The Hoplite's shield was called the "hoplon." In fact, the word hoplite is derived from the word hoplon and could be literally translated "shieldman." The sheild could also be called an "aspis."
There's debate about the word hoplite deriving from hoplon -- it seems more likely that it was the other way around, with hopla originally meaning "arms" in a more general sense and hoplite something like "armed man." Discussed at greater length in The Myth of the Hoplite's Hoplon (1996).
Yes, that might be called a skjoldr in old norse. But skjoldr is not an old norse word for "Round wooden shield with center grip and metal boss". Skjoldr is simply old norse for "shield". Would a viking era scandinav call a kite shield somthing different than "skjoldor"? Probably not, as it is a non-specifik word for shield. Or shold we call old english shields scyld and old germanic shields skelduz? If a certain culture use a specific kind of shield and are known for using that shield, why not just call it [incert culture name here] shield? I mean, for some reason you still said "Roman shield" instead for scutum for some reason. Which is a wierder thing to do as the romans used dozens of different designs while the vikings were only known for one.
The counterpoint is that 'katana' just means sword and I'm sure many other exotic names have similar origins. Still quite hilarious as an Icelander to hear both your pronounciation and you just referring to it as shield.
I think we should call viking shield... a Round shield. It also can't be confused for the buckler, because that is called a buckler. For the Scutum, we can call it a rectangle shield. Because when you refer to it by shape, you know exactly what it is. Viking Shield is also much more clear than Skjoldr, which, if spoken by a Norwegian, will sound like Sholdr. For example, the Norwegian word Skip (meaning Ship), is pronounced like a drawn out version of the English word Ship. And it would have a J, if it wasn't for the spelling rule forbidding a J to be next to an I or a Y. So either call it a round shield, or a viking shield. Skjoldr does nothing to help.
It's like with the word Sombrero, if we say it we mean the big mexican hat. But Sombrero is just the spain word for hat. Nobody speaks this language as mothertongue so we can call it Skjoldr without confusing anyone.
ThegnThrand Thanks mate! It's very much an honor to have you visit and a pleasure to mention you in the vid as you most certainly deserve it with all the great videos you and Eldgrimr make. I can't wait to see what you have in store for the future.
ThegnThrand Mate that would be awesome, you just tell me the time of the hangout and I'm there! Cross over videos would also be sweet, I'd love to do as many as you would like, I mean how could I turn down an opportunity to work with such fine vikings as you and Eldgrimr.
The name Viking shield depends on were you are from. In Scandinavia we use the word Viking with everything from that time...shield, sword, ship, house, and so on and so on. It's because we have a Viking age! Everything found from that time is Viking... .
Jesper Denkvist i didn't say all were vikings. few was... but it is still referred to as the viking age.. not everything in the iron age is made out of iron eighter but we still call it the iron age.
I'm of (partial) English descent. We had pirates. Thus, everything we have is pirate. Pirate swords. Pirate ships. Pirate houses. Pirate tacos. Pirate lasers. Pirate sharks. Pirate cars. Pirate music... Wait, no, not like that! *TheAsvarduilProject has been sued by the RIAA. Sucker.*
+hellavictus Probably ^_^ but I like farther clarification to identify the difference between the round shields like targe, hoplon, and as I suggested, Skjoldr
If we are going by what we know them to have called it (say from poems, sagas, and laws). Then Lind, Lindiskjoldr, Hlif, Skjoldr, and Rond would all be equally correct. If we want to describe it's ethnographic origin and popular usage Icelandic shield (or perhaps Danish shield) would fit best. However one must consider as well, that during the late viking era they mostly switched to continental kite shields.
Someone may have already pointed this out but the Hoplite's shield is called a 'Hoplon' and it is the origin of the name of the warrior type that used it. Cheers.
Using an Old Norse term for this specific type of shield gives the wrong impression that it was only used by Scandinavians when in fact most were carried by the more populous Anglo-Saxons (scyld) and Franks (skilt?). As 'viking' was an occupation rather than a cultural identifier 'Viking Age roundshield' or even 'Germanic roundshield' is more apt.
not sure where everyone is getting this "viking was a verb" "viking was an occupation", "Víkingr" is the noun for a man who goes into Víking, much like a hunter is a man who hunts, and in the accusative grammatical case, "Víkingr" is "Víking".
the shieldboss is actually useful, i have reenacted shieldwalls and often it ends up being a big shoving match were you can practically smell your oponents breath, in that case you might like to smash your boss into their teeth with considerable effect
+Arian Wijkstra he said it didn't have much use, and that was because the thing you describe is a specialized situation and you wouldn't have a dome if that was the only reason for it, it'd just be a spike.
true, however this specialised sithuation is prety mutch how we understand them to have fought most of the time in that era making it a very comon situation, so i expect they were used for it quite commonly as well, and there are shields with more nasty bosses, i believe its called a button? i have heard it suggested that its to catch an oponents blade, but i wouldnt want that thing hitting my skull. primarily using the edge of the shield for bashing suggests single combat at some range, and i doubt this was the common method of attack in a time were the shieldwall was the go to tactic
+Arian Wijkstra I know from personal skill that it is very helpful in single combat as well. If you manage to catch the others shield using your boss then you can control it.
I have found that by placing the ends of the strap off center, ie a few inches off the ends of the grip bar, it is possible to make a loop, pass it through the boss and across the back of the hand... so when the edge of the shield is moved by an incoming blow, by tightening your grip, pressing the hand against the strap, you move the edges of the shield back in line... this is all done while the shield is at arms length, 90 degrees to the arm. They cannot move past the shield to get to you, but you have control over the middle of the fight. It works much better than strapping the shield right at the ends of the grip.
Northmen had multiple shields prior to this one, but this shield was the most commonly used by the Vikings for a reason. It was designed to be used in a Shield Wall. So a Shield Wall Shield would probably be the most correct description, even if it sounds dumb. Also, not only the Northmen used these shields, Saxons and Angles did as well, since they all used the Shield Wall. A round shield is stronger than a shield with straight edges, this is simple physics. The force of an enemy blow is absorbed by a round shield more efficiently than a square or rectangular shield of the same weight and surface. Finally, a round shield is less likely to be damaged than one with a straight edges.
One thing that he didn’t mention was the combination of the center grip and the round shield. The center grip makes the shield a lever. It rotates in the axis that is the handle. If you hit it so that it rotates, you do have and advantage on an attack, which he covered. What’s really interesting about the paint of the shield is that it’s set up in a way to make it difficult to know where to hit the shield so it will tilt. The general solid or geometric patterns commonly used look the same from any rotation. That means that when the enemy is attacking you, it will be more difficult for them to deliver the kind of heavy blow Shad mentions that opens up the shield.
It IS a Viking age shield. That is perfectly fine! So saying viking shield, sword, spear, house, ship is by far the easiest and very sensible. You can go with a Norse or north shield if you like. This sverd and skjoldr wont work. Its hard to explain to an english/american because they (generally) only speak english.
This type of shield was used by pretty much anyone in pretty much everywhere.The Romans had round shields, Franks, Saxons, Berbers, Slavs the list goes on...
One other advantage of the round shield comes to mind - a blow to the rim is equally likely to skip off the edge and not penetrate, no matter what part of the shield is strikes, since it will always be hitting on a smooth curve. This has the added benefit that no strike against it has more leverage than another. If one hit a square shield on a corner, the force of the strike is further away from the hand holding the shield, giving it more leverage against the defender - but a circle means that no position on the edge gives away that advantage to the attacker.
Round shields have the advantage of not forcing you to choose a single grip angle. Various non round shields are found with various grip angles, often even on shields of the same shape. Obviously, different angles suited different uses, but that meant compromise. And that is a compromise you need not worry about with a round shield.
