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 A RECORD OF EUROPEAN ARMOUR AND ARMS THROUGH SEVEN CENTURIES

CHAPTER XXXVII

The dawn of the XVIIth century brings us within measurable distance of the end of our attempt to depict in outline the history of European armour and arms. We have, however, still to describe certain harnesses that have the greatest historical importance. In the fashion of armour and weapons that prevailed in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean times it is impossible to say "This is late Elizabethan and that is early Jacobean." As we have previously suggested, long before the advent of the year 1600, a really noticeable deterioration in the art of the armourer had become evident. We may consider, however, that apart from this deterioration, interest was centred on the productions of the swordsmith, of the gunsmith, and of the cannon-founder; the mere lack of encouragement shown to the armourer was the cause of his art rapidly deteriorating.

We will pause for a moment to consider where this deterioration, which developed with increasing rapidity, first began. The most disastrous blow which the armourer's art sustained came, as we have already stated, not from the now universal use of gunpowder, but from a tendency on the part of the armourer to shirk his work and to save time by a mere simulation of the achievements of his predecessors. That is to say, in place of the beautiful and careful modelling of the plates to the requisite forms, of the exquisite finish of a cabled edge, or of the execution of some delicate point of technique, effects were substituted which at a casual glance seemed almost as rich in appearance, but which were attained by any means which would save labour. Many suits of early XVIIth century date and of great historical importance are extant in English collections to bear witness to this deterioration of the armourer's craft; we are therefore able to complete our list of types without turning continually to the Continent for illustrations,