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are known to-day, roughly divides them into three groups: Those working mainly for the Court, those working for the A rm y, and the third group whose names seldom occur in public records at all. These three groups can­ not be distinguished in the list o f the citizens able to serve on the walls during the siege o f Copenhagen 1658 - 59 , apart from the fact that Marcus Kopper is described as sword-cut! er to the King. The name o f the before men­ tioned Johan Willumsen occurs in January 1659 , that o f his w idow in December, so' he may have given his life in defence o f his city. N or is it indicated in the list, which o f the sword-cutlers enrolled was on the staff o f the Royal Armoury, where a sword-cutler con­ stantly had a regular employment, probably without being obliged to be a member o f the guild. Marcus Kopper had worked for Prince Christian at Nykøbing in the 1640 ’s and, after the death o f the Prince, was appointed sword- cutler to K in g Frederik III in 1648 . Fie was still alive in 16 8 3 , but during the reign o f K ing Christian V ( 1670 - 1699 ) another sword- cutler, Bendix Nielsen, is the only one men­ tioned b y name in the Royal records. Jens Nielsen seems to have been the most important sword-cutler before the etablish- ment o f the guild, but he is not mentioned in 16 59 . His seal is reproduced on page 7 4 . It shows three swords pointing downwards into a crescent, a symbol o f the sword-cutier’s craft which is found also in the seal o f the Elsinore smiths in 16 03 . Later it became the chief device o f the seal o f the sword-cutlers’ guild (see page 10 ). The social position o f the sword-cutlers in the late 1 7 th century is illustrated b y the fact that a relatively large number o f them are known to have been owners o f real estate in Copenhagen. The accounts o f the Royal Armoury afford

in 1648 by some members o f the high nobility as a result o f the administrative activity o f the Council in the period between the death o f Christian IV in 1648 and the introduction o f absolutism in 1660 . This factory, which was destroyed during the Swedish occupation in 16 58 , must have employed some sword- cutlers. Difficulties may have risen for the sword-cutlers in connexion with such work, so different from the ancient working me­ thods o f a craftsman, and they may have tended to separate themselves from the old guild, in which they seem only to have played inferior part. Further, they had to endure ri­ valry from some o f the other guild-members, especially the spur-makers. As a result o f the sword-cutlers’ petition a royal order was is­ sued on March 2 5 , 16 5 1 to the effect that the magistrate o f Copenhagen should require the sword-cutlers to lay down statutes for a sword-smiths’ guild. The establishment o f a new guild with full acknowledgment o f the State Authorities may have made its members more compliant to the wishes o f the Government, than was usually the case with the members o f the an­ cient guilds, where the independence o f the craftsman was stubbornly asserted. On the other hand, they inherited some essential ideals from the old guild, e.g. the require­ ments as to the professional ability o f the members, so that, like other guilds, the sword- cutlers’ guild was able in the future to keep alive a valuable tradition o f exquisite work­ manship. c h a p te r 3 THE PERIOD UNTIL THE DEATH OF CHRISTIAN V It cannot be exactly stated how many mem­ bers the sword-cutlers’ guild could muster in the first decades o f its existence. The type o f work, by which the individual sword-cutlers