A rondel (pronounced ['rɒndəl] or [rɒndɛl]) or roundel was a type of stiff-bladed For the typographical mark, see dagger (typography). . Dagger is also a track from Slowdives Souvlaki. Modern dagger fashioned after the kind which became popular in the 17th century, shaped like a medieval sword. A dagger is essentially double-edged knife, where the tang is placed along the center line... dagger in World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. It is conventionally considered a continent, which, in this case, is more of a cultural distinction than a geographic one. ( National Geographic, however, officially recognises... Europe in the late The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. The Middle Ages of Western Europe are commonly dated from the end of the Western Roman Empire... Middle Ages (from the (13th century - 14th century - 15th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was that century which lasted from 1301 to 1400. Events The transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age Beginning of the Ottoman Empire, early expansion into... 14th century onwards), used by a variety of people from Merchants function as professional traders, dealing in commodities that they do not produce themselves. Merchants can be categorised into two types: A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant. Some wholesale merchants only organise the movement of goods rather than move the goods themselves. A retail... merchants to A statue of an armoured knight of the Middle Ages For the chess piece, see knight (chess). In former times, a knight was a warrior or nobleman; today a knight is a person who has been given a royal recognition. In the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth nations the knight... knights. It was worn at the waist and might be used as a utility tool, or worn into See also the town of Battle, East Sussex, England Generally, a battle is an instance of combat between two or more parties wherein each group will seek to defeat the others. Battles are most often fought during wars. Battles may be small scale, only involving a handful of individuals, perhaps... battle or a Jousting scene, by Jörg Breu the Elder (1510s, pen and black ink over black chalk) Jousting is a competition between two knights on horse-back, wherein each knight tries to knock the other off his mount. Jousting was at the peak of its popularity in the 14th to 16th... jousting This article is about the tournaments of the Middle Ages. For the general article on tournaments, see tournament. Tournament, or tourney (Fr. tournement, tournoi, Med. Lat. torneamentum, from tourner, to turn), the name popularly given in the middle ages to a species of mock fight, so called owing to the... tournament as a side-arm. The blade was typically long and slim, measuring 12 Mid-19th century tool for converting between different standards of the inch An inch is an Imperial unit of length. Sweden also briefly had a decimal inch based on the metric system: see below for more. According to some sources, the inch was originally defined informally as the distance between... inches (30 cm redirects here, alternate uses: cm (disambiguation) A centimetre (symbol cm; American spelling: centimeter) is an SI unit of length. One centimetre is: one-hundredth of one metre one-tenth of a decimetre ten millimetres. Unicode has symbols for cm (㎝), for square centimetre (㎠) and for cubic centimetre (㎤... cm) or more; the whole dagger might be as long as 20 inches (50 cm). Rondel means round or See The Circle for the distributed file storage system, and see Ring (diacritic) for the diacritic mark. In Euclidean geometry, a circle is the set of all points in a plane at a fixed distance, called the radius, from a fixed point, called the centre. Circles are simple closed curves... circular; the dagger gets its name from its round (or similarly shaped, e.g. An octagon is a polygon that has eight sides. The internal angle at each vertex of a regular octagon is 135°. The area of a regular octagon of side length a is given by Worldwide, stop signs are regular octagons. Octagon construction A regular octagon is constructible with straightedge and... octagonal) hand guard and round or For other uses, see sphere (disambiguation). A sphere is, roughly speaking, a ball-shaped object. In non-mathematical usage, the term sphere is often used for something solid (which mathematicians call ball). But in mathematics, sphere refers to the boundary of a ball, which is hollow. This article deals with... spherical See also: Hilt (band) and Peter Hilt The hilt of a sword is its handle, consisting of a guard, grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillions. A tassel or sword knot may be attached to the guard or pommel. Pommel The pommel (The name is derived... pommel (knob on the end of the grip).

This example has one sharpened edge and a sharp point. The grip would be made from wood or bone, and was often carved.

The guard and pommel are both discs or "rondels", from which the dagger gets its name. The steel blade is slim and stiff and best suited to a stabbing motion. It would most commonly have been as long as this in proportion to the grip, if not longer.

