oak sih1

73

verv broad blade and a very narrow fuller and a rea-

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sonable amount of taper to the edges.

Type XII can really bc distinguished from X or XA by the fact that its fuller is not so long, reach-ing only about half-way down the blade, which is broad, fiat, and gently tapering to a sharp point, like a X (Fig 67). Type XIII, on the other hand, is much easier to distinguish because its edges run nearly par-allel to a vcry blunt point, and it has a long grip.

Figurę 69A shows an excellent example, in the Royal Armouries at Leeds. This type has no parallels among Dr. Leppaaho's finds, and as far as can be determined at present, was used only between say 1250 and perhaps 1370. Type XIIIB is similar, but with a short grip. The example I show (Fig. 69C) has an inscription in an Arabie NASFIKI script which was added to the blade in 1368, to tell that it was taken from a Christian knight of Cyprus in 1365 and hung as a trophy in the Hall of Victories in Alexandria after an abortive attack on Cairo by the Cypriots under Pierre of Lusignan, titular King of Jerusalem. The fact that it was in use as late as 1365 suggests that it is unlikely that it was madę much before, let us say, 1340. Another excellent example of the type, which by the style of its pommcl is prob-ably earlier (c.1250 or before), is in the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh (Fig. 70).

You will notę that earlier in this chapter I said that the form of pommel was of no use at all to determine the datę of a sword, yet here I am using just that method. The reason is that this sort of massive cocked-hat pommel, used in the late Viking period, was still very popular (as shown by many sculpted figures and MS miniatures) until about 1280, after which time it is seen no morę. So I use it without a blush to denote a datę earlier than the 1368 Philadelphia one.

The sub-type of XIII, which is called XIIIA, is far morę common than XIII, for there are dozens of survivors, many in superb condition. The sub-type is charactcrised by a long grip, ranging between 6" and 8," as against the 4" to 4.5" of the ordinary one-handed grip, and a long blade. I propose to go into the questions of the XII IAs in another chapter,

because they are not only frequendy turning up in the saleroom, but are very interesting in their own right. In their time, they were called Grete Swerdes ofWarre, or Grans Espees de Guerre, or Schlachtswerte, and were the forerunners of the morę usual Bastard or Hand-and-a-half swords of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries (Fig. 69B).

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