Top 10 Most Effective Shields in History

[Music] hello never once welcome back to my channel this is the method on speaking so today we are talking about shields because we are the cool kids who love historical weapons and armor all right governor [Music] it is important to say that the ultimate most effective shield doesn't exist the effectiveness of a shield very much depends on what it has been used for and when in what situation is it the pitched battle that larger shields will usually do a better job of keeping you alive although again a mounted soldier and an infantryman will have different needs is it a duel then he won't need something to protect you from missile fire and he'll only have to deal with one opponent at a time a very different combat scenario are you in a civilian self-defense situation then in that case a smaller easier to carry shield will be the best option because he can't really go around and wear or bring with you a massive battlefield shield in town for social reasons sometimes for legal reasons and generally speaking because it will be too cumbersome it would impede your everyday activities oh and by the way this video is not sponsored by Starbucks still good though at number 10 we've got the dueling shields okay so this is also called the long shield and it's a very interesting shield also because it's rather obscure I mean if you're a history buff you will have definitely encountered this in the treaties in medieval treatises but most people you know when they think of a shield of course they think of the roman shield to think of medieval shields but don't really think of this now this was used during the Middle Ages during what were called judicial jewels and I said they have got to wronged parties and they decide to have a duel to see who was right they had specialized shields in some countries for example Germany that could be used for jewels now you see the shield used as a the only weapon gripped with two hands you were supposed to start most of times with the shield in combination with a weapon it's being a sword or a mace let's say that you decided to throw the mace at your opponent and you finish the replacement then the shield rules is designed in a way that he could be used as the sole weapon of course it can't be used for civilian self-defense too big counter it around in a battlefield yes you could use it but don't see it as being as sturdy and as resistive as shields that are designed for battle and even though it's designed for a duel I don't think it's optimized for Jewel and other shields that you will see down this list that will prove more effective at number nine we've got the Viking shield and this was also often seen as the round shield but there are other kinds of round shield that don't really qualify as Norse but in this case we're going to look at the shield that is centered gripped it's got a metal boss in the centre it's normally made of wood covered in leather oftentimes when we see in video games these shields shown having a metal rim I'm not saying that that didn't happen it probably did but perhaps it wasn't as common as we imagined I would imagine that rawhide rim would also be more common and also they usually just see the naked wooden planks that's not something you would see on a real Viking shield they wear decorator they were covered up in linen and more hide and whatnot which is anyways the case in the majority of shields in history but anyways this is a very effective shield and it's interesting and if you want to see how to these shields are used in the sort of techniques you should definitely check out roland for Zeca I have met is a german youtuber who specializes on the usage of viking shields and generally speaking shields a sword and shield but to cut a long story short it's as I said it's centered bossed and this means that this shield has very very specific techniques that involve the idea of gripping it from the centre allowing you to have greater reach but also at the same time it allows you to use it in a shield wall it's an overall very light but still very resistive and very effective kind of shield and I think it's also really really badass now when we think of Frankish shields so the shield's used in Frankia by the Franks yes they had shields of a very similar to the Viking shield so again centered boss centered room and circular but sometimes in some iconography we also see a specific characteristic of these sort of shields as the fact that some of these shields would have been domed now what is an advantage of a domed shield versus a flat shield well first and foremost a domed surface will encourage weapons to glance off when they come in contact with your shield and whether it be a hand weapon whether it be a spear point or whether it be an arrow any sort of missile weapon when you encounter a doughnut or nickel surface it will be harder for the strike for the missile weapon to stick and to deal more damage because the force will be naturally dispersed and that's why I think it is a superior design then number seven we've got the famous Roman rectangular scootin I'd like to underline rectangular because the Romans did have other kinds of shields and this is the typical Imperial own it has a late Republic of a definitely Imperial kind of shield with this curved surface and that sort of an wraps the user then protects him not only from the front but also to a certain extent on the sides it is again a centered