DOI Artikel:
Mingote Calderón, José Luis: Yokes for three cows: a vanished technique for breaking in cattle in La Sierra Norte of Madrid
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49004#0034
26
J. L. MINGOTE CALDERON
relationships might not have been well devel-
oped.
22. The area includes villages such as Aldehuela de
Boveda, Robliza or Buenamadre, and it is an
area of big cattle farmsteads..
23. Gonzalez Echegaray (1971: 142) mentioned the
difficulty of doing research on yokes in Can-
tabria since by that time traditional agriculture
had become almost extinct. The above situa-
tion, as in the Sierra Norte, leads to great diffi-
culties when trying to document practices not
very widely spread.
24. The information from the area is, however, not
complete since it was taken from a study
which does not give any detail regarding the
owners’ social status. There is another example
which we have not been able to document,
kept today in Ezcaray but belonging to the
Museo Etnografico de La Rioja. In Aldeas’
work the presence of yokes with three holes,
batarras, is mentioned. Their aim is to regulate
the position of the strap and therefore place
the most powerful animal at the best position
(Aldeas 1991: 57). The same system was also
used in Lorraine (France) to balance the differ-
ence in weight between two animals with dif-
ferent strengths. This method does not seem to
be very widespread outside this region (Choux
1966: 328).
25. The absence of yokes for three animals is con-
firmed by a study of agrarian tools from this
region (Palanca 1991). In this work the replace-
ment of cattle by equids is clear, bearing in
mind the attention drawn to those tools related
to mules-donkeys-horses when used as
draught animals and the scarcity of references
to yokes for two animals. F. Palanca (pers.
comm.), indicated the absence of yokes for
three animals in the Pals Valenciano.
26. B. Pereira (pers. comm., may 1991) kindly con-
firmed that there was no news of their pres-
ence in Portugal.
27. According to this author the yoke from Lafi-
tole, Hautes-Pyrenees, dated to the 19th cen-
tury, is housed in the Musee Pyreneen of
Lourdes. Jacques Leclerc informed me that in
fact the yoke is in the Musee Massey of Tarbes.
However, I was not successful in trying to ob-
tain more information from any of those in-
stitutions.
28. It has been said that Columella reflects agrar-
ian experience from the area of fields around
Rome in his notes and referring also to Roman
Hispania and in particular to the Betica (Ko-
lendo 1980: 20-23). Should the described tam-
ing system be included within his comments
on Hispania? The answer should be a positive
one if one compares this to the later historical
reality both in the Modern period and in the
19th century. Columella was a native of Gades
(Cadiz), a Roman municipium in Southern
Spain. According to some authors there is a
Hispanic tradition which ranges from Colu-
mella to Gabriel Alonso de Herrera including
the Andalousian agronomists (Bolens 1981: 44-
49). However, this theory is not accepted by
many other researchers since it is based on the
identification of Yunius from Arabic works
with Junio Moderato Columella. This is abso-
lutely false since Yunius refers to Anatolio
from Berito.
29. G. A. de Herrera (1981: 40) links himself to
classic authors whom he considers to be mas-
ters “I propose myself to imitate them because
the fact of being Romans and Columella Span-
ish is something to take advantage of. They
give rules according to Greek and Carthagi-
nian theories, precepts and opinions”. His re-
cent editor Terron considers Herrera the last of
the classic agrarian treatise writers and not the
father of modern agriculture as he has been
called.
30. The same problem has risen when analysing
the agronomic texts of Spanish Muslims with
regard to the use of harrows in al-Andalus
(Mingote Calderon in press).
31. This is not an absolutely admitted fact; Terron
hesitates about the kind of public to whom the
text is addressed, since sometimes he seems to
address to wealthy farmers but in other cases
he seems advise owners of small properties.
32. It should not forgotten that the way of spread-
ing books in the past was by public reading.
Would this happen also with technical works
or, on the other hand would there be as in the
16th century a social group who acted as an
J. L. MINGOTE CALDERON
relationships might not have been well devel-
oped.
22. The area includes villages such as Aldehuela de
Boveda, Robliza or Buenamadre, and it is an
area of big cattle farmsteads..
23. Gonzalez Echegaray (1971: 142) mentioned the
difficulty of doing research on yokes in Can-
tabria since by that time traditional agriculture
had become almost extinct. The above situa-
tion, as in the Sierra Norte, leads to great diffi-
culties when trying to document practices not
very widely spread.
24. The information from the area is, however, not
complete since it was taken from a study
which does not give any detail regarding the
owners’ social status. There is another example
which we have not been able to document,
kept today in Ezcaray but belonging to the
Museo Etnografico de La Rioja. In Aldeas’
work the presence of yokes with three holes,
batarras, is mentioned. Their aim is to regulate
the position of the strap and therefore place
the most powerful animal at the best position
(Aldeas 1991: 57). The same system was also
used in Lorraine (France) to balance the differ-
ence in weight between two animals with dif-
ferent strengths. This method does not seem to
be very widespread outside this region (Choux
1966: 328).
25. The absence of yokes for three animals is con-
firmed by a study of agrarian tools from this
region (Palanca 1991). In this work the replace-
ment of cattle by equids is clear, bearing in
mind the attention drawn to those tools related
to mules-donkeys-horses when used as
draught animals and the scarcity of references
to yokes for two animals. F. Palanca (pers.
comm.), indicated the absence of yokes for
three animals in the Pals Valenciano.
26. B. Pereira (pers. comm., may 1991) kindly con-
firmed that there was no news of their pres-
ence in Portugal.
27. According to this author the yoke from Lafi-
tole, Hautes-Pyrenees, dated to the 19th cen-
tury, is housed in the Musee Pyreneen of
Lourdes. Jacques Leclerc informed me that in
fact the yoke is in the Musee Massey of Tarbes.
However, I was not successful in trying to ob-
tain more information from any of those in-
stitutions.
28. It has been said that Columella reflects agrar-
ian experience from the area of fields around
Rome in his notes and referring also to Roman
Hispania and in particular to the Betica (Ko-
lendo 1980: 20-23). Should the described tam-
ing system be included within his comments
on Hispania? The answer should be a positive
one if one compares this to the later historical
reality both in the Modern period and in the
19th century. Columella was a native of Gades
(Cadiz), a Roman municipium in Southern
Spain. According to some authors there is a
Hispanic tradition which ranges from Colu-
mella to Gabriel Alonso de Herrera including
the Andalousian agronomists (Bolens 1981: 44-
49). However, this theory is not accepted by
many other researchers since it is based on the
identification of Yunius from Arabic works
with Junio Moderato Columella. This is abso-
lutely false since Yunius refers to Anatolio
from Berito.
29. G. A. de Herrera (1981: 40) links himself to
classic authors whom he considers to be mas-
ters “I propose myself to imitate them because
the fact of being Romans and Columella Span-
ish is something to take advantage of. They
give rules according to Greek and Carthagi-
nian theories, precepts and opinions”. His re-
cent editor Terron considers Herrera the last of
the classic agrarian treatise writers and not the
father of modern agriculture as he has been
called.
30. The same problem has risen when analysing
the agronomic texts of Spanish Muslims with
regard to the use of harrows in al-Andalus
(Mingote Calderon in press).
31. This is not an absolutely admitted fact; Terron
hesitates about the kind of public to whom the
text is addressed, since sometimes he seems to
address to wealthy farmers but in other cases
he seems advise owners of small properties.
32. It should not forgotten that the way of spread-
ing books in the past was by public reading.
Would this happen also with technical works
or, on the other hand would there be as in the
16th century a social group who acted as an