Medieval Shield Red Calatravos Cross

A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace, battle axe.

Shields vary greatly in size and in thickness ranging from large panels that protect the user's whole body to small models that were intended for hand-to-hand-combat use.

In prehistory and during the era of the earliest civilizations, shields were made of wood, animal hide, woven reeds or wicker

In the Middle Ages, timber, leather or rawhide and often reinforced with a metal boss, rim or banding. 

They were carried by foot soldiers, knights and cavalry.

Shields could be round, oval, square, rectangular, triangular, bilobal.

The shield was held by a central grip or by straps that went over or around the user's arm.

Often shields were decorated with a painted pattern or an animal representation to show their army or clan. These designs developed into systematized heraldic devices during the High Middle Ages for purposes of battlefield identification.

Medieval shield, Swiss style with three points on the head and finish point at the bottom. It is decorated with the Cross of Calatrava Order, a Greek cross of gules, with his arms in the shape of lilies.

High Quality Shield of the Exclusive Collection “Historic Shields” made by MARTO

Certificate of Origin and Quality. Made in Toledo, Spain.