Just remembered that Sean posted the below images of this Type R from the Museum of London over on the 'Bastard backswords' thread.

Interesting how similar the cross, and very simple single sidering, is to the 'peeled mandarin' version in the artwork above.

Oakeshott refers to another Type R pommel sword at the MoL, first giving it as a type XII in The archaeology of weapons, and type XVI in The sword in the age of chivalry, dating it to circa 1300 ... anyone have photos of that one?

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That's quite a thin blade. The longer fuller makes me think it's some mix of types XIII, X and XX. How cool!

Here's a possible example of a Type R pommel, from the Royal MS 15 E VI (f. 405 r), dating from 1444-45.

In smaller renditions of this image, the pommel appears fairly found, and faceted. At a magnified view, it seems hard to know if the artist intended it to be round, or the lower portion is meant to be fairly straight.

In any case, here it is for reference, as it has some interesting features: a relatively short blade, such as Dordogne and Mary Rose RA examples, possible rounded/'penny' scrolled ends to the cross, a chappe/'rainguard', and clear example of spiral binding for the grip leather.

From the British Library:

Quote:

1444-1445, A collection of fifteen romances, chivalric treatises, instructional texts, chronicles and statutes compiled as a gift to Margaret of Anjou, on her betrothal to Henry VI, from the 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, who escorted her to England for the marriage in 1444. The contents are as follows: ...13. Christine de Pisan, Les fais d'armes et de chevalerie (ff. 405r-438r).

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Christine de Pisan, Le livre des fais darmes et de chevalerie, a work on military strategy and the conduct of war, from a variety of sources, for the use of young knights ... Decoration: 1 two-column miniature in colours and gold of Henry VI enthroned giving the Earl of Shrewsbury the sword as constable of France, with partial bar and foliate border (f. 405r) ...

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Here's a more definite candidate, faceted and slightly elongated, as seen in other artwork, and some historical examples.

Once again, we have what appears to be spiral wrapping of the grip leather. I personally like the depiction of the plain, straight cross, which is also seen on a couple of other existing Type R pommel swords.

This one from Royal MS 18 D II (f. 6r), which the British Library titles as 'John Lydgate, Troy Book and Siege of Thebes, with verses by William Cornish, John Skelton, William Peeris and others', 1457 - c 1530.

From the BL description:

Quote:

John Lydgate, Troy Book, a verse paraphrase in five books of the prose Historia Troiana of Guido delle Colonne ... The subjects of miniatures are:f. 6r, A king enthroned surrounded by courtiers with Sir William Herbert and his wife, Anne Devereux wearing clothes decorated with their coats of arms, kneeling before him ...

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Here's what looks like a faceted Type R pommel, in an image of Richard III from the Salisbury Roll.

Hard to know if this was meant to be an accurate representation of a pommel type, given the detailing in the rest of the image, but it is a little similar to the one shown in the Royal MS 15 E VI above.

An interesting image in any case.

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JR Hale's wonderful Artists and Warfare in the Renaissance contains some great examples of Type R pommels from the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

This one is 'Woman Standard Bearer' by Niklaus Manuel, c. 1518, Basle, Kunstmuseum. The version here is a bit washed-out, but was the best I could find online. Hale's book has this beautifully rendered on p. 33.

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Niklaus Manuel's The Fortunes of War, c. 1514-15, Berlin, SMPK / Staatliche Museen Kupferstichkabinett.

Again, Hale has a better-rendered image on page 37.

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Another ... don't have details from this one, but it was sourced from Landesknecht.org: The international Landsknecht community & home of Stockholmsfänikan (http://www.landsknecht.org/photo/niklausmanueldeutsh15292-1?context=latest#!/photo/bil1514b-1?context=latest). Might also be by Niklaus Manuel.

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Another sourced from landsknecht.org; this one by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Not much detail, but it's in keeping with the many other images of Type R pommels in early 16th C art.

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Detail

This image is from 'Mars and his Children' from the Sphaerae coelestis et planetarum descriptio [De Sphaera], Biblio Estense 13 ALFA.X.2.14.

