A misericorde ( or ) (from French word  'mercy') was a long, narrow knife, used from the High Middle Ages to deliver the death stroke (the mercy stroke, hence the name of the blade, derived from the Latin , "act of mercy") to a seriously wounded knight.
A misericorde (or) was a long, narrow knife used from the High Middle Ages to deliver the death blow (the mercy stroke, hence the name of the blade, derived from the Latin , "act of mercy") to a seriously wounded knight.