Housecarls




 

 

 

 


Spartacus, USA History, British History, Second World War, First World War, Germany,
Medieval World, Education, Teaching History Online, Author, Search Website, Email

 

Housecarls were well-trained, full-time Anglo-Saxon soldiers who were paid for their services. They wore a short mail-coat called a byrnie. The sleeves were left short to enable freedom of movement in battle. They wore a pointed helmet to help deflect blows from sword attacks. Their main weapon was the battle-axe. The heavy curved blade and long handle meant that the weapon had to be held with both hands. Housecarls also used a long double-edged sword with a shallow grove running along the blade on both sides to make it lighter.





Section 53: The English battle-axe and the Norman double-edged sword
in action at the Battle of Hastings, Bayeux Tapestry (c. 1090)

 

Available from Amazon Books (order below)

 




Enter keywords...


NGfL, Standards Site, BBC, PBS Online, Virtual School, EU History, Virtual Library,
Alta Vista, Yahoo, MSN, Lycos, AOL Search, Hotbot, iWon, Netscape, Google,
Northern Light, Looksmart, Dogpile, Raging Search, All the Web, Go, GoTo, Go2net