The Sword of Dreams
Reviewing the Quinta de Bolívar’s guestbook allows to identify a very curious fact. Among all the objects in the Quinta that actually belonged to El Libertador, there is one claimed above all the others. Curiously, this object is not in the Quinta, and, thus, an account about it is more than needed. In the last twenty five years, Bolívar’s sword has become one of the country’s most important antiques. Nonetheless, no one under twenty five has seen it. So, a simple museum piece became fundamental to Colombian culture, for it built a legend around itself, thus becoming an element of unity in a nation with a great need for such things.
ON DAMOCLES AND OTHER HANGING STEELS
Notes for a history of the Sword of Bolívar in the Collection of the Quinta de Bolívar House Museum
By Cristina Lleras, Daniel Castro and Manuel Francisco Carreño
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Introduction
Espada, Spanish for sword, as defined by the Diccionario de la Real Academia de la Lengua, comes from the Latin spatha, which comes from the Greek spaoh. In its first meaning, it is described as a long, straight, and sharp cutting weapon with a hilt and guard. Its Latin origin and its definition take us back to the legend of Damocles. Born in 370 B.C. (?), Damocles is known to have been courtier to Dionysius the Elder, a tyrant of the court of Syracuse in Sicily. As the legend written by the Romans Horace and Cicero goes, Damocles once told his king about how his vassals, including Damocles himself, felt truly happy and magnificent. Soon after this comment Dionysius invited his courtier to a great feast, in which Damocles enjoyed being waited upon in multiple ways. He did so until he noticed a sharp sword hung over his head held only by a thin piece of horsehair. With this gesture, Dionysus made Damocles understand how even in the most fortunate times, other adverse and less fortunate elements can be present in man’s life. Just as Diogenes’ lantern searches for righteous men, the steel hanging over Damocles’ head shows how fragility, risks, and uncertainty are part of human life.
This attempt to narrate the story of one of Colombian history’s most important pieces is likewise defined by Damocles’ fate.
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A Hilt Made of Precedents
By Cristina Lleras Figueroa
A Brief History of the Sword of Bolívar [1]
The oldest weapons were made of stone, wood, or bone. The development of metal working techniques in Mesopotamia dates back approximately to 3500 B.C. It allowed cutting and thrusting metal weapons to be made, and so was the sword’s origin. The progress in alloys such as bronze and iron made long blade swords possible, and sword design evolved to include hilts and guards. As sword making neared perfection, the craft was considered an art, and more elaborate decorations appeared. The 13th and 14th centuries were overly important for sword making’s evolution; hilts and guards were engraved with fine designs and precious stones embedded in them. During the 15th and 16th centuries, European infantries used swords widely; the long blade cavalry sword was created, and thus appeared the saber that would last even to World War I. Modern warfare has made swords obsolete weapons, nowadays used only by army officers and diplomats as power and status accessories, and as museums and collector’s pieces.
Swords as Symbols of Grandeur
Swords are personal weapons used in one-on-one combat. Being so, swords are associated with personal distinctions. Noble political leaders’ and military chiefs’ swords were frequently adorned and their hilts were elegantly decorated. Nowadays, swords are attractive because they let their owner have contact with history. They are sold in the Historical Swords Replica Network, which promises the buyers to be integrated into the history that made their swords symbols of grandeur.
Anyway, not all swords were made to be used in combat. Many were considered artworks made not only by the bladesmith, but also by a jeweler and an engraver. These had a striking design and manufacture.
Contact swords were made exclusively for official ceremonies. “A squire would carry an unsheathed sword with its point looking up, as a testimony of the power and prestige of the notable behind whom he walked”. Swords are still used in certain countries for highly solemn ceremonies. A coronation sword symbolizes the monarch’s authority. The most famous of these swords was the one Charlemagne had when he was crowned Emperor of The Holy Roman Empire in A.D. 800. Papal swords were used by the pontiff as a symbol of respect and admiration to honor the military leaders considered “Defenders of the Faith”. Swords were also given as a tribute to subjects who were recognized for their military skills and their political services to the kingdom. Swords have also been used to demand respect. In order to fight prejudice against a ruling woman, Queen Elizabeth I of England always stood before the parliament bearing armor and the State’s sword.
