Lantern shield

Their defining feature is a small circular shield – a buckler – combined with a lantern, or a hook from which to hang a lantern, intended to blind the opponent at night or in duels fought at dawn.

Some more elaborate examples might incorporate gauntlets, spikes, sword blades, and also a mechanism to alternatively darken or release the light of the lantern.

Swordsmen dueling at dawn are reported to have carried lanterns during the 16th and 17th centuries, and fencing manuals of the period integrated the lantern into their lessons, using it to parry blows and blind the opponent.

[1] The manuals sometimes show the combatants carrying the lantern in the left hand wrapped behind the back.

[2] It is believed that the lantern shield was never actually used in combat, but rather for patrolling Italian city streets at night.