However, while the English kings regained their power in Central England, Norwegian Vikings from Ireland invaded Northumbria and established their own independent kingdom in York. Danelaw remained a virtually autonomous region. The entry into England, however, did not entail changes in the ethnic composition, social structure or the introduction of Anglo-Saxon law. By the year 919, after several years of uninterrupted campaigns in Danelaw, the power of the Anglo-Saxon monarchs was recognized by all of England south of the Humber. By the systematic offensive on the Danish lands, the Anglo-Saxon state passed during the reign of Edward the Elder. There was no political unity between the various Danelaw territories, but in the event of war they united against the Anglo-Saxons. Later Periodīy the beginning of the X century, the Scandinavians occupied the territory from the Thames to the Tis, moved to a sedentary economy and created their own social organization. However, King Alfred managed to create a national defense system and his own fleet, which allowed the Vikings to fight back. In 892 – 896, a new Viking army landed on the coast of Wessex, and the Danes of East Anglia and Yorkshire came to the rescue. The treaty of 886 also fixed the civil equality of the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings in the territory of Danelaw. This document laid the foundation for the existence of Danelaw as a special state entity governed by its own laws. In 886, Alfred the Great got London from the Danes and concluded a peace treaty with Guthrum, the Viking leader of East Anglia, who recognized the independence of both states and established the western border of the Danish possessions. The advance of the Vikings was stopped only in 878 as a result of the victory of Alfred the Great’s Anglo-Saxon army under Eddington, which ensured the preservation of Wessex’s independence and led to the unification of the remnants of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into a single state. In 877, several Danes’ armies settled in eastern Mercia, which marked the beginning of the “Five Burgs area”. The first territorial division of the conquered lands between the Danish armies, indicating the transition of the Vikings to sedentary life, dates to 876. Danish military forces were constantly reinforced by the arrival of new Scandinavian troops in England. In 873, the Danes seized the eastern part of Mercia and put the rest of their appointee Kelvulf on the throne. Although the Anglo-Saxons managed to win the battle of Ashdown, this did not stop the advance of the Vikings, and King Alfred the Great was forced to buy a truce. Subjugating all of East Anglia, in 870 they moved to Wessex and set up camp in the Reading area. Having made East Anglia its ground base, in 866 the Vikings captured York, and the following year defeated the army of Northumbria and put their protege Egbert I on the throne of this kingdom. The first large Danish army landed on the coast of East Anglia in 865, led by Ivar and Halfdan, the sons of the Danish king Ragnar Lodbrok. The disintegration of the English state in the middle of the 9th century allowed the Vikings to proceed to the systematic conquest of England. In the first half of the 9th century, Danish raids began. Initially, these were the Norwegians, who in 793 pillaged Lindisfarne, and soon founded colonies in Ireland, on the Orkney and Shetland Islands. The attacks of the Scandinavian Vikings on the coast of Britain began at the end of the VIII century.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |