During the Middle Ages most people ate with their hands off of slices of four-day old bread. Only the wealthy used knives. Knives were impressive, and among the male nobility there was no better place to show off your talents than to bring along your personal knives to a dinner party and help the women folk cut up their food at the table, when necessary. Two knives were better than one, because then you used one to cut while the other held the meat still. Once it was no longer necessary to spear one's food with the point of a knife, (after the fork came into use) craftsmen began to create knives with blunt ends. I would assume that rowdy banquets would be a bit safer with the sharp knives safely tucked away.
More reflective thoughts to come...
