nearly always fought. A hafted weapon formed on nearly the same formidable principle as the estoc is the ahlspiess. This was an Austrian arm, chiefly for yeoman use. But the practice of it must also have been familiar to the nobles; since the Emperor Maximilian in the "Freydal" is seen employing it. Although we could mention and illustrate many more XVth century swords which retain the simple Gothic influence, we have perhaps enumerated a sufficient number for our purpose.
We are now compelled to retrace our steps; for the true single-handed sword is worthy of attention, and there are many examples which we must specify as being thoroughly representative. The first that we shall mention belongs to the early part of the XVth century, and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, having been formerly in the Dino and Carrand Collections (Fig. 638). It has been suggested, and on good authority, that the sword, as we now see it, is composite in its parts, and that M. Carrand was responsible for its present complete state; but as this theory contradicts Baron de Cosson's description of it in the famous Duc de Dino Catalogue, we must on the weight of such an authority accept the sword as wholly authentic. The hilt is of copper gilt and cruciform, with a wheel pommel of XIVth century formation, drooping quillons, and tapering grip. These are all engraved with conventional Gothic foliage. In the pommel are silver medallions engraved and enamelled with coats of arms which the late M. Carrand construed as being those of Sire de Gaucourt, a brilliant courtier attached to the household of King Charles VII of France. The blade is long and tapering, almost too long to balance the comparative lightness of the hilt. The point is reinforced; while near the hilt is inlaid in brass an armourer's mark, a cross within a circle. It is stated that this sword was discovered in Normandy in the year 1838. Thoroughly representative of the period, both in respect of form and of decoration, is the weapon which was perhaps the principal treasure of Sir Noël Paton's Collection and which is now in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh (Fig. 639). "The Sword of Battle Abbey," as it is called, was made for the abbey in Sussex, which was endowed by William the Conqueror with exclusive rights. The existing sword was made during the abbacy of Thomas de Lodelowe, abbot from 1417 to 1434. Sir John Gage, K.G., received this sword into his keeping when he was acting as one of King Henry VIII's commissioners for accepting the surrender of religious houses. It remained in the possession of his family at Firle Place in the same county, until it was presented to
