62 The History of the Spur 



In the same museum at Turin, where there are some very 

 fine equestrian suits of armour which belonged to various 

 Dukes of Savoie and other well-known Italian nobles, there 

 are several suits which have the spurs rivetted on to the 

 armour. They are all of the first half of the sixteenth century. 

 Here, again, the suits are all very ornate, and several of them 

 richly gilt. And although their history tells us that they 

 belonged without doubt to well-known individuals, and so, 

 presumably, were worn by them, it is probable they were only 

 used on state occasions. 



Many of the plainer suits in the Turin armoury, of precisely 

 the same period, have spurs with identical necks and rowels 

 buckled on in the ordinary way, and with the curved sides 

 in vogue at that period. Where the spur is rivetted there is 

 only a short, straight piece embracing the heel, and not 

 extending more than two inches on each side of the median line. 



In the Stibbert collection of armour at Florence there is 

 a German suit of the first half of the sixteenth century which 

 has a very peculiar spur rivetted .to the leg-piece. The suit 

 is somewhat incomplete, the bascinet being missing, and several 

 pieces are, I think, open to doubt as to their genuineness. 

 The legs have only the outer side protected, and to this outer 

 half of the jambe is the spur rivetted. Immediately behind 

 the rivet is a hinge in the arm of the spur, and the inner 

 arm, which is much shorter than the outer one, ends with a 

 spring catch, which fixes and helps to hold steady a sort of 

 flap which is hinged on to the back of the outer piece of the 

 jambe, and serves to protect the back of the man's leg. The 



