Svinfylking (original) (raw)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sketch of the Svinfylking.

The Svinfylking, Old Norse for "swine array" or "boar snout",[1] was a formation used in battle. Related to the wedge formation, it was used in Iron Age Scandinavia and later by the Vikings.[2] It was also used by Germanic peoples during the Germanic Iron Age and was known as the "Schweinskopf" or "Swine's Head".[3] Its invention was attributed to the god Odin.[3][4]

The apex was composed of a single file. The number of warriors then increases by a constant in each rank back to its base. Families and tribesmen were ranked side by side, which added morale cohesion.[5][3] The tactic was admirable for an advance against a line or even a column, but it was poor in the event of a retreat.[3]

The formation consisted of heavily armed, presumably hand-to-hand, warriors and less-armored archers grouped in a triangle formation with the warriors in the front lines protecting the archers in center or rear. Cavalry charging a group in Svinfylking formation were frequently attacked by the outer warriors with spears, which caused complete chaos for the horses. The Svinfylking could also be used as a wedge to break through enemy lines. Several Svinfylking formations could be grouped side by side and appear something like a zig-zag to press or break the opposition's ranks. Its weakness was its inability to handle flanking. The Svinfylking was based on a monumental shock, and unless it broke the enemy lines immediately, its warriors would not hold long.[6][_unreliable source?_][_citation needed_]

  1. ^ Norse/English Dictionary
  2. ^ Chaillu, Paul Belloni Du (1890). The Viking Age: The Early History, Manners, and Customs of the Ancestors of the English Speaking Nations; Illustrated from the Antiquities Discovered in Mounds, Cairns, and Bogs as Well as from the Ancient Sagas and Eddas. Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 105.
  3. ^ a b c d Richard F. Burton (1987). "CHAPTER XIII. THE SWORD AMONGST THE BARBARIANS (EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE)". Book of the Sword. Dover Publications; Revised ed. edition. ISBN 0486254348.
  4. ^ Peter G. Foote and David M. Wilson, The Viking Achievement (New York, 1970), p.285
  5. ^ "Quodque præcipuum fortitudinis incitamentum est, non casus, nec fortuita conglobatio turmam aut cuneum facit, sed familiæ et propinquitates" - Tacit. Germ. 7. Refer Germania (book)
  6. ^ The Boar : The ‘Svínfylking’ : the Swine-Snout Battle Wedge