Hird
The hird (also named "Håndgangne Menn" in Norwegian), in Scandinavian history, was originally an informal retinue of personal armed companions,[1] hirdmen or housecarls. Over time, it came to mean not only the nucleus ('Guards') of the royal army but also a more formal royal court household.[2]
Etymology
The term comes from Old Norse hirð, (meaning Herd) again from either Old English hir(e)d 'household, family, retinue, court'[3] or perhaps the old German cognate heirat 'marriage', both of which can mean "body of men" or more directly linked to the term for hearthguard, or men of one's own home and hearth.
History
While the term is often used in
By the reign of
Hirdman
Hirdman (plural Hirdmen) is a word in Scandinavian languages (notably Norwegian and Swedish), literally for a member of a Hird 'household, family'.
It is used as a title, originally, even in Norse mythology, for informal companions or retainers of the powerful, in the unruly old (often still pagan) times especially as companions in arms, later more refined like courtiers, a development not unlike that of the thegn or the Roman comes.
When the Norwegian royal hird had developed into a formal court, hirdman became the title of the highest of its four ranks, those magnates who were allowed to sit in the royal council (the closest feudal equivalent of a cabinet) and thus had a say in governmental and other important matters.
See also
Notes
- ^ The name lið or lithsmen is an ambiguous term which is thought to mean 'sailor' in Anglo-Saxon, but seems to mean 'warrior' in the Danish literature. However they were undoubtedly some form of standing mercenary force.[4]
References
- ^ For this Germanic tradition the German generic term Gefolgschaft 'body of followers' is also used in modern literature; it was even adopted by powerful Romans in the late empire, by such Latin names as bucellarii or the more common comitatus.
- ^ Gjerset, Knut (1915). History of the Norwegian People. Vol. 1. The MacMillan Company.
- ^ See for instance, 'hirð' in Cleasby-Vigfusson, Icelandic-English Dictionary, online copy
- ^ Hollister, C. Warren (1962). Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions on the Eve of the Norman Conquest. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 16–17.
- ISBN 978-1-84383-569-1.
Further reading
- Realencyclopädie der Klassischen Altertumswissenschaft: Hird
- Helle, Knut: Konge og gode menn i norsk riksstyring ca. 1150-1319, Bergen 1972.
- Helle, Knut: Norge blir en stat : 1130-1319 , Bergen 1974.
- Konungs Skuggsjá and Hirdskraa.
- Norse Kings' sagas: Fagrskinna, Heimskringla, Óláfs saga helga.
- Egils Saga, Fornmanna Sögur.