# Buckler
A buckler is a small, generally round shield held in one hand by a central grip and carried with a sword in the other, used in Europe mainly from the 13th to the 17th centuries. The name comes from the [Old French](https://www.edgepedia.org/old-french) *bocle* or *bouclier*, meaning "boss", the central metal dome of a shield, which descends from the Latin *buccula*, a diminutive of *bucca*, "cheek".[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/buckler) The word entered [Middle English](https://www.edgepedia.org/middle-english) as *bokeler* around 1250 to 1300.[2](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/buckler)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Definition | Small hand-held shield with a central grip, named for its iron boss; used with a sword in the other hand[1](https://www.etymonline.com/word/buckler) • [3](https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/v/object-329496/shield-buckler/) |
| Size limit | Maximum diameter of about 45 cm, the threshold beyond which a shield is classed as another type[4](https://combatarchaeology.org/arms-and-armour-in-3d-2-bucklers/) |
| Period of use | Common in the early 1300s and still in use in the late 1500s; mainly the 13th to 17th centuries[3](https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/v/object-329496/shield-buckler/) • [5](https://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/Kent/shieweap/shgenex3.html) |
| Signature source | MS I.33, the earliest surviving European fencing manual (c. 1300, or c. 1320 to 1330 by current research), teaches a complete sword-and-buckler system with seven guards[6](https://shop.royalarmouries.org/blogs/news/introducing-the-i-33-sword) |
| Military use | Carried by lightly armed foot soldiers; English archers at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 carried bucklers[3](https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/v/object-329496/shield-buckler/) |
| Surviving example | Wrexham buckler, ca. 1500, diameter 36.2 cm, weight 2.27 kg, steel rings on a domed boss over wood and leather[7](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/27942) |
| Decline | Gradually displaced by the dagger in the off hand during the age of the rapier[8](https://www.theironcodex.org/weapons-armor/buckler) |
## Form and construction
The buckler is defined by its grip rather than its shape. Unlike the targe, worn on the arm, or the pavise, a large shield that stood on the ground, the buckler was held in the hand at arm's length.[5](https://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/Kent/shieweap/shgenex3.html) Its basic structure was a strong iron plate, round, square, or occasionally trapezoidal, fitted on the inside with a hand strap called the enarme, with the border reinforced by a riveted metal strip.[5](https://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/Kent/shieweap/shgenex3.html) A hook or spike sometimes projected from the center to break or jam an opponent's blade, a device known as a sword-breaker.[5](https://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/Kent/shieweap/shgenex3.html)
Surviving objects show the range of construction. A late 14th-century buckler from the [City of London](https://www.edgepedia.org/city-of-london), one of the earliest surviving examples, is made of iron and wood, 260 mm in diameter and 2,500 g in weight.[3](https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/v/object-329496/shield-buckler/) Dating to around 1500, this British buckler comes from Wrexham, close to the border between [England and Wales](https://www.edgepedia.org/england-and-wales). Iron rivets topped with brass fasten steel rings arranged in concentric circles onto a domed central boss that sits above a backing of wood and leather; the piece spans 36.2 cm and has a mass of 2.27 kg.[7](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/27942) Two 15th- or 16th-century Norwegian bucklers in the National Museum of Denmark measure 39.4 cm and 38 cm across, and show heavy and light trauma from sharp-edged weaponry around their iron rims.[4](https://combatarchaeology.org/arms-and-armour-in-3d-2-bucklers/)
## What the size bought and cost
The buckler's small size offered little protection against projectiles, but it made the shield maneuverable, versatile in hand-to-hand combat, and easy to carry, especially in civilian contexts.[4](https://combatarchaeology.org/arms-and-armour-in-3d-2-bucklers/) It could ward off blows and its heavy iron boss could be used to punch opponents.[3](https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/v/object-329496/shield-buckler/) In the fencing treatises the buckler acts as an active weapon covering the sword hand rather than a passive guard, and it could be used to control an opponent's blade after the swords bind.[8](https://www.theironcodex.org/weapons-armor/buckler)
