Underappreciated Historical Weapons: the SPIKED PAVISE

[Music] greetings i'm chad as you can tell i'm wearing my full print chainmail shirt today because australian summer over here and it is hot so this is basically my summer getup and the brigham dean is way too much but this is the reason why i made it because a real chamber is way too heavy so if you are interested uh full print chainmail not only shirts but awesome hoodies um short sleeve shirts and also my livery shadowversity crossover links in the description below so i reckon they're really cool and they definitely serve a purpose in heat like this but that's not the subject of this video the subject of this video is of course a very cool shield now shields for the most part are not just defensive tools the reason why i walked in with this big old tower shield here and tower shield is a kind of an umbrella term for multiple types of shields like the roman scutum or the perverse air pavis whichever way you pronounce it is fine but in when it comes to really large shields like this look they are mostly a defensive tool they would have some offensive capacity but because they're so big hard to move around because this is this is a foam light one so of course i can do this pretty easily with it but with a real shield this big no it's mainly going to be the full cover i check that out you know so pretty good but if a shield is smaller well they absolutely can be used for a fence tell me how the grass tastes and as people use them in their offensive capacity certain design started to creep in one in particular that i'm really going to be sharing with you with you in this video i feel blew away the others in terms of its design as a weapon and a defensive tool this thing is definitely under-appreciated but before we get there i want to kind of discuss this concept a little bit about a shield being a defensive weapon it is a weapon okay used primarily for defense but a weapon so now i'm holding one of the more classic round style shields and the first thing that's always good to remember that if you're using a shield you're technically dual wielding okay the idea that not many people dual wielded of course you're usually referring to two primary kind of weapons if it's two swords two axes and everything like that but because a shield can absolutely be used offensively even if it even if it's just defensive it is a dual wielding action because even if you're due wielding swords you can use one sword primarily as defensive tool not even attacking with it of course it's made to excel in the attack and the shield not so much but of course you can now interestingly the primary kind of first attack people default to when they think shields can you know do damage is with like a a slap the shield slap or shove or push and they kind of assume that because you hold the shield you know assumedly front on to get the most defensive advantage but that's not always the case okay another great stance is just like this where you can bring it in and out so you close off your line it gives you more range in terms of the distance or the defensive distance that you can reach and then you have options to open and close this defense it is actually a very very dynamic kind of way of using a shield and that works brilliantly as well and so just using that flat on isn't the only way shields are held because the assumption that if shields are always flat on and this is the main kind of attack you're just slapping him with the flat well this is where people then always assume that the spike should go on the front center of the shield like a spiked shield boss which absolutely they did exist but anyone when they really start to look at the shield they realize there's a far more effective part of the shield that you can strike with and that's not with the flat that's with the edge striking with the edge concentrates the force on a much more smaller surface area which increases your damage potential considerably and because you absolutely can hold the shield like this when you're fighting this is actually a great you know attack offensive move that you can do in conjunction with whatever strike that you're doing so absolutely striking with the edge of the shield is far more advantageous now shield design evolved a little bit and this idea that the edge being a very effective striking position on the shield remain true for instance the kite shield which is in my opinion the greatest of all shields i've never hidden my bias and love for the kite shield i think it's brilliant and i have a i have a video talking about why i think it's the best so i won't go over it again but the car shield has somewhat different geometry and when i've been exploring there you know what i feel are some of the most effective ways that i can use this shield i've always preferred a center grip kite shield and in terms of strap configurations kite shields seem to have the most diverse range of strap configurations which is by the way this is actually a great quality one because it comes with all those rings you've got the cross straps you've got the side straps so you can just move your hand through and then you've got the bottom straps these are going to come in a bit later because they absolutely existed historically and there's a number of ways that you can do it you can weave your arm through the bottom ones and grip it like that to strap it more firmly to your arm but of course you can do it the other way why would you want to do it the other way see when i was starting to experiment i really felt well striking with the edge of the shield works great and having its center grip means you can still open and close you know your defense of the shield but kite shields have a point and so if there's any part on the shield that you'd want to strike with the part that's going to concentrate your force on the smaller surface area is actually the spike which means instead of weaving you know the grip up and holding it like that you would want to weave your hand down through the straps and grab it like this now this is a great defensive you know position in just terms in the rest position but when i want to punch forward look at what i'm punching with now the spike and so this type of strap configuration yes definitely historical with kite shields and you can see one of the big advantages the big offensive adventures with it and so with this mind with this kind of design of shield in mind did anyone actually latch onto it and then actually add a legitimate spike on the edge of a shield that has similar geometry and oh yes they did and now we are coming to it one of the coolest offensive shields i've ever come across that was more prominent than you might think okay it is the spiked pavers or pavers here here is one that i prepared earlier uh look it's rough i made it out of plywood and pvc pipe but interestingly when i'm talking about the spiked conveyors here there are peppas i'm just going to say pappas i know in italian it's pronounced