TAUEOMACHIA, THE FIGHTING BULL OF SPAIN. 57 



The power of the papacy was alike invoked in vain. In 

 1567 a papal bull issued by Pius V. prohibited all Catholic 

 princes, under pain of excommunication, from permitting 

 corridas in their dominions ; a similar punishment for all 

 priests who attended them, and Christian burial was denied 

 to all who fell in the arena. Not even these terrible measures 

 availed, and succeeding Pontiffs were fain to relax the 

 severity of the bulas of their predecessors, since each 

 successive prohibition was met by the magnates of the 

 land arranging new corridas. At length the time arrived 

 when masters of theology at Salamanca ruled that clerics 

 of a certain rank might licitly attend these spectacles. 



Isabel's grandson, Charles I., killed with his own hand 

 a bull in the city of Valladolid, during the festivities held 

 to celebrate the birth of his eldest son, afterwards Philip II. ; 

 and, later, during the reigns of the House of Austria, to 

 face a bull with bravery and skill, and to use a dexterous 

 lance, was the pride of every Spanish noble. 



It was a gay and imposing scene in those days when the 

 lidia, or tournament, took place — held in the largest open 

 square of the town, around which were erected the graded 

 platforms whence Damas and Caballeros, in all the bravery 

 of mediaeval toilet and costume, watched the performance. 



The people were permitted only a servile share in these 

 aristocratic fiestas. The knight, mounted on fiery Arab 

 steed, was armed only with the rejon, or short sharp lance 

 of those days, five feet in length, and held at its extreme 

 end. At a given signal he sallied forth to meet the bull, 

 which, infuriated by sight of horse and rider, dashed from 

 his trammels and went straight to the charge. The first 

 blow of his horns, if driven home, meant death : and the 

 horseman's art lay in avoiding the impact by a well-timed 

 move to the left : at the same moment, by an adroit 

 counter-move, empaling with his lance the lower neck : 

 and so delivering the thrust as to clear himself and horse 

 from the rebound of the bull. This manoeuvre required 

 dexterity, coolness, and strength of arm : and when suc- 

 cessful was graceful-in the highest degree, eliciting, as the 

 rider curvetted away from his worsted and enraged 



