Celtic, Germanic & Roman Shields

Hi there,

when you read this, I will be on my way to southern Germany to help my old mother move into a nursing home for the elderly. Tempus fugit.

Never-the-less, I have compiled for you some information on topics which I hope you find worthwhile:

This week, on their youtube channel, the British Museum released a video presentation of a most remarkable find: an Iron Age shield exclusively made from organic materials. Learn about its archaeological significance, and how the shield was crafted from willow bark and other plant components. Most fascinating!

In regards to fighting with Iron Age shields, archaeologist Ingo Petri and his students have explored combat with hexagonal and oblong shields for a couple of years now. I have tried his approach myself and find it very convincing. Ingo has also recently published on the construction of Roman shields which appear to have been much lighter than previously assumed. Read more below.

Enjoy!

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The Iron Age Shield made from Bark

Shields made entirely from organic material are known from archaeological sites in arid regions, such as Dura Europos in Syria. However, comparable artefacts hardly ever survive in the northern hemisphere. So the example that came to light in a field near Leicester in 2015 was quite a sensation, as it does not sport a single piece of metal. Instead, all components were made from carefully chosen plant products.

The board consists of a single sheet of willow bark strengthend with wooden pegs, and the boss is made from a hazel rod bound with bast fibres in the fashion of some wicker bowls.

It makes you wonder just how much is lost, and how little we actually know about our past. Curator Sophia Adams hosts a fascinating presentation of the piece’s find history, historical context and reconstruction – do not miss it!

Watch video

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Fighting with Iron Age Shields

Ever since Ingo started working at the Varus Battle Museum, he has been researching Iron Age shield combat. Previous work in the field by archaeologist and author Marcus Junkelmann focuses on Roman military and gladiatorial combat. It is flawed by a lack of martial arts expertise and overly heavy shield reconstructions. Junkelmann’s scuta (–> Latin plural form of scutum, the rectangular Roman shield) weigh 7–10 kilograms – a completely ludicrous weight in my opinion.

In a recent study, Ingo and his co-authors present ct scans of early imperial Roman shield fragments from Kalkriese which indicate that a scutum was of the same lightweight construction observed on all historical shields that he, Cornelius and myself have examined thus far – not to mention the Enderby bark shield.

The three-ply wooden shield board tapers towards the edges, and is only 3 mm thin where it enters the metal shield edge cover.

Making a proper reconstruction of a scutum is a future project of Ingo’s. He expects it to be about half as light as the ones made by Junkelmann and those currently used by most Roman re-enactors.

There is no doubt that the Roman military shield was optimised for fighting in formation. But it will be interesting to see how agile a shield it actually was. Contemporary depictions occasionally show a scutum at full extension, edge facing forward, an action that is part of the standard repertoire with other forms of center-gripped shields too.

In 2020 archaeologist Stefan Burmeister, head of the Varus Battle Museum in Kalkriese, wrote an article on Roman and Germanic military for German magazine Archäologie in Deutschland. I contributed an illustration of a combat technique for the Germanic shield as worked out by Ingo Petri and his fellow swordsmen. See the complete image in this public post on my patreon.

In her video presentation of the Enderby shield, Sophia Adams mentions that the shield boss could be used for punching. While this is indeed possible, non-fighters usually miss the fact that this requires bridging a lot of distance to get into what effectively is fist-fighting range. Something that is quite hard to do when your opponent’s shield edge and hand weapon have a considerably longer reach.

I am sure readers will recall a more refined use of the boss as suggested by Danish swordsman Mikkel Mønsted, that is catching a shield edge with the boss in order to control and lever it open. See one such technique in this video sequence, and in this post of Mikkel's.

The same principle is applied in the illustrated technique above as suggested by Ingo.

The finishing blow of the suggested technique is called a twerhau or a sturzhau respectively in the late medieval German fechtbücher, that is fight books. These strikes are perfectly suited to reach over a shield edge. When delivered with skill they are very powerful, in particular with a top heavy blade.

The power of this kind of blow does not convey in illustration very well. Fortunately, my friend Thrand volunteered to experience it on the receiving end when I met him at Ásfólk Viking Martial Arts in Eagan, Minnesota, some years ago. Find a link to a respective video of his in this patreon post of mine.

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A Call for Help

Thrand is well-known in the online community of sword enthusiasts for his vigorous testing of all sorts of arms and armour. He was one of the first to launch an according niche channel on youtube, and provides hundreds of videos of test cutting and related experiments. Now he is in dire need for help, and has launched a call for help.

If in past years you have enjoyed his videos, now is a good time to give back by donating whatever you can give to prevent Thrand and his family from losing their house. In fact, if each subscriber of his youtube channel would donate as little as $ 1.75, Thrand and family could keep their home.

Thank you for considering a donation.

Help Thrand!

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So, that's it for today. Take care, and keep your blade well-honed.

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If you wish to read more, find hundreds of related posts on my Patreon. Special thanks to all my loyal supporters on Patreon – you keep me going! And if you are not a patron yet, you are most welcome to join.

If you feel like dropping a coin into my tip jar, you can do so here. Thank you for your time and your interest.

Yours,

Roland

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