Falchion – Weapon Which Tells a Story. A Word on the Discussion on the Epitaph of Jan of Jeřeň

The article extends a contemporary discussion about the Epitaph of Jan of Jeřeň and argues that these two male saints who are traditionally referred to as Bartholomew and Thomas do not have to be the only interpretation here. Simultaneously, it shows us the basic need to deal with the concrete objects displayed. These can essentially influence the narrative potential of the artwork. This study points out the desirable multidisciplinary approach that is being demonstrated here by an example of a type of an object (falchion) in relation to a medieval art of Central Europe.


INTRODUCTION
The history of material objects, in particular of weapons in the second half of the 20 th century, became a carefully observed path of learning history. Interest in this subject matter was undoubtedly raised by new visual media in which -even to present political history playing the major role in the arena of history throughout many centuries -the visualisation of these objects is necessary.
In the Czech context, the interest in this topic -directly related to filmography -can be observed both amongst specialists and amateurs at least from the 10.17951/f.2019.74.97-112 times of the publication by Eduard Wagner 1 . This work, outdated to a large extent, is still an inseparable volume in the bibliography of people interested in historical film productions or the so-called reenactments. However, tradition of expressing interest in "the history of objects" goes back even further to the past; one is reminded here about the works of, e.g. Čeněk Zíbrt 2 , while this subject matter can be found abroad much earlier, e.g. in the works by Eugène Violett-le-Duc, August Demmin or Wendelin Boeheim 3 . Academic and amateur interest was obviously expanding in the second half of the 20 th century. The most important experts in the military scope of the history of object are, therefore, people such as Jan Durdík, Petr Klučina, Ctirad Beneš, Leonid Křížek, and some others could also be listed 4 . Josef Petráň made a golden name for himself in the problem matter of the material culture in the Czech context 5 .
Not only a number of scientists but also members of amateurish audience are involved also these days in researching works of art as secondary sources for learning about material objects 6 . The voice in discussion is obviously expressed to some extent also by quite a few art historians because the examined objects often influence the compositional order of the work, and thus they are important for both the art history and for, e.g. the history of thought.
I would like to contribute to this extensive discourse by analysing the presentations of a specific object, the so-called dussack (tesák/tasak/dusack/falchion) 7 , and also by offering a theory which places this weapon in the system of figurative objects used in a broader timeframe horizon with a particular emphasis on the turn of the 14 th and 15 th centuries. On the basis of this hypothesis, I would also like to propose an alternative interpretation of the Epitaph of Jan of Jeřeň and, thus, try to effectively link the topic of the articles with both the history of material objects as well as art history. As has been already mentioned, the particular 1 E. Wagner A word falchion could be most evidently used but I will follow the tradition in academic works, to which Petr Klučina, who recognises falchion as a type of a dussack, remains faithful. See, e.g. P. Klučina,op. cit.,p. 238. element on which the attention will be focused is the weapon that can be referred to as a falchion.

DUSSACK (?)
Dussack as a weapon has already been studied in the past by many of the above-mentioned authors. The most detailed work on the dussack is currently a dissertation thesis by Petr Žákovský 8 . However, there has been so far no attempts to make a more comprehensive interpretation of the meaning of this object in the artistic works 9 . First of all, it is necessary to define what could and what could not be considered as dussack 10 .
At first, a few words on the term. In the Czech provenience, it appears for the first time in 1405 and is associated at that time with a Latin term referring in other contexts to a dagger or a knife -combined culltelus dictus tesák 11 . It is true that some of the examples of this weapon are indeed similar to a knife and perhaps, in their original form, were inspired by this utilitarian item. At least the single-edged blade and a simple grip without a pommel and a knob correspond to the idea of a knife. Later, however, falchion lost its "knife-like" nature and, in some of its aspects, it started to resemble a sword. Generally speaking, it is possible to agree with a statement that from the half of the 13 th century, dussack very often started to appear with a pommels and cross-guards typical for swords. On the other hand, many dussacks from the Middle Ages additionally have extra knuckle guards.