The blade was stiff, made from Steel framework Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. Carbon acts as a hardening agent, preventing iron atoms, which are naturally arranged in a lattice, from sliding past one another. Varying the amount of carbon and its distribution in the... steel, and the tang extended through the handle, which was The word cylinder has several meanings. For the geometric object, see Cylinder (geometry). For the engine component, see Cylinder (engine). In firearms the cylinder is the rotating device that contains the firing chambers of a revolver. The phonograph cylinder was the dominant medium of audio storage from the 1870s to... cylindrical, normally carved wood or bone. In profile, the blade was usually Alternate meanings: Diamond (disambiguation) Diamonds (♦) is one of the four suits found in playing cards. It is the third-highest ranking suit in contract bridge. See also Red suit Categories: Anglo-American playing card games ... diamond-shaped, A lens is: a part of the eye an optical device that may be used in a camera or in a telescope; see lens (optics). the genus of the lentil a science-fictional alien device in E. E. Smiths Lensman series, which gives its bearer telepathic and other abilities... lenticular, or For alternate meanings, such as the musical instrument, see triangle (disambiguation). A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a two-dimensional figure with three vertices and three sides which are straight line segments. Types of triangles Triangles can be classified according to the lengths of their sides... triangular. These blades would have a sharpened point, and either one or both edges would also be sharpened. They were principally designed for use with a stabbing action, either underarm, or over arm with a reverse grip (think ice pick). They would also have been used for cutting. The long straight blade would not have lent itself to a slashing or For other uses, see Sabre (disambiguation). The sabre (or saber) is a European backsword with a distinct curvature and a rather large hand guard, covering the knuckles of the hand as well as the thumb and forefinger. The length of sabres varied, but they were always made to be worn... sabre action. Rondels were ideal in battle for puncturing For other uses, see Chainmail (disambiguation). David rejects the unaccustomed armour (detail of fol. 28r of the 13th century Morgan Bible) Chainmail (also chain mail, chain maille, or just mail or maille) is a type of armour that consists of small metal rings put together in a pattern to form... chainmail, and although they would not have been able to punch through Plate has several meanings: A plate electrode in a vacuum tube. In geology, a Tectonic plate is a term used in Plate tectonics. A plate is a type of dishware. In British heraldry, a plate is a roundel argent. A piece of equipment in baseball. This is a disambiguation page... plate Alternative meanings: vehicle armour, Armor (novel) A hoplite wearing a helmet, a breastplate and greaves (and nothing else). Armour (also spelled armor in American English), is protective plates or clothing meant to shield a human from intentionally inflicted harm. Armour has been in use for all recorded history, beginning with... armour, they could be forced between the joints in a suit of armour and Pith helmet of Harry S. Truman A helmet is a form of protective clothing worn on the head and usually made of metal or some other hard substance, typically for protection from falling objects or high-speed collisions. Helmets are common in the military, construction, mining and some sports, including... helmets. This was often the only way in which a heavily armoured knight could be killed.

A few examples also exist of four-edged rondels, the blade having a A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars intersecting each other at a 90° angle, dividing one or two of the lines in half. It is one of the most ancient human symbols and crosses are symbols of many religions. Crosses as markings The Roman... cruciform profile. These blades would not have been suited for cutting, or use as a general utility tool; they would have been worn as a side-arm in battle. The rondels which have survived and found their way into museums and collections are usually those with fine craftsmanship and often ornate decoration. The blades may be engraved, the grips ornately carved, and the hand guards and pommels highly decorated.

Merchants wearing rondel daggers, original medieval source. Reproduced in Medieval Panorama edited by Robert Bartlett, J Paul Getty Museum Pubns; (November 2001) ISBN: 0892366427. See also Image:Rondel dagger merchants.jpg for an uncropped version. The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain...

Merchants wearing rondels

(Uncropped version)

