I have always preferred the term "parrying dagger". It's a dagger with added parrying ability. This fact is true whether it is in your left hand or used alone.

@glowstickofdestiny1290

3 ай бұрын

Or used alone in your left hand

@scelonferdi

3 ай бұрын

That's in fact the name by which I learned about them. It was much later that I came across Main Gauche or left hand dagger

@Wub-rv9xx

3 ай бұрын

now I want one so I could call it a left-land dagger while holding it in my right, 'cuz I'm a bastard lefty that way

@MM-gk1tm

3 ай бұрын

You're right, partying dagger is definitely the better term.

@laoxep

3 ай бұрын

@@MM-gk1tm I think parrying dagger is a better term especially if you are left handed

The little dagger you brought with you is better than the huge dagger you left at home!

In “Method of Teaching the Masters” (1639, Southern Spain) Viedma notes that you dagger should be at least 1 half vara (16.5 in) long and later references a 24 in dagger blade in a way the indicates it especially long. He also has a section on defending oneself against a sword with only a dagger, saying you might one day be caught out without a sword.

dual-wielding is cool-wielding

@jayred2908

3 ай бұрын

Can confirm flo ftw

@kyuken893

3 ай бұрын

...and not for fools-wielding.

@gravecrawler1749

3 ай бұрын

Learn FMA dual wielding is taught out the gate

@umartdagnir

3 ай бұрын

But what if your dagger is hot?

@StygianEmperor

3 ай бұрын

@@umartdagnir even better

It's never wise to assume something is "popular" because it's better than something else. When I was a kid the Dirty Harry films had made revolvers with heavy bull barrels and vent ribs popular. Now there was a reason for the bull barrels (to reduce muzzle whip and manage heavier recoil) and the vent rib (to help cool the barrel during extended target shooting sessions) but most of the people weren't choosing those kind of revolvers for those reasons. They were choosing them because it was the latest coolest thing. Looking back people can laugh at people buying snub nosed .38's with vent ribs and bull barrels but then they go out and buy an AR 15 with 36" more picatinny rails that they will ever need for mounting accessories. The change to the parrying dagger may have had the same logic and have absolutely nothing to do with a practical reason. All it takes is some clever young fop in 1530 saying "Hey, the 1510's want their bucklers back."

@b.h.abbott-motley2427

3 ай бұрын

This is an important point. It's worth noting that bucklers stuck around for the entire 16th century & beyond, even though become less commonly worn & paired with swords than daggers. Miguel Pérez de Mendoza y Quijada wrote about fencing with & wearing the buckler in 1675. It's debatable whether the buckler or the dagger is the better companion to the sword, but the dagger definitely wins in terms of versatility & generally in terms of convenience.

@joshtiscareno1312

3 ай бұрын

The dagger is also substantially more *lethal* than the buckler is. If someone is able to get past your sword and close to grappling distance, the bucker isn't the best tool to attack them. The dagger, on the other hand, was MADE for fighting at grappling distances. This gives your opponent a good reason to keep his distance and fight at maximum range.

@Primalintent

3 ай бұрын

This is true, but it's also worth noting that media wasn't quite as widespread back in the day, and certainly no films to draw a direct parallel. Stories back then were usually more like poetry or plays and rarely were weaponry specified or setting the standard there. Tournaments were the closest thing they had to action films. Trends would thus be based on a mixture of local preferences and conditions. As Matt put it, maybe the dagger is "worse" with a sword than a buckler, but when these side weapons are alone the dagger is far superior. Thus if you find the conditions dictate you need a back up weapon in different situations, you'd always prefer the dagger to the buckler. In addition to that yeah it looks pretty cool. But that would probably be set up by seeing a fellow fighter use it in an interesting and effective way. Though it might not be the most efficient choice, it would be a standard set by a trusted superior or a live fight, not a performance where the details can be smudged. In that instance the worst case scenario is if you have a mentor who pretends to know what they're talking about but does not actually. Instead of Dirty Harry, you were looking out for the "bullshido master".

