PALETTES, RONDELLES, OR DISCS,
were plates attached to the armour, variously applied for the shoulders or any weak places, later specially to defend the armpits, where there was a vulnerable place called “vif de l’harnois,” and later, “defaut de la cuirasse,” and leave the arms free to parry or strike. These pieces assume various forms, and were not invariably in pairs; in cases where they differ, that over the right armpit is the smaller—an instance of this may be seen on a brass in Harpham Church, Yorkshire (1420). In this instance the left rondelle is round, while the other is scroll-shaped. There is a portion of a “Gothic” suit at Dresden with an oblong rondelle on the right side, while a projection on the épaulière, to a certain extent, protects the left armpit. They appear very early, and may be seen freely and beautifully applied on a figure in Alvechurch, Worcestershire, of the earlier half of the fourteenth century. They vary very much in size, and in armour of the next century were very handsome, being ridged throughout with escalloped flutings, and often charged with a heraldic rose, and sometimes spiked in the centre. They became very large in tilting suits, little short of a foot in diameter. The earliest application of these discs was to the elbow-guard. Rondelles for the armpits reappear freely in the second half of the sixteenth century, as shown in examples at Dresden and Berlin. They are frequently on the right side only.