Housecarl

[Old Norse húskarl ("house man"), also spelled huscarl. Danish and Norwegian hird.]

The housecarl was a member of the personal or household troops or bodyguard of Scandinavian kings and chieftains in the Viking and medieval periods. Under Canute the Great in 1015-35, they achieved a celebrated place in European history as the Danish occupation force in England. Housecarls disappeared after the rise of military aristocracies and bureaucratized royal courts in the late Middle Ages.

During World War II, the Norwegian Nazi Vidkun Quisling revived the term Hird (plural Hirden) for his political stormtroopers.