VIKING, SAXON AND NORMAN SHIELDS

COMPILED by ROGER BARRY

FOR THE VIKINGS

Ex Libris:
 VIKING, SAXON AND NORMAN SHIELDS

There are four types of shields that are covered by the title of this document, flat
round shields, lenticular round shields, flat kite shields and curved kite shields. We
can quickly deal with the latter as there is no evidence of curved kite shields at the
Battle of Hastings or during the early years of the Conquest, as this is normally the
only part of the Norman period that the Vikings NFPS re-enacts details of this type of
shield can be left to those who specialise in that field. (Conquest)

Of the round shields there is no evidence that the Vikings ever used lenticular shields,
all theirs were flat. The lenticular shield was in use during the late centuries of the
Saxon period and it can be surmised that it would be more expensive to produce than
a flat shield. The only Saxon warriors on the Bayeux tapestry that have lenticular
shields are also equipped with chain mail, interestingly enough the un-armoured Fyrd
are depicted with small flat kite shields.

Viking Flat Round Shields

These shields were also used by the early Normans and Norman infantry up to and
beyond the Conquest.

They were made of wooden planks (often lime wood) which were glued together,
were between 30’ and 40” in diameter and often only a fifth of an inch thick. Some
were entirely covered in leather and all had a protective rim usually of leather, such as
the Gokstad shields, some had rims of iron and at least one, found in Birka, Sweden,
was bound with small bronze plates.

All shields had a prominent cone shaped or hemispherical iron boss which protected
the fist when holding the grip. The grip itself was part of a brace that ran the width of
the shield across the grain of the wood. This brace could be of wood but was more
usually of iron and sometimes forked into three at either end giving the appearance of
a leafless tree.

Some shields had curved iron braces on the front and possibly the back also. Most, if
not all, had a strap which the warrior could use to hang his shield up or secure to his
back. This strap may have been long enough to enable the warrior to fight and be able
to retain the shield if he had to dropped it. The strap may have been fitted to either
end of the brace, in some cases it could be fitted to one end of the brace and the centre
grip.

Shields were painted, the commonest to least common colours were red, yellow,
black, white, green and blue. Normally one or two colours would be used in a simple
pattern such a quarters, occasionally a mythical beast was displayed. The shields
found in the Gokstad ship burial were alternately painted yellow and black.
Saxon Flat Round Shields

These follow very much the same design as the Vikings with only a few variations.

Shields varied from 12’ to 40’ in diameter- early ones were very light, being not more
than half an inch thick As with the Viking shields they may have been covered in
leather and had a rim of leather of iron. At a grave at Petersfinger in Wiltshire a shield
has been found made of thin sheets of wood fixed together like plywood, the grains
crossing each other at right angles.

The grips on Saxon shields could vary from 110mm to 400mm but the longer ones
belong to the seventh century at the latest, about 200mm would seem to be more
common for our period. Grips were made of thin iron which curved in towards the
boss around a wooden core and wrapped in leather. They were secured at either end
by a single rivet.

All rivets have their heads on the front of the shield and are hammered over a washer
on the back.

There is little physical evidence for straps on Saxon shields, however there is
documentary evidence in poems and illustrations. The only physical evidence
suggests that a strap was secured around the handle and may have had a small buckle
fitted.

Saxon Lenticular Round Shields

In later centuries Saxon shields became heavier and lenticular, other wise they
differed little to other round shields.

Norman Shields

Many shields were made from several planks of wood glued side by side, but some
kite shaped shields may have been formed from a single piece of wood. The Brienze
shield (late 12c and the oldest still in existence) is I 5mm thick and covered in
parchment on both sides. Most were made of lime wood or poplar. They are depicted
on the Bayeux Tapestry as being as wide at the top as the warriors shoulders, they
then curve round in a circle and come to a point at the warriors knee.

All the kite shields on the Tapestry appear to be flat, this is born out by the fact that
the Normans are depicted as eating from them after their landfall and that the makers
of the Tapestry had no problem depicting the lenticular round shields of some of the
Saxon Huscarls. It is also interesting to note that the only Fyrd depicted with shields
have small kite shaped ones.

All the kite shields held by Normans are depicted as having some sort of rim but it is
not clear from what they are made. Leather, when used, would be tacked at the edges
on the rim or at the rear.

Most of the Norman shields are depicted (Fig. 9) with the warriors moving left to
right, consequently there is a better view of the back than the front. The most common
design for the strapping, with sixty-four examples, is a single strap across the top
section of the shield. It seems to be fixed at the rim and both ends are high enough up
to be in the upper half of what would be a circular shield. It cannot be said with any
certainty weather or not this is a leather strap or a bar, but as without exception it is
depicted as a wavy line, it would seem more likely that it is a leather strap. The
warriors are always depicted as holding it with their hand in the centre of the strap and
their forearm running down the shield, with one exception no forearm straps are
indicated. The only exception is an un-mailed warrior on foot, he has two forearm
straps set at a slight angle.

