Shields

A shield is a warrior's second most important piece of armament (the first being whatever the warrior's offensive weapon is -- although a shield can be used as an offensive weapon as well). Even when full plate armour made shields largely unnecessary for the wealthiest knights by the end of the 14th century, it remained the central focus of his armourial display and lived on in tournaments and heraldry. All other soldiers would of course use shields, except in cases when two-handed weapons (like pikes) made shields impractical. The Scots found this out to their chagrin when they faced the English's longbowmen early on in the century.

What sorts of shields were used by warriors in the 14th century? What were their components and how were they made? How were they decorated? How ought members of the Knights of the Northern Realm procure and use shields? This wikia page aims to assist in answering these sorts of questions.

The Knightly "Heater" Shield
The most iconic of all medieval shields is the curved-edge triangular shield borne by knights and men-at-arms in the high and late middle ages (here's an example from an early 14th century manuscript). Such shields are known nowadays as "heater" shields, because their shape resembles the bottom surface of a clothes iron, or a 'heater' in Victorian English. This is, of course, not what they would have been called in the 14th century, although I don't know if there was a particular term for this style of shield in the period either.

Because the 14th century was a transitional period between the age of mail armour and the age of plate armour, the knight's shield evolved as well. By the end of the 13th century, we see that the knightly panoply started to include plate defences on the legs (likely because these were the most exposed body part when on horseback but attacked by footmen). Up to that point, the triangular shield had a long point that extended down towards the legs. But as plate armour increasingly came to protect the legs, the triangular shield could shorten until it was roughly the size of the torso (probably no more than 24" x 24"). Eventually, with the complete encasement of the knight in virtually seamless plate armour, the shield was no longer an important part of such knights' military equipment.

This sort of shield, the elegantly curved triangle about as wide as it was high, is the quintessential device for displaying "coats of arms " (even though a shield isn't a coat!). That perhaps wouldn't be necessary (as seen in the manuscript image to the left) but it would be odd indeed if a knight did not display his amourial bearings on his shield. The decoration of shields could be very elaborate, indeed costly, as it would be a primary way for a knight to display his wealth. Moreover, a shield was a disposable item, absorbing damage so that the knight himself did not absorb it. It is likely that shields would be trashed after a few battles, as they wouldn't hold up to continual beatings for long. This is a bit of a problem for re-enactors such as ourselves, as we don't have money to burn, and we can be a bit attached to the nice paint jobs & craftsmanship of our shields!

The Components of a Shield
The components of the heater shield are roughly the same as any other shield. They include the face (front), the back (duh), the rim or edge, and the grips by which the warrior grasps or carries the shield. Some shields have metal (or oaken, in the case of the ancient Celts) bosses on their faces, either a single central boss (like the classic "Viking" shield) or a bunch of little bosses (for reinforcement or decoration, presumably). Most heater shields in the 14th century no longer displayed central bosses, although there are exceptions (see below).

The straps of a heater shield have precise names which, by the look of them, may actually be Anglo-Norman French words that date to our period. Enarmes are the straps which hold the arm and hand to the shield and serve as the grips. There is usually a pad underneath the enarmes to cushion blows that would otherwise shiver the arm where contacts the shield back. The guige strap (prounounced "geej" or "geezh"?) is a long piece of leather used to sling the shield over one's back or neck. It is often shown in manuscripts hanging from the neck of combatants, sometimes so that a weapon can be wielded with two hands (although one imagines that would be rather uncomfortable).

