Hi all,

Just curious what bollock daggers looked like around the middle of the 14th century. The myArmoury spotlight article seems to imply that they're the simpler forms of the type, but I'd like to confirm this, as none of the examples shown in the article are specifically and positively identified even to the 14th century. Also, what blade geometry?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Ben

These daggers are mostly referred to as a "Ballock Dagger" (note the spelling). I imagine that most people on this site are familiar with examples dating after 1400.

From the Luttrell Psalter

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Ballock daggers, while found in period art fairly frequently in the 14th century, do not survive in great numbers. I found 2 in my library.

Harold Peterson's "Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World" doesn't show any. Logan Thompson's "Daggers and Bayonets" doesn't show any either. Claude Blair's "European & American Arms" shows one, but the hilt has been restored and there's no real way to know what it looked like initially.

You may also want to check out this old thread on 14th century daggers, which covers ballock daggers and rondel daggers: http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=9853

Rondel, baselard, and quillon daggers seem to have been more popular based on prevalence in period art and surviving examples.

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Dated to the 14th century, but not specifically. It doesn't say where it rests now either. Published in Dr. Capwell's recent book on daggers.

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Dated to the late 14th century. Housed in the Museum fur Deutsche Geschichte in Berlin.

Agreeing with Chad, there seem to be very few from the 14th.

I have a picture of this one that came from a Norweigian (if I remember right) city and was dated 1300

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this ballock dagger has been found in Amsterdam, it can be dated 14thC.

best regards from holland

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Cornelis,
Thanks for sharing this. How did you arrive at a 14th century date for this? It's a nice dagger, but the reinforced point, asymmetrical blade, bolster/guard, etc. all look like 15th century items to me. This would be an early example of those things.

herewith 3 daggers published by heribert Seitz in Blankwaffen 1. p211

the left dagger from the Metropoltian Museum of art,NY has a similar reinforced point as my dagger and is dated end of 14thC.

the dagger in the midle is dated 1450 ( also collection MMOA,NY)

the dagger on the right from the Statens museum, Stockholm Sweden is dated 15thC.

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