What are dagger, buckler, shield and cloak?
Dagger: A dagger is a type of knife (not to be confused with the hunting or any other kind of utilitarian knife) that was specifically designed for martial purposes. It has a straight, pointed, double-edged blade. During the 16th and the 17th centuries it was usually employed in conjunction with the rapier. There are two types of fencing daggers. The first is a simple cross-hilted design, usually with slightly drooping or forked quillons (which were used to catch and trap the opposing blade by a simple twist of the wrist) and an additional side ring called an anneau (sometimes mistakenly called a “thumb ring”), whose purpose was to protect the knuckles. The second form of fencing dagger is the Spanish style dagger, called a shell-guard dagger (main gauche, literally “left hand” in French), with a long double-edged blade. This weapon had a hilt which consisted of long straight quillons and a shell protecting the entire hand. It was often made en suite in the same style of the rapier it
