English
iron in former days was so inferior, or the art of working it was so
little known, that even as far back as the days of Richard II German
and Italian armourers were the chief workmen in Europe. It should be
remembered that the earlier kind of armour chiefly consisted of quilted
garments, further fortified by small pieces of leather, horn, or metal.
So far from the invention of gunpowder having driven out armour, if we
may credit the story of the earliest employment of that explosive, it
was at a date when plate armour was hardly in use, certainly not in
large pieces. What actually did cause the disuse of armour was the
change in ideas as to the movement of troops and the large quantity of
armour which was made in the sixteenth century, and consequently the
inferior make. In England the disuse of armour seems to have begun
earlier than on the Continent, but at no time were the ordinary soldiers
covered with metal as seen in Armouries and other places. The weight,
and what was more important, the cost, prevented such a thing. It was
only the rich who could afford to pay for and had horses to carry
armour, who wore much of what we see now. Again, armour for war was
much lighter and less complete than that used for the tilt yard, where
protection to the wearer was more considered than his ability to hurt
his opponent. The greater substance of such armour and its frequent
enrichment with engraving and gilding no doubt led to the preservation
of this class of defence.
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