6o The History of the Spur 



The system of rivetting the spur to the armour occurred, 

 so far as I can ascertain, occasionally during the sixteenth 

 and the beginning of the seventeenth century. After that time 

 the disuse of plate armour on the legs and feet necessarily 

 occasioned the disappearance of the custom. 



Upon the advent of trousers, early in the nineteenth 

 century, the British Army, and continental armies also, were 

 equipped with box spurs let into the heel of the boot — a 

 fashion which obtains at the present day with soldiers of all 

 ranks when unmounted. 



But to go back to the days of armour ; the practice of 

 rivetting the spur to the armour was rare. 



There is, in the Tower of London, a very handsome 

 small suit of armour, richly gilt, and decorated with inlay, 

 which was made for Charles I. when he was a boy, and 

 which has the spurs rivetted to the leg-pieces. But this, of 

 course, was a fancy and very exceptional suit, and is in no 

 way illustrative of everyday life. In the Poldi-Pezzoli Museum 

 at Milan there are a pair of very highly decorated and inlaid 

 leg-pieces of armour which probably date from about the end 

 of the sixteenth century, and which have very ornate gilt 

 spurs rivetted on to them. An illustration of these is given 

 on Plate 36a, Fig. i. In both these cases the suits of armour 

 are very ornamental, and were evidently not intended for 

 everyday use. 



Mr. James, in his contributions to the journals of the 

 Archaeological Association, and Mr. Hewitt, in his Ancient 

 Armour and IVeapons, both refer to the " beautiful long-toed 



