Details

LOT 1905

Medieval Iron Single-Edged Dagger

14TH-15TH CENTURY A.D.

11 1/2 in. (123 grams, 29.3 cm).

Comprising a slender cutting edge and a long tang. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Acquired 1960s-1990s.
Late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.

Literature

Cf. Cowgill, J. et al., Knives and Scabbards. Medieval Finds from Excavations in London, London, 1987, no.76, for a similar knife; cf. Colcough, S., Image and Reality in Medieval Weaponry and Warfare: Wales c.1100-c.1450, Bangor University, 2015, no.554C, fig.7.14, for a similar single-edged blade, belonging to a quillon dagger.

Footnotes

From the documentary evidence, the dagger was not a weapon in widespread use. In some sources, daggers are called handsets, presumably originating from the Anglo-Saxon scramasaxes, implying that they were a single-bladed knife rather than a dual-bladed dagger. It is unclear whether such daggers were primarily intended for military or civilian functions; although they may have been used in both, their primary uses were likely to be civilian.