What was a cutler in the medieval times?

Answer 1

A cutler was a craftsman specialising in the creation of hilts, usually for blades.

Far from the image of a lone blacksmith hammering out swords alone in his smithy, the reality is thatthrough the medieval period, the vast majority of weapons were produced by the skilled work of several individuals, each making some parts, rather than one person making all the parts.

Blades, for example, were commonly made in just a few centres of production - the German cities of Passau and Solingen were noted in the medieval era for the quality of their blades. These bare blades were shipped throughout Europe, bought from merchants by cutlers, and were then assembled into swords suitable for the fashion tastes of their region, by shaping the cross and pommel designs from steel or bronze, and then assembling the wooden hilt grip.

Another craftsman might well have produced the sword's scabbard, and another the swordbelt, before it was ready for sale.

a similar process would've taken place for all other weapons or objects, be they knives and daggers, swords, polearms and warhammers.

as swords became less widespread, the craftsmen making these items began to expand their work into other areas, and ended up making the grips for things like knives and forks - hence the word cutlery.