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Examples
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While these are most associated with the longbow, it was integrated with men-at-arms, knights in fact, on foot, forming the equivalent of a shieldwall.
Chester in the seventh century: surviving infrastructure Carla 2009
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Turning your argument around, cavalry is ineffective against a shieldwall that stands firm.
Chester in the seventh century: surviving infrastructure Carla 2009
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Get the shieldwall to break, through fear, ill-discipline, surprise or because the warriors think they've won and decide to charge, and it's a different matter.
Chester in the seventh century: surviving infrastructure Carla 2009
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An infantry shieldwall requires spears (made by the local blacksmith), shields (made by a competent carpenter) and sufficient discipline, courage and/or bloody-mindedness to stand firm.
Chester in the seventh century: surviving infrastructure Carla 2009
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So if post-Roman times were cavalry dominant, the infantry shieldwall regained the upper hand at some point.
Chester in the seventh century: surviving infrastructure Carla 2009
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But until stirrups were available, cavalry would be totally ineffective against a shieldwall.
Chester in the seventh century: surviving infrastructure Carla 2009
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A king needs a lot of knights to make them worth having at all, and if he can raise a formidable shieldwall he has no obvious need for them.
Horses in seventh-century England Carla 2008
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A victorious Anglo-Saxon England might never have knights, going straight from shieldwall to pikemen.
Horses in seventh-century England Carla 2008
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England had no reason to adopt lance combat, and a whole new tenure system to provide lancers and mounts, because overall the shieldwall was working for them.
Horses in seventh-century England Carla 2008
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Good all-round warriors, like housecarls, don't need extensive special cavalry training, as they would if they were going to charge a shieldwall.
Horses in seventh-century England Carla 2008
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