cross-guards into twelve types: a plain horizontal bar, tapering towards the end. This is the basic shape found from the late Viking era through the 17th century. waisted type, popular in the 15th century. a relatively short bar with a rectangular cross-section. Popular during 1150–1250 and again during 1380–1430. the terminals of the bar are bent towards the blade. "bow tie" style with widened and flattened terminals. a curved or bent variant of type 5. the bar has a flat cross-section and is bent towards the blade; popular in the 14th century. bent terminals as in style 4, but a more elaborate form with a hexagonal cross-section of the part fitted around the tang and a pronounced écusson, popular in the late medieval period. an elaborate late medieval type with the bar bent towards the blade and a flat diamond or V shaped cross-section and a pronounced écusson. the arms of the bar taper towards the hilt rather than away from it; mostly also with a pronounced écusson. knobbed terminals, with round or rectangular cross-section, popular during the 15th to 16th centuries the bar curves strongly in the horizontal plane, forming an S-shape; this type dates to the end of the medieval period and is transitional to the early modern quillon types. The medieval dagger in the 14th and 15th century also adopted a variant with quillons, styled after the hilt of a sword. Quillon-daggers remained popular in the 16th century, after the sword type it resembled had fallen out of use. References Ewart Oakeshott, The Sword in the Age of Chivalry (1964), chapter 4. External links Oakeshott cross types (myarmoury.com) Swords Medieval European swords