[84] Hungarian or Innsbruck iron. [85] _Memories_, I, xxi (edit. 1884). [86] _Cat. Armeria Reale Turin_, p. 73 note. [87] See page 105. [88] _Rev. Savoisienne_, 1901, fasc. 2 and 3. [89] Arch. Cam. de Turin, Compte des Très. gén. de Savoie, Vol. XXXIX, f. 163. THE DECORATION OF ARMOUR From the earliest times defensive armour has been more or less decorated and ornamented with more or less elaborate detail as the armourer became skilled in his craft and as the patron indulged in vanity or caprice. Perhaps the most astonishing work in this direction is the shoulder-piece of a cuirass known as the Siris bronze in the British Museum, which is of such elaborate repoussé work that it is difficult to see how the tool can have been used from the back. It is not, however, the intention of this work to deal with Greek or Roman armour, or indeed with armour previous to the eleventh century; otherwise its limits would have to be considerably enlarged. The ornamentation of early armour, the employment of brass or latten rings, which formed patterns on the hauberk, called for no special skill on the part of the craftsman, and it is only when we come to the thirteenth century that we find traces of actual decoration on the pieces of plate which composed the suit. [Illustration: _PLATE XVIII_ PORTRAITS BY MORONI NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON] And here it should be remembered that the axiom of suitability was, in later years, forgotten, and the ever-important “glancing surface” was destroyed by designs in high relief, which not only retained the full shock of the opposing weapon, but also hindered the free movement of the several plates one over the other. The word “decoration” in itself suggests a “decorous” or suitable adornment, and this suitability was not always considered by the sixteenth and seventeenth century armourers. The use of jewels was always favoured among the nobility, and we find in the inventory of the effects of Piers Gaveston[90] plates ornamented with gold and silver and ailettes “frettez de perles.” In 1352 King John of France and the Dauphin had elaborate head-pieces ornamented with jewels, and in 1385 the King of Castile wore a helmet at the battle of Aljubertota which was enriched with gold and valued at 20,000 francs.[91] [Illustration: FIG. 37. Poleynes on the brass of Sir Robert de Bures, Acton, Suffolk, 1302.]