The Dagger by no means filled that prominent place in the knightly equipment during this century which it is found to occupy in the fourteenth; though, towards the close of the period, it is seen to be coming into vogue. It is worn by the knights represented in our engravings, Nos. 58 and 72; and the Ash Church effigy (woodcut, No. 59) shews us the lace by which the dagger, now destroyed, was fastened to the waist-belt. The figure of De Montford (Stothard, Pl. XXXIX.) has the dagger. It appears also in the Shurland monument (Stothard, Pl. XLI.), worn by the knight's attendant; and in this example the guard of it is formed of two knobs, a fashion occasionally found up to the sixteenth century. In Durham Cathedral is preserved a real dagger, which is believed to have belonged to one of the retainers of Bishop Anthony in 1283. It is entirely of iron, and the blade, which is sixteen inches in length, is inscribed "ANTON: EPS: DUNOLM.[370]" Under the name of _Misericordia_, the dagger has an early mention in the Charter of Arras, in 1221: "Quicumque cultellum cum cuspide, vel curtam sphatulam, vel misericordiam, vel aliqua arma multritoria portaverit," &c. Under 1302, Guiart speaks of it by the same name:-- "Plusieurs piétons François ala, Qui pour prisonniers n'ont pas cordes, Mais coutiaux et misericordes, Dont on doit servir en tiex festes." And under 1303:-- "Fauchons trenchans, espées cleres, Godendas, lances émoulues, Coutiaux, misericordes nues." This name of misericorde appears to have been given because, in the last struggle of contending foes, the uplifted dagger compelled the discomfited fighter to cry for mercy. In this view, the murderous misericorde was by the middle-age poets assigned to "Pity," as an emblem of her benevolence. Thus Jean de Méun in the Romance of the Rose:-- "Pitiez, qui à tous bien s'accorde, Tenoit une Misericorde Decourant de plors e de lermes." The Short Axe is very rarely given to the knightly combatant by the artists of the thirteenth century. It appears to have been resigned to the less dignified order of soldiery. The form of the head exhibits three principal varieties: the single blade, of which we have a good example in Harl. MS. 4,751, fol. 8 (woodcut, No. 50); the double weapon, in which one side has a vertical axe-blade and the other a pick (see Strutt's Dress and Habits, Pl. LXV.); and the double weapon, in which one side has a horizontal blade and the other a pick (see Stothard's Monuments, Pl. XIX.). Guiart, under 1264, mentions the axe mingling in the strife of battle with the mace and the sword:-- "Le chaple commence aus espees, Dont là a de maintes manieres. Sus hyaumes e sus cervelieres Prennent plommees à descendre, E hachetes, pour tout porfendre."