Although I like the idea of calling it skjoldr, calling it “viking shield” lets people easily and quickly know what you mean. And I feel like having a problem with “viking shield” is similar to having a problem with “silent movie;” they’re only called that because they are no longer the norm, but back when they were the regular movies they were just called movies or flicks.
Check out the Bolognese treatises. They talk about the use of the Rotella and Targa (targe/target). There is a heater-like shield, but I cannot recall its name. Blows in this system were received and returned with the edges of the shield. It seems to be used more as an off-hand parrying and riposte (jab with the edge) weapon, rather than just flat blocking (which I'm guessing happens more in formation fighting). The shield turning about its handle to deflect blows with its flat then requires you to step around its radius to strike, which takes a long tempo. An exception I can think of is to feint blocking high and thrusting to the opponent's legs instead of stepping, but that leaves you momentarily blind as your shield blocks the line of sight to your opponent's weapon arm. This is my extrapolation of Roland Warzecha's viking shield video, so he is the better authority to consult on the subject, but just my 2 cents anyway.
From the perspective of this lil danish viking, your pronounciation is spot-on, we just call it "Skjold" without the R at the end. If we had to differentiate between other shield types, we'd call it "Rundskjold" which is literally "Round shield" So yes.
Just some quick information about the boss. Although the boss's primary purpose is to protect the hand, it has a secondary purpose while fighting in a shield wall. I practice full contact heavies fighting in the SCA. My camp is a group of 11th century "Vikings". We fight primarily with round or teardrop shields, all of them with large, steel bosses. Therefore, I have some extremely hands-on and realistic experience fighting with round shields in combat situations on battlefields with up to 2000 fighters. We fight primarily in an interlocked shield wall just how norse, saxon, and norman warriors would have fought. Many engagements end up as two opposing shield walls shoving in to one-another in extremely close quarters combat. This is where the boss's secondary purpose comes into play. It is not used for bashing or hitting. The edge is much more effective in that regard. The boss can be used to control your opponents shield and weapon. When angled correctly, the boss can be used to force your opponent's shield out of position or to trap your opponents weapon with your own.
In Swedish the word for "shield" is "sköld". You will find some people have family names with an older spelling of the word, which is "skjöld". I can't speak for how the old Norse pronounce the word, but we pronounce it like "schöld". The pronunciation of the letter 'Ö' is hard to explain in text, but I usually say that it's like the 'uh' in "Duh!" or like the expression "err..." with less 'r'.
As a norwegian I appreciate the accuracy of the pronounciation, difficult as it is for an english speaker, I don't understand why people are complaining. A useful rule of thumb is that in the nordic languages, J is never pronounced as in words like jam or journey, but instead kinda like the Y in words like young or you. This is a mistake often heard when people mention Mjølnir, the hammer of Thor, but you avoided falling in that trap. Great job, Shad!
I don't take issue with the 'j' pronunciation so much as the 'skj' combo of letters. At least in Svenska that's a "h-wee" or "she" sound rather than "s-key", and from everything I've been able to find, Old Norse would have treated that more differently still as "st-chee"
Hi Shad, quick point from a 1st century Roman/celtic reenactor. Center grip shields can be prevented from rotating on a horizontsl axis in the event of a heavy blow by rotating the handle to be horizontal (either up or down), and bracing them against three points of contact: your hand, your elbow/forearm, and your shoulder. Having used center grip shields quite a lot in full contact fights with live (and sharp, I know, our groups are stupid) steel, it seems unlikely that they would have been suspended only by one's hand away from the body very often during a fight (in fact in only makes a lot of sense when being assailed by penetrating weapons like arrows or spears).
A tower shield was a historical style of shield used by the Greeks during from the Mycenaean period (before the hoplite revolution). The term, tower shield, can be found in the Iliad in reference to the full body shield used by Ajax where it is described as "like a tower" Since ancient Greeks did not have separate words at that time in history to differentiate their different styles of shields, historians often use the homeric term "tower shield" to differentiate Mycenaean full body rectangular shields from the other styles of shields that were also common at the time.
A big feature of a round center gripped shield is that the rotation is intentional because it causes a deflecting block rather than a hard block. I fight SCA heavy with a sword and shield and I can definitely say from experience that your arm will last much longer if you deflect a blow rather than absorbing all of that impact with your shield and into your shoulder. It's simply easier to fight for a long period of time with a center grip shield for that reason.
Good informative video, thanks! There are a few more things to add though...The round shape I think is mostly an engineering demand over any tactical considerations. You state, correctly, that it was clad in raw hide on the front. But just as important was that it had raw hide on the rear side as well! The wooden disk was mostly there to give the shield the correct shape. As you mention the hide shrink (and become hard and stiff) as it dries. If the shield wasn't round the tension would become unevenly distributed over the area, which is bad. If there was only hide on the front the wood would also twist and bend, so covering both sides is mandatory! The build process is: 1. Make the round disk out of thin (up to 10mm) planks glued side by side. 2. Cut out the centre hole. 3. Taper the disk from the centre towards the edge and make small holes around the edge. 3. Cover the disk in raw (wet) hide, one piece per side, and fold the hide over at the edge. 4. Fasten the hides at the edge by stitching with strips of raw hide through the small holes. (Option: Use metal rivets instead of stitching.) 5. When the hide is dry, cut out the centre hole on both sides and trim the hide at the edges. 6. Rivet the boss to the front side and the handle to the rear side of the shield. 7. Apply paint, if desired. The life span of a shield is somewhat hinted by the rules for "Holmgång" (the formalised Viking duel) where each participant was allowed to use no more than three shields. The early roman (~200bc) shields were oval. Only later on were their rectangular shields invented. The kite shield demonstrated is a type developed for use by heavy cavalry, so it's not as good a comparison as the older and longer type shown for example on the Bayeux tapestry.
I think a reason for why the were round is that when overlapped in a shield wall they allowed for the diamond shaped gaps to poke there weapons out of as apposed to a square or rectangular shield which would create larger vertical gaps
If a strike hits an edge of a square the force would rotate the shield and potentially break your wrist. The structural integrity of a circle is far greater than that of a square and the angle at which it can be stricken at is favourable from that perspective. A third good reason for a round shield is the fact that a hit will (again thanks to the angle of a possible strike towards the edge) more often slide off, meaning less force to be absorbed by you (less tiring, less struggle to keep a stance) while the opponent has to then "pull out" more energy from the strike to get his weapon back in position, taking more time and costing more energy. A last and probably minor reason would be that it's way easier to keep track of the orientation of your shield if the distance to the point you hold it at and any outer point of the edge is equal, no need to think about raising your shild a foot higher to protect your head when your hand is at a 45° angle than what you would raise it by if your hand was at 90°. I really can't think of a reason to use a square shield, except that in a static formation it would merge together more effectively with your surrounding allies.
Using "skjoldr" for viking shiled doesn't work as well in Norwegian where the word for shield is "skjold" (we've just dropped the r and started pronouncing "sk" just as "sh" in English) ;)
Historical centergrip shields generally had a distal taper (and most were also slightly curved). The distal taper from the center outwards is essential to the proper weight balancing and handling of the shield. Also, having more mass at the edges, furthest from the grip, would make the shield less maneuverable. You want the shield edges to be as thin as 5 millimeters, ideally.
