niello work. Religious emblems such as the lion of St. Mark, the ox of St. Lucas, the angel of St. Matthew, and the eagle of St. John are the principal motifs of its ornamentation, whilst legends both in Latin and gothic characters which have been deciphered by that famous paleographist, M. J. Tastu, satisfactorily prove that the sword was originally made for Herman de Salva, Grand Master of the Teutonic order of the Knights of Prussia (1210-1239).
The present writer has never had the opportunity of examining or even seeing the sword, so is unable to report as to what extent it has been restored; but there seems no reason to doubt by the evidence of its shape and decoration, that M. Tastu's statement as to its provenance and date should not be correct. However, despite any restoration to which this sword has been subjected, it still must be one of the most splendid weapons of this early date in existence (Fig. 123).
A very curious though exaggerated likeness to the type of quillons seen on both the last sword described and the St. Maurice, Turin, sword, and a pommel, apparently a development from that of the Brazil nut order, is to be noted on a very interesting sword hilt now in the Bargello Museum of Florence, bequeathed there with the remainder of his collection by the late Signor Ressman. Signor Ressman obtained this hilt from the Castellain collection. In the past considerable controversy arose as to its nationality and date—Spain and Southern Italy have been suggested as the country of its make; but the present writer, after the most careful consideration, has little hesitation in pronouncing it to be a product of Northern Europe and of the first half of the XIIIth century. Its form is so bizarre, and both the method and style of its ornamentation—thick silver plating applied to blacked iron ground—are so reminiscent of those swords of a hundred years earlier that it would almost seem evolutionized from them. The blade now in the hilt is of a somewhat later date, as is the grip (Fig. 124).
We have dwelt with these especially famous swords as being representative of the sumptuous armaments that must have been familiar to the civilized world in the first half of the XIIIth century. Many regalias and treasuries of the nobles must have contained even more splendid weapons; but all have perished, these alone to our knowledge surviving as memorials of past magnificence.
The hafted weapons of the XIIIth century had made but a slight advance in comparison with those of the preceding era. It has been suggested that the halberd in its first form was now introduced; but we have been unable
