Medieval people must’ve been geniuses. They carried around their own eating utensils everywhere they went… which means they solved the plastic waste problem centuries in advance 😉
Given the hit-or-miss hygiene of public eating establishments now, maybe carrying your own utensils isn't such a bad idea. Yeah, I know, you're thinking about 'As Good As It Gets' and Jack Nicholson carrying his own plastic utensils...Okay, so a little OCD can be a good thing. Wait'll you get hepatitis A from a restaurant...btw, that's a fecal-borne disease, so now you know who didn't wash their hands after #2. Maybe your own utensils -and- plate? Never eat out again?
@@jackrice2770 On the one hand, that is uncommon (at least in most 'first world' nations), especially if you research or pay attention to the place to not eat from places liable to allow that. On the other hand, I used to be a dishwasher myself. On the rare occasions that I eat out, I often get relatively untouched disposable containers and rinse the eating utensils first if I am not using my own. Even if not fecal matter, I find the standards of cleanliness repelling.
Could you even do that now? Where I live in NV I cannot carry a knife more than 3 - inches which is hilarious because I can walk down the streets with an AR-15. I can only imagine that there would be lots of places where carrying an eating knife around would be legally questionable. That said it isn't that bad of an idea to consider.
I'd like to stress that people have forgotten what items are truly needed to live. In survival, we speak of the 5Cs: Cutting: a knife Combustion: a fire kit (flint, striker, some tinder) Container: a water container, or even better a canteen that can be put into the fire. Cover: cloak, great plaide, tarp, etc. (rain protection, sleeping, shelter) Cordage: for instance, if you want to tie some sticks together for a fireplace, or improvise a shelter These items were carried by people for millennia! Medieval people often had even more items as every day carry. Here some examples: staff: probably not just as a walking aid and tool of defence, but also to test the ground in case of swamps, or lose stones comb: especially when travelling, washing is not that easy, but hygiene is important a mug, or bowl: yes, people were bringing their own bowl when they wanted a serving (at least in some conditions)
Cordage could be a pack strap like a tumpline, a bit of cord used as a belt like monks wear, points for holding leggings to one's undergarment or armour to an arming doublet, laces for shirts or shoes, and so on. When I would go hunting (modern gun deer) extra long shoelaces were shortened in a pinch, but everyone at least carried bailer twine if not a thin rope (besides a hunting knife, and maybe a pocket knife as well). We may carry our supplies out in a five gallon pail, as then you also have a makeshift still, but the kit often included a blaze orange plastic rain poncho. The things you mention are still common today for people in more outdoorsy fields/jobs (always carry water on the tractor, always carry a jackknife, dress in layers, etc, if a farmer)
@@TrueFork Indeed! BTW, I've seen IRL that such a blunt object can do considerable damage! In school, our Biology teacher went to get something and a girl picked up a glass rod and rammed it into a cow's heart, which the teacher had just put onto her table before! She was definitely the silent water type of girl. Not the typical thug, or punk...
I wonder why more people don't wear e.g. a Swiss knife at all times. I see how for very poor people the price may be a deterrent, but for everyone else? It just comes in handy, when you need to cut something, tighten a screw, open a can or bottle, etc. etc. It's hard for me to imagine someone who wouldn't benefit from having one. Unless they just carry dedicated tools, of course. As for rope... well, there's been quite a few times I regretted not having some rope or duct tape on me. Like when a shoe or a backpack buckle broke on a tourist trip, and I didn't have anything to make a temporary fix, which made it much harder to keep up with the rest of the group. Every time I told myself I should start including some rope and duct tape into my everyday carry. I also started carrying a folding cup. There's been too many situations where I come to a party, and have to ask for a glass, because all the clean ones at the table have already been taken... not to mention when I do get a glass, oftentimes someone else would later take it thinking it was unused. Other than that, well, a USB charger, cables and a power bank are a modern 'must have at all times'. A flashlight (yes, a phone can do that too, but this drains the battery quickly, so I prefer having a separate one), and some rain protection - for me a fisherman hat is the preferred option. Also, I see many people starting to include pepper spray in their EDC. Seems reasonable, especially considering how likely it is now to run into aggressive dogs and their aggressive owners... but personally, I would prefer to just wear some armor. If something attacks me, I may not have enough time to pull out a spray, but I should have enough time to put something hard between myself and the aggressor. And with modern materials, EDC armor doesn't have to be heavy.
Grew up in a small town; I'm used to everyone carrying a knife, anything from a basic Swiss Army knife (3") to a utility knife (8'+). It was actually weird when I was in a city, where almost no one carried even a pen knife.
I think I've carried a pocket knife of some sort since I was about 7 or 8. About the time a kid becomes responsible enough to have one. Baring places you are not allowed to carry one of course. There really useful things to have, even one as small as a pen knife.
Ever since my grandfather bought me a knife when I was a kid, I've nearly always had a knife on me. It's always struck me as a bit odd that most people seem to never have even the smallest blade. These days, even if I don't have a simple knife, I'll have my Leatherman Wave, which has two blades. I've completely lost count of the times that I've had to pull it out to help someone who needed a tool--usually a knife was what they needed. I can't afford a sword, but I've lost track of how many knives I own...I need to get organized.
Most people carry a pocket knife around here. Occasionally I'll run into someone who doesn't and I wonder how they function as an adult on a day to day basis.
It really sucks that in many places it is literally illegal to carry any sort of knife, here in sweden for example you need a specific reason for carrying a knife and police could absolutely just say that your reason isn't valid and take your knife and slap you with a fine.
Being born in 1949, myself and all of my friends grew up with knives and all carried them until our teen years. The Boy Scout knife I inherited from my pop had a tool for extracting stones from a horse’s hoof being from his youthful days when things like that were useful everyday tools.
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I would very much like to hear more about those _medieval folding knives_ .
Tod Cutler makes a few reproductions of them. From the descriptions he gives on his site, it seems they were very simple designs without a locking mechanism; instead, you might have a tab on the back on the blade that you can use to manually hold it open.
I have a very nice mediaeval folding knife from Tod Cutler. It is, indeed, very simple, with a long thumb tab attached to the blade to hold it in place when it has been unfolded. The tab sticks out awkwardly when it is folded away, but it is still effective
I know I'd love to see more of them. I remember discovering them some time ago now, and just thinking they were so neat and unexpected. Not something I imagined in the medieval era, though I don't know why, they had a lot of more intricate mechanical stuff than a folding knife.
Friction folders were ubiquitous. As others have mentioned, they generally lacked any sort of locking mechanism, either to close or remain open, and instead often had a tab extending from the blade that was held down. Period shaving razors were often folding knives, much as in the modern day, although their blades were usually a standard straight blade rather than the concave shape popular now.
Europe in the Medieval period sounds like Finland 70 years ago, or just Ostrobothnia today. A strikingly similar looking twin knife set is still pretty common in some parts here, at least in traditional costumes.
There was an interesting Cambridge University study based on coroner's records into medieval crime published a few years ago that produced a map of murders in medieval London. I posted about it before, but it never appeared on this thread for some reason. In that study knives or daggers were by far the most common weapons used in homicides, and represented over 55% of all the killings, which were significantly more common per capita than today. Anyway, it's out there if you want to look for it and it's really fascinating.
Yeah there's a reason lots of places ban knife carrying now. Possibly also why chopsticks were big in China. Cut down on eating with knives, cut down on quarrels that turn deadly.
But today guns cause crime, not knives... Oh, wait, knives cause crime once guns are banned (to stop crime). It's sorta like crime will happen and criminals will use whatever comes to hand. It's too bad that lawful uses of these tools to prevent crime and protect life aren't ever reported. When I'm older I sure as heck will want an low power multishot rifle if I'm attacked by someone. Besides grenades or maybe vehicles, stuff that is likely to hurt others not otherwise involved, the firearm is about the only defensive tool that takes away a strength, speed, dexterity advantage and allows a defender to overcome those critical advantages needed for almost any other weapon. (crosbow? Maybe but with one shot only, it's not quite the same, and reloading definitely has advantages for those more fit)
@@mindstalk Didn't they also develop many unharmed combat techniques? I guess no one ever attacked anyone else just with hand or feet or rocks or branches.
@@hawkshadowoseanacy5171 It's about ease of killing. It's very easy to kill someone with just a knife and even no training. With lots of knives, or guns, around, if someone gets drunk and/or angry and feels like attacking someone, that easily becomes lethal. Not so much if all you have are fists and chopsticks. (Or fists and tables knives, per a video I saw last night, which claimed Cardinal Richelieu encouraged blunt table knives to cut down on the risks of angry fights or sudden assassination.)
