Shields (suit)

For other uses, see Shields (disambiguation).

Shields
Native name	German: Schilten
Deck	Swiss-suited playing cards
Invented	15th century

Shields (German: Schilten), also called Escutcheons, is one of the four playing card suits in a deck of Swiss-suited playing cards. This suit was invented in 15th century German speaking lands and is a survivor from a large pool of experimental suit signs created to replace the Latin suits. One example from the mid-15th century is a five-suited deck with the Latin suits plus a suit of shields. Another example, is the Hofämterspiel, a medieval handmade deck from 1453 to 1457 where each suit depicts shields carrying different coat of arms of four kingdoms: France, Germany, Bohemia and Hungary.

It is equivalent to the German Hearts (suit), as both the shields and hearts suits lower halves end in a point. The Deuce of shields also feature hearts in its design.

Characteristics

As its name suggests, the shield symbol is a stylized depiction of a warrior's shield in yellow. The coat of arms varies from deck to deck.

In the German language, the shield is called Schilten.

Cards

The following images depict the suit of Shields from an 1850 Swiss-suited pack:

• 
  Deuce
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  Banner
• 
  Unter
• 
  Ober
• 
  King