In this image, merchants and tradesmen can be seen wearing rondels at their waists (bottom left). The scene is from a miniature by Girat de Roussillon depicting the construction of twelve churches in The French Republic or France ( French: République française or France) is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. France is a democracy organised as a... France c. Events January 5/ 6 - Christopher of Bavaria, Norway and Sweden dies with no designated heir leaving all three kingdoms with vacant thrones. Brothers Bengt Jönsson Oxenstierna and Nils Jönsson Oxenstierna are selected to serve as Co-Regents of Sweden. June 20 - The Regency period of Sweden ends with... 1448. Before the 1400s, daggers were actually a Categories: 1911 Britannica | Historical stubs | Feudalism ... peasant's weapon. However, in the (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. Events Renaissance affects philosophy, science and art. The New Monarchs come to power in France, England, Portugal and Spain. Rise of... 15th century they became the standard side-arm for knights, and would have been carried into battles such as the Battle of Agincourt Conflict Hundred Years War Date October 25, 1415 Place Agincourt, France Result Decisive English victory The Battle of Agincourt was fought on October 25, 1415 – Saint Crispins Day – in northern France as part of the Hundred Years War between the heavily outnumbered army of... Battle of Agincourt in Events Friedrich I Hohenzollern (b. 1372; d. 20 Sep 1440) becomes Burgrave of Nuremberg March 14 - Jan Hus travels to the Council of Constance to propose reforms for the church May 5 - the Council of Constance condemns the writings of John Wycliffe and asks Jan Hus to recant in public... 1415. They were a knight's backup weapon to be used in hand to hand fighting, and as such one of their last lines of defence. Since they were able to penetrate a suit of armour (at the joints, or through the visor of the helmet), rondels could be used to force an unseated or wounded knight to surrender (a knight might fetch a good ransom). Daggers may also have been thrown at unseated enemy knights to force them to engage in battle, though a This article is about the personal weapon and its ceremonial derivative, for other meanings of mace please see mace (disambiguation) An advance on the club, a mace is a wooden, metal-reinforced, or metal shaft, with a head made of stone, copper, bronze, iron or steel. The head is normally... mace was perhaps better suited to this task.

Hand to hand fighting with rondel daggers. From Talhoffers Fechtbuch, 1467. A 15th Century manual of sword fighting by Hans Talhoffer. An English translation: Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Illustrated Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat Publisher: Greenhill Books/Lionel Leventhal; (February 2004), ISBN: 1853675822. This image has been...

Close-quarter fighting with rondel daggers from Talhoffers Fechtbuch, a 15th Century manual of combat

This image is from a manual of combat by Portrait of Talhoffer (pictured left), and his coat of arms, from the 1459 Fechtbuch plate 25 of Talhoffers Fechtbuch of 1467, showing two longsword fencers standing in the ward (Stand beid in der Hut) plate 170 of Talhoffers Fechtbuch of 1467, showing rondel dagger combat Hans Talhoffer (also spelled Talhofer... Hans Talhoffer (Talhoffers Fechtbuch) from Events October 29 - Battle of Brusthem: Charles the Bold defeats Liege Beginning of the Sengoku Period in Japan. Circa this year, polyalphabetic cipher invented by Leone Battista Alberti. Regent of Sweden Erik Axelsson Tott supports the re-election of deposed Charles VIII of Sweden to the throne. Births Deaths June... 1467. It is one of a series of images of two men fighting hand to hand with rondels, demonstrating possible attacks and defences.

See also:

Medieval weapons Melée Club Mace Morning star Flail Axe Dagger or Knife Rondel Sword War hammer Gudendag Quarterstaff Polearms Lance Spear Pike Halberd Ranged Bow Crossbow Ram Arbalest Arquebus Cavalry Siege Battering ram Ballista Catapult Siege tower Trebuchet Greek fire Warships Galleon Galley Longship Armor Chainmail Gauntlet Shield Plate... List of medieval weapons

Martial arts Bo-jutsu Kung Fu Jujitsu Judo Aikido Sumo Karate Sambo Wing Chun Capoeira Krav Maga Taekwondo List of martial arts weapons Personal weapons (Melée) Club baton mace nunchaku quarterstaff and bo war hammer pole weapon axe Spear Pike Bill Ahlspiess Bow and archery compound bow Crossbow longbow... Military technology and equipment

External links

• Google image search for rondel daggers (http://images.google.com/images?q=Rondel+Dagger&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search)
• A four-edged rondel (http://www.liongate-armsandarmour.com/ew177.htm)
• Website about Talhoffers Fetchbuch (http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/8187/Talhoffer.htm)
  • photographs of people practicing Talhoffer's rondel fighting techniques (http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/8187/Degen.htm)
• Overview of Medieval arms and armour (http://www.vanillachrist.com/kmarmor/arms.html)
• Overview of the 15th century knight's weapons and armour (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/warriorchallenge/print/print_knights_profile.html)

For other uses of rondel see Rondel (from Old French, the diminutive of roont round, meaning small circle) may refer to: A rondel or roundel was a type of medieval dagger A sort of short poem of 14 lines, see Rondel (poem). Rondel may refer to rondeaux or a specific form of the rondeau, a type... rondel (disambiguation).