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Saxon standard bearer | Anglo Saxon History 
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| | Battle of Hastings 1066AD Observations - Saxon Shield Wall - did it really exist? |
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| | Shieldwall - Definition of the term ▲ |
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From Wikipedia
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. Each soldier thus benefited from the protection of the shields of his neighbors and his own.
The Saxon shieldwall is a term created in the 19th century to describe a way of fighting that the Saxons used in the Battles of Malvern, Hastings and others.
Now an awkward question
Was the Shield Wall an actual fighting formation or style, or is it the just the misinterpretation of Saxon poems and documents by early scholars?
Lets look at the evidence.
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Roman Testudo(Tortoise) ▲
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The concept of the Saxon shield wall appears to have been derived by early historians from the Roman Testudo — the tortoise formation — a close-order defensive arrangement in which soldiers locked their shields together on all sides and overhead to protect against arrow fire and missile weapons. It was used when attacking fortified positions or facing enemies with large numbers of archers and slingers.
The formation had significant constraints. To function effectively it required standardised shields of consistent size so they could interlock without gaps. It demanded intensive training so that every soldier knew precisely where his shield should be at any given moment — whether forward, to the side or overhead. Any gap in the formation left the interior exposed, and once casualties opened a hole the whole structure could collapse rapidly unless troops were trained to close the gap immediately under pressure. It was also slow and cumbersome to manoeuvre, and at the Battle of Carrhae the Roman testudo was defeated by the combined use of horse archers to pin the formation and heavy cavalry to break into it once it was held in place.
The question this raises for Hastings is straightforward. If the Roman army required highly trained professional legionaries with standardised equipment to make the Testudo work, on what basis did a Saxon Fyrd of part-time farmers with non-standardised shields create a comparable formation — and hold it intact against Norman cavalry and crossbow fire for seven hours?
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Documentary Evidence ▲
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The background to the Shield wall appears to have come from the translation of numerous Saxon and Viking Poems which describe the Saxons or Vikings using a 'Wall of Shields', but this could just mean a line of troops with shields.
The only references to a 'Shield Wall' from Saxon or Norman sources are listed below:
Some lines from 'The Battle of Maldon' translated by Douglas B. Killings
The Original line:
scyldburh tōbrocen: ābrēoðe his angin,
This is translated as:
the wall of shields breaking asunder. Shame on that action,
Scyldburh actually means 'shield fort/defense'
The Original line:
hē bræc þone bordweall, and wið þā beornas feaht,
This is translated as:
He broke through that wall of shields and among the warriors fought,
bordweall is actually 'board/plank wall or wall of boards/planks'
The defensive term used by the Saxons is different between the two lines, implying that this is not a real term but a poetic phrase to describe a line of troops behind shields.
A line from 'Anglo Saxon Chronicles for AD937'
The Original line:
ymbe Brunnanburh. Bordweal clufan,
This is translated as:
around Brunanburh. They split the shield-wall,
bordweal is actually 'board/plank wall or wall of boards/planks'
So this is similar to one of those from the 'Battle of Maldon'
There are relatively few other references to a 'shield wall' unless you look to Viking Sagas that reference 'skjaldborg' meaning shield fort or defense, but again this could just refer to a line of close order infantry protected by shields.
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Research ▲
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It’s a widespread misunderstanding that the Vikings stood shield by shield and created a close formation in battle with their round shields, says archaeologist Rolf Warming, director of the Society for Combat Archaeology.
Adorned in armour and helmet, Rolf Warming undertook an archaeological experiment with an authentic reconstruction of a Viking Age round shield. By letting a combat assistant attack him with a sharp replica of a Viking sword in simulated combat scenarios, Warming was able to test the effectiveness of different shield uses in terms of shield construction and durability.
The results were not in favour of the shield wall.
It showed that there must have been many more disadvantages than advantages since shield-wall conditions do not allow the defender to deflect incoming attacks, says Warming.
His shield sustained more damage in the passive wall stance when compared to a strategy of using the shield actively to fend off the opponent’s sword.
Click here for full article
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| Details from our article on the Malfosse ▲ |
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William supposedly told his archers to fire high to go over the 'Shield Wall'.
Did the Saxons arrive in time to build a fosse:
Anglo Saxon Chronicles William, however, came against him unawares, ere his army was collected; but the king, nevertheless, very hardly encountered him with the men that would support him: and there was a great slaughter made on either side.
Battle Abbey Chronicles Harold, the usurper of the kingdom, hearing of his arrival, quickly collected his army, resolved upon driving out the duke, or rather upon utterly destroying him and his, and marched forward, with great boldness and expedition, to the place which is now called Battel, where the duke, surrounded by his battalions of cavalry, met him courageously.
The duke, then, by his heralds, thrice offered conditions of peace, which were thrice refused by the enemy; and at length, conformably to the prophecy of Merlin a Norman race in iron coats boldly cast down the pride of the English.
Master Wace states that Harold arrived and setup the base, then the following day reconnoitered the Norman camp, so had time to build the defences.
| | Conclusion ▲ |
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The documentary evidence for a shield wall as a specific tactical formation is thin. The Old English terms scyldburh and bordweall, often translated as shield wall, more accurately mean shield fort and board or plank wall respectively — poetic descriptions of troops standing behind shields, not technical military terms for a formal interlocking formation. The Viking equivalent skjaldborg similarly means shield fort or defence rather than describing a precise drill. Experimental archaeology by Rolf Warming of the Society for Combat Archaeology found that a passive shield wall stance was actually less effective than active shield use in combat, because it prevented the defender from deflecting incoming blows.
The shield wall in its conventionally described form — a line of close-order infantry standing shoulder to shoulder with interlocking shields — creates more problems than it solves. The Saxon Fyrd were not professional soldiers with standardised equipment. The Breton cavalry at Hastings had defeated Charles the Bald's well-armed mercenaries at Ballon in 845AD and Jengland in 851AD using exactly the kind of mobile spear attack that a static shield line cannot effectively counter. Norman crossbow bolts at close range would punch through both shield and ring mail regardless of how tightly the shields were held. And William's archers firing overhead would have rained arrows down onto the heads and faces of men who could not simultaneously look up to protect themselves and maintain a forward facing line.
None of this means the Saxons had no defensive system. It means their defensive system was not simply a line of men holding shields. A formation that held for seven hours against professional cavalry, crossbows and sustained archery must have had physical depth and structure that a human shield wall alone cannot provide. The wattle fence, soil embankment and staked ditch described in our Malfosse page offer a more convincing explanation for how an army of Saxon farmers held Duke William's forces from dawn until dusk.
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