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The shield wall or skjaldborg was a main formation in which accomplished Viking warriors would create a line of interlocked shields and thrust spears at adversaries. Other notable tactics included the svinfylking "boar battle formation", in which warriors would create a wedge configuration and attempt to burst through the front line of nearby foes.
The shield-wall was commonly used in many parts of Northern Europe such as in England and Scandinavia.. A mention of "ſcild ƿeall" (shield-wall) in Beowulf. In the battles between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes in England, most of the Saxon army would have consisted of the inexperienced fyrd, a militia composed of free peasants.
Shields also appears to have been covered in thin leather, preventing them from splintering. In addition to this, the weapons of their enemies sometimes became stuck in the shield, giving the Viking an opportunity to kill them. [63] Shields had its hand grip hidden behind an iron boss and measures about 1 m in diameter. [54]
Related to the wedge formation, it was used in Iron Age Scandinavia and later by the Vikings. [2] It was also used by Germanic peoples during the Germanic Iron Age and was known as the "Schweinskopf" or "Swine's Head". [3] Its invention was attributed to the god Odin. [3] [4] The apex was composed of a single file.
Consequently, in 879 the Viking army left Chippenham and made its way to Cirencester (in the kingdom of Mercia) and remained there for a year. [51] The following year the army went to East Anglia, where it settled. [52] Also in 879, according to Asser, another Viking army sailed up the River Thames and wintered at Fulham in Middlesex. [53]
Evidence indicates that alder, willow, and poplar wood were the most common types; shields of maple, birch, ash, and oak have also been discovered. [91] The diameter of shields greatly varied, ranging from 0.3 to 0.92 m (1 to 3 ft), although most shields were between 0.46 to 0.66 m (1 ft 6 in to 2 ft 2 in) in diameter. [92]
The story's two protagonists – feuding spacemen of the future who are of distant Scandinavian origin and one of whom (the villain) is historically conscious – decide to revive this Viking tradition, resorting to a deadly holmgang on a lonely asteroid instead of a sea island, in order to settle their irreconcilable differences over a tangled ...
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.