Hirdskraa

The Hirdskraa is an assembly of laws regulating many aspects of the royal Hird of late 13th century Norway. Compiled somewhere in the first part of the 1270s at the order of King Magnus VI, it was recopied widely in the 14th century. The earliest extant text, the AM322, dates to around 1300 and is thought to have originated at the court of King Magnus' son Håkon V's chancellery in Oslo. In the mid-14th century, with the Norwegian kingdom falling into a personal union with first Sweden and then Denmark, the text was copied less in Scandinavia but remained popular in Iceland, where copies exist from as late as the year 1700.

The Hird

The hird was more than just a bodyguard and a circle of advisers. Some historians discuss the concept of the corporative hird, where the king functions, at least in theory, as the first among equals at the upper levels of the hird. The hird also formed the professional core of the Norwegian army as maintained by the king.

Contents

The Hirdskraa starts with some background and then widely regulates the activities and customs of the royal hird and includes lengthy prescriptions of modes of address, how men should be admitted to the hird and how the different religious and logistical positions within the hird are to be given out. It discusses the conduct of the military hird in war and peace and divides the hird into different levels of status, along with the demands of equipment on the different levels. Asides from the nobility and higher officials such as the iarls and lenðr manðr regional administrators and higher nobitly, the stallara, ðrottseta and kancalar hird and royal administrators, the merkismann banner-bearer, the hird is divided into the Skutilsuæinar, "table-men", who sit nearest the king at the feasts, Hirðmeðr, the rank-and-file "hirdmen" soldiers of the hird, Kiertisuæinar, "candle-men", akin to squires, and Gestir, men from the lower classes who are partly exempt from the hird and function as light infantry, scouts and a sort of secret police.

These names of these four last levels of the hird are changed in the reign of Haakon V to more continental titles such as "knights" and "squires".

The legal status and demands of position on the different levels of the hird are also set down.

Interpretation

The Hirdskraa probably was more of a guide-book than a strictly interpreted law on how the Hird was to function. Many of the incorporated concepts, such as the Norwegian iarl being clearly subordinate to the king (as opposed to more of an allied subordinate as the iarls of the islands within the Norwegian realm) do not always reflect historical facts. It must also be regarded as the Norwegian king's attempts to create a more solid administration for their realm in the 13th century. This is especially true of the reign of Haakon V, who, in contrast to his father, seems to have wanted the hird to lose its corporative nature and be put directly under the king.

References

*Steinar Imsen, "Hirdloven til Norges Konge og hans håndgagne menn etter AM322"; Riksarkivet, Oslo 2000.