard the
turban; especially those who lived towards the eastern frontier. In the
western region the turban continued to be generally worn by the upper
classes and by the leading State officials. Thus, at Cordova and Seville
every _cadi_ and _alfaqui_ would wear a turban, while at Valencia and
Murcia even the nobles went without it, and among the lower classes it
had fallen into absolute disuse. Neither officers nor soldiers of the
army wore the turban.
We learn from Casiri (_Bibl. Arabico-Hispana_, II., p. 258) that the
_imama_[11] was the only form of head-dress used by the _cheiks_,
_cadis_, and _ulemas_ of Granada. At this capital red was the
distinctive colour of the sovereigns of the Alahmar dynasty, who took
their very title from this circumstance, the Arabic word _alahmar_
meaning "red." The distinctive colour of the Nasrite sultans was purple,
which was replaced by black in time of mourning. In this last fashion
the sultans were probably influenced by the Christian usage, for
Ibn-Khaldun remarks that black was not a colour approved of by the
orientals, who considered it to be related with the spirits of evil.
However this may be, the manuscript _History of the House of Cordova_
quoted by Eguilaz Yanguas, says that when Boabdil el Chico entered that
city as a prisoner, "the captive monarch was dressed in black velvet, in
token of his adverse fortune and defeat. He rode a richly caparisoned
charger, whose coat was black and glossy."
[11] This was a large form of turban. In the well-known painting in the
Hall of Justice of the Alhambra, the head-dress is the _aharim_ or
_almaizar_.
The Moors regarded green or white as pleasant and well-omened colours,
symbolic of the angels and of all good fortune. Perhaps this preference
was suggested to them by the cool oasis in the desert. Nevertheless,
when Ibn-Hud became ruler of Andalusia, his shields and banners were
black, as well as his costume. Black, too, was the colour adopted by the
Abbaside Sultans, to whom Ibn-Hud was subject. Under the Beni-Nasr and
Beni-Alahmar, this gloomy hue was changed, as we have seen, to purple or
to scarlet, though black continued to be used in sign of mourning.
[Illustration: V
THE TUNIC OF BOABDIL EL CHICO
(_National Museum of Artillery, Madrid_)]
The chronicle says that Abu-Said, "the Red," who was assassinated at
Tablada, under the walls of Seville, by Pedro the Cruel, was clothed in
scarlet at the time of that atrocious deed. Boabdil was also clothed in
red at the battle of Lucena. The _History of the House of Cordova_, from
which I have already quoted, says: "Il était armé d'une forte cuirasse à
clous dorés, doublée de velours _cramoisi_, d'un morion teint de
_grenat_ et doré.... Sur sa cuirasse était passé un caban de brocart et
de velours cramoisi" (Plate v.). Eguilaz quotes a further passage from
Hurtado de Mendoza, to prove that red continued to be the official
colour of the Moorish rulers of Granada; for when the Moriscos had risen
in the Alpujarra, and met together to invest their leaders, Aben-Abu and
Aben-Humeya, with the insignia of royalty, they clothed the former in a
red costume and the latter in purple, "passing about his neck and
shoulders a red token in the form of a scarf."[12]
[12] Eguilaz Yanguas, _Les Peintures de l'Alhambra_.
As I remarked in speaking of the _tiraz_, the clothing of the Moorish
kings of Spain was of the richest quality obtainable, massively wrought,
embroidered in colours and in gold, and bearing "sometimes a prince's
name, sometimes his device or motto, or even a portrait of himself
embroidered on the right breast of his _caban_ or robe, thus following
the fashion of the monarchs of Assyria and Persia."
SPANISH SILK
A very fair idea of the magnitude of the craft and trade of Spanish silk
in bygone epochs may be formed by tracing chronologically the production
and treatment of the raw material in various parts of the Peninsula.
During the centuries of Moorish rule, Spain's principal silk-producing
centre was the kingdom of Granada, which then embraced a large extent of
coast, together with Málaga and other thriving ports. In proof of this,
and in his interesting memorial on the silk factories of Seville,[13]
Ulloa quotes old Spanish ordinances of the weavers, stating that
quantities of this substance were exported from "tierra de Moros" for
use by Christian craftsmen, and also the _Chronology of the Kings of
Granada_, concluded by Al-Khattib in the year 1364. A fragment of this
chronicle is preserved at the Escorial, and states, in the well-known
version of Casiri, that the silk produced at Granada was both abundant
and of excellent quality, surpassing even the Assyrian.
[13] Don Martin de Ulloa, _Discurso sobre las fábricas de seda de
Sevilla_.
The growing of mulberry trees and rearing of silkworms was also busily
pursued in the kingdom of Aragon, which formerly included Cataluña,
Valencia, and the Balearic Islands. Hence, though somewhat gradually, it
seems to have spread to Seville. In the ordinances of this town relating
to her weavers of silks and velvets, and which are dated 1492, it is
stated that her _oficiales de texer sedas_ were so few that, as a
stimulus to augment their number, all who wished might join them in the
practice of this craft without examination. Between that year and 1502
they evidently multiplied, since subjects of examination of no easy
character are formulated in the ordinances of this later date, examined
and confirmed by Ferdinand and Isabella. Nevertheless, it is impossible
to credit the assertion of some authors that by the year 1519 Seville
possessed no less than sixteen thousand looms, affording occupation to
one hundred and fifty thousand persons. As Ulloa suggests, it is far
more reasonable to suppose that her silk trade grew in proportion as the
Spaniards continued to discover, and to open up to commerce, new regions
of America; and that it reached the maximum of its development in the
reigns of Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second. The same writer
attributes its decline and downfall to the "piracies and insults" of
Spain's foreign enemies and rivals.
The price of Seville silks was also raised and the trade injuriously
affected, by the imposition, at the close of the reign of Philip the
Second, of the onerous _millones_ tax, as well as of the minor dues
denominated _alcavalas_ and _cientos_; while finally, when Philip the
Third was on the throne, the expulsion of the Moriscos precipitated the
utter ruin of this industry.
[Illustration: VI
THE "BANNER OF SAINT FERDINAND"
(_Seville Cathedral_)]
The Spanish government proved quite incapable of grappling with these
wrongs and difficulties. There were, however, numerous attempts to
legislate in the direction of reform. Measures forbidding the
introduction of silk proceeding from abroad received the royal signature
in 1500, 1514, 1525, 1532, and 1552. A petition to the same effect,
framed by the procurators of the Cortes, was presented to the king in
1618, urging that no skein or twisted silk proceeding from the
Portuguese Indies, China, or Persia should be imported into Spain in
view of the damage thus inflicted on the silk-producing regions of
Granada, Murcia, and Valencia. At the same time the petitioners
suggested that if it should be found impracticable to suppress such
importation altogether, the foreign silk should be required to be in the
form of stuffs already woven.
Matters grew steadily worse all through the reign of Philip the Fourth.
The principal cause of this additional decline lay in the constant
depreciation of the national currency, which kept at an intolerable
pitch of dearness the price of home-grown silk, and enabled foreign
traders to undersell the Spaniard. This will be better understood if we
consider that the composition of the copper and silver coinage was often
tampered with by Crown and Parliament in such a way as to allow the
foreigner to rid the country of nearly all her gold and silver, leaving
in exchange only the baser metal. At intervals of a few years,
proclamations were issued altering the values of the coinage in the most
capricious and disastrous terms, and Ulloa mentions as still in
circulation in the eighteenth century, _ochavos_ of Philip the Third
which bore inscribed the value of twelve _maravedis_ in Roman numerals,
and also (owing to the restamping of the coins by order of the Crown),
the second and successive value of eight _maravedis_, marked in ordinary
numerals. In fact, so grave were these abuses, that the arbitrary value
imposed upon the coins in question grew to be six times that of the
actual value of the metal.
At the close of the seventeenth century, when Charles the Second was on
the throne, a couple of well-meant and not completely ineffectual
attempts were made to bring about a fresh revival in the growth of
Spanish silk. On November 18th, 1683, the silk-makers of Toledo,
Seville, Granada, and Valencia were summoned to a council at Madrid, and
the dispositions they then agreed upon received the royal signature and
became law on January 30th of the following year, the pragmatic which
embodied them being issued to the public ten days later. It was
commanded by this document that all the silk produced at the above-named
towns should be examined and approved by the _veedores_ or _mayorales_,
and bear the official stamp which guaranteed their quality. The effect
of these ordinances was further strengthened by a Crown _cedula_ of July
15th, 1692, confirming other dispositions dated 1635; and later still,
in June of 1699, a law was passed prohibiting the exportation of all
home-made silks to other countries.
The accession of the Bourbon kings heralded a further slight
improvement. Philip the Fifth had barely mounted the throne when the
Junta de Comercio was revived by his command, and drafted various laws
for bettering this and other industries. Royal decrees of June 20th and
September 17th, 1718, renewed in June of 1728 and in April and August of
1734, forbade the introduction of silk and certain other stuffs from
China and the rest of Asia--a measure which was made more strict as time
went on, the prohibition being extended to linens and cottons produced
and printed in Africa or Asia or imitated in Europe. In the meantime
another _cedula_, signed at the Escorial on November 10th, 1726, had
ordered that every Spanish citizen of either sex should dress
exclusively in silks or cloths of Spanish manufacture.
These laws, though founded on mistaken principles, undoubtedly restored
the national silk trade for a while. In 1713 the silk looms of Seville
had increased to four hundred and five, and by 1732--in which year the
Court resided at that capital--to a thousand; but on the return of the
royal family to Madrid, and the declaration of war against England in
1739, the number dropped to a hundred and forty. In 1743 an effort was
made to remedy this by exempting Seville silks from payment of the
_alcabalas_ and _cientos_, and further support was rendered in 1749 by
Ferdinand the Sixth, who lowered to eighty _maravedis_ per pound weight
the tax on Spanish silks exported from the kingdom, and issued, in 1752,
1753, and 1756, additional decrees intended to encourage and protect
this industry. In 1748 the same ruler established the celebrated silk
factories of Talavera de la Reina, sparing no pains to bring their
products to a level with the best in Europe, and choosing as director of
the works a thoroughly proficient Frenchman named Jean Roulière, a
native of Nîmes, who was assisted by a carefully selected staff of
experts, also principally foreigners.
About the end of the century Laborde described this enterprise as
follows:--"The manufactures of silks, gildings, and galloons are highly
useful and important.... There has also been raised at Cervera, a
village two leagues from Talavera, another large edifice, in which are
twelve mills for twisting the silk, four large windles for winding it,
and six machines for doubling it. This complicated machinery is put in
motion by four oxen, and the various processes of twisting, winding, and
doubling seven thousand and seventy-two threads of silk are thus
performed at once.
"This establishment was rapidly augmented under the direction of
Roulière and the other French mechanics who succeeded him in its
superintendence. So successful were their labours that, in a short time,
stuffs were fabricated in Spain not unworthy of competition with those
of France, the demand for which was found to diminish. In 1762, Roulière
being obliged to withdraw from this manufactory, the care of it was
committed to a company to the exclusion of almost all the French who had
previously assisted in its establishment. The consequences of this
change were soon discovered; the manufacture declined, the stuffs
deteriorated, and the consumption diminished; the artisans were
discharged from the loom, and everything threatened the total subversion
of the establishment, when the king interposed, and again extended to it
his care and protection, It has since been yielded to the incorporated
society of the Gremios at Madrid, but has never recovered its former
splendour and prosperity.
"Taffetas, satins, silk cloths, and serges are fabricated here, as are
silk ribbons, plain and figured velvets, stuffs of silk and silver,
stuffs of silk and gold, galloons, gold and silver fringes, and silk
stockings. The factory employs three hundred and sixty-six looms, and
affords occupation to two thousand persons. There are annually consumed
in it about a hundred thousand pounds of silk, four thousand marks of
silver, and seventy marks of gold.
"Some of the stuffs issuing from the manufactory are beautiful and good,
but they want the gloss and lustre of the French stuffs; and as they are
dearer than those, with all the contingent expense of commission and
transportation, they are far from being able to maintain a competition
with them. The stockings are of the vilest quality, being thin, shaggy,
and ill-dressed. The greater part of these articles are exported to the
Spanish colonies."
Further efforts to improve the quality of Spanish silk were made by
Charles the Third, in whose reign the silk looms of Seville increased to
four hundred and sixty-two for weaving larger pieces, sixty-two for
silver and gold galloons, three hundred and fifty-four for finely-worked
ribbons, twenty-three for small pieces of gold and silver stuffs, eight
for fringes and _cintas de rizo_, sixty-three for stockings, sixty-five
for _redecillas_, three for caps, and one thousand three hundred and
ninety-one for ordinary ribbon. At the same time, according to Ulloa,
one hundred thousand pounds of silk required to be annually brought to
Seville to supply these factories.
"In its fortunate days," wrote Alexander de Laborde, "Seville had many
splendid manufactures; it wove silks of every kind, gold and silver
tissues, linens, and cottons.[14] A memoir presented in 1601 by the
seventeen companies of arts and trades of this city gives us an idea of
the brilliant state of those manufactures: the amount of the silk looms
is there stated to be 16,000, and the persons of both sexes employed at
them, 130,000. These manufactures had greatly declined even in the last
century. We learn from Francisco Martínez de la Mata, in his
_Discursos_, published in 1659, according to a memoir presented to the
king by an _alcalde_ of the silk manufactures of Seville, that there
were no more, at that time, than sixty-five looms, that a great number
of persons having no work had quitted the town, that the population had
decreased a third, and that many houses were shut up, uninhabited, and
going to ruin. The silk manufactures began to look up again in the
eighteenth century, but they are very far below the brilliant state they
formerly displayed: in 1779 there were 2318 silk looms in Seville,
including those for stockings, slight stuffs, and ribbons."[15]
[14] In former times, linens and cottons painted, stencilled, or stamped
with decorative patterns from an iron or boxwood matrix, were
considered to be luxurious fabrics, and are denounced as such in
the sumptuary pragmatic (quoted by Miquel y Badía) issued by Jayme
the Conqueror in A.D. 1234: "Item statuimos quod nos nec aliquis
subditus noster non portet vestes _incisas_, _listatas_, vel
trepatas."
Latterly, these kind of stuffs were made in great quantities at
Barcelona, and exported to other Spanish provinces, as well as to
America. "Several manufactures of printed linens are established
here," wrote Swinburne, in 1775, "but have not yet arrived at any
great elegance of design or liveliness of colour." The manuscript
(dated about A.D. 1810) attached to my copy of Pigal's plates of
Spanish costume, says that the _pañoleta_ or _fichu_ (neckerchief)
of the women of Cartagena in their gala-dress was at that time of
"mousseline blanche, quelquefois brodé, et três souvent n'est
qu'un mouchoir d'indienne des fabriques de Barcelonne, avec une
brodure en fleurs rouges, le fond blanc et parsemé de petits
bouquets." The same manuscript describes the dress of a cook at
Granada:--"Le jupon (_refajo_), qui est toujours três court, est
en hiver de laine avec une garniture au bas: en été il est en
indienne. Cette _indienne_ est une sorte de percale ou toile de
coton peinte, dont il y a plusieurs fabriques en Catalogne. On en
exportait autrefois une quantité, immense que l'on portait dans
les Amériques Espagnoles; c'est ce qui lui a fait donner le nom
d'indienne."
From the same source we learn respecting another cotton fabric,
which might easily be thought by the unwary reader of to-day to
have been of Spanish manufacture, that "l'habitant de Mahon fait
en été un grand usage de l'étoffe des Indes appelée _nankin_.
Cette étoffe n'est connue dans plusieurs parties de l'Espagne que
sous le nom de _Mahon_."
[15] In 1799 the Marquis of Monte-Fuerte declared the silk of Seville
to be of as fine a quality as that of Valencia and Carmona.
(_Discurso sobre el plantío de moreras en Sevilla y sus
inmediaciones._)
Turning our attention from Seville to Granada, we find that the fame of
the silks produced in this latter city, or rather kingdom (for silk was
raised in great quantities throughout the entire region) extended as far
abroad as Constantinople, and that they were used in Greece in the reign
of Comnenus. The Muzarabs, who petitioned Alfonso el Batallador to bring
an expedition to their rescue and wrest Granada from her Mussulman
lords, reported to him in enthusiastic terms the quality and abundance
of the silk of that locality, and many a document and chronicle record
its vogue among the Spanish Christians of the Middle Ages.
The Alcaicería or silk-market of Granada is referred to by various of
the older writers, including Marineus Siculus, Navagiero, Lalaing,
Bertaut de Rouen, and Alvarez de Colmenar. The name itself is stated in
Fray Pedro de Alcalá's _Vocabulario_ to be derived from the Arabic
_al-aqqisariya_, meaning "an exchange for merchants." Buildings, or
groups of buildings, of this kind existed both in Spain and in Morocco.
Early in the eighteenth century a Spanish friar wrote of Fez; "The
Moorish portion of this city is the Alcaicería. It stands nearly in the
centre of the level part of the town, and near the principal mosque,
resembling a town in itself, with solid walls and doors, and chains
across it to keep out the horses. It consists of fifteen streets of
wealthy shops, stretching without a break, and what is sold in
them--whether of linen, silk, or cloth--is of the richest and the
noblest quality."
Very similar are the descriptions relative to the Alcaicería of Granada
in the olden time. Bertaut de Rouen wrote of it, and of the adjoining
Zacatin; "En retournant devers la porte d'Elvire est le _Zacatin_, qui
est une rue paralelle au Canal du Darro, longue et assez estroite, qui
vient de la place de la Chancellerie à la place de _Vivarambla_. Dans
cette rue sont tous les orfévres, les marchands de soie, de rubans, de
vermillon, qui croist assez près de Grenade, dont on fait là grand
trafic. C'est une plante semblable à celle du Safran, dont il y a
beaucoup dans ces quartiers-là.
"Dans cette mesme rue du _Zacatin_ donne d'un costé l'_Alcayzerie_, qui
est une espèce de Halle couverte à la manière de la Foire Saint Germain,
où sont plusieurs boutiques remplies des Marchandises les plus
curieuses. Ils disent que cette place, aussi bien que beaucoup d'autres
des autres Villes d'Andalousie, se nomme ainsi à cause d'un privilege
que donnerent les Cesars aux Arabes de travailler en Soye."
Alvarez de Colmenar wrote of the same edifice, a few years later than
Bertaut; "Vis-à-vis de la Chancellerie on voit une maison fort longue,
nommée Alcacéria (_sic_), partagée en près de deux cent boutiques, où
les Marchands ètalent tout sorte de marchandises, particulièrement des
étoffes en soie." On the authority of the same writer, the makers and
the dyers of silk-stuffs inhabited another quarter of the town. "Le
dernier quartier de la Ville, nommé Antiqueruela, est dans une plaine,
peuplé de gens venus d'Antechera, d'où lui vient le nom qu'il porte. Ses
habitants sont pour la plupart ouvriers en soie, tisseurs de satin, de
tafetas, de damas; teinturiers qui teignent en pourpre, en écarlate, et
autres ouvriers semblables." He adds; "Il s'y fait grand commerce
d'étoffe de soie; et la Ville et les environs sont pour cet effet
plantés d'un si grand nombre de meuriers, que le seul impôt sur les
feuilles de ces arbres vaut annuellement trente mille écus au Roi."
About the beginning of the nineteenth century Laborde wrote: "The
Alcaicería is in the Bivarambla: it is merely an immense edifice,
without ornament, covering a considerable extent of ground. The Moors
used it as a bazaar, and a good many tradesmen still carry on their
business there. It contains about two hundred shops." It remained, in
fact, in much the same condition as when the Moors possessed it, until
the year 1843, when a fire, which broke out on the night of July 20th of
that year, reduced it almost totally to ashes. To-day the historic silk
trade is no more; but the Alcaicería, consisting of a chapel and a
street which call to mind the graceful and effective decoration of its
predecessor, has been rebuilt with taste and accuracy from the model of
the old.
The _Ordenanzas_ of Granada city, the first edition of which was
published in 1552, and the second in 1678, inform us very closely of the
silk trade of that region in the times immediately succeeding the
reconquest. Having regard to the fact that the silk was now spun in
skeins in an imperfect manner, "with much deceit and trickery," and that
its quality was of the worst (Ordinance of A.D. 1535), nobody was
allowed henceforth to spin silk in or about Granada without being
qualified through examination by the _veedores_ or inspectors appointed
for this purpose by the corporation. The inspector might charge for this
examination a fee of twenty-five _maravedis_, and if the candidate were
successful he was permitted to set up his loom forthwith, and engage two
lads or girls, not less than twelve years old, to fetch and carry at his
wheel, "so that the work may be continued all day long."
Minute instructions follow as to the method of spinning the silk, wages,
the treatment of apprentices, and other detail. Many of these narrow
points of city law were troublesome and senseless, and must have tended
to destroy the trade. For instance, the earnings of a master-spinner,
after paying the lads or girls who worked for him, were limited to a
maximum of two _reales_ and a half per day. Women were allowed to spin
upon the following conditions: "Also, seeing that there be some honest
women here who have no access to a public wheel, but work within their
dwellings only, we (_i.e._ the city councillors) command that these may
spin per thousand of cocoons, or at a daily wage, not to exceed two
_reales_ and a half." The silk was not to be spun with an _escobilla_ or
brush, but with the hand, obedient to the rhyming Spanish proverb which
says, or used to say, _con escobilla el paño, y la seda con la mano_
("brush cloth with a brush, and silk with the hand").
The laws affecting the dyers of silk contain the following provisions.
They were not to dye with pomegranate or sumach, and if the rind of the
former fruit were found in their houses, they were liable to a fine of
six thousand _maravedis_ and thirty days' imprisonment. Dyeing with
Brazil-wood was also prohibited in the case of silks of finer quality
exposed for sale in the Alcaicería. Elaborate directions follow as to
the manner of applying the dye. In the case of silks dyed blue or
purple, the dyer, before he drew the fabric from the vat, was required
to show it to the _alamin_ or inspector of the silk, or else to one of
the _veedores_ nominated by the city councillors. The fines imposed upon
the dyers who were found to contravene these regulations were
distributed in the following proportion: one-third towards repairing the
ramparts or _adarves_ of Granada; another third between the _alamin_,
the _veedores_, and the other officials who discovered and denounced the
culprit; and the remaining third between the magistrates and other
authorities who tried and sentenced him.
Further, each silk-dyer was to have six _tinajas_, or large jars (see
Vol. II., pp. 120 _et seq._), kept continually full of dye, well
settled, and liable at any hour to be analyzed by the _veedores_. In
dyeing fabrics black, each pound of silk was to be treated with ten
ounces of foreign galls of fine quality, two ounces of copperas, and two
ounces of gum-arabic.
It is evident that nearly all this legislation was of a mischievous
character, nor can it cause surprise that certain of the silk-makers of
this locality should have been in the habit of committing many kinds of
fraud, such as mixing salt or oil with the raw material, in order to
increase its weight. Thus, at the same time that the laws themselves
were made more numerous and stringent, the more elaborate and various
were the shifts invented by the citizens as a means to violate those
laws. The inspectors were empowered to enter a shop and examine its
contents at any hour. Sometimes, we read, such ingress was denied them,
and the door was kept closed, or slammed in their faces. The penalty for
this resistance was a fine of two thousand _maravedis_ and twenty days
imprisonment. No silk-spinner was allowed to possess more than two
spinning-wheels (Ordinance of November 18th, 1501), or to keep these
working after midnight, for we are told that in this way the _veedores_
were impeded from paying their official visit in the small hours of the
morning, and much "deceit and insult" was the consequence. This
Ordinance was confirmed by a royal rescript of 1542.
[Illustration: VII
VELVET MADE AT GRANADA
(_Late 15th Century_)]
Another group of _Ordenanzas_ concerns the weavers and the
silk-merchants of the Alcaicería, determining that no silk was to be
imported from the kingdoms of Valencia or Murcia, and that no merchant
was to buy the raw material in order to resell it at a profit, but might
only trade in the productions of his own factory. Minute instructions
are appended for weaving the various stuffs which had a silk foundation,
such as several kinds of damask, scarlet velvet[16] many kinds of satin,
velvet dyed with Brazil-wood, taffeta of four leishes, taffeta of two
leishes, and _sargas_, or silken serge. Other fabrics mentioned in the
Ordinances are _tocas_ called "San Juanes," _campuses moriscos_
(elsewhere "las tocas moriscas que se llaman _campuzas_"), "las tocas
moriscas labradas que se dizen _coninos_," _quinales_ and _alfardillas_,
_alcaydias_, _tocas de Reyna_, and _espumillas_. Most of these names are
of obscure meaning at the present day; but I find that _espumillas_ were
silken crape, while _alfardillas_ are defined in the old dictionary of
Fathers Connelly and Higgins as "an ancient kind of silken ribbon, or
tape."
[16] Granada was especially renowned for her velvets (Plate vii.),
grounded or relieved, in the oriental manner, with gold or silver.
No weaver was allowed to be the owner of more than four looms for making
velvet, satin, damask, taffeta, or silken serges. The apprentice to a
satin-maker required to be bound for a minimum term of three years, the
apprentice to a damask-maker for five years, the apprentice to a
taffeta-maker for three years. No weaver was to have more than three
apprentices at one time, except in the case of the damask-makers, who
might have four. No weaver might dismiss his apprentice without deponing
to the cause before the city officers, nor might he accept money, or
anything in lieu of money, from an apprentice. Master-weavers were
required to pass their examinations in Granada; no other city would
suffice.
We further learn that many of the apprentices were "of evil character,"
and damaged velvet stuffs "maliciously, though knowing perfectly how to
weave the same." If any worker at this craft fell sick, the guild or
_oficio_ was to defray the expenses of his cure, including physic "until
he be recovered, provided his be not a venereal ailment, or a wound
inflicted with a knife." If he succumbed, the guild was to bury him; and
when a master-weaver died, his apprentices were compelled to serve out
the rest of their indentures with his widow, or his sons. No slave might
learn to weave, even though he should be made a _horro_ or freedman.
Other ordinances refer to the officers known as Xelizes and Almotalefes
of the silk, the privilege of appointing whom had been conferred upon
the town-council by Ferdinand and Isabella. It was the business of the
_almotalefe_ or _motalefe_ to collect silk throughout the _alcarias_ or
villages of the surrounding districts, and convey it, on behalf of the
owner, to a _xeliz_ or "superintendent of the market," attached to one
or other of the three Alcaicerías of the kingdom of Granada. The
_xeliz_, in his turn, was required to see that the parcel was put up for
sale by public auction and disposed of to the highest bidder, after
which he handed to the _motalefe_ a certificate of the price obtained,
together with the corresponding cash, less certain fees deducted for
himself and calculated on a reasonable scale. The number of _motalefes_
throughout this region was evidently large, because in the year 1520 the
town-council resolved to appoint as many as "one or two in every town
and district."
Ordinances to the above effect were notified to the city of Almuñecar,
and the towns of Motril, Salobreña, and the Alpujarras; from which we
must infer that, though subordinated to the capital herself, these
places also were silk-producing centres of no slight importance.
Further laws relating to the Xelizes were passed in 1535. On August
13th, the mayor of Granada (described as the "very magnificent" Señor
Hernan Darias de Saavedra) summoned before him these officials in order
to admonish them respecting certain fresh decisions that had been
adopted by the councillors. The said Xelizes were six in all, known
severally as Juan Ximenez, Hernando el Comarxi, Juan Infante Zaybona,
Juan de Granada, Lorenzo el Mombatan, and Francisco Hernandez
Almorox--names which are of interest, as showing that the Morisco
element was still of weight among the manufacturers and merchants of
Granada. From this time forth, and by the resolution of the town
authorities, the Xelizes in question were called upon to lodge a deposit
of one thousand ducats as security for the value of the silk entrusted
them for sale. Besides this, the silk was to be sold in the
Zaguaque--that is, by public auction "as in the time of the Moors," from
two in the afternoon onward. The buyer was required to settle his
account before ten in the morning of the day next following his
purchase. Failing this, the silk was to be again put up for sale, and
the costs of this new operation were charged to the defaulting first
purchaser, who was further obliged to pay a daily compensation of two
_reales_ to the _motalefe_ who had brought the silk to market. Xelizes
were strictly forbidden to traffic on their own account, and the fines
for infringing any of these laws were heavy. If the infraction were
repeated once, the fine was doubled; if twice, in addition to the same
amount in money, the transgressor was banished for all his lifetime from
Granada.
All pieces of stuff which measured ten yards long and upwards, and which
it was desired to sell within the capital or district of Granada,
required to be marked with the weaver's stamp. If three pieces were sold
together, or sent abroad to other places to be sold, they required to be
stamped with the city seal at a fee for stamping of two _maravedis_ the
piece. This was to be performed by the _veedores_, who were also to keep
a register of all the city looms, and pay them a visit of inspection
once at least in every month.
Finally, one of the most ridiculous and noxious of these ordinances
forbade the planting of more mulberry-trees in or about Granada;
notwithstanding that it was also forbidden to deal in silk imported from
Valencia or Murcia, as the merchants were said to mingle these foreign
silks with that of Granada herself, to the detriment of the latter.
Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the silk-trade of
this capital remained in much the same condition. In 1747 a company was
formed at Granada titled the "Compañía Real de Comercio y Fábricas de
Granada," and the formal prospectus of this society, of which document a
printed copy is in my possession, was embodied in a royal _cedula_ dated
in the same year. The preliminary remarks attached to this certificate
explain that the people of Granada were now reduced to "the most unhappy
state of poverty, insomuch that nowhere is there memory of a greater
horde of mendicants." The principal cause of this distress is stated to
be the ruin of the silk-trade, in which disaster may be recognised the
consequences of the senseless legislation I have instanced in the
foregoing paragraphs. The fifteen thousand looms which once upon a time
existed there had dwindled to six hundred, and the production of raw
silk, from one million pounds a year to one hundred thousand. The new
Company was floated with the professed ambition of restoring Granada to
a measure of her old prosperity. The capital was half a million _pesos_,
divided into shares of two hundred _pesos_ each; but silk and woven
fabrics generally, whose value had been suitably appraised by the
authorities, were admissible in payment of a share. The holder of each
five shares enjoyed one vote, except in the case of founders, who were
privileged, as "instruments of this important establishment," to vote
upon possession of a single share. If a shareholder wished to sell his
interest, the Company was to have the first refusal. It further
possessed initially in cash a sum exceeding one hundred and twenty
thousand _pesos_--sufficient to construct and work three thousand looms
in all; and it engaged, in return for certain favours and exemptions
under royal warrant, to set up twenty looms for making serges of fine
quality, and eight more in each year, for the space of ten years, for
making _carros de oro_, _medios carros_, _anascotes finos_,
_christales_, "and every other kind of stuff that is not manufactured in
this kingdom."
The favours and exemptions thus solicited were of a very mischievous
character; for the political mind of Spain was not yet shrewd enough to
grasp the fact that where all competition is removed, quality cannot but
decline. The products of the Company were freed from paying taxes for
ten, or in the case of stuffs whose price amounted to six _reales_ per
yard, for twenty years. Similarly, all of its merchandise exported to
America "in _flotas_, _galeones_, _registros_, or other craft of those
that are permitted," was freed from all except the royal dues on
loading, although if shipped to other parts it was to pay a tax of fifty
_maravedis_ for each Castilian pound of sixteen ounces. All the
materials and ingredients required by the Company in the preparation of
its fabrics were exempted from customs and other dues. The Company
enjoyed a preferential right to purchase silk throughout the kingdom of
Granada, and such as it abstained from purchasing was to be sold by
public auction in the Alcaicerías of Granada and Málaga, that of Almería
being henceforth suppressed. The Company was also empowered to introduce
silk from Murcia and Valencia, and the determination to crush all
private enterprise is clearly expressed by the twenty-second heading of
this document, which says; "All manufacturers and traders who do not
associate themselves with this body shall pay the full tariff of dues at
present established." The Company was further empowered to compel the
inhabitants of this locality to plant new lots of mulberry-trees, "in
view of the notorious fact that not the one-hundredth part remains of
all that were delivered by the Royal Census to the occupants of the
kingdom of Granada at the time of the reconquest." The Company might
further open shops and erect warehouses wherever it chose. Its assets
were to enjoy perpetual immunity from seizure by the city council,
whether as a loan or otherwise, and none of its servants might be called
upon to serve the Crown in the event of war.
Very shortly after its foundation, this Company united (each bringing
half the capital) with another powerful association titled the
Commercial Company of Estremadura, with a view to securing a conjoint
Crown monopoly or "exclusive privilege" for Portugal, "to the effect
that only these two companies may traffic there in silk, and none other
of my vassals or the inhabitants of my dominions may do business,
whether in pure silk, or silk mixed with silver or with gold, in the
kingdom of Portugal aforesaid."
The privilege was granted in these terms, and bears the royal signature,
attached at Aranjuez, June 17th, 1747. Its provisions were to last for
ten years, and, in return for their concession, the two Companies
engaged for a like term of ten years to set up fifty silk-looms annually
at Toledo, "over and above the looms at present working in that city."
I have not been able to trace, in writing or in print, the subsequent
records of the Royal Commercial and Manufacturing Company of Granada,
although I have been told that it existed for some time, and that on one
occasion there was a riot among the townsfolk in opposition to its
tyranny.[17] In 1776 Swinburne wrote of the same region: "The annual
produce of silk in this province, before the year 1726, seldom fell
short of two millions six hundred thousand pounds weight, whereas now it
does not exceed one hundred thousand." Judging from this, the Company
does not appear to have prospered. In 1775 the same author wrote of
other and more fertile silk-producing districts: "The manufacturers of
silk are the cause of a population (_i.e._ in Valencia) that may be
reckoned considerable, if compared to that of other provinces of Spain.
The produce of this article came this year to one million pounds, but
one year with another the average quantity is about nine hundred
thousand pounds, worth a doubloon a pound in the country. The crop of
silk this last season was very abundant. Government has prohibited the
exportation of Valencian raw silk, in order to lay in a stock to keep
the artificers constantly employed in bad years; for it has happened in
some, that half the workmen have been laid idle for want of materials.
As they are not so strict about Murcian silk, which is of an inferior
quality, I am told that some from Valencia is sent out of Spain under
that denomination. The great nurseries of mulberry-plants in this plain
(the Huerta of Valencia) are produced from seed obtained by rubbing a
rope of _esparto_ over heaps of ripe mulberries, and then burying the
rope two inches under ground. As the young plants come up, they are
drawn and transplanted. The trees, which are all of the white kind, are
afterwards set out in rows in the fields, and pruned every second year;
in Murcia, only every third year, and in Granada never. The Granadine
silk is esteemed the best of all; and the trees are all of the black
sort of mulberry."
[17] Similar companies were formed at Toledo, Zaragoza, Burgos, Seville,
and Zarza. For the Crown _cedula_, dated February 10th, 1748,
authorizing the Real Compañía de Comercio y Fábricas of Toledo,
see Larruga's _Memorias_, Vol. VII., p. 63.
According to Laborde, who wrote some twenty-five years later; "The
cultivation of silk was formerly very flourishing in Andalusia; the
kingdoms of Granada, Seville, and Jaen produced immense quantities of
it, but after the conquest of those countries it was burdened with heavy
taxes: silk was made subject to ecclesiastical tithes payable in kind;
the royal tenth it paid under the Moors was retained, estimated at three
_reales vellon_ each pound of silk. To these were added a duty of
_tartil_ of seventeen _maravedis_ per pound and duties of _alcabalas_
and _cientos_, fixed at eleven _reales_ thirty-two _maravedís_. There
accrued from it a tax of fifteen _reales_ fifteen _maravedís_ for the
king, and six _reales_, or thereabouts, for the ecclesiastical tithe,
making together twenty-one _reales_ fifteen _maravedís_, or about four
shillings and sixpence the pound, which at that time sold only for
thirty _reales_, or six shillings and three pence English. The
speculators were consequently discouraged, most of them relinquished a
labour from which they derived so little profit, and this branch of
industry entirely failed in the kingdoms of Cordova and Seville, and
afterwards in those of Granada and Jaen. For some time it has been
looking up in the two latter kingdoms, but it is very far from what it
was under the Moors. The mulberries of Granada and Jaen are black; they
are suffered to grow without any care or management, are never lopped or
dressed, and look as if they were planted by chance."
Of Murcia he wrote; "This province has the raw materials of other
manufactures no less important. In the first place, it has a prodigious
quantity of silkworms, which are not turned to advantage; most of the
raw silks are sold to the neighbouring provinces, and manufactured silk
is imported from foreign looms, though the inhabitants might manufacture
their own materials, and make it an article of considerable exportation.
The town of Murcia is the only place where they work some small
quantity; there they manufacture a few slight silks, chiefly taffetas
and velvets, but of an inferior quality; and the whole is confined to a
small number of looms. They make a much greater quantity of ribbons, in
which twelve hundred looms are employed; but they are badly dyed, and
have not a good gloss. The Murcians likewise prepare the raw silk, spin,
and twist it; they have even a warden, and a great number of masters in
this business, and, in spite of its importance, they carry it on without
being subject to any superintendence, everyone doing as he pleases. The
consequence is that the silk is badly prepared and spun unequally. The
threads are collected without any method, sometimes more, sometimes
less, and then twisted unequally. They are of course unfit to make fine
stuffs, and the trade of Murcia is therefore declining.... Silk stuffs,
satins, velvets, and taffetas are made here, but there is no great
manufactory of them. They are wrought at private houses, and are but of
a middling quality."