Other terms associated with dussack are words like: falchion, falcione, fauchart, fauchon, Malchus, tesák, Düsack, lang Messer, sekáč 12 , szabla and others 13 . 8 P. Žákovský, Tesáky a problematika jednosečných zbraní středověku a raného novověku, Brno 2014 (disertační práce, Masarykova univerzita, Filosofická fakulta). 9 Short outline of this subject matter can be found in the Master's thesis, the elaboration of which is presented in this article: A. Kadlec, Zbraně a zbroj v deskové malbě doby vlády Václava IV., Ústí nad Labem 2013 (diplomová práce, Univerzita Jana Evangelisty Purkyně, Filosofická fakulta), pp. 49-53. 10 This is a short introduction to the problem, see more details in: P. Žákovský, Tesáky a problematika… 11 E. Wagner, Z. Drobná, J. Durdík,op. cit.,p. 70. Tesák is a Czech version of the Polish word tasak (dussack in English; translator's note). 12 The word sekáč literally means chopper knife in Polish, but this term is not present in the Polish terminology on the melee weaponry. However, it seems that it is a close synonym of the term tasak -and this is how it will be used by the author in the following part of the article. I decided to leave it here in an untranslated form and in the following part of the text I replaced it with the term tasak (dussack or falchion in English; translator's note). 13 E. Wagner, Z. Drobná, J. Durdík, op. cit., p. 71;P. Klučina, op. cit., p. 238, 406, 407;F. Funcken, L. Funcken, Historische Waffen und Rüstungen. Ritter und Landsknechte vom 8. bis 16 Jahrhundert, München 2008, p. 212;A. Demmin, op. cit., p. 396;W. Boeheim, op. cit., p. 271;J. Šach, Chladné zbraně, Praha 2004, p. 34; P. Žákovský, Tesáky a problematika…; E. Wágner, Seč-It should be noted that the vast majority of these words appear much later than a similar weapon in the depicted database of secondary and primary sources. Dussack is also very often referred to with a term covering all long weapons with a hilt -a sword. Additionally, the term dussack is often associated by many authors with other terms, while its general description is very simple. Dussack is a single-edged, short sword-like melee weapon 14 . Due to the fact that there are also dussacks for being used with both hands, classification as a short melee weapon should be treated with reservations.
The word falchion is known from the English-speaking world and has its equivalents in other countries of Western Europe. In the Czech Republic, it is often associated with a single-edged sword, the blade of which broadens towards the point. So it is considered to be a specific type of dussack. Nevertheless, the foreign works often associate it with the Czech word tesák (compare to dussack), without taking into consideration the shape of the blade 15 . Overall, this term can be linked with at least three types of blades of these unique weapons which existed until the beginning of the 15 th century 16 .
The first type of blade is bulky and it broadens towards the point, which is situated on the edged side, and then it narrows semi-circularly at the end of the blade like a knife, just as in the case of the falchion of Hamburg 17 or Durham 18 . In the case of the second type, represented by, e.g. the falchion from Paris, the narrowing is very distinct, concaved, and -because of this -the point on the edged side is very sharp. The last type of the blade has the point situated on the blade. The so-called short blade is created on the edged-side and due to a small bending the weapon resembles a sabre 19 .
