28. A Hazardous Renaissance Solution to Fighting in the Dark
Lantern shields – small circular bucklers to which a lantern was attached – became all the rage in dueling circles during the Italian Renaissance as a solution to the problem of fighting at night. They were popular enough that instructions for using and countering them were included in contemporary dueling manuals. A leather flap covered the lantern, and when the user deemed it appropriate, he would throw it open. The sudden light would hopefully dazzle the opponent by blinding or otherwise degrading his night vision. Some of the more sophisticated lantern shields, which could include built-in spikes, sword blades, and gauntlets, also had a mechanism for dimming or brightening the lamp’s light.
It was a stylish and good-looking contraption, bestowing upon its bearer an air of elegance, urbane classiness, and refinement. A drawback – and a significant one at that – was that lanterns back then were oil lamps. That meant that the lantern shield suffered from an unfortunate design defect: it literally mixed oil and fire, strapped to the user’s arm and in close proximity to his face and torso.
Related: 10 Most Bizarre Duels in History.