Subject: timawa warrior
Culture: Visayan
Setting: Visayas 16thc
Evolution:
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
* Scott 1994 p131-132
"Spanish dictionaries always define timawa as freemen (libres) or freedmen (libertos). They were originally the offspring of descendant's of a datu's commoner wives or slave concubines, and they were technically free because their progenitor had granted it. But slaves could also be freed (matitimawa), so Loarca, in describing this social class, found it necessary to call them 'true' or 'recognized' timawa. All persons liberated by their own master were called ginoo, and might be chided, 'Dika magpadayaw, kay akun ka ginoo [Don't put on airs, I'm the one who made you ginoo]'. In English, 'freedmen' has little meaning today: in modern societies, all citizens are free. But when Isla referred to timawa as 'citizens,' he meant a privileged class, not ordinary people. In sixteenth-century Spain, citizens (ciudadanos) were the nonslave residents of chartered cities (ciudades) who enjoyed its special laws and exemptions. They were not peasants, peons, serfs, tenants, or farmhands -- all of whom would have been called oripun in the Visayas.
"Timawa paid tribute called buhis or handug and, in theory at least, were free to transfer their allegiance to some other datu. But those attached to their lord as personal vassals paid no tribute and rendered no agricultural labor: thus the Boxer Codex called them 'knights and hidalgos.' They won their tattoos beside him in battle, rowed and manned his warship, received his favors, and shared in the public accolade for his victories. Their datu was obligated to defend or avenge them at the risk of his own person if need be, and to share booty and captives with them. They attended his feasts as retainers and familiars, acting as his wine tasters, and were sometimes honored by receiving a cup from his own hand from which he had already taken a sip. They were sent as his emissaries to open marriage negotiations for his sons, and at the time of his death, acted as bailiffs to enforce his mourning tabus, and three of the most renowned among them would accompany his grieving womenfolk on a ritual voyage in which they boasted of their personal conquests and bravery.
"Timawa were therefore men of consequence in the community. But they were not often men of substance: if they were wealthy enough to behave like a datu, they were belittled as timindok, a big banana. They had no right to booty beyond what their datu gave them, and they were held accountable for wounding or killing any captives. Though they could lend and borrow money, enter business partnerships, and acquire slaves of their own, their children inherited only at their datu's pleasure. As Loarca said when speaking of weddings, 'the timaguas do not performs there ceremonies because they have no estate.' This right to restrict timawa -- or oripun -- inheritance enabled a datu to reward and indebt his favorites, and leave others under threat of the sort of economic reversal which set downward social mobility in motion." [references omitted]
* Junker 1999 p124
"The nonchiefly elite, referred to as timawas and hidalgos (Sp. 'knights') in the Boxer manuscript (1590), nobleza (Sp. 'the third rank of nobility') by Alcina (1688), maharlika ('great, noble') by Plasencia (1589), and maginoo ('noble in lineage or parentage') by San Buenaventura (1613), occupied with the datu this upper tier in the social hierarchy. This nobility was generally composed of those sharing the chief's high-status genealogy, such as his brothers, cousins, and affines, although others with more remote kin ties, fictive kin relations, specialized skills, or exceptional ambition could rise to serve as 'personal vassals' of the datu. They aided him in military campaigns (including outfitting themselves with weapons at their own expense, navigating boats for maritime raids, and participating in raiding activities), they organized and attended datu-sponsored feasts (including ensuring against treachery by the hosts or guests through wine tasting), they participated in maritime trade expeditions sponsored by the datu, they arranged for the chief's 'ransom' if her were taken captive in warfare, and they enforced the funeral taboos at the chief's death. In return for this support, members of the elite rank shared in the material wealth (including slaves) obtained in datu-sponsored raiding and trading, in the public esteem accorded to successful warriors, and in the chief's obligations to protect them and their families from harm both within and outside the datu's district of control." [references omitted]
* Junker 1999 p126-127
"The nonchiefly elite in the Visayas, termed 'timawa' by Loarca (1582), by Morga (1609), and in the sixteenth-century Boxer manuscript (1590) and as the 'third rank of nobility' by Alcina (1688...) were likely the offspring or descendants of a datu's secondary wives. Their position in social status hierarchies is described by Morga. 'What the chiefs received from their followers was to be held by them in great veneration and respect. ... The descendants of such chiefs, and their relatives, even though they did not inherit the lordship, were held in the same respect and consideration. Such were all regarded as nobles, and as persons exempt from the services rendered by the others, or the plebians, who were called 'timaguas.' The same right of nobility and chieftainship was preserved for the women, just as for the men.' As summarized by Scott, the timawa served as personal vassals to the datus, with their most important role as warriors who accompanied the datu into battle, although they were also the primary contributors to chiefly feasts, they assisted in chiefly marriage negotiations and death rites, and they generally accrued significant ritual potency, political power, and wealth through their association with the chief. Like the Tagalog maginoo and maharlika, they were largely exempt from the agricultural duties and other tribute-producing activities of the commoner and slave classes. However, unlike the Tagalog-speaking chiefdoms of the northern Philippines, the position of timawa as 'men of consequence' in the community did not generally translate into independently inheritable wealth and status. While these warrior elites could acquire slaves and amass considerable material wealth through trading and raiding activities, their children's inheritance of these status accoutrements was controlled by the chief." [references omitted]
Spear
* Scott 1994 p149
"The spear, bankaw, was the most important Visayan weapon. It was carried both for security and ceremony, and it figured not only in warfare but in religious functions and business transactions. Pamankaw was a spear the bridegroom's party gave the bride's grandmother to let down the house ladder. The part of the dowry that was held in abeyance and only demanded in case of a breach of connubial harmony was called lantay -- to throw a spear at a distant target. Marriage negotiations actually began with a spear thrust: The man's father sent one of his timawa vassals bearing his son's spear to the girl's father. There, he drove it into the house steps and then, while he gripped it in his hand, the ancestral spirits of both families were invoked for fertility and prosperity.
