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a somewhat more advanced type of the same family of weapon which anticipates the other forms that advance well into the XVIIth century. The hilt of this last-mentioned specimen is not unlike that on the James I sword at Windsor, both in general form and also in the method of its decoration. The various trophies, military and floral, are rendered in that stiff and formal manner which is always associated with English-made hilts, but which is met with also on hilts imported from the Low Countries. In the case of this example the hilt, which is entirely gilt, is furnished with a hollow gadrooned pommel of inverted pear shape, with a knuckle-guard of oblong rectangular section, with quillons diagonally curved and widening to ribbon ends, with a single bar, and with a pas-d'âne, from the left side of which runs an upturned counter-guard. The centres of the bar and of the quillons both widen; they bear, chiselled in relief, trophies of Roman arms in oblong hexagonal panels. The remainder of the hilt is deeply engraved and overlaid with gold in a design of festoons of drapery, masks, etc. This specimen may be considered to be as late as the first quarter of the XVIIth century.

Fig. 1383. The Heralds' College sword

Traditionally said to have belonged to King James IV of Scotland The Heralds' College

At this point it may not be inappropriate to refer to that famous sword and dagger in the possession of the College of Arms which are always known as the weapons of King James IV of Scotland, and which are stated to have been taken from the body of the King, after the battle of Flodden Field on 9 September 1513, by Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey (afterwards 2nd Duke of Norfolk). The author has already more than once expressed his unwillingness to throw any doubt upon cherished traditions; but the simple evidence afforded by the form of hilt on the sword and dagger in question renders it