boss and a centered gripped shield but it has a different grip the grip needs in fact oriented in a horizontal way differently from the sort of vertical grips that we see on Viking shields for example and this is a specific choice because the shield is massive and such a big shield if you had to just hold it in front of you with your arm fully extended you wouldn't last longer than a few minutes the Romans engineered this grip so that it's you basically carry it like a briefcase and oftentimes when we look at Roman iconography we see that they did hold it close to the body and I can understand why I've tried it I've owned I own quite a few replicas and it is a lot less tiring and it does protect really really well now one of the main advantages of this shield is the fact that it's sort of it works very well in a formation if you can build a two studio with it you can do very very effective shield walls that protect your soldiers in a better way than any any anglo-saxon a Viking shield world wall would have worked that that's just my opinion of course that it does not function well for self-defence in civilian context because you just can't walk around with such a massive shield I mean the Romans themselves when there were in enemy territory definitely they would carry that shields ready to deploy them for combat holding them with a left hand but when I went marching and in possibly in safe territory we could say so in the provinces of Rome that we just wear them on the back as you would wear a backpack inside of a cat waterproof leather cover so these were not shields they were easy to carry but would it function in a duel I'm gonna say that yes a Romans got'em works well in the duel but it's probably not the best option it's not easy to maneuver a Roman scooter it takes a lot of training and most importantly there are only a certain amount of things that you can do and all these things will work perfectly in affirmation but I don't think it's the most optimized shield that you can use in a duel even though gladiatorial combat featured rectangular scooter scooter bettin it probably not the best there were number six we've got the medieval Rotella now what you see in these images is a typical Italian northern Italian medieval or a timeless a round shield and here's the thing that you might ask well first and foremost it does not have a boss so how is that not a - why isn't the Viking shield here instead of there or teller well it's just my personal preference and I'm gonna defend my point but if you don't agree with what I'm about to say - feel free to consider the list switched with the Rotella and number nine and the Viking shield number six because the reason why I put the rotella here is because it's a struct shield it's trapped through your arm which is a typical thing of medieval shields and I personally prefer strapped shields over centered post or Center gripped shields and that's just my personal preference I think they one of the reasons is that the reason why most medieval armies switched to scrap shields and which already existed in the past the Greeks used them and even the Romans used in gladiatorial combat playing number one this shield has one advantage it really isn't tiring at all because you are basically wearing it so it's the fact that you are wearing the shield means that you can have the shield on you all day ready to defend yourself and it's not gonna tie you down now you will lose some range given because with a centered boss grip you do get extra range and easier to move around and there are still many things so you can do with a strut shields but what about the the lacking of the boss well the fact that it's trapped means that your hand doesn't need the hole in the center of the shield to place a flick the main reason why there is a boss in the center of fighting shields for example but with this shield be instructed on really neat although I gotta say that it was a northern Italian thing it was a northern Italian choice dude not put the boss in the center because you still can place it if you want but you just might want to have some extra deflecting capability some countries did the fact that northern Italians didn't to me tells me the problem the shield worked well anyways so you might think why is the isn't the Frankish don't shield better than their Othello well because the Frankish shield is centered boss centered correct Akala games gives me the idea that a round or a dial on the Italian style would be such an easy a shield to learn how to use and to be effective with that I put it here number six because I think you can use it for duels very well it functioned for warfare and I think the rotella can do that very well now a number five we've got the Scottish dodge now the Scottish dodge is basically very similar to a Nutella and it tends to be smaller sometimes and just big enough to cover your forearm although I do believe that it asks slightly bigger versions as well but what's interesting about the Scottish Taj is first they the Highlanders that were using these shields are very very well made by the way usually covered both back and front sometimes very highly decorated and all they would add sometimes a centre spike which I think would be interesting you know putting a little bit of extra flair during your combat situation something that your opponent needs to be considered it's to consider and have a possible attack because we did say that shields are used