XVth century as more fully protecting the blade from corrosion when sheathed. This same idea is carried out on the second of the swords (Fig. 637B); here, it must be pointed out that the whole hilt, that is to say, quillons and grip, are of gilded brass, inset in the latter case with plaques of horn. The third sword (Fig. 637C) is a superb fighting weapon with an exceptionally long and delicately moulded grip, and very slender quillons; its original sheath is preserved and is of cuir bouilli. This beautiful sword might be dated as early as about 1460, weapons of this kind being certainly in use at that time; but a sword of identical formation is seen in Dürer's famous plate, "The Knight, Death and the Devil," which is dated 1513, a circumstance that affords us an excellent illustration of the difficulty of assigning a specific date to an individual sword of a given type. There is a sword very similar to this in the Musée d'Artillerie of Paris (J 24). The fourth sword (Fig. 637D) has a finely moulded grip similar to that seen on the first of these series of weapons, but with a wheel pommel of rock crystal. The quillons are unusual in character, and their flimsiness suggests that they have been added in the latter part of the XVIth century, possibly for processional purposes. The pictorial representation of pommels of rock crystal may be seen in a picture painted in 1467 by Dirk Bouts now in the old Pinakothek of Munich. The fifth sword (Fig. 637E) has a hilt simply constructed, the spiral twist of the gadroon-shaped pommel being continued in the twist of the grip; the quillons droop slightly and are decorated on the exterior side only.
On the next sword (Fig. 637F) the exaggerated spiral fluting of the pommel is even more conspicuously continued in the formation of the grip, which in its lower half is pierced à jour, showing the encased tang of the blade. The hold obtained on such a grip must have been very secure. From the type of the blade, which is of triangular section, it may be assumed that the sword was for foining, that is, for thrusting and guarding alone. The "estoc," as this type of sword was called, was of much the same proportions as the bastard sword. The blade in nearly all cases is triangular in section, and tapers to a fine point. There is mention of the use of the estoc as early as 1268 in a judgment of the Parliament of Paris: "Sufficienter inventum est quod dictus Boso dictum Ademarum percussit cum Ense a estoc in dextro latero propria manu, et de ipso ictu cecidit dictus Ademarus." It was chiefly employed in the XVth and XVIth centuries for single combats on foot in the Champ Clos, which were often combats "to be decided by the judgment of God," the stiff penetrating blade being intended to force apart the plates of the special armour in which such foot combats were
