SHIELDS, BUCKLERS, AND HELMETS.
HAVING now described the various weapons of offence of which in early
times bronze formed the material, it will be well to examine the arms
of defence fabricated from the same metal, and presumably of the same
or nearly the same age.
The shields first in use in Britain were probably formed of perishable
materials, such as wicker-work, wood, or hide, like those of many
savage tribes of the present day; and it can only have been after a
long acquaintance with the use of bronze that plates could have been
produced of such size as those with which some of the ancient shields
and bucklers found in this country were covered. They would appear,
therefore, to belong to quite the close of the Bronze Age, if not to
the transitional period when iron was coming into use. There are,
indeed, several bronze coverings of shields of elongated form, such
as those from the river Witham[1325] and from the Thames,[1326] with
decorations upon them, in which red enamel plays a part, that have been
found associated with the iron swords of what Mr. Franks has termed the
Late Celtic Period. Those, however, which appear to have a better claim
to a place in these pages are of a circular form.
That which I have shown in Fig. 428 is now in the British Museum, and
has already been figured in the _Archæologia_[1327], and described by
Mr. Gage. It was dredged up from what appears to have been the ancient
bed of the river Isis, near Little Wittenham, Berks, not far from the
Dyke Hills, near Dorchester, Oxon. It is about 13½ inches diameter, not
quite circular in form, though probably intended so to be. The raised
bosses have all been wrought in the metal with the exception of four,
two of which form the rivets for the handle across the umbo, and two
others serve as the rivets or pivots for two small straps or buttons of
bronze on the inner side of the buckler. Such buttons occur on several
other examples, but it is difficult to determine the exact purpose
which they served. From the pains taken in this instance to conceal the
heads of these pivots on the outside, by making them take the form and
place of bosses, it would appear that they were necessary adjuncts of
the shield, and possibly in some way connected with a lining for it.
[Illustration: Fig. 428.—Little Wittenham.]
Such a lining can hardly have been of wood, or many rivet or pin holes
would have been necessary for securing the metal to it. It may be that
a lining of hide was moulded while wet to the form of the shield,
and that these buttons served to keep it in place when dry. In one
case[1328] it is said that some fibrous particles resembling leather
still remain attached to the inside of the shield. In general the
metal is so thin that without some lining these bucklers would have
afforded but a poor defence against the stroke of a sword, spear, or
arrow. In this Little Wittenham example, and possibly in some others,
it is probable that the shield itself was larger than the bronze plate.
Another view is that these buttons fastened a strap for carrying the
shield when either in or out of use.
Another buckler, in Lord Londesborough’s collection, 14 inches in
diameter, with two circles of small bosses divided by a raised
band, is stated to have been found with a large bronze spear-head
at Athenry,[1329] Co. Galway. Two of the bosses of the inner circle
are the heads of rivets for securing the handle. A much smaller
buckler, or centre of a buckler, only 9¼ inches in diameter (also
with two rings of bosses), presumably found in the Isis,[1330] near
Eynsham Bridge, is in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries. It
has a slightly conical boss, surrounded by a circle of smaller bosses
between two raised ribs. There is also a raised rib round the margin
formed by turning over the metal towards the outer face. In the outer
ring of bosses two are missing at the places where, no doubt, were
formerly the rivets of the buttons or loops.
[Illustration: Fig. 429.—Harlech.]
A shield in the British Museum (21 inches), found in the Thames, has
four rows of bosses, about an inch in diameter, and the same number of
raised rings. The inner set of bosses abuts on the umbo. There is a
marginal rim about an inch beyond the outer ring. This shield appears
to have had two buttons, which as usual are nearly in a line with one
of the rivets which fasten the handle. One of these loops remains
secured by a large-headed rivet matching the bosses. There is at least
one hole through the shield which may have resulted from a spear
thrust.
The rivets which secure the handle have heads made in imitation of
bosses.
In some the decoration consists of a series of concentric ribs or
beads, as in that found in a peat moss near Harlech,[1331] which is
shown in Fig. 429. Its diameter is 22 inches. The heads of the four
rivets for holding the handle and the two buttons are in this case
visible in the spaces between the ribs.
