Estoc sword of type XVII ?

[Tordenskiold1721]

Originally Posted by Victrix

The sword pictured below is a much later Hungarian estoc/panzerstecher/koncerz from the end of the 17thC. These were used mainly for penetrating chainmail, which which were still in use by the Ottomans at the time. The sword is overall 120cm long, blade length 109cm, width at forte 2.4cm, width at ricasso 1.7cm. The blade is diamond shape in cross-section with a sharply pointed tip but the edges are not sharp. The blade is rigid stiff. It has a fuller near the hilt but this is only 19.5cm long. These were used by mounted hussars who would charge the enemy at speed with the estocs. The idea was that the tip would enter a ring in the chainmail, and then the momentum of the charge would expand or collapse the ring, enabling the estoc to penetrate deeper.

Thanks for posting this important and very good Estoc Victrix !! It's a pleasure seeing it.

As you point out it is designed to penetrate mail armor, a job the sharp and strong tip would do with ease when trusted hard into mail. Mail of any quality does not hold up well against a good trust from a solid sharp tipped blade.

I found two of the old History channel documentaries that might be of interest to some. It is orientated around the development of armor from chain mail and how, when the mail armor was not strong enough to stand piercing weapons the plate armor started developing. Here we also see some tests of the weaknesses of mail against trusting weapons:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98hRtOJqOYE&t=121s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syPjIZIrG7k

The plate armor was developed due to the weakness of the mail armor and especially the weakness the mail has against trusting weapons. The above two History Channel documentaries explains this development.

In the drawing below it seems as the mounted rider to the left is penetrating his enemy's mail with an "Estoc" type weapon rather than an lance: