Norman shield help.

[racm32]

I'm painting up a Norman army and I have run into a problem. I can not find much information regarding the designs on Norman shields. Where they painted based on the heraldry of the man caring it or to there Lord/leader, where they painted to show they belonged in a battle group? Any help would be much appreciated.

[Mr.J]

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=23988.0

I had the same problem a while back hope this helps.

[Garanhir]

From what I've been able to read over the years there was no formal heraldry at all during the early period of Norman expansion, certainly none during the 11th century.  Designs on illustrated shields at the time are very generic, for example, and although bold designs are shown on the shields of knights on the Bayeux tapestry, the same knights bear different shields in other parts of the story.  Also, when Norman and Frankish knights joined the First Crusade, the Byzantine writer of the Alexiad described their shields as being smooth with bright, polished bosses, but there is no mention of personal heraldry.

The first formal forms of arms that we might call heraldry only seem to appear during the mid 12th century (well, maybe the very end of the '20s), so a late Norman or early Angevin force might have the beginnings of something more recognisable as such.