Sheath

Incomplete leather knife sheath, which has been flattened. The lower part and tip have been torn off and are missing. The front and back are decorated with impressed linear and heraldic motifs. The decoration is divided into two parts reflecting the handle and blade areas. The front of the handle area has a lozenge containing a fleur-de-lys dimidiating what appears to be a towered castle, a device associated with Alphonse, Count of Poitou (Wilmott in Cowgill et al, 47-8) and found on a number of sheaths from London dating to the early to mid-14th century. The same device is featured on the remaining part of the front blade section, with the fleur-de-lys and castle swopped over. The motifs are decorated with stabbed dots to highlight parts of the design. The seam would have originally have been at the centre back of the sheath and there are grain/edge stitch holes along it. There are the remains of four suspension slots at the back, two either side of the seam, although all of these are now torn and damaged.
Pubished: Ward-Perkins, J.B., London Museum Medieval Catalogue, London, 1940, 190 & fig 60, no. 1