ok heres how my dilemma goes.

i am making an impression of a 10th century byzantine footsoldier, an impression that has also lead to some humming and hawing about how ill do the massive knee length standalone gambeson soldiers wore as standard.

but my querstion relates to the shields, see a buttload of evidence showcases the use of rounded or oval shields, which would be fine and dandy.. except that i have 2 kite shields, one of which is halfway finished and was pretty expensive to get the curved shield blank

as such im hoping someone could shed light on how long it took for people to start using kite shields. so i can plan my soldiers kit accordingly especially considering my prediliction for long sleeves.. (i dont like wearing vambraces when i fight, since it IS going to be used on the field of combat )

I don't know much about the Byzantines so I can't say for certain when they came into use there, but from what I've seen in Western Europe it would seem that the 10th century still saw the round shield as the primary form of shield, with the long Norman style "kite" shield taking over in the early to mid 11th century. It is certainly possible that they were used in the later 10th century, but I haven't seen anything to suggest that. Hope that helps.

I just did some searching, and, from what I can tell, both

I found several images, whislted none said "Byzantine" they came up under a "Byzantine" search, but perhaps these are just countries that were in the empire? (The Byzantines are not a poeple I know much about)

If you really want to be 100% sure, there is probably an osprey book on the subject. (I think some of the pictures below are from osprey books)

:D [/b]

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You may want to read this thread relating to the origins of the kite shield: http://myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=344...ite+shield

Please keep in mind that Osprey Books are not the best resource for historical costumes, because they frequently get particular details wrong. You are much safer looking at primary sources yourself, rather than relying on secondary sources like Osprey.