Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A shield wall (scieldweall or bordweall in Old English, skjaldborg in Old Norse) is a military formation that was common in ancient and medieval warfare. There were many slight variations of this formation, but the common factor was soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder and holding their shields so that they would abut or overlap.
In the testudo formation, the men would align their shields to form a packed formation covered with shields on the front and top. [1] The first row of men, possibly excluding the men on the flanks, would hold their shields from about the height of their shins to their eyes, so as to cover the formation's front.
The term dates from at least 1000 AD and derives from Old English roots expressing the idea of a "shield-troop". [1] Some researchers have also posited this etymological relation may show the schiltron is directly descended from the Anglo-Saxon shield wall, and still others give evidence "schiltron" is a name derived from a Viking circular formation (generally no fewer than a thousand fighters ...
They were usually the first to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Although not much is known about them today, it is believed that they were the backbone of the Persian army who formed a shield wall and used their 2 m (6.6 ft) spears to protect more vulnerable troops such as archers from the enemy. The term is also used to refer to ...
The phoulkon (Greek: φοῦλκον), in Latin fulcum, was an infantry formation utilized by the military of the late Roman and Byzantine Empire.It is a formation in which an infantry formation closes ranks and the first two or three lines form a shield wall while those behind them hurl projectiles.
Behind the battlements at the top of the wall there was usually an allure or wall walk; the shield wall could also be flanked by two wall towers. In many cases the shield wall replaced the bergfried, for example in the ruined castle of Sporkenburg [8] in the Westerwald forest or the ruins of the Alt Eberstein [9] near the city of Baden-Baden.
Discover the latest breaking news in the U.S. and around the world — politics, weather, entertainment, lifestyle, finance, sports and much more.
In January 2009, Wall to Wall's first feature film Man on Wire won a BAFTA award for Outstanding British Film and followed this success with an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. [2] [3] Previously, the company had won a Peabody Award in 2000 for The 1900 House. [4] Wall to Wall joined the Shed Media Group in November 2007. [5]