Housecarl

Housecarls were household troops, personal warriors and equivalent to a royal bodyguard to Scandinavian kings. The anglicized term comes from the Old Norse term huskarl or huscarl (literally, 'house man', i.e., armed man in the service of a specific house.) They were also called hirth ('household') that referred to household troops. The term later came to cover armed soldiers of the household. They were often the only professional soldiers in the kingdom, the rest of the army being made up of militia, peasant levy, and occasionally mercenaries. They were usually armed with long Danish axe. A kingdom would have fewer than 2000 Housecarls.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The term entered into the English language when King Canute conquered and occupied Anglo Saxon England.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In England there may have been as many as 3000 Royal Housecarls, and a special tax as levied to provide pay in coin. They were housed and fed at the king's expense. They formed a standing army of professional soldiers, and also had some administrative duties in peacetime as the Kings representatives. The term was often used in contrast to the non-professional fyrd.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Certainly the vast majority of English housecarls died at the Battle of Hastings. Survivors, along with King Harold's thegns crossed to the continent as mercenary troops. Enough of these reached Byzantium and joined the Varangian Guard that in the 12th century, the Varangian Guard was sometimes called 'the English Guard'.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Anglo-Saxon renactment group

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Household troops: REDIRECT Household Division...

Bodyguard: A bodyguard is a person who protects someone (known as their principal) from personal assault, kidnapping, assassination, loss of confidential information, or other threats....

Scandinavia: Scandinavia is the cultural and historic region of the Scandinavian Peninsula and some surrounding areas. The Scandinavian countries are in present day understood as Norway, Sweden and Denmark, even if the latter actually does not reside on the Scandinavian Peninsula. These countries have mutually r...