A Life of Their Own
Swords are different from other weapons in that they can have a life of their own apart from that of the owner. In what is today known as Indonesia, there was a considerable military activity and several cutting weapons were developed. In the 14th century the Kris was considered to have a soul of its own.
In mythology and literature there are many cases of supernaturally powered swords. They belonged to heroes and knights for whom sword and horse were the most precious possessions; they used to give them names. Among the most famous are Tizona, El Cid’s sword; and Excalibur, King Arthur’s, and perhaps the most famous of them all.
The Legend of King Arthur first appeared in the 5th or 6th century. Arthur brought peace to his country, for he expulsed the Saxons, among other invaders, out of England; he established a reign of justice, law, and morality. Arthur was the King’s son, but was raised as a common man until, almost by chance, he passed the test established to choose the heir to the throne: Arthur pulled a sword from a stone. To help him unify England, he received a great sword, Excalibur, offered by an arm that mysteriously came out of a lake. In order to beat his enemies, Arthur carried out several conquers, invasions, and wars. England had then a period of prosperity. After a series of tragic events Arthur died, having ordered that Excalibur be thrown back into the lake it came from. Some versions of the legend say Arthur will come back when the country needs to subdue its enemies and regain security.
Simón Bolívar
King Arthur is a character that, although completely fictional, is still historical. His leader traits show the people’s desire to create, even in their minds, a ruler capable of giving his land peace and justice. The similarity with El Libertador Simón Bolivar is amazing. Leaving aside the diverse opinions on El Libertador, it cannot be ignored that this historical man, in an evolution opposed to King Arthur’s, acquired legendary dimensions. The hope of prosperity of various American Nations was laid on him, and even today his name is used to invoke a reign of justice, law, and morality.
Bolívar also wished to form a great nation, though not expulsing invaders but unifying various peoples. Bolívar’s political ideas, which he had since the beginning of his liberating activities, became evident during the Campaign of the South’s late stages, during the formation of the five Bolivarian nations, and during the writing of the controversial Bolivian Constitution.
Nonetheless, when the Campaign started he had expressed his doubts on how would the transition between war and peace be:
“After breaking the chains of our old oppression, how will we be able to keep our hard steels’ remains from turning into the weapons to kill our freedom?” [2]
Bolívar’s image as El Libertador is tied to that of the weapon he was normally shown with. His sword acquires a life of its own as the symbol of victory. War’s end comes when arms are given up. The “hard blades” Bolívar mentions are simply the swords used in the independence wars. But, how could they get rid of them? Giving up one’s sword is to admit defeat, and, destroying it, to degrade one’s self. But giving it as a gesture of affection is a trophy and an honor for whom receives it, and a peace gesture for whom gives it away.
El Libertador had many swords, and he used to give them to his closest friends and associates. He also received numerous steels as homage to his statesman and military skills. For example, in 1825, the Peruvian government gave him a sword today kept in the Central bank of Venezuela; Antonio José de Sucre gave him a Florentine dagger kept nowadays in the Quinta de Bolívar's collection, apart from the almost mythical sword the subversive group M-19 stole in 1974.
The Double-Edged Sword
General Páez, Superior Chief of Venezuela and essential military in the Liberating Campaign, wrote to Bolívar in 1825 expressing how frustrated he was because of the unstable and violent situation of his country, worsened by the tension between militaries and civilians. Besides, his words hid the inconformity that Venezuela’s modest participation in the government of what today is called “Gran Colombia” raised. Venezuelans thought New Granadans absorbed all the benefits integration meant [3]. Páez wrote that “Our army will soon be finished if the just causes for its inconformity are not blocked; and I am pretty sure that if war were to come, our learned doctors and merchants would as always run away or ally with the enemy, and the poor soldiers would go and get new bullet wounds in order to give jobs and wealth to the very same people who now mistreat them”[4]. Bolívar believed that force should not prevail over law, so he disregarded his companion’s suggestions.
Bolívar and Páez met on their way to Valencia and went into Caracas in January 1827. This meeting was El Libertador’s idea, and Bolívar gave Páez a sword as a symbol of friendship and to iron out the differences between them. Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera would later write about “…how wickedly had Páez acted by secretly and quietly proposing Venezuela’s separation. He did so faking respect and deference to El Libertador, which he never had; and contradicting with what he did his speeches and manifestations praising Bolívar, after El Libertador saved him in 1826 and honored him by giving him the sword Páez mentioned with the following notable words: ‘The human redeeming sword! In my hands she will only be Bolívar’s sword: His will will lead it, my arm will raise it. I will rather perish one hundred times and loose all my blood than have this sword taken from my hand or used to spill the same blood it has up to now freed. Fellow citizens; Bolívar’s sword is in my hands; for ye and for him I’ll ride with it to eternity’ ” [5].
Páez would shortly after lead Venezuela’s separation, and, thus, Gran Colombia’s end.
Historical Swords
In the special edition Alberto Urdaneta did of the Papel Periódico Ilustrado to commemorate Bolívar’s one hundredth birthday, on July 24, 1883; two swords that belonged to El Libertador are described.
First, a campaign sword that Bolívar gave to Rafael Arboleda in 1822 with the following letter:
“Japio, December 29, 1829
Dear friend and mister,
You have expressed your wish to have a document that certifies that the sword I used in the Campaign of the South in 1822, is the very same one I gladly presented to you in Guayaquil as a symbol of my esteem and of my sincere friendship. I did so as I entered that city in August 1822. And wishing as well to leave you a new token of all my regards and respect, I hope that you receive this expression filled with the affection your mindful server and friend has for you, Bolívar”.
Don José Rafael Arboleda y Arroyo was born in Popayán on November 19, 1795. In spite of coming from a traditionally royalist province, he supported the republican cause donating numerous sums of money. After Bolívar’s triumph, El Libertador, of whom Arboleda was a close friend, named him as the legation secretary in the republics of the Pacific, managed by Joaquín Mosquera. When Arboleda returned he was senator for Cauca in the 1827 congress, where he stood out because of his oratory skills. He was the father of General Julio Arboleda. He died in 1831[6].
The second sword, a cavalry saber, was given by Bolívar to Rafael Urdaneta, who then gave it to his cousin, Francisco Urdaneta[7]. This saber has had an interesting existence. It belonged to Alberto Urdaneta’s brother, Carlos María, before going back to Venezuela. An 1822 portrait of General Francisco Urdaneta, kept in the National Museum of Colombia, shows that by that date he already had the sword described in the Papel Periódico. This fact does not entirely coincide with the existing information on the gift’s date.
General Rafael Urdaneta [8] was a complex and controverted person, just as General Páez. He was born in Maracaibo in 1788. He travelled to Santa Fe de Bogotá in 1804 when he was called by his uncle Martín de Urdaneta y Troconis. On July 20 1810, he joined the revolutionary movement and supported the federalist army in the first civil war. In 1813 he was sent by the Union’s government to fight under Bolívar’s command, and so he took part in the Admirable Campaign. He was under José Antonio Páez’s orders in 1816, but came back under Bolívar’s in 1817. He took part in the Campaign of the Center and in several military actions in Venezuela. Back in New Granada, Bolívar appointed him Commander of the Guard of Honor, for José Antonio Anzoátegui had died. This close relation with El Libertador was evident in several things Bolívar did, such as when, “worried about General Urdaneta’s luck, he offers to him half his wealth…” [9] Urdaneta wrote to Bolívar in 1813: “General, if two men are enough to free our land, then ready I am to join you.” [10]
Urdaneta is remembered in Colombia as the man who stole the presidency, with the title of “provisionally in charge of the executive power”. This happened on September 5 1830, and his government was a dictatorship that did not last long. But the friendship between Urdaneta and Bolívar lasted until El Libertador’s death. In 1842 Urdaneta actively participated in the transportation of Bolívar’s remains to Venezuela as that country’s Bolivarian Society’s President.