"The importance of the Visayan spear is indicated by the special vocabulary attached to it. The general term for it was bankaw; while a light spear was barobankaw or bankaway, or piniris if fitted with a short shaft. Men called their own spears by more intimate terms: ipambuk or ipanonos had the nuance of 'my trusty blade'; and bankaras or bankaraw, something like 'that damned spear of mine.' The shaft, almost 2 meters long, was duldug or ilhi, and the spearhead was hafted into it by a tang, tugod, and held firm by a ring called pitara if it was metal, bankorong or pikit if rattan. The butt, hele, was strengthened by a pointed sheathing (tikala) of brass or even gold for 10 or 12 centimeters, which permitted it to serve as a staff for climbing, or to be conveniently driven into the ground to stand by itself when men met in friendly discussion.
"Good spears were kept highly polished, and among them the most prestigious was the songil, a leaf-shaped blade 30 centimeters long and as wide as a man's hand, sharpened for as much as half its length, knifelike, in both edges. If it was piniskan or pinamaskan, it had elegant round or flamelike inlays of brass, copper, or silver, and could be valued at one slave. The minalo was similar in shape but cheaper, while the budiak was longer and wider but thinner. The liparak was short and broad, the tumbak medium-sized, and the lanab the longest and widest of all, while the tinikol was the shape of a tikol leaf. Some were thick and heavy: the binusloran was thick down the middle and the pinuso was so called because of its similarity to the flower of a banana plant."
Swords
* Scott 1994 p148
"There were two kinds of swords -- kris (Visayan kalis) and kampilan, both words of Malay origin. The kris was a long double-edged blade (modern specimens run to 60 or 70 centimeters), either straight or wavy but characterized by an asymmetrical hornlike flare at the hilt end, called kalaw-kalaw after the kalaw hornbill. The wavy kris was a called kiwo-kiwo, and so was an astute, devious man whose movement could not be predicted. Hilts were carved of any solid material -- hardwood, bone, antler, even shell -- and great datu warriors had them of solid gold or encrusted with precious stones. Blades were forged from layers of different grades of steel, which gave them a veined or mottled surface -- damascened or 'watered.' But even the best Visayan products were considered inferior to those from Mindanao or Sulu, and these in turn were less esteemed than imports from Makassar and Borneo. Alcina thought the best of them excelled Spanish blades.
"The word kampilan came into Spanish during the Moluccan campaigns of the sixteenth century as 'a heavy, pointed cutlass [alfange]' -- inappropriately, however, since a cutlass had a curved blade weighted toward the tip for slashing blows, while the kampilan was straight. (Modern ones are two-handed weapons running to 90 centimeters.) It apparently was never manufactured by Visayan smiths but imported from parts of Mindano, both Muslim and pagan, which had direct culture contact with the Moluccas. Like the kris, it was coated with poison before going into battle, and the fiction that the metal itself had been rendered poisonous by some arcane alchemy no doubt enhanced its market value. Fine ones were handed down from father to son, bore personal names known to the enemy, and could be recognized by the sound of little bells which formed part of their tasseled decoration."
Shield
* Scott 1994 p151
"The shield, kalasag, was made of a light, corky wood which was very fibrous so as to enmesh any spear or dagger which penetrated it, and it was generally considered sword-proof. It was strengthened and decorated with rattan binding coated with resinous pitch, and of sufficient size to give full body protection -- about 50 by 150 centimeters. A small round buckler called tamin appears to have been copied from the Moluccans or the Spaniards themselves. The kalasag was typically painted red and decorated with shell sequins and hog bristles on top or, in the case of real braves, the hair of vanquished foes."
Armor
* Scott 1994 p150-151
"The Visayan equivalent of a cuirass, or chain mail, was barote, quilted or corded body armor, which the Spaniards called escaupiles after the cotton-padded ones they found in the New World. The barote was woven of thick-braided abaca or bark cords, tight enough to be waterproof in good ones, and so intricately knotted that cuts did not spread. A piece similar to burlap (habay-habay) was worn next to the body under the barote itself. It extended to the elbow and knee, with an ankle-length variety with sleeves for manning defenseworks, though for greater agility in hand-to-hand combat, confident warriors preferred to fit without them. Pakil and batung-batung were breastplates or backplates made of bamboo, bark, hardwood like ebony, or, in Mindanao, carabao horn or elephant hide from Jolo. Shark-skin was used effectively for helmets or moriones."
