Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 5).djvu/235

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escutcheons a nude figure of a woman chained to a tree, at her feet a tablet inscribed "BELGICA," on her dexter side a lion rampant, on the sinister side a dragon. All these devices appear to refer to Leicester's expedition to the Low Countries in 1586. In De Cosson and Burges, "Helmets and Mail," p. 66, it is suggested that these pieces may be parts of a suit, which belonged to Leicester.

The records of the Middle Temple contain no reference to any of the armour and there is no tradition attaching to it.

Cf. "Report to the Bench of the Middle Temple," 24 January 1862.

ST. MARTIN-IN-THE-FIELDS.

In 1598 town armour was kept in the parish church of that time. An old record refers to "one coate of mayle, corslettes, leather buckettes, hoockes with their cheynes."

Fig. 1677. Hackney

Fig. 1678. St. Mary Woolnoth

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.

In the old cathedral there hung over the monument to John of Gaunt his Cap of Maintenance, crest, shield, and lance (vide ante, Vol. ii, Figs. 589 and 590).

Bloxam, in "Fragmenta Sepulchralia" (p. 146), notes: "At the funeral of Viscount Nelson in 1805 the standard, guidon, and banner of the deceased were carried by the Poursuivants, and the great banner, gauntlets and spurs, helme, and crest, sword and target and surcoat, were severally borne before the body by York, Somerset, Lancaster, and Chester Heralds, habited in close mourning with tabards. Norroy, in the absence of Clarencieux, carried the coronet. At the funeral of Pitt in 1806 the standard, guidon, and great banner were carried before the corpse, and the helme, crest, sword and targe and surcoat, were borne by the heralds."

WESTMINSTER. (The Abbey Church.)


1. Shield of Edward III (so called) in the Confessor's Chapel (vide ante, Vol. ii, Fig. 586, a and b).

2. Great sword of the XIVth century, called that of Edward III (vide ante, Vol. ii, Fig. 707), in the Confessor's Chapel.

3. The helm, shield, and saddle of Henry V (vide ante, Vol. ii, Figs. 449 (a and b) and 595; iii, Fig. 963, a and b).

4. Helm in the Pyx Chamber, circa 1475-90 (vide ante, Vol. ii, Fig. 456, A and B).

5. Sword in the Pyx Chamber, first quarter of the XVth century (vide ante, Vol. ii, Fig. 640).

6. Helmet, XVIIth century, in the Pyx Chamber, a real piece. The skull in two parts, the mezeil bent over the visor, a spike.

7. Helmet, XVIIth century, in the Pyx Chamber, a real piece, mezeil missing.