Old English had two words for "army", those being "fyrd" and "here". After the military reforms of King Alfred the Great they began being used less strictly, sometimes interchangeably, yet still firmly enough to provide us with valuable insight into Anglo-Saxon logistics.
(1/8)
(1/8)
"Fyrd", the first word used for "army", is etymologically associated with the verb "fΔran" which means "to set out/to go". This word was applied to armies who were on the defensive in whatever given conflict they were involved and, most often, fighting within their own territory.
"Here", the second word used for "army", is etymologically associated with the verb "hergian" which means "to pillage/to plunder". This word was applied to armies which were on the offensive in their given conflict and oft were fighting in a foreign land which was not their own.
"Here" was applied not only to attacking English armies, such as those which invaded Ireland in 684 and Scotland in 1054, but also to foreign attackers like the Viking armies of the 800s. Opposite this, the English armies which resisted the attacking Danes were "fyrds" and so on.
Early Anglo-Saxon warfare was characterized by short lightning campaigns which were most often decided by a single battle. This being so, no great deal of thought was required to be put into the supplying of armies and indeed was not, logistics being most primitive at this stage.
Attacking armies were associated with the verb "to plunder" because that is how they supplied themselves. With armies at this time being fairly small they could manage to live entirely off the land without any need for supply trains, by so gaining the great advantage of mobility.
Defenders, naturally unable to raid their own lands, had small trains of peasants cart whatever supplies they needed. Because war was a short affair they needed very little and so this method was viable, but it would quickly unravel during the long-term warfare of the Viking Age.
In the pages of Bede's 'Ecclesiastical History' we find an incredibly rare reference to these peasant trains in the story of the thegn Imma. Captured by the enemy he told them under interrogation that he was just a peasant carting food for the soldiers and so his life was spared.
9/- The above-mentioned unraveling of traditional Anglo-Saxon logistics can best be seen in the AD 868 Siege of Nottingham. The Anglo-Saxons were used to pursuing battle, the Vikings used to avoiding it, and so when these two modes of warfare clashed the former was found lacking.
While many believe the Vikings were successful because of their ferocity it was more often strategy which won the day. When they entered a foreign land the first thing they would do was occupy a well-stocked settlement and then fortify it with ditches, ramparts and palisades.
Were they to encounter a superior force in the field they would return to their stronghold and force their enemies to besiege them. Having first taken care to gather great stocks they were able to endure long sieges and would only sally forth if their stocks began running low.
So it was at Nottingham, the Vikings sat comfortably behind their fortifications with plenty of food and the Anglo-Saxons, lacking knowledge of siege warfare and so being unable to breach the walls, were forced to besiege the town and hope that they would starve and so surrender.
Being unable to plunder for supplies as they were in friendly territory they were forced to rely instead on peasant trains. At once cracks began to show for the besieging army was much larger than previous ones and the same methods as had once been used could not supply it.
As the besieging army had eaten all the food they brought and had bought all the food available in surrounding markets their peasants had to travel to further markets to procure supplies, the length exacerbating the problem and leading to starvation, forcing the army to retreat.
After his victory at the Battle of Edington in AD 878 King Alfred would set to fixing this most serious of issues, overhauling the West Saxon military administration and creating new methods of supplying his armies.
Loading suggestions...