Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 5).djvu/57

 position it now occupies on the grand staircase merely to make a pendant figure to the mounted suit of Henry, Prince of Wales.

32. Chanfron and crinet. 33. Grandguard. 34. Reinforcing left elbow-piece. 35. Vamplate.

Collection: H.M. the King, Windsor Castle

We now come to the most famous of the suits associated with the name of King Charles I—that suit preserved in the Tower of London (Fig. 1448). Looking at this showy harness we feel quite sure that it was made for Charles when King; but it appears never to have been worn. Nor can the statement that it was given to the King, on the occasion of his coronation, by the Armourers' Company of London be substantiated; since the existing Armourers' and Brasiers' Company have no record in their minutes of such a gift. The tradition that it was given by the citizens of London to the King on the same occasion seems also to rest on no foundation of fact. However, we know that in the 1660 inventory of the Tower of London, an inventory made barely twelve years after the tragic death of the King, and therefore hardly long enough after the event to afford grounds for suspicion, there is