@@hawkshadowoseanacy5171 I don't really think there's much commonality between medieval street crime and modern street crime other than some of both were motivated by robbery. The per capita murder rate in the medieval study was much higher than that in modern London, despite the higher proportion of people carrying weapons for self-defence in the past. Obviously, everybody should have a right to self-defence, and I wish you well in trying out weapons and martial arts, but please try to remember that you probably won't need either unless you actively seek out trouble... and we'll all be happier if we don't do that.
It has been very common to have a pocket knife as tool for all trades since very young age, I still have a folding knife in my pocket as a tool, as a sailor and engineer later on shore, I had a bigger knife as a tool on me but was tought how to use it for selfdefence by an old farmer when I was 10 years and got a Herder folding knife, excellent knife for skinning apples, cutting ropes, as a screwdriver, cleaning nails, stripping paint or isolation from electric wire, and as deterrent against bad people looking for a fight, and of course many knife games. An old sailor taught me besides using them for rope and knott making, lots more possibilities with daggers or buckknives (the locking type) to be able to defend or repell, wearing them was very common among sailors in the 80's and 90's mainly as tool, life saver even.
Everyone should at least carry a pocket knife. I do and use it every single day (and quite often so do other people), boggles my mind that people actually choose to not have this invaluable and easily carried tool.
If you want to go well armed, become a gardener. Knives, big one for cutting turf, an old butchers knife, folding saws, axes, forks, sheep shears, hoes various and spades.
Serious martial arts have ALWAYS been about using the weapons likely to be available in the time and place they were created. Knives are the most common and useful tool we have every created. Sometimes the only thing you have is your empty hands, but that's never the first choice.
I think the idea is less that you have a knife to use, and more that the person you're fighting has a knife to use. Changes the context of self-defense.
This is why I, as a Chinese-American, always considered gun fighting a martial art. Guns are the best weapons available, but they do still need training and practice to be effective. And the process of learning techniques for fighting is the very essence of martial arts.
One of my favorite Fiore plays ends with "and stab them with your dagger" the dagger that is literally never mentioned elsewhere in the play. Because 15th century Italy, of course you had a knife on you.
Well done sir, I'd never thought of that. Knowing that everyone is armed significantly changes how I think about medieval "hand to hand" fights and brawls
And when it is said that everybody had a knife, it actually means EVERYBODY did. Analysis of Norse graves in Denmark shows that children as young as four was buried with their knives. They most likely had chores to do from the age when they were old enough to do so, and thus needed knifes (cutting saplings for animal feed, basket weaving, gathering birch barch for tinder and other uses,e tc)
check Bruegel the Elder's "Peasant Wedding", there's a little girl with a striking feathered hat in the foreground, she has a knife dangling from her belt (it looks like the sheath is worn and the blade is sticking through)
Judging from the latest news in Coventry last night just about everybody in certain parts of town carries a knife with them too, and uses them for affray. I used to carry my own eating implements with me, a basic KFS, but stopped because the knife could be construed as an illegal blade, now I tend to carry wooden cutlery. I am sure that in the medieval period a peasant would have used his knife amongst other things to carve a spoon.
I watched this twice as I thought to myself that my internet service must have dropped the stream. I have Never known Matt to make a short video or take the shortest path to say anything. I’m still feeling a little dizzy... thinking “there must be a mistake here”. Seriously, I enjoy your videos. If you have finally run out of material (which I seriously doubt), I ordered a stiletto from Tod and I would love to hear methodology of use and demonstration of capabilities of this small dagger. I don’t buy the ever present dibble about this being only an assassin’s weapon and strictly an offensive weapon. The dagger seems fairly common and it makes no sense to say they were all owned by assassins. Nor does it make since to plan an attack, choosing the place and time, and then selecting this weapon over others available to an assassin. Your research and input would be most welcome.
@@NM-wd7kx They were introduced in the early middle ages, but not adopted. They were seen as more of a gimmick that "Byzantine" diplomats would bring with them.
@@kdolo1887 : I read this sometimes ago. But of course i don' t know, if this is true. But: Today eating forks have mostly four spikes ( similar to Mistgabel/ pitchfork?), while devils fork, like Heugabel/ hay fork is shown mostly with three spikes.
@@brittakriep2938 That's a myth. Food just was prepared differently, with grain stews and already cut meat a fork isn't that usefull. Think of many asian meals made to be eaten with sticks. They had bigger forks to cut meat if I remember correctly. Bread only became staple side dish in the late middle ages. They weren't afraid of forks. There were cultural and technical reason why they weren't adopted at the time, that make sense in their context, if we don't look at it from the way we prepare and eat our food >today
In the 50's, 60's and 70's my grandpa used to go around Brittany looking for labourers and he said you always needed a knife, he remembers one chap who had no cutlery at all except for one old looking Opinel. It's probably different now, but it's crazy to think there were people basically living like that so recently.
I think everyone I know carries a knife nearly all the time - as well they should. Many of them also carry a gun. Here's the funny thing - it's not legal here in my US state to carry a concealed knife with a blade longer than 3.5 inches (8.9 cm), though we can open carry edged or blunt weapons of any size. We can, additionally, legally carry concealed pistols, as well as carry them openly.
The world is full of weirdness. You can open carry a sword or mace in your state!? You should advertise this fact - could get a whole bunch of medieval re-enactors wanting to migrate to your state so they can live their dream all day every day. In my country, Aus, the coppers got the pollies to write laws banning the carrying of most knives, even folding blades. Not because most of us were stabbing each other, nope, just because a few gang members cut each other up a few times with knives. Lazy law making. As a lifetime knife buff it pissed me off. Lucky for me - the law says we can carry a knife if it is for work or appropriate for our recreation at the time, like a filleting knife if you are fishing. My job requires a knife for some problem solving so I always carry a little Opinel no 6, I need sharp and light not strong. Makes me feel warm, having that tiny little sliver of sharpness down the bottom of one pocket. OK, so maybe there is some weirdness in MY part of the world as well.
Yeah, same here. I was given a pocket knife when I was 6 or 7. Nothing fancy, just an old Barlow-type thing with a 2-1/2 or 3 inch blade. I've had at least one knife of some kind on me every day since then. Sometimes they're the small folding type, sometimes they're rather large and fixed blade. It's always boggled my mind when someone occasionally asks "What do you want that for? What are you gonna do with it?" Sorry folks, but if I have to explain it to you, you'll never understand. * shrug * ( Honestly, I think a better question would be how people get along WITHOUT a knife of some kind with them. )
Rural anywhere I think. Even countries where it's technically illegal, based on laws made by urban people, people of the hinterland will just get on with their lives.
@@guarddog318 Always carried at least a pocket knife as well, even in school (70's & 80's.) Teacher told one classmate that he would get points taken off his paper because he ripped it out of a spiral notebook and the frayed edge looked unprofessional, no one (including the teacher) batted an eye when I took out my knife and cut off the edge of his paper for him. They aren't weapons, they're tools. If I had wanted to stab somebody in school during a heated exchange it would would have been faster and easier to use the pen or pencil that was always in hand vs saying, "hold on, wait a minute," while I fished the knife out of my pocket and opened it up expecting the other kid to just stand there. No one has any common sense anymore.
@@guarddog318 Highly specialized urban environments where daily tasks do not require pocket knives and eating is often done with disposable implements. Much of our modern cuisine does not particularly require a knife on account of how it is prepared and thus use spoons, forks, or the hands instead as well.
I think you misspelled Rural Argentina ? When my relatives come from the city they often ask "how often do you actually use that thing, lol?" and after two or three days they go "ok , now I get it". A week later... they all be carrying 20" blades everywhere 😁
Hi Matt - I rarely comment on videos, but thought I’d add my two penn’orth to this, although I get that it’s a year old and you’re unlikely to see it! I’m 66 years old and as a boy in the East End of London, I ALWAYS went to school with a knife (as did many of us!) in primary scholl I wore my sheath knife and carried a penknife which my grandmother gave me (it had a beautiful mother of pearl handle). The only times I was ever chastised was if RUNNING with the blade out! We used to play “spilts” at playtime and no one ever got stabbed (the occasional knife-in-the-foot-accident happened, but the bollocking would be regarding damaged shoes! I only stopped wearing my sheath knife (which I still have) when I went to secondary school - not because they were banned - simply because it was seen as being a bit childish 😂 Knives were an everyday thing back then (not so long ago really) and nobody went mental because you carried one, and bizarrely you were more likely to be smacked with a claw hammer than stabbed with a knife. Anyway, that’s it. Great channel. Great info.
Kyle 1 second ago As a Texan, I find it funny you would even consider that they wouldn't carry a knife. Hell, here we all carry something sharp or loud.
I didn't know folding knives were that old. I never even thought about looking up how old they really were. I even found images of ancient Austrian folding knives and Roman eating multi-tools, which makes me wonder now how many far older folding tools were lost to time.
