Oakeshott Type XVa.3 Arming Dagger – Castillon Hoard, 15th Century (Light Combat)

The Castillon Hoard of 1453 is one of the most significant battlefield finds in medieval archaeology: a cache of arms and armour recovered from the site of the last battle of the Hundred Years' War. Among the finds were daggers of Oakeshott Type XVa.3, also known as the arming dagger, the classic knightly sidearm of the late medieval period.

The Battle of Castillon, fought on 17 July 1453, ended the Hundred Years' War and drove the English out of France. The arms recovered there are a unique snapshot of military equipment at the moment the medieval world gave way to the Renaissance.

The type has a slender, steeply tapering blade made for thrusting, able to find gaps in plate armour. By the mid-15th century, with plate armour near-universal, the thrusting dagger had become the essential secondary weapon of the battlefield.

Deepeeka's reconstruction has a tempered high-carbon steel blade with hollow-ground geometry, which reduces weight while keeping a strong central spine. The tang is peened over the pommel for a robust hilt. The steel guard and pommel pair with a wooden grip covered in finely stitched leather, treated with beeswax and shrunk tight, as documented in medieval sources. The wooden scabbard is covered in close-fitting leather.

Specifications

• Overall length: 18.5″
• Blade length: 12.6″
• Blade: High-carbon steel, hollow ground
• Edge: Unsharpened
• Hilt: Steel guard and pommel; wooden grip with beeswax-treated leather
• Tang: Peened over pommel
• Scabbard: Wood covered in leather
• Type: Oakeshott XVa.3
• Version: Light Combat (AH6991F)
• Period: 15th century, late Hundred Years' War

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