The following is a discussion, as indicated by the title, about treatises in the discussion of the use of the sword and shield. Before any further reading is done, it should be noted that the buckler has been excluded from this discussion, thus the discussion is about larger shields which were typically used and associated with war. While this is the case, the rotella and variants has been included due to its size, and thus use characteristics. What will be noted is a distinct gap in knowledge...
Treatises
In studying
the idea of the use of sword and shield in the medieval period there is an
issue as there is a large gap in knowledge. Studying the sword and shield in
the Renaissance period is not so much of an issue as when the shield left the
battlefield it found a place in civilian combats thus there were theorists
willing to write about its use. Previous to these writings however, there is a
gap in our knowledge. It would seem that the knowledge for this period was
either passed from one man to another or if it was written down it was lost.
Vegetius: Roman Source Material
One of the
earliest treatises we have with regard to the use of the sword and shield is
Flavius Vegetius Renatus, or as he is more commonly known, Vegetius (2008). He
wrote at the end of the Western Roman Empire discussing the training methods of
legionaries of the earlier periods when the Empire was at its height. It will
be claimed that this particular source is not of much use because it discusses
Roman methods of warfare rather than medieval forms, however, it was
significant enough to be re-written and re-purposed in the medieval period as
the Poem of the Pel (Neele, 1460).
The six
stanzas which are considered by most practitioners to make up the Poem which, start with the second, are
an almost direct copy of the writings of Vegetius. If a comparison is made
between the two documents, it will be noted that there are too many
similarities between these two documents that make it unlikely that the Poem was not a paraphrasing of a
selection out of Vegetius’ treatise. Unfortunately in the thousand-year gap
between Vegetius and the Poem there
seems to be little to go on.
Norse Sagas
The Norse,
like many people wrote great stories of the histories of their people. Within
these stories there are battles which are told, these stories can tell us
something of what combat was like for these people and tell us how they used
their weapons. Of course being the great stories that they are, they also have
to be taken with a certain degree of criticism as well as in such stories there
are often exaggerations made.
These stories
cover a period in which there is not much written down which means it is useful
to have them to gain some understanding of combat in this period, but they are
not exactly the combat treatises that we are used to seeing from the
Renaissance period. The information which is presented needs to be examined,
critiqued and then experimented with for validity. The same can be said for any
primary source material, but in the case of the written word where stories are
concerned more care needs to be taken.
Of course it
does not mean that valuable information cannot be extracted from such sources,
but it should always be validated by other sources. In some instances these
sources may be other contemporary sagas, or experimental archaeological
findings. In both cases the examination needs to be taken with a level of
caution to avoid incorrect interpretation or personal bias.
The Medieval Gap
“anyone who might believe that there are no actual Medieval fighting manuals or that there are no real historical sources for Medieval martial arts is entirely ignorant on the subject.” (Clements, 1998:11)
Most of the
units in the medieval period were household units or units organised by a
particular lord. The individuals with rank who were trained in the use of arms
would have been trained by those who knew, and they would have been trained by
others who knew, thus training would have been passed practically and by word
of mouth rather than written down. This, of course, leaves few written sources
for the historian or practitioner of martial arts to interrogate.
What this
means is that other sources have to be found to interrogate, and there are
other sources available, if a person is willing to look and broaden their
horizons. Rather than limiting a search to treatises, chronicles of battles can
be useful where individual conflicts are described, as are individual
encounters. Further, the artists of the period would paint what they had in
front of them to paint or illustrate in some fashion. This gives us snapshots
of situations where equipment is being used and these can be interrogated for
information as well. Combined with an examination of museum pieces and accurate
replicas, some experimental archaeology based on such information can discover
the skills which are hidden within these sources.
The Renaissance Flourishing
Some would
claim it was firearms which sent armour and swords from the battlefield in the
Renaissance period, but this is a very simplistic view, especially considering
members of cavalry were still wearing breastplates and using swords in the
Napoleonic Wars. What the Renaissance really did for the sword and shield was
enable the information about its use to be put to print thanks to the invention
of the printing press. It is true that as armour improved the shield was
removed from the armoured man’s armoury, but it found a new life in that of the
civilian’s, and it would also remain on the battlefield for a little while
longer.
