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Decorations: Amadis
Edward the Confessor is described as wearing a mantle or cloak of velvet, embroidered in gold, ornamented with precious stones, and lined with ermine. It was fastened by a velvet band, covered with jewels. In the old romances are frequent allusions to Jewelled Robes. In "Amadis of Gaul," the robe of Grasinda, when preparing to receive Oriana, was adorned with roses of gold, bordered with pearls and precious stones of exceeding value. In "Emare," a rich King of Sicily brings as a present a wonderful cloth or tapestry:-- "Wyth that cloth rychly dyght, Fulle of stones their hyt was pyght, As thykke as hyt myght be, Off topaze and rubyes, And other stones of myche prys, That semely wer to se."
The loves of Ydoyne and Amadis were pourtrayed with-- "Trewe-love flour Of stones bryght of hewe, With carbunkulle and safere, Kassydonys and onyx so clere, Set in golde newe. Deamondes and rubyes, And othur stones of mychelle pryse."
Chaucer, in the "Knight's Tale," describes the King of Thrace as having a short mantle, "bretful of rubies red, as fire sparkling." EMBROIDERED TRAPPINGS FOR HORSES, such as are described by Ezekiel (xxvii. 20), as the precious clothes for chariots, coming from Dedan, cover the backs of the horses in Assyrian bas-reliefs from Nineveh. The harness trappings of the horses are remarkable for their richness and elegance. "The bits of the horses" (observes Layard), "as well as the metal used in the harness, may have been of gold and other precious materials, like those of the ancient Persians."
Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, who went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1172, returned with an enormous amount of riches, especially in jewels. While at Ayarat, the Turkish Sultan of Iconium, Kilidge Arslan II., presented him with magnificent gifts; among them thirty beautiful chargers, whose bits were of silver, their saddles of ivory, and their trappings of velvet, inwrought with gold and gems.
SADDLES AND BRIDLES were sometimes decorated with precious stones in the Anglo-Saxon times. Chaucer, in "Patient Grissel," says:-- "The brydel is into the toure yborne, And kept among his jewels." In Gower's "Confessio Amantis," Rosiphele, a beautiful princess, sees a vision of ladies:-- "And everichone ride on side The sadels were of such a pride, So riche sighe she never none, With perles and golde so wel begone." The princess sees a fair lady with her bridle richly studded with gems and gold.
Chaucer, in the "Knight's Tale," describes the King of Inde, "the grete Emetrius, riding as the god of armes, Mars":-- "His cote-armure was of a cloth of Tars, Couched with perles, white, and round, and grete. His sadel was of brent gold new ybete; A mantelet upon his shouldres hanging Bret-ful of rubies red, as fire sparkling." In "Sir Launval's Romance," a lady's saddle is described of great richness, having in the saddle-bow two jewels of India, very beautiful to be seen, in consequence of the great art with which they were wrought. On the visit of the Duke of Valentinois, son of Pope Alexander VI., to Louis XII. of France, in 1498, Brantome mentions that his horse was loaded with gold leaves and embroidery of goldsmiths' work, with pearls and jewels thickly strewn. Tavernier, in his "Travels," says:--"Le Roy (de Perse) donna audience dans la grande sale du Palais a l'Ambassadeur des Urbeks ou des Tartares. Tous les grands Seigneurs et Officiers de la Couronne se trouverent dans la premiere Cour, ou l'Ambassadeur devoit passer, et il y avait neuf chevaux de parade dont les harnois estoient tres-riches et tous differents. Il y en avoit deux tous couverts de diamons, deux autres de rubis, deux autres d'emeraudes, deux autres de turquoises, et un autre tout brode de belles perles." So extravagant, in the Middle Ages, was the decoration of the trappings of female horsemanship, that Frederick, King of Sicily, restrained it by a sumptuary law, by which no woman, even of the highest rank, should presume to use a saddle-cloth in which were gold, silver, or pearls, etc. Henry VIII. gave his nephew, Charles V., a foot-cloth of gold tissue for his horse, bordered with precious stones.