A Brief History of the Danelaw
The term Danelaw is an 11th Century term (Old English: Dena Lagu; Danish: Danelagen) used to describe both the lands under the control of the Viking Danish from the late 9th to the early 11th Centuries. the borders of which were agreed around 886in the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum, and the legal terms and definitions agreed between King Alfred of Wessex and Guthrum, the leader of the Viking settlers, after the Battle of Edington in 878.
The extent of the Danelaw as agreed at the Treaty of Chippenham or Wedmore in 878.
From about 800 AD, waves of Danish raiders had assaulted the coast of Great Britain, looking for wealth and fame in this foreign land. Later these early raiders were followed by increasing numbers of mainly Danish settlers, starting in 865, when Halfdan Ragnarsson and Ivan the Boneless wintered in East Anglia before moving north and attacking Northumbria. In 867, the Danes seized York, deposing first Osbehrt, King of Northumbria, then Aelle II his successor. The Danes settled in York, placing a local Angle, Ecgberht on the Northumbrian throneas a dependant.
In response to this, the Anglo-Saxon forces under Aethelred of Wessex and his brother Alfred lead their forces against the Danes at Nottingham. However, the Danes refused to move, and eventually King Burgred of Mercia agreed to allow the Danes to keep Nottingham in return for leaving the rest of Mercia alone.
Under Ivan the Boneless, the Danes continued their invasion, defeating King Edmund of East Anglia at Hoxne in 870, and conquering the remaining East Anglian territory. Once again, Aethelred and Alfred lead their forces against the Danes, meeting at Reading, but were repulsed with heavy losses. The viking retaliation was swift, but onthe 7th of January 871, the Danes were defeated by Wessex at Ashdown. Retreating to Basing in Hampshire, the forces of Wessex once more attacked, but were defeated. This lead to the viking forces securing a major victory over the Saxon forces at March in Meretum (now Marton, Wiltshire).
On the 23rd of April, 871, King Aethelred of Wessex died and was succeeded by Alfred, however, with a new king in command, the army tired and outnumbered, the new king decided to pay the Danes tribute and make peace, at least for the moment. With their southern borders safe, the Danes turned their eyes north and west and attacked the forces of Mercia in a campaign that ended in 874, culminating with the deaths of both King Burgred of Mercia and Ivan the Boneless of the vikings.
Ivan was succeeded by Guthrum the Old, who finished the campaign against Mercia, resulting in victory for the Danish settlers. In only ten years, the Danes had come to control the kingdoms of East Anglia, Northumbria and Mercia, leaving only Wessex remaining.
In 876, the Danes captured the fortresses of Wareham and Exeter and sued for peace with Wessex, Alfred retaliated, laying siege to the two fortresses, until, having lost their reinforcements in a storm, the Danes were forced to surrender.
Two years later, the viking forces attacked again, catching Alfred unawares as he was wintering at Chippenham in Wiltshire, and would have captured the Wessex king if they hadn't been attacked in the rear and defeated by inferior forces at Countisbury Hill.
Alfred was forced to go into hiding for the rest of the winter, reappearing in the spring of 878, to gather an army and defeat Guthrum at Edington. Defeated, the Danes retreated to Chippenham, where Alfred layed siege to them, leading to their eventual surrender. As a term of the surrender, Guthrum was baptised, with King Alfred acting as his Godfather.
The peace lasted until 884, when Guthrum invaded Wessex, but was swiftly defeated, leading to the treaty of Alfred and Guthrum, which formalised the borders between the Danish and English lands, allowing for Danish self rule in their lands.
Over the next 25 years, Anglo-Saxon raids into the Danelaw gradually eroded the size and power of the Danish lands, with territories being added to the newly created Kingdom of England during the reign of Edward the Elder (reigned 899 - 924).
An important effect of the Danelaw was the establishment of the territory of the Five Boroughs, comprising Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stamford and Derby, towns that would wield much power for the rest of the Early Middle Ages.
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