15th Century Medieval Daggers: Bollock vs Rondel 

I love how he embraced all the dickjokes and just rolls with them now Hasn’t always been the case :)

Matt's delight at the gauntlet pun at about 8:50 🤣

Phallic intentions is gonna be the name of my homebrew slaaneshi marine chapter for 40k.

About your last point on gentrification of weapons associated with "lower status" we can find something which may be relevant, I think, for early-ish occurence, in Hans Talhoffer's Königsegg Treatise from the 1450's as, when covering the various aspects of a formal knightly duel, he gives a list of equipements amongst those we can find two types of messers.

What a coincidence, I just watched a couple of dagger videos on Tod's channel. Good stuff

"Vestigial bollocks" is a phrase I didn't expect to hear today, but I probably should have.

Good info, as always. I like how you differentiated between who tended to use each, that it was far from absolute, and that over time the overlap increased. Clarifying Tod's video. The bit about the discs on the rondels covering gaps in gauntlets I thought was especially cool. I try to position my EDC gear and battle rattle the same way, for every little bit of protection I can get

Loving these dagger videos from you and Todd!

I had seen Tod's video on the subject and yours adds some interesting perspective. In terms of a subject for you to cover: What about the Dirk, in general evolution and in its Naval and Highland forms?

Great video.... THanks for the upload!

At about 15:50, a first in the long history of the analyses of militaries and weaponry: a bullocks dagger was described as possessed of the comparatively LESS crude design. Yes, I realize that the adjective was used to describe physical properties and feeling in the hand of the hilt/guard, but since that part of the dagger is literally the eponymous bollocks, it seemed a moment amusingly counterintuitive enough to warrant a brief commemoration. If you don't like it, well then...never mind the bollocks.

Any chance we could get a video talking about the “antenna” dagger? It seems to be rather under appreciated, and there’s not that much out there about them.

It’s been a long time since you talked about books. I wish i could zoom in to see the titles on your bookshelf. Thanks for another great video!

So you're making a video that's to be an appendix to Tod's video about bollocks... The real question is whether Lloyd or Shad will make a video about another part.

Finally got one of his daggers. It is so awesome and well made. Hope to get a another soon. Interesting the sources talked about rondel daggers but the other kind were more common...

I recently bought the same rondell dagger as shown in the vid from Tod Cutler, can highly recommend!

Thanks for pointing the versatility of the ballock out. I've always preferred the design of copies I've seen, particularly Tod's, now I will be able to appreciate their potential greater usefulness also, thanks.

Poleaxe: It's a the halberd of the nobility. Halberd: It's the pollaxe of the soldiery. Billhook: It's the poleaxe of the gardener. Makes a great halberd. Guisarme: It's the continental gardener's billhook, makes a great halberd.

For anyone on the fence about Todd's stuff, it is worth it, so well made and nice to look at to boot. I couldn't afford a dagger, got one of his small knives, love it. Want a dagger one day. It is well worth the $.

“Vestigial Bollocks” 😂😂😂

From my re-enactment work, the common people of the 11th Century were all using a Scramasax knife, possible this morphed into or was superseded by the bollock dagger as metal working became more prevalent and the cost allowed the lower classes to afford a previously higher status tool.

It's late Matt, I just got back from my HEMA club, De Taille et D'Estoc, where we did some one handed longsword with Fiore.. But I'll watch this, I can't ignore this *knowledge*

What about quillon daggers? I feel that they are really overrepresented in modern pop culture, but also feel like the history enthusiasts don't really talk about them. Maybe because they are kinda boring? By whom, how and when were they used and how often?

Today on Matts word of the day calendar, "Predominant". ;) Great video, thanks a lot!

I spy with my little eye............ a teeny tiny Corinthian style helmet on the shelf. >___

Thank you Matt ! as a tool user I have real difficulty visualising the Bollock dagger ‘s. grip as being much use on a peasant’s working knife, I’m not saying it would be impossible to use, but certainly difficult and unwieldy. I would like a list of tasks that you think would be easy to perform with a 9” ( minimum) triangular blade and a very small fragile, grip !

