SHIELD
The escutcheon is the centerpiece and bearer of armorial achievements.

 

"Slaying the Beast" 

 

   

 

  
       
     

                                        
The shield epitomizes what anthropologists know as the onslaught of ritual hunting societies. Unlike spears, bows and arrows for hunting, and other food preparation tools, mining tools, ground breaking and farming tools, tools for pottery making, building construction, lumber felling and shaping axes, and all manner of knifes and bladed tools,  all of which accompanied Homo sapiens' forward cultural progress in ways allowing benefit of the arts and crafts of industrious minds and innovations of knowledge and technology, the shield, along with the sword, was just a weapon of war.

The Dark Ages ensued. The shield was a vital piece of military equipment that played an important role in foot soldier battle tactics that, after the development of better weaponry, beginning with the long bow and use of Calvary, the shield lost it's importance and became a tournament and display piece for parades and heraldic achievement. As heraldry practices progressed, the shape of display shields changed to accommodate. Heraldic display shield have been described as 'all shapes and sizes, elegant and ugly, monstrously huge and grotesquely ornate, historically authentic and absurdly impractical.'
                                        
Medieval knights were equipped with a variety of defensive garments and weapons, and trained to use nearly every possible offensive weapon of the Middle Ages. Early knights wore chain mail and tunics bearing the symbol of the order to which he belonged. By the 14th century, chain mail and tunics had evolved into full plate armor that protected the chest, arms, legs knees and feet. Quality plate armor was nearly impenetrable. The armor included a visored helmet that would often be festooned with decorative plumage.  Shields were at first made of wood, the best being constructed of numerous wood strips with the grain of each layer running at 90-degree angles.  A knight's weapons included:

  
     


Broadsword - one of the knight's primary weapons, often passed down through family lineage. The knight carried the sword that he was dubbed with. Many were quite elaborate, with gold, silver, encrusted with jewels or containing holy relics in the hilt.

Scimitar - a curved sword that broadened to a point with one cutting edge.

Two-handed sword - popular in the 15th century and nearly 5-feet in length. It was used to make wide cutting sweeps in open areas.

Daggers - made of all shapes and sizes often encrusted with jewels. Blades varied from round, ice-pick like daggers to those with three blades with made wounds nearly impossible to close.

 
Crossbow - one of the first banned weapons for its "unchristianlike" characteristics of causing brutal death from far away, they ranged from simple hand-drawn devices, to larger ones requiring levers, wheels and ratchets. They were replaced with the development of the longbow.

Mace - a club-like weapon with blades or points protruding from a heavy head. Each weapon was often given fanciful names such as Morgenstern (Morning Star), Godendag (Good-day), or the dark humored "Holy Water Sprinkler.

War Hammer - a weapon similar to today's claw-hammer, but larger, with a handle nearly two feet long with a thrusting point affixed to the top.

Spears and Pole Arms - with a variety of metal tips, from javelins to forks, hooks, and axes.

  
     

  

 
         
     


 

  
     

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  200 AD                  625                       700                        1145                     1300s                    1450                    1555

The Heater
This shape of shield is known as the "heater" and generally recognized as "the classic" design. It is usually the most appropriate for arms consisting of a single coat (normally the "pronominal coat" of the armiger's surname or principal surname). The heater has precise proportions and is correctly drawn in the following manner ~
 

 
     


 
         
     
A - Chief
B - Dexter
C - Sinister
D - Base
E - Dexter Chief
F - Middle Chief
G - Sinister Chief
H - Honour Point
I - Fess Point
J - Nombril Point
K - Dexter Base
L - Sinister Base
M - Middle Base

Examples of escutcheons: 1: Old French, 2: Modern French, 3: Oval, 4: Lozenge, 5: Square, 6: Italian, 7: Swiss, 8: English, 9: German, 10: Polish, 11: Portuguese or Spanish, 12: Brazilian.
 		  
     


"In heraldry, an escutcheon, or scutcheon, is the shield displayed in a coat of arms. // The escutcheon shape is based on the Medieval shields that were used by knights in combat, and varied by region and time period accordingly. Since this shape has been regarded as a war-like device appropriate to men only, British ladies customarily bear their arms upon a lozenge, or diamond-shape, while clergymen and ladies in continental Europe bear theirs on a cartouche, or oval. Other shapes are possible, such as the roundel commonly used for arms granted to Aboriginal Canadians by the Canadian Heraldic Authority.