As someone who has had a lifelong interest in knives this is a subject that I am very interested in. It's taken me to the point of making my own knives. I view them primarily as tools but weapons technically are tools and when it comes to self defense they would be effective. I am hoping that you will produce some sort of knife fighting information at some point. A book or a video series would be awesome. If you are worried about how it would effect your channel you could do something that is not connected behind a pay wall. For that matter as someone in the United States where it is much harder to find any sort of HEMA classes I would love to have access to some sort of online class and introduction to the subject. I have been following you for 10 years and you are the best information out there with both a good knowledge base and teaching style. I have been dealing with an injury for several months and it delayed my work. I am finally getting back to my knives and should have some Bowie's done soon. I will send you pictures and see if it's something that you are interested in. If so maybe I can pick up some steel and toss one together for you after I get my other orders caught up.
Tod has a lot to answer for with his rondel dagger video, got me to making a pirate cutlass from an old machete blade now, not the best of blades but otherwise it was just rusting in my shed.
Everyone should still always carry a knife. It's one of the most universally useful items a person could carry and you're basically helpless without one. The only reason anyone with any sense would ever go anywhere without a knife is if they knew they could easily get a knife at the place they're going if they need one. The only places I don't at least carry pocket knife are placer like courthouses where you're not allowed to.
Growing up on a ranch in Arizona I always have a pocket knife with me. Back in the day we carried them to grade school and everywhere. I still carry one today
Swiss people still often have a knife. A folding knife. I also often have a plastic eating knife on me since I often buy take away food and it either comes with cutlery or I have some left from the last meal I bought. Does not work too well for self defense, though.
I grew up in Munich, Germany, and the quarter I lived in had even pre-t33ns running around with fixed blades, or big folding knives... Needless to say, we had a LOT of knife violence.
@@edi9892 Knife violence in Switzerland does not seem to be a big issue. Maybe because the Swiss Army knife is, unlike it's English name may suggest, really bad as a fighting knife. It's a pocket knife.
@@edi9892 True. It's not like knife crime would not exist and of course in my youth lots of people my age tried to be cool kids owning one of the illegal knifes. But the number of people carrying utility knives does not correlate to knife crime. The number of people carrying fighting knives probably does, though.
That reminds me of a video of a Enlgishman here on YT I saw a few days ago. As a youth he moved to the US. At the first day at his new high school he pulled out his knive to peel an apple, 10 minutes later he was in hand cuffs with policemen standing over him. He only found out later that this was because of the knive he pulled, which he carried since grade school back in Britain without any problems.
LOL you'd expect it to be the opposite! It likely depends heavily on the state. In Alabama you can carry folding knives on school campuses. In Utah I think you can even carry concealed handguns in schools if you have a permit.
My father gave me my first pocket knife when I was seven, same year he taught me to shoot. Gave me a nice multitool when I turned twelve that I still carry to this day on my kit as a para. We only need knife, fire, and string to live. Might as well carry them.
The average medieval eating knife, as far as I know, was short and had no protection against the hand slipping onto the blade. So, it was not like everybody was wearing a dagger, but according to Fairbairn the average medieval knife would have been long enough for most targets.
while you're right it doesnt really matter in the broader scale. You just cant approach someone the same way in a combat situation, that has a knife, regardless of how usefull that knive is for fighting.
Sir, please share a video for 'The Special Hilt of Sword For Maximum Brutality' which showing in bollywood movie Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior for udaybhan singh rathore character in final battle scene.. Please create and share video on that swords history and who use that type of sword? #Tanhaji #Udaybhansinghrathore #India #scholagladiatoria
To quote an old (unarmed) martial arts instructor friend: "whenever things get a little too static in class, i slip the smallest person in the room a magic marker."
+scholagladiatoria *The Middle Ages were fundamentally different from contemporary practice, as the knife was carried everywhere on a person.* The peasant's butcher knife was direct ancestor of the _Kriegsmeſſer,_ a single-edged sword; and ballock daggers, due to slim guards integrated into the handle, didn't interfere too much with the flesh of a typical supper.
i carry a few knives everywhere every day, i made a shoulder rig for my counter tac 1 from cold steel- its one of the seki city ones not the taiwan i carry a boot knife in my boot and a regular pocket knife then there is the monkey fist keyring with the one inch steel ball in it with the puma game warden in the modified pepper spray sheath as a handle
oh you Europeans, bless your hearts. Americans (excepting the Canadians) still have to assume everyone is armed. it informs our daily living not just our interpretation of History
Matt, thanks for the video. Follow up question. What kind of knives did soldiers carry on campaign. In role playing games and movies we often see people using their daggers or even their swords to accomplish work tasks. This doesn't feel like good edge care. Besides an eating knife it feels like they must of carried some sort of moderately sized working knife as well. Is this the case?
And to be honest everyone in current times has a bunch of those at home. The main difference its not carriying them in the streets of other public spaces, wich admitedly its a pretty big difference. Still, makes sense to assume that anyone who expected or initiates a figth could potentially, at the very least, carry some sort of dangerous enough kitchen/utility knife.
For this entire series, taking this as part of the analysis of Tod's Rondel dagger... I've been waiting to joke about knives and food. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly sure what to joke about, now.. But it would be funny having a tongue in cheek mock serious lecture by Matt about the relative merits of different martial blades in a culinary sense... I bet a 1796 light cavalry sabre cuts a mean sandwich, and the tip might be usable as a spoon, in a pinch! What is the perfect blade for roasting a hare over an open fire?!
Grappling is a whole other ball game when knives are present. All these people saying Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the best art because of grappling don't understand why people didn't typically roll on the ground in medieval battlefields.
I don't think it's that everyone had a knife - go anywhere rural even today, and vast majority of people will still have knives. It's that the knives were 1) worn openly on the belt and therefore far easier to access, and 2) they were fixed blade, so they could be made ready far quicker than most folding knives. Especially since medieval folding knives were both rare and without quick-open springs in them. It also bears mentioning that there were three knife categories, eating knife, fighting knife and utility knife, and while utility and fighting were sometimes merged, eating knife was always separate. It's the utility knife practically no one went without, while fighting and especially eating knives were sometimes left behind.
Glad to see a few “Lion in Winter” references. Matt, you should have cut in the clip. It would have been lovely. Btw, I never leave the house without at least two knives on me. When working ( as a fabricator ) I often have 3. That’s why there’s a whole class of knives called EDC! That slightly bewildered tone you had was sooo Modern British. You folks have to take your balls back from your government.
I wonder what is known about utility knives. That eating set is specialized for eating, you would need something more hefty with a fatter handle for a medieval guy's daily tasks, like say a seax. Or was the seax more of a weapon thatn a tool?
Hey there! I was watching your video on the Easton 3 Sabre and noted you said you prefer not to have a back strap and that John Musgrave Waite recommended not as well. Why is that? Have you made a video on this?
Its a really good thing to know. For example today many people prefer ground grappling, while back then it increased your chances of getting stabbed (still does BTW). In any self defense situation or challenge even a common person had a knife so you first sought to get out of range draw your weapon and look for the possibility of people who might intervene to help you or the enemy.
I've long believed that the best time period to compare the Medieval/Renaissance to with regards to martial arts would be the Old West in America. Back then everyone had a gun or knife on them, so it meant one had to be quite brave to insult someone lest you end up with a bullet or blade in you for it. Even though towns tried to limit the carrying of weapons in practice most people just concealed their weapons so it was highly likely that most of the people you would pass in the streets or meet in a saloon or gambling hall in Dodge City or Virginia City were packing some kind of weapon and took the proper precautions.
Why insult them when you could come up behind and shoot them with your shotgun. Pistols were fancy, shotguns were tools. Also the homocide rate was terrible. It still is. 5 times the rate of Western Europe and even 2 x Albania which has more mafia than government. But I suppose people might be slower to call me names and hurt my feelings. Usa has the social development of 14 y o boys.
All right, this calls for an examination of historical accounts of what kinds of fights people expected to get into and how they were handled. I don't expect newspaper accounts from 1458 or anything but obviously not everyone is going to be equally competent at fisticuffs or knife fighting, so there must have been at least informal rules for escalation and consequences for breaking those rules. I mean, personally I'd prefer not to have to stick someone with my eating knife but in a pinch...
All that has really changed is where we use them. We no longer need to carry one everywhere. If the majority of medieval people had access to a vast array of foods, at a moments notice that didn't require a knife; or the ability to 'rent' a serviceable knife at the point of issue of meals that did require one then I doubt they would carry one everywhere either. Fewer people carrying knives everywhere leads to less need to defend your life every five minutes, from 'That Guy' and their fragile ego. :-)
In the 1970s we boy scouts all walked about with sheath knifes on our waist at camp. Nobody was seriously stabbed and it was the 1970s so boys were expected to take risks. Better dead than duffers I think was the idea. Mental. One of the lads did stab someone to death about 6 years after leaving although the dead guy had pulled a knife on the ex scout so you can't blame him. Self defence.
I live in Texas. Since so many of us have guns, knives are not really considered weapons. Obviously they can be used as weapons, but we really just consider them to be tools. Very few types of knives are illegal to carry, and most people have at least a pocket knife on them. I usually have a fixed blade, a folding knife, a lighter and a multi tool on me. This is completely normal in my part of the world.
Unarmed combat in the medieval era, would be more for "recreational" violence, when you want to have a brawl, but not get outlawed for sticking a knife in someone's gut.
My grandfather carried a knife at all times... my father did too, until his old age city life. Heck, even I did as a little kid. The knife was never in anyone's mind as some kind of defense weapon, a knife was simply a useful tool for everyday normal activities. Cutting ropes, handling fish, fixing something, preparing a fire. Then the world changed and some people started knifing each other and these days it's a criminal offence wearing a knife around here (unless you're clearly on your way to the mountains). As for the kind of knife.. nothing like a plate-penetrating weapon, but of the couple of knifes I keep using one is big and heavy and works fine as an ax when needed.
You do realise that people have been knifing each other for as long as there've been knives, right? lol The world didn't change. Communications just got better and more people started hearing about the latest bloody incident involving * pick the item of your choice * is all.
The crime rate went up and the social taboo of using knives instead of fists in a fight slackened a great deal. Back in the day stabbing someone to death would almost certainly see you to the gallows and you'd be called a pansy on the way to it for resorting to a knife.
@@guarddog318 The world _did_ change. Of course a knife has been used against people also in the past (and possibly more farther back), but around here at least it was extremely uncommon until the last few decades. Nothing to do with communication - there aren't and weren't that many people in my part of the world and it's not like something like that could be kept secret. But then young criminals started to wear knifes as a _weapon_, particularly in larger cities. _That_ was totally unheard of when I was a kid. And that's the change I was talking about. In other parts of the world I don't know. But here it went from a simple tool to something you simply can't carry. Big chamge.
@@tohaason - What part of the world is that exactly? Where you are? When I was a kid, stabbings were heard of and talked about quite a bit. And keep in mind that there were only a bit over 3 billion people on the planet the year I was born, and not a helluva lot of them here in rural Tennessee. Now that there's nearly 8 billion world-wide, and even more people living in cities, I'd imagine that even if there's proportionately the same level violent crime, that still works out to be much more than there was 50 years ago. And as I said, we all get to hear about every bloody incident there is, thanks to the evening news broadcasts. We are made much more aware of it, in an attempt to scare us into giving up certain rights for the sake of (false ) safety. As I've also said, where I am, I CAN carry anything I want. And the crime rate isn't enormously high due to that fact. So tell me this: If it's the guns and knives that are responsible for increased crime rates... why is my home state not a warzone, compared to other places with strict weapons laws? The world really hasn't changed that much at all. It's just more crowded than it used to be. Human nature hasn't changed though, and neither has the methods the people in charge use to try and control their 'subjects'. Fortunately, the improved communications these days do help in countering the usual lies we're all told to scare us into compliance.
Personally I carry three types of knifes a simple Leatherman so it has a little knife on there. A knife stiletto then a punch dagger. In the woods I switch the stiletto with a fixed blade for obvious reasons.
@@willek1335 Sillito surprising enough is for opening boxes and cutting bread when I'm working. The punch dagger is a actually defensive weapon that I carry. My work takes me to the reservation more then once a week for hours with no signal and cops don't really respond out there at times so you on your own. I carry a pistol as well, the punch dagger is for insurance. Thank god it's never come down to using it but I've had one close call out there so having it makes me feel a little better if things come to a grapple.
@@balasaashti3146 huh, I just read a bit about the western Reservations in western US. Drove through the red area once. They may not have clouds, but that place sure looked depressing. Do you do regular exercises drills with your self defense weapons, or do you plan to cross that bridge when you get there, or is it more a peace of mind?
@@willek1335 Yeah gets pretty depressing out here, won't lie sometimes its a little too much. I try to get out once or twice a month to do drills by myself or with a couple buddies. I ain't confident though. But I can get my punch dagger out without fumbling for it at least.
A British guy's mind being blown by everyone being armed is kind of adorable. I don't think I've been out in public without a weapon since I became an adult, barring airplanes.
Sorry, I didn’t notice that someone else commented on this being a short video. Can you do a video explaining how the Italians used that eating set to eat spaghetti? Just kidding
i've heard that it was usual that you had to lay off or not bring your dagger into pubs, but that many people carried a small last ditch knife below the armpit or in their boot.
"He's got a knife!"
"Of course he has a knife, we all have knives."
It’s 1183 and we’re all barbarians!
"Who doesn't?"
"Well do you want him to starve?"
@@johnrobie7444
Ah, a man of culture.
That's my dream for America. Except:
"He's got a gun!"
"Of course he has a gun, we all have guns."
Medieval people must’ve been geniuses. They carried around their own eating utensils everywhere they went… which means they solved the plastic waste problem centuries in advance 😉
I mean, they had plastic then. ua-cam.com/video/5XZr_IJJtas/v-deo.html
When there had been spoons etc. in medieval Inns, they had been sometimes fixed to table with a chain.
Given the hit-or-miss hygiene of public eating establishments now, maybe carrying your own utensils isn't such a bad idea. Yeah, I know, you're thinking about 'As Good As It Gets' and Jack Nicholson carrying his own plastic utensils...Okay, so a little OCD can be a good thing. Wait'll you get hepatitis A from a restaurant...btw, that's a fecal-borne disease, so now you know who didn't wash their hands after #2. Maybe your own utensils -and- plate? Never eat out again?
@@jackrice2770 On the one hand, that is uncommon (at least in most 'first world' nations), especially if you research or pay attention to the place to not eat from places liable to allow that.
On the other hand, I used to be a dishwasher myself. On the rare occasions that I eat out, I often get relatively untouched disposable containers and rinse the eating utensils first if I am not using my own. Even if not fecal matter, I find the standards of cleanliness repelling.
Could you even do that now? Where I live in NV I cannot carry a knife more than 3 - inches which is hilarious because I can walk down the streets with an AR-15. I can only imagine that there would be lots of places where carrying an eating knife around would be legally questionable. That said it isn't that bad of an idea to consider.
I'd like to stress that people have forgotten what items are truly needed to live. In survival, we speak of the 5Cs:
Cutting: a knife
Combustion: a fire kit (flint, striker, some tinder)
Container: a water container, or even better a canteen that can be put into the fire.
Cover: cloak, great plaide, tarp, etc. (rain protection, sleeping, shelter)
Cordage: for instance, if you want to tie some sticks together for a fireplace, or improvise a shelter
These items were carried by people for millennia!
Medieval people often had even more items as every day carry. Here some examples:
staff: probably not just as a walking aid and tool of defence, but also to test the ground in case of swamps, or lose stones
comb: especially when travelling, washing is not that easy, but hygiene is important
a mug, or bowl: yes, people were bringing their own bowl when they wanted a serving (at least in some conditions)
Cordage could be a pack strap like a tumpline, a bit of cord used as a belt like monks wear, points for holding leggings to one's undergarment or armour to an arming doublet, laces for shirts or shoes, and so on.
When I would go hunting (modern gun deer) extra long shoelaces were shortened in a pinch, but everyone at least carried bailer twine if not a thin rope (besides a hunting knife, and maybe a pocket knife as well). We may carry our supplies out in a five gallon pail, as then you also have a makeshift still, but the kit often included a blaze orange plastic rain poncho. The things you mention are still common today for people in more outdoorsy fields/jobs (always carry water on the tractor, always carry a jackknife, dress in layers, etc, if a farmer)
Bring back medieval EDC
don't forget your spoon!
@@TrueFork Indeed! BTW, I've seen IRL that such a blunt object can do considerable damage! In school, our Biology teacher went to get something and a girl picked up a glass rod and rammed it into a cow's heart, which the teacher had just put onto her table before!
She was definitely the silent water type of girl. Not the typical thug, or punk...
I wonder why more people don't wear e.g. a Swiss knife at all times. I see how for very poor people the price may be a deterrent, but for everyone else? It just comes in handy, when you need to cut something, tighten a screw, open a can or bottle, etc. etc.
It's hard for me to imagine someone who wouldn't benefit from having one. Unless they just carry dedicated tools, of course.
