The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The annals were initially created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great. Multiple manuscript copies were made and distributed to monasteries across England and were independently updated. In (also known as the Danelagh; Old English Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary register of Anglo-Saxon: Dena lagu; Danish Danish (dansk, pronounced [d̥ænˀsɡ̊] ) is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages), a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. It is spoken by around 6 million people, mainly in Denmark; the language is also used by the 50,000 Danes in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany: Danelagen), is a historical name given to the part of England The area now called England has been settled by people of various cultures for about 35,000 years, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant in which the laws of the "Danes The Danes were a North Germanic tribe residing in modern day southern Sweden and on the Danish islands . They are mentioned in the 6th century in Jordanes' Getica, by Procopius, and by Gregory of Tours" held sway[1] and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons Anglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading Germanic tribes in the south and east of Great Britain from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, to the Norman conquest of 1066. The Benedictine monk, Bede, identified them as the descendants of three Germanic tribes:. It is contrasted with "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to be geographical. The areas that comprised the Danelaw are in northern and eastern England. The origins of the Danelaw arose from the Viking The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse (Scandinavian) explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, and settled in wide areas of Europe and the North Atlantic islands from the late eighth to the mid-eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga expansion of the 9th century, although the term was not used to describe a geographic area until the 11th century. With the increase in population and productivity in Scandinavia Scandinavia is a region in northern Europe that includes Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Modern Norway and Sweden form the Scandinavian Peninsula. The name Scandinavia is considered to have the same etymology as Scania. Finland is sometimes considered a Scandinavian country in common English usage, and Iceland and the Faroe Islands are sometimes also, Viking warriors, having sought treasure and glory in nearby Britain, "proceeded to plough and support themselves", in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The annals were initially created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great. Multiple manuscript copies were made and distributed to monasteries across England and were independently updated. In, under the year 876[2].
Danelaw is also used to describe the set of legal terms and definitions created in the treaties between the English king, Alfred the Great Alfred the Great , was King of Wessex from 871 to 899. Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English king to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons". Details of, and the Danish warlord, Guthrum the Old Guthrum or Guthrum the Old , christened Æthelstan, was King of the Danish Vikings in the Danelaw. He is mainly known for his conflict with Alfred the Great, written following Guthrum's defeat at the Battle of Ethandun The Battle of Ethandun or Edington was a battle which took place in the English kingdom of Wessex between 6 and 12 May 878 between the English forces of Alfred the Great and the Danes led by Guthrum the Old in 878. In 886, the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum The Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum is an agreement between Alfred of Wessex and Guthrum, the Viking ruler of East Anglia. Its date is uncertain, but must have been between 878 and 890. The treaty is one of the few existing documents of Alfred's reign; it survives in Old English in Corpus Christi College Cambridge Manuscript 383, and in a Latin was formalised, defining the boundaries of their kingdoms, with provisions for peaceful relations between the English and the Vikings.
The Danish laws held sway in the Kingdom of Northumbria Northumbria or Northhumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory: the Humber Estuary and Kingdom of East Anglia The Kingdom of East Anglia or the Kingdom of the East Angles was one of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England. The kingdom was founded by Angles from Angeln in northern Germany, and was divided between the "North Folk" and the "South Folk", whose territories form the basis of the later shires of Norfolk and Suffolk. The precise, and the lands of the Five Boroughs The Five Boroughs or The Five Boroughs of the Danelaw were the five main towns of Danish Mercia . These were Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham and Stamford. The first four would later become county towns of Leicester Leicester (pronounced /ˈlɛstɚ/ , LES-tər) is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands area of England. It is also the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest. In 2006, the population of the Leicester unitary authority was estimated at 289,700, the largest in the East, Nottingham Nottingham ( /ˈnɒtɪŋəm/ ) is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, and is one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group. Whilst the City of Nottingham has a historically tightly drawn boundary which accounts for its relatively, Derby Derby (pronounced /ˈdɑ:bi/ , DAA-bi), is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407. According to the, Stamford Stamford is an ancient town located approximately 100 miles to the north of London, just off the A1, which was the old Great North Road leading to York and Edinburgh and Lincoln Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.
