Herse (Vikings)

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Herse is an old Norse title of nobility. The etymological derivation of the word is not certain. Presumably it is related to the Germanic word * harisja and had the meaning of a commander of an army department, similar to the duke . Another derivation is based on the Herad (Gau, Landschaft) and comes from the fact that the Herse was a tribal prince who presided over the Heradsthing and the Herad offerings and thus exercised legislation, jurisdiction and priestly functions.

The word is only recorded in Old Icelandic sources, both in Eddic poetry and in the sagas, where Snorri Sturluson uses it in his Heimskringla . There it says from Harald Hårfagre :

Jarl hverr skyldi hafa undir sér fjóra hersar eða fleiri, og skyldi hverr þeira hafa tuttugu marka veizlu. Jarl hverr skyldi fá konungi í her sex tigu hermanna, en hersir hverr tuttugu menn. :
(Each Jarl should have four or more Hersen under him, and each of them should receive 20 marks as wages. Each Jarl has to provide the king with 60 men for his army, each Herse 20 men).

The title was hereditary and very honorable. But it was apparently only limited to the west coast of Norway. The military position is not uniform; Herse could also lead an entire army. The title existed before Harald Hårfagre, and the king had no influence on its award. The restriction to western Norway suggests that the Hersen are closely related to the early Viking migrations. When the Viking campaigns ended, the function ceased to exist. The leadership positions changed to the chiefs with land ownership as the basis of power. With the change from the Hersen aristocracy to the peasant aristocracy, there was also a regional change, as the peasant aristocracy was most strongly represented in Trøndelag and the Ostland. In addition, Olav II. Haraldsson sought to rely more on the peasant aristocracy in an effort to stabilize his power. In the 11th century, the Hersen title was gradually replaced by the name lendrmaðr , i.e. the man with landed property. Often both titles are used alternately for the same person.

Harald Hårfagre then mediatized the originally free Hersen and incorporated them into a hierarchy, but this did not last.

literature

  • Sølvi Baugne Sogner, Herse . In: Kulturhistorisk Leksikon for nordisk middelalder , Rosenkilde og Bagge, København, 1961.
  • St. Würth, Herse . In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , 2nd ed. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1999.
  • Konrad Maurer , Old Norwegian Constitutional Law . Leipzig 1907.