are interested in unfamiliar subjects, whether good breeding or other
knowledge, to learn what is best and most useful. For there are but few
masters who can teach such things, and they are all more difficult to
grasp than those subjects which are of but slight value or wholly
worthless. Now since I hear that there are differences both in the
duties of men and in the customs of the court, I shall ask you to inform
me as to the regulations there and to explain how the services differ
and what belongs to each; also to point out the customs which seem good
to you and which are surely needful to learn, if one wishes to serve a
king with honor, as well as those which one who wishes to be reputed a
moral man should shun and beware of. I have this reason, too, for
seeking this information so earnestly, that I have seen men come from a
king’s household, whose conduct I have noted carefully, most of whom
seemed only about as well-bred as those who had never been at court, or
even less than they. Now I do not know which is the more likely, whether
I do not understand what good breeding means, or that the facts are as
they seemed to me.
_Father._ If it should be your fate to serve at court and you wish to be
called courtly and polite, you will need to beware of what happens to
those who come to court without manners and leave without refinement.
But since you have asked how the services and the usages at a royal
court differ, I shall now explain that to you, and also show why some
return thence rude and unpolished. When a dull man fares to court, it is
as when an ignorant fellow travels to Jerusalem, or a simpleton enters a
good school. An ignorant man who has been to Jerusalem believes himself
well informed and tells many things about his journey, though chiefly
what seems worthless to a knowing man, or mere sport and foolery. In the
same way the simpleton who comes from school believes himself to be
perfectly educated; he struts about and shows great disdain whenever he
meets one who knows nothing. But when he meets one who is a real
scholar, he himself knows naught. So it is, too, when stupid men come to
the king’s court: they promptly seek out men of their own kind and learn
from them such things as are most easily grasped and into which they had
gotten some insight earlier; but this is mere folly and unwisdom. And
when they return from court, they will display such manners and courtesy
as they learned there. And yet, many who come from strange places,
whether from other lands or courts, will behave in this way; but when
those who have remained at home find that these men bring great tidings,
they come to regard them at once as thoroughly informed, both as to
customs and happenings, seeing that they have visited alien peoples and
foreign lands; and this is most often the case with dull men. Now if you
aim at good breeding, beware lest you fall into such unwisdom. We may
now take up the question how the duties of the men at court differ and
what belongs to each service.
All the men who have gone to the king’s hand[235] are housecarles; but
honors and authority are distributed among them according to the merits
of each and as the king wishes to grant. Thus one class of housecarles
is made up of men who are always present at court, but draw no wages,
and do not eat and drink where the _hirdmen_ take their meals. They have
to do such service in the king’s garth as the steward shall assign,
whether it be to go on a journey or to do manual labor in the garth.
Footnote 235:
To go to the king’s hand (_ganga konungi til handa_) is the technical
term for the formal initiation into the royal service. “The king was
in his high-seat with his guard grouped about him; across his knees
lay a sword, his right hand grasping the hilt. The candidate
approached, knelt, touched the swordhilt, and kissed the royal hand.
He then arose and took the oath of fealty. Kneeling once more he
placed his folded hands between those of the king and kissed his new
lord.” Larson, “The Household of the Norwegian Kings in the Thirteenth
Century:” _American Historical Review_, XIII, 461.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
XXVI
THE ADVANTAGES DERIVED FROM SERVICE IN THE KING’S HOUSEHOLD
_Son._ I pray you, sire, not to regard me as thoughtless or as wishing
to interrupt your discourse, if I inquire briefly about the duties of
these men.
_Father._ While we are on this subject, you had better ask what you
like, or you may regret it later, having come away ill-informed about
what you wanted to hear, because you did not inquire sufficiently.
_Son._ Since those whom you have just mentioned live by labor and manual
toil in the king’s garth and have no greater honors than at home in the
country, what advantage do they find in being with the king more than in
serving their parents or kinsmen in the country or engaging in trade and
winning wealth in that way?