The prosperity of the Danelaw, especially Eoferic (Danish Jórvík Scandinavian York is a term, like the terms Kingdom of Jórvík or Kingdom of York, used by historians for the kingdom of Northumbria in the late 9th century and first half of the 10th century, when it was dominated by Norse warrior-kings; in particular, it is used to refer to the city controlled by these kings. The name Jórvík is the, modern York York (locally /ˈjɔːk/ ) is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence), led to its becoming a target for later Viking The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse (Scandinavian) explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, and settled in wide areas of Europe and the North Atlantic islands from the late eighth to the mid-eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga raiders. Conflict with Wessex The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons (Old English: Westseaxna rīce) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest of 1016, from 1020 to 1 and Mercia Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands. The name is a Latinisation of the Old English Mierce or Myrce, meaning "border people" sapped the strength of the Danelaw. The waning of its military power together with the Viking onslaughts led to its submission to Edward the Elder Edward the Elder (c. 874-7 – 17 July 924) was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex. He captured the eastern Midlands and East Anglia from the Danes in 917 and became ruler of Mercia in 918 upon the death of Æthelflæd, his sister in return for protection. It was to be part of his Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales. It had a land border with the Kingdom of, and no longer a province of Denmark Denmark (pronounced /ˈdɛnmɑrk/ ; Danish: Danmark, pronounced [ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊], archaic: [ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊]) is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders, as the English laid final claim to it.
Contents |
History
Blue: Danes & Northmen. Pink: Anglo-Saxons & Northumbrians. Green: Britons & GaelsFrom about AD 800 Year 800 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar waves of Danish assaults on the coastlines of the British Isles 1 These are the official languages of the eight jurisdictions within the British Isles. Other languages are spoken, including several other native languages and dialects that have regional or special status were gradually followed by a succession of Danish settlers. Danish raiders first began to settle in England starting in 865, when brothers Halfdan Ragnarsson Halfdan was one of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok. It has been suggested that he is the same person as Ragnar's son Hvitserk[citation needed]. He pillaged with his brothers in England in 865, and later became a leader of the Great Heathen Army. He was the ruler of London 871–872 where he had coins made and Ivar the Boneless Ivar Ragnarsson nicknamed the Boneless (inn beinlausi), was a Danish or Swedish Viking chieftain and by reputation also a berserker. By the late 11th century he was known as a son of the powerful Ragnar Lodbrok, ruler of an area probably comprising parts of Denmark and Sweden wintered in East Anglia. They soon moved north and in 867 captured Northumbria Northumbria or Northhumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory: the Humber Estuary and its capital, York York (locally /ˈjɔːk/ ) is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence, defeating both the recently deposed King Osberht of Northumbria Osberht was king of Northumbria in the middle of the 9th century. Sources on Northumbrian history in this period are limited. Osberht's descent is not known and the dating of his reign is problematic, as well as the usurper Ælla of Northumbria Ælla or Ælle was king of Northumbria in the middle of the 9th century. Sources on Northumbrian history in this period are limited. Ælla's descent is not known and the dating of his reign is problematic. He is a major character in the saga Ragnarssona þáttr (The Tale of Ragnar's sons). The Danes then placed an Englishman, Ecgberht I of Northumbria Ecgberht was king of Northumbria in the middle of the 9th century. This period of Northumbrian history is poorly recorded, and very little is known of Ecgberht, on the throne of Northumbria as a puppet The term puppet state describes a nominal sovereignty controlled effectively by a foreign power. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette. A puppet state has also been described as an entity which in fact lacks independence, preserves all the external.[3]
King Æthelred of Wessex King Æthelred of Wessex (c. 840 – 23 April 871) was the fourth son of King Æthelwulf, and an older brother of Alfred the Great. He succeeded his brother, Æthelberht (Ethelbert), as King of Wessex and Kent in 865. He married Wulfrida and had two sons, Æthelwold, the elder, and Æthelhelm, the younger and his brother, Alfred, led their army against the Danes at Nottingham Nottingham ( /ˈnɒtɪŋəm/ ) is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, and is one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group. Whilst the City of Nottingham has a historically tightly drawn boundary which accounts for its relatively, but the Danes refused to leave their fortifications. King Burgred of Mercia Burgred succeeded to the throne in 852, and in 852 or 853 called upon Ethelwulf of Wessex to aid him in subduing northern Wales. The request was granted and the campaign proved successful, the alliance being sealed by the marriage of Burgred to Aelthelswith, daughter of Ethelwulf. In 868 the Mercian king appealed to Ethelred of Wessex and his then negotiated peace with Ivar, with the Danes' keeping Nottingham in exchange for leaving the rest of Mercia Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands. The name is a Latinisation of the Old English Mierce or Myrce, meaning "border people" unmolested.
