May 13, 1637 –
Cardinal Richelieu, a powerful French clergyman and statesman, is credited with introducing a refinement that would forever change dining etiquette: the table knife. Richelieu was concerned with the increasingly crude and dangerous habits of his dinner guests. Most notably, they had a tendency to pick their teeth with the sharp points of their knives. Therefore, he ordered that the tips of all table knives in his household be rounded off.
This seemingly small adjustment had a significant cultural impact. Not only did it help curb what Richelieu viewed as uncouth behavior at the dinner table, but it also marked an early step toward the more refined and formalized practices of dining that would develop throughout Europe in the centuries to follow. The rounded knife quickly caught on among the French aristocracy, eventually influencing cutlery design across the continent.
The Haus of Dcaligari 