As for rope... well, there's been quite a few times I regretted not having some rope or duct tape on me. Like when a shoe or a backpack buckle broke on a tourist trip, and I didn't have anything to make a temporary fix, which made it much harder to keep up with the rest of the group. Every time I told myself I should start including some rope and duct tape into my everyday carry.
I also started carrying a folding cup. There's been too many situations where I come to a party, and have to ask for a glass, because all the clean ones at the table have already been taken... not to mention when I do get a glass, oftentimes someone else would later take it thinking it was unused.
Other than that, well, a USB charger, cables and a power bank are a modern 'must have at all times'. A flashlight (yes, a phone can do that too, but this drains the battery quickly, so I prefer having a separate one), and some rain protection - for me a fisherman hat is the preferred option.
Also, I see many people starting to include pepper spray in their EDC. Seems reasonable, especially considering how likely it is now to run into aggressive dogs and their aggressive owners... but personally, I would prefer to just wear some armor. If something attacks me, I may not have enough time to pull out a spray, but I should have enough time to put something hard between myself and the aggressor. And with modern materials, EDC armor doesn't have to be heavy.
Holy cow! An actually short video from Matt!! *boggle* WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE REAL MATT EASTON?!
😂😂😂
🤣
He should get on the UA-cam shorts game they are great.
@@Neverwas_one Two minutes is already shockingly short for Matt, I don't think he can get under 1 minute...
In other videos he has a topic for which he has to establish a context, and that takes long. This time he only established the context.
Grew up in a small town; I'm used to everyone carrying a knife, anything from a basic Swiss Army knife (3") to a utility knife (8'+). It was actually weird when I was in a city, where almost no one carried even a pen knife.
I think I've carried a pocket knife of some sort since I was about 7 or 8. About the time a kid becomes responsible enough to have one. Baring places you are not allowed to carry one of course.
There really useful things to have, even one as small as a pen knife.
Who is carrying an 8 foot knife for utility? That seems highly impractical
Ever since my grandfather bought me a knife when I was a kid, I've nearly always had a knife on me. It's always struck me as a bit odd that most people seem to never have even the smallest blade. These days, even if I don't have a simple knife, I'll have my Leatherman Wave, which has two blades. I've completely lost count of the times that I've had to pull it out to help someone who needed a tool--usually a knife was what they needed. I can't afford a sword, but I've lost track of how many knives I own...I need to get organized.
Most people carry a pocket knife around here. Occasionally I'll run into someone who doesn't and I wonder how they function as an adult on a day to day basis.
There’s plenty places to sell your knives until you can afford a sword
If they needed to cut something, people today would take out their phone and look for an app.
It really sucks that in many places it is literally illegal to carry any sort of knife, here in sweden for example you need a specific reason for carrying a knife and police could absolutely just say that your reason isn't valid and take your knife and slap you with a fine.
@@swedneck that's crazy.
Being born in 1949, myself and all of my friends grew up with knives and all carried them until our teen years. The Boy Scout knife I inherited from my pop had a tool for extracting stones from a horse’s hoof being from his youthful days when things like that were useful everyday tools.
I would very much like to hear more about those _medieval folding knives_ .
Tod Cutler makes a few reproductions of them. From the descriptions he gives on his site, it seems they were very simple designs without a locking mechanism; instead, you might have a tab on the back on the blade that you can use to manually hold it open.
I have a very nice mediaeval folding knife from Tod Cutler. It is, indeed, very simple, with a long thumb tab attached to the blade to hold it in place when it has been unfolded. The tab sticks out awkwardly when it is folded away, but it is still effective
I know I'd love to see more of them. I remember discovering them some time ago now, and just thinking they were so neat and unexpected. Not something I imagined in the medieval era, though I don't know why, they had a lot of more intricate mechanical stuff than a folding knife.
Japan is still very fond of those style of knives. Simple and sturdy, usually with a brass or sheet iron handle.
Friction folders were ubiquitous. As others have mentioned, they generally lacked any sort of locking mechanism, either to close or remain open, and instead often had a tab extending from the blade that was held down. Period shaving razors were often folding knives, much as in the modern day, although their blades were usually a standard straight blade rather than the concave shape popular now.
Europe in the Medieval period sounds like Finland 70 years ago, or just Ostrobothnia today. A strikingly similar looking twin knife set is still pretty common in some parts here, at least in traditional costumes.
My dad is finnish, people would apparently be afraid of finns here in sweden because the stereotype was that they all carried knives
I grew up with a folding knife in my pocket. Only recently, due to laws, did I stop.
@@atom8248 Wow, that explains a lot, because I do have Finnish blood, and I constantly go nowhere without a blade, most likely more than one!🗡
based
There was an interesting Cambridge University study based on coroner's records into medieval crime published a few years ago that produced a map of murders in medieval London. I posted about it before, but it never appeared on this thread for some reason. In that study knives or daggers were by far the most common weapons used in homicides, and represented over 55% of all the killings, which were significantly more common per capita than today. Anyway, it's out there if you want to look for it and it's really fascinating.
Yeah there's a reason lots of places ban knife carrying now.
Possibly also why chopsticks were big in China. Cut down on eating with knives, cut down on quarrels that turn deadly.
But today guns cause crime, not knives...
Oh, wait, knives cause crime once guns are banned (to stop crime).
It's sorta like crime will happen and criminals will use whatever comes to hand. It's too bad that lawful uses of these tools to prevent crime and protect life aren't ever reported. When I'm older I sure as heck will want an low power multishot rifle if I'm attacked by someone. Besides grenades or maybe vehicles, stuff that is likely to hurt others not otherwise involved, the firearm is about the only defensive tool that takes away a strength, speed, dexterity advantage and allows a defender to overcome those critical advantages needed for almost any other weapon. (crosbow? Maybe but with one shot only, it's not quite the same, and reloading definitely has advantages for those more fit)
@@mindstalk Didn't they also develop many unharmed combat techniques? I guess no one ever attacked anyone else just with hand or feet or rocks or branches.
@@hawkshadowoseanacy5171 It's about ease of killing. It's very easy to kill someone with just a knife and even no training. With lots of knives, or guns, around, if someone gets drunk and/or angry and feels like attacking someone, that easily becomes lethal. Not so much if all you have are fists and chopsticks.
(Or fists and tables knives, per a video I saw last night, which claimed Cardinal Richelieu encouraged blunt table knives to cut down on the risks of angry fights or sudden assassination.)
@@hawkshadowoseanacy5171 I don't really think there's much commonality between medieval street crime and modern street crime other than some of both were motivated by robbery. The per capita murder rate in the medieval study was much higher than that in modern London, despite the higher proportion of people carrying weapons for self-defence in the past.
Obviously, everybody should have a right to self-defence, and I wish you well in trying out weapons and martial arts, but please try to remember that you probably won't need either unless you actively seek out trouble... and we'll all be happier if we don't do that.
I feel like this video may literally be the absolute shortest that Matt has ever produced... EVER. I'm baffled.
It has been very common to have a pocket knife as tool for all trades since very young age, I still have a folding knife in my pocket as a tool, as a sailor and engineer later on shore, I had a bigger knife as a tool on me but was tought how to use it for selfdefence by an old farmer when I was 10 years and got a Herder folding knife, excellent knife for skinning apples, cutting ropes, as a screwdriver, cleaning nails, stripping paint or isolation from electric wire, and as deterrent against bad people looking for a fight, and of course many knife games. An old sailor taught me besides using them for rope and knott making, lots more possibilities with daggers or buckknives (the locking type) to be able to defend or repell, wearing them was very common among sailors in the 80's and 90's mainly as tool, life saver even.
Damn... That's hardcore
Everyone should at least carry a pocket knife. I do and use it every single day (and quite often so do other people), boggles my mind that people actually choose to not have this invaluable and easily carried tool.
If you want to go well armed, become a gardener. Knives, big one for cutting turf, an old butchers knife, folding saws, axes, forks, sheep shears, hoes various and spades.
@@philw8049 you didn't grow up in Glasgow I'm guessing. Back in the 70s knifes and swords were popular.
Serious martial arts have ALWAYS been about using the weapons likely to be available in the time and place they were created. Knives are the most common and useful tool we have every created. Sometimes the only thing you have is your empty hands, but that's never the first choice.
I think the idea is less that you have a knife to use, and more that the person you're fighting has a knife to use. Changes the context of self-defense.
@@mindstalk Ah. The martial arts I study *assume* the other guys are armed.
This is why I, as a Chinese-American, always considered gun fighting a martial art. Guns are the best weapons available, but they do still need training and practice to be effective. And the process of learning techniques for fighting is the very essence of martial arts.
One of my favorite Fiore plays ends with "and stab them with your dagger" the dagger that is literally never mentioned elsewhere in the play. Because 15th century Italy, of course you had a knife on you.