Under Ivar the Boneless Ivar Ragnarsson nicknamed the Boneless (inn beinlausi), was a Danish or Swedish Viking chieftain and by reputation also a berserker. By the late 11th century he was known as a son of the powerful Ragnar Lodbrok, ruler of an area probably comprising parts of Denmark and Sweden, the Danes continued their invasion in 869 by defeating King Edmund of East Anglia Edmund the Martyr was a king of East Anglia who was venerated as a martyr saint soon after his death at the hands of Danish Vikings. Contemporary evidence for his life and death is largely confined to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and his coinage. In the late 10th century, Abbo of Fleury was commissioned to write a life of the saint, which was at Hoxne Hoxne is an anciently established village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about five miles (8 km) east-southeast of Diss, Norfolk and one-half mile (800 m) south of the River Waveney. The parish is irregularly shaped, covering the villages of Hoxne, Cross Street and Heckfield Green, with a 'tongue' extending southwards to take in and conquering East Anglia.[4] Once again, the brothers Æthelred and Alfred attempted to stop Ivar by attacking the Danes at Reading Reading (pronounced /ˈrɛdɪŋ/ RED-ing) is a large town in England, located at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some 40 miles (64 km) west of London. For ceremonial purposes it is in the Royal County of Berkshire and has served as the county town since 1867. They were repelled with heavy losses. The Danes pursued, and on 7 January 871, Æthelred and Alfred defeated the Danes at the Battle of Ashdown The Battle of Ashdown, in Berkshire , took place on 8 January 871. Alfred the Great, then a mere prince of twenty-one, led the West Saxon army of his brother, King Ethelred, in a victorious battle against the invading Danes. The Danes retreated to Basing Old Basing is a village and civil parish in the north-east of the English county of Hampshire. It is situated just to the east of Basingstoke, and in the 2001 census had a population of 7,232. Its former name is Basing , and while Basingstoke has grown, the 'Old' seems to suit Basing well (in Hampshire Today, Hampshire is a popular holiday area. Its tourist attractions include many seaside resorts, the motor museum at Beaulieu, with national parks in both New Forest and the South Downs. Hampshire has a long maritime history and two of England's largest ports, Southampton and Portsmouth, lie on its coast. The county is famed as home of such), where Æthelred attacked and was, in turn, defeated. Ivar was able to follow up this victory with another in March at Meretum (now Marton, Wiltshire).
On 23 April 871, King Æthelred died and Alfred succeeded him as King of Wessex. His army was weak and he was forced to pay tribute to Ivar in order to make peace with the Danes. During this peace the Danes turned to the north and attacked Mercia, a campaign that lasted until 874. Both the Danish leader Ivar and Mercian leader Burgred died during this campaign. Ivar was succeeded by Guthrum the Old, who finished the campaign against Mercia. In ten years the Danes gained control over East Anglia, Northumbria and Mercia, leaving only Wessex to resist.[5]
Guthrum and the Danes brokered peace with Wessex in 876, when they captured the fortresses of Wareham and Exeter. Alfred laid siege to the Danes, who were forced to surrender after reinforcements were lost in a storm. Two years later, Guthrum again attacked Alfred, surprising him by attacking his forces wintering in Chippenham. King Alfred was saved when the Danish army coming from his rear was destroyed by inferior forces at Countisbury Hill, near Lynmouth Devon. Alfred was forced into hiding for a time, before returning in the spring of 878 to gather an army and attack Guthrum at Ethandun. The Danes were defeated and retreated to Chippenham, where King Alfred laid siege and soon forced them to surrender. As a term of surrender, King Alfred demanded that Guthrum be baptised a Christian; King Alfred served as his godfather.[6]
This peace lasted until 884, when Guthrum again attacked Wessex. Alfred defeated him, with peace codified in the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum.[7] The treaty outlined the boundaries of the Danelaw and allowed for Danish self-rule in the region. The Danelaw represented a consolidation of power for Alfred; the subsequent conversion of Guthrum to Christianity underlines the ideological significance of this shift in the balance of power.
Edward the Elder and his sister, Æthelflæd, the Lady of the Mercians, conquered Danish territories in the Midlands and East Anglia in a series of campaigns in the 910s, and some Danish jarls who submitted were allowed to keep their lands.[8] Viking rule ended when Eric Bloodaxe was driven out of Northumbria in 954.
