"So then did Aethelgar's child enbolden them all, Godric to battle. This is epitomized in the following excerpt: This made them vulnerable due to their being exposed, having left the protection of the shield wall, and there was a chance of being killed by a counter throw from the other side. Individual warriors would run forward from the ranks to gain velocity for their javelin throws. The victors would pursue, killing all they could catch. A final stand might be made by some, as at Maldon, but most would flee. Rout and pursuit – One side would begin to give way.This would continue until one line broke through the other, perhaps aided by the death of a leader or capture of a banner. More missiles would be exchanged, and then the two lines would close again. If neither line broke, both sides would draw back to rest. Shield to shield – One or other side closes the short gap and attacks, using spears and swords, protecting themselves and pushing with shields to try to break the enemy line.Exchange missiles – Both sides shoot arrows and throw javelins, axes and rocks to break the enemy's resolve.Advance to close quarters – A battle cry would be raised and one or both shieldwalls would advance.Preliminaries – The lines are drawn up and leaders make pre-battle inspirational speeches.Stephen Pollington has proposed the following sequence to a typical shieldwall fight The typical battle involved both sides forming shieldwalls to protect against the launching of missiles, and standing slightly out of range of each other. Most carry spears or javelins, although one man has a bow. The men stand in close order with overlapping shields. The shieldwall Īnglo-Saxon shieldwall at the Battle of Hastings, from the Bayeux Tapestry. In the literature, most of the references to weapons and fighting concern the use of javelins, spears and swords, with only occasional references to archery. Of particular relevance are the poems recounting the battles of Brunanburh, fought in 937 AD and Maldon, fought in 991 AD. There are extant contemporary descriptions of some Anglo-Saxon battles. This is because Anglo-Saxon society changed greatly during this period in the fifth century, it constituted an array of small tribal groups while by the eleventh it had consolidated into a single state. Īs Underwood noted, "Warfare in the Anglo-Saxon period cannot be viewed as a uniform whole". Thus, scholars have often drawn from the literary sources from neighbouring societies, such as those produced by continental Germanic societies like the Franks and Goths, or later Viking sources. These literary sources are almost all authored by Christian clergy, and thus do not deal specifically with warfare for instance, Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People mentions various battles that had taken place but does not dwell on them. Evidence Īlthough much archaeological evidence for Anglo-Saxon weaponry exists from the Early Anglo-Saxon period due to the widespread inclusion of weapons as grave goods in inhumation burials, scholarly knowledge of warfare itself relies far more on the literary evidence, which was only being produced in the Christian context of the Late Anglo-Saxon period. Its technology and tactics resemble those of other European cultural areas of the Early Medieval Period, although the Anglo-Saxons, unlike the Continental Germanic tribes such as the Franks and the Goths, do not appear to have regularly fought on horseback. The period of Anglo-Saxon warfare spans the 5th century AD to the 11th in England.
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