Albert Frederick Calvert

“ On the other hand there can be no doubt that the conquest of Andalusia had let the Castilian artificers into the secrets of many new methods, such as damascening and enamelling, by which they were not slow to profit. The traditions of the goldsmith’s craft, handed down from Visigothic times, had never been lost; and certain it is that in the fourteenth century, when the conquerors had had time to assimilate the arts of the conquered to their own, armour and metal work of all kinds began to assume a rich and elaborate character. ”

“ Without the added pieces, it is a simple helmet for war, similar to those on the low-reliefs of the triumphal arch of Alonso V., of Aragon, in Naples; with the reinforcing pieces, it is transformed into parade armour of surprising beauty and good taste. These extra pieces are of plated steel, chiselled with the outlines of leaves and arabesques in niello, and the whole design beautifully shaded. The crest is defended by a coif like that used for combat on foot. ”

“ The secrets of improvements in the science of armoury could only be preserved in times of peace, for, once the weapons were used in the tented field, the riddle of their superiority was solved. The harness of a vanquished knight became, according to the laws of chivalry, the property of his conqueror. In this manner a constant interchange of arms and armour went on through the Iron Ages, and the equipment and methods of victorious and vanquished nations were sooner or later divulged and adopted. ”

“ Cordova, once the centre of European civilisation, under the Moors the Athens of the West, the successful rival of Baghdad and Damascus, the seat of learning and the repository of the arts, is now no more than a third-rate provincial town; but the artist, the antiquary and the lover of the beautiful, will still find in its streets and squares and patios a mysterious spell that cannot be resisted. ”

“ There is a tendency among certain historians to exaggerate the influence exercised by the Moors on the applied arts in Spain. So far as armour was concerned, it is clear that the Christians of the Peninsula, where they did not originate fashions, followed those of Italy, or in later times of France. They certainly did not look to Granada for a lead. And if the Spanish Moors had been such skilful armourers as some would have us believe, it is hardly likely that their kinsmen and neighbours, the Moors of Barbary, would have gone so poorly equipped as they seem to have gone in Froissart’s time. ”

“ The helmet D5 and shield D6 are of unknown origin. They were probably the work of an Italian artificer of the sixteenth century. On one side of the casque Bacchus and Ariadne are represented in a car drawn by centaurs; on the other, Silenus on his ass, supported by Bacchus, and preceded by Maenads. The shield D6 is in seventeen pieces screwed together, and is beautifully chiselled and decorated. The boss is formed by a mask with draperies, gracefully gathered up and crowned by an elegant volute, the rich damascening of which contrasts well with the blackened face. ”

“ Blessed be those happy ages that were strangers to the dreadful fury of those devilish instruments of artillery which is the cause that very often a cowardly base hind takes away the life of the bravest gentleman, and in the midst of that rigour and resolution which animates and inflames the bold, a chance bullet (shot perhaps by one that fled, and was frighted at the very flash the mischievous piece gave when it went off) , coming nobody knows how or from whence, in a moment puts a period to the brave designs and the life of one that deserved to have survived many years. ”

“ Over the hauberk is worn a sleeveless surcoat, embroidered at the breast and reaching below the knee; it is split up at the sides to allow greater freedom to the limbs. Both surcoat and hauberk are bordered with a fringe, except at the neck, where the surcoat seems to be edged with a setting of stones or studs. A baldric encircles the lower body, and supports a short, broad cross-hilted sword on the left hip, and a dagger or misere-corde on the right. The pommel of the dagger is carved into the resemblance of a grotesque human face. ”

“ Weapons and means of defence must vary according to periods rather than localities, and thus it follows that while the armour of one century may be easily distinguished from that of another, to differentiate between a German and a French suit of the same period is always a difficult, frequently an impossible, task. The warrior could not permit himself to be swayed by fanciful or patriotic prejudice in the fashion or make of his arms; his life depended on the stoutness and quality of his weapons, and he secured the best that his means could command wherever they were obtainable. ”

