BOOKS ON ARCHITECTURE

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French

     Sebastián Fernández de Medrano (Mora 1646-Brussels 1705) completed a military career as a soldier before specializing as an engineer. He was active on the Extramadura border during the war with Portugal, then resided in Madrid before being sent to Flanders in 1667. He was trained in warfare as much with his pike on his shoulder as with books and instruments in his pack; his mathematical knowledge annoyed his comrades in arms, as he tells the story himself in his Rudimentos geométricos... (Brussels, 1677). This knowledge permitted him to be appointed the head of the new academy of mathematics by Duke Villahermosa don Carlos de Gurrea Aragón y Borja, the governor of Flanders. This importance of practical experience is underlined in some of his treatises, although he specifies that it is essential for the soldier only if it is accompanied by scientific knowledge. That is how military perfection is acquired. This is the concept that prevailed in the training of engineers at the end of the 17^th and at the beginning of the 18^th century, as it is found in the Escuela de Palas (Milan, 1693), attributed to Chafrion as well as to the marquis de Leganés, and in the work of Father Tosca whose Arquitectura militar, a part of the Compendio Mathemático published between 1707 et 1715, works that would be used subsequently within the Academy for Mathematics in Barcelona. Experience and science were necessary to train a good engineer; this idea was put forward starting in the 16^th century. For two centuries, the capacity of the engineers in the service of the Spanish monarchy to adjust to sites by designing assymetrical fortifications on all the borders had placed them very high in the esteem of the rulers, precisely because they allied science to practical experience, which sometimes even took precedence over theoretical proficiency.
However, today we know of no example of a fortification by Fernández de Medrano. He certainly would not have omitted to mention one in his treatise. The reason for this is perhaps that he gives very little attention to irregular fortification, restricting himself to defining a general rule saying that a fortification must come as close as possible to a regular shape, all the while recognizing that it is the most difficult. Although he was aware of the need for practical experience and he had learned a great deal from his wartime experiences, about the way fortifications function, he applied his knowledge to writing treatises on mathematics, geometry, artillery and fortification, but also on geography and still others, like the one we are speaking about, on the engineer’s profession. They were all written for the Royal Academy of Brussels, created in 1675. Some historians push the beginnings of this academy back to 1671, under the direction of Francisco Pavan de Cecati during the first years, until Fernández de Medrano came to take the office of “Maestro de Matématica”. Starting in 1679, the Duke of Villahermosa relieved him of any military responsibility and he could devote himself exclusively to teaching. In 1692, he became director of the Academy, appointed to this post by the governor Joseph Ferdinand, Elector of Bavaria, to whom he dedicated the French edition of his book (1696), and the culmination of his career came in 1694 when he was appointed to the rank of General de Batalla.
In writing his treatises, Fernández de Medrano was probably intending to make a synthesis of the complex learning brought together by the great engineers of the glorious period of the Spanish empire. He explains that he tackled this task because there were no recent works on the subject in Spanish and it was necessary to resort to foreign books. Admittedly, the Academy of Brussels dispensed courses on mathematics and fortification to military men serving the Spanish crown, but this training was based on information from foreign sources. Apparently twenty or thirty engineers were trained each year, insofar as only the best were admitted to the second year, in which, other than drawing, they studied fortification, geometry, treatises on spheres and navigation in greater depth.
El Ingeniero was the basic coursebook for this teaching, with a strongly stated practical aspect. The very size of the book was designed so that students could always have it at hand. Thus it consists of five books divided into two volumes, four books in the first and the fifth book in the second volume. It is dedicated to the Count of Gastañaga, governor and captain-general of the Netherlands, whom the author chose as his “patron and protector of the Academy”. Procopio Albornoz, Santos Lovera, Pedro Borras, et Juan de Ortega, Academy students, carried out the engravings of the first edition. These illustrations are indispensable in order to understand the text, for all the explanations of the fortification projects contain letters referring to details in the illustrations. It must be mentioned that some of the illustrations were made by the celebrated George Prosper van Verboom, son of the Engineer in chiefCornelis van Verboom. George Prosper completed his training as an engineer at the Royal Academy of Brussels and, after Fernández de Medrano became blind, he helped him in his teaching and writing.
Although starting with the second book Fernández de Medrano speaks of a new system he invented, it is sure that basically he simply follows fortification principles produced by two centuries of experience in the constructions destined to be adapted to the progress in artillery. Two basic observations are essential. The first comes from the political characteristic of military architecture: “to fortify a city or create a new stronghold are things which concern sovereign princes in their states, and noone else”. The second observation develops the characteristics of this architecture, the fact that fortification is a system in which each part must be defended by another one; if one part does not agree with this rule, it affects all the others, “because”, adds Fernández de Medrano, “the fortress is like a human body which suffers all over if the least part is unhealthy”. This is the principle on which rests the art of fortification emerging in the Renaissance: the structure is a geometric system in which all the parts are linked to each other and each one to the whole.
