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So; we may infer a sword carried in one way or another-on the right of the saddle, sheathed or unsheathed, in front, behind or under the tlap. Was it the Great Sword, or the smaller, morę acutely pointed Parva Ensisi In his account of his exploit at Mansourah, Joinville goes on to say how he got his saddle-sword out and, using it in the manner of a lance, ran upon his adversary and killed him. So the sword was morę or less acutely pointed, which does not really suggest a Great Sword, either of the Type XIIIA which was coming into favour at that time or the slightly later Type XVIA, with a sharper point.

So much for speculation. The matter is, I believe, firmly set at rest by a picture painted circa 1511, showing Louis XII of France riding into Genoa in 1507 (Fig. 89). Here is the King, splendidly accoutred with his Great Sword at his waist and his smaller one at the arcon of his saddle - in front, on the left. This painting (by Jean Marot) may be over a century later than Joinville's memoirs, but what of it? It would be two decades after 1511 before the fashions of the High Middle Ages would change. Louis was still at that datę a medicval knight.

Fig. 89. From a painting (c. 1511), by Jean Marot (1463-1526) showing Louis XII of France in 1507. Showing his "Espee de Guerre" at his waist and his Arming Sword at the forward arcon of his saddle, on the left. From "Journey to Genoa", a chronicie of the entry into the city. (Paris Bibliotheque Nat.)