Toledo silk, including the delicate and costly _cendal_ (see pp. 5, 6)
which is mentioned in the sumptuary law, dated 1348, of Alfonso the
Eleventh, was largely in demand from early in the Middle Ages till about
the sixteenth century. The statements of the older writers as to this
neighbourhood are contradictory. According to Damián de Olivares,
himself a native of Toledo, this city in the sixteenth century possessed
between five thousand five hundred and six thousand looms, consuming
annually more than six hundred thousand pounds of raw silk. Other
authors estimate the number of her looms at twenty, thirty, or even
forty thousand. Writing in our own time, Count Cedillo is responsible
for declaring that after the revolt of the Communities, the persons
occupied in weaving silk amounted to fifty thousand, all of whom were
natives of Toledo and the neighbouring villages; and he adds, perhaps a
little rashly, that the velvets, damasks, satins, and taffetas of this
locality were "unrivalled, even in comparison with the admirable
products of Seville, Cordova, and Granada."[18] Certainly, the silk
stockings of Toledo enjoyed a wide-spread fame, and were used, among
other distinguished patrons, by the Duke of Guise and by Philip the
Second. They were also exported in quantities to America. Banners,
altar-fronts, and vestments for religious worship were also made here in
large numbers, and of excellent quality, both in silk alone, and in this
substance mixed with gold and silver.
[18] _Toledo en el Siglo XVI._ Miquel y Badía says that in the fifteenth
century Toledo, together with Genoa and Venice, manufactured superb
velvets, coloured crimson, blue, purple, or yellow, and figured
with pineapples or pomegranates (Plate iv.). The latter tree and
fruit are commonly related, in Spain, with the city of _Granada_;
but quite apart from this, the pomegranate was formerly regarded as
a symbol of fecundity and life. (See Goblet d'Alviella, _La
Migration des Symboles_, p. 184, and also Madame Errera's
Catalogue, No. 50.) In these velvets the gold thread is woven with
consummate skill, and forms, in the costliest and most elaborate
specimens, a groundwork of exceedingly small rings. These fabrics
were used as hangings for beds and walls, as well as for the
clothing of great lords and ladies. Touching the use of silk for
certain articles of dress, an amusing story is told in the MS.
account of Valladolid, published by Gayangos in the _Revista de
España_. "One day, Don Pedro de Medicis is reported to have paid
a visit to a married lady, to whom he had presented some damask
curtains, and he was wearing at the time some taffeta hose which
made a creaking as he walked. The lady came out of her room, and,
finding him in one of the lower apartments, exclaimed, 'Why do you
come here at such an hour, and with that silk on you which creaks
so loudly? Take care my husband does not hear it.' Whereto the
gentleman replied; 'Good God, madam, is it possible that the two
hundred yards of damask which I gave you for that curtain have
made no noise at all, but that a mere four yards of simple taffeta
about my breeches should put you in such consternation?'"
Laborde wrote of all these manufactures at the time of their decline;
"It is easy to estimate their former importance from the loss they
sustained by the introduction of foreign merchandise. The memorial
states that the consumption of silk was materially diminished, and
computes the loss sustained by thirty-eight thousand artisans, from the
interruption of their occupation, at 1,937,727 ducats. Symptoms of decay
continued to increase till the middle of the sixteenth century, when
every vestige of commerce was effaced.
"Toledo remained in this state of listless despondence till the present
archbishop made a noble effort to revive the love of industry, and to
open an asylum for the tribes of mendicants, accustomed from infancy to
subsist on precarious bounty. The measure adopted by this prelate was to
establish in the Alcazar various branches of manufacture, such as linen,
ribbons, cloths, serges, woollen stuffs, and silk stuffs of every
description. He introduced also another branch of occupation,
appropriated solely to the production of sacerdotal ornaments. In 1791
there were a hundred and twelve manufactories in Toledo, ten for lawns
and canvas, twelve for ribbons, fifty-five for silk, and seven for
sacerdotal ornaments. At this period the indigent class employed in them
amounted to six hundred people, who were instructed in various
processes, and were led insensibly to acquire the useful habits of
industry. They were taught to draw, to prepare the materials, and to
perform the manufacture; and each was destined to pursue some occupation
suitable to his age, his inclination, and his abilities."
In 1786 Townsend, himself a clergyman, had written of Toledo in far less
hopeful terms. "This city, which contained two hundred thousand souls,
is now reduced to less than twenty-five thousand. The citizens are fled;
the monks remain. Here we find twenty-six parish churches, thirty-eight
convents, seventeen hospitals, four colleges, twelve chapels, and
nineteen hermitages, the monuments of its former opulence." Townsend's
good taste, unusual for a traveller of that time, was horrified at the
profanation of the Alcazar, whose "magnificent apartments are now
occupied with spinning-wheels and looms, and instead of princes they are
filled with beggars. The good archbishop here feeds seven hundred
persons, who are employed in the silk manufactory; but unfortunately,
with the best intentions, he has completed the ruin of the city; for by
his weight of capital, he has raised the price both of labour and of the
raw material, whilst, by carrying a greater quantity of goods to the
common market, he has sunk the price of the commodity so much, that the
manufacturers, who employed from forty to sixty workmen, now employ only
two or three, and many who were in affluence are now reduced to penury.
"These people are so far from earning their own maintenance, that over
and above the produce of their labour they require forty thousand ducats
a year for their support."
Alvarez de Colmenar, Ricord, Bourgoing, Laborde, and other writers,
Spanish and non-Spanish, of the eighteenth century, inserted full
descriptions of the silk trade of Valencia and Barcelona. "On y fait,"
wrote Alvarez de Colmenar of the former of these towns, "de très bonnes
draperies, fortes, d'un bon et long usage, et propres à résister à la
pluie, et grande quantité d'étoffes de soie; delà vient que les
meuriers, dont les feuilles servent à nourrir les vers à soie, y font
d'un fort gros revenu pour les habitans." Ricord, in his scarce
pamphlet, printed at Valencia in 1793, gives valuable statistics
relating to this industry and locality, prefacing his figures arranged
in tabular form by the following remarks: "The silk factories of this
province form the principal basis of her commerce. They not only consume
all the silk which is raised in the kingdom (of Valencia), and which, in
1791, amounted to 581,688 pounds of fine silk, 93,800 of that of
Alducar, and 26,115 of _hiladillo_, but they also require to provide
themselves from Aragon and other parts of Spain, or even from abroad,
seeing that in the year aforesaid more than 37,000 pounds were imported
from foreign countries." The tabular statement appended to these
observations tells us that in the region of Valencia the looms for
making fine and silken fabrics such as velvets, _anascotes_, stockings,
handkerchiefs, scarves, garters, and ribbons, gave employment to a total
of 9,668 workmen, and were distributed among the towns or villages of
Valencia, Alcira, San Felipe, Alcoy, Vilanesa, Denia, Ruzafa, Alicante,
Peniscola, Beniganim, Pego, Olivo, Liria, Asuevar, Orihuela, Gandia,
Elche, Castellon, and Vall de Almonacid. Riaño admits, however, that
this manufacture might have prospered even more, if means had been
adopted to suppress certain acts committed by the weavers, spinners, and
twisters of the silk.
More curious and instructive is the description of the same industry by
Jean-François Bourgoing, whose observations, evidently secured at
first-hand, are worth translating _in extenso_:--
"What attracted us still more than the fine-art works were the stuffs
produced at the silk-factories, which constitute the principal glory of
Valencia and contribute to her prosperous condition. We followed all the
process of this manufacture, from the cultivation of the mulberry-tree
to the weaving of the richest fabrics. I will try, therefore, to give a
comprehensive account of them.
"Spain, and particularly the kingdom of Valencia, could well export her
silk to foreign parts, even after setting apart a quantity sufficient
for her factories. Government, however, does not appear to be convinced
of this, because it offers constant hindrance to such exportation, or
else, when it consents to it, imposes heavy dues. These dues consist of
nine _reales_ and a _quartillo_, or nearly two _livres_ seven _francs_
per each Valencian pound of silk, which only weighs twelve ounces, and
is worth at least fifteen _livres_ when it is in the raw state. When the
silk harvest has been scanty, as in the year 1784, it has been known to
fetch eighty _reales_ or twenty _livres_. This year, too, the yield of
silk has been so small that the manufacturers of Valencia petitioned
Government to allow the introduction, duty-free, of two hundred thousand
pounds of it from Italy and France.
"In ordinary years, the pound of (raw) silk costs eight _reales_ for
twisting and three _reales_ for dyeing in green, blue or other common
colours; so that this material, ready to use, costs altogether about
seventy-one _reales_ the pound, or seventeen to eighteen francs of our
money.
"Of course this price varies according to circumstances. One of the
causes which exercise the greatest influence on this fluctuation is the
harvest of the mulberry. These valuable trees are thickly planted over
the champaign of Valencia, and all of them are of the white-leaved kind.
This distinction, which would be superfluous in France, is by no means
so in Spain, where, in several provinces, as, for instance, the kingdom
of Granada, the leaves of the black mulberry are used to nourish the
silkworms, and yield almost as handsome a silk as those of the
white.[19]
[19] "The mulberry of Valencia is the _white_, as being most suitable to
a well-watered plain. In Granada they give the preference to the
_black_, as thriving well in elevated stations, as more durable,
more abundant in leaves, and yielding a much finer and more
valuable silk. But then it does not begin bearing till it is about
twenty years of age. In this province they reckon that five trees
should produce two pounds of silk.
"I had the curiosity to examine their method of feeding the
silkworms. These industrious spinners are spread upon wicker
shelves, which are placed one above the other, all round, and
likewise in the middle of each apartment, so as to leave room only
for the good woman to pass with their provisions. In one house I
saw the produce of six ounces of seed, and was informed that to
every ounce, during their feeding season, they allow sixty
_arrobas_ of leaves, valued at two pounds five. Each ounce of seed
is supposed to yield ten pounds of silk, at twelve ounces to the
pound. March 28th, the worms began to hatch, and May 22nd they went
up to spin. On the eleventh day, from the time that they were
hatched, they slept; and on the fourteenth, they awoke to eat
again, receiving food twice a day till the twenty-second day.
Having then slept a second time, without interruption, for three
days, they were fed thrice a day; and thus alternately they
continued eating eight days and sleeping three, till the
forty-seventh day; after which they ate voraciously for ten
days, and not being stinted, consumed sometimes from thirty to
fifty _arrobas_ in four and twenty hours. They then climbed up
into rosemary bushes, fixed for that purpose between the shelves,
and began to spin.
"Upon examination, they appear evidently to draw out two threads
by the same operation, and to glue these together, covering them
with wax. Thismay be proved by spirit of wine, which will dissolve
the wax, and leave the thread. Having exhausted her magazine, the
worm changes her form and becomes a nymph, until the seventy-first
day from the time that the little animal was hatched, when she
comes forth with plumage, and having found her mate, begins to
lay her eggs. At the end of six days from this period of existence,
having answered the end of their creation, they both lie down and
die. This would be the natural progress; but, to preserve the silk,
the animal is killed by heat, and the cones being thrown into
boiling water, the women and children wind off the
silk."--Townsend; _Journey through Spain in the years 1786 and
1787_; Vol. III., pp. 264-266.
"The leaves to these mulberry-trees are sold by the load of ten
_arrobas_; and the Valencian _arroba_, which is about equal to
twenty-seven French pounds, cost, in 1783, about thirty _sols tournois_.
"The mulberry leaves are gathered once, twice, or, at most, three times
in each year; but it is not often that the two last crops are of as fine
a quality or as abundant as the first. The greater part of the year is
suited for harvesting the leaves, and this harvesting is carried out
progressively as the silkworms copulate, steadily increasing in quantity
up to the moment when they build their cocoons. As a rule only the
leaves are plucked, the branches being spared as far as possible. Thus
despoiled of its verdure in the middle of the finest times of year,
although surrounded by a dazzling vegetation, the tree looks like a dry
log floating on a green expanse of waters, while the mass of naked
trunks which seem to be completely sterile, and which grow more numerous
as the season advances, combine to render cheerless a prospect otherwise
so fertile and so smiling. Still worse becomes their state when the
trees are pruned entirely of their branches--an operation which is
performed upon them at least once in every three years.
"In the space of ten years the kingdom of Valencia has yielded six
million pounds of silk, which makes a yearly average of six hundred
thousand pounds; and as the whole of Spain produces a million pounds per
annum, we see from this that Valencia alone supplies more than half of
the entire quantity. The silks of Valencia are the finest of the whole
Peninsula, and fit to be compared with the best of Europe generally, but
the spinning is still imperfect, because in Spain there are not, as in
France and elsewhere, houses where the women who spin are gathered
together under the eye of an inspector to see that all the silk is spun
evenly. In the kingdom of Valencia the spinning is distributed among
several thousand hands, who introduce six, seven, eight, or even more
ends in a thread of silk which should always have the same number; hence
the unevennesses in the fabrics which are woven from them, while for the
same reason we do not utilize for any delicate work the raw material
which we import from Spain. The silk we employ for our costlier fabrics
is of the kind which we import from Piedmont and the southern provinces
of France. Also, for the last few years we have felt less need of the
Valencian silk. The laws prohibiting the exportation of this Spanish
silk have stimulated the cultivation of mulberry-trees in Languedoc,
where the peasantry, alive to the profit which these trees could render
them, have preferred them to other kinds for planting round their
property. This is why, in the year 1783, French silk could be bought for
a lower price than the Valencian silk purchased in that region, plus the
dues levied upon its exportation. I know of a merchant who at this time
enjoyed the privilege of exporting for six years a hundred thousand
pounds free of all dues, but who throughout the year 1783 was unable to
find a purchaser in France. Spain could perhaps remedy the egress of her
raw material by further increasing (as, indeed, she daily does) the
number of her looms, and by exporting a greater number of her products
to her American possessions; but her silk-stuffs will never be perfected
until she markets them in foreign countries, where the taste of her
customers may tend to better that of her manufacturers.
"The silk raised in the kingdom of Valencia is estimated, during an
average year, to be worth six or seven millions of _piastres_ (nineteen
to twenty-two millions of _livres_.) At the time of my visit to this
city, she only employed one half this quantity, although her looms of
every size amounted to four thousand. The rest, in spite of the
prohibitions laid upon its extraction, is smuggled off to foreign
countries, escaping, sometimes to France by way of Barcelona, and
sometimes to Portugal by way of Seville and Extremadura. Nevertheless,
there is probably more silk in Spain to-day than formerly, and measures
have been earnestly adopted to encourage the industries which make use
of it. For some time past, silk-looms have been scattered over the whole
of Cataluña, and in the kingdoms of Granada, Cordova, Seville, etc.,
producing handkerchiefs, ribbons, and other stuffs in sufficient
quantity to supply, or nearly so, the national market: nevertheless this
still left a large market for our stocking-factories of Languedoc. The
Spanish Government, by the law of 1778, limited itself to excluding
these stockings from forming part of the foreign cargoes to the
Colonies, but as they continued to be imported into Spain, this law was
readily evaded, since it sufficed to stamp the French article with the
mark of a Spanish factory. It would have required an excessive
vigilance, almost a positive inquisition, to guard against a fraud of
this kind, prompted by the avarice of traders. The Spanish Government
next sought, by the law of 1785, to put a stop to it by totally
excluding our silk stockings, and this measure, together with the
establishment of a number of new looms in Spain, has produced an almost
absolute stagnation in the market which our factories of Languedoc had
formerly enjoyed in the Peninsula. But let me return now to the
Valencian factories.
"This city has no one building in which might be performed the whole of
the processes through which the silk must pass. Any person who wishes to
examine them, must visit several workshops; and this was the course
which we adopted, under the guidance of a manufacturer as intelligent as
he is amiable, named Don Manuel Foz, a gentleman who has travelled
extensively in order to perfect his knowledge of handling silk, and who,
among other secrets, has brought from Constantinople the art of watering
silken stuffs. As a reward for his activity, he has been appointed
_Intendente_ of all the factories of Valencia.
"There are hardly any merchants at Valencia who are not more or less
concerned in silk-making: indeed, they look upon this industry as quite
a _point d'honneur_. Some of them supply with silk no more than four or
five looms, which work at their expense, while others have under their
control as many as several hundred.
"After the silkworm has cleverly built its cell, the first thing to be
done is to stifle it before it can pierce the cocoon in search of a new
existence. For this purpose the cocoons are thrown into a moderately
heated oven; and then, when once the worm is killed, they can be kept
without being spun for as long as may be needed.
"In order to strip them of their covering of silk, they are thrown into
hot water, after which the women workers pick up, and with surprising
quickness, the threads of several of them, join them, and deal them out,
thus joined, on wheels constructed for this object. On the design of the
wheels depends the degree of thoroughness with which the silk is spun;
but those which are employed in Spain are generally the most imperfect,
as I shall presently explain.
"I have already said that the slip of silk should be drawn from at least
four cocoons, and even then it only serves for making slender fabrics,
such as taffeta or ribbon. We were shown, indeed, a skein which was
assured to contain no more than two cocoons; but so slight a slip is of
no use at all. Most of them are made from seven or eight cocoons, and
two of the former are joined in order to form a thread sufficient to be
placed upon the loom.
"My readers are sure to know that all woven fabrics consist of two
distinct parts, the woof and the warp. The woof is that which is passed
by the shuttle from one side of the loom to the other, and which is
enchased between the two surfaces formed by the warp. As the woof is
subjected to more wear and tear than the warp, it should be stouter. For
this reason each of the two ends of which it is composed is twisted
separately before the two are twisted together, while for the warp the
latter of these processes is sufficient. The result of this difference
is that, when looked at beneath the microscope, the thread of the woof
has an uneven look, as though it were a small cable, while that of the
warp looks flat and smooth, and is therefore adapted to reflect the
light, receiving the shiny look which makes a silk-stuff so attractive.
"But the beauty of these fabrics depends, above all else, upon the way
in which the silk is divided as it is drawn from the cocoon. This first
stage of the spinning is performed in one or other of three ways,
according to the kind of wheel which is employed for it. The method
which the Spaniards have adopted from an early period has the following
drawback; that the small threads of six, seven, and eight cocoons which
are stripped at the same time, go to form a single thread, and are
deposited upon a small spindle without the thread rubbing against
another one, which friction serves to lay the little hairs which bristle
up, so that the slip of silk thus formed retains a hairy nap and is
easily frayed. In the Piedmontese method, on the other hand, each slip
is joined to another, and is not drawn apart until it has been twisted
round it four or five times.
"The third method, known as that of Vaucanson, is more expensive than
the one last mentioned. In the wheel invented by Vaucanson, the two
silk-slips are reunited after the first twisting, in order to be twisted
once again. This operation is called the 'double _croissade_.'
"If these threads, thus placed on bobbins, are intended for the woof,
they are enchased perpendicularly in a machine consisting of several
compartments, in which they are twisted separately. Thence they are
transferred to another machine, in which they are twisted all together;
after which they are ready for the loom. Those which are destined for
the web are not twisted (as I have explained above) until the moment
when they are united. Both at Valencia and at Talavera de la Reina these
machines, so precious to the weaver's craft, and which economise manual
toil, are not unknown.[20]
[20] They certainly were not unknown at Valencia. I have before me a
copy of the work, _Disertacion descriptiva de la Hilaza de la Seda,
segun el antiguo modo de hilar y el nuevo llamado de Vaucanson_,
written by the priest Francisco Ortells y Gombau, and published at
Valencia in 1783, by order of the Royal Council of Commerce and
Agriculture. This book, which clearly sets forth the superiority
of Vaucanson's method over those which had preceded it, states
that at first the Valencians were strongly opposed to the
Vaucanson wheel, believing that it caused a loss and waste of
silk. Probably the real reason was that it prevented the
manufacturers from adding spurious weight to the silk by mixing it
with oil. This practice, says Ortells, was then "so widespread an
evil in the kingdom of Valencia, that there is hardly anybody who
does not resort to it: notwithstanding it has been so often
prohibited by His Majesty, yet openly, where all the world may
witness, do the workers spin with much oil added to the silk."
The Vaucanson form of wheel was also more expensive. In the region
of Valencia its cost was about thirty _pesos_, that of the older
wheels being only fifteen or sixteen _pesos_. However, this
difficulty was not insuperable, for in the year 1779 the Royal
Council of Commerce presented a hundred and twenty Vaucanson
wheels to the peasants who had raised a minimum crop of a hundred
pounds of silk, requiring, in return, that the recipients of the
gift should spin not less than fifty pounds of silk per annum.
"At the latter of these towns I had already seen a single toothed-wheel,
which set in motion up to a thousand of these tiny bobbins on which are
wound the twisted slips of silk. The wheels I saw at Valencia were
smaller, because in this city there is not, as there is at Talavera, a
royal factory self-contained within a single building. At Valencia each
manufacturer, in order to carry out these various processes, requires to
deal with workmen and machines distributed through several quarters of
the town, and chooses from among them such as he best prefers.
"Nothing can be simpler than the working of these silk-twisting
machines, when once the toothed-wheel has set them going. The
perpendicular movement of all these little bobbins is looked after by
women, and even children.[21]
[21] At the time when Vaucanson's wheels began to be used in Spain, silk
was spun by men all over the Peninsula, except in the immediate
neighbourhood of Valencia (Orteils; _Hilaza de la Seda_, pp. 134
_et seq._) In every other region devoted to this industry such as
the valley of the Jucar and the Huertas of Orihuela and Murviedro,
as well as in the factories of Toledo, Seville, Granada, Cordova,
Jaén, Baeza, Talavera, and Priego, the spinning was performed by
men exclusively. Women, however, were often engaged in harvesting
the cocoons.
"If they should happen to clog, a touch of the finger disengages them.
If one of the slips should break, the harm is mended in a trice: the
practised fingers of the machinist pick up the broken ends with
marvellous despatch, tie them together by an imperceptible knot, and the
bobbin which was thus delayed loses no time in overtaking its
neighbours.
"The slips of silk, before being twisted two by two, are put through
another process which I ought to mention. When they are still in skeins
they are spread upon a large tub in which is a quantity of viscous
substances heated to boiling point, the gases from which tend to make
them adhere to one another. This is termed _passer à la brève_.
"Thence they are removed to the machine for twisting them. The silk, on
issuing from this machine, is called organzine; and it is only when it
is in this state that it can be exported from Piedmont, where the
twisting process was better executed than elsewhere, until the time when
it was rendered yet more perfect by Vaucanson.[22] This clever mechanic
has combined all possible advantages relating to the business of the
silk-weaver. His system, and no other, is practised in the Lyons
factories; but these wheels _à double croissade_ are only available for
silk produced in France; since that which is exported from abroad and
which is principally used in these factories, requires to be reduced to
organzine before it can again be taken out of the country.
[22] "I should here remark that the silk which is spun and twisted
according to the method of Vaucanson, forms a fabric a third part
closer and stronger than ordinary silk-stuffs."
"In this respect Spain possesses a sensible advantage over other
manufacturing nations; since she raises a greater quantity of silk than
she is able to consume, and could easily put it through the most
advanced and perfect processes; in spite of which she has clung for ages
to her faulty method. The present government has attacked this method by
the only means efficient to bring about a change; that is, the slow but
certain influence of persuasion. In 1781 the Count of Floridablanca
contracted with a French merchant settled in Madrid, that he should
supply a hundred _tours_ of the Vaucanson pattern for spinning silk,
first to the Murcian factories (of which province the Count was a
native), next to the Valencian, and subsequently to any others that
might wish for them; and with this object he granted to the merchant in
question the privilege of exporting, free of duty, six hundred thousand
pounds of silk in six years. Nevertheless, it is possible that this
measure may yet remain fruitless for many years owing to the apathy of
the Spanish manufacturers, who were loth to use a finer, closer quality
of silk, because it must be woven with greater care owing to its
containing three ends instead of two, the work being greater on this
account without a corresponding increase in the gain. It has also been
found necessary to employ Frenchmen in the earliest trials made in Spain
of this new method.
"The success of the Spaniards should not be counted on, if we are to
judge of it by a factory, which was founded some years since at _La
Milanesa_, a league's distance from Valencia, by an intelligent man
named La Payessa.[23]
[23] This man, Joseph Lapayese or La Payessa, did not initiate
Vaucanson's method in this region. He succeeded a Frenchman named
Reboul, who, in 1769, and holding privileges from the Crown, began
to work with Vaucanson wheels at Vilanesa, near Valencia--the same
place which Bourgoing calls _La Milanesa_. Both the king and his
minister of finance, Don Miguel de Muzquiz, were keenly interested
in these experiments, and Muzquiz, who owned an estate near the
town of Sueca, in the same neighbourhood, imported four more of
the new wheels there, under Reboul's direction. This craftsman,
however, was not successful. Lapayese, who came after him and
enjoyed the same Crown privileges, made considerably better
progress, his efforts being seconded by the Royal Junta, the
archbishop, and other bodies or individuals of Valencia, who
awarded prizes of wheels and money to the best workers in the new
style.
"He introduced the method of Vaucanson, but when I went to see his
factory he had not seen his way to recover the money which this
improvement had cost him. He employed barely two hundred persons for the
most important work; nothing more was done than to spin the silk, divide
it, and convert it into organzine. Thus treated, it cost from fifty to
sixty _reales_ more per pound than that which is prepared according to
the Spanish method, so that its success was but small.
"I shall not describe in detail either the method of dyeing the silk, or
that of weaving it. The first of these operations is readily imagined;
the second is hard to understand, and still more so to explain, unless
one is assisted by engravings. I will merely observe that all silk is
dyed in skeins, just before it enters the loom. If it be required
occasionally to dye it after it is woven, this is only when the silk is
spotted, or when the dyeing of the skeins has proved a failure. At the
time of my visit to Valencia, there were a hundred and seventeen
master-dyers in that city, but not all of them were working.
"The stuffs in which the factories of Valencia are most successful are
principally of the smooth sort; they also make there handsome damask
_brochés_ with large flowers for wall-hangings; but generally all that
is undertaken is by order of the Court, Madrid, and the provinces. The
Valencians follow as closely as possible the rapidity with which the
French designs are changed, and those who profess to invent new ones are
but copying the French ones in a greater or less degree.
Notwithstanding, the Valencian Fine-Arts Academy is taking serious steps
to form designers, and a school has been founded which has already
developed able pupils--amongst others, a young man called Ferrers, who
had died a short while before our arrival at the city, and some of whose
designs of flowers we had occasion to admire.
"But the process in which the Valencians particularly excel is that of
watering stuffs, which M. Foz has rendered absolutely perfect. He gave
us a clear account of this process, which consists in passing a cylinder
over the stuff to be watered, this cylinder being pressed upon by a
heavy mass moved to and fro by a mule which draws a lever round and
round. The stuff is folded in the manner of a closed jalousie, and these
folds require to be often varied so as to distribute the undulations
evenly. M. Foz admitted that the shape and the arrangement of these
undulations are more or less a matter of chance, but he proved to us
that it is possible to influence them to some extent by moistening the
stuff in a certain manner and direction, and this is the particular
secret which he alone possesses in the whole of Spain. The excellence of
this method is demonstrated by the beauty of the watered silk which
issues from these presses. M. Foz himself set us to judge of this by
asking us to compare the blue ribbon of the Order of Charles the Third,
watered by himself, with those of the Order of the Holy Spirit. The
comparison, I must admit, was far from advantageous to these last."
The subsequent vicissitudes of the Valencian silk trade are indicated by
Laborde, who wrote, some few years later than the conscientious and
observant author of the _Nouveau Voyage en Espagne_:--
"The mulberry-trees are of great importance; the fields of Valencia are
covered with them, particularly in the environs of that town, in the
dale of Elda, in the county of Carlet, in almost all the places situated
on the sea coast, etc. There are white mulberry-trees, which are lopped
every two years.
"The leaves of these trees serve as nourishment to silkworms, which are
raised almost everywhere in the kingdom of Valencia. Algemesi, Alcira,
Carcagente, Castillo of San Felipe, the county of Carlet, Undasuar,
Gandia, Denia, Orihuela, and all the villages near the sea are places
which produce the greatest quantity.
"The silk made from them is the finest in Spain. It would be equal to
the best and finest silks of Europe, if the Valencians, in spite of the
vivacity of their imagination, did not obstinately persist in their old
routine in the skeining; for in the skein they put an undetermined
number of threads. The government has hired a man who has the most
experience in this kind of work; but in vain does he endeavour to
instruct them, since the manufacturers continue their bad custom just
the same. The quantity of silk wound annually is, on an average, about
1,500,000 pounds of twelve Valencian ounces (1,312,500 pounds of sixteen
ounces avoirdupois). It is commonly sold raw for fifty reals of vellon a
Valencian pound, which gives a total of 75,000,000 reals of vellon
(£731,250)....
"Silk is twisted in different places in the kingdom of Valencia, for
which purpose machines and mills are established at Gandia, San Felipe,
Carcagente, Orihuela, and Valencia. The most important establishment of
this kind is at La Milanesa, near the last mentioned town. Nevertheless,
these machines are not able to furnish as much as the manufactures of
the country require. Part of the silk is sent to Priego and Toledo in
Andalusia, whence it is returned into the kingdom of Valencia to be
worked....
"A great many impediments are thrown in the way of the exportation of
silk, which is only allowed for six months after the harvest. If in that
period the national manufacturers want it, they are at liberty to take
it from the merchants who have bought it, on reimbursing them the
purchase-money together with six per cent. interest. The consequence is
that the merchants, uncertain whether they will be allowed to export the
silk which they have purchased, no longer take any foreign commissions
for it, and so this branch of exportation has fallen. Besides this, a
duty has been laid upon the silk sent out of the kingdom, of nine reals
of vellon and one quartillo (1s. 11-1/4d. sterling) on every pound of
twelve Valencian ounces, which is almost a fifth of its value. This is
another obstacle to the exportation of it. A very small quantity,
twisted and dyed, is sent into Portugal.
"Generally 1,500,000 pounds of silk are made annually, of which
1,100,000 are consumed in the province, and 400,000 pounds are exported
to Talavera de la Reina, Requeña, Toledo, Granada, Seville, Priego, and
Cataluña. From this results a product of 20,000,000 reals (£208,333,
6s.)."
Of the city of Valencia, Laborde wrote:--
"The manufactories of silk are the most considerable. They employ nearly
25,000 persons, and make taffetas, serges, silks, satins, plain damasks,
striped, printed, of one colour and of mixed colours, full velvets,
flowered velvets, plain and of various colours. The plain stuffs are
those in which they succeed best. There are also fine damasks made and
worked with large flowers."
According to the same writer, the manufacture at Valencia of silk
stockings, galloons, silk ribbon, handkerchiefs, and sashes revived to
such an extent, that in the year 1799 the looms for producing these
articles were 423 more than they had been in 1769. "There are 3618 silk
looms, which work about 800,000 pounds of silk annually; the
handkerchiefs, sashes, and other little articles of lace consume 100,000
pounds."
[Illustration: VIII
THE DAUGHTERS OF PHILIP THE SECOND
(_By Sanchez Coello. Prado Gallery_)]
Equally as instructive is Laborde's account of Barcelona.[24] After
remarking that the decay in her manufactures lasted from the end
of the sixteenth century till the middle of the eighteenth, he
continues:--"They are at present in a very flourishing state, and are
more numerous and varied than ever.... There are 524 looms of silk
stuffs, and 2700 of ribbons and silk galloon. The silk works consist of
taffetas, twilled and common silks, satins, and velvets of every kind
and colour. These are mixed with gold and silver. Gold cloths and
brocades are also made there.[25] The manufactures are not carried on by
companies, but dispersed among the workmen themselves, by which perhaps
the qualities may in some degree be injured. It is remarked that the
stuffs would be better if they were closer, for their texture is
commonly loose; they are also different in the gloss, which is seldom
fine, and is never equal to that in the manufactures of France. Another
fault in all these stuffs is the imperfect preparation of the silk,
which leaves it nearly always shaggy: the cause of this is the silk
being spun or twisted in an uneven manner. The same unpleasant effect is
observed in the silk stockings. They cannot be fine, their stitches
being uneven, and often large and shaggy. They do not last long, and are
as dear as the French stockings after the duty on their entrance into
Spain has been paid.
[24] The art of weaving silk appears to have found its way into
Barcelona comparatively late, for the veil-makers did not form a
guild of their own till A.D. 1553, the velvet-makers till 1548,
the silk-twisters till 1619, and the dyers of silk till 1624.
[25] Brocade (Spanish _brocado_ or _brocato_) may be generally described
as a silk-stuff woven with devices or raised figures in gold and
silver thread, or either of these metals separately (Plate viii.).
This costly fabric, which may be said to have superseded the
earlier kinds of cloth of gold, was greatly in vogue in older
Spain, especially throughout the fifteenth, sixteenth, and
seventeenth centuries. It is constantly referred to by her writers
("No siendo nueva la que prohibe las telas de oro, los _brocados_,
y tabies."--Fernandez Navarrete; _Conservacion de Monarquías_,
p. 231), and denounced by her priests (Fray Luis de León, "Y ha de
venir la tela de no sé donde, y _el brocado de mas altos_, y el
ambar que bañe el guante"), or in the pragmatics of her kings
(_e.g._ that of September 2nd, 1494, and of 1611: "Está prohibido
todo género de colgaduras, tapicerias sillas, coches, y literas de
_brocados_, telas de oro ó plata.... Asi mismo se prohiben
bordaduras en el campo de los doseles y camas; pero no en las
cenefas, que podrán llevar alamares, y fluecos de oro, ó plata,
ó _brocado_").
Brocade was made in Spain at Toledo, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia
and elsewhere, but as a rule it could not be compared in quality
with that of Genoa or Venice. A cheaper, though showy and
attractive modification of brocade was brocatel, in which the silk
was mixed with common thread or flax. According to the Dictionary
of the Spanish Academy, this commoner fabric was used for hangings
for churches, halls, beds, etc., and a document of 1680 tells us
that the price of brocatel made at Granada, and containing two
colours, was twenty-two _reales_ the yard.
"At Barcelona, laces, blonds, net-work, and tapes employ about twelve
thousand persons. Galloons, laces, and gold and silver fringes, are
likewise made here; but these are of no great importance. Silk, gold,
and silver embroideries are very common, and the embroiderers are so
numerous that they are to be found in every street.
"_Silk Stuffs._--These are manufactured at Manresa, Cardona, and Mataró,
which has forty-eight looms; but principally at Barcelona, where there
are five hundred and twenty-four. There they make velvets, satins,
damasks, silks, taffetas, and gold and silver stuffs. The town of
Barcelona alone uses annually 300,000 pounds of raw silk.
"_Taffetas, Handkerchiefs, and silk sashes._--They make a great quantity
of these at Barcelona, where there are a good many little manufactories
of this kind. There are a hundred and fifty looms at Reus, and six
hundred at Manresa. At the last place sixty thousand dozen handkerchiefs
are made, which take about seventy thousand pounds of raw silk.
"_Silk twisters._--There are some of these in several towns, and a great
many in Barcelona. There are eighteen frames at Mataró, which twist, one
year with another, one hundred and twenty-four quintals of silk; and
thirty-seven at Tarragona, which twist eleven thousand quintals."
Elsewhere in the course of his exhaustive tomes, Laborde sums up the
general revival of the Spanish silk-trade in the following terms:--
"Silk stockings are woven at Málaga, Zaragoza, Valencia, and at various
other places in the kingdom of Valencia; at Valdemoro, and at Talavera
de la Reina in New Castile; also in different parts of Cataluña, more
especially at Mataró, Arenys del Mar, and Barcelona. The most extensive
manufacture is carried on at the latter city, where the number of frames
amounts to nine hundred. In the city of Mataró are fifty-two, in
Valencia one hundred and fifty, and nearly as many in Talavera. The
stockings made in Spain are of a loose texture; owing to the improper
method in which silk-throwsting is conducted, they are badly dressed and
worse glossed. The Spanish people themselves prefer French stockings,
and most of those manufactured in the country are exported to America.
"Ribbons hold a distinguished place among the manufactured articles of
Spain. Some few are woven at Jaen, Granada, and Cordova; but more at
Talavera. Cadiz has but twenty ribbon-looms, Manresa five hundred,
Mataró eighty, Vich twenty-two, Requeña two hundred, Valencia four
hundred, Murcia twelve hundred, and Barcelona nearly three thousand.
These looms are not in factories, but individually dispersed. The
Spanish ribbons are in general thin and flimsy, have little lustre, and
their colours are neither brilliant nor permanent. Ribbons are made of
floss-silk at Toledo, where there are about twelve looms, and at
Manresa, where there is a greater number.[26]
[26] Towards the nineteenth century, ribbon was a great deal worn upon,
or together with, the regional costumes of the Spanish women; for
instance, on the gala bodice or _cotilla_ of the _hortelana_ of
Valencia, who further used it to make fast her _alpargatas_ or
sandals, described in the manuscript account attached to Pigal's
plates as "espèce de cothurnes, attachés avec des rubans en soie
ou fil bleu ou rouge." The same fabric served the peasant woman
of Carthagena for securing the sleeves of her gala camisole, for
lacing the bodice of the woman of Iviza, and in the other Balearic
Islands, for tying the _rebocillo_ or _rebociño_ beneath the chin.
Also it was with ribbon that the servant-girls of Granada suspended
a cross round their necks, that the _charra_ of Salamanca
(Plate ix.) trimmed her hat, that the women of Madrid, La Mancha,
and Andalusia bound up their knots of hair (_moños
con cinta_), and that, in some localities, even ladies of the
highest class secured their shoes about the lower leg and ankle.
