m. [akin to hérað and herr], a chief, lord, the political name of the Norse chiefs of the earliest age, esp. before the time of Harold Fairhair and the settlement of Iceland: respecting the office and authority of the old hersar the records are scanty, as they chiefly belonged to the prehistorical time; they were probably not liegemen, but resembled the goðar (vide goði) of the old Icel. Commonwealth, being a kind of patriarchal and hereditary chiefs: in this matter the old Landnáma is our chief source of information;—Björn Buna hét hersir ágætr í Noregi, son Veðrar-Gríms hersis í Sogni, móðir Gríms var Hervör dóttir Þorgerðar Eylaugs-dóttur hersis ór Sogni, Landn. 39; Arinbjörn h. ór Fjörðum, 66; Ási h., 76, 303, and another of the same name, 109; Ketill Veðr h. af Hringaríki, 94; Hrólfr h. af Ögðum, 48, 126; Ketill Raumr hét h. ágætr í Raumsdal, 173; Gormr h. ágætr í Svíþjóð, 195; Grímr h., 204; Þorsteinn Höfði h. á Hörðalandi, 228; Þórir Hauknefr h., 237; Úlfr Gildir h. á Þelamörk, 292; Veðr-Ormr h., 314; Arinbjörn h., Eg., Ad. 3; Vigfúss h. af Vörs, Glúm.; Klyppr h. á Hörðalandi, Fb. i. 19; Dala-Guðbrandr h., Ó. H. 106; Björn h. á Örlandi, Eg. 154; Þórir h. í Fjörðum, 155, cp. Rm. 36; hann var sem konungr væri yfir Dölunum, ok var þó h. at nafni, Ó. H. l. c., cp. Fb. i. 23; hersar hafa verit fyrri frændr mínir, ok vil ek ekki bera hærra nafn en þeir, Fms. i. 299: it is also prob. that by ágætr and göfugr (q. v.) the Landnáma means a hersir. At the time of Harold Fairhair the old hersar gradually became liegemen (lendir menn) and were ranked below a jarl (earl), but above a höldr (yeoman), the scale being konungr, jarl, hersir, höldr, búandi, see the record in Hkr. i. 80 (Har. S. Hárf. ch. 6), as also Edda 93; the name then becomes rare, except that hersir and lendr maðr are now and then used indiscriminately, heita þeir hersar eða lendir menn, Edda l. c. The old Norse hersar were no doubt the prototype of the barons of Normandy and Norman England.

COMPDS: hersisheiti, hersisnafn.