The reasons for the waves of immigration were complex and bound to the political situation in Scandinavia at that time; moreover, they occurred when Viking settlers were also establishing their presence in the Hebrides, Orkney, the Faroe Islands, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, France (Normandy), Russia and Ukraine (see Kievan Rus').[9]
The Danes never gave up their designs on England. From 1016 to 1035 Cnut the Great ruled over a unified English kingdom, itself the product of a hitherto resurgent Wessex, as part of his North Sea Empire, together with Denmark, Norway and part of Sweden. Cnut was succeeded in England by his son Harold Harefoot, until he himself died in 1040, after which another of Cnut's sons, Harthacnut, took the throne. Since Harthacnut was already on the Danish throne, this reunited the North Sea Empire.
Cnut the Great's domains, in red. Vassals are denoted in orange, with other allied states in yellow.Harthacnut lived only another two years, and from his death in 1042 until 1066 the monarchy reverted to the English line in the form of Edward the Confessor.
Edward died in January 1066 without an obvious successor, and an English nobleman, Harold Godwinson, took the throne. In the autumn of that same year, two rival claimants to the throne led invasions of England in short succession. First, Harald Hardrada of Norway took York in September, but was defeated by Harold at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, in Yorkshire. Then, three weeks later, William of Normandy defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings, in Sussex, and in December he accepted the submission of Edgar the Ætheling, last in the line of Anglo-Saxon kings, at Berkhamsted.
The Danelaw appeared in legislation as late as the early twelfth century with the Leges Henrici Primi, being referred to as one of the laws together with those of Wessex and Mercia into which England was divided.
Danish-Norwegian conflict in the North Sea
In the years between the Sack of Lindisfarne in 793 and the Danish invasion of East Anglia in 865, Norwegian settlers founded the site of modern Dublin and fought as mercenaries in Irish tribal wars, liberally intermarrying with their Irish allies. Some 10 years later a Danish fleet probably from the Great Heathen Army in Anglia arrived and attacked the settlement with the Irish and Norwegian enemies of the Hiberno-Norse, but were repulsed. It is also said in Irish and northern English oral history that Ivar the Boneless, and in some accounts also Ubbe Ragnarsson, died not in the Mercian campaign, but drowned fighting the Hiberno-Norse in the Irish sea. Dublin and other major Irish towns were under Danish rule for the next 100–200 years.
The haste with which the Danes resumed their attack on Norse Dublin before consolidating their control of Saxon England indicates that the entire Danish invasion was not primarily aimed at the conquest of Saxon England, but to secure a North Sea base of operations to use as a springboard in the conflict with the Norwegians, who controlled an extensive trade network in the Orkney Islands, the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, and Ireland, which exported goods as the Danes did, from the British Isles south-east through Kievan Rus as far as Constantinople and Baghdad, following the Dniepr from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
In the 11th century, when King Magnus I had freed Norway from Cnut the Great, the terms of the peace treaty provided that the first of the two kings Magnus (Norway) and Harthacnut (Denmark) to die would leave their dominion as an inheritance to the other. When Edward the Confessor ascended the throne of a united Dano-Saxon England, a Norse army was raised from every Norwegian colony in the British Isles and attacked Edward's England in support of Magnus', and after his death, his brother Harald Hardråde's, claim to the English throne. On the accession of Harold Godwinson after the death of Edward the Confessor, Hardraada invaded Northumbria with the support of Harold's brother Tostig Godwinson, and was defeated at the Battle of Stamford Bridge three weeks before William I's victory at the Battle of Hastings.
Timeline of the Danelaw
800 Waves of Danish assaults on the coastlines of the British Isles were gradually followed by a succession of settlers.
865 Danish raiders first began to settle in England. Led by brothers Halfdan and Ivar the Boneless, they wintered in East Anglia, where they demanded and received tribute in exchange for a temporary peace. From there they moved north and attacked Northumbria, which was in the midst of a civil war between the deposed king Osberht and a usurper Ælla. The Danes used the civil turmoil as an opportunity to capture York, which they sacked and burned.
867 Following the loss of York, Osberht and Ælla formed an alliance against the Danes. They launched a counter-attack, but the Danes killed both Osberht and Ælla and set up a puppet king on Northumbrian throne. In response, King Æthelred of Wessex, along with his brother Alfred marched against the Danes, who were positioned behind fortifications in Nottingham, but were unable to draw them into battle. In order to establish peace, King Burhred of Mercia ceded Nottingham to the Danes in exchange for leaving the rest of Mercia undisturbed.
