Fig. 386.—Arm defences, slashed armour, 1520. (Wallace Collection.)
Fig. 387.—Interior of tasset, slashed armour, 1520. (Wallace Collection.)
Fig. 388.—Tasset, slashed armour, 1520. (Wallace Collection.)
A most interesting three-quarter suit of armour of this period, dating from 1520, was formerly in the Meyrick Collection but is now in the Wallace. It was made in imitation of the slashed and puffed dress of the early part of the sixteenth century, and these features are reproduced by repoussé from the back of the plates in steel ([Fig. 385]). Other suits of a similar character are in existence (a portion of one being in the Tower), but no other so fully exemplifies this peculiarity as the Wallace example. The helmet is of the closed type with a bellows-pattern front of five ridges, the visor and bavière being in one piece; the chin-piece is singular in being of only one plate hinged upon the left side of the helmet. The gorget is a standard collar of mail. The breastplate is globose and furnished with laminated plate goussets ([Fig. 391]); five plates form the taces, while tassets (Figs. [387], [388]) of five plates are moulded round the thighs; the protection behind is afforded by a culette ([Fig. 390]), an arrangement of five plates, shaped to the figure, and depending from the backplate ([Fig. 389]), thus taking the place of the garde-de-rein. Upon these suits (i.e. for fighting on foot) were at times worn the grotesque helmets which many museums exhibit, showing satanic faces, and extravagant erections upon the head. One of these is the well-known ram’s-horn visor in the Tower, a present from the Emperor Maximilian to Henry VIII. It was formerly gilt, but has subsequently been painted and furnished with a pair of spectacles. Allied to these grotesque helmets were the pageant varieties, of which a number are extant at the present day. They were made solely for processions, triumphs, general obsequies, &c., of gilded leather, wood, and other materials. Examples are given in Figs. [392], [393], and [394].