Hi Mr. Cornwell. If I may, I’d like to chime in for a bit on Thomas’ October 10th question about Roman influence on Saxon/Viking fighting techniques. It seems to me that there was a very definite break in the two styles. The Romans prefered an open formation, with each legionaire having space to either side (in this they presaged the British Line). This gave them battlefield flexability against the much more cumbersome phalanx. Although they occasionally closed ranks tight to form the testudo, this was only used in special cases, such as the Romans being surrounded and hit from all sides. Although the Saxons had a short bladed weapon, the saex, my understanding again is that it was not the weapon of choice, and they were more likely to favor a long double-edged blade. The saex was more often used in a shortened form as a dagger and utility knife. The shield wall almost certainly had only a coincidental similarity to the Greek phalanx, there was no historical relation. However, it is interesting that even well-armed and armored forces kept it, an indication that a formation may survive out of inertia even when the original reason for it no longer applies so much. Alan Kempner