Frequent linking of dussack and sabre is worth presenting on the example of a sabre of Arabic origins, dated to 1323 on the basis of inscription to which Demmin draws attention 20 . Some of the falchions from the Wenceslas Bible also resemble sabres. It is also worth mentioning the two-handed sabre from the equipné a bodné zbraně, České Budějovice 1993, p. 31. Wágner thinks of a dussack even as a type of an executioner's axe with which Zavis of Falkenstein was supposed to be beheaded. In reality, dussack appears very often not only in the hands of executioners, but also very respected and virtuous biblical characters who do not represent negative features attributed to Zavis. 14 E. ment of Gjergj Kastrioti, known as Skanderbeg, which has almost an identical shape as the two-handed dussacks from the same manuscript and which can be referred to as a sabre 21 . These long weapons, similarly to the bulky dussacks, often referred to as falchions, from the foreign finds revitalise in a sense the definition of the dussack as a short melee weapon. Unusually "pretty" term relating to these curved weapons is a German word säbelföremige Schwert used by Demmin 22 or an apt term by  . It is also worth to turn the attention to the so-called Czech dussack, an ordinarily built weapon popular in the 16 th century, which Meyers (1570) associates -erroneously, according to Demmin -with the term düssack 24 . In the later times, some of the dussacks are transformed into popular hunting weapons and, in their shorter form similar to a knife, they successfully -unlike a sword -play a role of a military weapon, accompanying sabres.
The very Czech term tesák (dussack) reveals for what this weapon was used 25 . First and foremost, it was -at least at the beginning -a cutting tool for combat which is evidenced by the already mentioned bulky falchions from, inter alia, Durham, Hamburg and Poznań. Falchion, similarly to sword, developed as a response to the increasingly more excellent protective equipment, which gradually prevented a warrior's body from a threat of being cut. Therefore, falchions with a sharp point -which could penetrate between sheets or tear a chain armour easier than the weapons of a relatively blunt point similar to the sword of St. Peter of Poznań 26 -started to appear. This is the way through which I associate the transformation of weapons directly with the development of a high quality of protective equipment. The change in the construction of the blade was at the same time minimal 27 . Therefore, the bulky falchions from the so-called Crusader Bible, also known as Maciejowski Bible, are unique. Their sizes correspond with other types of falchions but the weapon is already taking on an exotic look, in this case enhanced by the complexity of the cutting blade, enriched with various kinds of hooks and edgings 28 . But are they real? 21 E. Wagner, Z. Drobná, J. Durdík,op. cit.,p. 71. 22 A. Demmin,op. cit.,p. 396. Loosely translated as: "a sword similar to a sabre". 23 W. Boeheim,op. cit.,p. 271. Loosely translated as: "a curved sword". 24 A. Demmin,op. cit.,p. 370. 25 Language analysis of this term in the work by T. Ptáčková In order to notice the details and interpret them, it is worth referring to all these types of weapons as dussacks (although there are many opponents to this approach) just as it was done by the eldest historians 29 , and thus concentrate on searching for a single-edged weapons equipped with a hilt. To tag these items as machetes, falchions, or long knives, etc. is therefore a purely subjective matter, which -in my opinion -has no truly solid historical justification but somehow, we have to work with them.

FALCHION IN ART
There is a relatively high number of representation of this weapon from the turn of the 14 th and 15 th centuries. We also have at our disposal an extensive collection of material objects which -with a varying accuracy -can be ascribed to this broad timeframe. However, at least on a Czech front, these two sets of information have no common elements. In other words -dussacks from the turn of the 14 th and 15 th centuries do not resemble their counterparts in art.
At first, it is worth drawing attention to the fact that dussacks appear in many different branches of visual art: panel and wall paintings, and manuscript illuminations, as well as in carved works. The analysed object was used in the panel paintings in the following works: Resurrection by the Master of the Třeboň Altarpiece, Epitaph of Jan of Jeřeň, and Martyrdom of a Saint 30 , and if one is to consider falchion as a weapon similar to a knife behind the belt of one of the soldiers, then also in the Crucifixion of Saint Barbara. The falchion is present in the illuminations in a few manuscripts of Czech origin. The most depictions of this weapon is in the Wenceslas Bible, they also appear (although less often) in other manuscripts, e.g. the Bible of Conrad of Vechta, the Bible of Litoměřice and Třeboň, and the Bible of Bozkov. In the wall paintings, on the other hand, falchion is a weapon of the executioner of St. Dorothy from the church in Rakovník. Moreover, it can be spotted on the paintings in the Church of St. Jacob in Bedřichův Světec, the Church of St. Stephen in Kouřim, or the Church of St. Margaret in Loukov. In all cases, the weapon is used for carrying out executions. In order to see falchion in sculpture, it is necessary to visit, e.g. the Bavarian Nuremberg where it is held by Saint Catherine in a relief of three saints in the Church of Saint Lawrence. 29 I adhere to the tradition of works by Klučina who refers to the discussed weapons as falchions. See, e.g. P. Klučina,op. cit.,p. 239. 30 The painting Martyrdom of a Saint does not come directly from the territory of Bohemia but its author was probably closely linked to the Czech artists. See Karel IV. Císař z Boží milosti. Kultura a umění za vlády Lucemburků 1310-1437, ed. J. Fajt, Praha 2006 With an exception of the above-mentioned weapon, which is nevertheless commonly referred to as a knife and not a falchion 31 , the majority has a form of exotically-looking curved sword (falchion) with a point in the line of a long blade overlapped by a short blade which turns into an unsharpened part of the blade, that is -a ridge. Apart from the falchion presented in the Bible of Litoměřice and Třeboň, all the others have a pommel and a cross-guard just like swords. They visibly broaden from the knob towards the beginning of a short blade, and therefore their form is a combination of the bulky falchions from the middle of the 13 th century and rather "delicate" weapon from the museum in Norwich. Other exceptions are two-handed, curved swords referred to as cleavers or sabres 32 in the Wenceslas Bible, which lack a short blade and which start narrowing towards the point already from the cross-guard 33 . Therefore, their shape, as has been already mentioned, is nearly identical with the shape of a curved sword of the Albanian hero, Skanderbeg 34 .
It is often very difficult to date archaeological finds and as a consequence the traditional falchions considered to be from the beginnings of the 15 th century are -in accordance with the new research -placed in later periods 35 . However, this does not change the fact that the counterparts of falchions from varied types of artistic creativity has by no means survived in the Czech archaeological material from the period under discussion, and the falchions in question have a different shape. The latter are primarily simple examples, similar to a knife, with the point in the central ridge of the weapon 36 .
Such a discrepancy between the artistic material and the finds is not too frequent in the case of earlier periods. At the turn of the 14 th and 15 th centuries, art was still a medium for dissipating information -e.g. Saint Wenceslaus was clad in a type of armour which was widespread in the moment of making the artwork and not from the times when the saint was actually alive; on the other hand, his equipment was supplemented with conventional elements which were directly indicating his person, the so-called attributes. The duke's hat did not reflect any longer the reality of the old days, but their experience. tive function are generally referred to as figures. However, they can take different forms, similar to real or fantasy objects 37 . Undoubtedly, the painters often used templates so the representations are not necessarily a reflection of the author's experience with the real object, although one should search for some element of reality in the objects which were products of imagination.
Some falchions are most certainly presented as figures. The falchion as an attribute can be seen in the hands of Saint Catherine 38 , Saint Judith 39 or characters from the Epitaph of Jan of Jeřeň 40 . As will be explained below, also the falchions of executioners from the Martyrdom of a Saint or scenes from the Execution of St. Dorothy of Rakovník can be regarded as figurative objects and, moreover, directly associated with the presented scene. Falchions appear also in the scenes in which they do not play an identifying role (Massacre of the Innocents 41 , Samuel quartering Agag 42 , War with the Amorites 43 , and many more). The weapon is presented in the hands of both the Old Testament Jews 44 and their opponents 45 , while in the New Testament it is held primarily by the Romans 46 . In all these cases religious scenes are concerned. However, the curved swords can be seen abroad also in secular works, mainly in the battle scenes between a Christian and a pagan. A motif of an ineffective battle of Béla IV with the Tatars 47 can serve here as a representative example. Similar impressions can be observed in the scenes from the legend of Saint Ladislaus, but here the saint knight is successful in the fight 48 .
