[Chad Arnow]

Since there has been interest recently in this topic, I thought I'd revive it.

Would people be looking to do with a shield typology? The point of Oakeshott's typology system (there's more than just the blade typology after all ) was not simply to break an object down into classifiable parts, but to a) have a common frame of reference to use when discussing things and b) use the system to help identify an object by looking at larger trends (like sword families).

Shields seem to usually fall pretty easily into categorizable groups like buckler, heater, kite, pavise (hand pavises and bigger ones), round (targes and Vikingesque shields) plus jousting targes, and probably a few other types.

How much more in depth would a typology go? How would someone sub-categorize shields further than these broad categories?

Since the shield's use can be subjective, would it be useful to, for example, subdivide/categorize heater shields by curvature? Perhaps not. I don't think we have enough info to sub-categorize kites and heaters by strapping (ie guiges and arm straps), so that wouldn't be helpful. Does amount of curvature tell us anything about the shield's time/place of origin that we don't already know from published research? I'm not sure. We know the size shrank over the years; would a typology take that into account? Oakeshott's largely ignores size except in the difference between single-hand swords and larger ones.

Oakeshott's typology system works because there is so much variation to the components (and combinations of components) that we need to have a system to describe these parts. Describing the parts in conversation would be difficult without this system of reference.

I'm not convinced a similar system would help with shields. I know there is a lot of variety in shields, but is it easier to say "It's a Type B shield with a wooden style 2 handgrip" than it is to say "It's a buckler with a round wooden handle"? It would only help if it went way beyond surface level, so that a Type B shield is a buckler, but a B1 is a round buckler, and a B2 is a square or rectangular buckler, etc. You'd also have to decide what makes a shield a buckler rather than a targe (Scottish or otherwise) or hand pavise (size, shape, etc.?). Does attachment and/or shape of the grip factor in? There's a lot to figure out to make a classification system workable and then useful.

I think much more research is needed on shields, but I'm not convinced a typology will help. I still think it's more intuitive to say "a small round steel buckler with a tubular steel handle" than saying it's a "B1 shield with steel type 2 handgrip."

But I could be way off-base. I see a great deal of variety in shields, but I'm not sure the individual components vary in the way they do on edged weapons. For example, Type XV swords have many, many different combinations of guards, grips, and pommels. Do heater shields have that many variations of components? I'm not sure they do, and if they do, I'm not sure what a categorization will tell us that published research already has.

A think a systematic study of shields is necessary and very overdue. Knowing whether there are regional and temporal variations in size, shape, and accessories is what we need to know, moreso than developing a typology to be able to describe the parts. In my mind, any typology would be a by-product of that kind of study, not the goal.

I think more published material on the topic should be the goal rather than just a typology.

Just my 2 cents, and perhaps an ill-informed 2 cents at that.

[Jared Smith]

[Felix Kunze]

Jan Kohlmorgen, the author of this really recommendable book, `Der mittelalterliche Reiterschild` based much of his description of the shields and their evolution on an older work by Helmut Nickel: Der mittelalterliche Reiterschild des Abendlandes (The medieval knightly shield of Europe), published in 1958. Nickel also included an attempt to create a typology,
As you can see (at least I hope you can due to the small size of the pictures), it is mainly based on form and size and is based on the surviving examples of medieval shields and pictoral evidence, set into a time frame to create possible ways of their evolution from ca. 900 to 1500 AD.