[Illustration: XLIX JOUSTING HARNESS OF CHARLES THE FIFTH (_Royal Armoury, Madrid_)] Spanish shields and swords of great antiquity and interest are also in this armoury. The oldest of the shields dates from the twelfth century, and proceeds from the monastery of San Salvador de Oña, Burgos. The material is a wood resembling cedar, although much eaten by moth, and is covered on both sides with parchment bearing traces of primitive painting of a non-heraldic character. Inside the shield, this decoration consisted of a black ground crossed diagonally by a broad red band, and outside, of a red ground covered with rhomboid figures, some in gilt and some in colour. Such figures were a popular pattern at this time and on this class of objects. The general stoutness of this shield shows that it was meant for war. It still retains the strap which slung it from the warrior's neck, as well as fragments of the braces--made of buffalo leather covered with crimson velvet--for the hand. Another shield, proceeding from the same monastery, dates from the thirteenth century. The material, here again, is wood and parchment; but in this hundred years formal heraldic ornament had superseded fancy or conventional devices. Accordingly, this shield is painted with a blazon, now much worn, of which, however, enough remains to show that it consisted once upon a time of four black chaperons crowned with gold _fleurs-de-lis_ upon a gold ground--said to have been the arms of Don Rodrigo Gomez, Count of Bureba. The _scut_, or polished metal shield, with painted blazonry or other decoration, was limited to Aragon and Cataluña.[128] [128] _Historia General del Arte; Armas_, by García Llansó; p. 445. Among the smaller and more modern shields preserved in this collection are two wooden bucklers dating from the sixteenth century. One is in the Spanish-Moorish style and of a convex shape, with iron bordering and umbo, and a lining of yellow brocade. The other, of the Christian Spaniards, is small and lined with painted parchment, and was intended, so the inventory says, "for going about at night."[129] [129] "Dès que le soir arrive, on ne va point n'y à Madrid ny ailleurs, sans cotte de maille et sans _broquet_ qui est une rondache."--Bertaut de Rouen, _Voyage d'Espagne_ (1659 A.D.), p. 294.