[Illustration: IX
A _CHARRA_ OR PEASANT WOMAN
(_Salamanca, A.D. 1777_)]
"Silk taffetas, serges, and other articles, such as common and figured
satins, damasks, and plain and flowered velvets, are made at Jaen,
Granada, Murcia, Valencia, and the adjacent villages; at Málaga,
Zaragoza, Toledo, Requeña, Talavera de la Reina, Mataró, Manresa,
Cardona, and Barcelona. The silk-trade of Jaen and Granada is at present
in a very languishing state; the manufacture of Murcia is dwindled to a
few individual looms. At Toledo are fifty looms, fifty at Mataró, forty
at Málaga, six hundred at Requeña, four hundred at Talavera, which
consume annually two hundred thousand pounds of silk; five hundred at
Barcelona, which annually manufacture, in conjunction with those of
Cardona and Manresa, about three thousand pounds weight of silk; and in
the city of Valencia are three thousand, whose annual demand of silk is
eight hundred thousand pounds, while twenty-two thousand persons are
employed in the trade. In Zaragoza are sixty looms, which consume fifty
thousand pounds of silk; but taffetas only are manufactured there. The
cities of Toledo and Talavera de la Reina are the only places where the
looms are collected together in factories: in all other places they are
separated, and are found individually at the houses of the respective
weavers.
"A great portion of the silks manufactured in Spain are stout and
excellent, but they are destitute of the brilliancy observable in French
silks. The damasks made at Valencia are extremely beautiful, and in that
city they excel in the art of mixing silk and mohair, and produce mohair
stuffs which appear to be superior to those of France and England.
"Quantities of silk handkerchiefs and bands are manufactured at Reus,
Manresa, and Barcelona. Reus had five hundred looms, Manresa six
hundred, and annually made sixty thousand dozen handkerchiefs;
Barcelona, a much larger quantity.
"At Barcelona is a very considerable manufacture of white, coloured,
plain, and figured gauzes.
"The art of silk-throwsting tends greatly to improve the silk
manufactures in Spain. Machines invented in other countries have been
adopted here, and in many places profitable changes and corrections have
taken place in the trade. Silk is principally thrown at Priego, Toledo
in Andalusia, at Murcia in the kingdom of the same name, at Cervera near
Talavera de la Reina in New Castile, at Valencia, at Milanesa near that
city, at Gandia, San Felipe, and Carcagente in the kingdom of Valencia.
The silk-throwsters, who work at their own houses, and are paid in the
great, that is, according to the quantity of work they perform, are very
numerous in Murcia; but they perform the business there in a very
slovenly way. In the city of Murcia a factory is established, where silk
is thrown in an excellent manner by means of an ingenious machine, which
has been already described. The establishment at La Milanesa is a very
important one, and well administered. At Cervera are a dozen silk-mills,
each having four large dividers, and six machines for doubling and
twisting, by which seven thousand and seventy-two threads are divided,
doubled, and twisted at the same time."
CLOTHS AND WOOLLENS
Although the history of Spanish cloths and woollens is not of great
importance, I think it well to briefly sketch their history. Sails and
other fabrics of the coarsest kind are said to have been made, almost in
prehistoric times, at Sætabi (the modern Játiva) and at Saguntum
(Murviedro). From the thirteenth century cloths of good quality were
made at Barcelona, Lerida, San Daniel, Bañolas, Valls, and other towns
of Cataluña. A privilege of Alfonso the Learned, dated May 18th, 1283,
contains the following technical disposition relative to the cloth-looms
of the city of Soria: "Que la trenza cuando sea ordida que haya 88
varas, que pese una aranzada é 5 libras de estambre; é cualquier que la
fallare menor, que peche 5 sueldos. Que todos los tejedores é tejedoras
de la dicha cibdad é de su tierra, que pongan en las telas de lino 42
linnuelos é en las de estopazo 32 linnuelos; é en las de marga é de
sayal 32 linnuelos."
Segovia was another ancient centre of this manufacture, which Larruga
considers to have been transferred hither upon the extinction of the
factories of Cameros, Burgos, and Palencia. However this may be, the
_fuero_ of Sepúlveda, signed by Alfonso the Sixth, tells us that
clothworks existed here as early as the eleventh century. Towards the
end of the fourteenth, when Catherine of Lancaster was married to the
Infante Don Enrique, the English princess brought over, as part of her
dowry, a flock of merino sheep. These are believed to have pastured near
Segovia--a city where Catherine made her home for many years. In any
case, Segovian cloths improved considerably from about this time, and by
the reigns of Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second, when thirty-four
thousand persons were employed in the manufacture and twenty-five
thousand pieces of cloth were produced annually, were thought
(especially the baizes and the serges) to be unsurpassed in Europe.[27]
Sovereigns, including Charles the Second and Charles the Fifth of Spain,
and Henry the Eighth of England, were among the patrons of these
fabrics, while as late as the year 1700 the Franciscan friars engaged in
redeeming captives from the Turks, reported that "at Constantinople,
whither they had carried Segovian cloths as presents to the principal
rulers of that country, those cloths were spoken of in terms of high
approval."
[27] Colmenares, who wrote a history of Segovia down to the reign of
Philip the Second, says that in his time the clothmakers of this
town were "true fathers of families, who within and without their
houses sustain a multitude of persons (in many cases two and three
hundred), producing, with the aid of other people's hands, a great
variety of finest cloth: an employment worthy to be ranked with
agriculture, and that is of the utmost profit to any city, or to
any kingdom."
Early in the seventeenth century, and owing to a series of causes such
as impertinent or improvident legislation, heavy taxes, and the
importation of foreign cloths, the trade showed symptoms of decay.[28]
Bertaut de Rouen wrote in 1659, referring to the Spanish character at
this time: "Bien souvent le pain leur manque, comme j'ay veu dans
_Almagro_, petite ville située dans le meilleur pays d'Andalousie, et
dans _Segovie_, qui est une des grandes villes d'Espagne, et où il y
avoit autrefois des plus riches marchands à cause des draps et des
chapeaux que l'on y faisoit, qui a esté longtemps le sejour des Roys de
Castille, et qui n'est qu'environ à douze ou quatorze lieuës de Madrid,
où il n'y avoit point de pain dans toute la ville le jour que j'y
arrivay, et il n'y en eut qu'à quatre heures après midy, que l'on le
distribua par ordre du _Corregidor_, aussi bien qu'à Almagro."
[28] An amusing passage in Fernandez Navarrete's _Conservación de
Monarquías_ (A.D. 1626) tells us that most of the costlier
dress-materials used in Spain about this time proceeded from
abroad, and that they were "of so fine a texture that the heat of
an iron scorches them and wears them out in a couple of days;
while a great number of men employ themselves in the effeminate
office of dressing collars, who, ceasing also to be men, forsake
the plough or warlike exercises; for it is certain that when the
Spaniards kept the world in awe, this land produced a greater
number of armourers, and less persons who busied themselves with
looking after womanish apparel" (p. 232).
The rise, decay, and subsequent revival of the Spanish cloth industries,
and particularly the Segovian, are well described by Laborde, Bourgoing,
and Townsend. According to the first of these authorities, "at so early
a period as 1629 the merchants (of Segovia) complained that there was
every year a reduction in the fabrication of cloth, to the amount of
five thousand five hundred pieces; and that there resulted from this
deficiency an annual loss of 2,424,818 ducats and 2 reals, or about
£274,000 sterling. In the eighteenth century it appeared, from the
observations of the Economical Society, that the fabrication of stuffs
and cloths employed but one hundred and twenty looms, in which only four
thousand three hundred and eighteen quintals of washed wool were
consumed.
"About forty years ago these manufactures began to revive, the looms
were multiplied, and the consumption of wool considerably augmented. A
single individual, Don Lorenzo Ortiz, has for some years accelerated
their progress. In 1790 there was an addition of sixty-three looms,
which employed eight or nine hundred quintals of wool, and afforded
occupation to two thousand four hundred manufacturers."
The same author wrote that early in the nineteenth century, "the woollen
manufactures of New Castile are the most numerous and important. Cloths
are made at Toledo, Chinchon, Brihuega, Guadalajara; serges, stuffs, and
flannels at Toledo and Cuenca. The cloths of Brihuega are of an
excellent quality, but those of Guadalajara are still superior to them;
in particular, the cloth of Vigonia. There are twenty-eight looms at
Toledo, forty at Guasmenia, a hundred at Brihuega, and six hundred and
fifty-six at Guadalajara."
Bourgoing wrote, a dozen years or so before the close of the eighteenth
century: "Spanish wool is eagerly demanded by manufacturing peoples of
the rest of Europe. Nevertheless, it is not turned to so much advantage
as it might be. French, Dutch, and English come to Spain to purchase the
wools of Segovia and León at the ports of Bilbao and Santander.[29] Not
even so much as the commission on their sale is left in power of the
Spaniards, for the foreigners buy up the wool straight from the
shepherd, and wash it on their own account. Out of one million of
_arrobas_[30] of fine wool which Spain produces annually, she exports
more than half in washed wool, and a lesser quantity, by far, of
unwashed. It has been estimated that the export duties on this wool and
which it has not been hitherto thought prudent to curtail, produce a sum
of close upon five millions for the King of Spain. Here, therefore, is
another reason for not suppressing the 'abusive measure' of which the
patriotic Spaniards complain so loudly; since it is far from easy to do
away with so appreciable a source of revenue unless one has at hand a
swift and sure alternative measure by which it may be substituted. All
the same, government is endeavouring to derive a greater fiscal profit
from the exportation of these wools, and at the same time to bring about
a greater use of them in the Peninsula. For a long time past, all kinds
of common woollen fabrics, such as clothing for the soldiery and lower
classes, have been made in Spain. The exportation of these fabrics is
prohibited. As for the finer wools, these also are employed in several
places, but more than anywhere else at Guadalajara, where I visited the
factories towards the end of the year 1783. I was surprised to remark
that in several respects the manufacture had reached a great pitch of
perfection. I say _I was surprised_, because I had heard, times without
number, that the Spaniards were completely ignorant of these processes,
and did not know how to card, or spin, or weave, or dye, or full, or
calender; that their stuffs grew loose and wore badly; that the price
was exorbitant, etc. How many prejudices of this nature was I able to
throw aside after fair and deliberate examination of the stuffs in
question! I will only quote a single point to prove that the censures
which are aimed at the Spaniards respecting the quality of their cloths
are not applicable to them all, and that they are well upon the road to
being entirely undeserving of them. I was shown at Guadalajara a piece
of scarlet cloth, which, both for its excellent quality and for its
skilful dyeing, seemed to me to be quite comparable with the best cloths
of Julienne. These latter cost at their place of manufacture as much as
thirty-nine _livres_ the ell. At Guadalajara, I noted from the tariff
established in the factory, that the price of the finest scarlet cloth
was only from thirty-one to thirty-two _livres_ the ell. Comparing these
and other figures on the tariff, I came to the conclusion that there was
about the same difference in price between Spanish cloths and French
cloths, in favour of the former. What seems more singular still is that
the factories which work at the King's expense are generally
administered in a thriftless fashion, and that the factory of
Guadalajara was being greatly mismanaged at the time in question.
However, subsequently to my visit, changes for the better have been
introduced, which will improve the quality of, as well as cheapen, its
products, though, even when I saw it, this factory was one of the most
perfect to be seen anywhere. Within a space by no means large, it
contained all the machines and apparatus required for clothmaking,
except the thin, polished pasteboards which are placed between the
folds of a piece of cloth as it is passed through the press. These were
still brought from England; but everything else was prepared upon the
spot, even to the large scissors used in the shearing. There were eighty
looms for the finest cloths, whose proper name is _cloths of San
Fernando_, from the town where they were first produced; a hundred for
cloths of the second quality; and five hundred and six for making
serges, in which, in course of time, hopes are entertained of excelling
those of England.[31] All these looms were contained in two buildings,
and kept employed three thousand eight hundred and twenty-five persons,
all of them paid by the King,[32] without counting some forty thousand
more dispersed all over the Castilian and Manchegan tableland, engaged
in spinning the wool which is made up into stuffs at Guadalajara. It
would be difficult, I am sure, to find a factory better organized. Even
the town in which it is, presents a striking contrast with others of
that neighbourhood. I did not see one single mendicant or idler among
all its fifteen or sixteen thousand inhabitants. Such are the good
results of its manufactures, and, above all, those of cloth, including
many small and detailed processes which women, children, aged people, or
even the sick are able to perform. Here, where Nature seemed to have
condemned these ailing folk to a tedious and useless existence, art, as
it were, steps in and finds employment and relief for them.
Nevertheless, it must be owned that the Spaniards (as they themselves
admit) are still a little behindhand in the method of dyeing and
fulling their cloths, though when a people possess (as they) the raw
materials needed, both for making and for dyeing, a few men skilled in
these processes are all that is wanted to perfect several branches of
this industry; especially when, as is the case in Spain, government
spares no effort to achieve this end. Guadalajara is further the only
place in Spain which produces the celebrated Vicuña cloth; an admirable
fabric for which the rest of the world has cause to envy Spanish
America.[33] As the use of this cloth has not as yet become general, it
is not continually manufactured, nor is it easy to obtain a few ells of
it without ordering them several months in advance. This stuff is also
manufactured for the King of Spain, who makes presents of it to various
other monarchs. In the year 1782, after concluding a treaty with the
Porte, he sent twenty pieces of it to the Sultan of Turkey. They gave
great satisfaction. It has been imagined from this circumstance that
Spain would not be loth to supply the Turkish market with her cloths;
and other of the manufacturing nations have felt some measure of alarm,
perhaps unnecessarily. The Spanish government has too much sense to
enter upon such a competition with other peoples as long as Spain does
not supply the whole of the two and twenty million citizens who live
beneath her rule. The same government, too, is well aware how remote is
this degree of prosperity. The clothworks of Guadalajara have a kind of
branch factory at Brihuega, four leagues distant. At Brihuega there are
a hundred looms, all used for making fabrics of the finest quality.
[29] This recalls the statement made, centuries before, by Alonso de
Cartagena at the Council of Bâle: "And if the English should vaunt
the cunning of their cloth-makers, then would I tell them somewhat;
for if our country lack the weavers to make a cloth so delicate as
the scarlet cloths of London, yet is that substance titled _grana_
(the kermes, or scarlet grain), from which the scarlet cloth
receives its pleasantness of smell and brilliancy of hue, raised
in the kingdom of Castile, and thence conveyed to England, and
even to Italy."--Larruga, _Memorias_, Vol. XIV., p. 167.
[30] "The weight of an _arroba_ is twenty-seven pounds. The average
price is from twenty-three to twenty-seven _livres_ the _arroba_
of unwashed wool of the best quality, which pays five _livres_ ten
_sols_ of export duty. The _arroba_ of washed wool pays double."
[31] "It has been calculated that Spain, about this time, paid annually
to England two million pounds sterling per annum, solely on account
of her woollens."
[32] "His Majesty maintained this factory by a monthly payment from his
treasury of one hundred and fifty thousand _livres_; an exorbitant
amount, which very possibly would not be covered by the sales of
cloth."
Townsend wrote in 1787 "Royal manufactures and monopolies have a
baneful influence on population: for, as no private adventurers
can stand the competition with their sovereign, where he is the
great monopolist, trade will never prosper. The Spanish monarch is
a manufacturer of
Broad cloth, at Guadalajara and Brihuega;
China, at the palace of the Buen Retiro;
Cards, at Madrid and Málaga;
Glass, at San Ildefonso;
Paper, in Segovia;
Pottery, at Talavera;
Saltpetre, at Madrid and various other places;
Stockings, at Valdemoro;
Swords, at Toledo;
Tapestry, at Madrid;
Tissue, at Talavera.
He has the monopoly of brandy, cards, gunpowder, lead, quicksilver,
sealing-wax, salts, sulphur, and tobacco."--(_Journey through
Spain_, Vol. II., p. 240.)
[33] "It is made from wools of Buenos Aires and Peru. The wool of the
former of these regions is the longer, but the Peruvian is the more
silky."
"Segovia, famous at all periods for the excellence of her wool, was
formerly not less so for the number and perfection of her clothworks.
Now, every patriotic Spaniard must lament to see how she has fallen. In
the year 1785 the number of her looms did not exceed two hundred and
fifty. The most important factory was that of Ortiz, founded in 1779
under the title of _Real Fábrica_: the King possessed an interest in it.
In 1785 Ortiz was still employing three thousand workers in and about
Segovia, and manufactured every quality of cloth in sixty-three looms,
from the pieces which contained the two thousand threads prescribed by
the _Ordenanzas_, to those which should contain four thousand. His
energy was only hampered by the indolent character of the Segovians. The
privileges wherewith the government has sought to stimulate his first
experiments in this craft are not at all injurious to the other
manufacturers. They all concur to sell their goods, and at a reasonable
price. In September of 1785, the most expensive cloths cost only ninety
reals the _vara_; that is to say, about thirty-one _livres_ and ten
_sols_ the ell."
[Illustration: X
PRIEST'S ROBE; SPANISH
(_Embroidered in Gold on Green Velvet. About A.D. 1500_)]
Townsend wrote, precisely at the same time as Bourgoing: "Segovia was
once famous for its cloth, made on the King's account; but other nations
have since become rivals in this branch, and the manufacture in this
city has been gradually declining. When the King gave it up to a private
company, he left about three thousand pounds in trade; but now he is no
longer a partner in the business.[34] In the year 1612 were made here
twenty-five thousand five hundred pieces of cloth, which consumed
forty-four thousand six hundred and twenty-five quintals of wool, and
employed thirty-four thousand one hundred and eighty-nine persons; but
at present they make only about four thousand pieces. The principal
imperfections of this cloth are, that the thread is not even, and that
much grease remains in it when it is delivered to the dyer; in
consequence of which the colour is apt to fail. Yet, independently of
imperfections, so many are the disadvantages under which the manufacture
labours, that foreigners can afford to pay three pounds for the _arroba_
of fine wool, for which the Spaniard gives no more than twenty
shillings, and after all his charges can command the market even in the
ports of Spain.
"In the year 1525, the city contained five thousand families, but now
they do not surpass two thousand--a scanty population this for
twenty-five parishes; yet, besides the twenty-five churches, together
with the cathedral, they have one and twenty convents. When the canal is
finished, and the communication opened to the Bay of Biscay at
Santander, the trade and manufactures of Segovia may revive; but,
previous to that event, there can be nothing to inspire them with hope."
[34] A report presented by the Council of Commerce to the Marquis of la
Ensenada, put forward, in 1744, the absurd pretence that the king
of Spain maintained his factories "not for any State convenience
or _ad lucrum captandum_, but in order to augment our own products,
and diminish those which are imported from abroad."--Larruga's
_Memorias_, Vol. XV., pp. 70 and 247. Also see the conference
delivered by the Count of Torreánaz in 1886, in the Royal Spanish
Academy of Moral and Political Science; p. 27, note.
Several of the Spanish Crown factories were finally taken over by
the association--immensely wealthy at one period--known as the Five
Chief Gremios of Madrid (_Los Cinco Gremios Mayores de la Villa de
Madrid_), and it is clear that the investment of a large amount of
capital, subscribed by many shareholders, would of itself be
calculated to destroy the narrow ideals and what I may term the
individually greedy spirit which hitherto had ruled within the
craftsman's private family. Private interests, in short, were
superseded by the larger interests of a powerful company. That
which I have mentioned was composed of the five _gremios_ of the
capital of Spain which subscribed the largest sums in taxes to the
national exchequer; namely, the drapers, haberdashers, spicers and
druggists, jewellers, cloth-merchants, and linen-drapers. For many
years this association administered, on government's behalf, the
_alcabalas_, _tercias_, and _cientos_ of the town and district of
Madrid, and subsequently (A.D. 1745) the _millones_ tax, together
with other important dues, and ultimately, as I have stated, took
over, on a liberal scale of purchase, the royal cloth and silk
factories of Talavera de la Reina (A.D. 1785), San Fernando,
Guadalajara, Brihuega, Ezcaray, and Cuenca. The decay and downfall
of the company was due to gross mismanagement, and indeed, the
idiosyncrasies of the Spanish character render this people, even
at the present day, but little fitted to embark upon commercial
schemes requiring competent directors, heavy capital, and confident
assistance, moral and material, from a large body of investors.
Spaniards, as I have insisted elsewhere, do not pull well together;
and so, early in the nineteenth century, the association of the
five great _gremios_, which had possessed at one time many millions
of _pesetas_, suspended payment of all dividends. It is fair to
add, however, that this collapse was partly owing to the wars
between France and Spain.
Swinburne had written of the same city ten years earlier (1776): "The
inhabitants do not appear much the richer for their cloth manufactory.
Indeed, it is not in a very flourishing condition; but what cloth they
make is very fine."
[Illustration: XI
PRIEST'S ROBE; SPANISH
(_Embroidered in Gold on Green Velvet. About A.D. 1500_)]
The Ordinances of Granada (A.D. 1532), from which we learn that cloth
was also manufactured at that capital, contain the usual dispositions
relative to the stamping of this product by the city officers. The
stamps were in a box which was kept in a corner of the cathedral and
closed by two keys, guarded severally by a councillor and an inspector
of the trade, or _veedor_. On every day except a public festival,
between the hours of ten and eleven of the morning, and three and four
of the afternoon, it was the duty of these two authorities to proceed to
the Alcaicería, and ascertain if any cloth required stamping. If so, the
stamps were fetched forthwith from the cathedral, the cloth was marked,
and the stamps were solemnly restored to their chest beneath the double
key.
Among the woven fabrics other than those of silk, and which are
specified in the Ordinances of Granada relative to the _tundidores_ or
shearers, are cloths of Florence, Flanders, London, Valencia, Zaragoza,
Onteniente, Segovia, and Perpignan; _velarte_ (a fine cloth manufactured
at Granada), red _burel_ (kersey) of Baeza, black kersey of Villanueva
and La Mancha, _ruan_ (Roan linen), fustians, friezes, and _cordellate_
(grogram) of Granada, Valencia, Toledo, Segovia, and Cuenca. According
to Capmany, cloths of the commoner kind, and which were popular about
this time, were the _granas treintenas_ and black cloths of Valencia,
the white or yellow _veintiseiseno_ cloths of Toledo, the white cloths
of Ciudad Real, the green _palmillas_ of Cuenca, and green
_dieciochenos_ of Segovia, the _contrayes_ of Cazalla, and the
_pardillos_ of Aragon. Spanish cloth was also manufactured at Vergara,
Cordova, Jaen, Murcia, Palencia, Tavira de Durango, and Medina del
Campo.
[Illustration: XII
EMBROIDERED CHASUBLE
(_Palencia Cathedral_)]
Laborde says: "In the archives of the Crowns of Aragon and Castile there
is a notice of the duties paid from the thirteenth to the end of the
seventeenth century for foreign cloths sold in Spain, and for other
articles of consumption coming from abroad. The principal cloths came
from Bruges, Montpellier, and London; the velvets from Malines,
Courtrai, Ypres, and Florence. This trade became so injurious to Spain,
that Ferdinand and Isabella thought themselves bound to limit it
entirely to the stuffs required for ornaments of the church, which of
itself was a considerable quantity. Their prohibition is the subject of
the rescript of September 2nd, 1494, for the provinces of the Crown of
Castile. Even so far back as the Ordinances of Barcelona in 1271,
mention is made of the taxes levied on the cloths of Flanders, Arras,
Lannoy, Paris, Saint Denis, Chalons, Beziers, and Reims."[35]
[35] In the reign of Francis the First, the importation of Catalan cloth
into France was prohibited altogether.--Levasseur, _Histoire des
classes ouvrières en France_, Vol. II., p. 73.
Among the various cloths (exclusively or chiefly of the less
expensive kinds) which were manufactured in the capital and country
of Cataluña, we read of those of pure scarlet, scarlet tinted with
light or dark purple, ash-coloured, carmine, and rose; of cloth of
combed wool, _medias lanas_ (half-woollens), serges, and _cadinas_
or _banyolenchs_. But before the close of the fifteenth century
the production of these fabrics had suffered a serious decline
caused by the tactless government of Ferdinand the Catholic, and
above all, by the introduction of the Inquisition into Barcelona.
A privilege of Ferdinand, granted on November 4th, 1493, to the
Barcelonese clothmakers, admits that this was the foremost and
most useful local manufacture ("no y ha altre art ni offici que mes
util done"), adding, however, that it had fallen into a state of
sad prostration "owing to the indisposition of these times."
(Capmany, _Memorias_, Vol. II., _Doc._ ccxliv).
This was undoubtedly the case; for in a report of the city council
drawn up in 1491, it is stated that good cloth can only be
manufactured from good wool, but that this had now become a
difficult matter at Barcelona, because the clothmakers were without
the money to purchase such wool. In consequence, they appealed to
the city (then even more resourceless than themselves) to help
them.
Although it has become fashionable in some quarters to deny that
the Inquisition contributed in a sensible degree to the decline of
Spanish arts and industries, the following passage, quoted from the
municipal archives of Barcelona, places the fact beyond all
argument as far as this locality is concerned. The city councillors
declared in 1492 that "by reason of the Inquisition established in
this city, many evils have befallen our commerce, together with the
depopulation of the said city, and much other and irreparable
damage to her welfare; and as much more harm will occur in the
future, unless a remedy be applied, wherefore the said councillors
entreat of the king's majesty that of his wonted clemency he order
the said Inquisition to cease; or else that he repair the matter in
such wise that _the merchants who departed because of the
Inquisition_ may return, and continue in the service of their God,
their king, and of the general welfare of the city aforesaid."
[Illustration: XIII
EMBROIDERED _MANGA_ OR CASE OF PROCESSIONAL CROSS
(_Early 16th Century; Toledo Cathedral_)]
In 1809 the same author remarked: "The kingdom of Valencia produces
little wool, yet there are five manufactories of woollens and coarse and
fine cloths: they are at Morella, Enguera, Bocairente, Onteniente, and
Alcoy. The small woollen stuffs are principally made at Enguera; nothing
but the coarsest cloths are made at Morella, Bocairente, and Onteniente.
The manufactory at Alcoy is the most considerable: the cloths, though
finer, are generally of an inferior quality. The woof of them is thick,
with little nap upon it. The finest are scarcely superior to the
beautiful cloths of Carcassonne."
EMBROIDERY
The art of embroidering, and especially of embroidering with the aid of
gold and silver thread, was communicated to the Spaniards by the Spanish
Moors, who doubtless had derived it from the East. By about the
thirteenth century, the needle of the Spanish embroiderer had become, in
the picturesque phrase of one of his compatriots, "a veritable painter's
brush, describing facile outlines on luxurious fabrics, and filling in
the spaces, sometimes with brilliant hues, or sometimes with harmonious,
softly-graduated tones which imitate the entire colour-scheme of
Nature." Nevertheless, it was not until the fifteenth and the sixteenth
centuries that this art attained, in the Peninsula, its topmost summit
of perfection.
It is not at all surprising that embroidery should have made great
progress among a people so devoted to the outward and spectacular forms
of worship as the Spaniards; nor have the chasubles, copes, and other
vestments of the Spanish prelacy and priesthood ever been surpassed for
costly splendour[36] (Plates x., xi., xii.). But generally where the
Spanish embroiderer excelled was in the mere manipulation of the needle.
In fertility of design he was far outdistanced by the Germans and
Italians, and was even to a large extent their imitator; for Spanish
embroidery, as occurred with Spanish painting, was influenced, almost to
an overwhelming degree, firstly by northern art, and subsequently by the
art of the Renaissance.
[36] The cathedrals of Toledo and Palencia are particularly rich in
sets of magnificently embroidered vestments. "Each set," says
Riaño, "generally includes a chasuble, dalmatic, cope, altar
frontal, covers for the gospel stands, and other smaller pieces.
The embroideries on the orphreys, which are formed of figures of
saints, are as perfect as the miniatures on illuminated MSS."
[Illustration: XIV
EMBROIDERED ALTAR-FRONT]
These tendencies or characteristics will be found in nearly all the
masterpieces of Spanish embroidery that have been preserved until
to-day, of which perhaps the most remarkable specimens are the _manga_
or case of the great processional cross presented by Cardinal Cisneros
to Toledo cathedral, and the "_Tanto Monta_" embroidered tapestry
belonging to the same temple. The _manga grande_, known as that of the
Corpus (Plate xiii.), is in the Gothic style, with reminiscences of
German art, and consists of the following four scenes arranged in panels
thirty-seven inches high, and hung successively about the handle of the
cross:--
(1) The Ascension of the Virgin Mary, who is supported by six angels.
(2) The Adoration of the Magi.
(3) San Ildefonso in the act of cutting off a piece of the veil of
Santa Leocadia, patron of Toledo.
(4) The Martyrdom of San Eugenio, another patron of the city of Toledo.
The ground of this elaborate "sleeve" is a fabric of rich silk, on which
the embroidery is worked in gold and silver thread and coloured silks,
principally blue and red, combined in delicate, harmonious tones. The
figures are outlined with fine gold cord, which forms a kind of frame or
fencing to confine the stretches of smooth silk. The careful copying of
architectural detail is stated by Serrano Fatigati to be strongly
characteristic of Spanish industrial art in the fourteenth, fifteenth,
and even sixteenth centuries. The same writer considers that this
"sleeve" was executed towards the year 1514, when embroiderers of great
renown, such as Alonso Hernández, Juan de Talavera, Martin Ruiz,
Hernando de la Rica, Pedro de Burgos, and Marcos de Covarrubias were
engaged on similar work in the venerable city of the Tagus. Two out of
the four panels, says Serrano Fatigati, may possibly be from the hand of
Covarrubias, who was a famous craftsman of his time, and held the post
of master-embroiderer in Toledo cathedral. In any case, the four panels
are evidently not all by the same artist, nor do they appear to have
been executed at precisely the same period.
[Illustration: XV
EMBROIDERED ALTAR-FRONT, WITH THE ARMS OF CARDINAL MENDOZA
(_15th Century. Toledo Cathedral_)]
The gorgeous embroidered tapestry which also belongs to this cathedral
(where it serves as a hanging or _colgadura_ for the altar on the day of
Corpus Christi), and which is known as the "Tanto Monta" _tapiz_, is
stated by some authorities to have been the _dosel_ or bed canopy of
Ferdinand and Isabella, and to have been purchased, in the year 1517,
for 900,000 _maravedis_ by Alonso Fernández de Tendilla, steward of
those sovereigns. Riaño gives the following account of the same
object:--
"As a fine specimen of embroidery on a large scale, must be mentioned
the _dosel_ or canopy called the tent of Ferdinand and Isabella, which
was used in the reception of the English envoys, Thomas Salvaige and
Richard Nanfan, who were sent in 1488 to Spain to arrange the marriage
of Prince Henry with the Infanta Doña Catalina." The ambassadors
describe it in the following manner: "After the tilting was over, the
kings returned to the palace, and took the ambassadors with them, and
entered a large room; and there they sat under a rich cloth of state of
rich crimson velvet, richly embroidered with the arms of Castile and
Aragon, and covered with the device of the King which is a ... (blank
in original),[37] and his motto, written at length, which is 'Tanto
Monta.'" ("Memorials of King Henry the Seventh," Gairdner, London, 1858,
p. 348).
[37] The device of Ferdinand the Catholic was a yoke; the sheaf of
arrows, that of Isabella. (See Vol. II., p. 147, etc.).
Riaño also describes the mantle of the Virgen del Sagrario at Toledo.
"It is completely covered with pearls and jewels forming a most
effective ornamentation. This embroidery was made in the beginning of
the seventeenth century, during the lifetime of Cardinal Sandoval, who
presented it to the church." Señor Parro, in his exhaustive work _Toledo
en la Mano_ (Vol. I., p. 574), gives the following account of it: "It is
made of twelve yards of silver lama, or cloth of silver, which is
entirely covered with gold and precious stones. In the centre there is a
jewel of amethysts and diamonds. Eight other jewels appear on each side,
of enamelled gold, emeralds, and large rubies. A variety of other jewels
are placed at intervals round the mantle, and at the lower part are the
arms of Cardinal Sandoval enamelled on gold and studded with sapphires
and rubies. The centre of this mantle is covered with flowers and
pomegranates embroidered in seed-pearls of different sizes. Round the
borders are rows of large pearls. Besides the gems which are employed in
this superb work of art, no less than two hundred and fifty-seven ounces
of pearls of different sizes were used, three hundred ounces of gold
thread, a hundred and sixty ounces of small pieces of enamelled gold,
and eight ounces of emeralds."
[Illustration: XVI
EMBROIDERED ALTAR-FRONT
(_Palencia Cathedral_)]
As in other countries, embroidery in Spain was executed in the bygone
time, both by paid embroiderers, and as a domestic occupation by the
ladies of the aristocracy. The work of the professional embroiderer
consisted principally of paraments or altar-fronts (Plates xiv., xv.,
xvi., xvii.), and ecclesiastical vestments. Among the former of this
class of objects, nothing is finer than the _frontal_ of the Chapel of
Saint George in the Audiencia of Barcelona. It is believed to have been
wrought by Antonio Sadurni, a Catalan embroiderer who flourished in the
middle of the fifteenth century. The scene represented is the combat
between Saint George (patron of Cataluña) and the dragon. The saint has
rescued a damsel from the monster's claws, and her parents are looking
on from a _mirador_ of their palace. This central episode is surrounded
with borders and arabesques of extraordinary richness.
Riaño gives a list, compiled from Cean, Martinez, Suarez de Figueroa,
and other authors, of forty-seven Spanish embroiderers of the fifteenth,
sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. More recently, Ramírez
de Arellano has discovered, among the municipal archives of Cordova, the
names of sixteen others, who resided at that city towards, or early in,
the seventeenth century. The craftsmen in question were Diego de
Aguilar, Juan Bautista, Bernardo Carrillo, Luis Carrillo de Quijana,
Andrés Fernández de Montemayor, Hernán Gómez del Río, Diego Fabián de
Herrera, Diego del Hierro, Diego López de Herrera, Diego López de
Valenzuela, Antonio de Morales, Gonzalo de Ocaña, Mateo Sanguino, Manuel
Torralbo, Cristóbal de Valenzuela, and Martin de la Vega.
Documents in the same archive contain additional particulars respecting
two or three of these artificers. Thus, on February 10th, 1607, Hernán
Gómez del Río engaged himself to embroider for the convent of the
Trinity at Cordova, "a bordering for a chasuble and four _faldones_ for
dalmatics, with their collars and _sabastros_ and _bocas mangas_. The
said _bocas mangas_ to be four in number, and the collars two; also the
_collaretes_ which may be necessary for the two dalmatics, and which I
am to embroider in silk and gold upon white satin. The _collaretes_ also
to be embroidered by me in silk and gold to match a bordering of white
satin for a cloak in possession of the said convent." Further, the
convent was to supply the artist with the quantity of white satin
required, and pay him two hundred and ten ducats, secured by certain of
the convent's revenues, for the gold, the silk, and the workmanship.
[Illustration: XVII
EMBROIDERED ALTAR-FRONTS
(_Palencia Cathedral_)]
Manuel Torralbo contracted to embroider a velvet altar-front and its
corresponding _fronteleras_ for the parish church of Luque, at a price
of three hundred _reales_; and Cristóbal de Valenzuela (on September
25th, 1604) to embroider two frontals for the altar of the church of
Obejo. One of them was to be of purple velvet worked in gold, and the
other of "black velvet, with borders and _caidas_ embroidered in yellow
satin and white satin, with skulls and bones embroidered in gold."[38]
[38] The skull and crossbones were a favourite design upon these
objects. The Church of the Escorial possesses four paraments so
decorated, which were shown, in 1878, at the Parisian Exhibition
of Retrospective Art.
Turning our attention to the embroidery which was executed, principally
as a recreation, by highborn Spanish ladies of some centuries ago, the
romance of _El Compte Arnau_, quoted by Miquel y Badía and written in
Catalan and Provençal, contains the following lines:--
"¿ Ahout teniu las vostras fillas--muller leal?
¿ Ahout teniu las vostras fillas--viudeta igual?
A la cambra son que _brodan_--Compte l'Arnau
A la cambra son que _brodan_--seda y estam."
Isabella the Catholic presented to the Chapel Royal of the cathedral of
Granada an ecclesiastical robe embroidered by her own hands for the
festival of Corpus Christi. The material was black satin brocade, with a
fringe of white silk, and the letters IHS in white damask.[39]
[39] Gómez Moreno; _Apuntes que pueden servir de historia del bordado
de imagineria en Granada_ (_El Liceo de Granada_; 6th year,
No. 18).
[Illustration: XVIII
WIFE OF WELL-TO-DO MERCHANT
(_Palma, Balearic Islands. About A.D. 1810_)]
The same usage continued in the seventeenth century. Countess d'Aulnoy
says: "Young ladies of great beauty and of noble blood engage themselves
to wait on ladies of the aristocracy, and spend most of their time
embroidering the collars and sleeves of shirts in gold, silver, and
coloured silk, although, if they be suffered to follow their liking,
they work but little, and gossip a great deal." The same writer refers
repeatedly to the sumptuous embroideries in use among the upper classes
of the Spaniards of that time. Thus, the bed-pillows of the Princess of
Monteleón were embroidered with gold. The sleeves of the coat of Charles
the Second were of white silk, very large, opening towards the wrist,
and embroidered with blue silk and jet, the rest of his costume being
embroidered in white and blue silk. In the palace of the same monarch,
the daïs of the throne-room was covered with "a wondrous carpet, and the
throne and its canopy were embroidered with pearls, diamonds, rubies,
emeralds, and other precious stones." The cloaks of the chevaliers who
belonged to the Military Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, and Alcántara
were embroidered with gold. The gentlemen of Madrid covered their horses
with silver gauze, and trappings embroidered with gold and pearls.[40]
The same gentlemen wore coats whose sleeves were of coloured satin,
embroidered with silk and jet, and even their lackeys, when they
attended their masters in a procession, wore uniforms of cloth
embroidered with gold and silver. Unmarried girls and brides wore
gold-embroidered bodices. The chairs in which the ladies of Madrid paid
visits were made of cloth embroidered in gold and silver, stretched upon
the wooden frame. In the train of the Duchess of Terranova went six
litters covered with embroidered velvet. "In the parish church of San
Sebastián," wrote Countess d'Aulnoy, "I have seen a hand-chair made by
order of the queen-mother, for carrying the Sacrament to sick persons in
bad weather. It is lined with crimson velvet embroidered in gold and
covered with hide studded with gilt nails: it has large window-glasses,
and a kind of small belfry full of golden bells."