This entire mid-15th C manuscript can be downloaded for free from the Biblio Estense's website, thanks to their digitisation program: http://bibliotecaestense.beniculturali.it/info/img/ebook.html

(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Italy License.)

Once again, this image is more clearly produced in Hale's Artists and Warfare in the Renaissance on page 212.

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Detail

here's a beauty...maybe

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And a few more from the Collections gallery here ...

Note how similar the first one is to the Dordogne sword shown earlier - type R pommel and type 11 cross. Makes sense that this would be an aesthetically pleasing combination; strange that we don't have more examples of it.

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While Type R pommels are more commonly seen on rapiers than prior long (and short) swords, here's a nice example of what might be thought of as a 'crossover' type; it's currently for sale at Peter Finer, who calls it a 'military rapier'.

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In the interests of completeness, here's what Oakeshott had to say about Type R pommels in The sword in the age of chivalry:

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A spherical pommel, survivors being more rare than one might expect of such an obviously practical form of pommel. Two are in the London Museum, the first of a sword of Viking type where it looks most incongruous, yet it is no replacement. It has a simple decoration of floral sprigs in the manner of many 9th-10th century swords of Frankish origin. The second spherical pommel is on a fine sword of Type XVI of c. 1300 which was found in Cannon Street in London. In the Maciejowski Bible the drawing of Goliath shows a pommel of exactly similar form and decoration (fig. 69).

And here are the images from the Maciejowski Bible - the first the complete scene, and then the two close-ups of the sword, first held by Goliath, and then David:

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Here's another possible example ... sometimes, it's just so hard to tell whether these two-dimensional representations are meant to show spheres or not! Anyway, this one appears to be semi-spherical, and part of the family. I'm also not sure when this image dates from.

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Here's another 'peeled mandarin' variant of this pommel, from The Hours of Peter II, Duke of Brittany (1455-57), showing Saint Michael and the Mont Saint-Michel. This MS is in the Bibliothèque Nationale.

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Another contender ... again, it can be hard to gauge from two-dimensional images if 'circles' are meant to represent wheel/disk or round pommels: we usually need to rely on shading, secondary lines or arcs which suggest dimensionality, or clear variants, such as the 'mandarin' styles.

The following image, often called 'Tournament before King Arthur' is from the late 15th century Flemish manuscript Guiron le Courtois, Bodleian Library MS. Douce 383 fol 16r.

The black and white reproduction I first saw, in Michael Foss's Chivalry (London: Book Club Associates, 1975) picks up the highlights of the shading and arcs on the pommels and is quite suggestive that both swords below are of the R-type.

However, again, as Oakeshott said in a slightly different context, 'How can one know?' :)

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And one more for now: this from 'The Baptism of Clovis', from Chroniques abrégées des Anciens Rois et Ducs de Bourgogne, possibly by Olivier de la Marche, catalogued by the British Library as Yates Thompson 32 f. 4v, originating in Bruges, The Netherlands (c. 1485-1490).

Further information from the British Library:

Quote:

Miniature of the baptism of Clovis by a bishop, as his queen Clothilda and courtiers look on, with a miniature of the martyrdom of Maurice in a compartment on the left. With a scatter border of flowers, acanthus, a moth, and a monkey holding a bird.

As requested to include by the BL, these images are CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication.

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Another from the same MS, the British Library labels this folio (5v.) as 'Battle scene':

Quote:

Miniature of a battle scene, probably a reference to the the Battle of Étamps in 604, in which Thierry, King of Burgundy, defeated Lothaire, King of France, decorated initial 'T'(hiery), and scatter border of flowers and a female grotesque figure, in the Chroniques abrégées des Anciens Rois et Ducs de Bourgogne.

This image is very promising as a contender for a Type R pommel, as there is what appears to be a 'reflection spot' on the pommel, which would be consistent with it being spherical. As ever, though, there are no guarantees!

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Another possibility from the same MS; this one not as defined - f. 13 Philip the Good:

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Miniature of Philip the Good enthroned among members of the Knights of the Golden Fleece, while a lion sits at his feet. With a scatter border of flowers, a dragonfly, and a lady holding a white dog.

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