Let it be, knight, everywhere and everywhere
A dagger with you until the end of days
Behind the belt or bosom, That is, perhaps, rather.
While he is with you, that talisman, You will go everywhere and everywhere
And he will cut all the secret networks, Which you will fall into.
He will cut all the secret bonds at once, Will not touch only those networks
With which he is tightly bound to you, That is, perhaps, more true."
("Dagger" words: P. E. Rummo)
Museum collections of knightly armor and weapons. So, last time we started with the fact that in the Middle Ages there were several types of daggers that were used by both knights and commoners. Often in literature we find such a name for a dagger as "misericordia" - "God's mercy", with which they were just the defeated ones. But this is not a type of weapon. A generalized name for almost all daggers of that time. It was just that they all had the same purpose. Hence the common name! Well, today we continue to get to know them and start with such a popular and deadly perfect dagger like the rondel.
It was known already from the middle of the XIV century, and got its name for the shape of the top of the handle and the guard. Both of these parts were in the form of discs, between which the hand was directly clamped. The discs prevented the hand from sliding off the handle, although they limited the variability of fencing with such a dagger. Obviously, it was intended to deliver powerful thrusting blows. But their blades were of different shapes. Quite often the handle of this dagger, pommel and guard were made in the form of a single one-piece piece. It should be noted that the narrow and faceted blades of the rondels appeared earlier than that of the bullocks, and much earlier than that of the stylets.
That is, it was a purely military dagger. Which, however, was also worn with a casual suit. After all, there have always been people who wanted to emphasize their social belonging. Daggers of this type are depicted in many miniatures and belong to many effigies, which confirms their distribution.
If before the effigii did not have daggers, then in the transition period from chain-plate armor to all-metal armor, very many have daggers, although still not all. Moreover, they began to be attached in a very original way. If earlier the dagger was worn on the knight's belt on the right, now … its scabbard was simply attached to the skirt of the cuirass. Most likely there was a leather scabbard loop. But it is quite possible that the scabbard was simply riveted to the skirt so that there was not the slightest possibility of losing it.
The "Eared Dagger" is a very strange weapon that has spread in Europe since the late 14th - early 15th centuries. It had a pommel in the form of two slightly inclined rounded protrusions, similar to ears. As such, he did not have a guard at all. The smallest type of dagger in medieval Europe. Its origin is unclear. The Turkish scimitar had something similar to his "ears". At this time, Balkan mercenaries appeared in large numbers in the European armies - stradiots who had scimitars. But the scimitar … it is a scimitar, and its resemblance to the "eared dagger" is only the smallest.
By the way, the shape of the handle of this dagger was generally very popular at that time and is found quite often. For example, you can see her at the knight on this tombstone …
It should be noted that the Italians were generally great inventors at that time. Didn't they come up with the famous "Milanese armor" and the Cinquedea dagger? The latter, however, was not chivalrous and is absent in effigia. But the townspeople wore it very often and used it just as often! They appeared somewhere in the 1450-1460s and were popular for a hundred years, and then disappeared from everyday life. For example, such a dagger from the Wallace collection …
During the Renaissance, the so-called "Holbein" daggers were also very popular. Here is one of them …
By the beginning of the 16th century, and a dagger with a very thin faceted blade, reminiscent of a stylus - a stick for writing on wax, which served as the basis for its name - stiletto (stiletto). Usually these were small "ladies'" daggers.
A variation of the 17th century stylet was again the Italian fusetti blade, with a measuring scale applied on it. This weapon was relied on by the state of the Venetian naval artillerymen.
Known are the original combined stilettos, representing a whole "headset". For example, the stylet could include a key for cocking the spring of a wheeled pistol, and its hollow handle served as a container for priming powder. The amount of the discharged charge was regulated by the size of the measuring container.
Famous stilettos-compasses. Their blade consisted of two parts, connected by a hinge. It was a handy device, to be sure …
Interestingly, the views of weapon historians on some of its types have changed greatly over time. For example, the same Vendalen Beheim, who seemed to be well versed in weapons, once wrote that a parrying dagger with an openable (he has a "scattering blade") served to … expand the wound. "". The editors of the St. Petersburg Orchestra publishing house, which republished his book "Encyclopedia of Weapons" in 1995, considered it necessary to write in a footnote to this phrase that such blades served to catch the enemy's weapons and were largely a means of psychological influence. And the prick itself with such a dagger happens so quickly that this is hardly possible at all. Although for some fantasy, this use of a dagger with a blade that opens into three parts is not a bad idea at all!
It remains to say a few words about the dagger from the movie "The Last Relic" (1969), where exactly this weapon plays a very important role. Outwardly, it is very similar to the stiletto from the Wallace collection, but it is larger in size. However, the violent imagination of its masters did not give rise to any samples of edged weapons. Not to mention the fact that almost anything could be done for cinema too.
And the last one is the combined daggers, one of which is shown in the photo below.
However, it is possible and necessary, of course, to tell in more detail about combined weapons. It will be about him next time …