"viking" shield is a skirmisher shield, it's very close (if not the same) of the parma, a skirmisher shield. Convex shield like scutum, figure of eight, some Persian ones are better in close combat, but you can't carry javelins in the same hand and i think its easier to run with a flat shield than a convex one. in an offensive unit of heavy infantry convex shield like scutum is far more effective because while the with is shorter the convex shape protect you as well on the side and the convex shape make it less "openable" like the Viking shield. This is part of my researches for now
clubinglex And great research it is. The differences you mention between the flat round and convex scutum are why I love the Kite Shield so much as I feel it kind of bridges the gap between the two a little.
If you note my previous post, you can control the edges of the Viking shield by modifying where you attach the strap... normally used just to carry the shield, the strap can be wound through the boss, across the hand and when you grip the shield firmly and press the back of the hand against the strap, the edges of the shield are brought back into control... they can't open you up. By turning the grip horizontal and laying the spear across the edge of the shield, you gain an advantage by bracing the spear against the shield... you move both at the same time, so it's rather like the guard on a sword.
I was taught the circle shape was use or gained favour as it is a shape similar to a sphere, which offers the greatest covering of area with the least amount of material. Thus covers the user well while being fairly simple and easy to make. No need to over complicate things just keep it simple.
I would only add that center grip shield provides much better protection for sword arm if used right. It is becasue if you are preforming an attack, your right hand is always protected by the shield. This could be the reason why early medival and migration period swords have short crossguards.
Gotta disagree here. Neither Old Norse nor modern Scandinavian languages pronounce 'skj' as a "ski" sound. Old Norse treats this sound as "st-chi" and modern Scandinavian languages vary between "she" and "h-wee'" So Old Norse probably sounds close to "st-choll-dur" while a more modern take would be either "she-ol-dur" or "h-wheel-dur"
The round shape better dissipates the force of impact if a blow is delivered to the side of the shield, because the blade would slide along the round edge, whereas with a square shape, the shield would absorb the whole impact, making it a lot more inconvenient for the defender and potentially making them drop their guard more then they would like to.
Also if a shield is square the corners could be used to twist the shield out of your hand which is the easiest way to disarm someone, especially if its a large shield it wouldn't take an immense blow to get enough energy to disarm a person with that size of lever.
Like your Content very much and enjoy all the different formats you do. Me and some friends made some historical authentic shields for a living history event some time ago, timeperiod being around 150 a.d. northern germany and while I am no expert on the viking age, I believe some cultural technologies to be very close. First of: I never heard of rawhide on the front and back of the shield, applied to the whole surface directly on the wood. We used (based on evidence from our time) layers of linen, 6 on the back, 7 on the front. Together with glue that gives an almost hard-plastic surface, light but quite durable, adding MUCH to the overall stability of the shield and preventing splintering. Rawhide for the rim you can get from the local animal food store: There are dog-snacks, that are basically rawhide-rolls ready to be softened and sewn on the shield. You also can order them from the internet of course :) Greetings from germany
The Romans were using rectangular shields due to their approach to fight in tight formations not individually. They will just use to thrust with their Gladiuses, no cuts, and in that situation a round shield won't work.
which is ironic considering that each legionary wasnt that closely packed in, celtic shieldwalls are described, ironically as being twice as dense as your standard roman order of battle
interesting video. when in shields wall the shields show a wave pattern. a natural gap for long swords to thrust u and over and at the same time protect the head and main body. now have you considered the fact that the round shield in shield wall allows the use of spears during the roman period because it creates a open area to thrust while providing protection when all shields are also locked in shield wall. so in theory you have a wall with gaps for thrusting. now the roman shield (scutum) was a ankle to chin shield and designed for a small sword in play. The shields would not be interlocked but would be held in place next to each other in close formation. allowing the short thrusting sword (gladious) to push through the shield gaps. now the man behind with a shield would brace against the first man being pushed back if the enemy push. now when turning around the roman shield was curved so allowed three things. 1 body protection, 2 better deflection like towers are with rocks. 3 you pull the shield right in to the body then rotate in the direction your trained in. thus no problems with facing an on coming attacker. :)
I've fought with a lot of shields but the skjoldr is my favourite. You can fight aggressively and more fluidly when you can let blows slide past your shield and still advance on your opponent. Plus deflecting blows rather than having to brace against them is far less tiring on the arm. Dimicator does some good videos on this shields use
Medievalist... Thank you, Shadiversity, for forever altering the image I get in my head when I hear or see the phrase "get medieval". XD Great video on a great subject! I've always struggled with the name of a round center-grip shield, similar to those used by my ancestors, the Norsemen. Now, I have a (in my opinion, proper) name for it! Yay!
How the title of this video makes me (Swedish person) feel: Imagine being an English person and seeing the title "The English Shield (Scield)" I mean, it's kinda cool that you included the old-timey spelling of the word, but mainly from a linguistic standpoint. Especially with how little the word has changed from skjoldr to modern Swedish sköld. We essentially only darkened the o to ö and dropped the r (and the sk in sköld is a "ch" sound, so I imagine the skj had a similar if obviously not identical pronunciation).
As a norwegian, we pronounce skjold as shol, or as the first part of shoulder. Shoul, but not the actual word for should as in should have. Skjoldr is probably the same with dr at the end. I've never seen that spelling so I guess it was woven out after the languages in scandinavia were refined. It could also just be the danes at it again with additional silent letters.
Seems to me that a couple of advantages to the round shield over a square one that you didn't address are A) reduced weight, and 2) even striking edge. Cutting the corners off a square to make a circle the same width removes a good third or so of the shield surface, and thus a substantial portion of its weight. And, as you demonstrated, this wouldn't reduce the shield's defensive ability in any significant way. Secondly, when you're using the edge to strike an opponent, having that edge be round means that it doesn't matter on what orientation the strike is delivered. Simple geometry means that whatever "edge" makes contact with the target is going to be a perpendicular edge, whereas with a square shield, even the slightest twisting of the shield is going to move that contact edge away from perpendicular to the strike. Unless you strike directly with the corner, any shifting away from that perpendicular impact is going to reduce whatever force is transferred into the target.
You could basically pronounce skjoldr as shoulder, with a silent "e", because in Norway you more often than not say skjold with a silent "k". The "j" is pronounced, at least in my part of Norway, as "ye" (like when you say "yeaaa, I'll be right on it"), but with the "o" after the letter "j", you should pronounce it "yo" because that makes it sound more right. Therefor "Skjoldr" could be said as Syoldr, or shouldr. Or, as I am trying it out right now, shh-old-r . "Shh" as in shushing someone to be quiet, "old" as in "that guy is old", and then add the "r" as a "slang" at the end.... But then again it would sound like "shouldr"... so take your pick on which you want to use.
Ok, so I'm commenting on a VERY old video, one of the oldest on your channel, but I'm hoping you still address questions on these. I've been looking for information on how the Vikings carried their skjoldr when they weren't in battle. I've found a reference or two stating that it was carried over their shoulder with a leather strap, but those references never describe the strap. Was it something that was permanently installed? Unlikely, because then it would get in the way or dangle during combat and this would be a real problem. Did it go between the handle and boss? That seems the most likely, because there wouldn't then need to be any extra attachments... but that also seems like it would be awfully difficult to keep stable on one's back without it constantly falling forward off the shoulder. Any ideas, conjectures, facts?
The Greek name for sheild is ἀσπίς (aspis) and they were Strapped sheilds. The Spartans were not the only ones who used strapped sheilds. Athenians used them too.
The letter ö came from the fact that in the 16th century a little e was put over o, which is derived from German, Skjoldur is probably more than skjoldr
The Greek word for shield is Aspis (modern greek: Aspida) the Hoplite shield is called Hoplon and there is another type of Greek shield the Octo (8) shape shield or Boeotian shield.
Just like how a round shield wouldn't get caught up against other allied shields during a shift in position, it would also be much more difficult for an opponent to deliberately lock it down.
