A Load of Old Ballocks
Most of you will have noticed that at the top of this blog there is a link to everybody's favourite left-leaning online news agency the Huffington Post. This is because I write a blog for the occasionally on behalf of the Mary Rose Trust. Sometimes, stuff I submit doesn't get accepted, or gets edited out, or I have to replace sections with something else.
For example, the section below was cut from a blog called "Five Things you wouldn't expect to find on a Tudor Warship", and got replaced with something about housewives, or bricks. I can't remember.
For example, the section below was cut from a blog called "Five Things you wouldn't expect to find on a Tudor Warship", and got replaced with something about housewives, or bricks. I can't remember.
Phallic knife handles
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| Image © The Mary Rose Trust |
Yes, they do look like the sort of thing you might buy from Ann Summers for your friend for a laugh at Christmas, but surprisingly these are probably the least deserving of being in this list.
Victorian historians used to call these kidney daggers, partly because the two ball-like guards on the handle looked a bit like a kidney, but mostly because they were a bit sissy about using the original name – Ballock daggers.
The name isn't a coincidence – the term was used to describe the male genitalia before the dagger design. Clearly Tudor men weren’t as concerned about carrying around replica genitals, as this form of dagger was actually rather common amongst fighting men of the time. We certainly found enough of them!
Victorian historians used to call these kidney daggers, partly because the two ball-like guards on the handle looked a bit like a kidney, but mostly because they were a bit sissy about using the original name – Ballock daggers.
The name isn't a coincidence – the term was used to describe the male genitalia before the dagger design. Clearly Tudor men weren’t as concerned about carrying around replica genitals, as this form of dagger was actually rather common amongst fighting men of the time. We certainly found enough of them!
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