The Construction of a Heater Shield
Heater shields are curved, although I suppose some may have been flat once upon a time. The curved surface helps direct blows out and away from the body. The curve also strengthens the shield, as arches are stronger than straight surfaces. Historical heater shields would have been made from vertical planks with their edges angled (like barrel strakes) so that when assembled the shield would curve, or else they were carved out of a single huge chunk of wood (like a dugout canoe). Currently the Knights of the Northern Realm cheat by using two pieces of quarter-inch plywood that are glued together and placed in a press. When the glue dries, the shield is held in its curved shape. The instructions we used for building the shield press can be found here: http://yeoldegaffers.com/project_shieldpress.asp

The wood used to make medieval shields appears to have been limewood, which is what the wood from linden trees is called. (Linden trees do grow in North America, but are more commonly known there as basswood, or at least that's what my carpenter-neighbour tells me.)  Limewood was prized for shields as far back as the Viking period, because it's fibrous texture actually functions to trap weapons that are lodged in it, making it difficult for the enemy to wrench the weapon back. Norse and other Germanic peoples of the early middle ages were known to refer to the shield as the "net of spears" because the shields could sort of "catch" spears. Other woods were used for shields, though, including poplar. Heavy hardwoods like oak were not used, though, both because of the weight involved, and because such hard wood tends to shatter or crack on impact. The Knights of the Northern Realm use spruce or pine plywood, which seems to work fine against rebated weapons, but isn't historically optimal and may not provide accurate impressions of how a shield would actually hold up under attack from sharp arrows, swords, etc.



The face of the shield was covered with several layers of linen (which is super tough and guards against cuts, like linen armour, and reduces splintering) and a layer of parchment (basically thin rawhide, which also adds strength and protection). These coverings would also overlap the rim of the shield, making reinforcement of the rim with leather or metal unnecessary. (Remember that shields were disposable items, and reinforcing the rims with extra leather or iron only makes sense if you're hoping your shield will last forever, which it won't.  Here's a discussion of the topic on MyArmoury.com) The surface was then covered with gesso, a plastery substance used also for preparing canvases for painting. The gesso can even be sculpted a bit (I think) to provide a bas-relief sort of three-dimensional effect. The shield was then painted, which is where heraldry comes in! The Knights of the Northern Realm have so far used cotton canvas for surfacing their shields, and watered-down white glue to prepare the surface for painting, which is fairly inexpensive and easy to source. We aspire to use more historically accurate materials as we gain skills and knowledge of shield making.



The back of the shield was also covered in cloth to prevent splintering, especially if a weapon managed to pierce right through the shield. The arm pad would also help protect the arm which, if a weapon did pierce through the shield, would be right up against the surface of the shield. The arm pad can be made of fabric or leather, and stuffed with something soft like wool, hair, or frayed rope ("tow"?). The Knights of the Northern Realm use cotton padding because it is easy to source but, although cotton padding was the preferred ingredient of padded armour in the 14th century, it seems rare enought that it wouldn't have likely been used for arm pads. We use leather (vegetable tanned is the best) for the enarmes and guige strap, wrought iron nails to rivet them onto the shield, historical reproduction buckles (when available), and round washers (although square washers appear to have been more common in the period, presumably because they're easier to cut out of sheet metal). The enarmes can be arranged in a wide variety of ways; archaeologists can figure out how they would have been arranged by studying the location of the rivet holes on extant shields. A number of these reconstructions can be found in Jan Kohlmorgen's book on the knightly medieval shield:  http://michael-engel.io.ua/album325285_4

Getting an elegant curve to your heater shield can be a bit of an art. Perhaps the simplest way to draw a heater shield shape is to play with geometry (aren't you glad you paid attention in math class?) until you get something that looks good. The curve of the shield will be the radius of a circle. The further up and out from the the corner of the shield that circle's centre is, the steeper the curve will be. Shorter radiuses ("radii"?) centred closer to the vertical centre of the shield will create broader curves. So grab a compass (or a piece of string, a tack, and a pencil) and start doodling!

The best book we know of written about medieval knightly shields is an untranslated German book by Jan Kohlmorgen called Der Mittelalterliche Reiterschild. The pictures alone are great, even if you can't read the language. We found a place on the Internet that uploaded scans of the whole book:  http://michael-engel.io.ua/album325285_0  We didn't do that, though!

