1912 Publication of a La Tène Shield

[Sean Manning]

Part 3 has a translation of the original description of the shields from La Tène and how the thickness varies from centre to edge  I will add a picture when I have time and energy.

" The shields have a short horizontal handgrip reinforced with iron instead of a long vertical handgrip like Viking shields."

In your article you mention a difference in the orientatation of the handgrip, this is not actually the case in terms of construction.

All grips to my knowledge run in the same orientation to the planks as earlier shields, and all appear to have the same inset handgrips with the exception of Gokstad, some with extentions which you might consider as a reinforcement across the plank construction.

This I believe to be true for all early medieval round shields the main difference is in the use oval/oblong vs round shields, Early Anglo Saxon, Frankish, Merovingian, Scandinavian Vendel, Valsgarde or Viking Era.

Humh, I don't have time for a full reply this week but offhand I agree that the grip runs at right angles to the planks (or the center layer of planks) in both the Kasr el Harit shield and the La Tene and Migration Era shields. Round shields don't really have a natural orientation.

Specialists in Viking Age shields such as Roland Warzecha still show handles that span the whole width of the shield. They could be wrong but I'd want it from someone who has studied the finds and published not an anonymous Internet poster. Everyone has their limits and I just don't have bandwidth or the budget to look at the archaeology of the Viking Age in detail.

Two posts on Viking Age shield handles:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/was-hedeby-grip-35302300
https://www.patreon.com/posts/historical-17826635

Warming on the Gokstad shields https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....23.2187199

I have not heard of iron reinforcements for the middle of the handle on Viking Age round shields like on Migration Era round shields. That suggests to me that the wooden part of the handle was stronger and better fastened to the planks of the shield than in the earlier shields.

I don't have either edition of Schmidt's book on bucklers but my understanding is that surviving medieval round bucklers usually have a handle the full width of the shield or pretty close.

What do Travis and Travis think about the Doncaster shield in their books? I would be surprised at a large round centergrip shield of plywood in the first century CE. The big northern round shields seem to have spread with the practice of making shields from one layer of long narrow boards.