And now that Tristan (excellent, agreeable young man!) had assumed the shield, these four pieces – helmet, hauberk, shield, and jambs – illumined each other so beautifully that, if the armourer had designed all four to enhance each other with their beauty and be beautified in return, their splendour could never have been matched more evenly.
But what of the new marvel that was hidden within and beneath it, to the peril of his enemies? Was that of no account beside the rare masterpiece fashioned on the surface? I know it as true as daylight that, however it was with the exterior, the subject within was designed and executed with greater artistry to make the pattern of a knight than all the outward embellishment.
The work of art inside was most excellently contrived in form and conception. How the craftsman’s art appeared in it! Tristan’s breast, his arms and legs were lordly, splendid, well-formed, and noble. His casing of iron became him marvellously well.
— Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan, c.1210
Translated by A. T. Hatto, 1960
