A couple posts ago, I wrote about French authors using the nonsword hand to parry or oppose the incoming blade.  Without too much detail I referred to poignards and daggers, glossing over the distinction to talk about using the unarmed hand.

The link below goes to Leonard Tarassuk’s 1978 article “Some Notes on Parrying Daggers and Poignards.”  At the time of printing, Tarassuk was evidently a research associate at no less than the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Needless to say, his article is very informative. Not only does it examine the types of parrying daggers used hundreds of years ago, but provides details regarding the distinctions between poignards and dagues.  Its a fascinating article and refers to Italian masters such as Marozzo and Agrippa.  I don’t know if this has already been well cited and linked throughout the Internet, but I thought it worth posting here for anyone else interested.  Here’s the link.