Supplanting the earlier kite shields around 1250, heater shields were the primary battlefield accompaniment of knights throughout the latter Middle Ages. This high quality reproduction is forged from 18 gauge steel and is 20 inches by 28 inches, offering a great deal of protection to a bearer. Hand painted by expert craftsmen, the shield features a grey field highlighted by a red cross emblematic of the Knights Templars. Starting off decorated with a painted pattern or an animal representation for easy identification on a busy battlefield, medieval shield designs eventually developed into systematized heraldic devices during high-medieval times. The shape of the "heater" shield itself came to define the escutcheon, the shield used in a coat-of-arms.