Costume
* Scott 1994 p28-29
"Visayan clothing varied according to cost and current fashions and so indicated social standing. The basic garments were the G-string and tub skirt -- what the Maranaw call malong -- or a light blanket wrapped around instead. But more prestigious clothes, lihin-lihin, were added for public appearances and especially on formal occasions -- blouses and tunics, loose smocks with sleeves, capes, or ankle-length robes. The textiles of which they were made were similarly varied. In ascending order of value, they were abaca, abaca decorated with colored cotton thread, cotton, cotton decorated with silk thread, silk, imported printstuffs, and an elegant abaca woven of selected fibers almost as thin a silk. In addition, Pigafetta mentioned both G-strings and skirts of bark cloth.
"The G-string (bahag) was a piece of cloth 4 or 5 meters long and something less than a meter wide: it was therefore much larger than those worn in Zambales and the Cagayan Valley, or by Cordillera mountaineers today. The ends hanging down were called wayaway -- ampis in front and pakawar behind -- and were usually decorated. Binkisi was an expensive one with fancywork called gowat, and if it had a fringe of three-strand lubid cords, it was lubitan. G-strings were of the natural color of the cloth. However, in the case of men who had personally killed an enemy, they were qualified to wear deep red ones.
"To put the G-string on, one end was held against the chest while the other was passed between the legs, pulled up between the buttocks and wrapped around the waist several times, thereby binding the front flap which was then allowed to hang down as ampis; the other end was then knotted behind and let to fall as pakawar. Care was taken to see that one of the wayaway was longer than the other: wearing both of equal length was considered ludicrous. The word watid was for a G-string dragging on the ground, a deliberate sign of mourning.
"Because its size permitted the bahag to be spread out to cover the entire hip, many observers thought it was a kind of kilt from the waist to the knees. And because of its bulk, men removed it in the privacy of their home. ....
"Men also wore a blanket or another length of cloth as clothing. Singal was to put on like a G-string; and tampi was simply to wrap it around the hips, tied with a knot in front, and not passed between the legs. Alampay meant to wrap anything around the shoulders or over the head like a cape, including G-strings which were then given fewer turns around the waist to allow it to extend over the shoulder or head. To lend greater dignity to a formal occasion, an ankle-length garment called saob-saob was worn, with or without sleeves but open down the front like a cloak. Raja Humabon put on a silk one at Magellan's request to take his oath of vassalage to the Spanish king.
"There seems to have been no Visayan term for the long-sleeved gowns depicted in the Boxer Codex, with fine Pintado ankles just peeping out at the bottom -- nor for those tight-sleeved tunics the Tagalogs called baro. Perhaps this can be explained by the fact that these pictures were painted twenty-five years after Spanish advent. However, though references from whatever source were and have been made to such clothes, these togalike garb could not have been the ordinary Visayan costume. All royal datus who had dealings with early Spanish commanders were clothed only in tattoos and G-strings -- Kolambu of Limasawa, Awi of Butuan, Katuna of Bohol, and Tupas of Cebu. Bare-chested exposure to the elements was a matter of masculine pride, and even a century later, men's jackets had still not caught on. Writing in 1668, Father Alcina said,
They rarely used these tunics, or baros; what was common for going out and for working was the bahag only, except for old men who would cover up with these baros against the cold or extreme heat, or the flies and mosquitoes that bit them.
"The tube skirt was described by Juan de la Isla in Cebu in 1565 as follows:
The clothes which they wear are a piece of material closed like a sack or sleeve with two very wide mouths, and they make many pleats of the extra width on the left side, and, making a knot of the cloth itself, let the folds fall on the left, and although it does not go above their waist, with a tight blouse most of the body and legs are clothed.
"This was the lambong, and because it could also be fastened under the armpits or over the shoulder, or even around the head, the Spaniards called it a sayo (smock or coat) rather than saya (skirt). The same term was extended to include any garment tailored to the body, like the sinulog (i.e., Sulu-style) or sinina (Chinese), a short jacket which exposed the midriff -- and more, Father Sánchez observed, when they raised their arms. This sinina could have originated in Indonesia or Malaysia, since the Visayans called all foreigners Sina before the coming of the Europeans." [references omitted]
Dagger
* Scott 1994 p147-148
"The most intimate weapon was the baladaw. This was a short broad dagger with a single-edged leaf-shaped blade like a songil spearhead, and a cross-shaped hilt which was grasped with the blade protruding between the index and middle fingers. It was 20 to 25 centimeters long, with smaller ones made especially for youngsters since even a small boy felt naked without one. They were typically decorated with tassels made of silk or hairs from the bushy tail of the civet cat dyed red or, better, a lock of hair provided by one's own sweetheart. Like other bladed weapons, and even working bolos, they were strapped to the wrist for use, either by a cord or a tassel called kulili."
