Heraldry as art: An account of its development and practice, chiefly in England

by G. W. Eve

The armorials themselves having been influenced in their composition by the shield shape that was in vogue when they were devised, the choice of a form that is equally convenient for all the arms of a series presents considerable difficulty, and therefore should not be decided upon until the nature of their whole contents has been properly considered.

Shields were used in the tournament in a variety of ceremonial ways. Froissart describes, in his account of the meeting that was held near Calais in 1390, how they were hung outside the pavilions of the defenders, so that by touching them the challengers could signify their intention as to the kind of encounter that was to ensue. For this purpose two shields were displayed, one “for peace” and another “for war,” and according as one or the other was touched the encounter took place with blunt or pointed weapons. Similar shields are referred to by Edward the Black Prince in his will, dated 1376: “l’un pur la guerre, de nos armes entiers quartelles” (those represented in Fig. 1 at p. 9), “et l’autre pur la paix, de nos bages des plumes d’ostruce” (Fig. 17), both of which decorate his tomb.

Fig. 17.—Shield “for Peace” of The Black Prince. After Stothard.

Together with the banners and pennons of the chief personages, shields were hung from the windows of the knights’ lodgings in the neighbouring town to where the lists were set. They also adorned the walls of the banquet hall, and in every way the actual shields contributed to the pageantry of the time, and naturally suggested their representation in tapestries and in other permanently decorative ways.

The treatment of the bearings on the actual shield was, no doubt, by means of painting in flat colours, the charges being drawn in the simplest and most direct way; for although there are examples in the illuminated manuscripts of knights armed with shields whose charges are in relief, such treatment was probably exceptional owing to its cost and to the difficulty of repairing damage, or may even have been due to the elaboration of the illuminator. So that although relief was employed in cases of unusual magnificence the ordinary treatment was probably flat.

Shields for great ceremonial purposes being more purely decorative were naturally more elaborate, and of these the shield at Canterbury must be again instanced. Such a shield after serving in the funeral procession was suspended over the tomb, together with the sword and crested helmet, as was done for Edward III and Henry V in Westminster Abbey and for Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, “the Good Duke Humphrey,” in old St. Paul’s; but of these only the insignia of Henry V remain, and they are by no means in such interesting preservation as those at Canterbury. A similar trophy adorned the tomb of Edward IV at Windsor, and is said to have been embroidered with pearls and gold.

Fig. 18.—Italian Decoration Shield. Fourteenth Century.

The shields that were intended for ceremonial or decorative purposes were very carefully made of layers of various materials, such as canvas and leather, which were stretched over and glued down to the wooden understructure in order to afford a key to the material that formed a surface for the subsequent work, in much the same way that panels were prepared for other kinds of painting at that time. The charges were then modelled in gesso, afterwards gilt and painted, or else were fashioned in modelled leather and pinned down to the surface. The spaces were often diversified with diapered patterns in raised lines of gesso or by means of punches, and when the gold and colour were added the whole effect was extremely rich and beautiful. Of such pageant shields excellent specimens were in the great Bardini collection, now dispersed.