Older rondel daggers must have fallen out of fashion and either passed into the market for used weapons or been given as gifts to retainers, they probably weren't popular for civilian wear as the hilts get in the way so some blades must have been rehilted in a different form. Medieval humour is frequently crude and obvious, the fuest bollock daggers would likely have been a regarded as works of comic genius. In most of the world there's a continuous history of combination large utility and fighting knives from their iron ages to today's gaucho knives, bowies, kukris, etc..

12:31 That's basically all the spots you can get injured in the SPES heavies as well.

Hi Matt, really enjoyed the video, nice addition to Tod's. I'm curious if you've done anything on the Cinquedea or Main Gauches? I am also fond of the aesthetics of the "Swiss hunting dagger".

A serious look at bollocks. Was actually quite interesting. I wasn't at all familiar with different types of daggers from this period.

From the 5th to the 1st century BCE there was a type of sword in use in France, Switzerland and Southern Germany that has some resemblance to the bollock dagger. In German "Knollenknaufschwert" and French "Epée à rognons".

Unarmoured peasants using armoured fighting daggers? Trickledown ergonomics.

One of the points Todd makes is the handles on ballock daggers were fairly short. If originally they were utilitarian the grip might have the fingers curved around the ballocks with the blade between them. The Dene in northern Canada used a volute knife so they could easily use it while wearing mittens.

There's a novelty - never heard Mat talking bollocks before.

"I have no money to reward you for your service, but I have advice to last a lifetime: Your thumb on the blade and strike upwards." -- G. K. Chesterton

Berserk Chapter 331 used the attack to the gap behind the glove. Also included half-swording, grappling and striking with the hilt.

I'd like to see more videos about other knife and dagger types apart from the ones you and Tod have already covered several times. In other words, what else is out there?

Great video. I was wondering about the long-handled flail in close rank combat, did it have a specialist use?

An interesting face. The Cold Steel Scottish Dirk, which I own, and have for many years. Has the flared pommel disc/end cap. And the some what of a Ballock knife design at the Bolster. A good dirk, its killed many a wild Haggis.

The rondel dagger's forward disc might also help prevent the dagger from sinking too far into the opponent and entangling the dagger or the hand armor in the opponent's armor. You talked about how the forward disc helps increase the force of the thrust of the dagger, the back disc could increase the force of the dagger in removing the dagger, so it is not left stuck in something removing the dagger from use - like a orthopedic slaphammer Interesting presentation.

Two things: I have before been introduced to the concept that the gentrification of these weapons was tied to the success of the Landsknecht companies in the late 15 and early 16th centuries. Secondly, I have a bollock dagger for sparing that I wear horizontally. I find that the bollocks make it very easy to draw and use in a variety of situations with either the point forward or backwards. I can even draw it with the right hand so that the point is forward by thumbing the blade and bollocks, even at a horizontal carry.

This new camera angle / distance is much more "intimate". Suits the subject of this video very well.

Yep, we were right about Matt's house. Small gap between two bookshelves, ALSO packed with swords.

I see a great analogy between lower class soldiers and bowmen buying or otherwise getting their hands on rondel daggers, the same as modern city dwellers driving 4x4s. It may be designed for a particular use but if people like it then people use it.

I'm a Maine Gauche, stiletto kinda guy, but those are nice daggers, amazing craftsmanship!!! >P. S. Being a Duck I prefer using my Bill... 🦆

Matt, can you make a video about navaja or the kindjal?

Marie rose had alot of bollock daggers but none of the blades survive. hmm 🤔🧐

Not sure how I feel about Matt spending half the video waving his bollocks about, but very informative nonetheless!

The point of bare handed fighting seems the most accurate to me the rondell would be uncomfortable bare handed but still a stronger penetrator. While the bollock far more maneuverable bare handed to either find gaps in between plate or mail although I'd think you could drive a strong bollock through mail or Gambeson .

So the disk pommel is akin to the tape disk or ball on the end of a hockey stick, so you can grab it more easily in clumsy handwear.