paverse but it makes me awkward and i try and say the plural version of it so that the pavis okay has a couple of different types when people hear pavus they think the shield that belongs in the family of shields that i started this video out with a tower type shield and absolutely it seems like uh the tower typed pavis was that very prominent of course the running theory is that they were preferred by crossbowmen because they could they could put their large pavers down because it had that central kind of ridge or gutter they could it would help it stand freely easier and then they could have full cover while they're reloading a crossbow shoot around it but the thing is pavi came in many sizes some as small as classic heater shields and the design of the pavis encouraged having a spike on the bottom end even the large ones because then you could jam the bottom end into the ground and that would help it stand freely easier but even the smaller ones you will see ones not only with points but dedicated offensive spikes and there are a couple of different designs when you're looking through medieval artwork and the spike pavis i'm holding is of course based off of the design in this artwork uh but it's not the only place where we see this type of spike pavis uh there's also this other artwork where it appears as well and there's probably many more that i just haven't found yet so the question question is uh should this really be a spike pavers because one of the clear differences is that the ridge doesn't run the full length of the shield it's actually got a kind of central ridge opening for your hand it's like a elongated boss okay which is not just providing provision for your fist but for your whole forearm okay bracing the whole thing really well and look at this this is like a serious weapon when you're looking at its defensive capacity and it makes it a more active kind of defense where you can lit a little smaller therefore lighter for one so you can slap aside just like that and you can open up and close your ward and you can hold it like that bring it in where it can rest a bit more and come in for a nice jab because of this deadly spike as well there are a couple of other designs of a spike pavis one that doesn't seem to have any other you know kind of shield defense it's like a spiked bracer or gauntlet that just covers the forearm and then ends in a spike we see it in this artwork right here would it be right to call this one a spike pavis because it doesn't have the ridge running the full length but we do see uh pelvises smaller heavy pedals right that have a ridge that run the full length that end in a spike as well and those are most definitely pavers and they have spikes on them hence spike pavis and so this creates kind of like a family of spiked shields where a spike is extending basically from in the same direction of your forearm it's somewhat similar to a kite shield in terms of its uh geometry just like this but it has that distinct cavity for the forearm and honestly just experimenting with this i think having a cavity that will land the full length of the shield would be more comfortable because as soon as i'm wearing this i've noticed something see this part right here where it comes down into the cavity i'm not sure if you can see that on the shield or this part right here when i stretch my arm out kind of jabs into my arm right there which is rather uncomfortable and it also makes it difficult to fully stretch out my arm if this kind of ridge extended all the way down i could actually fully extend my arm and sink my arm into the shield all the way up to my shoulder which would be way more comfortable and so i think there is some reason why there are you know a full ridge would be quite practical and effective but this we legitimately do see this design in medieval artwork so this is a very accurate in terms of proportions not what it's made out of and stuff and so we're looking at this geometry the the geometry the shape is very accurate to direct medieval references and i think there might be some fiddling to get it to work a little bit better because like honestly if i got rid of that strap and just held it by the handle here that i feel like this gives me more freedom and versatility like it's much easier to bring the shield in now okay because my arm can just come out a little bit let it rest there easier i can bring it up get a bit more defense right there consider further so i don't know this other strap i'm a little not too sure on because i i can control the shield really well in fact i have even more control without that second strap and absolutely you can really do those devastating spike punches without the second strap just on the handle so there's an interesting thought so the spike pavis is a late medieval shield but definitely fits into the metal period and probably also early renaissance as well and when you're thinking of adding a spike-like shield to if you're role-playing if you're writing a book your re-enactment and other things like that and if you're enacting of course you need to be in the right period for it but this shield i reckon she deserves way more love because of how devastatingly effective it is and honestly in terms of spike shield configurations this is by far the most logical intuitive and functional one that i can really think of because remember how i said the most effective way it's always to strike with the edge well this puts a spike on the edge that you would most likely be striking with okay in front of the fist just like that which is awesome so this really turns it into almost like a 50 defense and then also 50 offense because this is a weapon it's not just a passive or even active form of defense so interesting i reckon add it in add it into your role plays campaigns and uh hey maybe even would we ever see something like this in movies because if you wanted to make your hero character a bit fancier and is using your shield it's like yeah you could use a buckler you could use you know by the way interesting in terms of the late medieval period this is a period where shields were quite diverse there's a there's quite a number of interesting shape shields more so than any other point in the medieval period so i actually have a lot of options but i still think the pi spike path is like top tier and so yeah give that to a hero and whoa that is very very awesome so i want to present it to you give it a bit more love and uh let people uh have it in their their mind a bit more when they're thinking of shields so there we go thank you for watching i hope you have enjoyed and of course i hope to see you in the next video on shadowversity so until [Music] then [Music] you

Channel: Shadiversity

Views: 742,055

Keywords: medieval, middle ages, history, historical, hema, historical european martial arts, pavis, shield, spiked shield, knight, knights, sword, swords, kite shield

Id: UdJlIlalxAI

Length: 13min 43sec (823 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 06 2021