[273]. The ram was a massive beam used to batter down walls; it was an inheritance from antiquity and was much in use. See Oman, Art of War, 132; Aarböger for nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1867, 104; Falk, Altnordische Waffenkunde, 198.
[274]. Grafsvin. Falk translates this with “badger” and seems to believe that it was a shelter on wheels under which the attackers might work in comparative safety. Altnordische Waffenkunde, 196. It is more likely, however, that a “cat” is meant. The cat was a long pointed pole used to loosen the stones in a wall and thus to make a breach. It is also called a “sow” and the Old Norse term grafsvin, “digging boar,” was evidently an attempt to translate the Latin term scrofa or sus, “hog” or “sow.” For a description of the cat, see Oman, Art of War, 132.
[275]. On the subject of the movable tower see Oman, Art of War, 134-135, 549.
[276]. These curtains were evidently placed on the outer side of the wall.
[277]. This translation of hengivigskarð is based on Blom’s interpretation (Aarböger for nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1867, 105-106, note). The brattices were projecting galleries built along the top of the wall and were in use before it became customary to build stone parapets. Cf. Oman, Art of War, 534.
[278]. The hedgehog (ericius) in common use was a form of the cheval de frise and was laid on the earth to impede a hostile advance. I know of no other mention of the device (igelkǫttr) described above.
[279]. Captain Blom is disposed to look on the brynklungr as an imaginary device (Aarböger for nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1867, 106) but Falk finds that some such instrument was in use in Italy as early as the tenth century (Altnordische Waffenkunde, 199-200).
[280]. Devices somewhat similar to the “running wheel” seem to have been used in medieval warfare, but of this particular form no other mention has been found. See Falk, Altnordische Waffenkunde, 200.
[281]. Ibid. The “shot wagon” is not mentioned elsewhere.
[282]. See the Sorö edition, 424-425, where the editor cites a number of references to the use of fire in defensive warfare; these are nearly all drawn from the sagas.