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Originally Posted by fernando
And if you go further back in time, prior to rapiers, you would find that, there were special Medieval thrusting swords, called estocs or tucks which were used since the 1300s. They were large, heavy, stiff, two-handed blades specifically designed to puncture or beat on plate armor.
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Hi Fernando,
your explanation is almost perfectly right. But with a long Estoc or "Panzerstecher" it is nearly impossible to puncture a hardened quality iron plate armor. Even a 1000 pound crossbow from a distance of 10-15 meters, hardly manage it, to cut deeper than one inch into a hardened iron plate armor.
So the Estoc or Panzerstecher is designed to find the gaps and holes in the enemys armor. The armpits are never fully protected for example. So it was a most important technique, to find the gaps in the armor around the armpits.
By the way, the Tulwar here is a battlefield sword, as a hunting sword it needs a stopper, as on boar spears, ~25cm away from the point. Otherwise it would be a deadly exercisze to catch a boar with this sword. It will probably run completely through the blade, even when the heart is punctured, and hurt or kill the hunter.
The Tular is either a weapon for the battlefield or maybe has been used for the finishing stroke (coup de grāce) for badly hurted enemys and/or own soldiers after the battle.
Roland