Assuming the sword attributed to him is actually a war sword (not a ceremonial one), and noting that he was apparently superhumanly strong and large... As for

Assuming the sword attributed to him is actually a war sword (not a ceremonial one), and noting that he was apparently superhumanly strong and large... As for the disappearance, I think it had more to do with improving firearms making heavy armoured shock troops impractical, and armies becoming much larger things mostly composed of musketeers with relatively limited training (rather than the smaller armies of very well trained professionals like landsknechtes). The pike disappears fairly soon after, when infantry switch to using bayonets to ward off cavalry.