THE SCANDINAVIAN KINGDOMS IN BRITAIN, AND THEIR CONQUEST BY THE WEST SAXONS

The invasions of the Danes or Norsemen in the ninth century overran and overthrew many of the kingdoms. When Alfred had defeated the Danes in 878, the boundary established between his kingdom and the lines started from the Thames, went up the Lea to its source, thence straight to Bedford, thence up the Ouse to Watling Street (at Old Stratford), thence along Watling Street northwestward to Chester.

Alfred thus at the greatest extent of his power reigned only in Wessex, and the other kingdoms south of the Thames, and in those early West Saxon conquests north of the Thames, which had afterwards become Mercian, and in London, with the adjacent districts of the East Saxons. Guthrum the Dane, baptized under the name of Ethelstan, was king in Essex, and perhaps East Anglia, but it is unknown what Scandinavian chiefs were ruling further north, and how far Alfred's power really extended over Western Mercia. The West Welsh and North Welsh admitted his overlordship or sought his protection from the Danes of Northumbria.

The son and daughter of Alfred, Edward and Ethelflaed, reconquered the Midland and Eastern Counties.

A.D.
905.	Edward overran the Danish land north of the Ouse to the Fens.
907.	Ethelflaed re-fotified Chester.
910.	The Danes defeated in Staffordshire.
912.	Bridgenorth fortified.
913.	Hertford, Witham, Tamworth, and Stafford fortified, and part of Essex re-conquered.
917.	Derby taken.
918.	Leicester taken, Buckingham fortified.
919.	Bedford fortified.
920.	Maldon fortified.
921.	Towcester and Wigmore fortified. Defeat of the Danes at Towcester, and conquest of all Essex and East Anglia.
922.	Stamford fortified, South Lincolnshire conquered.
923.	Manchester conquered.
924.	Nottingham and Derby conquered, and all the Danes submit to Edward.

It was probably after this re-conquest that the Midland shires were made by Edward or Ethelstan. The southern shires answer to old kingdoms, or to tribes (such as Wilsaetas, Sumorsaetas, &c). The midland shires seem to be named from the fortress-capitals which Edward built.

North of the Humber Danish and Norwegian kings continued to rule, many of them with a very uncertain succession till 954, when the last was expelled from York, and earls under the West-Saxon kings replaced them. Only in Bernicia English kings and earls seem always to have continued. They submitted to Ethelstan in 926.The Danish wars, however, left a tendency to disunion between the North and South, Mercia sometimes inclining to the one, sometimes to the other.

NORTH AND SOUTH RULED SEPARATELY

A.D.
957.	The Northumbrians and Mercians chose Eadgar for their king instead of Edwy.
959.	Eadgar re-unites the kingdom.
1016.	Edmund rules Wessex and Cnut Mercia.
1035.	Harthacnut nominal king in Wessex, and Harold in the rest of England.
1037	Harthacnut re-unites the kingdom.
1066.	William, king in South-East England.
1068	Conquest of the South-West of the North-East Midlands and Yorkshire.
1069 -70 -	Final conquest of the North, including Bernicia, and of the North-West Midlands. England finally united
	under one efficient central government; the greatest result of the Norman Conquest

DECISIVE BATTLES OF THE PERIOD BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST

