Medieval European swords
 

I finally got my photos developed, and Conogre has graciously offered to post them here for me, so I'm goin to snail mail him some photos, sketches, and this print of (a detail, I think) a Marmion (Simon Marmion, "French-Flemish" active 1425-1489) painting; "The Crucifixion" showing 3 soldiers. I believe they are meant to represent the "3 races" of humans as concieved in Europe at the time, a somewhat standard theme in some biblical subjects: An European-looking "Oriental" in a Turkish helmet(?); An actual European demonstrating an early example of no-butt white guy syndrome; and an African. There are deliberately outlandish elements, I think, like the Turkish helmet, but on the whole they're all in European dress. Items of note: Very saxlike shape to the hanger/messer scabbards; fletched javelin; the green mass behind the African's right leg and hip (and under his arm) may be a javelin scabbard? It seems to hang from the black belt. His shield is a contemporary European type; not sure about his hat though.