of course to punch you can attack a put an opponent and if there is a spike there I'm gonna say why not I don't think it's gonna increase that much of weight the shield is already rather small so I think that's a good add-on and also and hold a sort of pointed dagger on the same arm on the same hand that is gripping the shield to get again an extra attacking angle and the the Scottish tard is perfectly designed for that and I think makes it very very effective shield to use in a jewel scenario I think it's excellent it could work for personal defense at the end of the day it's not too big I'm not sure about sure about its effectiveness in battle as compared to bigger and more protective shields though but still it gets number 5 because of all these ingenious add-ons that you can put and that people did put and use together with the Scottish Dodge now a number four we've got that buckler given the Butler I'm not really sure if it qualifies as a shield but it we evolved from a shields what a buckler is if you look at it it's very similar to the boss of the shield it's as if you're only holding the boss with a grip now somewhere made entirely of metal other would have just the center made of metal and then some wood again the grip the grips could be wooden could be metal but at the end of the day a buckler is a fantastic option for dueling because it's quick it protects your hand and it does a pretty good job of protecting your regardless of the fact that it might look small and it one advantage that he has and it does not block your vision so if you're an expert dualist are thinking you could opt for a black ler and sword combination because if you know what you're doing the buckler provides just enough protection to protect your hand protect your striking hand and striking forearm and it just makes you an effective duelist it just protects the lines of defense without impeding you and there are medieval manuscripts that talk and teach you all the different separate techniques because a shield like this even though it might look it's very very small and might not be as defensive there are so many techniques that you can apply makes it a very very good choice for a jewel and also it's excellent it's probably the best one for personal self-defense because it's something that you can literally wear you can wear it on your belt and you can do together with your sidearm or your sword and you can go on into taking care of your daily activities as you would normally and you won't even notice that and then if a group of bandits choose you as their target then there you go you go your sword and your buckler wick which might give you that extra advantage that you need yes a Scouten would protect you more but you can't again you know going around with bigger shields as we said would be a problem in a medieval context but going around just wearing a buckler and a sword is excellent I think so it's number one for to the dueling's aspect and for battle if you are like a heavy infantry man no you don't want to buckle up because if you know if enemy archers start shooting at you what are you gonna do with that but bear with me for a moment if you are an archer you can literally operate your weapon do what you need to do but if it does happen that in enemy infantry or enemy cavalry can well an archer also hones saw a sword and would use it to defend they could be good swordsmen as well and and and you can do all you need to do as an archer while wearing a buckler you can't say the same with a massive shield for example although we will talk about generous crossbowmen in a moment but you know an archer operating his weapon I think having a buckler on his belt is a nice add-on it being a useful shielding all three aspects it gets number four on this list now number three is the kite shield the kite shield is an incredible shield it's basically an evolution of the round shield it's basically a round shield that it flares down to grant more protection to the legs of the wearer it's a shield of the one you wearing full plate armor made it is redundant I I understand that but it's here on number three because I think it's such an well designed shield it's strapped to your arm and you actually wear it with a neck straps leather strap that goes over your shoulder so you can literally wear it as you're marching or you're mounting you you know you're on your mount and and that's one of the good things about this shield it's good for both infantry and cavalry you can't say that or than many shields I mean scooter Miss Bertram her infantry buddy you can't use a Scouten for a rectangular scooter at least for cavalry and and then again a back left for a knight on top of the horse I just don't see it that a kite shield can be used by infantry men and by cavalry and I think that that's the reason why I gets to number three here it covers you well it covers just enough it's not as heavy as a scooter and it's flapped you can wear it it's it's an excellent shield now number two is the pal vase or pervasive bavaria palace however you want to pronounce it now this is an interesting piece of kit that was very famously used by the Genoese crossbowmen so a palace is what you'd normally call in role-playing games at our shield or they're I suppose that even a roman school term could be considered a tower shield but this is it so it's a medieval shield that was usually very big all those smaller versions existed and that's right number two