Other Shields of the 14th Century
The heater shield used by knights was not the only kind of shield present in the 14th century. If you weren't riding a horse covered in steel plates, you probably wanted to use a different shield. Or perhaps the soldier was too poor or out of date to have the most trendy type of shield, leading to a mix of different sorts on the battlefield. Here are some of the other kinds that can be used in 14th century living history.

Round Shields
Viking and other Germanic warriors famously used round shields with a central boss in the early medieval period (commonly called the "Dark Ages," which is a bit of a no-no). These were still in use by some warriors in the 14th century, perhaps lower-class soldiers from backwater parts of Europe, like Wales or the Scottish highlands (I'm speculating). Round shields could be flat or convex, and did not need to have a central boss. The would likely have all been covered in linen and/or rawhide, as the wood core would splinter or shatter too easily in battle without such coverings. These coverings would wrap the rim, as with heater shields, thus making a leather or metal reinforcement of the rim superfluous (although many re-enactors inaccurately add one anyway so they don't have to make a new shield every few years).

The purpose of the central boss was to protect the hand, because a hole was cut in the middle of the shield where the hand/fist would protrude outward while grasping the grip/handle. The boss, being a metal dome, would then cover the exposed hand like a cup and protect it. This method of shield grip dates all the way back to pre-Roman times (the Romans themselves used it on their large scutii, copying, as they tended to do, the Celts). Round shields would presumably have been painted, but not in a systematic armourial (heraldic) way -- except, perhaps, in national heraldry (I'm speculating).



Immediately above are two combattants in a judicial duel using convex roundshields with central bosses covering the hole where the hand would otherwise protrude. The image dates to 1336, and comes from the Oldenburg version of the Saxon Mirror.



On the left of the above image is a round shield which lacks a functional boss (it may still have a decorative one on the face), because the shield is gripped using enarmes instead of a central grip. The image dates to 1350 and there's more information on it here: http://manuscriptminiatures.com/4040/11513/



On the right of the image above is a very long and tall shield of what might be considered a "heater" shape, but can better be categorized as a "flat-topped kite shield," which is the next category of shield:

Kite Shields
Kite shields evolved from the round shield by the addition of a long, pointed, triangular "tail" at the bottom to protect the foot of the horseman or the leading leg of the infantryman. These are the famous Norman shields seen all over the Bayeux tapestry. Many kite shields still displayed a boss in the centre of the shield, as on the iconic Germanic round shield, but these bosses appear to have been vestigial. Kite shields were gripped using enarmes, making the boss functionless in terms of protecting the hand, although they could still be used as a form of reinforcement or as an offensive weapon (getting punched by a shield boss is no fun).

Early knights used kite shields, and by the 12th century they started to have flat tops (see the image of Geoffrey of Anjou on the heraldry page). This may be considered a transitional form in-between the kite and heater shield, although it's simpler to call these "flat-topped kites" (which seems to be standard practice in the living history community). Some of them had decorative central bosses, others didn't. As these shields grew shorter with the advent of plate armour for the legs, the classic heater shield was born. In the 14th century, kite shields (both flat-topped or round-topped) were still used, but presumably by infantrymen rather than knights.

The image to the left (dating to 1340-1360) from northern Italy shows a round-topped kite shield used by an infantryman beside another infantryman using a shorter heater shield (and leaving his legs markedlly less protected thereby, it seems to me). More information on the image can be found here: http://armourinart.com/15/251/



The image to the right (dating to around 1340) from a Swiss manuscript shows a man with a medium-sized heater shield with a large and presumably decorative boss. Many early kite shields had a central boss, so this shield appears to be something of a hybrid between the heater and the flat-topped kite, I suppose. Notice also how the guige strap is hanging around the man's neck to allow him to use his sword with both hands. (I don't have any further information on the manuscript this image came from.)

