"You should never call it a Viking shield!" 2 mins later "the Roman shield..." LOL

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."

I always forget to appreciate Shad's filming set. Easily one of the best youtube wide.

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.

This is Thrand! Great video very much enjoyed and lots of useful information. Keep up the great work Shad!

Could we just call it a round shield?? OR a Viking era round shield?

Nah, let's call it a piece of wood to protect your face

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... .

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.

the "hoplon" is the actual name of the ancient Greek round shield, in fact, the soldier wearing spear + hoplon was called hoplite

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

Excellent video, BIG THUMBS UP!

Vikings didn't even need shields; Their skin was inches thick and stronger than steel.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Love the cannel, please hace a square shield when explaining it.

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'.

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.

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.

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) ;)

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).

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.

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 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.

7:43 that's a really nice shot very aesthetically pleasing good cinematography 😊

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.

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.

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.

Skjoldr is shall be from now on. It sounds awesome.

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.

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. :)

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.

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.

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.

I am sure someone may have said this but the Greek shield was the hoplon

My proffered shield was the large kite shield. Rounded top allowed for attack angles but the long lower part protected the lower leg.

Shad, if U see this, would U consider talking about other shield types? Like from Biblical and/or Egyptian times?

"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

A round shield also can conceal which direction the shieldstrike is pointed, assuming you do not reveal it with the painting scheme.

Thank you for your point I learned a lot .

The round shield used by ancient Greek hoplites was called a hoplon.

Skjoldrs also varied in size because not all armies were able to provide standardized equipment

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!

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".

Your pronunciation was on point! Also I loved the video it was super awesome! I never get bored when I watch your videos. -Daniel

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.

You can drop the r at the end of skjoldr when using it in a sentence. The Skjoldr is like saying the a shield.

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 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

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.

Rectangular or square like shield works well in a shield wall with disciplined forces only.

It says in the Icelandic Saga that the Norwegians were able to beat Herald do to the fact they had a thicker shield.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Another amazing video that is well thought out and presented in a easily understood format. Bless your life and family ad infinitum

Your swedish pronounciations are quite extraordinary. I congratulate you.

I re-watched this and its still an informative video. Thanks for solid information well presented.

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.

Pronunciation is spot on.

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.

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

Round shields has awesome balance, and the easiest to maneuver, plus vision, so it's great for duels.

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.

forgot to mention that geometrically a circle is the most efficient use of surface area per material

I’m gonna be that one guy who thinks the circle shield design came about due to trees being circular.

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.

Circles are better for cutting, rectangles are better for stabbing. Axe and skjoldr, spear and scutum, sword works well with either.

the greek shield is called hoplon (pronounced Oplon)

The name of a hoplite's shield was 'hoplite' they were named after it (as far as I know)

My favorite part is the bowl that he bought from K-Mart. Sadly, they're almost all gone now.

I have an argument to make regarding the square shields, but I will save it for later.

I think it is spelled correctly but is pronounced like "Shyoldr" because i know that is how the sk sound is in Norwegian like in the word for turtle, Skilpadde (i think) it's pronounced like an sh sound and sounds a lot like "shield pad" in English.

Could you do a video on how being left-handed would affect one's fighting style?

it would be problematic here in Sweden it sounds like te word we use for shield alredy. Skjoldr is in swedish Sköld or in plural form Sköldar. in Norwigian it even worse skjold

As always, a great video. Glad I could find your channel, mr. Shad

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

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).

"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.

A Greek Hoplite gets its name from his shield, the Hoplon (because you were wondering hope it helps)

I love how you got the pronunciation right but the spelling wrong, it's sjöldr, the Ö is important. wonderful vid btw

Great video mate! had lot's of fun listening to this, i love your videos it always puts me in a medieval mood :)

I thought that was called "a round shield" ? Also, "hop-lites" are named after the shield they wear, the "hop-lon" or in makeshift English, hoplonites. (At least thats what rome total war said) On a side note, did anyone else find it amusing that the boards in the chair seem to almost line up with the boards on the wall? XD

Square shields might not impede the roman fighting as much as the Gladius was so short and favored thrusting anyway? An idea that came to mind while watching

rectangular shields are better when facing arrow fire as the roman legions gor shoulder to shoulder and formed a shield Wall aainst the arrows with round shields you would have vway mor open space for arrows to get through. I atually think that is the reason romans used rectangular shields in infantery and and a round-ish shield on calvary since they couldnt form the shield Wall on horse back.

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 :)

You did not mention another benefit of a circular shield: You can change your grip simply by rotating it. Can't really do that with a non-round shield unless you wanted to be that one guy in the formation holding his shield at an angle. Sure, there might be an "optimal" way to hold any shield, but eventually your hand gets tired or injured, or you want more freedom to move the shield, and then might wanna change the positioning of your arm, and thus your grip - can't do that if the shield is strapped to your arm, and you can't do that with a square shield without exposing something you weren´t exposing before.

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!