Housecarl
 |
| Cyning (sovereign) |
| Ætheling (prince) |
| Ealdorman (Earl) |
| Hold / High-reeve |
| Thegn |
| Thingmen / housecarl (retainer) |
| Reeve / Verderer (bailiff) |
| Churl (free tenant) |
| Villein (serf) |
| Cottar (cottager) |
| Þēow (slave) |
A housecarl (
The institution originated amongst the
Etymology
Housecarl is a
As free manservants
Originally, the
As combatant retainers
With time, the term "housecarls" (húskarlar) came to acquire a specific sense of "retainers", in the service of a lord, in his
Ketill and Bjôrn, they raised this stone in memory of Þorsteinn, their father; Ônundr in memory of his brother and the housecarls in memory of the just(?) (and) Ketiley in memory of her husbandman. These brothers were the best of men in the land and abroad in the retinue [lid], held their housecarls well. He fell in battle in the east in Garðar (Russia), commander of the retinue [lid], the best of landholders.[8]
According to
In Norwegian service: the heiðþegar
In Norway, housecarls were members of the king's or another powerful man's
The housecarls of the Danish kings: the heimþegar
Six
Johannes Brøndsted suggested that the garrison of the Danish fort of
Thurlf, Sven's retainer [heimþegi, a variant of húskarl according to Brøndsted] erected this stone after Erik his fellow, who died when the warriors sat around [i.e. besieged] Hedeby, but he was a commander, a very brave warrior.[6][7]
"Sven" is probably king Svein Forkbeard, as elsewhere on the Hedeby stones.[7] Another runestone there, the Skarthi stone (DR 3), was apparently personally raised by king Svein:
King Sveinn placed the stone in memory of Skarði, his retainer [himþiga or heimþegi, again a variant of húskarl], Skarde, who has sailed in the west [a possible reference to a campaign in England[13]], but who then died at Hedeby.[7][14]
Under Svein Forkbeard and Cnut the Great, when the Danish kings came to rule England, a body of royal housecarls was developed there, with institutions that were partly of Norse inspiration, and partly inspired by
In England
The term entered the English language when Svein Forkbeard and Cnut the Great conquered and occupied Anglo-Saxon England; the housecarls of Cnut were highly disciplined bodyguards.[7] It is unclear, however, whether Cnut's housecarls were all Scandinavians; some were Slavs according to Domesday Book records and according to Susan Reynolds, it is likely that some of them were English, with many Englishmen becoming housecarls early in Cnut's reign.[15]
Housecarls were only one group of paid soldiers or hiredmenn who fought for England before the
Organisation as royal bodyguards and courtiers
According to 12th century Danish historian Svend Aggesen, Cnut's housecarls were governed by a specific law, the
Pay, land grants, and social role
A special tax was levied to provide pay in coin to the royal housecarls.
On one hand, the number of housecarls receiving land grants and estates from the king seems to have been rather limited, from the beginning of Cnut's reign up to the Norman conquest in 1066. At that last date, the Domesday Book records only thirty-three landholding housecarls in the kingdom; furthermore, these estates were small. Thus, it does not seem that the English landholders were deprived of their properties to provide for land grants to the king's housecarls.[18] On the other hand, some of Cnut's housecarls seem to have been quite prosperous; the Abbotsbury Abbey was founded either by one of them under the reign of Cnut himself, or by his wife under the reign of Edward the Confessor.[19]
Administrative role
The royal housecarls had some administrative duties in peacetime as the King's representatives. Florence of Worcester recounts how, in 1041, there was a revolt against a very heavy levy in Worcester, and two of king Harthacnut's housecarls, who were acting as tax collectors, were killed.[20]
Military role
Because the main sources on Cnut's housecarls were written at least one century after Cnut's reign, there are several theories about the exact nature and role of these housecarls. Cnut is said to have retained 3,000 to 4,000 men with him in England, to serve as his bodyguard. One theory is that these men were Cnut's housecarls, and that they served as a well-equipped, disciplined, professional, and quite numerous (for the time) standing army at the service of the king.[1] However, another theory is that there was nothing like an important, standing, royal army in 11th century Anglo-Saxon England.[21]
This debate has direct consequences on the assessment of the housecarls' specificities, and whether or not they were an elite troop. For instance,
