Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/264

 iron, which really consisted of old armour. In more complete form they can be seen on the suits in the Imperial Armoury of Vienna, notably on that beautiful little harness, made in all probability for Charles V when a boy of six, though formerly ascribed in the catalogue of the Vienna Armoury to the ownership of Philip I, King of Castille.

There has been some discussion as to the use for which this gift suit of Henry VIII was originally constructed; for it is mentioned in several of the older Tower inventories as "masking" or "masqueing" armour. We are of opinion that this word simply means that the suit was used in pageants, and we do not think that Sir S. R. Meyrick was correct in thinking that the word was a contraction of "damasked" or "damascened." We are strongly of opinion that this Seusenhofer suit was made for use only in actual warfare. The absence of the lance rest on the heavily made breastplate almost prohibits the use of the suit in the lists; while the construction and weight of the armour are quite adequate for purposes of hard fighting.

The remains of its surface enrichment, after centuries of neglect and after subsequent vigorous over-cleaning, now consists in a well-drawn though simple and direct design, executed with a broad engraving tool, illustrating the martyrdom of St. George and St. Barbara, groups of the Tudor Rose, the pomegranate, and the portcullis, badges of King Henry VIII, while bundles of arrows, the badge assumed by Ferdinand, the father of Katherine of Aragon, after his conquest of Granada, also appear. A detailed description of the decoration generally was given by Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick in Archaeologia XXII. Originally the whole surface of the suit was thickly plated with silver, a considerable amount of which, in the less exposed portions of the suit, still exists. This again may have been gilded; for gilding on a foundation of silver is more brilliant than when applied directly upon the steel surface. Bordering the skirt bases is applied an ornament in latten—no doubt also formerly gilt but now polished to a brightened surface—which introduces the duplicated monogram H. K. This applied border had doubtless between it and its steel foundation a layer of velvet, or even of cloth of gold, as in the case of the little suit made for Charles V, already mentioned, in which traces of the textile enrichment are still extant. What a thing of beauty it must originally have been with its brilliantly silvered or gilded surface and its applied gilded ornaments! However, little is missing to-day of the foundation of the suit save the gauntlets. This famous harness tells its historical story to-day in a few broken records; but for the armour enthusiast it has the additional interest of being a suit which can claim a recorded