Defensive armour experienced another change a little before the middle of the sixteenth century, viz., in the casting aside of fluted armour, for the reasons already stated, and the resumption of plain steel. Suits became generally lighter, and the form of the breastplate changed, with a hump over the stomach or the abdomen. During the second half of the century the cuisse and tasset tend to combine in a series of laminated plates to the knee, and sollerets were smaller and more the shape of the foot; indeed, greaves and sollerets began to be replaced by leather boots. This period was specially remarkable for profuse and artistic ornamentation. Armour was engraved by hand and manipulated with aquafortis, as well as embossed and damascened with gold, in a manner that has never been surpassed in any work of the kind whatever. There is a very fine suit of the period, 1550–60, at the Königliche Zeughaus, Berlin, made by the elder von Speyer; and though the armour is enriched, it has been described in this section by way of showing a typical harness of the period in its order. It was undoubtedly made by Peter von Speyer in 1560 for the Kurfürst Joachim II. of Brandenburg, and is thus historic. The letters P. V. S., with the year, appear several times on the armour, and the Brandenburg arms decorate the breast. The helmet is the burgonet, the cuirass is shorter than the fashion immediately preceding, while the rim of the breastplate stands out sharply beyond the tassets. The breastplate projects a little below the centre, and the shoulder-pieces and general pose, with the before-mentioned features, are all characteristic of the year of make. The ornamentation in repoussé work is very fine. This suit has been fully and ably described by Dr. Edgar von Ubisch in the _Hohenzollern Jahrbuch_ of 1899. (See illustration, Fig. 26.) Descriptions in detail and illustrations are given of various suits of the second half of the sixteenth century. During this half century (sixteenth) defensive armour may be said in some respects to have reached its highest point of excellence; but towards its close unmistakable signs of decadence began to appear, and cap-à-pie suits fell gradually into disuse. This was caused by the inability of the armour to resist the then more penetrating firearms, or perhaps even still more, because the newer tactics demanded lighter cavalry and fighting more in masses, and less from individual efforts hand-to-hand. A style of demi-armour, called the “Allecret,” largely prevailed during the second half of the sixteenth century. The name is a corruption of “allekraft” (all strength). The peculiarities of this fashion will be shown in an example from the author’s collection (Fig. 27), which will be fully described later in these pages. This half-armour was often worn by light horsemen, household troops, and leaders of companies. It is very common to find, especially in family collections, some