Another of the same pattern was discovered in company with that shown
in Fig. 430, in Coveney Fen,[1332] near Ely, and is now in the Museum
of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. The metal of which it is formed
has been found on analysis to contain—
Copper 87·55
Tin 11·72
Nickel 0·40
—————
99·67
The presence of the nickel is probably due to impurities in the ore
from which the copper was extracted.
[Illustration: Fig. 430—Coveney. 1/6]
[Illustration: Fig. 431.—Coveney. 1/1]
The second Coveney shield is shown in Fig. 430.[1333] The ornament
in this instance is of a very peculiar character, and appears to
represent two snakes, one long and the other short, twisted about into
a symmetrical pattern. They are of the _amphisbæna_ kind, with a head
at each end. The two outermost ribs, one of them at the margin, are
continuous. The rivets for holding the handle are visible, as are also
three on either side connected with the inner buttons, that in this
case have been regarded as loops by which the shield was suspended.
The buttons have a small hole through them, as will be seen by Fig.
431. In front of each is a pair of small conical studs, of which the
purpose can now hardly be determined. Mr. Goodwin thought that they
might be intended to prevent a thong which passed beneath the buttons
from slipping away from them.
[Illustration: Fig. 432.—Beith. 1/6]
The type of shield, of which, the largest number has been found in the
British Isles, is that having a series of concentric rings, from about
twelve to thirty in number, and between them circles of small studs.
A very fine example of this kind of shield is preserved in the
Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of London,[1334] and is shown
on the scale of one-sixth, together with some of its details on a
larger scale, in Figs. 432, 433, and 434, for the use of which I am
indebted to the Council of the Ayrshire and Wigtonshire Archæological
Association.[1335]
[Illustration: Fig. 433.—Beith. 1/1]
A figure of the shield has been given by Professor Daniel
Wilson,[1336] but the illustrations here given will convey a much more
accurate impression of its character and details.
Though there is some discrepancy as to measurement, there is little
doubt that this is the shield found about the year 1780 in a peat moss
on a farm called Luggtonrigge, in the parish of Beith, Ayrshire, and
presented to the Society of Antiquaries by Dr. Ferris,[1337] who was
informed that four or five others of the same kind were discovered
at the same time. A portion of the margin of the shield is shown of
the full size in Fig. 433, and the handle across the inner side of
the boss on the scale of one-half in Fig. 434. These figures give
so complete an idea of the original that it seems needless to enter
into further details. It is, however, well to call attention to the
fact that the handle of the buckler, which is made from a flat piece
of bronze, is rendered more convenient to grasp, and at the same
time strengthened, by its sides being doubled over, and thus made to
present a rounded edge. It is secured to the shield by a rivet at each
end. About midway between the edge of the umbo and that of the shield,
but placed so that one of the rivets of the handle is in the same line
and midway between them, have been two rivets, each fastening a short
button like those on the Coveney Fen shield, of which at present only
one remains. The rivet-hole for the other has been closed by a short
rivet.
[Illustration: Fig. 434.—Beith. ½]
Other shields, almost identical in character, have likewise been found
in Scotland, one of which, by the kindness of the Council of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, is shown in Fig. 435, on the scale
of one-sixth. A portion of the margin is shown full size in Fig. 436,
and the interior of the umbo in Fig. 437, on the scale of one-fourth.
It was found in 1837, together with another, in a marshy field near
Yetholm, Roxburghshire. These shields have been described in a paper
by the late Mr. W. T. M^cCulloch,[1338] of some of whose references I
have here made use.
One of these Yetholm shields is 23½ inches in diameter, and has
thirty concentric rings of convex knobs alternating with projecting
circular ribs or beads; the other measures 24 inches across, and has
twenty-four rings of both knobs and ribs. In the centre of each is
a hollow circular umbo 4 inches in diameter, with a handle riveted
across it.
Another shield of the same character was found at Yetholm[1339] in
1870, near the place where the two others were discovered. It is 22½
inches in diameter, with twenty-nine concentric rings alternating
with the usual small knobs. The boss is 3½ inches in diameter.
