The mediæval girdle, seldom as in later times in the form of a chain, but generally composed of leather, was sometimes ornamented in the most costly manner. In the inventory of Edward II is "a girdle in the old style [probably filigree-work] set with letters of pearls: the buckle and mordant enamelled with escutcheons of the arms of England and others."[109] In the expenses of the Great Wardrobe of Edward III[110] there occurs an entry of 304 dozens of silver buckles, and a similar number of pendants, while his jewels deposited in the Treasury included many complete girdles enriched with enamels and precious stones.[111] From the many fifteenth-century girdles of extraordinary richness described in the inventories, the following, the property of Henry IV, may be selected as an example: "Item, a girdle of black silk, of gold, garnished with various stones. With 28 bars[112] of gold, 13 of which are set with 13 balasses, and 4 pearls at the corners, and 14 bars, each enamelled with various flowers, and on each 4 pearls. Set on the buckle is one balas, 10 large and 6 small pearls. On the pendant one balas, 8 large and 5 small pearls." [109] _Inventories of the Exchequer_, III, p. 142. [110] _Archæologia_, XXXI, p. 55. [111] _Inventories, etc._, III, pp. 174, 184. [112] These bars of metal were attached vertically at intervals to the belt or girdle to maintain the rigidity of the material. The word _bar_ (corresponding to the French _clou_) was subsequently applied to all such attachments, which were sometimes perforated to allow the tongue of the buckle to pass through them (Way, _Prompt. parv._, p. 24).