THE ANGLO-SAXONS AT WAR: 800-1066

2-199540

Chronicles the time of the great Anglo-Saxon kings like Alfred, Athelstan, Aethelred, and Edmund Ironside and what was warfare really like - how armies were organized, how and why they fought, how the warriors were armed and trained, and other aspects of the Anglo-Saxon experience of war.

Describes the weapons and armor of the Anglo-Saxons: spears, scramsaxes, axes, bows, swords, helmets, shields, and mail that were employed in the close-quarter fighting of the day. Among the most valuable sections of the study are those dealing, in vivid detail, with actual experience of battle and siege - with the brutal reality of combat as it is revealed by campaigns against the Danes, in the battles of Ashdown, Maldon, and Stamford Bridge, and sieges at Reading and Rochester. Includes the Anglo-Saxon use of cavalry as well as naval warfare and the politics and diplomacy of warfare - the conduct of negotiations, the taking of hostages and the use of treachery.