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{{Short description|Informal retinue of personal armed companions in Scandinavian history}}
{{other uses}}
The '''hird''' (also named "Håndgangne Menn" in Norwegian), in [[Scandinavia]]n history, was originally an informal [[retinue]] of personal armed companions,<ref>For this Germanic tradition the German generic term ''Gefolgschaft'' 'body of followers' is also used in modern literature; it was even adopted by powerful Romans in the late empire, by such Latin names as ''bucellarii'' or the more common ''comitatus''.</ref> hirdmen or [[housecarl]]s. Over time, it came to mean not only the nucleus ('Guards') of the royal army but also a more formal royal court household.<ref>{{cite book| last=Gjerset |first=Knut |author-link=Knut Gjerset |title=History of the Norwegian People |volume=1 |publisher=The MacMillan Company|year=1915 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tV0eAAAAMAAJ&q=Olaf+Haraldsson}}</ref>
== Etymology ==
The term comes from [[Old Norse]] ''hirð'', (meaning Herd) again from either [[Old English]] ''hir(e)d'' 'household, family, retinue, court'<ref>See for instance, 'hirð' in Cleasby-Vigfusson, ''Icelandic-English Dictionary'', [http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/png/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0264.png online copy]</ref> or perhaps the old German cognate ''heirat'' 'marriage', both of which can mean "body of men" or more directly linked to the term for hearthguard, or men of one's own home and hearth.
== History ==
While the term is often used in [[Saga|Norse sagas]] and [[Codex|law codices]], it is a medieval term – the sagas were primarily written down in the 12th century using the language of their own time. There is some uncertainty as to what the term replaced, although the term ''hlid'' or ''lið''{{efn|name=lith1| The name ''lið'' or ''lithsmen'' is an ambiguous term which is thought to mean 'sailor' in [[Old English|Anglo-Saxon]], but seems to mean 'warrior' in the Danish literature. However they were undoubtedly some form of standing mercenary force.<ref name=hollister16>{{Cite book|first= C. Warren|last= Hollister|title= Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions on the Eve of the Norman Conquest|publisher= Clarendon Press|location= Oxford|year= 1962|pages= 16–17|url= https://www.questia.com/read/89045266/anglo-saxon-military-institutions-on-the-eve-of-the.}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>}} is used in Danish sources for the warrior following of [[Canute the Great]].<ref name=lav155>{{Cite book|last=Lavelle|first=Ryan|title=Alfred's Wars Sources and Interpretations of Anglo-Saxon Warfare in the Viking Age|publisher=Boydel press|location=Woodbridge, Suffolk|isbn=978-1-84383-569-1|year=2010|page=155}}</ref>
By the reign of [[Håkon IV of Norway|Håkon IV]] (1204&ndash;1263) the Norwegian hird was no longer exclusively focused on the military function, and had acquired several subdivisions on continental patterns, with [[squire]]s (''kertilsveinr'', literally "candle-men", which were ceremonially required to hold candles at hird ceremonies), [[men-at-arms]] (''hirdmenn'') and [[knight]]s (''skutilsveinr'', literally "table-men"). In addition there were ''gestir'', who received only half pay and served as a sort of intelligence service, and were not allowed to sit at the king's table for supper, apart from [[Christmas]] day and [[Easter]] day, when the entire hird was assembled and sections of their law code, the ''[[Hirdskraa]]'' was read or recited. The upper levels of the hird were a recruitment ground for numerous royal officials, and most external officials were also incorporated into the hird. Somewhere during the reign of [[Magnus VI]] the older laws of the Hird were incorporated into the [[Hirdskraa]] law code.
During the reign of [[Håkon V]] (1299&ndash;1319) the Norse titles were dropped entirely in favor of continental titles. Emphasis was put on the Norwegian king's hird as a community of equals, a chivalresque corporation of warriors in which, technically, the king was the first among equals.
== Hirdman ==
{{For|people with this surname|Hirdman (surname)}}
'''Hirdman''' (plural '''Hirdmen''') is a word in Scandinavian languages (notably [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] and [[Swedish language|Swedish]]), literally for a member of a Hird 'household, family'.
It is used as a title, originally, even in Norse mythology, for informal companions or retainers of the powerful, in the unruly old (often still pagan) times especially as companions in arms, later more refined like courtiers, a development not unlike that of the [[thegn]] or the Roman [[comes]].
When the Norwegian royal hird had developed into a formal court, hirdman became the title of the highest of its four ranks, those magnates who were allowed to sit in the royal council (the closest feudal equivalent of a cabinet) and thus had a say in governmental and other important matters.
==See also==
*[[Thingmen]]
*[[Druzhina]]
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
{{Wiktionary}}
*''[[Pauly-Wissowa|Realencyclopädie der Klassischen Altertumswissenschaft: Hird]]''
*[[Knut Helle|Helle, Knut]]: ''Konge og gode menn i norsk riksstyring ca. 1150-1319'', Bergen 1972.
*Helle, Knut: ''Norge blir en stat : 1130-1319 '', Bergen 1974.
*''[[Konungs Skuggsjá]]'' and ''[[Hirdskraa]]''.
*Norse [[Kings' sagas]]: ''[[Fagrskinna]]'', ''[[Heimskringla]]'', ''[[Óláfs saga helga]]''.
*[[Sagas of Icelanders]]: ''[[Egils Saga]]'', ''[[Hulda-Hrokkinskinna|Fornmanna Sögur]]''.
{{Germanic peoples}}
[[Category:Military history of Norway]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of the Middle Ages]]