But my point, David, is that there were lots of them originally. The inventories of several German and Swiss arsenals refer to them in considerable numbers and even complain about those which are missing, and yes these references do apply to the late 16th century- early 17th "beidenhander", as they were called at the time. There are also illustrations of 2-handers being carried scabbarded in the Swiss chronicles, these are 15th-early 16th century, though. Belts are mentioned as well though it is not clear how they were worn or how the scabbards were attached to them.
Cheers, Neil
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