sheathed (Figs. 114 and 115). The other sword attributed to Charlemagne is that preserved in the Imperial Treasury at Vienna (Fig. 116). It is the tradition the sword was presented to him by the Caliph Hārūn-al-Rashid, the fifth of the Abbasid Caliphs of Bagdad (c. 785-c. 809), but the accuracy of the story lacks substantiality, for although a semi-Oriental made weapon of great age, it is extremely difficult to believe that it can possibly belong to so remote a period as the early years of the IXth century. It has been suggested there is the possibility that the origin of this remarkable sword was synchronous with most of the other objects contained in the coronation regalia of the Holy Roman Empire, and, if so, it was made during the period of the Norman domination in Sicily at the end of the XIIth and commencement of the XIIIth century, that is to say, during the reigns of the Norman kings, Roger II (1133) and William II (1181).
The belief that this curiously shaped weapon was actually of the time of, and worn by, Charlemagne survives to the present day. A XVIth century wood block of the great Emperor Maximilian I dressed in his full coronation robes shows this actual sword girded to his side (Fig. 117).
The sword has that curious bend in the tang that we associate with the curved weapon of the north-east of Europe. The quillons, which, like the cap-shaped pommel and other mounts of the hilt and scabbard, are of silver-gilt, hollow and very short, swelling to knobs at the end. All the enrichments are embossed and chased with an elaborate arabesque design, introducing forms which might be construed to resemble the fleur-de-lis, but which in reality are part of the design of the true arabesque. The grip is covered with fish skin, and is encircled with three jewelled gold rings, which appear later mediaeval additions. The scabbard of wood is covered with dyed ass's skin, while the silver-gilt locket mount is very wide, and must have allowed for the passage of a strap which would attach the weapon at almost a right angle to the body. Both this and the other mounts of the scabbard are embossed and chased in a similar manner to the hilt ornaments.
In endeavouring to establish a date to which we might assign this interesting relic, we are only able to do so by comparing it with any existing swords of a similar character. Of these, four swords of the same family are known to the writer, all found in Hungary, in association with coins of the Xth and XIIth centuries. Most like the Vienna "Charlemagne" sword is that known as the sword of Tarczal (Comitat Zemplén), which evidently belonged to a noble of importance, being found in a grave in the Tokay Mountains where he was buried with his horse. Only fragments of the blade of this weapon
