The Anglo Saxon Huscarls

In this video we look at the Anglo Saxon Hunsarls
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[@brianfuller7691]

The Huscarls were deadly effective warriors with the best gear provided . It's on record that the Huscarls didn't break at Hastings. The Normans were even impressed.

[@Medieval_Mayhem]

Yes they were very effective warriors.

[@AtheAetheling]

Fantastic video! Cnut turned out to be quite the Anglophile, which I suppose is lucky for us; reforming and recruiting Anglo-Saxons into the Huscarls was one of the few things he actually changed regarding Anglo-Saxon society; as you pointed out, he clearly wanted to amalgamate the warriors of his new kingdom into his bodyguard.

[@Medieval_Mayhem]

Thank you, good points there AtheAetheling..

[@hb9145]

Housecarl is a calque of the Old Norse term, húskarl, which means "house man". Karl is cognate to the Old English "churl" and the German "Kerl". The institution was brought to England during the 11th century Danish conquest. [Edit: Corrected from 10 to 11 in last sentence.]

[@Medieval_Mayhem]

My research suggests that the Huscarl was part of the reforms by Cnut the Great and Sven Forkbeard.

[@hb9145]

@@Medieval_Mayhem Agree. I don't know why I typed the wrong century... Sorry.

[@steveingram5264]

Luv our beloved countrys history,more please,🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@Medieval_Mayhem]

Thank you. I'll try to get some more videos out soon.

[@markstockford9109]

Where they infantry or cavalry, or a mix?

[@Medieval_Mayhem]

They rode to battle, but dismounted and fought as infantry. There is little evidence that Huscarls were ever used as cavalry.

[@crywlf9103]

Infantry that used horses as transport only, sort of like what became the term dragoon

[@BBeowulf]

I cannot confirm but I’m sure I’ve read they found fighting on horseback “feminine” or at least “lacking honour” and it was one of the things they derided Normans for. As far as I’m aware they fought exclusively as infantry usually as part of a shieldwall.

[@horiaplaton6766]

Hey this is really great stuff Medieval Mayhem.

[@Medieval_Mayhem]

Thank you

[@jackwhitehead5233]

I wonder what happened to cause the transition from hearthweru to huscarls. Perhaps the Danish fighting style and armament was superior? Guess we'll never know.

[@Medieval_Mayhem]

That happened around the time of King Cnut. Undoubtedly the danish influence.

[@AtheAetheling]

Seems likely Cnut just wished to bring the best Anglo-Saxon hearthweru into his Huscarl ranks, amalgamating them for simplicity's sake. By the time all or most of the Huscarls were English born, I suppose nobody cared enough to change the name back since they were now used to it.