What about the 17C Italian Stiletto dagger like the one Tod Cutler sells? He says those were for Duelists, Brawlers and the like.

Todd "Cutler", pretty good name for a guy that makes blades.

Something I would like to see investigated is the bauernwehr or "nailed" peasant knife. The presence of the nail, to me, seems to suggest a combat application, but I am unaware of any source that actually talks about such a thing. Could this be due to the typically low status of such a blade?

Speaking of different ways of gripping the dagger, do you think they were ever used with an index finger over the guard/bollock style of grip? At least for me with my bollock dagger (Landsknecht Emporium dagger that they apparently don't sell anymore) it feels like the most natural way of holding the dagger and it allows for a grip where the wrist is almost perfectly in line with the thrust.

By the way...maybe I've missed it, but is there a video focused on spear points? It's always called the king of weapons and I'd love to hear a deep dive on their evolution.

Do you think you can do a video On Baselards

You’re right I would definitely be interested in seeing the story of the immediate predecessors of these knives, but going back a few centuries to the Saxon/Viking daggers/seaxes - what this video makes me wonder even more is “why did it take so long to put an upper guard/bolster on knives like this??” I know the seax (and early Dark Age swords) were all about the hewing and slashing, but they must have stabbed with them sometimes? And surely must have encountered the issue of hands slipping up onto blades? I know - understandably - you disliked lots of the weaponry in The Last Kingdom, but the main character’s kinda-seax-thing has quillons, and although not historically accurate it does seem to make much more sense than having nothing to bolster your hand on your fighting knife. So what’s the deal?

You know the longer you hold the dagger up, pointed at the camera, the more intimidated I become. That rondel dagger is scary.

Matt has statement on the order that for both styles of dagger that one can tell from the hilts that they were fighting daggers and not tools. I would have thought that obvious from the blades.

Cutting edge towards the enemy or towardy your ellbow? Was this in manuals? The only ones i found from that time didn`t mention the edge.

watching the video and looking around your "stage" i see that tiny little helm just to the left your right, where can i find a small helm like that?

I think the bollocks should indeed help with edge alignment -only not so much in a fight. If you used one of those as a tool (whittling, cooking, cutting ropes and, of course, eating), they should indeed be useful. Especially so as their rounded shape makes it more comfortable to put the thumb over the apex of one of them. And who would make more frequent tool-style use of their dagger -bowmen or knights?

The subtitles could not cope with bollock. My favourite attempt at it was bullet baguettes

Can you review the Crazy 88 fight from Kill Bill?

I think most people miss two things. Aviabillity and deployability aka "oh sh.t" deployment in regards to backup&sidearms. I wonder if they used shorter daggers at that time too. The roman pugio should have some sucessors if one thinks about it but seems to have been lost somewhere in the dark ages until pretty much north america was setteled. It would be easy to make a broken triangular bajonett or so into a "hideout"/boot/wherever weapon but i haven`t seen sources for this yet.

Did you polish the brass on your dirk? Mine came looking pretty rough with some pitted spots.

Hearing the phrase "vestigial bollocks" said aloud gave me a moment of Fruedian Angst for some reason 😅

The evidence of the Mary Rose suggests that it’s likely that many, possibly even most men on the ship carried Ballock daggers, suggesting they would be utility knives or soldiers and sailors alike. Carrying both types of dagger would likely be an inconvenience. The Ballock dagger is a better multi-use knife, so why wouldn’t they be popular?

Love mah bollock dagger!

So basically Matt this is a video on how to most comfortably and practically grip bollocks?

I kind of want a bollock dagger. I like the shape of the blade.

...I see that you have a collection of Osprey books on the shelf behind you...

