Why Knights Stopped Using Shields

Imagine you're a knight, the arrows are about to fall, and you look down at your left arm: no shield. You left it behind on purpose. Why would anyone walk into an arrow storm without the one thing made to stop arrows? From the Norman kite shields at Hastings to coats of arms, tin can armour, the Genoese crossbowmen at Crécy, white plate armour, the mud of Agincourt, the London lobsters and the riot shield, this is the story of how the armour grew, the shield shrank, and why the shield outlived the knight. 0:00 The arrow storm 0:47 1066: the kite shield 1:55 The metal bucket and the coat of arms 3:02 Tin cans and Crécy 4:13 White armour 5:59 Agincourt 7:34 The shield isn't finished 8:37 The shield that outlived the knight Sources: William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi; the Bayeux Tapestry; John Bradmore, Philomena (BL Sloane MS 2272); Askew, Formenti and Minetti, "Limitations imposed by wearing armour on Medieval soldiers' locomotor performance" (Proc. R. Soc. B, 2012); Alan Williams, The Knight and the Blast Furnace; The Metropolitan Museum of Art essays and collection notes on armour, pollaxes and tournament targes; Canterbury Cathedral and Canterbury Archaeological Trust on the Black Prince's achievements; Captain America Comics #1 (1941); Wikipedia: Battle of Hastings, Battle of Crécy, Battle of Agincourt, Pavise, Hussite wagon fort, Rodeleros, Heraldry. Medieval numbers come from chroniclers and may be inflated. #history #knights #medievalhistory