The long reign of Edward III. (1327–77) saw great strides towards the general use of full plate armour. An illumination on the psalter of Sir Geoffrey Loutterell (died 1345) furnishes an interesting example of the time. The knight is on horseback, sheathed in plate; he wears the pointed bassinet, a rectangular ailette on his right shoulder. His coat-of-arms (“azure,” a bend between six martlets “argent”) is repeated wherever possible: on the ailette, helm, pennon, shield, and housings; and again on the dress of a lady who is handing up the helm. Another lady holds the shield: her dress impales “azure,” a bend “or,” a label “argent” for Scrope of Masham. The saddle is the “well,” and the spurs rowelled. The lance-rest (an adjustable hook of iron for supporting the lance shaft) was introduced about 1360. A brass of Sir John Lowe, at Battle, Sussex, gives a good idea of the armour prevailing late in the reign of Richard II. and in that of Henry IV. The surcoat is omitted, so that in this instance the whole front panoply is exposed to view, though the garment continues to appear occasionally on monuments well into the fifteenth century, as shown on the brass of Sir William de Tendering in Stoke-by-Nayland Church (1408). The bassinet becomes less acutely pointed than on the effigy of the Black Prince. Épaulières show articulations, and gauntlets are articulated at the fingers. This is the case on the brass of Sir John Lowe, where the armpits are protected by rondelles, and the now visible taces of steel hoops form a skirt of from six to eight laminations. The cuisse is articulated, and the sollerets are “à la poulaine,” though not in the extreme form. The spurs are of the rowel type, and the figure is armed with sword and dagger. Full plate armour was used in Germany and Italy earlier than in England. There is ample evidence of this, but care must be taken in sifting the testimony of old “Chronicles.” In the “Tristan and Isolde” MS., by Godfrey of Strasburg, of the second half of the thirteenth century, the German men-at-arms are represented in “white” armour; helms with the bevor attached to the cuirass, the upper part of the face open, jambs of plate and sollerets “à la poulaine.” Their horses appear with bards. A statute of Florence of the year 1315 is remarkable for the following statement, viz.:--“Every knight to have a helm, breastplate, gauntlets, cuisses, and jambs, all of iron!”