Anders Nilsson wrote: |
you fought with the shield and killed with the sword. |
Or, in a judicial duel, your shield was equally as deadly as the sword or cudgel that you swung at your opponent. In one image from Talhoffer, two men are fighting with shield and mace and one combatant is thrusting at his opponent's face with the shield with the intent to kill. In another image from Talhoffer, the shield has hooked the opponent's head and yanked it in a way that would surely sever the spine. There are also leg hooks with the shield and people being fatally stabbed by the shield. In other judicial duels, all you were given was a shield, no other weapon, because the shield is a lethal weapon.
I do acknowledge that the shields of judicial duels are of a completely different design than for warfare and they are intended for one-on-one combat; however, these shields are a perfect example of the shield being just as lethal as a sword. I wonder if anyone will successfully employ one of these shields in SCA combat since, to use them properly, they break almost every SCA safety regulation.
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