Knives are one of the most widespread and massive categories of finds at medieval archaeological sites. Therefore they can serve for the study of ancient production techniques, but also for solving various general historical questions. This article deals with the works of Russian and foreign archaeologists, who studied knives from both typological and technological points of view. Although the main emphasis was placed on the history of the study of the collection of ca. 1000 knives and their fragments originating from the territory of the Gnezdovo archaeological complex, external studies is also involved in the research. The publications, which touch upon medieval knives and their production technology on the basis of the analysis of metal structure, are immense. This article includes a review of the earliest publications dealing with knives from Gnezdovo excavations and their evaluation in subsequent historiography, as well as the main classifications of knives introduced by B.A. Kolchin, A.E. Leontiev and R.S. Minasyan, the results of the application of these classifications to the Gnezdovо collection and metallographic analysis of knives. Additionally, the author employs some key studies of numerous analogies of Gnezdovo’s knives in Northern Europe, England and the area of Saltovo-Mayaki culture. For the first time he examines all the works concerning the Gnezdovo’s richest collection of knives and the evolution of the use of these data as a historical source and compiles a list of references to be useful not only to those who are interested in the particular archaeological site, but also to those who want to know about Gnezdovo’s knives in a broader context.