Decorative shield from Louis the Pious's chapel was probably made no earlier than the 11th century

A shield made of elk antler, from the Rijksmuseum collection.

According to its catalogue description, the decorative shield comes from the funerary chapel of the Frankish king Louis the Pious. It is sometimes called “the shield of Charlemagne”, Louis the Pious having been Charlemagne's son. Still, the ornamental armour was most probably made several centuries after the death of Louis I, and no earlier than the eleventh century.

Louis the Pious died in 840; the abbey in which he was buried was destroyed first in the tenth century, and then again during the French Revolution

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Decorative shield from Louis the Pious's chapel was probably made no earlier than the 11th century

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