I recently came across the image below . I am particularly interested in the four lower swords; in someway the guards of the first three almost remind me of the Caewood sword . which leads me to ask three question. 1. How common were swords like(swords with such steep, almost U shaped guards) this in eastern Europe and possibly other parts of Europe? 2. Does anyone know of any other swords with similar shapes of guard?

My third question is what type of guard does the 4th lower sword have?

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/5022/macevihh8.jpg ( Sorry that i can not reference the original source of this image as I have been unable to find out where this image is originally from or indeed who made the scan.)

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. any help is greatly appreciated.

Very interesting. I think these hilts are not related to hilts like on Cawood sword. The picture says these swords were used in medieval Bosnia and they are now in Sarajevo museum. I don't know how are these swords dated, but I guess they might have been influenced by Byzantine fashion.

One is in book Kardok by J.Lugosi,F.Temesváry descripted as bosnian ruler´s sword and dated about 15OO

By that time Bosnia was under Ottoman rule...