A fairly slender blade, average length about 32". The section the same as XVIII, but some have a narrow fuller in the upper part. A single-handed type, but some are big weapons with quite long grips (about 5"). Pommel and cross may be of any type of style.
General Remarks
There are perhaps more survivors of this than of the type itself, for there is one in practically every collection; and many are among the most beautiful weapons ever made (plates 36A and 43B) for they combine grace of line and purity of form with the utmost practical effectiveness. Examples show almost every kind of hilt used during the 15th century, from the classic forms of the 13 th century to all the new varieties of pommel and cross which developed after 1400. These hilt-forms, and the swords they adorn, will be dealt with in their proper place. Here words are unnecessary; the sub-type has been illustrated quite fully, and the photographs speak more usefully than any attempt at description.
There are a few datable examples, but now that the types are all within the 15th century, most individual swords can be dated, even to within a decade, by the fashion of their hilts and by the
Representation of similar ones in datable works of art. It is also possible now to say that a given sword may be German or Italian; Spanish swords of the 15th century are even easier to
38For instance, a sword of c. 1150 in the collection of Mr. Harold Peterson, Arlington, Virginia; one (op. cit., p. 50) in my own collection; another in the Armouries of the Tower of London (op. cit., p. 62, note 19).
Engelhardt, "Vimosefundet"; Davidson, op. cit.
Place because of several very distinctive hilt-forms which appeared in the Peninsula, while in the Scandinavian countries strongly individual forms came into use alongside the more usual patterns. In this period too most survivors are well-preserved weapons which have never had to suffer the corrosion which has so marred their forerunners. There are many excavated swords of the 15th century, of course, but there is no longer any need to rely upon them for examples.
World History
