karl

plural karls

1. historicalA medieval Scandinavian freeman.

   The largest group in Viking society were the karls, who were free men and women. Many karls owned their own farmsteads; others rented land from rich landowners.

   1993, Philippa Wingate, Anne Millard, “Viking society and government”, in The Viking World (Usborne Illustrated World History), Tulsa, Okla.: EDC Publishing, published 1994, page 20, column 2

   2 more examples

   Whatever its object the runrig system was not udal tenure, and therefore it appears to me to show a settlement of the unfree. Whether these were the karls or the thralls is the only problem, and I incline to think that there is little room for doubt that these were the karls. The thrall may have had a scrap of ground and kept pigs, but there is no evidence that he had agricultural land. In short the modern cottar is the descendant of the thrall and the crofter of the karl.

   a. 1936, Ian B[ernard] Stoughton Holbourn, “Udal Property and the Kings of Foula”, in The Isle of Foula: A Series of Articles on Britain’s Loneliest Inhabited Isle, Edinburgh: Birlinn, published 2001, →ISBN, page 76

   There were three kinds of Viking: thralls, karls and jarls. Thralls were the slaves. They were owned by karls and jarls. They did most of the hard work and the worst, dirtiest jobs. The karls were ordinary folk like farmers, craftsmen, blacksmiths and hunters.

   2016, Louise Spilsbury, “Powerful Kings and Suffering Slaves”, in The Vikings: Dig Up the Secrets of the Dead (History Hunters), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Raintree, →ISBN, page 18

alternative Carl

1. A male given name from the Germanic languages, equivalent to English Charles.

   “We are pleased that LSST has now been named the Vera C. Rubin Observatory,” said Rubin’s sons Allan Rubin, David Rubin, and Karl Rubin in a statement.

   2020 January 7, Ashley Strickland, “First US observatory named in honor of a female astronomer, Vera Rubin”, in CNN