Dagger with silver-plated hilt, from the Dresden Rustkammer, Saxony, ca. 1600

Left hand dagger with mushroom shaped pommel of octagonal section, the grip bound with silvered copper wire, the down turned quillons (crossbars) of flat section and a single ring-guard. The silvering on the hilt was applied by hatching and burnishing. The stiff blade is of diamond section with a short flattened ricasso.

Francis Mallett Bequest

This dagger is one of a series that formerly equipped the electoral guard at Dresden in Saxony.

Historical significance: This dagger is one of a series that formerly equipped the electoral guard at Dresden in Saxony.

This dagger would have once been twinned with a rapier, a long sword with a slender blade and elaborate hilt. The rapier and dagger combination was primarily designed for self defence using fighting techniques developed in Italy that are the ancestors of modern fencing. The sixteenth century rapier was both a slashing and stabbing weapon. Its accompanying dagger was used in the left hand for parrying and stabbing in close. The stiff slender blades of both were designed to pierce clothing rather than armour.

The rapier and dagger were also male fashion accessories worn at court, in procession and about town. They projected an image of honour based on social standing and, if necessary, defended the owner in one-on-one combat. The private duel was one consequence of the development of the rapier. In this sense, it is the epitome of the new sense of self fostered by the Renaissance. It was an emblem of personal vanity that settled disputes privately.

The conservative English defence expert, George Silver, felt a noble heritage of purpose-made war blades, clubs, flails and maces had been sacrificed at the altar of fashion as swords and daggers became faddish civilian accessories. ‘We like degenerate sonnes, have forsaken our forefathers vertues with their weapons.’

This dagger comes from the armoury of the Electors of Saxony and would once have equipped a member of their bodyguard. It would have once been twinned with a rapier, a long sword with a slender blade and elaborate hilt. The rapier and dagger combination was primarily designed for self-defence using fighting techniques developed in Italy that are the ancestors of modern fencing. The sixteenth-century rapier was both a slashing and stabbing weapon. Its accompanying dagger was used in the left hand for parrying and stabbing in close. The stiff slender blades of both were designed to pierce clothing rather than armour.

The rapier and dagger were also male fashion accessories worn at court, in procession and about town.They projected an image of honour based on social standing and, if necessary, defended it in one-on-one combat.

M.62-1947