Fig. 444.—Complete plate: head and neck, c. 1400. (Roy. MS., 20, c. 7.)
The equestrian suit shown in [Plate XXX.*], p. [340], is of Augsburg or Nuremberg make, and is also of the time of Charles V. It is of considerable interest in exhibiting the various kinds of extra defences such as the grande garde, garde-de-bras, and manifere, the last differing from the Wallace specimen in having separate fingers. The subject of horse armour, or bardings, has not been treated in this work owing to the exigencies of space; it is a matter of considerable interest, and the horse shown in this plate exhibits it in very nearly its highest development. The error is very prevalent that horse defences were of comparatively late introduction (i.e. of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries); the accompanying [Fig. 444] from Roy. MS. 20, c. 7, temp. Henry IV. or earlier, shows defence of a very high order, inasmuch as the chanfron covers the whole of the head, and the crinet, of lames of plate, encircles the neck completely. In England horse-armour originated in the twelfth century. [Plate XXXIV.*], exemplifies the wealth of elaborate decoration bestowed upon horse furniture in the sixteenth century; the chanfron in the centre has been worked into the semblance of a dragon with which the mainfaire is in harmony. The chanfron on the left is of Moorish workmanship.
PLATE XXXIV*
1. Moorish Chanfron.
2. Chanfron and Mainfaire, Sixteenth Century.
3. Chanfron, with Imperial Arms.
A. F. Calvert