Pavises


A pavise is a unique rectangular shield used largely by infantry (although I have seen re-enactors using them from horseback), especially crossbowmen. These shields could stand up on the ground without being held by the soldier, so that a crossbow could be reloaded behind it -- sort of like a portable little wall or mantlet. In the Battle of Crecy(1346), the Genoese crossbowmen were deployed in the front line without their pavise shields (they were back on the wagons in the baggage train), and that didn't turn out well for them when they came under fire from the English longbows. You can read more about that here.

Pavises are curved like heater & kite shields, the corners somewhat rounded, but are essentially a 2' x 4' rectangle of wood covered in leather. They could be painted in all sorts of ways, heraldically or otherwise. 14th century pavises appear to have lacked the central ridge or gully so prominent in 15th century pavises, which is a bit of a boon because that makes them easier to make! The grips were such that a stake could be driven through them and into the ground, holding the sheild in place. Presumably the central ridge/gully on later pavises would help anchor the shield around this stake. The Knights of the Northern Realm haven't made any pavises yet, but it shouldn't be too difficult once we figure out how to make the grips.

Here are links to images of two more historical pavises in the German Historical Museum in Nürnberg: one dating from 1301-1350, and another dating from 1301-1500. As well, here are two views of a reproduction 15th (?) century pavise by a Polish group:  the front, painted non-heraldically, and the back, covered in leather showing the grips.



Bucklers
Bucklers are basically very small round shields. The word buckler comes from the old French world for shield boss (boucle), and in basic form a buckler is a shield boss without very much shield around it! Such tiny shields are very ancient, being used by the Iberian caetrati who fought the Republican Romans, as well as the Picts of early medieval Scotland. They are used primarily as a counterpart to a single-handed sword in close combat, protecting both hands and sometimes used as a punching weapon as well. The earliest extant medieval fighting manual (MS I.33, dating to c.1300) explains a system of sword & buckler combat.

Bucklers can be made completely of metal, hardened leather, or with a metal boss surrounded by wood (or hardened leather). Oak could conceivalby be used to make bucklers because the size is so small that weight isn't as much of a factor, and perhaps hardwoods can handle the sort of abuse expected of a buckler that would otherwise shatter a larger shield (I'm just guessing). Bucklers can be painted or unpainted, or faced with leather. When not in use, they can be hung from the belt on or near the hilt of the sword, and as such they swing, rattle and bang against the sword while walking, which is the origin of the term "swashbuckler"! Cool, huh?

Concave Jousting Shields
Normal combat shields tend to be convex in shape, which deflects oncoming blows away from the body. In the sport of the joust, however, the purpose is not to deflect the oncoming (rebated) lance, but rather to shatter it and thus gain points. Jousting shields were therefore convex, rather than concave, which would catch the lance better. These eventually were simply tied to the knights full plate harness, negating the need for enarmes altogether. By the fifteenth century, these shields became known as targets, which is the diminutive of the word targe, a word eventually used for the 17th century shields of Scottish Jacobite warriors. (Shields called targes were also known in Spain as early as the 13th century, but I don't know what made them unique or interesting.) The Knights of the Northern Realm don't use Scottish targes (because they weren't around in the 14th century), but do have a concave jousting shield. Moreover, the word targe is simply an Old English word for "shield," so it's plausible that it would have been used in the 14th century for some kind of shield, anyway.

Other Helpful Links
In case you missed it above, here's that link to the scans of Jan Kohlmorgen's book Der Mittelalterliche Reiterschild:  http://michael-engel.io.ua/album325285_0

This thread at MyArmoury.com shows all kinds of reproduction shields from different eras and of differing levels of quality:  http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=14556&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

A short academic article (abstract in English) about two Swedish shields dating to 1380: http://samla.raa.se/xmlui/bitstream/handle/raa/2344/1978_229.pdf

Absolutely gorgeous (and museum quality?) reproduction medieval shields from France: http://www.lesboucliersdelandlau.fr/crbst_1.html