Women's knife fights: Why women in different eras took up cold weapons

We usually imagine a woman with a knife in the kitchen and this image is not associated with danger and violence. But this was not always the case: in the old days, women did not grab knives at all in order to cook a family dinner. In the good old days, ladies could well use this cold weapon for self-defense and protection of honor and dignity no worse than some men.

In those days, when a person's life was filled with dangers, the attitude of men and women to weapons was about the same. The ladies of the Stone Age wielded obsidian knives no worse than their second halves. Gradually, with the development of civilization, women became more indifferent to weapons, but there were always many who knew how to handle them perfectly and used them without hesitation.

"Lucretia", Rembrandt, 1665

There have been periods in history when a knife was an indispensable companion for both men and ladies. Since the 13th century in France, England, Spain and Italy, the groom during the engagement presented his beloved not only a ring, but also a knife or dagger. It was a special weapon decorated with exquisite ornaments and inlaid with stones.

These knives were called "wedding" and were considered an important sign of a girl's status. In John Speed's Atlas of Europe, published in 1626, you can see a young lady with just such a blade in her hands. Shakespeare also mentions this good tradition in Romeo and Juliet – one of the heroes of the play reminds the main character to carry a wedding knife with her.

Sicilian "blade of love"

In the 18th century, the custom began to lose its relevance, but in Sicily knives were given as a sign of loyalty until the end of the 19th century. At the time of the engagement, even a very poor groom presented his beloved with a cheap ring, a penny scarf and an expensive, exquisite coltelli damore ("blade of love"). It was not customary to save on these weapons and Sicilian gunsmiths flourished.

Besides the fact that the knife showed the status of the girl and cooled the ardor of fans, it was also used for its intended purpose. If one kind of blade was not enough for a persistent suitor, then a faithful bride could stab a ladies' man with it. In the society of those times, where women's honor was valued more than life, this was not forbidden.

It is known that the Spaniards are still very impulsive people, but centuries ago, everything was even more complicated. Disputes between nobles were often resolved with swords or swords, and simpler people just grabbed knives. The Navajo folding Spanish knife was carried not only by the Caballeros, but also by their girlfriends.

In Seville, Malaga and Madrid, almost all the ladies hid sharp blades under their dresses, which they wielded very skillfully. In 1808-1814, when Spain was occupied by Napoleonic troops, many Frenchmen paid for their love with their lives thanks to navajos hidden behind garters and corsages.

They don't want to. Francisco Goya

A court document is kept in the archives of Seville, which describes a case when a Spaniard, defending her honor, wounded several French soldiers. Francisco Goya's painting "They Don't Want to" depicts an old woman about to stab a French soldier in the back who grabbed a girl – such cases occurred very often.

In 1808-1809, during the French siege of Zaragoza, Spanish women, along with their fathers, husbands and brothers, defended the city. When the walls of the stronghold fell and the Napoleonic soldiers burst into the streets, many women met them there. The ladies cut open the bellies of the horses with knives and cut the throats of the fallen cavalrymen, causing serious damage to the invader's troops.

Defense of Zaragoza. David Wilkie

Murders with knives and daggers and because of jealousy were not uncommon. Brides took revenge on their unfaithful cavaliers and arranged showdowns with rivals, shedding rivers of blood. These traditions came with the Spaniards across the ocean and have taken root well in Latin American countries, where women with knives are on the "you".

The inhabitants of Italy were no less hot than the Spaniards and also adored cold weapons. On the Apennine Peninsula, not knives were held in special esteem, but stilettos and daggers, with which it was even easier to send an opponent to the next world. There is a case when in 1571 two noble ladies came to one of the monasteries of Milan and asked the nuns to allocate them a cell for joint prayer.

But as soon as the heavy oak door closed behind the pilgrims, they pulled out stilettos and began to strike each other. By the time the door was opened, one of the ladies was already dead, and the second was preparing to give up the ghost. A few minutes later, she also passed away. It turned out that the women did not come up with anything better than to arrange a duel for a man, and the cell was chosen for these purposes so that no one would interfere with them and it was possible to quickly absolve the sins of the losing side.

But even without the faithful stiletto, the Italian was not defenseless. Spadini's hairpins, holding the voluminous hairstyles of sperad and rager, could become no less deadly weapons in skillful hands than a dagger. Russian journalist Nikolai Novikov, who visited Italy in 1775, described a duel between two girls who did not share a guy. Starting with a verbal altercation, they then snatched hairpins from their hairstyles and began to inject each other. Fortunately, there were minor injuries at that time.

Since the 18th century, fights between women using knives in England, France and the USA have occurred infrequently, but still happened. It is known for sure that one fight took place in Paris in 1772. There, two ladies of high society, having not shared something with each other during the reception, went out into the garden and began to sort things out with knives.

In 1908, a stupid incident occurred in the USA, which was destined to go down in history. Miss Graham and Miss Crabtree quarreled with each other over the couple's business and decided to have a duel. The Branson Echo newspaper reported that the ladies went to a secluded clearing in the mountains, taking hunting knives with them.

First Miss Graham and Miss Crabtree told each other what they thought, then they started throwing stones, and in the end they took out knives and staged a life-and-death battle. It ended with one of the duelists fainting at the sight of blood from cuts, and the other received several ugly scars on her face and chest.

Russian women are much more restrained than Southerners and even Americans, but everything happened in our places. In the newspaper "Russian Word" from 1906 there is an article about how two girls quarreled over a gentleman right on the street. One of them pulled out a Finnish knife and stabbed her rival several times, and then, taking the groom, disappeared into the crowd of onlookers.

Another case, even more ridiculous and tragic, occurred in 1912. Then two factory workers did not share a guy named Valentin. Having failed to solve the problems in words, the ladies agreed on a knife fight. The result was sad – one of the girls dropped the knife at the very beginning of the fight, and the second, taking advantage of this, plunged the blade into her heart.

Shocked by her act, the killer did not even try to escape – she stood near the victim's lifeless body and endlessly repeated "Now he's mine!" until the police took her away. It is not known how her future fate turned out, but most likely, she dreamed of Valentina already at the Sakhalin penal servitude.

Fortunately, stabbings involving women have become exotic today. Representatives of the fair sex grab a knife in a drunken frenzy or in a state of passion, but at the same time, according to criminologists, they can be more merciless than men.