@PJDAltamirus0425

3 ай бұрын

Funny thing is that the Chinese essentially have a buckler which essentially is about as lethal as a dagger. Skall did a video about it. Must have a pain to carry cus as far as a I know, it didn’t catch of anywhere else

@b.h.abbott-motley2427

3 ай бұрын

@@PJDAltamirus0425 I wouldn't say the gou-rang is as lethal as dagger, though it's certainly more dangerous than a simple round buckler. European bucklers did sometimes have spikes, but that also makes them harder to wear conveniently, like the gou-rang. In theory, a buckler with a retractable blade like that one famous lantern shield would be a way around the convenience problem. I'm not aware of any historical buckers that had such retractable blades, but that lantern shield shows it was possible with 16th-century technology. Holding a buckler & dagger together, as Hans Talhoffer showed, would be another option, though this presumably requires a few seconds or so of prep time.

In 1540 Altoni mentions, that the buckler has been abandoned in Italy for some time for its association with men of evil intent and started to be proscribed; Altoni, Monomachia p.117. Mind I am lifting this reference from a work on Giganti, someone having read Altoni might have more context. So for Italy swashbuckler swashbuckled so hard they got the buckler banned in some areas of Italy around mid 16th century. Further in 1601 Docciolini mentions it started to make a comeback specificly at night. Of note is that both references originate from Florence.

@mnk9073

3 ай бұрын

Pretty sure walking around the inner city with a buckler then was the same as walking around the inner city with a baseball bat these days. My guess is the treaty of Lyon in 1601 meant lots of unemployed Piemontese soldiers loitering around northern Italy.

@cwmyr

3 ай бұрын

Amazing reference ! Any idea on why the comeback at night specifically?

@Lohgoss

3 ай бұрын

@@cwmyr this is only speculation, but with bad vision in low light conditions parrying a thrust is quite hard so the buckler covering a larger area just by holding it in front of the body is safer than the dagger, which requires "active" parrying.

@jritchey267

3 ай бұрын

@@Lohgoss Also consider that if carrying a buckler brought unwanted attention, it would just be easier to get away with at night.

@AdlerMow

3 ай бұрын

@@Lohgoss What's amazing is that the italians invented the lantern buckler exactly at that time, so guards had a double use item!

In Switzerland we call it a Parierdolch (parry dagger)

Great points Matt! I've fought with rapier and dagger many times, however it didn't become so apparent to me how much of a pain it is to be wearing a sword all the time until I wore both weapons at a local renaissance fair. I ended up leaving the sword at my guild's encampment for most of the event and kept the dagger on my belt. If I was forced to defend myself with what I had on my person, I still have a dagger and sometimes a cloak which I suspect were commonly employed together in self defense. Would love to see a future video exploring that weapon combination.

@drzander3378

3 ай бұрын

@Honeybadger_525, Marozzo has a section on cloak and dagger.

@Honeybadger_525

3 ай бұрын

Yes he does! Marozzo was specifically who I was thinking of. I don't know of any other fencing manuals from that period that specifically discuss cloak and dagger. I do know that some later knife fighting traditions sometimes employ cloaks, coats or ponchos in the off hand.

@flametitan100

3 ай бұрын

@@Honeybadger_525 Fabris is 50 years later than Marozzo, but his treatise brings up a point which may explain why dagger and cloak wasn't as popular in that period as it could be. In it, he says the biggest advantage of the cloak was that it could be used in jurisdictions where the dagger was banned. To me, this implies that Dagger and cloak's unpopularity was due to circumstance. If you were using a cloak, it was because the dagger was banned, and if the dagger's not banned, you'd prefer to use sword and dagger. Now, that was an assumption on my part and could be off base; Fabris tried to keep his book from having too many different subjects in favour of going deep into rapier specifically, so it could just be that cloak and dagger was excluded for brevity's sake like sword and buckler were. It could be Cloak and Dagger were popular and treatises on them just don't surface as frequently; It wasn't until the 2010's we discovered Giganti book 2 was real, after all.

@laufert7100

3 ай бұрын

Try it, dagger and cape is insanely chaotic and fun!

@Zbigniew_Nowak

3 ай бұрын

@@laufert7100 I read that long ago Roman legionaries used large, strong daggers to parry blows if they did not have a shield with them. But for me, with no experience in fencing, fighting with two objects at the same time in two hands seems to be an abstraction that probably requires superhuman coordination. But well, I used to think the same way about turning the steering wheel of a car and changing gears manually at the same time.

