ANST - Viking Terms

gunnora at realtime.net gunnora at realtime.net
Wed Aug 2 09:06:34 PDT 2000


Baron Bors <Baronman at aol.com> asked:
>what would be the equivalent term for a Baron in Viking 13th-
>14th century.  My research would bet on "Thane," but this 
>isn't quite accurate either.  Any help out there? 

JEvans5420 at aol.com suggested:
>How about "Hersir"?

Let me add...

Primus, the Viking Age dates from 793 AD to 1066 AD.  By the 13th to 14th century
it's no longer "Viking" but "medieval Scandinavian".  It is good to note that
this *is* the period during which most of the sagas were being written, 200-300
years after the events they supposedly record.

Secundus, you may want to check the official list of Alternate Titles approved
by the College of Heralds, located at:

http://www.sca.org/heraldry/titles.html

Þegn (thane, theign) would be the Old English term, not Scandinavian -- though
you do see historians (especially older historians such as the Victorians) use
this term when discussing Scandinavia or the Vikings, as well as the word "chieftain",
to denote a noble ruler over a small territory, usually subject to a higher
noble such as a king.

The accepted equivalents the College of Heralds suggest from Scandinavia for
baron are:

Danish: Baron/Baronesse
Medieval Norwegian: Baron/Baronsfru
Swedish: Baron/Baronesse
Icelandic: Baron/Baronsfru
Old Norse: Hersir/--

I think the list needs some re-evaluation for the Scandinavian titles.  As you
see, pretty much all of these are using the loanword "baron" from the Romance
languages.  That's because no equivalent really existed in Scandinavia.

In the Viking Age, a minor noble ruling a small territory, often subject to
a higher noble such as a king might be a jarl (which we use for "count").  In
some places, especially Denmark I think, "hersir" might be used, though this
is more of a war-leader's title.  There were several other words that could
be used for warleader/chieftain and it's hard to accurately determine what the
roles are.  And the list expands greatly if you look at titles used for Scandinavian
sea commanders and army commanders as well, who were functionally holding similar
roles in many ways.

Instead of looking for linguistic title equivalents, I think someone needs to
sit down and figure out what the functional role of each of the SCA ranks would
have been, then pore over the titles for each culture and figure out all the
titles that get applied for a person holding that job and/or social position.


For example, if you read Beowulf, you see King Hrothgar described in many ways,
including king, prince of the people, protector of the people, lord, etc.  Any
of these Old English terms to my mind should therefore be a reasonable equivalent
to the SCA title "king".

Some functional descriptions:

medieval king -- the highest noble, ruling an independent territorial unit,
commands armies, feudal overlord of landholders, has many other types of nobles
below them in the feudal hierarchy

SCA king -- the highest noble, ruling an independent territorial unit, commands
armies, feudal overlord of territorial nobles, has many other types of nobles
below them in the Order of Precedence

etc.

The next step is to find people who fulfill this function in history, and see
what their titles were in the vernacular of their time -- and for that matter,
what titles appeared when they were writing official documents in Latin or were
written about by the Church in Latin.

If I ever get time, I think I'll try this for as much of Scandinavia as I can
find good info for, starting in the Viking period.  I don't think I'll be able
to get to it for a while, but I think it's a good idea.  And if someone gets
adventurous and wants to take a swing at it sooner, do contact me and I'll help
as much as possible.

In Iceland, the equivalent for baron surely should be "goði" (godi, godhi).
 The word literally means "priest" but was the title used for the district chieftains.
 Iceland didn't have a nobility -- though many Icelanders travelled to Norway
or other kingdoms and received lands, wealth, and favors, possibly including
noble titles, from the kings there.

In Norway, I really think that "jarl" is the closest functional title, though
in the SCA you'd get confusion with the title "count/earl".  There's not really
two or three classes of mid-range nobles in Norway in this period.  I suspect
research may turn up some differing terms in various districts, but I'll have
to look.  It may also be possible to find titles for warleaders whose jobs existed
only when the king or jarl called their landowners to arms, and one of the warleader
titles might prove to be usable.

::GUNNORA::
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