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#The king served as judge during the popular assemblies.
#He served as a priest during the sacrifices ( Blót s) at important cult sites, such as the Temple At Uppsala . Refusal to administer the blóts could lead to the king losing his power (see e.g. Haakon The Good and Anund Gårdske ).
#The king served as a military leader during wars.

The office was hereditary, but originally a Germanic king had to have the consent of the people before he could assume the throne.

All the sons of the king had the right to claim the throne, which often led to co-rulership ( Diarchy ) where two brothers were elected kings at the same time. This was common among Swedes , Norwegians , Franks and Anglo-Saxons (see e.g. Alfred The Great ). Anglo-Saxon kings were elected by the Witena Gemót .

This evolved into the territories being considered the hereditary property of the kings, Patrimonie s, a system which fuelled feudal wars, because the kings could claim ownership of lands beyond their de facto rule.


ETYMOLOGY

  • ''kuningaz''. The original meaning is contested. One theory is that the element ---''kun'' relates to the word ''kindred'' or that it originally meant ''descendant of a ruler''. Another theory is that it is originally meant ''belonging to the woman'', i.e. belonging to the Mother Goddess and referring to the king's role as a priest.


  • ''kuningaz'':



  • ''kuningaz'' was a very early borrowing in non-Germanic languages (note that Slavic ''kral'', ''król'' and ''korol'' are not derived from this word, but from ''Karl'', the name of Charlemagne ):



Interestingly, the word differs from other Indo-European words for "king", most of which are clearly related ( Latin '' Rex '', Sanskrit '' Rājan '' and Irish ''rí'', for example).


OTHER NAMES

In Germanic traditions there are many Kenning s for king, such as Giver of Rings used in '' Beowulf '': a king was expected to give golden rings to reward his warriors.


SEE ALSO