Another thing that could have contributed to the popularity of daggers over bucklers is hand protection. One of the common uses of a buckler is to protect your sword hand, with the rise of complex hilts this becomes less important.

@PJDAltamirus0425

3 ай бұрын

Yeah, and what people are referring to with the printing press on a societal level. A Renaissance man probably owned and carried more stuff than a medieval man. More trade, even from exotic places the old world and the new world to Europe, printing presses starting to makes the first kinda relatively afforadly books, more money based economy and civilians are less tolerance of encumbrance than soldiers, soldiers have put with bulky and heavy throughout history. The place where that isn’t the case , where people walk around heavily armed, like the Scottish highlands and I think India with the sikhs have been noted by outsiders as strange and lawless.

@Cleanpea

3 ай бұрын

Not only that, it takes more effort to move the sword around the buckler, the more complex the hilt. Probably part of why later buckler sources advices the buckler to be held out from the body, separate from the sword?

It is always interesting how much daggers and swords parallel modern firearms here in the US. Like that these are side arms and not the primary. Where with fire arms a pistol is a side arm and a rifle is a primary. And some of the most popular pistols are very small and light weight not because that is superior for shooting(in fact heavier ones are typically used in competitions) but because they are easy to carry/conceal. In both cases it's a huge compromise between what would be best in case of actual fight that will probably never happen vs what is convenient to carry everyday without using it. Also a nice reminder that just because this was long ago these people were not dumb. They did things the way they did for practical reasons that may be hard for us to see without living with a sword on our hip.

@johnladuke6475

3 ай бұрын

Another point towards that analogy is the few cases where big hand cannons are actually preferable. Picturing the old west, or even modern ranchers, sometimes a large and powerful pistol is the choice. But why? Because a rifle might be a bit much to be carrying around, but a compact and light pistol doesn't have enough power to get the job done.

I humorously refer to my Bolognese style parrying dagger, when I'm giving lessons, as a main-droit. (Left handed coach here.) I'll then tell my students that when they use it, it's a main-gauche.

@mlo9005

3 ай бұрын

As a fellow lefty, I have to ask: Where do you find asymmetrical weapons suited for left handers?

@drzander3378

3 ай бұрын

Excuse the pedantry but it’s ‘droite’, not ‘droit’ as ‘main’ is feminine.

@5ringsmaster

3 ай бұрын

@@drzander3378 Thank you! My French is very very rudimentary. As many Parisians who have assisted me in the past know very well.

@5ringsmaster

3 ай бұрын

@@mlo9005 A number of antique saber guards (especially for gymnasium swords) are symmetrical. I find cheap broken ones, and remount the guards. Rapiers, I’ve had students build several guards for me, and cup hilts are typically symmetrical. Court swords are generally not difficult. Turn the blade over.

@Blokewood3

3 ай бұрын

I made that joke too when I learned rapier and dagger! 😊 Main droits unite!

It seems that the really popular combo, historically vastly preferred, is unjustifiably overlooked in these analyses. Yes, I am talking about the sword and butler combo. Consider the advantages - the butler carries the sword, you have your hands free to engage in whatever social and less than social activity of your choice. If circumstances escalate, you signal your butler, he draws the sword and protects you. If there are legal problems afterwards, the butler goes to prison, you hire another butler, rinse and repeat, smooth and trouble-free solution.

Though bucker use declined in relative terms, even simple round bucklers continued to exist & to appear in fencing treatises throughout the 16th century & beyond. Giacomo di Grassi's 1570 manual, for example, features a simple round bucker & claims one could easily defend against thrusts with it. Di Grassi used a cut-&-thrust sword (a sidesword, if you want to use that term) but favored the thrust over the cut. & Miguel Pérez de Mendoza y Quijada thought both dagger & the bucker were awesome to use in conjunction with the rapier & wanted to bring them back into fashion, as he wrote in his 1675 treatise.

11:30 starts talking about the size of left hand dagger, and how they were normally much shorter. I typically train with a rebated Tod Cutter quillon dagger, and Matt is definitely correct on how much it changes things from using something like a sail dagger.

@tommeakin1732

3 ай бұрын

Forgive me, my le Francais isn't as strong as it should be for an English speaker; does "rebated" mean "blunted" in my ugly, mutt tongue?

One of the pertinent examples of this point is the Scottish Dirk. It was used both as a left-hand weapon in addition to the broad-sword (sometimes held in conjunction with a targe), but also as a stand-alone weapon where necessary.

Another thing I think you wandered close to but didn't mention explicitly; even in the era of sword and buckler, a person who lost or gave up their sword probably still had a dagger on them. So rather than being a trade, it was more a matter of merely giving up the shield with no other change to one's accoutrements. This is potentially reinforced by the exceptionality of bulky daggers (as you mentioned), since the buckler would likely be even bulkier than that dagger in turn, making them even less convenient for everyday carry. From there, the first use of sword and dagger together might have been incidental, driven by the once momentary to defend oneself while already/only carrying two one-handed weapons (as opposed to three).

About bucklers with point breaking capability in Renaissance, spanish literary sources tell about "corchetes", shields made of cork and light wood, sported by the guards in Madrid and other big cities, to the point of being the nameshake of those guards ( "then came the corchetes")

I absolutely adore tods alehouse dagger. Paired nicely with a basket hilted broadsword or back sword. Also darkwood armoury small pierced sail hilt dagger.

In Filipino blade arts, we have a style called Espada y Dagga that is very closely related to Spanish fencing, since the Spanish were one of the biggest colonizers of the Philippines. It's loaded heavily with separate actions between the right and left hand, to unbalance an opponent. It also serves the purpose of defending, as the dagger acts almost as a shield. Obviously, that's a slightly reductive explanation.

Off-hand dagger makes more sense to me personally. Left hand dagger is in the right hand if you like to doing left hand dominant practice to develop a bit of ambidextrous muscle memory.

Thanks for covering this topic Matt. Ive recently been looking into learning more about left hand dagger use as it compares to Jitte use. Its interesting how they are both defensive sidearms that developed in societies where dueling was common.

The dagger became popular, because in times of peace and in cities or towns, carrying a shield was quite a heavy task. While a short sword and a rapier could be carried without difficulty. Greetings from Spain.

If you're still looking for an alternate name for those, in hungarian its called a "hárítótőr", which means "parry dagger".

@olivertanacs5217

3 ай бұрын

Üdvözletem! Csak ki akartam fejezni az örömömet hogy vannak más magyarok is akik Matt videóit figyelik. Legyen a napja kellemes és örömteli! :)

Parrying dagger would be the obvious choice. As that is what it is mainly carried for. Defending from and parrying blows.

Very interesting! The dagger is my favorite weapon. Please make that a series and make some more videos about it... because we've heard so much about swords, it's time for something new! :)

Great video! Dagger has always been one of my favorite off hand weapons, would like to see more about it.

Thanks Matt! Brilliant as usual Sir. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and doing it in such a fun & interesting way. I always enjoy and look forward to your content. From “across the pond”, my best wishes to you and your family. ✌️🌎

Thinking about using the weapon as one's only weapon, I have a new appreciation for why it's called a "left hand" dagger. You can use your off hand to parry while your more dextrous dominant hand is free to grapple. If you can catch the opponent's weapon with the dagger, then grip their arm or sleeve while closing in, then they're completely out of line and trapped inside your dagger's range. It's essentially the sword vs spear tactical problem in a different scale -- and using your free man to trap the longer weapon works the same way.

A great video as always. To the point about what you pair it with, I'm actually commissioning a matched sword and dagger but the sword is more of a half and a half situation. I'm having it styled after those half-baskets that you covered a while back.

Even as a HEMA dagger user, much of this was new information for me!

3:36 having that for dinner, also great video Matt, as always.

Parrying dagger. Drop the left hand part.

Very interesting, thank you !

Excellent thanks 👍.

