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Kite-shaped Shields
       The highly specialized janūwīyah and its contemporary, the ṭāriqah, lead one to the much-debated problem of just where such kite-shaped shields originated. It is widely believed that these shields were one of the earliest original developments in western European arms and armour, and that they were copied by the Byzantines in the late 10th, 11th or even 12th centuries.³⁹ Elsewhere, it has been pointed out that this kite-shaped shield appeared in 11th century Russia,⁴⁰ and Spain,⁴¹ though not necessarily independently, but may have first been seen in Mediterranean Europe.⁴² Most sources note that oval shields had long been known in the Byzantine world, but apparently see little or no link between these and the
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39. Chalandon, Les Comnènes - Etudes sur l'Empire Byzantin, vol. II, pp. 619-620; Howard-Johnson, op. cit., p. 290; Haldon, "Some Aspects of Byzantine Military Technology from the 6th to the 10th centuries," pp. 30 and 33-34.
40. Gorelick, "Bronya Praotecheskaya," p. 64; Kirpitchnikov, Medieval Russian Arms, vol. III, pp. 90-91.
41. Hoffmeyer, Arms and Armour in Spain, A Short Survey, pp. 138-140.
42. A. B. Hoffmeyer, "Military Equipment in the Byzantine Manuscript of Scylitzes in Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid," Gladius, V (1966), pp. 84-85.

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larger kite-shaped, so-called "Norman", shield.
       What are not mentioned are a whole series of smaller, often hand- rather than arm-held, kite-shaped shields, many of which have rounded rather than pointed bases, which could provide a logical link between the ancient oval shield and the heavy European kite-shaped cavalry shield of the 11th and 12th centuries (Figs. 149, 154, 159, 161, 204, 220B, 227, 267, 301, 392, 393, 415, 422, 484, 510, 514, 515, 521, 523, 524, 527, 530, 531, 533, 538, 540, 543, 545, 549, 552, 575, 577, 586, 587, 604, 606, 610, 625 and 638).
       The long "Norman" shield existed for only a relatively short period and was replaced in most of western Europe by a small kite-shaped protection reminiscent, at least in shape, of those earlier small kite-shaped Byzantine shields. These smaller types gave their users a certain amount of extra protection for the abdomen and groin without adding the redundant weight that would result from shields whose dimensions wore increased both laterally and longitudinally. Unfortunately, the term ṭāriqah appeared at about the same time as the European kite-shaped shield, and while some authorities consider the French term targe to be a corruption of ṭāriqah,⁴³ others believe exactly the reverse.⁴⁴ On the other hand, it is reasonably certain that the ṭāriqah shield of Fāṭimid Egypt was an infantry protection, to be used by Daylamī infantry and younger warriors as shield-bearers.⁴⁵ Equally clearly the ṭāriqah generally
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43. Prawer, op. cit., p. 522.
44. White, op. cit., pp. 99-100.
45. Beshir, op. cit., p. 74.

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remained an infantry shield in Ayyūbid Egypt and Syria, despite supposed Crusader influence.⁴⁶ Nevertheless, it was associated by Muslim authors more with their various Christian foes than with their own troops.⁴⁷
       In the east such kite-shaped shields were probably known as "lute-shaped" sipar-i shūshak shields.⁴⁸