The saber of General Pálffy Miklós (1552-1600)

This is the saber of General Pálffy Miklós (1552-1600) and his tombstone in the Cathedral of Pozsony (Pressburg, Bratislava).
Fighting against the Ottoman Empire was a tradition in his family. He was appointed as Captain of Komárom in 1584 and later the Chief Captain of Érsekújvár (Nové Zámky) in 1589. At that time, the Kingdom of Hungary was divided into Captaciancies in order to be effective against the Ottomans. It would be hard to list all of his battles and victories. 

He and Nádasdy defeated the 20,000-strong army of the Ottomans in 1593 at Pákozd. He took back the castles of Fülek, Hajnácskő, Buják, Somoskő and Hollókő castles as well as Szécsény, Drégely and Nógrád. He took back Esztergom in 1595, too, along with Visegrád and Vác. He took back Tata and Győr in 1597 and 1598, using the trick of exploding the castle’s gates. 
His talent was highly appreciated by the Habsburg king. He traveled to Vienna in 1600 where he suddenly fell sick and he died in Vöröskő Castle soon after this.
Here is his famous saber, I could not find a better picture, unfortunately.

The saber’s crosspiece and grip preceded its age, it was made in the second part of the 16th century. You can see three fullers on its blade, too. It can be found at the Hungarian National Museum now.

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