“ While the names of Murillo and Velazquez are inseparably linked in the history of Art as Spain’s immortal contribution to the small band of world-painters, the great Court-Painter to Philip IV. has ever received the lion’s share of public attention. Many learned and critical works have been written about Murillo, but whereas Velazquez has been familiarised to the general reader by the aid of small, popular biographies, the niche is still empty which it is hoped that this book will fill. ”

“ The goldsmiths of Barcelona, Toledo, Valladolid, and Seville enjoyed a European reputation. They worked in close co-operation with the armour-smith. In the example of a fourteenth-century harness we have just considered—that of Don Bernardo Anglesola—not only bascinet, gauntlets, coudes, and genouillères are chased, and in some cases set with precious stones, but the hauberk has a rich fringe of gilt, and each plate of the rere-braces has a decorative band at the lower border. The baldric is adorned with studs and fleurs-de-lys. ”

“ Our last instance of a Spanish suit of armour of the thirteenth century illustrates a curious fashion in military attire that often has occupied the attention of experts. The statue of Don Berenguer de Puigvert, in the suppressed Monastery of Poblet, represents him clothed in a full and richly embroidered surcoat, confined at the waist by a baldric, beneath which he is wearing a complete suit of banded armour of a very elaborate pattern. On the forearm the mail seems to be composed of rings placed end to end vertically instead of horizontally. ”

“ Between the medallions are seen other Kings enthroned and surrounded by other figures, masks, cartouches, and foliations in great profusion. In the rim between two laurel wreaths, hunting scenes and bull-fights are depicted. In one group Colman has symbolised his supposed triumph over his Milanese competitor by a bull overthrowing a man whose shield bears the word “Negrol.” As a matter of fact the shield is a far less creditable performance than the rest of the armour, nor does the best of Colman’s work deserve to be preferred to the Medusa shield executed by Negroli. ”

“ We have reason to be grateful for the absurd practice persisted in by ancient illuminators and painters of depicting persons, supposed to have lived in Greek and Roman times, in the costume of their own day. One of the illuminations shows four knights mounted. They wear long coats of mail, reaching below the knees, with sleeves, which, in two cases, reach only to the elbows. In one case the coat of mail is shown as composed of blue scales, with red studs, and here we seem to have an instance of jazerine armour (from the Italian ghiazerino) . ”

“ THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES THE fourteenth century witnessed a notable transformation in military equipment. [C] The introduction of firearms and the marked improvement in weapons of offence led to the almost complete abandonment of the coats of mail which had served the chivalry of Europe so long and so well, and to the substitution of plate armour for at least the more vital points of the harness. ”

“ But as in the latter half of the fifteenth century, armour had already arrived at a purity of line and adaptability to its purpose which could not be improved upon, the energies of the Renaissance artists were perforce expended upon ornamentation and enrichment. This tendency was naturally the more freely indulged as the inefficiency of armour as a defence for life and limb became more generally recognized.
The “Maximilian” style of armour, which superseded the “Gothic” or late fifteenth century style, seems to have originated at Milan, probably in the workshop of the Negrolis of Missaglia. ”

“ Ferdinand, is still the Queen of Andalusia, the Spanish Athens, the foster-mother of Velazquez and Murillo, the city of poets and pageantry and love.
Seville is always gay, and responsive and fascinating to the receptive visitor, and all sorts of people go there with all sorts of motives. The artist repairs to the Andalusian city to fill his portfolio; the lover of art makes the pilgrimage to study Murillo in all his glory. The seasons of the Church attract thousands from reasons of devotion or curiosity. ”

“ The national love of the sword and buckler was encouraged in the Spaniards by many of their sovereigns, foremost among whom was the warrior-King, Charles V. In the beginning of the sixteenth century the crown of Spain passed to this prince, the grandson and heir of Maximilian of Germany, in whose veins flowed the blood of the martial Dukes of Burgundy. ”

