There is a museum on Edinburgh, that has three musket balls lodged in the Targe. The Targe was made in three parts. One, a thin metal backing, two, the wood was plywood, and often made from green wood. So it would absorb a blow and not shatter. Three, leather or hide fitted to the metal and wood base, then covered in tacks/nails of silver or brass, but mostly brass. I studied this, because I wanted to build one. Which I did, and yes it has a metal backing, which I then covered in wool felt. And mine has a spike int he center. This is covered in a book called "Scottish Weapons and Fortifications, 1100-1800, by David H. Caldwell
@@koticneutralftw7016 This was way back in 87, so I cant really remember. Except saying to myself "Who ever was holding that shield when those musket balls hit, must have been a big guy, or knocked on his backside.
Kinda curious if their are modern rounds it will stop. I can kinda think it could possibly stop birdshot and pistol calibers 9mm and below but I don’t study ballistics:
@@shadowknightgaming1874 Presumably the plan was to use them in an attack on the unsuspecting English overlords of the school, which I presume was in Scotland.
I'm wondering if a targe with this level of artistic detail was intended for parade/ceremonial duties, while battle targes had plain undetailed hide covering with far fewer studded nails.
@@Asertix357 its likely, after all your everyday soldier may have not been able to afford such an expensive shield, and probably wouldn't like to spend a fortune only to have it shredded by bullets.
I’m the youngest brother of Douglas Shaffer and I’m so proud of his craftsmanship. His attention to detail and historical accuracy is amazing and his original designs are just as beautiful! I’m so lucky to have such a mentor. The forearm strap will stretch with use or can accelerate the process by wetting it and molding it. Keep in mind you want a tight fit! Thanks for the great vid!
@@Skallagrim Quick question; do you think you could do a video about what weapons would best suit different body types? I know that a trained soldier would be able to fight with any weapon decently enough, but I imagine that some weapons would be obviously better-suited for different body types. Do you think you could do an essay?
If you're concerned about your armor getting penetrated, angling not only gives you the chance for deflecting, but increases your effective thickness for absorbing the shot. Interesting to see the concept applied for shield use, while also in more modern application with tanks.
Great video, I always love watching folk talking about Scottish history or facts, especially Highland Scots history as i'm from there. Only criticism I have is the battle was called Culloden, pronounced Cull-odd-en, and Glasgow is pronounced like Glaz-Go. I actually walked the battlefield of Culloden when I was a kid, its fascinating, if you ever find yourself in Scotland i'd recommend it as part of a tour of the highlands.
I liked this shield. It's nice seeing videos on more unknown shields. Could you maybe one day get your hands on an Adarga shield? It's a very unique shape and it's been used quite a lot but not a lot of people have heard of it.
I would love to see it but unfortunately no one knows for sure how to make them. I am planning to try to get one custom made for reenactment but their is no guarantee that it will hold up to expectations.
@@theghosthero6173 We got some nice examples of them in museums. I believe there are great intact ones in Madrid. Hopefully you can find someone who might could maybe make one from those references. Not knowing how it will perform is also a part of the fun right?
Hearing "targe" always makes me think of the Demoman's "Chargin' Targe" from Team Fortress 2. One of the few examples in media I can think of in which a shield is explicitly supposed to be a targe. Most often targe-sized shields in media are just abnormally viking roundshields made to be abnormally small (like in Skyrim, for instance). _“If I were to pick up this cowering-plate, I would have to put down my second sword,” a Scotsman thinks. “And urely that is madness.”_ _The Chargin’ Targe solves this riddle by turning the useless shield into a deadly weapon you can run at people with and then bludgeon to death._ - TF2 Wiki, on the Chargin' Targe
Well, broadswords were common back then, the Venetians even had a regiment of Dalmatian swordsmen in their army, and they tried to defend the Republic, but failed and the French republican army ended the Venetian Republic.
Inverness native here. Just a wee correction on pronunciation. Rather than "cull-dun" we say "cuh loddin" with emphasis on the "lodd". Not related, but some other ones that pop up a lot are: Gaelic in Scotland is pronounced gah-lic not gay-lic Balloch in Inverness is ba-loch with emphasis on the Loch, whereas Balloch near lomond is bahh-lich with emphasis on the bahh. Happy to help with any pronunciations, seeing as even different parts of scotland say the same spelling differently. Love your vids👌🏻
You're literally the first youtuber talking about the "subscription feed" instead of banging the drum about clicking the bell. It is the only way I use youtube and I've never had problems with missing videos, so its definitely the way to go.
I like the targe shield as it's one of the most versatile shields in my opinion sporting a spike at the end of the shield front and being able to have another weapon in hand behind it while protecting your arm. While you can wield damn near whatever other weapon you want in your main hand
The forearm strap can be fitted to the wearer, but it's designed to keep the shield in optimum position against your arm so it shouldn't be too loose. Keeping it against your arm provides better bracing and prevents the shield from slapping against your arm. As a rule for many weapons, improper bracing can lead to injuries when receiving a blow.
One of my favourite characters I've ever played as in an RPG carried a sidesword and targe. Even though she was a multiclass warrior spellcaster, she was an absolute tank in melee combat. She once killed a man with a single flaming punch. I miss playing with her.
Actually someone recently did a video testing the targe against muskets, and they did surprisingly well. We were all shocked at how "bulletproof" the targe was to firearms of the time, both pistol and musket.
Craftsmanship is on point very lovely piece of art as like he said I'd never want too use it for sparring. Would only use it for reenactment work or just showing it off to others.