Therefore, what connects all these works is not a specific religion but probably different cultural, chronological, and perhaps also geographical origins of the fighting figures. Difference in cultures is evident most of all in the secular repre-37 On figures in art, see first and foremost: P. Francastel sentations of the duel between a Christian and a pagan warrior. Additionally, one can also often observe in the Biblical scenes, e.g. exotic headgears, which are most certainly a reference to another dimension in which the events had taken place, just like the weapon of an unconventional look that the warriors used 49 . Swords are replaced in these scenes with falchions and this kind of change is also visible in other representations. It is an important indication that these objects were replaced by the falchion in representations where -in other instances -a sword was fully used in accordance with tradition. The sword is without a doubt a conventional attribute of St. Catherine. Why was it replaced with the falchion on a relief from Nuremberg? Both in the hagiography and poetry of that time, Catherine, similarly to St. Dorothy, was supposed to be beheaded only with a sword 50 : "Here then, those breasts of the queen / they are miserably ripped from her body, / then they beheaded her / with a sword […] 51 "; "When she bowed her head for the sword / at that moment appeared / a very beautiful baby, / dressed in purple, / carrying fruit in a basket, / three apples and three roses / in the month of February […]" 52 .
Presenting those saints with a sword is thoroughly common in the discussed period. Why then are we dealing with "rearming" the saint in those marginal cases? Is it possible that the replacement of this weapon with a falchion is to indicate once more the pagan environment in which these events took place? In this metaphoric way the work explains to its observer that Christianity has nothing in common with the saint's death, that no one else is guilty of it but a pagan. However, there is also the representation of St. Judith holding a falchion. This saint was not a pagan but it should be remembered that the weapon which caused Holofernes to lose his life was his own weapon 53 .
These events were also supposed to take place on a culturally different territory which -during the creation of the above-mentioned works of art -was pagan and thus the representation of falchions instead of a traditional Central European sword perhaps stood behind this kind of reasoning. This explanation seems to be very likely. However, a question arises on what inspired individual authors to present this kind of weapon.
At the turn of the 14 th and 15 th century, the major contact points for the Christian and pagan world of Europe were the Balkans and Spain 54 . However, there are no analogical finds of weapon from either Turkish or Spanish region available for the period under discussion. The examples which were found in the majority of cases have a straight blade. Nonetheless, in the 13 th and 14 th centuries, Europe saw slightly curved swords in the hands of the Mongolian invaders and a similar weapon was in fact known also from more distant, oriental territories. Its unconventional shape apparently inspired artists from all over Europe to use this form to enhance the narrative of their works this way. Nevertheless, it seems that this type of falchion was created in the European environment as an answer to the need of adapting the weapon -which was originally made purely for cutting -to technical progress in the construction of a warrior's defensive equipment 55 . However, it should not be completely ruled out that craftsmen were searching for some inspiration also in a real weapon -exotic for Europeans -of pagan nations that were moving even further into Europe. For the purpose of this article it is, however, not necessary to precisely define the origins of falchions that were exotically presented, but to draw the attention to their significance for art.
