Danelaw

American  

[deyn-law] / ˈdeɪnˌlɔ /

Also Danelage

noun

1. the body of laws in force in the northeast of England where the Danes settled in the 9th century a.d.

2. the part of England under this law.

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Danelaw British  

/ ˈdeɪnˌlɔː /

noun

1. the northern, central and eastern parts of Anglo-Saxon England in which Danish law and custom were observed

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Etymology

Origin of Danelaw

before 1050; Middle English Dane-lawe, earlier Dene-lawe, Old English Dena lagu. See Dane, law ¹

Example Sentences

Once Alfred the Great defeated the Great Army at Edington in AD878, the warlord Guthrum retreated to East Anglia, where it was ruled under Scandinavian law and customs, known as the Danelaw.

From BBC • Aug. 7, 2022

But the geneticists see no trace of the Danelaw, the Danish rule over northern England from the ninth to the 11th century, nor of the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

From New York Times • Mar. 18, 2015

Annexing Mercia to Wessex, and thus gathering the whole strength of the kingdom into his single hand, he undertook the systematic reduction of the Danelaw.

From History of the English People, Volume I Early England, 449-1071; Foreign Kings, 1071-1204; The Charter, 1204-1216 by Green, John Richard

Their union was the result of no direct policy of fusion; on the contrary Dunstan's policy preserved to the conquered Danelaw its local rights and local usages.

From History of the English People, Volume I Early England, 449-1071; Foreign Kings, 1071-1204; The Charter, 1204-1216 by Green, John Richard

The area varied at different periods; but the earlier Danelaw seems to have comprised fifteen shires.

From Canute the Great The Rise of Danish Imperialism during the Viking Age by Larson, Laurence Marcellus