Clothing and weapons
It is interesting that, although in Spain in the 15th and 16th centuries. and their own national armed forces were created, special, prescribed by law, they still did not have uniforms. That is, when hiring for military service, soldiers had to dress at their own expense. And many began their military career, dressed in addition to linen, in ordinary tunics, tight-fitting highway pants and simple woolen raincoats, replacing both a raincoat and an overcoat at the same time. But over time, having seen enough of the rising middle class in the cities of Italy, France and the Holy Roman Empire in the cities of Italy, France and the Holy Roman Empire, in the person of merchants and artisans, the soldiers also tried to dress up and show the presence of a tight wallet and good taste. Moreover, if at first the fashion of the Renaissance penetrated into Spain, then very soon the preferences there changed and the appearance of the Spaniards began to contrast sharply with the clothes of their opponent. For example, Swiss mercenaries who fought the Spaniards in Italy wore brightly colored clothes decorated with slits, poufs and ribbons, as well as hats with feathers. But the Spaniards were dressed in dark clothes and without cuts and ribbons.
Image from The History of Tlaxcalá, edited by Diego Muñoz Camargo, with Tlaxcalteca warriors escorting a Spanish soldier to Chalco. ("History of Tlaxcala", Glasgow University Library)
Clothes were sewn from woolen and linen fabrics. Silk fabrics and fur were very expensive and were only available to officers, and even then they were used to trim their clothes, since it is difficult to imagine a Spaniard in fur clothes, although in Spain, especially in the mountains, it is quite fresh. Shirts were sewn wide and gathered in folds. At first, they did not have a collar, which appeared towards the end of the 16th century, and very soon turned into a clear excess - a round corrugated collar. The legs were dressed in tight-fitting leggings or stockings. Moreover, stockings were worn separately, and could be sewn together, and then they were tied with laces to a shirt or to a doublet.
The Spaniards and their Tlashkoltecs allies fight the Aztecs. ("History of Tlaxcala", Glasgow University Library)
The outer garment worn over the shirt was a doublet and a camisole, which were often very similar. The doublet was fitted, with a large cutout in the front, allowing you to see the shirt. The sleeves were tapered towards the wrist and widened towards the shoulder. They could be laced up and sewn to the armholes. At the beginning of the XVI century. they began to fasten it in front with many buttons from top to bottom, and the hem came in different lengths - both very short for young people, and longer, completely covering the thigh of people "aged". Sometimes the seams that covered the sleeves were hidden under additional rollers or wings. Those who could afford it wore a cloth vest, sleeveless and waist-length, for warmth under a doublet or camisole. The early camisole was similarly fitted, and at first it was worn unbuttoned, revealing the shirt, vest and codpiece, but later by the middle of the 16th century. he got a high stand-up collar and began to fasten it from the very throat to the waist, and the hem became wide and diverged to the sides. As a result, in the 17th century, it turned into an outerwear made of buffalo leather, which was worn by horsemen of the heavy cavalry, and the doublet became the basis of the modern jacket.
Morion Cabassette 1575 Weight 1361 (Metropolitan Museum, New York)
The cloak served as a modern coat or overcoat. At first they were long, but then knee-length raincoats became fashionable. It was fashionable to wear the cloak in such a way as to show everyone its patterned lining. Therefore, by the way, expensive raincoats were always sewn on a lining. But the cheap ones, woolen, had no lining.
Philip II of Spain, painter Titian, 1551. He is wearing the typical costume worn by the Spanish nobility.
Around the 1530s, leggings began to be divided into upper and lower, the former became pants, and the latter turned into socks. Their design was complex. In fact, these were two tight-fitting trousers, sewn along the leg. There was a flap at the back that could be unfastened without removing them. And on the front there is a slot for the codpiece, which was tied with strings and could be lined with cotton wool and even decorated. The headdress of the Spaniards was a flat cap with narrow brims and a top like a beret, which was worn sideways. Small hats with narrow brims were also in vogue.
Bourgionot, mid-16th century Weight 1673 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
It should be noted that Spanish soldiers very often used the clothes of those countries and peoples where they were fighting. For example, they often received various garments as gifts from the Aztecs, among which the short jacket of the chicolli (popular attire of the local priesthood) and the wide rectangular cloak of the tilmatli, which formed the basis of the poncho, are known. Shoes and short boots in the hot climates of Central America were replaced by braided sandals.
Spanish sallet of an archer, 1470 -1490 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Another very interesting question concerns the use of armor by the conquistadors. How widely did they use them? It is significant that only a few of those who participated in the conquest of the New World wrote in their memoirs about what kind of armor they wielded and what they really defended themselves in battles with the Indians. There are two options here. The first is that armor was such an everyday thing that they were not mentioned for this very reason. The second - that they were rare, because they were expensive, and wearing them in the heat, when they glow in the sun, is not a pleasure. In a humid tropical climate, with an abundance of insects, it is generally very difficult to wear metal armor. Not only do they get very hot, but they also need to be constantly cleaned or lubricated to prevent rust.