Just a thought from my personal experience about a further possible(?) explanation of the transition from buckler to dagger. As we can see in I-33, if the sword has a simple cross-guard, a buckler is excellent for protecting the sword hand (while a dagger is pretty rubbish at that). But if the sword has a more developed hilt, the buckler is less necessary as a hand protector, and in Marozzo for example we see it often held in front while the sword moves around it pretty independently. In fact, a complex hilt (or even just a long cross-guard) is a nuisance if you try to fence in the I-33 style. I also find that a dagger is better than a buckler not only against thrusts, but also against cuts. Admittedly, I have more experience with dagger than with buckler, so that may be a factor, but still, the dagger is perfectly adequate for parring even powerful cuts, especially if used in conjunction with the sword at the moment of the impact, and then employed as a controlling device while the sword is free to leave the bind and hit through an opening. A buckler, on the other hand, often deflects the incoming blow rather than stopping it, and has a limited capacity to control a bind on its own.

My understanding is that part of why bucklers fell out of favor is that they are more or less limited to one purpose, and carrying one started to hold the connotation that you were a little too eager for a fight. On the other hand, daggers can at least ostensibly claim utility uses, even if the claim might be pretty thin for some.

For close combat, the blade should not be too long. Fights and self-defense situations are not always a duel. For example, it could happen suddenly in a tower span or a tavern or a room... You can't fight with a long blade there. The length of the blade can sometimes be a disadvantage. In addition, it is better to use a blade that is not too long if you fall to the ground and engage your enemy from a lying or sitting position. Yes, this kind of situation is not very suitable for cinema, unlike duels. But life is not a movie and never has been..

The best part about "left hand daggers" is, that you can use them with your right hand as well. 🥰

My experience as a former military says that most pepole starts with large knife and kind of soon get a smaller one. because 99% of the time it´s in your belt. I would guess it was the same with left hand daggers historicly.

@b.h.abbott-motley2427

3 ай бұрын

In the early 17th century, Joseph Swetnam recommended wearing a two-foot dagger & a rapier that was at least four feet. Some Renaissance wore absurdly large & inconvenient sidearms.

@exploatores

3 ай бұрын

@@b.h.abbott-motley2427 something that is 2 foot sounds more like a short sword. then a dagger. It would be fun to see someone trying to walk indoors with a 4 foot rapier and a 2 foot dagger.

Thanks, Matt.

Would love to see more on the antique 17th century swords behind you Matt!

I like the hypothesis of the Parrying Dagger being worn as a secondary/"CQB-ish" weapon rather than a companion weapon itself because it helps me cope with the fact that I want ot buy one, despite not having a sword lol. You see, I'm a big fan of fancy blades like the Spada da Lato, Rapier, Small Sword...Something abt a stabby with a beautiful hilt always got my attention since I was a kid lol. However, here in Brazil the late middle-ages/reinassance weapons aren't so popular when compared to japanese weapons and early middle ages or 14th century weapons. As such, the only rapier I've found on sale was a high end damascus steel, which cost R$13.800, or USD3,000. So, I've decided to buy the Cold Steel Large Parrying Dagger, despite, once again, not having a sword...And now I've got no excuses to not buy it to ky knife collection haha!😂

Complex hand protection daggers like that, of a more substantial size than a typical dagger, I can see being the Rogue "daggers" of choice in a D&D setting. Makes far more sense. Small and concealable for the knifey shiv dark...and able to parry weapons effectively if you make too much noise while being a sneak XD

Awesome daggers. Cheers!

Matt, when going about your daily business and not expecting trouble, wearing a simple, lighter long dagger makes sense. My question is about the Cinquedea; AKA a sword for when you don't want to wear a sword but still have the mass to block a full sword. It's also good for tight quarters and concealing under your cloak. I wear a Schivonna and a Cinquedea with my 1530 Northern Italian outfit and consider myself well armed. What do you think about a left had Cinquedea? It may not have the extensive guard, but the mass is an aid to parrying a long sword or thicker side sword.

thanks

We're not sure, but one thing we know for a certainty was that the motivation was sinister.

@nevisysbryd7450

3 ай бұрын

Stealth pun

A bowie of 14 inches concealed behind the back. Maybe Crocodile Dundee style. Heft with trapping trident quillions. Comfort and stealth.

Beautiful dagger.

I know you brought up Marozzo's section on the dagger used in the right hand as a main weapon, but it's a pity you didn't mention his section on cloak and dagger.

Funny to see this pop into my feed since i have been recently trying to research parry daggers in the 18th century.

I was just thinking about this the other day in regards to 'alehouse daggers'

and without the buckler, you won't have to worry about all the clanging noise following you everywhere

Wow I can''t be the only one who noticed EL CAPITÁN ALATRISTE. Love that movie.

