Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/160

Fig. 922. Lochaber axe. Scottish (?), early XVIIth century. K 74, Musée d'Artillerie, Paris

Fig. 923. Lochaber axe. Scottish, late XVIIth century. Tower of London

Fig. 924. Battle-axe. Of the type of the Jedburgh axe. This example appears, however, to be of German early XVIth century make. K 69, Musée d'Artillerie, Paris

France. In the London Museum, Lancaster House, is a fine series of axe heads, dating from the XIIth to the XVIth century, illustrating various formations of the head and blade; unhafted, however, as they are, they are not in themselves sufficiently complete to be worth illustrating. The Wallace Collection (No. 20) gives a good example of the simple battle-axe of the closing years of the XIVth century (Fig. 918). It has the straight cutting blade, rectangular at the base. The top edge forms an obtuse angle with the cutting edge; here are semicircular pierced projections. On one side, deeply impressed, is the sacred monogram I.H.S. in Gothic lettering; while on the other side is the commencement of the word Maria. This example was found in France. Another small and curious axe (Fig. 919), certainly a weapon of early date, and possibly belonging to the end of the XIVth century, is now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York; its pro-