_Father._ There are many reasons why such men would rather be at court
than live in the country or engage in trade. Some prefer being at court
to living in the country (though in the king’s service their labor is as
burdensome, or more so) because, though they are of excellent kinship,
they have little wealth and cannot engage in trade on account of their
poverty. If they take up work in the country, they find many who have
more wealth, though they are no higher in kinship, or scarcely so high.
And when quarrels arise, the rich find protection in their wealth and
thrust the poor aside, so that these can get no justice in their law
suits. Consequently such men think it better to toil in security at
court than without protection in the country. Others may have committed
manslaughter or have come into other difficulties which make it urgent
for them to seek security in the king’s power. Some there are, too, who
always find pleasure in being in a throng; they also feel more secure
there, whatever may happen. When these come back to the country where
earlier they seemed so utterly defenseless, they regard themselves as
the peers of every one, because of the protection which they enjoy as
kingsmen. If one of them is slain in single combat, the king will take
forty marks[236] in thegn money[237] for him as for his other thegns,
and, in addition, one mark gold as housecarle fine,[238] which he exacts
whenever a housecarle is slain.
Footnote 236:
The mark as a standard of value was widely used in the middle ages.
Originally it was a measure of weight equivalent to eight ounces of
gold or silver. Its value varied at different times and in different
places. Dr. Gjerset estimates the purchasing power of a mark of silver
in the fourteenth century as equal to that of $80 at the present time.
_History of the Norwegian People_, II, 18-19, note.
Footnote 237:
Thegn money (_þegngildi_) was a fine paid to the king by one who had
been guilty of manslaughter.
Footnote 238:
The housecarle fine was higher than that exacted for the death of a
common subject because the housecarle stood in a personal relation to
the king.
You shall also know that many come to court from the country who were
considered of little consequence there; and yet, it often happens that
the king gives high honors to such men in return for their service, if
they perform it well, though they are but slightly honored in their own
homes. Those, on the other hand, whom the cotters in the country seemed
to value highly for their wealth, kindred, and fellowship, are often no
more regarded at the royal court than in their home communities and
sometimes even less. Indeed, those who come to the king with riches are
often honored less than those who come in poverty. Frequently, men who
come to court with little wealth or none at all and have no choice but
to accept what the king graciously offers are set so high in riches and
power that they tower above their kinsmen, though before they came to
the king they were not regarded as their equals. They win this either by
bravery in warfare and good deportment at court, or by being faithful to
the king in all things and striving to be discreet and loving toward
him. For the king helps and promotes those whom he finds to be anxious
to remain truly affectionate toward him and to serve him in loyal
friendship. For these reasons a king by an act of grace, will very often
exalt those who are lacking in riches; and therefore many such are
encouraged to seek service at court, where they all expect to win
rewards, high honors, and marked advancement in position.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
XXVII
THE VARIOUS CLASSES AMONG THE KINGSMEN
_Son._ I believe I have now had correct and adequate answers, and it no
longer seems strange to me that such men as you have just talked about
would rather be kingsmen than remain in the country, even though their
duties are as toilsome as those of the farmer, or even more so. But now
I wish to ask you to describe the other services at the king’s court, so
that I may, if possible, gain some knowledge of every one of them.
_Father._ That is surely possible, and since you are interested in such
matters, I shall give you what information I have concerning them. There
are certain other housecarles at the king’s court, who, in addition to
the housecarle’s title, have a by-name and are called “gests.”[239] They
have this name from their manifold duties; for they visit the homes of
many, though not always with friendly intent. These men are also in the
king’s pay and get half the wages of “hirdmen.” These are the duties
that belong to the office of these men: they serve as spies throughout
the king’s domain to make sure whether he has any enemies in his
kingdom; and if such are found, the gests are to slay them, if they are
able to do so. But if the king sends his gests upon his enemies and
those against whom they are sent are slain, they are to have for their
trouble as much of the enemies’ wealth as they can carry away at the
time, only no gold, for that is the king’s, as is all the rest that the
gests are unable to bring away. And whenever the king becomes aware of
an enemy, it is the gest’s duty to pursue the foeman and thus to cleanse
the realm. Whenever they are present at court, they keep the various
watches about the king, just as the others do who share the king’s
bounty in the royal garth, except the head-ward;[240] this they do not
keep; nor do they sit at table to eat or drink in the house where the
king dines with his hirdmen, except at Christmas and Easter, when they
are to eat with the hirdmen in the king’s hall, but at no other time. If
any of these men be slain in single combat, the king exacts as large a
fine both in thegn money and housecarle fine as for the death of those
whom we discussed earlier.