[Illustration: Fig. 435.—Yetholm. 1/6]
[Illustration: Fig. 436.—Yetholm. 1/1]
[Illustration: Fig. 437.—Yetholm. ¼]
At the back of each of these shields, about midway between the centre
and the rim, are the usual small movable tongues of bronze, which
have been supposed to serve for the attachment of a leather strap by
which the shield might be slung round the body. Mr. Jeffrey, F.S.A.
Scotland, of Jedburgh, who described this third shield, has pointed
out that there is too little room beneath the tongues for a strap of
any kind.
So far as at present known these are the only instances of bucklers of
this kind having been discovered in Scotland.
In England and Wales several such have been found. One was in the
Meyrick Collection[1340] at Goodrich Court, and is now in the British
Museum. It is about 26½ inches in diameter, with twenty concentric
circles of knobs and ribs between, and is in all respects like those
just described. It was found about 1804 in a turbary near Aberystwith,
Cardiganshire. It has had the usual buttons, one of which remains.
Another example[1341] of the kind (25¼ inches), with twenty-seven
concentric rings, was also in the Meyrick Collection, and is now in
the British Museum. It was found in a peat moss at Moel Sinbod, near
Capel Curig, Carnarvonshire. It has one of the usual loops and the
rivet of the other. Sir Samuel Meyrick had heard of another shield,
dug up near Newcastle-on-Tyne, which the owner, wishing to gratify
all his friends, cut up like a cake, and sent to each a slice. This
may be the shield found at Broomyholme, Chester-le-Street, Durham, of
which a fragment is in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of
Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Another now in the possession of Sir Edward Blackett, Bart., was found
near Corbridge, Northumberland.
Fragments[1342] of two other shields of the same character were also
found in Northumberland, at Ingoe, in the parish of Stamfordham,
about two miles north of the Roman wall. They were originally about
20 inches in diameter, and like so many others were discovered during
draining operations.
Another buckler of the same character was found in the Thames[1343]
at London, and passed into the British Museum with the Roach Smith
Collection. This specimen is 21¼ inches in diameter, and has eleven
rings of the small bosses upon it separated by concentric ribs.
A curious feature in this shield is that the places to which the
usual little buttons were attached have been neatly cut out, leaving
triangular holes. There is also a third hole of the same kind. In one
place also there is a hole through the shield, such as might have
been produced by the thrust of a bronze spear. Close by this hole is
a clean cut, such as might have been made by a sword. The plate of
bronze has been turned over on to the face, so as to form the outer
rim.
A circular shield,[1344] with twenty-six concentric rings of studs,
was dredged up, together with a leaf-shaped bronze sword, from the bed
of the Thames off Woolwich in 1830.
A thin bronze plate from the Thames, 19 inches in diameter, convex,
and with small knobs round the margin, is in the Mayer Collection at
Liverpool. It has been marked with the hammer, possibly in imitation
of basket-work, and has been mended in one place in ancient times. It
may be the bottom of a caldron, and not a shield.
Another buckler, 26 inches in diameter, having twelve concentric
raised rings with the usual knobs between them, is also said to
have been found in the Thames[1345] between Hampton and Walton, in
September, 1864.
In draining a meadow at Bagley,[1346] about five miles from Ellesmere,
in Shropshire, another of these circular bucklers was found. This is
23 inches in diameter, with an umbo of 4 inches, and has twenty-six
concentric circles, with the same rings of knobs between them as on
the other examples. It has the usual holes for the rivets of the small
buttons.
Another, found on Burringham Common,[1347] Lincolnshire, in 1843, is
26 inches in diameter, with an umbo of 4½ inches, and only nineteen
concentric circles with intermediate rings of knobs. The boss of
this shield is conical rather than hemispherical. It is now in the
Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. A shield of this kind 20½ inches
in diameter, having thirteen concentric circles of small bosses and
raised rings between, was found at Sutton St. Michael’s, Norfolk.[1348]
In the collection of Canon Greenwell is the bronze boss of a shield
nearly 5 inches in diameter, probably intended for the centre of a
wooden buckler. It has three small holes for nails or rivets in the
rim. In one place there is a square hole, apparently made by a thrust
from a spear. This boss was found at Harwood, Northumberland.
Shields like Fig. 435, with several concentric rings alternating with
small knobs, are rare, but by no means unknown in Ireland. One (27¾
inches in diameter) was found in a bog near Ballynamona,[1349] Co.
