Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 2).djvu/248

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for funerary purposes. The leather gloves still exist within them; and they show the characteristic feature of the first metal gauntlets in having the scales fixed to the fingers of the leather glove beneath and not to the broad metacarpal plate, as was the case at a later date. In the effigy (Fig. 560) the gauntlets of the Black Prince appear to be of the very simplest construction and free from ornamentation; but upon the existing gauntlets hanging above the tomb small figures of lions have been riveted on to the knuckles (Fig. 561) in place of the embossed or applied spikes called gads, or gadlings, which are usually found. The leather gloves have certain decoration embroidered in silk.

Fig. 562. Fragment of a gauntlet

Formerly covered with material and studded with metal disks. About 1370 Tower of London. Class III, No. 773

We take it that like other body defences of this period the gauntlet was often covered with velvet or some material studded with metal rivets, a fashionable and protective combination applied to the actual metal founda-