Of the narrower and more pliable species of girdle, the portions reserved for special enrichment were the ends, one of which terminated in the buckle, and the other in the pendant or _mordant_. Some account of the buckle and of its plate, to which the strap of the girdle is attached, has already been given in the Introduction. Always a favourite field in former times for the display of the jeweller's art, it was likewise richly adorned by the goldsmiths of the later Middle Ages. At the other end of the girdle was a metal attachment or chape which gave it consistency where it was most required. This girdle end, which hung down and was known as the tag or pendant, was decorated with various designs frequently of an architectural character and sometimes set with precious stones; but whenever such decorations projected beyond the sides of the strap the buckle was made wider in like manner, and if tassels and other ornaments were added they were always of such size that they could pass easily through the buckle. The metal shape thus covering the end of the belt was also called the _mordant_ (of the same derivation as the word morse), especially if in the absence of a buckle it was so constructed as to hook on to a clasp to facilitate securing the belt round the person. The mordant often forms with the buckle-plate a single design, its decorated front being either as large as the plate, or of such a shape as to form with it a regular figure. From the twelfth century, when from sepulchral monuments[106] we obtain our first information respecting the girdle, until the seventeenth, we nearly always find that the end, when passed through the buckle, was twisted round the waist-strap and hung down in front, in the case of men about twelve inches and with women almost to the ground. But when, instead of a buckle, a clasp formed of a central stud or rosette was employed, either the end of the girdle itself hung down, or an additional chain was attached at the point of junction. To this was sometimes suspended a pomander-box, tablets, or a pendent reliquary. This mode, however, of suspending such objects did not come generally into vogue till the time of the Renaissance, and when worn in the earlier period at the girdle they were hung at the side from a hook, somewhat like a chatelaine. [106] Many admirable representations of girdles are figured in Stothard's _Monumental effigies of Great Britain_.