Someone may have already pointed this out, (Notes that video is two years old) er, make that "probably has", but Greek shields, called either a hoplon or aspis, not sure which is more accurate, in fact did have a . . . well, it wasn't a strap, more like a bronze or leather band in the middle that you ran your arm through, then a simple rope that ran all the way round the inner perimeter of the shield, which you could grab hold of.
Close, but no cigar mate. Because here in Denmark skjold (basically what skjoldr turned into, given 1200 years, in our part of Scandinavia) is just any shield. It'd be like calling a heater shield a "shield".
Hatchet! Mallet! Messer! Katana! Gladius! Scutum! Or what they originally meant... Axe! Hammer! Knife! Sword! Sword! Shield! Theres loads more terms like that, also for other stuff than weapons and tools. Using general foreign words for a specific thing is very common practice.
The only sensible name is to use 1 single language. And like plants, trees and animals we use a Latin name. So find a latin name for each! This is getting stupid.
well, ofc the vikings called it skjoldr (sköld in swedish) beacuse that waht it is. they didnt care to make a diffrence between a french chield or their kinds of chields they just called it a skjoldr.
Woulit nåh Because every plant, chimerical, animal and human spices has a "scientific name" to avoid confusion. Homo sapiens - you know what that is; if I said that in another language, you wouldn't know.
going to love your videos the very well done I'm glad you let go some of the comedy used to do that that didn't go so well very informative very well presented very well done thank you.
In SCA naming convention that's a "center mount round" or 36in center mount round" . Though to be fair they are more concerned with how the shield is used vs where it came from
Could we perhaps see a video, or videoS, on the military culture of the eastern Romans? Like the nature of their fortifications, weapons, armour and tactics? Love the content man, bang recommend these vids enough :)
Bjarni Valur That's hilarious but not at all surprising considering me. I think people just need to expect that I'll be making little mistakes, hell, or even big mistakes. Don't worry, I'm happy to own everything I do, both good and bad ^_^ Thanks for pointing that out and thanks for liking.
+piedude898 Ask it on a date and never show up . . . get it, because the axe was stood up, lols. In truth I can only speculate as I haven't done any tests of my own. I would guess an axe would be far more formidable against viking shields because they were generally so thin.
Hey shad, I may be mistaken, and feel free to check against me, but I believe linguistically, the suffix -r in old norse was unpronounced as an identifying character (as in a noun or adjective) and only really represented in written speech. Love the vid either way 👍🏻
About the problem of manoeuverability in turning around for the the tower shield, I think it's not relevant because you can easily just pull it to yourself so it doesn't take any space, since it fits your body's shape, and just turn around without having to lift it. Plus, I also think that there's a problem with such a large round shield in the very issue of manoeuverability, because it can get stuck in a very narrow corridor. If you were to attack a castle you just couldn't use it in the very tight stairs leading to the top of the towers, and seeing how narrow some streets could be at the time, it's not farfetched to think you'd be really disadvantaged. I'm not saying a tower shield is easier to handle, it's not, really, but you can find some situations where you'd just get stuck and unable to use it, because of it's size. It doesn't account for every round shield, but at least for the very large skjoldr.
Good demonstration, Viking combat has alot of standing grapples.. they would typically mess up opponents with sheilds attached to the arm.. as if it were strapped on ..a takedown on the battlefield would be an ending move.
shad as a Norwegian the way we would pronounce this "Skjoldr" it would likely sound like how you read "shold" although the way we pronounce skj wording may have been different in the past
"Skjoldr" (Danish) pronunciation would be as the "d" is silent. In Norwegian however, this becomes (much like "shoulder" in English, without the "d"). Both have the same spelling.
Knowing that shad shares my passion for kite shields, i knew he would say kite shield first when he would say kite shield first, when he gave examples of different shields in the begining of the video. :D
Shad, you completely overlooked something about a square shield in regards to your weapon movement. you simply rotate the shield orientation... move your wrist and the square looks like a diamond. move your sword with it and you now have different lines.
In Norse dialects an "SKJ" would be close(er) to a German "SCH" or English "SH" sound. "Sholdr", in this case. I just had an epiphany; So many of these Norse words ending in an "(i/e)r" suffix... They were nouns based on the verbs they performed. So, Noun-"shield" in English, would translate to "shielder" in Norse: Thing that shields. You can see it through some personal names, too. For instance, "Thorir" means "Thunderer". Person who thunders/person of thunder. Harold Harfagr, Harold of Fairhair. We still have this in English in a lot of places. Grind/Grinder, Hang/Hanger, Swim/Swimmer, Iceland/Icelander. I never associated it back to the Norse, though. COOL!
"You should never call it a Viking shield!" 2 mins later "the Roman shield..." LOL
ha
Legionary shield as I call it.
lol and this one has a set name the Scutum
@@Otto_Von_Beansmarck *scute. You forgot to anglecise It
The Hoplite's shield was called the "hoplon." In fact, the word hoplite is derived from the word hoplon and could be literally translated "shieldman."
The sheild could also be called an "aspis."
Aspis(Greek Ασπίς),was the Shield,as the word,even now days we call The word Shield, Ασπίδα.
There's debate about the word hoplite deriving from hoplon -- it seems more likely that it was the other way around, with hopla originally meaning "arms" in a more general sense and hoplite something like "armed man." Discussed at greater length in The Myth of the Hoplite's Hoplon (1996).
I always forget to appreciate Shad's filming set. Easily one of the best youtube wide.
Filmed in a genuine sauna... giggles
Yes, that might be called a skjoldr in old norse. But skjoldr is not an old norse word for "Round wooden shield with center grip and metal boss". Skjoldr is simply old norse for "shield". Would a viking era scandinav call a kite shield somthing different than "skjoldor"? Probably not, as it is a non-specifik word for shield.
Or shold we call old english shields scyld and old germanic shields skelduz?
If a certain culture use a specific kind of shield and are known for using that shield, why not just call it [incert culture name here] shield? I mean, for some reason you still said "Roman shield" instead for scutum for some reason. Which is a wierder thing to do as the romans used dozens of different designs while the vikings were only known for one.
+mycommandisyourwish I think you have a point here!
The counterpoint is that 'katana' just means sword and I'm sure many other exotic names have similar origins.
Still quite hilarious as an Icelander to hear both your pronounciation and you just referring to it as shield.
I think we should call viking shield... a Round shield.
It also can't be confused for the buckler, because that is called a buckler.
For the Scutum, we can call it a rectangle shield.
Because when you refer to it by shape, you know exactly what it is.
Viking Shield is also much more clear than Skjoldr, which, if spoken by a Norwegian, will sound like Sholdr.
For example, the Norwegian word Skip (meaning Ship), is pronounced like a drawn out version of the English word Ship.
And it would have a J, if it wasn't for the spelling rule forbidding a J to be next to an I or a Y.
So either call it a round shield, or a viking shield. Skjoldr does nothing to help.
It's like with the word Sombrero, if we say it we mean the big mexican hat. But Sombrero is just the spain word for hat. Nobody speaks this language as mothertongue so we can call it Skjoldr without confusing anyone.
+Ekeman91 Yep, Gladius also just means "Sword" in latin.
Nah, let's call it a piece of wood to protect your face
This is Thrand! Great video very much enjoyed and lots of useful information. Keep up the great work Shad!
ThegnThrand Thanks for mentioning us as well mate!
ThegnThrand Thanks mate! It's very much an honor to have you visit and a pleasure to mention you in the vid as you most certainly deserve it with all the great videos you and Eldgrimr make. I can't wait to see what you have in store for the future.