[40] A similar usage prevailed at Valladolid. The account of this city
as it existed in 1605, published by Gayangos in the _Revista de
España_, describes Don Juan de Tassis, Count of Villamediana, as
"riding in the finest clothes imaginable; his cloak, jacket,
breeches, shoes, and the trappings, harness, reins, etc., of his
horse, being all embroidered with the finest twisted silver thread.
Even his horse's blinkers were of the same material."
With the succession of a French line of sovereigns to the throne of
Spain, a taste for French embroideries passed into the Peninsula, and
these, in course of time, were imitated by the Spanish craftsmen.[41]
"We find," says Riaño, "that Madrid was the principal centre of this
industry, and that French designs were universally copied, as was the
case in the whole of Europe. The splendid curtains and embroidered
hangings for apartments which exist at the royal palaces of Madrid, the
Escorial, and Aranjuez, are admirable specimens."
[41] The use of embroidery was, however, greatly curbed by sumptuary
pragmatics, issued early in this century (see Vol. I., pp. 287,
289). A similar pragmatic had appeared in 1622; but it is clear
from the passages I have quoted, that little or no attention was
paid to it.
I may mention here the embroidery, often of a rich and highly ornate
character, which is, or used to be, applied to the regional costumes of
Spain. Plate ix. is reproduced from a rare print in my possession,
showing the gala dress, as it existed in the year 1777, of the _charra_
of Salamanca, with full, white sleeves ornamented in black embroidery
with animals and other devices. A similar costume is still worn in that
neighbourhood. Plate xviii., also copied from a print in my collection,
dating from about the year 1810, shows the costume worn by the women of
the well-to-do middle class of the island of Majorca. "Le jupon ou
_guardapies_," says the manuscript description prefixed to this series
of plates, "en mousseline, complete le costume de cette insulaire: il
est orné au bas de riches broderies, mais assez court pour laisser voir
un joli petit pied chaussé d'un bas de coton ou de soie et d'un élégant
soulier de satin."
TAPESTRY
There is a dim tradition, derived from or supported by a Latin poet
("Tunc operosa suis _Hispana tapetia_ villis") that carpets or
tapestries of some kind were made in the Spanish Peninsula in the time
of the Romans. Undoubtedly this craft was practised by the
Spanish-Moors, particularly in the regions of Valencia, Alicante,
Cuenca, and Granada. This statement is confirmed by two laconic notices
which occur in the _Description of Africa and Spain_ of Edrisi, a
Mohammedan geographer of the twelfth century. Of the town of Chinchilla,
in Alicante province, he wrote,--"woollen carpets are made here, such as
could not be manufactured anywhere else, owing to the qualities of the
air and water"; and of Cuenca, "excellent woollen carpets are
manufactured at this town."
"En Espagne," says Müntz, "l'industrie textile ne tarda pas à prendre
également le plus brilliant essor, grâce à la conquête maure. Les
étoffes d'Almeria acquirent rapidement une réputation européenne; il est
vrai que c'étaient des brocarts, des damas, et autres tissus analogues,
non des tapisseries: l'influence qu'elles furent appelées à exercer au
dehors se borna donc au domaine de l'ornementation."
[Illustration: XIX
THE "GENESIS TAPESTRY"
(_12th Century; Gerona Cathedral_)]
Of a similar composition to the foregoing fabrics specified by
Müntz--that is to say, not genuine tapestries, although requiring for
several reasons to be classed with these--is the celebrated "Genesis"
(Plate xix.) of the cathedral of Gerona. This primitive yet complicated
work of art, dating from the twelfth century, is embroidered in crewels
upon linen, and represents the creation of the world. Its dimensions are
about four yards high by four and a half yards wide; but the bordering
has been torn away in places. The design is thus described by
Riaño:--"In the centre is a geometrical figure formed by two concentric
circles. In the lesser circle is a figure of Christ holding an open
book, on which appear the words _Sanctus Deus_, and on each side _Rex
fortis_, surrounded by the inscription, _Dixit quoque Deus, Fiat lux, Et
facta est lux_. In the larger circle are the words, _In principio
creavit Deus coelum et terram, mare et omnia quæ in eis sunt, et vidit
Deus cuncta quæ egerat et erant valde bona_.
"The space between the two circles is divided by radiating lines into
eight portions, in which are represented the Mystic Dove, the angels of
light and darkness: the division of land from water, the creation of
sun, moon, and stars, of birds, fishes, and beasts, and of Adam and Eve.
In the angles outside the larger circle are the four winds, and the
whole is surrounded by a border, imperfect in parts, containing
representations of the months, and apparently of certain scriptural
incidents, too much defaced to be clearly made out."
The royal palaces of Spain and many of her noble houses have possessed,
from about the fifteenth century, splendid collections of the costliest
tapestries, consisting principally of _paños de Ras_, or "Arras cloths"
(as they were called among the Spaniards, and especially in Aragon).
Until a later period all, or very nearly all, these objects were
imported from the Flemish workshops.[42] At the palace of a nobleman in
Madrid, Bertaut de Rouen observed "les plus belles tapisseries du
monde." The same author tells us that in the seventeenth century, when
he visited Spain and wrote his entertaining _Journal_, it was customary
for the walls of the royal palace to be hung with tapestry in winter,
these hangings being removed for greater coolness in the summer months.
In reading descriptions of Spanish life referring to the same period,
one is struck by the craze which prevailed among the Spaniards for
displaying tapestries and other gay-coloured fabrics in all kinds of
places and on every possible occasion. Thus, Bertaut de Rouen relates
that when he saw a play performed in the Alcázar, "le long de ces deux
costez de la salle estoient seulement deux grands bancs couverts de
tapis de Perse"; that the boxes at the bull-fights, both at Madrid and
in the country, were "tapissées de brocatelle de soye"; and that the
lower part of the dome in one of the chapels of Seville cathedral was
decorated with the same material. At the haunted castle of Quebaro, on
the road from Galareta to Vitoria, Countess d'Aulnoy saw upon the walls
of a large chamber, some tapestries representing the amours of Don Pedro
the Cruel and of Doña María de Padilla. "This lady was depicted seated,
like a queen, among various other ladies, while the king crowned her
with a chaplet of flowers. Elsewhere Doña María was reposing in a
forest, as the king offered her a falcon. I also saw her dressed as a
warrior while the king, in armour, offered her a sword. This set me
thinking whether she had ever accompanied Don Pedro in one of his
campaigns. All the figures in these tapestries were badly drawn, but Don
Fernando assured me that all well-executed likenesses of Doña María de
Padilla represented her to be a woman of rare charm, the loveliest of
her century."
[42] "A côté de l'Italie, il faut citer l'Espagne, tributaire comme
elle des ateliers flamands. Les résidences royales regorgeaient
de ces précieux tissus, qui aujourd'hui encore, à Madrid ou à
l'Escurial, se chiffrent par centaines. Parmi les présents que le
roi de Castille envoya à Tamerlan ([dagger] 1405), on remarquait
des tapisseries dont les portraits étaient faits avec tant de
délicatesse, dit un chroniqueur persan, que si on voulait leur
comparer les ouvrages merveilleux autrefois exécutés par le
peintre Mani sur la toile d'Artène, Mani serait couvert de honte
et ses ouvrages paraîtraient difformes."--Müntz, _La Tapisserie_,
p. 172.
Pinheiro da Veiga says that at Valladolid in 1605, a banquet was
celebrated in "a large gallery, completely covered with the richest silk
brocade, as were most of the other apartments." He also says that cloths
of similar richness were employed as street-awnings. "Upon the ninth was
the Corpus procession, at which the king was to assist; and a
proclamation was issued that none should promenade on horseback or in
coaches. I found nothing remarkable in this procession, unless it were
the hangings and the awnings to keep off the sun, which were of the
richest damask and brocade." Of the same _fiesta_ Countess d'Aulnoy
wrote in 1679: "The streets through which the procession has to pass are
adorned with the finest tapestries in all the world, since in addition
to those belonging to the Crown, many of the greatest beauty are
displayed by private persons. The _celosías_ of all the balconies are
replaced by elaborate canopies and hangings, and the whole roadway is
covered with an awning to ward off the sun, and which, for the sake of
greater freshness, is moistened with a little water." Nearly identical
with this account is that of Alexander de Laborde, who wrote, a century
and a quarter later than the Countess; "On Corpus Christi day there is a
grand procession composed of the regular and secular clergy of Madrid,
followed by the king, his ministers, and court, each bearing in his hand
a wax taper. Magnificent awnings of tapestry are raised in the streets
through which the procession is to pass; the balconies are decorated
with splendid hangings; the seats are covered with cushions, and
occasionally surmounted with a daïs; in some of the streets the face of
day is darkened by canopies which stretch from one side to the other.
Altars are placed at regular intervals; the balconies are thronged with
ladies superbly dressed, who sprinkle scented water, or scatter fragrant
flowers on the passing multitudes."
Pinheiro da Veiga also describes a set of remarkable tapestries,
evidently Flemish, which he saw in the Chapter-room of the Convent of
Cármen Calzado at Valladolid. "It was hung with the richest tapestry,
silk, and paintings that had belonged to the Duke of Lerma. I greatly
admired some cloths of green velvet, worked all over with the _Bucolics_
of Virgil, in _tarjas_ embroidered in silk and gold, as though they were
_sebastos_[43] of ecclesiastical vestments, but these were old, of great
value, and extraordinary merit. Finer still were certain cloths of
recent workmanship, such as I had never seen equalled, of a white
material painted in tempera, with the borders, dresses, and faces of the
personages on them wrought in twisted gold. I never saw anything so
brilliant or so novel. The cloths were eight in number, with four
embroidered _guardapuertas_. The persons figured upon them wore belts of
real pearls, rings set with diamonds and rubies on their fingers, and
gold chains and medals studded with precious stones, just as living
people wear them."
[43] A Portuguese word meaning a strip of silk upon the back of a
chasuble.
The fashion of collecting foreign tapestries seems to have reached its
height at the Spanish capital in the first half of the seventeenth
century. "Nowadays," wrote Fernandez de Navarrete, in his _Conservacion
de Monarquías_, published in 1626, "gentlemen are not contented with
hangings which a few years ago were considered good enough to adorn a
prince's palace. The Spanish taffetas and guadamecíes, so highly
esteemed in other provinces, are held of no account in this one
(Madrid). The _sargas_ and _arãbeles_ wherewith the moderation of the
Spanish people was satisfied in former days, must now be turned into
injurious _telas rizas_ of Florence and Milan, and into costliest
Brussels tapestry."
[Illustration: XX
_TAPIZ_ OF CRIMSON VELVET WORKED IN GOLD TISSUE
(_16th Century. Monastery of Las Huelgas, Burgos_)]
It is perhaps allowable to include among the oldest makers of Spanish
tapestry the names of Gonzalo de Mesa and Diego Roman, who, in the year
1331, were paid respectively one thousand _maravedis_ and eighteen
hundred _maravedis_, for decorating the tents of King Sancho the Fourth.
There also exists the following entry, dating from the same period; "To
Boançibre, master of the tents; XXX _maravedis_ for his food, for
fifteen days."[44]
[44] Manuel G. Simancas, _Artistas Castellanos del Siglo XIII_ (_Boletín
de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones_ for January, 1905.)
Far clearer than these laconic excerpts is a document preserved in the
library of the Academy of History at Madrid, in the form of a memorial
presented to Philip the Second by a Spanish tapestry-maker of Salamanca,
named Pedro Gutierrez,[45] and setting forth, in pessimistic language,
the unhappy condition of this craft in the Peninsula. Pedro relates of
himself that in twenty-four days he made for the Cardinal-archduke no
less than a hundred and twenty _reposteros_; and that in order to
exhibit his cleverness as a tapestry-weaver, he set up a loom in the
royal palace (being officially the _tapicero_ to the Crown), and worked
for forty days where all might criticise the product of his toil.
Gutierrez also states that the township of Madrid had provided him with
six hundred ducats to enable him to establish there a tapestry-factory
for the space of ten years, together with six hundred and fifty ducats
from the Cortes for supporting his apprentices, and a thousand ducats
from the king to defray the cost of certain voyages he had made to
Lisbon, Monzón, and Barcelona, and of removing his residence from
Salamanca to the capital of Spain. He complains, however, that the house
he dwells in at Madrid is not large enough to contain his loom, and
replies to the objections of such persons as opposed his opening the
tapestry-works at all (on the ground that this craft was practised
better and more cheaply in Flanders), by asserting that Spanish makers
of _reposteros_ were now accustomed to receive a daily wage of no more
than three _reales_ and "a miserable meal." This, he urges, should
render Spanish tapestries at least as inexpensive to produce as those of
Flanders; although, upon the other hand, he admits that the colouring of
the former is likely to prove inferior to the Flemish cloths in purity
and durability. "Common tapestry," he says, "seldom keeps its colour
upward of a couple of years, so that, if such were used in open sunlight
on the backs of beasts of burden, or to cover carts, exposed to sun,
wind, dust, and mire, or else for cleaning shoes upon, as now is
practised with the _reposteros_, their imperfections would become
apparent all the sooner."
[45] At about the same time that this petition was presented by
Gutierrez, another tapestry-maker named Pedro de Espinosa, a native
of Iniesta, was living at Cordova. On February 2nd, 1560, he
married Leonor de Burgos, and received as dowry from his bride the
sum of thirty-five thousand _maravedis_. (Ramírez de Arellano,
_Artistas Exhumados_, published in the _Boletín de la Sociedad
Española de Excursiones_.)
Mention of these typically Spanish objects known as _reposteros_,[46]
induces me to quote an interesting notice relating to the visit of
Philip the Second to Cordova, in the year 1570. The train of the Duke of
Medina Sidonia, who journeyed to this city in order to receive his
sovereign, consisted of a hundred and three mules covered with "new
_reposteros_ of wool, and of six mules covered with _reposteros_ of
purple velvet, embroidered with silver and gold, and bearing the duke's
arms."
[46] "_Reposteros_," says Riaño, "is the ancient name given to the
hangings which are placed outside the balconies on state occasions
in Spain. Several splendid examples of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries may still be seen at the houses of Spanish
grandees, of which those belonging to the Conde de Oñate and
Marques de Alcañices at Madrid are the most remarkable for their
artistic design."
It is surprising that Riaño should insert so incomplete a
definition of this word, whose primitive and proper meaning,
according to the Dictionary of the Spanish Academy, is "a square
piece of cloth with the arms of a prince or Señor, which serves for
covering baggage carried by beasts of burden, and also for hanging
in antechambers." See also Vol. II., p. 16 (note) of the present
work.
If, as seems most likely, the woollen _reposteros_ above referred to
were of woven work containing a device, this passage would demonstrate
that the manufacture of the cloths in question was sometimes the
province of the tapestry-maker and sometimes that of the embroiderer.
Ramírez de Arellano, from whose instructive studies on the craftsmen of
older Spain I quote the foregoing extract, says that the making of
_reposteros_ constitutes a branch of craftsmanship distinct from
embroidery of the common class, and that the men who produced them
deserve to be included among artists of real merit. He gives the names
of two, Hernán Gonzalez and Juan Ramos, who worked at Cordova in the
middle of the sixteenth century. A document relating to the former of
these men tells us that in those days the price of a _repostero de
estambre_ measuring sixteen palms square, with a coat-of-arms worked in
the centre, and a decorative border, was ninety _reales_.
[Illustration: XXI
THE SPINNERS
(_By Velazquez. Prado Gallery_)]
Riaño says: "I do not find any information of a later date which
suggests the existence of the manufacture of tapestries in Spain during
the Middle Ages." Davillier, however, affirms that in the year 1411 two
master-makers of tapestry were living at the court of the King of
Navarre, and that other craftsmen, holding the same title, were
established at Barcelona in 1391 and 1433. This notice is accepted by
Müntz: "A la fin du XIV^e et au commencement du XV^e siècle, les
Espagnols tentèrent de fonder dans leur patrie quelques ateliers de
haute lisse. A Barcelone, en 1391 et en 1433, plusieurs tapissiers
(_maestros de tapices_) firent partie du grand Conseil. Mais ces
tentaves ne semblent pas avoir eu de résultats durables. Il était plus
commode de recourir aux manufactures flamandes, si merveilleusement
organisées. Peut-être même ce système était-il plus économique. Ne
voyons-nous pas aujourd'hui jusqu'à l'extrême Orient tirer, pour raison
d'économie, des fabriques de Manchester et de Birmingham les tissus
courants dont il a besoin?"
The history of tapestry-making at Madrid may be said to date from the
establishment in this town of a small factory by Pedro Gutierrez, whose
petition to Philip the Second I have already quoted, and who received
protection both from that monarch and from the queen, Doña Ana. In 1625
Gutierrez was succeeded by Antonio Ceron, who formally styled himself
"tapicero de nuevo, sucesor de Pedro Gutierrez" ("maker of new
tapestries, successor to Pedro Gutierrez"), and petitioned the king for
the grant of a meal a day, "in recompense of having taught his trade to
eight lads, and of having mounted eight looms in (the factory of) Santa
Isabel." This factory of Santa Isabel was so called from the street in
which it lay, and part of it is represented in the celebrated painting
by Velazquez called _Las Hilanderas_ ("The Spinners," not, as it is
translated in Riaño's handbook, "The Weavers." Plate xxi.).
This factory was unsuccessful, and declined by degrees until it ceased
completely, in spite of the efforts made to revive it in 1694 by a
Belgian named Metler, and in 1707 by a Salamanquino, Nicholas Hernández.
[Illustration: XXII
TAPESTRY MADE AT BRUSSELS FROM GRANADA SILK
(_16th Century. Spanish Crown Collection_)]
A new tapestry-factory--that of Santa Barbara--was founded shortly
afterwards in a building known as the Casa del Abreviador. The first
director, engaged in 1720 by order of Philip the Fifth, was Jacob Van
der Goten, a native of Antwerp,[47] who died in 1724, and was succeeded
at the factory by his sons, Francisco, Jacobo, Cornelius, and Adrian.
These craftsmen worked with _basse lisse_ looms till 1729, in which year
a _haute lisse_ loom was mounted by a Frenchman, Antoine Lenger.
[47] The royal contract with the elder Van der Goten, dated July 30th,
1720, was the result of secret negotiations, and largely brought
about by the influence of Philip's minister, Cardinal Alberoni.
In 1730, when the court removed to Seville, a tapestry-factory was
established at this city also. The director was Jacob Van der Goten the
younger, assisted by the painter Procaccini. At the end of three years
this factory closed its doors, and Van der Goten and Procaccini,
returning to Madrid, established themselves at the old factory of Santa
Isabel, from which, in 1744, they again removed to the factory of Santa
Barbara.[48]
[48] "On Saturday, May 27th, passing through the gate of Saint Barbara,
I visited the tapestry manufactory, which resembles, and equals
in beauty, the Gobelins, whence it originally came. I found a
Frenchman at the head of it, who was civil and communicative.
This fabric was brought into Spain, and established here under
the direction of John de Van Dergoten, from Antwerp, in the year
1720. They now employ fourscore hands, and work only on the king's
account, and for his palaces, making and repairing all the tapestry
and carpets which are wanted at any of the _Sitios_, or royal
residences."--Townsend, in 1786.
"The elegant manufacture of tapestry is carried on without Saint
Barbe's gate, at the entrance of the promenade of Los Altos, or
Chamberi; it was established in 1720 by Philip the Fifth, at whose
invitation John Dergoten, of Antwerp, was induced to undertake its
superintendence, an office at present filled by his descendants.
The productions of this manufactory are carpets and tapestry, the
subjects of which are often drawn from fable or history; it
sometimes copies pictures executed by superior artists, and affords
daily employment to eighty persons, including dyers, drawers,
designers, and all its various branches."--Laborde (about 1800).
In 1774, when, with the exception of Cornelius, who was considered the
most skilful of them all, the family of the Van der Gotens had died out,
the direction of the Santa Barbara factory was entrusted to several
Spanish artists, named Manuel Sanchez, Antonio Moreno, Tomás del
Castillo, and Domingo Galan. Sanchez, who acted as general
superintendent of the works, died in 1786, and was succeeded in this
office by his nephew, Livinio Stuck, whose son resumed the directorship
in 1815, after the factory had been paralysed by the invasion of the
Peninsula, and destroyed by the French in 1808. Since then it has never
ceased working, and descendants of the Stucks continue to superintend it
at the present day.
[Illustration: XXIII
A PROMENADE IN ANDALUSIA
(_Cartoon for Tapestry. By Goya_)]
The collection of tapestry belonging to the Crown of Spain is probably
the finest in the world. As far back as the reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella the walls of the royal palace were hung with decorative textile
cloths or _paños de Ras_, and among the officers in the household of
their son, the youthful Prince Don Juan, we find included a keeper of
the tapestry and _reposteros_. But it was not until the reigns of
Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second that the royal collection was
enriched with numerous sets of celebrated tapestries produced in Italy
and Flanders--countries which were then subjected to the yoke of Spain.
Frequent additions were also made throughout the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, both from abroad and subsequently (when the
Brussels industry declined) from the Spanish factories of Santa Isabel
and Santa Barbara.
As early as the year 1600 a Spaniard wrote enthusiastically of "the rich
and cunning tapestries belonging to His Majesty, to whom it would be
easier to win a kingdom than to get them made anew."[49] At the present
day it is impossible to estimate with any certainty the number of these
tapestries, the greater part of which are locked away. Only on certain
festivals, such as the days of Corpus Christi and the Candelaria
(Purification), a few are unfolded and displayed in the upper galleries
of the palace at Madrid. Their total number is believed to be not far
short of one thousand pieces;[50] but Señor Tormo calculates that were
they no more than five hundred, they would, if placed end to end, cover
more than two miles of ground.
[49] Licentiate Gaspar Gutierrez de los Ríos, _Noticia general para la
estimación de las Artes y de la manera en que se conocen las
liberales de las que son mecánicas y serviles_.
[50] Riaño estimates them at this number. See his _Report on a
collection of photographs from tapestries of the Royal Palace of
Madrid_; London, 1875; and also _Tapices de la Corona de España_,
with 135 plates in phototype, and text by Count Valencia de Don
Juan; Madrid, Hauser and Menet, 1903.
Among the sets which form this wonderful collection, distributed between
the palaces of Madrid, the Prado, and the Escorial, none is of greater
merit or magnificence than the series of twelve cloths depicting the
_Conquest of Tunis_ (Plate xxii.), designed for Charles the Fifth by his
Court painter, Jan Vermay or Vermeyen, of Beverwyck, near Haarlem, and
executed by William Pannemaker, of Brussels. It was agreed by Pannemaker
in 1549 that the materials employed upon this tapestry should consist of
the finest wool, Granada silk, and, for the woof, the choicest Lyons
_fillet_--the very best that money could procure. The Emperor himself
was to provide the gold and silver thread. Accordingly, Pannemaker was
supplied with five hundred and fifty-nine pounds and one ounce of silk,
dyed and spun in the city of Granada, where one of Charles' agents
resided for two years seven months and twenty-five days, for the purpose
of superintending its preparation. The cost of this silk, exclusive of
the agent's expenses, amounted to 6,637 florins. Nineteen colours were
employed in the dyeing, each colour consisting of from three to seven
shades, and a hundred and sixty pounds of the finest silk were consumed
in trying to obtain a special shade of blue.
After receiving these materials, Pannemaker kept seven workmen
constantly engaged upon each _paño_ of this tapestry, or eighty-four
workmen in all. As soon as any one of the pieces was concluded, he
submitted it to experts who pointed out such details as they recommended
for correction. The entire work required a little more than five years,
and was therefore terminated in 1554. The price paid for it was twelve
florins per ell, and the number of these was 1246, representing a total
cost of 14,952 florins, while Pannemaker, subject to the Emperor's being
satisfied with the work, was further promised a yearly pension of a
hundred florins.[51]
[51] Müntz, _La Tapisserie_, pp. 217, 218. Wauters, _Les Tapisseries
Bruxelloises_, pp. 76, 77. Houdoy, _Tapisseries représentant la
Conqueste du Royaulme de Thunes par l'empereur Charles-Quint_.
Equally remarkable are the spirited design and the flawless execution of
this series of elaborate cloths, recalling, in their swarms of armed
figures and the lofty point of view, which reduces the sky to a mere
strip, the vivacious war and camp pictures of Snyders. The titles of the
subjects, forming, as it were, a pictured epitome of the expedition led
by Charles in person against the Barbary pirates, are as follows: (1) A
map of the Spanish coast; (2) The review of the troops at Barcelona; (3)
The landing of the forces; (4) A skirmish; (5) The camp; (6) Foraging;
(7) The capture of La Goleta; (8) The battle of Los Pozos, Tunis; (9) A
sortie of the besieged; (10) The sack of Tunis; (11) The victors
returning to the harbour; (12) The forces embarking.
According to Müntz, this tapestry has been copied at least on two
occasions; once in the eighteenth century by Josse de Vos, of Brussels,
and also, in the same century, in Spain, partly at Seville, and partly
at the factories of Santa Isabel and Santa Barbara.
[Illustration: XXIV
TAPESTRY. ARRAS WORK, FROM ITALIAN CARTOONS
(_First half of 15th Century. Zamora Cathedral_)]
Other most valuable and beautiful tapestries belonging to the Spanish
Crown are the series titled _The History of the Virgin_, believed to be
from cartoons by Van Eyk, _The Passion_, from cartoons attributed to Van
der Weyden, the _History of David_ and _History of Saint John the
Baptist_, the _Mass of Saint Gregory_, and the _Founding of Rome_. All
of these series date from the fifteenth century and early in the
sixteenth. Belonging to a later period are the reproductions of rustic
scenes and hunting subjects by Teniers and others, executed in Spain
between 1721 and 1724, the _Scenes from Don Quixote_, made at Santa
Barbara from Procaccini's cartoons, and the eminently national series
produced at the same factory from designs by Francisco Goya y Lucientes.
This latter group amounts to several dozen pieces, including the
well-known _Blind Man's Buff_, _A Promenade in Andalusia_ (Plate
xxiii.), _The Crockery-seller_, _The Grape-Gatherers_ (_Frontispiece_),
and other spirited and charming scenes of popular Spanish life--"tout
cela," as Lefort describes it, "spirituel, vif, pittoresque, très
mouvementé, bien groupé, s'élevant sur des fonds champêtres ou baignant
gaiement en pleine lumière."
Other tapestry collections of great merit belong to the cathedrals of
Burgos, Zamora (where they line the walls of the Sacristy; Plate xxiv.),
Zaragoza, Toledo, Tarragona, and Santiago. The first of these temples
possesses the following sets, which are displayed to decorate the
cloisters on the feast of Corpus Christi:--
(1) The History of Cleopatra and Mark Antony.
(2) The History of David.
(3) The Creation.
(4) An Historical Subject.
(5) The Theological and Cardinal Virtues.
(6) A series of five Gothic tapestries, which represent some
mystery or allegory, and seem to be of Flemish
manufacture. One other _paño_, of a similar character,
accompanies them.
All but the last of the above sets are marked with two B's separated by
a shield, denoting Brussels workmanship. The _Theological and Cardinal
Virtues_ were presented to the cathedral about the end of the sixteenth
century. They are evidently executed from Italian cartoons, and the
_haute-lisse_ craftsman who made them, in or towards the year 1571, was
named Francis Greubels.[52]
[52] See an article on these tapestries by Señor Lamperez y Romea,
published in No. 55 of the _Boletín de la Sociedad Española de
Excursiones_; and also Nos. 156 and 157 of the same publication,
for an article on the Crown and other Spanish collections, by
Elías Tormo y Monzó.
[Illustration: XXV
FLEMISH TAPESTRY
(_Late 15th Century. Collection of the late Count of Valencia de Don
Juan_)]
The tapestries which belong to the cathedral of Zaragoza number some
sixty or seventy pieces, including a series (fifteenth century)
representing _The Life of Saint John the Baptist_, from designs by Lucas
of Holland. Good tapestries were also the property of Valencia
cathedral, but have been dispersed and sold in recent years. The convent
of the Descalzas Reales at Madrid possesses a set from designs by
Rubens. Ten pieces of this series formerly belonged to the Count-Duke of
Olivares, who sent them to his town of Loeches; four passing
subsequently to the Duke of Westminster's collection. The small though
valuable collection formed by the late Count of Valencia de Don Juan
(Plate xxv.), passed at this nobleman's death to his daughter, Señora de
Osma, who has presented part of it to the Archæological Museum at
Madrid. Another collector resident in Spain, Mons. Mersmann, of Granada,
possesses a series of fine Brussels cloths representing scenes from _Don
Quixote_, by Van den Hecke.
LACE
Although the Spaniards have enjoyed, and still enjoy, a widespread fame
for lace-making, their written records of this craft are unsubstantial.
Originally, perhaps, they borrowed it from the Arabs or Venetians.
Certainly, the earliest Spanish lace was such as is made with a needle,
that is, point, not pillow lace. In this form, _à la aguja_, and in the
sixteenth century, the Spaniards possibly conveyed the secrets of its
manufacture to the Netherlands, receiving from the natives of this
country, in exchange, the art of making lace by means of bobbins,
including the characteristic "Flemish net," or _red flandés_.
Towards the sixteenth century the parts of Spain where lace was
manufactured in the largest quantity were some of the Manchegan towns
and villages, the coast of Finisterre, and nearly the whole of Cataluña.
In La Mancha lace was made, and still is so, at Manzanares, Granatula,
Almagro, and other places. That of Almagro (the celebrated _punto de
Almagro_, resembling the lace of Cataluña), is mentioned by nearly all
the older travellers. In _Don Quixote_, Teresa writes to Sancho Panza
that their daughter Sanchita was engaged in making bobbin-lace at a
daily wage of eight _sueldos_.
[Illustration: XXVI
THE MARCHIONESS OF LA SOLANA
(_By Goya_)]
In 1877, at the Exhibition of Sumptuary Arts which was held in
Barcelona, a magnificent lace _toca_ was shown, which was affirmed by
its possessor, Señor Parcerisa, to be the work of a Spaniard of the
later part of the fifteenth century, and to have belonged to Isabella
the Catholic. The cathedral of the same city owns three thread-lace albs
of sixteenth century workmanship, and the South Kensington Museum other
pieces of Spanish lace of a comparatively early date, probably made by
nuns and subtracted from the convents during the stormy scenes of 1835.
Dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we have a number of
notices, though scrappy and inexplicit as a rule, relating to Spanish
lace. One of the more complete and interesting is quoted by Riaño from
the _Microcosmia y Gobierno Universal del Hombre Cristiano_ (Barcelona,
1592) of Father Marcos Antonio de Campos. "I will not be silent," wrote
this austere _padre_, "and fail to mention the time lost these last
years in the manufacture of _cadenetas_, a work of thread combined with
gold and silver; this extravagance and excess reached such a point that
100 and 1000 ducats were spent in this work, in which, besides
destroying the eyesight, wasting away the lives, and rendering
consumptive the women who worked it, and preventing them from spending
their time with more advantage to their souls, a few ounces of thread
and years of time were wasted with so unsatisfactory a result. I ask
myself, after this fancy shall have passed away, will the lady or
gentleman find that the chemises that cost them 50 ducats, or the
_basquiña_ (petticoat) that cost them 300, are worth half their price,
which certainly is the case with other objects in which the material
itself is worth more?"
[Illustration: XXVII
A SPANISH _MAJA_
(_A.D. 1777_)]
Several of the other notices relating to the lace-makers' craft are from
the pen of Countess d'Aulnoy. Of the Countess of Lemos this writer says:
"Her hair was white, but she carefully concealed it beneath a black
blonde"; and of another Spanish lady, Doña Leonor de Toledo, that she
wore "a green velvet skirt trimmed with Spanish blonde." In the
apartments of the young Princess of Monteleón the countess saw "a bed of
green and gold damask, decorated with silver brocade and Spanish blonde.
The sheets were fringed with English point-lace, extremely broad and
handsome." The countess also says that the petticoats of the Spanish
ladies were of English point-lace,[53] and that these ladies, when they
visited each other, wore on their heads "a _toca_ of the richest English
black point-lace, half a yard broad, forming points like the antique
laces, beautiful to look at, and very dear. This head-dress suits them
rarely."
[53] Upon the other hand, a notice dated 1562 says that at that time
Spanish-made black lace was largely used at the Court of England.
According to Balsa de la Vega, whose interesting articles on Spanish
lace (published in the newspaper _El Liberal_) are worth perusal by all
who are interested in this craft, about the middle of the seventeenth
century the custom originated in Spain of making lace in broader pieces,
dividing the pattern into a number of strips or _fajas_ which were
subsequently sewn together. In Belgium, on the contrary, the design was
cut out, following the contour of the floral or other decoration.
In former ages gold and silver lace was made in France, and also at
Genoa. I think it possible that Genoese merchants, many of whom are
known to have settled in Granada and other Spanish cities, may first
have introduced this branch of lace-making among the Spaniards. The
sumptuary laws of Aragon, Castile, León, and Navarre would seem to show
that lace of these materials, known as _punto_ or _redecilla de oro_ (or
_plata_) was manufactured by the Spanish Jews between the twelfth and
fifteenth centuries. During the seventeenth century and part of the
eighteenth, the quantity produced in the Peninsula was very large. In
his _Fenix de Cataluña_, a work which was published at Barcelona in
1683, Feliu de la Peña says that Spanish _randa_ or _réseuil_, of gold
and silver, silk, thread, and aloe fibre, was better made in Spain than
in the Netherlands. The journal of Bertaut de Rouen contains the
following notice of this silver lace: "Le Roy y envoya le Lieutenant du
Maistre des Postes, avec huit postillons, couverts de clinquant, et
quarante chevaux de poste, dont il y en avoit huit avec des selles et
des brides du Roy où il y avoit de la dentelle d'argent, que Monsieur le
Mareschal fit distribuer à environ autant de gens que nous estions, sur
une liste qu'il avoit envoyée quelques jours auparavant."
[Illustration: XXVIII
A _MAJA_
(_By Goya_)]
It is impossible to mention Spanish lace without recalling that most
graceful article of headwear, the _mantilla_, the use of which is
gradually dying out. At present we understand by this word a black or
white head-covering of lace alone (the white being more conspicuous and
dressy), but about a hundred years ago the _mantilla_ was made of a
variety of fabrics. Also, it was worn in an easier and more _negligé_
manner than nowadays, retaining a closer likeness to the _velo_ or
_manto_ with which the Spanish women of the seventeenth century were
able, at their pleasure, to completely mask their faces (Plates xxvi.
and xxvii.). Indeed, as late as the early part of the nineteenth century
the _mantilla_ was sometimes thrown over the face (Plates xxviii. and
xxix.). The same usage is referred to by Townsend, who describes the
_mantilla_ as "serving the double purpose of a cloak and veil."[54]
To-day it is worn, not hanging loose and open, but a good deal bunched
up at the bosom. The hair, too, is dressed to an unusual height, with a
tall comb, and over this the delicate lace covering should droop a
little to one side. A flower or two (roses or carnations by preference)
may be worn at one side of the head, and where the _mantilla_ is caught
up at the breast.
[54] "Pour les femmes, elles ne sortent point qu'emmantelées d'une mante
noire comme le deüil des dames de France, et elles ne se montrent
qu'un [oe]uil, et vont cherchant et agaçant les hommes avec tant
d'effronterie, qu'elles tiennent à affront quand on ne veut pas
aller plus loin que la conversation."--Bertaut de Rouen; _Journal
du Voyage d'Espagne_, p. 294.
The manuscript account of Spanish costumes early in the nineteenth
century, and which is prefixed to my copy of Pigal's coloured
lithographs, contains some excellent descriptions of the older Spanish
_mantilla_. We learn, for instance, that at Palma the women of the
well-to-do middle class wore a _mantilla_ of black taffeta, trimmed with
blonde (Plate xviii.).[55] In La Mancha, and among the peasants, it was
of white muslin; at Cordova, in cold weather, "en flanelle ou en bayette
fine: elle est garnie de rubans à l'extrémité desquels il y a deux gros
noeuds: en été elle est en mousseline." The small _mantilla_ or
"mantellina" of the wife of the smuggler of Tarifa was "en flanelle
blanche, ou noire, ou rose, brodée d'un ruban: elle en fait três souvent
un usage différent des autres femmes espagnoles, car au lieu de la
mettre sur la tête attachés avec des épingles, elle s'en sert de schal:
quelque fois elle la met en baudrier laissant flotter derrière elle les
deux extrémités qui sont ornées d'un noeud en ruban." The servant-girl
of Madrid wore a white _mantilla_ in summer, and a black one in winter.
The same author describes in greater detail the _mantillas_ of the fine
ladies. "La mantille et la basquigne," he says, "voila de quoi se
compose principalement le costume du beau sexe en Espagne. Ce costume,
quoique national, est susceptible de recevoir aussi bien que tout autre
les divers degrés de luxe que les femmes d'une riche classe et celles du
plus haut rang peuvent apporter dans leur parure: la classe la moins
aisée porte la mantille en laine noire ou blanche et la basquigne en
serge ou autre étoffe de laine noire. Pendant le jour, lorsque les dames
espagnoles se présentent en public, c'est toujours avec la mantille et
la basquigne, mais le soir si elles vont au spectacle ou ailleurs, elles
sortent três souvent habillées à la française."
[55] Blonde, I need hardly state, is silk-lace. It can always be
distinguished by the glossy surface.
