A
buckler (French
bouclier 'shield', from Old French
bocle, boucle '
boss') is a small
shield, 15 to 45 cm (6 in to 18 in) in diameter, gripped in the fist. It was generally used as a
companion weapon in hand-to-hand combat during the
Medieval and
Renaissance periods. Its size made it poor protection against missile weapons (e.g.,
arrows) but useful in deflecting the blow of an opponent's
sword or
mace. There are two major forms of medievally documented bucklers. The first is a simple
round shield with the fist positioned directly behind the
boss with a variety of shapes of face and depths of rim. These could also have projections from the top and bottom as in
Hans Talhoffer's
Fechtbücher or serrated rings around the boss as in one example in the
Wallace Collection. The second major form is a corrugated rectangle as suggested by
Achille Marozzo in his Opera Nova.