"13th C Bidet/Bidower Shields" Topic

In researching this I can find one example of a painted shield -

Being mercenaries, would bidowers in service to various factions carry a shield painted in a faction color or arms, or would they have devices or random colors of their own choosing?

Is this

Your intended picture? Your link does not show om my m/c

If so I think that is intended to be the back of the shield with a cover (possibly leather) on the front, stretched and pinned to at rear.

I think their shields were plain with no set pattern. Perhaps painted if the owner had time and paint.

x42

If that is the back of the shield, there is no way to hold it. I would argue this is the decorated front and he is holding it by the strap or handle on the back.

Yes x42brown. Pictures shows up fine on my laptop.

I had wondered just that as well, but as with Sundance, the apparent lack of any grip or straps leads me to his conclusion.

There is also the fact that a similar, albeit smaller, version of that pattern is depicted on the shield of a French arriere-ban infantryman in Ian Heath's Armies of the Dark Ages.

That is great to see. I wondered what my Bidowers should look like!

goragrad's image is a probable Bidower with javelins in 'Julius Caesar and Attendants' from the 'Nine Heroes Tapestries', Flanders, c. early 15thC
This is the source used for a 14th century Bidower in Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 1 by Ian Heath
Images from this site can't be hotlinked and only show for people who have visited the site (from their computer's cache). A link to the site is welcome.

Mirror site
Bidower with javelins in 'Julius Caesar and Attendants' from the 'Nine Heroes Tapestries', Flanders, c. early 15thC
A 14th century Bidower in Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 1 by Ian Heath

Druzhina
14th Century Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

I think their shields were plain with no set pattern.

I would expect any self-respecting mercenary to decorate his shield in one way or another.

"I would expect any self-respecting mercenary to decorate his shield in one way or another."

There are examples from other periods of mercenaries having plain or barely decorated shields, so I wouldn't have any such expectations.