## Sword and buckler fencing
The sword-and-buckler combination becomes prevalent in source material from the 13th century onward and is central to the buckler tradition.[4](https://combatarchaeology.org/arms-and-armour-in-3d-2-bucklers/) Its principal witness is the manuscript known as I.33, the oldest known European fencing manual, produced in Germany in the early 14th century; current research, using artistic style and the clothing of its female figure, favors a date around 1320 to 1330.[6](https://shop.royalarmouries.org/blogs/news/introducing-the-i-33-sword) The text and images outline a system of fencing with sword and buckler that includes seven basic guards, called custodiae, and over 36 sequences or plays, shown step by step with explanatory text.[6](https://shop.royalarmouries.org/blogs/news/introducing-the-i-33-sword) Two characters, a priest and a scholar, illustrate most of the sequences; in the last pages the scholar is replaced by a woman named Walpurgis.[6](https://shop.royalarmouries.org/blogs/news/introducing-the-i-33-sword) One scholarly argument holds that I.33 was designed as a teaching manual for a clerical fencing master training defendants facing trial by combat.[9](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/0078719112Z.0000000003)
Later treatises treat the buckler far less fully. A scoping review of German-tradition sources found that only one manuscript is fully dedicated to sword and buckler, while the Liechtenauer treatises, Paulus Kal, Talhoffer, and Dürer devote between less than 1 percent and 13 percent of their content to it, with a mean of 4.6 percent, and none explains the complete system.[10](https://injoma.com/_PR/view/index.php?aidx=37577&bidx=3224)
## Military and civilian use
Bucklers served both battlefield and street. By the mid-14th century the development of plate armor had reduced the need for wooden heater-shaped shields, although infantrymen still used small circular bucklers.[11](https://royalarmouries.org/objects-and-stories/stories/the-hundred-years-war-1337-1453) English archers at Agincourt in 1415 carried them.[3](https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/v/object-329496/shield-buckler/) In civilian life the buckler hung from the belt as everyday equipment, and sword-and-buckler fencing was a popular motif in the marginal illumination of European manuscripts made between roughly 1250 and 1370.[8](https://www.theironcodex.org/weapons-armor/buckler) • [12](https://fiona.uni-hamburg.de/94677205/mc20section2240819web.pdf)
Authorities repeatedly tried to curb the combination. A late 13th- or early 14th-century London ordinance forbade anyone in the city to hold a school or take lessons in fencing with the buckler, by night or by day, on pain of 40 days' imprisonment, because such training emboldened mischief and duelling.[13](https://the-orb.arlima.net/encyclop/culture/towns/florilegium/community/cmevnt04.html)
## Decline
While the war shield had effectively left the battlefield by the 15th century, the buckler remained a normal civilian companion to the sword into the age of the rapier, when it was gradually displaced by the dagger in the off hand.[8](https://www.theironcodex.org/weapons-armor/buckler) Some mid-16th-century bucklers were even combined with a wheel-lock or matchlock pistol.[5](https://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/Kent/shieweap/shgenex3.html)
## References
1. [Buckler – Etymology, Origin & Meaning, Online Etymology Dictionary](https://www.etymonline.com/word/buckler)
2. [BUCKLER Definition & Meaning, Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/buckler)
3. [Shield, buckler, London Museum](https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/v/object-329496/shield-buckler/)
4. [Arms and Armour in 3D (2): Bucklers, Society for Combat Archaeology](https://combatarchaeology.org/arms-and-armour-in-3d-2-bucklers/)
5. [Shields: history and terminology, Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford](https://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/Kent/shieweap/shgenex3.html)
6. [Introducing the I.33 Sword, Royal Armouries Museum Shop](https://shop.royalarmouries.org/blogs/news/introducing-the-i-33-sword)
7. [Buckler, British, Wrexham, Wales, The Metropolitan Museum of Art](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/27942)
8. [Buckler – Shield, The Iron Codex](https://www.theironcodex.org/weapons-armor/buckler)
9. [Royal Armouries MS I.33: The Judicial Combat and the Art of Fencing in Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century German Literature, Oxford German Studies 41(1)](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/0078719112Z.0000000003)
10. [Wauters, Sean (2023). The use of the buckler in different fencing treatises: a scoping review, International Journal of Martial Arts 8](https://injoma.com/_PR/view/index.php?aidx=37577&bidx=3224)
11. [The Hundred Years' War 1337–1453, Royal Armouries](https://royalarmouries.org/objects-and-stories/stories/the-hundred-years-war-1337-1453)
12. [Berthold, Cornelius. Marginalised Fighting: sword and buckler in manuscript marginalia](https://fiona.uni-hamburg.de/94677205/mc20section2240819web.pdf)
13. [Prohibition of fencing, Florilegium Urbanum, ORB](https://the-orb.arlima.net/encyclop/culture/towns/florilegium/community/cmevnt04.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Engineering and manufacturing › Weapons: general concepts and history › Titles symbols to F*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*
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