Roman army of the mid-Republic x 700m = ca. 50 hectares). Along the perimeter, a ditch ("fossa") would be excavated, and the spoil used to build an earthen rampart ("agger") on the inside of the ditch. On top of the rampart was erected a palisade ("vallum") of cross-hatched wooden stakes with sharpened points. Within this precinct, a standard, elaborate plan was used to allocate space, in a pre-set pattern, for the tents of each of the various components of the army: officers, legionary infantry (split into "hastati", "principes" and "triarii") and legionary cavalry, Italian allied infantry and cavalry, "extraordinarii" and non-Italian allies. The idea was
Battle of Agincourt on the defensive, he was eventually forced to take a calculated risk, and move his army further forward to start the battle. This entailed abandoning his chosen position and pulling out, advancing, and then re-installing the long sharpened wooden stakes pointed outwards toward the enemy, which helped protect the longbowmen from cavalry charges. (The use of stakes was an innovation for the English: during the Battle of Crécy, for example, the archers had been instead protected by pits and other obstacles.) The tightness of the terrain also seems to have restricted the planned deployment of the French forces. The French