Well done sir, I'd never thought of that. Knowing that everyone is armed significantly changes how I think about medieval "hand to hand" fights and brawls
And when it is said that everybody had a knife, it actually means EVERYBODY did. Analysis of Norse graves in Denmark shows that children as young as four was buried with their knives. They most likely had chores to do from the age when they were old enough to do so, and thus needed knifes (cutting saplings for animal feed, basket weaving, gathering birch barch for tinder and other uses,e tc)
check Bruegel the Elder's "Peasant Wedding", there's a little girl with a striking feathered hat in the foreground, she has a knife dangling from her belt (it looks like the sheath is worn and the blade is sticking through)
1:12 "also known as a prick" Filed away for YTP usage immediately after naming a person
I’ve also heard it called an uke (pronounced ook). But no chance of double entendre with that, so not as fun.
Judging from the latest news in Coventry last night just about everybody in certain parts of town carries a knife with them too, and uses them for affray. I used to carry my own eating implements with me, a basic KFS, but stopped because the knife could be construed as an illegal blade, now I tend to carry wooden cutlery. I am sure that in the medieval period a peasant would have used his knife amongst other things to carve a spoon.
I watched this twice as I thought to myself that my internet service must have dropped the stream. I have Never known Matt to make a short video or take the shortest path to say anything. I’m still feeling a little dizzy... thinking “there must be a mistake here”.
Seriously, I enjoy your videos. If you have finally run out of material (which I seriously doubt), I ordered a stiletto from Tod and I would love to hear methodology of use and demonstration of capabilities of this small dagger. I don’t buy the ever present dibble about this being only an assassin’s weapon and strictly an offensive weapon. The dagger seems fairly common and it makes no sense to say they were all owned by assassins. Nor does it make since to plan an attack, choosing the place and time, and then selecting this weapon over others available to an assassin. Your research and input would be most welcome.
Look up his recent videos regarding the fairburn sykes dagger and the techniques for using it. Should be transferable to a stiletto
I mean… a short video for a short answer?
Hey mate. I've been watching for a few years now and I just wanted to thank you for all your work on this channel. I've been very entertained.
Much appreciated!
A friend once told me that since they used to eat with knives more than forks it would be like someone walking around with a fork all day long.
I believe forks weren't actually introduced to Western Europe until the latter Middle Ages
@@NM-wd7kx They were introduced in the early middle ages, but not adopted. They were seen as more of a gimmick that "Byzantine" diplomats would bring with them.
@@NM-wd7kx : As far a i, german, know, church was for a long time agaist using a fork for eating, because a fork is the tool / sign of devil.
@@kdolo1887 : I read this sometimes ago. But of course i don' t know, if this is true. But: Today eating forks have mostly four spikes ( similar to Mistgabel/ pitchfork?), while devils fork, like Heugabel/ hay fork is shown mostly with three spikes.
@@brittakriep2938 That's a myth. Food just was prepared differently, with grain stews and already cut meat a fork isn't that usefull. Think of many asian meals made to be eaten with sticks. They had bigger forks to cut meat if I remember correctly.
Bread only became staple side dish in the late middle ages.
They weren't afraid of forks. There were cultural and technical reason why they weren't adopted at the time, that make sense in their context, if we don't look at it from the way we prepare and eat our food >today
Matt Easton: From zero to context in 1:50 minutes xD
Short video, but a great one. Straight to the point... of the knife... ;-)
In the 50's, 60's and 70's my grandpa used to go around Brittany looking for labourers and he said you always needed a knife, he remembers one chap who had no cutlery at all except for one old looking Opinel. It's probably different now, but it's crazy to think there were people basically living like that so recently.
What’s knife carrying laws like there nowadays?
we dont need to go back to medieval times, even in the youth days of my grandfather, everybody (even the kids aged ~7) used to carry knives
I think everyone I know carries a knife nearly all the time - as well they should. Many of them also carry a gun. Here's the funny thing - it's not legal here in my US state to carry a concealed knife with a blade longer than 3.5 inches (8.9 cm), though we can open carry edged or blunt weapons of any size. We can, additionally, legally carry concealed pistols, as well as carry them openly.
The world is full of weirdness. You can open carry a sword or mace in your state!? You should advertise this fact - could get a whole bunch of medieval re-enactors wanting to migrate to your state so they can live their dream all day every day. In my country, Aus, the coppers got the pollies to write laws banning the carrying of most knives, even folding blades. Not because most of us were stabbing each other, nope, just because a few gang members cut each other up a few times with knives. Lazy law making. As a lifetime knife buff it pissed me off. Lucky for me - the law says we can carry a knife if it is for work or appropriate for our recreation at the time, like a filleting knife if you are fishing. My job requires a knife for some problem solving so I always carry a little Opinel no 6, I need sharp and light not strong. Makes me feel warm, having that tiny little sliver of sharpness down the bottom of one pocket. OK, so maybe there is some weirdness in MY part of the world as well.
I live in rural America. I don't need to imagine that context.
Yeah, even small cities it is really common.
Yeah, same here.
I was given a pocket knife when I was 6 or 7. Nothing fancy, just an old Barlow-type thing with a 2-1/2 or 3 inch blade.
I've had at least one knife of some kind on me every day since then.
Sometimes they're the small folding type, sometimes they're rather large and fixed blade.
It's always boggled my mind when someone occasionally asks "What do you want that for? What are you gonna do with it?"
Sorry folks, but if I have to explain it to you, you'll never understand. * shrug *
( Honestly, I think a better question would be how people get along WITHOUT a knife of some kind with them. )
Rural anywhere I think. Even countries where it's technically illegal, based on laws made by urban people, people of the hinterland will just get on with their lives.
@@guarddog318 Always carried at least a pocket knife as well, even in school (70's & 80's.) Teacher told one classmate that he would get points taken off his paper because he ripped it out of a spiral notebook and the frayed edge looked unprofessional, no one (including the teacher) batted an eye when I took out my knife and cut off the edge of his paper for him. They aren't weapons, they're tools. If I had wanted to stab somebody in school during a heated exchange it would would have been faster and easier to use the pen or pencil that was always in hand vs saying, "hold on, wait a minute," while I fished the knife out of my pocket and opened it up expecting the other kid to just stand there. No one has any common sense anymore.
@@guarddog318 Highly specialized urban environments where daily tasks do not require pocket knives and eating is often done with disposable implements. Much of our modern cuisine does not particularly require a knife on account of how it is prepared and thus use spoons, forks, or the hands instead as well.
Babies had knives coming out of mum in Medieval Europe!
Then they just cut the umbilical cord and walked away hunting Deer!
"Imagine a world where literally everyone...is carrying a knife."
We call that rural America, thank you very much. 🤣
I always do...
I've had a knife on me since I was 5 years old.
he said "knives" not "portable anti-tank artillery", you naughty american often can't make the difference XD
(this comment was made by an european)
I think you misspelled Rural Argentina ?
When my relatives come from the city they often ask "how often do you actually use that thing, lol?" and after two or three days they go "ok , now I get it". A week later... they all be carrying 20" blades everywhere 😁
@@Confused_surprise Why not carry both?
A Matt Easton video that's under 20 minutes long?
The final scroll has been opened, I can hear the trumpets sounding.
From the "Lion in Winter", "Of course he has a knife, this is the 14th century and we are barbarians...We ALL have knives!"
Hi Matt - I rarely comment on videos, but thought I’d add my two penn’orth to this, although I get that it’s a year old and you’re unlikely to see it! I’m 66 years old and as a boy in the East End of London, I ALWAYS went to school with a knife (as did many of us!) in primary scholl I wore my sheath knife and carried a penknife which my grandmother gave me (it had a beautiful mother of pearl handle). The only times I was ever chastised was if RUNNING with the blade out! We used to play “spilts” at playtime and no one ever got stabbed (the occasional knife-in-the-foot-accident happened, but the bollocking would be regarding damaged shoes!
I only stopped wearing my sheath knife (which I still have) when I went to secondary school - not because they were banned - simply because it was seen as being a bit childish 😂
Knives were an everyday thing back then (not so long ago really) and nobody went mental because you carried one, and bizarrely you were more likely to be smacked with a claw hammer than stabbed with a knife.
Anyway, that’s it. Great channel. Great info.
Kyle
1 second ago
As a Texan, I find it funny you would even consider that they wouldn't carry a knife.
Hell, here we all carry something sharp or loud.
You need to make an episode on medieval folding knives.
As usual another excellent video
And here I thought it was ridiculous that most civilians in the Elder Scrolls games seem to carry daggers. Interesting factoid!
considering how much you tend to flood the market with iron daggers it boggles my mind that not everyone has at least 6 of them
The elder scrolls could profit somuch if they'ld work together with people like Matt or Todd.
