Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/264

 Veen or Heemskerk, copies of which (dated 1555, and published at Amsterdam by Hieronymus Kock) are in the British Museum.

About 1530. The gift of Don Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, to Charles V of Spain D 66, Royal Armoury, Madrid

About 1530. The gift of Don Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, to Charles V of Spain D 67, Royal Armoury, Madrid

Parade shields were not always fashioned of metal. They were often made of wood covered with parchment, with an outer covering of velvet to which were applied plaques of embossed and damascened iron. Three superb examples of such composite targets are to be seen in the Royal Armoury of Madrid (D 65, 66, and 67). Two of them (Figs. 1307 and 1308) must have formed part of a gift made by Don Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, to Charles V; for we have the testimony of two different authorities as to their origin, that of the Inventario de las armas del Emperador, in which sketches of them are shown, and that of the Relación de Valladolid, which mentions "an old buckler, Moorish, of gold and black inlaid work, with six medals, also finely worked, presented by the Duke of Mantua, garnished with blue velvet and edging of gold and blue, and one other much like" (Translation). The first shield, D 65, is not mentioned; but judging from the emblems employed in its decoration we have little doubt that it formed part of the