here I'll get to that in a moment but it's a very large shield that is basically going to function as a barrier a protective area that is going to protect mostly ranged units and troops while they are reloading this is what the Genoese crisp own and most famous they did but also Milanese crisp own army generally speaking northern Italian ranged troops would use at pal visa as a barrier standing barrier that you were just frost on the ground that did have some specific specifically designed a spice that would go at the bottom of the shield and you could just frost it on the ground and it will stand there as a protective barrier as you are reloading now of course that makes it a very very specialized shield but smaller versions existed and therefore I think the PAL bases of the shield that can be used in a whole variety of situations so many people just imagine it as a standing barrier shield that is super heavy and can only be used by crossbowmen but that's not the case they were smaller bhave say that could be used for hand-to-hand combat and i really like the shape it's it's big but not too big and he has this massive central rim that I believe sort of does what ancient shield bosses did but even in a better way and it covers the entirety of the shield so no matter where the strike comes from and when it's going to attack it will most likely hit either the rim of the shield or the center Ridge of the shield and that is why I think it has an excellent design it's a cool shield it's beautiful it's effective it's multipurpose battlefield shield that can also be used for duel not for a civilian self-defense but still a very very good shield now at number one and this is my face personal favorite is the heater shield now the heater shield is basically the smaller triangular version of the kite shield you don't imagine it like this you have the round shield around shield evolves fleurs out towards the bottom evolved sins of the kite shield but as time progresses and you reach the late medieval period and armor starts to develop then you don't need as big of a shield here I've got a full leg plate harness and therefore the shoe sort of starts being reduced again but it keeps that triangular shape now that's interesting because a triangular shape and particularly in the form of a Teta shield allows you to do so it's a effective shield it protects you from land strikes it protects you from missile weapons it can be used to attack I mean imagine being hit in the eye with a triangular bottom of one of these heater shields and I'm sure that's not pleasant but interestingly enough the reason why the shield is number one the grip arrangements or a heater shields are amazing you can use it slapped to your arm you can use it strapped in a little bit of a weird way if you want to use it more to punch an attack like as we can see in this in this images here but you can also use it as a scented boss shields because of the clost straps arrangement and we have proof for this so if you have a heater shield in your hand you can literally use it and customize the grip but only according to your own per France but even according to what's going on in that Joule the person you're fighting with you can freakin switch mitt combat and that's something that I'm gonna say no other shield allows you to do it's the configuration we see on the historical heat of shields allows you for a lot of customization in the way you want to use them I think it's the perfect dimension for the shield because it's good for battle good for joust good for dueling and you might even argue good for personal defense I mean again maybe not many people carry them around but if you think about it I mean you could if you wanted to it's again you can't really say the same for a massive pelvis but a heater Sheila think is the perfect shield to be it allows it to be used in the majority of scenarios where you can say yeah that's gonna be a good shield and it's gonna do its job well but of course this is just my opinion let me know in the comments below what's your list I will definitely be reading those and looking forward to your lists in the comments below or I never once well I hope that you enjoyed this video if you did please remember thumbs up and if you're still not yet a member of this community become a noble one subscribe to my channel for more content from the Metatron and remember the method home has spread his wings goodbye milady

Channel: Metatron

Views: 87,998

Rating: 4.9271698 out of 5

Keywords: metatron, nerdy, geeky, italian, japan, italy, d&d, larp, history, samurai, ninja, sword, armour, armor, katana, bushido, rome, ancient, weapons, warrior, gear, shield, chart, top ten, dueling, style, formation, vikings

Id: SMuuCxRe9Yg

Length: 20min 32sec (1232 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 01 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/ORlarpandnerf]

Shields are pretty subjective to the point where a list like this is kind of meaningless. The right shield is highly dependent on what the combat style and warfare of your environment is like. A Viking would do terrible with a scutum and a guy in a street fight in 1500s Florence isn’t going to want a heater shield.

[u/EmphaticGreyMage]

I mean, he is from the region we refer to as Europe, that area of study would be his specialty. I see your point though, but Metatron's videos should be taken with a grain of salt, more for entertainment than anything else.