hammering of steel.[813] Here it was that, by the King's command, the
master armourer made Jeanne a suit of mail.[814] The suit he furnished
was of wrought iron; and, according to the custom of that time,
consisted of a helmet, a cuirass in four parts, with epaulets,
armlets, elbow-pieces, fore-armlets, gauntlets, cuisses, knee-pieces,
greaves and shoes.[815] The maker had doubtless no thought of
accentuating the feminine figure. But the armour of that period, full
in the bust, slight in the waist, with broad skirts beneath the
corselet, in its slender grace and curious slimness, always has the
air of a woman's armour, and seems made for Queen Penthesilea or for
the Roman Camilla. The Maid's armour was white and unadorned, if one
may judge from its modest price of one hundred _livres tournois_. The
two suits of mail, made at the same time by the same armourer for Jean
de Metz and his comrade, were together worth one hundred and
twenty-five _livres tournois_.[816] Possibly one of the skilful and
renowned drapers of Tours took the Maid's measure for a _houppelande_
or loose coat in silk or cloth of gold or silver, such as captains
wore over the cuirass. To look well, the coat, which was open in
front, must be cut in scallops that would float round the horseman as
he rode. Jeanne loved fine clothes but still more fine horses.[817]

[Footnote 813: E. Giraudet, _Histoire de la ville de Tours_, Tours,
1874, 2 vols. in 8vo, _passim_.]

[Footnote 814: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 67, 94, 210; vol. iv, pp. 3,
301, 363.]

[Footnote 815: J. Quicherat, _Histoire du costume en France_, Paris,
1875, large 8vo, pp. 270, 271.]

[Footnote 816: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 67, 94, 210. _Relation du
greffier de La Rochelle_, p. 60. "The white armour of fifteenth
century soldiers, simple as it was, was expensive; it cost about ten
thousand francs of our present money. But the complete horse's armour
was included in this" (Maurice Maindron, _Pour l'histoire de
l'armure_, in _Le monde moderne_, 1896). According to the calculation
of P. Clement (_Jacques Coeur et Charles VII_, 1873, p. lxvi), 100
livres would be equal to 4000 francs of present money.]

[Footnote 817: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 76. Letter from Perceval de
Boulainvilliers, _ibid._, vol. v, p. 120. Greffier de la Chambre des
comptes of Brabant, _ibid._, vol. iv, p. 428. Le Fevre de Saint-Remy,
_ibid._, p. 439.]

The King invited her to choose a horse from his stables. If we may
believe a c