A Late Medieval Battle Knife Discovered in Mureş County

Our study presents a medieval battle knife discovered near Gruișor, Mureș county (Fig. 1), a type of weapon which was widespread in Central Europe towards the end of the Middle Ages (15th–16th centuries). Earlier studies considered this type of knife as „rare” in Transylvania,* but lately the number of these artifacts which entered museum collections has increased considerably, although most of them were found by metal detectorists. Even if their place of discovery is known, the archaeological context is missing, hence they are usually neglected by researchers. The weapon recently found at Gruișor might be associated with the szekler insurrection from 1562.