Yes, yes I know knights did use spears on foot from time to time. They also used swords on foot, axes on foot, flails on foot, zweihänders on foot etc... so there has to be a practical point to all of these other weapons, hasn't it ?

Social distinction is fine and dandy, yet I don't think it holds much value when your life is on the line . You can wear a sword to tell everyone that your purse is huge and your d*ck even bigger still, but wield another weapon in actual battle if it's more convenient. In other words, the rich eat lobster because, you know, it tastes better than McDonalds .

Besides, the Roman legionaries had great success with their puny stabbity swords, even against professional, trained-and-wealthy spear and pike formations, and they certainly didn't use them out of social distinction. They were the grunts, not the social elite. And their swords weren't their secondary weapons either, as can be argued for medieval knights.

So there must be something going for swords, and something that allowed them to trump spear formations. I just can't picture what . Harder to break maybe ?