The significance of the falchion has been already outlined and it seems that this hypothesis can be also related to earlier works of art. However, it is also relevant in relation to one of the works from the discussed period, i.e. the already mentioned Epitaph of Jan of Jeřeň. Its central motif is a couple of saints traditionally interpreted as St. Bartholomew and St. Thomas. As has been already mentioned, the weapon of one of the figures is interpreted as a falchion. Although it is obvious that the entire painting is significantly damaged 56 , the interpretation of the presented weapon as a knife, St. Bartholomew's attribute, is not entirely convincing. Even though in other representation from this period St. Bartholomew is depicted with a knife in his hand which has a blade similar to a falchion 57 , the blade is incomparably smaller and, additionally, none of the knives has either a pommel or cross-guard. These details do not coincide with the idea of a knife 54 If one is to omit the last pagan stage of the Polish-Lithuanian history. 55 Slight curvature could have been originally created also while producing the weapon. When making a single-edged blade, it was a natural process of its delicate bending and if it was not constantly straightened then that constructing problem affected the final shape of the weapon. 56 The figure of the founder is evidently missing from the bottom part of the paining (A. Matěječek, Česká malba gotická. Deskové malířství 1350-1450, Praha 1938 but they correspond with the theory which recognises the falchion as a weapon similar to a sword that can replace it for specific reasons. If the theory based on the assumption that the curved dussack (falchion) can replace a sword due to narrative reasons, it is worth trying to re-evaluate the identification of this beautiful painting, unusually important for its style. If one is to resign with associating this specific form of weapon with the word knife, it is impossible to further consider the figure to be St. Bartholomew due to the change in his attribute. His presence in the painting has not yet been justified in any other way than by accepting the object as a knife. At this point it is worth pointing out to the first point of Erwin Panofsky in his approach towards art -the pre-iconographic description, i.e. the necessity to identify the original meaning of the presented objects 58 . This step was, however, hastily taken probably already in 1910 and there has been no one since that time who would have reconsidered it 59 . Admittedly, some historians who specialise in the history of material object have later identified the weapon as a falchion but they treated it as an object and they did not analyse its symbolic meaning in their works 60 . In this case, however, one deals with an object which directly fits into the compositional order of the work and thus its new interpretation can most certainly enrich afterthoughts on the identification of the work itself.
If one is to assume that the falchion represents the sword's attribute, the male figure from the Epitaph of Jan of Jeřeň could be interpreted as St. Paul 61 . In other artworks from this period this saint is regularly presented with a sword 62 , butsimilarly to other decapitated saints in later representations -he is very often beheaded with a weapon of an oriental appearance 63 . The avoidance of the term "sabre" is correct here, but it cannot be thoroughly ignored. It is a term slightly younger than the word falchion 64 , however, it seems reasonable to recognize the curved type of a falchion as one of the predecessors of a sabre which in the end completely replaced a sword, and weapons related to it, in the military equipment. 58 E. Panofsky, Význam ve výtvarném umění, Praha 1981, p. 42. 59 The fragment of the work appeared for the first time in the Auction Catalogue no. 202 in the Vienna Dorotheum (1910) no. 312. It reached Czech circles only in the 1920s (A. Matěječek,op. cit.,p. 99). From the very beginning until now it has probably been erroneously interpreted, cf. e.g. Karel IV. Císař z Boží milosti…, p. 478;J. Royt, Středověké malířství v Čechách, Praha 2002, p. 104. 60 E.g. E. Wágner, op. cit., p. 187. 61 The work develops concepts included in the Master's thesis written under the supervision of Jan Royt: A. Kadlec,op. cit.,. An alternative identification of the saint is additionally mentioned in the monograph on the Master of the Třeboň Altarpiece (J. Royt,Mistr…,p. 199 One also cannot fail to notice a semantic resemblance between the name of the saint and this weapon. The name of St. Paul, who is also called "Saul", has many various forms, including: Shaul, and in Czech Šavel which can be compared to the Czech word Šavle, which means "sabre" 65 . However, it is possible to come across one more similarity between this type of object and the person's name. As has already been mentioned above, the widening falchion is also referred to as Malchus, i.e. the name of a servant whom St. Peter cut off an ear with the sword in the Olive Garden 66 . The weapon of the soldier depicted in later periods is in fact very often similar to the sabre-like sword (falchion), and on the contrary -it is very far from traditionally understood sword 67 .
The reason why St. Thomas and St. Paul stand next to each other is, unfortunately, still a mystery just as it has not been closely established in the past why St. Bartholomew and St. Thomas stand next to each other 68 . In order to solve this mystery it is necessary to get more information on Jan of Jeřeň. Since it is clear that these two saints are not portrayed together, the depiction of the two of them is probably a reflection on the life stories, experiences, and perceptions of the archdeacon mentioned above. An exception which is worth mentioning is a representation of both St. Thomas and St. Paul who simultaneously exit small windows of the astronomical clock of Prague. The figure of St. Paul nods his head in agreement, while St. Thomas shakes his head in disbelief 69 . Another example where both these saints are depicted together is the painting Seven Apostles from the Christian Museum in Esztergom in Hungary 70 . These examples prove that even though the couple -Thomas and Paul -is not common in art, their depiction together should by no means be treated as a completely isolated case.
There is little information available on Jan of Jeřeň. The majority of them records his church career which he apparently started due to reasons quite common at that time. The first born son and heir of the secular estates and distinctions was his brother Heřman of Nečtin, sometimes referred to as Heřman of Jeřeň or Hrádek. Jan received the best education for which he travelled to north Italian cities of Padua and Bologna 71 . Even before the end of his travelling period, the well-read young man had become a parish priest in the Church of St. Barbara in Mašťov where he remained until 1379. However, his university years did not finish together with his return from the north of Italy. Right after his return in 1378, he began to be active at the University of Padua where he stayed until his death. In 1381, he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in canon law 72 . In 1380, he was appointed a parish priest in the Church of the Saint Peter and Paul where he undoubtedly did not work for long and the possessions he had gained were given away for rent 73 . Prebends in the town of Kbely were a secure source of income 74 . Jan's relationship with his elder brother Heřman were without a doubt very good and they probably helped him in the development of his church career 75 . The titles of a canon of Prague chapter and an archdeacon of Hrádek were the highlight moment of his career 76 . The mutual enterprises of the brothers of Jeřeň ended together with Jan's death in 1395, recalled by the epitaph which is the main topic of this article. The elder brother, Heřman, survived Jan of Jeřeň for many years and he made himself known as a progenitor of a large family that prospered also in the following years, taking the side of Sigismund, brother of Wencelaus IV, during the Hussite Wars 77 . Unfortunately, information available on Jan is scanty and it cannot help to interpret reasons for the presence of two specific saints on the central painting of the Epitaph from St. Vitus Cathedral in Hradčany.

CONCLUSIONS
Although the unusually-looking weapon, which can be overall referred to as dussack, or eventually as a malchus or falchion 78 , is shrouded in more than one secret, it is possible to perceive it as a particular element of art at the turn of the 14 th and 15 th centuries. Through its unusual form, the falchion deepens the narrative ability of the artwork in which it appears, as, e.g. in the case of presenting it as an attribute where a weapon is, first and foremost, associated with a saint's beheading (in Judith's case not with the decapitation of the saint, but with killing Holofernes). In these cases, the curved falchions undoubtedly indicate pagan origins of the owner of a weapon with the help of which this or that character was beheaded. In the situation in which falchions do not influence so greatly the compositional order of the artwork, they symbolically move the place of action to culturally and chronologically distant territories. It seems that specifically at the turn of the 14 th and 15 th century, the curved falchion can be always considered a figurative object with a function similar to, e.g. helmet cover 79 . Taking into consideration a limited number of archaeological evidence of this weapon, it is possible to regard the discussed figurative object as a material object, although -particularly in the Czech and broader European environment -not overly common at least at that time.
On the basis of these considerations, it is moreover possible to offer an alternative interpretation of the iconography of the Epitaph of Jan of Jeřeň and broaden the discourse on the artworks of the "Beautiful Style" in Bohemia. Although the figures on one of the fragments from the Epitaph are traditionally considered as St. Bartholomew and St. Thomas, the figure with a falchion may be as well regarded as St. Paul. There are arguments which are impossible to ignore in favour of both views. However, it is known that the artistic work of the past had left us with many similar riddles and thus one can embark on other exciting journeys to the world of our ancestors' art and thought.