of the gorget, allows the head to be turned right and left. This was a feature of the close helmets of the succeeding century. [Illustration: FIG. 285.--Armet, _c._ 1470. (Wallace Collection.)] [Illustration: FIG. 286.--Armet, probably Italian, _c._ 1480.] [Illustration: FIG. 287.--Armet, _c._ 1480. (Wallace Collection.)] [Illustration: FIG. 288.--_Cap-á-pie_ suit of Gothic armour, _c._ 1470. (Wallace Collection.)] [Illustration: FIG. 289.--Breastplate, _c._ 1490. (Tower of London.)] _Body Armour; the Breastplate._--The breastplate from approximately 1430 to 1450 remained of the same globular form which had characterised it in the Surcoatless Period, but after that date we often find it reinforced by another plate, called a demi-placcate, springing upwards from the waist, the upper part as a rule being moulded into a graceful system of cusps. In some cases, a second reinforcing plate is added over the first, but it is doubtful if these plates reached to the waist in any single case. By the system of introducing almayne rivets the breastplate could be given a certain amount of mobility, and adapt itself to the movements of the wearer. The goussets at the arm-holes were ridged or roped and sometimes turned back upon the breastplate. The backplates, also, about 1450, were made in several pieces, in order to obtain freedom of movement; the well-known _cap-à-pie_ suit (Fig. 316) in the Wallace Collection has no less than five pieces in the backplate. Towards the end of the century, the breastplate was reinforced with goussets of plate adapted to the movement of the arms by judiciously-placed rivets. This is shown in Fig. 289; in the Tower Collection, _c._ 1490 or 1500, in Case 48; it shows a roped border in the upper part, holes for affixing the lance-rest, one in the centre for the screw of the gorget or mentonnière, and an articulated lame of the taces at the lower part. The section is shown with it. The suit of armour, No. 10 in the Wallace Collection, has the breastplate fitted with plate goussets; it dates from 1470. A demi-placcate of one plate is well delineated in Fig. 291 from Roy. MS. 18, E. V., 1473, being a portion of the defence of “Goliath of Gath” in that manuscript. [Illustration: FIG. 290.--Palette suspended from pauldron, _c._ 1470. (Wallace Collection.)] [Illustration: FIG. 291.--Demi-placcate, &c. (Roy. MS. 18, E. V.)]