The fourteenth century witnessed a notable transformation in military equipment.[C] The introduction of firearms and the marked improvement in weapons of offence led to the almost complete abandonment of the coats of mail which had served the chivalry of Europe so long and so well, and to the substitution of plate armour for at least the more vital points of the harness. In Spain we have seen the transition began considerably earlier than in Northern Europe, but the adoption of the new fashion in its entirety did not proceed quite so rapidly as this early start might lead one to expect. Aragon, thanks to its intercourse with Italy--to which country, as has been noted, swords were exported from Barcelona--led the van in armourership. The companions-in-arms of Jaime el Conquistador are nearly always represented wearing a considerable weight of plate armour. Don Ramon Folch, Vizconde de Cardona, surnamed, on account of his commanding personality and abilities, _el Prohom_, is shown on his tomb at Poblet wearing jambs, or greaves of steel (it is difficult to say which), and at the neck a high mentonnière, which must have been worn with a heaulme, or visored salade. The close-fitting _chapelle-de-fer_ is adorned with cardon flowers, the arms of his house. So also is the long and tastefully-embroidered surcoat with sleeves, which descends below the knees. Beneath this was worn a hauberk of mail, with articulated gloves. A broad decorated baldric supports a short sword. This monument dates from 1322. No greaves or any plate armour, on the other hand, appear on the sepulchral monument, executed about twenty years later, over the remains of Don Rodrigo de Lauria, son of the famous Admiral. The warrior is clothed entirely in a suit of mail, with hood and camail, a graceful coronet with fleurs-de-lys encircling the forehead. The surcoat or tunic is, as in the other examples, charged with the armorial bearings of the deceased, and has three openings--at the sides, and in the middle--with a gilt fringe--“a fashion,” remarks Don Valentin Carderera, “which we have observed in Spain only on the statues of Aragonese knights.” The sword is much longer and narrower than usual, and reveals fine workmanship. The spurs are of the goad shape. The _Historia Troyana_, executed in Castile about 1350, represents warriors clad in similar suits of mail, with pointed heaulmes with visors, but no chin-pieces. Greaves and genouillères are worn with the chausses. In one instance a surcoat is shown of scaled and studded pattern. This may have been some rare sort of gambeson, or again may have been made of the _cuir-bouilli_--boiled leather--common all over Europe and the East then and for centuries after. Banded armour is also shown.