[P. Schontzler]

I am familiar with the usage of a seax as an all purpose dagger/weapon/tool, but later in the high/late middle ages, what type of side arm was common for casual use?

For example the Ballock dagger was an essential sidearm on the battlefield, but was it the typical side arm around town, manor, court, etc?

[Dan P]

I found this short history of daggers from Tod's Stuff to be an interesting read. What I take from it is that in the late middle ages, so many different kinds of weapons were being made and shipped across Europe that it was basically a function of how much money one had and how fashion abled a man was.

IMO the ballock dagger wasn't really a military sidearm as much as the rondel or sword hilted dagger but kind of a more civilian maybe lower class item. My personal preference is for a large sword hilted dagger and a small utility knife.

[Chad Arnow]

[Mackenzie Cosens]

1358 maybe Peter de Grandis all most ballock daggers or baselards

[Elling Polden]

In per-modern times just about everybody carried a utility knife. It was deemed so basic that even a norse thrall could not be denied one.

For these reasons, a figthing knife would either be uncalled for (you can kill unarmoured people just as well with you utility knife) or would need to be fairly large in order to impress.

As for utility value, I have found my simple figthing knife to be a great tool for coarse woodworking. But this could in large part be due to the fact that it has a utility knife grip.
Casual wear of weapons also depends on period, and in areas/periods where it was not fashionable, we see fewer of them. For instance, figthing knifes are relatively rare in viking age norway, but abundant in Britain and the baltic in the same time period.

After a lull in the early middle ages, casual dagger wear seems to have become fashionable again in the late middle ages, with the ballock dagger being the most common choice when out of armour.
Not only is it (potentialy) cheaper, but also more convenient to carry as the hilts of roundells and quillon daggers are bulky and make them top heavy.

[P. Schontzler]

I made the mistake of assuming "Ballock" was a more general term for Rondel daggers, but now I see the two distinct articles in the "Features" section. My mistake!

What it sounds like is a Ballock is the common everyday knife of the high middle ages (though still useful on the battlefield), and the Rondel specifically suited for battle.

I thought that sword-hilted (quillon) daggers fell out of use after Rondels became common because of their ability to find holes (or sometimes create holes) in armor. Or were all kinds used? You can definitely pair a very pointed blade/spike with a quillon hilt.

[Chad Arnow]

[P. Schontzler]

Great reply Chad! I should know better than to make generalizations, I'm trying to fill in the gaps of my understanding.

This question came to mind because in the early middle ages / migration it seemed that everyone just had saxs and that was that, but it wasn't clear what was carried later on.