There are four shields with a square arrangement of straps for holding and a long strap
that could go over the shoulder. One of these belongs to Harold. Only one is shown
being held and in this case the warriors hand grips the uppermost horizontal strap and
his forearm passes under the lower horizontal strap.

Two shields have an x of straps in the upper circular part of the shield, in both cases
the warrior is depicted as holding the centre where the straps cross with their forearms
coming up the shield. One has two straps offset to his right on the back of the shield
through which his forearm passes.

One shield has a single short hand strap over halfway down the shield, the warriors
arm comes down the shield and grips the strap, no forearm strap is depicted.

There are a variety of different designs of shield fronts depicted on the Tapestry,
sixteen of the fronts are plain apart from a variety of dots which may indicate rivets,
on a number of occasions they do seem to reflect the strap arrangements depicted on
the back but many do not. There are six mythical beasts, twelve wavy x’s (excluding
those carried by Huscarls), two crosses, one with alternately coloured triangles down
the right side, one bird, one plain, and one (carried by the Duke) with a small trefoil
terminated cross around the central boss. Nearly all the Norman shields are shown
with bosses though they were by this time only for decorative purposes.

Bosses and all leather straps and handles would be riveted through the wood with the
heads on the outer face,
 Modern Construction

Making a shield as an exact replica of the original is a good idea if it is to be used in a

Modem marine plywood is probably the best material for making a shield for battle
re-enactment, we have certainly had little problem with it for the last 25 years. The
thickness really depends on how heavy a shield you think you can handle, however a
large shield of half inch ply is rather heavy for most people. Three eights of an inch is
thick enough for most people.

The Disk

To cut a shield disk you will require a band saw or jig saw, the latter is more likely on
most peoples budget. Take your plywood and stick a pin or nail in the centre, tie a
piece of string to this and measure out the radius of the shield. Tie a pencil to the
other end and pull the string taught, then draw a circle. (Fig. I) Repeat this again with
a smaller circle in the centre that is big enough to fit your clenched fist into, make
sure that it is smaller that your boss. (Fig. 2)

Next you need to simulate planking. Decide which side will be the front and which
the back, on the back side you can then score four or five lines to give the impression
of planks. This can be done with a screw driver kept straight with a ruler, make sure
that you score the lines in the same direction as the grain of the wood.(Fig. 3) If you
are fortunate enough to have a piece of plywood with the grain running in the same
direction on the front as the back, you can repeat the procedure on the front. The fact
that you are probably going to paint the front would conceal the fact that you have no
scoring there. Of course you may prefer to do it the other way and if you are going to
cover the front in leather then only score the back.

Now drill a hole inside the inner circle and cut that out with the jig saw. (Fig. 4) Then
use the jig saw to cut around the outer circle. You now have your shield disk. (Fig. 5)

Covering the Shield

If you are going to cover the shield in leather then do that next. Mark out your leather
shield disk in the same way as above but make the radius two inches bigger. You can
cut this out with a good pair of shears rather than the jigsaw. Cut out small triangles
all around the circumference, they should be no more than one and a half inches deep
and an inch wide at the top. Space them about an inch apart. Next glue the leather to
the outer face of the shield, Evostick contact glue is best. When the glue is dry soak
the outer rim of the leather, it will then be easier to bend over the rim of the wood.
Nail the leather to the back of the shield using broad head tacks, these have irregular
shaped heads so that they look very much as if they were hand made. Place the shield
some where warm to dry afterwards you will drill though the leather to fit the rest of
the shield together.
Fitting Boss and Grip

Next fit the boss and grip, these are fitted at the same time as the rivets securing the
boss also secure the grip, particularly if using a metal grip. Drill four or six holes
around flange of the boss and then use it as a guide to drill through the shield. Two of
the holes on the boss must match the grip so use it as a guide to drill them, the grip
should be fitted at right angles to the planking so line the whole thing up before you
make any holes in the wood. (Fig. 6)

The boss and grip should then be riveted to the shield. Coach bolts make good rivets
but don’t forget to file off the lettering on their heads, also just below the head they
are square sectioned and this will need rounding off with a file before passing it
through the boss. Six-inch nails also make good rivets and require less work. The
rivets should be annealed, that is softened, and you can do this by heating them to a
red heat and then allowed to cool slowly. The head of the rivet should be on the front
of the shield and you will need a washer for the back of the shield. Pass the rivet
through all the items to be fitted together and mark a point a quarter of an inch above
the washer, cut the rivet short at this point.

