Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Introductory Chapters By the late Professor York Powell - III. The Wicking Fleets
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men, one from each household, were ready for the
levy; the force thus raised was called in the North
here (host), and the district heradh (host-district).
Of course, in great emergencies for defensive pur-
poses, a full levy–the whole male population between
sixteen and sixty, and all horses over two years old–might
be called out, but such occasions were rare.
In general the ordinary levy sufficed for all offensive
or defensive purposes. The men composing it were
armed with sword and spear, and such as had metal
head-pieces or mail-coats wore them. The axe was
carried more for work than for war, the sword being
the chief weapon in close fight; the bow is spoken of
in the poems, but more as a weapon of the enemy
than of the Northman. The spear-shaft was ash,
the sword iron or bronze, the shield wood or wicker
strengthened with metal and leather, the bow of yew
or elm. Stones were greatly used in warfare, and as
a boat’s ballast was largely made up of stones, they
were to hand in such sea fights as Hafrsfirth,
c. 890.
Any one who knows one of our larger fishing
ports will have a better idea of the organisation,
composition, and character of a wicking fleet than
aught else could give him. The preparation of gear,
clothes, stores; the overhauling of the craft, hull,
sails, rigging; the making up of the crews, the final
sailing with a fair breeze, the whole place emptied of
its young and middle-aged men for the two or three
months that the cruise lasts; the home-coming, the
rejoicing, the burst of trade, the influx of riches, won
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