Until about the year 1460 the sword was worn at the left side suspended by a narrow band passing over the right hip, as in the Surcoatless Period, but after the above date it appears upon brasses and monumental effigies in front of the body, with the point slightly inclined to the left as a rule, but sometimes hanging perpendicularly. It has a singularly short and ill-proportioned hilt, with a much-swollen grip and a pommel pear-shaped or circular, while the quillons are straight, with a slight droop at the ends towards the blade. The lance-rest was added in the latter half of the century, and is shown projecting from the breastplate in many brasses. Upon some existing suits of the period and later the rest is capable of being folded up when not in use, and kept in place in both positions by a spring. The lance-rest shown in Fig. 309 dates from 1480, and has a strut or support beneath it to aid in bearing the weight of the lance. [Illustration: FIG. 310.--German tilting armour, 1480, from the Collection in the Museum at Vienna.] _Tilting Armour._--From the very earliest times since man bore arms he has engaged in friendly contest with others, not only as a means of recreation and engendering mutual respect, but it was readily recognised that the only way to obtain skill in deadly combat was to constantly practise the art of war in the time of peace. It was also natural and proper that these friendly combats should be governed by rules and regulations whereby the minimum of risk should be run, and so avoid the possibility of turning a manly pastime from a source of enjoyment into a combat of deadly earnestness. Although history records that the latter result really occurred at times, it was the exception that proved the rule, and tilting was part and parcel of a knight’s everyday life, and the glories of the tournament the hoped-for goal. During the early part of the Middle Ages single encounters, and also the mêlée, were fought in the usual harness which the knight was in the habit of wearing in battle, and no other precautions were taken excepting the use of blunted spears and restricting the use of the sword to the edge only. As time advanced, however, and armour became heavier and more cumbersome, the being hurled out of the saddle by a dexterous thrust of an opponent’s lance was a matter of moment, seriously endangering life and limb, whereas it had formerly been deemed comparatively trivial when the defences were of mail or textile fabrics. Hence as time progressed it became necessary to have special armour for the tilt, or to add such extra defences to the fighting armour that the increased weight promised security in the saddle, and the multiplicity of plates between himself and the weapons of his opponent practically guaranteed immunity from harm. This idea, once established, eventually led to the result that a knight armed for the joust could not mount to the saddle, but had prominent portions of this armour fitted when mounted.