The scandinavian invasion First Raids and Battles
By the 9th century, Wessex consolidated all the kingdoms into a unified country, but it still was far from a centralised state with a strong power of the king — big landowners were strong and separate regions were politically independent. The Scandinavian invasion caused the unification of the country as an alternative to a complete loss of independence.
In 793, two Scandinavian peoples, the Danes and the Norwegians began raiding the eastern shores of Britain; later the Danes became the invaders of England and the Norwegians — of Scotland and Ireland.
They were skilful warriors and furious sea-rovers. Cooped up on bleak and narrow Scandinavian land, they saw the fields of England and Ireland as the greatest attraction.
The first of the Danes aimed at plundering — they came in spring or summer, loaded their ship, with plunder and returned home for winter. As every year they went to a different place, all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms experienced their raids.
As the kingdoms had no regular army, soon the Danes settled north of the Thames, taking Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia into their hands. In 842, they burnt up London, and since 850, they started their first settlements. In 871, they founded a fortified camp ready to push on to Wessex, but were stopped by the young king of Wessex Alfred the Great. This year showed the resistance of the Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavian invasion assumed new forms — they settled down to found kingdoms.
In 872, Danish attacks increased, and after constant fighting in 878, Alfred with his army took refuge in the islands of Athelney.
Danelaw
In 879, a peace treaty was signed. It divided the country into two equal parts: "the Danelaw" in the northeast and England proper. The great Roman road, Watling Street, was the boundary between them.
Alfred the Great made vigorous efforts to restore the country's economy and built up its military potential so as to secure it against future invasions. The key points were fortified and later developed into the first Anglo-Saxon towns. Alfred established a system of administration, improved the laws in the interests of landowners and raised the standards of culture among them. The specialists from the Continent were invited to rebuild monasteries and churches, which had been burnt by the Danes.
The first code of England's Common Law called "Truth" was complied about 890. It was based on the old customs and laws followed by the Anglo-Saxons in Wessex and Mercia. The whole country was divided into shires and hundreds as before and strictly controlled.
The Danes were made subjects of Wessex and they never tried to make the Danelaw into a separate kingdom. The Danes influenced the development of trade and shipbuilding in the country. The majority of the Danes were free peasants and remained free on that territory throughout the Middle Ages.
The territory of the Danelaw was divided into shires, like the Anglo-Saxon part. Each of the shires had the market town for its centre and even today many of the midland counties are named after their country towns.
The Scandinavian raids were renewed at the end of the 10th century in the reign of Aethelred the Unready (978—1017). As the Anglo-Saxons were unable to organise the resistance, they gave the Danes money. In 991, the tribute was paid in the form of a special tax called Danegeld, or Dane money. The Danes retired and in a year came back to demand more.
Trying to change the situation, Aethelred ordered a massacre of all the Danes in England in 1002, which only made the matters worse as new revengeful hordes of the Scandinavians came claming for compensation in various forms.
Task 10. Compare the territory of the Danelaw to the territory of England. Speak about the possible consequences of this invasion.