Arms And Armor Of Medieval British And The Saxon Warriors

The Saxons major weapon was the spear; this wasn't just the case for peasants, but skilled soldiers and even the nobility of the time. The spear was the traditional weapon used by warriors and it remained the favored weapon by the Saxon Germanic tribe during the 10th and 11th centuries.
The spears used fell into two categories, first was the javelin, this is depicted in manuscripts of the time' mostly shown being used by warriors.

In early Anglo-Saxon times some Germanic warriors used a special type of javelin known as an 'angon'. This was most probably based on the Roman pilum, and had an extended iron socket, often as long as 75cm (30'), and a barbed head. When this type of spear stuck into a shield it would sink in up to the barbs, bend, and make it very difficult to remove. With the angon firmly embedded, the shield would become too cumbersome to move, thus rendering it useless. This would perhaps then cause the warrior to discard his shield, or at least retire to find another, thus removing him from the action.

The Battle of David and Goliath

Through our own experiments we have concluded that javelins could have been launched when the two opposing sides were about 30 - 40 paces apart. The most likely scenario involves maintaining the integrity of the shield wall, with the men behind doing all the throwing of the javelins. It is quite easy to catch a javelin in flight, as it moves relatively slowly through the air. Since it travels so slowly, an individual can easily side-step the approaching missile. So the best opportunity to kill an opponent with a javelin is to launch it at a mass of bodies, where you would be bound to catch someone or something, or to wait for the moment when your opponent was unaware that it was coming.

Although a javelin weighs a pound or two (one kilogram), it develops enough inertia when thrown to go straight through a lime wood shield, whether it is clad in leather or not, and possibly into the owner of the shield at the same time. When we tried a javelin against a cloth covered pig carcass, it nearly passed all the way through the body, and with mail on, it only managed to penetrate some 5 inches (13 cms) or so. We also discovered that such a weapon does not even need to be sharp to be successful.

Warriors used spears in an over arm technique, this is shown in manuscripts of the period, this technique also implies that the weapon was used to strike at the enemy face, specific parts being the throat, the eyes, the upper chest and the weakest and exposed parts of the skull, with more emphasis being placed on short, quick strikes so as to penetrate the enemy protective shield. The major benefit of this technique and especially when using a spear is that the need to change the grip in order to throw the spear is eliminated, thus giving the soldier effectiveness.