Algerian dagger?

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by fennec

just some more details..
In algerian cutlery, a different style, dont mean that the craftsman dont know the previous skill, or is going original. I mean, as for curves "flissa" daggers for exemple, the case of the decorations/inlays is interesting. You will NEVER, or very rarely, find the "classic decorativ scheme" of a flissa (succession of brass inlayed/carved triangles, with an upper and under brass inlayed line, with classic engravings on the brass, etc etc... ).
The decorative scheme, follow a kind of weapon, and this is something I've noticed in 90% of the flissas words ive studies. For exemple (have to make a post about that..) I classify flissa sabers in two parts. the long classic ones, and the "short" ones, I call "boarding flissa" (for many reasons, their possible use, area, period, shape, etc). I think some of you here see what I mean... So, for those ones, you can notice that the decorative scheme is actually always different, than the classic triangles... generally more floral shapes.

So, to come back to those curved flissa daggers, we have the same cases here. Thoses particular models, are the only ones from the algerian cutlery, that display that brass OVERLAY, or thin soldering, exactly in the ottoman form for the yatagans. This is clearly another skill AIT YENI took to jewelry, but this also give to those swords another kind of use/purpose, than the classics common ones. You can notice on this one I show you here, another typical skill from kabyle jewelry of AIT YENI, is the colored enamel, also unique in algeria (and probably africa).

Thanks fennec for the info. Do you have any examples of fleece daggers before 1850?

Best regards,
Yuri

[Jim McDougall]

Yuri excellent observations! and Fennic amazing insights into these forms, I look forward to your book as there is precious little material for those of us here in the west to study these arms in any great consequence.

As noted, these type daggers have always it seems been termed 'wedding daggers' and as common by westerners placed in the souvenir category in accord with their supposed ceremonial function. These kinds of notions gain substantial credence in the colorful narratives of travelers and that sort of adventure literature, but of course often have little to do with the true character of various forms from Berber and Saharan regions.
Here I would note that the character of the hilt pommel being in the form of the 'nimcha' swords, which date well back in the 17th century, suggest these hilt forms existed long before the familiar Kabyle flyssa (c.1827).

While I cannot claim any expertise on these weapons, I had a keen interest in the Kabyle 'flyssa' many years ago. These swords of course have distinct character and seem to have a range in sizes, but the curious indiscernible 'zoomorphic' (?) hilt, guardless, and the typical Byzantine oriented and linear fibula designs overall are consistent.

These swords are indiginous to the Algerian regions of Kabylia, and as far as known in records, the 'term' flyssa does not seem to occur before about 1827, and is believed to derive from the 'Flyssen' tribe first associated by observers with these swords.
As has been noted by Yuri, LaCoste, in one of the only works tending to these swords, suggests that as a form, these flyssa deteriorated notably after 1850s. One of the earliest examples I ever found was in the French Foreign Legion museum in Paris of the familiar form.

The example I have (attached) is characteristic, and the extremely long and quite heavy blade is in my opinion very poorly balanced in accord with the small brass guardless hilt. The hilt and blade designs are basically of the same style as traditional examples, however there is an unusual device which I think is a drum. These kinds of personalized elements seem to reflect what I have been told on the flyssa...it was a key object in a young mans rite of passage into manhood. Each reflected this personalized character in some manner.

With that, and in accord with notes in this discussion on whether weapons were for use or decoration...., I have never seen any satisfactory evidence or accounts of the flyssa used in battle. There are images of Kabyle warriors holding them along with guns in posed positions, but I have never heard anything on how these weapons could be used.

I would be grateful for any substantiated evidence that the flyssa itself was EVER used in battle.

That said, truth be told, in all edged weapons, the percentages of the sum of all produced which were actually used as intended seem relatively small. This topic of course would take a huge amount of space and time as the variables and dynamics are more than formidable.

Returning to the dagger in original post, and these so called wedding daggers, the characteristic 'nimcha' style hilt pommel is notable and as Yuri notes, rather a Maghrebi combining of forms. The more collective presence of the nimcha swords which covered Berber tribal groups from Algeria into Morocco seems of course to factor these daggers into a more 'Saharan' denominator.

Kabyle flyssa traditional form three pics, the typical apotropaic linear fibula motof; the individual design (drum?)

The Moroccan sa'if (nimcha) far right, note hilt design in vogue for centuries (Buttin, 1933, notes many examples shown as 17thc)