Dussack
Also known as: dussack, dusack, Dusäck
A short single-edged weapon of Germany and the Habsburg monarchy, 16th-17th centuries, known mainly as a wooden training substitute with a slot instead of a grip.
Quick Facts
About the weapon
The name dusack (German Dusäck) comes from the Czech word tesák, meaning a chopper or hunting knife. It entered German during the Hussite Wars, when Hussite troops used this weapon. In the 16th and 17th centuries the dussack served in Germany and the Habsburg monarchy as a sidearm. In 1579 local bladesmiths in Styria supplied about 700 dussacks and another 40 came from Passau, as equipment for Archduke Charles II's fighting against the Ottomans. Training dussacks had a short, sturdy single-edged blade 64 to 97 cm long and were usually made of wood, more rarely of leather. The grip was formed simply by a slot cut into the blade, with no pommel and no upper guard. No wooden or leather piece has survived; we know their shape only from period woodcuts and fencing manuals. In 1570 Joachim Meyer depicts the dussack as a training weapon with a broad curved blade and a simple oval grip. The dussack served mainly as a training substitute for a real cutting weapon. As its use spread, some fencing schools turned it into a sport separate from preparation for real combat.