War-Thegns & Spear-Danes

A blog dedicated to the brave and noble retainers of lords in Early Medieval England and Scandinavia.

[thesilicontribesman]

Details from The Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard, The Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire

[thegnsndanes]

I am calling the entire knightcore tag for being NORMAN PROPAGANDA and WEIRD BODYGUARD KINKS that don’t make a whole lot of sense in historical context. If you want SAXON AND NORSE PROPAGANDA, a very niche and less romanticized medieval warrior elite and the potential for even WEIRDER bodyguard kinks that make SLIGHTLY MORE SENSE in historical context, convert. Come to the dark side. We have cool rings and swords and helmets and stuff and have cozy warm halls where you can warm your hands by the fire and enjoy a cup of something nice and some weird Northern European food with your weird early medieval thegn buddies.

[thegnsndanes]

Broke: “lord king”

-explicitly masculine

-sounds weird

-female equivalent is “lady queen” which I’m not sure was a thing people said(?)

Woke: ring-giver

-anybody can give you a ring

-rings are pretty

-sounds poetic and awesome

-thank you for the ring

[kurganfilledwithbearbones]

Ring-giver is masculine in both Old Norse (hringdrifi) and Old English (beáhgyfa). One could argue that this is merely a function of how verbs are nominalized in both languages but the textual evidence argues against unisex usage.

[thegnsndanes]

OOPS

[thegnsndanes]

What is your Hogwarts house?

The Scyldings

[thegnsndanes]

Fact: early medieval lords and retainers had a QPR

[thegnsndanes]

In early Germanic societies, arm rings were commonly given by a lord to his retainers and those loyal to him as a gift to mark those who had sworn an oath to him. This makes thegns (huskarls, hearthguards, etc) basically a bunch of dudes in chainmail and helmets with friendship bracelets.

[thegnsndanes]

Broke: “lord king”

-explicitly masculine

-sounds weird

-female equivalent is “lady queen” which I’m not sure was a thing people said(?)

Woke: ring-giver

-anybody can give you a ring

-rings are pretty

-sounds poetic and awesome

-thank you for the ring

[thegnsndanes]

Gonna have to stage a photoshoot that's just me (the thegn) knelt at the seat of my lords (the cats)

I had this exact idea 2 days ago

[thegnsndanes]

Little aesthetics of thegncore I'm never gonna see: the snow melting off your cloak when you go into his (your lord's) hall to feast.

This is PEAK thegncore, which means to me that this is just gonna be knightcore but older, cozier and gayer

[thegnsndanes]

Is it thegncore to give your younger friends bracelets since that is basically what arm rings are

Yes. Absolutely.

[thegnsndanes]

“ Swa sceal geong guma gode gewyrcean, fromum feohgiftum on fæder bearme, þæt hine on ylde eft gewunigen wilgesiþas, þonne wig cume, leode gelæsten; lofdædum sceal in mægþa gehwære man geþeon.” -Beowulf, lines 20-25 This blog is not to be conflated with knightcore. Here, we celebrate a much earlier concept, known as the Thegn, the Huskarl, the Hearthguard or any other such word for an armed retainer in early medieval England and Scandinavia. Furnished in fine-linked mail and iron-wrought helms, these warriors were fiercely loyal and a lord seldom went where his retinue could not follow. Images: Still from The Northman (2022) by Robert Eggers Art from the trailer of Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia (2018) The Gilling Sword, housed at the Museum of York Art from the video game Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia