“That it might be more attractive”: The Life and Death of a Spanish Mule

Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, University Library

In September 1552, the shoemaker Martín de Narvajas of Logroño bought a grey mule. Though pleased with his purchase, a blemish on the mule’s leg bothered him, despite the praise that the animal received from other shoemakers of Logroño for its good size, color, and walking abilities. After two unsuccessful pharmaceutical cures, the equine doctor Juan de Villareal offered to remove the lump using a hot iron. A blanket maker who watched the procedure criticized his technique, and indeed, all did not end well for the mule, as Narvajas’s subsequent lawsuit against Villareal attests. Despite the testimony against Villareal’s treatment, the other equine doctors of the city supported him; in contrast, skinners purportedly described the mule’s leg as “burnt and roasted.” Case studies like this illustrate the significance of equids in early modern Castile with respect to human livelihoods, honor, and institutions. Such cases also suggest how we might write the social history of animals, for they offer a glimpse into the stories of individual equids, and show how work, medical care, and human ideals conditioned their lives. Rather than make general statements about the treatment of equids in the past, this case study highlights the diverse interactions people had with a particular equid, and by extension, the various relationships people developed with equids in the past and their divergent influence on equid lives.