Note 782 — Chapter V · THE DANISH CONQUEST OF ENGLAND.[464] 975–1016. (continued 3)

Ib. “Exercitu vice tertia congregato.” The armies seem always to disperse after an action, whether a victory or a defeat. I conceive that the local levies, like the Highlanders ages afterwards, returned home after each battle, while the immediate following of the King or Ealdorman largely remained with him. An invader had the advantage that all his troops were comitatus; the Danes had no means of going back to their houses and families.