So, I spent today digging up Old Norse titles of rank. Ive known for years that the SCA Alternate Titles table wasnt very good for the Viking Age. Since we have several folks on this list who do get into Things Old Norse, I thought Id post my research and see if we can come up with better titles. The general chain or rank in Old Norse is given below. Constructions preceded by an asterisk represent my best guess at a feminine version that would have made sense to Viking Age listeners: ● konungr [king] / drottning [queen] ● jungherra [prince] / jungfrú [princess] ● hertogi [duke] / * ● jarl [earl] / * ● riddari [knight] →▪ drengr and þegn [noble men oath-sworn to the Danish king] ● hersir [baron] / * →▪ lendr maðr [landed man, baron] / * →▪ goði [chieftain, with the powers of a baron in the Icelandic Commonwealth] →▪ ágætr maðr [nobleman, chieftain] / * →▪ gæðingr [man of property, chieftain; Orkneys and Shetlands] / * →▪ rinkr [chieftain] ● herra [lord] / frú [lady] ● Síra [title of address for a priest] ● hǫldr [yeoman, a landowner ranking just below the nobility] / * ● bóndi [franklin, a husbandman owning land and stock] / bóndakona [wife of a bóndi] →▪ búðsetumaðr [cottager, Iceland] / * →▪ husmand [cottager, Norway] ● karl / kerling [churls, commoners] →▪ griðmaðr / griðkona [hired laborer] ● leysingr / leysingja [freed-man, freed-woman, former thrall] ● þræll / ambátt [slave, bond-servant, unfree concubine] The Norwegian Gulaþing Law (https://no.wikisource.org/wiki/Norges_gamle_Love/Den_ældre_Gulathings-Lov) shows us comparative class rankings in terms of fines for trespass: 91 Nu a leysingi at landname. ef hann a iorð. skatzvaran eyri innangarðz. en sun hans eyri. Boande halvan annan eyri. Haulldmaðr .iij. aura. Lendr maðr .vi. aura. Jarl .xii. aura. Konongr .iij. mercr. A freedman (leysingr) has the right to a fine for trespass, if he owns land: one ounce [of silver] for trespass within the garth. His son [has the right to] one ounce. A bóndi, to one and a half ounces. A hǫldr-man, to three ounces. A lendr maðr, six ounces. The king, to three marks [a mark was one ounce of gold or 60 ounces of silver]. In Skaldskarpamál (part of Snorri Sturlusons Prose Edda), we are told: En í einu landi eru mörg heruð, ok er þat háttr konunga at setja þar réttara yfir svá mörg heruð sem hann gefr til valds, ok heita þeir hersa eðr lendir menn í Danskri tungu, greifar í Saxlandi, en barónar í Englandi. But in one country, there are many districts, and thus it is the custom of kings that they can seat administrators of justice over as many of these districts as he grants authority over they, they are called hersir or landed men in the Danish language, counts in Saxony, but barons in England. Individual definitions: king. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 350 s.v. . or queen. In the oldest texts it was originally mistress. The was a sovereign queen. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 107 s.v. , p. 308 s.v. . The terms prince and princess were adopted as loan-words from German and . They appear in the 13th c. with hte sense of prince and princess, but were also used of the children of dukes (hertogi) and jarls. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 327 s.v. , . The was originally leader, commander but came to be used to mean duke, for instance in referring to the Duke of Normandy. The first Norse duke was the earl Skuli in 1237. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 259 s.v. . The was a chieftain, especially in Norse and Danish. The word is cognate to and is usually translated as earl, count. Many Norwegian jarls are mentioned in Landnámabók. The title was also used in the Danelaw (and found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) and the Norse settlements in Ireland. About the time of Harald Fairhair all the petty chiefs became liegemen under one king, the earl being in dignity nearest the king, answering to in mid. Latin and in German. In Scandinavia, both name and office became extinct about the 13th century; in Iceland, being a commonwealth, it never took root; see however Gizur jarl (died A.D. 1268) in the Sturlunga. Cleasby-Vigfússon pp. 323-324 s.v. . , earl, count is a loan-word from the Continent. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 213 s.v. . The was the lord or chieftain over a district, and eventually merged into the (sing. , landed men, men in fealty to the crown). The old Norse hersar were no doubt the prototype of the barons of Normandy and Norman England. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 259 s.v. . The , landed men were the barons of ancient Scandinavia, holding land or emoluments (veizlur) from the king, and answering to of a still earlier time. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 384 s.v. . Old Danish has . Roesdahl, Else. Viking Age Denmark. London: British Museum Publications. 1982. p. 27. The was in antiquity a priest or sacerdos, but in the Icelandic Commonwealth came to have the power associated with the hersir. The word , temple priest merged with chieftain to become synonymous. Around 1000, with the introduction of Christianity, the lost their priestly associations and became simply temporal rulers. Cleasby-Vigfússon pp. 208-209 s.v. . The encountered in Landnámabók was literally a noble man but was used as a virtual synonym for the Orcadian or Norwegian . Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 40 s.v. . In the Orkneys and Shetlands, the term , man of property was used exactly in the sense was used in Norway: landlords, barons, nobles, chiefs. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 222 s.v. . Runic inscriptions often include a title The title of was introduced into Norway by King Magnús in 1277. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 53 s.v. . The was a rider, horseman, knight. This term is a loan-word from German , and does not appear in Scandinavia until the 12th and 13th centuries, for example, in describing the Battle of Stamford Bridge. as a title was first introduced in Norway in 1277. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 497 s.v. . The term was a title used of a noble in Denmark, one oath-sworn to the king. A was probably often older and of greater importance than a . Roesdahl, Else. Viking Age Denmark. London: British Museum Publications. 1982. pp. 25, 157. Cp. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 732 s.v. , where the word is defined as freeman, yeoman, franklin. The term was a title used of a noble in Denmark, one oath-sworn to the king. Roesdahl, Else. Viking Age Denmark. London: British Museum Publications. 1982. pp. 25, 157. Cp. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 105 s.v. . The title was lord, master. A was a lord, a knight, a lordly man. In 1277, knights and barons were created in Norway and given the title of , which unlike most Norse ranks preceded the name. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 259 s.v. . The term is lady, used of the wives of men of rank and title. The or was a housewife, lady, mistress, though one might speak of a great lady. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 175 s.v. , p. 295 s.v. . The title related to English was not sir but was used from the end of the 13th c. in Norway and Iceland as a title of respectful address preceding the name of priests. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 532 s.v. . The or yeoman was a land-owning free man. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 309 s.v. . The was a franklin, a husbandman owning land and stock. Related terms are cottager in iceland and in Norway. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 74 s.v. , p. 88. s.v. . Old Danish has . Roesdahl, Else. Viking Age Denmark. London: British Museum Publications. 1982. p. 27. The (masculine) and (femine were the churls or commoners, often with a sense of elderly as well. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 331 s.v. , p. 337 s.v. . Hired laborers, house-men, house-maids were called (masculine) or (feminine). Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 215 s.v. and . The freed-man was a , a freed-woman, . A former thrall who has paid his freedmans fee to his former owner. A freedman never gained the status of a person who had always been free, and retained certain obligations to their former owner. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 387 s.v. and . Slaves or bond-servants were , the female term was and could also denote unfree concubine. Cleasby-Vigfússon p. 747 s.v. and p. 19 s.v. .
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 00:10:25 +0000
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