| There is no reason to believe that the tasks which Cnut's housecarls were called upon to perform were fundamentally different. |
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| On the 14th October 1066, much of Harold's tiny force was made up of the housecarls of his most powerful magnates because the fyrd had been disbanded. |
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| Thegns, the local landowning elites, either fought with the royal housecarls or attached themselves to the forces of an earl or other magnate. |
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| The fyrd and the housecarls both fought on foot, with the major difference between them being the housecarls' superior armour. |
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| Although the feigned flights did not break the lines, they probably thinned out the housecarls in the English shield wall. |
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| Canute and his housecarls fled south with a growing army of rebels on his heels. |
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| The housecarls were replaced with members of the fyrd, and the shield wall held. |
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| The king also had a group of personal armsmen, known as housecarls, who formed the backbone of the royal forces. |
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| The bodies of the English dead, including some of Harold's brothers and housecarls, were left on the battlefield, although some were removed by relatives later. |
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| The bodies of the English dead, who included some of Harold's brothers and his housecarls, were left on the battlefield, although some were removed by relatives later. |
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