869 Ivar the Boneless returned and demanded tribute from King Edmund of East Anglia.
870 King Edmund refused, Ivar the Boneless defeated and captured him at Hoxne and brutally sacrificed his heart to Odin in a so-called “blood eagle ritual”, in the process adding East Anglia to the area controlled by the invading Danes. King Æthelred and Alfred attacked the Danes at Reading, but were repulsed with heavy losses. The Danes pursued them.
871 On January 7, they made their stand at Ashdown (on what is the Berkshire/North Wessex Downs now in Oxfordshire). Æthelred could not be found at the start of battle, as he was busy praying in his tent, so Alfred led the army into battle. Æthelred and Alfred defeated the Danes, who counted among their losses five jarls (nobles). The Danes retreated and set up fortifications at Basing in Hampshire, a mere 14 miles (23 km) from Reading. Æthelred attacked the Danish fortifications and was routed. Danes followed up victory with another victory in March at Meretum (now Marton, Wiltshire).
King Æthelred died on April 23, 871 and Alfred took the throne of Wessex, but not before seriously considering abdicating the throne in light of the desperate circumstances, which were further worsened by the arrival in Reading of a second Danish army from Europe. For the rest of the year Alfred concentrated on attacking with small bands against isolated groups of Danes. He was moderately successful in this endeavour and was able to score minor victories against the Danes, but his army was on the verge of collapse. Alfred responded by paying off the Danes in order for a promise of peace. During the peace the Danes turned north and attacked Mercia, which they finished off in short order, and captured London in the process. King Burgred of Mercia fought in vain against the Ivar the Boneless and his Danish invaders for three years until 874, when he fled to Europe. During Ivar’s campaign against Mercia he died and was succeeded by Guthrum the Old as the main protagonist in the Danes’ drive to conquer England. Guthrum quickly defeated Burgred and placed a puppet on the throne of Mercia. The Danes now controlled East Anglia, Northumbria and Mercia, with only Wessex continuing to resist.
875 The Danes settled in Dorsetshire, well inside of Alfred’s Kingdom of Wessex, but Alfred quickly made peace with them.
876 The Danes broke the peace when they captured the fortress of Wareham, followed by a similar capture of Exeter in 877.
877 Alfred laid siege, while the Danes waited for reinforcements from Scandinavia. Unfortunately for the Danes, the fleet of reinforcements encountered a storm and lost more than 100 ships, and the Danes were forced to return to East Mercia in the north.
878 In January Guthrum led an attack against Wessex that sought to capture Alfred while he wintered in Chippenham. Another Danish army landed in south Wales and moved south with the intent of intercepting Alfred should he flee from Guthrum’s forces. However, they stopped during their march to capture a small fortress at Countisbury Hill, held by a Wessex ealdorman named Odda. The Saxons, led by Odda, attacked the Danes while they slept and defeated the superior Danish forces, saving Alfred from being trapped between the two armies. Alfred was forced to go into hiding for the rest of the winter and spring of 878 in the Somerset marshes in order to avoid the superior Danish forces. In the spring Alfred was able to gather an army and attacked Guthrum and the Danes at Ethandun. The Danes were defeated and retreated to Chippenham, where the English pursued and laid siege to Guthrum’s forces. The Danes were unable to hold out without relief and soon surrendered. Alfred demanded as a term of the surrender that Guthrum become baptised as a Christian, which Guthrum agreed to do, with Alfred acting as his Godfather. Guthrum was true to his word and settled in East Anglia, at least for a while.
884 Guthrum attacked Kent, but was defeated by the English. This led to the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum, which established the boundaries of the Danelaw and allowed for Danish self-rule in the region.
902 Essex submits to Æthelwald.
903 Æthelwald incites the East Anglian Danes into breaking the peace. They ravage Mercia before winning a pyrrhic victory that saw the death of Æthelwald and the Danish King Eohric; this allows Edward the Elder to consolidate power.
911 The English defeat the Danes at the Battle of Tettenhall. The Northumbrians ravage Mercia but are trapped by Edward and forced to fight.
917 In return for peace and protection The Kingdoms of Essex and East Anglia accept Edward the Elder as their suzerain overlord.
Æthelflæd (also known as Ethelfleda) Lady of the Mercians, takes the borough of Derby.
