"No English King or Ealdorman had hitherto kept a permanent
military force in his pay. But Cnut [or Canute, A. D.
1018-1035] now organized a regular paid force, kept constantly
under arms, and ready to march at a moment's notice. These
were the famous Thingmen, the Housecarls, of whom we hear so
much under Cnut and under his successors. … The Housecarls
were in fact a standing army, and a standing army was an
institution which later Kings and great Earls, English as well
as Danish, found it to be their interest to continue. Under
Cnut they formed a sort of military guild with the king at
their head."
_E. A. Freeman,
Norman Conquest,
chapter 6, section 2,
and appendix, note kkk (volume 1)._