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Þingalið
The Thingmen () was a unit (or a body of men) in the service of the Kings of England during the period 1013–1051. The unit was financed by direct taxation which had its origins in the tribute known as Danegeld. It consisted mostly of men of Scandinavian descent and it had an initial strength of 3,000 housecarls and a fleet of 40 ships, which was subsequently reduced. The last remnant of a Thingmen was disbanded by Edward the Confessor in 1051. In the 11th century, three courts outside Scandinavia were particularly prominent in recruiting Scandinavian troops:Pritsak 1981:386 Novgorod-Kiev (Kievan Rus') c. 980–1060, Constantinople (the Varangian Guard) 988–1204, and England 1018–1051. Scandinavia was however also a recruiting area for attacks against England and this is why a defence needed to be organized by the Danish king Cnut the Great.Pritsak 1981:410Pritsak 1981:411 The Thingmen attracted Swedish mercenaries, and probably some Norwegian as well. History Formation an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viking Runestones
The Viking runestones are runestones that mention Scandinavians who participated in Vikings, Viking expeditions. This article treats the runestone that refer to people who took part in voyages abroad, in western Europe, and stones that mention men who were Viking warriors and/or died while travelling in the West. However, it is likely that all of them do not mention men who took part in pillaging. The inscriptions were all engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark. The runestones are unevenly distributed in Scandinavia: Denmark has 250 runestones, Norway has 50 while Iceland has none. Sweden has as many as between 1,700 and 2,500 depending on definition. The Swedish district of Uppland has the highest concentration with as many as 1,196 inscriptions in stone, whereas Södermanland is second with 391. The largest group consists of 30 stones that mention England, and they are treated separately in the article England runestones. The runestones that talk of voyages to eastern Eu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Runestone
A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but the majority of the extant runestones date from the late Viking Age. While most of these are located in Scandinavia, particularly Sweden, there are also scattered runestones in locations that were visited by Norsemen. Runestones were usually brightly coloured when erected, though this is no longer evident as the colour has worn off. History The tradition of raising stones that had runic inscriptions first appeared in the 4th and 5th century, in Norway and Sweden, and these early runestones were usually placed next to graves, though their precise function as commemorative monuments has been questioned. The earliest Danish runestones appeared in the 8th and 9th centuries, and there are about 50 runest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varangian Guard
The Varangian Guard () was an elite unit of the Byzantine army from the tenth to the fourteenth century who served as personal bodyguards to the Byzantine emperors. The Varangian Guard was known for being primarily composed of recruits from Northern Europe, including mainly Norsemen from Scandinavia but also Anglo-Saxons from England. The recruitment of distant foreigners from outside Byzantium to serve as the emperor's personal guard was pursued as a deliberate policy, as they lacked local political loyalties and could be counted upon to suppress revolts by disloyal Byzantine factions. The Rus' people, Rus' provided the earliest members of the Varangian Guard. They were in Byzantine service from as early as 874. The Guard was first formally constituted under Emperor Basil II in 988, following the Christianization of Kievan Rus' by Vladimir I of Kiev. Vladimir, who had recently taken control of Kiev with an army of Varangian warriors, sent 6,000 men to Basil as part of a military ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hakon Jarl Runestones
The Hakon Jarl runestones are Swedish runestones from the time of Canute the Great. Two of the runestones, one in Uppland ( U 617) and one in Småland ( Sm 76) mention a Hakon Jarl,Pritsak 1981:406 and both runologists and historians have debated whether they are one and the same, or two different men.Pritsak 1981:406ff. Moreover, all known Hakon Jarls have been involved in the debate: Hákon Sigurðarson (d. 995), his grandson Hákon Eiríksson (d. 1029), Hákon Ívarsson (d. 1080) and Hákon Pálsson (d. 1122).Pritsak 1981:407. The most common view among runologists (Brate, von Friesen, Wessén, Jansson, Kinander and Ruprecht) is that the two stones refer to different Hakon Jarls and that one of them was Swedish and the other one Norwegian. U 16 This runestone was located in Nibble on the island of Ekerö, but it has disappeared. In scholarly literature it was first described by Johannes Bureus (1568–1652), and it was depicted by Leitz in 1678. Johan Hadorph noted i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ealdorman
Ealdorman ( , ) ''Collins English Dictionary''. was an office in the Government in Anglo-Saxon England, government of Anglo-Saxon England. During the 11th century, it evolved into the title of earl. Early use The Old English word ''ealdorman'' was applied to high-ranking men. It was equated with several Latin titles, including , , , and . The title could be applied to kings of weaker territories who had submitted to a greater power. For example, a Anglo-Saxon charters, charter of King Offa of Mercia described Ealdred of Hwicce as "''Ecgberht, King of Wessex#Subregulus, subregulus''... ''et dux'' ()." In Wessex, the king appointed ealdormen to lead individual shires. Under Alfred the Great (), there were nine or ten ealdormen. Each West Saxon shire had one, and Kent had two (one for East Kent and o ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harthacnut
