Note 51 — PART II HISTORICAL STUDIES

Set in close array behind a palisade forming a kind of fortification, shoulder to shoulder and shield to shield, the army of Harold presented a steady and immovable front to the Norman attack ... Fatal was the national formation of the English battle, when men stood in the closest order, forming a wall with their shields. While no mode of array could be stronger so long as the line remained unbroken it made it hard to form the line again.51