A report on Kite shield, Shield and Knight

Norman-style kite shield.
Zulu chief Goza and two of his councillors in war-dress, all with Nguni shields, c.1870. The size of the shield on the chief's left arm denotes his status, and the white colour that he is a married man.
A 14th century depiction of the 13th century German knight Hartmann von Aue, from the Codex Manesse.
Kite shield on the Bayeux tapestry
Wall painting depicting a Mycenaean Greek "figure eight" shield with a suspension strap at the middle, 15th century BC, National Archaeological Museum, Athens -The faces of figure eight shields were quite convex. The cited "strap" may be the ridge on the front (so denoted by the visible pattern of the ox hide) of the shield.
A Norman knight slaying Harold Godwinson (Bayeux tapestry, c. 1070). The rank of knight developed in the 12th century from the mounted warriors of the 10th and 11th centuries.
Kite shields as depicted on the Temple Pyx
Elaborate and sophisticated shields from the Philippines.
The battle between the Turks and Christian knights during the Ottoman wars in Europe
A 15th century depiction of the Archangel Michael with a kiteshield
Greek soldiers of Greco-Persian Wars. Left: Greek slinger. Right: hoplites. Middle: hoplite's shield has a curtain which serves as a protection from arrows.
David I of Scotland knighting a squire
Reenactors with kite shields
Two wooden round shields survived at Thorsberg moor
The miles Christianus allegory (mid-13th century), showing a knight armed with virtues and facing the vices in mortal combat. The parts of his armour are identified with Christian virtues, thus correlating essential military equipment with the religious values of chivalry: The helmet is spes futuri gaudii (hope of future bliss), the shield (here the shield of the Trinity) is fides (faith), the armour is caritas (charity), the lance is perseverantia (perseverance), the sword is verbum Dei (the word of God), the banner is regni celestis desiderium (desire for the kingdom of heaven), the horse is bona voluntas (good will), the saddle is Christiana religio (Christian religion), the saddlecloth is humilitas (humility), the reins are discretio (discretion), the spurs are disciplina (discipline), the stirrups are propositum boni operis (proposition of good work), and the horse's four hooves are delectatio, consensus, bonum opus, consuetudo (delight, consent, good work, and exercise).
Ballistic shield, NIJ Level IIIA
Tournament from the Codex Manesse, depicting the mêlée
U.S. Navy Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC) fire a shield-equipped Minigun
Elements of a harness of the late style of Gothic plate armour that was a popular style in the mid 15th to early 16th century (depiction made in the 18th century)
Image from Hatshepsut's expedition to Punt showing Egyptians soldiers with shields (wood/animal skin). 15th century BC. Temple of Hathor Deir el-Bahari
Page from King René's Tournament Book (BnF Ms Fr 2695)
A hoplite by painter Alkimachos, on an Attic red-figure vase, c. 460 BC. Shield has a curtain which serves as a protection from arrows.
The Battle of Pavia in 1525. Landsknecht mercenaries with arquebus.
Sword and buckler (small shield) combat, plate from the Tacuinum Sanitatis illustrated in Lombardy, ca. 1390.
Fortified house – a family seat of a knight (Schloss Hart by the Harter Graben near Kindberg, Austria)
Drawing from the Codex Manesse showing jousting knights on horseback carrying shields.
The Battle of Grunwald between Poland-Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights in 1410
Ceremonial shield with mosaic decoration. Aztec or Mixtec, AD 1400-1521 (British Museum).
Pippo Spano, the member of the Order of the Dragon
Australian Aboriginal shield, Royal Albert Memorial Museum.
The English fighting the French knights at the Battle of Crécy in 1346
Nias ceremonial shield.
Miniature from Jean Froissart Chronicles depicting the Battle of Montiel (Castilian Civil War, in the Hundred Years' War)
Hippopotamus Hide Shield from Sudan. Currently housed at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania.
A modern artistic rendition of a chevalière of the Late Middle Ages.
Aboriginal bark shield collected in Botany Bay, New South Wales, during Captain Cook's first voyage in 1770 (British Museum)
A battle of the Reconquista from the Cantigas de Santa Maria
Three-lion symbolic shield (under the helmet) in the coat of arms of Tallinn.
100px
100px
The Battle of Pavia in 1525. Landsknecht mercenaries with arquebus.

A kite shield is a large, almond-shaped shield rounded at the top and curving down to a point or rounded point at the bottom.

- Kite shield

To compensate for their awkward nature, kite shields were equipped with enarmes, which gripped the shield tightly to the arm and facilitated keeping it in place even when a knight relaxed their arm; this was a significant departure from most earlier circular shields, which possessed only a single handle.

- Kite shield

The Normans introduced the kite shield around the 10th century, which was rounded at the top and tapered at the bottom.

- Shield

As body armour improved, knight's shields became smaller, leading to the familiar heater shield style.

- Shield

Elements of the knightly armour included helmet, cuirass, gauntlet and shield.

- Knight

Towards the end of the 10th century, oval shields were lengthened to cover the left knee of the mounted warrior, called the kite shield.

- Knight
Norman-style kite shield.

1 related topic with Alpha

Overall
Geometrical construction of the Reuleaux triangle style of heater shield, for use as an heraldic escutcheon

Heater shield

0 links

Geometrical construction of the Reuleaux triangle style of heater shield, for use as an heraldic escutcheon
Effigy of William Longespée the Younger (d. 1250) in Salisbury Cathedral, showing an early triangular heater shield
Heraldic roll of arms displaying heater-shaped heraldic shields or escutcheons. Hyghalmen Roll, Germany, late 15th century

The heater shield or heater-shaped shield is a form of European medieval shield, developing from the early medieval kite shield in the late 12th century in response to the declining importance of the shield in combat thanks to improvements in leg armour.

The heater shield was used by almost every class of society in medieval Europe, from knights to typical soldiers.