Armoury of Madrid, No. G 1 (Fig. 722), is one of ceremony. The pommel and quillons are of gilt iron, the ends of the latter being splayed and cusped and inscribed TANTO MONTA TANTO MONTA MEMENTO MEI O MATER DEI MEI; while the pommel is pierced with four circular holes that lend it a cruciform appearance. It retains its scabbard of wood which is covered with velvet embroidered with the Spanish shield of arms as changed after the taking of Granada, and with the devices of the two sovereigns, that of Ferdinand, the yoke, that of Isabella, the sheaf of arrows. This sword is of genuine historical interest; for we find in the Relación notarial de Valladolid a description of it which agrees with the illustration of the sword shown in the illuminated inventory of Charles V—"A wide sword, old, for making knights, with flat pommel with holes and gilded cross." It is the royal sword which, during the rule of the house of Austria, in accordance with the etiquette of the houses of Castille and of Burgundy, was, in the absence of the Count of Oropesa, "whose privilege it was [to bear it] in Castille and the Count of Sástago's in Aragon," carried bare by the chief Equerry of the King on occasions of solemn entries into cities and of Princes taking the oath.
We could describe several other fine swords of ceremony that have both beauty and interest, if our list were not already too long. Such swords are to be seen in the Royal Armoury of Madrid, in the Arsenal of Venice, in the Museo Civico of the same city, in the Bargello Museum of Florence, in the Royal Armoury of Turin, as well as in various armouries and certain municipal buildings of France, Belgium, Russia, Germany, and Austria.
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Fig. 722. The ceremonial sword of Ferdinand V and Isabella
G 1 Royal Armoury, Madrid
We will end our list of swords of ceremony by referring to the splendid processional weapon that was presented by Pope Julius II to King James IV of Scotland in 1507 (Fig. 723), together with a consecrated hat of maintenance, relics formerly kept at Dunnottar Castle but now preserved among the Regalia of Scotland in Edinburgh Castle; and by the mere mention of that
