the initial letter of an English manuscript of early XIVth century date (Fig. 611) is represented as armed with boce and sword. The size of the boce varied according to the whim of the owner. Chaucer describes the Wife of Bath wearing a hat "As brood as is a bokeler or a targe." In a woodcut (Fig. 612) from Revelationes celestes sanctae Brigittae of 1492 the town foot soldiers can be seen with their leader, whose weapon is the bastard sword, and whose auxiliary defence is a bokeler or boce. We are, however, unable to ascribe any existing example with which we are acquainted to an earlier date than the second half of the XVth century. The earliest we know of is the specimen numbered I 5 in the Musée d'Artillerie of Paris (Fig. 613). The medium of its manufacture is antelope horn bound with hoops of iron. In the centre is an escutcheon once enamelled in proper colours, but now much perished. The grip at the back is of wood.
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Fig. 614. Buckler of wood and iron
Early XVIth century
I 6, Musée d'Artillerie, Paris
The buckler was essentially the defence of the unmounted knight and even of the man-at-arms. Early in the XIIIth century the "Eskirmye
