ENCAMISADAS: Militar night raid wearing shirts in the beginnig of the XVIth century.

 THE ORIGINS OF THE SPANISH MILITARY DRUM: ENCAMISADAS

Among the combat tactics of the Spanish Monarchy's Infantry since the beginning of the 16th century was popular the so-called encamisada ( wearing shirts over the armour). A definition that gives us a glimpse of what it consisted of was given by Covarrubias in 1611 in Tesoro de la lengua Castellana, o Español:

ENCAMISADA,  a common strategy for those who attack their enemies at night and surprise them is to put their shirts over their weapons so that, in the dark, they won't be mistaken for their enemies.

In few words,  Encamisada is a militar night raid wearing shirts. 

Thus, we now have the encamisadas in action in the Italian campaign that culminated in the Battle of Pavia, like the one Juan de Urbina gave to the French in 1523 [1] 

Another encamisada was that of the Marquis of Pescara on January 14, 1524 in which he sent more than 3,000 Spaniards:

Similarly, at the Battle of Pavia (February 24, 1525) some of the Spanish troops wore shirts over their armor, as we can see in this image, described in the text:

 

And what relationship could the encamisadas have with the drums and their rhythms? Simply put, during a night encamisada, the orders were given by the drummers, who played the drum, not by touching the snare drums, but by striking the sticks against each other. Instead of hearing the drumhead, the soldiers heard the wood of the stick punchig each other. Obviously, it sounds much less than the drumsticks hitting the drumhead. And the drumsticks produce muffled, high-frequency sounds, very clear at close range, but which, due to this high frequency, quickly fade away in the distance. The drum played its rhythm, but with a tone and volume that perfectly concealed it from the enemy, honoring the very nature of the Encamisada (maximum stealth).

 

“Give them orders and have them put shirts over their weapons

…And that night at nine o'clock the drummers would be playing without the snare drums, but only with the sticks, playing in the quarters, so that everyone would be armed, dressed, and go out to join the squadrons. And those who had extra shirts would give them to the Tudescos[2]  who didn't have any…”

 This performing is now called "palillería" in some popular traditions where drums are used, such as in the celebration of the Virgin of Yecla on December 8. It continues in popular traditions, which inherited these ancient military practices in their festivities as their use by the army declined.

Similarly, some of the music for the drum ordinances was also preserved in these types of popular festivals, but we'll discuss that in another article.

 

And what did these orders sound like, given with the beating of the wooden sticks? Let's try to reconstruct it:

Similarly, some drum ordinance music was also preserved, but we'll discuss this in another article.

 

And how could those orders sound, given in the tapping of the wooden sticks? Let's try to reconstruct it

Antonio del Carmen López Martí.