Long Dagger

Note the elegantly curved hilt with its peaked roof-like pommel. Like the pommel, the guard is curved; on the side of the blade, it is mounted on wood and encased in a hexagonal, engraved, and gilded piece of sheet metal. The unusual shape of the hilt and the etched decoration at the base of the blade identify the dagger as the work of a Spanish swordsmith.

The etched decoration of roughly drawn garlands is closely related to that found on the blade of a contemporary rondel dagger that is also now in the Imperial Armoury (inv. A 55). The latter’s grip imitates knots on a tree trunk, while its striped decoration recalls the arms of Burgundy, a shield set with blue and gold bars (bendy azure and Or). On the basis of this symbolic reference to the Duchy of Burgundy and the stylistic similarities to Spanish art mentioned above, the two daggers have been attributed to Philip the Handsome, the first Habsburg on the throne of Castile (Spain).

Both the long dagger of Philip I and the rondel dagger mentioned above were originally in the collection assembled by Archduke Ferdinand II at Ambras Castle near Innsbruck. We do not know how these two weapons found their way there in the course of the sixteenth century. They may have been either mementos owned by Maximilian I or gifts presented to Ferdinand by Emperor Charles V or King Philip II of Spain.