Combat knives of the Middle Ages
A traditional oriental dagger from the medieval era, which was somewhat delayed in the East compared to Europe. The handle is made of massive gold plates superimposed on an iron core, and the scabbard is made of solid gold. All surfaces are intricately engraved and inlaid with precious stones and colored glass, finely cut in the form of floral shapes. The patterns are very similar to those found in Mughal painting of the early 17th century, which suggests that the dagger dates back to the reign of Emperor Jahangir (1605-1627), whose deep love for nature, especially flowers, is well described in his memoirs, Tuzuk. The blade is made of hardened steel. Dimensions: length 37,1 cm; without scabbard 35,4 cm; handle 12,2 cm; blade 23,2 cm; scabbard 26,7 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
A third part you shall burn with fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are accomplished; a third part you shall take and cut down with a knife the surrounding areas; and a third part you shall scatter to the wind;
Ezekiel 5:2
Ezekiel 5:2
A Frankish knife blade, 500–700 CE. Iron with traces of a wooden handle or scabbard. Dimensions: 15,2 x 2,9 x 0,6 cm. Does it remind you of something? And something well known to us all… Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
History weapons. The Ancient World was replaced by the Middle Ages, and its weaponry was very different from that of the preceding era. Iron was initially in short supply, so weapons made from it were expensive and valuable. Knives—yes, they existed and were widely used, but they had no specific military purpose. Warriors of the Dark Ages carried the short sax knife and the longer scramasax, but by the beginning of Charlemagne's reign, even the Frankish warriors had abandoned them. In any case, none of the book miniatures depicting Carolingian warriors depict them. In other words, the dagger disappeared in the Early Middle Ages. However, slashing knives and cleavers continued to be used.
Scramasax. 7th century. Made in Niederbreisig, Germany. Dimensions: 26,9 x 4,6 x 1,6 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
But the warriors in the "Bayesian Canvas" carry neither knives nor daggers. Only swords, spears, axes, and maces... The dagger itself only appears in the 12th century. The earliest known depiction of a dagger with a cross-hilt can be seen on the "Guido Relief" inside the Grossmünster in Zurich (c. 1120). There are depictions of daggers with cross-hilts in the Morgan Bible (c. 1240), where they are used in combat rather than for finishing off the defeated. Many of these cross-hilted daggers resemble miniature swords with a crossguard and pommel, very similar in shape to swords of the time. Others, however, are not exact copies of known sword models and feature large, hollow, star-shaped pommels on the so-called "Burgundian heraldic daggers" or a crossguard and antenna-shaped pommel, reminiscent of Bronze Age daggers. The term "dagger" itself appears only in the late Middle Ages, by which time it had become a common weapon and tool not only among warriors but also among civilians.
The most famous and widespread daggers of the Middle Ages were these three types: the ballock, the rondel, and the quillon. Modern work
The ballock was also called a "kidney dagger" or, more crudely and realistically, an "egg dagger." This was because its very simple handle, crafted from a single piece of hardwood such as ebony, rhizome, rosehip, heather root, or holly, without any metal fittings, had projections on the blade that formed a guard, which resembled kidneys or "eggs." The handle could taper toward the pommel or the guard.
Over time, other materials began to be used for the handle, including horn, ivory, bone, and, in later models, brass and even agate. By the early 15th century, metal plates were added to the handles to reinforce the upper part of the pommel. This shape remained throughout the entire period of use of the ball dagger. It was a very popular weapon, carried by men throughout Northern Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its primary use was for piercing chainmail. However, it served not only as a weapon but also as a cutlery.
A ballock dagger with a beautifully carved handle and a square blade. Circa 1450–1500. Dimensions: length 35,7 cm; width 3,8 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Another type of dagger known as a quillon was also known. Essentially, it was a smaller version of a Romanesque or Gothic sword, with a diamond-shaped blade, a developed guard, and a disc-shaped pommel. It was common in the 12th-16th centuries and was also used as a status and award weapon. It was often completely identical to the specific sword with which it was made.
