Norman Conquest Encyclopedia

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Tactics

The essential difference between Norman tactics on the one hand and Anglo-Saxon and Viking tactics on the other in 1066 was that the Normans fought mounted on horse-back as well as on foot. The limitation of the northern men to fighting on foot meant that they arranged themselves in solid blocks of men with a shield-wall protecting the outside of the block. Hostilities would commence with an exchange of missiles; javelins, slingstones and the arrows of the archers. This phase was quickly over and, depending on the ground, the two bodies of men would move towards each other and first use spears before resorting to the axe and the sword. The Normans used their cavalry to intimidate and to attack, small units, conrois, of up to 50 men following the gonfanon of their lord and using spears as thrown and thrusting weapons to break up the enemy's formation before getting in amongst them with sword and mace. Archers would also be used to break static blocks offering resistance as used by the English at Senlac Hill. The charge of a solid body of men with couched lances, lances held tucked between arm and body, was a much later development. Close control of the conrois also permitted the use of such sophisticated devices as feigned flight, a pretended retreat to draw defenders out from their shield-wall formation so that they could be destroyed peacemeal.

See also: Anglo-Saxon; archers; axe; feigned flight; gonfanon; Norman; Senlac Hill; shield-wall; spear; sword; Viking

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