Elder Scrolls! Blast from the past! Loved that game, still have an old copy that runs in a DOS box. Dagger and/or a staff
I didn't know folding knives were that old. I never even thought about looking up how old they really were. I even found images of ancient Austrian folding knives and Roman eating multi-tools, which makes me wonder now how many far older folding tools were lost to time.
As someone who has had a lifelong interest in knives this is a subject that I am very interested in. It's taken me to the point of making my own knives. I view them primarily as tools but weapons technically are tools and when it comes to self defense they would be effective. I am hoping that you will produce some sort of knife fighting information at some point. A book or a video series would be awesome. If you are worried about how it would effect your channel you could do something that is not connected behind a pay wall. For that matter as someone in the United States where it is much harder to find any sort of HEMA classes I would love to have access to some sort of online class and introduction to the subject. I have been following you for 10 years and you are the best information out there with both a good knowledge base and teaching style.
I have been dealing with an injury for several months and it delayed my work. I am finally getting back to my knives and should have some Bowie's done soon. I will send you pictures and see if it's something that you are interested in. If so maybe I can pick up some steel and toss one together for you after I get my other orders caught up.
You've come to the point of making points seems to be your 👉
Tod has a lot to answer for with his rondel dagger video, got me to making a pirate cutlass from an old machete blade now, not the best of blades but otherwise it was just rusting in my shed.
Everyone should still always carry a knife. It's one of the most universally useful items a person could carry and you're basically helpless without one. The only reason anyone with any sense would ever go anywhere without a knife is if they knew they could easily get a knife at the place they're going if they need one. The only places I don't at least carry pocket knife are placer like courthouses where you're not allowed to.
Growing up on a ranch in Arizona I always have a pocket knife with me. Back in the day we carried them to grade school and everywhere. I still carry one today
Swiss people still often have a knife. A folding knife. I also often have a plastic eating knife on me since I often buy take away food and it either comes with cutlery or I have some left from the last meal I bought. Does not work too well for self defense, though.
I grew up in Munich, Germany, and the quarter I lived in had even pre-t33ns running around with fixed blades, or big folding knives... Needless to say, we had a LOT of knife violence.
@@edi9892 Knife violence in Switzerland does not seem to be a big issue. Maybe because the Swiss Army knife is, unlike it's English name may suggest, really bad as a fighting knife. It's a pocket knife.
@@chabis Basel and Zuri have seen some bad cases in recent times though. Still, I feel safer here, then in Germany...
@@edi9892 True. It's not like knife crime would not exist and of course in my youth lots of people my age tried to be cool kids owning one of the illegal knifes. But the number of people carrying utility knives does not correlate to knife crime. The number of people carrying fighting knives probably does, though.
That reminds me of a video of a Enlgishman here on YT I saw a few days ago. As a youth he moved to the US. At the first day at his new high school he pulled out his knive to peel an apple, 10 minutes later he was in hand cuffs with policemen standing over him. He only found out later that this was because of the knive he pulled, which he carried since grade school back in Britain without any problems.
LOL you'd expect it to be the opposite! It likely depends heavily on the state. In Alabama you can carry folding knives on school campuses. In Utah I think you can even carry concealed handguns in schools if you have a permit.
My father gave me my first pocket knife when I was seven, same year he taught me to shoot. Gave me a nice multitool when I turned twelve that I still carry to this day on my kit as a para.
We only need knife, fire, and string to live. Might as well carry them.
It's sort of shocking to me that this is news to anyone. But, good. There it is, then.
The average medieval eating knife, as far as I know, was short and had no protection against the hand slipping onto the blade. So, it was not like everybody was wearing a dagger, but according to Fairbairn the average medieval knife would have been long enough for most targets.
while you're right it doesnt really matter in the broader scale. You just cant approach someone the same way in a combat situation, that has a knife, regardless of how usefull that knive is for fighting.
Sir, please share a video for 'The Special Hilt of Sword For Maximum Brutality' which showing in bollywood movie Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior for udaybhan singh rathore character in final battle scene.. Please create and share video on that swords history and who use that type of sword? #Tanhaji #Udaybhansinghrathore #India #scholagladiatoria
To quote an old (unarmed) martial arts instructor friend: "whenever things get a little too static in class, i slip the smallest person in the room a magic marker."
+scholagladiatoria *The Middle Ages were fundamentally different from contemporary practice, as the knife was carried everywhere on a person.* The peasant's butcher knife was direct ancestor of the _Kriegsmeſſer,_ a single-edged sword; and ballock daggers, due to slim guards integrated into the handle, didn't interfere too much with the flesh of a typical supper.
Very interesting video, thanks! Perhaps you can a video on folders in the medieval period...didn't know they existed...
Short and pointy.
... and one of the few videos (on this channel) that did not require a convenience break on my side.
Was not familiar with a bollock dagger, googled it, not disappointed 😆
Matt from schoolagladiatoria and Todd from todds workshop have great videos on the bollock dagger!
i carry a few knives everywhere every day, i made a shoulder rig for my counter tac 1 from cold steel- its one of the seki city ones not the taiwan i carry a boot knife in my boot and a regular pocket knife then there is the monkey fist keyring with the one inch steel ball in it with the puma game warden in the modified pepper spray sheath as a handle
yet you carry a small folding knife in you pocket and modern city people are like "ERMYGAWD HE'S GOTR A WEAPOJNS!!!"
if you are polite about it and just explain why you always carry a knife, most will understand and even consider doing so themselves.
@@derstoffausdemderjoghurtis not in the leftest leaning city in already left leaning Canada you don't.
oh you Europeans, bless your hearts. Americans (excepting the Canadians) still have to assume everyone is armed. it informs our daily living not just our interpretation of History
Matt, thanks for the video. Follow up question. What kind of knives did soldiers carry on campaign. In role playing games and movies we often see people using their daggers or even their swords to accomplish work tasks. This doesn't feel like good edge care. Besides an eating knife it feels like they must of carried some sort of moderately sized working knife as well. Is this the case?
Can I imagine it? Yeah, i live in Tennessee. The majority of folks i know carry a knife and or gun.
I'm not going anywhere without knife ever.
I work in an inner city pub and I break out in a cold sweat to think what pubs were like back then. That mix of booze and blades on belts…
Everyone should carry a knife. One of the most valuable tool on the planet.
Matt, I think you only uploaded a small part of this video...it says 2 minutes??? And I've never seen a video on this channel that short
And to be honest everyone in current times has a bunch of those at home. The main difference its not carriying them in the streets of other public spaces, wich admitedly its a pretty big difference. Still, makes sense to assume that anyone who expected or initiates a figth could potentially, at the very least, carry some sort of dangerous enough kitchen/utility knife.
Even a pocket knife, though the collapsible blade makes a huge difference, of course.
man youre really smart, didnt know people have knives at home!
For this entire series, taking this as part of the analysis of Tod's Rondel dagger...
I've been waiting to joke about knives and food.
Unfortunately, I'm not exactly sure what to joke about, now..
But it would be funny having a tongue in cheek mock serious lecture by Matt about the relative merits of different martial blades in a culinary sense...
I bet a 1796 light cavalry sabre cuts a mean sandwich, and the tip might be usable as a spoon, in a pinch! What is the perfect blade for roasting a hare over an open fire?!
Cecil Burch:
Immidiate action compatives
Critical Skills Combatives: Essential Physical Skills for Self-Preservation in the Weapons Based Environment
Knives and Paper Towels,,, gotta have them.!
Grappling is a whole other ball game when knives are present. All these people saying Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the best art because of grappling don't understand why people didn't typically roll on the ground in medieval battlefields.
I don't think it's that everyone had a knife - go anywhere rural even today, and vast majority of people will still have knives. It's that the knives were 1) worn openly on the belt and therefore far easier to access, and 2) they were fixed blade, so they could be made ready far quicker than most folding knives. Especially since medieval folding knives were both rare and without quick-open springs in them.
It also bears mentioning that there were three knife categories, eating knife, fighting knife and utility knife, and while utility and fighting were sometimes merged, eating knife was always separate. It's the utility knife practically no one went without, while fighting and especially eating knives were sometimes left behind.
Love the shirt!
"Medieval people ALL HAD KNIVES", oh, kinda like all the inner city teenagers and young adults in the UK
Glad to see a few “Lion in Winter” references. Matt, you should have cut in the clip. It would have been lovely. Btw, I never leave the house without at least two knives on me. When working ( as a fabricator ) I often have 3. That’s why there’s a whole class of knives called EDC! That slightly bewildered tone you had was sooo Modern British. You folks have to take your balls back from your government.
