(10-17-2021, 01:19 PM)Theoderic Wrote: Hanny wrote:
Actually it is.
There are 7 principle* recent Uk works on the subject only one has the whole Army with P go to London, S Kaye, everyone else has him go to recon with a small mounted element.
Barry Horne
Grahame Appleby
John Pegg
Sullivan & Kinsella Clifton
John Waite
Graham Webster
Gutted.....obviously I am unprincipled
We have a direct comparison about a leader marching to confront an attacking army, Harold Godwinson marching the 198 miles from London to York in 4 days and then fighting a battle. We also know that Caesar could march 50 miles a day. So in theory rather than the 14 / 15 days we normally attach to the march from Anglesey to London via Wroxeter and St Albans, it could have taken 2 days to Wroxeter, 4 to St Albans and 1 to London picking up supplies Wroxeter, St Albans and London.
Also interesting that Harold had to let a lot of his army go before the battle at Hastings to go and plant their crops in October.
https://historicengland.org.uk/content/d...rd-bridge/
There are a number of problems with this comparison, first we have no date for when Harold sets out to march north, so its time frame somewhere between Sept. 12-16* to go North to Tadcaster reaching it on 24th Sept, and then moving to engage Vikings on the 25th after marching another 12 miles or so, so there is a wide range for number of days to move the distance for the mounted elements and no way to know were the Fyrds joined the march, as evidenced by those numbers being different in many books. Second we have pretty good data on Caesers armies movement and its 16mpd and never marched in light order, ie without supplies, for more than 7 days, so im afraid those using a compressed 14/15 days for P march have invented a timeline that simply contradicts to much of what we know is possible.
However its clear that to compare mounted movement of Saxon armies mounted movement over friendly lands, with foot movement of legions inc enemy lands, is not going to help understand anything of much use.
*https://geoffboxell.tripod.com/stamford.htm
"News of the attack on and burning of Scarborough around 15 September 1066 by the Viking invaders under King Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, and Tosti the expelled Earl of Northumberland was speedily brought to King Harold Godwinson who was in London. snip"The mounted force met up with elements from the West Mercian and East Anglian Fyrd on the way north."
Second the Huscarls of the Anglo Saxon Army used horses to move and then fought on foot.
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visi...-hastings/
" English armies used horses for getting around, but on the battlefield they fought on foot."
https://regia.org/research/warfare/fyrd2.htm
"How Alfred's fyrdmen were equipped is uncertain, although spears and shields still remained the prime weapons. It may well be that this was all the equipment the average burwaran would use, possibly supplied to him by his lord. The fyrdmen, on the other hand were a professional warrior class, drawn from amongst the wealthiest men in the country, expecting to face a well equipped, professional enemy army. The evidence we have suggests that helmets, swords and mailshirts had become much more common by the time of Alfred's reforms, and most of the fyrd would have been equipped with at least a helm and sword in addition to their spear, shield and horse. Many would also have possessed a mailshirt. Some of the more well off burwaran may also have been equipped in a similar way to the fyrd."
Lastly you have confused Harolds release of the fyrd due to inability to feed it, releasing them bring in the harvest on 8th Sept with something else.
