Großes Messer

A messer (German for "knife") is a single-edged sword of the 15th and 16th century, characterised by knife-like hilt construction methods.

While the various names are often used synonymously, messers can be divided into several principal groups:

A ''Bauernwehr'' ("peasant's knife" or "peasant's sidearm") or ''Hauswehr'' ("home/household knife") is a single-handed knife, used for utility and defence. Typical blade lengths range from lengths up to around .

''Messer'', ''Langes Messer'', and ''Großes Messer'' ("knife", "long knife", and "great knife" respectively) are usually single-handed swords used for self-defence. These blade lengths ranged from about to . Hilts are normally suited to single handed use, but the larger examples may feature extended grips suitable for a second hand-hold.

''Kriegsmesser'' ("war knife") are the largest examples of messer-hilted weapons, ranging from around long with approximately blade, up to around long with blades up to in length. Designed to be used with both hands, such messers were dedicated military arms, normally wielded by professional soldiers during the 15th and 16th century, such as the Landsknecht.

These names are subjective, and there are no known texts which clearly codify the differences between groups. As such, A large Bauernwehr might well have also been called a Messer, or a large Großes Messer might have been called a Kriegsmesser.

Typology

To combat the inherent uncertainties in using the period terms like "Messer", "langes Messer", and "Großes Messer" which are sometimes interchangeable, there is a typologyBarbara Grotkamp-Schepers, Isabell Immel, Peter Johnsson, Sixt Wetzler: "Das Schwert. Gestalt und Gedanke: The Sword. Form and Thought" Deutsches Klingenmuseum. Solingen, 2015, created by James G. Elmslie for European single-edged arms, which classifies messer and falchion forms, similar to the Oakeshott typology used for double-edged arming swords. For more information see Elmslie Typology.

Origin and geography

Messer appear to have emerged in the region of Southern Germany, Switzerland, or Northern Austria in the first few years of the 15th century, as small and civilian knives of low social status. As such their exact date of origin is uncertain, the earliest known depiction being from around 1430. Those knives grow steadily larger, and depictions of sword-sized messer are found by the end of the 1440s in .

While the name ''messer'' is German, messer hilted arms have been found in multiple European nations, with local or regional names. Examples of messer are found in the Netherlands and Northern France, Iceland, Sweden, and the Baltic Nations, in the central European nations of Poland, Czechia, Hungary and Romania, and to the south of Germany in Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and northern parts of the Balkan nations.

The geographical spread of messers can be traced from known centres of manufacture in areas like Passau and Solingen, through medieval river trade routes, and the shipping networks of the Hanseatic League. As such, It is most likely that very similar messer hilts found in for example, Iceland, northern Germany, and northern Poland are evidence of export of Passau blades during the late 15th and early 16th centuries, rather than examples of indigenous manufacture.

Construction

Fighting with a ''Messer'' and a " Hungarian shield" (''Gladiatoria'' ''Martial arts manual#German Fechtbücher">Fechtbuch