This entry probably refers to the broader and richer kind of girdle, known as the military belt (_cingulum_);[113] a similar belt being also worn by women. It was generally employed by men, as was sometimes the narrow girdle, for the purpose of hanging the sword. This belt, frequently composed of silk or gold tissue, seems to have come into general use about the fourteenth century, and was worn round the hips. It was often furnished with a buckle and mordant, but was more usually united by a clasp, which at times was made very prominent, and assumed excessive dimensions. Girdles and belts in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were sometimes studded with medallions of Limoges enamel. There is in the Victoria and Albert Museum a beautiful fifteenth-century Italian belt of gold tissue (Pl. XXXVIII, 1). Its buckle, studs, and other ornaments are of gilt metal, and the broad buckle-plate is enriched with niello work, bearing the legend _Virtus vin_[_cit_]. Two silver-gilt plates from a Gothic girdle of Flemish work of the fifteenth century are in the possession of Herr James Simon, of Berlin. Each plate is almost square, and measures 1¾ by 1½ inches. The centres are sunk: within one is a figure of Samson and the Lion, and in the other a figure on horseback, probably St. George or St. Michael. The figures, in full relief and delicately modelled, are each surrounded by pearls and blossoms, the groundwork being covered with bright green enamel, on which are small dots of white enamel capped with red. The plates are ornamented at each corner with chased Gothic foliage, and have hinges at the sides to unite them to other similar sections, of which the complete girdle was, perhaps, originally composed (Pl. XXV, 4). [113] Hartshorne (A.), "Swordbelts of the Middle Ages" (_Arch. Journ._, XLVIII, p. 320). Of frequent occurrence in old English wills is the word _demysent_ (or _demysens_), which refers to the little girdles worn by women: they were known in France as _demi-ceints_ or _demi-ceintures_. Another species of girdle was called the _baldrick_--derived from the French _baudrier_; the _baudroier_ being the currier who prepared skins for the purpose. The term baldric or baudric, sometimes applied to the military belt worn round the waist, was generally employed for a belt worn over one shoulder, across the breast, and under the opposite arm.[114] It was often of a rich description and set with precious stones, and in early times was occasionally hung with little bells.[115] [114] Way, _Prompt. parv._, p. 27, n. 2. [115] There is the possibility that bells were worn as amulets, though not necessarily intended as such by their wearers. "Le son de l'airain," like the tinkling ornaments of the daughters of Zion (Isa. III. 18), was thought to have a prophylactic virtue. The double-tail mermaids of silver still worn in Naples as charms against the evil eye are always hung with little bells (Elworthy, _The evil eye_, p. 368).