1912 Publication of a La Tène Shield

[Sean Manning]

Hi Crispianus,

here are the two types of shield grip as I understand them.



I did not know the debate about how long the 'new grips' were, but it seems like they were longer than the old grips as well as standing above the back of the shield and not being flat to the shield. They are the only type of grip which I know survives from the Viking world.

I think the fittings you talk about in Pedersen's figure 4.10 would be decorations for the ends of the 'new grip' although I am only a curious amateur when it comes to the Viking Age.

[Crispianus]

Hi Crispianus,

  here are the two types of shield grip as I understand them.



  I did not know the debate about how long the 'new grips' were, but it seems like they were longer than the old grips as well as standing above the back of the shield and not being flat to the shield.  I think the fittings you talk about in Pedersen's figure 4.10 would be decorations for the ends of the 'new grip' although I am only a curious amateur when it comes to the Viking Age.

For the sake of argument I'm going to call your first image type1 (inserted grip) and the second image type3 (raised grip)

Type 1 exists at Birka in at least one example tentatively dated to the 8th century (Viking age starts 750AD+) I don’t know of others but haven’t spent the time looking, it could also be earlier.

Type 3 is represented by Gokstad ? and Trelleborg.

So now I'll describe  type 2 (inserted grip with raised reinforcing)

There appear to be at least two types with metal components a short (separate "trilobe" ends) and long (integral "fishtail ends)  version we can call these type 2a and 2b.


According Project Forlag "Lesser known aspects of the Viking shield" "The shield handle from Myklebost" and "Decorated shield from Ness, Norway" there seems to be at least 53? identified remains or associated components, including an end piece from Gokstad (type2b) and 2 examples from Trelleborg with metal handles.

Continued...

[Sean Manning]

In cultures where iron was not very scarce such as La Tene C and Early Anglo-Saxon England, the old grips were often reinforced with a sheet of iron. My shield uses 1.5 mm or so mild steel. The iron sticks above the back of the shield but the underlying wood did not until the introduction of the new grip. On original shield handles, sometimes the iron wraps around the wood at the very center of the shield, but I chose a flat reinforcement because I don't have an anvil and blacksmith's tongs to bend the iron.

Because the iron object from Myklebost is shaped like a trough, I think it would have worked nicely as a reinforcement for the new grip as seen on some medieval bucklers and ancient shields with the old grip. The wood would fit inside and still stick out from the back of the shield for half of more of the diameter of the shield. Because I'm not an expert on the few surviving shield handles from the Viking Age, I'm not sure whether the type reinforced along their length with iron or bronze should be classed differently. It looks like the anonymous Project Forlog post with the typology of metal fittings for handles is https://sagy.vikingove.cz/en/decorated-s...ss-norway/

[Crispianus]

In cultures where iron was not very scarce such as La Tene C and Early Anglo-Saxon England, the old grips were often reinforced with a sheet of iron.  My shield uses 1.5 mm or so mild steel.  The iron sticks above the back of the shield but the underlying wood did not until the introduction of the new grip.  On original shield handles, sometimes the iron wraps around the wood at the very center of the shield, but I chose a flat reinforcement because I don't have an anvil and blacksmith's tongs to bend the iron.

Because the iron object from Myklebost is shaped like a trough, I think it would have worked nicely as a reinforcement for the new grip as seen on some medieval bucklers and ancient shields with the old grip.  The wood would fit inside and still stick out from the back of the shield for half of more of the diameter of the shield.  Because I'm not an expert on the few surviving shield handles from the Viking Age, I'm not sure whether the type reinforced along their length with iron or bronze should be classed differently.  It looks like the anonymous Project Forlog post with the typology of metal fittings for handles is https://sagy.vikingove.cz/en/decorated-s...ss-norway/

Anglo Saxon metal reinforcing on grips are often just flat plate so it isn't necesary to go the whole hog with a "winged" version unless your making a specific replica:

This one is pretty old I made it in the 90s and based on Westgarth Gardens or Moningthorpe ASC examples many of which are quite similar, dia is about 60cm, poplar board 3 planks glued edge to edge 10-6mm thick, calfhide cover about 1.5-2mm stitched to the board round the edge.

               

" I'm not sure whether the type reinforced along their length with iron or bronze should be classed differently"

I would agree... but I'm not trying to do that, only to differentiate between what has gone before and the "new" metal reiforced style grips of the Viking age.

Since the Viking metal D shaped grip reinforcement is 1-1.5cm deep at the grip, there must be something more to it, otherwise it wouldn't be much of a grip.
A wooden component that no longer survives must have been present, extending into the hand hole either as part of it or an additional component, not unlike what has gone before but raised at the back to some degree, in a similar fashion to germanic grips but more so.

By comparison the Illerup shield grips are typically 20-25mm deep in their current state, if the same measurements are used for the Viking reinforced grips then in most cases the wooden component of the grip would extend through the hand hole and beyond the front face of the shield:

   

However the "new" long grip seems to be based on just the short Trellerborg example and possibly one other shield with very long boss rivets from Birka Bj 727, which suggests either a very thick shield or a raised grip.
Gokstad appears to be unreliable as far as this type is concerned, its likely all the grips would have been broken into pieces as the shields were bent over, so the rods acting as grips on the reconstructions are unlikely to be the real thing.
In the recent article on the Gokstad shields the author identifys a grip extension, however the item would if full size be too long by far for any of the size estimates given for the shields at 90-94cm wide, as its 49.7cm long without the grip and second half...
49.7cm + 8cm minimum + 49.7cm = 107.4cm minimum shield diameter since you still have to add some for the rim.