I live in Montana. I walk around knowing everyone has a gun on them
I wonder what is known about utility knives. That eating set is specialized for eating, you would need something more hefty with a fatter handle for a medieval guy's daily tasks, like say a seax. Or was the seax more of a weapon thatn a tool?
Hey there! I was watching your video on the Easton 3 Sabre and noted you said you prefer not to have a back strap and that John Musgrave Waite recommended not as well. Why is that? Have you made a video on this?
Its a really good thing to know. For example today many people prefer ground grappling, while back then it increased your chances of getting stabbed (still does BTW). In any self defense situation or challenge even a common person had a knife so you first sought to get out of range draw your weapon and look for the possibility of people who might intervene to help you or the enemy.
I've long believed that the best time period to compare the Medieval/Renaissance to with regards to martial arts would be the Old West in America. Back then everyone had a gun or knife on them, so it meant one had to be quite brave to insult someone lest you end up with a bullet or blade in you for it. Even though towns tried to limit the carrying of weapons in practice most people just concealed their weapons so it was highly likely that most of the people you would pass in the streets or meet in a saloon or gambling hall in Dodge City or Virginia City were packing some kind of weapon and took the proper precautions.
Why insult them when you could come up behind and shoot them with your shotgun. Pistols were fancy, shotguns were tools. Also the homocide rate was terrible. It still is. 5 times the rate of Western Europe and even 2 x Albania which has more mafia than government.
But I suppose people might be slower to call me names and hurt my feelings.
Usa has the social development of 14 y o boys.
we need to return to this...#BringBackDueling
Tooooo short! This is a good topic, please add more. How did this affect crime?
It is Official.
A British man holding a Dagger while speaking is just as proficient as a Southern US man holding a double barrel shotgun🃏🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Matt, we all know how well versed in older knives but how much of your time do you spend with modern knives? Like Civi or Benchmade?
I wonder what steered the choice of folding or fixed blade in the medieval era.
All right, this calls for an examination of historical accounts of what kinds of fights people expected to get into and how they were handled. I don't expect newspaper accounts from 1458 or anything but obviously not everyone is going to be equally competent at fisticuffs or knife fighting, so there must have been at least informal rules for escalation and consequences for breaking those rules.
I mean, personally I'd prefer not to have to stick someone with my eating knife but in a pinch...
A land without weapons is a a land ruled by young, strong males, or gangs thereof.
All that has really changed is where we use them.
We no longer need to carry one everywhere. If the majority of medieval people had access to a vast array of foods, at a moments notice that didn't require a knife; or the ability to 'rent' a serviceable knife at the point of issue of meals that did require one then I doubt they would carry one everywhere either.
Fewer people carrying knives everywhere leads to less need to defend your life every five minutes, from 'That Guy' and their fragile ego. :-)
the Skein Dubh (sp?) was a backup eating and killing Dagger.....
In the 1970s we boy scouts all walked about with sheath knifes on our waist at camp.
Nobody was seriously stabbed and it was the 1970s so boys were expected to take risks.
Better dead than duffers I think was the idea.
Mental.
One of the lads did stab someone to death about 6 years after leaving although the dead guy had pulled a knife on the ex scout so you can't blame him. Self defence.
I live in Texas. Since so many of us have guns, knives are not really considered weapons. Obviously they can be used as weapons, but we really just consider them to be tools. Very few types of knives are illegal to carry, and most people have at least a pocket knife on them. I usually have a fixed blade, a folding knife, a lighter and a multi tool on me. This is completely normal in my part of the world.
There *used* to be more restrictions on knives on Texas, but that was changed in 2017.
I was going to say something very similar.
Bloody hell, only 2min long, did Matt suffer a stroke or heart attack or something? is he ok? :)
right; crazy, how not even 1% of kendo training, competition, involve, or even acknowledge, the samurai tanto
I was hoping you'd include that clip from Kate Hepburn in "The Lion in Winter"; but alas...🤣
Unarmed combat in the medieval era, would be more for "recreational" violence, when you want to have a brawl, but not get outlawed for sticking a knife in someone's gut.
Most people I know have a knife on their person, let alone at a restaurant or work area. Do you live at the airport or a courthouse?
My grandfather carried a knife at all times... my father did too, until his old age city life. Heck, even I did as a little kid. The knife was never in anyone's mind as some kind of defense weapon, a knife was simply a useful tool for everyday normal activities. Cutting ropes, handling fish, fixing something, preparing a fire. Then the world changed and some people started knifing each other and these days it's a criminal offence wearing a knife around here (unless you're clearly on your way to the mountains).
As for the kind of knife.. nothing like a plate-penetrating weapon, but of the couple of knifes I keep using one is big and heavy and works fine as an ax when needed.
You do realise that people have been knifing each other for as long as there've been knives, right? lol
The world didn't change. Communications just got better and more people started hearing about the latest bloody incident involving * pick the item of your choice * is all.
The crime rate went up and the social taboo of using knives instead of fists in a fight slackened a great deal. Back in the day stabbing someone to death would almost certainly see you to the gallows and you'd be called a pansy on the way to it for resorting to a knife.
@@guarddog318 The world _did_ change. Of course a knife has been used against people also in the past (and possibly more farther back), but around here at least it was extremely uncommon until the last few decades. Nothing to do with communication - there aren't and weren't that many people in my part of the world and it's not like something like that could be kept secret. But then young criminals started to wear knifes as a _weapon_, particularly in larger cities. _That_ was totally unheard of when I was a kid. And that's the change I was talking about. In other parts of the world I don't know. But here it went from a simple tool to something you simply can't carry. Big chamge.
@@tohaason - What part of the world is that exactly? Where you are?
When I was a kid, stabbings were heard of and talked about quite a bit.
And keep in mind that there were only a bit over 3 billion people on the planet the year I was born, and not a helluva lot of them here in rural Tennessee.
Now that there's nearly 8 billion world-wide, and even more people living in cities, I'd imagine that even if there's proportionately the same level violent crime, that still works out to be much more than there was 50 years ago.
And as I said, we all get to hear about every bloody incident there is, thanks to the evening news broadcasts.
We are made much more aware of it, in an attempt to scare us into giving up certain rights for the sake of (false ) safety.
As I've also said, where I am, I CAN carry anything I want.
And the crime rate isn't enormously high due to that fact.
So tell me this: If it's the guns and knives that are responsible for increased crime rates... why is my home state not a warzone, compared to other places with strict weapons laws?
The world really hasn't changed that much at all. It's just more crowded than it used to be.
Human nature hasn't changed though, and neither has the methods the people in charge use to try and control their 'subjects'.
Fortunately, the improved communications these days do help in countering the usual lies we're all told to scare us into compliance.
Been a while since I saw 'Pare & prick'.
Nice little set matt!
How much that set you back?
About 90 GBP but is also comes with a nice brass spoon. Made in Oxford.
@@dashcammer4322 Wouldn't happen to know the firm by any chance?
Personally I carry three types of knifes a simple Leatherman so it has a little knife on there. A knife stiletto then a punch dagger. In the woods I switch the stiletto with a fixed blade for obvious reasons.
Leathermans are nice. Dad used to carry one all the time and could fix anything. What do you use a stiletto and a punch dagger for?
@@willek1335 Sillito surprising enough is for opening boxes and cutting bread when I'm working. The punch dagger is a actually defensive weapon that I carry. My work takes me to the reservation more then once a week for hours with no signal and cops don't really respond out there at times so you on your own. I carry a pistol as well, the punch dagger is for insurance. Thank god it's never come down to using it but I've had one close call out there so having it makes me feel a little better if things come to a grapple.
@@balasaashti3146 huh, I just read a bit about the western Reservations in western US. Drove through the red area once. They may not have clouds, but that place sure looked depressing. Do you do regular exercises drills with your self defense weapons, or do you plan to cross that bridge when you get there, or is it more a peace of mind?
@@willek1335 Yeah gets pretty depressing out here, won't lie sometimes its a little too much. I try to get out once or twice a month to do drills by myself or with a couple buddies. I ain't confident though. But I can get my punch dagger out without fumbling for it at least.
"That's not a knife..."
A British guy's mind being blown by everyone being armed is kind of adorable. I don't think I've been out in public without a weapon since I became an adult, barring airplanes.
Sorry, I didn’t notice that someone else commented on this being a short video. Can you do a video explaining how the Italians used that eating set to eat spaghetti?
Just kidding
They probably used Bolognese sources.
And in every culture and continent.
Is there a spoon as well?
So it's pretty similar to Birmingham then.
But are there any records of pubs telling people to leave the knife outside after too many drunken brawls?
i've heard that it was usual that you had to lay off or not bring your dagger into pubs, but that many people carried a small last ditch knife below the armpit or in their boot.
thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
funny enough in my country everyone who would attack you has a knife but you're not allowed to carry a knife specifically for self defense