Because of the threat posed by the Feudal English knights, it was not uncommon for the Scots Common pike to deploy in a special defensive formation known as the "schiltron" (or "schiltrom" to some). Walter de Guisborough describes the Scottish schiltrons as "circular in shape...[with the men] standing shoulder to shoulder in deep ranks and facing toward the circumfrance of the circle, with their spears slanted outward at an oblique angle" in his account of the battle of Falkirk.
