I came across the following image from Manuscript Miniatures. It's from the ONB Han. Cod. 2554 Bible Moralisee, dated to 1225-1249. What I am wondering about are the small blades shown in this image. Are they a form of seax? Or are they a sort of proto-baselard or baselard with a single-edged blade? As far as I know, seaxes do not normally have such a stark hour-glass profile for the grip. However, I discovered recently, seaxes are shown in use as late as circa 1194-1196 AD in the Liber ad Honorem Augusti manuscript, so one cannot rule them out as seaxes either.

What are your views?

Link to the original image here: http://manuscriptminiatures.com/4748/10693/

---

 Attachment: 71.48 KB

Very nice find. To me these look like single edged daggers in a mounting that we recognize in early forms of the basilard.

Beautiful form and interesting dating!

What intrigues me is that curved (?) sword at the bottom of the picture... I don't think I've seen anything like that before in period art.

I'll back Craig - they were indeed common - just for reference, when have time take a look here

http://sword-site.com/thread/99/byzantine-swo...rollTo=280

to find a great number of paramerhions (sabres/curved swords), shown in art; and all these - only in Byzantium and the Byzantine-influenced world.

Regarding the dagger, it could really be some sort of proto-baselard. But also I could see some features of Islamic daggers - mainly the curved blade and the pronounced hour-glass grip.
Well, although speculative I have that feeling of strong Islamic influence here.
BTW - what is the context of the image?

Good eye Boris. Definitely looks Jambiya-ish.

If you are defining a sax as a knife with the edge on the straight side of the blade, I would say no. Single edged daggers/figthing knifes where very common, probably more so that double edged daggers in most places.
The proto-baselard hilts are seen in other sources from the same period as well.

Seax design also varied with time and place. While british seaxes tended to have the edge on the straight side, frankish ones had a curved back AND edge, the later scandinavian ones a straight back and curved blade more akin to the medevial figthing knifes. Slavic figthing knifes had long, slender blades with paralell edges that curve back to the spine like a modern knife.

Regarding the sword, that spesific manuscript has a quite noticable amount of moorish equipment in it. At one point the artist actually draws a realistic lamellar armour! It is not unlikely that he (as one of the few illustrators) actually had first hand knowledge of moors.

Mart: One should think so, but If you look at the manuscripts of the age, they suggest that the artists have heard some anecdotes, but have not seen the things themselves.

Take the maciowski bible for example. it is a highly detailed work made by professional illuminators. These might have asked a returning crusader "How do you recognize the heathens?". Where upon the veteran might answer "They have pointed helmets, and round shields."
Consequently the heatens are drawn with pointed helmets and round shields. Everything else is identical to the "default" contemporary standard, because they simply do not know.
In the same spirit, they draw the egyptian chariots of pharaos army as 13th century french haywagons.

The artist in the bible moralise has more detailed depictions of moors and moorish equipment than is common for the period. He might indeed be a returned crusader, or traveler of some sort. But the average northwest european would know about as much about the arms and equipment of the moors as a contemporary american knows of the North Vietnamese Army.