Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

decorating. The shield was held by enarmes, straps through which the left arm passed,
and aguige, a longer strap going over the head and shoulder that took some of the
shield's weight. The heads of the rivets which fixed these straps to the shield may be
what have been interpreted as decorative rondels on some 1 lth-century depictions of
shields, such as those in the Bayeux Tapestry, although the positions of these dots do
not always correspond to the logical position of the straps.
By the end of the 14th centuiy the coverage and protection afforded by plate armour
made the shield an encumbrance and it was rarely carried after 1400, except in the
tournament where it continued to be a part of the scoring system. Even there the shield
was reduced in size, becoming little more than an aiming point directly attached to the
left side of the tourneyer's breastplate.
Another form of shield, however, continued in use until the 17th century. First
appearing in the latter half of the 12th century the buckler was a small circular shield
around a foot in diameter, with a domed boss in its centre. It might be wholly metal
or made of a wooden and leather body with a metal boss, and was held in the fist by
a single bar grip. Being too small to stop a blow directly, its primary use was as a
means of deflecting them and protecting the wielder's sword hand. The oldest
surviving Fechtbuch, or fighting manual - dating
to around 1300, and known as the Tower
manuscript, or by its accession number within
the Royal Armouries collection, 1.33 — shows it
also being used aggressively to strike the
opponent's hands or punched directly into
his face.
The figures depicted in the text using the
sword and buckler are a monk, a scholar and a
woman. Whilst it would be wrong to take the
illustrations literally (some observers have
created fantastic stories that the monk is a real
figure, a retired knight turned warrior monk: a
tale that owes more to Eastern martial arts
traditions and the novelist Ellis Peters than to
medieval European society and culture) their
appearance does suggest that this weapon
combination had a civilian context. This is
reinforced by the fact that in the 16th centuiy the
buckler became something of a fashion accessoiy
for the apprentices of England.
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Opposite: Tonlet armour
of Henry VIII, c.1520.
Another form of specialist
tournament armour, the
flared skirt, or 'tonlet',
of this harness, made by
the English workshop at
Greenwich, also copies
the gowns worn during
the period. (© Board of
Trustees of the Armouries,
II.7)
Below: Men fighting with
sword and buckler from
manuscript 1.33. This is
the earliest surviving
Fechtbuch, or combat
manual, dating to the
end of the 13th century.
(© Board of Trustees of
the Armouries, 1.33)
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