Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/82

 all appear to be of a Flemish type and to date from the middle of the XVth century. An English version of this form of metal rondel pommel applied to a lobated dagger may be seen on a specimen which was found in the Thames, now preserved in the Museum of the Guildhall (Fig. 812). Though the grip is shrunken, it will be noted that the lobes are large and of wood resting on small quillons as is the case in most of those of English make. Its date is about 1480.

The "kidney" daggers we have so far illustrated have mostly been of mid-XVth century date; but as the latter part of the century progresses little alteration in their form can be noted. Eccentric examples are, however, occasionally to be seen, as, for instance, in the case of that ivory-hilted dagger in the Wallace Collection (Fig. 813), which is distinctly of the kidney type, but is elaborated by carvings of profile heads, foliage, etc. We take it that it is of North Italian origin, and of the closing years of the XVth century; for upon the blade, which is the original, is a partly obliterated inscription which, if completed, would read, an inscription that is found on a great number of North Italian weapons and pieces of armour of late XVth century date.

A direct descendant of the simple type of "kidney" dagger appears in the XVIth century. Mention of this particular form of dagger should perhaps have been reserved for the chapter dealing with the armaments of that century; but it bears such close relationship to the type just described that we prefer to deal with it in this particular connection, rather than to create a break in our story by postponing an account of it to a later chapter. The daggers we refer to have inherited the true form of the "kidney" dagger, while introducing a distinctive character of their own. This particular kind of "kidney" dagger is essentially an English production; indeed, we have met with no specimen on the continent, the provenance of which cannot be traced to England. A curious fact in connection with these XVIth century English "kidney" daggers is that so many of them appear to be made by the same hand, or at least to come from the same workshop; for they are strangely alike in construction and in decoration. The difference that they exhibit from their XVth century ancestors is that their grips are almost cylindrical and as a rule faceted, swelling to a mushroom-like shape at the pommel end to ensure a firmer hold. Their kidney formations, too, which rest on the short thick quillon under-plate, are very greatly reduced in size. The wood of which the hilt is almost invariably made is ebony; although we used to possess one dagger of this school—a complete dagger with