the shield samnitic, also called modern french shield, appears in the 16th c. is a shield of rectangular shape whose lower corners are rounded as arcs of a circle with a radius of half module. according to some authors it is normally 8 modules high and 7 wide, as the tournament shield, while others report a height of 9 modules and width of 7. the center of the lower side is provided with a tip formed by two arcs of a circle of radius also of the middle module. this shield is also frequently used in heraldry spanish along with the spanish shield: some authors, such as the marquis of avilés, reported the proportion of a height of 6 modules to 5 modules wide for standard spanish. the samnite shield has also been adopted as the official support civic heraldry and italian military and in this case its official size is 9 × 7.