As to strapping the shield on the back: my understanding is that there is an artifact targe where there are rings near the edge on the backside of the shield, which appear to have been for passing some kind of strap or cord through, the exact purpose of which is not documented. My personal suspicion is that while having a string or cord that goes around the edge of the shield made it easy to hang on any number of things, but the reason it goes around the entire edge may be so that a heavy object might be laid on it and carried by a number of people, or so that it may be attached like the tray of an old fashioned balance, for carrying things under a pole, or so that a bundle might be secured on the backside, so that the bundle and shield could be kept together and not get separated if say, the owner had access to a baggage train that carried many people's things.
Hey Skall, I do tabletop RPGs and am replying to let you know some of your videos inspire me to think about alternative ideas for the game. For example, you covered a video mentioning chemically altered wood being maybe equivalent as bronze and between that video and MalcolmPL's video on Algonquin armor led me to the idea that Wood Elves could well use equipment made entirely from wood and animal parts. This video got me rethinking about crazy hill gnomes and how they could use decorative shields to protect not only against skins and arrows, but also versus magic. Thank you for all the "crazy" stuff you post. Or should I say "eclectic"? 😎
Perfect timing on that shield comparison video! I just started going to my local SCA group and am trying to decide what sort of shield to make myself, that will be a great help!
Ywah, sometimes I see your new vids on my feed, sometimes not. I just check the channel periodically to see if there's anything I missed. Really the only way at this point.
Someone, I believe my first wife, bought me almost exactly the same targe, except mine has a metal fore grip(leather wrapped) and no back strap or working on the leather. Many of the studs came out, as well, but that's after 20 years or something like that.
Skal I'm excited to see that next video as I've long imagined a duel between unarmored Viking vs highland Scot. Viking has bigger center gripped shield & sword with little hand protection, Highland Scot has smaller, stouter arm gripped shield & sword with great hand protection. Just seems a fun what if matchup
Given that Orkney and Shetland were in Scandinavian hands well into the medieval period some variation of that did happen. (Not a basket hilt sword, but with a cruciform oakshott type X-XII )
It feels like a lot of fictional shields fall into this category on accident, but most often that's just because they make their roundshields too small. This is especially common in video games.
"Until 1746, after which the Targe was banned." ...Welp. I guess that's another thing to put on the list of things I'm not proud of being English for. Glad to see the Targe getting some more spotlight. They're ridiculously pretty shields.
@@deathbyastonishment7930 That might be why the English banned them but it’s not why the Scots stopped using them. The Jacobites got slaughtered attempting the tactics mentioned in the video at Culloden advancing into canister fire.
@@deathbyastonishment7930 We are known as Scots. And no, Queen Victoria reversed many of the anti-Scottish cultural bans as she was very fond of Scotland. She set up the Balmoral estate. When our current Queen says 'The Queen', she is referring to Queen Victoria. The Stewart monarchs were tyrants, I'm glad Cumberland put them down at Culloden
@@deathbyastonishment7930 no, these laws banning Highland weapons and clothing were revoked by a parliamentary act in 1782, and even then, Scottish noblemen could disregard these laws buying kilts, plaids and weapons, as the only legal way for common folk to keep using Highland clothing and weapons was to enlist in the Highland regiments of the British army.
5:00 This knight of Catarina expresses his deepest gratitude. I shall not forget this. Please, take this; a symbol of my appreciation. So scottish warriors used to parry bullets. That is pretty cool veteran stuff.
My first memory of this Shield was in Braveheart. The Scott or Irishman ran into the enemy, pinning the arms down with the shield and pulled a dagger from behind the shield and stabbed overhand
It doesn't need studs to prevent an edge cut from getting to the arm, plywood is very resistant to cutting. Even a Viking shield of that scale would prevent a cut to the center but Viking shields were intentionally thin edged to allow swords to bite into them. Your sword bites into the shield and then you no longer have control over the sword because it is stuck embedded into the enemies shield while their sword or axe is free. A shields main function is to defend against an enemies weapon, and trapping the weapon does that and also renders the weapon useless.
Re the musket ball... the black powder of the time was of varying quality and this coupled with the relative wetness of the highlands (where I live) often resulted in loads going bad and partially firing or just not at all.. so some of the shots would be much weaker than those with modern powders and controlled storage..
I’m actually purchasing a similar but cheaper version of this shield this week. It’s for my wall! I have matching Dirk and Sgian-dubh to go with the Targe.
Cool. If you wear a kilt with stockings, you can tuck your Sgian-dubh into your right stocking (on the outside). It's a little like the Sikh Kirpan, a ceremonial blade.
When I learned about the Sgian-dubh I made a mental note to be extra polite at Scottish weddings. You do not want to get on the wrong side of a dozen drunk Scots all of them armed
Targes were also frequently used with a dirk held in the Targe hand. So a basket hilt broadsword, a spiked targe and a 12-15" long dirk at the charge. No wonder a well timed and executed highland charge could break the enemy ranks like at the battle of Prestopans. Successful highland charges meant a very quick battle. Everyone thinks of Culloden but there were several battles prior to that where the Scots and allies won handily, several without using the charge as well.
Maybe a bit much but Id like to see your take on maxing armor and weapons from different time periods. Like, what combat have looked like if a Samurai used a gladius and targe, or a Knight using shotel and buckler? Excusing all historical fact and simply talking about how combat would fair in these sort of hypothetical builds.
I have heard the comment about the arm straps being too tight from many different people whether they are looking at originals or modern replicas. This is deliberate. It has to be tight for it to stay on your arm when your hand is through the hand grip holding a dirk. And this configuration you have the potential for three points of attack - The sword blade, the targe spike, and the dirk blade.
For two especially unique shield designs, see Omani conical shields from Zanzibar, and Lotuko surfboard shaped ones from South Sudan. Just identified one of each for a museum.
