Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 1).djvu/90



Collection: Prince Ladislaus Odescalchi, Rome

applied to the surface of the pommels and quillons in the manner of the azzimina damascening of the XVIth century, although we can give an illustration of a superb sword hilt found in the Thames at Wallingford about 1875, formerly in the collection of Sir John Evans, but now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, where the decoration is composed of overlaid silver plates chased with figure subjects and scrolls. It has been suggested that in this particular sword the animals upon the pommel represent the emblems of the four Evangelists (Fig. 21). Many of these swords, when in their original condition, must have been genuinely beautiful quite apart from any barbaric splendour lent to them by the addition of elaborate scabbards and settings of gems. Most of the hilts which we have illustrated, it will be seen, are English finds, much resembling one another in the principle of their manufacture. They are usually classed together under the heading of the "Viking" type. The blade was forged double edged, the section at the hilt varying a little according to the accentuations of its central grooving. In constructing the sword, the quillons were passed over the tang (the continuation of the blade for the reception of the hilt); these on their underside were deeply grooved in order that they might fit firmly over the extreme top edge of the blade. Next the grip was added: