A second example of armour of Spanish make is given in Plate XXXVI.*; it was fabricated at Pamplona for the Duke of Savoy in 1620, and is decidedly an improvement upon the suit shown in Plate XIX.*, p. 212, which came from the same locality. It is worthy of remark that Spain, with all its vast resources of the finest iron ores in the world, did not become a centre for arms and armour. She was undoubtedly able to supply her own requirements, and in the wars against the Moors these were of no mean order, but no distinct Spanish “School” was evolved similar to the German or Italian. The excellent quality of her swords attained world-wide reputation, and the blades of Toledo, Bilbao, and Seville are justly famous. No town in France achieved special success in armour or arms, although many were active in the production. Burgundy was chiefly noted for its eccentricities, the breastplate illustrated in Fig. 445 furnishing an example, though many inventions, such as the burgonet, emanated from that warlike district, while its hand-gun men of the fifteenth century were the best in the world. Holland and Belgium have always enjoyed a reputation for arms, and Netherlandish weapons and defences were in great demand. The overwhelming superiority of Italian products must not be ascribed solely to one town, Milan, for many others were famous, such as Pisa, Verona, Lucca, Mantua, and Brescia, while Florence became a serious rival to Milan in the latter part of the sixteenth century. In Germany, Augsburg and Nuremberg probably were the most renowned for armour, but Cologne bore pre-eminence for weapons. [Illustration: PLATE XXXVI* Armour of Duke of Savoy, 1620. Made at Pamplona. _A. F. Calvert_] CHAPTER XIX THE INTRODUCTION OF GUNPOWDER AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON ARMOUR [Illustration: PLATE XXXVII* Double Breech-loading Cannon, in Bronze, used in Spain from the end of the Fifteenth Century. _A. F. Calvert_]