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Author
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Topic: A friend asked me about shields, and frankly, I just know they were leather and wood.
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Aaron Miaullis
Member
Member # 47
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posted 11-15-2000 10:47 AM
    
My friend asked the questions, and on her request, I'm taking the subject to higher authority:What was the medieval term for a maker of shields? Were shields commonly made by panel painters? Is there anything known about the manufacture and sale of medieval shields? Did they have a guild of their own?
She's just curious about shields I guess. Could you help her out? I can't....(except to tell her that they were NOT made of blue plastic....)
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-Aaron Miaullis, SCAer with Authenticity Leanings (yes, it's not an oxymoron... :)maybe...) (battle_of_wisby@yahoo.com)
Registered: Sep 2000 | IP: Logged
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hauptmann
New Member
Member # 0
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posted 11-15-2000 03:53 PM
Were shields commonly made by panel painters?15th - 16th C- I don't know if painters *made* the shields, but painters were often hired to paint shields, banners and other forms of heraldic display. Some were also required to design and oversee the construction of fortifications, seige machines, etc. I posted some information about the role of painters in another thread, but can't seem to find the thread (this site is SO SLOW!!). I'll post the quote again tonight when I can go back to the source. I don't know if this is the reason for asking, but I don't believe every guy with a shield in the Middle Ages had his heraldry displayed on his shield. Most of the dog soldiers would not *have* heraldry to display. Most guys were common hired dog soldiers and the arms or livery of their master would be on the shield. This is as I understand it. However, I will happily defer to anyone with superior knowledge.
Gwen
Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged
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Seigneur de Leon
Member
Member # 65
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posted 11-15-2000 06:57 PM
I'd think any village carpenter would be up to the task of cutting a few boards and gluing them together. (If I can do it...) Linden wood, or basswood here in the states, as well as poplar, are easy woods to work. Frankish shields pre- 10th C. commonly had a lot of iron on them, sometimes rimmed as well. Viking shields could be plain painted planks, covered with oxhide or bullhide or edged with rawhide, but no ferrous rimmed shields appear to have turned up. Leather was of course produced by a tanner. Bosses would have been made by a blacksmith. Norman kite shields retained a boss for a while, though apparently only for looks. Heater shields could have been rimmed w/steel or not, and were covered with canvas or leather and sometimes were tooled or covered in gesso & painted like the Black Prince's funeral shield. By the 16th C., parade round shields were made of steel and embossed, etched, gilt etc... and were probably the only "specialty" shields that would require a high level of skill to produce. Maybe Hauptman could explain the armourer's embossing technique, it is beyond my ken. As far as artwork on a premade shield, whether it was heraldric or one of those beautiful Italian town pavises, I'm sure that was done by a "painter" rather than a carpenter. They are two seperate skills.
Registered: Nov 2000 | IP: Logged
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posted 11-15-2000 03:28 PM
