Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/46



North German, late XIVth century. Collection: Author

Chinnor Church, Oxfordshire

of flattened diamond-shaped section and wide at the hilt. Another dagger (Fig. 728) in the same museum, the short quillons of which, however, are straight, resembles the dagger on the Stapleton brass in its great length of grip. Our next example (Fig. 729) is a quilloned dagger, found in northern Germany, that we date at about this period. Though it is in a poor state of preservation, it may be considered an interesting document; since it has the proportions of a miniature sword hilt, with the wheel pommel and slightly drooping quillons that are associated with the bastard sword of 1370 onwards. Next we give as an illustration of a quilloned dagger of the end of the XIVth century that represented on the brass of John Cray, Esquire, in Chinnor Church, Oxfordshire (Fig. 730). This dagger appears to be a little shorter; but the blade is widely proportioned, and the details of the sheath are admirably rendered. Our next illustration (Fig. 731) is that of a dagger that was found in the Thames at Westminster; it must date towards the closing years of the XIVth century. It is now in the collection of Mr. W. J. Pavyer. In Aveley Church, Essex, there is a brass, curiously Flemish in style, of Ralph de Knevyngton, of 1370 (Fig. 732), that shows a variation of the quilloned dagger. In this instance there is no pommel; but the grip widens towards the top, where there is a loop by which it is attached to a chain, fastening it to one of the mamelières of the surcoat. The shape of this dagger is suggestive of the basilard, of which we shall shortly speak. A dagger recovered from the Thames at Mortlake shows some of the characteristics of that found on the Knevyngton brass (Fig. 733). The quillons are in this case straight, and are of bronze; as is the flat cap pommel that fits on the top of the grip, which extends in circumference towards the top. This dagger is now in the collection of Mr. Henry G. Keasby; its probable date is from 1400 to 1430. The next two daggers illustrated, an example found at London Wall (Fig. 734), now in the Guildhall Museum, and an almost similar weapon in the London Museum (Fig. 735), are somewhat difficult to date even approximately; for