During combat warriors often found that they needed additional protection from their opponent's attacks. To facilitate this, they came up with the shield. In its basic form a shield is used to defend against hand weapons – swords, daggers, knives, maces, etc.
Shields come in many different shapes and sizes and are made of many different materials ranging from wood and leather to metal to animal shells or bones. Shield size ranges from the small buckler to the full body shield.
As personal armor improved shield sizes were reduced. If speed was necessary, the warrior would use the buckler, a small round shield that enabled a warrior to deflect hand to hand blows as well as punch with the shield. Bucklers were usually made of metal or hardened leather.
For more protection, the next size shield would be a small shield or "heater style" shield. These small shields covered approximately 1/3 of the body with protection. These could be used on horseback and have evolved into the heraldic shields of today. These shields were often made of several layers of laminated wood with a curve in the cross section. This construction and shape allowed for later use in jousting with a cut in the shield to position the lance for better control. We still produce heraldic shields for display purposes and there are several who still use them for recreation purposes, as in the Renaissance Faire.
Slightly larger than the heater style shield is the "kite shield". This was the mounted warriors shield. It was rounded at the top and tapered at the bottom and allowed easier leg movement when dismounted. This style of shield was also made of several layers of laminated wood and presaged the heater shield.
The last shield used is the full body shield or tower shield. These were often used by front line troops and protected them from flights of arrows as well as in hand to hand combat. Used in concert with their comrades, warriors could create a "shell" of shields to protect themselves from arrows.
Shields are still used today but they are no longer made from wood. Our modern day shields are used by the police departments to help quell riots and to control large groups of people who might be gathered together for parades or rallies. Another shield used today would be of Kevlar – to protect our police and military from bullets.
It's a wonder how the shield has progressed through time from items made of bone and sinew to shields made of bullet-proof material. What does it say for our combatants though? Have we become more violent then our predecessors? Only time will tell, along with our choice of weapons and shields
Allyson Huggett is the owner of
Merlin's Forge, an online shop specializing in the sale of medieval and fantasy weapons, including
swords and
armor.
This article is free for republishing
Source:
http://www.articlealley.com
