The pauldrons upon the shoulders were also large, but there were no ridges or guards, and they consisted of several plates riveted together. They were generally lined with leather. The helm was a close Armet, but very frequently the Morion (Fig. 3), which was a variety of the salade, was worn.
The foot soldiers of the period were armed with a breast and back plate, and with tassets reaching to the knees. The swords of the time commonly had guarded or basket hilts. The pike was introduced into this country in the reign of Henry VIII., and became the common weapon for infantry up to the time of William III.
In the reign of Elizabeth, the armour seldom came lower than just below the hip, and complete suits were used only for the tournament.
The brass of Humphrey Brewster illustrates well the armour of the Elizabethan Period described above. (Fig. 10.)
PLATE 44.
(Fig. 1): Brass of “Richard Gyll, squyer, late sergeant of the bakehous wyth Kyng Henry the VII. and also wyth Kyng Henry the VIII.,” in Shottesbrooke Church, Hampshire, A.D. 1511. This shows the type of armour in use at the end of the reign of Henry VII. There are high ridges on the shoulder-pieces, very simple elbow-pieces, four narrow taces around the waist, with two small tuilles over a tunic of mail. The broad toes of the sabbatons are also shown. (Fig. 2): Morion of the reign of Elizabeth, A.D. 1560. (Fig. 3): Another morion of the same reign from the Tower of London. (Fig. 4): Armet with crest of Sir George Brooke, K.G., 8th Lord Cobham, from his tomb in Cobham Church, Kent, 1480-1500. (Fig. 5): Halberd of the time of Henry VIII., the cutting edge being shaped like a half-moon. The staves of these weapons were often covered with velvet studded with brass-headed nails. (Fig. 6): Partisan (a variety of the pike) of the same period, with the side blades sharp on both edges. (Fig. 7): Lamboys from the armour presented by the Emperor Maximilian to Henry VIII., now in the Tower of London. (Fig. 8): Breast and back plates of the “peascod” form, from about 1580 A.D. (Fig. 9): English armet, about 1500 A.D. (Fig. 10): Brass of Humphrey Brewster, in Wrentham Church, Suffolk, 1593 A.D. This is typical of Elizabethan armour. The laminated shoulder pieces are particularly noticeable, nearly meeting over the cuirass; the long tassets of overlapping, hinged steel plates reaching to and rounded off at the knees, the basket form of sword hilt and the long-waisted peascod form of the breast plate are very characteristic. The tassets were generally lined with leather, and the scalloped edges, forming an ornamental border, are plainly shown.