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the production of effective hand-firearms) after c. 1550, it was on its way to the scrap heap and the museum. So really, the Age of Shining Armour was very short - that is, as worn on the field of war. It rcmained as a sort of full-dress uniform, or pageant cos-tume, until the early 17th century; but it would never keep out arrows very well, any-way, and certainly not horrible, devil-ridden lead balls shot out of tubes, whose noise and stink terrified the horses.

It is amusing to notę, as an aside, that in the 15th century, it was firmly believed that bullets were, indeed, ridden by devils. Did they not howl and shriek as thcv flew? Arrows flew decendy with feathers, like the angels.

Another aside, in the wars of Afghanistan, only just a century ago, British soldiers under fire were far morę disturbed by arrows than by the Afghan bullets; they found them far morę frightening as they came silently, without the sharp crack of a passing bullet.

Back, then, to the reinforced mail of the years around 1300-1350 (Fig. 105). It was, for a start, cumbersome, for the mail shirt and hose were worn beneath a "coat of plates", i.e. a sort of doublet madę of smali plates, overlapped at the edges and riveted to a canvas backing covered outside with cloth or leather. Some of the coats of plates were madę like the old Lorica Segmentata of the Roman legionary, of narrow, overlapping hoops of Steel, also riveted to a canvas backing and covered outside. The mail sleeves were reinforced with "splints," narrow bands of metal held together in the same way as the coat of plates. Over the elbows, were cup-shaped defences of eithcr metal or hardened leather, and the shoulders were protected by ovcrlapping plates which covered the point of the shoulder and the top of the arm. On the legs, were the mail hose - tights - covered

Figurę 105. Armour (an claboratc example) of the 2nd quarter of the 14tli century. Marble grave-slab of Lorenzo Acciaioli, who died in 1353, in Florence. The elaborate poleyns with lion masks would be madę of hardened leather, and the "Coat of Plates" is covered with rich brocadc. The hem of the mail shirt shows bclow the scal-loped edge of the coat. The glovcs are of Steel, and the forearms are protected by "splints" below mail sleeves; on the thighs, are gamboiscd cuishes reinforced with splints; the shins are covercd by metal greaves, and on the feet, are reinforced shoes.