Among these rules accepted by all theoreticians, one can quote some that Fernández de Medrano took up. The line of defense must be determined according to the range of the musket, 1000 geometric feet, or 720 Paris feet or 800 Brabant feet, the unit of measure used in the treatise. Right from the outset was posed a very worrisome problem for a discipline which aspired to produce univrsal rules: the connection between measurements. In order to answer it, the author explains equivalences from one to the other. Thus the geometric foot is equal to four palms, whereas five palms make a geometric step; and Italian mile equals 1000 steps, the Spanish league contains three miles; he specifies the equivalent of the Paris foot, the Brabant foot, the Milanese fathom... Because the measurements and the angles create the defensive efficiency of a fortification, he gives dimensions for flanks, for the demigorge through which one enters the bastion, or for the curtain walls, which ideally must be between 400 and 500 feet high, without ever being higher than 600 feet or lower than 300. For him this minimum dimension for the curtain wall is one of the sacrosanct maxims, like the one specifying that the adjoining angle must never be smaller han sixty degrees, or else the one that expects that “any exterior fortification must be subjected to that of the interior”. Nearly contemporary treatises by Tosca, de Calabro or l’Escuela de Palas propose the same concepts, although the order of presentation of the maxims is different.
Fernández de Medrano intends to put forward a treatise simple to use and above all practical. With this in mind, he teaches how to plot out what was planned on paper in the field, using ropes and posts. He gives information on the cost of the fortification according to materials and dimensions, of one day’s work by one man, on the composition and manufacturing of materials, on the difficulties of working on water, the gourds made out sheepskin or cowhide which allow soldiers to cross water, on the need to have maps in order to situate towns and territories properly, in short, on many very concrete problems. He uses his whole war experience and his knowledge of European fortifications when he refers to various regular polygons and their applications, of which he cites examples chosen in all of Europe. Thus the square is good for some fortifications, indeed some citadels, but in reality it is the pentagon which is “the most appropriate figure to use to construct a citadel in a city”. As for the hexagon, the Spanish theoretician, in agreement with the 16th century theoreticians, considers that it is the perfect figure because it allows for straight flanking angles and it can be used for the plan of a citadel as well as to defend a city.
In the second book the author presents a fortification method that he assures is his own in that he uses curved flanks and he teaches how to draw various polygonal forms. Next, and with a large effort of erudition trying to justify the novelty of his system, he summarizes the positions of the great authors, saying that his method coincides with that of the Pole Adam Freitag (although he considers him out of date) concerning the measurement of the line of defense. The other authors whose methods he sets out briefly are Simon Stevin, Matthias Dögen, Samuel Marolois and Nicolas Goldmann. He judges them old, muddled and of little use in teaching. About Francesco Fiorenza from Milan, he is satisfied to praise his short treatise, useful for instructing soldiers (1645). Concerning Jean Errard, he says that no one has followed his method because of the way he deals with flanks. He is more complimentary to the Italians Pietro Sardi and Francesco Tensini, although he does not share their concept of ramparts separated from the outer wall. The supremacy of the French school in fortification, all through the 17^th century, is reflected in the relationships that Fernández de Medrano maintains with these authors, although it is surprising that he never mentions the name Vauban, whose system he was aware of. According to Fernández de Medrano, the Frenchman Antoine Deville was the best of his period, the first to ponder the advantages and disadvantages of each part of the fortification, and in fact Deville was one of the most consulted authors during the 17^th century. Fernández de Medrano admires the Count de Pagan, who divides fortifications into three categories: large, small and medium. The only reproach he makes is that his system is very expensive. He briefly cites Georges Fournier, whose treatise, translated, proves to be very useful due to its small size, almost a prayer book. He also mentions Claude Milliet de Chales, but the Travaux de Mars, published in 1672, seems to him to be the best work, except that the author makes the flanking angles too obtuse. He concludes his examination of the treatise authors with François Blondel and the Spaniard Santans y Tapia (who does not appear in the French version). In the present Spanish edition, in spite of the weight of the French language in the theoretical domain in the second half of the 17^th century, he does not use terms like “aproches” or “rempart”, sometimes used by authors of works on fortification written in Castilian.
Like many treatises on military architecture, El ingenerio deals with town planning. The measurements of the parade ground and the streets must be proportioned in relation to the other parts of the fortification such as the flanks or the demigorges; but the measurements follow this principle, admitted universally since the Renaissance that the main streets, which are straight, go from the parade ground to the bastions and the curtain walls, whereas the secondary streets, also straight, are parallel to the curtain walls. The entrance doors must always be in the center of the curtain walls so that they can be defended. In the third book, Fernández de Medrano deals with defensive walls, districts and magazines. It is interesting in this context to note that he begins with a foreward on the need for an engineer to know how to draw. He must draw up plans of cities, present his projects attractively. In fact, a fine drawing without knowledge doesn’t exist; it is necessary to know what the fifth book deals with: arithmetic, trigonometry, practical geometry, the rules of perspective and of course the mastery of geometric instruments and the use of colors. Here the link is maintained between engineers’ drawing techniques and those used by painters, which would be given up for good in the 18^th century.
In the fourth book, Fernández de Medrano teaches how to lay siege to a stronghold and how to defend it, going into great detail: make a precise list of everything which must be in the magazines of a royal stronghold, including quantities. In a great educational effort, he explains and justifies every element. His treatise is extremely interesting in understanding all the operations carried out during a siege. He goes as far as to explain surrendering a stronghold which was valiantly defended, whereas during that period the role of the engineer was limited to investigating the exact condition of fortifications. The fifth book, much duller, teaches how to measure plane figures and solid bodies, applying practical geometry to the practice of the military engineer.
The book, out of print, was reissued in 1700 at the request of “mis. Academistas”. In the meantime it had been translated into French. This new edition was entitled El architecto perfecto en el arte militar and was dedicated to the Duke de Medinacelli, Luis Francisco de la Cerda y Aragón. Like the French translations it is a single volume in which a few themes are developed like that of constructing in water, but for the most part it takes up the text of the original edition.

