When we discussed The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan we commented on the seeming contradiction that these Scandinavians were welcome in Alfred's court during a period in which the Vikings had threatened England with conquest. Were the English so accustomed to these people that by this period relations had begun to normalize somewhat?
The Scandinavian presence in England after the ninth century does seem to be routine. The Danish settlements were so numerous that part of England became known as "The Danelaw."
Hereward was part of a Danish resistance to William, a political fact easily forgotten because the Danish presence in England at this time is overshadowed by the Conquest. At this point (1066), England was actually divided into three parts, with each section distinguished by its own legal customs. The Danelaw was the northern section, including Essex, Middlesex, and Yorkshire (the other two sections were West Saxon, largely southern and western regions, and Mercian, including central areas such as Oxfordshire and Cheshire).
How do these divisions correspond to those outlined by Keynes and Lapidge in Alfred the Great? How do they correspond to those discussed by Bede in his first chapter? Were roughly the same geographical areas being reorganized under new names, or were new combinations of territories being formed in these successive periods?
Remember that political geography often follows land or natural geography. What sorts of natural divisions helped to maintain some of these political divisions?
The division of England is even more complicated than it seems, for the Danelaw was quite diverse in customs within its own regions. The northern part of the Danelaw had been more heavily settled by Scandinavians than the southern, as placenames suggest. More important, the Danelaw was not exclusively Danish but rather was a region occupied by diverse peoples who observed Danish rather than Mercian or West Saxon legal customs. On these issues see F, M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England 3rd. ed. Oxford University Press, 1971. 505-13.
You will find that every history of Anglo-Saxon England supplies elaborate details about the Danish occupation and its legal consequences, including consequences for placenames. What do these circumstances look like from the Danish perspective? Can you locate a history of Denmark that gives a description of the medieval Danish conquest of England?
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