Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 2).djvu/303

 Sir Samuel Meyrick in 1834 by Henry Hall, 4th Viscount Gage. Apart from its historical association, the attraction of the sword lies in its extreme simplicity and severe beauty. The quillons are straight and taper somewhat to either end; the pommel is of the pronounced wheel type, of great depth and of vigorous section. The medium of the pommel and quillons is iron overlaid with sheet silver, once gilt. This method of decorating the hilt was in common practice in the XIVth and XVth centuries; it can be seen in the civil swords of certain corporations, notably in the so-called "King John sword" of King's Lynn (Fig. 706). The thick silver sheeting was applied to the iron core by means of solder. It was an effective and rich adornment; for it could be easily engraved, gilded, and enamelled, as will be seen on looking at the Battle Abbey sword. The engraving upon the quillons of this sword consists in a scheme of Gothic leafage. This is simplified on the pommel, which has on either side of it, in its recessed panels, the shield and arms of Battle Abbey, viz., a cross; in the first and fourth quarters, a coronet of strawberry leaves; in the second and third, a sword the point in chief; the whole coat being placed between the initials "t. L." (Thomas de Lodelowe). These arms were possibly enamelled in proper colours; but no traces of heraldic colours are now discernible. Sir Samuel Meyrick, writing of this sword at the time it was in his collection, described it most accurately as "A war sword used as one of State"; for it is eminently a fighting weapon as distinct from a regular sword of State. It will be noticed that the blade in section is of flattened diamond shape, and that when new it must have tapered to an acute point in the fashion of the generality of blades of the first years of the XVth century. But from constant cleaning and, what is more unusual, from constant sharpening, the outline of the blade some few inches below the hilt is lost in a curved irregular edge that terminates in a rounded thrusting point. As the section and original outline of the blade have now practically disappeared owing to the severe treatment they have received in the past, and as their disappearance lends to the blade the look of one with almost parallel edges, as seen in the case of swords of the XIth and XIIth centuries, suggestions have been made that the blade itself is of considerably earlier date and that the hilt was adapted to it in the XVth century. But on examination it can be proved from certain technicalities that this is not the case, and that the blade was actually made for the hilt to which it is fitted. It appears evident, therefore, from the details we have given that this sword was manufactured in toto in the XVth century, and that it is not the actual