Harthacnut (; "Tough-knot"; – 8 June 1042), traditionally Hardicanute, sometimes referred to as Canute III, was King of Denmark from 1035 to 1042 and King of England from 1040 to 1042. Harthacnut was the son of King Cnut the Great (who ruled Denmark, Norway, and England) and Emma of Normandy. When Cnut died in 1035, Harthacnut struggled to retain his father's possessions. Magnus I took control of Norway, but Harthacnut succeeded as King of Denmark and became King of England in 1040 after the death of his half-brother Harold Harefoot, king of England. Harthacnut himself died suddenly in 1042 and was succeeded by Magnus in Denmark and Edward the Confessor in England. Harthacnut was the last Dane to rule England. Early life Harthacnut was born shortly after the marriage of his parents in July or August 1017. Cnut had put aside his first wife Ælfgifu of Northampton to marry Emma, and according to the '' Encomium Emmae Reginae'', a book she inspired many years later, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Harefoot
Harold Harefoot or Harold I (died 17 March 1040) was regent of Kingdom of England, England from 1035 to 1037 and King of the English from 1037 to 1040. Harold's nickname "Harefoot" is first recorded as "Harefoh" or "Harefah" in the twelfth century in the history of Ely Cathedral, Ely Abbey, and according to some late medieval chroniclers it meant that he was "fleet of foot". The son of Cnut the Great and Ælfgifu of Northampton, Harold was elected regent of England following the death of his father in 1035. He initially ruled England in place of his brother Harthacnut, who was stuck in Denmark due to a rebellion in Norway which had ousted their brother Svein Knutsson, Svein. Although Harold had wished to be crowned king since 1035, Æthelnoth (archbishop of Canterbury), Æthelnoth, List of Archbishops of Canterbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, refused to do so. It was not until 1037 that Harold, supported by earl Leofric, Earl of Mercia, Leofric and many others, was officially pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taxation In Medieval England
Taxation in medieval England was the system of raising money for royal and governmental expenses. During the Anglo-Saxon period, the main forms of taxation were land taxes, although custom duties and fees to mint coins were also imposed. The most important tax of the late Anglo-Saxon period was the geld, a land tax first regularly collected in 1012 to pay for mercenaries. After the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, the geld continued to be collected until 1162, but it was eventually replaced with taxes on personal property and income. Background Britannia, the southern and central part of the island of Great Britain, was a province of the Roman Empire until the Roman departure from Britain in around 400 AD. The Emperor Honorius told the Britons in 410 that they were responsible for their own defence, and from then until the landing of Augustine of Canterbury in the Kingdom of Kent in 597 as part of the Gregorian mission, little is known about Britain's governmental structu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Land Value Tax
A land value tax (LVT) is a levy on the value of land (economics), land without regard to buildings, personal property and other land improvement, improvements upon it. Some economists favor LVT, arguing it does not cause economic efficiency, economic inefficiency, and helps reduce economic inequality. A land value tax is a progressive tax, in that the tax burden falls on land owners, because land ownership is correlated with wealth and income. The land value tax has been referred to as "the perfect tax" and the economic efficiency of a land value tax has been accepted since the eighteenth century. Economists since Adam Smith and David Ricardo have advocated this tax because it does not hurt economic activity, and encourages development without subsidies. LVT is associated with Henry George, whose ideology became known as Georgism. George argued that taxing the land value is the most logical source of public revenue because the supply of land is fixed and because public infrastru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prize Of War
A prize of war (also called spoils of war, bounty or booty) is a piece of enemy property or land seized by a belligerent party during or after a war or battle. This term was used nearly exclusively in terms of captured ships during the 18th and 19th centuries. Basis in international law Rules defining how prizes were claimed and administered originated before there were organized government navies and were an outgrowth of privateering. Current international treaties provide for the retention of personal property by captured soldiers as well as issues of personal equipment in their possession when captured (including clothing, helmets, rank insignia and medals, and protective equipment such as gas masks), but excluding certain issue items such as weapons, horses, maps, and military documents. Non-personal equipment, vehicles, artillery pieces, ships, stockpiles of food and other material belongs to the capturing state and it may be used without any restriction. Notable prize-takin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Housecarls
A housecarl (; ) was a non-Slavery in medieval Europe, 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 Anglo-Saxon England#England under the Danes and the Norman conquest (978–1066), 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. Etymology Housecarl is a calque of the original Old Norse language, Old Norse term, ''húskarl'', which literally means "house man". ''Karl'' is cognate to the Old English language, Old English ''churl'', or ''ceorl'', meaning a man, or a non-servile peasant. The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' uses ''hiredmenn'' as a term for all paid warriors and thus is applied to ''housecarl'', but it also refers to ''butsecarls'' and ''lith ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herald
A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen to convey messages or proclamations—in this sense being the predecessors of modern diplomats. In the Hundred Years' War, French heralds challenged King Henry V to fight. During the Battle of Agincourt, the English herald and the French herald, Montjoie, watched the battle together from a nearby hill; both agreed that the English were the victors, and Montjoie provided King Henry V, who thus earned the right to name the battle, with the name of the nearby castle. Like other officers of arms, a herald would often wear a surcoat, called a tabard, decorated with the coat of arms of his master. It was possibly due to their role in managing the tournaments of the Late Middle Ages that heralds came to be associated with the regulation of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