[Illustration: XXIX
A LADY OF SORIA
(_About A.D. 1810_)]
Elsewhere he says: "Nous avons déjà dit qu'un simple ruban, un peigne,
ou une fleur, est la coiffure adoptée par les dames espagnoles, pour
faire usage de la mantille: celle-ci est dans l'hiver quelquefois en
serge de soie, taffetas, etc., noir, garnie en outre de blondes, ou d'un
large ruban de velours noir en échiquier (_cinta de terciopelo à
tablero_), mais ce ruban est toujours noir. Il y eut un temps où la
mode, qui ne fut pas de longue durée, prescrivait que les bouts de la
mantille se terminassent en trois pointes ornées chacune d'une houppe
(_borla_) noire, ou d'un lacet de ruban noir. Jamais les mantilles ne
sont doublées."
The same author remarks of the lady of Madrid; "La mantille de tulle
brodé ne se porte que dans la belle saison ... elle ne dépasse jamais
la ceinture"[56]; and of the lady of Granada: "si la mantille est
blanche, elle est en tulle parsemé de petits bouquets et garnie de
larges et riches dentelles. Si elle est noire, comme cela arrive plus
ordinairement, elle est alors en blonde: il y a de ces mantilles qui
coutent cinq cent, mille, et jusqu'à deux mille francs."
[56] This is incorrect. It was sometimes worn longer.
[Illustration: XXX
HANDKERCHIEF OF CATALAN LACE
(_Presented to Queen Victoria of Spain, on her marriage_)]
A good deal of lace, principally of the less elaborate and cheaper
kinds, was formerly manufactured in the kingdom of Valencia. Cabanillas
wrote in 1797 that at Novelda, a small town of this region, more than
two thousand women and children worked at making laces, which were
hawked about the country by others of the townspeople. Swinburne remarks
upon the same industry, and Ricord tells us in his pamphlet (1791) that
cotton lace was made in six factories at Torrente, Alicante, and
Orihuela.[57] The total product of these factories for the said year was
1,636,100 yards, which sold at from nine to twelve _reales_ the yard.
Laborde wrote some years later, in the first volume of his book, that
lace, and gold and silver fringes were then made at Valencia, and in the
fourth volume; "Gold and silver laced stuffs, and velvets of all colours
brocaded and flowered with the same metals, are made at Toledo,
Barcelona, Valencia, and Talavera de la Reina; and the manufacture at
the last-named city annually consumes four thousand marks of silver, and
seventy marks of gold.
[57] A letter from Vargas y Ponce to Cean Bermudez, dated 1797, says
that in this year there existed at Murcia a school for making
blondes, owned by one Castilla. "He does good work, teaches well,
and has executed blondes for the Queen, which are well spoken of."
"At Barcelona, Talavera de la Reina, and Valencia are also manufactured
gold and silver edgings, lace, and fringes, though not in a sufficient
quantity to answer the demands of Spain; and the gold is very badly
prepared, having too red a cast."
Lace-making was an ancient and important industry of every part of
Cataluña. Lace articles for ladies' headwear are known to have been made
throughout this region at least as far back as the fifteenth century,
and Capmany reminds us that by a _cedula_ dated from the Cortes of
Monzón, December 16th, 1538, the Emperor Charles the Fifth confirmed the
Ordinances of the guild, established long before, of the _tejedores de
velos_ of Barcelona. Technical provisions are embodied in this code,
concerning various articles of lace employed as headwear, such as
_alfardillas_, _quiñales_, and _espumilla_, all of which were largely
exported to America.
The attention of foreigners who travelled in Cataluña towards the
eighteenth century was constantly attracted by the lace-makers.
Swinburne mentions "Martorell, a large town, where much black lace is
manufactured," and "Espalungera (Esparraguera?), a long village, full of
cloth and lace manufacturers," and wrote of Sarriá and its surroundings,
close to Barcelona: "The women in the little hamlets were busy with
their bobbins making black lace, some of which, of the coarser kind, is
spun out of the leaf of the aloe. It is curious, but of little use, for
it grows mucilaginous with washing."
[Illustration: XXXI
CURTAIN OF SPANISH LACE
(_Point and Pillow Work. Modern_)]
"Martorell," wrote Townsend in 1786, "is one long, narrow street, in
which poverty, industry, and filth, although seldom seen together, have
agreed to take up their abode. The inhabitants make lace, and even the
little children of three and four years old are engaged in this
employment." Laborde wrote that at the beginning of the eighteenth
century seventeen manufactories of blondes were established at Mataró,
and adds of Barcelona province generally at that time: "Laces and
blondes constitute the employment of women and children. The work is
principally done at Pineda, Malgrat, San Celoni, Tosa, Canet, Arenys,
Callela, San-Pol, Mataró, Esparraguera, Martorell, and Barcelona.... The
laces are almost all shipped for the New World."
The most observant and most entertaining of all these tourists was
Arthur Young, who wrote, in 1787, of the towns upon the coast of
Cataluña: "The appearance of industry is as great as it can be: great
numbers of fishing-boats and nets, with rows of good white houses on the
sea-side; and while the men are active in their fisheries, the women are
equally busy making lace." Of Mataró he says: "It appears exceedingly
industrious; some stocking-frames; lace-makers at every door.... I am
sorry to add that here also the industry of catching lice in each
other's heads is well understood.
"Pass Arrengs (Arenys), a large town ... making thread lace universal
here. They have thread from France; women earn ten to sixteen _sous_ at
it. Great industry, and in consequence a flourishing appearance. Canet,
another large town, employed also in ship-building, fishing, and making
lace.... Pass Malgrat, which is not so well built as the other towns,
but much lace made in it.... Reach Figueras, whose inhabitants seem
industrious and active. They make lace, cordage, and mats, and have many
potteries of a common sort."[58]
[58] Tour in Catalonia in 1787; Vol. I., p. 644, etc.
Lace-making prevails to-day all through this region of north-eastern
Spain, particularly in the strip or zone of it including the valley of
the Llobregat as far as Martorell, and which extends from Palamós to
Barcelona. The towns which produce the greatest quantities of lace are
Arenys de Mar, Malgrat, San Pol, Canet, and Arenys de Munt. In the last
of these places an important Regional Exhibition of Lace was held in
July of last year, the number of exhibitors amounting to one hundred and
twenty-five. Due to the increasing production of underlinen and woven
fabrics generally, or to other causes, lace-making has declined at
Blanes, Pineda, Calella, and one or two other places. At San Celoni,
Vallgorguina, San Vicente, San Andrés de Llevaneras, Argentona, Caldeta,
and San Acisclo de Vilalta, lace is made by women who combine this work
with dirtier and rougher labour in the field. Most of the lace made in
these towns is therefore black.
[Illustration: XXXII
POINT LACE FAN, OF MUDEJAR DESIGN
(_Modern_)]
In the spring of last year, an elaborate lace pocket-handkerchief (Plate
xxx.), designed by Señor Riquer, and executed in a traditional style of
Cataluña, denominated locally the _ret Catalá_, was made in the
old-established lace-factory of the widow of Mariano Castells in the
town of Arenys de Mar, and offered by the Agricultural Institute of San
Isidro as a wedding-present to Princess Ena of Battenberg. Two
_encajeras_ worked at this handkerchief under the personal direction of
the widow Castells, and the time employed by them in making it was two
months.
Plate xxxi. represents a small portion of a very original and beautiful
lace curtain, ten feet high, designed by Señor Aguado, and executed,
partly by Señorita Pilar Huguet (who superintended the work throughout),
and partly by seventeen of this lady's pupils, at the School of Arts and
Industries, Toledo. Although it is a hackneyed trope to declare that the
ornamentation of the Spanish-Moors, whether in ivory, wood or metal,
stone or plaster, was "delicate enough to seem of lacework," I believe
this to be the first occasion when such intricate and graceful motives
have been actually reproduced in lace. The result of the experiment has
proved surprisingly effective. The design is Spanish-Arabic in its
purest form, recalling various arabesques upon the walls of the
Alhambra, and includes thirty-three medallions which constitute the
principal decorative scheme, a hundred and forty-eight palms or
_alharacas_, and the Arabic expression "God is all-powerful," repeated
sixty-six times. The centre of the curtain consists in all of four
hundred and forty-eight pieces. The broad cenefa or bordering, which
runs right round the whole, contains, in Arabic, the following
inscription: "This curtain was begun in the _curso_ (course or series of
classes) of the year 1903-1904, and terminated in the _curso_ following,
(Art) School of Toledo." The style adopted throughout is that of
Brussels, known erroneously as English point, although upon a coarser
scale than is considered to be proper to this lace, the ground being
executed by the needle, or in point-work, and the rest by bobbins.
Plate xxxii. represents a covering for a fan, also executed by Señorita
Huguet, and also in the Brussels style. The design is a combination of
Mudejar motives, such as conventional foliage and geometrical bordering,
with a Spanish scutcheon and the double-headed eagle of the Emperor
Charles the Fifth.
At the present day, and largely owing to the initiative and the skilled
tuition of Señor Salvi, excellent lace is manufactured at Madrid,
including reproductions--which have been generally admired in Great
Britain and elsewhere--of the finest point or bobbin work of Malines,
Manchester, and Venice.
Appendices
APPENDIX A
THE LEGEND OF SAN MIGUEL IN EXCELSIS
Towards the year A.D. 707, when Witiza was king of Spain, there dwelt at
the castle of Goñi, not far from the city of Pamplona in Navarre, a
cavalier named Don Theodosio, whose wife, Doña Constanza de Viandra, was
a lady of remarkable beauty. On one occasion Don Theodosio found himself
obliged to quit his native country for a time, in order to command a
military expedition against the Berbers, and before his departure he
begged his father and mother to cheer his wife's loneliness while he
should be away, by taking up their residence at his castle. They came
accordingly, and as a special mark of honour to the parents of her lord,
Doña Constanza gave up to them her own chamber, together with the
nuptial couch. After a time, when Theodosio's enterprise was concluded,
and the warrior, safe and sound, was returning to Navarre, the Devil,
disguised as a hermit, one evening lay in wait for him at a spot called
Errotavidea, situated at a few miles' distance from Goñi castle, in the
wooded and romantic valley of the Ollo. Stepping up to the cavalier's
side, Satan assured him, in a tone of smooth hypocrisy, that during his
absence the lady Constanza had been seduced by one of Theodosio's own
servants. Upon the knight's demanding proof, "proceed," replied the
Devil, "to your castle, enter your nuptial chamber, and there you will
find your consort in the very arms of her paramour." Frantic with
apprehension, the warrior spurred home, broke into his chamber at the
dead of night, and, passing his hand over the bed, encountered, as Satan
had malignantly foretold, two bodies; whereupon he drew his sword and,
in this moment of fatal and irreflective haste, murdered his own father
and mother. Then, just as he was rushing from the room, he met, carrying
a lighted lamp, the lady Constanza herself, returning from the chapel in
which, as was her custom every night, she had been praying for his safe
return.
Smitten with deep repentance for the crime, whose enormity had been
discovered by the impetuous lord in so dramatic and dreadful a fashion,
Theodosio journeyed to Rome, and related what had happened to the Pope,
who sentenced him to wear a heavy iron collar round his neck, and chains
about his body, and to wander, in a state of rigorous penance, through
the loneliest regions of Navarre, without setting foot in any town,
until, as a sign that divine justice was satisfied, the chains should
fall from off him. Wherever this should come to pass, he was instructed
to build a temple in honour of the archangel Michael.
The sentence was patiently performed, and Theodosio had spent some years
in solitary wandering, when on a day a single link dropped from his
ponderous chains. This happened on the top of a high mountain called
Ayedo, in the Sierra de Andía, and accordingly the penitent erected on
the spot a simple fane in the archangel's honour, known by the name of
San Miguel de Ayedo, and which, in the form of a little hermitage, still
exists.
This proof of heavenly grace presaged a further and a more complete
deliverance. When Theodosio's wandering had lasted seven years, he
reached one day the summit of Mount Aralar, at two leagues' distance
from his own castle, and was there met by a ferocious dragon of
appalling size. Being, as a penitent, unarmed, as well as encumbered by
his massive chains, the miserable man fell helpless to his knees, and
called to God to succour him. The prayer was heard. Suddenly the form of
his patron the archangel flashed out against the sky, the dragon fell
dead, and all of Theodosio's chains were shattered, and dropped from
him. Here, therefore, he built another and a larger temple in honour of
his guardian, and, accompanied by Doña Constanza, passed the remainder
of his life in peaceful and secluded piety.
The castle of Goñi, which was also called "Saint Michael's palace," and
"the palace of the cavalier to whom Saint Michael revealed himself," was
standing as late as the year 1685, but, according to Padre Burgui, by
the close of another century the walls were crumbling fast. Until about
the year 1715 there also stood an ancient wooden cross to mark the spot
where Satan, in a hermit's garb, had appeared to Don Theodosio.
APPENDIX B
JET-WORK OF SANTIAGO
In former times the art of carving jet was largely practised at this
town. The characteristic form was the _signaculum_ or image of Saint
James; that is, a more or less uncouth representation of the apostle in
full pilgrim's dress. The height of these images, which are now
dispersed all over Europe, varies between four and seven inches. They
are fully described in Drury Fortnum's monographs, _On a signaculum of
Saint James of Compostela_, and _Notes on other signacula of Saint James
of Compostela_, as well as in Villa-amil y Castro's _La azabachería
compostelana_. These objects were sold in quantities to the pilgrims
visiting Santiago, who nevertheless were often cheated by the
substitution of black glass for jet.[59]
[59] The following passage from Townsend's Journey through Spain (Vol.
II., p. 56), is curious as showing where jet was formerly found in
this Peninsula. "When I returned to Oviedo, a gentleman gave me a
collection of amber and of jet, of which there is great abundance
in this province: but the two most considerable mines of it are in
the territory of Beloncia, one in a valley called Las Guerrias, the
other on the side of a high mountain in the village of Arenas, in
the parish of Val de Soto. The former is found in slate, and looks
like wood: but when broke, the nodules discover a white crust,
inclosing yellow amber, bright and transparent. Jet and a species
of kennel coal, abounding with marcasites, universally accompany
the amber."
Specimens of this work are in the British and Cluny Museums, and in the
Archæological Museum at Madrid. An interesting jet figure of the apostle
on horseback belonged to the late Count of Valencia de Don Juan. Jet
processional crosses (twelfth and thirteenth century), studded with
enamel, and which were used at funerals, are preserved in the cathedrals
of Oviedo and Orense. Rings, rosaries, and amulets were also carved from
this material.
As to Spanish processional crosses generally (the use of which was
undoubtedly borrowed from the standard borne at the head of pagan
armies), I may say that they are commonly fitted with a handle, called
the _cruz baja_ or "lower cross," though sometimes this handle is
dispensed with, as, for instance, at the funerals of infants. According
to Villa-amil y Castro, the typical shape of the Spanish processional
cross has always been that denominated the _immissa_, consisting of four
arms terminating in straight edges. The same authority says that within
this broader definition the primitive form was the Greek cross, that is,
having four arms of equal length. Another early form was the "Oviedo"
cross (see Vol. I., Plate II.), with the four arms in the shape of
trapezia, united at the centre by a disc. Of this latter shape are, or
were, the crosses of Guarrazar and those which were presented by Alfonso
the Second and Alfonso the Third to the cathedrals of Oviedo and
Santiago.
A later form was the _potenzada_ cross, which had a cross-piece fixed at
the extremity of each arm. As time advanced, this T-shaped termination
to the arms assumed such decorative and capricious forms as the trefoil
and the fleur-de-lis. Early in the history of the Spanish church the
processional cross consisted often of a wooden core, covered with more
or less profusely ornamented silver plates, and having, between the
handle and the upper part, an enamelled bulb or _n[oe]ud_. The image of
Christ, converting the cross into the crucifix, was not attached until a
later period, because, as Villa-amil y Castro has remarked, the
primitive Christians considered the essential glory of their faith,
rather than, as yet, the perils and the pains to which they were exposed
by clinging to that faith. The cross was thus the symbol of the
Christian's glory; the crucifix, of his suffering.[60]
[60] As for the clothing of sacred images in Spain, even these are
subject to changes in the fashion of costume. Ford makes merry over
"the Saviour in a court-dress, with wig and breeches." Swinburne
wrote in 1775, from Alicante: "We have been all the morning in
great uneasiness about Sir T. G.'s valet de chambre, who, till
within this hour, was not to be found in any of the places he
usually frequents. His appearance has quieted our apprehensions;
and it seems he has been from sunrise till dinner-time locked up
in the sacristy of the great church, curling and frizzling the
flaxen periwig of the statue of the Virgin, who is to-morrow to be
carried in solemn procession through the city."
A similar passage occurs in one of the letters of Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu. "I was particularly diverted," she wrote from Nuremberg in
1716, "in a little Roman Catholic church which is permitted here,
where the professors of that religion are not very rich, and
consequently cannot adorn their images in so rich a manner as their
neighbours. For, not to be quite destitute of all finery, they have
dressed up an image of our Saviour over the altar in a fair,
full-bottomed wig, very well powdered."
APPENDIX C
DESCRIPTION OF THE _CUSTODIAS_ OF SEVILLE AND CORDOVA
The _custodia_ of Seville cathedral is described by its author, Juan de
Arfe, in the following terms:--
The shape is circular, with projecting friezes and bases. The _custodia_
is four yards high, and is divided into four orders of symmetrical
proportions, the second order being smaller by two-fifths than the
first, the third smaller by the same fraction than the second, and the
fourth than the third. Each order rests upon four-and-twenty columns,
twelve of which are of a larger size, and wrought in relief. The other
and the smaller twelve are striated, and serve as imposts to the arches.
All these orders are of open work, containing twelve _vistas_
(prospects) apiece. Six are of full dimensions, and the other six spring
from half-way up the larger ones, as is shown in the appended design,
which I will not explain further, as the proportion and harmony can be
judged of from the plan (see Vol. I., Plate xvii.).
FIRST ORDER
The first order is in the Ionic style. The columns and frieze are
adorned with vines containing fruits and foliage, and some figures of
children holding spikes of wheat, to signify bread and wine. In the
centre of this, the largest order, is Faith, represented by the figure
of a queen, seated on a throne, holding in her right hand a chalice with
the host, and in the other a standard such as is seen in certain ancient
medals of the emperors Constantine and Theodosius. Beneath her feet is a
world, and behind her, overthrown and bound with chains, a monster with
the face of a beautiful woman and the trunk or body of a dragon, to
represent Heresy, which seems to attract by pleasantness of shape, being
at bottom poison and deceit.
At one side is the figure of a youth with wings, and a bandage over his
eyes, representing Intelligence. His hands are shackled, and he is
kneeling, as one that surrenders himself captive to Faith in all her
mysteries, and particularly in this one.
Corresponding to this figure, on the opposite side, is that of a
beautiful woman, likewise kneeling, crossing her hands before her
breast, and holding a book, to represent Human Wisdom, which
acknowledges the majesty of the Catholic Faith, and is subservient
thereto.
On the right hand of Faith is Saint Peter, seated, holding his keys on
high, and on her left Saint Paul, with naked sword, that is, the
preaching of the word of God. High up, about the spring of the vault, is
the figure of the Holy Spirit, assistant in the church.
Between the six _asientos_ of the base are the four doctors of the
Church, together with Saint Thomas and Pope Urban the Fourth, who
instituted the festival of the Holy Sacrament.
All these figures are half a yard in height; that is, one half the
height of the larger columns belonging to this order.
In the six niches that are between the arches, are the figures of six
Sacraments, in this wise:--
(1) _Baptism_, represented by the figure of a youth holding in one hand
a bunch of lilies, signifying purity and innocence, and in the other a
beautiful vessel, showing the act of washing the soul, that is the
particular virtue of this Sacrament. Over the arch is a scroll
containing the word BAPTISMUS.
(2) _Confirmation_ is a damsel of spirited mien, armed with a helmet. In
one hand she has some vessels of holy oil. Her other hand is raised,
while with the index finger she expresses firm determination to confess
the name of Christ. Inscribed upon her is the word CONFIRMATIO.
(3) _Penitence_ holds in her right hand a wand, denoting spiritual
jurisdiction, like the wand wherewith they smite the excommunicated at
his absolution. In her left hand is a Roman javelin, that was the symbol
of liberty, to signify the free estate of the captive's soul, and how,
through absolution, sin is made a slave; together with the word
P[OE]NITENTIA.
(4) _Extreme Unction_ is represented by an aged woman, holding a vase
whence issueth an olive bough, and in her other hand a candle, as token
that this Sacrament is a succour to those that be in the last agony. The
word inscribed is UNCTIO.
(5) _Order_ is a priest with his vestments, holding an incensory,
together with a chalice and the host, signifying Oration and Sacrifice.
The word inscribed is ORDO.
(6) _Matrimony_ is the figure of a youth, holding in one hand a cross
with two serpents twined about it, in imitation of Mercury's wand. In
his other hand he bears a yoke, and the inscription MATRIMONIUM.
* * * * *
The Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, as being most excellent of all,
occupies a loftier place than all these other Sacraments.
The basement of this order, forming, as it were, a boundary and
bordering to this holy edifice of the Church, has twelve pedestals
beneath the columns, making six and thirty sides, which are adorned with
six and thirty scenes, eighteen whereof are taken from the Old
Testament, and the other eighteen from the New Testament, or relating to
the present state of the Church.
(1) The first scene represents how God formed Eve from one of Adam's
ribs. An inscription at the foot of the pedestal says, _Humani generis
auspicia_.
(2) Next to the preceding is an image of our Saviour with two angels
supporting him by the arms, while from his wounded side issue seven rays
of blood, signifying the Church and Sacraments. The inscription says,
_Felicior propagatio_.
(3) The tree of Life, with Adam and Eve partaking of its fruit, and the
inscription, _Perituræ gaudia vitæ_.
(4) A cross adorned with branches and with blades of wheat, surmounted
by a chalice and the host, and round about it a few prostrate figures,
eating this holy fruit, and the inscription, _Vitæ melioris origo_.
(5) The angel with the flaming sword, driving our fathers from Paradise,
without suffering them to reach the tree of Life. The inscription says,
_Procul, procul esse prophani_.
(6) The parable of the banquet, from which was driven out the man that
had no wedding garment. The inscription says, _Non licet sanctum dare
canibus_.
(7) The stream of water that issued from the rock smitten by the rod of
Moses, and the thirsty people, drinking. The inscription says, _Bibebant
de spirituali petra_.
(8) Beside the preceding, the figure of Christ, from whose side issues a
stream of blood, of which some sheep are drinking. The inscription says,
_Petra autem erat Christus_.
(9) The manna which fell from Heaven. The inscription says,
_Manducaverunt et mortui sunt_.
(10) The miracle of the five loaves, with the inscription, _Qui manducat
vivit in æternum_.
(11) The raven bringing bread and meat to Elijah. The inscription says,
_Non turpat dona minister_.
(12) Next to this, an angel conveying a chalice and the host to the
saints in the desert, with the inscription, _Sacerdos Angelus Domini
est_.
(13) Elisha throwing flour in the pot to sweeten the bitterness of the
colocynth. The inscription says, _Vitæ solamen acerbæ_.
(14) Christ turning the water into wine, with the inscription, _Vertit
tristes in gaudia curas_.
(15) Tobias frightening away the Devil with the smoke from the liver of
a fish. The inscription says, _Fumum fugit atra caterva_.
(16) Devils flying from an altar containing a chalice and the host, with
the inscription, _Fugiunt phantasmata lucem_.
(17) Lot inebriated, sleeping with his daughters. The inscription says,
_De vinea sodomorum vinum eorum_.
(18) A group of virgins prostrating themselves before the Sacrament upon
the altar, with the inscription, _Hoc vinum virgines germinat_.
(19) Abraham harbouring the angels and washing their feet. The
inscription says, _Non licet illotos accedere_.
(20) Christ washing the feet of his disciples before a table. The
inscription says, _Auferte malum cogitationum vestrarum_.
(21) The supper of the paschal lamb, with the inscription, _Antiqua
novis misteria cedunt_.
(22) The supper of Christ, with the inscription, _Melioris fercula
mensæ_.
(23) The throne of God, before which stands the prophet Isaiah, and an
angel whose mouth is smitten by a lighted brand. The inscription says,
_Purgavit filios Levi_.
(24) A priest before an altar, in his robes, administering the communion
to the Christian people. The inscription says, _Probet se ipsum homo_.
(25) Elijah reclining in the shade of the tree, with an angel bringing
him bread and a vessel. The inscription says, _In pace in idipsum_.
(26) A sick man in his bed, with a priest administering the Sacrament to
him. The inscription says, _Dormiam et requiescam_.
(27) Habbakuk borne by the angels to the den of lions, to carry food to
Daniel. The inscription says, _Adjutor in opportunitatibus_.
(28) An angel with a chalice and the host, which he administers to the
souls in Purgatory. The inscription says, _Emissit vinctos de lacu_.
(29) Noah sleeping beneath the vine, holding a vessel, with his sons
gathered about him. The inscription says, _Humanæ ebrietatis ludibria_.
(30) Christ with a chalice in his hand, and angels round him, holding
clusters of grapes, and a cross surrounded with a vine. The inscription
says, _Calix ejus inebrians quant præclarus est_.
(31) A queen adorned profanely, crowned with a snake. She holds a vessel
in her hand, and rides upon a dragon with seven heads, some of which are
drooping, as though they were inebriated. The inscription says,
_Hæreticæ impietatis ebrietas_.
(32) The figure of a virtuous lady wearing a royal crown. She holds a
chalice in her hand, and rides in a car borne by the figures of the four
evangelists. The inscription says, _Ecclesiæ Catholicæ veritas_.
(33) The table with the loaves of propitiation, before the tabernacle,
with Moses and Aaron standing beside it, and the inscription, _Umbram
fugit veritas_.
(34) A custodia, with a chalice and the host, borne by angels. The
inscription says, _Ecce panis angelorum_.
(35) David and his soldiers, who receive bread from the priest's hand.
The inscription says, _Absit mens conscia culpæ_.
(36) A priest, administering the Sacrament to two persons, each of whom
has an angel beside him. The inscription says, _Sancta sanctis_.
* * * * *
And since all Sacraments have virtue and efficacy from the passion of
Christ our Saviour, which passion is perpetually commemorated by this
holiest of Sacraments, I placed upon the summit of the twelve columns
belonging to this order twelve child-angels, naked, bearing the signs
and instruments of the Passion, as voices to announce this sacred
mystery.
On the tympanums of the arches are angels bearing grapes and ears of
wheat, and in the middle of the six sides of the frieze are graven, upon
some ovals, the following images and devices, the inscription
corresponding to them being on the largest scroll of the architrave.
(1) A garland of vine-tendrils and ears of wheat, and in the midst
thereof an open pomegranate, signifying, by the number and cohesion of
its grains, the Church, guarded within the fortress of this holiest of
Sacraments. The inscription says, _Posuit fines tuos pacem_.
(2) A hand among clouds, extended over a nest of young ravens that have
their beaks open and raised, with the inscription _Quanto magis vos_.
This signifies, that the Lord who taketh care to sustain the infidels
and pagans, taketh also especial care to sustain His Church with
abundance of this celestial food.
(3) A fair stalk of wheat, whence issue seven ears of great fatness,
with the inscription, _Sempiterna satietas_; showing that, not as in the
seven years in Egypt, but for ever, shall spiritual abundance abide in
the Church of Christ, owing to this holy table of His body and His
blood.
(4) A stork upon a nest woven of wheat-ears and vine-tendrils, with the
inscription, _Pietas incomparabilis_. Showing the piety and fatherly
love that God affordeth to us in this Sacrament.
(5) A hare smelling at a bough and some ears of wheat, with the
inscription, _Vani sunt sensus hominis_. The hare signifies the senses,
which are deceived by the appearance of the bread and wine, unless they
be fortified by faith.
(6) A hand bearing a wand, the end whereof is turning to a serpent, with
this inscription, _Hic vita, hic mors_; because this Sacrament is the
judgment and condemnation of all that receive it unworthily, but life
for such as receive it with a clean spirit. The device has reference to
the rod of Moses, that gave health to the people of Israel, affording
them a passage through the midst of the sea, and making streams of sweet
water to gush from the rock, but that was ruinous to the Egyptians,
causing among them terrible sickness and destruction.
SECOND ORDER
The second order is in the Corinthian style, the columns and frieze
adorned with foliage in the upper and lower thirds, and the other one
with fluted columns. This order contains the Holy Sacrament in a
circular _viril_ ornamented at its ends. Round it are the four
evangelists with the figures of the lion, bull, eagle, and angel,
adorning the majesty of the Lord that is within the Sacrament, whereof
they gave true testimony, according to these words upon a tablet which
each one holdeth in his hand:--
Saint Matthew, _Hoc est corpus meum_.
Saint Mark, _Hic est sanguis meus_.
Saint John, _Caro mea vere est cibus_.
Saint Luke, _Hic est calix novi testamenti_.
On the outside are placed these figures, in pairs:--Saint Justa and
Saint Rufina, patron saints of Seville; San Isidro and San Leandro,
archbishops of the same city; San Hermenegildo and San Sebastian; San
Servando and San Germano, martyrs; San Laureano, archbishop of Seville,
and San Carpóforo, priest; Saint Clement, pope, and Saint Florence,
martyr.
On the six running pedestals of the columns of this order are six scenes
or figures of ancient sacrifices, symbolic of this holiest sacrifice of
the Eucharist, as showing how this one is the consummation and
perfection of all sacrifices, and that the light thereof dispersed the
shadows of the others. And these be in the following wise:--
(1) The sacrifice of Abel.
(2) That of Noah, on his leaving the ark.
(3) That of Melchisidech.
(4) That of Abraham, when he sought to sacrifice Isaac.
(5) That of the lamb which was found in the thornbush and placed upon
the altar.
(6) Solomon's sacrifice at his dedication of the temple.
* * * * *
On the tops of these columns are twelve figures representing the twelve
gifts and fruits of this most holy Sacrament, as they are told of by
Saint Thomas in his treatise on this mystery:--
(1) _The conquest of the Devil_, represented by a maiden beautified and
adorned with a palm and a cross. The inscription on the pedestal says,
_Fuga dæmonis_.
(2) _Spiritual cheerfulness and delight_, in the form of another maiden,
holding a wand wreathed with boughs and tendrils of the vine, and in her
other hand some ears of wheat. The inscription says, _Hilaritas_.
(3) _Purity of soul_, represented by a heart among flames, suspended
over a crucible. The inscription, _Puritas_.
(4) _Self-knowledge_, represented by a figure of Reason, holding in one
hand a mirror, in which she regards herself, and in the other hand a
leafy bough. The inscription says, _Cognitio sui_.
(5) _Peace, and the appeasing of the wrath of God_, represented by a
figure holding in one hand an olive bough, and in the other a cornucopia
filled with grapes and wheat. The inscription, _Reconciliatio_.
(6) _Inward quiet and control of the affections_, represented by a
figure holding some poppies in one hand, and in the other a lamp, the
lower wick of which is being extinguished. The inscription says, _Animi
qui est_.
(7) _Charity, and profound love for God and for our neighbours_,
represented by a figure holding in one hand a lighted heart that has two
wings, and with the other pouring from a cornucopia. The inscription
says, _Charitas_.
(8) _Increase of true worth_, represented by a figure holding in one
hand a bough of mustard, that is wont to grow and multiply exceedingly
from a tiny grain, and in the other hand a half-moon, receiving greater
brightness as it waxes. The inscription says, _Meritorum multiplicatio_.
(9) _Firmness and constancy in well-doing_, represented by the figure of
a woman holding an anchor in one hand, and in the other a palm. The
inscription says, _Constantia_.
(10) _The hope that guides us to our celestial home_, represented by a
figure holding in one hand a bunch of flowers (denoting the hope of the
fruit that is to come), and in the other hand a star, as one that
guideth to a haven. The inscription, _Deductio in patriam_.
(11) _Resurrection_, represented by the figure of a beautiful woman,
holding in one hand a snake, and in the other an eagle; creatures that
renew themselves by casting off the slough of their old age. The
inscription says, _Resurrectio_.
(12) _Life Eternal_, represented by a figure holding a palm in one hand,
and a crown in the other. The inscription says, _Vita æterna_.
* * * * *
The devices contained in this order, and in the middle of the frieze,
are as follows:--
(1) A bunch of grapes upon a wand, surrounded with ears of wheat. The
inscription says, _C[oe]lestis patriæ specimen_. This signifies that, as
the great bunch of grapes that was borne by Joshua and Caleb on their
shoulders was a token of the fertile land of promise, so the greatness
and the sweetness of this admirable Sacrament, which is afforded to us
in the guise of bread and wine, is the living sign and earnest of the
abundance reigning in the kingdom of the blessed.
(2) A hand extending the index-finger, pointing to a chalice and the
host, with the inscription, _Digitus Dei hic est_. This means that the
miracle of this holiest of Sacraments is the work of the eternal wisdom,
that cannot be attained by any wisdom of us humans.
(3) A rainbow, and above it a chalice with the host, and the
inscription, _Signum f[oe]deris sempiterni_. Signifying, that as in the
olden time God vouchsafed the rainbow to Noah in sign of friendship and
alliance, so does He now vouchsafe His own flesh and blood as a true and
effective token of His lasting association with mankind.
(4) Two rays, crossed, and in their midst an olive bough, with the
inscription, _Recordabor f[oe]deris mei vobiscum_. These are the words
that were spoken by God to Noah, when He made the said alliance with
him, giving to understand the clemency wherewith God treateth mankind in
the lesson of this divinest Sacrament, forgetting their errors, and
establishing perpetual peace and amity with them.
(5) The pelican feeding her young with the life-blood issuing from her
breast. The inscription says, _Majorem charitatem nemo habet_.
(6) A dead lion, from whose mouth issueth a swarm of bees, with the
inscription, _De forti dulcedo_. Giving to understand, that as from the
mouth of so brave a creature there issued a substance so sweet as honey,
so did the God of vengeance, the brave Lion of the tribe of Judah,
concert such love and peace with man, that He offered His very body for
man's food.
THIRD ORDER
The rest of the third order, as far as the summit of the _custodia_,
represents the Church triumphant: wherefore was placed in the midst of
this order (which is in the composite style) the history of the Lamb
that is upon the throne, and round about it the four beasts that are
full of eyes, as the Apocalypse relateth.
Upon the six continuous pedestals of the columns of this order are
graved the following six scenes:--
(1) The saints who wash their stoles in the blood that issues from the
Lamb, as is told in the Apocalypse.
(2) God the Father, with a sickle in His hand, and angels gathering
grapes in the vat, and corn in the granary, after winnowing out the
chaff; signifying the reward accorded unto men in sowing, and in the
harvest of the vine.
(3) The saints in joyful procession, each with his sheaf of wheat.
(4) The virgins, crowned with vine-tendrils and ears of wheat, that
follow the Lamb.
(5) The five prudent virgins, that with their lighted lamps go in to the
feast of the Bridegroom.
(6) The banquet of the blessed.
* * * * *
Between the arches of this order are the six hieroglyphs following, with
their inscriptions above, upon tablets.
(1) A burning ph[oe]nix, with the inscription, _Instauratio generis
humani_.
(2) Two cornucopias crossed, with a cross in their midst. The
cornucopias are full of vine-tendrils and ears of wheat. The inscription
says, _Felicitas humani generis_.
(3) A kingfisher brooding over her young in a nest of vine-tendrils and
blades of wheat, with the inscription, _Tranquillitas immutabilis_. This
signifies the calm state of the blessed, whereof a token is the nest of
the kingfisher, which bird, when it crosses the water, causes all storms
to cease.
(4) A car with flames, rising to heaven, with the inscription, _Sic itur
ad astra_. Signifying that this divinest Sacrament is the harbinger of
those that travel heavenward, in that Elijah was so swept away, after
God had sent him bread by the angel and the raven.
(5) Two dolphins, whose tails are crossed, and in the middle a chalice
and the host, with the inscription, _Delitiæ generis humani_. By this
device is signified the love and the delight bestowed by God on men by
means of this Sacrament.
(6) An altar adorned with festoons of vine-tendrils and blades of wheat,
with flames upon it, and bearing the inscription, _Æternum sacrificium_.
FOURTH ORDER
In this order is represented the Holy Trinity upon a rainbow, surrounded
by many rays of splendour, and in the fifth order is a bell, surmounted
by a simple cross.
Thus are all the parts of the _custodia_ adorned with the foregoing
beautiful decoration, having regard to their proportions and their
symmetry, according to the rules of good architecture, and to the
movements and position of the statuary, designed after nature, as was
prescribed by the inventor of histories. "_Et in his omnibus sensum
matris Ecclesiæ sequimur, cujus etiam juditium reveremur._"
Such is the description, written by Arfe himself, of this wonderful
masterpiece of silver-work. Unfortunately, since his time the _custodia_
has been much meddled with by profane hands, and has been subjected to
various impertinent "restorations" and "improvements." Thus, the
original statuette of Faith, seated on her throne, has been replaced by
another of the Virgin, and the twelve child-angels, holding the
instruments of the passion, by the same number of figures of a larger
size and far inferior workmanship. Further, some simple pyramids which
crowned the fourth order were foolishly replaced by badly executed
statuettes of children, and the Egyptian obelisk, resting on four small
spheres, which surmounted the whole _custodia_, by an unwieldy statue
representing the Catholic Faith.
