Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776: June 2011 (Sixth) Edition — John Shaqi
Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776: June 2011 (Sixth) EditionReilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776: June 2011 (Sixth) Edition
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
Hillforts now had wooden palisades on top of their banks to protect the
enclosed farmsteads and villages from stock wandering off or being taken
by rustlers, and from attacks by wild animals or other people. Later a
rampart was added from which sentries could patrol. These were supported
by timber and/or stone structures. Timbers were probably transported by
carts or dragged by oxen. At the entrances were several openings only
one of which really allowed entry. The others went between banks into
dead ends and served as traps in which to kill the enemy from above.
Gates were of wood, some hung from hinges on posts which could be
locked. Later guard chambers were added, some with space for hearths and
beds. Sometimes further concentric circles of banks and ditches, and
perhaps a second rampart, were added around these forts. They could
reach to 14 acres. The ramparts are sufficiently widely spaced to make
sling-shotting out from them highly effective, but to minimize the
dangers from sling-shotting from without. The additional banks and
ditches could be used to create cattle corridors or to protect against
spear-thrown firebrands. However, few forts had springs of water within
them, indicating that attacks on them were probably expected to be
short. Attacks usually began with warriors bristling with weapons and
blowing war trumpets shouting insults to the foe, while their kings
dashed about in chariots. Sometimes champions from each side fought in
single combat. They took the heads of those they killed to hang from
their belts or place on wood spikes at the gates. Prisoners, including
women and children, might become slaves. Kings sometimes lived in
separate palisades where they kept their horses and chariots.
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