oak sih2

134

Conclusion

From the end of thc 14th century to the last quarter of the 15rh, the form of the sword, and its fonction, changed very little. For the first half of the L5th century, the "classic sword" was a comparatively short Type XV or Type XVTII - an acutely-pointed blade with a strong mid-rib, very broad below the hilt. Various forms of pommel were fashionable, though the very deep "wlieel" form seems to have been the most cornmon. Crosses fell into two basie styles, though of course infinite variations were possible, but because very few of the morę unusual styles have survived, scholarship tends to assume that they were never iiwented. That is a non-sensical conclusion, of course; nevertheless, the two swords shown here in Figs. 115 A & B have the most popular forms of pommel and cross.

A type of sword which appears fairly often on monuments and in works of art is what, in the 15th century, was called "the long sword." This was a very big weapon, as big as "The Grete Warsword." Figures 116 A & B, show good examples of this weapon. There was also, of course, thc "Two-hand Sword," but, again, this had not yet acquired the rather fantastic shape of the later 16th century "Two-handers" and was only a bigger version of the smaller weapon.

During the second half of the 15th century, the old-fashioned Type XIIIA of the 13th century came back into use. Figures 117 A & B show good examples of two such, dating per-haps c. 1480-1510, alongside an older 13th-century one. Both these splendid swords were

Figurę 115 A and B. Hilts of swords from the river Dordogne near Castillon, 1420-1460. Both in Private Collections.