The word escutcheon is derived from Middle English escochon, from Anglo-Norman escuchon, from Vulgar Latin scūtiōn-, from Latin scūtum, "shield". Derived from its meaning in heraldry, the term "escutcheon" can be used to represent a family and its honour. The idiom "a blot on the escutcheon" is used to mean a stain on somebody's reputation.
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An inescutcheon is a smaller shield that is shown within or superimposed over the main shield. This may be used for heraldic style, in pretense (to bear another's arms over one's own), to bear one's own personal arms over the territorial arms of his/her domains, or as a simple charge."

Here's a link to a pop-up window to Fox-Davies book section on SHIELDS:  CLICK HERE

below: SOME PAGEANTRY-DECORATIVE MEDIEVAL SHIELDS
 

  
         
     




 

  
             
        
Medieval Chivalry

Chivalry is the generic term for the knightly system of the Middle Ages and for virtues and qualities it inspired in its followers. The word evolved from terms such as chevalier (French), caballero (Spanish), and cavaliere (Italian), all meaning a warrior who fought on horseback. The term came to mean so much more during medieval times.

Chivalric orders first appeared with military activities against non-Christian states. During the Middle Ages, Western Europe aggressively sought to expand its area of control. The first orders of chivalry were very similar to the monastic orders of the era. Both sought the sanctification of their members through combat against "infidels" and protection of religious pilgrims, and both had commitments that involved the taking of vows and submitting to a regulation of activities.

13th Century conventions of chivalry directed that men should honor, serve, and do nothing to displease ladies and maidens. Knights were members of the noble class socially as bearers of arms, economically as owners of horse and armor, and officially through religious-oriented ceremony. While some were knighted on the battlefield, most spent long years as a squire, practicing the art of war while serving his master. People during the Middle Ages heard of the exploits of knights both mythical and real in epics like La Chanson de Roland and Le Morte D'Arthur.
 		     
Tournaments

Medieval knights, when they weren't busy engaging in battles or protecting the interests of their lord, wanted to keep their skills honed, and often challenged rival knights to tournaments. These have their roots in lance and shield training conducted by Charlemagne's troops in the 8th and 9th centuries.

The first tournaments were mock battles that had more in common with military training than they did as a spectator sport. Jousting, where two knights would face each other atop horses, and armed with lances and shields, may have began as a way to settle disputes within the ranks. These early battles were called duels of chivalry. A knight won when he hit an opponent's shield or helmet. Striking the opponent's legs or hitting his horse was considered a foul. Jousting reached its height as a medieval spectator sport in the 13th century, where thousands would crowd the stands.

Sword fights with blunt blades were also part of the tournament. Most medieval weapons could have been used at some point in the competition, from battle-axes and maces to daggers and fists.

The winner often took the loser's horse and at times, his armor. 		 
             
      CHARGES ~ animate and inanimate  
     
A charge is defined as, "anything borne on a coat of arms, whether upon the field ... or upon an ordinary, or indeed upon another charge." Including:

Animate Charges

      Beasts              Birds                Fish             Insects           Reptiles          Human            Monsters

Inanimate Charges
         Crosses             Crowns            Helmets             Chaplets          Chapeaux     Castles & Towers
 
               
      Nautical              Ordinaries               Roundels           Trees & Plants            Military
 

  
     
Here's a link to a pop-up window to Fox-Davies book online for easy access:  CLICK HERE  This is a highly functional online reference text. This link goes to the main INDEX.		  
             
      ATTITUDES~ATTRIBUTES apply to most all animate charges  
     
        Rampant       Rampant Guardant    Rampant Regardant      Passant        Passant Guardant     Passant Regardant


          Sejant                  Sejant Erect                Cadent                   Couchant                 Courant

  
           Dormant                       Salient                           Statant                Statant Guardant

        
Reserved for pelican     Wings displayed and elevated    Wings displayed and inverted


     Griffin sergeant       Lions combatant     Barbels addorsed       Dolphin naiant         Lion tail nowed

     
     
 		  
      King Edward: three lions passant guardant or on a field of gules (three gold lions, down on all fours and looking out at the viewer, on a red shield) was no more elaborate (or simple) than his enemy, William Wallace's gules, a lion rampant argent (red, with a white lion up on its hind legs), or Robert the Bruce's saltire and chief of gules on a field of argent (a white shield bearing a large yellow Saint Andrew's cross, with a yellow band across the top).  
         
         
      CHARGES  continued on ORDINARIES . . .      
     

 
             
             
         
HERALDRY LINKS		  
             
     


:: MEDIEVAL MUSIC ::
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Music: "The Fairy Woods" by Bjorn Lynne, 21st century composer on medieval themes
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