* * * * *
DESCRIPTION OF THE _CUSTODIA_ OF CORDOVA CATHEDRAL
(From _Córdoba_, by PEDRO DE MADRAZO)
As I have stated in Vol. I., p. 98, the author of this _custodia_ was
Enrique de Arfe, Juan de Arfe's grandfather. "The base, supported on
small wheels placed in the interior, is in the form of a regular
dodecagon, each side of which measures a foot. On the twelve-sided plate
which forms the base and which has well executed heads of seraphs at
each corner, is an order consisting of three tiers. The first, which has
projecting and receding angles, leaves, about six sides of the
dodecagon, a free space for the handles by which the _custodia_ is
raised. The first tier forms a kind of socle with six buttresses, on the
surface of which are represented allegorical scenes, alternated in rows
with graceful designs in relief, grotesque and pastoral dances, and
scenes from Bible history relative to the carriage of the Tabernacle.
This tier is surmounted by a gilded balustrade of elegant design. The
bas-reliefs are wrought alternately in gold and silver.
"The second tier is formed by a small socle, crowned by a band of leaves
and diminutive figures. Over this is a gilded balustrade, and finally
another and a broader frieze containing gilded figures, together with
delicate foliage wrought in dull silver. This second tier grows
gradually narrower, and sustains the third, whose base projects, serving
as cornice to the frieze of the tier below, and decorated with a gilded
balustrade. Upon it rises a mass or body with twelve sides, following
the same arrangement of projecting and receding angles as the lower
tiers. In each of its receding spaces this order contains three
compartments, and in each of its salient faces it has a small tower or
buttress, which springs from the base and rests upon a delicate plinth
carved with a gilded ornamental band. Thus, the order we are describing
has six salient faces behind the six towers or buttresses, and six
spaces containing three open compartments. In these compartments,
separated one from another by diminutive buttresses with delicate
pinnacles, there is the same number of sunken spaces, one inch deep, on
which are represented, in high relief, scenes of the life and passion of
our Lord. The figures, admirably executed, are two inches high. Above
this order is a projecting cornice, decorated along its lower part with
a band of dull silver. It should be noted, that as the _custodia_
narrows gradually as it rises, the receding spaces grow proportionally
larger, thus affording room for the spacious inner order on which is
raised the _viril_. This order is formed by a crystal cylinder
(containing the host) resting on a base which is also cylindrical, the
lower part of which is decorated with a broad hexagonal band, narrower
at the top than at the bottom, and wrought with delicate foliage and
figures, as are the bands which lie beneath it. Above the transparent
cylinder enclosing the _viril_ rises a Gothic vault, drooping over in
the manner of a plume, and resting on the buttresses which fill the
projecting spaces on the base of the principal order. These buttresses
have a similar arrangement to, and coincide with, the other ones which
spring from the base of the third tier of the first order, and are
joined one to another by means of fine cross-buttresses surmounted by
statuettes. The circular vault which holds the crystal cylinder
containing the _viril_, and which resembles that of the rotunda
dedicated as a sepulchral chapel by the emperor Constantine to the
memory of his daughter, saint Constance, supports other and finer
buttresses, alternated with those beneath; but instead of rising from
the salient spaces of the base, these rise from the receding spaces and
support another vault, of smooth open-work, beneath which is a graceful
statuette of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. Over this vault is a kind of
open-work dome, consisting of an effective series of pinnacles and
buttresses in the shape of segments of a circle, which bridge over the
summits of the pinnacles. Upon the dome is a crown surmounted by a
statuette of Christ triumphant, with the cross. The two vaults--that
which encloses the _viril_, and the other one above it, enclosing the
image of the Virgin--are masked on the outside by arches of elegant
design, crowned by an elaborate balustrade. The turrets or buttresses
which rise upon the lowest and the principal orders are decorated with
numerous statuettes, resting on plinths of exquisite design, covered by
open-work canopies.
"This masterpiece of art is made of gold, and polished and unpolished
silver. The weight is 532 marks.... Unfortunately, it lacks its original
purity of style, having been restored in the year 1735, when it is
probable that certain details were added which now disfigure it."
APPENDIX D
THE IMPERIAL CROWN OF THE VIRGEN DEL SAGRARIO, TOLEDO
This was the most elaborate and costly crown that had ever been produced
in Spain for decorating an image of the Virgin. The following is a
sketch of it:--
[Illustration]
Before it was enlarged to the imperial shape, this crown was executed by
a silversmith named Fernando de Carrión, who finished it in the year
1556, and was paid for his labour 760,000 _maravedis_. It then consisted
of a gold diadem adorned with rows of pearls, emeralds, rubies, and
enamelled devices of various colours, in the style of the Renaissance.
The superstructure, which converts it into what is known as an imperial
crown, was added by Alejo de Montoya, another silversmith of Toledo, who
began it in 1574, and completed it twelve years later. The addition
consisted of a number of gold statuettes of angels, covered with enamel,
measuring in height from two inches to two and a half, distributed in
pairs, and supporting decorative devices attached to the body of the
crown. From behind these angels sprang gold bands thickly studded with
precious stones, and terminating towards their union at the apex of the
crown in seated allegorical figures grouped about a globe surmounted by
a cross. This globe consisted of a single emerald, clear, perfect both
in colour and in shape, and measuring an inch and a half in diameter.
The inside of the hoop was covered with enamels representing emblems of
the Virgin, disposed in a series of medallions, and the dimensions of
the entire crown were eleven inches high by nine across the widest part.
The crown was examined and reported upon by two goldsmiths of Madrid,
who declared it to contain the following precious stones:--
Two balas rubies, valued at 150,000 _maravedis_
Twelve rubies, " 403,528 "
Twelve emeralds, " 237,500 "
Fifty-seven diamonds, " 555,396 "
One hundred and eighty-two pearls, " 397,838 "
The precious stones were thus valued at a total of 1,744,262
_maravedis_. Besides this, the value of the gold and silver contained in
the crown was estimated to amount to 405,227 _maravedis_, while
3,097,750 _maravedis_ were allowed for the workmanship. These figures
relate to the part which was made by Alejo de Montoya only. That which
had previously been executed by Fernando de Carrión was valued at
1,954,156 _maravedis_, making a grand total, for the whole jewel, of
7,201,395 _maravedis_. At the present day the intrinsic value of the
crown would be from nine to ten thousand pounds sterling.
In 1869 this splendid specimen of Renaissance jewellery was stolen from
a cupboard in the cathedral of Toledo, sharing thus the fate of many
other precious objects which have been entrusted to the slender
vigilance or slender probity of Spanish church authorities.
APPENDIX E
GOLD INLAY ON STEEL AND IRON
The inlaying of iron or steel with gold is often thought to be a craft
particularly Spanish, and to have been inherited directly by the Spanish
Christians from the Spanish Moors. This work, however, although we may
assume it to have been of Eastern origin in a period of remote
antiquity, was quite familiar to the ancient Romans, including,
probably, such as made their home in Spain. The Memoirs of Benvenuto
Cellini contain the following notice of the work in question:--
"I met with some little Turkish daggers, the handles of which were of
iron as well as the blade, and even the scabbard was of that metal. On
these were engraved several fine foliages in the Turkish taste, most
beautifully filled up with gold. I found I had a strong inclination to
cultivate this branch likewise, which was so different from the rest;
and finding that I had great success in it, I produced several pieces in
this way. My performances, indeed, were much finer and more durable than
the Turkish, for several reasons: one was, that I made a much deeper
incision in the steel than is generally practised in Turkish works; the
other, that their foliages are nothing else but chicory leaves, with
some few flowers of echites: these have, perhaps, some grace, but they
do not continue to please like our foliages. In Italy there is a variety
of tastes, and we cut foliages in many different forms. The Lombards
make the most beautiful wreaths, representing ivy and vine-leaves, and
others of the same sort, with agreeable twinings highly pleasing to the
eye. The Romans and the Tuscans have a much better notion in this
respect, for they represent acanthus leaves, with all their festoons and
flowers, winding in a variety of forms; and amongst these leaves they
insert birds and animals of several sorts with great ingenuity and
elegance in the arrangement. They likewise have recourse occasionally to
wild flowers, such as those called Lions' Mouths, from their peculiar
shape, accompanied by other fine inventions of the imagination, which
are termed grotesques by the ignorant. These foliages have received that
name from the moderns, because they are found in certain caverns in
Rome, which in ancient days were chambers, baths, studies, halls, and
other places of a like nature. The curious happened to discover them in
these subterranean caverns, whose low situation is owing to the raising
of the surface of the ground in a series of ages; and as these caverns
in Rome are commonly called grottos, they from thence acquired the name
of grotesque. But this is not their proper name; for, as the ancients
delighted in the composition of chimerical creatures, and gave to the
supposed promiscuous breed of animals the appellation of monsters, in
like manner artists produced by their foliages monsters of this sort;
and that is the proper name for them--not grotesques. In such a taste I
made foliages filled up in the manner above mentioned, which were far
more elegant and pleasing to the eye than the Turkish works.
"It happened about this time that certain vases were discovered, which
appeared to be antique urns filled with ashes. Amongst these were iron
rings inlaid with gold, in each of which was set a diminutive shell.
Learned antiquarians, upon investigating the nature of these rings,
declared their opinion that they were worn as charms by those who
desired to behave with steadiness and resolution either in prosperous or
adverse fortune.
"I likewise took things of this nature in hand at the request of some
gentlemen who were my particular friends, and wrought some of these
little rings; but I made them of steel well tempered, and then cut and
inlaid with gold, so that they were very beautiful to behold: sometimes
for a single ring of this sort I was paid above forty crowns."
APPENDIX F
OLD SPANISH PULPITS
The earliest pulpits of the Spaniards were similar to those of other
Christian nations. One of them was the _tribuna_ or _tribunal_, so
called, according to Saint Isidore, "because the minister delivers from
it the precepts for a righteous life, wherefore it is a seat or place
constructed upon high, in order that all he utters may be heard." The
ambo, too, although it is not mentioned by Saint Isidore, was probably
not unknown among the Spaniards.[61] Then there were various desks, such
as the _analogia_, _legitoria_, or _lectra_, on which the scriptures
were deposited in church, or carried in procession, and from which the
latter were read aloud by the priest. Saint Isidore remarks of the
_analogium_; "It is so called because the word is preached therefrom,
and because it occupies the highest place."[62] Ducange, quoting from
old authors, remarks in his Glossary that these desks were often adorned
with gold and silver plates or precious stones. Thus it is extremely
probable that Tarik's celebrated "table" (see Vol. I., pp. 31 _et seq._)
was merely some elaborate and bejewelled _analogium_ of the Christians;
such as was, in fact, the predecessor of the modern lectern or
"hand-pulpit."
[61] "Ambo, pulpitum ubi ex duabus partibus sunt gradus." Ugutio,
quoted by Ducange.
[62] _Originum_, Book XV., Chap. iv.
According to Amador de los Ríos, sermons in those early times were
delivered from the _analogium_ only. Towards the twelfth century, the
Isidorian liturgy was abolished in Spain, and the furniture of Spanish
temples underwent some change. In the same century and throughout the
century following, the Spanish Peninsula was invaded by the Order of
Preachers, while, coinciding with, or closely consequent upon, this
movement, the primitive ambo was succeeded by the _jubé_, and wood, as
the material of which the pulpit was constructed, by marble, iron,
stone, or plaster.
Two Mudejar pulpits of great interest are preserved at Toledo, in the
church of Santiago del Arabal (thirteenth century), and in the convent,
erected in the reign of Pedro the Cruel, of Santo Domingo el Real. The
substance of these ancient objects is a brick and plaster foundation,
with panels of the stucco known as _obra de yesería_, produced from
wooden moulds. The pulpit of the church of Santiago is traditionally
affirmed to be the one from which, in 1411, Saint Vincent Ferrer
delivered a sermon to the Toledan Jews. Whether this be so or not, the
date of its construction is undoubtedly the second half of the
fourteenth century, or early in the fifteenth. The shape is octagonal--a
very common form with Gothic pulpits. It is divided into four _cuerpos_
or orders, including the sounding-board. The decoration, which is
chiefly floral, is a combination of the Gothic and the Moorish styles.
The pulpit of Santo Domingo el Real stands in the refectory of that
convent. It dates from the same period as the one belonging to the
church of Santiago, but unlike this latter, bears no trace of former
gilding, painting, or enamelling upon the surface of the stone or
plaster. It has three tiers or compartments, and, as in the other
pulpit, the decoration consists of leaves and flowers, blended with
geometrical patterns and Moorish _lacería_.
The Moorish _mimbar_ or pulpit of the mosque of Cordova was very
wonderful. According to Sentenach, its situation was near the archway
leading to the _mihrab_, and on its desk rested the sacred copy of the
Koran which had belonged to the Caliph Othman, and which was stated to
be stained with his blood.
This _mimbar_, sacrificed long years ago to Christian barbarism and
neglect, was the richest piece of furniture in all that mighty building,
seven years of unremitting labour being exhausted by Al-Hakem's
craftsmen in constructing it of the richest and most aromatic woods,
inlaid with silver, ivory, gold, and precious stones. Ambrosio de
Morales called it "King Almanzor's chair," describing it quaintly as a
four-wheeled car of richly-wrought wood, mounted by means of seven
steps. "A few years since," he adds, "they broke it up, I know not
wherefore. So disappeared this relic of an olden time."
APPENDIX G
SPANISH CUTLERS
In former times excellent cutlery, such as knives, scissors, daggers,
spearheads, and surgical instruments, was made in Spain, at Seville,
Albacete, Toledo, Valencia, Pamplona, Ronda, Peñíscola, Guadix, Ripoll,
Mora, Olot, and Tolosa. Rico y Sinobas has given an interesting
description of the workshop and apparatus of one of these old Spanish
cutlers--his graduated set of hammers, weighing from a few ounces to
five pounds, his hand-saws, bench-saw, chisels, pincers, files, and
drills, his forge, measuring from a yard square to a yard and a half,
his two anvils of the toughest iron, the larger with a flat surface of
three inches by ten inches, for ordinary work, the smaller terminated by
conical points for making the thumb and finger holes of scissors.[63]
The method of tempering and forging practised by these cutlers was much
the same as that of the Toledo swordsmiths.
[63] _Noticia Histórica de la Cuchillería y de los Cuchilleros Antiguos
en España_ (_Almanaque de El Museo de la Industria_, Madrid, 1870).
Rico y Sinobas also embodied in his essay the following list of cutlers
and cutler-armourers, who manufactured knives, penknives, scissors,
parts of firearms, or heads and blades for lances, halberds, and the
like. The following is a summary of the list in question:--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NAME. | DATE. | WORKED AT
--------------------+---------------------+----------------------------
Acacio |17th century |? He made spearheads and
| | fittings for crossbows.
| |
Aguas, Juan de |Early in 18th century|Guadix.
| |
Alanis |Late 16th century |? Maker of fittings for
| | crossbows.
| |
Albacete |Late 18th century |Albacete. Scissors-maker.
| |
Ambrosio |Late 18th century |Mora. Maker of large
| |scissors for
| |sheep-shearing.
| |
Arbell, Ramón |17th century (?) |Olot. Knife-maker.
| |
Azcoitia (the elder)|Late 15th century |Guipúzcoa (?). A celebrated
|and early 16th |maker of pieces for
| |crossbows.
| |
Azcoitia (Cristóbal)|16th century |? Also a maker of pieces for
| | crossbows. He was the
| | fourth descendant of the
| | family who worked at this
| | branch of the cutler's
| | craft.
| |
Azcoitia (Juan) |16th century |? Perhaps a member of the
| | same family. He also made
| | pieces for crossbows.
| |
Beson, Manuel |18th century |Madrid. Knife-maker.
| |
Bis, Francisco |18th century |Madrid (see Vol. I.,
| |p. 273). Maker of knives and
| |arquebuses.
| |
Blanco, Juan |16th century |Maker of crossbows, and of
| |pieces for the same.
| |
Castellanos (the |18th century |Albacete. Scissors-maker.
elder) | |
| |
Castellanos (the |Late 18th century |Albacete. Scissors-maker.
younger) |and early 19th |
| |
Castillo, Gregorio |Late 16th century |Cataluña (?).
| |Scissors-maker.
| |
Cerda, Miguel de la |Late 16th century |Madrid and Segovia. He made
| |scissors and other
| |cutlery.
| |
Criado, Juan |Early 17th century |Madrid (?). Maker of pieces
| |for crossbows.
| |
Diaz, Pedro |Early 18th century |Albacete. Scissors-maker.
| |
Escobar, Cristóbal |Late 16th century |Madrid (?). Maker of pieces
|and early 17th |for crossbows.
| |
Escobar, Juan |17th century |Madrid (?). Son of the
| |preceding, and also a maker
| |of pieces for crossbows.
| |
Fernandez Manso |Late 18th century |Guadalajara. A Portuguese,
de Payba, José | |naturalized in Spain. He
| |was a scissors-maker of
| |considerable fame.
| |
Fuente, Pedro de la |Late 15th century |Madrid (?). Maker of
|or early 16th |crossbows and their pieces.
| |
García, Domingo |Late 17th century |Madrid. Arquebus-maker and
| |cutler.
| |
García de la Torre, |Early 18th century |Guadalix and Alcorcón.
Teodoro | |Cutler. In company with
| |Manuel Beson, he invented a
| |method of converting iron
| |into steel.
| |
Garijo |18th century |Albacete. Scissors-maker.
| |
Garro, Martín |Early 15th century |Pamplona. Cutler and
| |swordsmith. A letter dated
| |October 31st, 1406, records
| |that he was paid five
| |_escudos_ for making a
| |sword, and one _escudo_ for
| |a dagger.
| |
Gomez, Mateo |Late 17th century |Albacete. Scissors-maker.
| |
Grajeras |17th century |Madrid (?). Maker of pieces
| |for crossbows.
| |
Grande, Juan |17th century |Madrid (?). Maker of
| |lanceheads.
| |
Gutierrez |Late 17th century |Chinchilla. Scissors-maker.
| |
Hernandez, Juan |16th century |Madrid (?). Maker of pieces
| |for crossbows.
| |
Herraez, Andres |Late 16th century |Cuenca. Arquebus-maker and
| |cutler.
| |
Herrezuelo (the |Late 16th century |Baeza. Cutler.
elder) |and early 17th |
| |
Herrezuelo (the |Early 17th century |Baeza.
younger) | |Scissors-maker.
| |
Horbeira, Angel |Late 17th century |Madrid. Cutler; a native of
| |Galicia, and reputed to be
| |one of the best craftsmen of
| |his time. He was known as
| |_El Borgoñon_, and passed
| |his early life in Flanders.
| |
Hortega |Early 16th century |? Maker of pieces for
| | crossbows.
| |
Lallabe, Juan de |Early 19th century |? Cutler, locksmith, and
| | maker of surgical
| | instruments.
| |
Lastra, Juan |17th century |Madrid (?). Maker of pieces
| |for crossbows. He was one
| |of the latest and most
| |celebrated of these
| |craftsmen.
| |
Leon |Early 18th century |Albacete. Scissors-maker.
| |
Llorens, Pablo |Late 17th century |Olot. Cutler.
| |
Marcoarte, Simon |Late 16th century |Madrid. Arquebus-maker and
|and early 17th |cutler. He was the son of
| |another craftsman of the
| |same name, who settled in
| |Spain in the reign of
| |Charles the Fifth
| |(see Vol. I., p. 273).
| |
Martinez, Juan |Early 16th century |? Maker of darts and lances
| | for crossbows.
| |
Mendoza, Francisco |Early 18th century |Trigueros (Old Castile).
and Manuel | |Cutlers.
| |
Moreno, Luis |Late 15th century |Madrid (?). Maker of pieces
|or early 16th | for crossbows.
| |
Moro, El |Late 18th century |Madrid. Cutler.
|and early 19th |
| |
Muñoz of Getafe |16th century and |? Maker of pieces for
|early 17th | crossbows.
| |
Óipa, Juan | ? |Madrid. Maker of crossbows.
| |
Perez de Villadiego,|16th century |Madrid (?). Maker of pieces
Juan | |for crossbows.
| |
Perez, Julian |Early 17th century |Madrid (?). Maker of darts
| | and lances for crossbows.
| |
Puebla (the elder) |Early 16th century |Madrid. Maker of parts of
| | crossbows.
| |
Ramirez, Juan |Late 16th century |? Cutler. He emigrated to
| | the city of Puebla de los
| | Angeles, in Mexico, where
| | he continued to make
| | knives, scissors, and
| | weapons of good quality.
| |
Renedo (the elder) |Early 16th century(?)|? Maker of darts and lances
| | for crossbows.
| |
Renedo (the younger)| Late 16th century |? Son of the preceding. He
| | and early 17th made the
| | same objects as his
| | father.
| |
Romero |Late 18th century |Albacete. Scissors-maker.
| |
Rosel | ? |Mora. Scissors-maker.
| |
San José, Brother |Late 17th century |Jaen. Scissors-maker.
Antonio | |
| |
Santamaría |Late 16th century |Madrid (?). Maker of pieces
|and early 17th |for crossbows.
| |
Selva, Juan |Late 18th century |Cartagena and Madrid. Cutler
| |and iron-founder.
| |
Segura |Late 18th century |Mora. Scissors-maker.
|and early 19th |
| |
Sierra, Juan |18th century |Albacete. Scissors-maker.
| |
Soler, Isidro |Late 18th century |Madrid. Arquebus-maker,
| |and early 19th cutler, and
| |author of _An Historical
| |Essay on making Arquebuses_.
| |
Sosa |17th century |Madrid (?). Maker of weapons,
| |especially the heads of
| |lances.
| |
Targarona, |Late 18th century |Madrid. Arquebus-maker to
Francisco | |Charles the Third and
| |Charles the Fourth, and one
| |of the most skilful
| |craftsmen of his day.
| |
Tijerero, El | ? |Toledo. Maker of swords and
(Domingo Sanchez) | |scissors.
| |
Torres |Early 17th century |Albacete. Scissors-maker.
| |
Ucedo |Late 16th century and|? Maker of pieces for
|perhaps early 17th | crossbows.
| |
V.... |16th century (?) |Toledo (?). Scissors-maker.
| |The rest of this craftsman's
| |name is not known.
| |
Valderas, Pedro de |16th century |Madrid and Valladolid. Maker
| |of pieces for crossbows.
| |
Vicen-Perez, Pedro |Late 17th century |Albacete. Scissors-maker.
| |
Vilarasa, Antonio |Late 17th century |? Cutler and razor-maker.
| |
... Emt.., Julian |Early 18th century |Albacete. Scissors-maker.
| |Only a fragment of his name
| |has been preserved upon a
| |blade. Rico y Sinobas
| |suggests thatthe entire
| |surname may have been
| |_Vicen-Perez_.
| |
Zeruantes, |Late 17th century |Toledo. Maker of blades for
Francisco | |halberds.
| |
Zamora ("the deaf") |Late 16th century |Castile. Cutler,
|and early 17th |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX H
SPANISH TRADE-GUILDS
The _gremios_ of Spain were copied from the guilds of France and other
countries, and may be traced originally to the _corpora_ and _collegia_
of the Romans and Byzantines. The earliest which were formed in the
Peninsula were those of Barcelona[64] and Soria, succeeded, not long
after, by Valencia, Seville,[65] and Toledo. Prior, however, to the
institution of these trade-guilds proper, whose purpose was
pre-eminently mercenary,[66] there existed, in the case of several
cities, _cofradías_ or religious brotherhoods, that is, associations of
a philanthropic character, composed of tradesmen or artificers who
pledged themselves to assist each other in poverty or sickness, or to
defray the burial expenses of such members as should die without
resources.
[64] See Pérez Pujol, _Condición social de las personas á principios del
siglo V_. "The ironsmiths of Barcelona," says Riaño, "formed an
extensive guild in the thirteenth century; in 1257, four of its
members formed part of the chief municipal council; this guild
increased in importance in the following centuries."
[65] The history of the Sevillian trade-guilds begins properly with the
fifteenth century, although Gestoso states in his _Diccionario de
Artífices Sevillanos_ that he has found a few documents which seem
to point to their existence in the century preceding.
When the Spanish Christians pitched their camp before this city,
prior to their victorious assault upon its walls, the besieging
army was divided according to the various trades of its component
soldiery: the spicers in one part of the camp, the apothecaries in
another, and so forth. It is therefore probable that the Sevillian
trade-guilds were instituted shortly after the re-conquest. The
wages of smiths, shoemakers, silversmiths, armourers, and other
craftsmen were decreed by Pedro the First in his _Ordenamiento de
Menestrales_. The ordinances of the silversmiths, in particular,
are so old that Gestoso believes them to have been renewed and
confirmed by Juan the Second, in the year 1416. However this may
be, it is certain that the Seville guilds were regularly
constituted in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
[66] Barzanallana defines the word _gremio_ "as it came to be understood
in Spain," as "any gathering of merchants, artisans, labourers, or
other persons who practised the same profession, art, or office;
and who were bound to comply with certain ordinances, applicable to
each individual of their number."
It is well, however, to distinguish broadly between actual
manufacturers or producers (_menestrales de manos_) and merchants
or shopkeepers (_mercaderes de tienda y de escriptorio_), who
merely trafficked in what was executed by another.
The formula of admission to a Spanish brotherhood was very quaint in its
punctilious and precise severity. A notice of this ceremony, relating to
the Cofradía of Saint Eligius, or Silversmiths' Brotherhood of
Seville,[67] is quoted by Gestoso from the venerable _Regla de
Hermandad_ or statutes of the members, preserved in a codex dating from
the first half of the sixteenth century. It was required that the
candidate for admission should be a silversmith, married in conformity
with the canons of the church, a man well spoken of among his
neighbours, and not a recent convert to the Christian faith. The day
prescribed for choosing or rejecting him was that which was consecrated
to Saint John the Baptist, coinciding with the festival of Saint Eligius
or San Loy, "patron and representative" of silversmiths, and who in life
had been a silversmith himself. The regulations of the Cofradía decreed
the following method of election. "In the chest belonging to the
Brotherhood shall be kept a wood or metal vessel with space sufficient
to contain some fifty beans or almonds; and the said vessel shall be set
in our chapter-room, in a spot where no man is. Each of the brothers
that are present shall next be given one of the beans or almonds, and,
rising from his seat, arrange his cloak about him so as to conceal his
hands, in order that none may witness whether he drops, or does not
drop, the almond or the bean into the vessel. Then, with due
dissimulation, he shall proceed to where the vessel lies, and if he deem
that he who seeks to be admitted as our brother be an honourable man,
and such as shall contribute to the lustre of our Brotherhood, then
shall he drop in a bean or almond, and return to his seat, still
covering his hands with his cloak. But if, upon the contrary, he deem
that the said candidate be a sinner, and a riotous fellow and bad
Christian, that should prove a source of evil and vexation to our
chapter, or that hath wronged another of our brethren, then shall he not
cast in the bean or almond, but secretly reserve the same, and once more
seat himself. Lastly, when all shall have crossed over to and from the
vessel, they shall bear it to the table where the officers sit, and void
it in the sight of all the company, and count the beans or almonds; and
if the number of these be full, then is it clear that we do receive the
other for our _Hermano_. But if there be a bean or almond wanting, in
that a brother hath retained it in his fingers, then shall our
_Alcaldes_ speak to this effect. 'Señores: here wants a bean or almond'
(or two, or any number, as may be). 'Within eight days from now let him
that kept it back present himself to us, or to any one of us, and give
account why he that sought admission to our Brotherhood deserves to be
rejected.' And if the brother that kept back the bean or almond should
not present himself within the appointed time, then shall the
Brotherhood admit the other: but if he appear, and state a lawful cause
against the other's entry, then our _Alcaldes_, when this last presents
himself to learn their resolution, shall urge him to have patience, in
that not all the brothers are content with him, albeit, if such cause
consisteth in a quarrel between a brother and the candidate for entry,
peace may be brought about between the two, and afterward the _Cofradía_
may admit him of their number."
[67] This guild, as all the others, held an annual convocation of its
members, and possessed a chapel of its own in the convent of San
Francisco. It exercised a strict and constant supervision upon the
gold and silver work produced throughout the city. On April 15th,
1567, the inspectors appointed and salaried by the guild visited
the shop of Antonio de Cuevas, and seized an _Agnus Dei_ and a
faultily executed cross, both of which objects were destroyed
forthwith. On February 8th, 1569, they repeated their visit to the
same silversmith, and seized an _apretador_, which was likewise
broken up. On February 9th, 1602, they entered the shop of Antonio
de Ahumada, and took away "two rings, a gold _encomienda_, a cross
of Saint John, some small cocks, a toothpick, and a San Diego of
silver." Similar notices of fines, confiscations, and other
punishments exist in great abundance, and may be studied in
Gestoso's dictionary. See also Vol. I., p. 114, of the present
work.
Similar ceremonies and customs were observed in old Toledo (see the
Ordinances of this city, dated June 24th, 1423, renewed and amplified in
1524).[68] Here also the silversmiths agreed to meet and celebrate the
festival of their patron saint upon one day in every year, "for ever and
for ever" (_para siempre jamás_). On these occasions the image of the
saint was carried in procession, and a repast was given to the brothers
themselves, as well as to all persons who were "willing to receive it
for the love of God." Every brother who failed to present himself at
this solemnity was fined one pound of candle-wax; but if he were merely
unpunctual, and arrived "after the singing of the first three psalms,"
the fine was only half a pound. A pound of candle-wax was also the
statutory tribute for admission to the Brotherhood, together with a
hundred _maravedis_ and other unimportant sums in cash.
The history of the _gremios_ of Valencia has been traced in an
instructive essay by Luis Tramoyeres Blasco. Early in the fifteenth
century guilds were established here of nearly thirty trades, including
tailors, millers, carpenters, shoemakers, silversmiths, weavers,
tanners, dyers, swordsmiths, and bonnet-makers. These guilds developed
greatly in the sixteenth century, expanding into powerful and wealthy
bodies, who practically controlled the entire commerce and commercial
products of their native town. Among the _gremios_ instituted at a later
date were those of the firework-makers, basket-makers, twisters of
silk, stiffeners of dress fabrics, bell-founders, and painters of
chests and boxes, each of these corporations being enrolled by law, and
possessing a code of regulations for the government and guidance of its
members. Sometimes, however, owing to diminution in its trade, a guild
became extinct, as happened with the _guadamacileros_ (see Vol. II., pp.
38 _et seq._), and with the clothmakers, of whom, in 1595, but three
remained in all Valencia. Or else a _gremio_ would purposely amalgamate
with, or merge insensibly into, another. Thus in 1668 the tailors and
the makers of trunk-hose united in a single corporation, just as, at
other times, the glovers and the parchment-dressers, the clog-makers and
the shoemakers.
[68] The foremost in importance of the _gremios_ of Toledo was that of
the silk-weavers (_arte mayor de la seda_), whose earliest
ordinances date from A.D. 1533.
Interesting particulars of the old Toledan _gremios_ generally will
be found in the municipal archives of this city, in the _Ordenanzas
para el buen régimen y gobierno de la muy noble, muy leal é
imperial ciudad de Toledo_ (reprinted in 1858); in Martín Gamero's
_History of Toledo_; and in the Count of Cedillo's scholarly
monograph, _Toledo in the Sixteenth Century_.
Those of the Valencian guilds which possessed the greatest influence and
resources, and enjoyed the highest privileges from the city or the
crown, were called _colegiados_. Among them were the velvet-makers,
hatters, bronze-founders, wax-makers, confectioners, dyers, and makers
of silk hose. The earliest to obtain this coveted and honourable title
were the booksellers, in 1539, followed by the wax-makers in 1634, the
confectioners in 1644, the velvet-makers also in this year, and others
in succession, terminating with the dyers in 1763, the hatters in 1770,
the bell-founders in 1772, and the makers of silk stockings in 1774.
According to Tramoyeres, most of the Valencian trade-guilds owned a
building in fee-simple, and often gave the title of their craft to the
entire street in which that edifice was situated. Nor did the _gremios_,
in their evolution from the simpler and less mercenary form of
brotherhood or _cofradía_, wholly abandon the religious ceremonies of
their prototype. In almost every instance the guild erected and
maintained a chapel within its private _domicilio_, chose a particular
saint to be its patron, and held, with fitting pomp and liberality, a
yearly celebration of that patron's holy-day.
On these occasions masses and other services were said or sung, and the
embroidered banner of the guild, together with the image (which was
often of silver) of its tutelar saint, was carried in procession through
the streets of this bright city of the south, abounding at all seasons
in flowers and sunshine, and famed, from the remotest days of Spanish
history, for the splendour and munificence of her public festivals.
Our earliest record of the formal attendance of the _gremios_ of
Valencia at one of her _fiestas_, goes back to the visit to this capital
of King Pedro the Second, in 1336, when the guilds were marshalled in
military fashion, company by company, each headed by its pennon "_á la
saga dels primers_," that is, next to the group or company immediately
in front of it. In 1392, upon the visit of another monarch, Juan the
First, who was accompanied by his queen, Violante, a more elaborate
character was given to the welcome. Jongleurs and dancers were hired to
perform, while several of the _gremios_ constructed decorative scenes or
allegorical tableaux on a platform or a waggon, which was wheeled along
the street in slow procession, surrounded by the marching members of the
guild. One of these structures represented the winged dragon or
_drach-alat_ which figures so conspicuously in the records of Valencia
(see Vol. I., p. 210), and was attacked and overcome in mimic combat by
a body of knights armed cap-à-pie. The mariners of the port built two
large galleys, also moved on wheels and simulating an attack, and the
_freneros_ or bit-makers presented a gathering of folk disguised as
savages. Nor was the bullfight--that most characteristic of Spanish
sports--omitted from the entertainment, judging from the following entry
in the city archives: "Item. Sien aemprats los prohomens carnicers a
procurar e haver toros e fer per sos dies feta la dita entrada joch ab
aquells specialment en lo mercat com sia cert quel Senyor Rey se agrada
e pren plaer de tal joch."
A typical _fiesta_ and procession of these trade-guilds is described by
Tramoyeres. "Formed in two long lines, the members of the guild advanced
along the tortuous and narrow highways of the town, adorned with
tapestries and altars. Each _gremio_ was preceded by a band of
cymbal-beaters, pipers, and jongleurs, sometimes accompanied by a
_comparsa_ allusive to the ceremony now being celebrated. Next came the
standard of the master-craftsmen and apprentices, each group of whom
attended its _divisa_ or distinguishing emblem. Close after followed the
banner of the craft in general, carried by one or two of the
_oficiales_, who made display of their dexterity and strength by
supporting the staff of the banner upon their shoulder, the palm of the
hand, or the under-lip. The cords of the banner were held by the
officers of the guild, denominated _mayorales_, _clavarios_ and
_prohombres_; behind these came the masters, and last of all, a
triumphal car on which were represented scenes relating to the craft.
Thus, in the year 1655, at the commemoration of the second centenary of
the canonization of Saint Vincent Ferrer, the _gremios_ showed
particular ingenuity and novelty in these devices." Don Marco Antonio
Ortí, who wrote an account of the festival in question, thus describes a
few of them. "The millers were preceded by a waggon drawn by four mules
and covered with boughs and flowers. On it was the imitation of a
windmill, wheel and every other part, contrived so cunningly that
although the wheel went round at a great speed, the artifice which
caused it to revolve was kept from view, and in the time that the
procession lasted, it ground to flour a whole _caliz_ of wheat." Another
invention, says the same chronicler, was that of the masons. "The scene
devised by these was a triumphal car, handsomely adorned, on which was
borne the great tower (of the cathedral),[69] imitated so skilfully that
it seemed to have been rooted from its foundation, and replanted in the
car aforesaid; and so enormous was its size that a special spot required
to be chosen in which to set it up. This was in the garden of La Punta;
and when the tower was finished and ready to be taken forth, a breach
for its passage had to be opened in the garden wall. It even contained a
peal of bells, which rang by turning round and round, and this invention
of the bells, besides its ingenuity, was rarely fitted to this festival,
seeing that the clock-bell of the cathedral (that is the greatest of
them all) was given, when it was baptized, the name of San Vicente's
bell, as well as of Saint Michael the Archangel; whence the tower itself
is called the Micalet, this, in the language of Valencia, being the
diminutive for Michael. It were impossible to imagine the stir and the
applause excited in all quarters of the city by the passage of this
tower."
[69] That is, the ponderous structure known as the Miguelete, which
stands unfinished to this day.
The same writer describes the decorative car or waggon of the
flax-weavers. "Upon it were a woman seated beneath a canopy, weaving at
a frame, and representing Santa Ana, the child Jesus making _cañillas_,
and an aged man, for San Antonio, dressed as a hermit, with a live
sucking-pig at his side. Before these went Our Lady riding on a jennet,
with a child in her arms, her right hand held by a man of venerable age
representing Saint Joseph. This artifice was symbolic of the weavers'
trade, receiving for this reason great applause, as well as for the
lavish decoration of, and curious details that were in, the car."
Tramoyeres further explains that the guild which took first place in the
procession was that which had been most recently created, the oldest and
most honoured coming last. At Valencia this proud position was held from
the remotest period by the clothmakers; but from time to time, when
these for any cause were absent from the festival, their place was taken
by one or other of two companies almost as ancient and as
honourable--the tanners or the tailors.
Each guild selected an official dress or livery, distinguished from the
others by its colour or design:--the tailors, purple and white; the
weavers, rose with black sleeves; the cutlers, crimson with green
sleeves and sprinkled with golden roses; the millers, white with
crimson-striped sleeves; the silversmiths, crimson with silver trimming;
and so forth. Their banners, too, were quite in harmony with the rich
apparel of the vain _agremiados_. According to an author of the
seventeenth century, these flags were "not of war, but of a different
workmanship, and greatly larger. All are of damask, most being coloured
crimson, and the poles sustaining them, and terminated by an image of
the sainted patron of the guild, are longer than the longest pike of
war. Truly, a splendid show these banners make, displayed with fringes
of drawn gold, and shields embroidered with the same material."
