Building a historical pavise

[Sean M]

Over on his YouTube channel, Tod has a series on an English recipe for reinforcing shields with an extra layer of half-tanned leather, hide glue, glass powder, and iron filings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGYRM0AmCx4 He used rather thick leather so its hard to say how much the glass and iron filings helped. In the comments, a @notfeedynotlazy pointed to a text from 13th century Castille which says that the leather is glued to shields with cheese paste.

EL ESCUDO: El escudo era de madera, forrado de cuero (56) ... El cuero se pegaba a la madera con <<engrudo de queso>>. (59)

THE SHIELD: The shield was made of wood, covered with leather (56)... The leather was glued to the wood with <<cheese paste>>

(56) Libro de Alexandre 657, ms. O, 685, ms. P
(59) Libros del Saber de Astronomia IV, p. 69

MENENDEZ PIDAL, GONZALO, La España del siglo XIII leida en imágenes, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, 1986 (above quote is from page 261) https://books.google.ca/books?id=2OSITP ... &q&f=false

I don't have library access to an edition of the Libros del Saber de Astronomia from the reign of Alfonso X of Castille and I can't find one online. Can anyone help?

Edit: aha! https://bibliotecadigital.jcyl.es/

Capitolo II. De cuemo se deue partir esta canal. et en quántas partes.

Quando etso quissieres fazar. parte esta canal en quantas partes quissie-
res. segund fuer su grandeza. et aya en cada parte dellas un forado pe-
quenno. por o cosra ell argent uiui de la una parte á la otre. et cada
una destas partes bea bien fuertes. que se non corrompa por la fortaleza dell
argent uiuo. et cúbrela con cuero caballar ó asnar. et con engrud de queso.
assí cuemo cubren los escudos por tal que sean mas fuertes. et pon nom-
bre á este çerci. la madre.

... (Make a receptacle for quicksilver). And cover it with horse or donkey skin. And with cheese paste. Just as when they cover the shields when they want them to be stronger. ...

Edit: thread from 2011 on the recipe which Tod is using http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... 4&t=131492

[ryn S]

Here is a video of someone make a replica pavise: https://youtu.be/ZvvvGGR8i8U