A.D.
568.	By the victory of Wibbandune Ceawlin of Wessex prevents the further extension of Kent.
571.	By the taking of Bedford, Ceawlin prevents the further extension westward of the East Saxons.
577.	By the victory of Deorhmn Ceawlin separates the North and West Welsh.
603.	Ethelfrith of Northumbria defeats the Scota at Daegsastan, in Southern Scotland.
607.	Ethelfrith defeats the Welsh at Cheater and separates the North Welsh and Strathclyde Welsh.
633.	Penda of Mercia and Caedwalla of Strathclyde defeat Edwin of Northumbria at Heathfield York recovered by
	the Britons for one year.
635.	Oswald defeats Caedwalla of Strathclyde at Heavenfleld, and cheeks the British reaction in the North.
642.	Oswald killed by Penda at Maserfield.
655.	Oswi of Northtuumbria defeats and kills Penda of Mercia at Winwidfield (near Leeds). Christian supremacy
	established under the political headship of Northumbria.
685.	Ecgfrith of Northuinbria killed by the Picts at Nectansmere (in Scotland). End of the greatness of Northumbria,
	and decisive check to the English conquest beyond the Forth.
825.	Egbert of Wessex defeats the Mercians at Ellandune, and wins the supremacy of Britain.
878.	Alfred defeats the Danes at Ethandune in Wiltshire, and by the Peace of Wedmore consolidates one kingdom
	south-west of Wailing Street
937.	Ethelstan defeats the Danes, Norsemen of Irelsnd, and the Scots, at Brunanbuhr (site uncertain, but probably
	Brumby in Lincolnshire), and establishes West-Saxon supremacy over all the Danish and Northumbrian kingdoms.
1016.	Edmund Ironsides defeated at Assandun (near Rochford in Essex), by Cnut and the kingdom divided.
1066.	Harold Hardrada of Norway defeated and killed by Harold, son of Godwine, at Stamford Bridge in
	Yorkshire, and the era of Scandinavian invasions practically closed.
1066.	Harold, son of Godwine, defeated and killed by William, Duke of the Norman; at Senlac near Hastings, and
	England brought into close political connexion with Western Europe.

(The removal of Britain from the sphere of Northern politics into the circle of Western European nations was further helped by the defeat of the Danes in Ireland at Clontarf by Brian Boroihme in 1014; by the break-up of Cnut's northern empire after his death; by the defeat of the Scandinavian party in Scotland; by the Northnmbrians and their Scotch allies under Siwad in 1054, and by Tostig and Malcolm in 1058. The last actual invasion of Southern Britain by the Scandinavians was in 1098, when Magnns III. of Norway defeated Hugh de Montgomery and the Earl of Chester in Anglesea. After his death his island dominion. acknowledged the ecclesiastical supremacy of England, and a bishop of Sodor and Man was consecrated by Thomas, Archbishop of York, 1109 - 1114)

THE WITENAGEMOT

A council of great men; ealdormen, bishops, king's thegns or personal followers, abbots, a queen and an abbess were known to attend; but it was never a large assembly, perhaps seldom reaching one hundred members. It gave the king counsel, and often originated measures and opposed or overruled the weaker kings. The Witan of the West-Saxons deposed king Sigeberht in 755, that of Deira, king Alchred in 774.The Witan was also the assembly in which the leading member of the royal house was nominated as king, on the death of his predecessor. But we must not conceive of it as exorcising any distinctly defined constitutional powers.

THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT

There are probable indications and traces of self-government by freemen in the ancient townships, and the Common agricultural interests of a township continued to be regulated by the inhabitants under a reeve or bailiff and other officers, sometimes popularly elected. Later, the growth of manorial estates under a lord, with manorial courts, and with officers appointed by the lord, almost completely superseded the remains of free local government.

In the Hundred-Court the criminal business of a group of townships was transacted. The lords of the land and their stewards attended, and certain freemen, and from each township the reeve and four men, not freemen, with the parish priest.
The county business was transacted in the Shire Moot, or County Court, or Folk Moot. Here, as in the Hundred Court, the lords, their stewards, four men and the reeve from each township, and many freemen from the shire attended, perhaps once all freemen, but later on all freemen were not bound to attend the Shire Court.

The ealdorman, sheriff, and bishop presided. The first may be considered the chief officer in war, the second the chief civil officer, both appointed by the king but sometimes with regard to hereditary pretensions.After the beginning of the Danish dynasty the Scandinavian title earl began to supersede ealdorman, and many shires were grouped into earldoms such as Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex, under great earls who began to overshadow the crown. This local government in townships, hundreds and shires was not distinctly connected with the central government, and the Witenagemot was neither a general popular assembly nor a representative body gathered from the lesser courts.

GENEALOGIES