Hi lads, heres a couple of questions for ye on 16th century Irish shields.
Are there any literal descriptions from this period of shields carried by Irish cavalry? Those from John Derricke's Image Of Irelande (not the most accurate source, I know) appear to be armed with steel target type shields, is there any other evidence for this?
The only two surviving shields that I know of from this period are both of the same type as 17th and 18th century Scottish targes, but I doubt that these shields were used by cavalry. The reason for this is that their small size just doesn't seem practical for a cavalry shield. It is for the same reason, I think that these targes were not used by kern, they are just too small to provide a good enough defense against the javelins of other kern.
In Edmund Spenser's A View To The Present State Of Ireland he mentions Irish kerns as being armed with "round leather targets, coloured after the spanish fashion", he also states the men of Ulster, as well as Scots mercenaries, used large shield made of wicker. Now to me a wicker shield definately makes sense for a javelin armed kern, it would be a useful defense against the missiles of other kern, but are their any other references to this type of shield? As for these round leather targets, is it possible that these might have been like the shield from the portrait of Sir Neil O'Neill, painted in 1680, but the shield might have been belonged to an ancestor? Of course it's also possible that Sir Neil's shield was meant to be used by a cavalryman, what do the rest of you guys think about all of this?