A ball hammer and a hard solid surface are now required, an anvil is ideal but not
essential. Using the round end of your ball hammer hit the end of the rivet, keep
hitting it until it expands to such an extent that it is wider than its original diameter
and is firm against the washer (Fig. 7) Many rivets discovered by archaeologists have
been bent over the washer in the manner of a bent nail. This is fine for an exact
replica of a one fight shield, but if you use this method for re-enactment shield it will
develop a death rattle1’ as the boss and grip become loose.

The Rim

If you have not covered your shield in leather it is time to fit the rim. Metal rims add
to the weight of the shield and make the occasional injuries caused by shields worse.
You can cause wicked injury to a warrior with a leather rimmed shield, the injuries
caused by a metal rimmed shield are worse as we have found out the hard way If you
do fit a metal rim then it should be secured by rivets in the same manner as the boss.

The rim is best protected with leather or rawhide, rawhide is easily, but not cheaply,
obtained by buying large doggy chews from the pet shop. Doggy chews need to be
soaked it water for at least an hour to make them pliable, leather should also be
soaked for the same reason. Using the same type of tacks as for fitting a leather front,
tack the rawhide or leather to the shield with tacks in the front and back of the shield.
When complete put the shield in a warm place to dry. (Fig. 8)

Strap

The shield is now ready for battle but still may need a carrying strap. When this
should be fitted depends on which method of securing it to the shield you have chosen
and should be riveted.
Norman Shields

The methods described above will work very well for Norman kite shield with the
following exception, its shape! To mark out a kite shield start with a circle as above,
this should have a diameter equal to your shoulder width. Then draw a line through
the centre equal to the length from your shoulder to just below your knee. Next draw a
line from either side of the circle centre grip behind the boss.

Lenticular Shields

There are two methods of producing lenticular shields which are suitable for re-
enactment and neither of them are easy. Each method requires specialist tools to a
certain extent and both demand the use of a former which has to be constructed before
any of the processes can begin.

The Former

The former can be constructed from soft wood, 4” x 2” is best. Cut one 32” and then
two 29”, two 23”, two 20”, two 17”, two 14”, and two 11”. These need to be glued
together by their 4” surfaces to form a rough edged circle. Sash clamps should be used
to hold them together while the glue dries, but if they are not available use 3” screws.
Do not use screws on the two 11” lengths as you will be cutting into them. Once the
rough circle has been formed leave it three or four days to dry. Find the centre of the
disk and draw a 30” circle using a pencil, drawing pin, and a length of string. Cut the
waste wood away using a jigsaw. Now the disk is ready for shaping. Put a margin all
the way round the disk 1” up the edge. Use a woodwork plane to remove the waste
wood starting from the centre and work outwards removing more wood as you near
the outside edge. The disk should remain 4” tall in the centre and gradually curve
down to the P margin on the outside edge. Finish the surface with rasps and files until
it is smooth. Finally glass paper it to remove any scratches.

Making a former may be a long and arduous process but it needs to withstand the
pressures of clamping your shield to it.

The Planked Method

First you need to purchase some planking six inches wide which is 4mm to 6mm
thick. English hard wood is best. Cut enough strips of card to six inches wide to cover
the surface of the former. These can be held on the former with drawing pins. These
need to be trimmed so that the joins are parallel. Make sure that there are no bulges or
kinks in the surface. Use the card template to mark out the individual planks. You will
need two sets of planks for each shield. Shape each piece using a plane making sure
that the edges are at right angles to the surfaces. Place two layers of newspaper on the
former so that any glue spillage does not glue your shield to the former. The planks
should run from left to right on the bottom layer and from top to bottom on the top
layer with glue on the joining edges and surfaces. Clamp the planks around the edge
of the former with 0 clamps tapping them into position to take up any slack. Use resin
bond glue rather than PVA which may separate when rained on. When the shield is
dry release it from the former and cut it to shape. Finish the edges and surface and add
your fittings.

The Sheet Plywood Method

Cut three circles of 3nmi plywood to the size of your former. Draw a margin about 4
inches from the edge on all three pieces. Using the centre point of the circles as a
guide draw 32 radial lines between the margins and the edges of the disks. Cut along
these with a tenon saw. This removes sufficient material to allow the surface to be
curved. Put glue on the joining surfaces remembering to turn the middle one at right
angles to the others. Stagger the cuts so that none of them are over each other. Use
resin bond glue rather than PVA which may separate when rained on. Leave it to dry
for at least 72 hours before you do any more work on it. When the shield is dry
release it from the former and cut add your fittings.

Anglo-Saxon England; Lloyd & Jennifer Laing