in Latin; the third sword (Fig. 106) now in the Maidstone Museum, was found outside the town, and shows the same general construction, but the pommel is of larger proportions and of the advanced Brazil nut form. The general similarity of all these hilts is interesting, since it establishes a certain international conformity as regards shape and fashion, for the latter is an English find, whilst the others were excavated on the Continent.
A contemporary illustration of swords with both the wheel and Brazil nut types of pommel in use at the same time may be seen in an illumination taken from a Jewish Prayer Book in the University Library of Leipzig. It represents Pharaoh with two warriors persecuting the Jews (Fig. 107).
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Fig. 107. Swords of the XIIIth century
Showing the pommels of the wheel and Brazil nut types. Illumination from a Jewish Prayer Book, University Library, Leipzig
Having alluded to the type of the ordinary sword of the first half of the XIIIth century, we now have arrived at that era to which it would be safe to assign the production of certain famous swords of sumptuous craftsmanship and of historical importance. For instance, such weapons as are to be seen in the Royal Armoury of Turin, in the Louvre of Paris, in the Imperial Treasury of Vienna, in the Royal Armoury of Madrid, and in the Hermitage, Petrograd.
We will deal first with the sword that justly claims the greatest seniority—the sword known as that of St. Maurice in the Royal Armoury of Turin (Fig. 108). The St. Maurice sword is of Italian workmanship and dates from within the first quarter of the XIIIth century. It was originally in the Treasury of the Abbey of St. Maurice in the Valois (Switzerland), an abbey said to have been founded at the end of the IVth