The duelling
shield as seen in Talhoffer’s (2000) manual of 1467 is a shield which is
different from all others in that it could also be used as an offensive device
as well, having a spike at both ends. Without using these appendages it could
be utilised the same way as any other large shield of the period. This
demonstrated a judicial use of the sword and shield, relatively common to the
Germans.
More common
to this period was the use of the rotella of the Italians as typified by the
manuals of Marozzo (1536), Agrippa (1553), di Grassi (1570 and 1594), Lovino
(1580), and Capo Ferro (1610), who demonstrated the use of this round shield
for civilian combats. These treatises give us detailed examinations of how
these shields were used in civilian combats against others with like weapons,
and while some information can be inferred about the use of previous shields
caution must be taken with regard to this endeavour that personal preferences
and prejudices do not interfere in this research.
There is one
final source which needs to be noted and that is Colombani (1711). This is an
interesting source as it does not supply much information about how to use the
shield, but places it in with other devices. The date of this treatise is also
interesting in that it is so late and places it quite out of the usual range of
Renaissance period instruction in this form. It does, however demonstrate a
continued interest in its use.
Source Use
In the
investigation of the sword and shield it is important that rigorous
investigation is made of all the available material. What has not been noted in
this collection is that there are also Iberian sources which also mention the
use of the shield and these need to be taken into account. Thus the researcher
needs to make clear what their purpose is in their research, and also which
particular area of research is being pursued.
Further
complications can arise as to whether a particular shape of shield is being
used or a particular size is also being used. If, for example, the buckler is
also being included in such research then treatises such as the M.S. I.33 also
need to be taken into account. What will also be noted is that the buckler is a
much smaller shield and thus the use of this form of shield is quite different
to the much larger forms, thus some sort of focus is actually required to do
the subject justice.
A subject
needs to be chosen which limits the parameters of the search, but then this
search should not be limited only to the written word or only written
treatises. In the case of the medieval shield, if limited to the written word,
it would be severely hampered and there would be much which would have to be
assumed or estimated, such things need to be taken into account. The search
needs to take into account the broadest amount of materials but to keep
focused on the particular subject area for efficient and effective research.
Bibliography
Agrippa (1553) Fencing: A Renaissance Treatise, Edited by
Ken Mondschein (2009), Italica Press, New York
Clements, J. (1998) Medieval
Swordsmanship: Illustrated Methods and Techniques, Paladin Press, Boulder,
Colorado
Colombani (1711) L'Arte Maestra ("The Master Art") https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/L%27Arte_maestra_(Carlo_Giuseppe_Colombani)
di Grassi (1595) His
True Arte of Defence: Showing how a man without other Teacher or Master may
Safelie handle all Sortes of Weapons, Signe of the Hand and Starre, London,
http://www.umass.edu/renaissance/lord/pdfs/DiGrassi_1594.pdf
Kirby, J. (ed)(2004) Italian Rapier Combat: Ridolfo Capo
Ferro, Greenhill Books, London, UK, Stackpole Books, Pennsylvania, USA
Lovino (1580) http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~wew/fencing/lovino.html
Marozzo (1536) https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Achille_Marozzo
Neele, John (1460) “Poem of the Pel” in Knyghthode and Bataile (Cotton MS Titus A xxiii), Wiktenauer (http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Poem_of_the_Pel)
Talhoffer, H. (2000) Medieval
Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Illustrated Manual of Swordfighting and
Close-Quarter Combat, Greenhill Books, London, UK (Translated and Edited by
Mark Rector)
Vegetius (2008) On
Roman Military Matters: A 5th Century Training Manual in
Organization, Weapons and Tactics, as Practiced by the Roman Legions, Red
and Black Publishers, St Petersburg, Florida, Translated by Lt John Clarke
(1767)
