From wikipedia (I know not the best source, but just to get started here) I'm getting:
So, maybe it actually means hearthguard? Or, huscarl, hird, and hearthguard are the same thing? Some wargaming lists appear to use hirdmen as like the mid to high level viking units, lower tier than huscarls, like RavenFeast, and then Hearthguard for the elite Anglo-Saxons:The hird, in Scandinavian history, was originally an informal retinue of personal armed companions,[1] hirdmen or housecarls...The term comes from Old Norse hirð, again from either Old English hir(e)d 'household, family, retinue, court'[3] or perhaps the old German cognate heirat 'marriage', both of which can mean "body of men" or more directly linked to the term for hearthguard, or men of one's own home and hearth.
Anglo-Saxon List:
Viking List:
Where Hearthguard are the same as Huscarls, and a bit better than Hirdmen. Does anyone know the historical or gameplay justification for what these units should be called? Are the cultures similar enough that these are all related, and somewhat interchangeable terms, and a game just has to pick one for purposes of distinguishing units? Are there yet other terms for these and similar Northern European mid-high to very high tier "units" or warriors?
Thanks for any help.