78 cavalier's sword found at egginton. 



In the town of Belluno are the ingenious Masters, Giovan Donato, and 

 Andrea of the Feraris (de i Ferari) both brothers of the foundry of Master 

 Giovan Battista, called the Barcelonian.* 



The sobriquet, " The Barcelonian," suggests that Battista had 

 come from Spain, and this curiously corroborates the traditions 

 that Andrea wrought his blades both in Italy and in Spain. 

 Sir Walter Scott credits him with having also brought his art 

 to Scotland; but although the large percentage of Highland 

 basket-hilted swordst bearing his name is remarkable, it is 

 more probable that the blades were shipped from Italy to 

 Scotland early in the seventeenth century. 



The " wolf-mark " which follows his name on the sword 

 before us is a mystery. Its design may be compared with the 

 result of an attempt to' draw a wolf with three or four strokes 

 of the pen. In this crude form it often accompanies the most 

 artistic engraving, for it is a mark handed down to- the 

 armourers through centuries. It is neither personal to Andrea 

 nor national to Italy. We find it in just the same form on 

 blades of the fourteenth century forged at Passau and 

 Solingen, but it is rarely, if ever, found upon weapons of 

 poor quality. Many of Andrea's swords bear it, and these 

 seem to be of better design and finish than most of those 

 upon which it is absent. 



This is a horseman's sword, and from the circumstances 

 of its discovery clearly English. It is a fighting sword, as 

 opposed to a rapier, and although the date of the hilt is 

 of the period of the Civil War, it is of a type which remained 

 in use until, with the advent of William of Orange, Dutch 

 influences superseded it with the introduction of a lighter 

 weapon. Without attaching any serious importance to the 

 point, there is one fact which rather indicates that the sword 

 was lost early in its history. It will be noticed that the hilt 



* East Herts Archaeological Society's Transactions, 1901, p. 357. 



f Incorrectly called "Claymores." The real Claymore was, as its name 

 implies, 'the great sword,' that is the large two-handed and cross-hilted sword 

 of the previous century. 



