Note 56 — PART II HISTORICAL STUDIES
Reading edition
Referring to the mode of fighting of an English army in that age, and to 'the usual tactics of the shield-wall', Mr Freeman wrote of 'the close array of the battle-axe men' (p. 444). He had already written of 'the English house carls with their ... huge battle-axes', accustomed to fight in 'the close array to the shield-wall.'56