Unlike the other skills, swordfighting doesn't really have that much of a direct impact on your character. Off-hand I'm not really sure how much effect raising your swordsmanship has on battle performance. After all, you're just one person in a unit of ~50 soldiers, in a battle that has potentially thousands of soldiers. The effectiveness of courtiers and diplomats is directly related to their skill level every time they use it.
Swordsmanship, though, is mostly used in tournaments and duels.
Two quote piggybacks in a row!
Isn't one of the perks of being a Hero that you add "your own" CS to your unit and that this bonus is affected by Swordsmanship? As a corollary to that, since it's a Hero perk, I don't believe normal warriors gain any benefit from Swordsmanship in combat.
Similarly, I thought Jousting skill gave a bonus to Cavaliers. (The advantage of the Hero being that it applies to
any unit and Cavaliers only to Cavalry.)
Also, as an aside, aren't our nobles generally not actual battle participants? More like Edward I and his entourage at the beginning here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wo9IC9yBdU Close enough to give orders and eventually get caught up, but not generally responsible for fighting (except heroes).