Bullock sword with a triangular blade. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
In the 14th century, a large dagger called the baselard appeared—essentially a single-edged quillon, invented by armourers in the city of Basel. In the 14th century, knights often had to fight on foot, which led to the widespread use of daggers. At the Battle of Agincourt (1415), archers used them to finish off fallen knights, plunging their narrow blades into helmet vents and other gaps. In this regard, the baselard was considered a cross between a short sword and a long dagger and also gained popularity as a civilian weapon. A recognizable feature of this dagger was its H-shaped hilt.
Baselard, 1300-1399. The hilt consists of a thin guard with a long crossguard at the top and bottom. The face of the hilt is covered on each side with three pieces of dark wood, secured with seventeen hollow rivets. The straight, double-edged blade has a flattened diamond cross-section and two central fullers on each edge, raised at the hilt and extending approximately halfway along the blade's length. Overall length: 450 mm, blade length 365 mm, weight 397 g. Royal Armouries, Leeds
A 15th-century Swiss baselard. A very long one – 559 mm. Royal Armouries, Leeds.
Many effigies depict it suspended vertically from a belt, but there is also a claim that, like the scramasax and cinquede (a Venetian "civilian" dagger), it was worn horizontally on the belt, as well as slung across the back. Later, it became double-edged again and grew heavier, reaching 700 mm or more. With the decline of chivalry, it became a weapon for infantry and... wealthy townspeople, who lavishly decorated it and wore it for all to see. A similar blade called anelas ("ox tongue"), again a cross between a large dagger and a short sword, became widespread in England in the 14th century among civilians. It was worn "on a ring suspended from the belt."
A French dagger from the late 15th century. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, most men and women carried a small knife in a sheath as part of everyday clothing and used it as a versatile cutlery and tool. The size of this knife, which would more correctly be called a dagger, the shape of its handle, and the presence of a perpendicular guard at the base of the handle indicate that it was intended primarily as a weapon for both offense and defense, rather than as a cutlery. Daggers of this type were used throughout Western Europe from the late 15th to the mid-16th centuries. Dimensions: length 34,5 cm; width 4,5 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The same dagger. The guard of the handle
In the late Middle Ages, edged weapons with blades designed specifically for thrusting—such as the stiletto—became increasingly popular. In fact, the word "stiletto" itself comes from "stylo," a pen used for writing on a wax-coated tablet. In principle, the term "stiletto" itself is a rather broad concept, much like the "misericordia" ("God's mercy"), popular in historical novels and used to finish off defeated knights. The key here is the blade's shape, and the handle could belong to a wide variety of daggers!
Some thrusting knives, commonly called "daggers," lost their cutting edge altogether during this period. This was due to the widespread use of heavy plate armor, against which slashing blows were completely ineffective. Therefore, the emphasis shifted to thrusting blows with narrow blades capable of piercing chainmail or penetrating the joints between armor plates (or the eye slits on a helmet visor). The typical type of such a dagger was the rondel (scheibendolch)—a thrusting dagger of the 15th and 16th centuries with round disks (rond—"circle") mounted on the handle in place of the crossguard and pommel. This shape allowed for free use of the blade in a plated glove and for delivering powerful thrusts using the front disc. Blade shapes ranged from an elongated double-edged blade to three- and four-sided blades, often unsharpened.
15th century rondel. Overall length: 335,0 mm, blade length: 226,0 mm, blade width: 22,0 mm, weight: 226,0 g. Royal Armouries, Leeds
Combat with short-bladed weapons began to be taught as early as the 15th century, and some of the techniques used are even similar to modern knife fighting, although the emphasis was almost exclusively on thrusting rather than cutting and slashing. A standard attack often employed a reverse grip, with the blade pointed downward, increasing the force of the blow and the blade's penetrating power.
The drawback of this particular method of using a medieval dagger was that it could be easily blocked using various techniques, primarily by blocking with the unarmed left hand while simultaneously attacking with the weapon in the right hand. Therefore, as the use of armor became less popular, dagger fighting techniques began to develop that emphasized using the dagger with a regular or straight grip. At the same time, the reverse grip, or "ice pick" grip, was retained when attacking an unsuspecting opponent from behind, such as during an assassination. For example, this exact knife strike is shown in the film "The Young Guard" (1948), only the young man strikes the German sentry with both hands.