“ The going and coming of foreign princes, ambassadors, and statesmen rapidly familiarized the Spaniards with the customs, fashions, and products of other countries. Native art had new models, and began to lose some of its individuality. The earliest example of foreign armour we find in the Madrid Collection is the half-suit (A11-15—plate 15) . It is of Flemish make, and, thanks to the investigations of the Conde de Valencia, may be attributed with certainty to Philip the Handsome, afterwards Philip I. of Castile. ”

“ Aragon, and, to a less marked extent, Castile, were always in the van where the improvement of armour was concerned; and although experts consider that Italy set the fashion in the craft during the Middle Ages, it is by no means certain that Barcelona did not, at some periods, assume the lead. Swords, as in the days of the Cæsars, continued to be exported to Italy from Catalonia through the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, the traffic, curiously enough, being chiefly in the hands of that unwarlike race, the Jews. ”

“ Within a wide border, with decorations of fruits and genii, finished with the Golden Fleece, is the figure of the Spanish Cæsar in the centre of the composition, armed in the heroic style, standing in a two-oared boat, maintaining in vigorous attitude the banner of the Double Eagle, preceded by Fame, at the prow, carrying the shield with the motto Plus ultra, and followed by Victory, in the air, ready to put a crown of laurel on the Emperor’s head, while indicating the course of the little boat, always onwards (Plus ultra) , across unknown seas. ”

“ By the middle of the seventeenth century the burgonet, cuirass, and tassets were well-nigh the only pieces of armour worn in the field.
The suit B1 to B3 (plates 82 et seq.) presented to Philip III. when Prince, at the age of seven, by his brother-in-law, Carlo Emmanuele, Duke of Savoy, is obviously one of the harnesses intended for ornament, and not defence. It is a beautiful example of Italian art, including twelve pieces, worked in gilded iron, and decorated with innumerable figures, masks, &c., in the low relief contained in cartouches, scrolls, and bands—all embossed and damascened. ”

“ The surcoat, which shows the hauberk beneath, is tastefully embroidered with pearls, and is charged with eight écussons, or shields, each supported by two doves. The garment must have been a beautiful work of art. The Seneschal wears jambs (leg-armour) and cuisses (thigh-armour) of plate, and what are unmistakably genouillères of the shell pattern. His shoes are likewise of plate. The armpits and elbows are protected by pieces new to us—the round plates, called palettes or rondels, elsewhere rarely found before the end of the century. ”

“ Only a race imbued with the traditions and love of war and its arts could have persevered so long against enormous odds to the final and glorious triumph of the closing years of the fifteenth century. ”

“ The crest is very high and the brim very broad. To it is fastened a beavor in three plates, to which again is laced a covering of mail for the back of the neck. The bascinet is worn by the Lord of Ajofrin’s contemporary, Don Bernardo de Anglesola, of Aragon (see plate 8) . It is encircled by a double band of ornaments and precious stones, and is worn over the camail, which falls like an ample tippet over the breast. The harness is composed of hauberk of mail, rere-braces, vambraces, coudes, gauntlets, cuisses, genouillères, jambs, and sollerets. ”

“ Being a presentation suit, it was lavishly decorated with vertical bands and panels, with a bordering of trefoils of silver in relief. The initial letter, and the ducal crown and palms of Savoy figure in the ornamentation; and on the centre band of the cuirass may be seen the arms of the County of Nice—a crowned eagle gazing at the sun.
Philip III.’s half-suit of armour, numbered A354-355, was also forged at Pamplona. It is of steel-plated iron, and of extraordinary thickness. It is blued and decorated at the borders with bands on which are chiselled flowing scrolls, animals, grotesques, &c. ”

“ There is no gorget, the interval between the helmet and the upper edge of the breastplate being defended by chain-mail. The breastplate has a ridge or tapul down the middle; it is roped at the edges, and decorated with the Collar of the Golden Fleece. Strong lance-rest, with the Imperial eagle and armourer’s mark. Attached to the taces are tassets of three plates. The space between them is incompletely defended by a narrow skirt of mail. At the armpits are gussets of mail. The right arm has an espalier, palette, rere-braces, coude, vambrace, and gauntlet ”