Mantlet

A mantlet was a large shield or portable shelter used for stopping arrows or bullets, in medieval warfare.

A mantlet could be mounted on a wheeled carriage and protected one or several soldiers. Mantlets are tools used in siege warfare mainly for defensive purposes. It was good for protecting infantry from volleys of bolts and arrows but was very weak against infantry attacks.

The mantlet required someone behind it to operate it, they would need to push the mantlet with their own force. The mantlets could easily be caught on fire though, it wasn’t really protected by that. A Mantlet could be also mounted on to carts or on a wheeled carriage which protected the soldiers on it. So mainly a mantlet is a mobile shield that the soldiers used in the middle ages to protect themselves from missles.