Footnote 239:
See _American Historical Review_, XIII, 469-471.
Footnote 240:
The head-ward was stationed near the king’s person, usually outside
the door of the chamber where he slept. See _American Historical
Review_, XIII, 462.
There is still another class of royal housecarles who do not share the
king’s tables and but rarely come to court; these receive nothing from
the king but protection and support in securing justice from others; but
these, too, are kingsmen. In case any of these are slain, the king
exacts the same housecarle fine in addition to the thegn money as in the
case of those housecarles who dine at his tables. These men come into
his service from various walks of life: some are peasants, some
merchants, and some laymen. But this service they owe the king before
all his other subjects, namely, that wherever the king’s officials come
at his command to present the king’s causes or business, and these
housecarles of whom we are speaking are present, they must join the
retinue of these officials and render such assistance as they can in all
the king’s business. These, too, may claim support from the kingsmen in
their efforts to obtain justice, wherever they have suits to bring up.
Likewise if any of these men are slain, the fines due the king will be
increased as much as for those whom we spoke of earlier.
There is another class of royal housecarles who receive money payments
from the king, some twelve _aura_,[241] some two marks, some three
marks, and others more, in proportion as the king finds them likely to
add to his strength and credit. These men do not dine with the king at
court; they are abroad in the realm in a sort of official capacity, for
some of them are sons of the king’s landedmen,[242] while others are
peasants, though so wealthy that they seem to rank with the landedmen.
These royal housecarles owe the king the same kind of service as those
whom we have just mentioned, but more, inasmuch as they have greater
prestige and enjoy greater favors from the king; and the fines due the
king in case these men are ill used will be increased about as much as
has been stated before. From all these kingsmen that we have now told
about, who do not dine at his tables, the king may demand such service
as he finds each capable of: some are called to pilot the longships when
the king sets out on a naval campaign; some are sent abroad in embassies
to foreign rulers and other princes; while others are sent out upon the
sea as traders with the king’s wares or ships.[243] These are the duties
that they are bound to perform with such other duties as may arise out
of the king’s needs.
Footnote 241:
The _Eyrir_ (pl. _aura_, from Latin _aurum_?) was an ounce of silver,
or one-eighth of a mark.
Footnote 242:
The landedman (_lendir maðr_) was one who enjoyed a fief granted by
the king. The term was also used in a more restricted sense for the
local chieftains who in return for the fief enjoyed gave certain
assistance in the local administration. See _Norges Gamle Love_, V,
396-397; Gjerset, _History of the Norwegian People_, I, 387-388;
_American Historical Review_, XIII, 467-468.
Footnote 243:
The kings of medieval Norway seem to have engaged quite actively in
the mercantile profession. The trade with the Finns was made a royal
monopoly at least as early as the tenth century; later the trade with
Greenland also passed into the king’s hands.