The image in which the pole of the banner concluded was not, however,
invariably that of a saint, or of a saint alone. In the case of the
cask-makers it was a golden tun surmounted by a cross, with figures of
Saint Helen and the Emperor Constantine standing on either side of it.
That of the armourers was a bat (the _rat-penat_ or "winged rat"
contained in the _escudo_ of Valencia); that of the cloth-shearers, a
pair of scissors with a golden crown and the image of Saint Christopher;
of the fishermen, a boat containing Saint Peter and Saint Andrew; of the
clothmakers, a sphere inscribed with the name of Jesus; of the
stonemasons, a silver millwheel and a silver image of the Virgin.
Similarly, each _gremio_ displayed upon its coat-of-arms some kind of
emblem such as the implement, or implements, associated with its
trade:--the silversmiths, a square and compass; the carpenters, a
hatchet and a saw; the lock-smiths, a pair of hammers and an anvil.
Quaintly instructive are the dispositions of the guilds relating to
apprenticeship. The _maestro_ of a trade, described by the Count of
Torreánaz as "the principal worker in the workshop," agreed to feed,
clothe, and instruct his apprentice or _discípulo_, and treat him
generally as a member of his own family. He was permitted to punish his
apprentice for misconduct, but not to employ excessive physical
violence; and a law of Jayme the First decreed that if the apprentice
lost one or both of his eyes from a blow inflicted by his master, the
latter was to "make good the injury" (_sia tengut del mal que li haura
feyt_).
The number of apprentices allowed in any one workshop was often (and
subsequently to the fifteenth century, nearly always) regulated by the
law. The first disposition of this kind discovered by Tramoyeres dates
from the year 1451, and refers to the shoemakers, whose apprentices
might not outnumber three to each _maestro_.[70] Similarly, by
provisions issued at a later date, the mattress-makers and the builders
were allowed no more than two apprentices, and the silk-weavers three,
although sometimes the master might admit an extra _aprenent_ or so, on
payment of a certain sum per head.[71] The term of the apprenticeship
was also often fixed by law. In most of the trades it was four years;
but in the case of the makers of ribbons and of boxes it was five years;
while stocking-makers were apprenticed for six, and wax-makers and
confectioners for eight years.
[70] The Count of Torreánaz quotes an earlier instance, relative to
another city, from the shoemakers' ordinances of Burgos, confirmed
by the emperor Alfonso in A.D. 1270. These laws decreed, obviously
with the purpose of limiting the number of apprentices, that every
master-craftsman who engaged an apprentice was to pay two thousand
_maravedis_ "for the service of God and of the hospital." Similar
legislation, lasting many centuries, was in force elsewhere, for
Larruga says that at Valladolid, although the city produced
fourteen thousand hats yearly, most of the master-hatters had no
apprentices in their workshops, and only one _oficial_.
[71] _E.g._, the silk-weavers (Statute of 1701). "Que ningun collegial
de dit collegi puixa matricular francament mes de tres aprenents y
si volgués tenirne mes, hatja de pagar á dit collegi deu lliures,
moneda real de Valencia per cascú dels que excedirá de dit numero."
Before the father or the guardian of a lad could sign his papers of
apprenticeship, it was required (during and after the sixteenth century)
to prove before the guild, by means of his certificate of baptism, or on
the declaration of witnesses, that he was the child of parents who were
"old Christians," and not the offspring of Moor, Jew, slave, convert, or
(in the fierce expression of the stocking-makers) "any other infected
race." Still more absurd and savage was an ordinance, dated 1597, of the
shoemakers, prohibiting any master of this trade from admitting to
apprenticeship in any form, "a black boy, or one of the colour of cooked
quince, slave or Moor ... so as to avoid the harm which might befall
our brother shoemakers from the ridicule that would be stirred among the
populace, if they should see in our processions and other public acts, a
slave, or the son of a black slave, or a lad of the colour of cooked
quince, or a Moor; as well as the rioting and scandals that would be
caused by the spectacle of creatures of this nature mixing with decent,
well-dressed people."
These statutes are selected from the mass of local legislation which
concerned Valencia only. Turning to Spanish guilds at large, the study
of these institutions throws considerable light upon the customs of the
Spanish nation in the past, and more especially upon the social and
financial standing of the older Spanish craftsman. As in other
countries, the principal and primal object of the _gremio_ was to
organize a system of defence against the military and nobility, or even
against the crown. Presently, however, and long before their evolution
is completed, errors become apparent in the statutes or proceedings of
these bodies which denote, very instructively and very plainly, the
typical defects or weaknesses of the Spanish character. Foremost of all
was thriftlessness. Although it is a fact that several of the Spanish
guilds owned houses or even land, none of them (except the silversmiths
of two or three large towns) were really affluent;[72] and indeed, in a
country racked by incessant foreign wars or civil strife, there was
every reason why they should not be affluent. Yet, notwithstanding this,
in celebrating any kind of public festival, the poor _agremiado_ made no
scruple to vie in prodigal disbursements with the moneyed aristocracy,
clothing himself in fanciful and costly stuffs,[73] constructing shows
and spectacles on wheels, raising elaborate altars in the streets,
contracting for expensive services, performances, and tableaux. More
than once, the _gremios_ were obliged to borrow funds to celebrate the
festival of their patron saint.[74] So also with regard to dress. The
costumes of the guildsmen of Valencia have been already noticed. An
equal recklessness and foppery prevailed in other Spanish towns; for
instance, at Barcelona, where, on a visit of Ferdinand and Isabella in
1481, the silversmiths formed part of the procession "dressed in the
richest manner, with robes and mantles all covered with silver, and some
of them with bonnets that were all of silver plate with jewels and
silver foliage, while others wore silver chains about their necks."
[72] It is not often, for instance, that we meet with notices of Spanish
craftsmen such as Miguel Jerónimo Monegro, a silversmith of
Seville, who at his death, towards the middle of the sixteenth
century, was in a position to bequeath the following money and
effects: 15,000 _maravedis_ to his servant, Catalina Mexia, 6000
_maravedis_ to Juan Ortiz, "a boy that was in my house, that he may
learn a trade," 6000 _maravedis_ yearly to his slavewomen, Juana
and Luisa, and a black mule to his executor, Hernando de
Morales.--Gestoso, _Diccionario de Artífices Sevillanas_,
Vol. II., p. 256.
[73] This did not happen only at Valencia. The Cortes assembled at
Valladolid in 1537 complained that it was "tolerable that costly
stuffs should be worn by lords, gentlemen, and wealthy persons; but
such is become our nation, that there is not an hidalgo, squire,
merchant, or _oficial_ of any trade, but wears rich clothing;
wherefore many grow impoverished and lack the money to pay the
_alcabalas_ and the other taxes owing to His Majesty."
Fernandez de Navarrete stated, in 1626, that "the wives of common
_mecánicos_ (_i.e._ craftsmen) furnish their dwellings more
luxuriously than titled personages of the realm were wont to
furnish theirs some few years ago," and that hangings of taffeta
or Spanish _guadamecíes_ were now regarded with contempt, being
replaced, even in the homes of the moderately well-to-do, by
sumptuous fabrics of Florence and Milan, and by the costliest
Brussels tapestry.--(_Conservación de Monarquías_, p. 246).
[74] Larruga, in Vol. XVIII. of his _Memorias_, inserts an account of
the heavy debts incurred by the _gremios_ of Valladolid, upon the
celebration of various of their festivals.
Two of the most conspicuous faults among the Spanish race are pride and
envy. Yet these defects may be explained without much puzzling, and, in
a measure, pardoned. Spaniards, through all the process of their
national development, have clung by preference to the calling of the
soldier or the priest; that is, the only occupations which directly
dissipate the revenue of the commonwealth. Since, therefore, they were
thus inclined from earliest antiquity, as well as tutored by a crafty
priesthood to believe that might or violence alone is right, the
haughtiness of the Spanish people is a logical, and indeed inevitable,
outcome of their history. Moreover, side by side with this erroneous
theory that the only prowess and decorum of a people must consist in
armed aggressiveness, as well as in a truculent and militant intolerance
in matters of religion (or rather, of superstition), there arose the
equally as mischievous and erroneous theory that the arts of peace were
venal, despicable, and effeminate, or, in the current phrase of our
contemporaries, "unworthy of a gentleman." "The Spaniards," wrote
Fernández de Navarrete, "are so proud-hearted that they do not
accommodate themselves to servile labour." Therefore this people chose
their favourites and heroes in a semi-savage freebooter; never in a
craftsman of gigantic merit, like the elder Berruguete, or Juan de Arfe,
or Alonso Cano. Sometimes, as happened with the _reja_ of the Chapel
Royal of Granada, they did not even trouble to record the surname of her
best artificers. These men, in fact, exceptions to her universal rule,
were coldly looked upon, or even persecuted.[75] Abundant proof is yet
extant of this humiliation of her merchants, craftsmen, shopkeepers, as
distinguished from her soldiery and clergy, gentry and nobility.
Undoubtedly, beneath such scorn the former of these groups were
sensitive to their position, and all the more acutely sensitive because
of their inherent Spanish pride. In fact, so sensitive were they, that
now and then the crown esteemed it prudent to appease their wounded
vanity by certain declarations or emoluments. Thus, the _Repartimiento
de Sevilla_ tells us that in the year 1255 Alfonso the Tenth rewarded
several craftsmen of his capital of Seville with the title of _Don_, "a
dignity," says Amador, "rarely bestowed at that time."[76] In 1556
Charles the Fifth resolved, in favour of the corporation of
_artistas-plateros_ or "artist-silversmiths," that the masters of this
craft, together with their wives, might dress in silk, "in that it was
an art they exercised, and not an office" (Gestoso, _Diccionario de
Artífices Sevillanos_, Vol. I., p. lx.), while Philip the Fourth decreed
that they should not be forced to contribute to the equipment of his
troops, but should only be invited to contribute, _just as with the
nobles_. Nevertheless, Rico y Sinobas points out (_Del vidrio y de sus
artífices en España_) that Philip the Fifth and Ferdinand the Sixth, on
founding the royal glass factory of San Ildefonso, did not dare to
ennoble the Castilian workmen.
[75] The treatment of distinguished craftsmen by the Spanish church was
often sheerly villainous. A document, inserted by Zarco del Valle
among his collection of _Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de
las Bellas Artes en España_, p. 362, and in the handwriting of
"Maestre" Domingo (see Vol. I., pp. 148, 149), states that after
making the choir-_reja_ for Toledo cathedral, "so richly wrought,
that in the elegance and rarity thereof it far surpasseth all that
has been witnessed in our time, whether in his majesty's dominions
or abroad," and expending on it "all the money I had earned in my
youth," this eminent _rejero_ found himself by now "owing a great
quantity of _maravedis_, seeing that I am utterly without
resources," concluding by an appeal to the archbishop to "take heed
how that I shall not perish through such poverty, and my wife and
children in the hospital."
In another document the same artificer complains that in producing
the aforesaid _reja_, he had sacrificed "not only my labour, but my
property to boot, having been compelled to sell my house and my
inheritance to compensate me for my losses," adding that the
cathedral authorities had violated their engagement with him.
In answer to a series of petitions such as this, the archbishop
tardily gave orders for the payment to Domingo of a lump sum of
fifteen thousand _maravedis_ and a pension for the rest of his life
of two silver _reales_ of Castilian money, "to aid him to support
himself." This was in A.D. 1563. By 1565 death had ended the
miseries of the master-craftsman, and again we find his widow and
children knocking at the archbishop's door, pleading that "extreme
is our necessity," and declaring that Domingo had succumbed
overburdened with debt, _affirming on his deathbed that the
cathedral owed him three thousand ducats, being half the value of
a reja he had made_.
In answer to this terrible appeal, the thrifty prelate ordered that
_since it was found to be true that Master Domingo had lost his
maravedis in making the rejas of the choir_, his widow and children
should receive a daily pension of one _real_, and that a suit of
clothes should be given to each of his sons and his two daughters.
[76] So rarely, that Salazar de Mendoza affirms in his book upon
_Castilian Dignities_ that this "high prenomen" (_alto prenombre
Don_) might properly be used by none but kings, _infantes_,
prelates, and the _ricos-homes_ of the realm.
In A.D. 1626, Fernández de Navarrete complained of the tendency
prevailing among the Spaniards generally to usurp the title _Don_.
"Nowadays in Castile," he wrote (_Conservación de Monarquías_,
p. 71, etc.), "exists a horde of turbulent and idle fellows that so
style themselves, since you will hardly find the son of a craftsman
(_oficial mecánico_) that does not endeavour by this trick to filch
the honour that is owed to true nobility alone; and so, impeded and
weighed down by the false appearance of _caballeros_, they are
unsuited to follow any occupation that is incompatible with the
empty authority of a _Don_."
Some of the reasons why these rogues or _pseudonobles_ (as
Fernández de Navarrete called them), attempted to pass for
_hidalgos_ or "sons of somebody," are disclosed by Townsend,
writing a century and a half later. "Numerous privileges and
immunities enjoyed by the _hidalgos_ or knights, sometimes called
_hijos dalgo_, have contributed very much to confirm hereditary
prejudices to the detriment of trade. Their depositions are taken
in their own houses. They are seated in the courts of justice, and
are placed near the judge. Till the year 1784, their persons, arms,
and horses were free from arrest. They are not sent to the common
jails, but are either confined in castles or in their own houses on
their parole of honour. They are not hanged, but strangled, and
this operation is called _garrotar_, from _garrote_, the little
stick used by carriers to twist the cord and bind hard their
loading. They cannot be examined on the rack. They are, moreover,
exempted from the various taxes called _fechos_, _pedidos_,
_monedas_, _martiniegas_, and _contribuciones reales_ and
_civiles_: that is, from subsidies, benevolence, and poll tax, or
taille paid by the common people, at the rate of two per cent., in
this province, but in others at the rate of four. They are free
from personal service, except where the sovereign is, and even then
they cannot be compelled to follow him. None but the royal family
can be quartered on them. To conclude, the noble female conveys all
these privileges to her husband and her children, just in the same
manner as the eldest daughter of the titular nobility transmits the
titles of her progenitors.
"The proportion of _hidalgos_ in the kingdom of Granada is not
considerable; for out of six hundred and fifty-two thousand nine
hundred and ninety inhabitants, only one thousand nine hundred and
seventy-nine are noble; whereas, in the province of León, upon
little more than one-third that population, the knights are
twenty-two thousand. In the province of Burgos, on four hundred and
sixty thousand three hundred and ninety-five inhabitants, one
hundred and thirty-four thousand and fifty-six are entitled to all
the privileges of nobility; and in Asturias, of three hundred and
forty-five thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, nearly
one-third enjoy the same distinction."--(_Journey through Spain in
the years 1786 and 1787_: Vol. III., pp. 79, 80.)
"I bestow the name of craftsmen in silver (_artífices plateros_), not
upon all who handle silver or gold, but only upon such as draw, and
grave, and execute in relief, whether on a large or small scale, figures
and histories from life, just as do the sculptors." These words are
quoted from a book, the whole of which was written with the aim of
proving that certain classes of Spain's older craftsmen were less abject
than the rest.[77] It is not so long ago that the expression _viles
artesanos_ ("vile artisans") was banished from the legal phraseology of
Spain. "That prejudice," wrote Laborde, "which regards the mechanic arts
as base, is not extinguished in Spain, but only abated: hence it happens
that they are neglected or abandoned to such unskilful hands that they
are wonderfully backward in these matters. The influence of this cause
is striking: in Catalonia, laws, customs, and opinions are favourable to
artisans, and it is in this province that these arts have made the
greatest progress."
[77] Licentiate Gaspar Gutierrez de los Ríos, _Noticia general para la
estimación de las Artes y la manera en que se conocen las liberales
de las que son mecánicas y serviles_. Madrid, 1600. I again have
occasion to mention this curious work in my chapter on Spanish
tapestries.
Townsend commented as follows on what he called the _national prejudice_
against trade. "Whilst the Jews were merchants, and the mechanic arts
were left either to the Moors or to the vilest of the people, the
grandees or knights were ambitious only of military fame. After the
conquest of Granada, the Moors continued to be the principal
manufacturers, and excelled in the cultivation of their lands. When
these, with the Jews, were banished, a void was left which the
high-spirited Spaniard was not inclined to fill. Trained for many
centuries to the exercise of arms, and regarding such mean occupations
with disdain, his aversion was increased by his hatred and contempt for
those whom he had been accustomed to see engaged in these employments.
He had been early taught to consider trade as dishonourable; and whether
he frequented the theatre, or listened to the discourses of the pulpit
orators, he could not fail to be confirmed in his ideas. Even in the
present day, many, who boast their descent from noble ancestors, had
rather starve than work, more especially at those trades by which,
according to the laws, they would be degraded, and forfeit their
nobility."--(_Journey through Spain in 1786 and 1787_, pp. 240, 241.)
Laborde endorsed these assertions by uncharitably remarking that "the
Spaniard had always fortitude enough to endure privations, but never
courage enough to encounter work." In our time judgments of a still
severer kind have been passed upon the Spaniards by various of their own
countrymen--among others, Unamuno, Ganivet, and Pompeyo Gener.
It is evident, too, that the cause of the relentless exclusion, by the
Spanish guilds, of Moors, Moriscos, Jews, or converts--men who, owing to
the unsubstantial taint of heresy, were hated and derided by the Spanish
nation almost to a man--resided also in this morbid sensitiveness. Had
not the Moorish prisoner been formerly considered as the merest chattel,
legally equivalent to a beast of burden?[78] How, then, should he be
ever equalled with the Christian Spaniard? These haughty and extravagant
notions operated, in the seventeenth century, to bring about the general
ruin of Spanish trades and manufactures. Bertaut de Rouen wrote at this
time:--"L'acoûtumance qu'avoient les Espagnols de faire travailler les
Morisques, qui estoient libres parmi eux, et les Mores esclaves, dont il
y a encor quelques-uns qu'ils prennent sur leurs costes et sur celles
d'Afrique, les a entretenus dans la faineantise et dans l'orgueil, qui
fait qu'ils dédaignent tous de travailler. Ce qui achève de les y
plonger, c'est le peu de soucy qu'ils prennent de l'avenir, et l'égalité
du menu peuple et de tous les moindres marchands et artisans qu'ils
nomment _officiales_, avec les gentilshommes, qui demeurent tous dans
les petites villes."
[78] It is stated in the Fuero of Nájera (A.D. 1076) that the price of
the blood of a Moorish slave was twelve _sueldos_ and a half, while
the Fuero Viejo of Castile (Book II., Tit. III., Ley IV.) contains
the significantly contemptuous phrase, "If a man demand of another
a beast or a Moor" (_si algún ome demanda á otro bestia ó moro_).
The Countess d'Aulnoy wrote in 1679;--"There are here (at Madrid) a
large number of Turkish and Moorish slaves, who are bought and sold
at heavy prices, some of them costing four hundred and five hundred
_escudos_. Until some time ago the owners of these slaves possessed
the right to kill them at their pleasure, as though they had been
so many dogs; but since it was remarked that this usage tallied but
poorly with the maxims of our Christian faith, so scandalous a
license was prohibited. Nowadays the owner of a slave may often
break his bones without incurring censure. Not many, however,
resort to so extreme a chastisement."
In the same century the Countess d'Aulnoy recorded comical instances of
the pride of the tradesmen of Madrid. "One morning," she says, "we
stopped awhile in the Plaza Mayor to await the return of a servant whom
my aunt had sent with a message to some place not far away. Just then I
saw a woman selling some slices of salmon, crying them aloud and
proclaiming their freshness in tones which positively molested the
passers-by. Presently a shoemaker came up (I knew him to be such,
because they called him the _señor zapatero_), and asked for a pound of
salmon; since here they sell everything by the pound, even to coal and
firewood. 'You have not been through the market,' cried the woman who
sold the fish, 'because you fancy that my salmon is cheap to-day; but
let me tell you that it costs an _escudo_ the pound.' Furious that his
poverty should thus be hinted at in public, the shoemaker exclaimed in
angry tones: 'It is true that I was not aware of the price of fish
to-day. Had it been cheap, I would have bought a pound of it; but since
you say it is dear, give me three pounds.' With these words, he held out
his hand with the three _escudos_, jammed his hat upon his eyebrows
(tradesmen in this town wear small hats, and persons of quality hats of
great size), and then, twisting the ends of his mustachios, and clapping
his hand to his rapier, the point of which bobbed upward, carrying with
it a fold of his ragged cloak, caught up his purchase and strode home,
looking at us with an arrogant air, as though he had performed some
heroic deed and we had witnessed it. Yet the drollest part of it all was
that beyond doubt the fellow had no money left at home, but had spent
his week's wages upon the salmon, so that his choleric and haughty act
would keep his wife and children famishing for all those days, after
supping once upon abundant fish. Such is the character of this people;
and there are gentlemen here who take the feet of a fowl and hang them
so as to show beneath the hem of their cloak, to make it appear as
though they really bore a fowl. But hunger, in truth, is all they carry
with them.
"You never see a shopman here who does not clothe himself in velvet,
silk, and satin, like the king; or who is not the owner of a mighty
rapier, which dangles from the wall, together with his dagger and
guitar. These fellows work as little as they may, for, as I said, they
are by nature indolent. Only in case of extreme necessity do they work
at all, and then they never rest, but labour even throughout a
feast-day; though when they have finished what was needed to procure
them money, they deliver the product of their toil, and with its value
relapse into fresh idleness. The shoemaker who has two apprentices, and
who has only made one pair of shoes, hands to his lads a shoe apiece and
makes them walk before him as though they were his pages; he that has
three apprentices is preceded by all three; and when occasion rises, the
master-_zapatero_ will hardly condescend to fit upon your feet the shoes
which his own hands had put together."
It seems that the shoemakers of Madrid were distinguished for their
insolence and vanity above the rest of her tradespeople. In 1659 Bertaut
de Rouen wrote of the two _corrales_ or theatres of this town, that they
were "toujours pleines de tous les marchands, et de tous les artisans,
qui quittant leur boutique s'en vont là avec la cappe, l'épée, et le
poignard, qui s'appellent tous _cavalleros_ jusques au _çapateros_; et
ce sont ceux qui décident si la comedie est bonne ou non, et à cause
qu'ils la sifflent ou qu'ils l'applaudissent, et qu'ils sont d'un costé
et d'autre en rang, outre que c'est comme une espèce de salve, on les
appelle _Mosqueteros_, en sorte que la bonne fortune des autheurs dépend
d'eux."
The foregoing narratives sound absurd, and are particularly prone to be
considered so from being of foreign authorship. Their tenor,
notwithstanding, is supported by the following declarations, gravely set
down in writing by a Spaniard, within some half a dozen years of the
visit to Madrid of the Countess d'Aulnoy. The name of this author is
Alonso Nuñez de Castro, and the title of his work (published towards the
close of the reign of Philip the Fourth), _El Cortesano en Madrid_.
"What man," demands this _madrileño_ of a bygone century, "eminent in
any of the arts, has belonged to other nations, but has sought in Madrid
the applause and gain which his native country would not, or could not,
bestow upon him? Thus, either he in person, or else his master-works,
visit with frequency this court of ours, wherein they meet a better fate
than in their birthplace, since only at Madrid is properly esteemed the
value of illustrious effort. Let London manufacture as she may her
famous cloths, Holland her cambrics, Florence her satins, India her
castors and vicunas, Milan her brocades, Italy and the Netherlands the
statues and oil-paintings which seem to breathe the very life of the
original: our Court enjoys these products one and all, proving hereby
that other nations generate artists for Madrid, who is, in sooth, the
supreme Court of Courts, seeing that she is served by all, yet in her
turn serves none.
"Yet not at slight expense does she enjoy this sovereignty, showering
upon other hands her gold and silver, that they may recreate her mouth
with choicest drinks and viands, her nostrils with delicious essences,
her eyes with wondrous works of painting and of statuary, her hearing
with the skill of world-renowned musicians, her luxury with expensive
fabrics and with precious stones; albeit these disbursements mark her,
not as prodigal, but as prudent in discovering the proper use of gold,
together with the fitting aim and purpose of all riches. Who was
possessor of more gold than Midas?--seeing that not he alone, but all he
laid his hand upon, was gold; or who so wretched?--seeing that he was
powerless to keep himself alive on gold, though all he touched was
golden. Truly that man is rich that maketh gold to minister to his
wants, and he a miserable pauper that to gold himself is slave, not
knowing how to turn its uses to his good. Therefore let other peoples
accumulate wealth at ease, heaping up the gold wherewith Madrid repays
their ministration to her needs. Whereas her courtiers prove possession
of their gold, in that they amassed it formerly, those foreigners show
the evil and the mischief of their own by jealously confining it with
lock and key: nay, who shall even tell if it be theirs, seeing that they
enjoy it not, although they seem to be the lords thereof?
"You will declare that other courts enjoy the same conveniences with
less expense, because their magistrates are stricter to restrain the
tradesman from establishing his prices at caprice. Truly, it may happen
that elsewhere the price of foods and luxuries be less than in Madrid;
yet it is certain that Madrid makes fair comparison in cheapness with
the other cities of Castile. Nay, more, without there seeming to be
cause, her courtiers daily find that by a marvel articles are cheaper
here than in the soil which generated them, or in the town where they
were wrought. The fact that in comparison with other kingdoms Madrid is
in some ways the dearer, proves that she hath the money for rewarding
labour; and that in other capitals the sweat of the artificer is
worthless, because money is worth more. Always have I remarked that the
province or the realm that is awarded the name of _happy_, because all
things are purchasable there at next to no expense, is wrongly titled
so, since here is evidence, either that money lacks, or that there is no
purchaser."[79]
[79] To further show the extravagant way of thinking and behaving of the
Spaniard of the seventeenth century, the same author sets aside the
sneering objection justly made by foreign writers to the river
Manzanares at Madrid--namely, that it has no water--by remarking
with exquisite complacency, that here precisely lies the crowning
merit and advantage of the Manzanares over rival streams; in that
it amuses people without endangering their lives. In the reigns of
Philip the Fourth and Charles the Second, a favourite promenade of
the Madrid aristocracy was the waterless channel of this river, in
which, according to this work, "coaches and carriages do duty for
a gondola, and form a pleasant imitation of the boats and palaces
of Venice."
In the eighteenth century, when better sense prevailed among the
statesmen and economists of Spain, the greedy and corrupt administration
of her guilds began to be awarded greater notice. Among the enlightened
and progressive Spaniards who outspoke their minds upon this theme, were
Florez Estrada and the Count of Campomanes. These, among others of less
mark, saw and proclaimed that the harm inflicted by the _gremios_ in
some directions was incalculable, while the good they were supposed to
bring about in others was rather nominal than real.[80] Apart, however,
from the judgment uttered by these two authorities, men of acknowledged
probity and consequence who held the public ear, as well as by the
patriotic Jovellanos in his spirited appeal in favour of the _libre
ejercicio de las artes_, a number of causes, such as the propagation of
the principles of individual liberty by the French Revolution,
contributed to give the _gremios_ an archaic air, and finally to bring
about their downfall. The views concerning them which gradually filled
the popular mind, prior to their extinction as an act of government in
the year 1834,[81] are well expressed by Townsend. "In all the trading
companies or _gremios_," wrote this traveller, "religious fraternities
are formed, some incorporated by royal authority and letters patent,
others by connivance of the crown, but both in violation of the laws.
[80] The object avowedly pursued by Campomanes was not, however, the
absolute suppression of the Spanish trade-guilds, but merely their
reconstruction upon a sounder basis. He still believed that
admission to a guild should be preceded by a formal period of
apprenticeship, as well as that the title and the privileges of the
master of a trade should be hereditary. An instance of the grossly
fraudulent methods employed by the _gremios_ in order to retain the
privilege of manufacture in a certain family, is quoted by Larruga
(_Memorias_, Vol. II., p. 201), who states that the silk-cord
makers of Madrid conferred the title of _master-craftsman_ on a
babe only twenty-two months old.
[81] Barzanallana says that the earliest sign of a movement in the
direction of emancipating the Spanish people from the thraldom of
the _gremios_ is contained in the royal _cedula_ of May 17th, 1790,
abolishing several of the noxious prerogatives which had hitherto
been enjoyed by the families of master-craftsmen. A further crown
decree, dated the same month and year, empowered the Audiencias and
Chancillerías to authorize persons to pursue a craft (provided they
were reasonably competent) without the necessity of approval from
the _gremios_ and their _veedores_. Three years later, the same
monarch (Charles the Fourth) suppressed the _gremios_ and
_colegios_ of the silk-twisters, and declared this craft to be open
to all such persons, of either sex, as wished to practise it. In
1797 it was permitted to all foreigners who should be competent in
any art or industry (except Jews) to establish themselves in Spain
or her dominions, nor were they to be molested in their religious
theories if they should happen not to be Roman Catholics.
At a later time the Cortes annulled, or very nearly so, the
_ordenanzas_ of the _gremios_, and allowed the exercise of any
lawful trade or craft to everybody, Spaniards and foreigners alike,
without the requisite of special license or examination, or
approval by the officers of the guilds (decree of June 8th, 1813).
This measure was revoked in 1815, but again became law in 1836, and
two years before this latter date was issued the decree of Queen
María Cristina prohibiting associations which, under the semblance
of a _gremio_, should aim at converting any craft or office into a
monopoly.
The Spanish _gremios_ still exist, but all their sting has
departed. To-day they may be said to spring from the natural and
beneficial interdependence of persons working together in the same
groove, and seeking mutual support by means of peaceable
association. Thus the abuses which rendered them so terrible and
evil in the olden time are fortunately now no more.
"Every fraternity is governed by a mayor and court of aldermen, who make
laws, sit in judgment on offenders, and claim in many cases exemption
from the common tribunals of the country. None but the members of these
communities may exercise mechanic arts, or be concerned in trade; and to
be admitted as a member is both attended with a heavy fine, and entails
upon each individual a constant annual expense.
"This, however, is not the greatest evil, for the mayor and officers,
during their year of service, not only neglect their own affairs, but
from vanity and ostentation run into expenses, such as either ruin their
families, or at least straiten them exceedingly in trade.
"These corporations, being established in the cities, banish, by their
oppressive laws, all the mechanic arts from towns and villages. In the
cities likewise they tend only to monopoly, by limiting the numbers in
every branch of business, and fixing within unreasonable bounds the
residence of those who are concerned in trade. This they do either by
assigning the distance between shop and shop, under pretence that two
shops vending the same commodities must not be so near together as to
interfere, or by assembling all the mechanics of the same profession,
such as silversmiths, and confining them to one street or quarter of the
city, under the plausible pretext that thus the proper magistrate may
with ease pay attention to their work, and see that the due standard be
observed.[82]
[82] This custom was borrowed from the East, and explains why, in many
of the older Spanish cities, a number of their streets have taken
their title from the trades that formerly were plied in them, or
(in some instances) that still are so. Especially was this the case
at Valencia and Toledo. In the latter capital there are, or used to
be, the streets, _plazas_, or _barrios_, of the silversmiths,
armourers, bakers, old-clothes vendors, potters, esparto-weavers,
dyers, chairmakers, and many more. Martín Gamero, in his excellent
_History of Toledo_ (Introduction, p. 60), says that in the centre
of the city were located the quiet crafts, such as those of the
jewellers, silversmiths, chandlers, and clog-makers, as well as
the shops of the silk, brocade, and tissue-vendors. Noisy trades,
such as the swordsmiths', tinsmiths', boiler-makers', chairmakers',
and turners', were practised on the outskirts of the town.
"In many cases the various _gremios_ bear hard upon each other. Thus,
for instance, the carpenter must not employ his industry on mahogany, or
any other wood but deal, nor must he invade the province of the turner.
The turner must confine his ingenuity and labour to soft wood, and must
not presume to touch either ivory or metals, even though he should be
reduced to poverty for want of work. The wheeler, in similar distress,
must not, however qualified, extend his operations beyond the appointed
bounds, so as to encroach on the business of the coach-maker, who is
equally restrained from either making or mending either cart or waggon
wheels. The barber may shave, draw teeth, and bleed, but he must not
fill up his leisure time with making wigs.[83] As mechanics are obliged
to keep exactly each to his several line, so must shopkeepers confine
themselves to their proper articles in trade, and under no pretence must
the manufacturer presume to open magazines, that he may sell by retail.
[83] Colmeiro has published _memoriales_ presented by the hatters of
Zaragoza, in which they pray to be allowed to line, by their own
hands, or by those of their wives, the hats which they had
manufactured, instead of being required to give up this finishing
and accessorial process to the makers of silk cord.--_Historia de
la Economía Política en España_, and _Biblioteca de los economistas
españoles de los siglos XVI., XVII., y XVIII_.
"But neither are these abuses the only evils which call for reformation.
Many corporations have been impertinently meddling, and have absurdly
bound the hands of the manufacturer by regulations with respect to the
conduct of his business and the productions of his art, such as, being
too rigidly observed, would preclude all improvements, and would be
destructive to his trade, by giving to foreigners a manifest advantage
in favour of their merchandise.[84]
[84] This meddlesomeness almost exceeds belief. It was at its worst,
perhaps, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, who decreed that
the wicks of candles were to be made of the same kind of tow, and
horse-shoes and nails to be of the same weight in every part of
their dominions. It was required that machines, which might have
been to great advantage moved by mules or horses, should only be
worked by the hand of man, however lengthy and exhausting this
might prove. The Count of Torreánaz, who quotes these ridiculous
dispositions from the _Libro de bulas y pragmáticas_ of Juan
Ramírez, further recalls that, as late as the middle of the
eighteenth century, costly woven stuffs of Seville and Valencia
used to be confiscated because, although the ground of the fabric
was of a colour which the law allowed, the flowers or other devices
which formed the decoration were of a forbidden shade. On one
occasion the chief lady-in-waiting of the queen was prohibited from
wearing a dress which she had ordered from a weaver of Valencia,
because the flowered pattern was contrary to the _ordenanzas_.
"The incorporated fraternities in the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon are
25,581, and their corporate expenses amount to 11,687,861 reals. Their
revenue is not altogether consumed in feasting, nor in salaries to
officers, nor in pensions to their widows, nor yet in lawsuits, which
are said to be both numerous and expensive; but considerable sums are
expended for religious purposes, in procuring masses to be said, either
for departed spirits and the souls in Purgatory, or for the benefit of
the fraternity in which each individual has a proportionable interest.
For this reason, these communities enjoy the protection of the
ecclesiastical courts, to which, in cases of necessity, they frequently
appeal.
"The chartered corporations claim their exclusive privileges by royal
grant, and on this plea they resist a formation, not considering, as
Count Campomanes with propriety remarks, the essential condition of
these grants, _Sin perjuicio de tercero_, or that nothing therein
contained shall be to the _prejudice of others_, or injurious to the
citizens at large."
APPENDIX I
CLASSES OF POTTERY MADE AT ALCORA
(From RIAÑO's _Industrial Arts in Spain_)
Towards the middle of the eighteenth century:--
Vases of different shapes.
Small pots (Chinese fashion).
Teapots and covers (Chinese fashion).
Cruets, complete sets (Chinese style).
Entrée dishes.
Salt-cellars (Chinese style).
_Escudillas_ (bowls), of Constantinople.
_Barquillos_ (sauce bowls), Chinese style.
Bottles (in the Chinese manner).
Cups, plates, and saucers of different kinds, with good painted borders
in imitation of lace-work (_puntilla_). Some were designed in the
Chinese manner, and especial care was taken with fruit-stands,
salad-bowls, and dishes.
Trays and refrigerators.
A document, discovered by Riaño, and dated 1777, says that in that year
the following kinds of pottery were manufactured at Alcora:--
_Figures of Demi-Porcelain._
Figures of tritons.
" of soldiers (two sizes).
" of soldiers, one-third of a _palmo_ high.
" of the four seasons (two sizes).
" of dancers.
" of tritons in the form of children.
" with brackets.
" of different animals.
" of gardener and female companion in the Dresden style.
Dancing figures in the German style.
Figures of Neptune.
" of shepherd and shepherdess.
" of the Moorish king, Armenius.
" of the four parts of the world (two sizes).
" of peasant and his wife.
Small figures holding musical instruments.
Figures representing different monarchies.
" representing historical personages.
" representing the history of Alexander the Great (two sizes).
" representing Martius Curtius (two sizes).
" of elephants.
" of a man mounted on an elephant.
" representing Chinese figures.
" of Heliogabalus.
" of a general on horseback.
" of a grenadier supporting a candlestick.
Large figures representing Julius Cæsar.
Figures representing the different costumes worn in Spain, on brackets.
Groups of Chinese figures.
Snuff-boxes, sugar-basins, inkstands.
Rabbits, horns, and pug-dogs for holding scent.
Small scent-bottles.
Needle-cases.
Large vases with foot and cover.
Brackets.
Walking-stick handles.
Knife handles.
_Figures of white Biscuit China._
Figures representing Spanish costumes (two sizes).
Groups of two figures.
Large and small figures of the four parts of the world.
Figures of the four seasons (two sizes).
We find also, says Riaño, the following figures of painted and glazed
porcelain:--
Four seasons (two sizes).
Groups of two figures.
Figure of a Moorish king.
" of musicians and huntsmen.
" of peasants.
" of Chinese.
Small figures of a gardener and female companion.
Figures of soldiers in the German style.
From 1789 to 1797, continues Riaño, the following kinds of pottery were
made at Alcora:--
Hard paste porcelain (French).
Porcelain of three different kinds called Spanish.
Porcelain of pipeclay (English).
Blue pipeclay porcelain.
Marbled pipeclay porcelain.
_Bucaros_, painted and gilt.
Strasburg ware.
Porcelain painted _en froid_.
Marbled and gilt wares, hitherto unknown.
_Porcelain (Frita)._
Porcelain painted with gilt lines.