I am Shad
We should do a a live Google hangout or cross over video in the near future :D
ThegnThrand Mate that would be awesome, you just tell me the time of the hangout and I'm there! Cross over videos would also be sweet, I'd love to do as many as you would like, I mean how could I turn down an opportunity to work with such fine vikings as you and Eldgrimr.
I am Shad
Sound great we have just not had very much free time lately and video have been shot in limited time when we do :(
The name Viking shield depends on were you are from. In Scandinavia we use the word Viking with everything from that time...shield, sword, ship, house, and so on and so on. It's because we have a Viking age! Everything found from that time is Viking...
.
But very good video... I enjoyed it..
Jesper Denkvist i didn't say all were vikings. few was... but it is still referred to as the viking age.. not everything in the iron age is made out of iron eighter but we still call it the iron age.
Morten Christensen we *are* viking!
Morten Christensen same here in Iceland
I'm of (partial) English descent. We had pirates. Thus, everything we have is pirate. Pirate swords. Pirate ships. Pirate houses. Pirate tacos. Pirate lasers. Pirate sharks. Pirate cars. Pirate music...
Wait, no, not like that!
*TheAsvarduilProject has been sued by the RIAA. Sucker.*
the "hoplon" is the actual name of the ancient Greek round shield, in fact, the soldier wearing spear + hoplon was called hoplite
but the name of the Hoplon is Aspis
Could we just call it a round shield?? OR a Viking era round shield?
+hellavictus Probably ^_^ but I like farther clarification to identify the difference between the round shields like targe, hoplon, and as I suggested, Skjoldr
Fair enough
+hellavictus or an early mediaeval round shield
If we are going by what we know them to have called it (say from poems, sagas, and laws). Then Lind, Lindiskjoldr, Hlif, Skjoldr, and Rond would all be equally correct. If we want to describe it's ethnographic origin and popular usage Icelandic shield (or perhaps Danish shield) would fit best. However one must consider as well, that during the late viking era they mostly switched to continental kite shields.
And rotella and parma
Someone may have already pointed this out but the Hoplite's shield is called a 'Hoplon' and it is the origin of the name of the warrior type that used it.
Cheers.
ianxv2000 Thanks mate!
Using an Old Norse term for this specific type of shield gives the wrong impression that it was only used by Scandinavians when in fact most were carried by the more populous Anglo-Saxons (scyld) and Franks (skilt?). As 'viking' was an occupation rather than a cultural identifier 'Viking Age roundshield' or even 'Germanic roundshield' is more apt.
not sure where everyone is getting this "viking was a verb" "viking was an occupation", "Víkingr" is the noun for a man who goes into Víking, much like a hunter is a man who hunts, and in the accusative grammatical case, "Víkingr" is "Víking".
the shieldboss is actually useful, i have reenacted shieldwalls and often it ends up being a big shoving match were you can practically smell your oponents breath, in that case you might like to smash your boss into their teeth with considerable effect
+Arian Wijkstra he said it didn't have much use, and that was because the thing you describe is a specialized situation and you wouldn't have a dome if that was the only reason for it, it'd just be a spike.
true, however this specialised sithuation is prety mutch how we understand them to have fought most of the time in that era making it a very comon situation, so i expect they were used for it quite commonly as well, and there are shields with more nasty bosses, i believe its called a button? i have heard it suggested that its to catch an oponents blade, but i wouldnt want that thing hitting my skull. primarily using the edge of the shield for bashing suggests single combat at some range, and i doubt this was the common method of attack in a time were the shieldwall was the go to tactic
+Arian Wijkstra I know from personal skill that it is very helpful in single combat as well. If you manage to catch the others shield using your boss then you can control it.
I have found that by placing the ends of the strap off center, ie a few inches off the ends of the grip bar, it is possible to make a loop, pass it through the boss and across the back of the hand... so when the edge of the shield is moved by an incoming blow, by tightening your grip, pressing the hand against the strap, you move the edges of the shield back in line... this is all done while the shield is at arms length, 90 degrees to the arm. They cannot move past the shield to get to you, but you have control over the middle of the fight. It works much better than strapping the shield right at the ends of the grip.
The boss is to keep spears and arrows from amputating your fingers...
Vikings didn't even need shields; Their skin was inches thick and stronger than steel.
Northmen had multiple shields prior to this one, but this shield was the most commonly used by the Vikings for a reason. It was designed to be used in a Shield Wall. So a Shield Wall Shield would probably be the most correct description, even if it sounds dumb. Also, not only the Northmen used these shields, Saxons and Angles did as well, since they all used the Shield Wall.
A round shield is stronger than a shield with straight edges, this is simple physics. The force of an enemy blow is absorbed by a round shield more efficiently than a square or rectangular shield of the same weight and surface. Finally, a round shield is less likely to be damaged than one with a straight edges.
One thing that he didn’t mention was the combination of the center grip and the round shield. The center grip makes the shield a lever. It rotates in the axis that is the handle. If you hit it so that it rotates, you do have and advantage on an attack, which he covered. What’s really interesting about the paint of the shield is that it’s set up in a way to make it difficult to know where to hit the shield so it will tilt. The general solid or geometric patterns commonly used look the same from any rotation. That means that when the enemy is attacking you, it will be more difficult for them to deliver the kind of heavy blow Shad mentions that opens up the shield.
It IS a Viking age shield. That is perfectly fine! So saying viking shield, sword, spear, house, ship is by far the easiest and very sensible.
You can go with a Norse or north shield if you like.
This sverd and skjoldr wont work. Its hard to explain to an english/american because they (generally) only speak english.
even that doesnt work because it was used in england, by the franks and other areas
+elgostine the Franks wherent in England at this time the Saxon where
h...wh... HOW did you interperet THAt Angrygerman1930
What do you mean?
This type of shield was used by pretty much anyone in pretty much everywhere.The Romans had round shields, Franks, Saxons, Berbers, Slavs the list goes on...
One other advantage of the round shield comes to mind - a blow to the rim is equally likely to skip off the edge and not penetrate, no matter what part of the shield is strikes, since it will always be hitting on a smooth curve. This has the added benefit that no strike against it has more leverage than another. If one hit a square shield on a corner, the force of the strike is further away from the hand holding the shield, giving it more leverage against the defender - but a circle means that no position on the edge gives away that advantage to the attacker.
19:04 Heater shield, mate.
Great point about shield walls with center grip shields. Hadn't occurred to me!
Keep up the great work.
Round shields have the advantage of not forcing you to choose a single grip angle. Various non round shields are found with various grip angles, often even on shields of the same shape. Obviously, different angles suited different uses, but that meant compromise. And that is a compromise you need not worry about with a round shield.
Although I like the idea of calling it skjoldr, calling it “viking shield” lets people easily and quickly know what you mean. And I feel like having a problem with “viking shield” is similar to having a problem with “silent movie;” they’re only called that because they are no longer the norm, but back when they were the regular movies they were just called movies or flicks.
Skjoldr is shall be from now on. It sounds awesome.
Everything scandinavian sounds cool.
Excellent video, BIG THUMBS UP!
Check out the Bolognese treatises. They talk about the use of the Rotella and Targa (targe/target). There is a heater-like shield, but I cannot recall its name. Blows in this system were received and returned with the edges of the shield. It seems to be used more as an off-hand parrying and riposte (jab with the edge) weapon, rather than just flat blocking (which I'm guessing happens more in formation fighting). The shield turning about its handle to deflect blows with its flat then requires you to step around its radius to strike, which takes a long tempo. An exception I can think of is to feint blocking high and thrusting to the opponent's legs instead of stepping, but that leaves you momentarily blind as your shield blocks the line of sight to your opponent's weapon arm. This is my extrapolation of Roland Warzecha's viking shield video, so he is the better authority to consult on the subject, but just my 2 cents anyway.