Now I have told you about several classes of the king’s servants, and
you will have to determine which of those enumerated seem to you most
likely to know much about courtly behavior and the manners that ought by
right to be found at a king’s court; they are all kingsmen, however. And
from this you will observe that every man cannot become perfect in all
courtly customs and manners just as soon as he sees the king and his
men; for a man will have to be both quick-witted and quick to learn,
who, if he lacks in breeding, is to learn perfect courtliness in a
year’s time, even though every day of the year is spent at court among
the hirdmen in the king’s own presence. Now you shall know this of a
truth, that there are many at court who have spent a large part of their
lives there and have daily opportunities to see good deportment, and yet
they never become either courtly or well-bred.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
XXVIII
THE HONORED POSITION OF THE KINGSMEN
_Son._ If such is the case, that some of the customs at court are so
difficult to learn that both quick wit and continued observation are
necessary, it seems evident that the men whom you have just now spoken
of can have but slight knowledge of what constitutes deportment or good
manners in the king’s house, though they be kingsmen, since they come
but rarely into those of the royal apartments where good manners must
especially be observed. But there is yet something that I am anxious to
know concerning the duties of those men of whom you spoke last: what
profit can such men as have an abundance of wealth and kinsmen find in
the king’s service and in binding themselves to his service with the
housecarle name as their only title? Why do not they rather seek the
honor of being called hirdmen, or remain at home looking after their
property as other husbandmen do?
_Father._ I should say that you have not inquired very wisely into this
matter; still, as you do not appear to be well informed on this subject,
I think it better for you to question than to remain ignorant, and since
you have inquired I ought to answer. There are many reasons, as we have
already said, why men would rather be kingsmen than be called by the
peasant’s name only. The first reply must be that the king owns the
entire kingdom as well as all the people in it, so that all the men who
are in his kingdom owe him service whenever his needs demand it. Thus
the king has a right to call upon every freeman, who seems fitted for it
or is found to possess suitable insight, to serve in embassies to
foreign lords; likewise, when the king calls upon the freemen to pilot
his ship in warfare, each one who is appointed must attend, though he be
the king’s henchman only so far as he is his subject. Even if a king
should order a clerk or a bishop of his kingdom to fare as envoy to
another king or to the pope, if such is his wish, the one who is called
must set out, unless he is willing to risk the king’s enmity and to be
driven from the kingdom.
Now since all the men of the realm are thus bound to the royal service,
why should not every sensible man regard it a greater advantage to be in
the king’s full protection and friendship, no matter what may happen in
his intercourse with other men, and to be superior to his comrades and
hold them loyal to the king if they will not otherwise obey, than to be
called a mere cotter who is constantly under the control of others,
though he still owes nearly the same duties as otherwise? Verily you
must know that to be called a king’s housecarle is not to be despised as
a title of derision; but it is a name of great honor to everyone who
bears it. For neither landedmen nor hirdmen, though because of some
infirmity or because they are tired of warfare they prefer to cultivate
an estate in the country, are willing to surrender the housecarle name
because of its honor and security. Now if there is any phase of this
subject that seems insufficiently inquired into or explained, we may
extend the conversation if you wish.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
XXIX
THE SUPERIOR ORDER OF KINGSMEN: THE HIRD
_Son._ This subject has been discussed almost too fully and has been
cleared up for me with such good and complete answers that it looks to
me as if a man cannot dispense with the king’s support, if he wishes to
found his cause securely. For the multitude is fickle-minded and the one
unfair toward the other, except those alone to whom God has given wisdom
and rectitude; but they are few only and not the mass. However, as there
are certain matters relating to the service and manners at court that
are still unexplained, I should like to hear you discuss these further,
lest I continue ignorant about subjects that I desire to know.
_Father._ We must now speak about those of the king’s housecarles who,
if they give proper attention, are best able to acquire knowledge as to
what is counted good manners in royal circles. They too, however, differ
in character, and those are very often the fewer who should be the more
numerous. These kingsmen that we are now to discuss have, in addition to
the housecarle name, the title of hirdmen. Some bear that title
rightfully, but to many it is a nickname. The one who originated the
name placed it on a sound basis; for hirdman means the same as keeper
and guardian; and those who wish to possess this title rightfully should
be true keepers and guardians both of the king’s person and of all his
kingship. They should guard the bounds of equity among all the men of
the realm, wherever they are present when suits at law are heard. They
should also observe good and courtly behavior and every useful custom,
for they are at all times nearest the king in all matters. They guard
the king’s life and person both night and day; they are always about the
king at the table when he eats and drinks, at public assemblies, and at
all general gatherings, like near kinsmen.
