IN THE Royal Armouries collections are many different sporting daggers, one of which is associated with George Villiers (1592-1628), 1st Duke of Buckingham. A favourite of James I and Charles I, the Duke was not only a statesman and a soldier but also a sportsman and a patron of the arts.
This elegant dagger, with its associated bodkin and sheath, combines these last two functions. It is designed in a way that would allow it to be used either as a weapon or as a tool and epitomises the fashionable male accessory of early-17thcentury England. Knives and daggers were carried by commoners and gentry alike in the Middle Ages and early modern period. They were used as tools for everyday tasks or for the hunt, and also as sidearms for self-defence. The lavish decoration of this example suggests it was intended for the gentry or the nobility and it was probably connected with the Duke of Buckingham.
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