Nice I'm curious to see some sparring or demonstrations with parrying dagger vs pole arm.

I've always preferred "parrying dagger" or if it suits "quillon dagger". This is in part because rondel, Bullock & other dagger types are not generally used as an offhand weapon to sword/rapier. Yes rondels & other types were used to parry when used alone but not as an offhand weapon (or at least rarely as I can think of no examples in art).

Firm believer in two handed styles. And not always of unequal lengths. So many more options available if you train ambidexterously. Not just in swordsmanship, but in everything.

In the D&D "The Legend of Drizzt" book series by R.A. Salvatore, assassin/fighter Artemis Entreri fights with a variety of long blades on the right, and a signature dagger on the left. But he seems to prefer to use the smaller weapon for most of his work. It's almost as if he likes to parry or bind with the sword, then close in and strike with the dagger. There is never a super clear description of his prized weapon in the books, but here are the highlights. It is covered in emeralds, with a magical garnet in the pommel, all embedded in silvery metal. It has a crossguard of some sort, but there has never been a mention of a finger ring or curved terminals "printing" on his cloak or jacket while sheathed. And the blade is only about as long as a man's head is tall, for he once drove it under a man's jaw up into his brain, and the point stopped in the underside of the man's skull, with the guard under his chin. Such a short blade might be more difficult to defend with than either of the fighting knives Matt presents here, but it would definitely help him to conceal it for his shadier missions.

@vedymin1

3 ай бұрын

He liked it more couse it stole vitality with every strike and gave it to him, a vampiric dagger. So he could easily exhaust the opponent with even tiny lacerations. At least thats what i member x)

@texasbeast239

3 ай бұрын

@@vedymin1 Yeah, but I was trying to steer clear of the magical aspects and focus on the purely martial ones.

Great video. But I want to go on records to say that I want my basement wall to look like Matt's garage door display and collection rack. 😁

Complex hilted rapiers essentially have the buckler incorporated into the hilt so you might as well have another implement in the other hand with both offensive and defensive capabilities.

Please also make a video about the offensive (!) potential of the parrying dagger as well.

I think main gauche is a fine name for them, it does just mean left hand, but it also is pretty synonymous with the dagger (at least in video games and such).

It’s fun to see more Bolognese-aware content on your channel, Matt!

Good video ⚔️

I'm excited for more lefty dagger content

Your comment on only wearing daggers in certain situations makes me think of the Burgundian-driven court fashion and culture of the mid-late 15th century. If you look at paintings the only things worn were roundel daggers on the belt, usually at an angle. While there are clearly examples of "court" swords (IX 949 being probably the most famous example) and swords where the form is almost as important as the form, the dagger seems to be the fashion statement and defensive tool of choice. In many cases you see them angled towards the left hand as well (though artist bias and perspective should be taken into account). Looking at artwork from the reigns of Duke Philip the Good and Charles the Bold of Burgundy and even within the court of Maximilian and Mary as seen in L'arbre des batailles can give you many examples of the dagger, and the left hand dagger, being the primary tool, especially among those richest enough to follow and even set the fashion trends!

Was the itailian cinqueda maybe somene started trying to make a cheaper version of this? The meaty blade, short sword length, wide tringle for cutting and thrusting, larger quillons for parrying. The nailed construction is easier to than the percise friction fit of a crossguard.

Would love to see a video covering historical examples of all weapons used dual wielding.

What about ale house daggers? Especially basket hilted.

Dear Sant..... nevermind, Schola much appreciate the content on the 'main gauche', I recently acquired a rapier and am attempting to currently forge my own parrying dagger.

ooooo... I WANT that dagger!!!!

*Matt would you please make a video explaining the differences between Spanish, French and Italian fencing?*

I mean looking at the size of that thing it more then makes sense you could/would use it by itself

Wait, with the way the large parrying dagger it designed, you could flatofmystrong!!! A thrust aside. :p The dreaded JC lives!

Hmmmm, maybe you could test out your theory during the upcoming 'Armoured Fighter' workshop. Would be interesting to see the results vs various polearms.

"That's not a dagger. _This_ is a dagger!"

