An ear dagger is a relatively rare and exotic form of dagger that was used during the late Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 and Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

. It is so named because the pommel of the dagger has a very distinctive shape, in some cases not unlike a human ear. Ear daggers frequently have a single sharpened edge that ends in an acute point.

It is thought that the ear dagger was introduced to Europe from Spain, where it presumably originated from the Moors

Moors

The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...

. http://www.humanities-interactive.org/medieval/chivalry/ex018_15e.html

See also

• List of daggers
• Dagger
  Dagger
  A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...
  
  
• Rondel
  Rondel (dagger)
  A rondel dagger or roundel dagger was a type of stiff-bladed dagger in Europe in the late Middle Ages , used by a variety of people from merchants to knights...
  
  
• Stiletto
  Stiletto
  A stiletto is a knife or dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, intended primarily as a stabbing weapon. The stiletto blade's narrow cross-section and acuminated tip reduces friction upon entry, allowing the blade to penetrate deeply...
  
  
• Baselard
  Baselard
  The baselard is a historical type of dagger or short sword of the Late Middle Ages.In modern use by antiquarians, the term baselard is mostly reserved for a type of 14th...
  
  
• Dirk
  Dirk
  A dirk is a short thrusting dagger, sometimes a cut-down sword blade mounted on a dagger hilt rather than a knife blade. It was historically used as a personal weapon for officers engaged in naval hand-to-hand combat during the Age of Sail.-Etymology:...
  
  

External links

• Image of an ear dagger
• MyArmoury.com article on rondel daggers, with an illustration of an ear dagger
• http://www.micknives.com/messer.php?id=58&cat=1&page=1&pic_id=139