These men ought of right to be addressed as lords by all men who bear
lesser titles than they do; for they are, in a sense, stewards of the
realm, if they observe the customs that are suited to their title. They
should be chosen from all classes and not from wealthy or distinguished
families only; but those who are chosen to this dignity should be
perfect in all things, both in ancestry and wealth, and in nobility of
mind and courtesy, but above all in conduct. They ought, furthermore,
before all others to observe righteousness in every form, so that they
may be able to discern clearly what should be loved as belonging to
honor and good deportment and what should be shunned as leading to
dishonor and shame. For wherever they are present, the eyes of all men
are turned upon their manners and behavior; all incline their ears to
their words; and all expect, as they ought, to find them so much more
excellent than other men in deeds and deportment as they stand nearer
the king in service and regard than his other men. And if these men wish
by right to enjoy the titles which are given them along with the
housecarle name, they must shun vulgarity and rudeness; they must also,
more than other men, avoid many things which a foolish desire might
suggest. For many things become a disgrace both in words and deeds to
well-bred men, which are not a disgrace to the vulgar who behave in that
way; wherefore such men must keep watch over their tongues and their
behavior.
It also frequently happens that well trained envoys from other lands
come to visit the king and his court; and the more polished they are,
the more carefully they observe the royal service as well as the manners
of the king and his courtiers and all the customs that prevail at the
court. On returning to their own lands, they will describe the customs
and relate the happenings which they saw or heard at the court to which
they were sent. But all the rumors that travel to other lands and are
circulated about a lord, if they be truthful, will usually either bring
him ridicule and contumely or be turned to his honor. It may also
frequently come to pass that the kings themselves need to meet in
conference to discuss such rules and arrangements as must be kept
jointly by the kingdoms.[244] Wherever kings meet, there the best men
are always assembled; for the kings bring their chief men with them to
such conferences: archbishops, bishops, earls, landedmen, and hirdmen or
knights. And the conduct and breeding of those who assemble are
carefully noted, first the manners of the mighty ones, and then those of
all the rest; for everyone watches closely the behavior of all the
others. And if one of the kings or one of his principal men is found
indecorous, he soon becomes the subject of ridicule and contempt and is
regarded as a common churl. And if a king’s retinue is found to be
poorly trained and is lacking in polish, especially if the service of
the king’s apartments is not performed in a comely and proper manner,
then the king himself is pronounced unfit; for it will be held that if
he himself were polite and perfect in manners, all would acquire good
breeding from him. Consequently it is possible for a courtly chief to
suffer great shame from a vulgar and indecent man; wherefore it is very
important that those who wish to bear a comely and honorable title in
the royal presence should be well informed as to what is becoming or
unbecoming. For one cannot hope for great honors from a king, if he has
at any time disgraced him where many honorable men were assembled and
where it seemed very important to maintain the king’s honor, which is
everywhere, for a king must nowhere suffer shame. Heedlessness and evil
conduct are therefore ill becoming to a man, if they bring him shame and
enmity and cause him to lose his honorable name, his good repute, and
his fair service, even though life and limb be spared. And he can even
bring such deep dishonor upon his king that with many of his kindred he
will be made to suffer a well deserved but ignominious death. Such
grades there are both in the duties and in the titles at the royal court
as you have now heard described. But if it seems to you that everything
has not yet been thoroughly examined, you may inquire further, if you
like.
Footnote 244:
Such meetings of two or three of the kings of the North were
occasionally held all through the later middle ages. The conferences
were often held at some point near the mouth of the Göta River, on the
southwest coast of modern Sweden. See above, p. 30.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
XXX
HOW A MAN WHO WISHES TO APPLY FOR ADMISSION TO
THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD SERVICE
SHOULD APPROACH THE KING