Buckler

A buckler (French ''bouclier'' 'shield', from Old French ''bocle, boucle'' 'boss') is a small shield, up to 45 cm (up to 18 in) in diameter, gripped in the fist with a central handle behind the boss. It became more common as a companion weapon in hand-to-hand combat during the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Its size made it poor protection against missile weapons (e.g., arrows) but useful in deflecting the blow of an opponent's weapons, binding their arms, hindering their movements, or punching them.

The seminal study of the topic has been undertaken by Herbert Schmidt and has devised the following typology:

* Type I: round * Type II: rectangular or trapezoidal * Type III: oval or teardrop shaped

with the cross-section of the buckler further refining these types:

* Type a: flat * Type b: concave * Type c: convex * Type d: wavy

The combination of the two classifiers determines the buckler type. Thus a Type Ia buckler is a round flat buckler; a Type IId buckler is a square wavy buckler, which would be typical of an Italian targa

MS I.33, considered the earliest extant armed-combat manual, (around 1300) contains an early description of a system of combat with buckler and sword. Provided by Wikipedia