and Extension of the Merino Breed of Sheep. J77 



importation of English wool or cloth into Spain. The Spaniards had then, cer- 

 tainly, on their own soil the breed, the fleeces of which were best adapted to their 

 own taste and climate ; and that breed was probably the Merino. 



We are told by Rodericus Santius, Bishop of Palentia, that there was then in 

 Spain " such abundance of animals, herds and flocks of sheep, that many thousands 

 " were killed for their fleeces and hides only." " Animalium quoquc et armen- 

 " torum, sed et pecudum tanta copia est, ut plerunque ob vellera atque coria multa 

 " miUia occidantur." * 



Of the skill of the Spaniards in the manufacture of cloth in early times, various 

 proofs are afforded us by Dillon: " The woollen cloths of Barcelona," says he, 

 " were in high esteem in Seville in King Peter's reign, and in the preceding cen- 

 " tury. So far back as 1243, the woollen cloth of Lerida is spoken of in terms of 

 " great estimation. A few years after, the towns of Banolas, Valis, Gerona, Per- 

 " pignan, and Tortosa, were remarkable as manufacturing towns, and for the fine- 

 '" ness of their cloths, fustians, and serges. So great was their exportation, that, 

 " in 1353, on board of a ship from Barcelona bound to Alexandria, taken by a 

 " privateer of Genoa, at the entrance of the Archipelago, among other articles they 

 " found her cargo to consist of 935 bales of cloth of different colours. And in 

 " 141 i, Antonio Doria, in the port of Callus, captured three Catalonian ships, 

 " on board of which were found near one thousand bales of cloth, besides many 

 " other valuable ardcles." t 



At this time the superiority of the skill, if not of die raw materials of the Spa- 

 niards, seems to have been acknowledged by the English; for we are told by the 

 same author, that, according to records still extant at Barcelona, of the date of 

 J 446, considerable orders for wool were sent to England, in order to manufacture 

 it in that city, and return it to England in form of cloth. The Spaniards them- 

 selves, it seems, disdained to wear it. J 



The tax of Servicio and Montazgo on the travelling flocks of Spain commenced' ' 

 in the year i457.§ 



According to Lucius Marineus Siculus, who wrote in the reign of the Emperor 

 Charles the Fifth, some time after the year 1516, Spain was then " full of herds 



* Historia Hispanic, Pars I. cap. ii. Apud Beli scriptores. This author dedicates his work 

 to Henry IV. King of Castib and Leon, who began to reign in 1454. 



t Dillon's History of Peter the Cruel, page •146. J Ibidem, Supplement, page 209. 



§ Ustariz, I. 84. 



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