Sword: HEN.M.193-1933

Maker(s)

Production: Unknown (Probably)

Entities

• Sword
• bastard sword

Categories

• Weapons

Description

Sword. Fig-shaped pommel. No button. Long shaped grip of wood covered with thin leather. Long, arched quillons of circular section, narrowing toward the tips and ending in wider knobs en suite with the pommel. Large, D-shaped outer ring-guard; two short branches form the ends of each of which springs a counter-guard curving outward and then back to join the ring-guard. Back-guard of one bar. Back-edged blade of very flat triangular section.
The blade has no marks, and is in poor (though not excavated) condition. The hilt is effective but crudely made, much corroded. The (original) grip consists of a wooden core, bound with fine cord over which is a covering of thin leather. This leather covering once extended downwards over the ecusson to form a rain-guard over the top of the scabbard. Some traces of this rain-guard survive.

Notes

History note: Unknown before testator, 'Abbotsford', Downs Road, St Helen's Park, Hastings, Sussex,

Legal notes

J.S. Henderson Bequest

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1933-03-16) by Henderson, James Stewart

Dating

16th Century
Production date: circa AD 1530

Note

German or ?Swiss

This hilt type does not appear in Vesey Norman's exhaustive typology of hilts. There is a similar though plainer one in the Schweizerischen Landesmuseum in Zürich (Inv. No. LM16994) illustrated in 'Griffwaffen', vol. 1 of that Museum, no. 178, p. 127.

This sword has a single-edged blade and a wooden hilt, covered in leather and bound with fine twine. The long hilt allowed a hand-and-a-half sword to be held with both hands when great force was needed. After about 1400, the quillons (cross guard) often curved towards the blade and had ring guards to protect the forefinger.