Authorised Guide to the Tower of London | Page 7

Wellington from 1826 until his death, in 1852.
Near this is a portion of the wooden pump of the Mary Rose, sunk in
action off the Isle of Wight in 1545.

In a case at the end of the room is a mass of fused gun flints, a relic of
the fire which in 1841 destroyed the Great Store in the Tower and many
thousand stand of arms, cannon, &c.
The staircase in the S.W. corner is now ascended leading to the great
upper chamber, generally known as the Council Chamber, 95 feet by 40
feet, and, like the smaller room, 21 feet high. Round this top floor runs
a passage cut in the thickness of the walls, with numerous openings
inwards opposite the windows, and widening somewhat when forming
as it does the triforium of St. John's Chapel. At the entrance are cases
containing velvet-covered brigandines and canvas-covered jacks,
garments which were much used in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
as giving protection by means of numerous small plates of metal
disposed between the thicknesses of the material covering and lining
them, and also great flexibility. In the cases on the right hand are
specimens of chain mail in form of hoods, coats, sleeves, &c, mostly, if
not all, of Eastern origin. Observe also some bronze swords and other
very early weapons.
Round the walls of the two rooms are arranged the various staff
weapons used in England and the continent. In the first enclosure on
the left are cases in which are ancient bronze tools, weapons, and
ornaments from various localities, stone implements and weapons, and
a suit of bronze armour from Cumæ, an ancient Greek settlement near
Naples. In the centre of the enclosure are grouped many varieties of
staff weapons of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries.
Among them are boar spears for the chase and for war, halberds,
partizans, bills, glaives, holy water sprinkles (a staff with a ball with
spikes at its extremity), and the 18 foot pikes of the Civil War period.
The first case on the left contains a fine archer's salade with its original
lining, from the de Cosson collection. A Venetian salade, with the
stamp of the maker of the Missaglia family, a heavy salade for jousting,
a combed morion and the tilting helmet of Sir Henry Lee, K.G., Master
of the Armouries to Queen Elizabeth and James I. In the lower case are
finely engraved and parcel gilt chamfrons for horses' heads, a gilt
vamplate for the tilting lance belonging to Lord Chancellor Hatton, an

officer's gorget of the time of Queen Anne, and various pieces of rich
armour.
In the window recess behind are shields and horns. In the next
enclosure are three foot figures of the end of the fifteenth century and
commencement of the sixteenth century; the first holds a long-handled
axe as used for encounters on foot in champ clos. The second holds a
two-handled sword. The third suit is enriched with engraving, and was
formerly parcel gilt, but the helmet does not belong to the suit.
In the centre of the room is an equestrian figure (III), the man wearing a
fine early sixteenth-century suit of armour, bearing the Nuremberg
stamp, and the horse protected by a barb richly repoussé, engraved, and
formerly silvered. The designs on this display the Burgundian cross
ragulé and the flint and steel. The steel or briquet is to be seen also in
the hinges and in the metal coverings for the reins. It will be
remembered that this design forms the motif of the collar of the Golden
Fleece.
The next equestrian figure (IV) shows the fluted, or as it was called
crested, armour, of about 1500. The horse armour is also fluted. On the
right, in the centre of the room, are two armours which belonged to
Henry VIII. Of these the first (XXVIII) is that formerly described as
"rough from the hammer," though it has been milled or glazed and no
hammer marks are visible. It is a complete suit for fighting on foot in
the lists, and comfort and ability to move about, have been sacrificed to
perfect protection. The suit weighs about 93 lbs., and is composed of
no less than 235 separate pieces of metal. Some details of construction
point to a Spanish influence in the style. The second figure (XXIX),
which wants the leg armour, is of the kind known as a tonlet, and has a
skirt of horizontal lames engraved. The helmet bears the well-known
stamp of the Missaglia family of armourers, and is very curious and
massive. This armour is also for fighting on foot in champ clos or the
lists.
The next suit (VI) on the left is one of Henry VIII, and has been parcel
gilt; the weight of the