The thing that immediately suggests itself to me about the bollock dagger is comfort while wearing it in a belt or thigh scabbard. A disc would be massively uncomfortable and potentially quite the source of injury if you fell on it. I really don't like to think about how awful a rondel dagger would be to wear as a routine side arm on a daily basis, especially while unarmoured. A bollock dagger seems, to me, to be a daily wearer whereas a rondel dagger might be something you'd get out of a cupboard if you were expecting to have to take on a battle in part or full armour. You don't walk around in full armour all the time, why would you? But a bollock dagger would be bloody useful to have on your person whenever you were wandering about just in case you got into a fight unexpected. You're also far less likely to clonk it into things while going about your day. Also, surely they're far more easily concealed under a cloak etc. The point about gloved vs not gloved is definitely a good one but to me, most of the time with a dagger you're carrying it around just in case. Therefore there's always the compromise between utility in combat and them being a pain in the arse as you move around while not fighting. The bollock dagger doesn't snag on things like a cross guard and doesn't unnecessarily protrude sideways making you endlessly bash into stuff as you edge past it. To me, the bollock dagger looks like a mighty fine example of such a compromise. It stops you slicing your own hand by sliding up the blade if you do have to stick it in another chap, which is harder than it looks, but isn't such a pain in the arse to wear that you're tempted to just lob it in a cupboard. I think I'd definitely want one if I were in such a time period where being constantly armed is preferable but you're also unlikely to be fighting at any given moment. However, if someone were attacking my house and I had time I'd head for the cupboard for the really serious kit.

"Scola Gladiatoria. We might talk a lot of bollocks, but we're not full of 'em."

Interesting thought, I wonder if bollock daggers developed from knockoff rondels. Obviously people would have made cheap copies of early rondels with the flared pommel, then someone cuts off the sides of the disk to make it more practical, then somebody carves channels down the center to make it more comfortable to use and lo and behold you have a crude bollock dagger.

I don't think I've ever heard the word 'bollock' so much! I've heard it more in this video than the rest of my life combined! 😅

In 500 years, some future Matt Easton will be seriously pondering the practical use of the Tac-Sac.

Does ebony handle increase dagger's gamage?

How would the use of daggers in Europe compare to the usage of similar weapons in other cultures? Say, for example, the Japanese tanto.

what came first the rondel as an armor piece or the rondel dagger, if tis the rondel armor (which i think came first) wouldent that alone be evidence that this is an armored persons sword, your taking a part of armor that is used to fill gaps with a dagger

Can you talk about a day in the life of a Medieval blacksmith?

Nice

I checked multiple times if it is 1st of april during this video

Is there any certain way these were attached to a belt? Were they simply tied on with a half hitch knot? And if so how was the leather strap wrapped around the belt?

I love that there are just swords basically hidden in a corner by a bookshelf in this man's house.

4:49 Why do bollocks Suddenly appear Everytime You are near? Just like me They long to be Close to you

Listening to this on the headphones, making toast in the kitchen at 2 in the morning, crying laughing every time you say it. Dead.

How thick is that bollock dagger over the back?

Ballster seems more appropriate as a name for the bollock dagger guard lol.

I found this channel thanks to Tod talking bollocks, There is something satisfying about the cock and ball jokes made possible by these things, I do believe the bollock daggers were primarily carried by less armoured people to show that they have more balls than armour.

The Geneva Convention, specifically bans tri-edge blades. I understand why, but what sword or most likely dagger was common enough that it makes an appearance in literally the rules of war?

Ballsack daggers. Scrotal daggers. Nutsack daggers. Is there a version where one ball is lower than the other?

Very good , i agree ofcourse on everything you say here. I did actuallypublish an article about a year back where i went through all the daggermanuals on wiktenauer and compared what daggers are depicted. Ill send you a copy if your intrested

A question. Since when did people start to make full tang knives?

Is that gauntlet too small for you, or are your fingers supposed to stick out so far past it?

13:30 -to stab, cut, open others wrist. I believe that it might do much more than just "disadvantage the ability to fight you", since they are actually bleeding to death. but ok, it is just that world smallest razor violin that ends many sad songs per year. :)

Hand to gland combat?

I can’t be the only one who thinks bollock daggers are ugly

Don’t you think that what one carried also , as for military, was determined by the crafter of the crown not to mention the speed they could be turned out.

I'd think that if the Bollock dagger has its roots in civilian use it'd be for self defence(or well killing people anyway). It's worth mentioning plenty of knights are depicted with bollock daggers.