A messer (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

for "

knife A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evide ...

") is a single-edged

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed t ...

with a knife-like

hilt The hilt (rarely called a haft or shaft) of a knife, dagger, sword, or bayonet is its handle, consisting of a guard, grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A tassel or sword knot may be attached to the guard or pomme ...

. While the various names are often used synonymously, messers are divided into two types: ''Lange Messer'' ("long knives") are one-handed swords used for self-defence. They were about a meter long and may have evolved from the ''Bauernwehr'' ("peasant's sidearm"). They are also known as ''Großes Messer'' ("great knife"). ''Kriegsmesser'' ("war knife") are curved weapons up to 1.5 m long, used with one or two hands, and normally wielded by professional warriors of the 14th to 16th century, such as the

Landsknecht The (singular: , ), also rendered as Landsknechts or Lansquenets, were Germanic mercenaries used in pike and shot formations during the early modern period. Consisting predominantly of pikemen and supporting foot soldiers, their front line ...

Typology

There is a typology created by James G. Elmslie for messers and

falchion A falchion (; Old French: ''fauchon''; Latin: ''falx'', "sickle") is a one-handed, single-edged sword of European origin. Falchions are found in different forms from around the 13th century up to and including the 16th century. In some version ...

s similar to the

Oakeshott typology The Oakeshott typology is a way to define and catalogue the medieval sword based on physical form. It categorises the swords of the European Middle Ages (roughly 11th to 16th centuries) into 13 main types, labelled X through XXII. The historian an ...

for arming swords based on ongoing research.

Construction

Blade

Messer are characterized by their single-edged blades. The lengths and shapes of the blade can vary greatly. Messer blades can be straight or curved. Extant examples of langes messer seem to have an overall length of with a blade, and a weight between .

Hilt

The defining characteristic of messer is their hilt construction. Quite notable in its construction was the attachment of blade to the hilt via a slab tang sandwiched between two wooden

grip Grip(s) or The Grip may refer to: Common uses * Grip (job), a job in the film industry * Grip strength, a measure of hand strength Music * Grip (percussion), a method for holding a drum stick or mallet * ''The Grip'', a 1977 album by Arthur Bl ...

plates that were pegged into place. Messer often include a straight cross-guard and a ''Nagel'': a nail-like protrusion that juts out from the right side of the cross-guard away from the flat of the blade, to protect the wielder's sword hand. The length of the hilt can accommodate one- or two-handed grips.

Pommel

Messer do not necessarily have pommels. Sometimes they may have end caps instead. However, messer with pommels generally are of the type that were 'drawn out' or curved to one side of the hilt (edge side), a feature known as a "hat-shaped pommel".

Fighting with the messer

The ''messer'' was part of the curriculum of several ''Fechtbücher'' (fighting manuals) of the 14th and 15th centuries, including that of

Johannes Lecküchner Johannes Lecküchner (c. 1430s – 1482) was a 15th-century priest and fencer of the area of Nuremberg. He was inscribed at the University of Leipzig in 1455 and receives the title of '' bacalaureus'' in 1457. He was ordained acolyte in 1459, and ...

(dealing with the ''langes messer''), the ''

Codex Wallerstein The so-called Codex Wallerstein or ''Vonn Baumanns Fechtbuch'' (Oettingen-Wallerstein Cod. I.6.4o.2, Augsburg University library) is a 16th-century convolution of three 15th-century fechtbuch manuscripts, with a total of 221 pages. The inside ...

'',

Hans Talhoffer Hans Talhoffer (Dalhover, Talhouer, Thalhoffer, Talhofer; – after 1482) was a German fencing master. His martial lineage is unknown, but his writings make it clear that he had some connection to the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer, the ...

Paulus Kal Paulus Kal was a 15th-century German fencing master. According to his own testimony, he was the student of one Hans Stettner, who was in turn an initiate of the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer. He served as fencing master at three different c ...

and Albrecht Dürer.

References

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External links

Video interpretation of Four Sources on Messer CombatVideo interpretation of several of Lecküchner's Messer PlaysJames Elmslie's ResearchThe Elmslie Typology
Medieval blade weapons Renaissance-era weapons Single-edged swords