Limerick, and has been figured. As usual, it has the two movable loops
or buttons at the back. There is a little patch of bronze over a small
irregular hole in the shield, such as an arrow or a javelin would
make. It is soldered on with a metal which is stated to be bronze,
but which I imagine must be some more fusible alloy of copper. This
shield is now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, and in their
_Proceedings_[1350] is stated to have been found in Lough Gur, Co.
Limerick, but this must be an error.
The central portion of a bronze shield, including the umbo, was found
at Toome Bar, Lough Neagh, and is now in the collection of Mr. William
Gray, of Belfast.
A somewhat doubtful instance has been recorded of the remains of a
bronze shield having been found with an interment in a barrow. Sir R.
Colt Hoare, in his examination of the Bush Barrow, Normanton,[1351]
found a skeleton lying from S. to N., and about eighteen inches S.
of the head “several brass rivets intermixed with wood, and some
thin bits of brass nearly decomposed. These articles covered a space
of twelve inches or more; it is probable, therefore, that they are
the mouldered remains of a shield.” Near the shoulders lay a flanged
bronze celt like Fig. 9. A large dagger of bronze, and what Sir
Richard calls a spear-head of the same metal, but which was probably a
dagger, the inlaid hilt (Fig. 289). a stone hammer, and some plates
of gold accompanied this interment. It is much to be regretted that
more is not known of the real character of the object with the rivets,
but their presence shows that it could not have been a shield such as
those here described, in which the only rivets are those securing the
handle and the movable buttons.
The umbo of a Late-Celtic shield was among the objects found at Polden
Hill,[1352] Somersetshire.
Some wooden bucklers have been found both in Scotland[1353] and
Ireland, but it is hard to determine their age.
Mr. Franks[1354] has already remarked that bronze shields are of far
less common occurrence on the Continent than in the British Isles. He
cites three from the Copenhagen Museum,[1355] one of which, about 27
inches in diameter, has five concentric ribs round the boss and ten
sets of knobs; these, however, are arranged in such a manner as to
leave a star of eight rays of smooth metal radiating from the boss.
The other two are less like the British in character. A fine shield in
the Stockholm Museum, with swan-like figures upon it, has been thought
to have been imported from Italy.[1356]
One found near Bingen, on the Rhine,[1357] about 15½ inches in
diameter, has merely four raised concentric ribs. There are two small
bowed handles secured with two rivets, each in about the same position
as the usual button. They seem certainly intended for a strap to pass
through them. There are, however, two other rivets in the shield to
which movable buttons may possibly have been attached.
The Italian shields mentioned by Mr. Franks are of a different type.
One in the British Museum (34 inches in diameter) has a very slight
boss, and is ornamented with concentric bands of sphinxes and other
designs.
As has already been observed, it is somewhat hard to judge of the date
of these bucklers. I am not aware of any portions of them having been
found in the hoards of metal in which fragments of swords frequently
occur. Still in the case of the shield dredged up off Woolwich the
sword which accompanied it was of bronze, though of course there is no
evidence of the two having been lost or deposited together. The whole
character, however, of the ornamentation and workmanship is, I think,
more in accordance with the Bronze Age than with the Late Celtic or
Early Iron Period, though the shields probably belong to the close of
the Bronze Period.
Circular bucklers, or targets, no doubt remained in use until a
considerably later date, but it seems probable that some other material
than a thin plate of bronze was used for their manufacture. Professor
Daniel Wilson[1358] remarks that on the gold coins of Tasciovanus,
Cunobeline, and others of our native rulers contemporary with the
first intercourse with Rome, the shields borne by the warriors are
either long and double-pointed, or, if round, large and disked, and
of very different construction from the Luggtonrigge shield. On one
coin of Cunobeline, however (Evans, pl. xii. 14), the horseman bears
a circular buckler, which, so far as can be judged from so diminutive
a representation as that given on the coin, would be about 2 feet in
diameter. On two small gold coins of Verica,[1359] recently published,
the horseman carries a target of somewhat larger proportions. Somewhat
smaller circular bucklers are carried by the horsemen on certain
Spanish coins,[1360] probably of the second century B.C. One of these
shields shows four smaller bosses, arranged in cruciform order around
the central boss; another seems to be plain except the umbo and a
projecting rim.
