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The heater shield was used by almost every class of society in medieval Europe, from knights to typical soldiers. This design lent itself to being relatively inexpensive and easy to make. It was relatively lightweight compared to other similar shields at the time such as the kite shield, being easy to move around during both mounted and on-foot ...
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An example of a late medieval roll of arms. College of Arms, London. Roll of arms of the knights of the Golden Fleece. Made in the first half of the 16th century. [1] A roll of arms (or armorial) is a collection of coats of arms, usually consisting of rows of painted pictures of shields, each shield accompanied by the name of the person bearing ...
Evidence indicates that alder, willow, and poplar wood were the most common types; shields of maple, birch, ash, and oak have also been discovered. [91] The diameter of shields greatly varied, ranging from 0.3 to 0.92 m (1 to 3 ft), although most shields were between 0.46 to 0.66 m (1 ft 6 in to 2 ft 2 in) in diameter. [92]
Free standing shields called pavises, which were propped up on stands, were used by medieval crossbowmen who needed protection while reloading. In time, some armoured foot knights gave up shields entirely in favour of mobility and two-handed weapons. Other knights and common soldiers adopted the buckler, giving rise to the term "swashbuckler". [7]
Early mention of heraldic shields in Middle High German literature also dates to the 12th century. Shield designs are described in the Kaiserchronik (c. 1150–1170), such as the boar carried by the Romans, as well as, in isolated cases, in the Rolandslied (c. 1115), König Rother (c. 1150), Veldecke's Eneas (c. 1170), and Hartmann's Erec (c ...
The shield is also named and described by Wace, Layamon, Roger of Wendover and Robert of Gloucester among other medieval writers, and it directly inspired the description of Sir Gawain's shield in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
An early example from William Peraldus' Summa Vitiorum (c. 1260) shows a knight battling the seven deadly sins with this shield. A variation included with the shields of arms in Matthew Paris ' Chronica Majora ( c. 1250 –1259) adds a cross between the center and bottom circles, accompanied by the words "v'bu caro f'm est" ( verbum caro factum ...