From the perspective of this lil danish viking, your pronounciation is spot-on, we just call it "Skjold" without the R at the end. If we had to differentiate between other shield types, we'd call it "Rundskjold" which is literally "Round shield" So yes.
Just some quick information about the boss. Although the boss's primary purpose is to protect the hand, it has a secondary purpose while fighting in a shield wall. I practice full contact heavies fighting in the SCA. My camp is a group of 11th century "Vikings". We fight primarily with round or teardrop shields, all of them with large, steel bosses. Therefore, I have some extremely hands-on and realistic experience fighting with round shields in combat situations on battlefields with up to 2000 fighters. We fight primarily in an interlocked shield wall just how norse, saxon, and norman warriors would have fought. Many engagements end up as two opposing shield walls shoving in to one-another in extremely close quarters combat. This is where the boss's secondary purpose comes into play. It is not used for bashing or hitting. The edge is much more effective in that regard. The boss can be used to control your opponents shield and weapon. When angled correctly, the boss can be used to force your opponent's shield out of position or to trap your opponents weapon with your own.
In Swedish the word for "shield" is "sköld". You will find some people have family names with an older spelling of the word, which is "skjöld". I can't speak for how the old Norse pronounce the word, but we pronounce it like "schöld". The pronunciation of the letter 'Ö' is hard to explain in text, but I usually say that it's like the 'uh' in "Duh!" or like the expression "err..." with less 'r'.
As a norwegian I appreciate the accuracy of the pronounciation, difficult as it is for an english speaker, I don't understand why people are complaining. A useful rule of thumb is that in the nordic languages, J is never pronounced as in words like jam or journey, but instead kinda like the Y in words like young or you. This is a mistake often heard when people mention Mjølnir, the hammer of Thor, but you avoided falling in that trap. Great job, Shad!
I don't take issue with the 'j' pronunciation so much as the 'skj' combo of letters. At least in Svenska that's a "h-wee" or "she" sound rather than "s-key", and from everything I've been able to find, Old Norse would have treated that more differently still as "st-chee"
Hi Shad, quick point from a 1st century Roman/celtic reenactor. Center grip shields can be prevented from rotating on a horizontsl axis in the event of a heavy blow by rotating the handle to be horizontal (either up or down), and bracing them against three points of contact: your hand, your elbow/forearm, and your shoulder. Having used center grip shields quite a lot in full contact fights with live (and sharp, I know, our groups are stupid) steel, it seems unlikely that they would have been suspended only by one's hand away from the body very often during a fight (in fact in only makes a lot of sense when being assailed by penetrating weapons like arrows or spears).
Edit: I've never used a skjoldr so my experience is limited to Celtic oval shields and Roman scutum
A tower shield was a historical style of shield used by the Greeks during from the Mycenaean period (before the hoplite revolution). The term, tower shield, can be found in the Iliad in reference to the full body shield used by Ajax where it is described as "like a tower" Since ancient Greeks did not have separate words at that time in history to differentiate their different styles of shields, historians often use the homeric term "tower shield" to differentiate Mycenaean full body rectangular shields from the other styles of shields that were also common at the time.
A big feature of a round center gripped shield is that the rotation is intentional because it causes a deflecting block rather than a hard block. I fight SCA heavy with a sword and shield and I can definitely say from experience that your arm will last much longer if you deflect a blow rather than absorbing all of that impact with your shield and into your shoulder. It's simply easier to fight for a long period of time with a center grip shield for that reason.
And because Norwegians, Danishes and Islanders are just a more 'retarded', so to say, version of Sweds they still call it skjold.
Good informative video, thanks! There are a few more things to add though...The round shape I think is mostly an engineering demand over any tactical considerations. You state, correctly, that it was clad in raw hide on the front. But just as important was that it had raw hide on the rear side as well! The wooden disk was mostly there to give the shield the correct shape. As you mention the hide shrink (and become hard and stiff) as it dries. If the shield wasn't round the tension would become unevenly distributed over the area, which is bad. If there was only hide on the front the wood would also twist and bend, so covering both sides is mandatory! The build process is: 1. Make the round disk out of thin (up to 10mm) planks glued side by side. 2. Cut out the centre hole. 3. Taper the disk from the centre towards the edge and make small holes around the edge. 3. Cover the disk in raw (wet) hide, one piece per side, and fold the hide over at the edge. 4. Fasten the hides at the edge by stitching with strips of raw hide through the small holes. (Option: Use metal rivets instead of stitching.) 5. When the hide is dry, cut out the centre hole on both sides and trim the hide at the edges. 6. Rivet the boss to the front side and the handle to the rear side of the shield. 7. Apply paint, if desired. The life span of a shield is somewhat hinted by the rules for "Holmgång" (the formalised Viking duel) where each participant was allowed to use no more than three shields. The early roman (~200bc) shields were oval. Only later on were their rectangular shields invented. The kite shield demonstrated is a type developed for use by heavy cavalry, so it's not as good a comparison as the older and longer type shown for example on the Bayeux tapestry.
7:43 that's a really nice shot very aesthetically pleasing good cinematography 😊
I think a reason for why the were round is that when overlapped in a shield wall they allowed for the diamond shaped gaps to poke there weapons out of as apposed to a square or rectangular shield which would create larger vertical gaps
If a strike hits an edge of a square the force would rotate the shield and potentially break your wrist.
The structural integrity of a circle is far greater than that of a square and the angle at which it can be stricken at is favourable from that perspective.
A third good reason for a round shield is the fact that a hit will (again thanks to the angle of a possible strike towards the edge) more often slide off, meaning less force to be absorbed by you (less tiring, less struggle to keep a stance) while the opponent has to then "pull out" more energy from the strike to get his weapon back in position, taking more time and costing more energy.
A last and probably minor reason would be that it's way easier to keep track of the orientation of your shield if the distance to the point you hold it at and any outer point of the edge is equal, no need to think about raising your shild a foot higher to protect your head when your hand is at a 45° angle than what you would raise it by if your hand was at 90°.
I really can't think of a reason to use a square shield, except that in a static formation it would merge together more effectively with your surrounding allies.
Using "skjoldr" for viking shiled doesn't work as well in Norwegian where the word for shield is "skjold" (we've just dropped the r and started pronouncing "sk" just as "sh" in English) ;)
Denmark we say skjold
most of the old norse words with 'r' in the end are the same as modern scandinavian, except for the 'r', we do that in danish too :D
Doesn't work in icelandic either. We just add a "u" and pronounce it the same. Skjoldur
So is it Sholder or Skyolder?
Good thing he’s not speaking Norwegian
Historical centergrip shields generally had a distal taper (and most were also slightly curved). The distal taper from the center outwards is essential to the proper weight balancing and handling of the shield.
Also, having more mass at the edges, furthest from the grip, would make the shield less maneuverable. You want the shield edges to be as thin as 5 millimeters, ideally.
"viking" shield is a skirmisher shield, it's very close (if not the same) of the parma, a skirmisher shield.
Convex shield like scutum, figure of eight, some Persian ones are better in close combat, but you can't carry javelins in the same hand and i think its easier to run with a flat shield than a convex one.
in an offensive unit of heavy infantry convex shield like scutum is far more effective because while the with is shorter the convex shape protect you as well on the side and the convex shape make it less "openable" like the Viking shield. This is part of my researches for now
clubinglex And great research it is. The differences you mention between the flat round and convex scutum are why I love the Kite Shield so much as I feel it kind of bridges the gap between the two a little.
