Messer (weapon) of several "Fechtbücher" (fighting manuals) of the 14th and 15th centuries, including that of Johannes Lecküchner (dealing with the "langes messer"), the "Codex Wallerstein", Hans Talhoffer, Paulus Kal and Albrecht Dürer. Messer (weapon) A messer (German for "knife") is a single-edged sword with a knife-like hilt construction. While the various names are often used synonymously, messers are divided into two types: "Lange Messer" ("long knives") are one-handed swords used by Bourgeoisie (middle-class civilians) for personal self-defence. They were about a meter long and may have evolved from the "Bauernwehr" ("peasant's sidearm"). They are also known as "Großes Messer" (Great Knife).
David ben Judah Messer Leon David ben Judah Messer Leon David ben Judah Messer Leon (c. 1470 in Venice – c. 1526 in Salonica) was an Italian rabbi, physician and writer, who defended the value of secular disciplines and the Renaissance humanities as an important part of traditional Jewish studies. David ben Judah was educated at Naples in the school of his father, Judah Messer Leon, author of "Libnat ha-Sappir", and received at the age of eighteen his rabbinical diploma from German and French Talmudic authorities. Soon afterward he went to Padua, where he studied under Judah Minz, who granted him a new rabbinical diploma.