Wulfstan the Burware, 897AD
(aka Don Stansbury)Meet Wulfstan the Burware, from the Burh of Tamworth, capital of Mercia.
Don Stansbury is the author of several books and pamphlets on the subject of Ęšelflęd, Lady of the Mercians, most notably 'The Lady Who Fought the Vikings'. This book is available through all good bookstores.
The Burwaran
The Alfredian fyrd was designed to act in tandem with the burwaran, the permanent garrisons that the king settled in the newly built burhs. The size of the garrison in each burh varied according to the length of its walls (4 men for every 5½ yards), but an average one would have required a garrison of about 900 men. Because of this vast requirement for manpower, each burh was at the centre of a large district specially created for its needs. The landholders in these 'burghal districts' were charged with providing the men necessary to maintain and garrison the burhs, on the basis of one man from every hide of their land. This appears to be in addition to the landowner's obligations to serve in the king's fyrd.
Building a burh from an Anglo-Saxon manuscript.
The scale of service demanded by Alfred and his descendants was unprecedented, the garrisons of the burhs alone represented a standing army of almost 30,000 without the fyrd. The days of winning kingdoms with only a few hundred men were gone.
Page created 16th August 1997
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