If you note my previous post, you can control the edges of the Viking shield by modifying where you attach the strap... normally used just to carry the shield, the strap can be wound through the boss, across the hand and when you grip the shield firmly and press the back of the hand against the strap, the edges of the shield are brought back into control... they can't open you up. By turning the grip horizontal and laying the spear across the edge of the shield, you gain an advantage by bracing the spear against the shield... you move both at the same time, so it's rather like the guard on a sword.
I was taught the circle shape was use or gained favour as it is a shape similar to a sphere, which offers the greatest covering of area with the least amount of material. Thus covers the user well while being fairly simple and easy to make. No need to over complicate things just keep it simple.
I would only add that center grip shield provides much better protection for sword arm if used right. It is becasue if you are preforming an attack, your right hand is always protected by the shield. This could be the reason why early medival and migration period swords have short crossguards.
Love the cannel, please hace a square shield when explaining it.
Yeah...i was thinking the same. Would have been interesting if he had the square shield there just for the purpose of demonstration.
Thank you for your point I learned a lot .
Your pronunciation was on point! Also I loved the video it was super awesome! I never get bored when I watch your videos.
-Daniel
AWESOME! I got the pronunciation right this time. Great to hear from you again mate and I'm thrilled you liked.
Gotta disagree here.
Neither Old Norse nor modern Scandinavian languages pronounce 'skj' as a "ski" sound.
Old Norse treats this sound as "st-chi" and modern Scandinavian languages vary between "she" and "h-wee'"
So Old Norse probably sounds close to "st-choll-dur" while a more modern take would be either "she-ol-dur" or "h-wheel-dur"
Your swedish pronounciations are quite extraordinary.
I congratulate you.
Ornen 127 it’s not Swedish though it’s close
The round shape better dissipates the force of impact if a blow is delivered to the side of the shield, because the blade would slide along the round edge, whereas with a square shape, the shield would absorb the whole impact, making it a lot more inconvenient for the defender and potentially making them drop their guard more then they would like to.
Also if a shield is square the corners could be used to twist the shield out of your hand which is the easiest way to disarm someone, especially if its a large shield it wouldn't take an immense blow to get enough energy to disarm a person with that size of lever.
Like your Content very much and enjoy all the different formats you do.
Me and some friends made some historical authentic shields for a living history event some time ago, timeperiod being around 150 a.d. northern germany and while I am no expert on the viking age, I believe some cultural technologies to be very close.
First of: I never heard of rawhide on the front and back of the shield, applied to the whole surface directly on the wood. We used (based on evidence from our time) layers of linen, 6 on the back, 7 on the front. Together with glue that gives an almost hard-plastic surface, light but quite durable, adding MUCH to the overall stability of the shield and preventing splintering.
Rawhide for the rim you can get from the local animal food store: There are dog-snacks, that are basically rawhide-rolls ready to be softened and sewn on the shield. You also can order them from the internet of course :)
Greetings from germany
Shad, if U see this, would U consider talking about other shield types? Like from Biblical and/or Egyptian times?
The Romans were using rectangular shields due to their approach to fight in tight formations not individually. They will just use to thrust with their Gladiuses, no cuts, and in that situation a round shield won't work.
which is ironic considering that each legionary wasnt that closely packed in, celtic shieldwalls are described, ironically as being twice as dense as your standard roman order of battle
I am sure someone may have said this but the Greek shield was the hoplon
As always, a great video. Glad I could find your channel, mr. Shad
interesting video. when in shields wall the shields show a wave pattern. a natural gap for long swords to thrust u and over and at the same time protect the head and main body. now have you considered the fact that the round shield in shield wall allows the use of spears during the roman period because it creates a open area to thrust while providing protection when all shields are also locked in shield wall.
so in theory you have a wall with gaps for thrusting.
now the roman shield (scutum) was a ankle to chin shield and designed for a small sword in play. The shields would not be interlocked but would be held in place next to each other in close formation. allowing the short thrusting sword (gladious) to push through the shield gaps. now the man behind with a shield would brace against the first man being pushed back if the enemy push.
now when turning around the roman shield was curved so allowed three things. 1 body protection, 2 better deflection like towers are with rocks. 3 you pull the shield right in to the body then rotate in the direction your trained in. thus no problems with facing an on coming attacker.
:)
I’m gonna be that one guy who thinks the circle shield design came about due to trees being circular.
I re-watched this and its still an informative video. Thanks for solid information well presented.
A round shield also can conceal which direction the shieldstrike is pointed, assuming you do not reveal it with the painting scheme.
Another amazing video that is well thought out and presented in a easily understood format.
Bless your life and family ad infinitum
I've fought with a lot of shields but the skjoldr is my favourite.
You can fight aggressively and more fluidly when you can let blows slide past your shield and still advance on your opponent.
Plus deflecting blows rather than having to brace against them is far less tiring on the arm.
Dimicator does some good videos on this shields use
0:30 I find it quite interesting you call it a viking shield, I have always heard it referred to as a round shield, never a viking shield
Skjoldrs also varied in size because not all armies were able to provide standardized equipment
My proffered shield was the large kite shield. Rounded top allowed for attack angles but the long lower part protected the lower leg.
The round shield used by ancient Greek hoplites was called a hoplon.
Medievalist...
Thank you, Shadiversity, for forever altering the image I get in my head when I hear or see the phrase "get medieval". XD
Great video on a great subject!
I've always struggled with the name of a round center-grip shield, similar to those used by my ancestors, the Norsemen.
Now, I have a (in my opinion, proper) name for it! Yay!
How the title of this video makes me (Swedish person) feel:
Imagine being an English person and seeing the title "The English Shield (Scield)"
I mean, it's kinda cool that you included the old-timey spelling of the word, but mainly from a linguistic standpoint.
Especially with how little the word has changed from skjoldr to modern Swedish sköld. We essentially only darkened the o to ö and dropped the r (and the sk in sköld is a "ch" sound, so I imagine the skj had a similar if obviously not identical pronunciation).
As a norwegian, we pronounce skjold as shol, or as the first part of shoulder. Shoul, but not the actual word for should as in should have. Skjoldr is probably the same with dr at the end. I've never seen that spelling so I guess it was woven out after the languages in scandinavia were refined. It could also just be the danes at it again with additional silent letters.
Round shields has awesome balance, and the easiest to maneuver, plus vision, so it's great for duels.
I am currently make a Danish inspired shield from the Viking Age. For decoration I painted the image that was found on the Danish Mask Stone.
Seems to me that a couple of advantages to the round shield over a square one that you didn't address are A) reduced weight, and 2) even striking edge. Cutting the corners off a square to make a circle the same width removes a good third or so of the shield surface, and thus a substantial portion of its weight. And, as you demonstrated, this wouldn't reduce the shield's defensive ability in any significant way. Secondly, when you're using the edge to strike an opponent, having that edge be round means that it doesn't matter on what orientation the strike is delivered. Simple geometry means that whatever "edge" makes contact with the target is going to be a perpendicular edge, whereas with a square shield, even the slightest twisting of the shield is going to move that contact edge away from perpendicular to the strike. Unless you strike directly with the corner, any shifting away from that perpendicular impact is going to reduce whatever force is transferred into the target.
You could basically pronounce skjoldr as shoulder, with a silent "e", because in Norway you more often than not say skjold with a silent "k".
The "j" is pronounced, at least in my part of Norway, as "ye" (like when you say "yeaaa, I'll be right on it"), but with the "o" after the letter "j", you should pronounce it "yo" because that makes it sound more right.
Therefor "Skjoldr" could be said as Syoldr, or shouldr.
Or, as I am trying it out right now, shh-old-r . "Shh" as in shushing someone to be quiet, "old" as in "that guy is old", and then add the "r" as a "slang" at the end....
