Duelists in Renaissance Italy Often Ran the Risk of Turning Themselves Into Human Torches
Back in the days of Romeo and Juliet, swaggering swordsmen in Renaissance Italy went to great lengths to gain an edge, frequently resorting to fancy equipment to do so. Sometimes the nifty gizmos worked, and sometimes they backfired. Sometimes they backfired literally, as in the case of lantern shields – small round bucklers to which a lantern was attached. They became all the rage in dueling circles, and a variety of techniques for putting them to best use were described in the day’s dueling manuals.
As seen in the above photo, the shields were designed with a lantern attached to their rear, on the wielder’s side. The shield’s front had a hole cut into it, covered by a flap to conceal the lantern’s light. When the user wanted to, he would pull on a string to remove the flap, and the sudden light would, in theory, blind his adversary or otherwise impair his night vision. Some of the more sophisticated lantern shields also had a mechanism for dimming or brightening the intensity of the lamp’s light.
Lantern shields looked cool and stylish, and gave their users an aura of elegance, urbane classiness, and refinement, in addition to the literal aural of light. However, lanterns back then were oil lamps. That was a serious design defect in lantern shields, in that they literally mixed oil and fire, strapped to the user’s arm and in close proximity to his upper body and face.
Today, flashlights use batteries for stored fuel. Then, lantern shields used oil in a storage compartment. That was a drawback when the lantern was shaken, as it could not help doing seeing as it was attached to a shield that absorbed blows when used defensively, or delivered them when used offensively to bash opponents. As a result, oil could easily leak or spill out of the lantern. Since it was attached to the shield, which was affixed to the user’s arm and in close proximity to his torso, the user’s shield-bearing arm, face, or body, would get drenched in flammable oil. And the flame was right there, in the lantern. As a result, lantern shield users ran a serious risk of getting turned into human torches whenever they put their fancy gizmo to actual use.
