Other Definitions
housecarl (dict)
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HousecarlHousecarls 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. Housecarls, unlike most other Norsemen, were professional warriors in the service of a chieftain, noble or king. The term entered into the English language when household troops of king Canute conquered and occupied England. Eventually the housecarls became the basis of a warrior aristocracy, which merged into early medieval knights.
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