Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/270

 falling to the knees; but undoubtedly it must have originally possessed them, for there is evidence that such tonnlet suits, in all completeness, existed; witness those to be seen in the Imperial Armoury of Vienna. The large bascinet head-piece on this suit, though supplied to it doubtless at the time at which it was put together, is from the hand of one of the Missaglia of Milan, probably the work of Antonio; but we have to admit that the mark of this family of armourers that appears at the back of the bascinet is almost obliterated. On referring to Vol. i, Figs. 212 and 213, the reader will note similar head-pieces by foreign armourers added to otherwise homogeneous suits. We have described this particular helm or great bascinet on page 159 of Vol. ii (Fig. 497); but we omitted to mention there that the collar of the Order of the Garter boldly etched around the gorget plate is the chief decoration of this very fine head-piece. We have claimed, but on no contemporary evidence, that this suit once belonged to King Henry VIII; it is so like in proportions to the harness we have just described, and so significant is the circumstance of the garter chain being etched around the gorget of the helmet, that it may fairly be accepted, we think, as having once been worn by him.

It is very apparent that this type of skirted harness was only used for fighting on foot in the lists, the combatants being armed either with pikes, pole arms, two-handed or foining swords. The construction of the skirt would make it quite impossible for its wearer to sit a horse, as it is only flexible in a vertical direction, and so is unlike the bases on the first of the Henry VIII suits described, which, extending in a solid plate from the waist downwards, have at the front and at the back shaped plates which could be removed so as to enable the wearer to bestride a horse. According to Viscount Dillon these skirted suits were called "tonnelets" and "tonnes," though in later inventories they are described as "trundlets."

The remaining two suits, or rather one very complete suit on two figures (Class II, Nos. 8 and 9), which were in the Tower Armoury until 1914 and ascribed to the ownership of King Henry VIII, are of the most generous proportions, and if ever worn by him, which is more than likely, must have been made for use in his latter years. They cannot be definitely identified in the 1547 or later inventories; but when we arrive at the 1660 inventory, two white and gilt suits which were then in the Tower are stated to have been the respective properties of King Henry VIII and of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. There is the likelihood that this particular suit, in its two parts, formed those two harnesses referred to. The inventories after 1660