Yet another theory is that the role of a standing army was not assumed, or was not mostly assumed, by the royal housecarls; but that the housecarls were a smaller body of household troops, partly stationed at the king's court. During the reign of Edward the Confessor, a number of sailors and soldiers, the lithsmen,[b] were paid wages and possibly based in London; those lithsmen were, according to some, the main standing armed force, while the housecarls were only acting as a secondary one.[25]
One reason to doubt the existence of a standing army made of housecarls is that, when there was a revolt in 1051, under the reign of Edward the Confessor, no such standing army was used to crush it, whereas its existence would have allowed for a swift, decisive action against the rebels.[21]
The housecarls of Harold Godwinson: Stamford Bridge and Hastings
By the end of the 11th century in England, there may have been as many as 3,000 Englishmen who were royal housecarls. As the household troops of Harold Godwinson, the housecarls had a crucial role as the backbone of Harold's army at Hastings. Although they were numerically the smaller part of Harold's army, their possibly superior equipment and training meant they could have been used to strengthen the militia, or fyrd, which made up most of Harold's troops. The housecarls were positioned in the centre, around their leader's standard, but also probably in the first ranks of both flanks, with the fyrdmen behind them. In the Battle of Hastings, these Housecarls fought after Harold's death, holding their oath to him until the last man was killed.[26]
The
See also
- Comitatus
- Druzhina
- Hird
- Leidang
- Yeomen of the Guard
- Thingmen
Notes
- ^ Butsecarl is a term that has been translated to mean 'sailor' and 'warrior' but is very likely a combination of the two.[3]
- ^ a b The name lithsmen or lið is an ambiguous term which is thought to mean 'sailor' in Anglo-Saxon, but seems to mean 'warrior' in the Norse literature. However they were undoubtedly some form of standing force; possibly the Nordic sources referred to the Anglo-Saxon seamen they faced in this manner.[3][24][25]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-85045-301-0.
- ^ "Germanic Lexicon Project". web.ff.cuni.cz. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ a b c d Hollister, C. Warren (1962). Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions on the Eve of the Norman Conquest. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 16–18.
- ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874). Cleasby-Vigfusson Old Icelandic Dictionary. lexicon.ff.cuni.cz: Clarendon Press, Oxford. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ a b c Foote, Peter; Wilson, David M. (1970). "3, "The Free"". The Viking Achievement. London: Book Club Associates.
- ^ a b Central Committee, British Archaeological Association; Central Committee, Archaeological Institute of Great Britain Ireland; Council, Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain Ireland; Ireland, Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and; Britain), Royal Archaeological Institute (Great (1866). The Archeological Journal. Vol. 23. London.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b c d e f g h Brøndsted, Johannes (1960). The Vikings. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
- ^ Entry Sö 338 in Rundata 2.0 for Windows.
- ^ ISBN 9780722228548.
- ^ Bagge, Sverre (1991). Society and Politics in Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- ^ ISBN 0-85115-826-9.
- S2CID 147025753.
- ISBN 978-0-7818-1176-7.
- ^ Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk Rundata.
- JSTOR 175473.
- ISBN 978-0-85115-416-9.
- JSTOR 2491815.
- JSTOR 4049386.
- JSTOR 553127.
- JSTOR 574620.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84176-133-6.
- ISBN 978-0-8014-9062-0.
- ISBN 978-0-85115-328-5.
- ISBN 978-1-84383-569-1.
- ^ S2CID 163993274.
- ISBN 978-0-85115-619-4.
- ISBN 978-0-435-32760-6.
Further reading
- Abels, Richard P. (2008). "Household Men, Mercenaries and Vikings in Anglo-Saxon England". In J. France (ed.). Mercenaries and Paid Men: The Mercenary Identity in the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill. pp. 143–66. ISBN 978-90-04-16447-5.
- Hooper, Nicholas (1985). "The Housecarls in England in the Eleventh Century". Anglo-Norman Studies. 7: 161–76. Reprinted as: Hooper, Nicholas (1992). "The Housecarls in England in the Eleventh Century". In Matthew Strickland (ed.). Anglo-Norman Warfare: Studies in Late Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman Military Organization and Warfare. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer. pp. 1–16. ISBN 978-0-85115-328-5.
- Hooper, Nicholas (1994). "Military Developments in the Reign of Cnut". In Alexander R. Rumble (ed.). The Reign of Cnut: King of England, Denmark and Norway. Studies in the Early History of Britain. London: Leicester University Press. pp. 89–100.
External links
- The Housecarls according to a reenactment group: Regia Anglorum's Anglo-Saxon Huscarls