: It seems that you are saying two different things here. On the one hand there is a personal relationship, on the other they are mercenaries? This seems rather contradictory to me. With Beren I would like to see evidence of "foreigners" being "employed" as huscarls or king's thegns in Anglo-Saxon England or in 11th century Scandinavia, I know of none and would love to know that it exists. As for the "payment" you describe, how is this any different than any Germanic chieftain or lord being the "ring-giver" who distributes the spoils of war, including land? What made the land given to these different than land given before? And what transformed the gold given from war booty to salary? And who among either Cnut's housecarls or Harold's were French or Italian and not Scandanavian or Anglo-Saxon lords and thegns? I must confess my ignorance and hope that I haven't misunderstood you, this would be quite enlightening if true.

Well there isn't much of a contradiction if you consider the matter. I would say that the personal side of the relationship was not unlike the connection between Napoleon and the Old Guard. The guardsmen were jealous of the banter they could enjoy with their emperor, and he is recorded as being very informal with them on occasion - they were not known as Grognards (grumblers) for nothing. Also the Byzantine emperors had close relationships with their Varangian guardsmen on whom their personal safety lay. Indeed some ex-huscarles entered the Varangian Guard after Hastings - they probably would not have considered their basic employment as having changed. Both the Varangians and Napoleon's Guard were paid professional soldiers, not close kin of their leader or part of his household as such.
The personal relationship in most cases would begin when the Huscarle was appointed and sworn in, it was not a pre-requisite for entry. One has to remember that in Anglo-Saxon society the "Oath-breaker" was just about the lowest form of life, so once sworn into service a soldier could, in theory at least, be thought of as reliably loyal.

As for foreigners in the Huscarles, there were certainly some Scandinavians, who at the time of Hastings I would class as foreigners ie. not Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Danes from the Danelaw. King Harold's brothers and probably other Ealdormen (or Earls/Jarls) kept their own small companies of Huscarles. Harold's rebel brother (who's name escapes me for the moment) one time Earl of Northumbria, was married to a daughter of the Count of Flanders had a number of Flemmings in his Huscarles. The Norman Earl Ralph (pre-conquest appointed by the half Norman king Edward the Confessor) based in Hereford, undoubtedly had fellow countrymen in his military force. Though I would say that the vast majority of Huscarles would have been drawn from Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Danish sources.