Housecarl

Anglo-Saxon status
A king and his witan
Cyning (king)
Ealdorman (Earl after c.1000)
Hold / High-reeve
Thegn (thane)
Thingmen / housecarl (retainer)
Reeve / Verderer (bailiff)
Ceorl (churl, free tenant)
Villein (serf)
Cottar (cottager)
Þēow (thrall, slave)
The Bayeux tapestry depicts an English housecarl (left), wielding a Dane axe with two hands.[1]

A housecarl (Old Norse: húskarl; Old English: huscarl) was a non-servile manservant or household bodyguard in medieval Northern Europe.

The institution originated amongst the Norsemen of Scandinavia, and was brought to Anglo-Saxon England by the Danish conquest in the 11th century. They were well-trained, and paid as full-time soldiers. In England, the royal housecarls had a number of roles, both military and administrative, and they fought under Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings.

  1. ^ Wise, Terence (1979). Saxon, Viking and Norman. Osprey. ISBN 978-0-85045-301-0.