Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/278

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and tassets, a culette for the gluteal muscles for use on foot alone, and a pair of jambs now on a fluted suit. The additional pieces for the helmet are as follows: a chin-piece, an umbril, two buffes, one from which all the etching has been obliterated by polishing, the other (Fig. 1025) the whole surface of which has been etched in the shallow manner significant of the armourer with scrolls in the manner of the cantle steels of one of the saddles, two mezails, one of which was removed from a XVIIth century suit in St. James's Palace in 1908 and sent back to the Tower by command of King Edward VII.

There were formerly to be seen in the Armoury of Windsor fourteen separate plates, reinforcing and otherwise, which all belonged originally to this great suit. We think it will now ever remain a mystery why certain parts of certain suits in the Tower were until recently to be found at Windsor Castle, and vice versa. All the extra tilting pieces belonging to what we call the Henry VIII suit were returned to the Tower of London in September 1914 by command of His Majesty King George V in exchange for other armour.

Fig. 1028. Plates

From the croupière of the horse armour(?), Henry VIII suit. Removed from Windsor Castle to the Tower of London in 1914 by command of His Majesty the King (No. 109, Catalogue of Windsor Armoury, 1904) Class VI, No. 17

Of the odd pieces of this large Tower suit, now preserved in the Tower, the brayette (Class II, 8 J) deservedly ranks foremost in interest (Fig. 1026), No. 664 in the 1904 Windsor Catalogue. It was found in 1901, concealed beneath a basket of old rubbish in the unused room, No. 656, in the Round Tower, where many important fragments had been thrown as useless lumber during a certain reorganization of the Windsor Armoury in 1847. There is every reason to believe that it is the actual brayette mentioned for the first time in the 1676 inventory of the Tower of London as follows: "King Henry y^e 8^{ths} Codpeece parcell Guilt"; mentioned again in the 1683 inventory: "Codpeece of King Henry the Eighths parcel gilt"; and again in the 1688 inventory and valuation: "K: H: 8^{th} Codp[=ce] parcell Gilt," though no value is placed against this particular armament. The same record appears in the inventories of 1691 and 1693. This codpiece or brayette is certainly one of the most complete examples of this particular defence in existence; for not only does it possess