This debate has direct consequences on the assessment of the housecarls' specificities, and whether or not they were an elite troop. For instance, Charles Oman, in his book "The Art of War in the Middle Ages" (1885), states that the main advantage of the housecarls at Hastings were their "esprit de corps". This view, still widely held today, mainly stems from Svend Aggesen's 12th-century description of Cnut's housecarls as a group characterized by a strict code ("see above"); Aggesen having been used as a main source by L.M. Larson's "The King's Household in England Before the Norman Conquest" (1902). However, more recently, historian Nicholas Hooper criticised Larson and stated that "it is time to debunk the housecarl"; according to Hooper, housecarls were not in effect distinguishable from Saxon thegns, and were mainly retainers who received lands or pay (or both), but without being really a standing army. Hooper asserts that while the Housecarles might well have had superior "esprit de corps" and more uniform training and equipment than the average Thegn, they would not necessarily have been a clearly defined military elite.