Can someone describe an anglo-saxon warrior please?
There were 2 types of warrior: Huscarl – huscarls were professional soldiers serving in the retinues of kings and nobles. They wore a mail shirt reaching below their knees, and a conical helmet with a nasal guard. Their main weapon was a long handled 2 handed axe.They also carried a large kite shaped shield, and a sword as a secondary weapon. Fyrd – fyrd were a peasant militia, and divided into the Select fyrd and Great Fyrd. The Select Fyrd sometimes wore a mail shirt similar to that of huscarls.The Great Fyrd never wore armour. All fyrd had a round helmet (no nasal guard). The most usual weapons were a light,short spear (6 feet long) that could be thrown or used for thrusting in hand to hand combat, and a round shield (smaller than those used by huscarls). Some Great fyrd sometimes had no shield, or were armed just with a sling. Look at the Bayeux Tapestry, lots of contemporary illustrations of Anglo – Saxon soldiers. You can look at every panel, in colour, with a text analysis at ww