Alicia Cámara (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia-UNED, Madrid) – 2013

Critical bibliography

Notice “Sebastián Fernández de Medrano, El arquitecto perfecto...”, Centro Virtual Cervantès, España.

P. Bragard, “La fortification en Europe (seconde moitié du XVII^e siècle)”, I. Warmoes (ed.), Vauban, bâtisseur du Roi-Soleil, Paris, Somogy Editions d’Art, Cité de l’Architecture et du patrimoine, Musée des Plans-reliefs, 2007, pp. 97-106.

A. Cámara,“Tratados de arquitectura militar en España. Siglos XVI y XVII”, Goya 156, May-June, 1980, pp. 338-345.

A. Cámara, “La arquitectura militar del padre Tosca y la formación teórica de los ingenieros entre Austrias y Borbones”, A. Cámara (ed.), Los ingenieros militares de la monarquía hispánica en los siglos XVII y XVIII. Madrid, Ministerio de Defensa, Asociación Española de Amigos de los Castillos, Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica, 2005, pp. 133-158.

H. Capel, “La geografía española en los Países Bajos a fines del siglo XVII”, Tarraco. Revista de Geografía, 2, 1981, pp. 7-34.

C. Lemoine-Isabeau (ed.), Cartographie belge dans les collections espagnoles XVI^e au XVIII^e siècle, Musée royal de l’Armée et d’Histoire militaire, Brussels, Crédit Communal de Belgique, 1985.

J. La Llave y García, “Don Sebastián Fernández de Medrano, como escritor de fortificación”, Memorial de Ingenieros, Madrid, Imprenta del Memorial de Ingenieros, 1878.

J. M. Muñoz Corbalán, Los Ingenieros Militares de Flandes a España (1691-1718). Madrid, Ministerio de Defensa, 1993.

J.M. Navarro Loidi, Las Ciencias Matemáticas y las Enseñanzas Militares durante el Reinado de Carlos II, Madrid, Ministerio de Defensa, 2006

A. Rodríguez Villa, “Don Sebastián Fernández de Medrano. Director de la Real Academia Militar de Bruselas (1646-1705)”, Revista Contemporánea, 8, Madrid, 1882.