The "Holbein" was nothing more than a development of the Baselard, which appeared around the 15th century. It is believed that the famous Hans Holbein the Younger designed it for Basel blacksmiths, although his paintings depict a slightly different blade shape. Its main distinguishing features are a massive leaf-shaped blade, ranging from 250 to 450 mm in length, with a prominent medial rib and a strong crossguard and pommel, curved toward each other. It was richly decorated and included a small knife and awl, carried in special pockets on the scabbard. It became the prototype for German hunting daggers, the Swiss Army officer's weapon of the 1914 model, and... the daggers of the SA, SS, and other units of the Third Reich.
Holbein daggers were also called Basel daggers after the city of Basel and were considered the national weapon of the Swiss. Lavishly decorated examples like this one, with exquisite gilded bronze mounts and scabbards, were worn by officers and wealthy burghers, who also typically held high positions in the militia. The figurative ornamentation on the scabbard depicts the story of William Tell, the national hero of Switzerland. Material: steel, gold, bronze, wood, textile. Length with scabbard 44,8 cm; length without scabbard 40 cm; weight 496,1 g. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Another dagger known in Europe was the dirk, a long-bladed thrusting weapon named after the Highland dagger—the traditional personal weapon of Highlanders and Scottish officers engaged in hand-to-hand combat on land and at sea. It was also used by pipers and drummers of Scottish Highland regiments from approximately 1725 to 1800, and even by... Japanese naval officers. In Alexandre Dumas's novel Twenty Years After, it is a dirk that General Monk picks up before being kidnapped by D'Artagnan. But it still didn't help him!
The "eared dagger" (also known as the Levantine dagger) appeared in 14th-century Spain and was widely used throughout Europe until the 16th century. Its name comes from the two discs that form the pommel. The point between the "ears" served as a thumb rest for the reverse grip. The blade is straight, double-edged, of lenticular or diamond-shaped cross-section, often with a strong medial rib; it usually lacks a guard.
"Eared Dagger." The handle of this dagger is distinguished by large round "ears" at the end of the tang. Bone plates are riveted to these ears and to the sides of the tang, forming the "ears" of the handle and a spindle-shaped guard. These plates are decorated with floral designs, and the inscription "AVDA FORTVNA" is engraved on one "ear," and "FIDES FICIT" on the other. The ears are attached to the tang through spacers with rivets secured with large gilded steel buttons in the shape of pine cones with engraved and gilded rosette washers. The straight, double-edged blade has edges of unequal length; the base of the blade is thickened, rectangular in cross-section, and widens asymmetrically toward the upper edge. The tang, base of the blade, and linings are deeply blued and decorated with damask, depicting various hunting scenes against a background of dense foliage. This exotic-looking dagger likely came to Europe via Spain and is of Moorish origin. One of the earliest documented examples, now housed in the Royal Armory in Madrid, belonged to Baabdil, the last Moorish king of Granada, whose reign ended in 1492. The armorer Diego de Chayas, presumably of Spanish descent, who worked for Francis I and Henry VIII, is known to have made several daggers of this type. One of these may be the "eared dagger" mentioned among the French royal coats of arms in an inventory of 1561, and another may be the dagger depicted in a portrait of the young Edward VI, Prince of Wales, circa 1546. A similar eyed dagger, signed by Diego, is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but it is decorated in a very different style. This dagger is also decorated with hunting scenes in a distinctly French style. The scenes, depicting hunters blowing horns and wielding spears to hunt boar, and hounds pursuing deer, are based on woodcuts from a series of books of hours published by Simon Vostre in Paris in the 1490s and the first two decades of the 16th century. The artist of these illustrations is unknown, but he has been identified as the creator of the famous "Hunt of the Unicorn" tapestry in the vaulted hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Although the woodcuts that inspired this dagger's damask pattern date to the late 15th to early 16th centuries, the dagger itself was likely made around 1540. Materials: ivory, steel, gold. Dimensions: length 43,2 cm; width 5,1 cm; weight 493,3 g. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
A smaller version of the dirk was called a skin-doo (skyan, skene) – this short, wide Scottish dagger is not so much a weapon as an accessory to the national men's costume, worn tucked into knee socks. The blade is usually single-edged, ogive-shaped, and no more than 100 mm long. There is no guard, and the hilt is asymmetrical for a comfortable fit.
Just dirk. Royal Ontario Museum, Ontario
To be continued ...
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