Considering that Leonard Dutton’s ‘Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms’
covered the periods from Hengist to Ecgbert, it made excellent sense to then
follow up with reading Paul Hills book which covers the next period from
800-1066. However, the book was not exactly what I was expecting. What I was
expecting was for much the same format as the Dutton’s book in which it
followed all military events and activities in chronology, but instead we have a
book divided up into sections. These sections cover such things like the
composition of the army and the equipment they would have used, and then later
it deals with selective campaigns of the period from 800-1066. Mainly classic
campaigns involving battles like Maldon and Hastings, but nevertheless campaigns
of which I am still shamefully under-read.
It starts by introducing the reader to the subject of
Anglo-Saxon warfare by informing him of what the armies of the time would have
looked like, and fought like. As I may have mentioned in the previous post I am
more of a visual learner, and having a map to hand when reading history is an
essential for making sure that I remember all the events. So being able to
picture exactly what the Anglo-Saxons would have looked like in battle was a
very handy way of making me (the reader) fully engaged. Along the way the
author also raised questions in which the answers were a little ambiguous, but where
he managed to supply valid theories, such as the role of cavalry in Anglo-Saxon
England where it is concluded that many warriors dismounted for battle but then
remounted to chase a defeated foe.
What would be later called ‘levies’ in medieval England were
initially called ‘Fyrds’, which were essentially freemen who would mobilise
when called upon by their lord. These soldiers were usually very lightly
armoured and will have been likely only to carry a spear and shield at best. However,
some troops were much better equipped. Depending on your status in society would
depend upon what was equipment would have to be pledged to upon death. What I
mean by this, is that if you were an Earl you may have to fulfil a requirement
of gifting equipment enough to fit out five Huscarls upon your death. The requirements
would alter depending on current event. For example during the reign of
Aethelred the unready the number of equipment which needed to be donated upon
death was at an all-time high. This system was a very handy way of ensuring
that there was always a sufficient amount of heavy infantry on the battlefield,
but heavy infantry is not always what is required. One of the select military
campaigns the book decides to deal with is Harold Godwinson’s invasion of Wales
in 1063 to deal with the brigand Llywelyn Ap Gruffydd who had been raiding the
midlands for many years. According to John of Salisbury (a 12th
century Bishop and author) Harold fashioned his troops with light leather armour
and smaller shields to cope with the difficult terrain of the Welsh hills. He
stated:
‘light armaments shod
with boots, their chests protected with straps of a very tough hide, carrying
small round shields to ward off missiles, and using as their offence weapons
javelins and a pointed sword’
One can’t help but wonder if this is the description they
used for those abysmal uniform like costumes the Saxons wear in the TV series
‘Vikings’.
Some of the other military campaigns covered include the bloodbath
at Maldon, where the Vikings made their return to England, which started a
series of events that would eventually lead to a line of Danish kings lasting almost
thirty years. Paul Hill argues that the period of prosperity that followed when
all the English Kingdoms were united, may well have caused the subsequent
Vikings conquest. Edgar ‘the peaceful’ was named such, not because he was a
pacifist, but because the English naval power started under Alfred was so
mighty that the Vikings would not dare attempt a landing on English soil. This
period of prosperity is argued, as I have seen in many other books, that it led
to the Anglo-Saxons becoming weak, complacent and almost decedent; making them ripe
for conquest when the naval power could not be maintained, as was the case
under Aethelred the unready.
Two classic conflicts covered are Hastings and the early
period of Alfred the Great. The battles discussed were nothing particularly new
to me, but there were some incredibly interesting aspects that merit further
investigation. Unlike in Leonard Dutton’s book, Paul Hill establishes that most
battles of the early Anglo-Saxon period were between no more than a few hundred
troops on either side. This makes for extremely interesting reading when you put
this information alongside Alfred the Greats reforms, and in particular the border
fortifications he erected that had a standing army of almost 30,000 troops occupying
them collectively at any one period of time. At Hastings the book deals with
some of the misconceptions of the Saxon defeat. Although Harold Godwinson
ordered the plunder from Stamford Bridge returned to the capital, without giving
his troops a fair share, resulting in desertion on his speedy march south. We
still know that despite of this that Godwinson had more than enough men once he
came to battle. Literally more than enough, as described in the ‘Carmen de
Hastingae Poelio’ which details how the Saxon army was so tightly packed that
those slain by arrows were rooted standing on the spot by those next to them. Paul
suggests this lack of mobility and vulnerability to missile fire may well have caused
the panic that led to defeat.
Although the book did not follow all the events in
chronologic order or set itself out in a way like Leonard Dutton’s ‘Power
Struggles’, it did successfully fulfil all my requirements for giving me the
major events of the years from 800-1066. It has also gifted me the appetite I
wanted for when it comes time to read about the later Saxon period. In
particular I want to learn more about the family of the Godwinsons, which seems
to be a slow but continual rise to power from as far back as Aethelred’s reign.
For this I have a multitude of material in my library including ‘The Life &
Times of Godwine Earl of Wessex’ by Hubert Grills, ‘Harold II: The Doomed Saxon
King’ by Peter Rex, ‘Harold the Last Anglo-Saxon King’ by Ian Walker, ‘The
Godwins’ by Frank Barlow and finally ‘The House of Godwine’ by Emma Mason.
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