918 The borough of Leicester submits peaceably to Æthelflæd's rule. The people of York promise to accept her as their overlord, but she dies before this could come to fruition. She is succeeded by her brother, the Kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex united in the person of King Edward.
919 Norwegian Vikings under King Rægnold (Ragnald son of Sygtrygg) of Dublin take York.
920 Edward is accepted as father and lord by the King of the Scots, by Rægnold, the sons of Eadulf, the English, Norse, Danes and others all of whom dwell in Northumbria, and the King and people of the Strathclyde Welsh.
954 Eric Bloodaxe driven out of Northumbria, his death marking the end of the prospect of a Northern Viking Kingdom stretching from York to Dublin and the Isles.
Geography
The Five Boroughs and the English Midlands in the early 10th century[10]The area occupied by the Danelaw was roughly the area to the north of a line drawn between London and Chester, excluding the portion of Northumbria to the east of the Pennines.
Five fortified towns became particularly important in the Danelaw: Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Stamford and Lincoln, broadly delineating the area now called the East Midlands. These strongholds became known as the Five Boroughs. Borough derives from the Old English word burh (cognate with German Burg, meaning castle), meaning a fortified and walled enclosure containing several households—anything from a large stockade to a fortified town. The meaning has since developed further.
Legal concepts of the Danelaw
The Danelaw was an important factor in the establishment of a civilian peace in the neighbouring Anglo-Saxon and Viking communities. It established, for example, equivalences in areas of legal contentiousness, such as the amount of reparation that should be payable in weregild.
Many of the legalistic concepts were compatible; for example the Viking wapentake, the standard for land division in the Danelaw, was effectively interchangeable with the hundred. The use of the execution site and cemetery at Walkington Wold in East Yorkshire suggests a continuity of judicial practice.[11]
Enduring impact of the Danelaw
The influence of this period of Scandinavian settlement can still be seen in the North of England and the East Midlands, and is particularly evident in place-names: name endings such as -howe, -by ("village") or "thorp" ("hamlet") having Norse origins. Scandinavian names blended with the English -ton give rise to typical hybrid place-names.[12]
Old Norse and Old English were still mutually comprehensible to a small degree. The mixed language of the Danelaw caused the incorporation of many Norse words into the English language, including the word law itself, sky and window, and the third person plural pronouns they, them and their. Many Old Norse words still survive in the dialects of Northeastern England.
Four of the five boroughs became county towns — of the counties of Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. However, Stamford failed to gain such status—perhaps because of the nearby autonomous territory of Rutland.
Genetic heritage
In 2000 the BBC commissioned a genetic survey of the British Isles by a team from University College London led by Professor David Goldstein for its programme 'Blood of the Vikings'. It concluded that Norse invaders settled sporadically throughout the British Isles with a particular concentration in certain areas, such as Orkney and Shetland.[13] This finding referred to Norwegian Vikings only, as descendants of Danish Vikings could not be genetically distinguished from descendants of Anglo-Saxon settlers.[14]
Archaeological sites and the Danelaw
Major archaeological sites that bear testimony to the Danelaw are few. The most famous is the site at York, which is often said to derive its name from the Old Norse Jórvík. (That name is itself a borrowing of the Old English Eoforwic; the Old English diphthong eo being cognate with the Norse diphthong jo, the Old English intervocalic f typically being pronounced softly as a modern v, and wic being the Old English version of the Norse vik.) Eoforwic in turn was derived from an earlier name for the town, spelled Eboracum in Latin sources. Another Danelaw site is the cremation site at Heath Wood, Ingleby, Derbyshire.
Archaeological sites do not bear out the historically defined area as being a real demographic or trade boundary. This could be due to misallocation of the items and features on which this judgement is based as being indicative of either Anglo-Saxon or Norse presence. Otherwise, it could indicate that there was considerable population movement between the areas, or simply that after the treaty was made, it was ignored by one or both sides.
Thynghowe was an important Danelaw meeting place, today located in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, England. The word "howe" often indicates a prehistoric burial mound. Howe is derived from the Old Norse work Haugr meaning mound.[15]
The site's rediscovery was made by Lynda Mallett, Stuart Reddish and John Wood. The site had vanished from modern maps and was essentially lost to history until the local history enthusiasts made their discoveries.
Experts think the rediscovered site, which lies amidst the old oaks of an area known as the Birklands in Sherwood Forest, may also yield clues as to the boundary of the ancient Anglo Saxon Kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria.
