1) Anglo-Norse England 
In medieval Scandinavia, housecarls (húskarlar, singular húskarl; also anglicised as huscarl (Old English form) and sometimes spelled huscarle or houscarl) were either non-servile manservants, or household troops in personal service of someone, equivalent to a bodyguard to Scandinavian lords and kings. This institution also existed in Anglo-Saxo...
• (n.) A household servant; also, one of the bodyguard of King Canute.
member of the personal or household troops or bodyguard of Scandinavian kings and chieftains in the Viking and medieval periods. The housecarls ...
House'carl` noun [ Middle English huscarle . See House , and Carl .] (Eng. Archæol.) A household servant; also, one of the bodyguard of King Canute. 
a member of an élite 'Guards' infantry unit serving a King or Earl in Anglo-Saxon England.
a member of the household troops or bodyguard of a Danish or early English king or noble.