Raiding was the great training school of warriors, where they learned the skills, hardiness and courage necessary to their calling. Skirmishes were part of this training, but full-on pitched battles were rare enough to be recalled in record and song.

Battles only become battles retrospectively. During the fighting, the situation is pretty well always so confused that it’s impossible for the men taking part to know the full scope of what they are engaged in. However, when the combatants disengage and the survivors pick over the memories, then the story of the battle emerges.

Its precise meaning will develop according to the events that occurred but also the meaning that is placed upon them. The Battle of Stamford Bridge, when King Harold of England defeated the most feared king of his time, Harald Hardrada, would have been a key turning-point conflict, remembered in general culture if it had not been followed by another battle 19 days later.