What I learned from this video: Size DOES matter and bigger usually IS better, but small ones can be quite alright as well, very practical and achieve reasonable penetration in a pinch. However when facing another man, both exposed, the one with the bigger one has a clear advantage. In general you should try to keep yours sheathed regardless of size and not be out there waving it around willy-nilly, else you might get into all kinds of trouble.

How about just "dagger" ?

@bakters

3 ай бұрын

That's a generic term, which misses the intended use of the weapon. I like the "parrying dagger".

Captain America does alright with just a shield, thank you.

@crazypetec-130fe7

3 ай бұрын

He can do that all day.

Out of curiosity if you were going to design a bowie knife style one to act as the companion piece to something like the gunther langes messer what features would you want it to have? Would you hold the knife edge forward or even edge backward using the spine rather than thumbing the blade?

Sir John Smythe recommends a short dagger with a small cross guard on the battlefield, but is this better suited than a long dagger for close combat in dense pike squares? The average blade length of Japanese wakizashi is in the 40-cm range, which is longer than the 9-10 inch (22-25cm) short dagger recommended by Smythe, but some literature recommends carrying a tanto (blade length of about 20cm or more) along with.

@b.h.abbott-motley2427

3 ай бұрын

In tight quarters & grappling, a shorter dagger/knife definitely has advantages.

I feel fencing dagger may work. I was thinking fighting dagger, but generally daggers are for fighting. However a bollocks dagger or a Rondell dagger are not exactly for fighting a sword.

I tend to fence with a small simple dagger as a companion specifically because it's the sort of thing you're likely to carry every day. 10" blade, open ring, and short forward curved guard. I don't worry much about my hand getting hit either, since it's held near the forte of the sword, one defends the other.

Daggers were also preferred over bucklers in civilian use because they have so many non-combat functions: dining, butchery, woodworking, bushcraft etc. Obviously, a main gauche may not be as effective as tools specifically designed for those other functions, but they will do at a pinch.

Matt! You missed a chance for "That's not a knife..." gag.

Could the shift to a dagger be related to the handle-style and the added inconvenience of a buckler with a large hand guard on the sword - how do they generally fit together when worn?

I would just call it off-hand-dagger, as it is (designed to be) used in your off-hand and not your main hand. 🙂 The term should be known fairly well amongst younger folks.

I was going to ask about wearing a dedicated parrying dagger, because the balance on most of them is not really conducive to carrying on a daily basis. They are often pretty handle heavy which makes them tip over and I was wondering if you had any insight into that

I reckon the holes on the guard would've got thrusts stuck, like a bind. Did the popularity of daggers over bucklers co-incide with the trend to thrusts as opposed to cuts?

Because I'm left-handed, when I was learning rapier and dagger stage combat my "main gauche" became a "main droit!"

good video

Tbh would love to see more about heavy duty parrying dagger vs halberd. Matt kinda seemed to be more confidant about its chances than I would have expected? But maybe he just meant in comparison to trying to use a small dagger vs a halberd?

Even depictions of soldiers show the wearing of smaller size daggers, so like much in the 17th cen alot of different types where used.

The forthcoming basket hilt sword sounds very promising!

Matt Easton: where can I find one of these daggers? I did not see them on the Royal Armories website.

I'm no etymologist, but modern English seems already quite choc-a-bloc with loanwords and phrases. That, or the root of many words are Greek, Latin, French, or other, but is so commonly used, nobody pays it any mind. Besides, I like the succinctness of those two quick syllables: _main-gauche._ Granted, if I was conversing with a francophone, I might use a different phrase for disambiguation.

I petition they be called Street Messer as they are a knife you carry when walking about the street. And yes, messer just means knife in German, but I like it better.

The left handed amongst us we adapt very easily to right handed weapons

"I don't use the term main-gauche because I don't like using non-English words in the English language when they don't add anything." SUPER BASED, we need to stop doing this unless we are specifying the given culture's variation on a design. Zweihander in some contexts is a fair distinction, but main-gauche is a clunky term for English speakers and parrying dagger or even Sail dagger is more specific.

I'm curious, Matt, how would one dress/sheathe a dagger with a more complex hand guard? I've just started learning rapier but I haven't seen anything on the treatises about that yet