HIST-102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Danelaw, Eboracum, Christian Culture
9 Oct 2020
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Document Summary
The angles and saxons had divided much of britannia into 4 kingdoms. East anglia and northumbria bore the brunt of many early danish advances because of their geographical location. These regions also saw an increasing amount of scandinavian settlement which brought new cultural customs and legal codes. York or old roman eboracum was transferred into a hub of danish influence. This put pressure on the kings of mercia and wessex. In 871 a new king of wessex was named alfred, later called "the great". He sought to defend saxon realms against the danes. Militarily, he was successful though only to a degree. In 878 he agreed toa compromise treaty with the danish rulers. This led to the creation of the danelaw. A huge chunk of eastern chunk of britannia operated under danish customs and codes. The goal in this was to slow the scandinavian advance into wessex and extend saxon cultural influence eastward.
