Very interesting article ... I cannot go with the idea that it was used by the Spanish for hamstringing French horses ..... why go to all that trouble to design something so elaborate and requiring so much skill and daring to use ( with probably little hope of success ) when you can blast a cavalry charge with grape shot or canister from a safe distance ?
To me this looks more like a fashion statement sword ... an extreme expression of the taste for mameluke swords following Napoleon's invasion of Egypt , worn by the military equivalent of a Macoroni .
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