Use of kalkan shield, part 3a – shield on a folded in half loop, hung across one shoulder

Now it's time to present those techniques, that require the shield's loop to be folded in half and therefore shortened, to wear the kalkan higher on the body, on your back or upper arm. We begin with so-called "Donatello turtle" or "turtle across one shoulder" method, which is the fastest and easiest way to hang the shield on the back, using only one hand. The other hand can, at the same time, hold reins and/or saber, lance etc. Therefore it’s possible to take the kalkan on your back or remove it while turning your horse away or towards the enemy.

It is important to remember, that this shield was part of warrior more or less complete system of defenses, typically consisting of aketon and helmet of some kind, possibly chainmail, vambraces etc. etc. On our photos we present kalkan placed over a white shirt, but this is only to show clearly how the loop is worn. Description is for a right-handed person.


We wear and use the kalkan shield with one part of big, movable loop across the right shoulder. This loop we never remove from the shoulder, no matter what evolution we do with our shield - so it is not possible to lose it, even if we drop it by accident or release it to have both hands free, then it will hang on the left hip.





To shift the kalkan on our back, we insert left hand between the shield and our body, taking the second part of movable loop with reverse-grip (palm of the hand facing downwards - important or else the loop parts will cross each other in the next move), and then we pull upwards. Because this loop is moving freely in mounting rings, its first part, going across our shoulder, will narrow down, while the part we are tugging at is increasing in size.
We pull the loop over our head, at the same time left elbow should be raised high, so it will also be put inside of the loop. As soon as two parts of the loop will meet, we grab them both with left hand and pull them a little down, simultaneously pushing the shield with our left elbow, to move it onto our back.




Et voila! Kalkan is now hanging on our back and both parts of the loop are going parallel to each other, across our right shoulder.


To remove the kalkan we grab with the left hand the same part of big loop, that we manipulate before, and remove it over our head. Then we move the hand a little away from our body and release the loop in such a way, that it will drop outside our left forearm and the shield be lowered and hang freely at our left hip.




We shouldn't move left hand too far to the side, or else when we release the loop, it can catch on the shield's rim, as you can see on the photo. Kalkan will then be hanging uncomfortable high, under our armpit, instead on the hip level.

Another, less serious mistake is to confuse both parts of loop when removing the shield from our back. As I mentioned above, we should remove over the head the same part of the loop that we pulled over the head before (then the hanging shield will look like on the left photo enclosed below). If we drop the other part of loop, which is supposed to stay all the time on our shoulder, rope or thong cross over itself on the shield's mounting ring (as indicated by red arrow on the right photo), and it will move less freely, especially if we repeat this mistake several times in a row.
To avoid that I suggest to always manipulating this part of the loop, which has the connection - knot or buckle - and is easy to recognize, while the part without buckle we leave all the time on our right shoulder.


This system of kalkan manipulation is, as I said, very fast and convenient at the battlefield, but when riding for several hours with a shield hanging as described above, across only one shoulder, become a bit uncomfortable, as it has a tendency to slowly slide towards one side and keeping it centered requires a push with an elbow every five minutes or so. Not a big problem, but a bit irritating if you have to keep doing this for the next 50 km. To avoid this, you can hang your shield across both shoulders, with the two parts of the carrying strap crossed on your chest. But I will describe this second method a bit later.

Kalkan you can see on the pictures was made by Norbert Kopczyński (basket) and Zbysio Juszkiewicz (metal elements), I’m responsible for making grips/straps and reconstruction of the various ways to use them.
Owner of the shield is Michał Sanczenko, who patiently posed for photos.

In the next part: kalkan hung over the arm and switching sides.