The sword continued, as during the preceding centuries, to be two-edged, of rhomboidal or almond-shaped section, intended much more for cutting and hacking than thrusting. The grip now tended to lengthen, and the pommel, which was usually pear-shaped, became lighter. To this period belongs G4, the sword presented by Pope Eugene IV. to Juan II., in the sixteenth year of his pontificate (1446), as the inscription engraved with aqua fortis on the ricasso records. The blade is wide and grooved. In the groove are inscribed the words PIERVS ME FECE. “The guard, notable for its elegant simplicity, is all of silver, gilded over and chased, with the cross of straight arms with fleurs-de-lys at the ends. The hilt is a festooned ballister, _i.e._, a small pillar swelling in the centre or towards the base, and the pommel, covered with leaves, also festooned, is pear-shaped. The description in the inventory of this Treasury (King Juan’s) makes us aware that the hilt has lost much of its most beautiful decoration: ‘Another sword with a groove in the middle and the words _pierus me fece_, gilded, has the cross one hand in length, the pommel, hilt, cross, and all the sheath of gilded silver, and on this are some open leaves soldered to some trunks; and the cross is a serpent with wings enamelled green; the rim, which is the first piece of the sheath, is enamelled blue with its _quirimi_’ (from _quiris_, a spear or javelin), &c.” G5. Blade of a Pontifical sword, sent to Henry IV. of Castile by Pope Calixtus III. in 1458. (This Spanish pontiff, Alfonso Borgia, of Valencia, was elected in 1455, and died in 1458.) It has four surfaces, with false guard and long ricasso, sloped on both edges; gilded and engraved on both sections. Length, 1.180; width, 0.039. The history of this weapon leads us to suppose that the mark is that of an unknown Italian swordmaker. On each side of the blade is a circular shield with the arms of the Pontiff (a bull on a ground composed of bezants, surmounted by the tiara and keys), and this inscription: ACCIPE S C M GLADIVM MVNVS A DEO I QVO DEI CIES (_sic_) ADVERSARIOS P P LI MEI XPIANI.