Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 2).djvu/181

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of having the surface decorated with scroll-work in brightened steel on a russetted ground. This is the result of the paint added by the XVIth century undertaker, which has protected that part of the surface that it covered against the effect of the atmosphere, while the exposed parts of the surface have rusted. We cannot be certain about the place from which it originally came, but there is every reason to believe in the traditional attribution of ownership.

Fig. 481. Helm

English, early XVIth century. Erroneously supposed to have belonged to Edward IV St. George's Chapel, Windsor

The helm hanging by the site of the tomb of Edward IV in St. George's Chapel, Windsor (Fig. 481), owing to past ill-usage and to its transformation into a helmet for funerary purposes, is in a very dilapidated condition. Most of the rivets at the sides are gone, the lower edge is cut away and jagged, a spike to hold a crest has been inserted in the crown; and worst of all, the lower edge of the ocularium, with its skilfully reinforced thickening, has been roughly broken away in order to give greater space to the