" painted without gold.
" (_frita_), canary colour.
Boxes in relief.
" plain.
Porcelain (_frita_), painted with marble wares.
Plain boxes of the same kind.
Porcelain (_frita_), of blue and brown ground.
Cups and saucers of a similar kind.
_Biscuit Porcelain._
Figures.
Vases.
Pedestals.
White porcelain (_frita_) cups of different kinds.
" porcelain, ornamented and plain.
Boxes with busts.
Boxes with ornamentations in relief.
Vases for holding flowers, plates, etc.
Large figures of the four seasons.
Flower vases with rams' heads.
Plain boxes.
Boxes with ornaments in relief.
_White Porcelain._
Plates, cups, etc.
Figures of different kinds.
_Painted Porcelain._
Cups, saucers, plates, etc.
Cream-pots.
Plain snuff-boxes, or in the shape of a dog.
Fruit-stands in relief.
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INDEX
Abd-al-Azis, I. 31.
Abd-er-Rhaman the First, II. 57.
Abd-er-Rhaman the Second, II. 57; III. 20.
Abd-er-Rhaman the Third, II. 98.
Aben-Said, I. 225; II. 135, 136.
Abolais, II. 226 _et seq._, 237.
Abreviador, the Casa del, III. 150.
Abu-Said, III. 37.
_Adargas_, I. 241, 242.
Addison, Lancelot, II. 18 _et seq._, 32, 45 (note).
Alberoni, Cardinal, III. 150 (note).
Albuquerque, the inventory of the Dukes of, I. 272, 273, 279, 283, 284;
II. 9, 10.
Alcaicería of Granada, the, I. 78; II. 194 _et seq._
_Alcarrazas_, II. 194 _et seq._
Alcázar of Seville, the, II. 60 _et seq._, 138, 141, 143, 148, 150, 152.
Alcora, pottery of, II. 203 _et seq._
Alcoy, cloths of, III. 124.
Aleman, Cristóbal, II. 245.
_Aleros_, II. 65, 66.
_Alfarge_ ceilings, II. 52 _et seq._
Alfonso the Second, III. 183.
Alfonso the Third ("the Great"), I. 44, 57 (note); II. 106; III. 183.
Alfonso the Sixth, I. 45 (note), 276; II. 15, 106; III. 106.
Alfonso the Ninth, II. 39.
Alfonso the Tenth ("the Learned"), I. 61, 62, 129, 205; II. 226, 239;
III. 11, 28, 33, 34, 106, 238.
Alfonso the Eleventh, I. 68; III. 12, 70.
Alfonso the Eleventh, the Chronicle of, I. 207, 209, 268, 269,
280 (note).
Alfonso the Thirteenth, I. 42 (note).
Alfonso the First of Aragon, II. 14.
Algeciras, the siege of, I. 269.
Al-Hakem the First, II. 135; III. 213.
Al-Hakem the Second, II. 57.
Alhambra, the, II. 54, 56, 59, 64 _et seq._, 86, 121, 154 _et seq._, 168
_et seq._, 183, 232, 233.
_Aliceres_, II. 136.
Al-Jattib, I. 77 (note), 226, 268.
_Aljofar_, I. 67; III. 11 _et seq._, 33.
Al-Khattib, III. 33, 39.
Almagro Cardenas, II. 65 (note).
Almagro, lace of, III. 160.
Al-Makkari, I. 32, 76; II. 137, 163, 231; III. 1, 2, 21, 33, 35.
Al-Manzor, I. 227; II. 57.
_Almexía_, III. 8.
Almohades, the, II. 136; III. 23.
Almoravides, the, III. 22.
Almotalefes, III. 58 _et seq._
Altar-screens (see _Retablos_).
Alvarez de Colmenar, I. 110 (note), 267; II. 23, 24, 31, 199 (note),
260; III. 50 _et seq._, 74.
Amador de los Ríos, José, I. 17, 23, 28; II. 59 (note).
Amador de los Ríos, Rodrigo, I. 36, 48, 49, 61, 62, 128, 129, 176, 179,
183, 185; II. 58, 101, 103, 135, 136; III. 212, 238.
Amphoræ, II. 116, 117.
_Analogia_, III. 211, 212.
Ancheta, II. 80.
Andino, Cristóbal de, I. 151 _et seq._
Angels, the Cross of, I. 41 _et seq._, 58.
Apocalypse, the Codex of the, I. 223.
_Arabian Nights, The_, II. 62, 63 (note).
Aranda, the Count of, II. 182, 204 _et seq._
_Arca Santa_ of Oviedo, the, I. 44.
Arenys de Mar, lace of, III. 172.
Arenys de Munt, lace of, III. 172.
Arfe, Antonio de, I. 98.
Arfe, Enrique de, I. 97, 101; III. 201.
Arfe, Juan de, I. 85, 96 _et seq._; III. 185, 201.
Argote de Molina, II. 23.
Armouries of Spain, private, I. 243, 244.
Armoury, Madrid, the Royal, I. 17, 210, 214 (note), 217 _et seq._,
229 (note), 231 (note), 235 _et seq._, 248 _et seq._, 273, 274, 276,
278, 282.
Arnao de Flandes, II. 243.
_Arquetas_, I. 48 _et seq._
"Arras cloths" (see _Paños de Ras_).
_Artesonados_, II. 47, 55 _et seq._
Ash Shakandi, III. 3, 4.
Augusta, Cristóbal de, II. 152.
_Axorcas_, I. 77, 79.
_Azulejos_ (see Tiles).
_Baculi_, ivory, II. 105, 106.
Balconies, Spanish, I. 154 _et seq._
Balearics, slingers of the, I. 200, 201.
Bâle, the Council of, III. 110, 111 (note).
Balsa de la Vega, III. 163.
_Banyolenchs_, III. 123 (note).
Barcelona, silk of, III. 98 _et seq._
_Barros Saguntinos_ (see "Saguntine ware").
_Barros tarraconenses_ (see "Saguntine ware").
Bartholomew, Master, I. 149 _et seq._
Barzanallana, III. 222 (note), 249 (note).
Bayan Almoghreb, I. 32.
Becerra, II. 68.
Becerriles, the, I. 94, 95.
Bedclothes, Spanish mediæval, II. 4 (note).
Benvenuto Cellini, III. 208 _et seq._
Berruguete, I. 189; II. 68, 71, 79, 80.
Bertaut de Rouen, I. 3, 38, 82, 97, 101, 102, 109, 154, 155, 203;
II. 39, 59, 60, 63, 67 (note), 169, 262; III. 50, 51, 108, 109, 140,
141, 164, 165 (note), 242, 243, 245.
Boabdil el Chico, I. 75, 227 _et seq._; III. 36, 37.
Bocairente, cloths of, III. 124.
Bonsor, II. 113, 114.
Bourgoing, II. 159, 181, 216, 217; III. 74, 76 _et seq._
Bowles, William, I. 4 _et seq._, 23 (note), 56 (note), 263 _et seq._;
II. 58 (note), 196 _et seq._, 254, 255.
Brihuega, cloths of, III. 110, 115 (note).
Brims of Wells (see _Brocales_).
_Brinquiños_, II. 191, 192.
British Museum, The, II. 177; III. 183.
Brocade, III. 98, 99 (note).
_Brocales_, II. 123, 124.
Bronzes, Moorish, I. 169 _et seq._
Brun, Sigismund, II. 259.
_Búcaros_, II. 191, 193.
Buckram, III. 5, 7.
Buen Retiro, pottery of the, II. 203, 212 _et seq._
Buonaparte, Joseph, II. 218.
_Burel_, III. 122.
Cadalso, glass of, II. 232.
_Cadinas_, III. 123 (note).
Campomanes, Count, III. 248, 253.
_Candil_, the, I. 167, 168.
Cannon, early Spanish, I. 268 _et seq._
Cano, Alonso, II. 69, 81.
_Cántigas de Santa María_, the, I. 282.
Capmany, III. 6, 123 (note), 169.
Carpentry, artistic, II. 46 _et seq._
_Carpintería de lo blanco_, II. 52, 53.
_Carpinteros de lo blanco_, II. 50.
Carrión, Fernando de, III. 206, 207.
Casa de los Tíros, Granada, the, II. 65, 156.
Casiri, III. 35, 39.
Cataluña, cloths of, III. 123 (note).
Cataluña, lace of, III. 169 _et seq._
Catherine of Lancaster, III. 107, 129.
Cato, I. 5.
Cean Bermudez, I. 88, 148 (note), 185; II. 62, 80, 83 _et seq._, 149,
246 (note); III. 131, 168 (note).
Cedillo, Count of, III. 70 (note), 225 (note).
Celosías, II. 47, 62 _et seq._
Celtiberians, the, I. 195, 196.
_Cendal_, III. 5, 6.
Chair-makers of Granada, the, II. 28 _et seq._
_Chamelot_, III. 5, 6, 14.
Charles the Second, I. 107, 273, 274; II. 46; III. 27, 107, 134,
248 (note).
Charles the Third, I. 115, 235 (note); II. 212, 218, 258; III. 46.
Charles the Fourth, II. 215; III. 249 (note).
Charles the Fifth, I. 129, 222, 223, 235 _et seq._, 253, 273, 283;
II. 40, 56, 77; III. 15, 31, 40, 107, 153, 169, 174, 238, 239.
Chests, makers of, II. 30.
_Ciclaton_, III. 5, 6.
Cid, the, II. 12.
Cid, the Chronicle of the, I. 207.
Cid, the Poem of the, I. 203, 207 (note); II. 45 (note).
Cisneros, Cardinal, III. 126.
Ciudad Real, II. 39.
Clemencin, III. 13, 14.
Clonard, Count of, I. 204, 206, 208, 213, 215 (note), 268; II. 2 (note),
5 (note), 39 (note); III. 14 (note).
Cloostermans, II. 209 _et seq._
Cloth of Gold, III. 7.
Cloths, Spanish, III. 105 _et seq._
Cluny, the Museum of, II. 40; III. 183.
Coaches, Spanish, I. 283.
_Cofradías_, III. 222 _et seq._
Commercial Company of Extremadura, the, III. 65.
Compañia Real de Comercio y Fábricas de Granada, the, III. 61 _et seq._
_Contrayes_, III. 122.
Contreras, II. 173.
_Cordellate_, III. 122.
Cordova, cloths of, III. 122.
Cordova, embroiderers of, III. 131 _et seq._
"Cordova leathers," II. 38, 39.
Cordova, _rejeros_ of, I. 145, 146.
Cordova, the Council of, III. 12.
Cordova, the mosque of, II. 57, 58, 135.
Cordova, the Ordinances of, II. 43, 44.
Covarrubias, II. 38, 137; III. 128.
Crossbows, Spanish, I. 220 _et seq._
Crosses, iron, I. 138.
Crown of Spain, tapestries of the, III. 152 _et seq._
_Cueros de Córdoba_, II. 38 _et seq._
Cunninghame Graham, I. 131, 132, 235 (note), 277 (note); II. 20 (note),
126 (note).
_Cursi_, the, II. 22.
_Custodia_ of Cordova, the, III. 201 _et seq._
_Custodia_ of Seville, the, III. 185 _et seq._
_Custodias_, I. 95 _et seq._
Cutlers, Spanish, III. 214 _et seq._
Dagobert, I. 29, 30.
Dancart, II. 77, 83.
Danis, Juan, II. 247, 248.
D'Aulnoy, Countess, I. 107 _et seq._; II. 25 (note), 224; III. 134, 135,
141, 142, 162, 242 _et seq._
Davillier, Baron, I. 72, 87, 280 (note); II. 78, 144, 249, 162, 165,
166, 186 _et seq._; III. 149.
Diago, II. 163, 180.
Diodorus Siculus, I. 199.
Diptyches, ivory, II. 89 _et seq._
Dolfin, II. 240, 241.
Domingo, "Maestre," I. 148, 149; III. 237, 238 (note).
Doncel, Guillermo, II. 79, 80.
_Don Quixote_, I. 286 (note); III. 160.
Dozy, II. 135 (note), 136.
_Drach-alat_, the, III. 228.
Drury Fortnum, III. 182.
Ducange, III. 211.
Duque y Cornejo, II. 81.
Echeverría, Father, I. 82.
Eder, II. 259.
Edrisi, I. 224; II. 162; III. 137, 138.
Egilona, I. 30, 31.
Eguilaz Yanguas, II. 22; III. 36, 37 (note).
El Nubiense, III. 4.
Embroidery, Spanish, III. 125 _et seq._
Ena of Battenberg, Princess, III. 173.
Enguera, cloths of, III. 124.
_Entalladores_, II. 50, 76, 78.
Escolano, II. 163, 164.
Escorial, the, I. 98.
Eximenes, II. 163, 164, 180.
Ferdinand and Isabella, I. 65, 69 _et seq._, 252, 253; II. 74, 125, 143,
184 (note), 190, 234; III. 14, 31, 39, 123, 128, 129 (note), 152, 236,
252.
Ferdinand the Catholic, I. 229, 253 _et seq._; II. 236; III. 123 (note).
Ferdinand the First, I. 45 (note); II. 13, 39, 99, 104.
Ferdinand the Second, II. 107.
Ferdinand the Third (San Fernando), I. 128, 129, 250, 252, 276; II. 85;
III. 18.
Ferdinand the Sixth, III. 44, 240.
Ferdinand the Second of Aragon, I. 210.
Fernandez de Navarrete, III. 109 (note), 144, 199 (note), 235 (note),
237 _et seq._
Fernandez y Gonzalez, III. 17 (note).
Fez, III. 50.
Florez Estrada, III. 248.
Floridablanca, Count of, II. 177; III. 90, 91.
Fonseca, I. 80, 81.
Fonts, baptismal, II. 124, 125.
Ford, I. 40, 53, 56 (note), 59, 83 (note); II. 63 (note), 184 (note),
195, 196, 218, 219.
Fortuny, I. 171; II. 168, 174, 183.
Fouquet, II. 162.
Foz, Manuel, III. 83, 84, 93, 94.
Francés, Juan, I. 140 _et seq._
Francis the First, III. 123 (note).
Frisleva, Cristóbal, I. 273.
Fuero Viejo of Castile, the, III. 242 (note).
Gamero, Martin, III. 225, 251 (note).
Ganivet, III. 242.
García Llansó, II. 156 (note), 180, 198, 202 (note), 233.
Gates, bronze, I. 181.
Gayangos, Pascual de, I. 102, 104, 127, 155, 232; II. 24; III. 35,
71 (note), 135 (note).
Gelmirez, Bishop, I. 53, 54.
Gener, Pompeyo, III. 242.
George, Master, I. 61.
Gestoso, I. 72, 73 (note), 84 (note), 114 (note), 150 (note),
187 (note), 247 (note); II. 45 (note), 51 (note), 121 _et seq._,
136 _et seq._, 142 (note) _et seq._, 149 _et seq._, 152 (note)
_et seq._, 155, 187, 189, 198; III. 27, 221 _et seq._, 235 (note),
239, 240.
Giralda, the, I. 177 (note), 183, 186, 187; II. 77, 151.
Goblet d'Alviella, III. 71 (note).
Gomez Moreno, II. 56, 57, 65 (note), 155, 172 (note); III. 133.
Gonzalo de Cordova, I. 257, 258.
Goya, I. 113; III. 157.
Goyeneche, Juan, II. 250.
Granada, cloths of, III. 121 _et seq._
Granada, silk of, III. 149 _et seq._
Granada, the Alcaicería of, III. 49 _et seq._
Granada, the Ordinances of, I. 3, 4 (note), 135, 157, 158, 247 (note),
248; II. 27 _et seq._, 52.
_Granas treintenas_, III. 122.
Gricci, II. 213, 214.
Guadalajara, cloths of, III. 110, 112 _et seq._
Guadalete, the battle of, I. 30.
_Guadamacileros_, III. 226.
_Guadamacileros_ of Cordova, the, II. 42, 43.
_Guadameciles_, II. 38 _et seq._
Guarrazar, the treasure of, I. 16 _et seq._
Guise, Duke of, III. 71.
Gutierrez, Pedro, III. 145 _et seq._, 149, 150.
Hannibal, I. 7.
Harness for horses, war, I. 219, 220.
Henry, Master, II. 241, 242.
Henry the First, I. 68.
Henry the Second, III. 34 (note).
Henry the Eighth of England, III. 107.
Hernández, Gregorio, II. 68, 69.
Herranz, Francisco, II. 247.
Hita, Archpriest of, I. 67.
Hixem, II. 57.
Hübner, II. 115.
Hurtado de Mendoza, II. 23, 37.
Ibn Abdo-l-Haquem, I. 35.
Ibn Alwardi, I. 31, 32.
Ibn Batutah, II. 162, 163.
Ibn Hayyan, I. 33, 34.
Ibn Hud, III. 36, 37.
Ibn Khaldoun, II. 22; III. 21, 33, 36.
Ibn Said, II. 163, 180; III. 33 _et seq._
Illiberis, I. 173, 174.
Inlay on steel and iron, gold, III. 208 _et seq._
Inns, furniture of Spanish, II. 30 _et seq._
Irving, Washington, I. 82; II. 170, 171.
Isabel Farnese, I. 274; II. 252.
Isabella the Catholic, I. 254; II. 16, 244 (note); III. 13, 14, 133,
161.
Isabella the Second, I. 25.
Isidore, Saint, I. 12 (note), 15, 27, 166 (note), 198, 201; II. 2, 7.
Jacquemart, II. 186.
_Jaeces colgantes_, I. 281, 282.
Jaen, cloths of, III. 122.
Jayme the First of Aragon ("the Conqueror"), I. 210 _et seq._; II. 101,
108; III. 5, 11, 18, 47 (note), 232.
Jewellery in Spain, Roman, I. 11, 12.
Jewellery, Moorish, I. 73 _et seq._
Jewellery, Morisco, I. 77 _et seq._
Jones, Owen, II. 171, 172 (note).
Jovellanos, III. 249.
Juana, Doña, III. 15.
Juan of Aragon, I. 212; II. 5.
Juan the First, I. 215; III. 13, 30, 227, 228.
Juan the Second, I. 130, 280 (note); III. 34.
Juni, Juan de, II. 68, 69.
Kersey, III. 122.
Keys of Seville, the, I. 126 _et seq._
Keys, Spanish, I. 124 _et seq._
Laborde, I. 7 _et seq._, 116 _et seq._, 133, 134, 266, 267; II. 34
_et seq._, 38 (note), 131 _et seq._, 182, 183, 194, 195, 200, 201,
203, 216, 254, 260; III. 44 _et seq._, 55, 67 _et seq._, 94 _et seq._,
108, 109, 122 _et seq._, 142, 143, 151, 152 (note), 168 _et seq._,
240 _et seq._
Lace, Spanish, III. 159 _et seq._
La Granja (or San Ildefonso), the glass factory of, II. 252 _et seq._;
III. 240.
La Higueruela, the battle of, I. 218.
Lalaing, III. 50.
Lambot, Diodonet, II. 249.
La Milanesa, III. 91, 105.
La Moncloa, the porcelain factory of, II. 219, 220.
Lampérez, Vicente, II. 62; III. 158 (note).
Lamps, Roman, I. 165 _et seq._
Lamps, ware, II. 116.
Lane-Poole, Stanley, II. 47, 48; III. 9 (note), 21 (note).
La Payessa, Joseph, III. 91, 92.
Larruga, II. 200, 213, 235, 251, 252; III. 66 (note), 111 (note), 118,
119 (note), 233 (note), 235 (note), 248, 249 (note).
Lasteyrie, I. 21.
_Latticinio_, II. 225, 261.
_Lazo_-work doors, II. 47, 58 _et seq._
Leather, Spanish decorative, II. 38 _et seq._
Lefort, III. 157.
Lenger, Antoine, III. 151.
León, the Synod of, III. 15.
Lerma, Duke of, I. 102, 103, 219, 220.
_Libros de Pasantía_, I. 72, 73.
Locks and keys, I. 135.
Lope de Vega, I. 86; II. 23 (note).
Lopez de Arenas, Diego, II. 51 _et seq._, 56.
Lugo, exhibition of, I. 41.
Luis de León, Fray, III. 99 (note).
Luna, Alvaro de, I. 189, 216.
Lustred pottery, Hispano-Moresque, II. 161 _et seq._
Machuca, Pedro, II. 57.
Madrid, the Gremios of, III. 45, 119, 120 (note).
Madrid, the National Museum, II. 58, 60, 79, 91, 94 _et seq._, 108;
III. 29.
Majolica ware, II. 165, 166.
_Manillas_, I. 78.
_Mantilla_, the, III. 164 _et seq._
Marckwart, the brothers, I. 273.
María Cristina, Queen, III. 249 (note).
María de Padilla, III. 141.
Marineus Siculus, I. 254; II. 180, 233, 234; III. 50.
Marmol, II. 169.
Martial, I. 199.
Martinez de la Mata, III. 48.
Martinez Guijarro, Fernan, II. 151, 152.
Martinez Montañes, II. 68.
Martin Hume, II. 113 (note).
Martin of Aragon, I. 212; III. 7.
Mary of England, II. 237.
Maskell, II. 97 _et seq._
_Medias lanas_, III. 123 (note).
Medina del Campo, cloths of, III. 122.
Medina, Pedro de, I. 55; II. 185.
Mélida, II. 167, 175 (note).
Mena, Alonso de, II. 69.
Menandro, Vicente, II. 246.
Mena, Pedro de, II. 69, 81.
Mendez Silva, I. 147, 284; II. 234, 255.
Mendoza, the _guión_ of Cardinal, I. 65.
Micerguillo, I. 273.
_Mimbar_ of the Mosque of Cordova, the, III. 213.
_Mimbar_, the, II. 22.
Mines, gold and silver, in Spain, I. 1 _et seq._
Mines of Spain, the iron, I. 123.
Miquel y Badía, II. 2 (note), 7 (note); III. 7, 8, 10, 18, 19, 22, 26,
47 (note), 70 (note), 133.
Moawia, II. 22.
Mocarabes, II. 54.
Mohammed the Third of Granada, I. 74.
Mondejar, the Marquis of, I. 286.
Monistrol, the Marquis of, II. 27.
Montague, Lady Mary Wortley, III. 184 (note).
Monte-Fuerte, the Marquis of, III. 149 (note).
Montoya, Alejo de, III. 206, 207.
Montserrat, II. 156.
Monzón, the Cortes of, III. 169.
Morales, Ambrosio de, I. 54, 55, 58 (note); II. 7 (note), 14, 41, 57,
58 (note), 100, 107, 108; III. 213.
Morel, Bartolomé, I. 183 _et seq._
Morella, cloths of, III. 124.
Moriscos, the, II. 29 (note); III. 40.
Moriscos, the expulsion of the, I. 80 _et seq._
Mosaic-work, Spanish, II. 128 _et seq._
Müntz, III. 138, 140 (note), 149, 155 (note), 156.
Murcia, cloths of, III. 122.
Murcia, silk of, III. 67 _et seq._, 103 _et seq._
Muza, I. 31, 34, 35.
Muzquiz, Miguel de, III. 92 (note).
Nails, decorative, I. 134, 135.
Napoleon, I. 141 (note).
Navagiero, III. 50.
Nebrija, II. 137.
Ney, Marshal, I. 56.
Nuevo Baztán, the glass-factory of, II. 250 _et seq._
Olivares, Damian de, III. 70.
Olivares, the Count-Duke of, III. 159.
Ollery, II. 205.
Onteniente, cloths of, III. 122, 124.
"Opening images," II. 107, 108.
Order of Preachers, the, III. 212.
Ordinances of Barcelona, the, III. 123.
Ordinances of Burgos, the, III. 233 (note).
Ordinances of Cordova, the, II. 43, 44.
Ordinances of Granada, the, I. 78, 79, 132, 133; II. 27 _et seq._, 52,
119 _et seq._, 125, 126; III. 39, 52 _et seq._, 121, 122.
Ordinances of Seville, the, II. 50 _et seq._; III. 31 (note).
Ordinances of Toledo, the, II. 52; III. 31, 225.
Ortiz de Zúñiga, I. 127, 128.
Ortiz, Lorenzo, III. 109, 117, 118.
Osma, II. 140 _et seq._, 160, 161 (note), 168, 183 _et seq._,
188 (note), 189.
Othman, the Caliph, III. 213.
Pacheco, II. 68.
Palencia, cloths of, III. 122.
_Pallia aquilinata_, III. 8.
_Pallia leonata_, III. 8.
_Pallia rotata_, III. 8, 18.
_Palmillas_, III. 122.
Pannemaker, William, III. 155, 156.
_Paños de Ras_, III. 139, 140, 152.
_Pardillos_, III. 122.
_Passo Honroso_, the, I. 218.
Pedro the Cruel, I. 270; II. 60, 61; III. 13, 37, 141, 221.
Pedro the Second, III. 227.
Pedro the Fourth of Aragon, I. 210 _et seq._; III. 30.
Pelayo, I. 43.
Petronius, I. 165.
Philip the First, I. 237, 238.
Philip the Second, I. 86, 129, 265, 280 (note); II. 69, 175, 236, 237;
III. 27, 40, 71, 107, 145, 149, 153.
Philip the Third, I. 241; III. 40.
Philip the Fourth, I. 102, 243; III. 41, 240, 245, 248.
Philip the Fifth, I. 274; II. 252; III. 43, 240.
Pinheiro da Veiga, II. 250; III. 33, 141 _et seq._
Pisano, Francesco Niculoso, II. 139, 140, 143 _et seq._
Pizarro, I. 257 _et seq._
Plato, I. 165.
Pliny, I. 166, 195, 201; II. 223 (note), 225 (note).
Poblet, the monastery of, II. 156.
_Poem of the Cid_, the, II. 45 (note).
Polybius, I. 201.
Ponz, II. 13, 62.
Porous pottery, II. 190 _et seq._
_Porrón_, the, II. 261.
Potosi, the silver mines of, I. 88.
Pottery, prehistoric Spanish, II. 111 _et seq._
_Primavera_, III. 8.
Procaccini, III. 151, 157.
Processional crosses, Spanish, I. 181, 182; III. 183, 184.
Procopius, I. 201.
_Psephosis fsefysa_, II. 135.
Ptolemy, I. 195.
Puente del Arzobispo ware, II. 186 _et seq._
Pulgar, Hernando del, II. 13, 23.
Pulpits, iron, I. 139 _et seq._
Pulpits, old Spanish, III. 211 _et seq._
_Punto de oro_, III. 163.
_Rácimos_, II. 54.
Ramírez de Arellano, I. 52, 84, 91 _et seq._, 145; II. 40, 42,
46 (note), 55 (note), 56 (note), 154; III. 131, 145 (note), 147.
Ramírez, Sancho, II. 160.
Rapiers, I. 259 _et seq._
Rassis, III. 2 _et seq._
Reboul, III. 91, 92 (note).
Recared, I. 20.
Recceswinth, I. 17.
_Red flandés_, III. 160.
_Rejas_, I. 141 _et seq._
_Relicarios_, I. 45 _et seq._
Renaissance, the, I. 95 _et seq._
_Reposteros_, II. 16 (note); III. 146 _et seq._, 153.
_Retablo_ of Gerona Cathedral, the, I. 63, 64.
_Retablos_, II. 82 _et seq._
_Ret Catalá_, III. 173.
Riaño, I. 9, 12, 13, 17, 40, 44, 47, 61 (note) _et seq._, 72, 88, 95,
107, 115, 123, 126 (note), 129, 139, 174, 179, 181, 185 (note);
II. 93 _et seq._, 118, 121, 123, 136, 153, 173, 177, 184, 186, 190,
191, 198, 199, 204 _et seq._, 213, 217, 225, 231, 232; III. 20, 23,
75, 126 (note), 128 _et seq._, 138, 139, 147 (note), 148, 154 (note),
161, 221, 254 _et seq._
Ricord, II. 203, 260 (note); III. 74, 75, 203.
Rico y Sinobas, II. 225, 228 _et seq._, 238, 259 (note); III. 240.
Riotinto, the mines of, I. 6.
Roderick, I. 30, II. 89.
Rodrigo, Maese, I. 217; II. 76.
Roldan, Pedro, II. 68, 69, 81.
Rosmithal, I. 37; III. 34 (note).
Roulière, Jean, III. 44, 45.
Rubens, III. 159.
Sagrado, Diego de, II. 70.
Saguntine ware, II. 114 _et seq._
Saint Ferdinand (_see_ Ferdinand the Third).
Saint Isidore, II. 117, 129, 134, 223 _et seq._; III. 1, 211.
Saint Isidro, diamonds of, II. 224, 225.
Saint Vincent Ferrer, III. 212, 229, 230.
_Samit_, III. 5, 6.
Sanchez, Martin, II. 73, 74, 77, 78.
Sancho the Fourth, III. 145.
Sancho the Great, I. 51.
Sandoval, Cardinal, III. 129, 130.
San Fernando, cloths of, III. 114.
San Isidro, the burial chest of, II. 13.
San Miguel in Excelsis, the legend of, III. 179 _et seq._
Santa Barbara, the tapestry factory of, III. 150 _et seq._, 156.
Santa Isabel, the tapestry factory of, III. 150 _et seq._, 156.
Santiago Cathedral, the treasure of, I. 53 _et seq._
Santiago, jet-work of, III. 182 _et seq._
Santas Creus, the monastery of, II. 156.
Sculpture in wood, Spanish, II. 68 _et seq._
Segovia, cloths of, III. 106 _et seq._, 122.
Segovia, woollens of, III. 117 _et seq._
Sentenach, III. 213.
Sepúlveda, the Fuero of, III. 106.
Serrano Fatigati, III. 127, 128.
Seville, the Ordinances of, I. 247; II. 50 _et seq._
Shields, Spanish, I. 207, 208, 239 _et seq._
Ships, silver, I. 65, 66.
Silk, Spanish, III. 38 _et seq._
_Sillerías_, II. 69 _et seq._
Silos, the Chronicle of the Monk of, II. 13 (note).
Sisenand, I. 29.
Sit, Ventura, II. 252.
Soria, cloths of, III. 106.
South Kensington Museum, the, II. 40, 53 (note), 97, 98, 121, 123, 184;
III. 161.
Stalactite decoration, II. 54.
Stirling, I. 138.
Strabo, I. 195, 196, 198, 200.
Street, I. 64 (note), 139.
Stuck family, the, III. 152.
Superstitions, Andalusian, I. 168, 169.
Susillo, II. 69.
Swinburne, I. 82, 104, 105, 168 (note), 172 (note), 235 (note),
240 (note), 274, 285 (note); II. 2 (note), 61 (note), 77 (note), 133,
155, 170, 193, 194, 224, 253, 257, 258, 261 (note); III. 47 (note),
66, 121, 168, 170, 184 (note).
Swinthila, I. 22, 29.
Swords, Spanish, I. 203 _et seq._, 239, 244 _et seq._
Swords, spurious Spanish, I. 265, 266.
Symonds, John Addington, I. 2; II. 67.
_Tabis_, III. 5, 6.
_Takcht_, the, II. 22.
Talavera de la Reina, pottery of, II. 186, 190 _et seq._, 198 _et seq._
Talavera de la Reina, silk of, III. 87.
Talavera de la Reina, the silk-factories of, III. 44 _et seq._
Tapestry, Spanish, III. 137 _et seq._
_Tardwahsh_, II. 18 (note).
Tarik, I. 31, 32, 34, 35.
Tarik's "table," I. 31 _et seq._; III. 212.
_Tartaricas_, III. 16, 17.
Tavira de Durango, cloths of, III. 122.
Teniers, III. 157.
Testaments, the Codex of the, II. 3 (note).
Thimbles, Moorish, I. 178, 179.
Throne of Don Martin, the silver, I. 60, 64, 65.
Tiles, Spanish, II. 136 _et seq._
_Tinajas_, II. 120 _et seq._, 195, 199; III. 55.
_Tiraz_, III. 1, 17, 20 _et seq._, 38.
Tirso de Molina, I. 282.
Toledo, silk of, III. 70 _et seq._
Toledo, the Ordinances of, II. 52.
Toledo, the trade-guilds of, III. 225.
Torreánaz, the Count of, III. 119 (note), 232, 233 (note), 252,
253 (note).
Torre del Oro, the, II. 140, 141.
Townsend, I. 95, 235 (note), 266, 275, 276 (note); II. 17, 25 (note),
33, 34, 176 (note), 215, 253, 254; III. 73, 74, 79 (note), 115 (note),
118 _et seq._, 151 (note), 165, 170, 182, 183 (note), 239, 240 (note),
250 _et seq._
Trade-guilds, Spanish, III. 221 _et seq._
Tramoyeres Blasco, Luis, III. 225 _et seq._
Triptych reliquaries, I. 60 _et seq._
Turismund, I. 29.
Ulloa, Martin de, III. 38 _et seq._, 47
Unamuno, III. 242.
Valencia, cloths of, III. 121.
Valencia, lace of, III. 169 _et seq._
Valencia, silk of, III. 66, 74 _et seq._
Valencia, the trade-guilds of, III. 225 _et seq._
Valencia, woollens of, III. 124, 125.
Valencia de Don Juan, the Count of, III. 27, 154 (note), 159, 183.
Valladar, II. 65 (note).
Valladolid, the Council of, III. 15.
Van der Goten, Adrian, III. 151.
Van der Goten, Cornelius, III. 151.
Van der Goten, Francisco, III. 151.
Van der Goten, Jacob, III. 150, 151.
Van der Goten, Jacob (the younger), III. 151.
Van Eyk, III. 156.
Vargas y Ponce, III. 168 (note).
Vargüeños, II. 27.
Vaucanson, III. 86 _et seq._
_Veintiseiseno_, cloths, III. 122.
_Velarte_, III. 122.
Velazquez, I. 102, 113; III. 150.
_Velón_, the, I. 167, 168.
Vergara, cloths of, III. 122.
Vermay, Jan, III. 154.
Victory, the Cross of, I. 41, 43.
Vigarny, Philip, II. 78 _et seq._
Villa-amil y Castro, I. 140 (note), 143 (note), 167; II. 111;
III. 182 _et seq._
Villalpando, Francisco de, I. 147, 148, 189.
Villamediana, the Count of, III. 135 (note).
Viollet-le-Duc, I. 211; II. 3 (note).
Virgen del Sagrario, Toledo, the, crown of the, III. 205 _et seq._
Virgen del Sagrario, Toledo, the mantle of the, III. 129, 130.
"Virgin of Battles," the, II. 104.
Visigothic jewellery, I. 15 _et seq._
Wallis, II. 164, 167, 168, 173, 174.
Washington Irving, I. 82; II. 170, 171.
Weathercocks, Moorish, I. 188.
Witiza, I. 276.
Woollens, Spanish, III. 105 _et seq._
Xelizes, III. 58 _et seq._
Young, Arthur, II. 262, 263; III. 171, 172.
Yusuf of Granada, I. 280 (note).
Zafra, Hernando de, II. 234.
Zaragoza, cloths of, III. 122.
Zaragoza, silk of, III. 103, 104.
Zarco del Valle, I. 87 (note), 141 (note), 148 (note); II. 71 (note),
245 (note), 247 (note); III. 7, 237.
* * * * *
PRINTED BY NEILL AND CO., LTD., EDINBURGH.
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
The original spelling and minor inconsistencies in the spelling and
formatting have been maintained.
Inconsistent hyphenation and accents are as in the original if not marked
as a misprint.
The table below lists all corrections applied to the original text.
p. 6: Cortes of Monzon -> Monzón
p. 8: _Almexia_ -> _Almexía_
p. 15: edging of the same; -> edging of the same;"
p. 33: Al-Makkari, Al-Kattib -> Al-Khattib
p. 37: in the form of a scarf. -> in the form of a scarf."
p. 48: il est en indiennne. -> indienne.
p. 51: qui croist assez prés -> près
p. 51: près de deux cens -> cent
p. 51: qui est une espece -> espèce
p. 51: Ses habitans -> habitants
p. 108: il y avoit autresfois -> autrefois
p. 109: quatre heures aprés -> après
p. 123: Chalons, Beziers, and Rheims -> Reims
p. 129: it to the church. -> it to the church."
p. 151: invitation John Vergoten -> Dergoten
p. 154: Madrid, the Pardo -> Prado
p. 165: Journal du Voyage d Espagne -> d'Espagne
p. 166: de rubans à l'extremité -> l'extrémité
p. 166: sur la tête attachée -> attachés
p. 167: autre les divers dégrés -> degrés
p. 167: elle ne depasse -> dépasse
p. 200: inscription, _Aeternum_ -> Æternum
p. 217: Sebastian. Early -> Early.
p. 217: Madrid. Cutler; a native -> native of
p. 217: early life in Flanders -> Flanders.
p. 220: Sosa, -> Sosa
p. 242: maxims of our Christain -> Christian
p. 243: through the market, -> through the market,'
p. 245: that they were "toûjours -> "toujours
p. 249: in the royal _cédula_ -> _cedula_
p. 262: Die Kleinodien des heil -> heil.
p. 262: Nation, nebst den Kroninsignen -> Kroninsignien
p. 264: la buena gouernacion -> governacion
p. 264: que los Mvy Ilvstres -> Muy Ilustres
p. 264: mandaron gvardar -> guardar
p. 264: gouernacion -> governacion
p. 264: se han bvelto -> buelto
p. 273: III. 131, 16 -> 168
p. 276: Granada, cloths of, -> Granada, cloths of, III.
p. 276: Juni, Juan de, 68, 69. -> Juni, Juan de, II. 68, 69.
p. 280: Sepulveda -> Sepúlveda
p. 281: 20 _et seq._; III. -> 20 _et seq._,
p. 281: 276 (note), -> 276 (note); II.
p. 282: Veintiseseno -> Vientiseiseno
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