This purely European country, but with a history of Moorish rule for some hundreds of years, warrants a place in any volume of Oriental rug art for two reasons. The first is that here was the gateway through which the Oriental rug became Europeanized. That is to say, the original Oriental designs copied by the Spanish weavers gradually took on a purely European outlook over the years. Secondly because, for a reason still unknown, Spain introduced a completely different knotting technique from any other rug-producing country. Basically it is the Turkish knot which they use in Spain, but they tie it on one warp thread only, alternate warp threads being used, whereas the Turkish version is tied on two warp threads. The Spanish innovation makes for a rather loosely knotted fabric, but the wool content is almost the same as for Oriental carpets.

Although the earliest surviving examples of Spanish carpets are attributed to the fifteenth century, it is known that when Eleanor, the daughter of Ferdinand III of Castile, came to England to marry Edward I she brought carpets with her. Whether or not these were knotted, or even if they were of Spanish manufacture, is not known, but the records at least set a date when obj ects called carpets were already in use in Spain. There are still some fifteenth-century pieces to be seen in museums, all of which closely resemble the Turkish carpets of that era. Actually there are more fifteenth-century Spanish pieces preserved than any other type. Certainly by the end of the fifteenth century Spain was making carpets herself, even though the work may have been done by immigrants, as suggested by Van de Putt in ‘Some 15th Century Spanish Carpets’ {Burlington Magazine XIX September 1911).

Although still showing Turkish treatment in the designs, the carpets also took on various Christian and heraldic devices, until the seventeenth century when what we regard as a Spanish design had evolved. Because of their background of centuries of Moorish domination, this transposition of design was easier in Spain than perhaps any other country in Europe. The main manufacturing places in the early days were Almeria and Alcaraz. Nowadays, Spain makes carpets of any size, design and colour, in either the Spanish knot or the true Turkish knot.