But then again it would sound like "shouldr"... so take your pick on which you want to use.
Hah! I've just subscribed for ThegnThrand just 10 minutes before watching this video! :)))
Good video! Liked it.
Ok, so I'm commenting on a VERY old video, one of the oldest on your channel, but I'm hoping you still address questions on these.
I've been looking for information on how the Vikings carried their skjoldr when they weren't in battle. I've found a reference or two stating that it was carried over their shoulder with a leather strap, but those references never describe the strap. Was it something that was permanently installed? Unlikely, because then it would get in the way or dangle during combat and this would be a real problem. Did it go between the handle and boss? That seems the most likely, because there wouldn't then need to be any extra attachments... but that also seems like it would be awfully difficult to keep stable on one's back without it constantly falling forward off the shoulder.
Any ideas, conjectures, facts?
The Greek name for sheild is ἀσπίς (aspis) and they were Strapped sheilds. The Spartans were not the only ones who used strapped sheilds. Athenians used them too.
The letter ö came from the fact that in the 16th century a little e was put over o, which is derived from German, Skjoldur is probably more than skjoldr
The Greek word for shield is Aspis (modern greek: Aspida) the Hoplite shield is called Hoplon and there is another type of Greek shield the Octo (8) shape shield or Boeotian shield.
Just like how a round shield wouldn't get caught up against other allied shields during a shift in position, it would also be much more difficult for an opponent to deliberately lock it down.
Someone may have already pointed this out, (Notes that video is two years old) er, make that "probably has", but Greek shields, called either a hoplon or aspis, not sure which is more accurate, in fact did have a . . . well, it wasn't a strap, more like a bronze or leather band in the middle that you ran your arm through, then a simple rope that ran all the way round the inner perimeter of the shield, which you could grab hold of.
Great video mate! had lot's of fun listening to this, i love your videos it always puts me in a medieval mood :)
It says in the Icelandic Saga that the Norwegians were able to beat Herald do to the fact they had a thicker shield.
I used to mock this guy. But he actually makes good videos tbh. I learned abit from him every now and then. Imma subscribe now
You can drop the r at the end of skjoldr when using it in a sentence. The Skjoldr is like saying the a shield.
Close, but no cigar mate.
Because here in Denmark skjold (basically what skjoldr turned into, given 1200 years, in our part of Scandinavia) is just any shield.
It'd be like calling a heater shield a "shield".
Hatchet! Mallet! Messer! Katana! Gladius! Scutum!
Or what they originally meant...
Axe! Hammer! Knife! Sword! Sword! Shield!
Theres loads more terms like that, also for other stuff than weapons and tools. Using general foreign words for a specific thing is very common practice.
The only sensible name is to use 1 single language. And like plants, trees and animals we use a Latin name.
So find a latin name for each!
This is getting stupid.
well, ofc the vikings called it skjoldr (sköld in swedish) beacuse that waht it is. they didnt care to make a diffrence between a french chield or their kinds of chields they just called it a skjoldr.
why is it more sensible to use a foreign languge? the objekt is from a place where latin isnt spoken, therfore the name of it should not be in latin
Woulit nåh
Because every plant, chimerical, animal and human spices has a "scientific name" to avoid confusion. Homo sapiens - you know what that is; if I said that in another language, you wouldn't know.
going to love your videos the very well done I'm glad you let go some of the comedy used to do that that didn't go so well very informative very well presented very well done thank you.
In SCA naming convention that's a "center mount round" or 36in center mount round" . Though to be fair they are more concerned with how the shield is used vs where it came from
Could we perhaps see a video, or videoS, on the military culture of the eastern Romans? Like the nature of their fortifications, weapons, armour and tactics? Love the content man, bang recommend these vids enough :)
I love how you got the pronunciation right but the spelling wrong, it's sjöldr, the Ö is important.
wonderful vid btw
Bjarni Valur That's hilarious but not at all surprising considering me. I think people just need to expect that I'll be making little mistakes, hell, or even big mistakes. Don't worry, I'm happy to own everything I do, both good and bad ^_^
Thanks for pointing that out and thanks for liking.
+I am Shad How does a Viking shield stand up to a two handed axe?
+piedude898 Ask it on a date and never show up . . . get it, because the axe was stood up, lols. In truth I can only speculate as I haven't done any tests of my own. I would guess an axe would be far more formidable against viking shields because they were generally so thin.
+piedude898 skallagirm have tested that ! search shield destruction on his channel!
Hey shad, I may be mistaken, and feel free to check against me, but I believe linguistically, the suffix -r in old norse was unpronounced as an identifying character (as in a noun or adjective) and only really represented in written speech. Love the vid either way 👍🏻
Circles are better for cutting, rectangles are better for stabbing. Axe and skjoldr, spear and scutum, sword works well with either.
Rectangular or square like shield works well in a shield wall with disciplined forces only.
About the problem of manoeuverability in turning around for the the tower shield, I think it's not relevant because you can easily just pull it to yourself so it doesn't take any space, since it fits your body's shape, and just turn around without having to lift it.
Plus, I also think that there's a problem with such a large round shield in the very issue of manoeuverability, because it can get stuck in a very narrow corridor. If you were to attack a castle you just couldn't use it in the very tight stairs leading to the top of the towers, and seeing how narrow some streets could be at the time, it's not farfetched to think you'd be really disadvantaged.
I'm not saying a tower shield is easier to handle, it's not, really, but you can find some situations where you'd just get stuck and unable to use it, because of it's size. It doesn't account for every round shield, but at least for the very large skjoldr.
Good demonstration, Viking combat has alot of standing grapples.. they would typically mess up opponents with sheilds attached to the arm.. as if it were strapped on ..a takedown on the battlefield would be an ending move.
Pronunciation is spot on.
shad as a Norwegian the way we would pronounce this "Skjoldr" it would likely sound like how you read "shold" although the way we pronounce skj wording may have been different in the past
Did you make that chair it gave me an idea im gonna make me a set like that nice video
shadi, what shield do you think would best compliment a spear, and what kind of handle would you prefer with it?:)
How do you feel today with the wall Shield information?
the way he prenounces skjoldr makes my eyes roll
"Skjoldr" (Danish) pronunciation would be as the "d" is silent. In Norwegian however, this becomes (much like "shoulder" in English, without the "d"). Both have the same spelling.
Knowing that shad shares my passion for kite shields, i knew he would say kite shield first when he would say kite shield first, when he gave examples of different shields in the begining of the video. :D
the greek shield is called hoplon (pronounced Oplon)
Shad, you completely overlooked something about a square shield in regards to your weapon movement. you simply rotate the shield orientation... move your wrist and the square looks like a diamond. move your sword with it and you now have different lines.
Could you do a video on how being left-handed would affect one's fighting style?
It wouldn't. You would learn to fight shield in left weapon in right. Especially if part of a unit.
@@graemeo3440 i disagree. left handed fighters were very valued, like switch-hitters in baseball.
In Norse dialects an "SKJ" would be close(er) to a German "SCH" or English "SH" sound. "Sholdr", in this case.
I just had an epiphany; So many of these Norse words ending in an "(i/e)r" suffix... They were nouns based on the verbs they performed. So, Noun-"shield" in English, would translate to "shielder" in Norse: Thing that shields. You can see it through some personal names, too. For instance, "Thorir" means "Thunderer". Person who thunders/person of thunder. Harold Harfagr, Harold of Fairhair. We still have this in English in a lot of places. Grind/Grinder, Hang/Hanger, Swim/Swimmer, Iceland/Icelander. I never associated it back to the Norse, though. COOL!