Once home, if hardly safe, the north Northumbrian militia or
fyrd seemed to have rallied to the standard and Oswald had not just his brother but a round baker's dozen of Northumbrian warriors plus probably most of the Scots who could sense the lures of glory lurking.
[??]a him eorla mod ortrywe wear[??], si[??][??]an hie gesawon of su[??]wegum
fyrd Faraonis for[??] ongangan, eoferholt wegan, eored lixan-- garas trymedon, gu[??] hwearfode, blicon bordhreo[??]an, byman sungon-- [??]ufas [??]unian, [??]eod mearc tredan.
From York to Whitby, from London to Sutton Hoo, from Edinburgh to Anglesey, and from Hadrian's Wall to Loch Tay, each of his ten walking narratives form free-standing chapters as well as parts of a wider portrait of a Britain of fort and
fyrd, crypt and crannog, church and causeway, holy well and memorial stone.
Sheriffs also occasionally summoned the militia (or "
fyrd").
As had Britons since 1066 when the Anglo-Saxon
fyrd of Harald Godwinson marched out to confront the dual threats of the Viking horde of Haraldr Hardrade and the Norman invaders of Guillaume le Conquerant, the Home Guard responded heroically when their islands were threatened.
Like some marauding Saxon
fyrd (their name for small army) it has conquered Birmingham and Stoke, and lately moved on to Stafford, Lichfield and Tamworth.
(341) This system, originally known as the
fyrd, evolved into the militia system, which British colonists brought to the United States and which became the basis of the colonial military system.
For example much is made of the relative strength of one of the era's military structures known as the
fyrd a voluntary ad hoc militia.
The founding fathers and the general populace perceived three kinds of armed forces: a standing army of careerist or long term soldiers employed by and responsible to their commander-in-chief; a "select
fyrd" or "select militia" called up by levy or draft by local government to serve during a particular emergency or campaign, again, responsible during that time to their commander-in-chief, who may or not necessarily supplement their arms, victual and supply them.
In the past, Britain had experienced various forms of compulsory military and naval service: notably the Anglo-Saxon
fyrd, the militia and impressment.