"Kite shield to "heater" shield: why and when?" Topic

First step seems to have been to straighten the top of the shield, though this happens slowly over the 12th century and manuscripts show various stages from round to flat and stages between all at the same time. The tip then gets progressively shorter but even in the early 13th century it is fairly long – see the effigy of Edward Longsword link

No it is not that simple. As Swampster stated the changes progressed over time and locale. The large "kite" shield was carried by both foot and mounted warriors in the mid to late 11th century and well into the 12th and the 13th Centuries. Of course there were lots of variations in between.

Long-ago SCA fighter here. The bigger the shield, the heavier the shield. After a long day fighting, your shield arm will get tired form punching the shield up to block shots.

Big round shields are great for overlapping proteciton in a shield wall, but are the heaviest.

Kite/Coffin shields are the most efficient weight/area coverage design, and very good for protecting the leg on horseback.

A round shield, or a round-topped kite, will obscure your vision when you punch it up to block a head shot, potentially allowing another opponent to get a side or low shot in.

Flat-topped shields allow allow effective blocks with just arm rotations to bring up a corner that does not obscure your vision as much.

Heaters are less weight than a kite. You give up length protection in favour of more maneuverablity for those arm rotations and for a lighter weight.

Tastes vary, and trends shift over time.

Personally, I preferred a lightish center-grip kite for fighting in the line, and a light small center-grip round for skirmishing on the flanks.

Round shields were the common form in the "dark ages" of Europe. The "kite" doesn't show up till after the Byzantines started using it. It seems to "grow" in Western Europe. The Byzantine variety remained relatively short. The round shield never disappeared entirely. But pictorial evidence suggests that in the 11th and 12th century the "kite" was the dominant form almost everywhere. Even in the middle east it was used by practically everybody. But the round shield remained the most popular. Round shields, if they are not to become too heavy, cannot be too big. Eastern rounds remained quite modest in size, more like bucklers than "body shields". Sparring is different than standing in a formation. A shield's weight is far more an issue in sparring, or one on one combat. And even the lighter "heater" had a guige strap to sling the shield with or take the weight.

The transition from full "kite" to "heater" was over more than two centuries, starting well into the 12th century and completing by the early 14th. You can still see examples of longer shields right up through the Scottish wars. Of course, the lighter armored troops used the larger shields the longest time.

The round shield had been around before and persisted in many places. The Byzantines used an almond shield which may or may not have been an inspiration for the kite shield. A possible early example is a soldier with an almond shield on the Rome or David Casket, Byzantine, 898 or 900AD – David receiving the show bread and Goliath's armour from Abimelech (the holes makink a face look to be putched later).
A fairly small triangular shield with cross carried by a knight on the Valţjofstađur Door, Iceland, c.1200

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

Because Phil Barker said.

Regards
Russ Dunaway

Russ is wise.

A kite shield covers more…easy to see. A smaller round is faster to correct if you are not covered where the blow is coming from. Larger shields are great in mass fights where blows come from anywhere, and arrows, etc……Yes, I do the SCA and use a medium sized round in one on one or small fights and use a large oval as a war shield. Large shields are also a pain in larger more protracted fights, shield arm gets tired and it is harder to move to protect oneself, smaller not as bad. Not SCA but smaller shields can also be used as a weapon where larger shields have issues with that.