Life in Eleventh Century Britain:
The Fyrd and the Housecarls
By Mercedes Rochelle
Before the Normans
brought over their own version of feudalism, the Anglo-Saxons had a different
way of calling up an army in need of defense. At the top of the scale were the
Housecarls, the closest thing to a paid, standing army (or household troops) the
leader could summon. They were loyal to their employer—the king or a great
earl—and were usually composed of Danish or English professional soldiers. Some
were landowners; it's possible that some lived in barracks. When King Harold
Godwineson unexpectedly had to go north to stop Harold Hardrada in September
1066, the Housecarls were the only warriors he could initially call upon.
Patterned after
the Jomsvikings of Denmark (founded by King Harold, father of Swein Forkbeard),
Housecarls are first mentioned in relation to King Canute—probably in 1018—and
ceased to exist as an organization after the Battle of Hastings. It is believed
they were in essence a military guild, with a body of regulations and the
ability to call up a gemot or huskarlesteffne
in the king’s presence to settle disputes or punish a transgressor.
Highly trained
warriors, the Housecarls mostly fought on foot although it is more than
possible that they were perfectly capable of fighting on horseback. Snorri
Sturluson tells us in Heimskringla that Harold’s mounted
troops attacked the disorganized Norwegians in the early phase of the
Stamfordbridge battle. They would not have attacked head-on like we picture in
the 14th century battles; rather they would veer past the enemy and launch
javelins into their foes’ ranks, much like the Normans did at Hastings. Then
they would dismount and finish the battle on foot. During the Battle of
Hastings, Harold most likely spread out his Housecarls along the shield wall to
support the less experienced fyrd; they were the only warriors that returned
with him after Stamfordbridge, and by then their ranks had been sorely thinned.
The Housecarls would have been a formidable sight; as seen in the Bayeux
Tapestry, they could take down both rider and horse with one sweep of their
awesome Danish axe. It was a testament to their—and the Anglo Saxon—valor that
it took a whole day for William’s well-armed force to break their ranks.
Beneath the
Housecarls, the fyrd was drawn from the general population of England. They
responded to territorial obligations and were roughly divided into two
categories, sometimes known as the select
fyrd and the great fyrd. The select fyrd were usually better trained,
and were generally composed of thegns, ceorls or upper peasantry. They
were assigned on the basis of the 5-hide system throughout southern England (in
the Danelaw, the land was assessed in carucates, but the same system is thought
to be utilized). By the late Anglo-Saxon period, the hide was not a geographic
unit of measure; in essence it was used to determine the amount of service owed
to the king. I would theorize it had more to do with a density of population
rather than its original definition (equivalent to the amount of land required
to feed a peasant family). One lord's manor could contain several 5-hide units,
or perhaps several small estates would be stitched together to create one
5-hide unit. The bigger towns had the most hides even though they covered a
small area. So for instance Cambridge was assessed at 100 hides; so was
Colchester and Shrewsbury. Each would be obliged to produce 20 warriors.
The responsibility
of the 5-hide unit was three-fold: military service, fortress work, and bridge
repair. For their military obligation, each unit was required to produce one
soldier and pay him for two months’ service (20 shillings) if called up by the
king. This soldier was usually the same person whenever called up, so this is
why he would probably be better trained and equipped than the ordinary fyrdman.
Nonetheless, there was no annual training period for the select
fyrd, and they were only called up in time of war; years could go
by without going into service.
The most important
distinction between the two categories of fyrd was that the select fyrd was expected to travel and serve
for up to two months. The great fyrd,
on the other hand, was called up for strictly local defense. The key difference
is that the great fyrd must be able
to return home at night; if the king required them to travel, he must pay them
a wage. Because they were normally unpaid, they were not expected to come armed
with much more than whatever came to hand: clubs, stones tied to sticks, farm
utensils, etc. In many cases, they could very well supplement the better-armed select
fyrd, which is perhaps what we saw at Hastings.
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When taken as a
whole, this system seems to have been very well organized. But it did not
survive the Norman Conquest. Not all historians are in agreement about this
distant era, and I used “Anglo-Saxon Military
Instititions” by C.Warren Hollister as my primary source.
Mercedes
Rochelle
Born
in St. Louis MO with a degree from University of Missouri, Mercedes Rochelle
learned about living history as a re-enactor and has been enamored with
historical fiction ever since. A move to New York to do research and two
careers ensued, but writing fiction remains her primary vocation. She lives in
Sergeantsville, NJ with her husband in a log home they had built themselves.
Read more about the end of the Anglo-Saxon era:
Fatal Rivalry
In 1066, the
rivalry between two brothers brought England to its knees. When
Duke William of
Normandy landed at Pevensey on September 28, 1066, no one
was there to
resist him. King Harold Godwineson was in the north, fighting
his brother Tostig
and a fierce Viking invasion. How could this have
happened? Why
would Tostig turn traitor to wreak revenge on his brother?
The Sons of
Godwine were not always enemies. It took a massive Northumbrian
uprising to tear
them apart, making Tostig an exile and Harold his sworn
enemy. And when
1066 came to an end, all the Godwinesons were dead except
one: Wulfnoth,
hostage in Normandy. For two generations, Godwine and his
sons were a mighty
force, but their power faded away as the Anglo-Saxon era
came to a close.
What a wonderfully informative post! Thank you for sharing, Mercedes.
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