| 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.[1] 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),[2] [3] [4] as both the shields and hearts suits lower halves end in a point. The Deuce of shields also feature hearts in its design.
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 German: Schilten.
The following images depict the suit of Shields from an 1850 Swiss-suited pack: