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Unification of England |
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| Viking States : The Danelaw and the Viking Kingdom of York, 860-954 |
In 865, the GREAT ARMY, meeting determined resistance in the West Frankish Kingdom, turned on England. YORK (Dan. Jorvik) was captured in 866; the Kingdoms of EAST ANGLIA (869), southern NORTHUMBRIA, eastern MERCIA were conquered and settled by the (mostly Danish) Vikings. As the area came under Danish law, it was called DANELAW (den.: Danelag). Within the Danish area, christianity disappeared, as the Danes were heathen.
Our information about the Danelag is rather limited. The Danes were politically not united; York (with southern Northumbria) was a distinct kingdom. Once the Viking conquest ran out of steam, England was divided in half, by a line running from London to Chester, the northeast being Danish, the southwest made up by the kingdoms of WESSEX and Mercia (resp. what was left of it). Under King Alfred the Great, Wessex fortified it's border and succeeded in gradually pushing back the frontier. In several campaigns 917-919 the Danelaw was conquered. However, Ragnald, the (Norse) Viking king of DUBLIN and the ISLE OF MAN, retook York and southern Northumberland in 919. It became English in 944 and, after another Viking interlude 948-954 remained English.
Click here for a Map of the Danelaw
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EXTERNAL FILES |
When Half of England was Viking, by Barrie Markham Rhodes,
from the Viking Network The Danelaw of England, 700-1100 A.D., by C. Candy |
| DOCUMENTS | Peace of Wedmore, 878, from Britannnia.com |
| REFERENCE | The Great Army in England, in : Historical Atlas of the Vikings, by John Haywood, London : Penguins 1995, pp.62-63, 66-71, illustrated, concise, scholarly |
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This page is part of World History at KMLA First posted in 2000, last revised on November 9th 2004 Click here to go Home Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster Click here to go to Statistics |
