Romero, Francisco

Francisco Romero, (born c. 1700, Ronda, Málaga, Spain—died 1763), Spanish matador who reputedly invented the bullfighter’s muleta, a red cape used in conjunction with the sword. With it the matador leads the bull through the most spectacular passes of the bullfight, finally leading it to lower its head, so that the matador may thrust the sword between the bull’s shoulders. Romero is the earliest of the famous matadors.

Romero, whose career in the bullring spanned 30 years, is said to have used the muleta as early as 1726. He is also said to be the first torero to kill a bull face to face. He founded a family of celebrated matadors; his grandson Pedro (1754–1839), who killed some 5,600 bulls in his 28-year career, founded a bullfighting school at Sevilla (Seville) in 1830.