[Illustration: FIG. 45. Cromwellian pikeman. Tower.]
The last official use of full plate armour was at the Coronation of George IV, when the King's Champion, Dymoke, entered Westminster Hall and threw down the gauntlet to challenge those who disputed the King's right to the crown. The suit worn on this occasion belonged originally to Sir Christopher Hatton, Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth, and was made by Jacobe,[34] whose designs for armour have been referred to in Chapter III. The suit is now in the Guard Room at Windsor. The Guardia Nobile of the Pope still wear the picturesque half armour of the sixteenth century. The cuirass and helmet of the Household Cavalry of the present day are not survivals, for they were introduced at the time of the Coronation of George IV.
The study of defensive armour and weapons must of necessity need much careful comparison of examples and investigation of documentary evidence, but, even when undertaken only superficially, it will add greatly to the interest of modern history and of the arts of war. Costume can only be studied from pictorial and sculptured records, but in the case of armour we have, after a certain period, actual examples not only of historical but also of personal interest. With modern methods of arrangement and with the expert care of those most learned in this subject these examples will be an ever-present record which may be examined with more interest than might be bestowed upon many branches of the applied arts; because, in addition to the interest centred in the personality of the wearers, we have the sure signs of the master-craftsman which are always evident in good craftsmanship, and, not infrequently, the sign-manual of the worker himself.
The Sword. At the time of the Conquest the sword was straight, broad in blade, two-edged and pointed. The Quillons were straight and the grip ended in a Pommel which, as far as we can judge from illustrated records, was square, round, lozenge-shaped or trefoiled (Fig. 46). There is not much change in the general lines of the sword during the twelfth century except in the form of the pommel.
In the thirteenth century the point, instead of starting abruptly at the extreme end of the blade, is of a more gradual form, showing that the use of the sword for thrusting was more general than in the previous centuries. The Grip seems to be very short for the proper balance of the weapon, if we may judge from those shown on Plate III, 1, 2, 3.