[Jeff Lord]

I don't really know who you're replying to here, but I'll jump in.

The link Skarg provided has some problems, but the first row of the "cartoon" shields does provide a good, overall, depiction of a buckler. And allow me to quote myself when I said previously, "Although I don't believe the various images are necessarily to scale."

Also, I mentioned before (replying to Skarg) that, "I've been lucky enough to view and handle bucklers in museums and private collections around the world; they vary in size and composition somewhat but I don't believe that your assertion,"A buckler is like just the central boss on the round shields shown on the top row there" is correct."

So we seem to agree.

Your link is problematic though. When you point out, "two guys sparring, one with a tiny fist-sized buckler and one with a giant buckler the size and shape of a huge salad bowl" you fail to mention that this is generally considered artistic license.

From the link itself: "Here the artist is trying to convey that an outstretched bucker seems to be larger because it offers more protection. And if the scholar were to measure the priest’s bucker (sic) in degrees relative to his viewpoint, the closer bucker (sic) would in fact be larger."

So, yeah - I agree, for many and varied reasons, that the buckler should be considered a small shield.

But the images from 1.33 (recent, best scholarship, places this manual c. 1350) don't necessarily either support, or disprove, this belief.

The actual bucklers I've handled and sparred with in replica form, on the other hand. . .