Targe

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Targe (from

, and many were destroyed, or put to other uses. Those that remain have intricate patterns, and are decorated, indicating that they would have originally belonged to important people.

The targe was a concave shield fitted with enarmes on the inside, one adjustable by a buckle, to be attached to the forearm, and the other fixed as a grip for the left hand. These shields were mostly made of iron or iron-plated wood.

Etymology

Targe (from Old Franconian targa 'shield', Proto-Germanic *targo 'border') was a general word for shield in late Old English.^{[citation needed]} Its diminutive, target, came to mean an object to be aimed at in the 18th century.^{[citation needed]}

The term refers to various types of shields used by infantry troops from the 13th to 16th centuries, or earlier.^[2] From the 15th century, the term could also refer to special shields used for jousting. A fair number were created wholly for show.^[3]

Structure of the Scottish targe

Targes are generally

or dagger in one hand and targe on his other arm for close combat. It was also common for a dirk to be held in the targe hand, with the blade extending below the targe.

The back of the targe was commonly covered in deerskin, and a very few had some packing of straw etc. behind this. Although all the old targes show signs of handles and arm straps, of various designs including centre-grips,^[4] there is very little evidence to indicate that there was any guige strap for carrying the targe over the shoulder.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Buckler

References

External links

• Highland targes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries log-in required