This buckler is no doubt the Cetra, or Cætra (καίτρεα, Hesych.),
in use among the people of Spain and Mauretania, which was usually
made of hide, among the latter people sometimes of that of the
elephant. Cæsar[1361] speaks of the “cetratæ Hispaniæ cohortes,” and
Tacitus[1362] mentions the Britons as armed “ingentibus gladiis sine
mucrone et brevibus cetris.” It does not appear that the Romans ever
carried the cetra, which has been by Livy compared to the pelta of the
Greeks and Macedonians.[1363] The clipeus appears to have been larger
in size, and to have been held on the arm and not by the handle only.
But whatever shields may have been in use in this country at the time
of the Roman invasion, I am inclined to refer these circular bucklers
to a somewhat earlier date, as already in Cæsar’s time iron was fully
in use for swords and for cutting purposes generally; and, as has
already been observed, the shields with which the early iron swords
are found are of a different form from these. As is the case with
bronze swords, such bucklers are never found with interments, and those
discovered seem to have been lost in the water, or hidden in bogs,
rather than buried as accessories for the dead.
The skill requisite for the production of such bucklers must have
been great, and the appliances at command by no means contemptible.
The whole of the work is _repoussé_ and wrought with the hammer, and
not improbably the original sheet of bronze from which a shield was
made was considerably less in diameter and also much thicker than the
finished shield. To produce so large a casting of such even substance,
and yet so thin, would I think be beyond the skill of most modern,
and probably most ancient, brass-founders; and moreover there is no
appearance on the shields, of the metal having been cast in the form in
which it now appears.
While still upon the subject of defensive armour it will be well to
say a few words about bronze helmets, though there is good reason
to believe that in this country at all events such objects do not
belong to the Bronze Age properly so-called. Indeed the earliest known
bronze helmets in some other countries, such as those from Assyria and
Etruria, appear to belong to a time when iron was already in use in
those countries. The date of an Etruscan helmet of bronze preserved
in the British Museum[1364] can be determined with precision, for
an inscription upon it proves that it was offered in the Temple of
Zeus at Elis, by Hiero, Tyrant of Syracuse, from the spoils of the
Etruscans after the naval battle of Cumæ, which took place in B.C.
474. It is of simple form with a brim around it. Those which have
been found in Styria and Germany[1365] are in some cases half ovals
in form, sometimes with a knob at the top, without any rims round the
opening, but with a certain number of small holes for the attachment of
cheek-pieces or appendages of other kinds. These may belong to a true
Bronze Period. Others, like those from Hallstatt,[1366] have rims and
even ridges for crests.
In the Salzburg Museum is a fine helmet without a rim, but with an
ornamented ridge and cheek-pieces. It was found, with twelve others now
at Vienna, at Mattrey,[1367] between Innsbruck and Brixen. One of these
bears an Etruscan inscription upon it. According to Pliny, “the ancient
inhabitants of Brixen came from Etruria.”
Even in the time of Severus, the Britons, according to Herodian,[1368]
made no use of helmets or cuirasses, though they wore an iron collar
round the neck and an iron belt round the body, and regarded them as
ornaments and signs of wealth.
The following English and French helmets of bronze may just be
mentioned.
(1.) A helmet of hemispherical form tapering to a projection, pierced
above to receive a crest or ornament, the extreme height being about
8½ inches, and the diameter at the base nearly the same. This was
found in Moorgate Street, London.[1369]
(2.) One found in the Thames,[1370] near Waterloo Bridge, with
projecting horns and ornamented with scroll-work and red enamel. This
is undoubtedly of the Late Celtic Period. Some Etruscan helmets also
bear horns, but more curved in form than those on this helmet from the
Thames.
(3.) Another, more conical in form, and with a semicircular plate at
the back, locality unknown, but probably from a river.[1371] This was
in the Meyrick Collection, and is now in the British Museum.
The helmets found on Ogmore Down,[1372] Glamorganshire, appear to be
of much later date.
A helmet from Auxonne, Côte d’Or, has been figured by Chantre.[1373]
Another was found with various bronze antiquities at Theil[1374] (Loir
et Cher).