DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0273
228
COMPARISONS WITH SPANISH CORRIDAS
Chevale-
resque
sanction
in Spain
as reli-
gious in
Crete.
in the arena. The prohibition of the sport, as barbarous, by Queen Isabella
of Castile was powerless to suppress it. Later on stands out the historic
episode of Charles V killing a bull with his lance in the Plaza of Valladolid
in 1527, on the occasion of the birth of his son who was afterwards to reign
as Philip II. The Spanish Grandees, encouraged by the succeeding
sovereigns, continued to show a great fondness for the sport. Their par-
ticipation in it, however, fell under the severe disapproval of Philip V, and
from the close of the seventeenth century the professional element became
gradually predominant among the taicreadors. In a very different spirit
was framed the old Spanish law that deprived of rights of citizenship the
man ' who, for money, should fight against a brave beast '.1
What the religious association had induced in ancient Crete was
fostered in medieval Spain by the spirit of chivalry that led the Grandees
to enter the lists against the noble animal. In Spain, indeed, as cheva-
leresque notions died out, and when the nobles had been forbidden to par-
ticipate, the sport passed completely into the hands of professionals.2 But it
had become a national institution, and Spanish chronicles celebrate a long
list of famous toreros. In its minor aspects, moreover, down to quite modern
times, it was supported by the example of aristocratic champions, who even
included royal ladies. As late as 1893, in a trial show, or tentadero, of two-
year old steers on the Sevillian Vegas, the Infanta Eulalia rode a ancas, or
pillion fashion, with an Andalucian nobleman, while the Condesa de Paris
and her daughter Princess Helene are recorded to have each overthown
a sturdy two-year old.3
In the Minoan and Mycenaean World generally the bull-grappling
shows seem to have followed the fate of the whole culture, together with the
religious traditions of which they were so indissolubly bound up.
Only in Northern Greece a link with the past was still preserved—
scene recording primitive Iberian toreros, he
executed others depicting bull-fights under the
Moorish princes. His Spanish series beginswith
the Cid Campeador and includes Charles V.
Bull-fighting had been prohibited under Godoy,
but King Joseph, Napoleon's brother, could not
resist the popular clamour for the Circenses. It
is a sign of thetimes, however,that in the Douce
copy of Goya's work (in the Ashmolean Museum)
its title (in MS.) is followed by the remark
' Barbara diversion ! Esta es la voz del Publico
racionale, religioso e illustrado de Espana.'
: ' El que por dineros fuese a lidiar con una
bestia brava', where the last phrase would
cover any wild beast of the arena (see E.
Dufourchet and G. Camiade, Les Courses de
Taureaux en Espagne et France in L'Aquitaine
historique et monumentale, i (1890), p. 168).
2 See, for instance, de Bedoya, Historia de
Tore'o (Madrid, 1850).
3 A. Chapman and W. Buck, Wild Spain,
1893, p. 64. I am indebted to the kindness
of Professor Baldwin Brown for this refer-
COMPARISONS WITH SPANISH CORRIDAS
Chevale-
resque
sanction
in Spain
as reli-
gious in
Crete.
in the arena. The prohibition of the sport, as barbarous, by Queen Isabella
of Castile was powerless to suppress it. Later on stands out the historic
episode of Charles V killing a bull with his lance in the Plaza of Valladolid
in 1527, on the occasion of the birth of his son who was afterwards to reign
as Philip II. The Spanish Grandees, encouraged by the succeeding
sovereigns, continued to show a great fondness for the sport. Their par-
ticipation in it, however, fell under the severe disapproval of Philip V, and
from the close of the seventeenth century the professional element became
gradually predominant among the taicreadors. In a very different spirit
was framed the old Spanish law that deprived of rights of citizenship the
man ' who, for money, should fight against a brave beast '.1
What the religious association had induced in ancient Crete was
fostered in medieval Spain by the spirit of chivalry that led the Grandees
to enter the lists against the noble animal. In Spain, indeed, as cheva-
leresque notions died out, and when the nobles had been forbidden to par-
ticipate, the sport passed completely into the hands of professionals.2 But it
had become a national institution, and Spanish chronicles celebrate a long
list of famous toreros. In its minor aspects, moreover, down to quite modern
times, it was supported by the example of aristocratic champions, who even
included royal ladies. As late as 1893, in a trial show, or tentadero, of two-
year old steers on the Sevillian Vegas, the Infanta Eulalia rode a ancas, or
pillion fashion, with an Andalucian nobleman, while the Condesa de Paris
and her daughter Princess Helene are recorded to have each overthown
a sturdy two-year old.3
In the Minoan and Mycenaean World generally the bull-grappling
shows seem to have followed the fate of the whole culture, together with the
religious traditions of which they were so indissolubly bound up.
Only in Northern Greece a link with the past was still preserved—
scene recording primitive Iberian toreros, he
executed others depicting bull-fights under the
Moorish princes. His Spanish series beginswith
the Cid Campeador and includes Charles V.
Bull-fighting had been prohibited under Godoy,
but King Joseph, Napoleon's brother, could not
resist the popular clamour for the Circenses. It
is a sign of thetimes, however,that in the Douce
copy of Goya's work (in the Ashmolean Museum)
its title (in MS.) is followed by the remark
' Barbara diversion ! Esta es la voz del Publico
racionale, religioso e illustrado de Espana.'
: ' El que por dineros fuese a lidiar con una
bestia brava', where the last phrase would
cover any wild beast of the arena (see E.
Dufourchet and G. Camiade, Les Courses de
Taureaux en Espagne et France in L'Aquitaine
historique et monumentale, i (1890), p. 168).
2 See, for instance, de Bedoya, Historia de
Tore'o (Madrid, 1850).
3 A. Chapman and W. Buck, Wild Spain,
1893, p. 64. I am indebted to the kindness
of Professor Baldwin Brown for this refer-