The two-handed sword was introduced late in the fourteenth or early in the fifteenth century, and became a favourite weapon in the sixteenth, after which it was greatly superseded by the rapier. This long and very heavy two-handed weapon is a footman’s sword, and was much used by the hardy mountaineers of Switzerland in battle, while the less robust Germans and Burgundians applied it more in the defence of fortified places. It was introduced into England early in the sixteenth century, when it was a favourite weapon of Henry VIII., and continued much prized there up to its close, when the rapier came into vogue. The handle is very long for both hands to grasp the hilt. The total length of the sword is up to five feet eight inches, and even more. This sword is the true espadon. Two-handed swords were usually worn without scabbard, but had a piece of leather permanently fixed on the blade above the quillons; they were rarely met with after the close of the sixteenth century. A variety with a wavy blade is called “flamberge.” An example from the Meyrick collection is in the author’s possession, and shown somewhat incongruously in Fig. 23. This being a footman’s weapon, ought not to be in the hands of a man-at-arms. Great strength of arms and supple wrists were necessary for cutting with these weapons; the point was rarely used. The true claymore is a two-handed sword. Some fine examples of two-handed swords and flamberges are given in Fig. 42. The thumb-ring appears in the fifteenth century, possibly a little earlier, and it was common in the sixteenth. [Illustration: Fig. 42.--Two-handed Swords, Flamberges, and Daggers.] The anelace was a very common weapon of the fifteenth century. It is a short, broad sword or dagger, tapering to a point. The blade is usually about twenty inches long, by four broad, and double-edged. The weapon, called in Italy the cinquedea, is of Verona origin, and was styled oxenzunge by the Germans, and braquamart or épée de passot by the French. It is a very similar weapon to that carried by the ancient Greeks and Romans on the left side, called the parazonium, a late specimen of which was found at Sesto-Calende, and is now at Milan. The dusack is a sword of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with a blade like that of the curved sabre, while the hilt consists either of a hole in the rounded base of the blade for the hand to grip, or is a rounded continuation of the blade at the shoulder, forming a circular hole. The length is about 39 inches. The swordsman wore an iron or leather gauntlet reaching to the elbow.