The Return Of The Swine-Array

"The rest of the fyrd fell in behind Godric and the banner in a blunt wedge - the swine-array of battle, Woden's gift to brave men, where the strength of each was the strength of all."
-SM Stirling, The Desert And The Blade (New York, 2016), Chapter Fifteen, p. 318.

We saw Woden give that gift here. (It's a search result. Scroll down.)

It is time I wasn't here but I had to link to those earlier swine-array references first.

Hail, Odin!

Wedge

In Poul Anderson's War Of The Gods (New York, 1999), Gangleri (Odin) teaches King Hadding's men a new battle array:

"He spread them on the field as a great wedge. Hadding and Gunnar made the first row...Four men behind them made the second row, eight behind these the third, and thus until the last...it clove into the disordered foe, scattering those it did not straightway overrun...the wedge of men lived on throughout Northern lands. It came to be known as the swine array, for it ripped through an unready host like the tusks of a wild boar." (pp. 194-198)

I have remembered and noted this detail only because it connected with something in my experience. Once, I saw British police suddenly forming themselves into a wedge and driving it through a mass picket line, thus dividing the pickets into two groups and pushing them apart and away from the picketed entrance. On another occasion, however, with a bigger crowd, the pressure of the crowd was so great that it pushed the wedge back and the police were forced to retreat. There is strength in tactics but also strength in numbers.

In a later battle, Hadding's chieftains formed "...the men into a wedge..." whereas "...the foe formed their straight ranks." (p. 210) The two big men in the front row smash with axes, the four men in the second row strike right, left and ahead and the weight behind presses them forward so that the swine array splits the enemy ranks. 

A Blunt Wedge

Poul Anderson, Vault Of The Ages, Chapter 8.

"Ralph's army was drawn up in the formation his people had always used, a double line in the shape of a blunt wedge, with himself and most of his guards at the point." (p. 82) -

first rank: axes and spears;
behind them: long pikes and infighting weapons;
at intervals: company banners;
on the flanks: horsemen with lances and swords;
on higher ground: boys and older men with bows and slings;
tight enough to hold, then advance.

See also:

Wedge
Wedge II
How King Magnus Went To His Weird
Swine-Array And Sea Elves
The Return Of The Swine-Array
A Battle
Battle
Battle
Ravens II

Ravens II

When reading Poul Anderson's War Of The Gods, I noted that the sail of the Danish King Hadding's ship bore the emblem of a raven which is also the symbol of Odin. This is explained in Anderson's earlier work Hrolf Kraki's Saga (New York, 1973) where a later Danish king also has "...raven sail unfurled..." (p. 54) War... tells us that the Danish kings were Skjoldungs, but the Saga adds that their ancestor, Skjold, was believed to be a son of Odin.

War Of The Gods explains a phrase used in the Saga. The Danish kings' enemies have reason to fear not only "...a raven banner..." but also "...a host in the swine-array of battle..." (p. 62). The swine-array, taught by Gangleri/Odin to Hadding, is a wedge shaped formation so named because it rips through an unprepared host like a boar's tusks.

In Hrolf Kraki's Saga, Chapter II, "The Tale of Frodhi," the usurper Frodhi is overthrown by his nephews Hroar and Helgi. In Chapter III, "The Tale of the Brothers," Helgi, reigning jointly with his brother, begets Yrsa who, according to the family tree at the beginning of the book, will become the mother of the title character, Hrolf Kraki. Thus, although Hrolf is not yet on stage, Chapter II (of VIII) has brought him significantly closer. However, as Anderson says in the Foreword, the real hero of the saga is Skjold's line of descent, not any single Skjoldung.

Swine-Array And Sea Elves

Continuing the quote from the previous post:

"Deor and Thora had a place of honor in the front rank only a little behind Godric's sword-hand, next to his son and heir Leofric. As honor usually did, it also meant greater peril. The mass behind them added weight, but they were at the point of the spear. Others would step forward to take their place if they fell dead or wounded." (ibid.)

This further account explains more fully the structure of the wedge formation or swine-array.

As they march on, Deor imagines:

"...glimpsing the sae-aelfen in the spray." (p. 319) (See also Elves And The Sea.)

Two Details

The swine-array reappears on p. 107 of SM Stirling, The High King Of Montival, Chapter Six.

Do "'Deus lo vult!'" and "'Allahu Akbar!'" mean "...approximately the same thing"? (ibid.) Both "deus," the Latin word for "(a) god" and "Allah," the name of a god, have become names of God although one of my correspondents has argued that the Biblical and Koranic concepts of deity are fundamentally different.

Our characters enter battle so I ought to stop blogging and return to reading after some chores.

Svipdag

Svipdag:

"...set up his swine-array..." (Hrolf Kraki's Saga, p. 131), taught by Odin to Hadding (see here);

laid down "...caltrops in the long grass." (ibid.);

said "'All men must dree their weirds.'" (p. 132);

saw his men slain in windrows and lost an eye in battle;

with help from his brothers, defeated the exiled berserkers who had led vikings against Svithjodh;

withdrew from the service of Adhils when he realized that the latter wanted him killed;

thus also did the right thing by Queen Yrsa who had endangered herself by supporting him;

went instead to serve the Danish King Hrolf.

At last we understand how Svipdag becomes part of Hrolf Kraki's Saga - and that is as far as I can take the story tonight.

West Of Hibernia

The Turn Of The Tide.

The barbarians use the swine-array which we have seen before.

Irish people that I have known would be amused by this description of their country:

"Hibernia was a proverb for squalor and backward savagery, full of chanting robed Druids making human sacrifices and tattooed, head-hunting lunatics with lime-bleached hair, still driving war chariots to battle." (p. 220)

(Elsewhere and longer ago, Krishna was Arjuna's charioteer at the Battle of Kurukshetra where He spoke the Bhagavad Gita.)

Artorius is from a country:

"'...west even of Hibernia; they call it America.'" (ibid.)

West and in one other direction. The future is another country.

Wothenjaz Versus Mars - And The Chinese

 

SM Stirling, The Winds Of Fate (Riverdale, NY, May 2026), CHAPTER ONE.

The PROLOGUE had recapitulated.

In the opening chapter, barbarians attack Romans. Our old friend, the "swine array" (p. 27) is here. The barbarians had been taught it by an "uncouth" God called Wothenjaz. We know him well. 

The Romans are armed with explosives provided by American time travellers of whom it is said:

"'Mars Himself whispers in their ears!'" (p. 28)

CHAPTER TWO informs us that Chinese time travellers will arrive from 2032.

Many of you out there have read this already but I am catching up.

The future of time travel sf is alive and well.