English Heritage, recently inspected the site and believes it is a national rarity. Thynghowe[16] was a place where people came to resolve disputes and settle issues. It is a Norse word, although the site may older still, perhaps even Bronze Age.
See also
- Kingdom of Dublin
- Kingdom of Mann and the Isles
- Norse-Gaels
- Raven banner
- Valknut
- Mjöllnir
- Runestone
- Stave church
- Long house
- List of generic forms in British place names
- subpoena ad testificandum
References
- ^ "The Old English word Dene ‘Danes’ usually refers to Scandinavians of any kind; most of the invaders were indeed Danish (East Norse speakers), but there were Norwegians (West Norse [speakers]) among them as well." —Lass, Roger, Old English: A Historical Linguistic Companion, p.187, n.12. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
- ^ Quoted by Richard Hall, Viking Age Archaeology (series Shire Archaeology), 2010:22; Gwyn Jones, A History of the Vikings. Revised ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984:221.
- ^ Flores Historiarum: Rogeri de Wendover, Chronica sive flores historiarum, p. 298-9. ed. H. Coxe, Rolls Series, 84 (4 vols, 1841-42)
- ^ Haywood, John. The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings, p.62. Penguin Books. ©1995.
- ^ Carr, Michael. "Alfred the Great Strikes Back", p. 65. Military History Journal. June 2001.
- ^ Hadley, D. M. The Northern Danelaw: Its Social Structure, c. 800-1100. p. 310. Leicester University Press. ©2000.
- ^ The Kalender of Abbot Samson of Bury St. Edmunds, ed. R.H.C. Davis, Camden 3rd ser., 84 (1954), xlv-xlvi.
- ^ Lesley Abrams, 'Edward the Elder's Danelaw', in N. J. Higham & D. H. Hill eds, Edward the Elder 899-924, Routledge, 2001, pp. 138-39
- ^ The Viking expansion
- ^ Falkus & Gillingham and Hill
- ^ J.L. Buckberry & D.M. Hadley, "An Anglo-Saxon Execution Cemetery at Walkington Wold, Yorkshire", Oxford Journal of Archaeology 26(3) 2007, 325
- ^ The "Grimston hybrids", noted by Richard Hall, Viking Age Archaeology (series Shire Archaeology) 2010:22.
- ^ "ENGLAND | Viking blood still flowing". BBC News. 2001-12-03. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1689955.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
- ^ http://www.geneticarchaeology.com/research/Blood_Of_The_Vikings.asp
- ^ Guide to Scandinavian origins of place names in Britain
- ^ "Detailed Result: THYNGHOWE". Pastscape. 2007-11-22. http://www.pastscape.org/hob.aspx?hob_id=1461548&search=all&criteria=thynghowe. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
In literature
- Types of Manorial Structure in the Northern Danelaw, Frank M. Stenton, London, 1910.
- The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Tiger Books International version translated and collated by Anne Savage,1995.
External links
| Find more about Danelaw on Wikipedia's sister projects: | |
| Definitions from Wiktionary | |
| Textbooks from Wikibooks | |
| Quotations from Wikiquote | |
| Source texts from Wikisource | |
| Images and media from Commons | |
| News stories from Wikinews | |
| Learning resources from Wikiversity | |
Coordinates: 54°N 1°W / 54°N 1°W
Categories: 9th-century establishments | Anglo-Saxon society | Anglo-Norse England | Invasions of England | Post-medieval constructs about the Middle Ages | English toponymy | English toponyms | Germanic toponyms | Germanic loanwords | English people of Danish descent
|
Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:33:40 GMT+00:00
VDARE.com (blog) When the press presents the objections of citizens to sanctuary cities, it certainly doesn't use the strongest arguments. ...
admin
Wed, 07 Jul 2010 01:02:16 GM
In the east Midlands, it is thought that county boundaries may represent a 9th century division of the . Danelaw. between units of the Danish army. Rutland was an anomalous territory or soke, associated with Nottinghamshire, ...
Q. what was the danelaw? what is norse?
Asked by mmrulz8 - Mon Mar 2 04:17:32 2009 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments
A. Danelaw - area of Anglo-Saxon England,roughly north of a line drawn between London and Chester left under Viking control after Alfred the Great defeated them in 885AD. Norse - the generic term given to people/things from Scandinavia during the Viking era
Answered by ammianus - Mon Mar 2 04:33:57 2009
