Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/353



English, early XVIIth century. Collection: Mr. Godfrey Williams

English workmanship of the first quarter of the XVIIth century. The sword probably belonged originally to Sir William Twysden of Roydon Hall, Kent. Collection: the late Mr. R. Stuyvesant

diversely curved, and a single ring-guard. This, as will be recognized, is a hilt very much like that of the so-called James IV sword without the pas-d'âne—the proper hilt for a veritable back-sword used only for cutting strokes. The hilt we illustrate (Fig. 1387), a fine and representative example which has never been unmounted, was formerly in the collection of M. Raoul Richards, later in that of Mr. W. H. Spiller, and is now in that of Mr. Godfrey Williams of St. Donat's Castle. The hilt is effectively incrusted with silver on a groundwork that was once gilt. A far more important weapon, and in every way a remarkable sword for one of English make, is the back-sword in the collection of the late Mr. Rutherford Stuyvesant of New York (Fig. 1388). This is the first time we mention the true basket-hilted sword which to-day is universally but erroneously known as the claymore (vol. ii, p. 302). The hilt, which is thick and massive, is decorated with the greatest richness, being incrusted with chased silver in very high relief. The groundwork is granulated, and has been entirely gilt. It is interesting to note that the last bar of the hilt has been purposely broken off to give full play to the wrist. The blade now in the hilt is fine in quality, but has been adapted to it. This sword, like others just described, was essentially made for cutting. It was at one time in the collection of the Baron de Cosson. Here we see the basket-hilt in one of its earliest forms and but little removed from its prototype, the basket-hilted weapon used by the hired soldiery of Venice, who were known as the Schiavoni (Slavs), a circumstance which led to the type of basket-hilted sword they habitually carried being called the Schiavona. There is good reason for believing that the Rutherford Stuyvesant sword belonged originally to Sir William Twysden of Roydon Hall,