By the laws of Gula [said to have been established by Hacon the Good, who died 963] any possessor of six marks was required to furnish himself with a red shield, of two boards in thickness, a spear, and an axe or a sword.
In the history of the same king [Heimskringla, vol. i, p. 155] he is thus described: "he put on his tunic of mail (brynio), girded round him his sword called quern-bit [i.e., millstone-biter], and set on his head his gilded helmet. He took a spear in his hand, and hung his shield by his side."
Again, in the same book [Heimskringla, ii, 352], in the description of the Battle of Sticklastad, where Olaf King of Norway, called "the Saint," was slain 1030, the monarch is said to have worn a golden helmet, a white shield, a golden hilted and exceedingly sharp sword, and a tunic of ringed mail ("hringa brynio").
Again, in the Edda Gunnar one of the Reguli of Germany says, "My helmet and my white shield come from the Hall of Kiars."
These quotations are hardly sufficient evidence of it perhaps, but it seems as if in the tenth century white shields were borne by leaders and red ones by the common soldiers,—every one who possessed six marks.
Supplementing these and completing our description, Saxon poetry tells us that the wood was by preference the lime tree. I need not give quotations; they will be found in the several works on ancient arms and armour. Beowulf [line 5215] describes how Wigluf "seized his shield—the yellow linden wood." Again, these lines occur [Poem of Judith, Thorpe's Analecta, p. 137]:—
"The warriors marched
"The chieftains to the war
"Protected with targets,
"With arched linden shields."
It seems almost as if linden trees were cultivated with this view, for the Saxon Chronicle, under anno 937, tells us how King Athelstan and his heroes
"the board walls clove,
"And hewed the war lindens."
But certainly on one occasion remains of oak timber were found in connection with the bronze boss of an Anglo-Saxon shield.