[Alexander Hinman]

Well, the pommel I have seen before in Russian iconography. (not to toot my own horn too much, but I've got a thread on it)

I have also seen that effigy in a book, Companion to Medieval Arms and Armour, edited by David Nicolle, in an essay by Helmut Nickel called 'The Mutual influence of Europe and Asia in the Field of Arms and Armour'.

In the essay, Nickel lists the peculiarities of the hilt. One of them, which is hard to see in the photos provided in the book (or online) is that the grip is

[Jean-Carle Hudon]

Eric,
take a look at the thread dealing with the finds in the river Dordogne, in France. The type XVa in the Oakeshott classification is shown, with very nice ball endings on the quillons of the guard, the author of the article refers to them as ''bulbous tips''and they are not dissimilar to the one apparent in the effigy of D'Alluye, except that the type XVa quillons are longer than those of D'Alluye's sword, which is much older, and nearer the epoch where quillons were not universally used. So I don't think we need look to the East for this one, only on a personalized weapon for somebody who didn't put much stock in the defensive value of quillons. If you look at the Dordogne find, the ''bulbous tipped' cross guard seems fairly short when compared to most offerings on the repro market, although there are no measurements to go by, just checking the dordogne versus what we can see in our favorite sites of A&A, Albion and Del Tin.

[Eric Allen]

Hmm, somewhat similar and yet totally different. That XVa's quillons are actual quillons, d'Alluye's effigy sword has essentially none at all--more like a "viking" sword.

I've chalked it up to personal preference by d'Alluye, i just thought you guys would get a kick out of it since it has the stylings of a much older sword that what is typically thought of from his timeperiod.

And strangely, noone has said anything about that second sword I linked to in the very last line of the first post...

[Nate C.]

After having taken a look at the effigy, I think the explanation might be as simply a gesture demonstrating the knight's support of france or some particular order. To me it resembles the Fleur de lis [sp] more that any viking pommel. Especially since the "viking" pommels' lobes taper away from the hilt and also have a band across the base of the pommel.

Examples: here and here or even here.

Cheers,

[Eric Allen]

Oh, the pommel is only "viking-esque" in that it is lobed. It is pretty interesting, though. The "fleur-de-lis" shape might be intentionally french (though the image has never been exclusively french, and was quite popular in England as well--though we might be able to argue it was popular there because the English kings were French).

Its the quillons--or the lack of them--that strike me as particularly "viking-esque"

[Sean Belair]

if it is a fleur-de-lis it probubly wasnt ment as a simble of national afiliation, that doisnt enter the europian mindset until much later. it might represent a religious afiliation as the fleur is a simble for the vergin mary