Two-handed sword

Two-handed sword, having a blackened hilt; cylindrical pommel of octagonal section, with button on top; long oval grip bound with leather (spirally grooved), and studded with brass-headed rivets; forward-curving guard of oblong section terminating in curls, with two more springing from the sides; large side-ring on either side surrounding a fleur-de-lys; the two-edged blade with wavy, flamboyant edges bearing on each side the maker's mark; strong ricasso covered with wood and bound with leather tooled with a fretty pattern; strong side lugs.

The mark is that used by Christoph I (d. 1601) and II (d. 1634), Stantler of Munich. Christoph I Stantler was a Passau swordsmith who had emigrated to Munich by about 1555. (For Christoph I see Stöcklein in Z.H.W.K., V, pp. 244-8, for Stantler family see Stöcklein in Z.H.W.K., V, pp.288-9). There is a series of two-hand swords with this mark in the Bayr. Nationalmuseum at Munich; in the Historical Museum at Vienna (one dated 1575); five are in the Musée de l' Armée, Paris (J 41, 42, 48, 50, 51), and many others elsewhere. Compare the mark on No. A467.