Equestrian set 1570 - 1580 Milan. Steel, gilding, bronze, leather. Shield - rondash, diameter 55, 9 cm; horse shaffron, cabasset (weight 2400). (Art Institute of Chicago)
Sketches from Indian codes, for example, drawings from the Tlaxcalan manuscript describing the hostilities between the Spaniards and Indians in Mexico, suggest that the number of Cortez's people who wore armor was very small. We see the Spaniards approaching Tlaxcala with swords, pikes and spears, but for some reason without armor. For example, the conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castilla tells about a soldier who had a "gilded but pretty rusted helmet", and this attracted the attention of the Aztec envoy. But at the same time, Diaz writes about the Spanish horsemen as "well protected by armor", and the Aztecs themselves speak of them as people "entirely chained in iron, as if they had become iron." These significant differences in the descriptions allow us to make two assumptions: that the armor as such was not a common part of the equipment of the conquistadors, but they were nevertheless carried with them on packs along with the rest of the supplies and were distributed to the soldiers immediately before the battle. It can be assumed that they were brought up later, but what about their fit?
Armor of Ferdinand I (1503-1564). Master Kunz Lochner. Made in 1549. Weight 24 kg. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
It is possible that European armor was a rarity among ordinary soldiers and they used Aztec cotton-stuffed jackets, which were both light and did not restrict movement and quite well protected from javelins, arrows and throwing stones. But there was also the elite - the riders, who just had armor, put them on before the battle, and so they seemed to the Aztecs as "iron people".
Bourgionot helmet with a gorget, 1525-1575 Germany. (Art Institute of Chicago)
Well, and ordinary participants in the first expeditions to America could hardly have access to something more than a cuirass on the chest and a chapel de fer helmet. It is known that the latter were successfully used from the 12th to the 16th century. Such helmets were easy to make, they did not require a complex fit on the owner's head, however, despite their simplicity, they served as a fairly reliable head protection for both an ordinary soldier and a commander. In the XV century. another type of helmet appeared - selata, or salad. Then, by 1450, both the Spaniards and Italians began to use a variant of the salad called the barbut, which leaves the face open.
Morion, approx. 1600 Germany. Weight 1611 (Metropolitan Museum, New York)
In the XVI century. In Italy, there were cabasset helmets or "pear" helmets. They came to Spain together with the veterans of the Italian Wars, and from there to the Caribbean Islands after 1500. Then, about 30 to 40 years later, the fourth and perhaps the most famous European type of infantry helmet appeared - the Morion. This helmet had a high crest and brims that covered the ears, but rose up in front and behind. True, the conquistadors themselves, according to John Paul and Charles Robinson, did not use such helmets. However, morions became so popular throughout the Spanish Empire that they later became an inseparable part of the conquistador's appearance.
Hispano-Mauritanian adarga, a copy of a 15th century shield. (Art Institute of Chicago)
The conquistadors could not help but realize that they would have to fight with an enemy of a different kind, not like in Europe. There the mounted men at arms had to break through the line of spearmen and riflemen. In this connection, closed helmets were important for them, but the conquistadors had them for real, we do not know. At the end of the 15th century. such a helmet in Europe was the arme. It had a very perfect shape and seemed to flow around the head, and its weight was evenly distributed over the shoulders, since it had a wide plate collar (gorget). The first helmets of this type had cheek pads, which were hinged on its lateral surfaces, and closed under the visor on the chin. But then the movable face shield was improved. Now, on the same hinge as the visor itself, they also placed the chin. He also came up with the simplest lock that locked the visor and chin. That is, in fact, the visor now consisted of two parts. Lower and upper, included in the lower. All this provided convenience, but the helmet was difficult to manufacture and, accordingly, was expensive. It was also too hot to wear the armé in the tropics, but the main thing is that its hinges quickly rusted in those conditions, and the helmet fell into disrepair.
In the XVI century. a bourguignot appeared - a helmet with a visor and one or even several combs. Cheek pads were attached to it, the straps of which were tied under the chin, and in the presence of a buff, or forehead, it gave the same high degree of protection as an armé helmet, but at the same time it was simpler and cheaper.
Spanish conquistadors. Rice. Angus McBride.
During the Italian campaigns, the soldiers used to remove the armor from the killed knights, but it is very difficult to determine what they kept and what they were selling. It is known that even at that time chain mail weighing from 6, 8 to 14, 5 kg was in use. Brigandine - a jacket made of thick fabric with steel or iron plates riveted to it, topped with velveteen or other elegant fabric was also very popular. But as for all other parts of the armor, it is unlikely that the infantrymen of Cortez had legguards or greaves.
A Spaniard on horseback wearing a bourguignot helmet and an adarga shield. ("History of Tlaxcala", Glasgow University Library)
Since the weapons of the Indians were slings, bows, spear throwers, clubs and swords, seated with plates of obsidian, we can imagine that the Spaniards took into account what and how it protects from all this and hardly put on more than was required. It is believed that ichkahuipilli jackets, stuffed with salted cotton wool, protected well from all this.
Conquest of Tenochtitlan. Rice. J. Redondo.
It is known that they were quilted cotton vests and absorbed the blow, instead of reflecting it. That is, these clothes were similar to the European aketon. The last form of protection for infantry swordsmen and horsemen were shields. The Spaniards used round shields made of iron or wood. But they also had a characteristic shield made of pressed adarga leather, which they borrowed from the Moors and had a heart-shaped shape. Obviously, it could even be made in America.
